~*~

Jubilation Lee raced down the hallway on her roller blades. Professor Xavier had tried to get her to stop for two years after she arrived at his school for young mutants before finally giving up.

Jubilee twisted, swinging up onto the banister of the massive staircase leading to the main hallway downstairs, then slid down sideways past several of the other students. Including one of her roommates, Kitty Pride, who shouted after her to slow down before she broke her neck. Jubilee ignored her and managed to execute a round-off on the decorative ball on the end of the banister.

"And she nails the dismount!" Jubilee shouted triumphantly. She blinked when she heard rather enthusiastic clapping. It wasn't the clapping that caused her surprise, but where exactly it was coming from. As in directly over her head.

She looked up slowly.

And screamed.

Jubilee scrambled and started to fall when she was suddenly enveloped in thick yellowish smoke that smelled a little like rotten egg salad. Then there were a pair of strong, slender arms around her waist.

"Sorry for startling you, meine Freundin," a soft voice said near her ear.

Jubilee yelped and cut loose with a blast of her pyrotecknics. The other young mutant yelped as well and both of them went tumbling to the floor.

The boy moaned from under her. "And Herr Professor said that it would be *gut* for me to meet the other students as soon as possible."

Jubilee admitted silently (and swore never to admit it to anyone else) to herself that whoever he was he had a nice voice. And a very nice chest to be sprawled across. Even if the guy was blue, furry and had a tail.

"Who are you anyway?" the former California Mallrat demanded as she pushed herself up to sit back on her roller blades.

"I am Kurt, and you are?"

"Jubilee," she grumbled. "You must be the new kid that Miss Monroe went to pick up."

Later that week...

"HEY FUZZY!" Jubilee shouted as she bladed down the hall of the boys' side dorm. "WHERE ARE YOU?"

"Do you have to call me that?" Kurt sighed when he teleported from his room into the hall.

"Got your attention didn't it?" Jubilee shrugged. "Bunch of us are going to the movies. Wanna come?"

A set of faintly glowing yellow eyes blinked at her. "Jubilee, I think there's something you forgot to think of before you said that."

The pretty Asian-American girl frowned. "What?"

"I look like a demon," Kurt said flatly.

"Oh, that," she said waving a hand neglegently. "It'll be dark, no one's gonna notice."

Kurt shook his head slowly. "And just how am I going to get into the theater in the first place?"

"Oh. Right." Jubilee chewed her lower lip thoughtfully. "We'll get one person to pay for all the tickets, then..."

"It won't work, Jubilee." Kurt turned away and teleported back to his room. With the door locked, Jubilee couldn't be sure that he was even in there.

Jubilee frowned as she went to rejoin the others. Her eyes passed over them. Passed over each and every *normal* face. She froze they could all pass for normal when and if they wanted.

Kurt couldn't.

Jubilee sat down hard on the stairs, still staring blankly at her friends. Her normal looking friends.

~This is what Kurt sees when he looks at us,~ she thought. ~Oh, God.~

"Hey, Jubes! Aren't you coming?" Bobby shouted up the stairs after her.

"Changed my mind!" she called back over her shoulder.

A few minutes later Jubilee was banging on Kurt's bedroom door as hard as she could. "You let me in there, Kurt Wagner, or I'll paf the lock!"

"You wouldn't," came Kurt's voice from the other side of the door.

"Watch me, buddy!"

The door opened a crack and bright yellow eyes peered out at her.

"I said, let me in," Jubilee said as she shoved her full weight against the door. "Move already!"

"Vas?" he demanded, letting her in with a sigh of resignation.

"You and I are going out." Jubilee grabbed his wrist and yanked him down the hall with her.

"Jubilee, no," Kurt protested. "Nein! This is not a gut idea."

"Relax would you?" Jubilee said after his five billionth protest. "See? No one else is out here."

"Where are we?" Kurt asked curiously as he stared around.

The girl shook her head. "You really don't leave the school, like, ever. This is the old Riverwalk. I thought it would be fun to pretend..."

"That I was normal, ja?"

"That I wasn't," Jubilee said.

Kurt stared at her for a long time before pulling her close for a hug. "Danke, Jubilee. Vielen danke."

"What are buds for, Kurt?"

~The End

~*~