BoH: Arrival at the Salem Center

[x-wolfcub.livejournal.com]

Xavier’s Class of 2010 arrive at the Salem Center. Despite some heat problems, everyone meets and greets with family, friends, and other members of the school as the show is about to begin.



Julian fidgeted in his robes, his tie was just a bit too tight beneath them and he needed to loosen it in what he perceived to be oppressive heat that was slamming him from the open doors to the auditorium. "You'd think they would have gotten us a place with real Air Conditioning." It was more the humidity than anything else and he knew that the small window units in the auditorium were doing there best, but it was the middle of June and there was only so much that machines could do.

The only person who looked completely unaffected by the heat was, of course, Angel who just grinned from where she was putting up her hair. "Maybe we could bribe Bobby for some much needed help," she teased, "to help you guys cool down a little bit."

Yvette looked up from underneath her cap (specially made for her hair, of course), the tassel bobbing comically over one eye. "It is lucky they were able to find something for us so quickly. And I think it is good that it is in the town - sometimes we are spending too much time behind our walls." With an exaggerated movement, she hiked up her gown so she didn't trip over it. "Do all graduating students wear these?" she asked, pulling a face. "They are so impractical!"

Nick kicked at his own robe in the process. "I think part of the whole, trying to make us feel special for graduating is to embarrass us a little too." He couldn't help but laugh as he looked over at Yvette's special made robes as his head pictured himself in one made for a werewolf. "But I guess it could be worse. Did you see the hat that Dr. McCoy has to wear?"

"The one that looks like the pancake on his head?" giggled Yvette. "At least we do not have those!"

"Thank goodness for small miracles," Julian said with a small sigh. He'd never envisioned himself making it to graduation with everything that happened over the past two years. "Think this is going to take very long?"

From her place on Nick's shoulder, Catseye's housecat form thwapped Nick on the earlobe for laughing when he'd looked at Yvette, thinking he was laughing at her. She leapt off his shoulder and shifted to girlform, yawning and stretching. "Yesyes I think this is going to take forever," she muttered darkly. She'd seen graduation services many times. "I think it will be talkingtalkingtalking about how special it is to be graduating and more talkingtalkingtalking about being good at life and I think it is boring for everyone but even more boring for students who are not graduating because the talkingtalkingtalking is not even about us!" She glared around the room at all her friends. "It is a verygoodthing for all of you that I love you all or else I would be veryveryangry having to sit in the hot gym and sit quietly through all the talkingtalkingtalking about you!"

"You are a very good friend to do it, Catseye", Kurt said placatingly as he stepped into the room. "Are you all ready, students? It will be time in just a few minutes."

"I'm still waiting for one of the professors to run down with a final pop quiz, so the sooner we get this show on the road the better." Nick added with a small smile. "That, and this hat really isn't helping with my hair. It hasn't looked this bad since the last time I woke up in the woods."

"I don't know, Nick," Angel piped up. "A little hair gel, a little shaking around and you've got yourself the kind of emo-hair that sparkly vampires would kill for!" She quickly held up her hands. "Kidding, kidding! I blame any and all Twilight references on the fact that my stomach is tying itself into knots right now."

"It is still feeling like the dream," Yvette added quietly. "It seems not so long ago I was waking up in the medlab and wondering where my fourteenth birthday went!"

"Or just arriving at the mansion, with little more than the clothes on our back," Julian paused, "and a trust fund, I mean, well, not anymore, but..." he blushed slightly. "You guys know what I mean."

"Smile for the camera!" Jan said, taking a picture right as she finished speaking. Quickly, she took another one. "Candid shots for the win!" She grinned at them. "I'm so proud of you guys!"

"You guys are awesome, and you -totally- don't look goofy in your dresses." Kyle said, grinning. His own graduation picture with his own goofy 'dress' was still in the picture-screensaver on his computer, he had every right to tease. "So, summer plans? Cause if we keep you guys talking here, way less chance of any of you throwing up from nerves..."

"Kyle!" Tabitha exclaimed, stuck between admonishment and laughter. "They know I have a rigorous training schedule planned out for the summer. Lack of official schooling is no reason to slack off." She even tried to keep a straight face as she said it.

Julian gulped slightly, then leaned in toward Nick. "Between you and me, I've been thinking that it's about time to drop the New Mutants in favor of full time X-Men training." He shrugged, "You going to join the team anytime soon, dude?"

"My future's pretty up in the air right now buddy." Nick added with a smile.

"Ah, bon," Jean-Phillipe said, slightly out of breath as he caught the group of graduates. "It would appear that I am just in time. Felicitations," he told them all, with a particular friendly smile for Yvette.

"Merci," she replied, in badly accented French, part of the little she had picked up from the French speakers in the mansion. "We are almost ready to begin, yes?"

"Does anyone wish to take one last final exam?" Crystal asked, having caught Nick's comment about a pop quiz, looking serious for a moment. "No?" She smiled at the assembled group of students, currently minus one member of the graduating class, noting that some of the graduates had been at the mansion for but a year while others had been there nearly as long as she had. With the graduation of both Angel and Yvette, next year there would only be one member of the student body who had been a student during Crystal's sole year as a student of Xavier's. This year the school had a decent-sized graduated class as far as Xavier's was concerned; given that there were less than two dozen students in the entire student body a graduating class of five was not bad at all. Unless older students joined the school at some point in the near future, next year's graduating class was going to be quite small. "Classes are over, and you wish to be finished with high school, do you not? Then yes, as soon as Fred arrives it will be time to begin."

"Wake up in the morning feelin' like P Diddy..." warbled something deep in Angel's purse off the to the side. With a squeak, she dove for it, dumping multiple cameras, odd notes and candy bars out before finally holding up a vibrating phone. "Uh, yeah, everyone ignore that song please," she said, sheepishly, flipping it open so she could read the text. "Whoops! Fred says he's on his way - lost track of time with some friends so he'll be joining us real soon."

After not too long Fred came trotting out, his face a mixture of sheepishness and anxiety. He robes fit him oddly, especially since the stress of the big even had caused his weight to fluctuate wildly over the past few days. Although the wearing of a collared shirt under his gown was a big event in and of itself. Clearing his throat, Fred laughed a little, "Sorry. Mark and Suze came into town for the ceremony and...anyway, just, y'know...sorry..."

"Alright, we're all here. Let's get this over with." Julian sighed and headed for the staging area they were to wait in, it was going to be a long day.