COLLEGE YEAR by Iceguy
Part one: Fresh Starts, and Business as usual
"…This new outbreak of anti-mutant sentiment was refueled last night. The local student at Empire State University, beaten to death two days ago, was identified as Katherine Pryde, and confirmed today as a mutant.
"The young girl was known for her attitude of tolerance and was, herself, suspected as a mutant. Several eyewitnesses that say an annoyed bystander who threw an empty alcohol bottle at her person confirmed the suspicion. This bottle allegedly passed through her chest without making any contact. Katherine Pryde was identified today by her dental records. She was seventeen years old."
"This makes the second hate related killing at this campus, and seventh in this state. Some authorities argue that a new cell of the friends of humanity is behind this outbreak. However the group has yet to claim knowledge of these events. Since the death of Ms. Pryde, there have been nightly anti-mutant rallies and related beatings. The police have been asked to contain the situation, however, many partake in the rallies and beatings themselves."
Those final words enraged the reader of this newspaper. Normally he’d read the funnies section before throwing it out. Instead, the paper turned into a thin sheet of ice before his eyes, and shattered upon impact of the ground.
The young reader has been a victim of prejudice and racism since he was an adolescent. Not because of the color of his skin, nor religion, but instead his genetic code made him something more than normal. He has been through much in his young life. Faced injury and even certain death several times, just to be spat on and called names, for saving the people that hated him. Sometimes he wonders why he still does it. Such a thankless lifestyle he leads; but he knows how much worse the world could be if he and others like him stopped doing everything they do for it.
Bobby Drake carried everything he needed for him to lead a successful and quiet future. Unlike many of his ‘mutant’ friends, Bobby could easily hide himself from the public eye by blending in with them. Unless he chose to do otherwise, Bobby looked like a very normal, everyday human being. Only the people he told knew differently.
Bobby already carried an associate’s degree in accounting, as well as his title of Certified Public Accountant. But, that life was too boring for him, as every time he tried to settle down and live the life he has prepared for, his other life called to him. Never failing, when he wanted to just sit back and become Bobby the accountant, he always felt a need to return to his life as Iceman, the X-Man.
This time it was different, and yet the same. After a two-year absence, Bobby has returned to his role as Iceman. Instead of fighting so called ‘super villains,’ this time his enemy was the faceless beings of hate and jealousy.
Twenty-four year old Bobby had just learned that one of his old ex-girlfriends may be a repressed mutant. Which meant that this renewed sense of bigotry put her in grave danger. It was his task to protect her and the other mutants at this college. His secondary task is to try and dispel the violence and try to find those responsible for starting it all.
Bobby was never a huge fan of college to begin with, and stepping into the administration office his attitude showed. The X-Men had made sure that his transcripts were transferred and that he was an actual student. Still, he would be known by his true name, with his ex-girlfriend here an alias would not help. He still needed to blend into with everyone else, or face injury or even death as Kitty had. With the added danger of his family being at risk if he was exposed. These operations are what he dreaded most. His father was already a victim of blown cover; he didn’t want this to happen to anyone again. The danger is all too real for Bobby.
"May I help you?" A voice came as Bobby entered the office
"Uh, yeah. I just transferred here and…" Bobby began.
"Name?" The secretary asked
"Robert Drake." Bobby answered
"Ok, you’ve already turned in your transcripts I see. Let me get a copy of your schedule and I’ll assign your sponsor." The secretary mumbled as she disappeared behind the desk.
The secretary quickly disappeared, and then reappeared from the desk, with a piece of paper. Bobby accepted it reading over it, he realized he had a pretty easy schedule. The secretary then wordlessly disappeared again, this time to the back of the office.
"And the waiting begins." Bobby said to himself sitting down.
He never could stand waiting. Ten minutes passed by and he wished he brought his gameboy. Everyone in the office could see how bored he was. First he started glancing at his watch, which led to him tapping his fingers on the armrest. Last he began his fascination of reflecting light onto people with his new Oakleys.
The door the back office opened.
Bobby didn’t notice, still engrossed by the light effects of his glasses
"Um…Robert Drake?" A female voice called to him.
Bobby instantly became aware again.
"That’s me." Bobby answered her
"Hi, I’m Angela. I’ll be showing you around." She smiled at him
"Nice to met you Angela, by the way, my name is Bobby. Calling me Robert makes me feel old." Bobby laughed
"Ok, good. I don’t think I’d be able to call you that and keep a straight face the whole time." Angela laughed back at him.
"I never could." Bobby said. "Only my parents and ex’s call me that, usually with an added expletive and last name…"
"Ok, shall we get started?" Angela asked him
"Sure, where to first?" Bobby answered up
"Are you going to be living in the dorm? She asked him
"Yeah, at least for a little while." Bobby replied
Bobby held open the office door for Angela as they walked out into the front commons area. Angela looked over a binder she carried, as she handed Bobby a map of the campus.
"So, why are you in such a hurry to get out of the dorm?" She asked him as he closed the door.
"Well, I don’t like living in a controlled room. I went to a boarding school all through high school. The lack of privacy just gets to me." Bobby reasoned
"Yeah, I guess they can be in a pain if you think of it like that." Angela said flipping through her book
"Plus, I hear that this isn’t the safest campus to live on anymore." Bobby pried
"Only if you’re a mutie." Angela said back pulling another piece of paper from her book.
She handed him the other paper she pulled out of her book. An application to fill out for his student ID.
"True…" Bobby drew out putting his glasses on.
"Not even here an hour yet, and I run face first into the problem." Bobby thought to himself, "Seemed like such a nice girl too, hope Zel doesn’t get caught up in all this, that could mean a lot more trouble than I want to handle."
Bobby was lost in his thoughts as they walked around the campus. He didn’t really pay attention to a lot of the stuff she said. Mostly about this building, that building, when they were built etc, etc. Nothing too interesting, but something she was required to tell everybody. All he could think of on her tour, was when the story was going to start. Surely she had one.
"All right here we are." Angela chirped
"And when was this one built?" Bobby remarked
"I don’t know, a couple years ago I think…" Angela scowled
"What is in this building? Another library?" He asked
"No. It’s your dorm." Angela said matter of factly
"Oh…guess that explains all the windows huh?" Bobby said
"Could be…" She snapped back at him
"All right, this is building number 472, your dorm. Let me see your schedule." Angela told him.
"Why do you want my schedule? It’s mine. You can’t have it." Bobby smiled
"Just give the damn thing to me. We have to show it to the building manager for you to get your key, Doofus." Angela snapped again
"Doofus? Moi? I think not." He defended.
That last statement earned him a punch in the arm, as well as a few bad looks, as she pushed him into the dorm lobby.
"You know, you give new meaning to the word pushy tour guide." Bobby laughed at her.
"People put those words together before?" Angela looked at him dumbfounded
"Well, this can’t be your first day on the job. So I’m sure it’s happed at least a couple times." He smiled at her
She just backed up and looked at him, expressionless. Not believing what he just said. She was beyond a recognizable state of confusion; she couldn’t even come up with anything to defend herself against his remark.
"My work here is done. Let’s go get that key." Bobby laughed and walked to the middle of the lobby.
"Um…Right…What room?" She stumbled.
"421." Bobby said with the same ear-to-ear smile on his face
"Stupid freshmen" she finally managed
"Good try. But I’ve already got associates and one more year to a bachelor in another field. I just transferred here." Bobby called out to her
Angela just stood in the lobby still. Silent. Looking straight at him, trying to think of something to say to get back at him. Thankfully the lobby was empty and no one saw her like this. She had her reputation to uphold after all.
"Ok, since classes don’t start until next week. Why don’t we get you key and go upstairs to meet your new roommate." Angela struggled
"I don’t know." Bobby smirked
"You don’t know what? You nervous Bobby?" Angela said thinking this was her chance.
"No, I just don’t know why we’re not up there yet. You are the tour guide. Why you ask is beyond Me.." He said, sitting down
"Goddamn smartass I swear to god." She clenched
The pair walked to the end of the lobby, and up to a counter where a man, slightly older than Bobby did, sat.
"Hey Jake." Angela said. "We got ourselves a newbie that needs a room key."
"Good for him." Jake said. "what room"
"421" Bobby scowled.
"Here. Nice roommate too by the way." Jake said handing him the key. Returning to his laptop
"What a pleasant guy that was. Remind me not to let him know when this place is on fire ok?" Bobby said as he caught up with Angela
"Oh, don’t let him bother you. He’s always like that. Always stressing over something."
"Good to know. Guess I’ll put him on my ‘People I should avoid list’ entry number two." Bobby smiled
"Oh my god, you have a list of people to avoid? How childish." Angela smiled.
"Yeah, well, I’ve been called worse." He told her
The pair continued down the hallway to the stairwell on the far side of the lobby. Climbing four flights of stairs was another thing Bobby wasn’t too fond of…However creating an ice column wouldn't be very advisable. Instead, he just followed Angela up the stairs and up to his room.
"Well, here you are, home away from home." She said
Bobby slid the key into the door and proceeded to walk inside. Angela followed closely behind him. He noticed his room was actually pretty nice. Not really spacious, but the furniture looked pretty nice…as nice as it could be compared to a mansion in upstate New York.
Sitting opposite one of the windows on a computer, was his roommate. Who apparently didn’t even notice Bobby’s entrance.
"Hey man. My name is Bobby, I’ll be your roommate for the semester." Bobby said.
"Hey. Name’s Peter. You’re side is the empty one." Peter mumbled with his head buried into the computer screen.
"Yeah, that was pretty obvious." Bobby laughed
"Wonderful, you got one of those computer geeks as a roommate. Fun." Angela remarked.
"Do you ever have anything nice to say to people you don’t know?" Bobby asked her
"Not usually." She returned, "Ready to go?"
"Um…I guess." Bobby said. "See ya later on Pete"
"Right." Peter said as they walked out of the door.
Angela didn’t waste anytime getting out of the room. She was out before she finished her question to Bobby. He followed her closely behind her, but for some reason she was in a complete hurry to get out of the dorm, and he struggled to walk as fast as she did.
She had the goofy looking smile on her face the whole way down the hallway. No sooner as she reached the stairs she started laughing uncontrollably.
Once outside Bobby’s dorm building, Angela led him to common area shaded off by a few trees. For a college it was suprisingly empty for this time of day. The only other people outside were a group of smokers next to the building entrance. Finally he got Angela to stop.
"Hey are you alright?" Bobby asked. "You didn’t skip your medication this morning did you."
"No," she said as she laughed. "It’s just you have Parker as a roommate!"
"So, what’s your point." Bobby asked.
"He’s just one of the biggest recluses in school. Which gives me some thinking that he’s a mutie…" Angela confessed.
"So what if he is?" Bobby asked
"Don’t worry about that Bobby. That doesn’t have to concern you." She said
"Yeah ok…it won’t concern me until my roommate ends up dead." Bobby questioned her
"Who said he’s gonna die? He might not even be a mutant. But, enough of this conversation, Can I ask you something?" She said
"Sure. I guess." Bobby said to her
"Well, my roommate kinda bailed on me earlier. We were supposed to go to this field party tonight. But she was my ride out there. I was wondering if you have anything planned for tonight." She asked
"Not a thing going on tonight." Bobby answered her
"Great. Would you like to come along?" Angela invited "And possibly give us a ride there?"
"Us?" Bobby asked
"Me and my boyfriend." Angela answered.
"Anybody else?" He asked her, suspiciously
"No, it would just be the three of us." She assured him.
"Yeah, sure. Sounds like fun. Where and when do I pick you two up?" Bobby asked her.
"Well, my boyfriend, lives in your building. It would probably be easier to meet you here. What do you think?" Angela propositioned.
"Ok, I guess I’ll see you in my room. I’ve got to unpack and all that stuff so just come up when you two are ready. Cool?" Bobby told her
"Great. I have some friends that will be there I can introduce to you." Angela smiled.
"Awesome…" Bobby smirked
She quickly turned and walked away, leaving Bobby to settle in his room. Bobby started walking back into the dorm, silently cursing the fact that Angela had a boyfriend. Just as he reached the door, one of the members of the smokers group came up to him, and handed him a piece of paper.
"Hey man, you’re new here right?" The smoker asked getting Bobby’s attention.
"Yeah." Bobby replied, taking a look at the rest of the group
"Well, welcome. If you would read over that pamphlet, it would inform you about the mutant problem this school has. We suspect there is a really large nest of ‘em here. But, with your help, not for long." The smoker went on.
"What are you? Some kind of Racist Jehovah witnesses? I don’t want to take part in anything illegal man. I’m here to finish my degree. I could care less about a mutant problem. I have better things on my mind." Bobby said disgusted.
"Nobody is asking you to do anything. That’s why we’re around, and other people like us. All we ask is for you to call one of those number in the pamphlet if you see of these freaks." He defended
"Well, I guess. I mean that isn’t really much. Not too difficult." Bobby said, adjusting his attitude.
"Glad to hear it. We’ll be rid of this infestation very soon" The smoker said as he returned to his group.
Disgusted, Bobby walked back into the dorm, mockingly waving at Jake before he started climbing the stairs back to his room.