Sophie tapped her pen nervously on the table as she looked down at the paper in front of her. A phone number was on it. Dead center. Staring her in the face. God, what was she doing? This was stupid. How could she even think of calling them? Sophie could just keep on like she always did - pretending to be a normal human - and everything would be okay. No one would know. No one would care. No one ever noticed who - what - she was. But that didn't sit right with Sophie. She wanted to... well... feel like she belonged somewhere without having to worry about making a mistake or worrying about what would happen if they found out or worrying in general...

She didn't even know if this Institute for Gifted Individuals housed mutants! Sure, the boy from her old high school was a mutant and Alex might be one, but Sophie still wasn't sure. She could just call this number and find out that nothing was unusual there.

Sophie grimaced as she picked up the phone and dialed the number. Another moment's hesitation then she pushed send. Hopefully someone would answer and she wouldn't have to go through this again...

Scott sat at his desk in his office. Paperwork lay sprawled out in organized chaos in front of him, along with the antagonizing glow of the computer screen at the side. He kept trying to focus, but his mind would wander, which only irritated him more. He wanted to be able to concentrate, but each time he tried to come up with a new lead on what might have happened to the Professor, his brain only led him down dead end paths, or it drifted to worrying over Jean, or a hundred other little worries. He began to rub his temple tiredly when the phone rang. Maybe it would be some better news...

"The Xavier Institute, Scott Summers speaking. May I help you?" he answered in his usual even and business-like tone.

"The Xavier Institute, Scott Summers speaking. May I help you?"

With a little effort, Sophie managed to avoid hanging up the phone and annoying Mr. Summers, though it was incredibly tempting. Now came the awesome part of trying to explain why she was calling without sounding like an idiot.

"Er, hello, Mr. Summers." She began, searching for the words. "My name is Sophie. I've heard about the Institute from a few friends of mine who attend there. My question is... well," Sighing, Sophie ran a hand through her hair. "It's..." She chuckled at her stupidity. "I'm sorry, Mr. Summers. I don't know why I called. I just thought.. I guess I needed to talk to somebody. I'm sorry to have wasted your time."

For a moment, Scott didn't hear anything on the other end of the line and he had just been about to hang up when a voice finally spoke. "Sophie," Scott said into the receiver, his voice stern so that it might prevent the girl on the other end from ending the call. "I think you do know why you called. Stay on the phone...let's talk then." Setting the pen in his hand down, Scott sat back in his office chair. This call managed to pull his attention to one place.

"If you have a question, please...ask it. I don't bite." That was reserved for the more feral members of the staff. Heh.

Another small sigh escaped her but this time Sophie made sure to move the receiver away so Mr. Summers wouldn't think he was talking to someone in a wind tunnel. "I know.. well, at least the people I've met, I know that the students," And staff, she added mentally, thinking of that Pro-something guy. "... aren't exactly normal. This sounds stupid, I know - it is stupid." Sophie calmed herself down before she began to ramble. "But... I guess my point is..." Another moment of hesitation passed before she managed to convince herself to just come out with it. Worse case scenario would be that she was talking to some random stranger about something he would never have to deal with. Neither Mr. Summers nor Sophie would ever see each other again, in that case. "Look, I didn't grow up with parents who were accepting of... mutants. I can get along fine without anyone realizing, but I'm honestly tired of just getting along." She shuffled some paperwork on her desk to distract herself. "I'm sorry, Mr. Summers. I probably have this all wrong about your school."

Scott listened to the rambling, timid voice on the other end of the line and quietly, exhaled a sigh. "No," he assured her. "I don't think you got anything wrong. Why don't you come by here, and we can talk more about how you're 'getting along' face to face? The school is located at 1407 Graymalkin Lane, in Salem Center. Can you come here Sophie?"

When the man offered a face to face meeting, Sophie smiled a little. She hadn't been wrong about Xaviers, which meant, in turn, that Alex and Alexa and that Pro-something guy were all mutants, too. The thought comforted Sophie a little bit, but it mostly scared her. She should know better than to listen to her parents, but the memory of their teachings about how mutants were weird and dangerous remained like a scar. "Yes, I can come." Sophie said quietly. "It won't be until this weekend, but I can come."

Scott nodded, which was a silly thing to do during a phone call, but also happened to be one of those innate things one just did. "All right then, this weekend. I'm looking forward to meeting you. And Sophie," he added before ending the call, "Hang in there."

Once the call was over, he penciled in over the sat. and sun. squares on the large, flat desk calendar, 'Meeting with 'Sophie' before getting back to his other tasks.