17: Namor McKenzie

High School was a Darwinian exercise in the survival of the fittest. These people were gorgeous, had strong personalities, and were outspoken. He liked his first impression of them even the rude twin had a certain charm to his outbursts

"Pleasure to mee you all," Namor said as he extended a hand to shake all those at the table. He had sea-green eyes and hair like a black stallion lone strands that lay in sections like waves of black kelp.

"Sounds like an interesting class so do I get a color band too?" Namor made eye contact with each of them and listened to them speak making each of them feel like they had his full attention. He had a way of talking short meaningful noncommittal answers that prevented him from being drawn too deep into their conversations. He had not learned enough about them to sway into their lives.

"My roommate seemed fine but you all seem much friendlier..." Namor spoke in his New England accent which made him sound sexier than he should at his age. He had powerful forearms of tightly sinewed muscles and his ears were pointed like a Startrek Vulcan.

"I guess that my wrestling and swimming are going to be pretty boring compared to espionage training?" Namor said modestly as he had quickly realized this was not your average school for education. He knew life was tough for mutants but he had not had the rough experiences that others had had before his gifts manifested. He was just your average jock from a coastal town. He had drunk beer on the train tracks with his buddies and made out with girls and the occasional boy out of town but kept that side of his life pretty low-key. The school seemed to be filled with the "Alphabet mafia" but he was ready to come out to these strangers. He also had misgivings as he was bisexual and that seemed to be the one group most frowned on by the world. As if loving or feeling attraction to both sexes make you indecisive or greedy.

The collection of students were very different personalities than his roommate. He met a strikingly handsome Brit by the name of Jamie Braddock. He seemed equally Downton Abby meets Alex Ryder and a gorgeous blond Russian girl by the name of Illyana. Namor was pleased to meet Noah who seemed to have a South African accent that he had only known from Neill Blumkemp movies. He had seen District 9 and was his only reference to that accent. Harry Rutherford was funny and seemed to educate him in new and diverse curse words. He spoke like a few sailors he knew and would give them a good run for their money in cursing. He shared that little tidbit seeing as Harry spoke like his dad after a bad day. Thomas Jones was yet another Brit but who sounded different than Jamie; he sounded more Eastender. He would never admit to liking British soaps but he appreciated that as a guilty pleasure. Shen Li was still mad at him for the earlier slight so it would take more than a few nice greetings to change his mind but he hadn't ruined it forever. Kang was there too and it was up to him to mend that fence given the opportunity.

"So like so all of you are mutants? At first, I thought I was alone but you all going through the same feelings as myself..." Namor said rarely admitted that he felt alone in his mutation.