Texas: A Monster Truck Rally. After a truck rolls over some cars, the announcer introduces "the main attraction, Fred 'The Blob' Dukes". Fred holds two chains attached to two trucks moving in opposite directions. As Raven Darkholme, Jean, Logan, and the crowd watch, the trucks try to drive off, but Fred pulls them together and causes them to crash. The crowd goes wild, until Fred accidentally falls, and then they start laughing at him, causing Fred to become violently upset.

After the rally, Fred vents his anger by trashing his dressing room. Darkholme arrives and tells him she can give him an "interesting" opportunity. Logan and Jean arrive just in time to see Fred close the door so that he and Darkholme can talk.

At Bayville Darkholme hands Fred his schedule. He say he's not sure he if he can do school again because he didn't fit in at all the other ones, but Darkholme reassures him and says that as principal she can make sure he fits in.

Fred exits Darkholme's office and tries to make sense of his schedule. He grabs Duncan who happens to be walking by and asks him where he's supposed to be. Duncan makes an insulting comment, and Dukes reacts by throwing him to the ground and picking up a set of lockers to smash him. Just then Jean walks by and cools him down by introducing herself and helping him find his first class. Fred is instantly smitten.

English class. Rogue and Scott get paired to do a scene together from Henry V. Scott's friend Paul makes a crack about Rogue being "small, dark, and sullen" and the class laughs. Scott asks Rogue if she's okay with them being partners and she says "I'm not afraid of you" and that he should tell his "weirdo friends" to stay away this time.

Lunch. Kitty and Jean talk about Fred, as Fred gets a tray full of cafeteria food. Fred walks by just as Kurt and Scott are laughing about Scott and Rogue's pairing for the class assignment, and he thinks they're laughing about him. He goes to sit down and accidentally breaks the chair and tips over the table, causing food to go flying across the room and hit Duncan and his football friends. Everyone is laughing at him, and Fred goes into a violent rage and starts a massive food fight. Jean tries to get him to calm down, slips on some food, and falls to his feet. Fred is swinging a table around and Scott shoots at it to save Jean. Jean asks Scott to leave so she can talk to Fred.

Rogue has been watching. She is impressed that the X-Men look out for each other. Darkholme interrupts them and orders them to get to class. Scott calls after Rogue and reminds her that they're meeting after school at the park to work on their scene, as Darkholme looks on with suspicion.

Fred tries to explain that when people laugh at him, it just sets him off. Jean tells him that he needs to learn control, and demonstrates her telekinetic power by smashing a chair into a wall. She tells Fred that she would like to take him to the Xavier Institute whenever he wants. As she leaves Fred notices she left her bag, but doesn't tell her when she's sees she's going off with Scott. Fred sees a corner of a photograph in the front of Jean's bag. He pulls it out: it's a photo of Jean and Scott. He tears it in half and puts the picture of Jean in his pocket and grinds the half with Scott on it under his shoe.

Later, after school on a different day Fred waits for Jean after school. She's walking with her friend Taryn, and Fred gets angry when she says that she can't go with him because she's busy. Jean tells Taryn she'd better go, and then turns to talk to Fred. He grabs Jean by the arm and forces her to go with him, Jean struggling all the way. As she struggles she tries to throw objects at him with her mind, and accidentally causes some construction to fall on top of them both. Fred shields her with his body, and after the dust settles he sees that she has a bruise on her forehead. He carries Jean away as he makes a furtive exit.

Jean wakes to find herself bound to a chair by twisted pieces of metal. Fred has set up candles and a dinner and Jean groans and quickly mentally contacts the Professor. He and Logan have been supervising a training session between Shadowcat and Nightcrawler. When he gets Jean's message Logan gets on his bike and orders Nightcrawler to find Cyclops.

Scott is in the park rehearsing with Rogue. Rogue confesses that she wishes that she could get close to someone. Just then Nightcrawler arrives and tells Scott that Jean's been kidnapped. Scott turns to Rogue and asks her if she knows anything about it, and she says that even if she did she wouldn't tell him. Scott responds by saying that he just hopes she can live with her conscience, and he and Nightcrawler teleport away, leaving Rogue sitting pensively.

Wolverine goes to the school to track Jean's scent, as the Professor briefs Cyclops, Nightcrawler, and Shadowcat, and tells them that Jean doesn't know where she is and that he has only been able to pinpoint her and Fred to a general area.

Wolverine finds where Fred has taken Jean. He tells the Professor, who relays the information to the others. The Professor tells him to wait for backup, but of course he doesn't. He breaks into the building and he and Fred duke it out. Fred is crushing Wolverine when Cyclops arrives, but Fred knocks both of them unconscious. Jean can't escape from the bonds on the chair, but she tries to hurl a heavy metal cabinet at Fred when he re-enters after his fight. He gets angry at her for pretending to be his friend, and just when he's about to throw a huge piece of metal at her Rogue arrives, siphons off some of Cyclops power, and attacks him. She touches him and absorbs his power and knocks him to the other side of the room. Finally, she uses Cyclops' powers to send him flying. Fred lands in a garbage dump, where the seagulls circle around him. Fred thinks they're laughing at him and screams "Stop laughing at me" and then falls down, sad and lonely as ever.

Nightcrawler and Shadowcat have made it to the scene and Jean and Wolverine are outside where Rogue is replacing Cyclops' visor as Cyclops revives. Jean asks her why she helped them and, distraught, Rogue says she just doesn't know, and runs off. Jean starts to go after her, but Wolverine says to let her go and that he's positive sheis just not ready to join them. The five of them watch her go as Scott puts him arm around Jean.