Marie D'Ancanto looked around the school, and she let out a sigh. Even when she was surrounded by people who share abilities just like her; she felt like an outcast. She didn't know what to do about this feeling. She could tell that Bobby Drake had some feelings for her, but she didn't know how to reciprocate those kind of feelings. Ever since she had accidentally nearly drained the life out of her first boyfriend, she hadn't been able to let her guard down. She readjusted her gloves that she was wearing and tugged at the scarf to get her neck covered. Her thoughts had drifted off towards the mutant who had actually saved her; some people on campus thought that she had a crush on the elder mutant, but it wasn't like that. Logan had saved her from the wrath of Magneto and his Brotherhood of Mutants at the Statue of Liberty. Shortly after that incident, he had left to go off and find himself. Since he had left; she had gone back to calling herself Rogue. She felt like she was hiding apart of herself, but she felt safer that way. As she walked through the courtyard, a small breeze brushed one of her white bangs flew in her face. She tucked the strand behind her ear, and then had almost run into Scott Summers, AKA Cyclops. She was always nervous around the teachers; especially the leader of the X-Men. He always seemed stoic, and had this confidence about him which she almost envied. "Hey there Rogue," he said, flashing her a small smile.
"Hello Professor Summers," she mumbled to him.
"What's up?" he questioned; he had been looking for Jean, but he could tell that the student had a lot of things on her mind.
"Uh…nothing," she said quickly, her eyes going down to her shoes. She found herself taking a step back, and Scott gave her an odd look,
"I think there is," he pressed; when he looked at this young mutant in front of him it reminded him of a younger version of him. Even though the teachers themselves weren't that much older than the students, they did have wisdom way beyond their age because of their abilities. She shoved her hands into her pockets, and kept quiet. He had reserved himself too as a student; it took him a long time to get out of his shell; he had to find himself a good group of friends.
"Ah'm ok," she insisted weakly.
Scott shook his head, "You aren't alone here Marie," he said, dropping her real name on her. "You are surrounded by people who share abilities just like you do,"
"My powers can kill people," she said. She hated her ability; she always felt off even with her family, but when her powers came out; it nearly destroyed her. "I can still feel people I have touched in my head," which would explain once in a while when she would growl, or want to pick a fight with a student for no obvious reason.
"Believe it or not," Scott said, "In time you will find some semblance of control," he promised, as he started to lead her in a walk. Rogue reluctantly followed the teacher in the courtyard.
"Ah dunno," her southern accent coming out a bit.
"Believe me, when I came here I literally was blind," he explained softly, "I couldn't open my eyes at all without my uncontrollable optic blasts exploding from eyes," He pointed to his ruby quartz glasses, "With the help of Professor X and an old friend named Hank…they were able to make these Ruby Quartz glasses,"
"They hold them back?" she questioned. His situation wasn't too much different than hers she supposed, but at least he could control his powers with those on. Only layering more clothes on really helped her, and that was just more of a precaution; she even slips up once she could hurt someone.
Scott could tell that she was still reluctant, "We all learn some level of degree of control being here," he promised her. He thought back to Jean when her powers had first came about. Each person here had a story, and each ways they could control it. He was thinking about getting the teachers together to help her out. "But…the thing is," he pressed on trying a different tactic, "I wouldn't have gotten far or even a little out of my shell without making some friends," he was hoping that she would open up some more. Rogue nodded her head, she could hear what he was trying to say.
"Ah…Ah hear you," she said, looking up at him. "Ah'll try to," she finally relented. Rogue knew that she couldn't just breeze by here without being miserable. "Thanks Mr. Summers," she said. He nodded his head and put a hand on her clothed shoulder squeezing it gently before walking off. She watched him walk off, and found herself feeling a little bit better about things. Admittedly she had pushed the few people who talked with her away, and there were few of them that talked to her after the incident with Logan at the mansion.
Rogue walked away, and saw one of the guys that actually did talk with her. "Hey Rogue what's up?" Johnny St. Allerdyce walked up to her playing with his lighter. She raised an eyebrow at him; he always seemed to flipping it on and off, or just holding it. Her very first encounter with him was in history class he had created a fireball out of a small flicker of a flame. She had to admit it was cool when he did that; even when it was taken out by Bobby's ice attack.
"Nothing," she hardly ever did anything on the weekends. She would usually hide in her room, listening to her music and or reading a book.
"Sounds pretty boring," he said, "you should come out with me, Bobby and Jubilee," anyone could tell that she was lonely, and Bobby's attempts to get her out didn't work.
"Uh…" she told herself that she was going to try and get out more, but the prospect of doing that now suddenly terrified her.
"Come on," he prodded gently, "It's not going to kill ya," he said, as he started to flick his lighter on and off. Before she could respond, the other two mutants showed up.
"Hey Sparky whats up?" Jubilee asked, as she blew a bubble. "Hey girl," she said to Rogue with a bright grin. She had definitely the opposite personality of Rogue; she was outgoing and a little on the crazy side.
"We should leave soon if we want to make the movie," Bobby added, and then smiled lightly at the mutant. "You joining us?" he questioned.
"Yes, yes she was," John answered for her. "Let's get out of here," he said, eyeing Rogue challenging her to disagree. Rogue bit her lip and decided to go for it. What was the worst thing that could happen? They were just going to a movie so…nothing bad could really happen.
"Sweet," Jubilee bounced, "Let's go," and suddenly she looped arms with Rogue. The brunette jumped in surprise; other students never got this close. John had to smirk at the look on Rogue's face as the other female mutant dragged her towards the front of the school. Lucky for them; they were treated more as tenants than as students on the weekends. They were after all in their late teens who wanted to have a normal life, and to those who drove they could take one of the vehicles off property for a bit. It was nice to know that there was faith kept in the students. Bobby was going to offer Rogue to come sit up front with him, but was interrupted by Jubilee dragging her to the backseat with her. "So glad you're finally getting out of this place for a minute," she said excitedly. Rogue had to chuckle slightly at how hyper active Jubilee was. The girl clearly needed to switch to decaff; though Rogue knew she was just a little jealous. She was able to be free with herself while she wasn't.
"Oh yeah?" Rogue responded, not wanting to be rude to the other girl as John sat up in the passenger seat waiting for Bobby to start driving.
"Will you hurry it up Bobby?" John asked, irritation lacing his voice. "You know we would be halfway there if I was driving,"
"And you nearly wrecked one of the cars," Bobby shot back, as he put it into gear and started to drive off property. As much as she was an introvert, it was nice to be surrounded by people who weren't scared of her. She was scared of herself with this power brewing inside of her.
"You are quiet," Jubilee observed giving her a look. "You've been at the school almost a full year and you-,"
"Jubes, seriously," Bobby protested, "You said you would tone back the crazy-,"
"Eyes on the road Popsicle," she tended to give people nicknames Rogue noticed, "And I am being perfectly sweet," she said snottily before turning back towards Rogue.
From the front seat John was able to see that Rogue was actually smiling a little bit; he hadn't seen anything like that since Magneto had nearly killed her. And Jubilee being her normal crazy self seemed to get her out of her shell more than Bobby's shy act that he was pulling. John was glad to see that worked, smirking at the times Jubilee got him to open up too just a few years back. He ran a hand through his shaggy locks, and looked towards Bobby. Few times since they became friends did they ever fight, but once in a while they both got their eyes set on a girl and they practically competed for her attention. It started when they were in history class; he had set a fire ball up for two reasons; he was bored, and he wanted to catch Rogue's attention. Of course Bobby had to upstage him by freezing the fireball and making him drop it. He stopped thinking about the past and started to focus on the present. Bobby looked irritated; which he took a little bit of vindictive pleasure out of.
Soon they hit the local theater, and Jubilee bounded off to go get the tickets. Ever since they all became friends, they switched off for treating with whatever allowance they got for hanging out. That left Rogue hanging around with Bobby and John.
"So…" Rogue stood awkwardly, hanging not too close. "You guys do this often?" she questioned, crossing her arms across her chest; it almost felt like she was holding herself together. Why was she so nervous being out with other students?
"Yeah it's nice to break out once in a while," John answered swiftly as he got his lighter out yet again with a grin. "Hopefully she didn't choose a chick flick like she did last time," he groused.
"I'd rather have an action movie over some romance any day," Rogue let out without even thinking about it. Both males raised their eyebrows in surprise; she wasn't really an open book except with one other person and he was off who knows where doing who knows what. She then quickly added, "Squishy romantic stuff is just like a giant middle finger that I can't do stuff like that,"
"Plus they are annoying and almost stalkerish," John added, interrupting whatever Bobby could have had to say. Rogue nodded her head in agreement, and before any more could be said Jubilee came back over.
"Alright dweebs lets go," she said.
"Not really a term of endearment Jubilee," Bobby said as they followed the hyperactive mutant towards the concession stand. Rogue remained quiet during this and Jubilee looked at the interactions between the males and their new friend. Jubilee couldn't help but roll her eyes at what she saw that they were doing. John and Bobby had fought for Kitty Pryde when she first came to the school, but after all their squabbling Piotor Rasputin came in and swept the ghost like mutant off her feet.
"Jubes seriously?" John groaned, "another romantic fluff movie?"
"Well if I'm not getting anywhere with anyone, I can at least live vicariously through characters in movies," she shot back at the fiery mutant. As the group of rag tag mutants headed into the theater of whatever movie Jubilee chose, Jubilee couldn't help but look at the two guys. They were both crushing on Rogue hard, but Jubilee didn't want to be in between an argument again. Soon as this movie was done and over with, she was going to pull them aside and beat some sense into them about this whole competing for a girls affection thing.
Soon they were corralled in the theater and Rogue couldn't help but get bored throughout the sheer plot, and she was beginning to crave something sweet. She tapped Jubilee's shoulder gently, "I'm gonna go get some candy," Jubilee nodded her head, and Rogue got up and headed out of the theater. She walked towards the concession stand, and felt someone bump into her. "Excuse me-," she started to apologize when the said person she bumped into grabbed her shoulders roughly and started to push her against a wall. "Look her sugah," she said, her southern drawl coming out strong, "Ah don't-,"
"Hold on there pretty gal," the creeper said to her. He was built up a little bit, and she was covered from head to toe. This was one of the few times she wished she was a little more bare so she could actually use her power on him. He was reeking of tobacco and alcohol which was making her gag. Before anything more could be said, someone had yanked the offender off of her. Her savior was nonetheless her group of newfound friends lead by John.
"Keep your hands off of her," John threatened; he instinctively went for his lighter. Bobby was close behind him; their quarrel forgotten for the moment over how to win Rogue's praise over.
"We can't use our powers here," he hissed. Luckily it didn't have to resort to that, because the guy backed off, leaving the mutants alone.
"Come on let's get you out of here," Jubilee said, gingerly grabbing her friend's shoulder. They headed back towards the car, and Rogue sat there in silence. She was completely defenseless against a normal human. "Roguey come on," Jubilee said, "it'll be ok,"
"Ah was completely defenseless against a normal person," she grumbled.
"Probably because you don't take the self defense classes," Bobby pointed out. Rogue stopped to think about it; Professor Xavier had given her the option to opt out. She knew that if she accidentally touched someone she might hurt someone and she didn't want to take that chance.
"Ah might hurt someone,"
"I'll spar with ya," Juiblee offered.
"But-,"
"I have made my decision," she said with finality. "You can sign up tomorrow," she said.
"Alright alright," Rogue said, surrendering to them. Even though the night hadn't gone as planned, she was starting to form friendships for the first time since Logan left. Maybe…just maybe she could make this power thing work for her.
Hopefully you guys will like this; well even if not one of my favorite pairings will be here, and things will work out. Thanks to all who read, review and what not.
