The last couple of weeks at school had been not only a disaster in every way, but absolutely horrendous.
The teenage X-Men and New Mutants held up the best they could, but the bullying and harassment seemed like it was never going to end. The last couple of days before Christmas break had been the worst. Kitty, Amara, Kurt and Bobby had all been sent back to the Institute from the nurses' office with bruises, black eyes, and in Amara's case, a broken arm.
Kurt sighed, mulling over what had happened at school before break as he opened his locker before the bell. Thankfully, his black eye was gone. The fear that everyone in the school would find out that he was more than the average white teenage high schooler, however, was worse than ever. The thought caused crippling anxiety so bad that Mr. Logan had to practically drag Kurt out of bed so he wouldn't be late for school. It also made his normally enormous appetite increadibly small. Even the thought of eating made him want to vomit.
Kurt also had a huge crush on a girl that had tranferred to Bayville High halfway through last semester. Thinkng about her certainly wasn't helping his nerves. She was in his history class and his lunch period. And history was first period. Kurt didn't know if the girl was pro mutant or not, but one could always hope for the best.
The bell rang, signaling the beginning of the school day. Kurt sighed, slinging his bag over his shoulder and closing his locker.
Please let me and my teammates make it through the day in one piece, Lord. Let them be safe and let no more harm come to injured Amara, he prayed silently. Give us strength and perseverance. Amen.
Kurt headed off to first period, a bit more calm from his prayer but still jumpy from nerves. He made it to class with no more than a couple of weird looks, but his nerves didn't improve any when the only seat left in the classroom was right next to his crush.
He took a deep breath, trying to slow his heart as he sat next to her. She was wearing her typical leather garb that day, though it was slightly more revealing to accommodate the warm weather. She looked up from whatever she was writing in her notebook to toss one of her long multi colored braids over her shoulder before giving Kurt a smile as he sat down.
"How's your day going?" she asked sweetly.
"Um... It's been a bit stressful," he replied, running a shaky hand through his hair. "How about you?"
The girl grimaced. "I was up a bit late last night researching someone that could help with, um, family drama. I also kind of fell asleep on top of my homework, so I'm finishing it up before the rest of my classes. I don't think I got your name. I'm Madison."
She held out her hand in greeting. Kurt was a bit taken aback that Madison was willing to so openly be friendly to him in front of an entire class that pretty much hated him. It took a second or two to get over the shock.
"I'm Kurt," he said, shaking her hand. "Maybe it sounds stupid, but thank you for being friendly. The past couple of weeks have been really hard."
Madison's brow wrinkled with worry. "Are you one of the kids from the mutant school in the area? I've heard rumors about it and that a lot of the kids there get bullied."
"Yeah, I am," Kurt replied. "It's not always easy being a mutant, but we stick by each other as much as we can."
Madison shook her head. "That's more than anyone can say for most girls I've met though. It can be hard to find a real friend these days with everyone either just being fake in general or beig fake for attention. It's especially hard when you're part of the popular crowd."
Kurt's eyes got round as saucers. One of the popular kids was talking to him!? He was going to have to tell the other kids this happened.
"So, you get along with the football team, right? I... never really got along with them. Especially since all the anti-mutant stuff started."
Madison grimaced. "I dated Duncan Matthews for awhile but he turned out to be a huge jerk. We only dated for about a month or two, but we decided just to be friends. He showed his true colors pretty fast and I let him know that I didn't agree with a lot of the stuff he did. He said it was fine with him, but we've drifted apart even though we sit at the same table at lunch."
Kurt thought for a second, but just as he opened his mouth to say something else the bell signaling the beginning of class. Madison shrugged at him, turning to pull something out of her bag before class started. She opened up her notebook, quickly jotting something down before tearing it out and sliding across the desk towards Kurt.
I have something up my sleeve, just wait until the assembly tomorrow afternoon, the note read.
Kurt jotted something down underneath her note before sliding it back across the desk.
Can you give me a little bit of a hint at what it is, maybe?
Madison gave him a sidelong glance and a small smile before writing back.
Not even a little bit of a hint. You'll find out tomorrow. ;)
Kurt rolled his eyes at the winky face but went back to taking notes before the teacher called on them for passing notes. He didn't think twice about what Madison said after getting out of class.
He was in for quite the surprise the next afternoon.