Fireworks

When Kitty threw the little piece of mistletoe at his feet, John knew that he was in trouble.

"It was you."

"I can explain," he told her.

She laughed bitterly. "I'm sure you can. What would it be this time? It wasn't enough that you've always teased me and made fun of me? You just had to go for complete humiliation, didn't you? Making me like you, making me think you liked me. Then what? Dump me in front of everyone in school so they'll all know what a stupid fool John Allerdyce made out of Kitty Pryde?"

He actually looked shocked and offended at her accusation. "Jesus, Kitty! Is that what you really think of me? That I'm the kind of guy who would do a thing like that?"

"Right now, I think you're the kind of guy who's capable of doing anything just to hurt someone!" Beneath the venom in her words was genuine pain. "How can I believe anything you say now? How can I believe in you, at all?"

"It's just – it was just a little scheme to get your attention," he admitted reluctantly. "I never did it to set you up to hurt you."

"'Just a little scheme'?" Her eyes flashed with anger. "Why would you even need to scheme to get my attention? You've always had it with the teasing and the annoying that you do!"

"Exactly!" he burst out. "Do you know how hard it is to get you to notice me? You don't just walk through walls, Kitty. You walk through people, and you don't even see them. If I'm not in your face all the time, you don't even know I exist!"

"Don't you dare! Don't you dare try to turn this around and make it my fault somehow!"

"I'll dare whatever the hell I wanna dare!" he shouted. He was angry now, too, and he knew that he was only making things worse by acting like this. "It was never my intention to make a fool out of you, okay? Sure, what I did was stupid and thoughtless, and I wish I could have gone about things differently, or told you the truth from the start. But it's all done now. So get over it already!"

Her face became a mask. When she spoke, her voice was flat and cold. "You're a jackass."

She only let the tears fall once she was safe in her room. Jubilee found her later crying into her pillow.

"Hey, what happened?" her roommate asked, concerned.

"I think - " she sniffed, "I think John and I just broke up."

"What? But you've only been together for a few days!"

"I found out he was the one who set up the mistletoe thing, after all," she confessed. "Then we had a fight about it and he said some mean things to me."

Jubilee made a face.

"What?" Kitty said. "You have that look."

"What look?" her friend asked innocently.

"That look. Your 'I was about to say something really tactless but I stopped myself in time' look. I see it very rarely, but I do know what it means."

The other girl sighed. "You know me so well." That earned a weak grin from Kitty. "I was gonna say that John Allerdyce, well, he kinda has the habit of saying mean things, like, all the time, and not just during arguments."

Kitty nodded. "That's actually true. You can't stop that mouth of his once it starts flapping. He talks more than a girl does."

"I never liked the hair," Jubilee commented. "Greasy-looking."

"And that jacket? Can you say pimp-sleaze?"

"Don't forget the lighter! With the flicking and snapping and irritating!"

"God, that lighter! I just wanna grab it and ram it down his throat!"

They were really getting into the John-bashing when Kitty suddenly burst into a fresh bout of tears.

"What's wrong now?" Jubilee was alarmed.

"We're break-up bonding!" she wailed. "I can't believe we're break-up bonding! Before the New Year's Ball!"

"Oh, Kitty!" Her friend hugged her comfortingly. "It's okay! It's gonna be okay! There are other guys out there! And they're non-jerks! John Allerdyce is totally replaceable!"

"But I don't wanna replace him! He's my jerk!"

"You are so severely messed up," Jubilee observed.

"Maybe I should make up with him?" she wondered. "Do you think I should do that?"

"I think you should gather the tattered shreds of your dignity first and wipe your nose."

"Oh." She did as she was told. "Well?"

"I really don't know what to tell you," Jubilee said. "I know you like him, and he must really like you if he went to all the trouble of setting up his little mistletoe conspiracy. But -"

"But?"

"But, do you really believe that this is something that's worth hanging onto? John Allerdyce – he just doesn't strike me as a good emotional investment."

"You think I should come to my senses and get over it, huh?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah," Jubilee nodded. "For your own good, in the long run."

She was silent for a few minutes. "I'll think about it," she said.

After the fight with John and the talk with Jubilee, Kitty didn't feel up to going to the Ball later that night. A lot of the kids had decided to stay in the Institute during the holidays, mostly because their parents had asked them not to come home though no one ever admitted it out loud, so the teachers had done their best to make sure that everyone had a good time. There were games and gifts and carols, and, on Christmas, they had a huge dinner which was such a hit that for the New Year's, they decided to top it with a dinner and a ball.

It took a good bit of persuasion and some emotional blackmail before Jubilee could drag Kitty out of bed and agree to join the celebration. Reluctantly, she trailed behind her friend as they showed up for the dinner. She kept her head down for the most part so no one could see that she had been crying. Though Jubilee swore on blood that the make-up covered absolutely everything, Kitty didn't believe her for a second. One look at her and she knew that anyone could see that she was really a mess.

"Will you stop moping?" Jubilee hissed out of the corner of her mouth. "Relax. He's not here to appreciate your look of misery."

"He's not?" Her head snapped up and her eyes quickly scanned the dining hall. "Where the hell is he?"

"I don't know. Probably in his room crying his heart out, " Jubilee said sarcastically.

"Do you think I should go look -" Kitty was already on her feet but the other girl grabbed her and forced her to sit down again. "Ow!"

"Forget it! You're not gonna go running after him!"

"But I wanna know where he is!"

"Maybe he'll show up at the Ball later."

"You think so?"

"For my own peace of mind, I hope to God he does!"

But John wasn't at the Ball, either. Kitty just sat in one corner, cradling a cup of warm punch in her hands and politely refusing all invitations to dance. Not only had John not shown up but even Jubilee seemed to have abandoned her. She had disappeared as soon as they had set foot in the ballroom.

"Everyone! Everyone!" Miss Grey called for attention. "It's countdown time!" The teachers and the students then started to chant.

"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, - Happy New Year!"

While everyone cheered and clapped, there were several loud explosions and a dazzling display of fireworks lit up the night sky. The entire party rushed out of the ballroom through the French doors to witness the spectacle. Kitty was unwillingly swept along with them. She found herself pushed by the crowd till she was standing in front with a very good view of the pyrotechnics. Miss Grey was standing beside her with her hand on Professor Xavier's wheelchair so he wouldn't be jostled by the excited kids.

"Did you arrange for this, Jean?" she heard the Professor ask Miss Grey.

"No." She shook her head. "I only got sparklers." Then she smiled and suddenly looked at Kitty.

"Look!" someone shouted. "It's making words!"

They all turned their attention back to the fireworks.

Sure enough. There were words forming out of the colorful lights.

"John Allerdyce... is a jackass," a voice read out loudly. "He's short... and scrawny... and he smells funny... Plus... he's stupid... Kitty... forgive him... He's stupid... that's his only excuse."

Kitty shook her head in exasperation. "He is such an asshole," she said, but she was smiling.

There was another burst of fireworks and the show was over. Everyone trooped back to the ballroom.

Jubilee ran inside a few minutes later, slightly out of breath, and made her way to Kitty. "Did you see it?" she asked. "I can't believe that worked! I wasn't sure that our powers could work together like that!"

"Yeah," she nodded, laughing. "I saw it."

"What did you think of the fireworks?" John Allerdyce wanted to know. He was standing right behind her.

"Okay. I'm gonna go now." Jubilee smirked. "Just for the record, I still think he's a jerk. But he's your jerk." Then she was gone.

Kitty turned to face him. "They weren't sparkly enough," she told him seriously. "I wanted them to be sparkly."

"God!" He pretended to be annoyed. "What does it take, Pryde?"

"I'm sorry," she said.

"What?! I really have to say that?" He was aghast. "Wasn't the whole fireworks thing and actually being polite to that Jubilee and the public humiliation not enough?"

She stared at him. "No, you idiot!" she snapped. "I'm sorry! Me!"

He looked like he was about to argue, but then he thought better of it. "Oh. For what?" he asked instead.

"I'm sorry," she repeated, "for walking through you, for ever making you feel that I don't see you. I do see you. You're more in focus for me than anybody else."

He smiled. Not a smirk, not a grin. A genuine smile. And he didn't say anything.

"John?" Kitty prompted. "Words would be good. Make vocal sounds, please."

He just looked at her, still smiling. "Happy New Year, Kitty," he finally said.

"That's it?" She was disappointed.

He shrugged. "What do you want me to say?"

"I don't know. Something – I just made a little speech back there. Come on. You owe me something similar."

"Kitty, you talk too much."

"What? I most certainly do not!"

"Yes, you do."

"I don't! You're the talky one!"

"Kitty?"

"What?"

They both stopped talking.

The End