Title: Dollar for love

Summary: A must for Ryro lovers. Starts before X2, but gradually makes it's way there. John Allerdyce is a sarcastic, cold-hearted bastard. He is both loathed and loved. So how could he fall in love with the person who loathes him most? Life has it's beginnings and ends, and as it twists and turns around tight corners you can become oblivious to what is really going on inside you brain. And John's life is about to make a hard turn.

WARNING: MIXED WITH EVOLUTION! If that's a bad thing…=P

Set before X2. I should have written this way before now, but I guess I'll try. And you can, too. Imagine X2 hasn't happened yet. John isn't on Mag's side yet, okay? Right. Let's get on with it! Oh, and please note that this is, like, my first ever romancy story. Ever. Alright! Bring it on…

I do not own any characters in the story apart from Shockwave (Mikaela), Shred (Jessika) and Tan (James).

Love is a big deal, and is not cheap. True love only happens once in a lifetime, and most of the time when you are in love you do are unaware of your surroundings, and sometimes, in my case, lose control. (John)

*~*~*~*

Dollar for Love

*~*~*~*

____John's POV_____

I walked through the mansion, looking around as if I had just started attending classes at Mutant High. Students of different ages swarmed the corridors like innocent, naïve bees searching for their sweet pollen. A group of girls, all around 16 years old, were giggling like two-year-olds. I scoffed. I couldn't stand them and felt like telling them to shut up. Who cared anyway…no one does. They didn't know what had happened. Like I felt like telling anyone. Nope, it was just me, myself and I. I never talk to people anyway. I'm not that "social" type. I sighed as I entered the classroom. I was late…as usual.

"John Allerdyce," I heard the teacher's voice ring in my ear as she called out my name. Personally, I hated my name for some reason. I didn't like the sound of it. The 'dyce' part at the end especially. It sounded like I was going to chop someone up. What kind of a name was John anyway? Pathetic. That's all I was.

"What d'you want?" I replied in a not-so-polite tone. Jean narrowed her eyes, but then smiled, and laughed. I raised an eyebrow. Was she on one of her 'high' moods today?

"Sit down, Mr. Allerdyce," she said, her stare piercing through my head. I glared at her and mumbled under my breath. There goes my name again. Why can't she just call me John? That was my freaking name, and I had it for a reason. I groaned when I found that the only seat available was next to Kitty. Serves me right for being late.

"Now class…" Jean began. All the rest was blah, blah, blah. I sat there, the sound going through one ear and out the other. I started making paper aeroplanes as a result of my boredom. How childish of me.

Suddenly, my head snapped up as my name was called. "John," repeated Ms. Gray. "Can you please summarize what I have just said?"

Oh, great. All eyes were turned on me again. I glared back at them. "Well, all you said really was bl-"

Ah, saved by the bell. I grinned to myself.

*

I trudged heavily, dragging my feet towards the staircase, picking up my tired feet. I had stayed up until one o'clock last night. I just couldn't sleep. As usual.

When I opened my door, I saw Bobby playing his gameboy on his bed. Gameboy? Grow up, I thought to myself.

"Bobby," I announced, clearing my throat loudly. He woke up from his trance and sighed.

"John, don't do that…" he groaned, looking at the small screen. "I had nearly defeated the boss…"

I rolled my eyes and then glared at him. "Well, you better not mess with this boss, right here." Bobby glared back.

"Bastard," Bobby mumbled as he hopped off the bed to go into the bathroom. He had only walked a few steps when I called to him in a fake tone.

"Hey Bobby," I put on a lop-sided, unrealistic smile. "Want some help?" Bobby turned around and snarled. I started laughing. I took out my lighter and starting flicking it to annoy the crap out of him.

"Will you fucking STOP THAT!"

"Okay Iced-Balls."

"No problem, Burnt Testicles."

That was the cruncher. I took out my lighter and put the flame on his pants. He jumped up and down, screaming like an electricuted monkey. I laughed. In the end he had to freeze his pants. Haha…he probably froze his balls off too. Suddenly I heard someone knock on the door.

"What the hell d'you want?" I opened the door and groaned. "Well?"

"What the hell's your problem?" Rogue snapped. "I was wondering if you could keep it down, we're trying to get some sleep down the hall."

"Oh, okay," I looked back at Bobby, who was trying to do a pee. "Well, you can tell Ice-Dick here."

"What's up with him?"

I shrugged. "He froze his balls off."

She started laughing. "Get lost," she said and I closed the door.

"What the hell is so funny, John?" screamed Bobby from the toilet.

"Sshh!" I put my index finger over my lips and lowered my voice to a whisper. "Your girlfriend needs some sleep!"

*

The next day when I was walking to class, to my surprise, Amara came up to me with her "friends" Kitty and Jubes. I'm not so sure they really liked Amara, as she treated them like her servants. She was really popular, and rather snobbish.

"Hi John," she said in a popular-bitchish tone. I looked at her as if she were weird. She frowned. "Um, hello!" she waved her hand in front of my face.

"Yeah?" I asked. She smiled.

"Well, I was kinda wondering if you were doing anything tonight? Maybe we could eat dinner or something…or go to the game room for a while?"

I looked at her, making up my mind. Finally I thought I had nothing to lose, so I said, "Sure." Amara smiled, said goodbye and walked off. Her long brown hair was wisping around her neck and back like water being splashed around.

I returned her smile. Was this a date? Yeah.

[Next day(Friday)]

Well, I must say it was another day, but not in paradise. We have our usual class with Ms. Munroe, and then Mr. Summers' lesson. Everyone knows that Jean has the hots for Scott – I mean, they're engaged! They must have a serious relationship. But then again, what is a "serious" relationship? I snapped out of my thinking session and sat down next to Roberto. I don't like sitting next to people, but atleast it's better than Kitty…and her muffins. All fear her muffins. I slumped back into my chair and folded my arms onto the desk, my chin tucked in between them…I started falling asleep. Damn, why was I so tired? I haven't been staying up late...apart from the other day.

[The night before]

It was midnight, and I had finally gone to sleep after putting up with Bobby's snores. What a pig! Then there was a knock on the door. "Piss off…" I groaned, turning onto my side. But they knocked again. And again, and again. I put my head under my pillow and clenched my teeth. Okay, this was starting to get annoying. I got up and dragged my feet to the door. I opened it. Logan was standing there. Well, at the time I thought it was Logan.

He grabbed me under his arm viscously. "You're coming with me," he growled.

"You wish!" I yelled and punched him in the stomach hard. It was as if he didn't feel a thing, because he instantly threw his hand at my face. Fortunately, I moved my head and it missed. I knew I had woken up every single person in the corridor. Ah well, better save my skin before it was too late. A door opened. Oh shit, I thought. They're going to start coming out now.

"Logan!" I heard someone call out. It was Rogue. She was hurrying towards us.

"Go away!" screamed Logan. He hit her in the face. It wasn't too hard, thankfully for her, but what happened next was a stupid move. He grabbed her, making contact with her skin. He started seizing up and screaming. I fell on the floor, freed from his grasp. When I looked up Rogue was on the floor trying to get up, and next to her was…Mystique? Hang on…that wasn't Logan!

"Need a hand?" I asked Rogue. She snarled.

"No, I'm fine, I don't need a loser bothering me. But thanks for the offer." She stood up in a flash and ran back to her room. I stood there, dumbfounded at what had just happened. I heard a stir. Ms. Blue here was waking up! Oh, shit. I tried to run back to my room, but I couldn't move. I looked down, and there she was, grabbing my ankle. I lifted up my left leg and stomped on her hand, but she grabbed that too. I lost balance and fell flat on my face.

"John Allerdyce," she sneered.

"Yeah, that's my freakin' name lady. You got a problem?"

Mystique grinned. "You would be a great addition to Magneto's crew."

"Look, I aint got nothing to do with Mag, he's a loner and so are you. Now let me go." I wasn't scared. I mean, why should I be? It was only another mutant. I was one too. And I had quite a good power.

I took out my lighter and took the flame in my hand. I looked down at Mystique. "Hey alien chick, eat this!"

I threw the flame at her. She let go of my ankle and rolled sidewards. Now was my chance to escape. I reached the stairs and started to go down, but Mystique ran in front of me, disguised as myself. Now how was I going to use my powers? She would just make the fire distinguish. Well, it was worth a try. I still had the flame in my hand. I threw it at her, but she made it turn back. I then controlled the flame to go the other direction, and the whole thing went on vice-versa until I started tiring out. The fifth time the flame came toward me, I made it grow until high flames surrounded Mystique. While she was trying to fight them off, I made a run for it. When she had finished I was gone. I weaved around corners until I came to a dead end. I was dead meat. She advanced onto me. Now I was scared.

Something strange happened. Mystique suddenly turned back to her normal form and ran away. John stood there confused until the professor came wheeling towards him.

"John, what are you doing here?" He asked. I shrugged. "I do recall the kitchen being on the other side of the mansion."

"No, professor, you see, I was just – "

"I know exactly what happened, John," he lowered his head and looked at me gravely.

"Professor…Mystique said something about Magneto's crew." I finally managed to say. I was curious about Magneto. I had heard him mentioned somewhere before and I wanted to know more. But the professor just shook his head.

"Not now, John. It's one in the morning, and I'm sure you are a bit sleepy. Please, return to your bed." After he had said that, he wheeled around and went back to wherever he was.

That night, I went to bed with my head absolutely swarming with a million questions. Why did Mystique react like that? What was the Professor doing up so late? What was he doing? What did Mystique mean by Magneto's crew? If I wasn't so sleepy I would have stayed awake, but it was one in the morning, so I fell fast asleep like a log.

[Friday]

I had so much homework that if I fed it to an elephant it would keep it alive for decades. I would have sat down and started to do it if I didn't have to meet Amara in the game room at seven. So, I had a shower and put on my usual track pants and hoodie.

I jogged casually down the stairs, bumping into a few people and exchanging death glares as usual. I wasn't too hyped about dating Amara and kept my cool, acting as if it was any ordinary night. When I reached the last step, I bumped into Rogue.

I stared at her, confused.

____Rogue's POV_____

As I walked up the stairs, some gay prick knocked me over. I glared at him, and he stared at me back. I recognised the dumb prick; John. And the prick was staring at me…again. Why does he always look at people in that way? Did the wind change or something?

"Watch it," I snarled. He smirked at me. I stood there, thinking "Uh…what the fuck?"

"Where are you going?" he asked finally. "You know, dinner's not finished. In fact, it's barely started."

I shrugged. "I'm not hungry," I answered lamely. "What are you doing tonight, going on a date?"

"How did you know?"

I grinned. "I know a lot more than you think." To tell you the truth, I actually sense these things. It's like a sixth sense really. Weird, I know, but it seems true. And when people whisper around me, it's as if I can understand what they are saying, mentally yet not physically. Sometimes my instincts stop me from doing things that my unconscious mind does not agree to. Sometimes it screws up my whole life, but later on I think about other conclusions to the problem. If I had agreed, what would have happened? Sometime your instincts are better than you think, sometimes they are the right thing. I didn't know exactly what I meant, though, by saying what I just did. Maybe I just had to let it out.

"Oh, do you?"

I nodded, still grinning. "So, are you gonna let me pass or not? Ladies first, you know."

He side-stepped regretfully, letting me resume my task of proceeding to my room, which had somehow become difficult. I opened the door to my room, number 16. At the end of the hall, there sat number 21. On the left to my room there was 17, and on the right 15 and so on. I was a roommate with a girl called Mikaela, and we didn't know anything about her. Not even her age, or where she came from, or her powers. We didn't know if she had siblings. She could be a spy from Magneto's crew, but the professor still took her in. Tomorrow we would have a meeting with the professor while the X-Men went on another mission, if they had one. When an unexpected case pops up, we have a day off school. No teachers! Yay! And at the meeting we might learn more about my prodigal roommate. Ha…the prodigal roommate revealed.

"Hi," she greeted. Her long, black hair was tied up tightly in a plait. Her brown eyes shined with anticipation…they even reminded me of someone I knew.

"Hi…Mikaela," I said lazily. I was tired and wanted to drop off without further ado.

"You can call me something shorter like Kayla or Mike, if you want." My eyes opened fully. Mikaela never spoke to me apart from saying "hi" and/or "bye". But it was good to hear her speak. Her voice was fragile like porcelain, yet at the same time firm and strong. Since no one knew anything about Mikaela, I found her totally unpredictable and weird. I couldn't wait for tomorrow, just to find out more.

"Anyway…" I said after a long pause. "I'm gonna hit the sack now, I'm absolutely buggered."

"Why?"

"Uh…can't tell you that. But I will if you tell me something about you."

Mikaela didn't answer straight away. Instead, she stared out the window, a worried look on her face. "I can't. Not now. The time will come when you will know what you need to know. And soon,"

It took me a while to process her words through my sleepy brain, but I responded. "You mean…on Saturday?"

She smiled. "I'm not sure if you'd like what you'll hear, but even if you do it will shock you at least a bit," She looked back at me. "You said you were tired. If you really were, you would get some sleep."

And so I did.

Yay. It's finished. Review. I'm going to need 10 good reviews before I post chapter two. :-D I am quite demanding. Anyway, I can't waste my time on these useless speech-thingies you pathetic mortals use. This is Lia Almighty, signing off in 5…

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Nana says if you review this story you will grow strong, beautiful and successful. If you love this story and crave more, you will become an Immortal Almighty just like I am. If you loathe this story you will wade in a sea of ancient Egyptian scarabs and scorpions.