Part One

This was not how Kurt had planned on spending his Thursday afternoon. He wanted to be at the mansion, laying around and just thinking. Ever since his breakup with Amanda - she felt the long distance thing was not working - he had been doing that a lot lately. He mostly thought about why the break up did not bother him much after being together for three years, and why he almost felt… happier. And since Kitty, although very concerned about her fuzzy friend's well being, was studying for finals for hours every night he had no reason to come out of his room other than to eat or go to the bathroom. Earlier that morning, though, he was confronted by an irritated Bobby who demanded his blue friend get off his fuzzy butt and go with him and Jubilee to the mall because there was no way he could survive it alone. And voila, he was being whisked away to the mall.

So there he was, trudging along beside Bobby Drake, carrying three of Jubilee's bags while his friend carried ten. "I could take some of those if you want me to."

Bobby shook his head. "Nah, that's okay. She's my girlfriend. You don't need to suffer from her insanity as well."

"I heard that, Bobster!"

He moaned and shouted back at her, "I asked you not to call me that!"

"You should know better than to make such comments about you girlfriend... no matter how true they may be."

Bobby rolled his eyes. Kurt chuckled. Those two sure had a strange relationship. They would argue playfully half the time, then argue for real, spend hours thinking of ways to bug each other, and manage to make up by the end of the day. Even when they fought they seemed to have a better relationship than he and Amanda had. When he was with Amanda they had gotten along nicely, but that was it. They were just around each other and talked like friends would. They rarely fought, unless she was lecturing him about his holowatch and "showing his true self." Sure, she was nice... and cute. But he would be fooling himself he said he thought she was as pretty or funny as Kitty, whom he had harbored feelings for since he first met her. Of course, he had not wanted to ruin his friendship with her, and then she was with Lance, and then he was with Amanda. Even when she broke up with Lance, though, he had not tried anything because he was still with Amanda and did not want to hurt her. But now that was over too and he still had not told her. Yeah, his brown haired friend's relationship was better than his. And his love life was definitely a lot better, too.

They were dragged along for twenty more minutes until Jubilee went into one last store before deciding to take a break at the food court.

"Finally," Kurt said. "I was getting tired."

She led the boys to an empty table and collapsed into a chair. She took a hair tie from her wrist and tied her hair up in a ponytail that reminded Kurt of the way Kitty had done her hair until the start of her junior Asian girl readjusted her pink sunglasses on top of her head and smoothed out her yellow leather jacket.

"How much longer are we going to be here?" Bobby asked, dropping the multitude of bags on the floor and taking the seat next to her. Her ran his fingers through his hair and dramatically pretended to die from exhaustion. She smacked his shoulder lightly.

"Let's see… Wolvie gave me fifty bucks for not skipping classes all week, I won two hundred dollars from last weeks poker game with Tabitha and Rogue, and I collected another twenty bucks from blackmailing Roberto. I'm guessing I've blown at least three fourths of it, so, Bobby darling, I would imagine we would be hightailing our butts out of here pretty darn soon." She stood up, her small hand squeezed Bobby's shoulder. "Can I borrow two dollars?"

"Don't you have all that other money?"

"Aren't boyfriends supposed to cough up money to buy their girlfriend's things? I'm only asking for a stinkin' soda. It's not like I'm making you buy me clothes or jewelry. Please?"

Bobby dug into his pockets and retrieved two crumbled dollar bills, dropping them on the table. She quickly picked them up and wrapped him in a tight hug before racing off to the nearest vending machine. Kurt laughed at their antics and asked, "Remind me. How long have you two been dating? A year?"

"Year and a half, about. It'll be two years in November. Not quite as long as you and Amanda… What happened with you two anyway?"

The German boy shrugged. "She didn't think having a long distance relationship was working."

"Such a typical thing. That sucks, man."

"It's not really a big deal,"

"So then, are you finally going to tell Kitty how you feel?" The blue mutant stared at his friend in shock. He had not been aware of the fact other people knew how he felt for the girl. "Please, dude. It's completely obvious that you're really into her. It has been for a while. Rogue and Tabitha even started a betting pool for when you'll tell her… But I have no part in it! I swear!"

"Was? Does everyone know?"

"Pretty much. Only the newest students and Kitty are completely oblivious. I say you should tell her, though. You've gotta start somewhere."

"I don't know. It could ruin our friendship, and I can't loose that. I-I just don't know," Kurt said.

"Hey, if your guys' friendship is that great, it can withstand something like this. Besides, what if she does feel the same way? Anyone with two eyes and half a brain can tell she's happier when she is around you. And the way she smiles around you is different than the way she smiles at anyone else. It's brighter, happier. You've got to try. It worked for me and Jubes."

"I'll think about it," he responded skeptically. It was a risky choice, and even though he was usually sort of a daredevil, he was not up to the challenge.

The two boys were drawn out of their conversation by the sound of what could only be Jubilee screaming at the vending machine. "You no good, dollar stealing, soda keeping, rassin' frassin', son of a -"

"Jubilation Lee, calling the soda machine names isn't going to get you a Dr. Pepper!" Bobby yelled back. She turned around to face him, putting her hands on her hips and glaring at him.

"Don't patronize me, Robert Drake!"

Bobby stood up with a sigh, grinning goofily at his girlfriend's impatient behavior. "I'm gonna go help Jubes out. Just remember what I told you. Tell her."