Ever know a kid that always did the right thing and made good grades but was still left on the outside?
Yeah, me too.
My story, their characters, 'Nuff said!
Smart Guy
"Hi Piotr."
It was another typical day at Bayville High school and as usual Piotr Rasputin was making his way through the hallways on his way to his next class.
"Hey Pete, great poster for the upcoming game."
"See you after school Piotr?"
"Wow you sure know a lot of people." Lance said next to him.
He was amazed at how differently everyone treated them now that they were a part of the sort of 'family' between the Brotherhood and the Acolytes. Freddy was losing weight and Toad's grades were up, Gambit was focusing on only one girl while Pietro could actually concentrate.
And for once Pyro wasn't anxiously burning things down.
But the biggest difference was in Piotr. Not only were his grades up but now he was also semi-popular.
"Yeah, I guess so." Piotr mumbled.
He never really thought about it but he supposed a lot of people did stop and say Hi to him as he passed.
The truth was he wasn't thinking about how many people he knew or his popularity level. His mind was far too distracted to worry about those things. Today he was going to turn in his application for the National Honor Society.
No matter what Raven said about societies being more political than earned Piotr wanted to make sure he did it on his own. He knew his grades were good enough and he was already a member of the Chess Club so volunteering to make banners and streamers for the Football Team could only help with his acceptance.
And while the Brotherhood and the Acolytes laughed when they first found out, they only had to see how serious he was about it before they stopped their teasing and started supporting him instead.
That was how different their family was now.
It was something he had wanted for a long time now and he thought he had worked hard for but his heart was still pounding by the time he reached the counselor's office.
"Hi Piotr! Are you here to turn in your application too?"
It was Kitty Pryde and as nice as she was being to him these days he also knew she was his greatest competition. Out of the three hundred applications he knew that they were the only two with the biggest chance of being accepted.
He groaned inwardly.
"Da. I think I have a good opportunity this year." He replied instead.
"Well, um, good luck. Maybe I'll see you around sometime. Meetings and stuff." She laughed.
Her laugh was too nervous and he knew she was only talking to him because politeness dictated that she had to show an earnest interest in the person in front of her.
Any other time she probably wouldn't give him the time of day.
"See you, too." He answered back.
In actuality he was doing the exact same thing.
With deliberation he handed the form over before he could change his mind and tried to calm his racing heart.
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The rest of the day flew by like a blur and it was with some surprise that Piotr noticed the ending bell ringing while students filed past him. Where the day had gone he didn't know.
"Yeah! School's out!" Toad jumped beside him.
"Finally."
"Cajun! Get your ass in gear!"
He always seemed to stop and wait until Rogue and Jean passed by before climbing in the car.
"Wait, huff, for me, huff." Freddie said.
"Race ya home Vic!"
Piotr barely recognized the conversations going on around him as he stared out the car's window. His mind was still on his application since he turned it in this morning and it was still on it now.
He didn't even know if he had homework or not.
"Ya plannin' on getting out of the car anytime soon?" Was what he finally heard.
Before he knew they were back home with Toad hopping up to the front door behind Freddie.
"Yo, like move already! 'Toons're on!" He complained.
"Ha ha! I beat you!"
"For the last time, Pietro, it is not a race." Raven said.
"Da, I am coming."
Trying to concentrate Piotr drifted towards the house and up the stairs to his room where he threw his backpack down and sat on the bed. He knew he shouldn't be over analyzing the situation but he didn't seem able to help himself.
He was worried about not being accepted and in his teenage mind that could be devastating.
Eventually he must have gone downstairs because suddenly he found himself eating dinner with the rest of the Brotherhood while they talked around him.
"What's with zombie-boy?"
"Vic!"
"What? Look at him."
"He just turned in his application to the NHS today that's all. Leave him alone."
"That's great. I didn't even know he liked hockey."
"National Honor Society."
"Oh."
"Excuse me. I am not hungry and I think I will go to my room now." Piotr said.
He really didn't have much of an appetite and all he wanted to do was get this week over with.
The waiting really was the hardest part.
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But of course what he wanted most was exactly what Piotr Rasputin didn't get.
Daily he would check the mail two and three times with his heart thumping each time he opened the mailbox door.
Each day no mail arrived.
"You'll hear from them soon." Raven kept saying. She didn't normally care but he wanted to do it on his own and she wasn't going to interfere.
"Yeah, like, you always got us, yo."
Raven the pragmatist telling him logically that he would hear from them when he heard from them and Toad the forever Cheerleader trying to lift his spirits while at the end of the breakfast table Creed would just shake his head.
It went on like this for days.
As he made his way through the familiar corridors of Bayville he couldn't believe how slowly the hours could go by when the promise of anticipation was so close. His classes seemed to take hours and even though they were only fifty minutes long they seemed to drag on endlessly in between bells.
It was all very irritating.
For her part, Kitty Pryde did stop and talk to him now and if their two lunch tables hadn't been so opposite maybe they would have even shared lunch together.
As it was, most of the X-Men chose to stay together while the Brotherhood usually sat as far away from prying eyes or authority figures as they possibly could. Even if he wanted to Piotr knew he couldn't sit with Kitty and her friends without betraying his family.
So instead he sat with Freddie and Toad and listened to Pietro and Pyro joke about the rest of the class.
"Piotr wait!"
He was on his way to one of his classes that he probably wouldn't remember when he heard someone calling his name. Normally a few dozen students talked to him in the halls but he knew Kitty Pryde's voice by now.
"Oh. Hi Kitty." He said. He turned and waited until she caught up with him.
"Did you hear? They have the applications down to twenty now." They didn't share any classes together so she had to wait until between bells to talk to him.
"Really?"
Most of the applicants either got an approval letter or consolation so the news took him by surprise. No one had sent him a letter yet so he let his hopes fill again.
No news was good news.
"Yeah. I guess that means we're still in." She said. "Did you hear anything yet?"
"No. You?"
"Not yet. But I'll keep my fingers crossed." She had to run to her class because the two minute bell was already ringing.
It was like that for the next three days and in a teenager's world that was a long time. Kitty would talk to him in the halls and give him updates as she asked him if he heard anything.
It wasn't a solid friendship but enough to smile and wave in the halls whenever they passed.
After a while he was even introduced to Jean and Scott. They weren't the most academic students or the most popular but everyone seemed to know them, know of them, or want to know them. Of course Piotr knew Jean from the Bayville soccer team and wherever Jean was Scott wasn't too far behind.
He hated to admit it but they were actually nice, too.
"You can sit with us." Kitty said one day at lunch.
They were waiting in line at the cafeteria and in the corner Pyro and Pietro were goofing off while Toad stole items off of Freddie's tray with his tongue.
No one had ever asked him to sit at a table before. He just sat with Toad and Freddie because he didn't have anywhere else to go.
"Hi Piotr." Jean Grey said scooting over.
She knew he usually sat with the Brotherhood but she had enough decency not to bring it up. He was probably conflicted enough.
"Um, Hi." Piotr said uncomfortably.
"Have you met Scott?"
"Yeah, we've met." Scott answered. "You know I always thought that with your build you would have joined the football team by now."
"I'm more of an artist."
"Oh yeah, I've seen your stuff around school."
"He's really good." Kitty said.
They made small talk like that throughout lunch and to Piotr's surprise he enjoyed talking to them too. In fact, it was the first time in days that his mind didn't wander back to his application.
He thought about that as the final bell rang.
"Cajun! Get your ass….in a bit of a hurry Colossus?"
It was the same routine as before but this time Piotr had renewed hope. He was looking forward to the drive home and looking through the mail.
"I ain't sittin' next to him."
"I'll see you at home."
"Hey, yo, can we just, like, go?" Toad sighed. Like Piotr had done earlier that week he leaned his head against the glass and stared outside.
"Sure. Fine." Whatever it was Creed didn't want to know about it.
Slamming the door Freddie and Toad rushed inside leaving Piotr alone. He was hurt but he guessed it was more or less what he deserved.
"Are you going to tell me what this is all about?" Raven asked. She didn't like it but she could go into mommy mode when she had to.
"Why don't you go ask Piotr." Pietro snickered. "He's the one that's been fraternizing with the enemy."
They were all walking up to the house and he couldn't help but stomp his feet as he climbed the front porch. He thought they were all getting along and becoming a strong family until he saw Piotr sitting with Kitty and Jean at lunch.
In fact ever since he applied for the National Honor Society Piotr was becoming less and less a part of the Brotherhood wandering around in a daze and not even bothering with them anymore.
Now he was talking to Kitty Pryde and sitting with the X-Men.
"Gambit?"
"Dunno. I was outside havin' a smoke."
"Ah geez." Vic groaned.
Teenage drama gave him a headache.
"I hate to interrupt you but you have a letter, Piotr."
It was a simple letter addressed to him with the official seal of the National Honor Society stamped in the upper left hand corner of the envelope. It seemed light and airy in his hands as he accepted it and he didn't want to open it.
At the same time he knew he had to.
He only got to the 'We regret to inform you' before he couldn't read any more. On the bottom someone had checked Lack of Academic Hours with what he knew was a computerized text.
Moreover they had stamped their signature not even giving him the dignity of signing their name personally.
"Lack of Academic Hours? What the fuck does that mean?" Lance said. He was reading over his shoulder and wasn't even trying to hide it.
"It means not enough class or sports time." Piotr whispered. His voice was thick and his mouth had somehow lost all of its saliva as he answered.
In his hands he still held the letter.
"Yo, Chess is like a sport, right? Right?" Toad was trying to cheer him up but he doubted if it would work this time.
"Apparently not."
"Dude, that sucks."
"What do dey know, hein?"
"I can always do something about it." As a shape shifter and Vice Principal of Bayville Raven knew ways around the system that the kids didn't have to know about.
Piotr had worked hard and done everything that they wanted him to do and he deserved to be a part of their Honor Society. But, on the other hand she knew that most of these societies had more to do with politics than it did with work and she tried to warn him of that.
Still, seeing the rejection on his face she wanted to make it right as only a close family member could.
She knew he should have never tried to do it on his own.
"I'm sorry Piotr." Freddie said. Unlike the Bayville students he said it with sincerity.
"No, I'm sorry. I should have never done that to you today."
"Eh, s'okay."
"Yeah, no biggie, man."
"We get rejected all the time!"
"Yeah, we don't care if you play hockey or not."
"Hockey…?!"
"I'm kidding! I'm kidding!"
And like a real family does the Brotherhood found its strength through its unity no matter what mistakes its member's makes.
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No one bothered with Piotr Rasputin the next day in school but he didn't care.
Most of the 'Hi's' and 'What's Up's' ended as soon as he walked through the door. Students that he normally stopped and talked to suddenly were rushing to class or blatantly ignoring him.
That is except for the Brotherhood.
Laughing and joking they slapped his back as he passed, making funny faces behind people's back just to make him smile.
They didn't seem to care if he was NHS material or not and now neither did he. They accepted him and that was what mattered.
He didn't expect Kitty Pryde to be any different but she was too excited over her acceptance into the Society to notice him. In the halls throngs of students would stop and admire her official pin and give their congratulations.
For now it was good to be seen with her and that was what they were doing.
"Piotr! Wait!"
Again she was running up to him but this time instead of seeming anxious her face was glowing.
"Oh. Congratulations, Kitty."
"Thanks. Um, I was kinda hoping you would get accepted too."
"Me too." He wasn't going to lie and say he never wanted it in the first place.
"Well, uh, there's always next year, right?" She asked looking up at him.
He supposed he could try again next year but this really did teach him a valuable lesson and now he wasn't so sure.
While he had strived for his best grades and did the best he could in the end it didn't seem to matter. The end result was still the same and Kitty had been accepted over him.
Now he had to learn from that experience and choose the right path for him.
"See you at lunch?" Kitty asked hopefully.
Behind her Toad was making faces with his tongue and he smiled back.
"Maybe some other time." He grinned. "I'm gonna have lunch with some friends."
The End