Disclaimer: not mine. neither is the line at the beginning of the story, for that matter, it's from Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Love that show! And I'm stealing a Harry Potter quote in this chapter. :P
A/N: So about that last chapter. I took AP Physics my sophomore year, and we actually did have a cool lesson on hydroplaning. It had the reverse effect on me, however, I believe I became one of the most conscientious drivers because of that (read: I drive slowww in the rain :P ). And I actually did some math for you guys in this chapter, trying to be all accurate about how many bottles of beer could be counted in 20 minutes. Oh, and try to note the times. it's a little funny :P
1:20 p.m.
"Yawn."
1:40 p.m.
"I'm bored."
2:00 p.m.
"…1,259 bottles of beeeeeer…"
2:20 p.m.
"Take one down, pass it around, no more bottles of beer on the wall!"
"What happened to bottles 984 through 1?"
"Counting backwards is hard…"
2:40 p.m.
"Are we done now?"
3:00 p.m
"How about now?"
3:20 p.m.
"Oh look, it's the May centerfold for- hah. Almost had you there."
3:40 p.m.
"I'm hungry."
4:00 p.m.
"I have to go to the bathroom."
4: 20 p.m.
"I need to stre-oh. Oh. Scott…"
"Concentrate, Marie."
She bit her lip. She could feel the familiar tingle creeping into her fingers again. She had been holding Scott's arm for the past three hours, and nothing had happened. She had had relative control over her skin for a year now, but Scott was really pushing that Marie make sure she was able to control it. Fully. Under any circumstances.
This consisted of him hiding behind pillars and jumping out whenever she walked linking arms with others. It wouldn't do to lose her control under fear.
This consisted of him making Jubilee hold her hand while he yelled at her about nothing. It wouldn't do to lose her control under stress.
This consisted of having sparring practice all day before working on skin control. It wouldn't do to lose her control under physical exhaustion.
Marie sighed. 'That', she thought, 'is dedication'. Thankfully, Scott was just as passionate about all of his students, and Marie did not have to suffer alone. In the beginning, she had wished she would be paired with 'Ro or Hank, the seemingly 'nicer' mentors. But after three years of punching each other, she couldn't help but form some kind of a bond.
And now Scott was simply testing how far Marie's skin could be pushed.
4:40 p.m.
She was sweating, actually sweating from the effort of keeping her skin under control. How had she gone from completely fine two minutes ago, to almost no control?
Marie closed her eyes and concentrated. She thought that maybe her pursuit of medicine with Dr. Grey had helped her with controlling her skin so far. It had helped her to understand it, at any rate. So she focused on that now, recalling any bits of information from Dr. Grey's lesson that might help her.
Control… Jean had said she'd had good control. But… now she could sense a spark from her finger traveling lazily up Scott's arm, not quite soaking through his skin just yet.
Marie opened her eyes and straightened up. She'd be damned if she lost control over a situation again.
She looked at her fingers with narrowed eyes, and said in the most authoritative voice she could muster -
"No."
And the switch inside her turned off.
5:00 p.m.
Marie nearly skipped into dinner.
"So I guess it was like… a naughty pet, all along."
Jubilee giggled.
"Nice, chica. So you can finally join me in some real training?"
"As of tonight, skin-sessions are officially over!"
Marie clapped her hands delightedly, but upon noticing that St. John was sitting right next to her, rearranged her facial expression to one more suited for the bedside of a dying friend.
He chuckled.
"I guess I'll just have to find someone else to commiserate with. There's just me, Bobby, and Kitty left, now."
"Bobby's further behind than both of you," Jean put in, leaning across Jubilee to grab the salt. "He's got more to do though… ice can be more temperamental than any other element."
"Yeah.. ice, sleet, hailstones, water… he's got to master all of those."
"Is that where he is now? Still with Hank?"
"Yeah, I saw them when I was coming up here…"
Marie leaned back and let the voices wash over her. No more skin sessions. Tonight, she would get to fight.
7:30 p.m.
The Danger Room looked the same as always. Marie was a little disappointed. She expected an obstacle course, maybe even fighting with real weapons this time. But in fact, the only thing different about the room was that now, instead of just Scott standing in the center, Ororo was there, as well.
"Don't look so disappointed, Marie."
Was she that transparent?
"We're just going to start of with basic hand to hand combat, Marie"
Again.
"But this time, 'Ro will join in. Two against one."
Well, that sounded a little better.
"Don't worry, we'll take it easy on you."
7:31 p.m.
"Uncle! Uncle! Uncle!"
"That's what I thought."
Marie let go of the arm she had been holding twisted behind Scott's back, and got up from the floor.
"Jesus, Marie, where'd you learn to fight like that?"
"Uh…you were the one that taught me that move."
"Yes, but I was expecting it to take longer for…look, a punch, or a kick, or whatever, is only worth the amount of power put behind it."
"Well, you said you'd go easy on me. It was very patronizing."
"That's all it took to…Well," he said straightening up and smoothing his suit, "I guess you won't mind if we accelerate your training then."
Marie beamed.
Scott rubbed his arm.
Ororo still hadn't stopped laughing.
A/N: Review!
