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Glaring Decipher
Chapter Two
"Before Thursday," Magneto started to say as he address his class, "kindly review your notes. I will start our class, and beginning of every class going forward, by opening the floor to any questions you may have about the material we have covered thus far. I understand that some of you might be hesitate to admit to having difficulties with any of the concept I've discussed. But please be assured that there are no judgments here and I do not expect all of you to learn at the exact same pace. Thank you, that's all for today," Magneto said before the students became to disperse.
Magneto turned to the board as he picked up the eraser and began to remove the notes he and Rogue had written there. By the time he had finished, put the eraser down and turned back towards the desks, it was just him and Rogue left in the room. Rogue had moved to the front of the room: she was now standing in front of the row of desks: leaning against them, her arms were crossed in front of her.
"So, what do you wanna talk about?" Rogue asked.
"You were able to answer my every question when I called on you to do so," he said folding his arms across his chest, mirroring her stance.
"Did you expect everyone to come into this class knowing nothing about strategy?" she asked.
"…I suppose not," he answered after a moment. She smirked at that.
"Be honest," she said. He raised an eyebrow at her boldness.
"… I didn't expect you to know as much as you do, the rest of your classmates met my expectations," Magneto admitted.
"Prof likes to teach tactics more than strategy. It's easy to see why you'd assume none of us would know the fundamentals of long term strategic thinking," Rogue said.
"Indeed," Magne to said: his curiosity growing. He watched Rogue turn her head as a noise came from the hallway. From his senses, Magneto could tell that it was Charles. Rogue met his gaze again as she uncrossed her arms and moved them to her sides.
"Thanks for explaining the four steps again," Rogue started to say as Charles entered the room. "I appreciate it, Mr. Lensherr," Rogue said. Magneto tried to conceal the surprise from his face.
"Of course, Rogue. Please feel free to come to me again if you would like me to explain anything else. The purpose of this course is to ensure you gasp the concepts I'm teaching," he said pleasantly, playing along.
"Thanks," Rogue said to him with a smile. What she was truly thankful for was evident to only the two of them. "See you later, Prof," Rogue said with a smile.
"Rogue," Charles said with a nod as she made her way to the door. He and Rogue made eye contact one last before she exited the room. "How was your first class?" Charles asked.
"There is a great deal of potential in this group. It's simply a matter of guiding them," he answered. "I still find it interesting that Miss Grey and Mr. Summers were absent from the class," he added.
"Jean and Scott are instructors at the school now, Magnus," Charles reminded him.
"I wasn't aware one could obtain a teaching degree in four months. That's fascinating," Magneto commented sarcastically.
"Magnus," Charles sighed.
"They have only graduated high school, Charles. So, they have nothing left to learn, then?" he asked dryly.
"No, of course, not. But I cannot lump them into a course with the rest of students," Charles said.
"Perhaps they should be asked if they would like to be included," Magneto said.
"I will ask them, if you are so insentient," Charles said.
"I would not have brought it up again, if I were not," Magneto said.
"Fine," Charles sighed.
"You asked me to come here and teach at your school. Which I am glad to do so, but my class is on strategy. Of all your students, Miss Grey and Mr. Summers are the youngest you trust to lead. What good is teaching your foot-solider how to think, if the individuals making the tactical decisions are not receiving the same education?" Magnus asked incredulously.
"You've made your point, old friend. I will ask," Charles said.
"You should order," he said firmly. "But that's another argument, I don't believe either of us have the patients for at this particular moment," Magneto added.
"So, we agree," Charles sighed as he made his way to the door. "See you at dinner," Charles said.
"Yes, you shall," Magneto said as Charles left the room.
Later that night Magnus walked through the door of the institutes' library. There were a few quotes he wanted to ensure he had written accurately for his next class. It was late; nearly 11:00pm. To his surprise, Rogue was awake and the only other person in the library. She hadn't noticed him just yet: he took a soft step back behind one of the larger plants, Charles was so found of, and observed her from a distance: old habits dying hard.
She was seated at one of the tables, a notebook in front of her. She was writing in it furiously. She had an annoyed look on her face. Whatever, it was she was writing, it was clear she would rather not be.
Curiosity got the better of him, as he stepped out from behind the plant and made his way into the library.
"Good evening, Rogue," he said as he approached the table.
"Hey," she said: not glancing up at him as she finished writing a sentence.
"What are you doing awake at this hour?" he asked. He watched her let out a sigh as she glanced up at him.
"Getting ready for a notebook check tomorrow. I can't take notes and pay full attention at the same time. It doesn't work for me. I'm doing one thing or the other. Most teachers don't give a shit. My straight A's speak for themselves. But there are a few teachers that require mandatory notebook checks. It's so irritating," she exclaimed. "I've tried explaining, but they think I'm just being lazy and I get points deducted and worse they talk to Prof about it," she said.
"That's why you pretended we had discussed something else? You didn't want him knowing you had failed to take notes again," Magneto said as he took a seat across from her at the table.
"Yeah," she sighed. "Thanks again for going along with that," Rogue said.
"Of course," he said. "How has Charles reacted in the past?" he asked.
"The first time he just gave me a warning, but the last two he started to lose his patience. He even gets it that I don't need to takes notes to learn, but he's more concerned with all of all bending in that I'm just suppose to figure it out," she said bitterly. "'Rogue, your grades are exceptional,'" she started to say, clearly mocking Charles. He couldn't help but chuckle in response. "'You can afford to devote a portion to your class time to appeasing your teachers,'" she finished rolling her eyes.
"It certainly sounds like, Charles," Magneto commented with a smirk.
"Yeah," Rogue sighed. "I'm tired of it," she exclaimed. "Why should I have to hide what I'm capable of to make a few teachers more comfortable? I don't care about them. I'll do it for family, but even that's getting annoying," Rogue sighed.
He raised an eyebrow at that comment. Rogue met his gaze again: something in her eyes flashed: an emotion he didn't quite recognize yet. He was still getting to know her: even after all the time in the past he had spend watching her.
"Fuck it," Rogue said as she glanced down at her book. "I'll take a B," Rogue said as she closed the notebook. "Thanks for listening," Rogue said as she glanced up at him.
"My pleasure. It's healthy to vent one's frustrations," he said with a smile. "If you keep knowing the answers to all my questions you won't have to worry about taking notes in my class, at the very least," he said.
"I don't see that being a problem," Rogue said with a smirk. It faded as quickly as her smirks usually did. "I should go try and get some sleep," she said with a sigh.
"Yes, you should," he agreed as she stood up.
"Good night," she said with a slight smile as she grabbed her notebook off of the table and stepped away from the table.
"Good night, Rogue," he said as he watched her leave the room.
Chapter two is up! I think I'm going to stick with shorter chapters for this story. I like how it helps with the pacing! Please let me know what you think?