Just Another Excuse To Wear Spandex
Chapter Two: Cookies, Costumes, and a Fake Plant
By Scrawler and Latvian Ice
Wah!
Disclaimer, which was forgotten in the first chapter: I, Latvian Ice, own neither X-Men, nor CATS. Although I was a girl scout once. I assume that Scrawler also owns nothing, but I cannot speak for her.
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After a hearty meal of pork chops and applesauce (Scott managed to only drop his fork once), Jubilee dragged Scott by the collar of his shirt into the common room. "I can't believe you've lived eighteen years of your life without seeing CATS! Come on, Scott! We don't have a moment to lose!"
Scott followed obediently and sat on the couch, as Jubilee directed him. He watched her as she took the DVD out of its case and gazed at it dreamily before placing it in the player.
"So... What is this about, exactly?" Scott asked.
Jubilee hurriedly explained during the opening credits. "Okay, so the cats in the Jellicle tribe meet once a year at the Jellicle Ball. This year, their leader, Old Deuteronomy, chooses one cat only to be reborn into a new Jellicle life. Sounds really cool, huh?"
Before Scott could make his uncertain reply, Jubilee shushed him into silence. "It's starting!"
The pair sat in silence from "Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats", all the way to "The Ad-Dressing of Cats". Nothing could tear them away from the television. They did not even notice when Evan and Kurt entered the room to throw popcorn at their heads, nor did they stop to listen to Bobby and Sam getting yelled at by Jean for listening in on her mushy phone calls with Duncan.
Two hours after starting the movie, it ended. Jubilee clapped and cheered loudly in appreciation and Scott joined in. "So, what do you think?" she asked. If he said he didn't like it, she'd kill him.
Scott could barely find the words. "It was... amazing! The singing! The dancing! Everything! I can't believe those were people!"
Jubilee smiled as she put the disk back in its case. "I know what you mean. If I could be anyone of the cats, I'd be Rumpelteazer. Who'd you be?"
Scott replied immediately. "Munkustrap, definitely!" He paused a moment to think. "You know who Munkustrap reminds me of?" he asked.
Jubilee looked up. "No, who?"
"Me!"
"You."
"Yeah, I mean, think of it. He's the strong, fearless leader of the tribe, kinda like me with the X-Men."
"Exactly like you," Jubilee replied, but Scott did not catch the sarcasm in her voice. He was about to thank her, but Jubilee suddenly cut him off. "Hey, I've got a great idea!"
"For my party? Great!" Scott decided he was interested in any of Jubilee's ideas, from now on. CATS was the greatest thing that had happened to him since finding his long-lost brother. Or better?
Jubilee shifted excitedly from her seat on the floor near the DVD player. "Okay. How about we make CATS costumes for the guests to wear. We can, like, assign them to be certain cats! I'll be Rumpelteazer, you'll be Munkustrap, and then we'll think about who everyone else should be."
"Yeah, that's great! But are there enough cats in the play for everyone to get a part? Lots of people are coming, you know," Scott said, while still dreamily imagining himself dressed as Munkustrap. All that spandex!
"Hmm, good point," Jubilee said, but then got another idea. "We'll just make random costumes when we run out."
The two were discussing party plans when a third person entered the room. It was the professor. Jubilee and Scott looked up at him. "Hey, Professor!"
"Good evening," the professor responded. "Making party plans?" he asked, even though he knew the answer through telepathy.
The two nodded eagerly and then told him their latest idea. The professor smiled, happy that his children were happy. "I'll be the Rum Tum Tugger."
Scott and Jubilee looked at each other nervously. "Gee," Scott said. "Doesn't Tugger have to be able to dance and stuff? Or walk?"
"I'm going to be the Rum Tum Tugger, damn it."
Scott thought things over a quick moment. All the supplies for the CATS costumes wasn't going to come cheap.
"Professor, you're right!" Scott declared, smiling widely. "Because deep down inside, you're a real Rum Tum Tugger!"
The professor smiled, too, happily. "I am aren't I?" "A real wild thing," Jubilee agreed, sarcastically. Scott have her a quick shove, and made a face. He continued, hoping she'd catch on.
"Like a tiger!"
Jubilee did catch on, and was soon egging on the professor as well. "Go on Professor, roar!"
"Oh, dear me, could I?"
"Go for it!" both Scott and Jubilee urged him. The professor said, "ROAR!" loudly as the two younger mutants dubbed him the Rum Tum Tugger and further continued their plan to get money for the costumes.
Jubilee frowned and turned to Scott with a confused look plastered on her face. "You know Scott, he doesn't really look like the Rum Tum Tugger!"
"Oh, Jubilee, don't be foolish. He just doesn't have a costume!"
Xavier's face brightened. His eyes lit up like those of a child's on Christmas morning. "I get a costume?"
"Everyone gets a costume!"
"We'll even make them!"
Panic flashed across the professor's face. "But... but you don't have any supplies!"
"Gasp! Scott, he's right! We don't! What ever will we dooooooooo-?" Jubilee fell to the floor, whimpering and sniffling in despair. Scott thought she was overdoing it a bit.
The professor, too, looked worried for a moment. Ah, but he was a telepath. He knew exactly what to do. "Students, students! There is a craft store not too far away, and I have thousands of hidden stashes of money all around the mansion!"
Jubilee gave a sniffle and a smile. "You- you do?"
"Of course I do! Now, I suppose you can take what's in that Aztec pottery piece by the door." Scott and Jubilee rushed over to it and spilled out the continents to find what was at least one thousand dollars.
"Wow!" Scott gasped out, running his hands over the money. Jubilee was stuffing some into her pockets and socks. "What's all this money for?"
"What /was/ it for," Jubilee corrected her team leader. "Before it became CATS costume funds!"
"Oh, I use that to buy Girl Scout cookies," the professor said, turning to wheel away back to his study where he had some very important business to take care of. Or not.
Scott blinked, perplexed. "But we never have Girl Scout cookies."
"Well I don't /have/ to share!"
-X-
"Turn right!" Jubilee commanded to Scott, as they made their way home from the craft store. Scott could not see over the large amount of costume supplies they had just purchased. As they entered the mansion, Jubilee shouted again. "Take another right!"
Scott presently crashed into one of the professor's fake plants and yelped in pain.
"Just kidding, Scott," Jubilee said as she laughed at her funny joke. Scott was easy to fool. "I meant left!"
"Jubilee! That's not funny! I'm going to have a bruise!" Scott dropped the supplies and rubbed his sore knee, which only caused Jubilee to laugh harder at him. When she was done, she helped Scott up to his feet again, and they climbed the stairs together to Scott's room, where they would work on their project in peace.
Scott sat cross-legged on his bed, while Jubilee sat on the floor, ready to give Scott more orders. "Since I'm the better seamstress, I'll start the costumes, and you can design the invitation."
Scott wanted to say something to her about calling him a seamstress, but Jubilee was already hard at work on her Rumpelteazer costume. Instead, he rummaged through his bureau drawers, in search of his Crayolas. With a triumphant "Aha!" he began his work on the invitation. He thought long and hard, then finally came up with the perfect invitation. It read: "Come to Scott "Munkustrap" Summers' Party-o-Rama! Be there or be square!" Under the words was a crayon drawing of himself dressed as Munkustrap, along with the date, time, and the address of Xavier's mansion. He presented his creation to Jubilee. "You like?"
Jubilee grinned, though she wasn't too keen on Scott's choice of wording. She decided to let that slide. If she told him to do it over, he'd take another half an hour to do it. "Awesome! Now take it to the professor's office and make a ton of copies so you can stick them in people's lockers at school."
Scott nodded and skipped out of the room towards the office down the hall. He could not help it; he was in such a good mood over his party, which would make him popular, and which in turn would make Jean fall madly in love with him. He was so deeply lost in his own thoughts that he nearly crashed into Kitty Pryde. He stopped immediately, but Kitty phased right through him, sending a shiver down his spine. Being phased through was an odd feeling indeed.
Kitty turned around and apologized, then asked, "What's got you in such a good mood, Skippy?"
Scott presented the invitation for her to read. Kitty smiled nervously, but told her friend that she'd try to make it. "Hey, what about Alex? Is he coming?"
Scott gasped. What a great idea! Alex, for sure, would love CATS, and couldn't allow for things to get dull. "Alex! At my party! Yes!" Scott ran to the phone in the office, leaving Kitty all alone in the hallway. Scott pressed the numbers of Alex's cell phone and copied the invitation while waiting for his little brother to answer. When he did, Scott did not waste time with idle chitchat. "Will you come to my party?" he asked immediately. He gave the date to his brother and waited while Alex shouted to his mother to ask if he could go. Scott crossed his fingers, hoping she would say yes.
Alex's voice came into his ear. "She says it's alright, as long as the Proff doesn't land the jet in our yard again, dude. Last time he crushed her lawn gnomes."
Scott pumped his fist in the air. "Yes! It's a deal, then!"
"Sounds totally cool," Alex said about the party. "What kind of party is it? Does it, like, have a theme or anything?"
Scott smiled to himself. "You'll see..." he said, hoping for Alex to guess, but Alex's mind was already on a different topic.
"Do you like sharks, Scott? 'Cause yesterday I totally went to the aquarium, and there were sharks swimming around in the water and they were, like, this big!" Alex spread his arms out wide, thought Scott could not see. "And, dude, they were all grey and stuff, you know, and..."
Scott hung up.
Standing by the phone a while longer, Scott pondered things as his invitations copied. "I /do/ like sharks!" he realized in a sudden awe. "And they /are/ big and grey! Wow! My brother's so smart." Scott gathered up his invitations while grinning with pride for his brother. Then he frolicked back to his room so to start HIS CATS costume. Which he knew would so totally rock out loud.
-X-
"Guess what Jubilee!" Scott jumped around her, trying to get her attention. Unfortunately for him and his needs, Jubilee was diligently working on a wig. A yarn tail was draped around her shoulders.
"Mhmm," was Jubilee's response.
"I ran into Kitty and told her about the party, and- oooh! Do you think she'd make a good Victoria?" Scott paused to think, but the act was unnecessary. Jubilee handed him a clipboard with a list of everyone from the institute, and a lot of kids from school. Beside each name was a CATS character. "Etcetera" followed by Kitty's name.
"Duh Scott," Scott said to himself, and smacked his forehead. Then to Jubilee, he continued his mindless dribble. "Well, you're smart Jubilee. OH! And Alex is too! Because I called him! And we talked! And then we talked some more! And then he was smart about sharks! And then I hung up!"
"Fascinating!" She did not skip on the sarcasm and mockery when she said that. But mostly it came naturally.
"So! What all have you done?" Scott asked, putting his many invitations on and around a chair in his room.
Jubilee tore a lose thread with her teeth. As much as it amazed Scott, the act also frightened him. "I've done a tail and am starting on my wig. Ooh, Scott, I'm not sure if we'll be done in time!"
Scott gasped. "No!"
"I can't do all this alone!"
For the second time that day, Scott pondered. "But, I'm helping!"
Jubilee gave him a blank stare and sewed more crepe wool onto her wig cap. "Like I said, I can't do this alone."
"Then we should enlist help!" Scott made a 'woosh' motion. "To me, my X- Men!"
"Thaaaaaaaats... not going to work." Jubilee carefully set down her tail and placed her wig on her foamy human head thing. "But you are right, Scott, we need some more help!"
"Hmmm... maybe Jean?" then Scott jumped and gasped. "NO! This has to be a surprise to Jean! Or else it won't be spontaneous and partially out of character!"
"Too right you are!" Jubilee looked down the list of name she had on her clipboard. "We need someone who can keep a secret."
-X-
Jubilee waved and smiled as Amanda Sefton answered the knock at her door. "Hi Amanda!"
Amanda, though somewhat surprised to see Scott and Jubilee at her house covered in little fuzzies of yarn, welcomed the two X-Men into her home.
"Amanda..." Jubilee started, very seriously. "Have you ever seen-?"
Amanda burst into tears. "Kurt's breaking up with me, isn't he?! I /promise/ I won't try and take chunks of his fur anymore just because it's blue and blue is my favorite color and though it's sort of a weird fetish I promise I'll get over it because I really am really sorry!"
Jubilee quickly comforted the girl, making it certain that they were not bringing bad news. Meanwhile, Scott gave a low whistle. "Wow. That was a really long run on sentence!"
"Amanda, have you ever seen CATS?" Jubilee asked, her eyes daring the girl to say something rude about the musical.
Luckily, Jubilee didn't have to pull out the big guns. Amanda exploded with glee and giddiness at the mere mention of the musical. "CATS? Oh I love CATS! I've seen it live three times! And of course, I have the DVD!"
Jubilee smiled broadly. "Well, it's easy to see why Kurt likes you so much, then!"
"Oh, Kurt likes it, too! We watch it a lot together... and then when Gus's part comes on we make out." Amanda smiled and nodded vigorously.
"Well, that's good!" Scott declared. "Now, let me tell you our proposition!" He glanced around suspiciously, not wanting the super secret party that just everyone at the institute knew to get out... any more than it was. "I'm having..."
"Yes...?" Amanda urged him to continue, quite curious.
"I'm having a..."
"Yes...?" Ooh, the suspense!
"A CATS themed party!" Jubilee cut in. "Will you help us Amanda? We don't want everyone to know but I can't do this alone!"
"But, Scott's helping... oh, right! He's Scott."
Scott's eyebrows knitted in confusion. "Um, yes, I am."
Amanda gave a jaunty thrust on the balls of her feet to stand tall and mimic Scott in super-hero pose. "Of course I'll help! Are you making costumes?"
"Of course!"
"Oh this will be so much fun!"
"Indeed!"
And the chatter lasted until Amanda gathered permission from her parents to go help organize a good party and then followed Jubilee and Scott to Scott's car. Luckily, the backseat was present. Sometimes it's not.
