Authors Note:Well, I didn't get too many reviews and likes, but then again the first chapter did start off kinda slow, maybe I'll have better luck with this one!
Disclaimer:I own nothing but my idea behind this story, The X-Men belong to Marvel, and the movie verse from which this came belongs to 20th Century Fox.
Chapter 2
A Shadow and a Flame
"In microeconomics, production is the conversion of inputs into outputs. It is an economic process that uses inputs to create a commodity for exchange or direct use. Production is a flow and thus a rate of output per period of time." Professor Gray explained, as she wrote the definition on the chalk board. Kitty hated American Systems, and usually occupied her time by flipping through the book, glancing at the various pictures within it. She knew that it was important that she learn things like Supply and Demand, but the work involved was dry and boring, making her thankful it was her last class of the day. A quick glance to her right told her that John was feeling the same, for he was doodling leisurely in his notebook. She smiled, he wasn't an artist, but his cartoon characters were quite amusing, and with some practice could make a great graphic novel one day.
"Is there a story line?" She whispered, leaning over.
"Excuse me?" He scoffed, his eyebrow raising.
She pointed to the lone cartoon sitting at a desk and then the same cartoon standing with his palms raised up. "It just looked like there was a story to it."
He shrugged and began to doodle the flame that consumed the cartoon with his hands facing upwards. The flame wasn't meant to be menacing. The figure seemed to have attained the power to not only control the fire, but to create it as well. "Is that supposed to be you?"
With an annoyed sigh, he dropped his pen, and turned his head to face her. "Do you always ask so many questions?"
"Are you always so standoffish?" She set down her own pencil, countering him with a smirk.
"Kitty, John, I'm going to need you two to pay more attention. This will be on the next test." Miss. Gray chided, waiting until both Kitty and John turned back to facing the front before she continued on her explanation of how microeconomics tied into everything.
John was quick to continue the conversation after the redheads back was turned. His voice was low, his words quick. "See, now look what you did. We got into trouble because of you."
He was trying to get under her skin, and she caught onto his game all too quickly and rapidly found a way to counter it. "Well, if you wouldn't have avoided my question, this wouldn't have started an argument and thus we wouldn't have gotten into trouble. So therefore, it's your fault."
"Well if you weren't so damn nosy, you wouldn't have asked a stupid question, and then I wouldn't have answered your question with a question, turning it into an argument and finally, getting us into trouble." In the silence that followed in the wake of the explanation, Kitty began giggling madly as Pyro continued to blink in bemusement. Then it finally dawned on him and before he could place a filter over his mouth, he blurted out loud to the whole class. "Okay, that was just way too girly, I'm done."
"Do you want me to stick a fork into you as well?" She stated, unable to contain her small, angel like giggle any longer, letting it turn into an infectious laugh. As much as John wanted to be, he just couldn't bring himself to be truly angry with the brunette next to him, and allowed himself a small grin.
"I have already warned the two of you once," Miss. Gray snapped, cutting Kitty's laugh short, making her swallow like a small child whose been scolded. She removed her glasses and began pointing them at the two mutants. "Now if you don't stop talking the both of you will be spending the majority of the night in detention, got it?" They uttered a small affirmative, then the Telepath addressed the newest student. "And Kitty, you might not want to start your education here off with detention."
Jean then gave out the homework assignment just before the bell rang. Students stuffed the rest of there work into their bags and began to shuffle out the door. John and Kitty somehow managed to get squished into the middle of it all.
"Ya know, I think I've just figured out why cows moo." John said as he returned a shove to another student.
"Yeah? Why's that?" Kitty's voice strained, as she managed to squeeze past a few of the students.
"Because there telling all the other cows to Moooooovvveeeee!" John made the noise in the face of a kid who was a few years younger than them.
'Hm... I wonder...' She suddenly reached behind her, and grabbed hold of John's hand. It startled her slightly, to find that his hand was smooth, with the pad of his thumb calloused sending jolts of butterfly's into her stomach. Shaking herself out of her thoughts, she concentrated hard, holding her breath. Suddenly, the cramped feeling of those around her seemed to fade. She couldn't feel anything other than the clothes on her back, John's hand in hers, and a slight, tingling pressure as the shoulders of those around her simply went through her body. Lowering her head, she trudged out of the crowed, pulling the male teen behind her until they were clear of the crowed of students.
She released John's hand, and both of them took there solid forms again. The hothead shuddered and ran a shaky hand through his hair. "Please don't do that again."
Kitty let out an angel like laugh turning her head back to him. "Hey, it beats being turned into a piece of human paper."
"I will agree with you on that one." He pulled out his lighter and began flicking it as the two of them walked down the hall of the Xavier Mansion in a compatible silence.
"Hey Shadowcat!" A man with red tinted sunglasses waved as he walked by.
"Hey," She recognized him as her Math teacher from earlier in the day, but couldn't remember his name. But still, Kitty tossed her hand in return, slightly confused by the name he had addressed her by, but ignored it and continued down the hall.
"Duuude, Shadowcat!" This time it was a surfer kid who gave her a high five. Before she could get a response out of him he disappeared down the hall.
Now, she was really confused. "Why are they calling me that?"
"It's a nick name." He stated blankly.
"Nick name?"
"Yeah, you know, a name that someone gives you because they don't like your real name."
"I know what a nick name is, what I don't know is why there calling me that."
John smiled, it was a true smile that reached his eyes, and Kitty found that she liked it when he grinned, but somehow she got the feeling that it was like Bigfoot, so rare it was almost a myth. "We all have one. Some of us get to chose ours, while others-" John discreetly nodded in the direction of a mutant with short, brown hair that was spiked in the back, almond shaped eyes and a beautiful cross that hung around her neck who was speaking with a Scottish accent to a girl with blonde hair, a scar from the top of her brow down to her cheek, black leather gloves and a black jacket with yellow highlights to match."Not so much."
They passed the group, and Kitty couldn't help but wonder what there mutations were, but figured the answer would come with the time she spent here.
"Shadowcat hu?" She tried the phrase out on her tongue, and liked the ring it held. "Whats yours?"
The ever present lighter in his hand flicked shut. "Pyro."
Authors Afterword: Well, that was Chapter 2! Let me know how you felt about it. Read, review, and wait for the next post! I promise, it won't be too far off. ;)
