Chapter 3
"But everything inside you
Knows there's more than what you've heard
There's so much more than empty conversations
Filled with empty words."
"On Fire" by Switchfoot
They looked like little angels lying next to each other while sleeping. They both have blonde hair and blue eyes with little button noses. Blaze would have to ask them about what's been going on at home, but that would have to wait until later. Tomorrow, they would start schooling here. So, maybe they are here to stay. Maybe teaching wouldn't be so bad. She must admit that she did love to draw and paint, pottery was extremely fun and so was charcoal. She went down the hall to the professor's door and knocked on it.
"Come in."
"Professor, I've made up my mind. I would like to teach art to the students. And if it wouldn't be too much, I think we would love to stay on and teach while living here."
"I would love for all of you to stay on and hopefully Dustin and Alyson would like to stay on as well after they graduate. But that's a few years away."
"Yeah don't rush that on me!" Blaze laughed and Professor joined in with her.
She left that office feeling good and with a smile on her face. She hadn't smiled a genuine smile in a long while. Walking through the house to find Flux, she finally found her in the kitchen eating some yogurt.
"Guess what!" Blaze said jumping into the kitchen with a huge smile on her face.
"What?" Flux said with a mouth full of yogurt.
"We are now officially teachers and residents of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters!"
"We live here now?" she said standing up with a smile on her face now.
"Yup!" Flux squealed and started jumping up and down.
"We should go shopping! Start over with new clothes and a new style!" Flux said. The idea was great but where would they come up with that kind of money?
"I heard the good news you two!" Storm said walking into the kitchen. "And I did happen to overhear a shopping spree idea…" she looked between the two of them, " and I think it's a great idea! We can go in an hour, how does that sound?" she looked at them again, smiling.
"Sounds awesome but can Dustin and Alyson come with us. They have no clothes of theirs here." Blaze said.
"Yeah. In that case, we'll need to caravan out to the mall because I don't think that all of us can fit in one car, legally." She smiled.
"I'll go get the kids ready! I can't wait!" Flux said as she left the kitchen to go round up the kids.
"I heard the word 'shopping'. Don't leave me out of this!" Rogue said walking into the kitchen as Flux was leaving.
"Aren't you supposed to be in class right now?" Storm asked.
"Well, yeah, but I'm getting supplies for a project. But please! You can excuse me, right?"
Storm sighed. "Okay, I'll talk to the professor and we'll see what he thinks. But if he says no, then you have to go back to class, no argument."
"Okay, deal." She smiled and went to go ask the professor with Storm, leaving Blaze in the kitchen alone. She picked up the yogurt container that Flux was eating and looked at the flavor, 'Strawberry and Banana'. Not her favorite but it still tastes good enough to eat. She finished off the yogurt by the time that Flux came back with Dustin and Alyson.
"I didn't tell them what we're doing yet. I want it to be a surprise." Flux informed Blaze.
"Ohh…well then I suggest you two go get ready and wear your walking shoes and not so much clothes." Blaze said and the two nodded and went off. They had just woken up from their exhausting sleep. They still had their bed head hair which was going every which way but down. Blaze walked out to the back patio and watched a soccer game that was going on for gym class. Logan was sitting on a bench, all sweaty and exhausted.
"Rough day?" Blaze asked sitting next to him as he took a chug of water.
"Just a little. Played soccer every hour so far but it's now" he looked at his watch, "Holy shit, forth hour. I'm beat." He laid his head back and grabbed his hand towel and wiped off his face. They sat there in silence, watching the students play soccer, for a long time. Finally class was almost over and Storm stepped outside telling Blaze that they were leaving in five minutes.
"Where are you guys going?" Logan asked raising an eyebrow towards her.
"Girls day out. Well half a day. Storm is taking us out to buy new clothes for Dustin, Alyson, and us two. I think Rogue wants to come, but I don't know what the professor said." She returned looking at him, holding his gaze. He seemed satisfied with that answer and nodded and got up to tell his class that they needed to end the game and shake hands and get cleaned up before coming in the house. She got up and went inside, got her jacket and purse with her keys and headed for the door.
Dustin and Flux were waiting in her car when she walked outside. Storm stepped out into the garage, as Blaze reached her car, followed by Rogue and Alyson. Rogue seemed taken by Alyson. She was fascinated with Rogue and her abilities. They reached the mall in record timing. Hitting the main department stores, each of them managed to spend at least $500 on their wardrobe. Of course to top it all off, they all got a new style of hair cut. Flux had her hair layered all around and some highlights, Blaze trimmed her hair so it reached her shoulder blades and got it tapered and layered. Dustin had a bowl haircut before so they cut it all off short and had it spiked with blue gel. Alyson had long and gorgeous hair but she cut it to her shoulder blades, since it was down to her butt before, and had it curled. Rogue and Storm turned down a hair cut and style but they did throw in their opinions on hair styles for the girls and Rogue helped Dustin pick out the color of gel and bought a bottle of it for him. By the time that night rolled around, all of them had at least five bags to carry back to the car since the mall was closing. Feeling pleased with the day, they decided to call it a night. They all had a new wardrobe and a new style in hair and clothing. Before Flux and Blaze would wear any kind of clothing they could get their hands on, which was mostly men's clothes because it was somewhat cheaper and you could buy it by the bulk. Now they all had the newest style out and could look feminine again.
Nightcrawler about had a heart attack when he saw Dustin's blue hair. He thought that he had done something to the boy. They all laughed and Rogue explained that it was just gel and that it would wash out when he showered.
"Dustin and Alyson, I think you need to go upstairs and get ready for bed because tomorrow you two are going to school. Okay?"
They nodded and said thank you to Storm and Rogue and Blaze and Flux led them upstairs to the dorms that they would be sleeping in. This would be the first place that they would be sleeping apart but it needed to start sometime because Alyson would want her privacy soon. Once they were situated and had fallen asleep Flux decided to go to bed and that they would see each other in the morning, but Blaze was hungry and headed down to the kitchen. Logan was heating up some pizza in the oven when she walked in.
"Miss dinner?" She asked, nodding towards the oven.
"No, kids ate it all before I got to it. It was only Kurt and me in charge. What about you?"
"Too busy shopping and trying on clothes. I'm starving." And to add emphasis, her stomach growled loudly. "Extremely hungry." He looked at her and smirked. "Here let me help." She said grabbing the pizza back out of the oven. She held the pizza in her left hand and had her right hand opened flat underneath where she felt the heat building up and evenly cooked the pizza faster than it would've took with the oven. Within a few minutes the pizza was done and Logan was cutting it with the pizza cutter.
He lifted an eyebrow, "Where did you learn to do that?"
"Living on the road, you learn to cook with what you've got."
He looked her up and down, "Yeah I know how that goes. So…" he faded out the conversation while taking a bite of his pizza. "I heard that you guys are staying for good. Glad to have you on board."
She smiled at him, "Yeah, I don't think it has sunken in yet that we're staying. I need to go into town tomorrow and get some art supplies for the class that I am teaching. I can't wait to get started." She said finished off her pizza.
"So, you and Flux are going to be teaching." Blaze nodded. "Are you guys going to join the X-Men?" She stopped eating.
"I don't know. I really haven't thought about it. I don't know if I'm cut out for it."
"Oh, you are. Trust me, you are. You should think about it. You should join though."
"Really? Why do you say that?"
He shrugged. "We could use a cook onboard with us." He laughed.
She glared at him and his sleeve caught on fire. "Oh really?"
"Hey! I was just kidding!" He was hitting himself trying to get the flames out. He sounded sincere so she drew the flames to her and away from his shirt and into her hand where she smothered it with her palm. "You should join because of that temper of yours." He shook his head in disbelief, "Man!" He picked up another slice of pizza and ate in silence. She felt a little guilty for setting his shirt on fire, but not too much. Using her powers had dehydrated her and she was parched.
'A cold diet pop sounds really good right now. I'm just too tired to get up, open the fridge and bring it back to me.'
"Whoa! How'd you do that?" Logan leaned back away from Blaze.
"Do what?" He was starting to worry her.
"The pop!" he gestured to the pop sitting in front of her that was not there before. The fridge door was still sitting wide open.
'Who left the door open? It needs to stay closed.' She heard a thump and realized that the fridge had closed by itself. "Well that's weird." She said out loud.
"No, that's not weird. Blaze I think you have telekinesis powers also. Try to move the fork and you'll see." He set out a fork on the counter.
'Well it would be really cool if it would move.' Just then the fork hit her hand that was rested on the counter, too. She jumped back in her seat a bit, "Omigod omigod omigod! It touched my hand! This is too much, I can't handle this!" She started to sit, but there wasn't a chair to land in. But a chair had moved up under her just in time for her to sit with a thud.
Logan chuckled a bit, "You need to relax. You're too stressed. Do some yoga or whatever you girls do to relax." He waved his hand in front of his face.
"Well usually we go shopping or eat a pint of ice cream but one of them seems to have caused the stress. So try again." She said glaring up at him. 'How dare he say that I'm too stressed. I am not stressed! I'm perfectly fine! No, stress in my life. Ahh, who am I kidding? I'm stressed out!' She let out a sigh of frustration. He had caught her glare and saw that she wasn't calm right now. 'About what? A new discovery of another power? Wow!' He looked around to see if any one was coming. The clock read 10:30 so most people were asleep since lights out was at 10. Cracking his knuckles he walked behind her and moved her hair off her neck and back. 'Looks shorter and lighter. Ororo at work again. The stylist of the team.' He smiled and shook his head again.
"What are you doing?" Blaze broke him out of his train of thought.
"I'm trying again. I know this morning I was a little bit of a …"
"Jerk." She finished for him. He nodded in sarcasm
"Yeah, a jerk. Anyways, I think a massage would do you some good."
"From you?"
"No, the dog next door. Yes me. Now just relax." He started massaging her shoulders and neck, slowly moving down her spine. He thoroughly worked out all the knots that were in her muscles, which there were a lot. By the time he finished, she had fallen into a peaceful sleep, sitting up. He looked around again and saw no one who was coming or in the TV room. All was quiet for the first time in a long time. He swiftly picked her up and for the second time, carried her to her room. He laid her down and tucked her under the covers. Her room smelled like lilac and the essence filled his senses that drove him nuts. As he started to leave, she stirred and opened her eyes.
"How come this always happens?"
"I don't know. If you could keep your eyes open long enough, you could probably walk yourself to bed."
She threw him a lazy smile. "Where did you learn to massage people to sleep?"
He shrugged, "Just happened." He smiled back at her. Tempted to stay but he just nodded and walked out of the room and shut the door behind him. 'A cold shower is in dire need right now.' He thought to himself.
She watched him walk out of her room. A sigh of frustration escaped her lips. He just started to show emotion towards her that wasn't hostile and he walked away. Maybe it's only a one sided relationship she's thinking of. Ever since he started to talk to her, she was fascinated with him. She was falling for him. But he obviously didn't feel the same way or maybe she was jumping into it. Her head started to hurt and she couldn't go to sleep. She rolled around for an hour and still couldn't get to sleep. She went down stairs again and took a NightQuil and went back upstairs. She passed Logan's room on the way to her room. His light was on behind his closed door. She sighed and continued to her room. She left the lights off and opened her window and sat in the windowsill. The stars were shining brightly tonight. The end of May was coming and summer was creeping up. Her and Flux's birthday was coming up too. What were they going to do this year? Last year, they saw a movie and went out to eat. They'll be turning 21 within weeks. If only she could spend it with Logan, but who was she kidding. He'll be leaving within a few days to go into the city and won't be back for a month. Rogue had filled her in on his schedule while shopping. Rogue had also mentioned the Danger Room. She'd have to have Rogue or Bobby show her what's in it. She leaned against the frame and breathed in the warm air with a cool breeze.
He just got out of his cold shower and wrapped his towel around his waist. He heard someone coming up the stairs. He saw their feet beneath the door stop in front of his room. A draft came from out in the hall, it was Blaze. She was still awake. He opened his window and sat on the window sill, resting his head on the frame staring up at the stars. The only true thing that could clear his mind, but he wouldn't let anyone know that. He had to keep up his reputation. He glanced out and over to Blaze's window. He could see her doing the same thing. How funny that they have so much in common. He smirked, shook his head and turned out the lights. Draping the towel over a chair and crawling underneath the covers, he lied awake and listened next door to what Blaze was doing. His eyes growing heavy, he finally went to sleep.
He heard his door click shut and concealing darkness once again. He sat up with the sheets gathering around his waist. He sniffed, Blaze. She crawled up the bed and sat straddled on his lap. "Look Blaze…" She silenced him with her lips as her hands grabbed both sides of his face and ran her fingers through his hair. Kissing her back he wrapped his arms around her waist. Lifting her arms up, he pulled her shirt up and tossed it to the floor as the same with her shorts. He smiled and sighed when he discovered that nothing was under either item of clothing. Leaning back, he pulled her down over him and pulling the sheets over them as he reclaimed her lips with his.
He sat up in the middle of the night. He looked around to see if Blaze was there or if it was just a dream. Finding his room empty, he huffed and pulled himself up out of bed. He was losing it. He went into the bathroom and turned on the cold water in the shower. It was 5:00 and might as well get up to get ready for school. He stood under the spray for half an hour and finally decided that he was hungry after his stomach growled at him.
Drying off, he walked out and got dressed. Guess he could start to cook breakfast for everyone. Walking down to the kitchen he turned on the light, but the switch flicked off when he turned his back to it. He reached over and turned it back on but the light flicked off again. "Leave it off. I have a headache and we're out of Tylenol so if we could just leave the lights off." He turned and saw Blaze sitting at the island nursing a tall glass of orange juice.
"Rough night?" He smirked over at her.
"Couldn't get back to sleep. NightQuil didn't even do anything. So I'm a little grumpy right now."
"Well you can't be grumpy forever. You have a class to start in a few hours." Opening the fridge, he grabbed the carton of eggs and the slab of bacon and ham, popping toast into the toaster.
"I don't think I'm going to start today, maybe tomorrow. I don't even have any art supplies and I don't even have a room yet. I think I'll be getting ready today and starting tomorrow. That sounds wonderful." She chuckled and chugged down her orange juice.
Logan chuckled, too. "Headache, huh? Where?"
She pointed to the back of her skull and on her temples. 'It's too early for anyone to be up. Why not?' She looked up at him, "Can you work your magic again please?" she begged.
He smiled and nodded walking around behind her and started to massage the base of her skull, slowly moving up to her temples. Her head slowly moving underneath his hands, she moaned as she felt the tension being released and her head feeling lighter and lighter.
He heard footsteps coming closer to the kitchen so he dropped his hands and walked back to the eggs and bacon. Ororo walked in the kitchen and grabbed a coffee mug from the cabinet. Blaze looked up to find out what made Logan stop and found Ororo pouring a cup of coffee. 'Has to uphold a reputation I guess.' She snorted and put her head down on the island. "Hungry?" Logan asked Storm. "Nah. Not really. Thanks" she nodded and left the room. Blaze lifted her head off the counter and raised an eyebrow at Logan. He just shrugged and offered her a plate, which she took gladly. She looked at her glass, empty. She decided to exercise her telekinesis for a bit. She pulled the drawer open and pulled out a fork and brought it over to her. Next she opened the fridge and pulled out the orange juice and brought it also to the island. She poured the orange juice and put it back in the fridge, closing it behind the juice.
"Guess you're used to using your powers, huh?" Logan said as he paused in fixing his own plate.
"I guess you could say that." They finished up breakfast in silence, occasionally having a short meaningless conversation. When they finished, Blaze gathered both of their plates and rinsed them off before placing them in the dishwasher. "Thanks for breakfast Logan. It was really good." She nodded and walked out of the kitchen, getting dressed and getting ready to go shopping for her class. She planned out her day. She would buy her shopping supplies in the morning when the stores opened so there wouldn't be a crowd, then come home for lunch and locate the room where she would be teaching. Maybe she should do that first. 'Maybe I should find Storm first.' Off she went to find her.
The room was huge. It had one wall of windows that faced the backyard where all of the fields were. Gym was being held, basketball her favorite sport. She played a little in High School and was excellent. She was also an all-star at softball. She would have to push for a game for students against faculty. The room was wide and there was enough space to have room between the desks. The floor was stadium platforms, layering the students so it would be easier to teach. She sat down on the long bench windowsill watching the basketball game while making a list of everything that she needed. Feeling satisfied with her list, she headed off to some hobby stores and to the mall.
Flux walked into the classroom where she would be substituting for Scott. Math. She looked around the room and saw that the class was mostly younger students. On the desk was a schedule of the classes of the day. 1st hour- multiplying and dividing, 2nd hour- problem solving/ word problems, 3rd hour- break/ lunch, 4th hour- Pre- Algebra and Algebra 1, 5th hour- Algebra Geometry and Algebra 2, 6th hour- Advanced Math. 'Wow! I have a big day in front of me!' She looked around the room as it was quieting down, she noticed Veronica sitting in the front of the class with a smile on her face. She waved for Flux to come over to her. Flux knelt down in front of Veronica, "What is it Veronica? Anything wrong?"
Veronica shook her head, "No, I did that worksheet but I could find you so I asked Storm and she said that I did excellent because I didn't miss one problem." She said all in one breath as she reached out to hug Flux. "Thanks!" Flux smiled and nodded as she stood up.
"So I heard that we were learning multiplication and division. Is that right?" she looked around the class again and noticed that they were all about 1st-3rd graders. She had met a few of the younger students but mostly the older students so she didn't know everyone's names. "Does anyone know where Mr. Summers left off?" A boy in the back raised his hand. "Yes? Sorry I don't know everyone's name."
"It's Jared. Mr. Summers left off with multiplication of 9."
Flux nodded, this was going to be easy. "Okay. This set is really easy to learn. Does anybody know why?" They all shook their heads. "When learning the 9's, you can use your fingers. I want everyone to hold their hands out in front of them with some space between your fingers. Now first, to find out what 9 times 1 is, I want you to put down your left pinky finger. How many fingers are left?" Jared raised his hand. "Yes?"
"Nine?"
"Yes that's right. Now put the finger back up. Now 9 times 2, put down your left ring finger. You have a one on one side of the finger and eight on the other side. What number would that be?"
"Eighteen!" Veronica said with glee.
"That right! You guys seem to be getting the hang of it! So let's continue. Nine times three is?'
"Twenty-seven!"
Nine times four?"
"Thirty-six!"
…
"And now, nine times twelve?" The class looked around, searching for an answer. "That's okay because now we get to learn how to multiply on paper. I'll write it up on the board. Okay. First step is to multiply on the right side first. What's nine times two again?"
"Eighteen!"
"Right. So we put the eight under the line and carry the one above the other one. What's nine times one?"
"Nine."
"Right. So we have nine and now we add the one that we carried over so it becomes ten. So our answer is 108!" She had a smile on her face because the class caught on so fast.
"Ms. McHill, you teach this more gooder than Mr. Summers." A little first grader said.
"Better." She corrected. "I'm better than Mr. Summers."
"Are you our English teacher, too?" an older student asked.
She just laughed and shook her head, "No, I was just correcting him." She said just before the bell rang to dismiss class. 'Well one class down, only four more to go.'
The next hour went by extremely quick and before she knew it, the bell rang for third hour to start. This was her break hour. She heard a familiar chirp of her cell phone and picked it up. It was Blaze. "Hey what's up chickadee?"
"Ah, nothing much. I just finished picking up some art supplies and I was starting to get hungry. I wanted to know if you wanted to come meet me for lunch. I was thinking Olive Garden."
"Ah, lunch sounds wonderful. I didn't eat breakfast because I was so nervous about class."
"How is class so far?"
"Wonderful. The students are so smart!" She heard another familiar beep. Low battery. "Blaze, I gotta go. My phone's dying. I'll meet you at the Murphy's on Main in 15 minutes."
"Okay! See you there!" and she hung up. Flux walked over to her purse to find her car charger when her phone started to vibrate. A text message, from who? Looking at the main screen, 'Why was Dustin texting her now in class?' She read it, 'Flux, please call me out now. I don't feel too good. In History.' Flux snuck down the hall to Storm's classroom and poked her head in as she knocked softly on the door.
"Ms. McHill, please come in. What can I do for you?"
"Well, actually, I need to talk to Dustin and Alyson for a moment. Would that be alright?"
"Um, yeah I guess."
Flux walked back out into the hall and was soon joined by Dustin and Alyson. "Okay, now why don't you feel good? If you feel sick, then just ask Ms. Munroe to check you out when she has time."
"Flux, we're not sick. We don't like it here. These people don't like us here. We want to be with you and Blaze, not with these strangers!"
"Yeah, some boy pulled my hair and then forced my mouth shut so I couldn't tell the teacher with some sort of power. I don't like it!" Alyson began to pout.
"Okay kids. This is enough. Now how old are you two? You two shouldn't be complaining like this. I know it's new but you'll adjust and make some friends who will accept you for who you are rather than a lie you tell every one as a cover up. I'm sorry but this is a good school where we can all be safe from normal people."
"But I want to be normal again!" Alyson wailed.
"Alyson! Hey that's enough! You two need to suck it up for the rest of the day and we'll talk later tonight, okay?" They both nodded and walked back into the classroom. She blew out a sigh of exhaustion, which she didn't know that she was holding, shook her head and grabbed her purse and keys and headed out the door.
Blaze pulled her car into the parking lot just seconds before Flux did. Murphy's was a cozy "Mom and Pop" restaurant that served grease for breakfast, lunch, and dinner but that's how Blaze and Flux liked it. Their favorite plate is their open-faced burgers, starts with bread (1 slice) then the fried patty with melted cheese all over it topped off with fries covered in homemade brown gravy. It was to die for, but the best part was that the owners were mutants. The customers just never knew. The first time they came, they kept getting a mutation vibe from a few of the workers. Turns out that the kids were mutants too as were both of the parents. Talk about genetics! Well they were really kids, more of 24 and 22, but they acted like teenagers.
They ordered and talked quietly to each other. The place only had 4 or 5 customers but they left not long after Blaze and Flux arrived. The place was empty and their food was brought out. Spenser and Aaron sat down next to the girls as they were eating. They had stopped in a few times before and each time Spenser would flirt with Blaze and Aaron would flirt with Flux. Spenser could control the density of his body and Aaron had telekinetic abilities which made it easier to work in the kitchen when the burgers can be flipping while he's serving food and chopping up tomatoes and lettuce all at the same time.
"Hey girls. How's it going? Food good?" Spenser asked as he kissed Blaze on the cheek as Aaron did Flux.
"Hey boys. Nothing much. How's business going?" Blaze asked in return.
"Pretty good. Can't complain. Crowd hasn't come in yet but that's okay with me. Means more time with you."
"Oh! Today I taught little kids how to multiply and divide. Did I tell you guys?" Both shook their heads. "Oh! Well at the school, one of the teachers left on an assignment and I was left in charge of his class so I became a substitute teacher and might become permanent. Blaze is going to be teaching too!" Flux said as she grinned from ear to ear.
Both of the guys looked at Blaze as she nodded to confirm what Flux had said. "Yup. I'm teaching art starting tomorrow. I just got done buying all of my supplies."
"Well are you excited?" Aaron asked as he wrapped his arm around Flux's shoulders.
"Yeah I'm excited. I get to make a mess and use my powers and not get in trouble. It's a win-win situation." Blaze smiled as she took a bite of her burger.
Ding ding! "Oh well we have to get back to work. See you later girls. I'll call you." Spenser pointed to Blaze. They nodded and continued eating. Flux finished off her plate by eating the last fry dripping in gravy. Blaze raised an eyebrow towards her.
"What? I was famished! I told you that I didn't eat breakfast!" Blaze just shook her head and took her last bite and got up to go pay. Flux went into the back and kissed Aaron good-bye. "I'll talk to you later, okay?" She promised him.
"Sounds good to me. See ya."
"Bye!" She waved back as she walked to the front where Blaze was hugging Spenser bye.
"Talk you later, babe." Spenser said as Blaze started walking for the door with Flux on her heels.
"Later!"
"So I'll meet you at the school. Yeah?"
"Yeah sounds good. See ya then. Be there or be square." Blaze shook her head.
'That's a cheesy line that should not be said in public.' She thought. "But I like ovals and triangles! What then?" She yelled across the parking lot.
"Then you're screwed!" Flux laughed and climbed into her car and drove away.
As Blaze started her car, Spenser came running out of the building yelling at her. "Blaze wait up! Stop!" She stopped her car and rolled down the window.
"Yes and how may I help you?"
He smiled and shook his head. "What are you and Flux doing this Saturday night?"
"Um…nothing that I know of yet. Why?"
"Aaron and I want to know if you two wanted to go see a movie after dinner. If that's alright with school policy?"
Blaze smiled, giddy with excitement she nodded her head. "Yeah that sounds great. We'll be by later to give you guys directions to the school."
He nodded and poked his head in the car and gave Blaze a long kiss on the lips. Breaking apart for air, he smiled and walked back into the building with a new bounce in his step. Blaze shook her head and drove away, back to the school.
'Ugh! If only my room was on the first floor! I bought too much stuff!' Blaze thought as she climbed the stairs to get to her room. She dumped all of her things on her desk and began to organize and label everything on where everything was supposed to go. About half way through, she got burned out on labeling and decided to take a break and come back to do this later. School was still in session, so she wondered if any basketball games were still going on. She looked down and saw Logan steal the ball from one of the students who protested that he had fouled as Logan shot and made a 2 pointer.
"Game! Everyone get washed up and get ready for your next hour. Shake hands." He said as he wiped the sweat off his forehead with the back of his arm. A new game would start at the beginning of next hour so she ran to her room and changed into a pair of Sophie shorts and a t-shirt that says 'Does not play well with others' and headed down stairs.
Logan turned his head and saw Blaze walk out and picked up a stranded basketball. She looked at it, tested the air pressure, dribbled a little and shot from off court and scored. Logan raised an eyebrow in her direction. "This is my break hour. I thought about actually taking a break, but a new challenge has arisen if you care to join me in a one-on-one game." He said retrieving the ball.
"Hmm…I don't know. I don't want to make you look bad or anything. Maybe I should just go back in?" Blaze said starting to turn around and walk back inside.
"Whoa! Make me look bad? I think you've got that turned around sister." He bounced the ball. "Check. We'll go to 35. Whoever loses has to buy dinner tonight. Agree?"
"Yeah sure. Whatever!" she said as she stole the ball from his grip and scored three points. "Three Zero!"
"You cheated." He checked again and scored himself two points. "Oh, and No Powers!"
Blaze snapped her fingers, a flame popped out of her thumb. "Oh darn." She said sarcastically. "Two Three." He checked but Blaze knocked it out of his hands and shot another three points. "Six Two. This game's going by pretty fast."
"Oh, but I'm just warming up."
"Warming up? You've been playing for three hours!" He just laughed and shook his head as he scored himself three points.
"Five Six." The game went by really fast since both kept scoring points against each other. By the end the score was 36 to 28, Logan had to buy dinner tonight.
"Okay, so we could say that you are worn out from the previous games, but there's still the fact the I WON!" Blaze laughed as she shook his hand.
"Okay, whatever, good game. I think I'm going to go pass out."
"Just wake up in time for dinner! Make it nice!"
"Yeah, okay, whatever." Logan and Blaze walked into the kitchen for some water. "So, do your parents know you and you brother and sisters' are mutants?"
Blaze looked at him. Just the mention of her parents brought flames to her eyes for all the hatred they had shown in the end of their time together. "Yes they do." She gritted through her teeth. "And they rejected us. We haven't talked to them in almost 5 years. Like I care." She finished her water and then retreated to her room, pissed off beyond relief. She closed her door and collapsed face down on her bed, but she heard the door open again.
"Blaze, come here. I want to show you something." Logan said from the doorway.
"I just want to be alone and blow off some steam, right now. I don't want to see anything."
"No but holding in your anger for them is damaging."
"Oh yeah? And how would you know?"
He cocked his head to the side, 'This girl has a temper on her. So much like mine. Hmmm…' He looked down at the floor and then back up at her. He saw the flames in her eyes, but behind them were tears yet unshed. God, he couldn't stand to watch girls cry! "Dry up and follow me." He said as he turned on his heel and started walking down the hall.
