I fell asleep during Storm's chemistry class. I was sitting in the back--but she still noticed. She always notices. And when she notices, she pulls a prank on me, knowing my pop would never get mad at her for picking on me. If anything, he probably would've thought it was hilarious that she dug up a pail and a gardening trowel from the science storage room, and clanged it near my seat, saying something about dismissing class, and everyone watched while I began to collect my books, ready to go on to my next class.

Everyone in the room laughed like it was hysterical.

I caught on quickly that I was being played. I just didn't want to deal with the backlash of letting them know I'd realized it. I kept up my ruffled, half-asleep pretense as I continued to walk on out the door, absently dropping my first-day survey on Storm's desk on my way out.

At the door I paused briefly for a jaw-cracking yawn, and by then my classmates were falling to the floor in fits of laughter. I didn't much care about making them laugh, my goal was to get out of there, and maybe go pester Bobby Drake until lunch. He had an off hour, and since I found him rather attractive, and I could bitch to him about how horrible my classmates were for laughing at me, I thought I'd pay him a visit. Pop never need know. Well, then again, Pop probably wouldn't be the one who'd really get on my case for that kind of thing.

The Professor...now that was a different story.

I really thought I'd made it, gotten away clean with cutting at least part of a class. I was swaggering along down the hall, minding my own business, when I was addressed by someone behind me who sounded like they were far, far too impressed with their roll as an instructor. "Hmm, that's strange. I don't remember hearing the bell ring. I don't suppose you have a hall pass, Sadi Lebeau?"

I stopped, barely keeping myself from groaning as I turned around.

Cyclopes. Damn. How had I managed to miss him? Usually I could see or hear ol' 'Slim' coming a mile away. Wouldn't it be just my luck if Mr. Stick-in-the-Mud started getting as sneaky as his wife, Mrs. Grey-Stick-in-the-Mud. At least with her I could get away with some things. Girl-stuff, you know. With Cyke, typically nothing less than life threatening illness served as a good enough excuse to wander the halls. Especially if you're under the age of eighteen. And especially me, because I didn't have any powers to protect myself with. After all, at any given moment I might be kidnapped by one of the mutant gnomes living in the mansion's walls.

I smiled at him, swearing pleasantly in French. I didn't directly insult him, but I expanded on the fact that I was royally screwed in no uncertain terms. No uncertain terms if you knew rough New Orleans French slang, which he didn't. I hoped...

"Sadi, don't you have chemistry right now?" he asked, interrupting me.

I nodded. "Yeah, Mr. Summers, that's what I said. I'm practicing for French class. Jean told me you took some French in high school, so I thought..." I rambled on, like I usually did, looking for a chance to distract his attention from his goal of sending me back to class.

"Are you cutting class again, Sadi?" he asked, dead serious as he addressed me.

"Non, Mr. Summers. Stormy said we could go early since it was such a nice day, an' so I went." I tried to appear innocent, but I doubted he was going to buy it. In all likelihoodm he'd probably drag me right back to class so I could get laughed at all over again. If I tried to run, he'd probably drag me by the ear.

"That sounds like a load of bullshit t' me, Chere."

My eyes slowly shut as I groaned. There went my ship, and without me on it. I could excuse the fact that I hadn't heard pop sneaking up behind me, because he was good at that kind of thing. But having him sneak up at that moment didn't bode well in my favor.

I did a deliberate about-face, keeping my eyes glued to the floor once I finally reopened them. "Bonjour, peré. Beau jour, n'est-ce pas?" I said, making a weak attempt at small talk.

Pop only did that half-laugh type of thing he does when I try to slip my way out of trouble. I think it makes him a little mad, when I try to BS him like that. However, when I try it on, say, Cyclopes, he thinks it's hilarious.

"You thinkin' you can just slip out of this one, Sadi?"

Damn, I didn't remember the last time he'd sounded that cold while speaking to me. Apparently he was really taking this whole 'father of the year' thing pretty seriously. He was going to be tough with me.

I rolled my eyes. "No, dad, I don't. I don't think I can 'just slip out' of this. There's nothing to slip out of. Storm played a joke on me. I got fooled into thinking class was over and I got up to leave. Since the whole class was already laughing at me, I just kept walking out the door. It wasn't like she expended a whole lot of effort calling me back, and it's not like I could've really fucking stopped her if she'd wanted me back in that room, could I? Besides, she was too goddamn busy laughing at me too!" My rational explanation had quickly exploded into a short-lived fit of rage.

If there was one thing that really set me off in the world, it was someone getting the best of me, people laughing at my expense. That was the true reason why I'd walked out of that classroom, why I didn't go back. I couldn't stand being the butt of a joke for those fucking mutant kids.

Apparently that wasn't good enough for Pop. Figured it wouldn't be. He didn't always understand my problem dealing with that sort of thing.

He grabbed my face, covering my mouth to silence me with one large hand. I felt that tingling I always felt during direct contact with him while he was angry. I felt it against my cheeks and my lips, anywhere his skin touched mine. That tingling was kinetic energy he had to restrain, so it wouldn't pour into me. God forbid he ever get so mad he'd lose that control. If he did, I'd die an excruciatingly painful death.

His red-on-black eyes burned into mine, but when he spoke, his tone sounded calm. "You goin' back t' class right now, Sadi. You goin' t' stand up in front of your classmates, and you gonna t' tell Ms. Munro that you're sorry you left before the bell rang. Got it?"

I couldn't speak, but I wanted to yell 'Let go of me before you blow up my freaking head!' So, I just settled for standing there in silence, and staring at him angrily. God how I wished I could make him feel the same burn from my anger I felt from his. But I couldn't do that. In a barrel full of mutants, I had to be the only normal fish.

"Sadi," he warned, a bit more fiercely than before. He held his head a bit higher, so he could stare down at me with an increased air of superiority.

I didn't like that much either, so again instead of nodding my understanding, I simply crossed my arms over my chest, electing to reamin defiant.

I could wait. It wasn't like I had anywhere to be, besides in class, and I wasn't in a hurry to go back there. How long we played was completely up to him.

"Fine, jes fine," he said at last, letting me go.

Again my eyes fell to the floor, so my hair would fall forward and cover the place where his thumb had pressed against my cheek. The spot had burned, and it continued to sting, even when the source of the pain was taken away. I didn't want him to know he'd hurt me. I didn't want any sympathy right then.

"Don' bother studyin' for the driver's test, Sadi. Cause you ain't gonna get your license til' you're at least eighteen. Go ahead an' give her a detention slip, Cyke. She's earned one."

Then, he was gone. Stalking off down the hall, trench coat sweeping behind him, and suddenly me and Cyclopes were alone again.

"Go back to class, Ms. Lebeau," Scott told me softly, before he too turned to go, in the opposite direction from the one Pop had taken.

It only took me about two seconds to realize that no one would check to make sure I really went back to class, so I didn't. I took off, on my way to find somewhere private to either cry or fume.

Probably both.