Disclaimer: Don't own the characters in this story or the tv show. The only thing I'm adding is the character Elizabeth.
A/N: This. Took. Forever. BUT! This is like….the chapter. Well, one of them. Sorry it took forever. It's been sitting on my computer half finished for…like, two months. Also, my beta is visiting a different country and doesn't have a computer at all, so I had to beta it myself. Sorry if there are some stupid mistakes!
Outside Looking In:
Chapter Four
Surprises
I sat on the school steps, trying to keep my head propped up. After Kurt left, the family and I had dinner, and right after, the phone rang. It was Ben, my older brother. I talked with him until my voice started to crack and my clock read 2:34pm. He told me to hang up when I couldn't make a full sentence without yawning. I only got about three hours of sleep, so right now, I wasn't really all that ready for the day.
It was still rainy out, but the kind of rainy that only sprinkled here and there, leaving an everlasting fog in the air. I'd gotten to school earlier that day, too earlier for the doors to be open yet. I was trying to wake up by listening to some loud techno music from my CD player, but it was clearly not working, because I had to jolt my head back up. Kurt's umbrella was in my hands, keeping me upright. I predicted I wouldn't be paying attention much in school today…
The school grounds were rather empty, aside from the teachers who were late getting there and the few straight A kids who studied for their tests. I looked around, counting them all off in my head, naming them, giving them little back stories as to why they were sitting there…it wasn't helping me to stay awake. I needed to at least make it into class…
So, I got up and began to walk around, just wandering here and there, using the umbrella as a cane to keep me standing like that of an old person. My eyes were half lidded, and I was just lucky I made it far enough without running into anything to figure out where my feet took me. It was the back end of the school, were the bleachers and football field were. Eying up the bleachers, I had half a mind to lie down on them, take a little nap, just for a few minutes, but I knew it wouldn't be 'just a few minutes' it would be until the last bell rang to wake me up. That or the PE class would come out and stir me awake…
"Well, well, well," The voice was too distant in my tired head to really place, but it did sound familiar…
"Hey, isn't that the chick who nailed ya in the—" That one too.
"Shut up, Todd!" And the name.
My body finally listened to my brain and turned in the direction of the voices…
Oh. Yah. That's where I knew the voices.
"You guys?" I couldn't help yawning in between, so it came out sort of disoriented, but I think they got the point.
"Yah, us guys!" Pietro snarled, appearing to be, in my opinion, too wake for his own good.
It was the usual four of them, Pietro, Lance, Todd, and Fred. I always thought of them as an odd sort of group, with odd sorts of names to go with it. They all stood together, as if blocking off my exit or something…
"We've got some unfinished business with you." Pietro said, arms folded in a way that told me he was the ring-leader right now. The other three just smiled, and Fred cracked his knuckles.
Oh.
Shit.
My eyes went wide when it finally clicked in my head. Did they REALLY want to beat me up? No! It couldn't be! No one ever wanted to beat me up. They never noticed long enough to realize they wanted to punch me in the first place. This was just…
I was awake now, my heart racing faster than it was a second ago. Yah, maybe I could take on Todd. I think anyone could take him on, but Fred and Lance and Pietro…and all of them together? No freaking away! I wasn't Supergirl, and I didn't possess a black belt in anything! Four against one just weren't good odds, even if we were all on the same physical level.
I smiled slightly, trying to act innocent. "Look, guys, uh, Pietro," I quickly took a step, a large step, back. "What happened the other day…come on! It wasn't anything against you, by all means!" My fingers were turned white; they clutched the umbrella so hard.
The group came closer, circling around me, blocking off all my directions of escape. It was too earlier still for anyone to see me back here, and it would be too late when they actually came around to find me…
I was so dead.
"Payback time, stupid bitch." The white haired teen grinned, pulling back his fist for a solid hit. I only curled up lower on the ground, opening up the umbrella to form some sort of shield around me, and closed my eyes, waiting for the first blow…
There were sounds, fighting sounds, and like….stranger sounds, but I refused to look or open my eyes until all forms of sounds stopped. Slowly, the umbrella came down and I opened one of my eyes to see a view I wasn't fully expecting at all.
"Wow."
All four of them were…immobilized. Fred was thrown through the bleachers, Todd was…I think being crushed by him (poor guy), Lance was on the ground groaning halfway across the football field, and Pietro was pulling himself up off the ground, appearing to be rather unstable on his feet. He looked pissed.
However, that wasn't the thing that surprised me. Oh, no. There, in front of me, stood none other than Scott Summers himself. He was panting, slightly, but had this look of…something that I would call pride and power on his face. It was something with those glasses…
I glanced around at everything again, blinking and blinking, wondering what the hell just happened and if I was actually still conscious. This wasn't a dream, right? I pinched myself, just to be sure. Yep, not a dream.
"Uh…Shades?"
He finally turned to me, but it wasn't because he hadn't noticed me. It was because he was making sure those four didn't get up, or if they did, they weren't going to come back at either of us. They didn't. And they almost looked like they were….was that smoke coming from Pietro's clothes?!
"You okay, Liz?" He seemed worried.
"Uh….now I am." I replied, not exactly knowing what to say, because there were a lot of questions to ask, but they wouldn't make it to my mouth.
"Great, come on. We should be getting back to the main campus; I think the doors should be opening soon…" He helped me up from the ground, putting an arm around my shoulder. It made me realize how tense I was, and not because I was almost attacked, it was because he was…touching me. My eye twitched. I'm normally never touched by other people, at least not like this.
I didn't say anything, and neither did he, until we got back to the school's main entrance.
He stopped at the top of the steps, letting go of me and stood back, all of a sudden getting sort of nervous. "Uh, look, Liz, I—"
"Shut up. Just…here." I handed him the umbrella, all of a sudden the sleeping coming back. "Give this to Kurt. He left it at my place last night. The…oddest thing too. I almost thought. Uh, never mind…just. Give it to him, 'kay? 'Kay." He moved swiftly, noticing the vice principal was at the doors, unlocking them with his keys. I stepped past Scott before he could say anything else. "See you inside, Shades."
Hm, it was a good nickname for him. It fit. Because…..those glasses….red…and—
Nevermind. On to bigger and brighter things. Like school. Yay.
I slept through all my class, and most of lunch once I actually ate everything. I didn't feel like talking to Kurt or any of the others, so I tried to stay clear. Not that I didn't like them or anything, it's just…I was too tired to be friendly. I didn't want to do something stupid. So, I steered clear, which was actually sort of hard, because it meant I had to fall asleep before Kurt got in any of our classes, and Rogue in Art, though it never seemed too hard with her. She didn't seem like the talking type.
Once the final bell rang, I felt better, for the most part. I got about five or six hours of sleep, which caught me up on the hours I lost on the phone. I was already to go home and make dinner when something I….really didn't expect happened.
"AH!"
Evan skid in front of me, his skateboard coming too close to my toes for comfort. He came out of nowhere, the wind coming with him and my pure surprise pushing me back. Luckily there was something solid to catch me. And…soft?
I looked up and saw Kurt staring down at me, smiling away. I looked back at Evan to see the group multiplied with Scott, Kitty, and Rogue joining in.
"You know, someone might think you guys do this often. You know the whole coming out of nowhere, scaring people shitless, and then seeming to trap them in? Yah, kind of creepy." I pushed back up from Kurt's arm, quickly forgetting the feel of his arms on mine, because it didn't feel like….skin.
"Where have you been, girl?" Evan.
"Ve've been trying to get your attention all day!" Kurt.
My comment didn't even seem to faze them.
"I've been sleeping!" Was my reply, throwing my arms in the air. "What would possibly have you people crowding me like a gang?!" That was my temper getting the better of me. Great. Shut up before it gets worse Liz, or you won't have anything left to even call an acquaintance.
"Are you, like, even listening to us?" Kitty's voice shook me from my thoughts. Apparently I missed something.
"Hu? Wha? Say again?"
"He said—"
Kurt cut her off, pushing forward so he was closer and I could see his smile all the clearer. "I said 'Vould you like to come over today?'"
My own voice caught in my throat. "…..hu?"
Kurt laughed, "I asked the…uh…headmaster, or guardian, or vhatever you vant to call him, if you can come over today and hangout, vork on our project, something. He said yes. So, do you vant to come over our place?"
I couldn't really believe it. Really? What? Did he, they, just invite me over to that big mansion they call a home?!
"Would I ever!"
And they all grinned. This time, so did I.
"You guys....live...here?" was the first thing out of my mouth when we entered the property's gates.
The ride over was a little cramped, as it was only Scott's little car, with Scott, Kurt, Kitty, Rogue, Evan, and I. Luckily, Jean had to stay after school for soccer practice. They talked about what the place was, some sort of institute for gifted kids from all over the world, with teachers and extracurricular activities or something like that. I ignored half of it, because it sounded too much like school. After they explained, I opened my big mouth and mentioned how half the student population had a poll going for what they all did behind the gates. It was a tie between porn studio and secret international spy training facility. Then they all looked at me funny, and I told them it was just what I heard, and didn't believe at all. The rest of the school kids would be disappointed to find out how boring it really was.
And then I actually got to go inside.
"This place has to be on...like, ten acres of land or something!" I said, leaning out of the car in a way that Rogue made sure to hold on to one of my belt loops so I wouldn't fall out.
"Ja, something like that..." Kurt said, just watching my excitement rise.
"Man, Liz, we haven't even gotten inside yet, and already you're going nuts." Evan said from the front seat.
I ignored him, nearly jumping out of the sports car before it came to a stop at the entrance. I had to remember to stay calm, cool, collected. Yes, that's it. No need freaking out whoever else lived in the house as soon as I walked in the door.
Scott opened the door, shouting out "We're home!"
And then Kurt came in next, pushing past to yell, "So I hope everyone is DECENT!"
I was too busy going "woo" and "ahh" at the large entrance way before me. It all was so fancy and big and nice! This Professor Xavier guy must be rich!
My attention was taken away from the pretty interior by a growl that came from the stairs. I cracked my neck up to see a big guy, hairy, gruff looking, with a wife beater on and a bottle of water in hand. He looked like the sort of guy who knew what the inside of a prison cell looked like. I eyed him up once then twice, listening close as he said something to Kurt.
"Yah, yah, I got the memo this morning--" I noticed how the end of that sentence seemed unfinished, like he wanted to say something extra but had to stop himself. Hm. Odd.
He then looked at me, eying me up just as I did him. "You must be the school girl, right?"
I nodded, pushing forward. "Well, seeing as I'm the only one you don't know, right? Unless you guys added another to the group when I wasn't looking!" My eyes went wide as I spun around; counting off everyone, then stopped and gave a sigh. "Oh, no, good. I was getting worried! You guys do like to multiply sometimes, I'll tell ya!"
I sort of chuckled to myself, looking around at everyone else who had a really...confused look on their face. The gruff guy even looked a little worried.
"Is she sick, Boy Scout?"
Scott shook his head, "Just ignore it. Now, uh, Logan, this is Liz, Kurt's friend from school. Liz, this is Logan, one of the teachers we told you about."
I held out my hand for Logan to shake. "Nice to meet yah, Logan, old buddy!"
The man just stared at it for a few seconds, then grunted and turned away. "Call me when Dinner's ready." And then disappeared down one of the many hallways.
My shoulders slumped slightly, and then I perked up, placing a hand on my hip. "Well, isn't he just a ray of sunshine!"
Kurt laughed, pushing me along. "He's...normally like that. Sorry. Now, do you vant a tour of the place?"
My eyes lit up. "Do I!?"
The house was bigger than I thought, way bigger. There were only like...ten people living here and fifty different bedrooms. Trust me, my jealousy showed, but it was nothing compared to when we got to the kitchen.
That's where I met Professor Xavier and Ororo, but first I had to go on and on and on about how big the kitchen was and how much food they had and how state of the art everything was. I even playfully punched Kurt a few times just because I knew this was the place he got to get his breakfast from in the morning.
"You have to let me cook tonight." I said, opening up all the cabinets and drawers.
A laugh came from behind us. "I don't think Ororo would like that very much."
"Oh, by all means, I'd love a night off of cooking."
The professor and Ororo were very nice. They seemed warm and welcoming, and seemed to put up with me very well. It was nice to feel welcomed like that. I didn't get the feeling all that much.
"Okay, okay, one last part of the tour and THEN you can come back to the kitchen." Kurt said, dragging me out and into the back yard.
When we got out there, I punched him again.
"A pool! You guys have a POOL?! Son of a bitch, man! Why don't I live here?" I yelled, just amazed at how much this place had and how big everything was. The backyard alone seemed like a forest. There were so many trees I couldn't see the wall that cut off the property from the real world.
Looking around at everything, and then looking down at the pool, at the water and how blue it seemed, I got a wicked idea. Scooting next to Kurt, I put on a nice little innocent look, glancing from him to the pool and back again.
"Oh, Kurt, my lovely German friend."
He looked over, and I saw his mouth move in a way that was ready to ask "vhat?" but he never got the chance as a look of horror came over his features as I made my move, grabbing his arm, pushing, and shoved him into the pool.
I laughed, hearing the splash and turned away so I wouldn't get so wet. When my sides stopped hurting, I turned back to the water. "Ha! I totally got..."
I froze.
He froze.
My face fell, and so did his, but....he....was.....
Blue. Blue and wet and, with yellow eyes and pointy ears and I think a tail swished around under the water, but that was supposed to be Kurt, and oh, god! That was Kurt wasn't it!? It was the same clothes, and the same hair, same facial structure, but he was all blue and not human and-- and--
"Liz! Please-"
My eyes went wide, because it had to be Kurt! That voice was the same, still had that accent.
"Kurt....Kurt? Oh, God! Ku--"
And my brain wouldn't work anymore. My head felt too heavy, and my body did the same. Everything felt like it was spinning, and somewhere behind me I think I heard that Logan fella curse, or maybe that was Scott? Rogue? But....Kurt was....and so did that make them....Shades?
My body shut down before my head hit the hard cement, but I still felt it as it knocked me into a deeper unconsciousness, and then I felt water, wet, and I couldn't breathe, and felt hands and, and--
Blue.
Shades.
Not there.
I passed out.
A/N: Yah, I totally left you guys with a cliffy. Hm, I think there will only be another four chapters. That is, if I plan this correctly…see ya next time! Which WILL be soon, as I want to finish this by the end of my summer holiday!
