"Come on Rogue, come to the movies with us, it'll be fun!" Kitty pleads with me over lunch the next day.

I'm really not into another mall like trip with her so soon but I'm considering it. Jean, Amara, and Tabitha were also coming along so it probably wouldn't be as unbearable as the mall was.

My toe had healed in an hour, all of my homework was finished, and Logan was still gone so there wasn't any training sessions later, so I couldn't think of any excuse to give her, had I wanted to.

Well, I was feeling a little cabin feverish if ya know what I mean.

Finally I sigh. "Ok, I'll come…what are we going to see-"

But Kitty's already bouncing away. "Great, I'll go let the others know!"

I watch her go with an eyebrow raised. Why is she so happy I'm going? Not that I'm complaining—it's nice to know that someone wants your company. But usually Kitty was more excited by shopping than movies. Oh well, at least it would give me a chance to get out of the house…and away from the 'R' word.

Speaking of the 'R' word, I hadn't spoken to him since yesterday when he had caused me to hurt my toe. I had mostly kept to myself, up in my room but I had seen him during supper last night and breakfast this morning actually conversing with other people.

It was during these times that I noticed something. No one seemed to be as annoyed by him as I was. Or, in other words, he wasn't trying to annoy anyone else as he annoyed me. I also noticed that he didn't flirt with the other girls. He seemed to be a perfect gentleman with them.

Which was odd to me. As I've mentioned many times before, I'd seen in his head and I knew that he was a womanizer. I knew he loved to flirt with women, I knew he loved to be with women (if you catch my drift) and I knew that not flirtin with every pretty woman in sight had to involve some restraint on his part.

So I don't get it.

And really, I should stop thinkin' about him; I find it to be unhealthy.

Like yesterday, when I had more contact with a human being than I had had in a long time. A small part of me enjoyed that, but it was unhealthy. Unhealthy in the sense that I could kill someone, of course.

Thinking back on it, the last time that I had that much contact with someone was Remy himself when the buttmunch had grabbed me and sprayed me in the face with poison gas so that he could kidnap me. What a lovely memory that is.

Oh no…I didn't even realize it: I agreed to go to a movie with Kitty. This meant going to some mushy gushy chick flick where the acting's terrible and people meet and fall in love in a day, just to be torn apart the very next day, just to be reunited a week later where one of them dies.

Ok, so maybe not all of them are like that. Just the last one I had been made to sit through.

Oh fudge, I'm gonna have to find my umbrella since it's still raining. Speaking of the going out in the freezing rain—is that really safe? Had the other girls really thought that through? Oh well…maybe we'll start skidding out of control and I'll get some entertainment out of that.

I'm kidding, of course.

Three hours later, I'm innocently walking down the hall, headed towards my bedroom when I'm grabbed by the arm and jerked into the bathroom.

I had half expect for it to be Remy, but it turns out to be Tabitha who had jerked me in, surrounded by Kitty, Jean, and Amara.

I feel like an animal trapped in a cage the way they're looking at me. Oh no—Kitty's eyes are bright and excited, Jean's holding a curling iron, and I can see mountains of make-up on the counter.

"I am not-" I start before Jean cuts me off, trying to calm me down.

"No Rogue, it's ok, we just want your opinion on some things."

I stare at them skeptically. No, no way am I getting sucked into this. Before I get the chance to turn and run, Kitty jumps in front of me holding up two shirts.

"Which one do I look better in, Rogue? Red or blue?"

I sigh. "Blue."

Kitty grins brightly. "Ok then, you can wear the red."

She flings the shirt at my head and ducks behind the shower curtain to change. Grumpily pulling it off of my head, I inspect it. It was red, long sleeved, and low cut. Smart. Give the girl with poison skin the low cut shirt.

"Kitty I can't wear this."

Tabitha comes over to me and looks it over. "Come on Rogue, you've got the stuff, flaunt it a little!"

I stare at her. "No."

"Aw come on, Rogue," Amara says while applying some mascara to her lashes, "You would look nice. At least it's not as revealing as Kitty's."

As if to prove her point, Kitty came back out into view and I was immediately glad I had told her she would look better in the blue, because if I hadn't, I would be holding that shirt. Geez Louise, I thought mine was low cut.

"Who are you trying to seduce?" I ask her with an eyebrow raised. I have to wonder: isn't she cold?

Kitty grins at me. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

No, I really wouldn't. Really. But I don't have the heart to say this to Kitty who's skipping over to look at herself in the mirror.

Jean's busy holding her hair up and turning her head to see it from both angles as she speaks. "Should I wear my hair up or down?"

Before I have the chance to answer, Tabitha jumps in front of me, holding up two tubes of lipstick. "Which color?"

Wow, I feel so out of place here. But I want to make an effort so I pick a color for Tabitha, tell Jean to wear her hair down, and then run behind the shower curtain to change. Well, at least they aren't trying to pile make-up on me, or trying to curl my hair. Just…trying to dress me.

And after slipping it on, I find that the shirt is actually kind of comfortable. I'll just wear my blue jean jacket over it to cover the more ah—revealing parts.

"So, Rogue, can I ask you something?" Jean asks as I emerge from behind the shower curtain.

"Uh, sure," I respond worriedly. She has that concerned/curious voice.

"I know it's none of my business, and you don't have to tell me anything if you don't want, but I was just wondering-" Ok Jean spit it out—"is there anything going on between you and Remy?"

If I had been eating, I would have choked. Or if I had been walking, I would have tripped. Or if I had been punching Remy in the head as I would have liked to have been doing at that moment, I would have missed. But, as it was, I was just standing there but I knew shock (and probably a touch of anger) had to be on my face.

"NO!" I might have said—I mean screamed—that too loudly. "WHY would you think that?"

Jean looks amused. "Well, it's just that he was so…flirty in the library yesterday…"

"You noticed that, huh?" I say miserably. I had hoped by some insane (and freaky) stroke of luck that she and Kitty had gone deaf for some inexplicable reason when he had said all that. Or at least that was what my retarded fantasy had been.

"Rogue, like the whole institute has noticed." Kitty informs me.

I can feel myself paling dramatically. "The whole institute?" I ask weakly.

Kitty nods. "Yeah…well, except for Wolverine." Thank. God. "Yeah, we even have a bet going."

My heart stopped. "WHAT?" I hiss.

Amara elbows Kitty in the ribs and mutters at her to shut-up.

Yeah, like they were going to stop me from finding out now. I take a step towards Kitty and ask again. "What are you talking about?"

Kitty's looking over my shoulder at Jean. I jerk my head in that direction to find Jean and Tabitha innocently looking into the mirror, messing with their hair. Turning back to Kitty, I wait for an answer.

"Um, well…" she sighs, "we kind of saw something between you two even before the library yesterday—and we figured that eventually you two would you know—hook up or whatever…or at least half of us did. Clearly he wants you, and you're resisting." I stare at her. "And well…if you eventually do end up giving in to him…I would win, like, a lot of money."

"Kitty!" Of course she had bet against me. Now I was curious to know who believed in me. Those—PEOPLE that I thought were my friends. This was just pure evil. EVIL! "That's-" But I'm so mad and trying to keep it bottled in that I can't think of the right words to express my anger. "You-" I try again. But finally I just settle for: "…Who bet that I wouldn't…you know?"

Kitty bit her lip as she thought. "Um—let's see…Jean, Scott, and Amara bet that you wouldn't end up together." Only THREE? "Tabitha, Kurt, Bobby, and myself all bet that you would sooo hook up."

I stare at her angrily. "KITTY, in case you forgot—I'm poisonous—I can't 'hook up' with anyone."

Kitty waves a hand at me as though I'm being silly. "There are ways around that."

Why do I keep hearing that? It's starting to become seriously annoying. And WHY had Kitty of all people thought about it? And why was everyone else in the bathroom being so quiet? Guilty I guess. And why aren't I yelling more? Oh, that's right, I woke up at five this morning and had hours to myself. See? I told you it worked.

But it didn't work that well.

I decide to ignore her comment and instead turn to the other girls. "Thank you, Jean and Amara for believing in me. Don't worry; you will be winning this bet." I turn back to Kitty. "And how much money did you all bet anyway?"

Kitty's head drops. "Um…one hundred seventy five dollars…"

I feel my mouth drop open at this. They must be pretty darn sure I'll be giving in to Gambit to bet on that much money. "Kitty!"

"We all put in twenty five dollars." Tabitha, who was now leaning against the wall behind Kitty, tells me.

I run my hands through my hair, trying to keep my temper in check. Ok…this is stupid. I shouldn't get too mad at the stupidity of some of my friends. Though hearing this makes me like Jean, Scott, and Amara a lot more, I'm still a little ticked that none of them have mentioned this before now.

Then I have to wonder if Remy knew about this. Since it is technically gambling I can see him in on it. And also, it would annoy me if he were in on it, and so that would just make perfect sense.

But I had to ask. "Does Remy know?"

After they all shake their heads no I'm a little relieved. So I ask them nicely to not mention any of it to Remy. I can just hear his voice in my head telling me that he wanted it and my friends wanted it so it must be right. Then it turns into an unpleasant picture of him diving for my face so I mentally swat the picture away and bring myself back to the present.

All three of them agree not to say anything to him so my mood is improved just a tad. But not enough to stay in this bathroom any longer than I have to.

After fishing my jacket out of my closet and buttoning it up so that my little show of cleavage is hidden, I go down to the garage and wait by the car for them. I figure that I'll have to wait forever for them, but it isn't too long before they finally come out. Kitty eyes me wearily when I hold the keys for a moment, only to pass them over to Jean. I guess she's remembering the return trip from the mall. Ha.

The ride there is unusually quiet. And weird. I know they must be feeling guilty because they offer the music choice to me.

So I decide to torture them and turn on some sports station that I have never listened to in my life. Some man is on screaming his head off about football. I have this mental picture in my head of this guy—red all over and screaming with spit flying in every direction. Apparently he thinks he knows what to do with the team better than the professional coach does.

Glancing out of the corner of my eye, I'm satisfied to see Tabitha and Kitty with pained looks on their faces. Jean and Amara must know what I'm doing because they look amused.

After I grow bored with that, I turn on the Spanish station. I have absolutely no idea what anyone is saying, but the music is happy and actually pretty good. So I turn it. Soon after that I flip on the country music station. Coming from Mississippi, no, I'm not ashamed to say that I like it. But I knew Tabitha and Kitty hated it.

But we finally arrive at the theater and sadly my reign of terror is over. Ah well, at least my mood is a lot better.

Kitty and Tabitha practically dive out of the car. That is entertaining.

It being the weekend, it's no shock to find half of Bayville in the movie theater. We stand in line for popcorn for fifteen minutes. Kitty seems to be enjoying herself, and has apparently gotten over her guilt, seeing as she's now yammering on and on. She's talking so fast, I barely catch what she's saying half of the time, so I end up just ignoring her.

Twenty minutes after we arrive, we finally get into the theater. Kitty seems to have bought the tickets before hand so I still have no idea what we're going to see. But whatever it is, it doesn't seem very promising. Two other people are sitting when we come in. Oh boy.

After we all settled in on the top row, Jean turns to me.

"Rogue, are you okay?"

I have to stop and think for a moment to figure out what she's talking about. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine…"

"I'm sorry about the whole bet thing…" and she really sound like she means it. "I didn't think about how it might hurt your feelings…We shouldn't have done that, I'm really, really sorry."

I smile lightly at her. "Ok…thanks."

"I just don't want you to think that we're trying to make you get with Remy or anything…" She narrows her eyes towards the floor. "What-Is that the guys?"

I close my eyes and bang the back of my head against the seat. Suddenly it all makes sense. Kitty's voice in my head begging me to come with them tonight is at the forefront of my thoughts. Kitty making me put on this revealing shirt. KITTY'S BET.

I open my eyes and jerk my head at her. "Are you trying to set me up?" I hiss angrily at her.

Kitty jumps up and runs away.

I have half a mind to go after her and STRANGLE HER, but then I figure that if I did it here in public, I would get caught.

"Rogue, I swear we had nothing to do with this," Jean is telling me apologetically.

I turn to see Scott, Kurt, Bobby, and Remy making their way towards us. By the looks of things, Kitty has also set up Jean and Amara (with Bobby).

OK, I am going to be ok. I am going to be fine. Jean and Amara are victims of Kitty's scheme too. But at least they like their dates. And at least they can touch their dates. Now I've gone and depressed myself.

Remy of course slips into the seat next to me. Scott takes Kitty's vacated seat next to Jean, just as Tabitha starts passing the tickets out.

I glare down at the stupid ticket and try to make out the name in the semi-dark room.

"What's jiggly?" I hear Kurt ask from a few seats down.

I lose it when I realized the movie was 'Gigli' (pronounced GEELEE). And Kurt had called it jiggly. I almost fall out of my seat I'm laughing so hard. And when I say almost, I mean I completely fall out of my seat, holding onto my stomach.

My action (and howling laughter) causes the rest of the group to bust out laughing, except for Kurt, who's looking confused. That only spurns me on more. And of course Kitty has dragged us all to see what people are calling the worst movie of all time. That usually would have ticked me off but I suddenly find it hilarious.

I also find it to be extremely funny when the two other people in the theater get up and tell us to be quiet. They don't look too happy about that.

Soon the others have quieted down and I'm still on the floor. I also find that to be amusing.

Finally I slump back into my seat, just as the previews are starting. I glance over at Remy and see that he's fighting not to start laughing. I almost lose it again. Clamping a hand over my mouth, I force myself to look anywhere else but at him.

Kitty had snuck back in and is sitting as far away from me as she could. Jean and Scott's hands are already inching towards each other. Tabitha is looking bored. Those two people down below us are gone. Ok, thinking of other things is helping; I'm starting to calm down a little.

Then I look back over at Remy to find him silently shaking with laughter. OH NO—I snort loudly into my hand before biting down on it to control myself.

There isn't even anything funny anymore but we'd become so hysterical it's hard to control ourselves now.

Ten minutes later, after a lot of staring at my hands, I calmed down some. I fought hard not to look back over at Remy, whom I can still hear snickering. I don't even think how odd it is that we're the only two laughing and especially with it being well, the two of us.

It felt good though, I felt good. I haven't laughed that hard in a very long time.

Whew, it's hotter than a donkey's behind in here. That's probably my fault, for laughing so much, but I can't say it isn't worth it. Though it is the last thing that I planned on doing this evening, I shrug out of my jacket and lay it over my lap.

Maybe it's just my self consciousness, but I feel eyes on me. Glancing sideways, I find Remy looking me up and down. His adam's apple moves up and down as he swallows and I feel my face burn before focusing back on the big screen.

Kitty.

I wonder what I can do to her later to pay her back. Shaving her head while she's sleeping seems like a good idea. Or maybe I can set her up with the stupidest guy I can find. OR, I can burn all of her clothes. Or maybe I can snap her phone in half. Or maybe I should stop trying to ignore Remy's staring because he does not want to stop.

"Stop starin at me!" I mutter quietly at him without taking my eyes off of the screen.

He's quiet for a moment and then—"You're wearing red…I told you I liked red. Is this for my benefit?"

Kitty.

I am going to hurt her.

"NO!" I yelp and grab my jacket and fling it back on. I don't care how hot I get.

Everyone turns to look at us except for Jean, who's still in the seat next to me. She must have heard the whole thing. I was starting to like her a little more.

"Kitty—may she rot in hell—made me put it on. I did not put it on for you."

"Uh-huh, whatever you say."

He's trying to bait me, and I ain't gonna fall for it.

"But you should know," he leans close and I can feel his breath tickle my ear as he speaks, "seeing you dressed like that—in that color—it makes me want to throw you down and-"

Next to us Jean spit out whatever she had been drinking from her cup, ending Remy's train of thought. I lazily grab some napkins from my cup holder and hand them over to her while continuing to stare at the screen.

Maybe I should leave? No—those thoughts are crushed when I remember that I would have to walk home in the freezing rain.

So I'm stuck for two hours watching this horrible movie which I soon see is about a criminal lesbian, Ben Affleck pretending to be tough, and a retarded guy who actually turns out to be the only half likeable character of the movie. It's so horrible, I can't believe it.

It's so boring I might just….

…

I didn't realize that I had fallen asleep until I wake to someone gently shaking me. I wave the hand away and mutter at them to shut up before snuggling closer to this nice, warm pillow.

When did the theater get pillows, anyway? And when did pillows become warm? And when did pillows grow arms?

My eyes snap open at this stupid train of thought. When I realize that I'm leaning on someone, I jerk away in alarm and jump out of my seat…only to fall straight on my behind.

I'm still blinking sleepily, trying to figure out what happened when Remy reaches down and gently takes my gloved hands in his and pulls me upright.

Oh, now I get it. Wow, I am slow when I first wake up. I must have fallen asleep, leaned on Remy when I was sleeping and wait—where was everyone else?

I voice this question to Remy, my voice still thick with sleep.

"They didn't want to wake you so I told them I would drive you home."

Though I have the image in my head of Kitty insisting to Remy that he bring me home, I'm too tired to think about it too much. And also too tired to be mad. Oh well, I'll get her back later.

After shrugging lazily at him, I follow Remy out to the car, dragging my feet the whole way. I find it odd that he isn't speaking much but I ain't complaining.

We drove for a few minutes before he decided to speak. "Rogue, can I ask you somethin?"

Of course he has to get me when I'm half asleep. I really don't care at the moment. I sigh. "As long as it's nothing perverted."

The corner of his mouth lifts slightly. "Ok…I was just wonderin…why do you think that it's physically impossible for you to have a relationship with anyone?"

Ok, now I'm awake. I turn to stare at him. "Because I have poison skin." I thought that was obvious.

He nods. "So, you think that relationships are all about the touching? And I don't mean that in a perverted way," he adds quickly.

Oh no…serious conversation. I really do not like serious conversations. I'm starting to get nervous. "Well…yeah…I can't imagine that anyone would really be satisfied if they couldn't hug or kiss or…do anything else with the person they love."

"So…you don't allow yourself to love…" It was more of a statement than a question. He looks to be thinking to himself. But that's the end of the conversation for me. This is getting way too personal.

"I don't want to talk about it anymore," I tell him flatly.

I half expect him to continue anyway but he falls silent. After a few more minutes he apologizes.

"I'm sorry, I just…Even if you can't touch anyone, Rogue, it ain't right that you don't get love."

Since when did love become part of this? I REALLY do not want to talk about love.

"I agree with you," I tell him quietly while looking out of my window, "but that's just the way it is."

The rest of the ride was thankfully, silent.