Designated Things

Chapter Seven

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Marvel Comics. I do not own any of them and I'm just having a fun time manipulating their personalities and likenesses.

A/N: Brazos pointed out the coinciding fact that I'm in the middle of moving as well as our heroine, Ms. Ororo. That is total coincidence. lol. When I first started this story I had no inclination that I'd move a thousand miles away. See…I'm a spur of the moment kind of girl. Anyway, I'm mostly settled and have completed this semester of classes so I'm able to work more on my little tale.

Thank you all so much for the reviews. It's always so fun to know what people are thinking. And once again, as stated before, please don't hesitate to offer suggestions and ideas. And as always…I do not have a beta so there are typos and errors. I cringe when I re-read and find them…

Remy wasn't making any real attempt to listen to Mr. Xavier's lecture. Instead he sat there face in palm and blankly watched the back of his teacher's bald head as he scribbled numbers and letters across the blackboard. Remy's thoughts were more on the events that occurred the previous day. He felt bad for shoving Jean. He'd never put his hands on any woman in an aggressive manner before. He had always thought of women as beautiful creatures that should be treated as such. His own actions toward Jean startled him. However, he couldn't help but to still be a little angry at her for what she'd done to Anna. Jean had never liked Anna. She liked her even less now since he'd started to date her.

Sure, he knew that Anna wasn't the ideal girlfriend. But she needed him. He loved her for that. Anyone that had paid half attention to her would have noticed that she was living a troubled life. He'd seen her plenty of times sitting on the steps of her porch with her head on her knees and sobs shaking her body; behind her the sounds of yelling and breaking glass creeping through the cracks of the old house. The fact that she'd ran away on numerous occasions only made Remy want to help her more. He wanted to take care of her…make her feel better. After all, he was lucky. His parents had chosen each other then chosen him. He wanted Anna to know what it was like to be wanted. Although, at times he felt that her need for him was actually draining his energy, but to see her smile every now and then was worth it to him.

The sound of Ororo's sigh pulled Remy away from his thoughts. The look on her face had confusion written all over it. Remy looked up at the board and saw that Mr. Xavier was going over functions as ratios in right triangles. Accompanying his scribbled notes were sloppy diagrams.

Remy again focused on Ororo. Her head was slightly tilted to the right. He smiled slightly at her frown. It crinkled her nose and he thought she was adorable.

Ororo felt his eyes on her and turned to look at him. Her frown immediately faded. His lopsided grin was slightly distorted by the pull of his hand. Ororo took in the shape of his lips. They were somewhat pouty. He always looked liked he had just been thoroughly kissed. She wondered how it was possible for him to look so handsome so early in the morning. His auburn hair was in careless disarray, covering half of his face. Stylists are paid a lot of money to make a man look as Remy LeBeau does naturally. Ororo realized that he had the type of face that could change from boyish charm into a paralyzing predator without much effort at all. Those dark eyes of his were penetrating and captivating. She was sure that he could see right into her soul and read her thoughts.

Fortunately for Ororo the bell rang before she could blush. At once the class started to chatter and move about. She was relieved for the distraction. "You know, Cherie, I can help you wit dat," Remy stated pointing towards the chalkboard.

"Really?" Ororo asked trying to hide her surprise before realizing that he obviously must have been really good at math to get into the Trig class. She had only made it into the class because she studied relentlessly and her mother hired a tutor for her. They had not been in New Orleans long enough to get any recommendations for a new one. And she needed help as soon as possible In order to get on the same page as the rest of the class.

"It's the least I can do after not gettin' your books back to ya", Remy replied sincerely.

"I'd like that. But I have to warn you…math is not my strong point. I hope you have a lot of patience".

"Oh, dat's okay", Remy drug out the "Oh". He was deciding on rather or not to continue his sentence. "Remy likes to take it…really. slow." He decided that he would. He couldn't help himself.

And that's when Ororo saw it. The predator that she knew lurked behind that sweet smile of his. She struggled to maintain a stoic demeanor but on the inside her heart fluttered just a little. Never had she reacted to one particular boy as much as she did Remy. She wasn't comfortable with that fact. Her father had always told her that boys were trouble…especially teenage boys.

"Can I get my books from your locker now?"

She decided to not give Remy what he wanted, which was a reaction. She had seen yesterday that he was a bit of a flirt even though he was apparently madly in love with Anna. No matter how good looking and charming she thought him to be, it was pointless to think of him as anything other than a friend…and a lifesaver if he could help her with this class.

T'Challa watched Ororo and Remy at Remy's locker from down the hall through narrowed eyes. He saw the smiles that they exchanged and he even thought he saw Ororo turn her head and blush.

'I can't believe she treated me like that in front of everybody. She made me look like a damn fool. For what? For who? That swamp rat. I'm going to have to teach them both a lesson'.

James saw his friend's distressed look and knew it was because of that freaky looking girl and the Cajun. He walked over to T'challa and placed his hand on his friend's shoulder in a consoling gesture, "Man, T'challa, that guy's a loser", he sighed before going on, "and that makes her dissing you that much worse".

James began to laugh hysterically again. T'challa didn't make an effort to hide his anger this time and grabbed his friend by the lapel of his jacket.

"Shut up!" T'challa spat in a low voice. "Don't ever talk to me like that! I still run this school. Remember that!" T'challa let go and just stared at James, silently begging him to retaliate.

James threw his hands up in the air. "Sorry, man. I was just giving you a hard time. I didn't mean anything by it".

"Well, don't." T'challa looked back at Ororo and Remy before heading in the other direction. "Let's go".

James obediently followed knowing that someone on the practice field would feel T'challa's anger in the morning.