Chapter Seven
As the Spring Dance
plowed on in full swing, Kurt and Kitty danced the night away, having a
great time. Lance and Wanda, positioned a couple of feet away, were sort
of trying to dance, with Lance spending less time looking at his supposed
date for the evening, and more time looking over her shoulders to alternate
between glaring murderous daggers at Kurt, and giving Kitty pathetic puppy
dog eyes. Wanda ground her teeth as Lance, in his distracted state of mind,
nearly collided right into her while keeping his eyes firmly glued on the
back of Kitty's ponytail, and, as a warning, stomped on his foot--hard.
"Yeowch!"
Lance hollered, and started hopping around on his one good foot like a
chicken that had just had its head cut off. Thankfully for him,
Hella
Good was blaring out of the amplifiers, loud enough to wake the dead,
and nobody heard Lance yelp out comically. Lance, meanwhile, gave apologetically
at Wanda, and mouthed the words, Sorry. I won't do it again, promise.
But,
no more than five minutes later, he was back to killing Kurt with his eyes
and drooling pathetically over Kitty. By the time the first hour of the
dance had gone by, Wanda had had enough. and, fed up with Lance paying
zero attention to her and instead babbling on about whether Kitty's favorite
shade of nail polish was Desert Rose or Flirtatious Cherry, she gave him
one last glare, before storming off the dance floor.
"Wanda..."
Lance, having suddenly forgotten about his Stalk Kitty Mission, ran off
after the bewitching vixen without a second thought--or a second glance
at Kitty, still dancing with Kurt.
While
Wanda and Lance ran out of the gym, the Spring Dance itself had delved
into the latter, more romantic half of the evening, and had switched from
upbeat bubblegum pop to soft ballads. Kurt and Kitty were happily slow-dancing,
a few feet away from Scott and Jean. Kitty sighed contentedly as she snuggled
against her new boyfriend, resting her head against his shoulders, glad
that, for once, Lance and his leather pants and his Jim Morrison impersonation
and his frozen chocolate candies, were far, far away. Smiling, she murmured
into Kurt's ear, "I'm so glad that you talked me into coming; I wasn't
even going to after Lance had to go to track practice and sing about me
getting higher."
Kurt smiled back.
"Well,
you know, I couldn't let you just waste Saturday evening--" he started
to say, when suddenly, his entire body stiffened. Kitty frowned at her
boyfriend's sudden silence, and wondered why he'd suddenly frozen in his
tracks. Turning around, she tried to search for what had alarmed her boyfriend...and
her heart sank when she saw a pretty, dark-haired girl weaving purposefully
through the sea of dancing couples. Amanda. Kurt's ex-girlfriend, with
whom he had broken up to be with Kitty.
Kurt
smiled nervously as Amanda approached them, looking as petite and pretty
as ever in a flowered sundress and with a rose tucked into her hair.
"Um...Amanda.
Hi. I...I, um, I'm glad to have run into you," he stammered nervously,
as nearby, Scott and Jean had stopped dancing, and were waiting anxiously
to see what would happen. Amanda, meanwhile, returned Kurt's fake greeting
with an even phonier, sugary-sweet smile, as she replied in a honey-drenched
voice, "Gee, Kurt, I'm glad to have run into you and your newest girlfriend
too."
"Amanda,
I know we used to go out and everything, but our relationship ended nearly
two months ago..." Kurt looked visibly upset as he tried to explain to
his former girlfriend that their fling was over. Amanda's features froze
into a stolid mask, before suddenly melting into exhaustion and despair,
as she cried, on the verge of tears, "Kurt, how could you break up with
me five days before our one-month anniversary--and...and...and to chase
after one of your roommates, too, who was already dating someone at the
time?! I mean, I thought we had something special, especially since you
trusted me with your secret!"
Kurt winced, as more and more couples stopped
dancing and started staring at the trio on the floor.
"Amanda,
please, not here," he whispered, trying to make his voice as low as possible
to contrast that of his ex-girlfriend's. "You're causing a scene!"
"I
don't care!" Amanda shot back, then turned to glare at all the gawking
eyes and snapped, "Oh, what are you looking at? Haven't you seen a couple
fight before?"
"But
Amanda, that's just it!" Kurt hissed. "We're not a couple anymore!"
And then, fearful that his former girlfriend might go on a rampage and
start telling everyone his secret, Kurt quickly added, in an effort to
appease her, "What do you want from me?"
Amanda sulked.
"I
want us to be back together," she pouted. Kurt paused, trying to tactfully
think of a way to turn her down without making her angry so that she wouldn't
start blabbing not just his but also the X-Men's secret to anyone who would
listen. And, in a high school, everyone was willing to listen to gossip,
the more outrageous, the more widely-spread. Kitty, however, took his stretch
of uncertain silence the wrong way, as she turned to Kurt, eyes blazing,
and furiously spat out, "Oh, so now you're just going to kick me to the
curb and get back together with your clingy little ex just because she
sheds some tears and puts on a slutty little sundress?!" Kurt looked taken
aback by her aggressiveness.
"No,
of course not...!" he started to stammer, but his words fell on a pair
of deaf ears, as Kitty grabbed her purse and, following in Wanda's example,
stormed out of the gym. Kurt sighed, and tried to go after her, but Amanda
held him back and asked eagerly, "Well? Are we back together?" Kurt hesitated,
and tried to think of a way to wriggle out of this situation. A few feet
away, Scott and Jean were giving him sympathetic looks. Kurt shrugged,
and decided that it was best to search for the silver lining rather than
dwell on the half-empty glass. Oh, well, he finally decided, at
least Kitty didn't bitch-slap me or something.
Just then, Kitty stalked back in the gym, and searched out Kitty. She stomped up to him, and wound up.
SLAP!
Off
the dance floor and completely unaware of what was happening inside the
gym--and of his perfect opportunity to get back together with Kitty--Lance
was still chasing after Wanda, slamming open every door he could find and
calling out her name.
"Wanda?
Wanda, are you in here?" he wanted to know, as he opened the door to a
janitor's closet...and promptly found himself walking in on a couple, making
out on a carpet of brooms and mops. "Oh, my God...!" Lance quickly shut
the door, just in time before the girl's stiletto struck him between the
eyes, and quickly resumed his search. "Wanda...?"
Just then, he caught a flash of wine-red, disappearing
out the door that led outside the high school and toward the lake.
"Oh,
great," Lance muttered under his breath, as he prepared to go after Wanda's
disappearing back.
Just
then, Lance thought he heard a noise, and whirled around so fast that he
nearly slipped and fell unceremoniously on his behind. He quickly regained
his balance, and had no trouble identifying a rather upset-looking Kitty,
rubbing the palm of her hand as she stormed out of the gym.
"Kitty!"
Without even thinking, Lance called out her name. Kitty stopped muttering
not-so-flattering comments about one Kurt Wagner, as she raised her head
and scanned her surroundings for whomever had called out to her. As soon
as she recognized Lance, she froze, like a deer caught in headlights.
"Kitty..."
Lance started to walk over to her, but Kitty quickly ran off...right in
the opposite direction of where Wanda had exited. Lance paused in his tracks.
Whereas before he would have run off after Kitty without a second thought,
now he suddenly wasn't so sure any more. He hesitated, debating whom he
should chase after: his ex-girlfriend whom he was trying to get back together
with...or his new, bewitching good friend. Lance pondered over his dilemma,
but not for long, as he quickly made up his mind, and plowed on in a certain
direction.
*Okay, okay, I'm terrible! I know I promised you guys that this would absolutely be the last chapter in the Always series, but after I went over it, I found out that it was still too long, and I just had to cut it...again. That, and I couldn't resist leaving a sort of cliffhanger. Don't worry, though, I swear that the next time I update, it really, truly, absolutely will be the last chapter, and if it isn't, then I'll personally send you free cyber-donuts! Unless, of course, psychodelic barfly would prefer me to paste a picture of Lance's face on top of her favorite leather-pants-wearing rock star's head, ^_-.
