Chapter Nine
'I cannot do this, I swear to you all, I cannot do this.'
It was shrieks of this sort that led to Scott Summers running down the hallway in panic the following Monday. He skidded down the hall, turned a corner, and what he saw made him fall over laughing.
Farther up the corridor, Kitty, Bobby and Kurt were basically trying to pry Rogue from her room. He squinted through the redness that was his eyesight, and saw to his eternal amusement that Rogue had a shirt and tie on.
Scott picked himself up off the floor and headed towards the four of them, still shaking silently with laughter. Rogue took one look at his face and gave him a death glare that somehow managed to send shivers up his spine. Scott held up his hands in a gesture of peace, and Rogue stopped struggling for a moment to listen to what he had to say.
'So, I take it someone is a bit reluctant to represent the school?' he asked, barely able to keep the smirk off his face.
Kurt struggled to hold onto Rogue as she tried to launch herself at Scott, who was laughing all over again.
Kitty stepped forward and smacked Scott on the arm, before motioning for Rogue to calm down. The other girl batted Kurt's arms away, and stood defiant in the middle of her friends, her face tinged red from fury and embarrassment.
Rogue took several deep breaths to avoid hitting her friends, then spoke with a vulnerability that shocked them.
'I meant what I said, I can't do It.' she said softly, her hands falling to her sides.
Kitty walked over to her, straightening her tie. She, like Rogue and Jean, had made the academic team.
Kitty approached Rogue cautiously, still having not forgotten her friend's display in the danger room. She placed a hand on the other girls shoulder.
'Rogue, what are you talking about? You're more smarter than the rest of the team put together, don't worry about it.' she winced as Rogue threw her hands up, but instead of lashing out at her, Rogue walked away from them all, before turning around quickly, now wringing her hands in anxiety.
'Its not that, it's just…' she trailed off, searching for words to explain. 'It's just that I feel like the powers that I have, that they're kind of defining who I am. I don't want to be the prettiest, cleverest girl. I don't want the attention, it's not who I am.' She finished in a small voice, looking around at her friends hopelessly.
And to her surprise, they smiled. Scott spoke. 'Don't you see Rogue, it's that whole attitude to your powers and your situation that means you'll never be one of the Jeans of this world. You don't strive to be good, you're just a good person naturally, you should be who you are and be proud of it.'
A tiny smile crept onto Rogue's features, lighting up her face like a sunrise. She pulled herself up straight. 'Thank you all, but I still think that this whole tournament thing is a big boring waste of time.' she said, sticking her tongue out like a little girl.
'Yeah' said Kurt, his goofy grin firmly back in place, 'but it would really help your self-pride if you whipped the other school's butts!'
Smiling openly now, Rogue smacked her brother playfully on the arm, before rolling her eyes and saying 'all right, you win, I'll just get my bag and then we can go.' She then turned and disappeared round the door, leaving the other three x-men in the hallway.
Kitty turned her attention to Scott, raising her eyebrows at him curiously and saying 'that was a really nice thing you said about Rogue.'
'I meant it, what I said.' he replied, Kitty looked at him for further explanation, but none came.
'So what's going on, I mean, do you like her or something?' kitty asked, hoping for an expansion on the last answer.
Scott merely ducked his head and smiled slightly, saying 'something like that.'
Kitty squealed and giggled before she seemed to remember something. 'But Scott, I don't know about you and Rogue, I mean, she's like, pretty into Pietro right now..'
'I know,' Scott said, cutting her off with a pain that shone through his voice and expression. 'I know' he repeated, almost to himself, before turning and walking quickly back down the corridor without another word.
'Wow' said Kurt, wiping an imaginary tear from his eye. 'My baby sister, all grown up and breaking hearts. They grow up so fast don't they.'
Kitty tried not to giggle. 'Kurt, be serious, I mean, this thing with Scott and Pietro is like totally going to end in tears. Ooh, and then there's Jean. She is like, going to be majorly pissed when she finds out about this.'
'Yeah, I mean, there's like, totally going to be a major catfight!' said Kurt, throwing his hands in the air and moving his voice up about an octave.
'I know, it's gonna be, like….. wait. Kurt, were you mimicking me??' Kitty shrieked, but the fuzzy elf had already bamfed out of her reach.
'All right, you are so going to pay for that one!' Kitty cried, stamping her foot on the floor before taking off in search of her friend, who was undoubtedly heading for punishment of some sort.
Rogue had no idea of what was going on outside her room at that moment in time. She smiled to herself as she recalled what Scott had said to her. He was write, she wasn't like Jean, she hadn't tried to be like this, it was just who she was. She reached down onto her nightstand to pick up a spare hairclip, and noticed a white card sitting on the surface. Rogue picked up the card, curiosity clouding her features. She opened the card to find a small note there, and her eyebrows went even further up her forehead as she read what had been written there.
Hey, we know you're not too keen on the tournament thing, so we thought we'd use the opportunity to have a little fun with the other teams (and your other team mates). Good luck, and don't worry, we promise you this is gonna be good!
The note wasn't signed, but Rogue knew exactly who had sent it. She bit her lip to avoid laughing out loud, before grabbing her back and leaving the room. Perhaps this contest wasn't going to be so awful after all….
The brotherhood were waiting in the parking lot when Scott's convertible finally pulled up. Rogue, Jean and Kitty all leaped from their seats and ran inside, being that they were running a little late. This had been largely due to the fact that Kitty had caught up with Kurt, and had unceremoniously dropped him in the swimming pool. Of course at that moment in time Kitty had entirely forgotten that fur took and incredibly long time to dry, and Bobby had been dragged in in a mass attempt to dry Kurt's hair in around 5 minutes. This hadn't really worked out either, as Bobby had gone a bit over board, and the fuzzy elf now had several singed patches on his fur.
The brotherhood all came rushing over, looking at the retreating backs of the three girls in bemusement.
Tabby was the first to speak. 'What the hell took you so long blue? The shows about to start!'
The x-men were a little curious as to what she meant by 'show', and Lance whacked Tabby on the arm, holding a finger over his lips.
Bobby laughed easily, saying 'sorry Tabby, but Kurt was drying his hair!' He ignored the death looks he received from Nightcrawler, and the confusion on the faces of the Brotherhood, and laughed again, walking into the building with the rest of the X-men.
Kurt was about to follow when Tabby grabbed his arm. Unnoticed by the rest of his teammates, Kurt stayed behind to talk to the rest of the Brotherhood.
'Not so fast blue, we need your help to liven up this whole thing.' Tabby said, winking at Kurt as the meaning of the word 'show' began to dawn on him. As Kurt got their meaning, an evil grin identical to that of his sort-of girlfriend spread across his face. He rubbed his hands together. 'So then, where do we start?'
Jean led Kitty and Rogue through the halls, all three girls running too fast to make any sort of conversation. They got a peek of the school auditorium, and could see stands full of students and cameras, all focused on the tables that were set up on stage. Kitty saw Rogue look at the scene, and grabbed onto her arm in case she started to chicken out of the whole thing again. Ahead of them they could see a frantic Principal Kelly, who seemed to visibly sag with relief as he saw the girls approach. He had high hopes for this year's academic team, especially after looking at their test scores over recent weeks.
Jean, Kitty and Rogue stopped before him, and the Principal didn't even bother to question where they had been, there just wasn't time. He gestured with his hands, and the girls found themselves being ushered through a door, and at that point there was no going back.
At first Rogue thought that the light would blind her, she couldn't see past 2 feet in front of her. But as she adapted to the light, she began to feel that she might faint. Most of the school was sitting in the stands, though Rogue doubted that the tournament was the main reason for them being there. This was confirmed as a camera swept over the stands, and hundreds of students instantly began throwing themselves into the limelight.
Kitty was still holding onto her arm, and Rogue was glad of it, because she knew that if she'd been alone then, she would have fled the scene immediately. It was just so, well fake, seeing everyone there all smiling and wishing other teams good luck, while people from the stands cheered at them like they really cared what happened at this contest. She looked at Jean, who seemed to be soaking up the atmosphere like a sponge soaks up water. She looked at Kitty and the two of them rolled their eyes, before bursting into laughter.
They were then ushered by an old, balding man into a long set of tables labelled 'Bayville High', and Rogue sat in her named seat, taking in her glass of water and little silver buzzer. God this was going to be a long contest, especially when there was no real thinking required. The answers now just slipped out of her mouth, as though they came from some part outside of her. Weird as this was, she had to admit it was pretty cool.
From her seat on the stage, she could see the X-men sitting down, and she waved at them, glad to see some people in the audience that really were there to cheer her on. There was no sign of the Brotherhood though, even though she'd seen them in the parking lot on her way in. she noticed too that Kurt was missing, and remembering the note, was entirely sure that her brother had somehow got himself involved with whatever they were planning. Rogue let out a giggle, causing Jean to look round at her in annoyance.
Kitty leant across to speak to her, saying quietly 'where do you think that Lance and the others have got to? I mean, the competition is going to start in like a minute.'
Rogue smiled absently at her friend. 'I somehow don't think they came here just to watch the show.'
Kitty got her meaning immediately. 'They wouldn't use their powers that openly, would they? I mean, Kurt's missing too, surely he'd not be that stupid.'
'We are thinking of the same person here aren't we?' Rogue asked wryly.
Kitty shook her head, but was saved replying by the announcement that blared out the school speaker system.
'Attention ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the annual, high school academic tournament! Let's meet our teams shall we?'
There was a roar from the crowd, and the announcer started listing the names of the teams that had gathered on the stage.
Rogue spoke over the noise, saying 'I guess we'll just have to wait and see what they're up to, won't we?'
Outside the auditorium, the brotherhood and Kurt were putting the final touches to their little scheme. The boys were all surprised at just how willing Kurt was to use his powers for pranking, and Tabby found herself being quite proud with him. Lance's words were ringing in each of their heads.
'All right' said Pietro, starting off down the corridor and carrying several large pieces of card in his arms. 'We all know what we have to do, lets go out and give em hell!'
The rest of the group nodded their agreement, and split up. Fred moved off in the direction of the stands. Tabby started to conjure up a cherry bomb, Kurt waiting by her side. Lance moved to the door, looking in through the windows, and Todd started off in the direction of the roof.
The academic tournament was about to get interesting.
'Well done again, 'Rogue'. Ten points to Bayville High!' The crowd cheered madly as the team moved even further away from the opposition. Students from other schools were beginning to eye Rogue incredulously, but she found that she didn't care. She just wanted to win the tournament, and get out, and so far her policy was working. None of the other team members really needed to be there, and this was not going down well with Jean. The red head was looking increasingly sulky as the younger girl answered more and more questions correctly. Rogue was definitely becoming a problem for her.
The old guy who was in charge of the tournament was gearing himself up for another question. He'd been behind the curtain just before the quiz had begun, and had emerged with a hairpiece covering his bald patch, which was so obviously fake that it was funny to see.
The guy moved to centre stage, and cleared his throat. 'Right then, next question.' He started to read the card, and then stumbled, physically stumbled. The people on the stage eyed him quizzically, and the guy righted himself. He cleared his throat again, and opened his mouth.
Then he fell over.
His knees buckled and gave way. Almost as though the ground beneath him were playing up, Rogue thought to herself. Then she smacked herself mentally for being so stupid. The ground beneath him was playing up. She caught sight of Lance's face in the window of the doorway, and leaned back in her seat to watch what was about to happen.
The poor guy tried to get up, and then fell over again, like he was drunk. The audience and cameras were halfway caught between amusement and confusion. The mood veered towards amusement though, as something shot out of nowhere and snatched his hairpiece from his head. The audience broke into laughter, and the quizmaster looked livid.
'What the hell is going on here?' he said, his face beetroot red, all normal pretence forgotten.
Nobody had time to answer that question, as at that point the shaking ground started to spread through the room, causing the cameramen and teachers to fall over like a group of drunks.
Whilst all this was going on, Kurt and Tabby ported to just behind the tables. Crouched down, they crawled along the floor to behind one of the tables from the snootiest of the competing schools. They stopped behind the team captain, and Tabby aimed her cherry bomb at the offending student.
Nobody in front of the curtain had any knowledge of this however, until the student was sent flying several feet into the air, shrieking and clutching in bottom in a most peculiar manner. She landed quite a way in front of the table, and picked herself up to find that the back half of her skirt was now missing. The girl ran away screaming, and Kurt and Tabby gave each over high fives before porting away to join Todd in the rafters.
At that point the hall felt a strong gust of wind blow through the building, and blinked to find that the school tables had been, redecorated with some rather interesting moderations made to the school names. Letters were now on the tables, spelling out in giant letters.
KELLY HAS PINK PANTIES!
The principal stood up in fury at this point. But this only served to prove the point of the message, as after another gust of wind, Principal Kelly was found standing on national television, with the pink panties on view for the entire world to see. The principal was not happy.
The chaos that now consumed the hall was brought to breaking point by the piece de resistance of the Brotherhood's plan, as the ceiling sprinkler system was activated, soaking the entire hall and causing steam to come out of the principals ears.
'When I find out who did this….' He said, trailing off as he caught sight of the camera crew, still filming the pandemonium in between their laughter. He stormed up to the crew and yanked the video from the camera. The guy behind the lens shouted in protest, but the principal wasn't listening, he stormed out of the hall in fury and shock, and the school, broke in to laughter.
Up on the stage, Rogue and Kitty were laughing themselves hoarse. Jean however, didn't seem to find this funny. She stood up and turned furiously to Rogue.
'I don't see why you find this so funny. They could get into real trouble for revealing their powers. Though you were probably in on this weren't you?'
Rogue looked at her with disdain, causing Jean to almost shake with fury. 'I don't know why you're even here. We all know you're only clever because of your psychic powers.' She hissed.
Rogue stood up, flicked her eyes towards Jean, and sent her chair flying backwards, causing the older girl to end up in an undignified heap on the floor. 'Well Jean,' she said, smiling sweetly down at her, 'I guess that explains your grades in school then!'
She took Kitty's arm, and laughing together, the girls left the now destroyed tournament.
Coming out the door, they could see the Brotherhood and the X-men waiting at the entrance to the school. As they came within earshot, they could hear Fred say 'Yep, took it from the camera and replaced it, just like you said.' before handing a black cassette over to a laughing Lance. The two girls approached the group and tried to look disapproving, but failed miserably. The group collapsed with laughter, contemplating the ruins of the school event they had just destroyed. The tournament had been a lot more fun than Rogue had thought it would be.
DISCLAIMER: The characters are property of Marvel and WB.
AUTHORS NOTE: I'm sooooo sorry that this chapter took so long to get up, I guess I've just been really busy, but I'll try and get the next chapter out soon to make up for it. I'm also sorry that this chapter lacked any real plot. I just thought that, as the story is about to get more serious and heavy, it would be quite fun to have a little interlude between it, you may see that happen again sometime. So I promise, next chapter it's on with the story, really!!! Oh, and thank you again so much for reviewing my writing, it inspires me to work, and to try and live up to the stuff you say. Thank you all, till next chapter!!!
'I cannot do this, I swear to you all, I cannot do this.'
It was shrieks of this sort that led to Scott Summers running down the hallway in panic the following Monday. He skidded down the hall, turned a corner, and what he saw made him fall over laughing.
Farther up the corridor, Kitty, Bobby and Kurt were basically trying to pry Rogue from her room. He squinted through the redness that was his eyesight, and saw to his eternal amusement that Rogue had a shirt and tie on.
Scott picked himself up off the floor and headed towards the four of them, still shaking silently with laughter. Rogue took one look at his face and gave him a death glare that somehow managed to send shivers up his spine. Scott held up his hands in a gesture of peace, and Rogue stopped struggling for a moment to listen to what he had to say.
'So, I take it someone is a bit reluctant to represent the school?' he asked, barely able to keep the smirk off his face.
Kurt struggled to hold onto Rogue as she tried to launch herself at Scott, who was laughing all over again.
Kitty stepped forward and smacked Scott on the arm, before motioning for Rogue to calm down. The other girl batted Kurt's arms away, and stood defiant in the middle of her friends, her face tinged red from fury and embarrassment.
Rogue took several deep breaths to avoid hitting her friends, then spoke with a vulnerability that shocked them.
'I meant what I said, I can't do It.' she said softly, her hands falling to her sides.
Kitty walked over to her, straightening her tie. She, like Rogue and Jean, had made the academic team.
Kitty approached Rogue cautiously, still having not forgotten her friend's display in the danger room. She placed a hand on the other girls shoulder.
'Rogue, what are you talking about? You're more smarter than the rest of the team put together, don't worry about it.' she winced as Rogue threw her hands up, but instead of lashing out at her, Rogue walked away from them all, before turning around quickly, now wringing her hands in anxiety.
'Its not that, it's just…' she trailed off, searching for words to explain. 'It's just that I feel like the powers that I have, that they're kind of defining who I am. I don't want to be the prettiest, cleverest girl. I don't want the attention, it's not who I am.' She finished in a small voice, looking around at her friends hopelessly.
And to her surprise, they smiled. Scott spoke. 'Don't you see Rogue, it's that whole attitude to your powers and your situation that means you'll never be one of the Jeans of this world. You don't strive to be good, you're just a good person naturally, you should be who you are and be proud of it.'
A tiny smile crept onto Rogue's features, lighting up her face like a sunrise. She pulled herself up straight. 'Thank you all, but I still think that this whole tournament thing is a big boring waste of time.' she said, sticking her tongue out like a little girl.
'Yeah' said Kurt, his goofy grin firmly back in place, 'but it would really help your self-pride if you whipped the other school's butts!'
Smiling openly now, Rogue smacked her brother playfully on the arm, before rolling her eyes and saying 'all right, you win, I'll just get my bag and then we can go.' She then turned and disappeared round the door, leaving the other three x-men in the hallway.
Kitty turned her attention to Scott, raising her eyebrows at him curiously and saying 'that was a really nice thing you said about Rogue.'
'I meant it, what I said.' he replied, Kitty looked at him for further explanation, but none came.
'So what's going on, I mean, do you like her or something?' kitty asked, hoping for an expansion on the last answer.
Scott merely ducked his head and smiled slightly, saying 'something like that.'
Kitty squealed and giggled before she seemed to remember something. 'But Scott, I don't know about you and Rogue, I mean, she's like, pretty into Pietro right now..'
'I know,' Scott said, cutting her off with a pain that shone through his voice and expression. 'I know' he repeated, almost to himself, before turning and walking quickly back down the corridor without another word.
'Wow' said Kurt, wiping an imaginary tear from his eye. 'My baby sister, all grown up and breaking hearts. They grow up so fast don't they.'
Kitty tried not to giggle. 'Kurt, be serious, I mean, this thing with Scott and Pietro is like totally going to end in tears. Ooh, and then there's Jean. She is like, going to be majorly pissed when she finds out about this.'
'Yeah, I mean, there's like, totally going to be a major catfight!' said Kurt, throwing his hands in the air and moving his voice up about an octave.
'I know, it's gonna be, like….. wait. Kurt, were you mimicking me??' Kitty shrieked, but the fuzzy elf had already bamfed out of her reach.
'All right, you are so going to pay for that one!' Kitty cried, stamping her foot on the floor before taking off in search of her friend, who was undoubtedly heading for punishment of some sort.
Rogue had no idea of what was going on outside her room at that moment in time. She smiled to herself as she recalled what Scott had said to her. He was write, she wasn't like Jean, she hadn't tried to be like this, it was just who she was. She reached down onto her nightstand to pick up a spare hairclip, and noticed a white card sitting on the surface. Rogue picked up the card, curiosity clouding her features. She opened the card to find a small note there, and her eyebrows went even further up her forehead as she read what had been written there.
Hey, we know you're not too keen on the tournament thing, so we thought we'd use the opportunity to have a little fun with the other teams (and your other team mates). Good luck, and don't worry, we promise you this is gonna be good!
The note wasn't signed, but Rogue knew exactly who had sent it. She bit her lip to avoid laughing out loud, before grabbing her back and leaving the room. Perhaps this contest wasn't going to be so awful after all….
The brotherhood were waiting in the parking lot when Scott's convertible finally pulled up. Rogue, Jean and Kitty all leaped from their seats and ran inside, being that they were running a little late. This had been largely due to the fact that Kitty had caught up with Kurt, and had unceremoniously dropped him in the swimming pool. Of course at that moment in time Kitty had entirely forgotten that fur took and incredibly long time to dry, and Bobby had been dragged in in a mass attempt to dry Kurt's hair in around 5 minutes. This hadn't really worked out either, as Bobby had gone a bit over board, and the fuzzy elf now had several singed patches on his fur.
The brotherhood all came rushing over, looking at the retreating backs of the three girls in bemusement.
Tabby was the first to speak. 'What the hell took you so long blue? The shows about to start!'
The x-men were a little curious as to what she meant by 'show', and Lance whacked Tabby on the arm, holding a finger over his lips.
Bobby laughed easily, saying 'sorry Tabby, but Kurt was drying his hair!' He ignored the death looks he received from Nightcrawler, and the confusion on the faces of the Brotherhood, and laughed again, walking into the building with the rest of the X-men.
Kurt was about to follow when Tabby grabbed his arm. Unnoticed by the rest of his teammates, Kurt stayed behind to talk to the rest of the Brotherhood.
'Not so fast blue, we need your help to liven up this whole thing.' Tabby said, winking at Kurt as the meaning of the word 'show' began to dawn on him. As Kurt got their meaning, an evil grin identical to that of his sort-of girlfriend spread across his face. He rubbed his hands together. 'So then, where do we start?'
Jean led Kitty and Rogue through the halls, all three girls running too fast to make any sort of conversation. They got a peek of the school auditorium, and could see stands full of students and cameras, all focused on the tables that were set up on stage. Kitty saw Rogue look at the scene, and grabbed onto her arm in case she started to chicken out of the whole thing again. Ahead of them they could see a frantic Principal Kelly, who seemed to visibly sag with relief as he saw the girls approach. He had high hopes for this year's academic team, especially after looking at their test scores over recent weeks.
Jean, Kitty and Rogue stopped before him, and the Principal didn't even bother to question where they had been, there just wasn't time. He gestured with his hands, and the girls found themselves being ushered through a door, and at that point there was no going back.
At first Rogue thought that the light would blind her, she couldn't see past 2 feet in front of her. But as she adapted to the light, she began to feel that she might faint. Most of the school was sitting in the stands, though Rogue doubted that the tournament was the main reason for them being there. This was confirmed as a camera swept over the stands, and hundreds of students instantly began throwing themselves into the limelight.
Kitty was still holding onto her arm, and Rogue was glad of it, because she knew that if she'd been alone then, she would have fled the scene immediately. It was just so, well fake, seeing everyone there all smiling and wishing other teams good luck, while people from the stands cheered at them like they really cared what happened at this contest. She looked at Jean, who seemed to be soaking up the atmosphere like a sponge soaks up water. She looked at Kitty and the two of them rolled their eyes, before bursting into laughter.
They were then ushered by an old, balding man into a long set of tables labelled 'Bayville High', and Rogue sat in her named seat, taking in her glass of water and little silver buzzer. God this was going to be a long contest, especially when there was no real thinking required. The answers now just slipped out of her mouth, as though they came from some part outside of her. Weird as this was, she had to admit it was pretty cool.
From her seat on the stage, she could see the X-men sitting down, and she waved at them, glad to see some people in the audience that really were there to cheer her on. There was no sign of the Brotherhood though, even though she'd seen them in the parking lot on her way in. she noticed too that Kurt was missing, and remembering the note, was entirely sure that her brother had somehow got himself involved with whatever they were planning. Rogue let out a giggle, causing Jean to look round at her in annoyance.
Kitty leant across to speak to her, saying quietly 'where do you think that Lance and the others have got to? I mean, the competition is going to start in like a minute.'
Rogue smiled absently at her friend. 'I somehow don't think they came here just to watch the show.'
Kitty got her meaning immediately. 'They wouldn't use their powers that openly, would they? I mean, Kurt's missing too, surely he'd not be that stupid.'
'We are thinking of the same person here aren't we?' Rogue asked wryly.
Kitty shook her head, but was saved replying by the announcement that blared out the school speaker system.
'Attention ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the annual, high school academic tournament! Let's meet our teams shall we?'
There was a roar from the crowd, and the announcer started listing the names of the teams that had gathered on the stage.
Rogue spoke over the noise, saying 'I guess we'll just have to wait and see what they're up to, won't we?'
Outside the auditorium, the brotherhood and Kurt were putting the final touches to their little scheme. The boys were all surprised at just how willing Kurt was to use his powers for pranking, and Tabby found herself being quite proud with him. Lance's words were ringing in each of their heads.
'All right' said Pietro, starting off down the corridor and carrying several large pieces of card in his arms. 'We all know what we have to do, lets go out and give em hell!'
The rest of the group nodded their agreement, and split up. Fred moved off in the direction of the stands. Tabby started to conjure up a cherry bomb, Kurt waiting by her side. Lance moved to the door, looking in through the windows, and Todd started off in the direction of the roof.
The academic tournament was about to get interesting.
'Well done again, 'Rogue'. Ten points to Bayville High!' The crowd cheered madly as the team moved even further away from the opposition. Students from other schools were beginning to eye Rogue incredulously, but she found that she didn't care. She just wanted to win the tournament, and get out, and so far her policy was working. None of the other team members really needed to be there, and this was not going down well with Jean. The red head was looking increasingly sulky as the younger girl answered more and more questions correctly. Rogue was definitely becoming a problem for her.
The old guy who was in charge of the tournament was gearing himself up for another question. He'd been behind the curtain just before the quiz had begun, and had emerged with a hairpiece covering his bald patch, which was so obviously fake that it was funny to see.
The guy moved to centre stage, and cleared his throat. 'Right then, next question.' He started to read the card, and then stumbled, physically stumbled. The people on the stage eyed him quizzically, and the guy righted himself. He cleared his throat again, and opened his mouth.
Then he fell over.
His knees buckled and gave way. Almost as though the ground beneath him were playing up, Rogue thought to herself. Then she smacked herself mentally for being so stupid. The ground beneath him was playing up. She caught sight of Lance's face in the window of the doorway, and leaned back in her seat to watch what was about to happen.
The poor guy tried to get up, and then fell over again, like he was drunk. The audience and cameras were halfway caught between amusement and confusion. The mood veered towards amusement though, as something shot out of nowhere and snatched his hairpiece from his head. The audience broke into laughter, and the quizmaster looked livid.
'What the hell is going on here?' he said, his face beetroot red, all normal pretence forgotten.
Nobody had time to answer that question, as at that point the shaking ground started to spread through the room, causing the cameramen and teachers to fall over like a group of drunks.
Whilst all this was going on, Kurt and Tabby ported to just behind the tables. Crouched down, they crawled along the floor to behind one of the tables from the snootiest of the competing schools. They stopped behind the team captain, and Tabby aimed her cherry bomb at the offending student.
Nobody in front of the curtain had any knowledge of this however, until the student was sent flying several feet into the air, shrieking and clutching in bottom in a most peculiar manner. She landed quite a way in front of the table, and picked herself up to find that the back half of her skirt was now missing. The girl ran away screaming, and Kurt and Tabby gave each over high fives before porting away to join Todd in the rafters.
At that point the hall felt a strong gust of wind blow through the building, and blinked to find that the school tables had been, redecorated with some rather interesting moderations made to the school names. Letters were now on the tables, spelling out in giant letters.
KELLY HAS PINK PANTIES!
The principal stood up in fury at this point. But this only served to prove the point of the message, as after another gust of wind, Principal Kelly was found standing on national television, with the pink panties on view for the entire world to see. The principal was not happy.
The chaos that now consumed the hall was brought to breaking point by the piece de resistance of the Brotherhood's plan, as the ceiling sprinkler system was activated, soaking the entire hall and causing steam to come out of the principals ears.
'When I find out who did this….' He said, trailing off as he caught sight of the camera crew, still filming the pandemonium in between their laughter. He stormed up to the crew and yanked the video from the camera. The guy behind the lens shouted in protest, but the principal wasn't listening, he stormed out of the hall in fury and shock, and the school, broke in to laughter.
Up on the stage, Rogue and Kitty were laughing themselves hoarse. Jean however, didn't seem to find this funny. She stood up and turned furiously to Rogue.
'I don't see why you find this so funny. They could get into real trouble for revealing their powers. Though you were probably in on this weren't you?'
Rogue looked at her with disdain, causing Jean to almost shake with fury. 'I don't know why you're even here. We all know you're only clever because of your psychic powers.' She hissed.
Rogue stood up, flicked her eyes towards Jean, and sent her chair flying backwards, causing the older girl to end up in an undignified heap on the floor. 'Well Jean,' she said, smiling sweetly down at her, 'I guess that explains your grades in school then!'
She took Kitty's arm, and laughing together, the girls left the now destroyed tournament.
Coming out the door, they could see the Brotherhood and the X-men waiting at the entrance to the school. As they came within earshot, they could hear Fred say 'Yep, took it from the camera and replaced it, just like you said.' before handing a black cassette over to a laughing Lance. The two girls approached the group and tried to look disapproving, but failed miserably. The group collapsed with laughter, contemplating the ruins of the school event they had just destroyed. The tournament had been a lot more fun than Rogue had thought it would be.
DISCLAIMER: The characters are property of Marvel and WB.
AUTHORS NOTE: I'm sooooo sorry that this chapter took so long to get up, I guess I've just been really busy, but I'll try and get the next chapter out soon to make up for it. I'm also sorry that this chapter lacked any real plot. I just thought that, as the story is about to get more serious and heavy, it would be quite fun to have a little interlude between it, you may see that happen again sometime. So I promise, next chapter it's on with the story, really!!! Oh, and thank you again so much for reviewing my writing, it inspires me to work, and to try and live up to the stuff you say. Thank you all, till next chapter!!!
