I hummed the song flowing through the tiny headphones connected to my ears and tapped my pen on my English book in the same rhythm. I was supposed to be studying for a test that was tomorrow, and I knew I already knew all the material, but I was overlooking it anyway. And by overlooking, I meant not paying attention at all and listening to a CD that Rogue had given me instead.
I had the song on full blast and was just gazing at the words written in the textbook nonchalantly. I was too distracted to notice someone coming in and slowly walking towards me in a stealth like manner.
I felt a pair of hands grab my waist and I turned around, frightened because I thought I had been alone in my room. I kicked my leg up and pushed the person in the chest with great force.
And then I saw that it was Angel, who was now holding his chest in pain.
He mouthed an 'Ow' to me and I yelped, hurriedly getting off my bed and throwing an arm around his waist to help him not stagger to the ground.
"Remind me to never scare her," I heard Bobby say to Rogue, both of who were standing by my bedroom door.
I glared at him and helped Angel sit on my bed. Bobby and Rogue joined us, taking their usual positions on the floor by the end of my bed.
"Are you okay?" I asked Angel, sitting next to him and feeling bad that I had just karate kicked him in the chest. It's not like I wanted that to happen, but c'mon. He scared me. And I don't like being scared. Plain and simple.
"I'm fine," Angel huffed out. "It was all Bobby's idea by the way."
I glared at Bobby again. He threw up his hands to surrender. "I swear I didn't know you'd freak out."
"I told them Ali," Rogue said. "I told them not to scare you. But no, I'm just the best friend, what would I know, right?"
Bobby grinned devilishly and I heard Angel chuckle. I moved to sit to the end of my bed and then placed my text book on my lap. Angel switched around and leaned his head against my headboard, stretching his legs out so that his feet where touching both of my thighs.
"So what do you guys want?" I asked, smiling and looking at Bobby and Rogue sitting there. They obviously hadn't planned on studying considering they weren't carrying school books and Kitty wasn't here (she was the only one who could keep us on track while studying. We tended to drift away about ten minutes into it).
"We can't just come in, have Angel getting kicked in the chest, and say hi?" Bobby asked, putting a hand to his heart and looking hurt.
Everyone laughed and I threw a nearby sock at his face. "You are so violent," he said, removing it from his face. "I swear."
"I am not!" I said in my defense. "Right Rogue?"
"Right sweetheart," she said, blowing me a kiss and I returning the favor.
We giggled in unison and I felt Angel move up from his position. He wrapped his arms around me from behind me and I tried not to smile as big as I wanted to.
"Well let's go get something to eat then," Bobby said. "It's about dinner time anyway."
Bobby helped Rogue up and then eventually Angel and I did the same. But when Bobby and Rogue had just left the room, making the turn into the hallway, Angel grabbed my arm and pulled me towards him. He kissed me on the lips then slowly detached. He gave me a sweet smile and then threw his arm around my shoulders and we walked out together.
He had told me that he didn't want to kiss me in front of Bobby or Rogue, considering that they couldn't. He didn't want them to feel uncomfortable and I could completely understand that. I really didn't know how Rogue could do it, not being able to touch Bobby. If I couldn't hold Angel, kiss him, hold his hand, I think I'd go crazy.
It had only been a week since Angel had first kissed me, on the rooftop in the middle of the night. Looking back on it, it was probably the happiest moment of my life. Knowing that he wanted me to stay so badly, knowing that he would protect me like he said he would, made all my thoughts of ever leaving disappear. I was almost glad that everything had turned out the way it did. Almost.
After we stood in line and got our food, we retreated outside to our usual spot by the tree. The sun had just begun to set, the bright cast of colors illuminated the sky set for a glorious view and the weather was just right as a cool breeze cascaded around.
I sat next to Angel, who only got an apple to eat, apparently not that hungry, and I began to eat as he rested his arm around my waist. I, on the other hand, got enough food for at least three people. I was starving. I had gotten almost everything on the menu.
"Hey Ali," Rogue said. I looked up from my plate, from which I was stuffing fries down my throat, and met Rogue's gaze. "Have you ever talked to the Professor about becoming a X-Men?"
I swallowed my food and wiped my face. "We've talked about it."
"Do you want to be one?" she asked.
I hesitated. Although helping others was something that I wanted to do, I wasn't all big on the superhero figure that followed it. It's not what I wanted to do, to be quite honest. My main goal was to just beat the shit out of Magneto and all his followers because of what they had done to me. Revenge was sounding so sweet to me. But to do it all the time? I didn't know.
"I don't know yet," I said.
Rogue nodded and I guess that wasn't really the answer she wanted by the look in her eyes. She decided to change the subject, which was good because it was getting slightly awkward.
"How's your training going?" she asked.
"Oh!" I said excitedly. "So good. I think I'm getting a hang of everything now."
"Still turning stuff blue?" Bobby asked.
"Ha, ha. You're so funny Bobby."
He winked at me and laughed.
"But no. I finally got my telekinesis down. But we're moving onto how much weight I can move. And then there are some other unknowns that we're working on."
"Like what?" Angle asked.
"Like why I feel sick when something bad is about to happen."
"So if you throat up, I'm taking cover," Bobby said, with a smile on his face.
"Once again Bobby, you are so witty."
He stuck out his tongue at me and I did the same. I was about to hurl an insult out at Bobby, just for the hell of it, when Piotr rushed over to us, breaking our conversation. He looked like he was in a frenzy state and all of us put on confused faces.
"You guys!" he said. "You gotta come see this! Quick!"
We all picked ourselves us, ditching our food on the ground, and running after Piotr as he made his way back inside the school and into the living room. Everyone was crowded around the television set, all silent and watching. When Angel and I got close enough, we couldn't believe what we just heard.
There was a cure.