"You know," Kitty whispered to Jubilee, "that was a really great movie."
"Totally," Jubilee agreed in a normal tone as she lounged against the base of a massive stone pillar outside the Central Park West entrance of the museum, watching people hurry up and down the steps.
"The cinematography was great," Kitty went on. "Plus, the architecture of those old buildings was amazing! All of the scenes were so well done, and the backgrounds were so beautiful- "
"So was Cillian Murphy," Jubilee interjected.
"Yes, it's pity that you'll never be," an arrogant voice jibed from the other side of the pillar.
The girls exchanged glances of disbelief and then started to round the pillar, only to meet Amara Aquilla halfway.
"Amara," Jubilee said, her voice hard. "Where's your lackey?"
"Right here," Rogue said, coming out from behind the pillar. The dyed white streaks were absent from her hair this week, and she looked at Jubilee with unveiled dislike in her gaze.
Trying to quell the jealousy she felt at the sight of the other girls' designer clothes, Jubilee demanded, "What are you doing out here?"
"The same thing you are." Amara flipped her hair over shoulder.
"You ditched?" Kitty asked in surprise.
"So did you." Amara glared at both of them.
"Well, I guess ditching isn't cool anymore," Jubilee commented contemptuously.
"Hey Jubilee, the sixties called, and they want their obnoxious colors back," Amara scorned, eyeing Jubilee's yellow jacket and hot pink skinny jeans.
"Stop arguing." Rogue ordered sharply. All three of them jumped at her commanding tone. "If we want to get back on the bus without being caught, we should work together."
Amara sneered. "I don't need the help of reprobates like these."
Jubilee stalked towards her. "What did you just call us?
With disparaging smile, Amara rolled her eyes. "It doesn't surprise me that you don't know. After all, Jubilee, you can't read, now can you?"
Instantly, anger clouded Jubilee's mind, leaving her unable to think about anything but retaliation. "You're dead!" Jubilee snarled, lunging forward.
Amara didn't flinch, just raised her eyebrows mockingly. Jubilee had just reached out to rip the egotistic smirk off of Amara's pretty face when a hand grabbed the back of her jacket, yanking her away from the other girl. Furious, she twisted in the firm grip to glare up at . . . a very handsome and well-built security guard who had golden blonde-hair and sapphire blue eyes.
"Excuse me, girls," he said, seeming perplexed as he surveyed their three mortified faces (and Rogue's blank expression), "what are all of you doing out here?" He glanced at the neon stickers they wore, designating them as field trip students, which they had neglected to remove from their persons. "Aren't you supposed to be with your classmates?"
A/N: That was for Song of Grey Lemons, who suggested they be caught by a guard. BTW, he's not just a regular security guard, though.
And in this AU, Jubilee has dyslexia, however, no one is quite aware of the exact problem yet. In canon, she has dyscalculia, which is dyslexia for math.