[AN: Here we are, at the end of the first book. I hope you've enjoyed to story, even though it's not over, lol. The rest of it does get a little... Mature, though, so I did have to cut it up. Makes sense to anyway, since they're different years and different stuff is going on. And I did give this book an ending so it's a little closed. Anyway, here's the last chapter, I hope you enjoy it, and I hope to see you in the next book! Details will be at the end.]
"Tell her, tell her, tell her!" Kitty demanded at him as they stood in line in the ballroom to get fitted for graduation gowns.
Kurt had his image inducer on, so Kitty could see the tinge of pink on his cheeks as he looked to the ground. "Aber... I'm vorried; vhat if she doesn't love mich auch?" {me too}
"Get real," Kitty told him. "She was so upset when she thought you were dead that she cut off her own wing to, whatever she did to that guy."
"Vhat?" Kurt looked up at her in surprise.
"Yeah, I saw her, she was covered in blood," she said as she made a face of distaste.
Kurt took this information in.
Kerri had cut off a piece of herself, maybe permanently losing her wing and the ability to fly, to show Quill what he had done to her? Did that mean that he was like a part of her? That losing him was like losing the joy of flying?
Graduation was on the last day of school, in three days.
Two days before she lost Kurt.
Well, not officially, but until he had to find a job or something, and then he'd move out. Maybe out of the city. Then she'd never see him.
Kerri sat outside after classes, trying to read but unable to concentrate.
Kurt sat beside her on the ground. "Vhat are you up to, liebling?"
Her heart fell. Only a few more days of being called liebling. "Nothing, just holding a book," she told him.
He laughed. "Do you vant to go do somezhing fun?"
She looked at him cautiously. "What kind of fun?"
"Vell, ve could go into zhe trees, und, get on my highvire..." He suggested.
"Your high wire?" She shuddered with nerves already. "No way."
"Come on, liebling, bitte?" Kurt asked, knowing he was going to get a guaranteed yes.
Kerri closed her eyes and sighed, "Ok... Curse whoever taught you that word."
Kurt laughed. "Mozhers alvays teach their children manners, zhough."
They got to the tree the high wire was in and Kurt suggested that Kerri change now, since she'd had problems before. "Well, maybe I could try it without doing that..." She mumbled, embarrassed to show him if her wing was still cut off.
"Vh- oh, ja, your ving..."
Her eyes shot up to his. "What about my wing?" She asked cautiously.
"I heard zhat you, ah, lost it," he told her delicately.
"Yeah." She thought, 'I lost it, alright, in my head...'
"Is it gone forever?" Kurt asked cautiously.
"Probably not, but maybe..." She answered, looking at the ground. After she'd taken off her shoes and pulled her shirt over her head and situated it to still cover her front, revealing a black bra band, she shifted. She went painfully slow, making sure to remember how every muscle had felt, keeping her eyes closed to concentrate.
Kurt watched as Kerri's wings grew out, slowly unfurling, like a newly hatched butterfly stretching it's wings out to dry. When they were fully extended, she opened her eyes and flapped them a few times.
"At least I won't be over balanced and tip over," she joked, but he could hear the relief in her voice. He pulled her close, kissing her, and they went up to the wire.
Kurt held onto Kerri from behind, wrapping his arms around her. "Just put vone foot forward, zhen zhe next. Until you get to zhe ozher side," he told her, trying not to be distracted by her bare back against him, or by noticing that small feathers trailed over her shoulders, looking almost like a beautiful tattoo.
Kerri held onto his hands around her waist and took a breath. She stepped forward, her wings were spread wide, and Kurt was pressed against her back, giving her balance. Her toes automatically closed around the wire as best as they could, and her tail was anchored to the wire as well. "I don't know how you can do this for fun, the way I want to do it is much different..."
Kurt didn't want to let go of her, he was really enjoying being this close, but he did. "Vhy don't you show me how you vant to do es?" He asked, still against her for support.
Kerri blushed. "Well, it's, not exactly... human... More gargoyle, I think..."
"Vell, let's see," Kurt urged her again.
Kerri took a breath, thinking how stupid she sounded, and said, "ok, I guess..." He stepped back, and she started to get nervous, her hands going to the wire to hold on, making her crouch there on her hands and toes, the heels of her feet forgotten. Her wings came close to her body, then out only a little, to balance her, her tail let go of the wire and came up behind her, moving back and forth gently with her movements as a counter balance, and she walked across the wire, the whole way, using her hands and taloned toes, her feet naturally wanting to only use the very front, like a cat.
When she got the the other side, she sat down and looked back to see that Kurt had been walking with her, a few feet behind.
He finished getting to the tree, looking no different than if he had been walking on the ground. "Zhat vas good, zhough I've never seen anyvone do es like zhat before," he told her with a smile, but she looked down at the ground, embarrassed. "Nein, liebling, es var gute," he told her, his mind slipping into thoughts of kissing her as his hand went to hold her cheek. {no, darling, it was good}
She looked away from the ground, which felt like it was a thousand yards away to her, and into his eyes.
Her eyes were different than they normally were, more bird like, he supposed, with their many visible folds in the iris and small pupils. Even so, he still wanted to kiss her, wanted to tell her he loved her. He leaned forward, their heads almost touching. "Kerri, I vanted to tell you somezhing," he stared into her eyes, trying to gather the right words. "I zhink... I zhink I-"
Kurt was cut off by a voice in both of their heads, which spooked Kerri, her wings flaring for a moment, before she realized that it was Professor Xavier.
'Kurt, Kerri, I'm sorry to interrupt your free time, however I need you two to come to my office, please,' he said.
'Ja, professor, on our vay,' Kurt thought, and Kerri's head tilted in surprise at how thick his accent was compared to his voice. "I guess ve should go," he told her.
Kurt teleported them down from the tree and they started walking to the school.
"What did you want to tell me?" Kerri asked.
Kurt glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. Maybe the Professor had interrupted them on purpose, maybe he knew something about how Kerri felt about him, and was trying to save him from embarrassment...
"It's nozhing," he told her, but then a feeling struck him. No, fear of embarrassment or not, he was going to tell her. "Nein, it's not nozhing, aber, but, I guess it can vait a little longer."
It turned out that Professor Xavier had just needed to get her set up for classes the next year. "Oh, I almost forgot," he told Kerri as she neared the door to leave. "Here are your pictures from the Formal."
She took the pictures and went to her room, letting Kurt have his turn in there.
She dug out the long skinny shoe box from her black flats and dumped them on the floor of the closet, taking the box to her bed.
She stared at the pictures, the one of her and Kurt turned to each other, her hand on his shoulder, the group one with Kitty and Piotr, and finally, the one of her and Kurt, when he'd kissed her by surprise. Her eyes were slightly wide, and his blue lips were pressed against her cheek. It was probably her favorite one. She put the pictures in the box and hid it under her bed, wanting to preserve them from the wear and tear of being shuffled around all the time, since they were going to be her only tangible memory of him.
Two days until graduation.
Kerri laid in bed, not wanting to get up. The only thing that tempted her was going to see Kurt at lunch, but she got out of bed anyway and sat through classes. It wasn't so bad, though, all they did was watch movies.
At lunch, Kurt held Kerri's tail under the table and tried to smile at her. He wanted her to be happy, but he was feeling the end of the school year looming close, too.
After classes, they spent the evening walking on Kurt's high wire, even though Kerri still couldn't stand to do it, and when the sun started setting, they sat by the pool and watched it go down.
They laid in the grass and looked up at the stars after that.
Kerri looked over at Kurt and crawled closer to him, sitting and leaning on her arm over his outstretched limb. He smiled and told her, "Come here," and she laid down, wrapping herself around him, cuddling her cheek into his chest, trying to take in as much closeness as she could before she lost him.
Graduation was tomorrow, and Kerri had decided not to tell Kurt she loved him. 'Not because I'm weak,' she thought. 'Because I'm strong, and I can handle it...' She tried to start burying her feelings deep inside of herself, but every time she saw Kurt, they leapt back to the top.
'I love him,' she thought, 'but it's something I'm going to have to go through by myself...'
Kerri went to the gym after lunch and met Logan, Kurt wasn't there, since none of the seniors had class today; they were going over what was going on during graduation tomorrow.
After class, she walked out of the locker room, freshly changed, although she'd just pulled her shirt on over her workout tank top, and almost ran into a solid body blocking her way to the hall.
"Oh, hi, Kurt," she said, trying to hide the sadness in her voice.
"Kerri, zhere is somezhing I have to tell you," he told her.
"Ok, why don't you tell me on the way to my next class?" She suggested, a little worried by the serious look on his face.
"I can't, es ist- ditch class," he told her, a little flustered.
"I can't," she said. "I'm the only student there, and I'm pretty sure Professor Xavier would notice if I didn't show up..."
Kurt took a breath, trying not to sound as nervous as he felt. "Ok, vell, zhen... Meet me by zhe vall after class, ja?"
"Ok," Kerri told him and gave him a quick smile before hurrying to her class.
"What's wrong, Kerri?" Xavier asked her.
She looked up from the carpet at him. "Oh, I'm sorry, Professor. I'm just distracted. Just end of year stuff, you know," she fibbed as she looked back to the carpet. "So, Professor, what's going to happen tomorrow?"
"Well, the seniors are going to graduate," he told her.
She looked up with half of a sarcastic smirk. "I meant with everyone who isn't a senior."
Xavier smiled back and told her, "well, the graduation is like an assembly, all of the student body is invited, so are the parents, and the seniors walk across the stage, shaking hands, getting a diploma. It's really as normal as a public school graduation, except that it's much smaller, of course."
"I'd imagine," she said.
The rest of the period went past, sometimes seeming fast, sometimes slow, depending on if she was excited for or dreading seeing Kurt.
Kerri walked out of the doors, kids streaming out all around her, yelling and chatting happily about the year being over tomorrow, and what they were going to do this summer, in direct contrast to Kerri's slow, nervous figure making it's way along the side of the school.
She paused before turning the corner, pushing her feelings down, trying to push them so far away that she could ignore them.
She took a deep breath and peeked around the corner. 'He's not even there,' she thought as she let her breath out. She walked along the wall to the meeting spot, not knowing that Kurt was watching her from the roof.
He teleported down behind her, and when she turned to look at him, he pulled her forward into a kiss, his mouth already trying to tell her that he loved her, and teleported them back to the roof. He pulled back and saw a slightly stunned look in her eyes. "Zhere, novone vill bozher us here, I zhink," he told her.
Kerri took a breath and closed her eyes, trying to push her feelings back down, imagining stomping on them, jumping up and down on them to flatten them down. 'Stay strong,' she told herself.
Kurt's hand touched her jaw and she opened her eyes to look at him. His eyes were getting closer to hers, and his lips touched hers again, making her feelings of love for him try to rise to the surface again, but she pushed them back down. Sadness started filling the spot where they'd been.
Kurt had planned to tell her how beautiful she was, everything he loved about her, how wonderful she was, how he felt when he was around her, how she made him feel as a person, and then finally, tell her he loved her, but he kept kissing her, his lips getting distracted easily.
The plan was completely flung out of the window when he pulled back and saw the vulnerable look in her eyes. The words tumbled out of his mouth, and at this point, he was just glad they were in order. "Kerri, I love you."
She was shocked, then doubt flooded her eyes.
She was touching him, had she made him say that? Had she accidentally pushed the feelings down and into him somehow? She pulled back, but he held onto her, confused.
She managed to get her arms away from him and took a step back.
"Kerri, vhere are you going?" Kurt asked her, feeling his heart on the edge of breaking.
"You- you said you love me," she told him, thinking he was about to hate her.
"I do," he said.
"W-what?" Kerri asked, shocked and confused.
"I do love you, Kerri, I said I love you because I love you," he told her.
She was overwhelmed with his words. He'd told her he loved her four times in the space of a minute, and he hadn't been touching her for the last three. "Y- you love me?" She asked hope peeking out of her voice.
"Ja," he felt a little better at her tone. "I love you." He tried to step forward and pull her close, but she shrank away, put a hand up to stop him from touching her. He stopped, confused.
Kerri's lungs were pumping hard, even though she wasn't quite hyperventilating. "Kurt, is this really you saying this?" She asked.
"Ja," Kurt moved his hand to his image inducer to turn it off, thinking she thought he was someone else, somehow, but fumbled at her next words.
"I- I can't stand if this is a joke, Kurt..." Her eyes drifted to the roof beneath her feet, and she tried to steady her breath. "Because, I- I love you, Kurt."
He froze and looked at her.
She loved him.
His hand fumbled again, and he gave up, pulling the image inducer off of his wrist and tossing it onto the ground behind him.
Kerri saw this and looked up, about to ask him what he was doing. "Kurt, wha-" was all she got out, though, because as soon as the thing was off of him, his hands came up to her, pulling her forward and kissing her.
Kurt's lips moved against hers, his tongue sliding to hers, his hands crushing her against him, joy filling him and overflowing from her words.
She loved him.
Period. Not she loved him, but, not she could love him, if, just she loved him.
Kerri's heart beat faster, her lungs pushing harder to bring in more oxygen. She felt like she couldn't get enough air, even though she was starting to get dizzy from breathing so much, although part of it was probably the mind blowing kiss Kurt was laying on her.
He finally pulled back, his hand on her jaw and his intense golden eyes staring into hers. "I love you, Kerri, and if you don't believe me now, you can lower zhat vall und feel es directly," he told her.
The throbbing ache in her heart was gone, replaced by a fullness, a completeness, understanding, acceptance. She didn't just feel that he loved her, she knew he loved her. "I believe you," she told him. "And, I love you, too, but you know who I love more?" Her naughty streak started coming back now that she wasn't so depressed.
Kurt felt worried, she loved someone more than him? "Ver?" He asked nervously. {who}
"You without your hologram on. Know what's even better?" She asked, a mischievous smile coming to her face as she positioned her hands in the right spots.
"Vhat?" Kurt asked, back at ease.
"You with no hologram, and your shirt off!" She told him as she pulled her hands up, bringing his shirt with them and pulling it off. "Much better," she giggled and ran a few steps before he caught her.
"Ja, aber, I bet you would look besser vizhout your shirt, too, liebling," he teased, regretting it a moment later as his head flooded with thoughts of her, sans shirt.
She stepped back and took the edge of her shirt in her hands. "Oh, yeah? Are you saying you want to find out?" He tried to protest, but his mouth went dry when he saw her bare stomach come slowly into view. He thought he was about to have a heart attack, his heart beat was so irregular.
As she got to the edge of her bra, Kerri let go of her tank top, letting it fall back down, and threw her shirt over her head at Kurt, her hair flying forward, too. The shirt landed on target, on his head, and she stood in a pose, unable to get rid of her mischievous smile. "So, what do you think? Better?"
Kurt could hardly breath, thinking he was about to pull off the fabric in front of his eyes and see her bare skin, what wasn't covered by her bra, anyway.
He gently tugged the shirt and let it slowly fall from his face. His held breath puffed out, half in relief, half in disappointment. "Now who is a tease?" he asked.
"Still you," she told him. "I said I'd take my shirt off and I did, no tease there."
"Ja, sure, und I'm not blue," he said.
"But I like you blue," Kerri blushed as the words left her mouth.
Kurt pulled her close and kissed her again, his hands running over her back, and her hands moved across his bare skin, loving the feel of his soft fur. He pulled back, looking into her eyes, and her tail flicked back and forth. "So, you think I'm a tease, and I think I'm not, maybe we could compromise?" She suggested, putting his hand under the edge of her shirt and blushing.
His blood roared in his ears, making him unable to hear the choked sputtering that was coming from his mouth, but Kerri cut it off anyway, pressing against him and kissing his lips again.
Kurt laid in bed, looking at his fingers in the moonlight.
They'd almost touched the promised lands, or, actually, they'd touched the fringes of the promised lands.
He'd tried to take his hand out from under her shirt, but Kerri had blushed and told him it was the best compromise she could think of. "Beside, I, um, don't really mind it being there," she'd said, making his blood run hot.
After that, he'd held her in his arms and his hand had run along her skin, leaving ripples of shivers, and he'd dared to move his hand under the band of her bra. Then his fingers had moved on their own, along her ribs, encountering something stiff, and somehow, they knew how get under it.
His reward had been to feel the soft, yielding flesh at the side of her breast, and to see the look in her eyes as she pulled back and stared at him in blushing shock. "Kurt," her breath had come out to make his name, and he'd leaned down to kiss her neck.
"Ja, liebling?" He'd asked in between soft kisses.
Then they'd had to stop as Kurt had tried to keep control over himself and his hormones, and Kerri had said she could hear someone coming.
Sure enough, Logan had walked by below them a moment later and cast a glance up at the roof.
He put his fingers to his lips, remembering the way her skin had felt, and his body sternly disapproved of him teasing it.
Kerri sat in one of the chairs filling the ballroom, there were at least three hundred people in the room, crowded around her, and her body was having trouble sitting still, but she didn't have anywhere to go, so she looked around.
The teachers were standing across the stage, the seniors were seated in front, ready to get lined up, step up the stairs, walk across the platform, and down a ramp, back around to their seats, the rest of the students were seated around, behind the parents who had come, even though there were a pitiful few of them, not to mention all of the photographers and other people there.
Piotr leaned over the person on her right, saying, "you don't look so good, you would like to come stand next to me, maybe?" Kerri nodded and looked like a frightened rabbit trying to get out of the tangle of legs and people to stand by him against the wall.
It was cooler over here, and she tried to take a breath to calm her frayed nerves as the guest speaker finished his spiel, "- And don't forget, although we are different from the outside world, and you may think down on yourself at times, never forget what you've learned here; You are strong, there are always people who want to hate, but we will rise above those people, not because we are better than those people, but because we are better people. Congratulations, and good luck in all of your future endeavors!"
There was a loud cheering, but Kerri's mind slowed, filling with sadness. This was it; Kurt was about to walk across that stage, and out of her life...
She stayed for as long as she could, managing to last long enough to see Kitty and Kurt walk across the stage and receive the pieces of paper saying they had graduated. Kurt's feet landed on the floor as he returned to his seat, and Kerri could feel the pressure building behind her eyes as tears formed.
They all moved the tassel on their hats and flung them up, cheering and hollering in glee.
The tears tried to fall into the air, she bit her knuckle to try and push them away, and Piotr looked down at her, putting his hand on her shoulder, but she looked away and stood a moment before leaving through the doors, heading down the hall and outside.
She wandered a little, ending up at the place she and Kurt watched the stars, where she'd curled into his arms, once when he was asleep, once when he was awake, where they'd spent quite a few nights, pushing curfew to watch for shooting stars. Where she'd met him when he'd told her he loved her. She looked up at the roof above her, and a tear rolled down her cheek.
Kurt was graduated. He was going to leave soon, find a job and start a life...
It hardly felt possible that he had confessed that he loved her only the day before.
Kurt left the other cheering seniors and made his way to Professor Xavier's office. He'd said he wanted to talk to him privately right after the ceremony when he'd shook his hand in the line, so Kurt knocked on the door, wondering if he'd made it to his office yet, but, of course he had.
Kurt entered the room and saw Gambit standing against the wall and Xavier at his desk. "Sorry, professors, I did not mean to interrupt." He turned to leave, but was called back.
"Wait, Kurt, I asked Professor LeBeau to be here when I talked to you about this matter," Xavier told him, and he turned back around.
He took a seat, his fingers fiddling with his gown and his head bare, having lost his cap in the throwing.
"Kurt, you enjoy drama quite a bit, correct?" He nodded, still nervous. "Well, it's not common knowledge, and it hasn't been announced among the students or staff, but Professor LeBeau is leaving after next year. He's agreed to stay and train his replacement, but after that he's leaving."
Kurt nodded, confused about what this had to do with him.
"When I asked Professor LeBeau to suggest a replacement, your name came up." Shock was written all over Kurt's face at this news. "So, Kurt, do you think you'd be interested in staying here and learning to teach drama?" Professor Xavier asked him.
Stay and teach drama? Here, where Kerri was and he'd be close to her?
It only took about a second for him to think it over.
Kurt had looked for Kerri, but when Piotr had told him that she'd left, tearing up and refusing to look him in the eye, it didn't take him long to figure out where she'd go, and indeed, he found her, standing and looking at the spot on the ground where they'd looked at the stars.
He came up behind her and put his hand on her shoulder. She jumped and turned around, hastily wiping the tears from her eyes. "Kerri," he tried to pull her against him, but she dodged his arms. "Vhat's wrong?" He asked.
"What do you mean what's wrong?" She asked, still wiping at her eyes.
"Liebling, you are crying," his heart was sore at the look on her face, and he tried to catch her arms and pull her against him again.
Her arms were caught, but she wouldn't be pulled against him. "Yes, that's what happens when you're sad, or so I'm told," her self depreciating joke was lost in tone.
"It's ok, Kerri," Kurt tried to comfort her.
She looked back up at him from the ground. "How can you say it's ok? You told me that you love me yesterday, but today I'm losing you," she said, almost tearing up again.
"Kerri, you are not losing me-" Kurt tried to tell her the news, but she interrupted him.
"You graduated, now you have to go live your life, and it probably doesn't include me, a stupid little high schooler..." she muttered as her eyes drifted to the ground again.
"Kerri, my life vill include you for as long as you vill let me, and I'm not leaving, zhat's vhat I came to tell you," Kurt tried to keep her attention on his news.
She looked up, not quite daring to believe him.
He pulled her close and kissed her lips, pulling back to tell her. "Kerri, I'm going to be zhe new drama teacher; I'm staying here."
Kerri's face slowly lit up. "Staying," she repeated. "You're staying here?"
"Ja," he told her. "Bei dir, immer."
"Whoa, German boy. Vas?" She asked.
"I said, yes, vizh you, forever," he told her, his lips brushing against hers as he spoke.
Kerri's breath quickened and she kissed him.
Maybe it would be ok.
After all, she loved him, he loved her, and it was amazing.
[Last AN of the book!: The End! Of the first book! Yay! I hope it pleased you! If you'd like to find out what happens next... The next part is called Fuzzy Images, Forced Apart and will be found in my profile if nothing else, lol. Those who wish to continue the story, I'll be glad to see you there, or just hear your rifling through the pages. Don't forget to add the new book to your favorites or alerts if you'd like to get updates! I guess favoriteing or alerting me will do that too lol. Anyway, goodbye for now!]