It Just Got Worse

"And once again another stupid assembly," Lance grumbled as they filed into the auditorium. Normally the X-Men and the Brotherhood made a point to sit as far away from each other as possible, but through a cruel twist of fate, they ended up in the same two rows.

"It is not a stupid assembly," Rogue snapped. "Anything that gets us out of class is a good thing!"

"She's got a point there," Pietro said. "Anybody know what this is about?"

"I heard it's about the test scores," Risty said. "Our school supposedly did very well on them."

"How'd you know that?" Kitty asked.

"I have my methods," Risty grinned.

"Those tests were so stupid," Rogue grumbled.

"I agree," Tabitha said. "Just another way to keep kids down as far as I'm concerned!"

"Yeah those things are rigged," Lance snapped. "They're designed to make kids fail. It has nothing to do with the way the real world works!"

" I'm not surprised someone like you would say that," Scott snapped.

"And just what is that supposed to mean?" Lance snapped back.

"Will you two like knock it off for once!" Kitty snapped at them.

"He started it!" Lance protested.

"Did not!" Scott said.

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Hey Fuzzy quit it with the paper airplanes if you don't wanna be knee deep in slime!" Todd snapped.

"Shut up all of you!" Jean said, eagerly awaiting the test results. "He's going to speak."

Kelly stepped up to the podium. "Good afternoon students, I know you're all wondering why I called you in here today. Well I just called you in to congratulate this school on getting the highest test score in the state!" The audience applauded loudly as Kelly went on about education and commitment to excellence.

"I hope this gets out soon," Pietro yawned and looked at his watch. "I have a tennis match in an hour."

"SHHH!" Jean snapped. "I want to hear this!"

"Best of all Governor Endicott and Senator Bainbridge are going to meet with and have lunch with the top 12 students who got the highest scores on the test after the press conference!" Kelly said.

"Oh goody," Lance snickered. "I can see it now, mystery meat with the bigwigs!"

"They'd better do a sweep of the kitchen," Todd joked. "Make sure they got all the rat poison out!"

"And the students are in no particular order," Kelly read off the list. "Kitty Pryde, Scott Summers, Risty Wilde, Rogue…Uh …just Rogue. Taryn Nakamura, Jason Byron, Faith Harper, Lance Alvers, Pietro Maximoff, Todd Tolensky, Tabitha Smith, and Fred Dukes." Kelly did a double take. "WHAT?"

The entire school gave a collective gasp as the last names were called. "Did he just say…?" Scott gulped.

"Hey we won something!" Fred said excitedly.

"I don't believe this," Jean blinked.

"I know the Brotherhood…on an honors list?" Rogue asked.

"Not that!" Jean said. "That my name isn't on it!"

"Oh brother," Rogue groaned.

"Hey girlfriend!" Risty grinned from ear to ear. "We did it! We did it! We…" Then she saw the Brotherhood congratulating each other and dancing in the aisles. "Oh no…what have we gotten into?"

Kelly just stared at the Brotherhood. "Well there they are Bayville High," He gulped. "Bayville's best and brightest. Umm…If anybody needs me, I'll be in my office doing something." He stumbled away from the platform muttering. "Of all the days for me to give up drinking…"

An hour later….

"Mr. Kelly I need to see you right now!" Jean said storming into his office.

"Come on in Miss Grey," Kelly sighed.

"Okay are you sure I'm not on that list?" Jean asked.

"Yes Jean," Kelly sighed. "I checked. Believe me. You're not on it."

"Could you just maybe check one more time?" Jean grabbed his shoulders. "Please?"

"Jean let go of me!" Kelly snapped. "You're hurting me!"

"Sorry," She apologized and let go. "But I was so sure I did so well!"

"Well you didn't," Kelly sighed. "But somehow the Brotherhood did. All of them."

"Okay maybe Pietro and Lance I can buy," Jean snapped. "And Tabitha is iffy, but FRED AND TOAD?"

"It does seem a little unbelievable," Kelly sighed looking at the test results again for the fifteenth time.

"HOW COULD THOSE TWO IDIOTS GET HIGHER MARKS THAN ME?" Jean shouted. "They must have cheated!"

"Well maybe on the question and answer section but not on the essay section," Kelly said. "As you know there were three possible essay questions. Students had a choice of three. Alvers, Smith, and Maximoff picked the 'Making a School a Better Place' one. Tolensky picked a science question about the importance of insects in the ecosystem. And Dukes…His question was… I don't believe it."

"What a food question?" Jean asked.

"No, it was about the U.S. Government. In his essay Mr. Dukes compared the legislative process to a monster truck rally. He got a high score for his creative thinking. In fact, according to this…he had the highest score in the school. This test shows that Fred 'The Blob' Dukes…is the smartest student at Bayville High."

At that moment Jean fainted.