"... Abney, Blake," the voice of Bayville High's principal Kelly rang out through the auditorium. A sandy haired guy walked across the stage to recieve his high school diploma, a wide and excited grin on his face. Sitting in the audience, Wanda clapped along with everybody else.
"... Alvers, Lance..." There was a tighter tone as well as an edge of surprise to Principal Kelly's voice and he smiled a thin lipped smile as Lance strode down the stage to accept his diploma. Frowing, Principal Kelly stared intently down at the diploma in his hand for a while. Finally, he shook his head and looked up, finally convinced that the name on the paper was indeed "Lance D. Alvers".
"Congradulations Mr. Alvers," Principal Kelly said in surprise with a raised eyebrow. "You made it after all." There was a note of suspicion in his voice as he shook Lance's hand.
Lance nodded. "Um, thank you, Principal Kelly," he said with a slight cough, resisting the overpowering urge to smirk. *Yeah, right!* He looked out into the audience, squinting against the bright stage light. Catching sight of the Brotherhood sitting off toward the back, Lance broke into a grin. He was graduating and finally out of this crummy school!
But then, he paused. Despite everything, and his excitement of finally graduating, and getting the satisfaction of proving everybody who had ever doubted him academic wise wrong, Lance felt a pang of sadness to be leaving Bayville High. It held too many memories for him. The halls. How many times did he go down that hall with Kitty, the two of them holding hands? Going from class to class. Tousling around with the guys. The Brotherhood... *God, I'm gonna miss the Brotherhood... I guess Freddy's gonna be in charge of the guys and Wanda now... unless Pietro wants to...* Lance snickered at the first thought as he tried to picture the Blob running the Brotherhood house. They'll probably spend Mystique's entire salary on grocery.
Lance stared out into the packed auditorium. He could see the Brotherhood sitting towards the back and a little bit to the front of them, the much larger group of Xavier kids sat in a group. Catching Kitty's eyes, Lance grinned at her. She turned a little pink, but beamed radiantly back.
"We, the faculty of Bayville High and I, present to you... the Class of 2002!" Principal Kelly's voice spoke into the microphone. The auditorium erupted into cheers and whistles. The Brotherhood were whooping and cheering and jumping around, or at least Todd was.
"Whoo-hoo!" Wanda shouted, clapping with everybody else. An odd burning sensation came into the back of her eyes, and Wanda blinked. *It won't do to cry at such a happy event. Besides, even though he's graduated, Lance is still a part of the Brotherhood, it's not like he's leaving or anything. Nothing's going to change* Wanda tried to convince herself, but she wasn't doing a very good job with it, so to distract herself, she went back to clapping and cheering the graduates along with the rest of the school.
"Hey Lance, you did it, yo!" Todd shouted, hopping up and down. "You graduated, yo! Happy happy joy joy!" He continued hopping up and down.
"Hey, calm down!" Wanda said, laughing. "Hey, um Todd? Are you okay?"
"Yeah," Todd blinked up at Wanda.
"Are you sure?" There was definitely something wrong with the way Todd was smiling.
"Yeah, I'm okay yo! Couldn't have been better in fact. Lance is graduating and I'm happy for him-" Todd's bright smile that he'd been wearing suddenly turned *very* watery. "Aww man, I told myself I wasn't gonna cry!"
"Hey Todd?" Fred looked down at him in concern. "Hey, you gonna be okay little buddy?"
"No," Todd whimpered. "Lance ain't gonna be in the house no more, yo! An-and you're gonna be gone next year, and Speedy and Wanda the year after that, an- And I'm gonna be all alone with Boss Lady!"
"Well, you're still blessed with my beautimous presence for at least two more years, so hey! What are you worrying about?" Pietro piped up, turning to Todd from where he'd been watching the procession on stage and pretending that it was a beauty contest with him as the main attraction.
"Joy." Todd muttered, but he did brighten up a little. "I love you guys." he said through overly emotional watery eyes.
"GROUP HUG!" Fred shouted, enveloping everybody in a huge bear hug.
"Oh no..." Pietro tried to back away, but he couldn't get out due to the mass of people attending the graduation. With one swipe, Fred took the entire group in a hug. "Freddy...Can't...breath..." he gasped.
"Oh sorry," Fred grinned sheepishly down at Pietro, releasing his grip a little. There was a sigh of relief from the others.
"Thanks.." Todd gasped. "I owe you one," he said, slowly turning back to a more normal color, and no longer looking like a cross between a frog and an overgrown lobster.
"Hey look!" Wanda looked toward the stage, where all the graduates were now slowly filing out. "The thing must be over! C'mon, let's go outside to wait for them!"
"Okay." Fred stood up. "OKAY, MOVE IT PEOPLE! COMING THROUGH!" he shouted, bulldozing his way over people. Wanda gaped at him. Pietro noticed this.
"Freddy has his ways," he explained, snickering, as they made their way out into the school yard. "A bit uncivilized at times of course, but if it works, hey! Who am I to complain?" he grinned at her.
"Whatever," Wanda laughed. "With this group, why do I get the feeling anything's possible?"
"Because it is." Todd said simply.
"Yeah, with an irresistable and fun and sexy and talented person like moi around, anything *is* possible," Pietro said mischievously.
"Pietro," Wanda said with a laugh. "You need to know when to shut up, you know that?"
"I'm hurt!" Pietro looked at Wanda with a mock hurt expression in his eyes. "My own sister! Oh how dare you!"
"Yeah right!" Wanda shoved him playfully. Up ahead, the graduates were coming out, some blinking against the harsh sunlight, others were grinning broadly, probably glad to be escaping the insanities of Bayville High more than likely. Craning her neck, Wanda finally saw Lance emerging with the rest of the seniors. She caught a glimpse of a tall, brown haired guy, the sun light reflecting off his ruby quartz glasses. *Scott!* she realized, recognizing the Xmen's good looking leader. She made a mental note to congratulate him later.
"Lance!" she grinned, running over to him with the rest of the guys behind her. Pietro, of course, got to him first. It wasn't even possible for him to walk slow. His slowest of the slowest possible pace for him was still as fast as that of a marathon runner.
"Hey congrats!" Wanda smiled up at him. "So how does it feel to be the big graduate?"
Lance laughed. "You'll get there soon too, Wanda, so you'll know for yourself, but for me," his grin grew bigger. "It was GREAT!"
Just then, Kitty came up to them. Wanda was amused to note the different expressions to come across her housemates' faces. She personally got along okay with Kitty, but something told her the rest of the Brotherhood and Kitty weren't exactly the best of friends. There was a cross between a smirk and a snicker on Pietro's and Todd's faces, and she couldn't tell what Fred's expression was supposed to convey. Lance's, however, smiled at Kitty, who hesitated a moment looking at the Brotherhood.
"Hey Pretty Kit-"
But he never got to finish, as Kitty flung her arms around Lance's neck and kissed him lightly and swiftly on the lips.
"I've always wanted to do that, Mr. Alvers," Kitty said, smiling up at him. "Like, congradulations Lance! You did it!"
Lance looked dazed, and a little smile crept across his face. "Yeah, I did, didn't I?" he asked in a distracted tone. Suddenly, he seemed to come back to the real world. "Hey Kitty, if I walk across the stage right now and 'graduate' again, do I get another kiss?" he grinned at her.
Kitty laughed, turning a brighter shade of pink than her pinkest outfit that she owned. "Sure, I'll think about it," she smiled.
"Hey Kitty, need a ride back?" Scott came up to them, car keys in hand. His gaze, from behind his ever-present sunglasses, seemed to stop on Lance, and his face hardened, but he didn't say anything. There seemed to be a glaring war going on between the two of them.
Kitty looked at one, then back to the other, and sighed. "You guys, stop it! Scott, like, stop being a such a creep, y'know? Lance, I gotta go. Like, call me sometime, okay?" With that and a last look at them, Kitty and Scott walked away, toward where the rest of the Xmen were waiting by Scott's car.
TBC!! I promise!! :)
"... Alvers, Lance..." There was a tighter tone as well as an edge of surprise to Principal Kelly's voice and he smiled a thin lipped smile as Lance strode down the stage to accept his diploma. Frowing, Principal Kelly stared intently down at the diploma in his hand for a while. Finally, he shook his head and looked up, finally convinced that the name on the paper was indeed "Lance D. Alvers".
"Congradulations Mr. Alvers," Principal Kelly said in surprise with a raised eyebrow. "You made it after all." There was a note of suspicion in his voice as he shook Lance's hand.
Lance nodded. "Um, thank you, Principal Kelly," he said with a slight cough, resisting the overpowering urge to smirk. *Yeah, right!* He looked out into the audience, squinting against the bright stage light. Catching sight of the Brotherhood sitting off toward the back, Lance broke into a grin. He was graduating and finally out of this crummy school!
But then, he paused. Despite everything, and his excitement of finally graduating, and getting the satisfaction of proving everybody who had ever doubted him academic wise wrong, Lance felt a pang of sadness to be leaving Bayville High. It held too many memories for him. The halls. How many times did he go down that hall with Kitty, the two of them holding hands? Going from class to class. Tousling around with the guys. The Brotherhood... *God, I'm gonna miss the Brotherhood... I guess Freddy's gonna be in charge of the guys and Wanda now... unless Pietro wants to...* Lance snickered at the first thought as he tried to picture the Blob running the Brotherhood house. They'll probably spend Mystique's entire salary on grocery.
Lance stared out into the packed auditorium. He could see the Brotherhood sitting towards the back and a little bit to the front of them, the much larger group of Xavier kids sat in a group. Catching Kitty's eyes, Lance grinned at her. She turned a little pink, but beamed radiantly back.
"We, the faculty of Bayville High and I, present to you... the Class of 2002!" Principal Kelly's voice spoke into the microphone. The auditorium erupted into cheers and whistles. The Brotherhood were whooping and cheering and jumping around, or at least Todd was.
"Whoo-hoo!" Wanda shouted, clapping with everybody else. An odd burning sensation came into the back of her eyes, and Wanda blinked. *It won't do to cry at such a happy event. Besides, even though he's graduated, Lance is still a part of the Brotherhood, it's not like he's leaving or anything. Nothing's going to change* Wanda tried to convince herself, but she wasn't doing a very good job with it, so to distract herself, she went back to clapping and cheering the graduates along with the rest of the school.
"Hey Lance, you did it, yo!" Todd shouted, hopping up and down. "You graduated, yo! Happy happy joy joy!" He continued hopping up and down.
"Hey, calm down!" Wanda said, laughing. "Hey, um Todd? Are you okay?"
"Yeah," Todd blinked up at Wanda.
"Are you sure?" There was definitely something wrong with the way Todd was smiling.
"Yeah, I'm okay yo! Couldn't have been better in fact. Lance is graduating and I'm happy for him-" Todd's bright smile that he'd been wearing suddenly turned *very* watery. "Aww man, I told myself I wasn't gonna cry!"
"Hey Todd?" Fred looked down at him in concern. "Hey, you gonna be okay little buddy?"
"No," Todd whimpered. "Lance ain't gonna be in the house no more, yo! An-and you're gonna be gone next year, and Speedy and Wanda the year after that, an- And I'm gonna be all alone with Boss Lady!"
"Well, you're still blessed with my beautimous presence for at least two more years, so hey! What are you worrying about?" Pietro piped up, turning to Todd from where he'd been watching the procession on stage and pretending that it was a beauty contest with him as the main attraction.
"Joy." Todd muttered, but he did brighten up a little. "I love you guys." he said through overly emotional watery eyes.
"GROUP HUG!" Fred shouted, enveloping everybody in a huge bear hug.
"Oh no..." Pietro tried to back away, but he couldn't get out due to the mass of people attending the graduation. With one swipe, Fred took the entire group in a hug. "Freddy...Can't...breath..." he gasped.
"Oh sorry," Fred grinned sheepishly down at Pietro, releasing his grip a little. There was a sigh of relief from the others.
"Thanks.." Todd gasped. "I owe you one," he said, slowly turning back to a more normal color, and no longer looking like a cross between a frog and an overgrown lobster.
"Hey look!" Wanda looked toward the stage, where all the graduates were now slowly filing out. "The thing must be over! C'mon, let's go outside to wait for them!"
"Okay." Fred stood up. "OKAY, MOVE IT PEOPLE! COMING THROUGH!" he shouted, bulldozing his way over people. Wanda gaped at him. Pietro noticed this.
"Freddy has his ways," he explained, snickering, as they made their way out into the school yard. "A bit uncivilized at times of course, but if it works, hey! Who am I to complain?" he grinned at her.
"Whatever," Wanda laughed. "With this group, why do I get the feeling anything's possible?"
"Because it is." Todd said simply.
"Yeah, with an irresistable and fun and sexy and talented person like moi around, anything *is* possible," Pietro said mischievously.
"Pietro," Wanda said with a laugh. "You need to know when to shut up, you know that?"
"I'm hurt!" Pietro looked at Wanda with a mock hurt expression in his eyes. "My own sister! Oh how dare you!"
"Yeah right!" Wanda shoved him playfully. Up ahead, the graduates were coming out, some blinking against the harsh sunlight, others were grinning broadly, probably glad to be escaping the insanities of Bayville High more than likely. Craning her neck, Wanda finally saw Lance emerging with the rest of the seniors. She caught a glimpse of a tall, brown haired guy, the sun light reflecting off his ruby quartz glasses. *Scott!* she realized, recognizing the Xmen's good looking leader. She made a mental note to congratulate him later.
"Lance!" she grinned, running over to him with the rest of the guys behind her. Pietro, of course, got to him first. It wasn't even possible for him to walk slow. His slowest of the slowest possible pace for him was still as fast as that of a marathon runner.
"Hey congrats!" Wanda smiled up at him. "So how does it feel to be the big graduate?"
Lance laughed. "You'll get there soon too, Wanda, so you'll know for yourself, but for me," his grin grew bigger. "It was GREAT!"
Just then, Kitty came up to them. Wanda was amused to note the different expressions to come across her housemates' faces. She personally got along okay with Kitty, but something told her the rest of the Brotherhood and Kitty weren't exactly the best of friends. There was a cross between a smirk and a snicker on Pietro's and Todd's faces, and she couldn't tell what Fred's expression was supposed to convey. Lance's, however, smiled at Kitty, who hesitated a moment looking at the Brotherhood.
"Hey Pretty Kit-"
But he never got to finish, as Kitty flung her arms around Lance's neck and kissed him lightly and swiftly on the lips.
"I've always wanted to do that, Mr. Alvers," Kitty said, smiling up at him. "Like, congradulations Lance! You did it!"
Lance looked dazed, and a little smile crept across his face. "Yeah, I did, didn't I?" he asked in a distracted tone. Suddenly, he seemed to come back to the real world. "Hey Kitty, if I walk across the stage right now and 'graduate' again, do I get another kiss?" he grinned at her.
Kitty laughed, turning a brighter shade of pink than her pinkest outfit that she owned. "Sure, I'll think about it," she smiled.
"Hey Kitty, need a ride back?" Scott came up to them, car keys in hand. His gaze, from behind his ever-present sunglasses, seemed to stop on Lance, and his face hardened, but he didn't say anything. There seemed to be a glaring war going on between the two of them.
Kitty looked at one, then back to the other, and sighed. "You guys, stop it! Scott, like, stop being a such a creep, y'know? Lance, I gotta go. Like, call me sometime, okay?" With that and a last look at them, Kitty and Scott walked away, toward where the rest of the Xmen were waiting by Scott's car.
TBC!! I promise!! :)