Life According to Jubilee
Chapter 2
'Argh. I hate Mondays. There's all those teachers and boring classwork. My favorite part of it all is breakfast. Yup. Donuts. Me and Wolvie would eat about two dozen donuts before starting the day. You know, when I was with the X-men. Ha, gotcha. Anyway, I need this food to keep me awake in class. Let's see..did I do my homework..crap I didn't. Oh well. I guess I'll go to the caf to eat.'
"Hey, Jubecita. Is Frosty gonna hang ya for yesterday?" Angelo tapped Jubilee on the left shoulder. Predictably, she looks on the left only to find that he's standing on her right. Oldest damn trick in the book.
"Nah. No sweat." she stuffs a piece of donut in her mouth. "You know, she's not as bad as she seems."
"Whew! For a while there, I thought you was toast! Did you sic Frosty on Monet?" Angelo is grinning from ear to ear.
"Nope. M's not worth it." As much as Jubilee can't stand to be in the same room with her at times, she's above taking revenge on her for the time being.
"Of course Everett didn't even stick up for you." He frowned.
Jubilee amicably claps a hand on his shoulder. "Angelo, as long as Monet's in the picture Everett's never gonna notice that I'm a girl."
Angelo jumped a little and turned away. "Wonder how he missed that.." he coughed pulling his collar.
"Ah, what did ya say?" Jubilee asks while noticing his constant squirming. She noticed something that almost resembled a blush.
"Uh, I said 'your earrings are phat'. You know, how it says your name an' all."
"Yeah, okay.."
Angelo waved wildly at the air. "Anyway, I prolly should get ready for class. Gotta finish my homework and stuff. Did you do yours?"
"Not really."
"Better hurry up. See ya!"
"Later, ace!" Jubilee waved. She absently straightens the tie of the mandatory uniform and brushes crumbs off of her skirt. Fishing around in her backpack, she takes out her half-finished homework assignment and haphazardly fills in any blanks she left. Decided that her work was satisfactory, Jubilee half-heartedly walks to class.
Angelo stared at the ceiling of the classroom. He counted at least seven hundred tiles and still had more to count. He's never taken such an interest in ceiling tiles before. Although he would admit it to no one, Jubilee was heavily on his mind. He couldn't help but appreciate how much he has in common with her. Of course, he also appreciated her attractiveness despite the fact that she was a bit younger than him. Angelo was always fascinated with her blue eyes as it wasn't a common trait for any Chinese people. To him, that very feature suited her perfectly, because in his eyes she wasn't a common girl. Becoming overwhelmed with his thoughts, he put his head on the desk and covered his ears. He received a curious stare from Monet but decided to ignore it.
'Damn it.' He cursed. These feelings were a little strange to him but not entirely foreign.
"Alright class, today we'll discuss chapter six. I hope everyone read the chapter because I will be asking questions. Now then," Mr. Gayan was cut short when the door opened. "Ah, Miss Lee, so glad you could join us." All eyes turned to the door.
"No problem. Started not to come though." Jubilee closed the door loudly. She then proceeded to take her seat next to Monet.
"As I was saying, I will be asking questions about the chapter. Who wants to volunteer for the first question?"
Monet raised her hand. Jubilee looked at her and scrunched her nose.
"Alright, Monet. Here's an easy one. According to what you have read in the chapter, is the United States a two party government or a multiparty government?"
Monet sighed. "Technically, several parties run for office: Democrats, Republicans and the minor parties. In reality, the third parties never win and can be easily swallowed by either the Democratic or Republican parties. In reality, we seem to have a two party system since almost no one votes for the third parties."
"Good. Well said." Mr. Gayan nodded. "Okay..Jubilee, there's no way you can get this wrong. What is lobbying?"
Five years later Jubilee looked up from her drawings of her friends and teachers. "Huh?"
"Do you want to fail?" He impatiently drummed his fingers on his desk.
"'spose not."
"Answer the question. I will NOT repeat it."
"Lobbying is anyone receiving compensation to influence legislative action." Jubilee droned.
"Well...I'm impressed. You are more intelligent than you look." He laughed.
"Whatever, dude.." Jubilee stole a glance at Monet who was trying her hardest not to hide any laughter. In disgust, Jubilee threw her eraser at her.
After a long discussion of policy making and lobbying, class concluded much to the students' appreciation. Above the clamor of idle chatter and the cacophony of zippers, Mr. Gayan announced a quiz for the following day. Jubilee stood outside of the door waiting for Angelo.
"Hey Jubes, wait up!" Angelo hollered. He turned to see her leaning against the wall. "Oh, there you are."
"Man, did you see how he played me? 'More intelligent than I look' my ass!" Jubilee shook her head. "As if-hey!!" A student running into her head on cut her short. They collapsed in a heap on the floor.
"Watch were yer goin' you goon!" she grumbled.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Here, let me help you up." The young man pulled Jubilee to her feet.
"Normally, I'd kill ya right about now, but I'll make a slight exception for you." Jubilee smiled. Angelo became slightly jealous. He couldn't understand why so he blamed it on his big brother attitude towards Jubilee.
"No harm done, right? Well, I better get going. Hope to run into you some other time." The boy flashed his perfectly white teeth.
"Sure. Feel free." She was slightly disturbed by his perfect smile. 'Who in the world has perfect teeth like that?' she thought. She watched him walk away. "Who told him to look so fine!" she mused.
"Dios...ready to go, chica? Angelo growled.
"Whoa, what got into your briefs? You jealous or somethin'?" Jubilee chuckled elbowing him lightly in the side.
"I wear boxers and no, I'm not jealous. You can look at anyone you want. Even Jonothan."
"Starsmore?! Yeah right! He's so depressing sometimes!"
"You could cheer him up with jokes and X-men stories." He stretched his arms as if emphasizing a real point.
"You makin' fun of my X-men stories? I 'm telling you could stand to learn a thing or two from my experiences." Jubilee folded her arms indignantly.
"Uh huh."
"Look, I'm skipping the next class. What about you?" she poked him in the chest.
"Hey, why are you poking me?" he moved her hand. "Yeah, I'll skip too."
"Let's go then." Jubilee opened the double doors that lead to the outside world. Once outside, both were greeted with the smell of fresh pine trees and radiant sunlight. The spot of choice was up in a tree where all of Generation X sat when they wanted to relax. Once settled into their places up in the tree, the simultaneously exhaled.
"Man, I hate school." Angelo groused while loosening his tie. "These mondo preppie uniforms don't help either."
"You should give a little character to it." Jubilee showed of her footwear: combat boots. According to the dress code, one was not allowed to modify their uniform. It wouldn't be the first time Jubilee disregarded a rule.
"Yeah, maybe." Angelo grew silent unsure of how he should continue the conversation. He wanted to ask her about Everett because he was concerned about Jubilee getting her feelings hurt. Truth is, he wanted to watch over her and protect her from reality because she's had hefty doses of it already. He was certain he wanted to ask her about it.
"Uh, Jubilee, I know Everett's your best friend but do you think you should continue your friendship? He's hurt you a lot and stuff because he doesn't notice you. You sure you wanna live wit that?"
Jubilee fixed her gaze on the sky. She is drawing strength from the thoughts of her mother. Angelo notices that she does this when she's distressed. "Well, I'm not sure anymore. True, in a sense he betrayed me but I can't hold that against him. I 'm his friend and even though I don't like it, I'll support him during his time with Monet even if he doesn't realize that I exist."
"Dios, Jubilee..you're so dedicated to everybody. Why?" Angelo couldn't understand how Jubilee would help others even if no one appreciated her actions.
"I gotta do my part. Everyone has a purpose and maybe that's mine. I just hope that someday the favor will be returned, you know?" she looked at him. Her eyes gleamed merrily.
"Or maybe you're just trying to buy your ticket into heaven early."
"Yeah that too." She laughed. "Thanks, Ange. You're always good for a laugh."
"No problemo-hey! So, I'm comic relief now?" he used his extra layers of skin to look like a sad puppy.
"Whoa...when did you learn to do that?" Jubilee breathed.
"Kinda recently. I can look like Quasimodo too."
"Neat." She stared up at the sky once more. She looked as if she was trying to hear a hidden message in the wind. Jubilee missed her mother and father everyday of her life. She kept them in her thoughts everyday for fear of losing memory of them. She snapped out of her reverie. "I can stay out here all day."
"Want to?"
"Huh?"
"Well at least up until lunch."
Jubilee smirked. "Sounds like a plan to me."
In the cafeteria, Jonothan, Everett, Paige and Monet were sitting at their usual lunch table. All of them noticed the absence of their other teammates and couldn't help but wonder what they were up to.
"They're together a lot these days." Paige mumbled.
Everett heard her comment. "Yeah, they always do stuff together. They probably cut class again." He chided. He was an advocate of education.
Monet struggled with the idea of eating her lunch. She absently poked at her Salisbury steak. "Oh, let them be. They're not hurting anyone but themselves." She chewed the steak slowly as if she were eating a bug.
- They'll be here. See, here they come. - Jonothan studied his steak debating if she should give it to Paige or Everett. He couldn't eat it if he tried.
"You should've got the hoagies." Angelo chuckled while putting his tray on the table. "Why does this feel like deja vu?"
Jubilee sat down as well. "Hi guys. Salisbury steak? M, Jono, you shoulda got the hoagies."
Monet chose to ignore the comment. Jonothan nodded in agreement.
- Makes no difference to ME, luv. I can't eat it anyway. -
"By the way Monet, you're welcome." Jubilee said suddenly without looking up from her food.
"Why should I be? I didn't thank you for anything."
"I got Emma to let you off the hook."
"Let ME off the hook? Lee, you're the one that threw the first punch. Just like the ape you are." Monet tossed her hair back.
"Let's not bring that up, please." Everett cut in, exasperated.
"Alright. Monet, let's just forget the whole thing. Bygones and all that crap." Jubilee offered her hand.
"Very well. However, I hope you don't have illusions of you being the bigger person. You're only doing what you should afterall." Monet simply continued to eat.
Jubilee clenched her teeth but chose to remain silent. She didn't want to lose her temper and hit Monet again. Just as soon as she lost her temper, her gained it once more. She deemed the situation unworthy of a temper tantrum and chose to let things go. Although the duo bicker constantly, they hold no true hatred for each other.
"Monet that was a little cold, don't you think?" Everett asked.
"Everett, there is no need to pacify the situation, it's finished." Monet explained cooly.
Angelo suddenly choked on his food and spit it out on his tray.
"Ew! Gross! Your tray looks like barf city!" Jubilee laughed. She tried not to spit out her food as well.
"That is disgusting, Espinosa." Monet soured.
"Mind your business, Monet. This is between me and my tray." Angelo drank some of his iced tea to wash down the rest of the food.
The group continued to eat their lunch until the final bell rang. Once they all had a sufficient amount of nourishment, they made their way to the final class of the day. Monet went to kiss Everett and suddenly backed away from him.
"Everett, what did you eat?!" Monet asked overwhelmed by the smell of garlic.
"Um, the daily special. My breath smells that bad?" Everett breathed into his hand and immediately scrunched up his face. He popped a breath mint into his mouth.
"Can't be any worse than your breath, Monet." Angelo teased.
"Oh, that's tres drole, Angelo. However, you'll never know what it's like to kiss anyone. So keep practicing on your pillow." Monet linked her arm into Everett's and they walk away together. Everett found the comment very funny but he had no idea that Angelo didn't take it lightly like he usually does.
"I not that damn desperate!!" he shot back. Her comment got under his skin.
"Don't worry about it Angelo." Jubilee punched him in the arm lightly. "Truth is, you're not a bad looking guy at all. Just as long as your skin isn't melting or anything."
Angelo swung at Jubilee playfully. She always knew how to cheer someone up. He rubbed his goatee. "Thanks. I know I'm one hot brotha though!" he dramatically ran his hand through his cropped hair and threw his head back. "I ain't never kiss no pillow in my life!"
"Funny how Monet knows so much about it." Jubilee quipped. Angelo exploded into laughter. They proceeded to their next and final class.
At the end of the school day: 3PM.
"Finally. School's over!" Jubilee stretched out her arms. "FREEDOM!"
"Hell yeah!" Angelo agreed. "Got any homework, Jubecita?"
"Eh, yeah. English Lit. Shakespeare."
"'A Mid-Summmer's Night Dream'?"
"Nah. 'As You Like It'."
"Don't think I ever read that one. Want a 'study buddy'?"
Jubilee arched an eyebrow. "'Study Buddy'? Sure. We might as well fail together."
"I'm smarter than you look, chica!" Angelo grabbed Jubilee in a headlock.
"Hey, let go!" she tried to free herself from his grip. "C'mon...I can't breathe!!" Angelo howled in laughter.
Monet and Jonothan were watching them in the distance. Both found the display amusing.
- I wonder if they notice how ridiculous they look. - Jonothan turned to Monet.
"Here's the bigger question. Don't they seem to get along TOO well?"
- Hmm. You have got a point. I wonder if Everett even noticed. -
Monet continued to watch Jubilee and Angelo. "Everett won't notice until he sees that those two have permanently 'hooked up'."
- You think so? He hasn't even noticed that Jubilee's a girl yet. Aren't you giving him too much credit? -
"Perhaps." Monet responded absently. She watched with envy as Jubilee ruffled Angelo's hair to free herself of the headlock. In return, Angelo pushed Jubilee into a random classroom. The teacher looked confused as Jubilee stumbled into the room. With a quick nod, Jubilee dashed out of the classroom and caught up with Angelo. She stole his necktie and twirled it above her head. She then swung it wildly at Angelo, who simply laughed at the sight of her. Jubilee whipped him in the torso with his tie.
"Ha! Gotcha right in your mittens!" Jubilee exclaimed in a pseudo-British accent.
Angelo pointed his index finger into the air. "I am NOT through yet! Engardee!" he yelled in a pseudo-French accent.
"Why are they butchering our accents like that?" Monet asked.
- Beats me. - Jonothan tried.
Angelo sat on Jubilee's bed. The reason he was in her room in the first place was to keep her company while she studied. He noticed that her bed smelled like shampoo. Peach shampoo.
"You use 'Herbal Essences' chica?"
"Don't be a wise guy, Ange." Jubilee continued to read her textbook. Angelo read her comic books.
"I can't take it anymore!" Jubilee suddenly shouted. She walked over to the window and threw it open.
Angelo ran over to her and grabbed her arm. "NO! Shakespeare is NOT worth killing yourself over! Don't do this.."
"I'm sorry, there's no other way..."
"Jubilee..."
"I gotta go study on the roof! It's too stuffy in here! Can't you understand my needs?!" Jubilee asked in a shrill voice. She and Angelo burst into laughter.
"We need to get an Emmy for that performance." Angelo chuckled.
"Yeah. You comin' or what? Are you game or are you lame?"
"Dis barrio boy is GAME."
Once on the roof, Jubilee decided she would study tomorrow. After all, why do today what you can put off 'til tomorrow?
"Isn't it cool up here?" Jubilee lay on her back staring up at the sky. It seems to be her favorite pastime.
"Yup. I ain't never do this before 'til I met you." Angelo replied.
"I'm so cool."
"Whatever, chica."
"You know, when I was-"
"With the X-men..."Angelo finished.
"No, I was gonna say when I was IN CALIFORNIA I would sit on rooftops all the time. I had nothing else better to do anyway."
"What was it like being an orphan on the street?" Angelo wanted to know her background and how she managed to be the cheerful firecracker that they all know.
"It was HARD. Sometimes I'd cry thinkin' I was gonna die. I wanted my parents so bad it hurt. I barely had food to eat and clothes to wear and so I wound up stealing so I could live. I used to live in the mall so I could rob the stores and the raid the food courts. After awhile I began working as a sideshow freak showing off my powers and stuff for peanuts. I used to go from foster home to foster home and sometimes I was mistreated. Before it could get any worse, I'd run away and be back out on the street."
"Okay, so how did you meet the X-men?" Nothing made sense to Angelo.
"Gateway. I got teleported to Australia while following the X-men. At the time, I had no idea what kind of people they were. All I knew was that they were mutants. I met Wolverine the day he was being crucified. Every since I saved his life, we just clicked. You know, Angelo, he's like a father to me. I can't imagine living without him." Jubilee exhaled as if she were holding her breath.
"Oh, I get it now. That's so cool. The both of us had it pretty bad. We got a lot in common. We've come a long way." Angelo sighed.
"Sure have." Jubilee reached into her backpack and procured two ice cold iced teas. She handed one to Angelo. "A toast, Angelo. To us, for surviving."
"I'll toast to that."