Chapter 9 of 12
"Stand Here With Me"
By: RogueBHS
You always reached out to me and helped me believe
All those memories we share
I will charish every one of them
Then truth of it is there's a right way to live
And you showed me
So now you live on in the words of a song
You're a melody
You stand here with me now
"Stand Here With Me" by Creed
The storms that had plagued Bayville for around a week finally let up. Just in time for the mutant teens' first day back to Bayville High. The human student's parents didn't want the "freaks" in school with their "perfect" children, and made that very clear. Protests had been held at city hall, and other major places, but to no avail. The X-men and other mutants had been cleared of charges against them since nothing could be proved.
When the X-men walked in, they were met with varying responses. Jean recieved sympathy and a slight bit of the "hero worship" she had delt with almost all her life. Scott, with his destructive power, was met with fear and a cool reserve. Kurt and Kitty both recieved odd looks and the occasional bit of sympathy from their true friends.
But Rogue...Rogue had it bad. The surperior looks she had recieved before turned to looks full of disgust. The whispers about the "odd Goth" turned to words of hatred. If not for the support of Kurt, Scott and Remy, Rogue would have had Xavier withdraw her from Bayville High.
Remy had become a major source of entertainment for Rogue. And in a way, a source for something akin to comfort. He made her feel normal...made her feel loved, even if it was just for a few seconds at a time. Rogue enjoyed the feeling, and thrived on it. Rogue didn't even care that the other X-men weren't fond of the way she was responding to having Remy around... she just knew she didn't want him to leave...Ever.
Of course that was a thorn in Jean's side. Up until Remy, she had been able to get any guy's attention that she wanted. Or in the case of Fred, that she didn't want. Remy all but ignored Jean, yet he was generally kind to the other girls. It couldn't be that he didn't like red-heads since Rogue was one; well, sort of anyway. And it certainly couldn't be her figure. Could it? Granted Rogue's was more...something. Especially now that she had that other girl's powers.
That was another thorn Jean was trying to get past. Rogue was now invunerable to mental probes from Jean or Professor Xavier if she didn't want them. It was like slamming her head into a metal wall any time Jean had tried to breech Rogue's mental defenses. Talk about annoying.
Jean glanced across the cafeteria where Rogue was sitting with Remy, not talking at all, just picking at her lunch. It wasn't until Scott elbowed her in the side that Jean realized she had been staring.
Scott frowned at her. "Jean, just leave it alone. At least she's happy, right?"
Jean shrugged and pushed around the day's mystery meat lunch on her plate. "I guess."
Kitty spoke up now, her voice chipper as ever. "I think its, like, neat that she's, like, got a boyfriend."
Scott just about choked on the bite of food he had been chewing. "Boyfriend?"
Kitty blushed. "Whoops. I, like, wasn't supposed to say that."
Jean leaned forward. "Remy is Rogue's...boyfriend?!" Jean turned to look over at the two X-men again, then back to Kitty. "Are you sure?"
Kitty nodded, paused, then frowned. "I, like, think that's what she said anyway. Or maybe she said he was just a good friend. I can't really remember now that I, like, really think about it."
Evan leaned forward. "Don't get me wrong here or anything, but what on earth would he see in her? She's cool for a friend or whatever, but for a girlfriend? Man, the guy would have to be nuts."
Scott shook his head. "Rogue's not as bad as you think Evan. She's just been through a lot of stuff. I mean, come on, think about how her powers showed up."
Kurt frowned around the huge bite of hamburger he had just taken. "How did her powers show up? I don't remember ever hearing."
Jean leaned forward, obviously curious about how Scott had found out when no one else knew. "Yeah, Scott. How did her powers show up?"
Scott sighed and shook his head before answering. "She was at a school dance...and ended up dancing with one of the school jocks. One of the 'nicer' ones from what she said. While she was dancing with the guy, she got knocked down, and when he reached down to help her, he got her bare skin, and bam...The guy's unconcious and she's got his memories...everything, without even knowing how it happened."
Kitty looked over at Rogue sympathetically. "Man. And I, like, thought how my powers showed up was cruel."
Evan nodded in agreement. "Yeah. No wonder she avoids jocks like they carry the plague or something."
Kitty pipped up again. "Unless, like, the jock is picking on one of us or something. She's, like, really cool about sticking up for us and stuff."
Scott glanced over at Rogue, wondering if what Kitty had said about Remy and Rogue was true. "Yeah. She's pretty cool."
Just when fear blinded me you taught me to dream
I'll give you everything I am and still fall short of
What you've done for me
In this life that I live
I hope I can give love unselfishly
I've learned the world is bigger than me
You're my daily dose of reality
You stand here with me
On and on we sing
On and on we sing this song
'Cause you stand here with me
"Stand Here With Me" by Creed
All was quiet in the kitchen of the X-mansion, aside from the occasional scribbling sound of a pen or pencil moving across paper of course. The two older resident Southerners were in there, doing their homework, and avoiding the den which everyone else had settled in to watch some annoyingly cute TV program.
Rogue glanced up at Remy, noticing he was staring at her from across the kitchen table. "Somethin' ya want Cajun?"
He shrugged. "Jus' wonderin' if ya was gonna do dat French or jus' stare at it all night."
Rogue realized that she had in fact been staring at her French homework, and laughed softly. "Ah guess Ah was jus' starin' wasn't Ah?"
Remy titled his head. "Ya need some 'elp on it, chere? You look a little lost dere."
Rogue shrugged. "Ah guess a lil' help wouldn't hurt."
He smiled and quickly moved over to the chair next to her. "Den lets get t' work eh?"
Rogue smiled as well, then nodded as she pushed the homework his way. "Help away, sugah."
Nearly an hour later, Rogue had finished her homework, and even helped Remy a bit on his US History. He glanced at her as she answered, without a pause, who Franklin D. Roosevelt was, and the signifigance of his life on America. "Chere, what are you? A walkin', talkin' US History book or somethin'?"
Rogue laughed. "Na. Its jus' one of th' subjects Ah actually lahked when Ah was youngah that's all. 'Sides, Irene lived through most of it, and could tell meh for herself what had happened. Tol' meh things Ah didn' learn in class."
Remy frowned when he saw the misty look to her eyes, and put his arm around her. "You miss 'er don' you?"
Rogue nodded silently, hating herself for coming so close to crying.
"Den why don' you go see 'er eh? Surely de Professor'd allow dat. She was de woman who raised you after all."
Rogue sighed. "Irene...well...she works with Mystique. Professah Xavier don' want meh t' go see her, cause he's afraid that she'll call Mystique, and Mystique will kidnap me or somethin' lahke that."
Remy shrugged. "So why don' he send someone wit you? Not like dat Mystique be crazy enough t' take on you now t'ough. Or 'least Remy don' imagine she be dat crazy."
Rogue's head shot up. "Have someone go with meh? But who?"
Remy smiled. "If ya go ask 'im right now, chere, I go wit' ya...make sure de baddies leave mon chere alone."
Rogue laughed and hugged Remy, much to his surprise. But he was glad to see the ear-to-ear smile on her face when she pulled back. "Come on!" She dragged Remy out of his chair and towards the door to the living room. "Ah wanna catch 'im before th' othahs finish th' movie!"
Remy tugged her hand to slow her down, and slid his arm around her waist. "He be dere even when de movie be finished, Roguey. Won' matter if we take de time t' walk an' enjoy it eh?"
Rogue glanced up at him for a second, then smiled almost shyly. "No...no it won' mattah."
"Dat's what I t'ought."