Disclaimer, etc. in Prologue.

Chapter 2

"So you're saying your parents shipped you here to Bayville, to some school for kids like us?" Lanced asked after taking a drink from his can of soda. His bagged lunch long gone, he nursed his Coke and watched Kitty pick at her food.

"Yeah."

He was seated across from her at one of the smaller tables in the courtyard. The cafeteria had been crowded and noisy as usual, and they hadn't found anywhere to sit inside so they'd decided to venture outside to try their luck. Amazingly, they'd found an empty table on the far side of the quad.

They'd started eating, and then they'd started talking. It hadn't taken long for the conversation to turn to how they'd both ended up in New York, and both at Bayville High no less.

Lance had explained that a couple of weeks after Kitty left Northbrook, he'd ended up getting into some serious trouble. He didn't elaborate on what kind of trouble and she didn't ask. She wasn't sure she wanted to know.

He'd continued on to say that he'd been kicked out of his most recent foster home, and his caseworker had been having trouble finding anyone that would even consider taking him. He'd been on the verge of being sent to a group home for boys, when an administrator from the Bayville school district had shown up. She'd explained that there was a program in Bayville specially geared towards kids with his "particular problem."

Lance had smirked at that point. "A nice, polite way of saying I was a freak. They were all over it, though. The only time in my life I've seen social services move that fast." Special arrangements had been made, and he'd been shipped to New York before the week had been out. He'd just been officially enrolled at Bayville High the day before. "Far as I'm concerned, coming here's been the best thing that's happened to me since—well, ever."

Kitty wished she could say the same.

She poked at her macaroni and cheese with her fork. "My parents…They said it was because they wanted me to learn how to control my powers." She gave a humorless little laugh. "They also said I, like, need to learn some self-restraint."

Lance snorted. "Self-restraint? You're a regular girl scout as it is."

"That's not what they think." Kitty glared down at the orange mush on her plate. "Not after Jean Grey got finished talking to them."

"What do you mean?"

"You remember that day you used me to get into that office to steal those test papers?"

Lance froze, then said, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Kitty rolled her eyes. "Oh, puh-leeze! I'm not a total idiot, you know. You didn't think I wouldn't eventually figure it out? But anyway, I'm not mad at you."

He blinked in surprise. "You're not?"

"No. You're not the one who got me into trouble. Heck, you totally would have gotten away with it." Kitty stabbed viciously at her food. "It's all that witch's fault!"

"The redhead?"

"She's the one that convinced my parents that I was the one after the test papers! She's the one that convinced them to send me away!" Kitty threw down her fork and shoved her tray away, her rising anger burning away what little appetite she had. "She told them I'd be better off at Xavier's. She said they'd teach me control, teach me self restraint so that there wasn't another incident." She snorted. "God, what a crock!"

"Man, that sucks." Lance was silent a moment before adding, "I'm, uh…I mean…Sorry. For, you know, messing up your life." He stumbled over the words, like he hadn't had much practice in apologizing to anyone, for anything.

"I already told you, it's not your fault. It's Jean's. Miss I-know-what's-best-for-you." Kitty sighed and rested her chin on her palm, her anger already fading. Usually, her Jean-hating was followed up by a bout of melancholy, and this time was no exception. "I just, like, can't believe my parents took her word over mine. I mean, I'm their daughter! It's like, now that I'm different, they think I'm not the same person. But I am!" She looked at Lance, her eyes moist. "Shouldn't they trust me instead of some total stranger?"

He shook his head. "You're asking the wrong person. All my life I've had folks think the worst of me. Foster home after foster home, anything bad happened, I got the blame."

For a moment, a flare of outrage overshadowed Kitty's own misery. "Didn't that, like, bother you?"

"At first. But then I figured, if I'm gonna be treated like I'm nothing but trouble, I might as well act the part." He shrugged, completely unrepentant. "At least now when they say 'He got what he deserved,' it'll probably be true. "

"But that's totally not fair!"

Another careless shrug. "Don't bother me none." Lance smirked. "You see, I found out I'm actually very good at being bad."

Kitty stared at him, uncertain what to say. Lance really didn't appear to mind how the people who were supposed to care for him had instead treated him like a criminal. Their situations were similar in an odd way, yet Kitty felt the hurt of her parents' betrayal deeply. She wished she could be as unconcerned about her situation as Lance was about his. She wished she could—

Her train of thought came to a screeching halt as something occurred to her. Something so completely insane and reckless, it just had to be worth trying. The idea was all kinds of bad.

That just made her want to do it even more.

Kitty looked at Lance. And smiled.

He blinked. "What?"

"You just gave me the most stellar idea."

"Oh, yeah? And what's that?"

His apathetic response made Kitty's smile slip a bit. "Um, what would you say if I, like, asked you for a favor?"

Lance stared at her for a moment before finishing off his soda and absently tossing the can in the general direction of a trash bin. There was a thunk! as it hit someone in the back of the head. "Ow!"

"Shake it off, you wuss." Lance turned his attention back to Kitty, who looked rather expectant. "A favor, huh?"

"Yeah." A hopeful note crept into her voice.

"No."

Kitty's face fell. Like a geezer with a bad hip, Lance mused. "What do you mean 'no'? You don't even know what I was going to ask you!"

"Doesn't matter. Y'see, I don't do favors. I do deals."

"Deals?"

"Yeah. Like that stupid game show, we make a deal. If I decide to do something for you…" He leaned in close, as if sharing a secret. "…then you gotta do something for me in return."

Immediately, alarms went off in Kitty's head. "S-something? Like what?"

Smirking at her unease, Lance shrugged. "I don't know just yet, but I'm sure we'll figure something out." His smirk kicked up a notch and bordered on a leer. "So what was that you were saying about a favor?"

Kitty took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Well, she really did need his help. There wasn't anyone else she could really ask for help. "Okay."

"'Okay' what?"

"Okay, let's, like, make a deal. You do a favor for me and…" Her nose wrinkled slightly in confusion. "How can we make a deal when you don't even know what you get in exchange? How do you know that I won't, like, back out?"

There was a strange gleam in Lance's dark eyes as he answered, "Oh, I'm sure you'll hold up your end of the deal."

Kitty's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "You're not going to try to get me to steal anything are you?"

"I dunno. Like I said, I haven't exactly made up my mind." Lance shrugged. "And it wouldn't matter if that's what I wanted. It's not like you'd really have a choice…if you go through with this deal." He gave her long look, and Kitty barely managed not to squirm under the scrutiny. "Are you prepared to go through with it? No matter what I ask for in return?"

She returned his gaze. Actually, it was more like she was trapped by it. Like a mouse facing a cobra. Kitty shuddered at the thought, then steadied herself. With a newfound resolve, she nodded. "I'm ready to deal." She grinned ruefully. "Besides, whatever you, like, want me to do in return will probably tie into what I want from you in the first place."

Lance arched one dark brow. "Oh, really? Just what kind of favor do you want from me?"

Blushing, Kitty looked away. "Well…It's, like…I want you to teach me how to be…bad." God, that sounded lame! Biting her lower lip, she risked a look at Lance to gauge his reaction.

At first he looked surprised, as if that were the absolute last thing he had expected her to say. And it probably was. Then slowly, his expression began to change. In excruciating degrees, a wicked smile spread across his face. Kitty felt the hair on the back of her neck rise.

That smile made her think about a T-shirt she had seen once. It had read: First rule for dealing with the Devil: Don't. She had the feeling she was definitely dealing with the Devil—or at least one of His favored minions. Too bad she had no intention of heeding the advice. Raising hell was exactly what she had in mind.

"This is just too sweet!" Lance was grinning at her now. "So Miss Kitty wants to get herself some claws, huh? Well, you definitely came to the right person. Any particular reason why you wanna go all Evil Twin?"

She tried for nonchalant. "Well, like, my parents sent me here to learn self-restraint. I'm going to show them just how unrestrained I can be." She frowned, remembering her treatment at the hands of Amy and her friends. "And my old personality just got me stepped on back in Northbrook. I'm not going to let that happen here."

"Hmm, trying to piss off the 'rents. I'd say you're on the right—or rather, wrong—path already."

"So we, like, have a deal, right?"

"Hell, yeah." Lance held out his hand. "All we gotta do is seal it."

Reaching for his hand, Kitty smiled.

Suddenly, he grabbed her wrist and tugged her almost halfway across the table.

Kitty gasped. "What are you doing?"

Lance smirked as he leaned forward, his face, his nose, his lips barely an inch from hers. "Sealing the deal."

She only just realized what he was about to do, when he quickly closed the distance between them and kissed her.

End Chapter 2.