••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Chapter Seventeen: The Friendliest of Enemies, the Kindest of Friends
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Long before one o'clock rolled around, Nat found herself staring out any available window to see if she could spot the flagpole from whatever vantage point she had at the moment. When she actually could, through the window above her desk in the calculus room, her heart began to thud with anticipation. It wasn't the promise of lunch or even the break from the trauma of new classes that excited her, but the chance to see Kurt again. Over the past few days, even as she fiercely fought down the urge to tell him everything about her past, present and future, she had been having more and more fun just being with him.
She hadn't had many friends growing up, not since she'd hit puberty, at least, and knowing, for the first time, that she could talk about her powers or even use her powers in the presence of one of her peers was thrilling. It was the same feeling she had experienced at Muir Island with Hank and Moira, but this was better, infinitely more satisfying. It was the thing that people were talking about when they used the word "elation", Nat was sure of it.
By the time the mechanical-sounding bell jingled to release the students from fourth period, Nat was practically writhing in her orange plastic seat with the restlessness of a person who would much rather be somewhere else. Halfway out the door, she heard a voice call her name. She considered pretending that she hadn't heard, but reluctantly turned to face the speaker, who had been sitting in the far corner of the room.
A tall, athletic boy with shockingly light-colored hair stood behind her, smiling crookedly. He carried an air of confidence that was almost disturbing in its intensity, but his smile was friendly enough, if not a bit too self-assured. With an unnerving jerk, Nat realized where she recognized him from: this was one of the students that the professor had told her about, one of Ms. Darkholme's personally-trained pupils. Nat almost dropped her books at the shock of seeing him, and he gave her a peculiarly amused sideways glance.
He stepped closer, only a desk separating the two of them now. Nat nervously looked up to find the teacher, not really expecting anything to come of it, and noted desolately that she was now alone in the room with him. "So you're a student at Xavier's little institute."
An obscure irritation flared up inside her chest, but she nodded. "Yeah." She cocked her head to the side and looped her thumbs through the straps of her backpack, trying to look tough. "But you certainly aren't."
The boy—"Pietro Maximoff", Nat remembered—stared back at her coolly with a funny little smirk. "No, I'm not. What do you mean by saying it like that? Trying to sound like a hard-ass?"
Um, yeah, she thought, but replied only, "Of course not." She felt herself blush, and shrugged. "Well, not specifically." Nat tried to put her thoughts into some semblance of order: this was one of the guys that she'd been told to look out for, but as of yet he hadn't done anything that would normally worry her. Could she risk a conversation with him? So far, no one except the other students at the Institute had even tried to speak to her with more than a "Hi," or a "Nice to meet you." The feeling of isolation was not a new one to Nat, but at the same time…here was a perfectly normal-looking, even popular-looking guy, speaking to her of all people.
"I thought I'd take the opportunity to welcome you to Bayville." He offered one cordial, long-fingered hand, which she took and clasped briefly, letting go as quickly as mild courtesy would allow. His words were a rapid flood spilling over his tongue in a tone that was more than a little arrogant.
"Well, then…thank you. Really, though, I ought to be go—"
"Do I detect an accent?" He tossed his backpack onto a desk, sitting backward in the chair and propping his feet comfortably on the seat behind him, apparently settling down for a conversation. Nat's feet, on the other hand, itched to be moving quickly away to find Kurt, but she was a bit nervous about upsetting this strange young man with any apparent rudeness.
"Yes, I suppose you probably do. I'm from England."
"Do you drink tea?"
She paused, blinking as if to flush the surprise out of her eyes. "Um, yeah, sometimes…"
"What about English muffins? They got those there?" The look on his face was entertainingly serious.
Nat snorted out a funny-sounding laugh. "They aren't called that, but yes."
"That's good. I like those things. They cook fast."
She scratched the inside of her elbow awkwardly, and figured that this was as good a time as any to try to make her escape. "Well, it was nice meeting you to discuss breakfast foods and all, but I'm supposed to meet someone for—"
"I like your sweater. Looks really good." He leaned forward with his chin propped on his hand and raised one white eyebrow, smiling darkly as if to say that he was hinting at something entirely different. That's what he's saying, but it's not what he means, a tiny voice told her internally, and realization slowly lit Nat's eyes. Her cheeks flared in embarrassed delight, a mixture of horror and pleasure rushing between her ears like water.
She tried to speak, but it came out in a broken stutter. "Th-thank you. Yours is nice, too. But not like mine, of course. I mean, because yours is a guy's sweater, and mine isn't. Obviously. I wasn't…saying that it was."
He smirked at her, grabbing his pack and swinging it back over her shoulder. "Shall we walk and talk?"
Nat shrugged, not sure how else to react. "I guess so," she said softly.
As they made their way to the door, he paused for a moment and stepped in front of her, regarding her closely. "So, what made you decide to stay with those X-Geeks?"
Nat's mouth popped open, her brows knitting together. "What do you mean by that?"
"There's an infinite amount that you could be doing with your talents, if you were in the right setting. That is, if you didn't let that bald-headed old man and his stifling moral duty garbage get in your way. If you could only see that, you'd never waste your time there, and you'd consider taking…other offers."
She gaped at him, surprised at the hasty breath of words that spilled from his mouth. "W-what are you talking about?"
"You know exactly what I'm talking about. You could be someone, someone with allies who have real strength, not just words and promises. Xavier only wants those sickeningly sweet little goody-goodies with nothin' better to do than fight his fight for him, and try to change the world."
"And just what's wrong with trying to change the world, if there's something that ought to be changed?"
"Nothin', if that's all you're doing. But that institute place only sucks the soul outta you. Careful, or you'll turn into another of Xavier's toy soldiers. There are other opportunities out there, Nat, and if I were in your position I'd be grasping at straws right about now." He slapped his palms together, as if his point had been made and no other could argue. "What's so attractive about those pious little brats, anyway?"
Now, this white-haired boy didn't seem nearly as sociable, attractive or appealing. The blush in her cheeks turned to one of intense exasperation. "Well, they rarely go around saying things about others when they don't know what they're talking about." She pushed past him to get to the door, not turning around to gauge his reaction, and stormed out into the hall feeling immensely proud of herself.
Nat glanced down at her watch and gasped, breaking into a gallop and almost slamming into several groups of students on her way. She was already fifteen minutes late for lunch with Kurt, and terrified at the idea that he might get tired of waiting for her and decide to eat with someone else.
By the time she made it to the flagpole, she was panting slightly and a little too warm. She saw Kurt sitting on a bench, munching on a sandwich and flipping through a psychology book, and she breathed out a heavy sigh of relief.
"Hey! Hey, Kurt!" He glanced up and smiled, waving her over and patting the bench beside him. She approached him beaming, trying to push the strange, haunting meeting with Pietro out of her mind, and tossed her bag down on the pavement beside the bench. She straddled the wooden seat and tipped her head back to drink in the warm sunshine, closing her eyes so it could slip across her eyelids and bathe her eyes in a red glow.
Pietro's words were a shadow that seemed to hover between her and the sky like a tangible cloud, blotting out the sun. He had offered to let her join his group, she was quite sure of that, but had she been wise to turn him down so soon? She could never betray Kurt, or the professor, not after they had shown her such incredible kindness. Still, she was left in the dark almost completely about why she was supposed to fear these other mutants so much, and it irritated her that she was expected to go along with them if they were unwilling to tell her just what she was going against. She'd been told that they were dangerous, that they were on the side for mutant liberation and conquest of the rest of humanity. Of course, there had been times when she had dreamed about such things, and passed them off as fancy…
Kurt watched her with a strange intensity, a small smile twitching on his lips. "I vas beginning to think you had forgotten all about me, Liebchen."
Nat laughed, looking up. "Oh, no! How could I do a thing like that?"
He shrugged and glanced down at his book, still smiling slightly, and a faint stirring of fear was twisting in her stomach. Had he seen her speaking to Pietro? Should she say something about it? She quickly abandoned the idea as silliness. Pietro may have been a little annoying and egotistical, but he hadn't done anything but toss about a few insults that didn't really need to be repeated. Besides, it wouldn't do for Kurt to think that she was leaning anywhere toward Darkholme's students, if only to save him from the difficulty of having to think about his mother. Nat felt cold.
Oh, God, I'm sorry. No more even thinking about those others and their group. I could never leave the institute. Not now, or ever, not after what they've done for me...
Nat pulled her bag into her lap and started fishing through it for her lunch, pulling out the paper sack that she'd flung together that morning when she realized that she'd saved none of her money to buy food. Her insides still wriggling, she bit delicately at her apple but held the rest in her hand, to be eaten when hunger caught up with her rattled nerves.
"Tomorrow, ve can join Kitty and Doug at the shopping center for lunch, if they vill let us. They go every Tuesday."
She chewed at a bite of fruit, staring as if fascinated at the ragged hole her teeth had torn in the tender red skin. "Who's that?"
"Doug Ramsey. A friend of Kitty's. He has a car but it's his parent's, so he doesn't get to use it much every day. They alvays go out on Tuesdays to take advantage of the chance." He slapped his book closed and shoved it into his pack, folding his arms and leaning back as Nat had done, letting the sky warm him gently.
An idea was starting to form in the back of her mind, a tiny embryo of thought that was almost too trivial, let alone sensitive, to be spoken aloud. Nat's tongue lashed forward despite the desperate little struggle of her brain. "When will your car be fixed so…we can go out for lunch?"
He glanced at her quickly, surprise etched across his features before it melted into his smooth cheeks (which were still oddly flesh-colored). He struggled to mask the strong smile tugging on his lips, but succeeded only in looking rather silly, so he took advantage of if and winked at her. "A veek or so, I think. But I can probably convince Rogue to let us use hers if you'd like to go today. Are you asking me on a date, Miss Fairbanks?"
Nat laughed, pushing him slightly on the shoulder and trying to hide her own fluttering, eager grin. "We've only got twenty minutes left until class starts again, dummy."
With a gleam in his eye, he snorted slightly, pushing her back. He grabbed her half-nibbled apple and tossed it in the air, catching it with his other hand and not seeming to worry about the sticky juice that trickled down his wrist. "Oh, vell. Tomorrow, then?"
"Alright. But in the meantime, shut up and let me finish my lunch." She snatched the fruit out of his hand with a squeal of laughter as he poked her below the ribs, in that hollow space where tickles are born. She poked him back, not quite as adept at finding that spot, but he humored her and shrank back, laughing.
"Okay, okay, you vin. Almost!" He seized Nat's left knee and wiped the apple juice on her jeans, making her let out a completely undignified squawk and try to pull away, nearly tumbling to the ground. Nearby, a group of tiny sophomore girls, each wearing enough makeup to cover five or six Avon ladies, glanced up and rolled their eyes. Nat would have been embarrassed had she not seen Evan, who gave them a grin and a shake of his head, across the courtyard.
Gasping with laughter, she leaned across Kurt, folding her arms across his knees and using them as a pillow. She was panting, sighing out the last traces of a giggle. They sat like that for a long minute, before she realized how she was sitting, and how rigid and silent her companion had become. He cleared her throat and she chuckled nervously. Nat pulled back and crossed her hands neatly in her lap.
"Déjà vu. Haven't we played this game before?"
He was quiet for a moment, and when she glanced up at him he was looking sheepish. "Ja, I guess ve have. About that…you know, that first day that you vere here…"
She waved her hand at him dismissively, feeling her cheeks color at the mention of that day. "Don't worry about it."
Suddenly, almost enough to startle her, his eyes went wide and he snapped his fingers in remembrance. "Ach, I almost forgot! Kitty's birthday is on Saturday, and ve vere planning on taking her to the amusement park. You know, a surprise. Do you vant to help?"
"Absolutely!" Nat grinned widely, and Kurt returned the expression.
"Wunderbar! All ve have to do is make sure that she doesn't know about it, and ve'll spring it on her Saturday morning. I vas thinking, a blindfold for her to vear on the vay. That might make things interesting…"
Nat giggled, one eyebrow going up. "Interesting, yes. But don't you think it might be a good idea to think that one through some more? I don't know if you could blindfold Kitty without being horribly disemboweled. Or at least slapped really hard."
With a shrug and a little pout, he raised to his feet as the bell beckoned the students back to class. "Then I'll have to think of something a bit less aggressive. How does a giant pair of novelty sunglasses sound?"