A/N: just to let you all know, by the time my next chapter is up, the story name will be changed to Das Lächeln. Oh yeah, and as for the disclaimer that I always forget to put in stories: 'X men' is not mine, blah blah blah. However, Maeve, Gwen, Jake, and other random people are. So don't use them without asking.

+ + +

Back in the car, she had remained as silent as usual. Like nothing had ever even happened. Rogue finally asked her if she had a good time.

That would be one way to put it, Kurt thought. He was sitting next to her right, but he kept his gaze to his left on the city lights as they drove back to the mansion.

"Yeah, I guess. You?"

Rogue nodded and smiled, and Maeve knew she was thinking about the boy with the blue liberty spikes. "Yeah," she finally answered. They drove in silence, and Kurt glanced at Maeve out of the corner of his eye. She was looking down at her arm where she was wearing some kind of... arm warmer or something, and she was tracing her fingers along it where her cuts were. He briefly studied her face before turning back to the window.

+ + +

Maeve started school two days later, and Rogue finally had someone to sit with at lunch. They sat apart from the other X Men, who laughed loudly and talked like they didn't have a care in the world. Even Kurt was back to his old self and making everyone laugh their selves red. Rogue looked across the room at Jean 'Miss Perfect' Gray. Scott was sitting next to her with his arm around her shoulders, and every now and then he would finger her long fiery hair. Rogue snorted, resting her cheek on her fist.

A second later, two boys walked by their table and stood by Rogue: it was Scott's so-called friend Paul. He seemed to be interested in nothing other than making Rogue's life a living hell.

"Well, I see that you've found yourself a new girlfriend here," he said to her. He turned to Maeve with an arrogant smirk. "So how long have you guys been together now?"

She narrowed her eyes at him and clenched her fists. Rogue glanced under the table and saw that she was obliviously making its shadow start to move. She stepped on her foot, breaking her concentration. The table's shadow stopped moving and fell back into place.

Paul snorted. "Look, the dyke can't even speak. Are you mute or something?"

Words failed her as their taunting faces and laughter surrounded them. She saw Scott and Kurt stand up out of the corner of her eye, but before they did anything she felt a strong hand on her shoulder. She looked behind her, a little startled, and saw Lance. Paul and his goons shut up, looking nothing less than surprised.

"She's not a dyke. You know why? Because she's my girlfriend," he spat. Maeve felt her face go red. So she *was* his girlfriend. All right, so you learn something new every day. . .

Lance was still talking. "So I'd get your sorry, skinny little selves out of here before I beat your Asses. Got it?"

The three guys exchanged glances, mumbled something and walked away looking at him with narrowed eyes. Rogue was too shocked to speak, and the other Xavier students were staring at them too. She couldn't blame them: since when was Maeve Lance's girlfriend? She just sat there, unable to speak because of all the eyes on them. Finally, he just leaned down to her and winked, and then left. As soon as he was gone, she wanted to bang her head on the table a few times.

Jean turned to Kitty, looking a little confused. "Did anyone else hear that?"

She nodded. "Like, unfortunately."

"Do you think he meant it?" Scott asked, resting his elbows on the table and leaning forward. Evan took out his video camera and rewound it to the stuff he had recorded at the dance club.

"Well, it seems they are," he said, tapping the screen. It was where Lance and Maeve were dancing rather. . . suggestively. Kurt turned his head away and frowned at the floor.

"Oh my God!" Kitty exclaimed. "I guess that like, answers our question."

They were surprised that she didn't react differently to it. She and Lance had some kind of fling going on for a while, but everything went wrong when he chose the Brotherhood over her. She had locked herself in her room for two days, only leaving when she had to, and she'd do that by phasing through walls as a silent escape. Then, she was over it, but talking about it still got on her nerves. They supposed that this new Brad character that she had been continuously talking about had something to do with it.

Jean flipped her red hair over her shoulder. "Well, now that the little vampire's gotten herself into some trouble, I guess that means we have to look out for her."

Pretty much everyone at the table heaved a sigh.

+ + +

The school day was finally over, finally. Maeve was back at her locker, having some trouble with opening it as usual. She put the combination in for the third time, and pulled on the lock. Nothing. "Argh!" she growled, pounding her fist against it in frustration. As soon as she hit it, it slowly swung open and she stared at it in disbelief.

"Ah, the top-of-the-line lockers and other luxuries of Bayville High." Lance leaned up against the locker next to hers, and she nearly jumped. She felt her face go red and she reached far into her locker, hiding her face behind the door.

"Hey," she mumbled, pretending to be searching for something.

He moved out of the way to let some kid into their locker, but not without a quick glare. "Hey listen, I've been talking to the guys and they all say they want to meet you."

"Who are 'the guys'?" she asked, finally taking her face out of her locker. She switched her Chemistry textbook from her right arm to her left and shut the door again.

"Oh, you know," he sighed dismissively, "Todd, Pietro, Tabitha. . . well I guess she's not really a guy, but you get the picture."

She looked thoughtful. "The Brotherhood?"

"Yeah, that would be the easier way of saying it." He flashed her a million- dollar smile. Maeve bit her lip. Hadn't she overheard some of Xavier's other students talking about how they weren't supposed to hang around with them? She finally sighed.

"Hey, um, why don't I get back to you on that? I've had a whole lot of homework lately and-"

His expression clouded over. "What, you don't trust me? Is that it?"

She looked shocked momentarily. "N-no, that's not it at all, it's just that I've been really busy and everything with school and stuff. I've had a lot of makeup work to do."

"Do you trust me?" she saw something flicker in his eyes.

She paused, looking a little surprised. Of course she trusted him. "Yeah. . ."

He smirked. "Then there shouldn't be a problem then, huh?"

"Well-"

Maeve was cut off again as he laughed and put his hand on the top of her head (He was, pretty much, towering over her.) "You're cute, you know that?" he said, and ruffled her hair. She wondered if he would think that after his hand hit one of the horns on her head and was sliced open. She was about to warn him, but he handed her a piece of paper.

"I gotta go, I'll be late to my detention. Here's the address, be there soon, okay?" he leaned over and kissed her briefly, and she felt a hot flash coming on, but she managed to steady herself.

"Okay. . ." she barely got out, but he was already gone. She looked down at the semi-crumpled piece of paper and unfolded it. She went to the doors, her black Chuck Taylors squeaking on the linoleum as she walked. When she got outside, she saw Rogue sitting on the hood of a black convertible. She was talking with a girl with shoulder length black hair and bondage pants in matching color, and a white wife beater. The car looked a little old and in less-than-perfect condition, but either way, Maeve dropped her book in surprise and it fell down the cement stairs.

Rogue smirked and her friend burst out laughing. "Need a ride?"

She pointed at the car she was sitting on. ". . .where. . .?" she finally managed to say.

"Just got it yesterday. It's a little rusty, as you can tell, but hey it's black. And you know me." Rogue said, shaking her head to get the hair out of her eyes.

Maeve walked down the steps, picked up her book and ran down to the car. "That is so kick ass, Rogue." She put her hand on the hood and walked around it in a complete circle. She wasn't usually one for cars (therefore she had no idea what kind of car it was other than a convertible.) But this one was right here in front of her for her to touch and maybe drive. And Rogue was right: it was black.

"Ah, Maeve this is Gwen. Gwen, Maeve. Maeve, Gwen." She introduced them to one another.

The black-haired girl smiled at her and waved. "Hey Maeve."

"Word." she said, flashing a random gang sign and they laughed.

Rogue flipped her hair again. "Now that you've met, how about we get the hell out of here. I'm starving; school food is not sanitary enough to eat."

Gwen looked horrified. "Dude, I know! Let's get out of here."

They all climbed into Rogue's new car-Maeve sat in back-and they made their way over to an Arby's drive-thru. They each got an order of fries and a drink, and then set off again. They just drove around for a while with the hood down, talking about who knows what and listening to the Something Corporate CD (Audio Boxer). Gwen had been singing along rather loudly, and received several comments that she was a good singer. Rogue turned down the music and looked at Maeve through the rearview mirror.

"Hey, what's going on with you and Lance, any way?"

Gwen's eyes widened and she whirled around in her seat. "You and Lance Alvers?" she emphasized his name, and they couldn't tell if it was excitement or just plain shock.

She just stared at them, and at length, she shrugged. "I don't really know. He doesn't seem to want to tell me much."

Rogue snorted. "Sounds like him," she said, and Gwen laughed with her. Maeve didn't say anything, and she looked back at her through the mirror again. "Ah, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you mad or anything."

She seemed to snap out of some kind of trance. "Oh, no, you didn't piss me off. I was just thinking," she looked across the street at a Music store and continued, "We should start a band. I haven't played my set since I moved out." She shoved another fry in her mouth, being sure to load it with extra ketchup. Cravings? What cravings?

The two in the front seat exchanged awestruck glances. "You mean you play the drums?" Gwen exclaimed, turning around in her seat again.

She paused, looking around. "That's. . .what I just said," she laughed.

"Dude! Rogue and I have been trying to start a band for a year. I play guitar and she plays a little bass. Of course we haven't practiced at all for ages because we kind of gave up on finding a decent drummer, and we're about as rusty as this ride is. . ."

"Hey," Rogue said warningly, "You can get out and walk, sugar."

Gwen rolled her eyes. "My point is," she glared back at her, "that you should be in our band."

"Does it have a name?" Maeve seemed skeptical.

They turned to each other with proud smiles. "Lillith!" they said simultaneously they pulled up to Gwen's house and Rogue slowed to a stop.

Maeve nodded, and smiled. "Count me in."

"Ace!" Gwen exclaimed, and she and Rogue did some kind of secret handshake. Maeve had to admit; she had never seen Rogue acting so enthusiastically.

The black-haired girl climbed out of the car. "Can you guys come over tomorrow? I should have my amp and stuff back from Allie by then."

Whoever Allie was.

"Sure. See you then," Rogue agreed and they both waved before speeding off. Maeve climbed into the passenger seat and got comfortable.

"She's nice. Does she know about. . .?" she was referring to the fact that they were mutants.

The driver nodded. "Ah, yeah, she found out when I first got here. It was an accident, of course, but she didn't get freaked out or anything. So don't be surprised if she asks to see your wings some day. She's a sucker for things like that."

"How do you think everyone's gonna take to this whole band thing?" Maeve asked, looking at her drink like it was the most interesting thing in the world. Okay, so she was easily amused, so what? "I'm not saying that I'll really care or anything because most of them are stereotyping me any way."

Rogue rolled her eyes. "Jean will probably have a fit and start naming off the 'millions of things that could possibly go wrong'. I think everyone else will probably support us."

She nodded. "Yeah, I do too."

+ + +

"You guys are in a *band*?" Evan almost fell over the back of the couch laughing. He received two death glares in return, but that didn't silence him.

He and Kurt had just heard about the news. Well, to be honest, they had been eavesdropping. They thought the idea of the two 'scary gothic girls' putting forth any kind of enthusiasm to anything was hilarious.

Rogue put her hands on her hips. "Hey, shut up, Porcupine," she spat, "At least we're musically talented enough to even start one. Unlike some dolts I know who just sit around on their tails all day."

Kurt stifled a chortle. "Hey man, no offense but, she's kind of right. We haven't left this couch since we got home."

Evan looked offended. "For your information, I am well rehearsed in music."

"Oh, really. How?" Rogue demanded.

He paused. "Well I was in band in the sixth and seventh grade and I played trumpet. But my friend let me play on his bass guitar a few times!"

Now it was their turn. Maeve and Rogue exchanged glances before Rogue burst out laughing and Maeve just kind of stood there like she always did. Kurt was scratching the back of his neck uneasily. "Dude, it's physically impossible for me to play guitar or bass any way. I only have three fingers. But drums don't look that hard."

Maeve snorted and rolled her eyes. "Have you ever even tried?" "Well, no. . ."

Rogue folded her arms and leaned down. "Well then I wouldn't be making fun of us for actually trying something if I were you."

Evan stood up and nearly knocked heads with her. "What, are you saying we can't do it?"

"And what if I am?" she shot back. "Aren't you supposed to be listening to rap or something?"

Kurt raised his hands. "Uh, guys, I really hate to be the peacemaker in all of this but-"

"Then can it, Elf!" Rogue was on fire.

Kurt glared at her and shoved his hands in his pockets, mumbling something in German.

Evan went on with his master plan. "Well, it just so happens that 88.7 FM is having a battle of the bands about month from now. The audience is the judge. Are you catching my drift?"

"Is that a challenge, little boy?" she narrowed her eyes and seemed to grow a foot taller.

He stepped closer to her so their noses were almost touching. "You bet your entire case of makeup and hair dye it is," he growled.

She glared at him a little longer and then backed off, folding her arms again. "Well then, Maeve, I guess we have to show these wannabes what real music is."

"Fine!" Evan said, and Kurt was folding his arms also.

She and Maeve put their backs to them. "Fine!" they said in sync. The boys turned around too and looked at the ground or the ceiling angrily.

"Wannabes."

"Chick band."

+ + +

Needless to say, Rogue and Maeve didn't speak a word to Kurt or Evan for the next week or so. And neither did they. Lillith was progressing along nicely, or as nicely as a band that had just started could. Maeve had called her parents and told them that she would be coming to retrieve the drum set and set it up in Gwen's garage. And there they practiced, deciding to write and work on just one song so they would have it perfected in time for the battle of the bands. The song had it's own genre, it seemed: Rogue's heavier addition-like Kittie-and Gwen's punk Rancid sound, added to the more Emo sound like the Early November, courtesy of Maeve.

Kurt and Evan had gone on a mad search for a male guitarist around their school, Evan with the drive to win and only to win. Kurt was a little more relaxed about it, and it had resulted in a few arguments. At length, they found a guitarist: sophomore Jake Bryant. He was a bit of a bum, and had no idea about them being mutants, which would make things difficult. But they were so determined to win at the battle that it didn't even matter to them. They became Later That Day, playing music similar to bands such as Third Eye Blind and American Hi-Fi. They had to get Kurt to secretly 'port into Maeve's room to retrieve those two CDs to listen to.

The other students were able to ignore all of their immature bickering, until one evening at the dinner table. Kurt was seated between Evan and, ironically, Rogue. (There was only one empty seat left, and no matter how many times they made everyone get up and move around, she ended up sitting right next to Kurt) Evan cleared his throat.

"Kurt, since I am not speaking to Rogue, can you ask her to pass the salt?"

He didn't say anything, just stared at him with a nervous smile. "Uhm. . ."

Rogue bristled. "Well, since I ain't speaking with Evan, you can tell him that he can wait until I'm done using it."

"You can tell her that she is not using it, because it's sitting at her side."

She clenched her fork with a death grip. "Tell him that I'm going to use it, and I'm going to take my own sweet time, whether he likes it or not!"

Kurt just looked back and forth from them, not really knowing what to do. "Uh, guys?"

"Tell little miss Country Goth that she's been finished with her dinner for ten minutes, and that I doubt her ice cream needs any salt on it!"

Ororo had finally had enough. "Silence! Both of you!" she exclaimed, standing up at her seat. The two bickering students silenced themselves and glared down at their feet angrily. "I don't know what has gotten into either of you, but your constant bickering has got to end. Both of you may be excused."

They looked at her in disbelief for a minute, and then silently left the table. That is, until they started heading up the stairs, then the arguing started up all over again, only louder this time. She heaved a disgusted sigh and put her hand over her face. After a moment, she turned to Maeve.

"Do you have any idea what all this is about?"

She paused, and finally shook her head. "No," she lied. Ororo looked at her for a moment and sighed again, burying her face in her hands.

+ + +

Maeve was sitting in class, drawing and writing lyrics all over her notebook. There was only a week left until the battle of the bands, and they had all been losing a lot of sleep over it for late-night practices. Gwen and Rogue had gotten into a few arguments, but Maeve never really said much. Kind of like always.

The teacher was talking about the Pythagorean theorem and how it was one of his favorite things in Geometry. It was something Maeve couldn't care less about. She couldn't figure out when she'd use this when she 'grew up'. When is a famous rock star going to need to use a hypotenuse or a right or obtuse angled triangle? A tapping on the door interrupted his lecture, and she looked up and saw Lance standing outside. He motioned with his hand for her to come out of the class, and she nodded, trying to be inconspicuous. Deciding to pull the trick she used to do in her old school to get out of class, she started coughing. It was just once, then a pause, and then a few more times. The teacher stopped, gave her a warning look, and then kept talking. A few of her classmates snickered; nobody really liked that guy. Too boring. Another pause followed, and she started hacking uncontrollably.

She raised her hand in between coughs, and the teacher looked irritated. "Yes, Maeve?"

"Can I-hack-please go get some water?"

He heaved a sigh. "Hurry." She nodded and quickly bolted out the door. As soon as she got out and shut the door behind her, she saw Lance a ways down the hall, leaned up against a locker, holding his sides and laughing hard. She made her way over to him, and he finally calmed himself down.

"That was great," he managed to say, and wiped a tear from his eye. "Wanna get out of here?"

She paused. "You mean, skip?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. She had skipped class before, but never actually left the school. He nodded, still smiling.

"Yeah, come on it'll be fun." She didn't say anything, and he looked annoyed. "What, you still don't trust me or something?"

"No, it's just that the battle of the bands thing is coming up and we really needed to practice. We only have about six more days."

He frowned. "Whatever," he mumbled, and walked off. She stared after him as he rounded the corner, not looking back once, and then looked at the ground. Glancing back up, her throat tightened and she returned to her class.