I like peace and quiet. This is what being leader is all about. I'd locked Jubes and Ev in the cupboard with a large supply of alcohol, and every now and then there was a burp followed by a giggle.
They were in there because they were annoying. That and they weren't as easy to get rid of as Kat.
The girls had all gone to town on the "We must get Kurt back for the 'date'" Plans. I know I said that Retribution X stuck together but I didn't want us this stuck.
Personally I just wanted to forget Kurt existed now and get on with being leader… and do leader stuff. Organise danger room sessions, coordinate Missions… feed Kat to Wolverine, the stuff Ash had done.
However all they wanted to do was avenge me. Life sucked.
I just want to ignore him and stop obsessing about him, but now THEY are obsessing. And they're annoying!!! Was I that boring?
"Melly, let us out Hic and we'll give you a present!" Ev's slurred speech came from behind the cupboard door.
"What have you got in a linen closet that could be described as a present?" I called from the sofa.
"Uhhh…" They thought for a second… "We have sheets… and towels…"
Now for some fun.
"what kind of Sheets?" I called to them excited.
"Uhhh… Blue with swirls?" Jubes called back.
"Umm Jubes We don't have any with Swirls?" I asked puzzled.
"Or possibly they could be clouds… but don't quote me on it."
I put my cup of tea down and changed the channel to something with some intellectual content, Kat always kept it on the channel that made peoples ears bleed either that or the one with scary preachers asking you to make donations. Kat had pledged Wolvie's Mucky videos once, we couldn't get her out of her room for a week. Not because she was to scared to come out, but the fact that Wolvie was camping by her door determined to catch her.
That's when we bought the walkie-talkies. God how I regretted that now.
"Demented sea lion, Demented sea lion this is frantic Jellyfish Repeat Frantic Jellyfish. Over." Crackled my walkie-talkie on the arm of the sofa. I tried to ignore it but Kats calls kept getting louder and more livid.
"God damn you Demented Sea lion listen to me!! Or I'll have to squish you good!!! Over."
"Technically a Sea lion could squish a jellyfish easily…"
"Yes but a Kat can Squish a Mel and set fire to her hair while singing la coocaracha." She squealed at me. "Hey you didn't say Over, Over."
I sighed, "I don't need to say over. I just stop talking."
"Yes you do, just say over, over."
"Can't I say Roger?"
"No…" She paused. "Who's Roger? Is he one of Kurt's mates… SHOULD I POUNCE ON HIM TOO!!! Over"
"No Kat, Roger's another word for…" I realised who I was talking to. "Just forget it…"
"I can't forget it Mel, It'll haunt me when I sleep… I'll imagine this Roger is stalking me with a stuffed fish of some kind… and then I'll have to go to Wolverine again and ask if I can get in with him and he'll chase me with his claws and I won't sleep anymore so I'll have to watch Indian soap operas at midnight on that weird Hindi channel and then I'll think that one of the men on it could be the roger man and it'll start all over again. Over"
I sat dumbfounded at what I had just heard, but I cut through my own confusion and filed Kats rant at the back of my mind to go over when I had nothing better to do.
"Kat, have you seen Kurt?" I asked.
"No. Over." She answered back, "I did see something I thought looked like Kurt but it turned out a sparrow was sitting on the end of my binoculars and had done a whoopsie. Over".
Thinking that Kurt looked like guano, only in Kats world.
"Well stay out there until your mission is complete over."
"Was that Completely over or complete- Over?"
"Shut up and Piss off, not necessarily in that order!!" I screamed down the Walkie-talkie at her. She fell silent thank god!
And now I settled down to sleep on the sofa knowing that I wouldn't be disturbed by Kat and the Jubes and Ev would probably pass out in the next couple of hours.
Ahhh, a leaders life for me.
OutsideIt had been a rather good night so far, okay so I hadn't seen Kurt and a flower had looked at me funny but still it was good. Actually the flower had been creeping me out so much that I had moved to a different watch point. I was now very comfortable behind a hedge close to the front of the mansion.
To be honest I was a bit bored now. My conversation with Mel hadn't gone too great and I was still quite scared. In fact the reason that I had moved before was because I kept wondering if the flower was Roger. He looked more like a Pete though.
I had a thought. If Kurt appeared then I had better be ready and prepared… Or was that Prepared and Ready? I started to do Kung Fu moves and throwing fireballs. This was the part where I realised that the hedge I had been behind for a while was on fire. I screamed like a little Mary Queen and ran to put the hosepipe to put out the flames. Unfortunately the hosepipe wasn't attached to the tap. I started the task of cupping water from the tap in my hands and running to pour the water on the hedge. This for some reason didn't seem to be going too well. I ran back to my Walkie-talkie and started to yell into it "Mel, Mel urgent assistance needed, over!"
Inside a little laterI woke up lazily stretched out over the sofa, I sighed contentedly. Another day as the leader… Then I realised that it wasn't daylight outside. It was pitch black. I had woken in the middle of the night, I didn't usually do that unless there was a huge reason.
There was a huge reason.
I looked over to the door that lead to the cupboard where Jubes and Ev had been locked. Smoke was billowing from under the door…
"Shit, First day in charge and my team mates are burning the place to the ground…" I rushed to the kitchen doing the worried dance that Kat always pointed out I always did when I was on edge. I grabbed the fire extinguisher from beside the cooker and rushed back to the cupboard kicking it open and spraying the insides with the contents of the extinguisher. It went out but I had released a huge cloud of smoke… this set of the sprinklers.
The one above my head poured down soaking me… I resembled a drowned rat… but less attractive.
I threw the empty extinguisher to the floor via my foot which was where it landed. I yelped… things couldn't get any worse.
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Screamed Kat as she rushed through the door brandishing a small plastic butter knife that I seriously doubted would cut through butter. Still wearing her army make up and camouflage gear I stared as she circled the room 3 times still screaming before attacking a huge pillow on a chair.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!!!!" I screamed.
Kat looked up seeing me with water still streaming down me.
"I thought you were in trouble…"
"Yes the pillow is really dangerous… ohhh look it's giving me a dirty look right now!"
I scream sarcastically. However Kat didn't understand the lowest form of wit.
"Damn Pillow stop looking at Mel like that!" She continued the pummelling.
I gave up, let her destroy the pillow for all I cared.
I watched the scene for a second before turning to examine the smouldering remains of the inside of the cupboard…
It was hell… the alcohol stash was all but drunk. A few bottles of wine still remained but the bottles had cracked from the heat of the fire and their contents were slowly seeping onto the floor. It hit me like a bereavement… goodbye claret, bonsoir champagne, Adios Merlot. But then I told myself to look on the bright side… the Karaoke Machine was where the fire had started. There was a god after all.
But then it hit me… Ev's and Jube were nowhere to be seen and the window inside the closet was open. I left Kat still tearing at the pillow with her teeth to run to the stairs.
"Jube… Ev?" No answer. They could just be in a drunken stupor…
I did what I had promised never to do to my team mates. It was my only choice… other than running upstairs and checking the rooms to see if they were in them, but I couldn't be bothered.
I opened my mind to chart the desires of all those in the vicinity.
Kat wanted a puppy, and some ice… It was strange but not as strange as some of the things that people at the academy wanted. Once I'd listened in on Scotts desires… he'd wanted Prof X dipped in honey and wrapped in a big red bow. They only came out at night… or in Scotts case the afternoon.
I could feel no one else… well except…
Logan was up in his room… he wanted… ohhh gross get that out of my head, that was too fowl to ever think of again… god I hoped someone would knock me out one day and that memory would disappear.
There was someone else in the house too… me. I could read my own desire, but I chose not to. Not now anyway.
They weren't here.
And they were drunk… that was never a good sign.
And I would be responsible for anything they did!!!
I grabbed my jacket from the bottom of the stairs…
"Kat, I'm going out for a min. I have to find Jubes and Ev. Go back to your post soldier." I barked in my best impression of what Ash did when giving orders.
The girls head appeared from behind the sofa, feathers in her mouth.
"Yes Ma'am." She barked before picking up the remains of the pillow and exiting to the bushes outside.
I closed the door behind her… waited for a second then slung my jacket onto the stairs again. Unlocked the entrance to the main building and entered, chastising myself for even thinking about doing what I was.
A few Minutes Later
"Look after the way I and my friends have treated you over the last couple of months I wouldn't blame you for saying no… but you are the only teacher I can think of that won't report my misconduct to the Professor and I really want to prove myself worthy of this post… I'd feel like I let Ash down if I don't do well." I begged. "So what do you say?
Kurt just stood on the threshold to his room, dressed only in a towel round his waist and a pink shower cap, clutching his rubber duck in one hand, a loofa in the other.
"You want my help?" He repeated, unsure of what he had heard, I didn't beg that often so it must have been a novelty.
I nodded sadly.
He smiled happily. "Just give me a sec to throw some clothes on." He ran away from the door… a gap in his towel let his tail show.
I giggled a little, there was a time when it would have had me swooning but now… I just giggled a schoolgirls laugh and that was a start.
Kurt though realised what he had done.
"Ohh" He said running back to the door and closing it almost completely. "Sorry about that…"
"No problem." I called back almost resisting the urge to peek through the crack in the door… almost but not entirely.
Power had finally corrupted my soul.
