The Uncanny X-Men
Secret Telling and Help With Coping
When they got back to school, Isabella refused to talk to anyone, which worried Bobby to no end.
"This is what happened last time, she locked herself away, then became Goth, then she ran away, then, well. you know the story," Bobby told Rogue.
"Don't worry, Bobby, she'll be fine, we'll help her."
"That's if she lets us."
Logan had begun to teach Math, Gym and lunch, and sometimes he'd hover around the Home Ec. room to steal cookies and cakes. Kurt had come to the school, and was bent on a mission. His mission: to "save" at least one person at Xavier's, he started an after- school Bible club, that Isabella went to, and occasionally, helped with. Isabella, Rogue, Kitty, and Jubilee all took the same two electives, Home Ec. and Gym. One night, two and a half weeks after, what was called 'The Incident at Alkali Lake,' Isabella flew out of the girl's bedroom window in the middle of the night, and flew as far away from the dorms as possible, sat on the roof and cried like a wounded animal. A rock soared at her, scaring her and she fell off the roof, catching herself, before she hit the ground. She flew to the other side of that part of the building to where the rock had come from. It was the newest addition to Xavier's.
"Hey! What's the big idea?" she demanded, breaking her silence.
He grinned.
"I's wuz told dat you don' wanna talk," he said.
"I just haven't been in the mood."
"How come, chere?"
"My sister died. I'm Isabella."
"I'm Remy LeBeau."
He grinned.
"So, why'd you throw a rock at me, Suga?"
"So I cou' meet choo."
She raised an eyebrow.
"To meet me?"
"Dat an' to shut choo up."
"Thanks a lot," she said sarcastically.
She gave him a weak smile.
"Is dat all you can give Remy?" he asked.
"For now."
"Well, dat ain't good enough."
"Well, you'll just have to wait, Suga."
"Bobby tells me you twoze been friends for a long time."
"Yeah, since we were little."
They heard Kitty scream. Isabella picked up Remy as she flew into the air, and through the boy's bedroom window. They saw Kitty run out of the bathroom, followed by Peter (Piotr) Nikolaievitch Rasputin (aka Colossus). Isabella ran after Kitty.
"Kitty, what happened?" asked Isabella.
Logan, Scott, Storm, and Dr. McCoy (the new doctor) came running down the hall.
"I- I- I fell out of bed, and I fell through the floor and landed in the boys' bathroom and Peter was er-like using the bathroom." Logan had to leave so he could laugh, and Isabella tried not to laugh as she hugged Kitty. Scott and Storm were surprised at Isabella. Kitty looked at Isabella. "Did you like just ask me what happened?" she asked.
Isabella nodded.
"Remy threw a rock at me, and knocked me off the roof."
"She's gonna be all right! She's not gonna become a stripper again!" yelled Bobby, happily.
Then he realized what he'd done. Isabella walked over to him, slapped him across the face, and ran up to her room. Remy followed her up.
"Hey, hey, hey, chere. Tell Remy what da problem is," he cooed.
"Bobby. He just announced what I did when I ran away from home."
She sat on her bed, and he kneeled in front of her.
"It be all right."
He wiped the tears off her face.
"Thank you, Remy. Why are you hanging around with me?"
"I's takin' a chance wich choo. I's a gamblin' man."
"All right then, Gambit."
"Gambit? Hmmm. I like it. What's yours?"
"Ms. Marvel."
He grinned.
"Are you marvelous at somethin'?"
"Not really, Bobby named me that."
"Dat so?"
She laughed.
"Yeah, dat's so," she said mocking him.
He began to tickle her, and she screamed with laughter, he stood up and she fell back onto her bed, kicking and screaming. Everyone ran in, Logan rolled his eyes.
"All right, everyone needs to go back to bed," said Scott.
"C'mon Cajun, stop flirtin'," said Logan.
"I ain't flirtin.' I's ticklin.'"
Everyone went back into their own rooms, and went back to sleep. Isabella stopped talking again, but only to Bobby, she spoke to everyone else, just not him. She smiled and laughed again, but Remy could see that the happiness did not reach her eyes, or her heart.
"C'mon Bella, don't do this to me," begged Bobby.
Isabella and Rogue looked at one another, and both grinned.
"Did you hear that, Rogue? It sounded like a big- mouthed bug," said Isabella.
"Oh c'mon, cheres, dis is torture for da poor man," said Remy.
"He should have thought about this before he announced my life story."
They sat down in Literature. Bobby, stood, next to Isabella, and got down on both knees.
"Isabella Maria Anastasia Gwenyth Olga Carmen Moran Sulinski, will you-" began Bobby.
"No, Robert O'Riley Drake, I will not marry you."
Bobby was taken aback.
"I wasn't going to ask you to marry me."
"I know I just wanted to embarrass you."
The girls laughed.
"I sugges' you sit down 'fore deese girl ta' an' featha' you in a public square," said Remy.
Bobby sat down next to Rogue.
"Lit class," sighed Rogue.
"It's not that bad, Scott's picked out some pretty cool things to read," said Isabella.
Scott walked in with a notebook. He opened it and searched through it until he found what he was looking at.
"I found this notebook of poems, and I read through them, and I found this one, that reached out to me in particular. All of them scream 'I need help!' but this one is louder.
"It creeps over me, Then its cousin. They drag me down. Further. Deeper. They show me, Things I want, Then take them away. Over, And over, And over. They taunt me Again And again They never leave. Not ever. I hate them, But they love me, So much so, that they're always with me. Depression hovers Suicide nags They stay with me wherever I go They never leave. Not ever. I hate them."
"Son of a bitch!" said Isabella.
"Excuse me?" asked Scott.
"Not you, I use it as an expression, sorry, but that's my poem, and I don't need help. I thought I threw it away!"
Scott handed her the notebook.
"How many are yours?"
She looked through all of them.
"Sorry, Romeo, they're all mine. Jean was never a great writer. She must have taken all my poems and collected them. I wrote to keep myself sane."
"You're depressing."
"Thanks a lot," she said sarcastically.
"I found all these, and the vast majority are like this."
"Not the VAST majority. I wasn't suicidal ALL the time. And if you don't like this, I don't suggest reading my version of 'Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird,' it's mad depressing."
"How surprising!"
"Well, well, well, look who came out of his shell to become Mr. Sarcastic- pants! All my poems were either thrown away or lost; well I still have a few. Jean didn't write, she tried a few times but failed miserably."
"Jean read to learn about the world, you read to escape it," said Professor Xavier, rolling in.
Isabella turned around to face him.
"Pretty much." She handed the notebook to Scott. "Those are all mine."
"That's a thick notebook, hate life much?" asked Bobby.
She glared at him, and sat back down. After that class, they went to Home Ec., in the kitchen.
"Now, tell me again, why am I taking this class? I can all ready cook," whined Isabella.
"Just look at it this way: it's another A for you," said Jubilee.
Isabella sighed as they sat down.
"What is that smell?" whispered Kitty.
"I don't know, but Dr. McCoy needs to take cooking lessons from Isabella," said Jubilee.
Dr. McCoy ran in, and turned off the stove, wiping sweat off of his furry, blue forehead.
"My apologies, class. I was distracted by a matter of utmost interest," he said.
The class looked at him blankly.
"What are we making today?" asked Alexander, one of those guys who had no idea what to take, so he closed his eyes and pointed.
"I have this insatiable craving for Italian." Bobby (who had taken the class because of Rogue) looked at Isabella. "Mr. Drake has the impression that Miss Sulinski can cook Italian food."
"I AM Italian."
"Are you? Intriguing."
"But I can't cook spaghetti."
"Why ever not?"
"It's a secret family recipe, so I can't."
"Oh? How fascinating!"
Isabella looked at him, and he grinned sheepishly.
"All right, I'll make it, but I'm gonna mix in the secret because if I tell you, I'd have to kill you, and it's so messy."
Everyone stared at her and she stared back for a few minutes, and then grinned.
"Don't do that Isabella, we thought you were serious," said Jubi.
"Oh, I am, I just thought y'all needed to relax about it," said Isabella, fumbling through the fridge, mixing the "secret" in with the beef, in the fridge where no one could see.
She put the beef on the counter, then the onions, and garlic and oregano, all in separate little bowls, and then she got out a tall pot. She put the onions in first; let them simmer for a few minutes, then the meat, then the tomato sauce, and then the spices. She left it for most of the class, and then she made angel hair pasta, when it was done, she gave everyone spaghetti, and they ate.
"Normally, it takes all day to make, but because of the limited amount of time, it won't be as good as it could be."
"All day? What do you do when it's cooking?" asked Kitty.
"Anything you want, you don't have to stand by it all day."
"Do you have to make it with the 'secret' part of it?" asked Jubilee.
"Nope, that's just my family."
"Next class maybe we can all try to guess what Miss Sulinski's secret is," said Dr. McCoy.
The bell rang.
"And no taking it to the lab, Dr. McCoy," Isabella warned. "I'll know if you do."
They all went up to their dorms, got dressed for gym, and then went outside. Logan looked at all of them.
"We're playing football today!" he said.
"Yes!" said Isabella.
He smiled.
"I'm glad someone likes my class, you aren't this excited in Trig."
She grinned.
"She just likes football," said Bobby.
"I'm gonna count you off. One's on one team, two's on the other."
There was a total of twenty students in the class, ten on each team. The "One" team consisted of Bobby, Rogue, Evan and Peter among others and the "Two" team consisted of Jubilee, Kitty, Isabella and Remy, among others.
"TWO HAND TOUCH! NO tackle!" said Logan.
"Aww man!" said the entire class (except Jubilee, Kitty, and Rogue).
He laughed.
"I vas hoping--" said Peter. (He's from Russia)
"We ALL know what you hoping," said Isabella.
He came up behind her, she screamed as he lifted her over his shoulder, ran around for a minute and came back, and put her down. Then they played football. The twos kicked off to the ones. Peter caught it, and kneeled, ending the play. Bobby was the quarterback.
"Can I just toss it to you?" asked Rogue.
"Sure."
She sideways- tossed it to Bobby, and everyone ran in different directions. Bobby threw the ball to Peter, and Isabella caught up to him, and two- hand- touched him with her entire body, to the ground. She stood, and helped him up. Logan came over, a cigar in his mouth.
"I thought I said two hand touch," he said.
"I did, but I misjudged my strength, I slipped, and the velocity I was traveling at, plus the force of gravity-"
"Stop trying to explain it, Isabella, and fix it," said Logan.
She gave him the sad puppy dog face.
"I'm sorry, Professor Logan."
"Well-" he faltered. "Just, try not to let it happen again. Colossus can take it, some of the others can't*
"Okay, Professor Logan."
Bobby laughed, and Isabella pretended to scratch the back of her head with her middle finger. Kitty and Jubi laughed, and Peter and Isabella rejoined the rest. TWO TOUCHDOWNS (each) LATER: it was almost time for class to end. Jack (one of the slightly younger kids) threw the ball to Isabella and she ran toward the end zone, the guys ran after her, and toward Jubilee and Kitty, who screamed and covered their heads. Once Isabella had reached the end zone, she sat down and laughed at Kitty and Jubilee's reaction. The bell rang and they went inside getting showers and changing for dinner. Jubilee, Rogue, Bobby, Isabella, Kitty, Remy, Evan and Peter were all talking about Isabella's performance in gym.
"Too bad we don't have a drama class," said Kitty.
"No it's not, then they'd know."
They all laughed. Isabella looked around the table, and caught Scott staring at her, and then he quickly looked away. Isabella got back into their conversation.
"Hey, check and see if Scott's looking this way, or if I'm just paranoid," Isabella whispered to Rogue.
Rogue watched him out of the corner of her eye, and after a few minutes she came to a conclusion.
"He's staring at you hard, babe," she said
"Thanks, Suga, but why?"
"I don't know."
"Me neither, we'll talk about it tonight."
"So, Bella, what's your secret?" asked Bobby.
She leaned and so did they.
"It's none of your damn business."
They laughed, even though they were disappointed.
"C'mon, don't do that," said Kitty.
Isabella grinned mischievously. Bobby threw a bread crumb at her
"Don't start with me, boy."
"I'm not a boy, I'm a man."
Isabella burst out laughing, she laughed so hard she fell out of her seat.
"Eep!" she squeaked.
Everyone laughed even Scott cracked a smile. Isabella stood up and took a bow, then sat back down. After dinner Scott went up to Isabella.
"Hey, Isabella, let's take a walk." She shrugged and they walked out into the gardens. "I know you caught me staring at you at dinner, I'm sorry."
"It's all good. But, why?"
"Professor Xavier was comparing you and Jean, I was just trying to see it."
"Oh," Isabella turned to leave.
"Wait! You two are very different. She said for the two weeks you were here that she got her strength from you. It's just-he helped me out knowing that there's someone who knows Jean as well, if not better, as me."
She turned to look at him.
"Scott, I've been compared with my sister since I was born. I don't need to hear it again. She was smarter, prettier, cleaner, sweeter-should I go on?"
"Isabella, those were NONE of the comparisons. She read to learn about the world, you read to escape it. You both hate math, you both get stuck on the same questions. She was hesitant about her powers, but you're not. She liked opera, ballet, the Ice Capades. You, God! You! You like football, action adventure movies, movies that won't make you cry. She liked art, you make it. You both love nature, plants and animals."
She smiled.
"Sounds right."
"She had a garden, wanna see it?"
"Yes."
He led her to a small fence, which had an overgrown garden in it.
"Well, it's yours now, so, here."
Isabella looked at him.
"No, it's Jean's, it will always be Jean's."
He smiled.
"When you first came here, I knew there was something about you that seemed familiar, then I met you, and I knew it was my imagination."
Isabella laughed and looked around the garden.
"Jean would weep at this sight." Scott laughed. "What?"
"Weep?"
"Yeah, so?"
"Been hanging around the new doctor a little?"
"No, not really. Oh, and DO NOT let him take my spaghetti to his lab, okay?"
"All right."
Isabella entered the garden and began pulling weeds, Scott helping her. After an hour, they were done. Scott stood up.
"Where are you going?"
"Wait here."
"Okay."
He ran off, then came back a few minutes later, with a bag.
"These are for you," he said, handing them to her.
She opened the bag, and pulled out gardening tools.
"Were these-"
He nodded.
"Yep, those were Jean's gardening tools."
Isabella used them to straighten up the garden, then they went inside. At the door, Isabella looked at Scott, and hugged him.
"Thank you, Scott."
He smiled.
"You're welcome."
When they got back to school, Isabella refused to talk to anyone, which worried Bobby to no end.
"This is what happened last time, she locked herself away, then became Goth, then she ran away, then, well. you know the story," Bobby told Rogue.
"Don't worry, Bobby, she'll be fine, we'll help her."
"That's if she lets us."
Logan had begun to teach Math, Gym and lunch, and sometimes he'd hover around the Home Ec. room to steal cookies and cakes. Kurt had come to the school, and was bent on a mission. His mission: to "save" at least one person at Xavier's, he started an after- school Bible club, that Isabella went to, and occasionally, helped with. Isabella, Rogue, Kitty, and Jubilee all took the same two electives, Home Ec. and Gym. One night, two and a half weeks after, what was called 'The Incident at Alkali Lake,' Isabella flew out of the girl's bedroom window in the middle of the night, and flew as far away from the dorms as possible, sat on the roof and cried like a wounded animal. A rock soared at her, scaring her and she fell off the roof, catching herself, before she hit the ground. She flew to the other side of that part of the building to where the rock had come from. It was the newest addition to Xavier's.
"Hey! What's the big idea?" she demanded, breaking her silence.
He grinned.
"I's wuz told dat you don' wanna talk," he said.
"I just haven't been in the mood."
"How come, chere?"
"My sister died. I'm Isabella."
"I'm Remy LeBeau."
He grinned.
"So, why'd you throw a rock at me, Suga?"
"So I cou' meet choo."
She raised an eyebrow.
"To meet me?"
"Dat an' to shut choo up."
"Thanks a lot," she said sarcastically.
She gave him a weak smile.
"Is dat all you can give Remy?" he asked.
"For now."
"Well, dat ain't good enough."
"Well, you'll just have to wait, Suga."
"Bobby tells me you twoze been friends for a long time."
"Yeah, since we were little."
They heard Kitty scream. Isabella picked up Remy as she flew into the air, and through the boy's bedroom window. They saw Kitty run out of the bathroom, followed by Peter (Piotr) Nikolaievitch Rasputin (aka Colossus). Isabella ran after Kitty.
"Kitty, what happened?" asked Isabella.
Logan, Scott, Storm, and Dr. McCoy (the new doctor) came running down the hall.
"I- I- I fell out of bed, and I fell through the floor and landed in the boys' bathroom and Peter was er-like using the bathroom." Logan had to leave so he could laugh, and Isabella tried not to laugh as she hugged Kitty. Scott and Storm were surprised at Isabella. Kitty looked at Isabella. "Did you like just ask me what happened?" she asked.
Isabella nodded.
"Remy threw a rock at me, and knocked me off the roof."
"She's gonna be all right! She's not gonna become a stripper again!" yelled Bobby, happily.
Then he realized what he'd done. Isabella walked over to him, slapped him across the face, and ran up to her room. Remy followed her up.
"Hey, hey, hey, chere. Tell Remy what da problem is," he cooed.
"Bobby. He just announced what I did when I ran away from home."
She sat on her bed, and he kneeled in front of her.
"It be all right."
He wiped the tears off her face.
"Thank you, Remy. Why are you hanging around with me?"
"I's takin' a chance wich choo. I's a gamblin' man."
"All right then, Gambit."
"Gambit? Hmmm. I like it. What's yours?"
"Ms. Marvel."
He grinned.
"Are you marvelous at somethin'?"
"Not really, Bobby named me that."
"Dat so?"
She laughed.
"Yeah, dat's so," she said mocking him.
He began to tickle her, and she screamed with laughter, he stood up and she fell back onto her bed, kicking and screaming. Everyone ran in, Logan rolled his eyes.
"All right, everyone needs to go back to bed," said Scott.
"C'mon Cajun, stop flirtin'," said Logan.
"I ain't flirtin.' I's ticklin.'"
Everyone went back into their own rooms, and went back to sleep. Isabella stopped talking again, but only to Bobby, she spoke to everyone else, just not him. She smiled and laughed again, but Remy could see that the happiness did not reach her eyes, or her heart.
"C'mon Bella, don't do this to me," begged Bobby.
Isabella and Rogue looked at one another, and both grinned.
"Did you hear that, Rogue? It sounded like a big- mouthed bug," said Isabella.
"Oh c'mon, cheres, dis is torture for da poor man," said Remy.
"He should have thought about this before he announced my life story."
They sat down in Literature. Bobby, stood, next to Isabella, and got down on both knees.
"Isabella Maria Anastasia Gwenyth Olga Carmen Moran Sulinski, will you-" began Bobby.
"No, Robert O'Riley Drake, I will not marry you."
Bobby was taken aback.
"I wasn't going to ask you to marry me."
"I know I just wanted to embarrass you."
The girls laughed.
"I sugges' you sit down 'fore deese girl ta' an' featha' you in a public square," said Remy.
Bobby sat down next to Rogue.
"Lit class," sighed Rogue.
"It's not that bad, Scott's picked out some pretty cool things to read," said Isabella.
Scott walked in with a notebook. He opened it and searched through it until he found what he was looking at.
"I found this notebook of poems, and I read through them, and I found this one, that reached out to me in particular. All of them scream 'I need help!' but this one is louder.
"It creeps over me, Then its cousin. They drag me down. Further. Deeper. They show me, Things I want, Then take them away. Over, And over, And over. They taunt me Again And again They never leave. Not ever. I hate them, But they love me, So much so, that they're always with me. Depression hovers Suicide nags They stay with me wherever I go They never leave. Not ever. I hate them."
"Son of a bitch!" said Isabella.
"Excuse me?" asked Scott.
"Not you, I use it as an expression, sorry, but that's my poem, and I don't need help. I thought I threw it away!"
Scott handed her the notebook.
"How many are yours?"
She looked through all of them.
"Sorry, Romeo, they're all mine. Jean was never a great writer. She must have taken all my poems and collected them. I wrote to keep myself sane."
"You're depressing."
"Thanks a lot," she said sarcastically.
"I found all these, and the vast majority are like this."
"Not the VAST majority. I wasn't suicidal ALL the time. And if you don't like this, I don't suggest reading my version of 'Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird,' it's mad depressing."
"How surprising!"
"Well, well, well, look who came out of his shell to become Mr. Sarcastic- pants! All my poems were either thrown away or lost; well I still have a few. Jean didn't write, she tried a few times but failed miserably."
"Jean read to learn about the world, you read to escape it," said Professor Xavier, rolling in.
Isabella turned around to face him.
"Pretty much." She handed the notebook to Scott. "Those are all mine."
"That's a thick notebook, hate life much?" asked Bobby.
She glared at him, and sat back down. After that class, they went to Home Ec., in the kitchen.
"Now, tell me again, why am I taking this class? I can all ready cook," whined Isabella.
"Just look at it this way: it's another A for you," said Jubilee.
Isabella sighed as they sat down.
"What is that smell?" whispered Kitty.
"I don't know, but Dr. McCoy needs to take cooking lessons from Isabella," said Jubilee.
Dr. McCoy ran in, and turned off the stove, wiping sweat off of his furry, blue forehead.
"My apologies, class. I was distracted by a matter of utmost interest," he said.
The class looked at him blankly.
"What are we making today?" asked Alexander, one of those guys who had no idea what to take, so he closed his eyes and pointed.
"I have this insatiable craving for Italian." Bobby (who had taken the class because of Rogue) looked at Isabella. "Mr. Drake has the impression that Miss Sulinski can cook Italian food."
"I AM Italian."
"Are you? Intriguing."
"But I can't cook spaghetti."
"Why ever not?"
"It's a secret family recipe, so I can't."
"Oh? How fascinating!"
Isabella looked at him, and he grinned sheepishly.
"All right, I'll make it, but I'm gonna mix in the secret because if I tell you, I'd have to kill you, and it's so messy."
Everyone stared at her and she stared back for a few minutes, and then grinned.
"Don't do that Isabella, we thought you were serious," said Jubi.
"Oh, I am, I just thought y'all needed to relax about it," said Isabella, fumbling through the fridge, mixing the "secret" in with the beef, in the fridge where no one could see.
She put the beef on the counter, then the onions, and garlic and oregano, all in separate little bowls, and then she got out a tall pot. She put the onions in first; let them simmer for a few minutes, then the meat, then the tomato sauce, and then the spices. She left it for most of the class, and then she made angel hair pasta, when it was done, she gave everyone spaghetti, and they ate.
"Normally, it takes all day to make, but because of the limited amount of time, it won't be as good as it could be."
"All day? What do you do when it's cooking?" asked Kitty.
"Anything you want, you don't have to stand by it all day."
"Do you have to make it with the 'secret' part of it?" asked Jubilee.
"Nope, that's just my family."
"Next class maybe we can all try to guess what Miss Sulinski's secret is," said Dr. McCoy.
The bell rang.
"And no taking it to the lab, Dr. McCoy," Isabella warned. "I'll know if you do."
They all went up to their dorms, got dressed for gym, and then went outside. Logan looked at all of them.
"We're playing football today!" he said.
"Yes!" said Isabella.
He smiled.
"I'm glad someone likes my class, you aren't this excited in Trig."
She grinned.
"She just likes football," said Bobby.
"I'm gonna count you off. One's on one team, two's on the other."
There was a total of twenty students in the class, ten on each team. The "One" team consisted of Bobby, Rogue, Evan and Peter among others and the "Two" team consisted of Jubilee, Kitty, Isabella and Remy, among others.
"TWO HAND TOUCH! NO tackle!" said Logan.
"Aww man!" said the entire class (except Jubilee, Kitty, and Rogue).
He laughed.
"I vas hoping--" said Peter. (He's from Russia)
"We ALL know what you hoping," said Isabella.
He came up behind her, she screamed as he lifted her over his shoulder, ran around for a minute and came back, and put her down. Then they played football. The twos kicked off to the ones. Peter caught it, and kneeled, ending the play. Bobby was the quarterback.
"Can I just toss it to you?" asked Rogue.
"Sure."
She sideways- tossed it to Bobby, and everyone ran in different directions. Bobby threw the ball to Peter, and Isabella caught up to him, and two- hand- touched him with her entire body, to the ground. She stood, and helped him up. Logan came over, a cigar in his mouth.
"I thought I said two hand touch," he said.
"I did, but I misjudged my strength, I slipped, and the velocity I was traveling at, plus the force of gravity-"
"Stop trying to explain it, Isabella, and fix it," said Logan.
She gave him the sad puppy dog face.
"I'm sorry, Professor Logan."
"Well-" he faltered. "Just, try not to let it happen again. Colossus can take it, some of the others can't*
"Okay, Professor Logan."
Bobby laughed, and Isabella pretended to scratch the back of her head with her middle finger. Kitty and Jubi laughed, and Peter and Isabella rejoined the rest. TWO TOUCHDOWNS (each) LATER: it was almost time for class to end. Jack (one of the slightly younger kids) threw the ball to Isabella and she ran toward the end zone, the guys ran after her, and toward Jubilee and Kitty, who screamed and covered their heads. Once Isabella had reached the end zone, she sat down and laughed at Kitty and Jubilee's reaction. The bell rang and they went inside getting showers and changing for dinner. Jubilee, Rogue, Bobby, Isabella, Kitty, Remy, Evan and Peter were all talking about Isabella's performance in gym.
"Too bad we don't have a drama class," said Kitty.
"No it's not, then they'd know."
They all laughed. Isabella looked around the table, and caught Scott staring at her, and then he quickly looked away. Isabella got back into their conversation.
"Hey, check and see if Scott's looking this way, or if I'm just paranoid," Isabella whispered to Rogue.
Rogue watched him out of the corner of her eye, and after a few minutes she came to a conclusion.
"He's staring at you hard, babe," she said
"Thanks, Suga, but why?"
"I don't know."
"Me neither, we'll talk about it tonight."
"So, Bella, what's your secret?" asked Bobby.
She leaned and so did they.
"It's none of your damn business."
They laughed, even though they were disappointed.
"C'mon, don't do that," said Kitty.
Isabella grinned mischievously. Bobby threw a bread crumb at her
"Don't start with me, boy."
"I'm not a boy, I'm a man."
Isabella burst out laughing, she laughed so hard she fell out of her seat.
"Eep!" she squeaked.
Everyone laughed even Scott cracked a smile. Isabella stood up and took a bow, then sat back down. After dinner Scott went up to Isabella.
"Hey, Isabella, let's take a walk." She shrugged and they walked out into the gardens. "I know you caught me staring at you at dinner, I'm sorry."
"It's all good. But, why?"
"Professor Xavier was comparing you and Jean, I was just trying to see it."
"Oh," Isabella turned to leave.
"Wait! You two are very different. She said for the two weeks you were here that she got her strength from you. It's just-he helped me out knowing that there's someone who knows Jean as well, if not better, as me."
She turned to look at him.
"Scott, I've been compared with my sister since I was born. I don't need to hear it again. She was smarter, prettier, cleaner, sweeter-should I go on?"
"Isabella, those were NONE of the comparisons. She read to learn about the world, you read to escape it. You both hate math, you both get stuck on the same questions. She was hesitant about her powers, but you're not. She liked opera, ballet, the Ice Capades. You, God! You! You like football, action adventure movies, movies that won't make you cry. She liked art, you make it. You both love nature, plants and animals."
She smiled.
"Sounds right."
"She had a garden, wanna see it?"
"Yes."
He led her to a small fence, which had an overgrown garden in it.
"Well, it's yours now, so, here."
Isabella looked at him.
"No, it's Jean's, it will always be Jean's."
He smiled.
"When you first came here, I knew there was something about you that seemed familiar, then I met you, and I knew it was my imagination."
Isabella laughed and looked around the garden.
"Jean would weep at this sight." Scott laughed. "What?"
"Weep?"
"Yeah, so?"
"Been hanging around the new doctor a little?"
"No, not really. Oh, and DO NOT let him take my spaghetti to his lab, okay?"
"All right."
Isabella entered the garden and began pulling weeds, Scott helping her. After an hour, they were done. Scott stood up.
"Where are you going?"
"Wait here."
"Okay."
He ran off, then came back a few minutes later, with a bag.
"These are for you," he said, handing them to her.
She opened the bag, and pulled out gardening tools.
"Were these-"
He nodded.
"Yep, those were Jean's gardening tools."
Isabella used them to straighten up the garden, then they went inside. At the door, Isabella looked at Scott, and hugged him.
"Thank you, Scott."
He smiled.
"You're welcome."
