Disclaimer: I don't own x-men. Don't sue, I have no money.
Author's note: Sorry the chapter is a bit late, guys. This chapter is for those very few readers that I have lmao, just to let you guys know that you are appreciated very much, I promise. Thank you for the reviews. I'm still somewhat shocked I managed to get this chapter out despite my laziness, but hey, who knew.
_____________________________________________________________________
When Brooke and Marie completed twelfth grade, they were two of the few students given the options to either begin a career in the outside world or to teach within the school itself. First, Marie did not think she was quite ready to face the world. Second, she thought of "Mutant High" as her own home with the time that she'd spent there. That place was her refuge She grew attached to it. Thus, she stayed.
Brooke stayed and taught at the school for Logan. She just wanted to see him. Wherever he went, she decided she would go as well. Considering that Logan often visited the school and stayed there over periods of time, naturally Brooke decided to stay and teach as well.
"Joey, it's not too great to try to blow bubbles into Rachel's mouth when she yells," Marie stated, trying not to be too tough on Joey, while considering the fact that Rachel overly enjoyed screaming at Joey during one of their daily fights over who should play with the toy truck first. Anyway, Joey was still always just a good kid overall.
Joey was secretly one of Marie's favorites. He had such a special and bubbly personality that she loved more then anything.
"Her mouth is just so big though, Rogue. You could fit in so many." Joey sighed in defeat, and made the bubbles, which were flowing from his fingertips, retreat. It was one of the more stranger mutant abilities, but it came in quite useful during baths and such. Rachel, in return, eventually stuck her tongue out at him for lack of a better comeback.
Marie sat at one of the many toddlers' desks in discomfort and covered her face with her hands in an exhausted manner.
The only thing that made these mutant children all cooperate was music. They all loved to dance. Dancing was so much more fun for the children specifically. It was carefree. They were only seven or eight. They didn't need to worry if they were making fools of themselves because no one really knew how to dance anyway. Just to watch them dance proved how carefree children are and always will be. They were worry-free and just wanted to have fun.
These children unfortunately were abandoned by their parents very early in their lives. These parents couldn't face the fact that their child was a mutant. Marie had even seen some cases where parents claimed that their children would have been murdered if discovered to have mutant abilities at such a young age. At least the parents cared enough about the children to deliver them directly to Xavier's school as opposed to simply leaving them on the streets.
Marie knew how each of the kids felt. She was abandoned also in many ways, just like the rest of them. That's probably one of the top reasons that Professor Xavier assigned her the duty of looking after these children. It somewhat resembled a Daycare center. "Mutant Kindergarten" is what Marie liked to call it.
Marie only watched them from early in the morning to noon, but she tried to make them have as best of a time as humanly possible. Half of the time, they danced and sang around the large room that the Professor provided for the children to occupy. The kids weren't spawns of Satan. They definitely were not that much trouble, but Marie was feeling stressed for the first time in a while. She knew that the semiformal dance, or "The Ball", as the Professor called it, would be the biggest event at the school, and it would arrive in no less then two months. In addition, all she could think about lately was the idea that she might finally be able to have human contact.
An idea finally struck Marie through all of the concerns floating around in her head. She suddenly sat up and clapped her hands, trying to get the children's attention.
Although it took a while, one by one they all stopped what they were doing and looked up at Marie with questioning looks.
"It's time to dance, guys!" She grinned while she put the latest CD mix (that Jubilee made for her reluctantly) into the stereo, as excitement clearly could be seen out of the children's facial expressions. 'It's amazing where bribery can get you these days,' Marie thought to herself, remembering how Jubilee thought that the music was too ridiculous to put on a CD, and almost refused to do it.
In seconds, "La Bamba" was making itself known for a second time, booming out of the speakers. After "testing" the song out last night, Marie decided that the kids would probably enjoy dancing to it.
She danced with the children cheerfully, doing the same unique dance moves that she'd done the previous night. To the children it seemed normal. To a person passing by the classroom, it seemed like a major sign of insanity. The kids seemed to voluntarily follow Marie around the room in a line, dancing freely and giggling.
While a part of her hoped that Logan wouldn't somehow walk in, another part of her prayed that he would. She thought he was probably sleeping anyway. It was 11:30 in the morning, and he did seem extremely tired that night. She wouldn't be suprised if Logan slept through the day.
It was only half way into the song when suddenly it just stopped. The music ended. Marie snapped her head towards the stereo, looking over the person who had shut off the music. Marie glared at her, running a hand through her hair. This became a habit for whenever she was frustrated. Meanwhile the children looked about each other, seeming confused. Then their expressions turned to fear when they saw Brooke.
"I thought you taught them to dance, not to make fools of themselves." Brooke laughed at her own remark, walking over to the chalkboard.
Marie snickered when she overheard a child whispering "This sucks" to the other.
"At one point I thought you were supposed to teach them the basics. You know, how to add, the alphabet, and all of that great stuff. So far all you taught them is how to fear," Marie said in an angry tone as she moved to pick up her bag, lying on a nearby chair.
"Don't tell me how to teach, Rogue. They're going to learn, and I don't care how as long as they do," Brooke said, turning her attention to the children, "Sit down and take out a piece of paper and pen. Let's begin where we left off yesterday."
"Whatever makes you happy," Marie muttered to herself. She almost forgot to say good-bye to them when she suddenly heard Joey yell out, "Bye, Rogue! See you tomorrow!"
It was the funniest thing in her day yet, watching Joey yell out in the middle of Brooke's mini-lecture, just to say bye to her. Brooke's face held such frustration that she nearly wanted to choke the child.
She smiled warmly at the boy and mouthed, "Bye, sweetheart," before giving Brooke one hell of a glare, warning her not to scold Joey over this.
The children began to lay their heads down on the desk, trying to get comfortable. This was going to be an extremely long hour with Brooke, or as they were told to call her, "Ms. Chantilly." The kids appreciated how Rogue made the atmosphere friendlier by allowing the students to call her "Rogue" as opposed to a more formal name.
By now the children learned that it was just better to sleep through Ms. Chantilly's lessons as opposed to listen to what she actually had to say. Brooke acted as if she was training an army. She didn't see them as young and jovial kindergartners. Never once did it occur to her that the children would only learn if it was interesting or somewhat fun for them. It probably never would occur to her. All she was concerned about was Logan.
A part of her thought that Logan would admire her for being a "role model" to these kids. Brooke considered herself to be much more professional compared to Marie. Thank God Logan never actually witnessed how Brooke tried to teach her class. He'd be stunned.
---
Marie made her way up the stairs quickly. She was experiencing a sudden and unwelcome major headache, and she wasn't going to allow anything to make it worse. She made her way down half the hallway, taking her time all of a sudden by walking slowly. Her head pounded fiercely, making it difficult to think. She was almost forgetting where she was going and why she was going there.
'"Tylenol.. Room.. Sleep," she reminded herself, making herself more determined to get there.
With sudden and careless movements, she felt her own body accidentally collide into another. She felt herself fall forward onto a strong, warm chest. And this, all happening within a second, she managed to get a scent of the cologne that seemed to be surrounding the other person. It smelled familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on it.
He held on to her, helping her stand as opposed to crashing to the floor.
"Are you having a hangover?"
She recognized his voice immediately, but since when did he wear cologne?
"Are you going on a date?" She replied, trying to rub her head with one hand while using her other free hand to hold on to him.
"Yes. It's going to be me and my first true love -- her name is 'Beer'." He smirked at the way she rolled her eyes, despite the headache.
"Logan, please. Not now. I'm tired, I feel like crap, and to top it off, I'm going through pms," she shot back at him.
He grinned, helping her walk down the rest of the hallway towards her room.
"The kids were rough today?" He asked as he debated within his mind whether to carry her or not. Would she accept? Well, of course, but it was only a couple of more feet until her room was in close range.
"Oh yes. They're such violent eight-year-olds. God, can't you see all the scratches and burns on my skin from their daily planned attacks? They can make your claws seem like plastic knives, sunshine." Her voice was thick with sarcasm as she almost slid out of his grasp, but he caught her just in time. Maybe he shouldn't carry her. He feared for his safety at this point. Marie was pissed, and that gave him reasons to be afraid.
"If only your pms went as quickly as it came, do you have any idea about how much of a better world it would be?"
"Thanks for the optimistic thought. I'll keep that in mind," she said while still trying to regain her balance.
He struggled with Marie in one arm and trying to turn the door knob at the same time. Thank God they at least made it this far.
"What the hell got into you?" He finally decided to kick the door open. Screw door knobs.
"That was loud, Logan," She moaned.
"I love how this happens every time I want to ask you about serious things," He said mostly to himself as he gently laid her down onto the bed.
"What happens?" She shut her eyes and rubbed her temples tiredly.
"You get sick or fall asleep and find a new love for Midol and water. How did it happen? You just got sick?" His voice now came from the bathroom. She figured he was trying to find the Midol.
She nodded before speaking, "It just hit me. It happens sometimes. I'm not too sure why. And you had something serious to ask me about? What next? Me, you, and beer are going to have a threesome?"
He didn't answer. He was still in the bathroom, trying to figure out where the hell she hid the Midol.
"Oh, I know. You're going to ask me to the semiformal thing right, Romeo?" She laughed quietly at the thought, despite how much the pains in her head objected to her even thinking about moving.
He shook his head at the words coming out of her mouth. Finally, he spotted a small little bottle hidden behind an overly large yellow container of floss. He chuckled at the thought of Jubilee even owning yellow floss. After finally spotting the well-hidden Midol, he brought it to Marie after filling up a nearby cup with water.
"Thank you, Romeo," she said funnily while he handed her the aspirin.
"Sometimes you scare me. Plus, I think I've seen you more then anyone else in this school since I came. Even funnier, I haven't had a single serious conversation with you yet." He sat on the edge of the bed while stretching his arms out a bit.
"We've had serious conversations within in the past 48 hours, Logan. This one seems serious too," she said before swallowing the aspirin gratefully.
"I can tell. You only called me 'Romeo' two minutes ago."
She shrugged as a response. Since when were sincere conversations a necessity to Logan? This was barely a conversation that they were just having. For some reason she considered it some sort of "sarcastic exchange". Apparently he had to ask her something fairly important, and he couldn't get it out. That was driving him crazy, despite how much he was trying to contain himself. She stayed quiet so he could take the opportunity to go on.
"Marie? I need to ask you something, but you have to answer honestly. We're done with the joking," he looked at her with his intense chocolate eyes. His eyes would be able to make a wild lion as tame as a kitten.
Sometimes Marie felt as if he was talking to her like she never grew up. Other times she wondered if she was capable of being more mature then Logan himself, as unlikely as it seemed at times. Breaking through all of her thoughts, he finally asked the question.
"Were you kidding when you talked about being able to have human contact last night?"
She returned his intense stare with her own eyes, forgetting about the pain in her head.
"No."
As much as she hated to admit it, a small part of her made her believe that he was going to ask her to be his date at the semiformal dance. No. How stupid. Logan didn't do dates, he did one night stands. Even worse, it was a dance at a high school. That was definitly not Logan's style. What could possibly possess Marie to think that Logan would ever in his lifetime even dress in a tuxedo? She felt her headache getting worse.
Another idea quickly crossed her mind. Maybe Logan didn't know about the semiformal. No, he only missed each of the 500 posters around the school talking about "The Summer Ball".
She tried to comfort herself by thinking, 'I'd much rather prefer to stay in my room and eat Chinese instead of going to a dance of all places. Chinese is just better. It's like comfort food without the heartache I guess.'
Yes, the idea of finally being able to touch meant a lot to her, but somehow Logan meant even more to her.
Little did she know, he still wasn't done with his questions.
_____________________________________________________________________
Author's note: It's 1:05AM. Yeaa I'm done with chapter 5. I'm trying not to make the semiformal sound corny, I swear lmao. I hope you guys liked it. Please review, good and bad. It's always welcome lmao. See you guys in chapter 6.
- Escense
Author's note: Sorry the chapter is a bit late, guys. This chapter is for those very few readers that I have lmao, just to let you guys know that you are appreciated very much, I promise. Thank you for the reviews. I'm still somewhat shocked I managed to get this chapter out despite my laziness, but hey, who knew.
_____________________________________________________________________
When Brooke and Marie completed twelfth grade, they were two of the few students given the options to either begin a career in the outside world or to teach within the school itself. First, Marie did not think she was quite ready to face the world. Second, she thought of "Mutant High" as her own home with the time that she'd spent there. That place was her refuge She grew attached to it. Thus, she stayed.
Brooke stayed and taught at the school for Logan. She just wanted to see him. Wherever he went, she decided she would go as well. Considering that Logan often visited the school and stayed there over periods of time, naturally Brooke decided to stay and teach as well.
"Joey, it's not too great to try to blow bubbles into Rachel's mouth when she yells," Marie stated, trying not to be too tough on Joey, while considering the fact that Rachel overly enjoyed screaming at Joey during one of their daily fights over who should play with the toy truck first. Anyway, Joey was still always just a good kid overall.
Joey was secretly one of Marie's favorites. He had such a special and bubbly personality that she loved more then anything.
"Her mouth is just so big though, Rogue. You could fit in so many." Joey sighed in defeat, and made the bubbles, which were flowing from his fingertips, retreat. It was one of the more stranger mutant abilities, but it came in quite useful during baths and such. Rachel, in return, eventually stuck her tongue out at him for lack of a better comeback.
Marie sat at one of the many toddlers' desks in discomfort and covered her face with her hands in an exhausted manner.
The only thing that made these mutant children all cooperate was music. They all loved to dance. Dancing was so much more fun for the children specifically. It was carefree. They were only seven or eight. They didn't need to worry if they were making fools of themselves because no one really knew how to dance anyway. Just to watch them dance proved how carefree children are and always will be. They were worry-free and just wanted to have fun.
These children unfortunately were abandoned by their parents very early in their lives. These parents couldn't face the fact that their child was a mutant. Marie had even seen some cases where parents claimed that their children would have been murdered if discovered to have mutant abilities at such a young age. At least the parents cared enough about the children to deliver them directly to Xavier's school as opposed to simply leaving them on the streets.
Marie knew how each of the kids felt. She was abandoned also in many ways, just like the rest of them. That's probably one of the top reasons that Professor Xavier assigned her the duty of looking after these children. It somewhat resembled a Daycare center. "Mutant Kindergarten" is what Marie liked to call it.
Marie only watched them from early in the morning to noon, but she tried to make them have as best of a time as humanly possible. Half of the time, they danced and sang around the large room that the Professor provided for the children to occupy. The kids weren't spawns of Satan. They definitely were not that much trouble, but Marie was feeling stressed for the first time in a while. She knew that the semiformal dance, or "The Ball", as the Professor called it, would be the biggest event at the school, and it would arrive in no less then two months. In addition, all she could think about lately was the idea that she might finally be able to have human contact.
An idea finally struck Marie through all of the concerns floating around in her head. She suddenly sat up and clapped her hands, trying to get the children's attention.
Although it took a while, one by one they all stopped what they were doing and looked up at Marie with questioning looks.
"It's time to dance, guys!" She grinned while she put the latest CD mix (that Jubilee made for her reluctantly) into the stereo, as excitement clearly could be seen out of the children's facial expressions. 'It's amazing where bribery can get you these days,' Marie thought to herself, remembering how Jubilee thought that the music was too ridiculous to put on a CD, and almost refused to do it.
In seconds, "La Bamba" was making itself known for a second time, booming out of the speakers. After "testing" the song out last night, Marie decided that the kids would probably enjoy dancing to it.
She danced with the children cheerfully, doing the same unique dance moves that she'd done the previous night. To the children it seemed normal. To a person passing by the classroom, it seemed like a major sign of insanity. The kids seemed to voluntarily follow Marie around the room in a line, dancing freely and giggling.
While a part of her hoped that Logan wouldn't somehow walk in, another part of her prayed that he would. She thought he was probably sleeping anyway. It was 11:30 in the morning, and he did seem extremely tired that night. She wouldn't be suprised if Logan slept through the day.
It was only half way into the song when suddenly it just stopped. The music ended. Marie snapped her head towards the stereo, looking over the person who had shut off the music. Marie glared at her, running a hand through her hair. This became a habit for whenever she was frustrated. Meanwhile the children looked about each other, seeming confused. Then their expressions turned to fear when they saw Brooke.
"I thought you taught them to dance, not to make fools of themselves." Brooke laughed at her own remark, walking over to the chalkboard.
Marie snickered when she overheard a child whispering "This sucks" to the other.
"At one point I thought you were supposed to teach them the basics. You know, how to add, the alphabet, and all of that great stuff. So far all you taught them is how to fear," Marie said in an angry tone as she moved to pick up her bag, lying on a nearby chair.
"Don't tell me how to teach, Rogue. They're going to learn, and I don't care how as long as they do," Brooke said, turning her attention to the children, "Sit down and take out a piece of paper and pen. Let's begin where we left off yesterday."
"Whatever makes you happy," Marie muttered to herself. She almost forgot to say good-bye to them when she suddenly heard Joey yell out, "Bye, Rogue! See you tomorrow!"
It was the funniest thing in her day yet, watching Joey yell out in the middle of Brooke's mini-lecture, just to say bye to her. Brooke's face held such frustration that she nearly wanted to choke the child.
She smiled warmly at the boy and mouthed, "Bye, sweetheart," before giving Brooke one hell of a glare, warning her not to scold Joey over this.
The children began to lay their heads down on the desk, trying to get comfortable. This was going to be an extremely long hour with Brooke, or as they were told to call her, "Ms. Chantilly." The kids appreciated how Rogue made the atmosphere friendlier by allowing the students to call her "Rogue" as opposed to a more formal name.
By now the children learned that it was just better to sleep through Ms. Chantilly's lessons as opposed to listen to what she actually had to say. Brooke acted as if she was training an army. She didn't see them as young and jovial kindergartners. Never once did it occur to her that the children would only learn if it was interesting or somewhat fun for them. It probably never would occur to her. All she was concerned about was Logan.
A part of her thought that Logan would admire her for being a "role model" to these kids. Brooke considered herself to be much more professional compared to Marie. Thank God Logan never actually witnessed how Brooke tried to teach her class. He'd be stunned.
---
Marie made her way up the stairs quickly. She was experiencing a sudden and unwelcome major headache, and she wasn't going to allow anything to make it worse. She made her way down half the hallway, taking her time all of a sudden by walking slowly. Her head pounded fiercely, making it difficult to think. She was almost forgetting where she was going and why she was going there.
'"Tylenol.. Room.. Sleep," she reminded herself, making herself more determined to get there.
With sudden and careless movements, she felt her own body accidentally collide into another. She felt herself fall forward onto a strong, warm chest. And this, all happening within a second, she managed to get a scent of the cologne that seemed to be surrounding the other person. It smelled familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on it.
He held on to her, helping her stand as opposed to crashing to the floor.
"Are you having a hangover?"
She recognized his voice immediately, but since when did he wear cologne?
"Are you going on a date?" She replied, trying to rub her head with one hand while using her other free hand to hold on to him.
"Yes. It's going to be me and my first true love -- her name is 'Beer'." He smirked at the way she rolled her eyes, despite the headache.
"Logan, please. Not now. I'm tired, I feel like crap, and to top it off, I'm going through pms," she shot back at him.
He grinned, helping her walk down the rest of the hallway towards her room.
"The kids were rough today?" He asked as he debated within his mind whether to carry her or not. Would she accept? Well, of course, but it was only a couple of more feet until her room was in close range.
"Oh yes. They're such violent eight-year-olds. God, can't you see all the scratches and burns on my skin from their daily planned attacks? They can make your claws seem like plastic knives, sunshine." Her voice was thick with sarcasm as she almost slid out of his grasp, but he caught her just in time. Maybe he shouldn't carry her. He feared for his safety at this point. Marie was pissed, and that gave him reasons to be afraid.
"If only your pms went as quickly as it came, do you have any idea about how much of a better world it would be?"
"Thanks for the optimistic thought. I'll keep that in mind," she said while still trying to regain her balance.
He struggled with Marie in one arm and trying to turn the door knob at the same time. Thank God they at least made it this far.
"What the hell got into you?" He finally decided to kick the door open. Screw door knobs.
"That was loud, Logan," She moaned.
"I love how this happens every time I want to ask you about serious things," He said mostly to himself as he gently laid her down onto the bed.
"What happens?" She shut her eyes and rubbed her temples tiredly.
"You get sick or fall asleep and find a new love for Midol and water. How did it happen? You just got sick?" His voice now came from the bathroom. She figured he was trying to find the Midol.
She nodded before speaking, "It just hit me. It happens sometimes. I'm not too sure why. And you had something serious to ask me about? What next? Me, you, and beer are going to have a threesome?"
He didn't answer. He was still in the bathroom, trying to figure out where the hell she hid the Midol.
"Oh, I know. You're going to ask me to the semiformal thing right, Romeo?" She laughed quietly at the thought, despite how much the pains in her head objected to her even thinking about moving.
He shook his head at the words coming out of her mouth. Finally, he spotted a small little bottle hidden behind an overly large yellow container of floss. He chuckled at the thought of Jubilee even owning yellow floss. After finally spotting the well-hidden Midol, he brought it to Marie after filling up a nearby cup with water.
"Thank you, Romeo," she said funnily while he handed her the aspirin.
"Sometimes you scare me. Plus, I think I've seen you more then anyone else in this school since I came. Even funnier, I haven't had a single serious conversation with you yet." He sat on the edge of the bed while stretching his arms out a bit.
"We've had serious conversations within in the past 48 hours, Logan. This one seems serious too," she said before swallowing the aspirin gratefully.
"I can tell. You only called me 'Romeo' two minutes ago."
She shrugged as a response. Since when were sincere conversations a necessity to Logan? This was barely a conversation that they were just having. For some reason she considered it some sort of "sarcastic exchange". Apparently he had to ask her something fairly important, and he couldn't get it out. That was driving him crazy, despite how much he was trying to contain himself. She stayed quiet so he could take the opportunity to go on.
"Marie? I need to ask you something, but you have to answer honestly. We're done with the joking," he looked at her with his intense chocolate eyes. His eyes would be able to make a wild lion as tame as a kitten.
Sometimes Marie felt as if he was talking to her like she never grew up. Other times she wondered if she was capable of being more mature then Logan himself, as unlikely as it seemed at times. Breaking through all of her thoughts, he finally asked the question.
"Were you kidding when you talked about being able to have human contact last night?"
She returned his intense stare with her own eyes, forgetting about the pain in her head.
"No."
As much as she hated to admit it, a small part of her made her believe that he was going to ask her to be his date at the semiformal dance. No. How stupid. Logan didn't do dates, he did one night stands. Even worse, it was a dance at a high school. That was definitly not Logan's style. What could possibly possess Marie to think that Logan would ever in his lifetime even dress in a tuxedo? She felt her headache getting worse.
Another idea quickly crossed her mind. Maybe Logan didn't know about the semiformal. No, he only missed each of the 500 posters around the school talking about "The Summer Ball".
She tried to comfort herself by thinking, 'I'd much rather prefer to stay in my room and eat Chinese instead of going to a dance of all places. Chinese is just better. It's like comfort food without the heartache I guess.'
Yes, the idea of finally being able to touch meant a lot to her, but somehow Logan meant even more to her.
Little did she know, he still wasn't done with his questions.
_____________________________________________________________________
Author's note: It's 1:05AM. Yeaa I'm done with chapter 5. I'm trying not to make the semiformal sound corny, I swear lmao. I hope you guys liked it. Please review, good and bad. It's always welcome lmao. See you guys in chapter 6.
- Escense
