Author's Note: And to compliment the Romy fluff, a little Kietro fluff. But no worries, they're still arguing. Mostly. *wink, wink* One more chapter, to cement Chris to the X-Men family, and then onward with the sequel. Assuming people want a sequel.

Making a Connection

by, Caliente

Chapter 14 – The Kat vs. the Speed Demon Part 2

Kitty's POV – After school in the parking lot

"Kitty, have you seen Rouge?" Scott asked impatiently tapping his foot. He wanted to get home and he was supposed to drive her. Kitty had already explained that she had to work with Pietro on their stupid scene.

"Nope," replied Kitty. "She, like, wasn't in Gym and Kurt said she wasn't in biology either."

"Hmmm…" Scott thought for a minute. "Oh well. I'm sure if she needs a ride she'll call the institute or something. Maybe she went home sick or something." Scott really didn't have time to worry. He had a Danger Room session, tons of homework, and a date with Jean. He was busy and Rogue was holding him up. "Are you sure you'll be alright with Pietro?" Scott was concerned.

"Yeah," Kitty looked dejected. Then again, who wouldn't if they had to spend their whole afternoon with the traitorous Pietro Maximoff.

"Well, see ya," said Scott as Kurt BAMFed into his car. Ray, Chris, and Sam were already there. Jean had taken her SUV along with Amara and Bobby to pick up Jamie and Roberto at the middle school.

Kitty sighed as she watched them drive away. 'I knew this was going to be a long day,' she thought angrily. She became totally wrapped up in her own thoughts that she didn't even notice Pietro come up behind her.

"Thinking about me Kitty-cat?" Pietro asked playfully. Kitty jumped a full foot in the air.

"You wish," she retorted. 'Long, long, LONG day,' she chanted in her head.

'Knew it would be easy to get her riled up,' Pietro thought smugly. "Let's go then. Neither of us wants to do this but it's not like we have much of a choice." He led her to his sports car and hopped in the driver's seat. She stood there watching. "Waiting for an invitation?" he asked sardonically.

She just glared and got in the passenger's side. They drove to the park and went over to a picnic table. Each of them removed their scripts. Before they started, Pietro couldn't resist pushing her buttons once more. "Think you can survive reading the dialogue without adding "like", "totally", or "Ohmigod" into the play. I think Shakespeare would roll over in his grave if he heard it." He mimicked her accent once more before smirking at her triumphantly.

Kitty shot him an evil look before retorting, "Well, at least Shakespeare could, like, understand what I say. Think you can manage to talk at a normal speed?" She shot him a venomous look. "Let's just get this over with, okay? I'm sure you have some bimbo waiting for you somewhere and I have other homework I need to do."

"Is that your whole life?" sneered Pietro. "X-Geeks and homework. No wonder Lance dumped you. You have no life. Bet you don't even go out on dates."

Kitty's eyes filled with tears at the mention of Lance's name. They had definitely parted on bad terms. She forced the tears back and glared at him once more. She had taken enough crap from him. It was time to put him in his place. She was so angry, she even lost her Valley girl accent. "First of all, I can get dates. I go out all the time. Secondly, I have a life. Sorry if we can't all be fast-talking playboys who get their kicks treating women like ATM machines. At least I'm a good person. I mean, I saved your life and you didn't even have the courtesy to thank me. In fact, you insulted me and you continue to insult me every time we meet. You're nothing but a-a good-looking jerk!" Done with her rant, she crossed her arms and proceeded to glare at him some more.

Pietro's eyes widened at her sudden outburst. Then he laughed.

"What's so god damn funny?" Kitty asked through clenched teeth.

"You called me good-looking," he grinned.

Kitty groaned exasperated. "That's all you heard. God Pietro, sometimes I totally hate you. So what if I called you good-looking. I didn't mean it like that." Pietro raised his eyebrows, giving her a dubious look. She decided to use an analogy to clarify. "It's a fact, not, like, a compliment. It would be like me saying the grass is green."

Suddenly Pietro's face became serious. "Look Kitty-cat," he said with his eyes down focusing on the ground. "I'm-sorry-I-didn't-thank-you-for-saving-my-life. I-was-a-real-jerk." He sped through his apology like it was painful. 'Why did I just apologize to her?' Pietro was shocked at himself. 'Maybe that stupid X-Geek Chris was right… Nah. I just felt bad for her. Yeah. That's it.' His heart told him otherwise but he chose to ignore it.

Kitty looked at him in shock. 'Did he just apologize to me?' she thought. 'Nah. It's Pietro. The guy never apologizes. But I know what I heard. Hmm… I guess there's a first time for everything, ya know.' "You're welcome," she whispered. Now she too was gazing at the ground in fascination.

Pietro interrupted their uncomfortable silence. "Well-I-guess-we-better-get-started," he said.

She looked at him confused. "Huh?"

Pietro sighed and gave her a 'could you be any stupider?' look before repeating himself at a normal speed, "I said, well I guess we better get started."

"Oh. Okay," was all she said.

The two teens proceeded to act out the scene. Kitty sat on the table, which represented the balcony. Kitty reached her first real speech. "O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name;" Suddenly Kitty let out an unexpected giggle.

"What?" Pietro was surprised and annoyed. 'What's with this Valley girl anyway?'

"Deny thy father," she scoffed. "Like you could do that Pietro."

"I could so deny my father," Pietro shot back. "It's just, you know – he's the master of magnetism. You're afraid of him, why shouldn't I be? He's probably the most powerful mutant on the planet."

"I mean, sure you could deny him. You choose not to. You sold out your friends for him. Whatever," Kitty muttered. "Let's just get on with it. I'm sorry I, like, brought it up."

"It's your line," Pietro prodded rolling his eyes.

"Oh, sorry," Kitty blushed slightly before continuing. "O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name; Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, And I'll no longer be a Capulet."

'She's so hot,' a little voice in Pietro's head told him. 'She might as well be saying, "O Pietro, Pietro! Wherefore art thou Pietro? Deny thy father and refuse thy name; Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, And I'll no longer be a X-Man."' He saw Kitty looking at him expectantly. "Oh, my line. Right, sorry." He glanced at the script and they continued the scene. When they had finished, they looked at each other. Pietro helped her off of the table and stood there with his arms crossed expectantly. He had an idea. "You know, in the movie, they kissed in this scene Kitty-cat."

Kitty's face immediately turned scarlet. "So what's you're point?" She was giving him major attitude and glaring at him. 'I don't want to kiss Pietro. Ew. No. Wait. Do I? No, no, no, maybe?'

'She's so cute when she's mad,' he thought. "Hey, I'm just saying. If we want to get the A, we're gonna have to go the extra distance." He smirked at her angry expression, but his eyes gave him away. 'He wants to kiss me!' thought Kitty in shock.

"But this is only their second kiss. So we don't have to, like, practice right?" Her face looked hopeful, but her eyes had passion in them. 'She wants me to kiss her,' Pietro thought confidently.

He took a step towards her as he responded, "Yeah, but if we don't practice, we might bump foreheads or something really embarrassing. I'm not going to be humiliated in front of the class because you were scared." Pietro's smirk grew.

Kitty's eyes flashed. "I'm. Not. Scared." She said through clenched teeth. Each word a statement. She too took a step forward.

"Prove it," Pietro shot back his face was nearly inches from hers.

'Fine I will,' Kitty told herself. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulled herself up on her toes, leaned in, and kissed him. 'Ohmigod! I'm kissing Pietro. What the hell is going on?' she was so confused. A realization hit her. 'Oh no. I think I like it. Shit, shit, SHIT!'

Pietro put his arms around her waist and pulled her body closer as he leaned down so Kitty's feet rested firmly on the ground. The kiss was innocent at first but he slowly deepened it. Pietro's mind was spinning. 'Me and Pryde. This is so wrong. I have all these feelings and… am I enjoying it?' His body confirmed it. He was definitely enjoying the kiss. 'That girl Chris was right. Damnit. I'm attracted to her. Damnit.'

'Ohmigod. I think Pietro might be excited. Ohmigod. The world is crazy. Ohmigod.' Kitty was in shock. Her head was reeling. Suddenly she let it all go. 'Who cares? I like it.' She smiled inwardly.

They stood in the park, making out. "Kitty?" a voice interrupted their moment.

'Shit. Amara is here.' Kitty pulled away. "'Mara? Is that, like, you?" Kitty looked for her friend.

"Yeah," the voice called back. "I'm across the street."

Kitty spun around and saw her teammate making her way towards the couple. 'Crap. She saw us. I'm dead.' She looked at Pietro who returned her gaze with a smug look. 'And Pietro's just gonna add me to his list. Great.' She glared at him. "Is there a reason you look so smug?" she hissed at him.

"You kissed me," he whispered back. "I can't believe you actually kissed me." He seemed more awestruck than she thought he would. He recovered quickly adding, "I didn't think you had the guts."

Kitty was becoming more and more peeved with every word that left the speed demon's mouth. "Well, don't expect it to happen again. I was just lost in the moment. Unrequited love is so, like, totally romantic. We had our first kiss, just like Romeo and Juliet. Now our second one will be in class, just like Romeo and Juliet's second kiss."

"Whatever Pryde," replied Pietro with an aloof look.

She glared at him once more before turning to greet her friend. "'Mara, what are you doing here?" she inquired with a smile.

"I had to get out of the house. Bobby is really pissing me off," the island princess huffed. Kitty tried to look sympathetic as relief washed over her. 'Good,' thought Kitty. 'Clearly she didn't see us making out.' Amara was still rambling. "I mean, come on. How many times can you pull the same prank and still think it's funny. He's so immature." Amara pouted. Then she noticed Pietro standing there awkwardly. "What's he" pointing to Pietro "doing here?"

"Pietro and I are working on a scene for English class," Kitty answered quickly before Pietro could even mutter a sound. "It's Romeo and Juliet."

"Oh." Amara could have cared less. The slightly spoiled princess was worried about her own problems at the moment. And, for once, Kitty was glad she was acting self absorbed.

"So I guess we'll call it a day," Kitty looked at Pietro pointedly.

"Yeah, whatever Pryde." He was a little bitter. She acted like their kiss was meaningless. 'I felt fireworks, why didn't she?' "Do you girls need a ride?" he asked surprised at his own thoughtfulness.

"Sure," Amara cut in before Kitty could think of an excuse. "That way Scott won't complain about having to play chauffeur."

The three teens walked to Pietro's car. Amara continued to rant about Bobby and his insensitive ways. Pietro and Kitty were silent, both completely absorbed in their own thoughts. When they arrived at the mansion, Amara bounded out with a quick "Thanks" leaving Kitty and Pietro sitting silently.

Kitty turned to look at the handsome teen. "Well, thank you for the ride. It was totally nice of you to offer when you didn't have to."

"No problem Pryde," replied Pietro smoothly looking at the brunette beside him. "So I'll see you in class tomorrow?"

"Yep," responded Kitty nonchalantly, avoiding his piercing blue eyes. "And we'll probably have to, like, practice again."

"Yep." Pietro was careful to avoid her eyes too.

"Well, bye." Kitty hopped out and closed the door. She offered him a small smile before turning to leave. 'Guess the kiss meant nothing to him. Stop it Pryde. You will not fall for that jerk. Even if he is handsome. No, don't think like that. He's a playboy. Don't let him play you.'

"Yeah, bye." Pietro's eyes followed her into the house. 'Damn. I think I've fallen for that X-Geek. What am I going to do?'

Kitty silently closed the door to the mansion and leaned against it lost in thought. Suddenly a pair of big brown eyes looked strait at her. "Amara!" cried Kitty surprised. "I thought you were, like, gone."

"So are you going to tell me why you were sucking face with the enemy or do I have to make Jean read you to find out?" Apparently the princess had seen more than she let on. All Kitty could do was gape at her friend with wide eyes.

Read and review plz. One chappy left. It'll be about my OC. And then the sequel will come with some interesting twists and TONS of Romy and Kietro fluff. REVIEW PLZ!! You know you want to.