Hello again people. Thanks to everyone who reviewed up to date.
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Chapter 8:
Shania walked down the hall, holding her coat in front of her. She had no idea where the kitchen was, and knew Logan had just proposed her to go there because he wanted her to leave Scott. Personally, she found it very funny for him to act so childishly when she was talking to another man.
She hoped he wouldn't do this all the time. Actually, she hopped he knew how much she loved him. If he did, he would know that she wasn't going to leave him for someone else.
She turned a corner and started walking down another hallway.
~Where the hell am I going?~ She asked herself, not recognizing any of the doors.
Suddenly, she saw a door open on her left and Jean appeared in the hall, holding a pack of folders.
"Hello," Shania said with a smile.
Jean returned the smile, but Shania noticed that there was some sort of reluctance in it. She ignored it.
"Tell me, where can I find the kitchen?" Shania asked politely. "I'm supposed to meet Logan there."
Jean just stared at her, an undefined look on her face.
"Take the first hallway to your left, then take the stairs and go right," Jean said finally, motioning her towards a crossing hallway. "It's right in front."
"Thanks," Shania said, walking away.
As she passed Jean, she saw the red-haired woman look at her in an odd way, then continue her way.
~Hum, well she doesn't seem to like me too much,~ Shania thought as she stared walking.
Finally, she reached the kitchen, and saw her lover sitting in a high stool in front of a rather large window that gave a perfect view of the gardens. He was sipping a beer silently and glanced in the entrance's direction when she came in.
"Where ya been?" he asked, turning the bench around to face her.
"Got lost," she simply said. "This place is so big. Met Jean and she showed me the way."
Logan's eyes rose lightly in Shania's direction at the mention of Jean.
"So," Shania continued. "How did you find this place?"
Now Logan was stuck. He didn't know if he should talk to her about the X-Men so soon. He didn't want to agree to the fact that he didn't know much about her. It was to say, Shania never talked about herself or her past. There was just something about her that Logan loved, and it was that that astonished him: he didn't know what it was.
"Well, I found this kid up north, her name's Rogue, and we sort of got into trouble with another mutant . . . Sabertooth. Scooter and Storm were there and they helped us out, then they brought us back here," Logan said. "And then I met Xavier."
"He's a fine man to have done all this," Shany said, walking towards him and sitting beside him. "I mean, he's done all this for mutants."
"Yes he is a great man," Logan said, glancing at Shania.
She smiled.
"So," she continued. "You think this place is . . . safe? Well, you know . . . from those people from Alberta. There are children here, and innocent people."
Logan didn't speak very quickly, analysing the question.
"Yes, it's safe," he said finally. "It's safe for us, and them."
"Good," Shania said, her elbow on the high counter, holding the side of her head, simply looking at Logan, who wondered why she would do that. Just stare at him.
"Tell me, what was all that about, in the garage?" she asked, after a while.
Logan growled.
"Nothing," he said, even if he knew she wasn't taking it. "It's just that . . . me and Scooter aren't in good terms."
"Well I can see that," Shania half whispered, smiling to herself.
"I think I'm gonna go rest a little," Logan said, getting up and stretching his arms above his head.
"Well I'm going to go look around a bit more," Shan said, kissing him before exiting. "I'll see you later," she added mischievously before getting out.
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During the rest of the afternoon, Shania had plenty of time to look around the whole mansion. She discovered the library, the common room, where the dorms were located, and met some of the students who were interested in knowing who she was. She met Ororo again and was able to count her as another person who wasn't hostile with her. In fact, Ororo was very interested in Shania, not only because she was new at the school, but also because she was an interesting person to talk too. Storm was vaguely wondering if she was going to become an X-Men, like them.
It was to say, Storm had noticed that the professor was keeping an eye on the girl, as if he was trying to evaluate if she was worthy of their trust. The odds were that she was.
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Around seven o'clock, Logan came to get her to bring her to dinner, which took place in a very big dinning hall with, of course, Ororo, Scott and Jean, and some of the students. We could count Rogue, Bobby, Jubilee and Kitty among them.
The professor, sitting at the end of the table came to ask a few questions to Shania in the middle of the meal.
"So, miss Hales," The professor started, interrupted by his interlocutor who asked him to call her Shania. "Well, Shania, we all know that you are a mutant, but what are your powers?"
A few of the people around the table looked at Shania, who just stared blankly at the professor in an odd way. She opened her mouth, but didn't speak, as she search for words.
"I . . . I have no idea," she said finally, to many people's surprise.
The professor looked at her, as if telling her to continue.
"You might think this is stupid, but I know I'm a mutant. I just . . . don't know what I can do."
"You don't remember," the professor said, not really questioningly but more as a matter of fact.
There was a moment of silence as Shania looked at his a strange way.
"You could put it that way, I guess," Shania said, visibly not comfortable.
She noticed Logan looking at her, along with many other people.
"Well, I'm sure we could help you figure out what it is," she heard Scott say, from the other side of the table.
She interiorly sighed of relief that someone had closed the subject. She looked at Scott for a moment, who had now turned back to his plate and wasn't paying attention to anything else. She looked back at her plate, took a bite of her steak, and had the strange feeling that someone was looking at her. She looked back up and saw Jean, looking at her in the same odd way. Their eyes met and Jean looked down, now talking to Bobby. Shania recognized him as one of the students that had talked to her.
The professor started another conversation, this time with a young Asian teenager with a bright yellow vest. People quickly started talking again.
"Why didn't you tell me?" she heard Logan whisper in her ear, making her faint smile disappear.
She didn't turn to look at him, recognizing some sort of adversity in his voice, as if he thought she couldn't trust her.
"Logan . . . It's just . . . it's nothing," she tried to say. "It's not important. I just didn't want to bug you with that. I don't like talking about my past," she whispered.
She felt him go back to his plate, still unconvinced.
For the rest of the dinner Shania talked to a few of the students, getting to know them a little.
It was then that she realized something about herself: She liked knowing people, and knowing about them, but she could never talk about herself. Somehow, she just couldn't. Maybe it was because she didn't like it.
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After dinner, they all decided that they were going to watch a movie in the common room. The students were given twenty minutes to get into their pyjamas and in the mean time, the teachers chose the two movies they were all going to watch. A little pushed by some of the students, Scott was forced to choose The Lord of the Rings and the latest James Bond. Two very long movies.
They was all installed around the large screen TV, the students on cushions and sleeping bags in front, and the teachers more in the back, on sofas.
Forgetting the incident during dinner, Logan and Shania cuddled in the back, whispering little things to each other during the movie, almost ignoring the others.
Jean and Scott were to their right in the next sofa, being a lot less demonstrative in their affection for each other. Sure, Scott had an arm around Jean's shoulders but it wasn't the same image than Shania and Logan.
After watching the first movie, Shania noticed that a girl was sometimes looking back at her and Logan. She had two white streaks in her hair, and somehow didn't look too happy. Shany sighed deeply. Another one that didn't seem to like her much. She was just starting to wonder if it was because she was with Logan, and that made her smirk.
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It was already midnight when they had finished watching the two movies, and all were ready to fall asleep right in the common room. Pushed by the teachers, the students slowly regained their rooms, followed by their superiors who didn't even come and check if everyone was in bed.
Around one in the morning, once everyone was asleep, Scott got dressed again and walked out of his room, careful of not waking Jean or anyone else. At the end of the hall, he made sure Logan and Shania were also asleep and then he walked down to the garage.
He carefully opened the door, started his car and drove off into the night. There was someone he had to see.
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No, he's not cheating on Jean. I could have put something like that, but I already know what to do. *Niark, niark . . .*
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