Is it just me, or am I leaving you guys hanging at the end of every
chapter? What sort of cruel psychopath am I to do such a thing? But you
guys keep coming back to me...wow. People are reading my fiction, this is
so cool! Ok, breathe...not breathing, not breathing, not
breaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
a
***
Kitty (Oh my God, it's a girl!)
***
"Like, can you think of anything more totally boring than gym? Run laps, do pushups, hear the other students complain that you're using your powers to win...I mean, how can it get any worse?"
Rogue jerked her thumb towards the track field. "At least yer not on display, bein' gawked at." Way ahead of the rest of the runners, Anita sped along the track.
"Maybe you've been payin' more attention to her skin, Kitty, but I've had a good look at her face. She hates this; the girl is tryin' ta run away. She's all alone out there. Not one of us has spent time with her, and tha Brotherhood hasn't neither. I don' think she's one of 'em, Magneto's kids. She's just a girl who wants ta cry."
"I don't see any stretching going on, Miss Rogue!"
"Damn, I gotta go. Talk to you afta school, Kitty."
The Rogue stood up and jogged towards her sections to stretch out her legs. Kitty resumed her sit-ups, thoughtful. It had never occurred to her that a mutant in Bayville could not be connected to either Xavier or Magneto. Even Mr. McCoy, who had taught at the school for a time without joining either side, had been helped as a teenager by the Professor.
On the fortieth sit-up, her last, she resumed a normal sitting position and watched the metal teenager only get faster, having just lapped the rest of her group. Kitty already could hear the grumblings about mutant powers, but doubted that Anita really had super speed going for her. The girl had a very long stride and actually ran while the others barely jogged. As a past escapee of the vicinity of several explosions, the Shadowcat knew what it meant to really run. She could have kept pace with the new kid easily and only be slightly winded after, any of the Institute kids could have.
'Well...except for Kurt who just ports when he has to get away from something, the little bum.'
Surprised at her unkind thoughts, Kitty shook her head and got up to go where the rest of her section was gathering. Like Anita, she had done the track faster -but not quite so obviously, only enough to compete with the three quickest girls. Her motive for the extra speed was pure greed.
'Finish quicker and you can laze around, watching the snails overextend themselves to catch up.'
Another shaking of the head. When all of the groups finished warming up, they came together to find the activity of the day, relay races. Kitty couldn't help but laugh when the team captains fought over who got Anita. Bayville normally ignored mutants at best and treated them like a pox at the worst. The exception was when athletic competition was involved.
At first, when the students had just learned about mutants, their reaction was to never to pick them. The institute kids had been dumped into a 100% mutant group. It might have been a problem with the Brotherhood, but they never showed up for gym in uniform and had to sit on the bleachers instead of participating. Although a little stung, Kitty had enjoyed it. Her team won every time, no matter the activity or circumstances.
The losing teams couldn't even complain, because they had put them together and the gym teachers always gave speeches about students giving it their all no matter what. The mutants could hardly be told to hold themselves back after such speeches, so an unwritten rule came about that the mutants had to be evenly placed on all teams.
The only reason it wasn't an official rule, like the even division between girls and boys on coed gym classes, was because the teachers supposedly weren't allowed to treat mutants differently from the other kids. 'Yeah, like that never happens. I've, like, barely been able to hold onto an A average since it came out I was a mutant, and it's a fierce never-ending battle to be graded fairly.'
Anyway, instead of being enforced by the gym teachers, the students themselves made sure the teams were fair. They had gotten tired of running laps while the mutants enjoyed their victory rest on the lawn.
.
As it turned out, the three mutant girls attending class -Kitty, Rogue, and Anita- were the last runners on their respective teams. The Southern Bell and her perky friend shared a look as the second last group came towards them, inches apart. They weren't going to go slower on purpose as they normally did. Anita wasn't going to be set apart again.
Their hands were tagged and they were off. Ten seconds down the track, Anita sent a startled glance Kitty's way. She sent a warm smile back and the metal girl grinned and sped up. The X-Men matched the girl's pace every time she gained speed. Kitty felt winded for the first time in a long six weeks of gym and smiled determinedly. At the finish line, Rogue sent her another look and she nodded imperceptibly. It wouldn't do for the others to realize what they were going to do. Anita increased her pace on final time and the two did as well, but not enough. Fahls crossed the finish line a good two feet in front of Rogue, two yards ahead of Kitty.
Pryde did her best to hide her smile as the girl's teammates cheered her and tried to appear totally winded from the run. It was too bad the praise wouldn't last into the girls' locker-room. At least Anita was smiling between enormous gulps of air. From the way she had looked at lunch, it was the first time she had not looked sad the entire day.
The Shadowcat appeared to catch her breath and began her two Defeat Laps, keeping an eye on Fahls. The girl had moved away from her sprawled teammates and was walking off her run. She never saw it coming.
***
The ambulance performed CPR, so I'm alive, though I don't think I'm going to survive my readers' assassination attempts. Kind of stupid, since they want to know how my cliff hangers resolve. Anyway, aren't I cruel? In this case...not really. I just need to switch POVs. I'll be nice and post what "it" is sometime 11/1. I've posted one chapter from scratch for every day this fic has been online, so be grateful.
***
Kitty (Oh my God, it's a girl!)
***
"Like, can you think of anything more totally boring than gym? Run laps, do pushups, hear the other students complain that you're using your powers to win...I mean, how can it get any worse?"
Rogue jerked her thumb towards the track field. "At least yer not on display, bein' gawked at." Way ahead of the rest of the runners, Anita sped along the track.
"Maybe you've been payin' more attention to her skin, Kitty, but I've had a good look at her face. She hates this; the girl is tryin' ta run away. She's all alone out there. Not one of us has spent time with her, and tha Brotherhood hasn't neither. I don' think she's one of 'em, Magneto's kids. She's just a girl who wants ta cry."
"I don't see any stretching going on, Miss Rogue!"
"Damn, I gotta go. Talk to you afta school, Kitty."
The Rogue stood up and jogged towards her sections to stretch out her legs. Kitty resumed her sit-ups, thoughtful. It had never occurred to her that a mutant in Bayville could not be connected to either Xavier or Magneto. Even Mr. McCoy, who had taught at the school for a time without joining either side, had been helped as a teenager by the Professor.
On the fortieth sit-up, her last, she resumed a normal sitting position and watched the metal teenager only get faster, having just lapped the rest of her group. Kitty already could hear the grumblings about mutant powers, but doubted that Anita really had super speed going for her. The girl had a very long stride and actually ran while the others barely jogged. As a past escapee of the vicinity of several explosions, the Shadowcat knew what it meant to really run. She could have kept pace with the new kid easily and only be slightly winded after, any of the Institute kids could have.
'Well...except for Kurt who just ports when he has to get away from something, the little bum.'
Surprised at her unkind thoughts, Kitty shook her head and got up to go where the rest of her section was gathering. Like Anita, she had done the track faster -but not quite so obviously, only enough to compete with the three quickest girls. Her motive for the extra speed was pure greed.
'Finish quicker and you can laze around, watching the snails overextend themselves to catch up.'
Another shaking of the head. When all of the groups finished warming up, they came together to find the activity of the day, relay races. Kitty couldn't help but laugh when the team captains fought over who got Anita. Bayville normally ignored mutants at best and treated them like a pox at the worst. The exception was when athletic competition was involved.
At first, when the students had just learned about mutants, their reaction was to never to pick them. The institute kids had been dumped into a 100% mutant group. It might have been a problem with the Brotherhood, but they never showed up for gym in uniform and had to sit on the bleachers instead of participating. Although a little stung, Kitty had enjoyed it. Her team won every time, no matter the activity or circumstances.
The losing teams couldn't even complain, because they had put them together and the gym teachers always gave speeches about students giving it their all no matter what. The mutants could hardly be told to hold themselves back after such speeches, so an unwritten rule came about that the mutants had to be evenly placed on all teams.
The only reason it wasn't an official rule, like the even division between girls and boys on coed gym classes, was because the teachers supposedly weren't allowed to treat mutants differently from the other kids. 'Yeah, like that never happens. I've, like, barely been able to hold onto an A average since it came out I was a mutant, and it's a fierce never-ending battle to be graded fairly.'
Anyway, instead of being enforced by the gym teachers, the students themselves made sure the teams were fair. They had gotten tired of running laps while the mutants enjoyed their victory rest on the lawn.
.
As it turned out, the three mutant girls attending class -Kitty, Rogue, and Anita- were the last runners on their respective teams. The Southern Bell and her perky friend shared a look as the second last group came towards them, inches apart. They weren't going to go slower on purpose as they normally did. Anita wasn't going to be set apart again.
Their hands were tagged and they were off. Ten seconds down the track, Anita sent a startled glance Kitty's way. She sent a warm smile back and the metal girl grinned and sped up. The X-Men matched the girl's pace every time she gained speed. Kitty felt winded for the first time in a long six weeks of gym and smiled determinedly. At the finish line, Rogue sent her another look and she nodded imperceptibly. It wouldn't do for the others to realize what they were going to do. Anita increased her pace on final time and the two did as well, but not enough. Fahls crossed the finish line a good two feet in front of Rogue, two yards ahead of Kitty.
Pryde did her best to hide her smile as the girl's teammates cheered her and tried to appear totally winded from the run. It was too bad the praise wouldn't last into the girls' locker-room. At least Anita was smiling between enormous gulps of air. From the way she had looked at lunch, it was the first time she had not looked sad the entire day.
The Shadowcat appeared to catch her breath and began her two Defeat Laps, keeping an eye on Fahls. The girl had moved away from her sprawled teammates and was walking off her run. She never saw it coming.
***
The ambulance performed CPR, so I'm alive, though I don't think I'm going to survive my readers' assassination attempts. Kind of stupid, since they want to know how my cliff hangers resolve. Anyway, aren't I cruel? In this case...not really. I just need to switch POVs. I'll be nice and post what "it" is sometime 11/1. I've posted one chapter from scratch for every day this fic has been online, so be grateful.