You know what? I'm nervous. You wanna know why? I might get a date for
Sadie Hawkins with a really cute guy. He even wants to get down and dirty
with me. Ugh but hey! **shivers** It better be good. well, let's get on
with the chapter. It's a bit dramatic, a bit of humor. Just imagine Britney
Spears' "Me against the Music" in the background.
Chapter Seven: Me Against The World
Timber glided out of the facility and flew straight into Lance's arms. He held her tight and looked towards the facility, expecting Pyro to be laughing his ass off controlling the fire. But he wasn't there. Timber pulled a strand of hair back and fell onto her butt on the cold soft grass.
"Where's Pyro?!" asked Remy concernly.
Timber shook her head slowly. "He forced me out. He said I would slow him down."
"Damn." Logan cursed himself. "I shouldn't have trusted him to get out on his own. That pipe must've cut him good."
"He couldn't carry me anymore. So I tried to make him promise ...."
Timber's voice trailed off when tears started down her face again. She quickly stood up, ignoring every pain in her body and ran towards the fiery facility building. Lance took several steps forward.
"Violetta!! Come back!"
Remy looked at Lance strangely. "Violetta?"
"It's her real name." mumbled Lance.
They both looked to Logan. He nodded sternly, remembering clearly her real name.
Violetta jumped up and cupped her hands around her mouth. "PYRO!! Anytime now!"
She dropped her hands and waited for an answer. There were only the sounds of falling building and fire crackling wildly. Violetta decided to try again.
"Pyro! C'mon!!"
She waited again. Silence. She clenched her hands into fists as her eyes narrowed angrily.
"Stop being stupid and come out!!"
From not too far behind, Lance, Remy, and Logan watched the young girl shout for the lost acolyte. Logan shook his head in sorrow as Remy gritted his teeth impatiently.
"For all we know, he could be dead already." Said Logan. His voice had no emotion.
Remy lashed around to the wolverine mutant. "That's all y' think y' know." He snapped.
Logan shook his head. "Depending on his wound and how much time he's got left."
Lance's eyes widened for a moment. He took a step forward again to see his sister clearly past the burning smoke making his eyes tear. (Do you really care for him that much, Violetta? He's the one that did get you into this mess.)
Finally, Violetta had enough. Her wings spread apart as she raised her hands high. A purple orb of light started to build up onto her wrist to her hand.
"Fine, if you won't come out. I'll just help you get out!" she shouted as warning.
Lance and Remy blinked several times and ran to stop Violetta. Logan took several steps ahead then stopped, realizing he wouldn't be able to. Instead, he looked up at the dark midnight sky and the sea of stars. Then he saw something flash. It was a meteor storm heading straight towards them.
"Violetta! No! You'll kill us all!!" shouted Lance as he reached his hand out.
Lance was the first to grab Violetta as Remy jerked her hand down quickly, dismissing the meteor. Violetta struggled hard and kicked anything her feet could reach. She managed to get her brother off of her but Remy was too strong. Violetta blinked, making her eyes a light purple neon glow. A purple light surrounded her, giving Remy a shock to let go. His hands quickly flew off of her as Violetta collapsed to the ground on her knees both weakened and hurt emotionally. She gently put her hands to her eyes to try and prevent her tears. Her eyes changed to her normal green silvery color but were filled with tears. Lance sat up and felt so guilty.
"You promised. You promised me didn't you? Right?" she paused then lashed her head up to the building, giving it the meanest glare. "RIGHT??!!"
It wasn't like she was expecting an answer. Instead, Violetta stood up and glided inside the burning building. Lance immediately stood up, trying to chase after her until he felt something pull him back by his vest. He turned around and saw Remy shaking his head slowly.
"If I were y' mon ami, I'd leave love alone."
Lance blinked and looked at him like he was a murderer for a moment.
*******
"I sware, if you're just playing around in here,"
Before Violetta could finish her sentence, a large piece of flaming wood landed in front of her. She shrieked and jumped backwards, letting several black feathers float down to the crisp soil. Her eyes wandered around furiously for the Aussie.
"Violetta."
She turned around and saw Lance at the exit waiting for her with a gentle warm smile.
"Let him come out on his own."
"But ..."
"Violetta!!"
She shook her head quickly until she saw another large piece of wood land in front of her again. But this time there was something on top of it. With much haste, Violetta snatched whatever was on it and raced out of the building with Lance.
"Oh my God." Violetta's soft fragile voice cracked.
Remy looked at what was in Violetta's hand with much fear. "And to think I thought he would be able to get out."
The Fire squad, Police, and Ambulance had just arrived at the scene. The Police were questioning Logan while Remy, Lance, and Violetta stood around in a circle gazing at what Violetta held. Her fingers rubbed along the tinted coloring of Pyro's sunglasses. The black holds were somewhat melted and had the scent of burnt wood along with it.
***********
Violetta was offered to stay at the Acolytes' base for the night by Remy. Since Rogue was going to be there, she decided to go. Also to put Pyro's sunglasses somewhere in his room. She walked down the cold halls and looked around at the rooms' doors. One had a rug on the bottom of it saying "No Visitors!". Another had a dart board hanging with several burnt cards on it. She figured that one was Remy's. Violetta walked a little more and stopped in front of a door that had a key connected to the lock with flame key chains dangling from the main ring. She twisted the door knob and entered his room.
There was a sweet scent that filled the air. It seemed similar to those fiery cinnamon mints Lance made her try once. She glanced around and was surprised to see Pyro's room like this. A maroon couch with black pillows was in front of the plasma television. A balcony was just past the kitchen area that had a little bar area too. She couldn't take anymore. Violetta rubbed her nose as if she was to sneeze and placed the sunglasses down for a moment. When she headed for the door, she turned back to it. It gleamed along with the moonlight, convincing Violetta she should keep it. She slowly walked over and picked them up then held it tightly in her hands. She then walked out, closing the door and leaving it the way it was.
**********
"Y' sure y' don't want to?" asked Remy holding onto Rogue.
Violetta nodded. "Yeah. I'll just stay with the X-Men. I feel safer there anyway. But I'll come by tomorrow."
Rogue walked up a little. "Mebbe we can call yuh if he comes?"
Violetta didn't answer and headed to her black thunderbird. The couple watched the black winged girl drive off towards the institute hoping that she wouldn't give up her hopes so easily. Rogue turned to Remy but didn't smile like he had expected her to.
"Do yuh really think he's still alive?"
Remy smirked. "'Course I do. I don't think Johnny would die that easily Cheri."
Rogue tilted her head to the left. "Yeah, but how come he never showed up?"
He shrugged. "I don't know how to answer that one."
************
Kitty Pryde invited Violetta to her room since Rogue was spending the night at Remy's. Everyone was already asleep. After all, it was 4:00 in the morning.
"I'm sorry I came so early." Said Violetta as Kitty opened the door.
Kitty shook her head. "Nah, it's like, okay. I was awake anyway."
After Kitty yawned and closed the door, Violetta was given a black tank top and tight sweat pants as pajamas. She slipped into Rogue's bed as Kitty did the same to hers. She clicked out the light and Violetta hoped to fall asleep instantly. But she didn't.
(Violetta's P.O.V.)
I kept on thinking of happy or depressing things. But it was hard. All these mixed feelings started to fill my other thoughts. But then it occurred to me, what did I think about to go to sleep? Just after I asked myself that, I remembered the stupid accident today. I couldn't believe I tried to go inside while the fire was still going and tired to find Pyro's sorry ass. Why did I even follow him to the air hockey rink anyway? Why did I murder Natasha Allerdyce? How did I? There were so many unanswered questions, I managed to lull myself to sleep that way instead.
I woke up instantly. I was surprised I didn't wake up to any noises knowing how many rowdy mutants are here in the institute. Slowly, I sat up. I was a little sore from last night but I was better than then. My eyes glanced over to the clock. It was already 12:00! Damn, I must've been pretty tired. Nothing was on my mind right now besides the craving for a blueberry muffin and strawberry milk. Maybe some cinnamon toast crunch too. I looked around again and something colorful caught my eye. Hanging from Kitty's white painted mirror was a calendar on the month February. I paused for a moment, sighing. Suddenly, I rushed up and pushed my finger on today's date.
"Valentine's Day is today!!?" I shouted.
Suddenly, the door was thrown open. My head lashed around and I saw Kitty and Pietro walking in together holding hands. Holding hands? What the heck?
"Kitty, what's up with the whole holding hands thing?" I asked concernly.
Pietro gave me a smirk of interest. Like the one he did when we first met.
"Oh, I dumped Lance last night. He was like, being sucha jerk. Always mentioning about how I don't care much about him."
As Kitty went on, I thought to myself that Lance needed more love and caring than Kitty thought he needed. He was the type of bad boy that was never really loved. I'm happy he's not one of those loner guys that try to commit suicide every three weeks. Suddenly, breaking my thoughts, Kitty's wrist nearly touched my nose it was so close. Dangling from her tiny wrist was a platinum silver bracelet. I arched an eyebrow, hoping she would get it out of my face before I imagined her fingers as cinnamon sticks.
"Like, lookit this Violetta! Pietro gave it to me today as like, a Valentine's day gift!"
I resisted the fact that I tried to bite her fingers off and pushed her wrist away, heading out the door. I couldn't stand Kitty and Pietro being together right after she broke up with Lance. Poor Lance. I added 'visit Lance' to my mental schedule today as I headed downstairs.
And to think Kitty was bad enough!! Downstairs, everyone had a couple to play tonsil hockey with! Jean to Scott. Bobby to Jubilee. Roberto to Rahne. Logan to Ororo. You name it, and they got a couple. It was hell. I walked past them while grabbing a blueberry muffin. I know it wasn't enough of a breakfast, but I'm sure you wouldn't want to deal with them. I decided to get dressed so I could go out to the mall and see what was on sale or something.
I got dressed into a red tight shirt with a tight white long sleeve shirt underneath and some dark blue baggy pants that went along perfectly with a pair of white shoes that looked brand new. I decided to leave my hair down and put on a black French lookin' hat. I looked at myself at Rogue's mirror. My heart and mind shouted with glee. After gazing angrily over at Kitty's mirror side, I grabbed my black Mudd purse and started down the Valentine Hell area.
"Hey, look at what Scott got me, Violetta!" cried Jean happily holding up a new sparkling watch and a box of chocolates.
I sighed and didn't bother stopping to see. I finished my makeup which is just putting on black eyeliner, mascara, sparkly pink lip gloss, and some foundation and powder, and got out of institute before another couple could torture me.
***********
Before heading to the mall's parking lot, I checked behind myself to see if I still had my wings out. Luckily, they rejoined back inside my body. I parked near the front of the mall and entered inside with my purse.
I had to admit, for a store full of Valentine's stuff, it wasn't as bad as the institute. But there was something wrong. Couples, were everywhere I looked! Even in Victoria's Secret! .Wait, of course they would be in there, if you know what I mean. I managed to slip into Pac Sun without anyone seeing me. Knowing the publicity around Valentine's Day, I'm bound to run into some horny single guy. Plenty of clothes were on sale. I was surprised that some of them had a bonus box of chocolates! Suddenly, a couple caught my eye on my left by the exit. They were holding up a newspaper to hide what they were doing. I glanced over a little more and saw the headline.
"Dangerous weapon destroyed Hospital Facility. Secrets exposed based on the most dangerous weapon to our society!"
My eyes widened as my hands started to shake. How the hell did they manage to get information? I raced over and snatched the newspaper from them. The couples moved apart, blushing, and somewhat a bit surprised. The girl narrowed her eyes on me strangely, straining to remember something.
"Hey, aren't you the girl that---"
"OH no, no, no, no! I think you should look at the article a little closer but I havta borrow this for the moment!"
I quickly slipped out of the store and flashed open the newspaper to read the article. Her eyes scanned the paper carefully with every nerve in my body shaking. I couldn't take much more of it so I crumpled it up and tossed it into the nearest garbage can I could find.
As I continued down the hall to the CD store, I was praying that my wings wouldn't sprout up. Since I saw that article, I started to get these weird feelings that something bad was going to happen. After looking left to right for that couple I saw earlier, I went into the CD store like nothing happened.
I saw a couple party mixes and decided to look at one. I figured that tonight the X-Men would want something to dance along to while celebrating their love for each other. I shivered. Just thinking about Pietro and Kitty made me sick in the stomach. Especially Jean and Scott, ugh. I gazed at the glittery CD cover that had several holiday mixes from the newest artists. But I honestly didn't want to listen to sappy music like 'Jingle Bells' or 'Silver Bells' or 'You're my Valentine' or all that other garbage. I went over to the other mixed CDs and found the perfect party mix with Ludacris, Michelle Branch, Good Charlotte and all those others. I picked it up from its tray and walked over to the buying counter. The woman at the counter turned to me and smiled.
"Is this all for today Miss?" she asked.
I nodded until something caught my eye behind her. There was the same exact pair of sunglasses that I found at the accident. I leaned closer to the counter to get a good look at it. Suddenly, I felt my throat getting funny, as if I was about to cry at any moment.
"Miss, are you alright?"
I turned to the woman and rubbed the bottom of my eye to prevent a tear. "Yeah, I'm alright." I looked back at the glasses as I gave the woman a twenty from my purse. "Hey, how much are those sunglasses?"
The woman looked at me for a moment and handed the sunglasses to me.
"They're on sale for five dollars! Would you like them?" she asked happily.
I nodded quickly. Of course I wanted that pair. I'll give it to Pyro for Valentine's day. After all, I'm sure he wouldn't want to wear his other one. The woman handed me a small bag and my change. After saying goodbye, I walked out of the store. But my happiness faded when I remembered. Pyro hasn't come back all day. Well, unless Remy and Rogue went out for Valentine's day to that parade. But I'm sure Piotr would call me.. Right? No, Lance would! Of course, Lance would! Like a reflex, I pulled out my cell-phone from my purse and dialed down the Boarding House's number. After the third ring, someone decided to pick up.
"Yo, talk to me."
I arched an eyebrow. "Todd, is Lance there?"
There was silence for a couple seconds. "Yeah he is. But I wouldn't wanna talk to him right now."
"Why? Is there something wrong? Is he out?"
"No yo, he's a little mad 'bout his kitty cat leaving him for Pietro."
Suddenly, there were several girly screams from Todd and some whining from Freddy in the background.
"Okay okay!! He's not a little mad! He's pissed off big time!!""
I moved the cell-phone away from me for a second then put it back against my ear.
"Well you don't need to scream." I responded calmly.
Todd took in a deep breath. "Would you like to leave a message yo?"
I nodded to myself. "Well, not really. Just tell Lance that I called okay? I'm sure he knows my cell number."
Todd gave an 'mmmm hmm' sound. "Okay I will."
"And before you go, Todd," I paused and felt stupid. "Did Rogue or Remy call?"
"Why would they call here?" he asked.
I sighed. "Yeah, you're right. I'll see you later, Todd."
I hung up the cell-phone before I heard Todd say goodbye. At that moment, I felt pretty stupid asking him if they called. I decided to sit down on a bench near the silver fountain. I gazed at it for a moment. It had an angel playing the harp. But there was something strange about the harp. I decided not to consider trying to solve it. It was probably something stupid anyway.
Chapter Seven: Me Against The World
Timber glided out of the facility and flew straight into Lance's arms. He held her tight and looked towards the facility, expecting Pyro to be laughing his ass off controlling the fire. But he wasn't there. Timber pulled a strand of hair back and fell onto her butt on the cold soft grass.
"Where's Pyro?!" asked Remy concernly.
Timber shook her head slowly. "He forced me out. He said I would slow him down."
"Damn." Logan cursed himself. "I shouldn't have trusted him to get out on his own. That pipe must've cut him good."
"He couldn't carry me anymore. So I tried to make him promise ...."
Timber's voice trailed off when tears started down her face again. She quickly stood up, ignoring every pain in her body and ran towards the fiery facility building. Lance took several steps forward.
"Violetta!! Come back!"
Remy looked at Lance strangely. "Violetta?"
"It's her real name." mumbled Lance.
They both looked to Logan. He nodded sternly, remembering clearly her real name.
Violetta jumped up and cupped her hands around her mouth. "PYRO!! Anytime now!"
She dropped her hands and waited for an answer. There were only the sounds of falling building and fire crackling wildly. Violetta decided to try again.
"Pyro! C'mon!!"
She waited again. Silence. She clenched her hands into fists as her eyes narrowed angrily.
"Stop being stupid and come out!!"
From not too far behind, Lance, Remy, and Logan watched the young girl shout for the lost acolyte. Logan shook his head in sorrow as Remy gritted his teeth impatiently.
"For all we know, he could be dead already." Said Logan. His voice had no emotion.
Remy lashed around to the wolverine mutant. "That's all y' think y' know." He snapped.
Logan shook his head. "Depending on his wound and how much time he's got left."
Lance's eyes widened for a moment. He took a step forward again to see his sister clearly past the burning smoke making his eyes tear. (Do you really care for him that much, Violetta? He's the one that did get you into this mess.)
Finally, Violetta had enough. Her wings spread apart as she raised her hands high. A purple orb of light started to build up onto her wrist to her hand.
"Fine, if you won't come out. I'll just help you get out!" she shouted as warning.
Lance and Remy blinked several times and ran to stop Violetta. Logan took several steps ahead then stopped, realizing he wouldn't be able to. Instead, he looked up at the dark midnight sky and the sea of stars. Then he saw something flash. It was a meteor storm heading straight towards them.
"Violetta! No! You'll kill us all!!" shouted Lance as he reached his hand out.
Lance was the first to grab Violetta as Remy jerked her hand down quickly, dismissing the meteor. Violetta struggled hard and kicked anything her feet could reach. She managed to get her brother off of her but Remy was too strong. Violetta blinked, making her eyes a light purple neon glow. A purple light surrounded her, giving Remy a shock to let go. His hands quickly flew off of her as Violetta collapsed to the ground on her knees both weakened and hurt emotionally. She gently put her hands to her eyes to try and prevent her tears. Her eyes changed to her normal green silvery color but were filled with tears. Lance sat up and felt so guilty.
"You promised. You promised me didn't you? Right?" she paused then lashed her head up to the building, giving it the meanest glare. "RIGHT??!!"
It wasn't like she was expecting an answer. Instead, Violetta stood up and glided inside the burning building. Lance immediately stood up, trying to chase after her until he felt something pull him back by his vest. He turned around and saw Remy shaking his head slowly.
"If I were y' mon ami, I'd leave love alone."
Lance blinked and looked at him like he was a murderer for a moment.
*******
"I sware, if you're just playing around in here,"
Before Violetta could finish her sentence, a large piece of flaming wood landed in front of her. She shrieked and jumped backwards, letting several black feathers float down to the crisp soil. Her eyes wandered around furiously for the Aussie.
"Violetta."
She turned around and saw Lance at the exit waiting for her with a gentle warm smile.
"Let him come out on his own."
"But ..."
"Violetta!!"
She shook her head quickly until she saw another large piece of wood land in front of her again. But this time there was something on top of it. With much haste, Violetta snatched whatever was on it and raced out of the building with Lance.
"Oh my God." Violetta's soft fragile voice cracked.
Remy looked at what was in Violetta's hand with much fear. "And to think I thought he would be able to get out."
The Fire squad, Police, and Ambulance had just arrived at the scene. The Police were questioning Logan while Remy, Lance, and Violetta stood around in a circle gazing at what Violetta held. Her fingers rubbed along the tinted coloring of Pyro's sunglasses. The black holds were somewhat melted and had the scent of burnt wood along with it.
***********
Violetta was offered to stay at the Acolytes' base for the night by Remy. Since Rogue was going to be there, she decided to go. Also to put Pyro's sunglasses somewhere in his room. She walked down the cold halls and looked around at the rooms' doors. One had a rug on the bottom of it saying "No Visitors!". Another had a dart board hanging with several burnt cards on it. She figured that one was Remy's. Violetta walked a little more and stopped in front of a door that had a key connected to the lock with flame key chains dangling from the main ring. She twisted the door knob and entered his room.
There was a sweet scent that filled the air. It seemed similar to those fiery cinnamon mints Lance made her try once. She glanced around and was surprised to see Pyro's room like this. A maroon couch with black pillows was in front of the plasma television. A balcony was just past the kitchen area that had a little bar area too. She couldn't take anymore. Violetta rubbed her nose as if she was to sneeze and placed the sunglasses down for a moment. When she headed for the door, she turned back to it. It gleamed along with the moonlight, convincing Violetta she should keep it. She slowly walked over and picked them up then held it tightly in her hands. She then walked out, closing the door and leaving it the way it was.
**********
"Y' sure y' don't want to?" asked Remy holding onto Rogue.
Violetta nodded. "Yeah. I'll just stay with the X-Men. I feel safer there anyway. But I'll come by tomorrow."
Rogue walked up a little. "Mebbe we can call yuh if he comes?"
Violetta didn't answer and headed to her black thunderbird. The couple watched the black winged girl drive off towards the institute hoping that she wouldn't give up her hopes so easily. Rogue turned to Remy but didn't smile like he had expected her to.
"Do yuh really think he's still alive?"
Remy smirked. "'Course I do. I don't think Johnny would die that easily Cheri."
Rogue tilted her head to the left. "Yeah, but how come he never showed up?"
He shrugged. "I don't know how to answer that one."
************
Kitty Pryde invited Violetta to her room since Rogue was spending the night at Remy's. Everyone was already asleep. After all, it was 4:00 in the morning.
"I'm sorry I came so early." Said Violetta as Kitty opened the door.
Kitty shook her head. "Nah, it's like, okay. I was awake anyway."
After Kitty yawned and closed the door, Violetta was given a black tank top and tight sweat pants as pajamas. She slipped into Rogue's bed as Kitty did the same to hers. She clicked out the light and Violetta hoped to fall asleep instantly. But she didn't.
(Violetta's P.O.V.)
I kept on thinking of happy or depressing things. But it was hard. All these mixed feelings started to fill my other thoughts. But then it occurred to me, what did I think about to go to sleep? Just after I asked myself that, I remembered the stupid accident today. I couldn't believe I tried to go inside while the fire was still going and tired to find Pyro's sorry ass. Why did I even follow him to the air hockey rink anyway? Why did I murder Natasha Allerdyce? How did I? There were so many unanswered questions, I managed to lull myself to sleep that way instead.
I woke up instantly. I was surprised I didn't wake up to any noises knowing how many rowdy mutants are here in the institute. Slowly, I sat up. I was a little sore from last night but I was better than then. My eyes glanced over to the clock. It was already 12:00! Damn, I must've been pretty tired. Nothing was on my mind right now besides the craving for a blueberry muffin and strawberry milk. Maybe some cinnamon toast crunch too. I looked around again and something colorful caught my eye. Hanging from Kitty's white painted mirror was a calendar on the month February. I paused for a moment, sighing. Suddenly, I rushed up and pushed my finger on today's date.
"Valentine's Day is today!!?" I shouted.
Suddenly, the door was thrown open. My head lashed around and I saw Kitty and Pietro walking in together holding hands. Holding hands? What the heck?
"Kitty, what's up with the whole holding hands thing?" I asked concernly.
Pietro gave me a smirk of interest. Like the one he did when we first met.
"Oh, I dumped Lance last night. He was like, being sucha jerk. Always mentioning about how I don't care much about him."
As Kitty went on, I thought to myself that Lance needed more love and caring than Kitty thought he needed. He was the type of bad boy that was never really loved. I'm happy he's not one of those loner guys that try to commit suicide every three weeks. Suddenly, breaking my thoughts, Kitty's wrist nearly touched my nose it was so close. Dangling from her tiny wrist was a platinum silver bracelet. I arched an eyebrow, hoping she would get it out of my face before I imagined her fingers as cinnamon sticks.
"Like, lookit this Violetta! Pietro gave it to me today as like, a Valentine's day gift!"
I resisted the fact that I tried to bite her fingers off and pushed her wrist away, heading out the door. I couldn't stand Kitty and Pietro being together right after she broke up with Lance. Poor Lance. I added 'visit Lance' to my mental schedule today as I headed downstairs.
And to think Kitty was bad enough!! Downstairs, everyone had a couple to play tonsil hockey with! Jean to Scott. Bobby to Jubilee. Roberto to Rahne. Logan to Ororo. You name it, and they got a couple. It was hell. I walked past them while grabbing a blueberry muffin. I know it wasn't enough of a breakfast, but I'm sure you wouldn't want to deal with them. I decided to get dressed so I could go out to the mall and see what was on sale or something.
I got dressed into a red tight shirt with a tight white long sleeve shirt underneath and some dark blue baggy pants that went along perfectly with a pair of white shoes that looked brand new. I decided to leave my hair down and put on a black French lookin' hat. I looked at myself at Rogue's mirror. My heart and mind shouted with glee. After gazing angrily over at Kitty's mirror side, I grabbed my black Mudd purse and started down the Valentine Hell area.
"Hey, look at what Scott got me, Violetta!" cried Jean happily holding up a new sparkling watch and a box of chocolates.
I sighed and didn't bother stopping to see. I finished my makeup which is just putting on black eyeliner, mascara, sparkly pink lip gloss, and some foundation and powder, and got out of institute before another couple could torture me.
***********
Before heading to the mall's parking lot, I checked behind myself to see if I still had my wings out. Luckily, they rejoined back inside my body. I parked near the front of the mall and entered inside with my purse.
I had to admit, for a store full of Valentine's stuff, it wasn't as bad as the institute. But there was something wrong. Couples, were everywhere I looked! Even in Victoria's Secret! .Wait, of course they would be in there, if you know what I mean. I managed to slip into Pac Sun without anyone seeing me. Knowing the publicity around Valentine's Day, I'm bound to run into some horny single guy. Plenty of clothes were on sale. I was surprised that some of them had a bonus box of chocolates! Suddenly, a couple caught my eye on my left by the exit. They were holding up a newspaper to hide what they were doing. I glanced over a little more and saw the headline.
"Dangerous weapon destroyed Hospital Facility. Secrets exposed based on the most dangerous weapon to our society!"
My eyes widened as my hands started to shake. How the hell did they manage to get information? I raced over and snatched the newspaper from them. The couples moved apart, blushing, and somewhat a bit surprised. The girl narrowed her eyes on me strangely, straining to remember something.
"Hey, aren't you the girl that---"
"OH no, no, no, no! I think you should look at the article a little closer but I havta borrow this for the moment!"
I quickly slipped out of the store and flashed open the newspaper to read the article. Her eyes scanned the paper carefully with every nerve in my body shaking. I couldn't take much more of it so I crumpled it up and tossed it into the nearest garbage can I could find.
As I continued down the hall to the CD store, I was praying that my wings wouldn't sprout up. Since I saw that article, I started to get these weird feelings that something bad was going to happen. After looking left to right for that couple I saw earlier, I went into the CD store like nothing happened.
I saw a couple party mixes and decided to look at one. I figured that tonight the X-Men would want something to dance along to while celebrating their love for each other. I shivered. Just thinking about Pietro and Kitty made me sick in the stomach. Especially Jean and Scott, ugh. I gazed at the glittery CD cover that had several holiday mixes from the newest artists. But I honestly didn't want to listen to sappy music like 'Jingle Bells' or 'Silver Bells' or 'You're my Valentine' or all that other garbage. I went over to the other mixed CDs and found the perfect party mix with Ludacris, Michelle Branch, Good Charlotte and all those others. I picked it up from its tray and walked over to the buying counter. The woman at the counter turned to me and smiled.
"Is this all for today Miss?" she asked.
I nodded until something caught my eye behind her. There was the same exact pair of sunglasses that I found at the accident. I leaned closer to the counter to get a good look at it. Suddenly, I felt my throat getting funny, as if I was about to cry at any moment.
"Miss, are you alright?"
I turned to the woman and rubbed the bottom of my eye to prevent a tear. "Yeah, I'm alright." I looked back at the glasses as I gave the woman a twenty from my purse. "Hey, how much are those sunglasses?"
The woman looked at me for a moment and handed the sunglasses to me.
"They're on sale for five dollars! Would you like them?" she asked happily.
I nodded quickly. Of course I wanted that pair. I'll give it to Pyro for Valentine's day. After all, I'm sure he wouldn't want to wear his other one. The woman handed me a small bag and my change. After saying goodbye, I walked out of the store. But my happiness faded when I remembered. Pyro hasn't come back all day. Well, unless Remy and Rogue went out for Valentine's day to that parade. But I'm sure Piotr would call me.. Right? No, Lance would! Of course, Lance would! Like a reflex, I pulled out my cell-phone from my purse and dialed down the Boarding House's number. After the third ring, someone decided to pick up.
"Yo, talk to me."
I arched an eyebrow. "Todd, is Lance there?"
There was silence for a couple seconds. "Yeah he is. But I wouldn't wanna talk to him right now."
"Why? Is there something wrong? Is he out?"
"No yo, he's a little mad 'bout his kitty cat leaving him for Pietro."
Suddenly, there were several girly screams from Todd and some whining from Freddy in the background.
"Okay okay!! He's not a little mad! He's pissed off big time!!""
I moved the cell-phone away from me for a second then put it back against my ear.
"Well you don't need to scream." I responded calmly.
Todd took in a deep breath. "Would you like to leave a message yo?"
I nodded to myself. "Well, not really. Just tell Lance that I called okay? I'm sure he knows my cell number."
Todd gave an 'mmmm hmm' sound. "Okay I will."
"And before you go, Todd," I paused and felt stupid. "Did Rogue or Remy call?"
"Why would they call here?" he asked.
I sighed. "Yeah, you're right. I'll see you later, Todd."
I hung up the cell-phone before I heard Todd say goodbye. At that moment, I felt pretty stupid asking him if they called. I decided to sit down on a bench near the silver fountain. I gazed at it for a moment. It had an angel playing the harp. But there was something strange about the harp. I decided not to consider trying to solve it. It was probably something stupid anyway.