AN: For those who have asked..

Beyond Evolution : http:// x-men.aifandom .com/ (without the spaces of course – since ffnet will not display URL's here)

Disclaimer: XME, no. Darcy Harper, yes.

Melt Me

Chapter Seven: Unwanted

***

Bayville Galleria, Saturday afternoon.

They'd been given the last weekend before the start of school off. No training, no Danger Room exercises. The fact of which a certain water mutant among the group was exceedingly grateful.

So, like all teenagers with nothing better to do, they had descended en masse upon the mall. Between Bobby's old car, Ray's truck, and Kitty's little hatchback, a good portion of the Institute's younger student body was represented that afternoon. Although the only ones brave enough to ride with Kitty were the Guthrie's.

Despite splitting up when they'd first gotten to the mall, it was only a matter of time before they regrouped. Everyone converging on the large round coffee kiosk at one end of the mall called The Java Spot.

Bobby and Darcy had been there first, sharing one of the large overstuffed chairs on the backside of the kiosk, looking for some privacy. They didn't get it for long though before they were overrun.

"I can't believe that summer is over already! It feels like we just got out, now we gotta go back to school already?" Jamie Madrox complained morosely, resting his chin on the postage stamp sized table. His companions echoed his sentiments wholeheartedly.

"At least it's our last year," Bobby pointed out cheerfully. Jamie just drooped lower, flicking a large stray crumb of his muffin across the table toward where Bobby sat crosswise in the chair; Darcy nestled between his spread legs like two spoons in a drawer.

"Speak for yourself, I'm only a sophomore," Jamie griped.

"Quit complaining, Jamie. You kids have like, got it made compared to what I have to go through!" Kitty laughed. "College is like, way harder than high school."

"Kids?" Bobby blurted, "You're only a year older than us!" He said, gesturing to include most of the group present.

"Yeah, well," Kitty explained. "I'm just like, more mature."

Bobby rolled his eyes. "Riiiiight. I'm surprised you're deigning to be seen with us children at the mall, then." He said sarcastically. Kitty made a face.

"You guys are still my friends, duh!" she told him.

On the far side of the group, Jubilee watched the exchange between Bobby and Kitty with miserable eyes as she chewed the straw of her caramel frappucino with a vengeance. Every detail of the way Bobby sat scrunched in the corner of the big chair so Darcy could share it with him burning into her mind. She couldn't tear her eyes away from the way Bobby draped himself over her, his arms folded around her shoulders, holding her to rest against his chest, his fingers toying with a lock of her long hair. They were so disgustingly cute together it made Jubilee want to scream at the very least. Mostly because the prevailing thought in her mind was that Bobby had never acted that way with her, and it was all she'd ever wanted. Was it so much to ask for?

It was apparent to her that her first tack had failed. Obviously Darcy hadn't taken her warnings and offers for advice seriously. Jubilee wasn't ruling out possibly playing the insecurity card with Bobby's new girlfriend again at a future point, but right now the two of them looked so completely smitten with each other. Lost in the first bloom of infatuation. Now Jubilee just had to bide her time until the novelty wore off with Bobby…and she was sure that it would.

In the meantime, it couldn't hurt to have a backup plan. She couldn't act directly against her rival – as unwitting as that rival may be – for fear of alienating Bobby. But it had occurred to Jubilee, as she watched Darcy struggle morning after morning to keep up with the most basic of Danger Room exercises, that Darcy's obvious dislike of the X-man training program may be her downfall. Jubilee just needed to find a way to exploit that misery. After all, if Darcy quit and left the Institute, then Jubilee could just swoop in to mend Bobby's broken heart.

Her attention was pulled back to the group when Amara, Tabby, and Roberto joined them. Telling them that they planned to head down to the movie theatre at the other end of the mall to see a horror movie.

"We'll go!" Bobby said quickly. Jubilee's eyes narrowed when she saw Darcy start to say she didn't like horror movies and then snap her mouth shut with a blush at whatever Bobby whispered in her ear.

"Sounds like fun," Darcy squeaked. Jubilee wanted to scratch her eyes out.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer," Tabby teased, leaning over to whisper in Jubilee's ear. Jubilee's spine stiffened that she'd been caught staring and she glared up at Tabby. Tabitha just winked at her, before moving past to sit on the arm of Ray's chair. Then without asking, she took his coffee out of his hand and drank some, just to get a rise out of him.

"Goddamnit, Boom-Boom, you better not backwash in that," Ray hissed.

"Whoops!" Tabby said with exaggerated cheerfulness.

Darcy was floating on air as she walked with her new friends down the length of the mall to the movie theatre. It was the first time she'd felt totally and completely normal in a very long time. If she closed her eyes she could almost pretend she was with her friends back home when they made the forty-minute drive to the mall in Sioux City.

The most notable difference from those days being the warm arm that was now draped over her shoulders as she walked along, her own arm circling his waist. If she played the denial game and only focused on the present – this very minute – then Darcy could unequivocally and honestly say that she was happy. And it was all because of the young man beside her.

She leaned her head in and tightened the arm she had around his waist briefly in an awkward hug. Bobby looked over at her and smiled at the unexpected gesture of affection. Pressing his lips against her temple briefly as they walked, giving her a quick kiss.

"I really don't like horror movies. I'm such a wimp, I'll probably spend the whole movie with my eyes closed," Darcy laughed.

Bobby chuckled softly and leaned closer. "Probably, since I intend to spend the whole thing kissing the lip gloss right off you."

Darcy felt like the tip of her ears were going to evaporate into steam as the heat climbed up her neck and cheeks and her stomach flip-flopped.

"And now the moment of truth," Roberto said from ahead of them where he, Amara, and Jamie lead the way. "Will Amanda be working today…?"

"I hope so," Kitty said. "Kurt, like, totally said she would be."

"Kurt's girlfriend Amanda works part time at the movie theatre," Bobby explained at Darcy's questioning look. "She's one of the only people there that'll sell us tickets."

"Why?" Darcy asked, before she could stop herself. She'd been so at ease she'd almost forgotten.

Tabby came up on the other side of Darcy, and before she could react, leaned over and planted a big kiss on Darcy's cheek, leaving a bright red lipstick print as a souvenir. "Oh, you are just a little doll!" Tabby crowed, delighted. "Don't ever change!"

Bobby half seriously scowled at Tabby, pulling Darcy closer and making shooing motions at the blonde girl. "Mine! Go find your own." Bobby scolded.

"Oh, I plan on it," Tabby teased in response, giving Bobby a salacious wink, before hurrying up to walk with Amara and Roberto.

Darcy blushed and scrubbed at the lipstick print with the heel of her hand. "I meant, why wouldn't the other employees sell you tickets? We still have rights under the fourteenth amendment last time I checked."

"Maybe where you're from. Around here there's just an over abundance of: 'We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone' signs. Which they conveniently choose to enforce whenever we come around." Jubilee said bitterly. Glad the acidity of her tone could be attributed to mutant rights, and not the fact that Bobby was smilingly wiping the lipstick print off Darcy's cheek with his thumb.

"That's not right," Darcy said, twisting out from under Bobby's hand to look back at Jubilee. Jubilee gave her a wide smile, but it didn't reach her eyes, and she shrugged noncommittally.

"Welcome to Bayville."

Darcy wasn't sure how to respond to that. Ever since discovering she was a mutant, she'd been lucky in that she had been spared any anti-mutant hostility and discrimination from the general public. She'd gotten more than her share from her family though, enough to last a lifetime.

She was saved from having to say anything by their arrival at the box office. Darcy reached into her pocket to fish out some of the money that Alex had given her to pay for her ticket, but Bobby stopped her.

"I'll get it," he told her, and then gave her one of those grins. "You can pay me back later."

Darcy stopped stock still at the double entendre she thought she heard in Bobby's voice. "Whaaat?" she demanded.

"See? I told you…all he wants is sex." she heard Jubilee's silky voice in her ear, like a buzzing insect, and she could feel Jubilee's presence almost against her back. But when Bobby turned back around from the ticket window, a confused expression on his face, Jubilee was gone. Like she'd never been there.

"What, 'what'?" Bobby asked. "I meant that you could pay next time we go if you want. What did you think I meant?" he chuckled.

Darcy glanced over, but Jubilee was already heading into the theatre with Jamie and Sam. Darcy shook her head slightly - she must be imagining things – and took Bobby's proffered hand. Smiling back up at her boyfriend. It gave her such a thrilling rush tingling up her spine whenever she thought of him as such.

"Do you mind getting us some popcorn?" Bobby asked once they were inside, handing her his change from the tickets. "I'll get us seats and meet you inside," he told her before heading down the theatre hallway toward the restrooms.

The theatre was relatively quiet considering it was the last weekend before school, and so there were only about three people ahead of her when Darcy got in line at the concession stand. The girls ahead of her looked to be about her own age and Darcy smiled at them warmly when they looked at her. Her smile fell away however when they didn't return her friendly gesture. In fact, they were downright rude as they deliberately turned their backs on her and kept talking.

Another line at the counter opened, and the attendant called for the next person in line. Darcy walked over to the counter and the young man working the counter glared at her. "I'm sorry, Miss, but you just cut in front of these people," he snapped.

Darcy glanced behind her and saw a middle aged couple who were just walking up to the counter. Confused, Darcy turned back to the employee. "No I didn't," Darcy told him. "I was next in line. I was behind them." Darcy motioned to the girls at the next cash register.

"No, she wasn't!" One of the girls said nastily. Darcy's jaw dropped that they were so obviously lying.

"May I help you, Sir?" The employee in front of Darcy said, dismissing her as he addressed the man in line behind Darcy. Darcy's temper started to rise at the horrible unfairness of the way she was being treated.

"You may not!" Darcy said loudly. "I was next in line. It's my turn!"

"It's all right. The young lady was next…" The gentleman in line behind Darcy was saying. Embarrassed at the situation. The concession employee looked angry enough to chew metal and spit out nails as he glared at Darcy with enough hatred to make her skin crawl. Instead it just made her madder, and she could almost feel the feeble control she had wanting to slip away.

"I'm invoking my right to refuse service to a mutant," the concession stand guy spat. The couple behind Darcy gasped in shock and backed away. The girls in the next line looked on avidly, their eyes sparkling with malice. Darcy's face burned to have so many people staring at her, and with such hostility too.

She was so angry she couldn't even find the words to express her outrage at the blatant bigotry of the idiot behind the counter. Hot tears burned behind her eyes that she refused to let fall, but it was a tenuous hold she had over her emotions at the moment. She clenched her teeth and her fists, her nails biting into her palms.

"I just want…a large drink…and a medium popcorn. That's all," Darcy ground out slowly.

"You're disrupting the other customers, mutie, now get out of here and go take your seat before I have an usher throw you out," the guy said bravely. He seemed to feed on how upset and helpless she was, like it was making him empowered.

"Yeah! Throw her out!" the girls near Darcy chanted. "Throw her out! Throw her out!"

Darcy literally shook with humiliation and anger, and she could suddenly feel the water coursing through the pipes of the building like she could feel her blood rushing through her veins. The water straining at its confines…wanting to be unleashed.

The concession employee's eyes widened and then narrowed to angry little slits as the hoses in his drink dispenser rattled and shook inside the metal housing. "Whatcha gonna do, mutie? Use your powers?" he taunted.

"Howard! Back off!"

Howard, the concession employee, bristled as Amanda crossed the lobby from the box office in long purposeful strides. Like some beautiful avenging angel. Darcy nearly sobbed with relief to see Tabby and Amara following along with her. Her saviors.

"It's my right! I don't have to serve their kind!" Howard said petulantly as Amanda lifted the partition and went behind the counter. Her dark eyes angry as she pinned Howard to the spot like a bug.

"Go take your break, you close minded little worm…" Amanda hissed quietly, and then turned those deadly orbs on the high school girls. "Your movie is starting," Amanda said with exaggerated sweetness. The middle-aged couple, Darcy discovered, had fled to their theatre once things had heated up, and the other concession employee, the one who had been helping the girls, suddenly found something vastly important to do in the back room when Amanda gave her a pitying glare.

"Mutie lover!" Howard said nastily as he stomped out of the concession stand.

"Every damn night!" Amanda retorted hotly.

"You go girl! I know who wears the pants with you and Blue now…and it sure ain't Blue!" Tabby laughed, and high fived Amanda over the counter. Amanda laughed softly.

"Are you okay, Darcy?" Amara asked, putting her arm around her shaking roommate. Darcy shook her head, tears slipping down her cheeks as she gritted her teeth. "Is it your powers?" Amara whispered, so no one else could hear. Darcy nodded and gasped, trying to get her emotions back under control. "Do you want me to go get Bobby?" Amara asked her gently.

"No!" Darcy blurted, and as she did she felt things bubble up in her and then recede, her control coming back. She didn't want Bobby to see her lose her cool, not since he was her teacher too. She didn't want him to know how close to the edge she really was. She drew a shaky breath and managed a small smile and reassuring nod for Amara when the darker haired girl asked again if she was all right, before looking up to Amanda.

"Thank you for stepping in. I hope you don't get into trouble because of me." Darcy said sincerely. Kurt's girlfriend smiled and made a dismissive gesture with her hand.

"They won't dare, they're all scared of my father…the attorney," she laughed, and then took her order. Darcy was still trying to calm her racing heart as Amara petted her long hair soothingly.

"This kind of thing has never happened to me before," Darcy said suddenly, and to no one in particular. Amanda smiled sympathetically as she filled up a large cup of soda.

"Well, sweetie, I'm afraid to say that it probably won't be the last time if you're planning to stay here in Bayville and live at the Institute," Amanda said regretfully.

Amanda's words stuck with her as she paid for their snacks and carried the concessions into the theatre, Tabby and Amara on either side of her.

"Is it really always this bad?" Darcy asked softly as they walked up the access aisle into the theatre. Tabby took a handful of Bobby's popcorn and shoveled it into her mouth.

"Sometimes," Amara said quietly. "School can be bad, but after a while you just learn to ignore it. It's mostly name-calling, its rare when people get violent."

Darcy looked up at the stadium seating before her. The actual movie being busier than the lobby had let on. She saw Bobby waving at her from the last row at the very top of the theatre and she started following Tabby up the stairs to where their group had taken over the last two rows. The row in front of that was completely empty – despite the crowd.

"Like sitting at the back of the bus!" Tabby called out stridently from ahead of Darcy. Her blue eyes boldly meeting anyone's who challenged her, but most looked away uncomfortably.

Darcy watched with some amusement as Tabby climbed over Jubilee and made Jamie switch seats, just so she could sit between Ray and Amara. Darcy moved down the mostly empty aisle that Bobby was in to sit beside him. The lights were dim in the theatre, but Bobby still gave her red blotchy face some concern.

"Something happen?" he asked, setting their popcorn down in the empty seat between he, Sam and Jamie before turning to face her. Darcy shrugged. Even though their friends in the row below were facing forward, Darcy knew they could hear her, and since Jubilee was directly in front of Bobby, Darcy didn't want to get into it there. Not while she still felt like she'd been sucker punched.

"Yeah, but I don't want to talk about it. I'll tell you later if you want to know," she said softly. Amara twisted around in her seat to glance at them, and that glance seemed to tell Bobby all he needed to know. He flipped the armrest up and put his arm around Darcy's shoulders, pulling her in closer to his chest as he leaned back in his seat.

"You got hassled at the candy counter, didn't you?" Bobby asked. Darcy nodded, resting her head on his shoulder. Bobby squeezed her gently. "I should have stayed with you," he said regretfully. "You're new here so I thought you wouldn't get harassed because they don't know you. I'm sorry."

"If you knew this kind of thing went on here…why didn't you tell me?" Darcy murmured, turning her face inward to the juncture of Bobby's neck and shoulder. Seeking that feeling of peace she found whenever she was close to him.

Bobby didn't answer, and she knew why. It was the same as why he hadn't told her about his ex-girlfriends, because she wouldn't have come if she'd known. Darcy didn't like the feeling she was being manipulated. Like she'd been played by Scott and the others from minute one just to get her to come to Bayville.

"I know it's kinda hard, but you have to learn to not let it get to you. Just shake it off. They're closed minded idiots, they don't know us, and they don't want to know us…and that's their loss. It's pathetic and sad really," Bobby said for her ears only.

Darcy sniffled and nodded her head, wrapping her arms around Bobby's waist as she burrowed closer to him. The lights went out, bathing them in darkness a moment before the screen lit up to show some trailers.

"Now were talking," Bobby said quietly, and despite how upset she was, Darcy couldn't help but smile. She tipped her face up to see him grinning down at her before he gave her a most welcome kiss. Somehow Bobby could make everything seem better, and she hugged him tighter when the kiss was over.

"Hey! Who swiped my popcorn?"

***

Xavier Institute, 7:00 am, Monday, First day of school.

"Darcy! Get up!"

Darcy groaned and pulled her pillow over her head, trying to block out Amara's voice. But the Nova Roman princess wasn't having any of it and she sat down on Darcy's backside as the she lay on her stomach and tried burying herself deeper under her pillows.

"Get up, get up, get up," Amara chanted, bouncing up and down on her roommate. She'd found that bodily accosting Darcy was the only way to get her moving in the morning. "Bathroom is free, but it won't be for long and it's the first day of school…so move it!" Amara yelled, dragging the pillows off her head.

"What are you? My own personal alarm clock?" Darcy growled.

Amara, freshly dressed and pressed and looking more than fine in her own opinion, rolled her eyes toward the ceiling. In the two and a half weeks that Darcy had been her roommate she'd learned one thing as absolute truth, Darcy was not a morning person.

"Ha! It's just payback for how you keep me up half the night snoring, drool girl," Amara teased. She got the desired reaction when Darcy sat straight up, the expression of shocked outrage on her face almost comical.

"I don't snore!" she told Amara emphatically. "I don't drool either."

"I know it," Amara laughed. "But since you're up…" She pointed toward the door in a not so subtle hint to get ready.

Twenty minutes later, as Amara steered a showered and dressed – though still mostly asleep – Darcy down to breakfast, she wondered at the wisdom of the Professor in making Darcy her roommate.

The kitchen was bustling as various students tried to gain their sustenance before the day started. Dorian Leech and Paige Guthrie were already giving their dirty dishes to Storm as they dashed to catch a ride to the Junior High from Kitty on her way to college.

Darcy slumped into a chair at the end of the kitchen table, not awake enough to risk getting trampled in the crowd while she hunted up something for breakfast. She was a night owl by nature – or had become one since leaving Iowa and her early rising family – now it seemed she was back amongst those who greeted the dawn personally.

"Want some oatmeal?" Jamie asked from where he sat on her left. Darcy grunted something non-intelligible that Jamie construed to mean yes, and he grabbed an empty bowl from the stack in the center of the table and served Darcy up a bowl from the cooker pot Ororo had placed beside it.

"Cinnamon and raisins?" Jamie asked her. Darcy shrugged again, her blue eyes at half-mast. "Brown sugar and milk?" Jamie asked rhetorically as he just continued making Darcy's breakfast for her. "How about some orange juice?"

"For god's sake, Multiple! You gonna feed it to her too?" Ray snapped from the other end of the table where he was working through his own bowl of cereal and reading the comics.

"Wouldja mind?" Darcy asked Jamie lazily, and stuck her tongue out at Ray when she caught his eye. Ray just looked annoyed and went back to his comics.

Jamie grinned and scooped up some oatmeal on a spoon and held it out to Darcy. She took the spoon from him with a little grin and slid the bowl over in front of her. "I think I've got it, thanks," she told him.

She ate her oatmeal slowly, seeming to move at half the speed of everyone else as they scarfed their breakfasts in order to catch the varying modes of transportation leaving for school.

"I'm leaving in five whoever's riding with me," Ray announced, clearing his dishes. Jamie hopped up and grabbed his backpack and an orange and trotted after Ray.

"Wait up!" Rahne called after them, trying to gulp down the last of her coffee. She took her toast with her as she hurried off.

Jean and Scott walked into the kitchen debating over whose turn it was to drive the younger students to school that morning.

"I drove them on the last day, it's so your turn, Scott," Jean told her boyfriend. Scott ran a careless hand through his rumpled hair to scratch the back of his neck.

"No way! I had to take them on that field trip, that ought to count for at least a weeks worth," Scott retorted, filling his coffee cup. Jean's mouth dropped open and she fisted her hands on her hips.

"I don't think so, Summers. You wanted to take that recruitment so you could see your brother. That doesn't count."

"I have an idea," Ororo said quietly from the sink where she was cleaning up from making breakfast for a baker's dozen or so of the mansion's residents. "You could stay here and clean up the kitchen after everyone, and I'll take them to school," she said mildly.

"No, that's fine, Storm…we'll…uh…work it out, right, Jean?" Scott said quickly.

"Absolutely. Um, Scott…why don't you take them today – since I have class with the Professor - and I'll drive them tomorrow, is that fair?" Jean asked, imploring Scott with her eyes to go along with her. Scott bobbed his head like he belonged on a dashboard.

"No problem, you, uh…mind if I borrow your SUV then?"

"No, not at all…" Jean said quickly.

At the table, Amara, Darcy, and Tabitha watched the exchange like it was tennis as they volleyed back and forth. Tabby was holding her sides as she laughed loudly.

"They're like those two chipmunks in the cartoons," Tabby gasped out.

Scott failed to see the humor and he checked his watch grumpily. "Where's Drake? I can't take everybody, even in Jean's car."

Bobby sailed into the kitchen with his usual perfect timing, Sam on his heels. "Somebody say my name?"

"Great, you're here, but where are Jubilee and Roberto? Why do I have to chase them down? They're the ones with school…" Scott griped and left the kitchen to round up the missing. Jean just smiled smugly into her coffee as she leaned against the counter next to Ororo.

Darcy pushed around her cold half eaten oatmeal and yawned hugely behind her hand. "Morning starts too early," she told the bowl. Bobby plopped down in the chair next to her with a bagel and a glass of orange juice.

"You riding with me this morning?" he asked around a mouthful of bagel. Darcy turned her sleepy blue eyes on him and half smiled, the expression on her face making Bobby's pulse speed up a little. She looked way sexy with her half opened eyes and enigmatic smile.

"You mean I have a choice?" she teased, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, you could ride with Scott."

She blinked slowly. She'd never ridden with Scott, and so had no basis for comparison, she just enjoyed flirting with Bobby.

"I'll take you," she told him, and smiled. Letting his imagination run away with him on that one. Which obviously it did since she saw his ears get red.

Bobby hid his grin behind his orange juice as his dark eyes met hers over the rim of the glass and held them.

"It just gets so thick around here sometimes, don't you think?" Amara asked Tabby innocently. "Like you need a knife to cut it."

Tabby rested her chin on her hand as she watched Darcy and Bobby grin at each other like a couple of loons. "I dunno, I think it's kinda cute. And watching Bobby-pop make a colossal ass of himself is always entertaining," she observed.

"Tabby!" Jean scolded her for language. Tabby rolled her eyes, since Jean was behind her. Amara just bit her tongue.

"You ready for your first day, Darcy?" Ororo asked gently. Darcy tore her eyes away from Bobby reluctantly and nodded.

"I guess so," she said with a smile.

"Then let's hit it," Bobby said, hopping up from his chair. "Sooner we get there, the sooner it's over with."

"Nice attitude there, Bobby," Jean chided. Bobby gave her his most winning grin and shrugged.

"How about all the girls ride with me so I look good when we show up at school?" Bobby joked as he followed Darcy, Amara, and Tabby out the door.

"Aw, man…that's harsh." Sam complained as he brought up the rear of the group.

Ororo shook her head in the almost deafening stillness of the deserted kitchen. "And just think, tomorrow it's your turn," Storm said to the slender redhead beside her. Jean snorted indelicately.

"Yeah right, like that'll happen."

***

Bayville High School, lunchtime.

The cafeteria of Bayville High was a divided camp. It had been so ever since mutants had been exposed. On one side were the mutant haters, aka the jocks, who felt it was their personal mission in life to harass and provoke every mutant they came across. Middle ground was occupied by those neutral to the discrimination and persecution mutants suffered, yet not willing to openly support them and possibly be tagged 'mutie-lover'. The far side of the cafeteria was mutant territory. Anyone sitting at those tables automatically made themselves a target.

Bobby sat with his back to the wall – for the same reason he'd chosen the last row of the theatre, so he could see whatever might get thrown at him – and watched the door, waiting for his girlfriend.

He'd dropped her off at the Principal's office to get her schedule right at the first bell, and hadn't seen her since. So far she didn't seem to be in any of his classes, but he found it odd that he hadn't seen her in the halls yet either. He had her lunch, she'd been so nervous when they'd gotten to school that she'd forgotten to take it from him.

When she finally walked into the cafeteria she seemed to brighten his whole day and he couldn't help but stare at her unobserved for a moment as she hesitantly looked around.

"Hey new girl! Why don't you come and sit with us?" Kevin Donaldson, one of the big blonde jocks on the baseball team – the one who'd replaced Bobby when they'd kicked him off for being a mutant actually – called over to Darcy. Bobby scowled.

Darcy smiled politely, tucking her hair behind her ear – a sure sign she was nervous he'd discovered – and shook her head. "No thank you, I'm looking for someone."

"Well, you won't find them on that side of the cafeteria. That's where the freaks sit," Kevin laughed and patted the bench seat next to him. "I see you don't have any lunch, come sit down…I'll share mine."

Even from across the room, Bobby could see the way his girlfriend's spine stiffened at the mention of freaks. Her whole demeanor became bristling and defensive. "Freaks?" she questioned archly, and those unusually pale eyes of hers narrowed.

"The Mutie's," Kevin said, jerking a thumb over his shoulder. "Come on, sit down and have some lunch with me, and I'll show you all the ropes before fourth period starts…" he said coaxingly, reaching out and clasping Darcy's wrist loosely.

"Pass," Darcy said flatly, removing her wrist deftly from his grasp. "I already have a boyfriend to 'show me the ropes' around here." She told him and without looking back, crossed the cafeteria to where her friends sat. She gave Bobby a wide and genuine smile as she sat down next to him.

"Do you think I can bum some of your lunch? I'm starving," Darcy asked. Bobby grinned and set her lunch bag in front of her.

"I can do you one better, how about your very own lunch?"

"You are absolutely wonderful!" Darcy said with feeling, digging into the sandwich Ororo had packed for her with gusto. Bobby grinned smugly.

"Never, ever tell him that…or you won't be able to stand him," Ray offered from down the table as he guarded his lunch from Tabitha's nibbling. "Boom-Boom, quit poaching off my chips."

"I don't care, he can get a swelled head all he wants. For this," Darcy said around a mouthful of sandwich. "He's a prince."

The table at large groaned loudly at the opening Darcy had just given Bobby to be crude, but instead he folded his arms behind his head and leaned back with a grin – which was somehow worse.

"That's it, I'm out of here. No way am I gonna stick around and see how this conversation deteriorates," Ray said, finishing off the last of his chips.

"Wimp," Bobby said cheerfully.

Once Darcy had finished her food, they still had over a half an hour of lunch period left, so excusing themselves from the others they wandered out toward the mostly deserted bleachers of the football field. Comparing their schedules, Bobby was relieved to learn that he and Darcy would at least have fourth and fifth period together.

"I was afraid I'd never get to see you," Bobby laughed.

Darcy gave him one of her smiles, that slightly shy, slightly wicked expression of hers that made his pulse race and his mind run to the gutter. "There's always after school," she told him.

Bobby knew she meant the comment innocently. She was innocent, he could tell by the way she was still so shy around him, always letting him make the first move, letting him initiate the teasing and flirting between them. But he also noticed that she was slowly starting to be more comfortable with him, that she needed him. He saw it in the way she had turned to him after the incident at the theatre. The way her eyes followed him whenever she was feeling unsure. She was so fragile at times; she made him feel like a hero.

He leaned forward and kissed her softly on the lips, reading the invitation in her gaze. He ought to ask her how her classes were going so far, whether she liked any of her teachers, whether she liked Bayville High. Any number of things to show her that he was interested in her feelings, that he wasn't just constantly trying to get her alone so that he could get his hands on her.

But he couldn't help himself, and when he felt the touch of her soft lips against his, he deepened the kiss. Touching the crease of her lips with his tongue until she opened her mouth for him, welcoming him.

He brought his hand up to cradle her face, to hold her to him as he kissed her passionately. Tasting her, exploring her mouth, he couldn't get enough of kissing her he was discovering. Every day he was learning something new about his mysterious little water mutant. The more time he spent with her - the more she began to trust him, the layers of her shyness and reticence peeling away like an onion - the more he wanted to know about her.

She moaned softly into his kiss, and he nearly lost it, his body responding to her, as he got uncomfortably aroused. Thank god his khaki's were baggy. He pulled back from her face with a ragged breath – wondering if they could disappear under the bleachers for a while – when he remembered where they were. Semi-public was no place for the kind of tongue tangling kiss they'd just shared. His preferred place would be anywhere he could get her horizontal for it.

"Bobby…" she sighed, leaning her torso into his hand as he held her to him, and he realized the heel of his palm was skimming the gentle swell of the outside of her breast and his body throbbed. He supposed it was a good thing that he was intensely – and that was putting it mildly – attracted to his girlfriend. More than he'd ever been with any girl before, but at the same time it was a little overwhelming with all the associated implications. He didn't need another Jubilee on his hands.

He yanked his hand away like he'd been scalded as he remembered how Jubilee had gone from casual pseudo girlfriend, to psycho possessive stalker on him once they'd had sex. Darcy looked mildly hurt, like he was rejecting her and he put his shaking hand on her shoulder.

"I don't want anyone to see us," he explained. Her eyes widened and the hurt look intensified.

"Are you ashamed of me or something?" she asked him sharply. Bobby panicked a moment, Jubilee flashbacks overlaying Darcy's beautiful face, before he snapped to. Darcy wasn't Jubilee, they had completely different personalities, Darcy was far more sensitive than Jubes, and he could see how she might misunderstand him.

"Of course not. You're my girlfriend - I love kissing you. I just don't want to put on a display for anybody walking by – we should keep that kind of thing private, don't you think?" Bobby asked her. Darcy still looked wary.

"It was just a kiss," she said softly, lowering her eyes. Bobby leaned toward her again, pressing his lips against the wispy hair at her temples, the bright electric blue strand of her hair soft against his mouth.

"It's more than a kiss when you get me this hard," he whispered in her ear. Her face turned as bright as a cherry and her mouth fell open.

"Bobby!" she gasped. His Innocent again. He grinned, the urge to tease her overwhelming him.

"It's true, if you want proof we can go under the bleachers…" he taunted her. He didn't think she could get redder, but she did.

"Bobby!" she squealed again. He looped his arm over her shoulders, keeping his mouth near her ear. He'd teased her just to see what her response would be, but he didn't expect that her squirming and blushing would inflame his imagination so much.

"Is that a yes, or a no?" he purred in her ear, letting his breath trail over the shell shape until she shuddered. He was definitely intrigued by how responsive she was to him, and he had to squelch that train of thought or he'd never get rid of his boner.

The first bell rang and he groaned silently, he was starting to give serious consideration to ditching fourth period to make out with his girl under the bleachers, but that sort of thing just wouldn't do…not on the first day anyway.

"Saved by the bell," Darcy laughed shakily.

"You got a reprieve, that's all," Bobby joked and took her hand. Tugging her up after him to head back toward the classrooms. He put his arm around her shoulders again as they crossed the field, needing to touch her, even though it made it harder to calm his body down. He took deep breaths, lowering his body temperature in an effort to reduce his swelling.

"Are you going to be able to…um…you know…function?" Darcy asked him shyly. Bobby blinked.

"I beg your pardon?"

"You know, because of your…uh…problem…" she said helplessly.

"You mean the massive throbbing erection that you gave me with your hot kisses?" he said dramatically. She blushed even harder. "Is that the problem to which you are referring? My chub? My boner? My wood?" he kept teasing. Loving how flustered and embarrassed she got.

"Bobby, stop!"

"Stop what? Stop talking about my stiffy?" he grinned.

"Yes please," she said primly. Bobby shrugged good-naturedly.

"Fine. But you brought it up," he said, resisting the urge to hoot at his excellent double entendre.

"I did not!" Darcy was indignant. Bobby hugged her with one arm. He adored the paradox that was her, soft, prickly, shy, brazen, sexy, innocent…

"Oh, yeah you did. You definitely put the lead in the pencil."

"Bobby!" she hissed, as they were getting closer to the main building and there were more students around. "Can we stop talking about it?"

He looked innocent. "Stop talking about what? What were we talking about?" he baited her, and she walked right into it. They stopped at her locker for her to get her notebook and she hid her face behind the door.

"We were talking about your…you know," she wimped out. He held the locker door and propped his other hand against the locker next to Darcy's, trapping her between his body and the lockers.

"Say it, come on…I know you can do it." He cajoled.

"We're going to be late," she evaded, slipping out from under his arm. He shut her locker for her and started after her toward class. His locker was around the corner from their fourth period History class, and he was pleased to see that she followed him to it, rather than going into the classroom alone. The halls were nearly empty; the second bell about to ring, but time was slowing down for Bobby. He didn't want this moment - this teasing and sexual innuendo – to go.

She leaned against the locker next to his, her arms crossed over the thick History book they'd been issued, and he wondered how she could make a dull subject like that look sexy as she looked at him thoughtfully.

"Still wondering what's going on in my pants? Cause say the word and we're out of here," he teased her, half seriously.

"Bobby," she whined, half exasperated. He leaned forward and stole a quick kiss, letting her off the hook.

"Well, well, well…what have we here?"

Bobby pulled back from Darcy and looked over her head to see Kevin Donaldson and two of his buddies standing there. He groaned silently. Day one of school and Donaldson was already going to start hassling him again. It was like the summer hadn't even happened, Kevin just picking up where he'd left off last year.

Darcy looked over her shoulder at Kevin briefly and then back at Bobby questioningly, taking her cues from him. Bobby just ignored Kevin and his friends and took his History book out of his locker and closed it.

"Come on, we don't want to be late," Bobby told Darcy. Putting his hand on her back to guide her past the wall of idiots that blocked their way.

"Where do you think you're going, mutie?" One of Kevin's buddies said. Blocking their way.

Kevin took Darcy's elbow, pulling her over to his side and away from Bobby. "Oh, babe, trust me. You don't want to be seen with a mutie unless you want to get a bad rep at this school." Kevin said. Darcy yanked her arm back.

"Worse than the rep I'll get for being one?" Darcy snapped, retreating to Bobby's side. Kevin looked at his hand like he'd touched something dirty, the disgust on his face clear. "Don't worry, last time I checked it wasn't catching," Darcy said sarcastically. The second bell rang, making them late for class, but Kevin and his cronies showed no sign of moving out of their way.

"What a waste," Kevin said, looking Darcy over regretfully. "You're a real hottie, too."

"Yeah," Kevin's other friend said, eyeing Darcy's ass appreciatively. "So, hottie…what're your powers?" he taunted. Darcy glared at him and said nothing, but Bobby could almost sense her agitation as it grew.

Bobby put himself between his girlfriend and the jocks in front of them. He wasn't as tall as Kevin or his friends – only 5'8" or so – but he wasn't the least bit intimidated. He was an X-man after all, which he had to keep reminding himself, stifling the urge to plant his fist in Kevin's nose once and for all. The Professor expected his students to be above the narrow minded jerks that made their lives miserable everyday, but just for once Bobby would love to sink to their level.

"If you're through ogling my girlfriend, Donaldson, we'd like to get to class." Bobby said coldly, and started forward. But Kevin shoved him back.

"No, we aren't done here, Drake," Kevin said, poking Bobby in the chest. "And we aren't gonna be done here until every single one of you freaks is gone from this school."

Bobby looked disgusted and knocked Kevin's arm away. "Don't you ever get tired of being an idiot?" Bobby scoffed. He could feel Darcy at his back, her fingers curling in the back of his t-shirt tightly.

"The mutie is calling me names, that's rich. Trying to be brave for your little mutie girlfriend?" Kevin goaded, and shoved Bobby again, knocking him into Darcy, and sending his History book flying. Darcy, who'd been watching what the others were doing was caught off guard and she slammed back into the lockers, the combination lock digging into her shoulder painfully and she dropped her books with a small cry.

Bobby bared his teeth, trying to keep his temper under control as he turned and saw to his girlfriend. Her eyes were wide and they shifted wildly between Bobby and their tormentors as she held her shoulder with one hand. Seeing her this upset and afraid made him furious. He'd endured two years of this bullshit from Donaldson and his friends, letting them try and provoke him into a confrontation.

Continually, he'd had to keep his eyes on his prize, being an X-man, being one of the team. Living up to the Professor's expectations to not lower himself to the common denominator. But this – what they were doing to Darcy – this was the first time he'd ever thought the Professor's policy of non-aggression might be wrong.

"That's right, Drake. Come on… Show me what you're made of at last. Go ahead and use your powers on me, I'll have you gone so fast it won't even register," Kevin jeered as Bobby faced him, his hands fisted at his sides.

"I don't need powers to kick your ass, Donaldson. Haven't you figured that out yet?" Bobby said in a low voice. Kevin put his hands on his hips and laughed loudly, his assumptions based on Bobby's size being his undoing.

"Please, like you could kick my ass anywhere, Drake," Kevin dismissed. And a second later found himself flat on his back in the middle of the hall, the motion of Bobby sweeping his legs out from underneath him happening so fast the taller boy didn't even have time to register the move, never mind evade it.

Bobby stood over the prone jock, his eyes cold. "I've had just about enough of you and your narrow minded, bigoted bullshit. It stops now. Or the next time we do this, I'll bruise more than your pride. We clear?" Bobby said in clipped tones.

Kevin slowly got to his feet, his eyes narrowed in hatred. "Oh we're perfectly clear, freak. So why don't we get this over with now!" Kevin punctuated the last word with a punch he aimed directly at Bobby's face. Bobby dodged to the right deftly, letting Kevin's knuckles connect painfully with the metal locker behind.

"Stop it!" Darcy shrieked suddenly, and the water fountain at the end of the row of lockers next to Bobby seemed to just…explode. A jet of water shot from the broken mouthpiece to spray Kevin directly in the face. He brought his arms up to ward off the stinging spray as he backed away from Bobby and the drinking fountain.

"Darcy, no!" Bobby yelled, turning to his girlfriend.

The water spray divided, fanning out to include Kevin's friends as they charged to avenge their friend. The strength of the streams was like a fire hose, pinning the trio to the opposite wall as they yelled and tried to block the stinging water.

Bobby ignored them, as well as the sounds of teachers in the nearby classrooms as they came to their doors to see what the commotion was about. He was surprised no one had intervened earlier, but then again, the faculty shared no great love of mutants either. He faced Darcy and put his hands on her shoulders, making her look at him. Her eyes had gone liquid, a clear pupiless silvery color as she looked through him, her focus on controlling the water.

"Darcy, you have to stop. Stop right now, we can't use our powers here! Darcy please!" Bobby whispered desperately, shaking her gently.

The water ceased as suddenly as it had begun, and Darcy blinked, her eyes returning to normal a moment before they darkened, stormy with emotions and glossy with tears. "Bobby…" she whimpered quietly.

"That's it, freaks! Just wait until Principal Dillard hears about this! I'll see every single one of you kicked out! You fucked up bad this time, Drake…" Kevin sputtered, wiping the water out of his eyes. He and his soaked to the bone buddies sloshing off toward the Principal's office.

Darcy gave a choked little sob, and Bobby drew her into his arms and closed his eyes. Kevin was right, he'd fucked up. He should have just walked away. He should have made it more clear to Darcy that they couldn't – under any circumstances short of life threatening ones – use their powers outside of the Institute grounds. Darcy was his responsibility, besides being his girlfriend, she was his student, and he'd failed her.

The screech of the school's intercom was no surprise as a voice barked. "Robert Drake and Darcy Harper. I want the two of you in my office, now!"

"I'm sorry, I'm so, so, sorry…I didn't mean to. I…I couldn't control it…" Darcy was crying into his shoulder. Bobby kissed Darcy's temple as he held her shaking form in his arms. The water in the hallway soaking into his shoes, and he could feel Darcy's dropped and now waterlogged History book bumping against his foot. He knew there was going to be hell to pay when the Professor heard about this little incident. Hopefully, he had enough clout to keep them from being expelled, and Bobby held his girlfriend tighter for a moment.

"I know," he said softly.

***

Next Chapter: Facing the music…

AN: Thanks to: Rurouni Tyriel, Brandon B, Ashley, Namek Kaia, Raining Star, Camille, LuLu Ducky (cute name! ^_^), togepi4eva, and Arsenal (sorry the story isn't moving along fast enough for you. Hope you stick with it though…) for the reviews. I really appreciate you taking the time to give me feedback.

Until next time…keep those reviews coming, please! ^_^