Disclaimer: I don't own X-men or the songs I mention in the fic. Marvel owns X-men. Yes they do. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"And I'm young and I let it slip on by. I'm codependent and I'm lost inside." Kitty sang to the song she found on the internet a week ago while she was screwing around. It usually wasn't the type of music she'd go for being that is was pretty depressing but she couldn't help being captivated by the lyrics and the title. "And you, you look like freedom. You look like the avalanche in me."

Kitty giggled as the word avalanche passed her lips and she blushed as if he was right there watching. She turned the music down a little after finishing the chorus and went back to work. She was browsing for colleges on the internet, and actually enjoying it. There were so many opportunities and programs in college, plus no curfew. Not to mention, with her grades and the professor's money she could go anywhere.

It wasn't that she wanted to leave her friends but the thought of going to college was so exciting for her. Just like the song, she didn't want to be codependent. The only problem was she couldn't decide on which college to go to. There were too many.

A knock on the door came forcefully, knocking Kitty out of her thoughts.

"Yes?" She asked, closing the realplayer before anyone could hear the song she was playing.

"HE'S here." An angry sounding Scott said making "he" sound like a disease.

Kitty rolled her eyes as she turned off the laptop and gathered her things. She took a quick look in the mirror to check herself. "Thanks Scott. Oh and HE has a name you know."

"Yeah I know. 'Hood'."

Kitty cringed at his words thinking how much they stung Lance when she used it before. Now that they were together again they stung her too. After recovering, she phased through the door with her arm extended. She unphased just in time to slap Scott in the head.

"Ow!" He yelp rubbing the back of his head. "Hey!"

Kitty smiled innocently as she walked backward down the hall to look a
Scott. "Sorry. Next time I'll warn you."

Scott frowned. "You've been around Alvers too long."

Kitty turned around on her heel and began to run to the entrance that led outside. "And what's wrong with that." She said under her breath happily.

There he was waiting for her outside the highly secured gate in his mangled jeep. How it survived Tabitha's many joyrides she had no idea. Once she phased through the gate she threw her bag in the back seat and jumped into the passenger's side. She then buckled her seat belt and smiled at Lance. "Hey."

Lance on the other hand didn't reply. It didn't take Kitty long to realized Lance was asleep. She rolled her eyes at this. How long was he waiting till Scott decided to tell her he was here to pick her up. She still couldn't help but giggle at Lance's expression as he danced around in Slumberland. His head was facing the sky as his mouth gaped open and a little drool leaked out of the side of his mouth. Like a little prince.

Being a little devilish Kitty gave him a peck on the forehead to see if he'd react. With that his eyes flew wide open as he jumped in an upright position throwing his fist back as if ready to punch something. "Kill!" were his first words.

Kitty threw her hands over her mouth to hold in her laughter. "How threatening. So what? Are you going to drown them with your drool?"

Lance looked over at her surprised not realizing where he was for that second. "Kitty?" He then frowned once he remembered. "What took you so long?"

Kitty grabbed the collar of Lance's vest and used it to wipe his frowning mouth. "More like what took SCOTT so long? But don't worry about it."

Lance took to wiping his mouth himself before starting the jeep as he mumbled something about killing Summers. Linkin Park's "Faint" was playing full blast ruining the peaceful morning mood. Kitty made a face at the song as they took off on the road. Lance noticed and turned it down a bit.

"I don't get this song. It's, like, so .angry." Kitty said knowing how stupid she sounded as she said it.

"Be easy on it. This was our break up song."

"We had a break up song?" Kitty asked as she her nose wrinkled at the question.

"Yeah. It's the one song that wouldn't stop coming on when. . .well. . ."

Kitty smiled at his stammering. "When you thought about me?" She teased.

Lance turned the music up full blast to drown out her words. Kitty covered her ears before turning it down herself. "Hey!"

Lance shrugged. "Sorry. Next time I'll warn you."

"I already used that on Scott today."

"You tortured goggle boy?"

Kitty winked. "Yep."

Lance grinned throwing his hand out for a high five. "Way to go Kit-Kat."

Kitty giggled and slapped him five. "Thanks for taking me to school by the way."

"No problem."

Kitty became serious as she looked at him. "Is it really? You really don't have to you know."

Lance winked at her to assure her of his words before facing the road. "Believe me Kitty. I have to. I don't want Shades corrupting your mind, or elf-boy getting you stuck in another dimension, or the goth girl turning you into a vampire."

Kitty giggled. "Instead of insulting all my friends you could just say you just want to be with me."

Lance reached for the volume button but Kitty smacked his hand away. Lance winced as he pulled his hand back to the steering wheel. "I'll admit getting up at seven in the morning wasn't easy for me."

Kitty giggled. "Yeah. You couldn't even staying awake long enough to pick me up."

Lance couldn't help smile himself. "The guys and I usually get up around 1 in the afternoon."

"Yikes! That's not healthy."

"What IS in the brotherhood?"

Kitty laughed not really sure why she was acting so giddy especially in the morning. She looked at Lance's profile and knew. Everything was coming back together. Apocalypse was defeated, the mansion was rebuilt, Kitty was an upperclassmen and Lance was now her official boyfriend. Even if they hadn't said so she was sure of it. If not, why would he get up five hours early just to play "Driving Miss Daisy"?

A silence occurred as the song ended. Lance ended up changing the subject as he noticed Kitty's book bag in the back seat through the rear view mirror. "So what's with the giant bag?"

Kitty groaned. "College applications and college brochures. Basically, like everything college."

Lance looked awkward as Kitty finished, suddenly very interested in the road ahead of him. "Oh." Was all he said.

Kitty didn't notice. "I know it's kind of early to get ready but there's much to get ready for. I never really thought about the future but then this speaker came to school the other day and told us how so many students get into the wrong college because they don't take the time to look through all their options. I don't want that to happen to me. I have enough to worry about. But I guess the future comes first. I don't want to end up becoming-"

She realized Lance was giving her the third degree and waved her hand over his eyes. "Hellooo? Earth to Lance?"

He swatted her hand out of his way and growled. "I was listening Kitty, ok? I'm just trying to watch the road."

Kitty frowned and crossed her arms. "What's your problem? One minute you were laughing and the next you're all avalanche on me."

Lance finally looked at her like she was from another planet. "Yeah? Well one minute we were joking around and the next you were talking about something I'll never have to worry about. How do you expect me to react?"

Kitty didn't say anything not knowing the answer. His words left her silent.

"Come on Kitty. What were you going to say when you said you don't want to end up becoming. . . You don't want to end up becoming what? A drop out? A loser? Or me?"

"You're not a loser."

"I'm not a drop out either. I'm way worse than that. I was kicked out because I wasn't good enough for them."

Kitty wanted to hit herself as she stared into Lance's angry eyes. "Oh my gosh, Lance. I'm so sorry."

After a pause of them staring at each other Lance shock his head and went back to the road. "It's no big deal. I'm just not a morning person. Maybe it was better for me to be expelled from school. I get more sleep, although I miss the lunch money. That's was a great way to make fast cash."

Kitty didn't laugh at his joke. Maybe he could recover from his insults quickly but she couldn't. Just like how Scott's words stung her Lance's were five times worse. Because what he said only meant he took in what the other's said. Slowly and carefully she wrapped her arm around his and leaned her head onto his shoulder closing her eyes. "Do you miss it?" She asked quietly.

She felt his arm tense up and slowly loosen as he thought of a response. "I miss seeing your pretty face in the halls."

Kitty huffed as she close her eyes and tightened her grip around his arm just to let him know she was there. "Why are you only saying nice things like that when you don't want to talk about yourself?"

By then they made it to Bayville high and he parked the jeep letting the music play. Kitty let go of him as he grabbed her bag and handed it to her. "I don't really care about high school. It wasn't ever my style."

"What about college?" Kitty asked as she threw the strap around her one shoulder.

Lance thought about it and then shrugged. "Guess we'll never know. I don't think I'll ever get a shiny diploma like the goodie X-men."

Kitty hopped out of the jeep and closed the door behind her. She then watched Lance drive off to who knows where. All her giddiness was dead.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ok That's all for the first chapter. R&R please. I'll give you a cookie. The songs that I mentioned were. Avalanche- Heather Nova and Faint- Linkin Park.