Authors Note: Sorry for taking so long to write. Had a big writer's block, but I was finally able to get that thing out of my way. When this was originally written it was 10 or so pages long. Yeah something that definitely had to be broken down, which I did into 2 parts. In this chapter the focus is more on Matt, Christy and the people around John and Kate. The second part is about why Matt dislikes Christy (and vice versa). I know I probably have some grammar errors and it may get a little confusing, but just bear with me, it'll make sense at the end. Please read and review.
(Some swearing is in this chapter too)
Pepper and Peppermint by Evolutionary Spider
Chapter 4: Anti-Romeo and Juliet- Act I
Matt walked off after he high-fived his friend. He pulled the straps on his back pack tighter as he walked to the end of the hallway. Sensing something behind him, he turned his head to look over his shoulder. He was able to see Kate Brewster talking with Christy Johnson, the letter in her hand. He smirked, but continued on until he reached the end of the hallway and his locker. He worked the combination and popped open the door. He turned his boom box vertically and placed it at the bottom of his locker. He took out his history book and a red note book, before he placed the items in his backpack.
He looked at the mirror he had on his own locker door. Distractedly, he set his back pack down and looked at himself again. His blue eyes looked into the mirror's reflection, the gaze narrowing ever so slightly. He ran a hand through his red hair, making the fuzzy spikes even more wild. He was about to close the locker, when it was slammed shut by someone else. Matt glared slowly at the girl in front of him. The girl just stared ahead of her as she leaned on the lockers behind her. The girl's soft almost monotonous voice reached his ears.
"You look fine, apostle. Why would you suddenly contemplate your appearance? Are you experiencing self-esteem issues? If you are, we both know of a way to get rid of them." she said smiling slyly. "Arghh, don't call me that Lorelei," he said in annoyance, "and it's none of your business what I was doing." "Oh, but I know what you were doing apostle, I just wanted to know why." she said now turning her head to look at him.
Matt looked at her from head to toe. He looked at her pale face, accented with dark makeup. Her short black hair was spiked slightly, but still made it noticeable that she was a girl. His gaze traveled down the curves of her body, hidden by a red long sleeved shirt that had a black t-shirt over it. Her blue jeans were slightly baggy and ripped at the knees. Old black sneakers completed her self-proclaimed "anti-social" ensemble.
"Like what you see apostle?" she asked smirking. His gaze returned back to her face. Lorelei Fisher, in her own mysterious dark way was cute, any guy with eyes could see that. Matt looked at her striking green eyes and remembered a similar pair. "But they're not the same." he muttered in a low voice. Lorelei raised an eyebrow at this, "What's not the same?" Matt shook his head, almost like coming out of a spell and picked up his backpack. "You." "Apostle, now your not making any sense." she said as the two of them walked toward their next class. "Lorelei, why do you even hang out with me, John and the rest of the guys?" "You guys are fun to watch. Your stupidity and future careers as criminals is something worth documenting for a later reward." she said matter-of-factly. "Pretty stupid reason, if you ask me." "Well I didn't, lover boy." Matt visibly winced when he heard the nick name. Without another word he walked into his history class and took his seat.
~~~
Lorelei watched him from the doorway unnoticed. A small look of sadness appeared on her face, before an indifferent one took it's place. She walked down the hallway towards her English class. She noticed a group of jocks laughing and talking. She noticed their leader was quiet and seemed to be ignoring all of them. His arms were crossed as he leaned against the lockers. His head was lowered, but as if sensing someone was watching him, he lifted his gaze on her. Green and purple met during that one expanse of time, two strangers connecting through one look. She was the first to break away from the stare and moved on. Neither were affected by what their curious gazes had seen, their indifference covering it up just the same.
~~~
Kate walked in to her class and silently groaned to herself when she saw that their teacher had written 'NEW ASSIGNMENT TODAY' on the board. She flopped down in her seat and sighed. She opened her backpack and took out her things just as the teacher walked in. Her fellow classmates were talking quietly amongst themselves. She let out a small sigh when she noticed Paul Ramirez walk quietly into the classroom a few seconds before the bell rang. This made Mrs. Alders stand up from her desk.
"Alright my young historians, settle down. Today I've decided to give you your newest assignment, a presentation." Groans and moans were heard throughout the class. "Alright alright, your enthusiasm is duly noted. Although I think this assignment will surprise some of you and be one that most of you will enjoy. Your assignment," she said as she passed out papers with the guidelines on them, "is to pick a time period in history and make a presentation about it. The presentation will be given aloud to the class in teams of two, picked by me. There's a catch however, each team must present information based on the time period in a creative manner. Whether it's in a song, a video, a skit, etc. The point of this assignment, is for all you to break away from conventional methods of presentation and learn to express your inner creativity. While what you present must be partly factually, you may also bring up interesting points for contemplation."
"Interesting points for contemplation, Mrs. Alders? So if my partner and I make a cartoon about World War II and how the X-Men would have effected that, we can?" The whole class laughed at Matt's question. Kate smiled and looked to her right to see the boy smirking. Mrs. Alders smiled at the question and waited for the class to settle down again, "Yes Mr. Carrington, that would technically be allowed so long as you do include factual information, however if you value your grade I suggest you look elsewhere for a topic on this assignment." She picked up the clip board in front of her and spoke again, "Alright I want all of you to have enough time today to brainstorm with your partners and get started on this since it will be due by Monday. That gives all of you one week to complete this assignment."
She began to read off the names of those paired up. Kate looked in front of her to where Paul sat. She hoped she got to be paired up with him. Kate's ears perked up when she heard her name. "Ms. Brewster you will be paired up with...," Mrs. Alders scanned the list as Kate waited in anticipation, "Mr. Carrington." If Kate were a balloon she would have been deflated by now. She looked over at her partner who winked at her in return. She rolled her eyes and let out a sigh. 'This is going to be a long week.' Kate thought.
After Mrs. Alders finished reading off the names, the class began to pair up and start working on their projects. Matt pulled his desk closer to Kate and opened up his notebook. "So, any ideas for this presentation, partner?" Kate opened up her own notebook before she spoke, "Well if you nix the whole X-Men thing, I think it would be a good idea if we did a presentation on World War II." "Yeah whatever, that's fine." he said as he wrote down something on his notebook. Kate took our her history book and spoke again "Ok then, now all we have to do is decide what topic we want to talk about and just how we're going to present it. I think we should combine our strengths and come up with a really wild presentation. That should get us an A on this thing. What do you think?" Kate said as she looked at him. She saw that he was ignoring her and was doodling in his notebook instead. She took a closer look to see what he was drawing. That's when she noticed that he'd drawn different types of guns and tanks on the pages. To her surprise though, she saw that he was drawing what looked like a cartoon girl in the corner of one of the pages.
"Hey these are pretty good." Kate's comment startled him out of his thoughts. He finally looked up to see her staring at his notebook. He quickly shut it and was about to put it in his backpack, when her hand on his shoulder stopped him. "What are you doing?" he asked. "I just want to see your drawings. They gave me an idea for our project," she said as she looked at him, "Please."
Matt stared at her hard, before he let go of his notebook and gave it to her. "Just whatever you do, don't look at the first 10 pages." "Why don't-" "Just don't." he interrupted her defensively. Kate counted the pages and then opened the note book again. She flipped through the pages to see different types of guns and weapons. Some she recognized from her trips to her father's base, and some she'd never even seen. She stopped at a particularly unique looking one.
"Hey what's this one called? It looks really high tech." Matt looked at the one she was point at and felt a little embarrassed. "Oh, um that one isn't exactly on the market." he said hoping she wouldn't ask anymore about it. "Hmm, why not? Looks pretty cool, like something from the future. I bet my dad would love to see a gun like this." Matt's ears perked up at hearing this, "Really? You think so?" "Yeah, so what's it called?" Matt shifted in his seat nervously, "It doesn't have a name yet, cause...well...it doesn't exist." "What?" Kate asked confused, "You mean you designed this on your own?" Matt nodded slowly. Kate continued to stare at it, before flipping the page, "This is pretty cool Matt. Either you're going to become a cartoonist or a weapons design expert." "Huh, you think so?...Nah, I don't exactly have the grades to do anything special. I'm just a hack." Matt said modestly. "With a lot of potential. Besides who knows what the future will be like right? For all you know, when you get older you can design weapons like these for some future war or something." she said smiling at him. Matt felt a small blush coming on, not used to being complimented.
"Who's this?" she asked pointing to the picture of a boy. "Oh that's my best friend, John, John Connor. Do you know him?" Kate stared at the picture in front of her, noticing the detail of his face. "I think I have, but I'm not sure." "Yeah well he's cool and he's into weapons too. It's different though cause he's Mr. Military or something, he knows his stuff." Kate smiled again, "He seems pretty cool." She continued to flip through the other pages and saw pictures of his friends, some of artillery and some of ordinary things. They went on like this for a few minutes talking about the pictures. Kate eventually brought up her idea for the project.
"I think it'd be good." "I dunno, I don't exactly like showing most people my drawings." he said taking the notebook back. "Then why'd you show me?" "Because you didn't think they sucked. I can tell when most people are full of shit and don't really like them. You're different." he said as he twirled his pencil between his fingers. "Well look, we don't have to show them these, besides we need pictures of 1940's weaponry. Come on I think it's a good idea. We'll talk about how World War II brought about the advancement of new and improved inventions. Besides we also need to look at the other side of the coin, like the suffering caused by it all. Ya know, to the soldiers and Holocaust victims. With your talent and my video camera, we can come up with a great project. What do you say?" she said looking at him hopefully. Matt sighed before he nodded in agreement. 'I'm a sucker for chicks with that look on their face.'
End of Chapter 4
Read and review this one or move on the next part.
(Some swearing is in this chapter too)
Pepper and Peppermint by Evolutionary Spider
Chapter 4: Anti-Romeo and Juliet- Act I
Matt walked off after he high-fived his friend. He pulled the straps on his back pack tighter as he walked to the end of the hallway. Sensing something behind him, he turned his head to look over his shoulder. He was able to see Kate Brewster talking with Christy Johnson, the letter in her hand. He smirked, but continued on until he reached the end of the hallway and his locker. He worked the combination and popped open the door. He turned his boom box vertically and placed it at the bottom of his locker. He took out his history book and a red note book, before he placed the items in his backpack.
He looked at the mirror he had on his own locker door. Distractedly, he set his back pack down and looked at himself again. His blue eyes looked into the mirror's reflection, the gaze narrowing ever so slightly. He ran a hand through his red hair, making the fuzzy spikes even more wild. He was about to close the locker, when it was slammed shut by someone else. Matt glared slowly at the girl in front of him. The girl just stared ahead of her as she leaned on the lockers behind her. The girl's soft almost monotonous voice reached his ears.
"You look fine, apostle. Why would you suddenly contemplate your appearance? Are you experiencing self-esteem issues? If you are, we both know of a way to get rid of them." she said smiling slyly. "Arghh, don't call me that Lorelei," he said in annoyance, "and it's none of your business what I was doing." "Oh, but I know what you were doing apostle, I just wanted to know why." she said now turning her head to look at him.
Matt looked at her from head to toe. He looked at her pale face, accented with dark makeup. Her short black hair was spiked slightly, but still made it noticeable that she was a girl. His gaze traveled down the curves of her body, hidden by a red long sleeved shirt that had a black t-shirt over it. Her blue jeans were slightly baggy and ripped at the knees. Old black sneakers completed her self-proclaimed "anti-social" ensemble.
"Like what you see apostle?" she asked smirking. His gaze returned back to her face. Lorelei Fisher, in her own mysterious dark way was cute, any guy with eyes could see that. Matt looked at her striking green eyes and remembered a similar pair. "But they're not the same." he muttered in a low voice. Lorelei raised an eyebrow at this, "What's not the same?" Matt shook his head, almost like coming out of a spell and picked up his backpack. "You." "Apostle, now your not making any sense." she said as the two of them walked toward their next class. "Lorelei, why do you even hang out with me, John and the rest of the guys?" "You guys are fun to watch. Your stupidity and future careers as criminals is something worth documenting for a later reward." she said matter-of-factly. "Pretty stupid reason, if you ask me." "Well I didn't, lover boy." Matt visibly winced when he heard the nick name. Without another word he walked into his history class and took his seat.
~~~
Lorelei watched him from the doorway unnoticed. A small look of sadness appeared on her face, before an indifferent one took it's place. She walked down the hallway towards her English class. She noticed a group of jocks laughing and talking. She noticed their leader was quiet and seemed to be ignoring all of them. His arms were crossed as he leaned against the lockers. His head was lowered, but as if sensing someone was watching him, he lifted his gaze on her. Green and purple met during that one expanse of time, two strangers connecting through one look. She was the first to break away from the stare and moved on. Neither were affected by what their curious gazes had seen, their indifference covering it up just the same.
~~~
Kate walked in to her class and silently groaned to herself when she saw that their teacher had written 'NEW ASSIGNMENT TODAY' on the board. She flopped down in her seat and sighed. She opened her backpack and took out her things just as the teacher walked in. Her fellow classmates were talking quietly amongst themselves. She let out a small sigh when she noticed Paul Ramirez walk quietly into the classroom a few seconds before the bell rang. This made Mrs. Alders stand up from her desk.
"Alright my young historians, settle down. Today I've decided to give you your newest assignment, a presentation." Groans and moans were heard throughout the class. "Alright alright, your enthusiasm is duly noted. Although I think this assignment will surprise some of you and be one that most of you will enjoy. Your assignment," she said as she passed out papers with the guidelines on them, "is to pick a time period in history and make a presentation about it. The presentation will be given aloud to the class in teams of two, picked by me. There's a catch however, each team must present information based on the time period in a creative manner. Whether it's in a song, a video, a skit, etc. The point of this assignment, is for all you to break away from conventional methods of presentation and learn to express your inner creativity. While what you present must be partly factually, you may also bring up interesting points for contemplation."
"Interesting points for contemplation, Mrs. Alders? So if my partner and I make a cartoon about World War II and how the X-Men would have effected that, we can?" The whole class laughed at Matt's question. Kate smiled and looked to her right to see the boy smirking. Mrs. Alders smiled at the question and waited for the class to settle down again, "Yes Mr. Carrington, that would technically be allowed so long as you do include factual information, however if you value your grade I suggest you look elsewhere for a topic on this assignment." She picked up the clip board in front of her and spoke again, "Alright I want all of you to have enough time today to brainstorm with your partners and get started on this since it will be due by Monday. That gives all of you one week to complete this assignment."
She began to read off the names of those paired up. Kate looked in front of her to where Paul sat. She hoped she got to be paired up with him. Kate's ears perked up when she heard her name. "Ms. Brewster you will be paired up with...," Mrs. Alders scanned the list as Kate waited in anticipation, "Mr. Carrington." If Kate were a balloon she would have been deflated by now. She looked over at her partner who winked at her in return. She rolled her eyes and let out a sigh. 'This is going to be a long week.' Kate thought.
After Mrs. Alders finished reading off the names, the class began to pair up and start working on their projects. Matt pulled his desk closer to Kate and opened up his notebook. "So, any ideas for this presentation, partner?" Kate opened up her own notebook before she spoke, "Well if you nix the whole X-Men thing, I think it would be a good idea if we did a presentation on World War II." "Yeah whatever, that's fine." he said as he wrote down something on his notebook. Kate took our her history book and spoke again "Ok then, now all we have to do is decide what topic we want to talk about and just how we're going to present it. I think we should combine our strengths and come up with a really wild presentation. That should get us an A on this thing. What do you think?" Kate said as she looked at him. She saw that he was ignoring her and was doodling in his notebook instead. She took a closer look to see what he was drawing. That's when she noticed that he'd drawn different types of guns and tanks on the pages. To her surprise though, she saw that he was drawing what looked like a cartoon girl in the corner of one of the pages.
"Hey these are pretty good." Kate's comment startled him out of his thoughts. He finally looked up to see her staring at his notebook. He quickly shut it and was about to put it in his backpack, when her hand on his shoulder stopped him. "What are you doing?" he asked. "I just want to see your drawings. They gave me an idea for our project," she said as she looked at him, "Please."
Matt stared at her hard, before he let go of his notebook and gave it to her. "Just whatever you do, don't look at the first 10 pages." "Why don't-" "Just don't." he interrupted her defensively. Kate counted the pages and then opened the note book again. She flipped through the pages to see different types of guns and weapons. Some she recognized from her trips to her father's base, and some she'd never even seen. She stopped at a particularly unique looking one.
"Hey what's this one called? It looks really high tech." Matt looked at the one she was point at and felt a little embarrassed. "Oh, um that one isn't exactly on the market." he said hoping she wouldn't ask anymore about it. "Hmm, why not? Looks pretty cool, like something from the future. I bet my dad would love to see a gun like this." Matt's ears perked up at hearing this, "Really? You think so?" "Yeah, so what's it called?" Matt shifted in his seat nervously, "It doesn't have a name yet, cause...well...it doesn't exist." "What?" Kate asked confused, "You mean you designed this on your own?" Matt nodded slowly. Kate continued to stare at it, before flipping the page, "This is pretty cool Matt. Either you're going to become a cartoonist or a weapons design expert." "Huh, you think so?...Nah, I don't exactly have the grades to do anything special. I'm just a hack." Matt said modestly. "With a lot of potential. Besides who knows what the future will be like right? For all you know, when you get older you can design weapons like these for some future war or something." she said smiling at him. Matt felt a small blush coming on, not used to being complimented.
"Who's this?" she asked pointing to the picture of a boy. "Oh that's my best friend, John, John Connor. Do you know him?" Kate stared at the picture in front of her, noticing the detail of his face. "I think I have, but I'm not sure." "Yeah well he's cool and he's into weapons too. It's different though cause he's Mr. Military or something, he knows his stuff." Kate smiled again, "He seems pretty cool." She continued to flip through the other pages and saw pictures of his friends, some of artillery and some of ordinary things. They went on like this for a few minutes talking about the pictures. Kate eventually brought up her idea for the project.
"I think it'd be good." "I dunno, I don't exactly like showing most people my drawings." he said taking the notebook back. "Then why'd you show me?" "Because you didn't think they sucked. I can tell when most people are full of shit and don't really like them. You're different." he said as he twirled his pencil between his fingers. "Well look, we don't have to show them these, besides we need pictures of 1940's weaponry. Come on I think it's a good idea. We'll talk about how World War II brought about the advancement of new and improved inventions. Besides we also need to look at the other side of the coin, like the suffering caused by it all. Ya know, to the soldiers and Holocaust victims. With your talent and my video camera, we can come up with a great project. What do you say?" she said looking at him hopefully. Matt sighed before he nodded in agreement. 'I'm a sucker for chicks with that look on their face.'
End of Chapter 4
Read and review this one or move on the next part.