Pre-A/N: And we're back! I still don't own anything.

Back at the Institute, the two girls were met by Jubilee who immediately pounced on Kitty for some serious gossip about what had gone on behind the scenes. Storm was walking to the stairs leading Jamie, forcibly reminding him that he should be getting ready for bed.

"Finally home, girls?" Ororo asked. (Thank you, Captain Obvious!) "How was rehearsal, Kitty?"

"Good, but we had to stop like twenty billion times for people," Kitty grumbled. "I was about ready to, like, hit someone."

"B'cuz , o' course, you didn' miss any lines," Rogue said sarcastically.

"At least I have lines, Rogue," Kitty smirked pointedly.

"I'm sure that if Rogue had gone out for this musical as well, she would have a speaking part, too," Ororo tried to mediate before bickering began.

"Good thing she didn't then, huh?" Kitty flipped her bleached-blonde hair over her shoulder and went to go talk with the other girly-girls.

Rogue gritted her teeth and stomped upstairs. Ororo tilted her head to one side and wondered what that had been all about.

"Um, Ms. Munroe?" Jamie asked meekly. "Can you let go of my ear now?"

"Oh! I'm sorry, Jamie," Storm exclaimed, letting go of the young teen's ear. "Now get up stairs and go to bed."

"Alright, alright," he grumbled, following Rogue's clomping path up the stairs. Speaking of rogue, maybe he'd go by the girls' wing and see what her problem was this time. He took every chance he got to spend time in the girls' rooms, just because he was the only guy- except of Roberto- who could without getting kicked out right away.

Rogue had been so distracted when she'd come into her room, that she hadn't noticed that she'd forgotten to close the door all the way. When Jamie got to her doorway and looked in, he found her listening to music with her headphones on, oblivious to the world, obviously de-stressing after a long day.

While listening to her music, Rogue had unconsciously started doing some of the steps and movements from her dance in the musical. It was a good thing for her that it was Jamie who was watching her, and not Remy or Bobby, who would have commented on what she was doing. It was not so good a thing that Jamie was not the innocent little boy he pretended to be so that he could boast his status as being the only straight male allowed in most of the girls' rooms.

He watched as Rogue swayed and undulated, a little smile of appreciation on his lips. He stood and stared for a few minutes before his sense of self-preservation kicked in. He shut Rogue's door for her and walked to the guys' wing happily.

The next day at breakfast, Kitty was trying to get people to come to see the play.

"Come on. You'll love it! Mr. McCoy, it takes place in, like, ancient Rome," she cajoled the big blue doctor. "Professor, they free slaves at the end! Bobby- you'll like split a gut it's so funny. Jamie- there's a guy in a dress! Roberto, you know that hottie Billy that's like on the football team? Picture him in a centurion uniform. And, Remy! Courtesans! You guys, like, have to come!"

She appealed as much as possible to everyone's interests. Rogue rolled her eyes, praying that no one came to see her humiliate herself.

"Of course we'll all come to support you, Kitty," the Prof said.

Rogue about choked on her coffee.

"Yay!!!!" Kitty squealed.

That day, after school, Rogue ran to Ms. White's room in the Fine Art's Wing of Bayville High.

"what's wrong, Rogue?"

"C'n Ah have an undahstudy play mah part?" Rogue asked.

"No," the teacher said firmly. "Not unless you have a good reason."

Rogue growled through her teeth and started pacing. Suddenly, she got an idea.

"Miz White? C'n Ah wear a veil ovah mah face with mah costume?"

"That wasn't in the original plan, Rogue," she pointed out to the student.

"It won't take away from the performance," Rogue promised. "If anythin', it'll enhance it. Believability, ya know? Ah'll be sure ta keep it a matchin' color with the rest o' the costume, so it'll look like it's supposed to be there."

Ms. White sighed heavily and crossed her arms over her considerable chesty-chub. She stayed quiet for a long moment, then dropped her hands. "Okay, but if you can't do your dance with the veil on, you're taking it off and doing it like we've been practicing. I'll see you on stage before the show starts and you can run it so that I can be the judge."

"Fine," Rogue nodded. "Great. Perfect. Thank you, Miz White."

Rogue went directly to the green room to find a matching veil in the costume closet. She found a blueish-green one and rigged it with a small string so that it could tie around her head and not look like a bandana or be too noticeable. She tried it on, just too make sure it covered her face and didn't flop around too much, and she was all set to show Ms. White that she could do her dance with or without the veil, but preferably with.

By the time she was done, she had no desire to go home and angst more than usual, practically giving herself an ulcer, so she called Logan and asked him to tell everybody that she'd see them after the show. He didn't question it, and Rogue went to one of the local restaurants and grabbed some dinner, then went to sit in the grave yard to eat where she was sure that nobody would disturb her. Just to make extra sure, she dug her CD player from her backpack and put her headphones on to listen to some tunes.

Rogue was back in the green room by five-thirty, even though the show didn't start until eight. Ah, the life of an actor.