Disclaimer: We've gone through this before... I don't own X-Men, I don't
own Elvis, so on and so forth. But now I own an island. Made out of
cardboard. Strictly no emus allowed. Anywho, ON WITH THE SHOW!!! Er- fic.
"Get out!" Mr. Kamon, the cook yelled at Aaron and Shawn, who took off out of the kitchen. As they sped out the door, they nearly ran over Lance, who had been standing outside of the room.
"Sorry, Quakey," one of them yelled back at him. Lance was unable to tell the twins apart.
He sighed, and pulled himself off the floor. Lance resumed his thoughts about the Brotherhood. He knew he would not fit in with the X-Men forever, and he wasn't sure that he could live with the Brotherhood again.
Lance suddenly felt a sharp stab of pain inside his skull. He collapsed onto the floor for the second time, trying to contain his powers, which had erupted out of control. His headache grew steadily worse as he tried to restrain the earthquake he was generating. There was only one way to stop it. Lance concentrated on the ground beneath him. It ripped apart, and shot upward, sending Lance backward. His head collided with the wall, and he was knocked into darkness.
Kurt, Roberto, and Ruben were standing in the hallway. The hallway was lined with doors. These doors led to the boys' bedrooms and bathrooms. Suddenly, the mansion began to quake, pictures fell off the walls, the boys fell over. They fell into one another. After a moment, there was a crash, and the quaking stopped.
"Get off of me," said Roberto, pushing Kurt away.
"You and Ray are very alike," Kurt told him, much to Roberto's annoyance.
"Thanks a lot, you rat!" Roberto said, pushing Kurt into the wall.
"See what I mean?" Kurt teleported as Roberto lunged for him. Instead, he slammed into the bathroom door. Unfortunately, the door had been a victim of Aaron and Shawn. It swung open. Even worse for them, was what was inside.
Ray Crisp stood there with his eyebrows raised. A towel was wrapped around his waist and his hair was wet. It was obvious he had just taken a shower.
"It's the lady or the tiger," he told them menacingly.
"Tiger," said Kurt, minutes later, laying on the ground, "Definitely the tiger."
Ray had fried them all with bolts of blue electricity seconds after the bathroom door had opened. Then he had walked off, saying something about getting some clothes on.
Jean had been outside when the ground began to shake. After it suddenly halted, she had run inside looking for Lance, followed by Scott. They found him unconscious in the corridor outside of the kitchen. Scott looked around at the hall. He whistled.
The ground had been torn apart as if a giant hand had reached down and picked up a chunk of it and scattered it through the corridor. It was obvious where Lance had crashed into the wall. It had been smashed inward, the brick inner layer crumbling.
"Lance!" Jean said, kneeling by his unmoving body.
"Jean?" Scott said, "Have you seen what he did?" He gestured at the wall and the floor.
Just then, Aaron and Shawn ran in.
"What the?" Shawn said.
"What did he do?" said Aaron.
"That's none of your concern," said Scott absent-mindedly.
"Yes, it is," said Shawn.
"Yeah," said Aaron, giving Scott a reproachful look, "How else are we going to get back to our rooms?"
Shawn pointed at the gigantic hole ripped into the ground.
After a couple weeks, the weather warmed up. John had talked little, and Lance had said almost nothing, after recovering from a mild concussion. Then, on a warm day, after lunch, he was sitting by himself under a tree.
"You idiots!" he suddenly shouted. It looked like Aaron and Shawn had dumped a good bit of oatmeal over Lance's head.
"You can't catch us, Lancey-Pantsey!" said Aaron, as the twins took off around the mansion. The three mutants disappeared from sight.
That was all they heard Lance say for a while, but the twins claimed he had screamed and cursed at them for hours while they ran from him.
Rogue sat in the shade of another tree, and watched the scene, laughing with Bobby. John also sat with them, but he was deeply engrossed in a essay he was writing.
"John?" Rogue said tentatively, because John's temper was like a bomb just waiting to explode.
John didn't look up from his paper.
Rogue continued, "Why don't you talk to us anymore?"
"You never wanted to talk to me," John kept writing the essay.
Fortunately, Rogue didn't have to think of something to say to John, because at that moment, a fuzzball fell out of the tree above them.
"Looky," said Bear proudly, holding out his hands to them, "I's feedin' the buds!"
"Eww!" said Rogue. He had a handful of wriggling, squirming worms.
John snorted. So they're worms, he seemed to be saying, Big deal.
He got up. "While you deal with a certain annoying furball, I'll be... somewhere else."
The Brotherhood left that day, taking Lance with them. He was obviously going against his will. The guy called Slade also had decided to leave with them.
Kitty watched them leave, and she told Rogue, "I was, like, just starting to warm up to Lance, too."
"Good riddance," said Bobby said, and Kitty glared at him.
John didn't say anything. He watched them leave with a smile on his face.
In chemistry class, Scott was explaining the uses of iodine and sulfuric acid to the students. Suddenly Aaron rushed in, followed closely by Shawn.
"Mr. Summers!" Aaron said loudly.
"There's-" Shawn said, catching his breath, "It-"
"You got to come!" said Aaron, with Scott wincing not only at Aaron's bad grammar, but the fact that he had to do something with the twins.
"What is it?" he asked irritably.
"We-," Aaron said, obviously at a loss for words, "I-"
"Please," pleaded Shawn, falling to his knees dramatically.
"Alright," Scott gave in.
The twins exchanged a secret grin, then led him down a corridor, and through a door.
Suddenly, snowballs came hurtling out from behind a desk, every one smacking into Scott's face. Luckily for them all, his glasses stayed on.
Scott turned to the twins, his face red with anger.
"Uh-oh," said Shawn.
"Looks like the one-eyed monster's angry," said Aaron, "Run for your life!"
They took off down the corridor, screaming. People poked their heads out of doors as the twins passed, closely followed by a steaming Scott.
They slid down a banister, and landed a good three feet away from a hideous blue rug on the floor. Scott tore down the stairs and stepped down on the rug. It collapsed downwards, letting Scott fall down into a deep pit half-full of what used to be lime Jell-O.
"Oops," said Aaron, "I forgot about that one."
"Wonder how long that's been there," said Shawn thoughtfully, staring at the Jell-O.
"Is it still edible?" Aaron shouted down to Scott.
Kitty said, "You two are so totally weird. What are you doing?"
"Er," said Shawn.
"We're saving Scott from the Jell-O monster!" Aaron said seriously, as if he believed it himself.
"Um, bro?" Shawn looked at Aaron with a funny look on his face. "Where'd you come up with that one?"
"But-" said Aaron.
"No time for that now! We must make our escape!" Shawn dragged his brother away through the hallways.
"He'll never find us here!" Shawn said, pushing open the door to the girls' restrooms.
At dinnertime, Shawn and Aaron risked getting something to eat. As they sat down, Amara and Kitty turned to them.
"Why were you, like, in the girl's bathroom today?" asked Kitty.
"What?" said Shawn, "We would never conceive of such a thing!"
"Unless Summers was chasing us," said Aaron. Shawn elbowed him.
"Shut up," Shawn muttered.
"Oh, right," Aaron said quickly.
"Then why did a spider smile at me?" Amara said, annoyed.
"Don't be silly," Shawn said, waving a dismissive hand, before Aaron could mess things up, "Spiders can't smile!"
"What's all this about a girl's bathroom?" Ray said in a bored tone, as he sat down.
Aaron had just opened his mouth, when Shawn pushed him off his chair.
"Hey," Aaron said angrily, "What was that for?"
"For all of the times you... umm... Shawn groped for a good excuse.
"Spill the beans, freaks," Ray said, still bored.
"Okay!" said Aaron, happy to tell their story.
Shawn groaned and put his head in his hands.
"And then Shawn said we had to escape, and we-" Aaron was cut off by Shawn.
"And then we came in here!" Shawn said hurriedly.
Aaron turned to look at him, "No, we di-"
Shawn grabbed Aaron and dragged him bodily from the table. Kitty giggled.
"You idiot!" Shawn told his brother in a whisper.
"What did I do?" Aaron asked, then added, "And why are we whispering?"
"Do you want them to know we were in the girl's bathroom?" Shawn asked him, exasperated.
"You were in the girl's bathroom?" Bobby asked them, laughing.
Shawn groaned. It would take them a lifetime to live this one down.
That night, Kitty and Rogue abandoned a game of table soccer to go to bed early. Kitty was brushing her teeth, when suddenly she burst out.
"Why did he go with them?" she said angrily, "they, like, treated him like trash!"
Rogue smiled, "You like him, don't you?"
"No!" Kitty quickly, "I just can't believe Lance would go with them after they left him to die!"
"And, you like him!" Rogue insisted.
Kitty shrugged, "Okay, maybe a little. Like, what do you think?"
"I think," Rogue said, "you can do better! I mean, he's not that nice of a guy, if you know what I mean."
"I guess..." Kitty said thinking, "like, what about you and Bobby?"
Rogue laughed and they began a heated discussion about boys.
After the girls had left, Bobby had left the table soccer game, too. He sat down next to John who was working on some Geometry homework.
"Why don't you do your homework during study hall?" Bobby asked, his survival instincts running low.
John turned to him, "Why don't you put a lid on it, and mind your own business? Go find Rogue and do something mushy, I don't care! Just leave me alone!" He got up, and left the room, probably to prevent himself from killing Bobby.
"Touchy chap, isn't he?" said Shawn, who had sat down next to Bobby. He had a purple pigeon on his shoulder. The ugly pigeon morphed into Aaron, squishing Shawn and Bobby in the process.
"Oh, hi, Snowball!" he said, oblivious to the glare Bobby was giving him, "What's wrong with your face?"
Bobby looked surprised, and Shawn grabbed Aaron and pulled him away, before the insult sank in. Bobby got up, and tried to get at Aaron.
"Leave the poor chap alone, will you?" said Shawn angrily, blocking Bobby's attempts to reach Aaron, "He doesn't know what he's saying!"
"I know what I said!" Aaron said, confused, "I said, what's wrong wi- "
Shawn kicked him, hissing, "Be quiet!"
Roberto walked up to Shawn, "What's going on?"
"Bobby's overreacting a bit," Shawn said.
"A bit?" said Aaron, "I'd say-"
"I said, shut up!" Shawn yelled at him, "Fix your bloody brain, bro!"
"Right!" Aaron gave him thumbs-up.
"Hey, freaks, do us a favor, and go home to mommy, like that Rahne!" Ray shouted at them.
Roberto turned to Ray, a furious look on his face. He charged at Ray, yelling, "Don't make fun of Rahne!"
Shawn looked confused. "What's this all about?" He asked, watching the 'shocking' fight in front of them.
"Shawn," said Aaron, leading Shawn away, "It's time I told you about the birds and the bees."
Bobby snorted, and headed upstairs to bed. He was glad he had gotten a new roommate since John had left. Well, kind of. Ruben Ryder bounced on the bunk above Bobby.
"What in the world are you doing?" Bobby sighed.
"He's putting his plan of killing us into action." Ray grumbled, rather beat up after the fight with Roberto.
"Dude, by annoying us to death." said Allen unnecessarily.
"Yeah," said Bobby, "Just don't break the bed, okay?" He laid down, and quickly fell asleep.
The girls however, had been joined by Amara and Jessica. They too, began to contribute to the conversation.
"I feel sorry for Roberto, don't you?" asked Amara.
"Yeah, like, his girlfriend had to leave because of all of that mutant exposure," said Kitty.
Jessica listened mostly, not knowing anyone enough to comment. Then, she spoke up.
"What do you guys think about that John guy?" Jessica asked, "I think he's creepy."
"I, like, totally agree with you, Jess," Kitty agreed.
"I think he's kind of mental," said Amara, "What about you, Rogue?"
"I don't know," Rogue said, "I'll admit, he's hard to understand sometimes..."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Amara teased.
"I don't know, really. I think John's problem is that he doesn't trust anybody."
"Like, I never noticed," Kitty said, "I was, like, totally scared of him!"
Rogue sighed, "All he wanted was a friend."
"Well, he follows you and Bobby around, doesn't he?" Amara said.
"Yeah, but we blew it," Rogue informed her, "We never noticed, or cared, for that matter, anything relating to him. Now he won't talk to us."
"At all?" asked Jess.
"Except to vent his temper," Rogue said, "not at all."
She rolled over in her bed, and tried to go to sleep. She felt guilty, and she didn't like feeling guilty about John, of all people. But that was exactly why she felt guilty, because.
Rogue sighed, all of this going around in circles was giving her a headache.
Aaron and Shawn sat outside with Rogue, Bobby, and John. They weren't completely there, though, Scott had given them tons of homework after the Jell-O incident.
"I still can't believe you went into the girl's bathroom," Bobby laughed.
"We-" Shawn was cut off by John.
"Just leave them alone, will you?" he said, and returned to his book.
Bobby blinked, getting more confused by the minute. Now John was defending the Kerrs. Weird.
A half-hour passed, and the group was frantically doing homework. Except for John. He had fallen asleep about five minutes after he had told Bobby off. Suddenly he sat up.
"Kerri!" he said.
The others looked at him. John ignored them.
"How could I have been so stupid?" he muttered to himself. "... right under my nose!"
He got to his feet, and cracked his head off of a low-hanging branch. He swore under his breath, and walked away, cursing himself.
"What was that all about?" the twins asked together.
Bobby was still staring, stunned, at the retreating John.
"I don't have a clue," said Rogue.
John sat down on a brick wall, still cursing himself.
"How could I not have remembered?" he asked himself, "How could I not have known?" He put his head in his hands, aware of the stares he was still receiving from Bobby. "Kerri, she was. right there," John told himself. "And I didn't know, I didn't even try." He struggled to keep himself from crying. "She was so close, and I didn't notice!" He cried out in anger, and tore away, running, not knowing where, or even caring, until he stopped in a unused room of the mansion. He sat down in a chair, and tried to clear his mind. Unable to do this, he dropped off into sleep.
That night at dinner, Rogue joined the rest of her friends at the table. John never sat with them during meals. Last time he had, Ray had made fun of him. She looked around the room. She couldn't see John anywhere.
"Hey, do any of you know what's up with John?" Rogue asked them.
"Dude, maybe he's going through puberty!" Allen said.
"Allen, that was stupid," Ray told him, "Shut up!" Then he turned to Rogue, "What's wrong with him? I know what's wrong with him! He's-"
"Ray!" said Amara, jabbing him in the ribs with her elbow.
Ray glared at her.
"Like, what did I miss?" Kitty said, looking at them.
"John's been acting really weird, and now he's killing himself about something," Bobby told her.
"Yeah, something about Kerri," said Aaron.
"Dude, what's a Kerri?" Allen asked them.
Amara rolled her eyes, "Allen, Kerri is a name."
"Who's Kerri?" Kitty inquired.
"We don't know," Rogue replied.
Suddenly, Bobby had an idea, "Rogue, remember when John left?"
"Yeah, so?" Rogue gave him a look that reminded him distinctly of Logan.
"Jean went inside his mind! She might know what's going on, and who Kerri is!" Bobby said eagerly.
"Let's do that after dinner," Kitty said, "I, like, have nothing else to do."
"Well, I know one thing about this Kerri person," said Aaron.
"What?" Bobby asked him.
"She's got to be a great person," Shawn said.
"And why is that?" asked Amara.
"She's got K-e-r-r in her name, doesn't she?" Shawn and Aaron Kerr said together.
Ray groaned, shaking his head.
Peitro wasn't in a good mood. He grabbed Slade by the shoulders and showed him around the beat-up Brotherhood Headquarters. Peitro also introduced him to everyone very rapidly.
"Just shut up, will you?" Gambit told the speed demon, "We're in the middle of a game of poker!" He dealt the players new cards.
Peitro shrugged. "Oh, yeah, and that lump over there is Lance Alvers, also known as Avalanche."
"Is he the one you guys left for dead?" Slade asked, not realizing that this was a touchy subject.
Peitro laughed nervously, "What are you talking about? We would never- " he stopped as he clutched his bleeding nose. "Aaaahh!" he yelled. "What was that for?"
Lance turned on him angrily, "Never what? Never leave anyone for dead? Oh, no of course not!" He laughed grimly, "Why don't you go show your new piece of trash to his room?" Lance stalked off.
Slade watched him go cheerfully, "He's got a nasty temper, don't you think?"
Peitro moaned, rather pitifully.
"What's with you?" Slade asked him, "You're not bleeding that much!"
Peitro whimpered as blood gushed from his smashed nose. He pointed at one of the doors.
"Ah, my new bedroom," Slade said happily, "Who's my roommate?"
Peitro pointed to himself.
"Oh, that's nice," Slade exclaimed, then went to examine the beat-up armchairs gathered around the TV. He smiled as he plucked a bit of stuffing from the back of one.
Peitro sped to the bathroom to tend to his bleeding nose.
"What's with Pierre?" Slade asked Gambit.
Gambit turned red eyes to Slade slowly. "Who's Pierre?"
Slade looked down at a paper which was entitled 'Debts'. He pointed to the name Remy.
"What's a Remmy?" he asked, "Or is it Reemy?"
Gambit handed him a card.
"Thanks," Slade said, "What's it for?"
The card exploded in his face.
"Nice trick," Slade said, and walked away.
Gambit shrugged, and went back to playing cards.
The group of students entered the MC together. Jean looked up as they came in.
"Yes?" she asked.
"We want to know what happened when you were in John's mind the day he left," Bobby informed her.
Jean looked surprised, "But, why?"
"We're worried about John," Rogue explained.
"Speak for yourself," Ray grumbled, receiving another sharp jab in the ribs from Amara.
"Ray!" she hissed, "Shut up!" Amara turned to Kitty, "Honestly," she said, "I think I was put on earth to keep an eye on Ray!" Ray glared at her as Kitty giggled.
"I don't think I should tell you, however noble your intentions may be," Jean told them all, "It's John's business, and I had no reason to break into his mind. It was irresponsible of me."
Bobby blinked. He hadn't considered her refusing to tell them.
"Good job, Caveman," Ray told him sarcastically. "Now not only do I have sore ribs," he gave Amara a dirty look, "We didn't get any info."
"Dude, maybe we should ask John!" Allen suggested.
"Allen," Bobby told him, "Your brain oozes more than the rest of your body."
Allen laughed, not understanding what Bobby had said.
"Yeah," Rogue said, "Bobby's right. If we asked John, he'd probably barbecue us."
"Like, count me out on that plan," Kitty said, and phased through the wall.
Ray nodded, "She's got a point," he said, "Anyway, you two are supposed to be the freak's friends, so you two can ask." He walked away, with Allen following him.
"Good luck," said Aaron.
"You'll need it," said Shawn, and they, too disappeared down the hallway.
"I guess it's up to you guys, then," Amara told them.
Ruben grinned, "Hey, I'll go with you!"
"Ruben, you really don't need to," Rogue said.
"But I want to!" Ruben insisted.
"Oh, alright," said Bobby, grudgingly, "We'll ask him tomorrow."
________________________________________________________________________
Yay! I created suspense! *pauses* At least, I think I did... Anywho, YAY for new readers!!! Umm.. In case you're wondering, this chapter was here for entertainment and to make reference to a very important character. *cough*oh-so-subtle-hint*cough*
Pleeeeease review, or I might feel rejected, and accidentally-on-purpose forget to update. So review my NEW chapters!!
'May the emus poo on someone else's lawn'
"Get out!" Mr. Kamon, the cook yelled at Aaron and Shawn, who took off out of the kitchen. As they sped out the door, they nearly ran over Lance, who had been standing outside of the room.
"Sorry, Quakey," one of them yelled back at him. Lance was unable to tell the twins apart.
He sighed, and pulled himself off the floor. Lance resumed his thoughts about the Brotherhood. He knew he would not fit in with the X-Men forever, and he wasn't sure that he could live with the Brotherhood again.
Lance suddenly felt a sharp stab of pain inside his skull. He collapsed onto the floor for the second time, trying to contain his powers, which had erupted out of control. His headache grew steadily worse as he tried to restrain the earthquake he was generating. There was only one way to stop it. Lance concentrated on the ground beneath him. It ripped apart, and shot upward, sending Lance backward. His head collided with the wall, and he was knocked into darkness.
Kurt, Roberto, and Ruben were standing in the hallway. The hallway was lined with doors. These doors led to the boys' bedrooms and bathrooms. Suddenly, the mansion began to quake, pictures fell off the walls, the boys fell over. They fell into one another. After a moment, there was a crash, and the quaking stopped.
"Get off of me," said Roberto, pushing Kurt away.
"You and Ray are very alike," Kurt told him, much to Roberto's annoyance.
"Thanks a lot, you rat!" Roberto said, pushing Kurt into the wall.
"See what I mean?" Kurt teleported as Roberto lunged for him. Instead, he slammed into the bathroom door. Unfortunately, the door had been a victim of Aaron and Shawn. It swung open. Even worse for them, was what was inside.
Ray Crisp stood there with his eyebrows raised. A towel was wrapped around his waist and his hair was wet. It was obvious he had just taken a shower.
"It's the lady or the tiger," he told them menacingly.
"Tiger," said Kurt, minutes later, laying on the ground, "Definitely the tiger."
Ray had fried them all with bolts of blue electricity seconds after the bathroom door had opened. Then he had walked off, saying something about getting some clothes on.
Jean had been outside when the ground began to shake. After it suddenly halted, she had run inside looking for Lance, followed by Scott. They found him unconscious in the corridor outside of the kitchen. Scott looked around at the hall. He whistled.
The ground had been torn apart as if a giant hand had reached down and picked up a chunk of it and scattered it through the corridor. It was obvious where Lance had crashed into the wall. It had been smashed inward, the brick inner layer crumbling.
"Lance!" Jean said, kneeling by his unmoving body.
"Jean?" Scott said, "Have you seen what he did?" He gestured at the wall and the floor.
Just then, Aaron and Shawn ran in.
"What the?" Shawn said.
"What did he do?" said Aaron.
"That's none of your concern," said Scott absent-mindedly.
"Yes, it is," said Shawn.
"Yeah," said Aaron, giving Scott a reproachful look, "How else are we going to get back to our rooms?"
Shawn pointed at the gigantic hole ripped into the ground.
After a couple weeks, the weather warmed up. John had talked little, and Lance had said almost nothing, after recovering from a mild concussion. Then, on a warm day, after lunch, he was sitting by himself under a tree.
"You idiots!" he suddenly shouted. It looked like Aaron and Shawn had dumped a good bit of oatmeal over Lance's head.
"You can't catch us, Lancey-Pantsey!" said Aaron, as the twins took off around the mansion. The three mutants disappeared from sight.
That was all they heard Lance say for a while, but the twins claimed he had screamed and cursed at them for hours while they ran from him.
Rogue sat in the shade of another tree, and watched the scene, laughing with Bobby. John also sat with them, but he was deeply engrossed in a essay he was writing.
"John?" Rogue said tentatively, because John's temper was like a bomb just waiting to explode.
John didn't look up from his paper.
Rogue continued, "Why don't you talk to us anymore?"
"You never wanted to talk to me," John kept writing the essay.
Fortunately, Rogue didn't have to think of something to say to John, because at that moment, a fuzzball fell out of the tree above them.
"Looky," said Bear proudly, holding out his hands to them, "I's feedin' the buds!"
"Eww!" said Rogue. He had a handful of wriggling, squirming worms.
John snorted. So they're worms, he seemed to be saying, Big deal.
He got up. "While you deal with a certain annoying furball, I'll be... somewhere else."
The Brotherhood left that day, taking Lance with them. He was obviously going against his will. The guy called Slade also had decided to leave with them.
Kitty watched them leave, and she told Rogue, "I was, like, just starting to warm up to Lance, too."
"Good riddance," said Bobby said, and Kitty glared at him.
John didn't say anything. He watched them leave with a smile on his face.
In chemistry class, Scott was explaining the uses of iodine and sulfuric acid to the students. Suddenly Aaron rushed in, followed closely by Shawn.
"Mr. Summers!" Aaron said loudly.
"There's-" Shawn said, catching his breath, "It-"
"You got to come!" said Aaron, with Scott wincing not only at Aaron's bad grammar, but the fact that he had to do something with the twins.
"What is it?" he asked irritably.
"We-," Aaron said, obviously at a loss for words, "I-"
"Please," pleaded Shawn, falling to his knees dramatically.
"Alright," Scott gave in.
The twins exchanged a secret grin, then led him down a corridor, and through a door.
Suddenly, snowballs came hurtling out from behind a desk, every one smacking into Scott's face. Luckily for them all, his glasses stayed on.
Scott turned to the twins, his face red with anger.
"Uh-oh," said Shawn.
"Looks like the one-eyed monster's angry," said Aaron, "Run for your life!"
They took off down the corridor, screaming. People poked their heads out of doors as the twins passed, closely followed by a steaming Scott.
They slid down a banister, and landed a good three feet away from a hideous blue rug on the floor. Scott tore down the stairs and stepped down on the rug. It collapsed downwards, letting Scott fall down into a deep pit half-full of what used to be lime Jell-O.
"Oops," said Aaron, "I forgot about that one."
"Wonder how long that's been there," said Shawn thoughtfully, staring at the Jell-O.
"Is it still edible?" Aaron shouted down to Scott.
Kitty said, "You two are so totally weird. What are you doing?"
"Er," said Shawn.
"We're saving Scott from the Jell-O monster!" Aaron said seriously, as if he believed it himself.
"Um, bro?" Shawn looked at Aaron with a funny look on his face. "Where'd you come up with that one?"
"But-" said Aaron.
"No time for that now! We must make our escape!" Shawn dragged his brother away through the hallways.
"He'll never find us here!" Shawn said, pushing open the door to the girls' restrooms.
At dinnertime, Shawn and Aaron risked getting something to eat. As they sat down, Amara and Kitty turned to them.
"Why were you, like, in the girl's bathroom today?" asked Kitty.
"What?" said Shawn, "We would never conceive of such a thing!"
"Unless Summers was chasing us," said Aaron. Shawn elbowed him.
"Shut up," Shawn muttered.
"Oh, right," Aaron said quickly.
"Then why did a spider smile at me?" Amara said, annoyed.
"Don't be silly," Shawn said, waving a dismissive hand, before Aaron could mess things up, "Spiders can't smile!"
"What's all this about a girl's bathroom?" Ray said in a bored tone, as he sat down.
Aaron had just opened his mouth, when Shawn pushed him off his chair.
"Hey," Aaron said angrily, "What was that for?"
"For all of the times you... umm... Shawn groped for a good excuse.
"Spill the beans, freaks," Ray said, still bored.
"Okay!" said Aaron, happy to tell their story.
Shawn groaned and put his head in his hands.
"And then Shawn said we had to escape, and we-" Aaron was cut off by Shawn.
"And then we came in here!" Shawn said hurriedly.
Aaron turned to look at him, "No, we di-"
Shawn grabbed Aaron and dragged him bodily from the table. Kitty giggled.
"You idiot!" Shawn told his brother in a whisper.
"What did I do?" Aaron asked, then added, "And why are we whispering?"
"Do you want them to know we were in the girl's bathroom?" Shawn asked him, exasperated.
"You were in the girl's bathroom?" Bobby asked them, laughing.
Shawn groaned. It would take them a lifetime to live this one down.
That night, Kitty and Rogue abandoned a game of table soccer to go to bed early. Kitty was brushing her teeth, when suddenly she burst out.
"Why did he go with them?" she said angrily, "they, like, treated him like trash!"
Rogue smiled, "You like him, don't you?"
"No!" Kitty quickly, "I just can't believe Lance would go with them after they left him to die!"
"And, you like him!" Rogue insisted.
Kitty shrugged, "Okay, maybe a little. Like, what do you think?"
"I think," Rogue said, "you can do better! I mean, he's not that nice of a guy, if you know what I mean."
"I guess..." Kitty said thinking, "like, what about you and Bobby?"
Rogue laughed and they began a heated discussion about boys.
After the girls had left, Bobby had left the table soccer game, too. He sat down next to John who was working on some Geometry homework.
"Why don't you do your homework during study hall?" Bobby asked, his survival instincts running low.
John turned to him, "Why don't you put a lid on it, and mind your own business? Go find Rogue and do something mushy, I don't care! Just leave me alone!" He got up, and left the room, probably to prevent himself from killing Bobby.
"Touchy chap, isn't he?" said Shawn, who had sat down next to Bobby. He had a purple pigeon on his shoulder. The ugly pigeon morphed into Aaron, squishing Shawn and Bobby in the process.
"Oh, hi, Snowball!" he said, oblivious to the glare Bobby was giving him, "What's wrong with your face?"
Bobby looked surprised, and Shawn grabbed Aaron and pulled him away, before the insult sank in. Bobby got up, and tried to get at Aaron.
"Leave the poor chap alone, will you?" said Shawn angrily, blocking Bobby's attempts to reach Aaron, "He doesn't know what he's saying!"
"I know what I said!" Aaron said, confused, "I said, what's wrong wi- "
Shawn kicked him, hissing, "Be quiet!"
Roberto walked up to Shawn, "What's going on?"
"Bobby's overreacting a bit," Shawn said.
"A bit?" said Aaron, "I'd say-"
"I said, shut up!" Shawn yelled at him, "Fix your bloody brain, bro!"
"Right!" Aaron gave him thumbs-up.
"Hey, freaks, do us a favor, and go home to mommy, like that Rahne!" Ray shouted at them.
Roberto turned to Ray, a furious look on his face. He charged at Ray, yelling, "Don't make fun of Rahne!"
Shawn looked confused. "What's this all about?" He asked, watching the 'shocking' fight in front of them.
"Shawn," said Aaron, leading Shawn away, "It's time I told you about the birds and the bees."
Bobby snorted, and headed upstairs to bed. He was glad he had gotten a new roommate since John had left. Well, kind of. Ruben Ryder bounced on the bunk above Bobby.
"What in the world are you doing?" Bobby sighed.
"He's putting his plan of killing us into action." Ray grumbled, rather beat up after the fight with Roberto.
"Dude, by annoying us to death." said Allen unnecessarily.
"Yeah," said Bobby, "Just don't break the bed, okay?" He laid down, and quickly fell asleep.
The girls however, had been joined by Amara and Jessica. They too, began to contribute to the conversation.
"I feel sorry for Roberto, don't you?" asked Amara.
"Yeah, like, his girlfriend had to leave because of all of that mutant exposure," said Kitty.
Jessica listened mostly, not knowing anyone enough to comment. Then, she spoke up.
"What do you guys think about that John guy?" Jessica asked, "I think he's creepy."
"I, like, totally agree with you, Jess," Kitty agreed.
"I think he's kind of mental," said Amara, "What about you, Rogue?"
"I don't know," Rogue said, "I'll admit, he's hard to understand sometimes..."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Amara teased.
"I don't know, really. I think John's problem is that he doesn't trust anybody."
"Like, I never noticed," Kitty said, "I was, like, totally scared of him!"
Rogue sighed, "All he wanted was a friend."
"Well, he follows you and Bobby around, doesn't he?" Amara said.
"Yeah, but we blew it," Rogue informed her, "We never noticed, or cared, for that matter, anything relating to him. Now he won't talk to us."
"At all?" asked Jess.
"Except to vent his temper," Rogue said, "not at all."
She rolled over in her bed, and tried to go to sleep. She felt guilty, and she didn't like feeling guilty about John, of all people. But that was exactly why she felt guilty, because.
Rogue sighed, all of this going around in circles was giving her a headache.
Aaron and Shawn sat outside with Rogue, Bobby, and John. They weren't completely there, though, Scott had given them tons of homework after the Jell-O incident.
"I still can't believe you went into the girl's bathroom," Bobby laughed.
"We-" Shawn was cut off by John.
"Just leave them alone, will you?" he said, and returned to his book.
Bobby blinked, getting more confused by the minute. Now John was defending the Kerrs. Weird.
A half-hour passed, and the group was frantically doing homework. Except for John. He had fallen asleep about five minutes after he had told Bobby off. Suddenly he sat up.
"Kerri!" he said.
The others looked at him. John ignored them.
"How could I have been so stupid?" he muttered to himself. "... right under my nose!"
He got to his feet, and cracked his head off of a low-hanging branch. He swore under his breath, and walked away, cursing himself.
"What was that all about?" the twins asked together.
Bobby was still staring, stunned, at the retreating John.
"I don't have a clue," said Rogue.
John sat down on a brick wall, still cursing himself.
"How could I not have remembered?" he asked himself, "How could I not have known?" He put his head in his hands, aware of the stares he was still receiving from Bobby. "Kerri, she was. right there," John told himself. "And I didn't know, I didn't even try." He struggled to keep himself from crying. "She was so close, and I didn't notice!" He cried out in anger, and tore away, running, not knowing where, or even caring, until he stopped in a unused room of the mansion. He sat down in a chair, and tried to clear his mind. Unable to do this, he dropped off into sleep.
That night at dinner, Rogue joined the rest of her friends at the table. John never sat with them during meals. Last time he had, Ray had made fun of him. She looked around the room. She couldn't see John anywhere.
"Hey, do any of you know what's up with John?" Rogue asked them.
"Dude, maybe he's going through puberty!" Allen said.
"Allen, that was stupid," Ray told him, "Shut up!" Then he turned to Rogue, "What's wrong with him? I know what's wrong with him! He's-"
"Ray!" said Amara, jabbing him in the ribs with her elbow.
Ray glared at her.
"Like, what did I miss?" Kitty said, looking at them.
"John's been acting really weird, and now he's killing himself about something," Bobby told her.
"Yeah, something about Kerri," said Aaron.
"Dude, what's a Kerri?" Allen asked them.
Amara rolled her eyes, "Allen, Kerri is a name."
"Who's Kerri?" Kitty inquired.
"We don't know," Rogue replied.
Suddenly, Bobby had an idea, "Rogue, remember when John left?"
"Yeah, so?" Rogue gave him a look that reminded him distinctly of Logan.
"Jean went inside his mind! She might know what's going on, and who Kerri is!" Bobby said eagerly.
"Let's do that after dinner," Kitty said, "I, like, have nothing else to do."
"Well, I know one thing about this Kerri person," said Aaron.
"What?" Bobby asked him.
"She's got to be a great person," Shawn said.
"And why is that?" asked Amara.
"She's got K-e-r-r in her name, doesn't she?" Shawn and Aaron Kerr said together.
Ray groaned, shaking his head.
Peitro wasn't in a good mood. He grabbed Slade by the shoulders and showed him around the beat-up Brotherhood Headquarters. Peitro also introduced him to everyone very rapidly.
"Just shut up, will you?" Gambit told the speed demon, "We're in the middle of a game of poker!" He dealt the players new cards.
Peitro shrugged. "Oh, yeah, and that lump over there is Lance Alvers, also known as Avalanche."
"Is he the one you guys left for dead?" Slade asked, not realizing that this was a touchy subject.
Peitro laughed nervously, "What are you talking about? We would never- " he stopped as he clutched his bleeding nose. "Aaaahh!" he yelled. "What was that for?"
Lance turned on him angrily, "Never what? Never leave anyone for dead? Oh, no of course not!" He laughed grimly, "Why don't you go show your new piece of trash to his room?" Lance stalked off.
Slade watched him go cheerfully, "He's got a nasty temper, don't you think?"
Peitro moaned, rather pitifully.
"What's with you?" Slade asked him, "You're not bleeding that much!"
Peitro whimpered as blood gushed from his smashed nose. He pointed at one of the doors.
"Ah, my new bedroom," Slade said happily, "Who's my roommate?"
Peitro pointed to himself.
"Oh, that's nice," Slade exclaimed, then went to examine the beat-up armchairs gathered around the TV. He smiled as he plucked a bit of stuffing from the back of one.
Peitro sped to the bathroom to tend to his bleeding nose.
"What's with Pierre?" Slade asked Gambit.
Gambit turned red eyes to Slade slowly. "Who's Pierre?"
Slade looked down at a paper which was entitled 'Debts'. He pointed to the name Remy.
"What's a Remmy?" he asked, "Or is it Reemy?"
Gambit handed him a card.
"Thanks," Slade said, "What's it for?"
The card exploded in his face.
"Nice trick," Slade said, and walked away.
Gambit shrugged, and went back to playing cards.
The group of students entered the MC together. Jean looked up as they came in.
"Yes?" she asked.
"We want to know what happened when you were in John's mind the day he left," Bobby informed her.
Jean looked surprised, "But, why?"
"We're worried about John," Rogue explained.
"Speak for yourself," Ray grumbled, receiving another sharp jab in the ribs from Amara.
"Ray!" she hissed, "Shut up!" Amara turned to Kitty, "Honestly," she said, "I think I was put on earth to keep an eye on Ray!" Ray glared at her as Kitty giggled.
"I don't think I should tell you, however noble your intentions may be," Jean told them all, "It's John's business, and I had no reason to break into his mind. It was irresponsible of me."
Bobby blinked. He hadn't considered her refusing to tell them.
"Good job, Caveman," Ray told him sarcastically. "Now not only do I have sore ribs," he gave Amara a dirty look, "We didn't get any info."
"Dude, maybe we should ask John!" Allen suggested.
"Allen," Bobby told him, "Your brain oozes more than the rest of your body."
Allen laughed, not understanding what Bobby had said.
"Yeah," Rogue said, "Bobby's right. If we asked John, he'd probably barbecue us."
"Like, count me out on that plan," Kitty said, and phased through the wall.
Ray nodded, "She's got a point," he said, "Anyway, you two are supposed to be the freak's friends, so you two can ask." He walked away, with Allen following him.
"Good luck," said Aaron.
"You'll need it," said Shawn, and they, too disappeared down the hallway.
"I guess it's up to you guys, then," Amara told them.
Ruben grinned, "Hey, I'll go with you!"
"Ruben, you really don't need to," Rogue said.
"But I want to!" Ruben insisted.
"Oh, alright," said Bobby, grudgingly, "We'll ask him tomorrow."
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Yay! I created suspense! *pauses* At least, I think I did... Anywho, YAY for new readers!!! Umm.. In case you're wondering, this chapter was here for entertainment and to make reference to a very important character. *cough*oh-so-subtle-hint*cough*
Pleeeeease review, or I might feel rejected, and accidentally-on-purpose forget to update. So review my NEW chapters!!
'May the emus poo on someone else's lawn'