By the time Lunch rolled around the Drama class list had swelled to include Duncan, Taryn, and a bunch of other 'non-mutant' high school students from all grades. The lunch room was full of students and noise when Rogue walked in, carrying her backpack under one arm and a bag lunch in the other.
"ROGUE! ROGUE! OVER HEEEEERE!" Eden's piercing yell cut through the rest of the noise. "GET YOUR BUTT OVER HERE!"
"I really wish that girl would keep her mouth shut sometimes," Rogue mumbled to herself, walking across the crowded cafetieria to the table where Eden sat with Kurt, Kitty, Scott, and Jean.
"How's your day been going Rogue?" Jean asked as she pulled the lid off her yogurt.
"Well, the pop quiz in Chemistry didn't go to well," she grumbled as she slid into the seat, ducking Eden's arms that were now waving franticaly over her head. "Would you watch where you fling those things?" she asked Eden with annoyance.
"Sorry Rogue, I'm trying to make sure Remy can see me."
"You're the only one in here looking like an idiot, I'm sure he can see you."
"Ha ha ha."
Kitty and Kurt began to laugh and Scott began to scowl.
"Scott, wipe that look off your face. He's a member of the team now. You're eventually going to have to be nice," Jean said to Scott before inserting a spoonful of yogurt into her mouth.
"Yeah, but that's not going to be today now is it?" Scott grumbled as Remy spotted Eden and made his way over to the rest of them.
"Dis cafeteria is tres crowded, non?" Remy said, his face a bit flushed as he gave Eden a grateful look.
"No it's not swamp rat. You just haven't been out in the world for a while, being Magneto's lackey and all," Scott blurted out. Remy didn't say anything as he pulled his luch out of his backpack and laughed at Scott's comment. Eden was busy looking at all the chairs and with a satisfied look she sank down into her seat.
"Like, what are you so happy about Eden?" Kitty asked before she took a drink of her diet soda.
"All the chairs are filled that means Mr. 'I'm so great all the chicks dig me' Maximoff can't bug me."
"Uh, Eden? Don't want to burst your bubble," Kurt said and pointed towards the doorway. With a growing feeling of dread, she turned to face where Kurt was pointing.
"Well there's no room. He can't sit here and bug me."
"Eden, watch and learn," Rogue said to her.
Pietro was standing by the doorway with Lance, Toad and Fred, scanning the crowded room quickly with his eyes. Finding what he was looking for, with a slight wooshing sound and a few flying papers, he made his way over to Eden and grabbed a nearby chair, settling right behind her.
"What's up E? Miss me?"
"No."
"Quicksilver, leave her alone!" Scott nearly yelled from the other side of the table.
"Hey Shades, lighten up. I'm not doing anything wrong."
"Eden's an X-Man, you're with the Loserhood. Leave her alone."
"Make me Scummers."
With that last comment, Scott pushed away from the table, his hand flying up to his protective sunglasses. Eden lept over the table and batted his hand away. Once the shock of what Scott nearly did sunk in, the others began to yell.
"Scott? ARE YOU CRAZY! Do you want to expose us?"
"Brilliant one. This is just how I wanted the rest of the world to find out about mutants."
"Like, Chill out oh fearless one. It's not like Pietro's trying to hurt anyone or, like, destroy anything."
Embarassed, Scott sunk into his seat, his face flushing with a combination of rage and humiliation. "Sorry," he mumbled.
Shaking his head slightly, Pietro made a tsk-tsk'ing noise. "Now now Scotty boy, don't want to loose your cool now do you?"
"Shut up Pietro! If you didn't insist on bothering me, he wouldn't have nearly blasted your head off, " Eden shot back at him.
"Don't worry your pretty head E, he wouldn't be able to hit me. Unless he had his better half use her powers to stop me."
Jean rolled her eyes at Pietro and continued to eat her yogurt. Rogue shoved Pietro's chair away from Eden a bit and scowled at him.
"A reason why you're bothering us?" she asked him as she turned her back to him.
"Not at all Roguey. Just wanted to say hi to my girl."
"I'M NOT YOUR GIRL!" Eden shrieked, silencing the entire cafetieria. Unaware all eyes were on her she continued, "I WILL NEVER BE YOUR GIRL SO LEAVE ME ALONE!" Sinking back down into her chair, she muttered, "You stupid idiot."
The cafeteria stayed silent for another few seconds and soon it was full of noise again. A few amused onlookers glanced back at her, waiting for her to erupt again.
"Well, I'd say I've worn out my welcome, but E, don't think I've given up on you. After all, we still have most of our classes together. See you all in drama class." Standing up quickly he leaned over and kissed Eden on the cheek and was out the door before she could react.
"EUUGH! YUCK YUCK YUCK! Does anyone have any bleach or disinfectant? I need to de-contaminate my face." Eden made a barfy face and began to rub the spot Pietro had kissed her with a napkin soaked with water.
Kurt snorted with laughter, "Well I guess Pietro has platimun balls for doing that."
Kitty joined in with her own laughter, "You should have seen your face Eden. It was hysterical!"
The bell rang, signaling the end of the lunch period and everyone began to stand up and collect their garbage. The rest of the students were also either filing out the small double doors to their next class or making a mad dash to the garbage cans. Scott had everyone dump thier trash on his lunch tray and made one trip to the garbage.
"Well, since we're all heading to drama, let's walk together," Jean suggested as she pulled her backpack off the ground and slung it on her back.
"Good idea. There's safety in numbers. Pietro can't attack me if you guys surround me," Eden said as she began to nervously glance around.
Rogue and Kitty laughed at her obviously paranoid behavior and the merry band of mutants began the short walk to their next class. Kurt and Remy brought up the rear of the group, debating on what their next class was really going to be about.
"Dude, It's drama class, it's about Drama," Kurt said.
"I don' know. Sounds kind'a suspicious. Most of de participants are mutants."
"Luck of the draw my friend."
"Come on you two, walk any slower, we'll all be late," Rogue snapped over her shoulder.
In the mood for a bit of fun, Remy and Kurt both rushed up to Rogue and flanked her on each side. They then put an arm around her shoulders.
"Well Chere, you do care."
"Phsst."
"Why Remy, I think she does."
"Shut up Kurt."
"Now now Chere, no need t' be so hostile."
"Any occasion with you demands the need to be hostile."
"Hey Remy, you know what they say right?"
"Non mon ami, what do dey say?"
"If a girl gives you a hard time, she liiiiiiiiiiikes you."
"KURT! SHUT THE HELL UP!"
"Whoa, I think I hit a nerve."
"Kurt, if you don't shut your mouth, I'm going to shut it for you. Permanently."
Remy and Kurt laughed as somehow the three of them made their way through the classroom doors with Kitty behind them laughing so hard tears were falling down her face.
"Oh god! I, like, have to commit this to memory!"
"Damnit Kitty! Don't encourage them!"
Once inside, they all began to look around. This wan't any kind of ordinary classroom. For starters it was about four times the size and didn't have desks. At the front of the room was a large stage with heavy red velvet stage curtians. There was lighting everywhere. Instead of chairs there were about thirty rows of seats, all set up like at a baseball staduim, sloping downward towards the stage. In the back of the room up a small set of stairs was what looked like a control room.
"Come in my dears! Come in! Sit sit sit sit!"
Everyone looked at the front of the room and on the stage was a short, plump woman with curly brown hair and a pair of glasses she kept pushing up the bridge of her nose.
"Please class. Sit! We have so much to do!"
Grumbling, everyone began to sit in the back of the room. Laughing in a hyper sort of way, the woman in the front waved her arms and said, "No my dears, up here! In the front! I can't yell at you all the time! Come come!" She kept waving her arms as everyone began to slowly move their way forward. Once everyone was seated, again, they all looked at this new teacher with a cross between amusement, and boredom.
"Welcome children! This is Bayville High's first ever drama class! I'm your teacher Mrs. Cooper. Let me just say we are going to have so much FUN!" Pausing for a moment to push her glasses back up her nose, she continued. "Now, all of you had been selected randomly from all four grades so we can get a bit of variety in the class. None of you have ever need to have acted before, it's all in fun! We will actually be performing a play at the middle of the year for the entire student body!"
Everyone began to groan, silencing them she added, "It will count as your entire grade. Now, as for the play we will be performing..." she walked over to a small desk in the left corner of the stage and pulled a small book out of her massive briefcase. "William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing." The groaning got louder and she continued on, oblivious to the less than enthusiastic response she'd hoped for.
"In this brilliant piece by the master himself, two couples fall in love." One of the boys in the class began to make a gagging sound, and the few around him began to laugh. "In it we meet the dashing, handsome, Count Claudio. Upon jouneying with the Prince from a long war, they come to the territory of Messina, governed over by the kind hearted Lonato. His young daughter Hero and Claudio seem to fall in love at first sight. Beatrice, Hero's abrasive, cutting cousin," Eden leaned over and whispered to Rogue, "Sounds like you." Rogue elbowed her and Mrs. Cooper continued on, "and the bachelor warrior Benedick have what Leonato calls, 'a merry war betwixt them, they never meet, but there is a skirmish of wit between them'. All outward appearances suggest that these two characters absolutely detest eachother, but other instances prove otherwise. But it isn't all love and happiness, for the war they are returning from was with the Prince's bastard brother, John," a few loud laughs broke out when she said bastard, but ignoring them and hoping to create some excitement, she kept on. "At the masquerade ball, the Prince woos Hero for Claudio and wins her hand in marriage with the blessing of Leonato. Also at the ball, Benedick and Beatrice both continue to insult eachother from behind their masks, each knowing who the other is, but not knowing if the other knows." Some of the students began to look confused, but still wrapped up in her tale, Mrs. Cooper kept going. "Claudio wants to marry Hero the next day but Lonato begs for seven days to plan his only child a proper wedding. The Prince comes up with an idea to get Beatrice and Benedick to fall in love with eachother. All parties agree this would be fun and begin to plot."
Glancing around the room, she saw that many of the boys look bored and only a few of the girls seemed interested. Holding up the book she began to talk in a more serious tone. "But it's not all fun and games, for John the Bastard is bitter about loosing to his brother the Prince. So with the aid of two comrades, Conrade and Barrachio, they set out to fool Claudio and make it appear that Hero isn't as faithful as she seems. On the day of the wedding Claudio renounces Hero as a harlot and leaves her. Leonato believes him and Hero faints. Beatrice is insistant on the innocence of her cousin and finally Leonato believes his daughter has been belied. Now, the constable, Dogberry, is one of Shakespeare's funniest secondary characters. A moron if you will. Two of his men overhear Conrade and Boracchio gloat about how they made Claudio think Hero was a whore and they are caught, tried, and forced to tell the truth. In the meantime, Benedick, with Beatrice's urging, challenges Claudio to a duel for the honor of the now 'dead' Hero. The constable then enters and has Boracchio and Conrade tell the Prince, Claudio, and Leonato about how John the Bastard came up with this plot. Stricken with grief, Claudio, believeing Hero is dead, agrees to wed the 'daughter' of Leonato's brother. Joy comes when he finds out that the cousin of Hero is actually Hero and Beatrice and Benedick are tricked into marriage!" Her face flushed from forgetting to take a breath when needed, she glanced around the room, hoping for any signs of life.
"Well then. I'll pair you up and we'll begin the process of casting characters. First may I have..... Mr. Maximoff..... and let's see.......................Miss Burke."
"Yes!" Pietro exclaimed, making his way onto the stage.
"NO! Can't I read with someone else?" Eden whined.
"Dear, just because you are reading with him, dosn't mean you will be acting with him," Mrs. Cooper said gently as Eden slowly dragged her feet up to the stage.
"Now you two will be reading the parts of Hero and Claudio. The passages I want you to read are highlighted. This scene is where Claudio renounces Hero at their wedding. Whenever you are ready."
Pietro waited a moment and then began to read, "I know what you would say: if I have known her, You sill say she did embrace me as a h usband, and so wxtenuate the forehand sin. No, Leonato, I never tempted her with word to large, but as a brother to his siter, showed basful sincerity and comely love.
Rolling her eyes Eden read, "And seemed I ever otherwise to you?
Pietro smiled at Eden and winked before continuing, "Out on thee, seeming! I will wirte against it. You seem to me as Dian in her orb, as chaste as is the bud ere it be blown. But you are more intemperate in your blood than Venus, or those pampered animals that rage in savage sensuality.
"Is my lord well that he doth speak so wide?"
Mrs. Cooper clapped her hands when they were done, "Bravo! Very well done! You may go sit down now."
Pietro motined for Eden to go in front of him down the stairs. Glaring at him as she walked past him, she hurried back to her seat where Kitty began to promptly tease her.
"Awwwww you two looked, like, so cute up there!"
"Bite me Kitty."
Mrs. Cooper clapped her hands again. Once more consulting her class list, she said loudly, "Mr. LeBeau and Miss.... well, there seems to be a smudge on the last name, let me see the first name... ah yes. Miss Rogue."
Eden and Kitty both burst into hysterics and Rogue smacked them both upside the head as she passed them by. Jean was also giggling a bit in the row behind them and Scott just glared.
"You two will be reading Beatrice and Benedick. This is at the masquerade ball where your characters are masked. You both know who eachother are, but don't know the other knows. Benedick is pretending to be a messenger with an insult for Beatrice. Your passages are highlighted and begin whenever you are ready."
Rogue began, "Will you not tell me who told you so?"
Remy read, "Non, you shall pardon me.
"Nor will you not tell me who you are?"
"Not now."
"That I was disdainful, and that I had my good wit out of The Hundred Merry Tales! Well, this was Signior Benedick that said so."
"What's he?"
"I'm sure you know him well enough."
"Not I, believe me."
"Did he never make you laugh?"
"I pray you, what is he?"
"Why, he is the Prince's jester, a very dull fool; only his gift is in devising impossible slanders. None but libertines delight in him, and the comendation is not in his wit, but in his villiany, for he both pleases men and angers them, and then they laugh at him and beat him. I am sure he is in the fleet. I would he had boarded me.
"When I know the gentleman, I'll tell him what you say."
"Oh very well done! That was marvelous work!" Mrs. Cooper said with excitement.
"Whatever, " Rogue muttered as she made her way back to her seat. Through the course of the class, Mrs. Cooper had every one read different passages. Kitty and Duncan Matthews also read Hero and Claudio while Jean and Scott also read as Beatrice and Benedick. Kurt read as Leonato while Lance, Toad, some other boy read as Dogberry, Conrade, and Boracchio. Once the class was over and everyone was filing out the door, Mrs. Cooper yelled after them, "I'll have a cast list by the end of class tommorow! You all did very well!"
Hey you guys, if no one understands the dialouge from the play "Much ado about nothing, let me know. Basically Claudio is accusing Hero of sleeping with other men and Benedick is pretending to be someone else and insulting Beatrice, wanting to see her reaction. He dosn't know that she knows who he is and insults him to his face, while still acting like she dosn't know it's him. I made this chapter longer to say sorry for not updating on a regular schedule!