A Lovers Feud

A Lovers Feud

By: Alex Destine

Chapter 11

It looked like it was going to be a beautiful day; the birds were singing their early morning tune as the sun rose behind the mountains. A few rays of sunlight went through an open window and into the sleeping form of a young girl. She slowly opened her eyes to adjust to the light and greeted the morning in her usual way.

"Oh God no… no, no, no… it's not like, Monday again, is it?" Kitty Pryde tried very hard to get up, but Mondays were just not a good time for her.

However, the sounds she heard next were all she needed to wake up.

"Oh Pietro…. Pietro! You are so good!" Rogue snickered a bit at the look Kitty was giving her.

"EWW! Like, Rogue! What's the big idea?! Like, stop doing that!" Kitty threw one of her pillows at her annoying roommate. Why couldn't the Professor give them different rooms?

"Oh, come on Kitty… I was only teasing sugar." Rogue winked at her younger roommate and headed out the door.

"I like, really hate Mondays!" and with that Kitty Pryde unceremoniously dumped herself back under her covers.

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"I really hate Mondays!" Pietro Maximoff was poking his lunch around. Nothing like gooey macaroni and cheese on a Monday afternoon to get you to study harder.

"Lance, when are we going to talk to Mystique about letting us choose the meals in this place?" Pietro was not eating this.

"As if she'd let us choose anything here Pietro." Lance was busy poking his food as well.

"Maybe if you hug her again yo!" Todd was eating it happily. If he could eat flies he could eat this.

"That is a 'for-emergencies-use-only' technique. As if I'd do that again!" Pietro had decided this substance couldn't be cheese at all. In fact, it wasn't even edible.

"You gonna eat that?" Fred was pointing at Pietro's plate as he finished eating his third.

"You want it? Take it… your funeral…" Pietro just shoved it to him.

"It's not that bad…" Freddy simply kept eating.

"Hey Lance, if we find Freddy here dead tomorrow morning it wasn't my fault." Pietro wasn't taking the blame for giving his friend the macaroni and cheese of doom.

"Hey yo! Don't joke about that!" Todd didn't like those subjects.

"We shall place it in his tombstone… 'Killed by overdose of macaroni and non-edible cheese.'" Joked Lance as he decided to try it since this was his last meal before he started work this afternoon. After that he was going to be trapped in a very confined space with an immense amount of sugar and a bunch of screaming kids. Welcome to his idea of Hell.

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Meanwhile the X-men were deep in thought as they discussed a very philosophical subject.

"This is so not cheese!" Evan knew cheese, and this was not it.

"But it's so yellow and…. and gooey." Kurt was just playing with it; he figured he could teleport back to the Institute and have lunch there.

"That doesn't mean its cheese Kurt." Rogue wasn't eating this. God only knew what it could do to her.

"Like… if it's not cheese then like, what is it?" Kitty was taking small bites.

"Maybe they've re-heated the same cheese so many times that it doesn't look real." Jean was trying to come up with a logical explanation.

"What if this is some sort of poison that Mystique had sent for us?!" Scott couldn't believe he didn't think of this before!!

Everyone immediately stopped eating.

"SCOTT! Why did you say that?! Now we'll never eat in peace here." Jean kept looking at her now 'poisoned' macaroni and cheese.

"Hey, let's see if the Brotherhood is eating it. Mystique wouldn't do that to her own mutants, right?….. right?" Evan turned around and started looking for the Brotherhood table.

"I see them!" cried Kurt as he kept starring at them.

"Well? Are they eating it?" Rogue wanted… no, NEEDED to know.

"I believe Lance has stopped eating…. Todd is handing his plate over to Fred, that seems to be Fred's fifth!… and Pietro isn't eating anything." At least that's what Kurt thought he saw.

"So let me get this straight… out of all four of them, only Fred is eating?… That's bad." Evan kept staring at the Brotherhood table.

"Why is that bad Evan?" Rogue stood on the table now so she'd be able to see higher.

"Come on Rogue, think about it. The only one eating is the Blob!… he could eat anything, even poison!" Evan couldn't believe he had left New York for this? At least back there he could eat his lunch in peace.

"Like, no way!… this is not poisoned… it looks like it, but it's like totally not." Kitty however wasn't eating.

"And why do you say that?" Jean asked while she looked over at Scott who was busy starring at his food. "Scott, I don't believe it's poisoned… just eat it."

"Well, for one thing; Pietro would like, never let me eat this if it were poisoned." Kitty stated very proudly.

"That proves it! It's poisoned!" Evan was now looking for the nearest trashcan. "Don't you see Kitty… all that 'nice guy' thing he had with you, it was all a trap so you'd let your guard down and he could poison our macaroni and cheese!"

Regardless of how they each felt towards the whole 'Pietro & Kitty' relationship, everyone at that table kept starring at Evan as if he were crazy.

"Spike, you're a nut case, you know that?" Rogue had enough of cynical Evan for one day.

"Ok, well…. Let's keep staring at them! If they start to throw their food away then it has got to be poisoned!"

"Like, that is so stupid Evan…." Kitty started eating little bites again as did Jean and Rogue. However, Kurt, Evan and Scott kept looking over at the Brotherhood.

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"Lance?….. Lance?….. LANCE!" Pietro always lost patience fast.

"What do you want now Pietro?!" Lance was trying to pretend his food was actually a nice piece of fried chicken like the one he had that weekend… but Pietro was breaking his concentration.

"Those X-freaks are watching us…" Pietro felt all weird being watched by them.

"What?…. why?" Lance turned around and spotted Evan, Kurt and Scott looking.

"What do they want yo?" Todd didn't like the staring, he felt like some sort of experiment.

Evan kept staring at Pietro …. Pietro kept staring back at Evan. Then suddenly Pietro knew how to get rid of them. He started to make kissing noises toward Evan.

All three of the X-men turned back to their table.

"I knew that would work!" Pietro was very happy.

"You scare me sometimes…" Lance was just glad they weren't being watched anymore.

"Hey, I've just noticed something… why do people hate me when I'm trying to be affectionate? I hugged Mystique and she had to go, then I tried to send kisses over to Evan and he looked sick then he turned around…. Why won't anyone let me be affectionate with them?!" Pietro started to tug on Todd's arm playfully.

"Yo! Cut that out!… you scare people off…. I don't know why we're still here with you…" Todd was trying to put some distance between himself and his weird friend.

"Aww… do you need a hug?" Pietro just wanted to see the look of horror Todd would put on.

"Get away from me yo!…. Lance, make him stop saying such things!" Todd was practically begging for help here.

"But Toddy…. I do think you need a hug…" Lance wasn't helping.

"LANCE!…. no, Pietro, get away from me!" This was not one of Todd's favorite moments.

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"Like, what's wrong? You guys look like you've seen a ghost." Kitty found that after a while the macaroni and cheese didn't taste so bad… or maybe her tongue had gone numb.

"Did Pietro just….? Did he?….. Kurt, did you see that?" Evan was freaking out.

"Yeah, I saw Evan… umm, maybe he was playing?" Kurt was also freaking out.

"Oh my God, Pietro is gay." Scott had now the perfect reason so that Kitty didn't go out with him!

Kitty chocked on her macaroni and cheese and Rogue was busy hitting her on the back.

"Scott, why would you say something like that?" Jean had no clue what had just happened.

"Pietro wanted to kiss Evan! That proves it! You see Kitty… you should get out of this messed up relationship while you still have the chance." Scott was not acting like his usual mature self…. He had tried everything, he had talked to Kitty, tried to reason with her, even begged her…. Nothing. Seemed like the only thing that worked now was making up stories. Scott had no problem with that.

"Pietro is not like, gay!" Kitty had finally swallowed her food.

"But he tried to kiss Evan!" Scott said again.

"From where? The other side of the cafeteria!…" Rogue had lost her patience with her own messed up team. "Scott, you know he was just playing with ya. Why you have to be staring at them like some lab experiment?"

"Come on guys, don't remind me… I feel so dirty!" Evan was laughing now.

Kurt soon followed on the laughter and before they knew it they were all laughing about it. Even Scott, although he wasn't done trying to convince Kitty just how wrong her new 'boyfriend' was for her.

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Pietro was standing beside his locker as the crowd of students walked in a hurried pace back to their classrooms for their afternoon session of Hell. He kept rubbing the back of his head as he looked down on Todd. The young mutant was keeping himself busy looking for some imaginary object in his backpack, but after a while he couldn't handle it anymore and broke out almost screaming.

"Alright! Alright! I'm sorry!…. You were scaring me yo!" Todd held his half empty backpack in defense.

"TODD! You do NOT go around hitting people on the head because they're hugging you! If they were beating you: yes; if they glue you to a chair and made you watch the Barney show or something like that… then yes, but because someone is hugging you?! No wonder you don't have a girlfriend." Pietro dismissed his younger friend with a gesture and opened up his locker to get his books. He was expecting Todd to explode in a furry of insults and excuses as to why he didn't have a girlfriend, but instead he was greeted by an unwelcome silence.

Pietro watched Todd from the corner of his eye.

"Todd?" Pietro was worried. Had he gone too far this time? He didn't think he'd be hitting a nerve there. After a while Todd decided to answer the speed demon.

"I don't have a girlfriend simply because I'm waiting for someone that's actually worthwhile. Not like you who jumps on the first bimbo you see." Todd had been angry, upset and a little unbalanced in his head… definitely Pietro could understand that.

~~ I'm not going to hit him. I'm not going to hit him… He's little Todd, the baby. I'm going to ignore him, yeah… that's what I'm gonna do. He doesn't exist, he's not here and he didn't say what he just said and I'm NOT GOING TO HIT HIM! ~~

When Pietro figured he had enough restrain to look back at Todd he had one of his 'evil' smiles on. The type that says: 'I'm soooo gonna kick your ass later on'.

"Hey… Pietro… you're not going to pound me, are ya?" Todd was afraid of such an evil smile.

"No… I said one thing, you said another. Let's just leave it at that." The white haired boy took out his anger by throwing the rest of his books inside his locker. This made Todd jump a bit.

Suddenly though Pietro seemed to sense something. He became very still as if making sure what he heard was right. Then the scowl on his face melted away as he looked at the end of the hallway. Todd looked too… he shouldn't have been surprised.

"So like, from now on I'm like so going to bring my own lunch you know." Kitty's bouncy ponytail kept moving from side to side as she talked to Rogue.

"I still think Kurt should just teleport us back to the Institute, but Scott just wants us to suffer with stories of poisoned cheese." Rogue suddenly noticed Kitty started to walk a little faster until she spotted the reason… she shouldn't have been surprised.

Todd watched as Kitty made her way toward them and gave Pietro a kiss. Todd was already feeling sick.

"Like, hi Pietro…" Kitty managed to say after the kiss.

"Like, hiiiiiiii Pietrooooooo!" mocked Rogue as she imitated Kitty's bouncing.

"Rogue like, go talk to Todd or something!" Kitty pushed her friend away.

"Yeah… Todd , go talk to Rogue!" Pietro pushed his young friend toward the Goth girl.

"Hey!" Todd knew when he was not wanted… he didn't need to be pushed.

"Come on Tolensky… let's give this cute couple a few minutes of privacy." Rogue winked at the two of them as she made her way toward her own locker.

"Yeah right… privacy in the middle of a crowded hallway!" Pietro shot back, but he was only answered by Rogue's tongue sticking out.

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Pietro leaned against the lockers as he looked at Kitty for a while.

"Like, what?" Kitty smiled innocently at him.

"So… I hear evil Summers has you doing battles in the 'Danger Room'." The young speed demon had such a look of bewilderedness when he stated the last part of the sentence that Kitty just had to laugh for a while.

"Ok… well, you see… we have to practice so like the Professor gave us this special room where we like, do that. Only like, Scott has taken it to be his own personal favorite place in the whole wide world and his way of making us suffer is like, by going there… you know?" Kitty thought she had explained it rather well.

"So, I guess Summers didn't take it so well…" Pietro didn't like Summers anymore… well, he never did much anyway.

"Well like, neither did Evan."

"Daniels doesn't matter. He's not important." This earned Pietro 'the look'. "Ah! Ok, ok… I take it back."

"That's better… So, how about you? How did Lance take it?" she could imagine Lance screaming and kicking like a baby after he saw them on Friday.

"I'm not sure… he seems 'ok' or as ok as a demented dictator can get. He didn't buy me any sushi though, so I guess that's his way of getting back at me." Of course, Pietro neglected to mention he had made Lance race through the entire house in order to eat his combo #2 of fried chicken.

"Wow that's like, really mature of him. I'm like so totally glad he's not giving you a hard time about it." Kitty had never thought of Lance as the 'understanding' older brother, he looked more like the 'I'm gonna hurt you if you touch my stuff' older brother.

At that moment Kitty saw the subject of their conversation walking straight toward them. She was glad Lance hadn't freaked out (like Scott) but she still found herself trying to hide behind Pietro.

"Hello there kiddies" Lance's voice was sweet and comforting… Pietro didn't like it.

"Yes?" the white haired boy wanted to know what Lance wanted so he could give it to him and go on his way.

"Hi." Kitty was still not very sociable with Alvers.

"How are you two doing?" Lance was smiling… He. Was. Smiling.

"We're fine, hey Lance boy… your locker isn't anywhere near here. Why don't you go find it." Pietro wanted his much-deserved 'Kitty time'!!

"It is too!" answered the older boy.

"No, it's not."

"Is too."

"No… it's not." Pietro was loosing patience.

"Well, I…. I just wanted to know how Kitty was doing." Lance turned toward the young freshman now. "How are things Kitty? You know, we don't get to talk much, I'm a bit sad about that."

~~ What does he think he's doing!?!?! ~~ Pietro wanted to be alone with his Kitty! Why wasn't that happening?!… Die Lance! DIE!

"Umm… everything's fine thanks…" Kitty looked at Pietro for some support but she noticed her boyfriend was slightly busy starring at the dark haired senior.

~~ Probably sending mental death threats….~~ Kitty thought as she gave Pietro a concerned look.

~~ DIE LANCE! DIE!…. ok, enough death threats… now, how to get rid of him?…~~ Pietro's mind was racing. What could possibly happen that would distract Lance long enough for the two of them to get away?

"Hello there!" joined in a forth voice.

Pietro and Kitty turned around and saw a very happy and cheerful Scott Summers. Lance simply stared at him.

"How are you doing?" Scott asked looking directly at Pietro. The speed demon was sure Summers eyes held something evil!… he just couldn't see them.

"Like, Scott… what are you doing here?" Kitty was beginning to get nervous.

"Umm…. I… I was looking for my locker. Yeah!" Scott was still smiling.

"Like, your locker isn't around here."

"Is too!"

Kitty didn't answer. She decided to ignore the two seniors and taking Pietro's hand started to walk away from the intruders.

"Hey wait!" cried Scott as he reached for Kitty. "I… where are you going?"

"Away." Answered both Kitty and Pietro.

"But you can't!… Because…" that was Lance.

"I need to talk to Pietro!" and that brilliant idea was from Scott.

"What about?" Pietro was angry… but he wasn't going on a tantrum right there in the middle of the school.

Scott walked closer to Pietro and placed a friendly hand on the young sophomore's shoulder.

"How are you doing Pietro? You know, we don't talk much and I think that's just a shame."

~~ Why am I being punished this way? ~~ Pietro knew Lance was holding his breath so he wouldn't burst into laughter.

Pietro didn't have to answer though because just then the bell rang and the small mob of high school children started to run for their classrooms. Scott took that moment to grab Kitty by her shoulders and head to the opposite direction.

"Oh! Got to go… so sorry about that. Maybe we'll talk later. Bye!" Scott and Kitty were gone.

"What the…?" Pietro didn't even get a goodbye kiss! … DAMN IT!

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" Lance was leaning against the lockers now for support since he didn't think his feet were going to help much.

Not too far away the sound of more laughter was heard as both Todd and Rogue made their way toward the very agitated Maximoff.

"Fine! Laugh your pretty little heads off! I don't care!… I'm outta here." He waved his friends off as he walked, pouting that he didn't get a kiss, toward his afternoon classes.

"That was…*giggles* the most twisted plan I've ever seen you and Scott pull!" Rogue had been watching as the two seniors made it impossible for the couple to talk.

"Man! I hadn't even planned it!… it all sort of … happened." Lance would never admit he had been relieved when he saw Scott coming over… he needed the help.

"Hope this isn't going to be an every day occurrence yo!" Upsetting Pietro was sometimes fun for Todd, but if it happened too often the young speed demon would most likely eat a ton of sugar right before bed and make everyone at the Brotherhood house very unhappy.

After a few more giggles and sporadic laughter everyone had calmed down and Todd realized they were the only ones left standing in the hallway. He was about to say something when he caught a strange look on Lance's face. He then looked at Rogue and noticed she was smiling… at Lance!

Lance wasn't moving… in fact he wasn't even breathing. He was afraid to do anything that would somehow destroy this little moment. He had so few of them in his life then whenever one of them appeared he simply stopped living for just that instant.

~~ She should smile more often… I should tell her that. But not that way though or then she'll hit me, I'm sure. But maybe if I told her she looked nice that way… She'll probably still hit me with something. ~~ But Lance's happy moment was soon over when he heard Todd's next words.

"We're late for class yo!" and with that the young freshman took his half empty backpack and left the other two mutants without looking back.

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The rest of the school day went by the same way as always, that didn't surprise Pietro at all. It was the after-school activities however that he had grown to love these past few weeks. Especially since he could be with Kitty without bumping into either Lance or Scott.

What Pietro did not know at that moment was that he was being followed.

Two shadowy figures were watching him from the other end of the hallway as Pietro made his way to rehearsals.

Suddenly the big shadowy figure stepped on the smaller shadowy figure.

"Ouch! Freddy!… that hurt!" Todd cried as he jumped away from his friend.

"Sorry… I just don't know why we have to be following Pietro like this… I wanted to go home." Fred knew he could've been sitting down on the couch right now if they had let Lance drive them home. Now they had to walk back since Lance was working at the mall.

"I just have to know where Pietro meets up with that Pryde girl." Todd was making his way quickly to where Pietro had been; he didn't want to loose him.

After that incident in the hallway with the white haired boy Todd had been a little more curious then ever about what those two did when they were together. And even though he knew the occasional kissing would show up, he was more interested in what they actually talked about. He had to know just what was so special about that girl that made Pietro want to kill anyone who dared say anything less then pleasant about her. He knew it was luck that made Pietro not punch his lights out earlier that afternoon. Todd figured he'd have to apologize to the older boy later.

"You know, if you hadn't been this curious in the first place everything would've been fine." Fred pointed out as he followed his friend.

"Well, thank you Mr. Insightful… now, just follow me before we lose … what are YOU doing here?!" Todd didn't want to see him, first of all his blue fur was very disturbing for Todd, even if he couldn't see it because of the hologram. Still it looked like the two of them were always bumping into each other.

"Hi" Kurt was a bit shy around the Brotherhood members. When he had to fight them, that was different but when they were just talking as normal kids then he got nervous. The fact that Todd didn't look so happy to see him wasn't helping.

"Yes?" Todd had to run now to keep up with Pietro.

"I was just wondering if… well, I was curious about those two and…. well,… may I spy on them with you?" Kurt would've gone with Scott and the others but they were just too many and Kitty would've figured it out.

Todd let out a sigh…

~~ Why me?… why? ~~ Todd supposed it wouldn't be all that bad to have someone who could teleport…

"Fine, just be quiet!… come on Freddy."

And so the three mutants made their way after the young speed demon.

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"So, you're sure this is where Kitty's rehearsals take place?" Scott needed to confirm this… for like the tenth time.

"Scott… for the last time, yes. I walked Kitty here once, I know where it is." Rogue didn't really want to be spying on her friend, but she didn't really want to have to deal with a paranoid Scott and a cynical Evan. So she agreed to take them and Jean followed to provided a logical point of view.

"Hey Scott, if we find Pietro can we kill him?" Evan was only teasing of course… although the thought of locking the white-haired boy inside his locker again was a good idea.

"Sure Evan, whatever you want." Scott wasn't really paying attention.

"Scott!… don't encourage Evan like that!" Jean, although not a fan of the Brotherhood, wasn't going to allow unnecessary violence.

"Oh right… no, Evan… you can't kill him….. maybe later." Scott didn't really care at that particular moment.

"Scott… why most we be spying on Kitty's rehearsal?" Jean wanted to go home… now.

"Because Jean, those two most meet after school and I want to be there when they do!" Scott had his own very evil little plan. He would be continuously bumping into Kitty when she was with Pietro, therefore those two wouldn't have a quiet time alone and would eventually get tired of it all and dump each other.

At least that was the plan Scott and Evan had figured out by themselves, Jean however, didn't get it.

"And… what are you going to do if you find them together? You know Pietro could simply run away with Kitty and you'd never know where to look." Jean, the great source of reason.

"That's why I've got you Jean, you'll do a mental search for them and Kurt will teleport us … where's Kurt?" the usually very composed leader of the X-men was currently on a state of mind that could only be classified as 'a mess', this due to the fact that he had never, EVER thought little Kitty Pryde would fall in love with the annoying Pietro Maximoff. These sorts of things just couldn't happen but because they were Scott wasn't acting as his usual 100%.

Rogue sighed and looked at Scott as if he were demented.

"Scott! Kurt left us a while back. Said we were just too many to be spying on one person." Rogue wasn't so sure now if guiding them toward Kitty's rehearsals was such a good idea. She wasn't against Pietro dating Kitty… he seemed to really like her. Nevertheless, regardless of how she felt about it now… they had arrived.

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Pietro was starting to get bored. Really bored. If rehearsals weren't the only place he could be with Kitty without having to see Scott or Lance's face everywhere he wouldn't attend.

Pietro guessed it was both a good and a bad thing that the rest of their friends had found out about them. Good cause he wouldn't have to hide and he could talk about her to his friends… even if Todd gave him funny looks and Freddy pretended he was puking.

It was a bad thing because the rest of the X-men were now making his life a living hell, well… they had always been annoying him, but now it was just plain sick! He couldn't smile at Kitty in the hallway, like he used to but without anyone noticing. Now it looked like Evan and Scott were out for his blood. Evan he could understand… but Scott?

~~ Seems Mr. Collected leader isn't quite right up in the head. ~~ Pietro briefly wondered what the leader of the X-men would do if he knew anyone was out flirting with Jean Grey.

~~ I imagine someone's head rolling down the street, courtesy of an optic eye blast. ~~

Pietro's musings would've continued if Claudia, the almighty play-god, hadn't interrupted for another 'very important' announcement.

~~ Probably going to threaten us with impending doom if we don't practice our lines…~~

"Alright people, you've all done great!" Claudia was in a very happy mood. "You've all worked really hard and now it's time to show off our talented cast!"

Pietro was busy balancing a very heavy science book on top of his head. Why couldn't Claudia shut up and tell them to go home early?

"The Drama competitions are going to start this Friday, and since we're going to be representing Bayville High School, Principal Darkholme will be announcing the cast members!"

~~ What the….? ~~ Pietro forgot all about the heavy science book as he tried to comprehend what Claudia had just said. Unfortunately gravity kicked in and the book landed on top of his foot.

"OUCH!…. stupid thing!" he kicked the book across the room.

"Pietro! That's like, my science book!" Kitty screamed at him from where she was sitting talking to a group of girls.

"Oh right,… sorry…." Lately Pietro had taken to be carrying some of Kitty's things. Today he had her science book,… which was now on the other end of the room. Pietro slowly made his way to retrieve the huge bolder of pages that had made his foot slightly numb.

Claudia was already used to Pietro's quick 'outbursts of stupidity' as she called them.

"Anyway… this Friday you don't have to come here after school. Go home and rest, just make sure to be here no later then 6pm for your wardrobe. Our first show with a live audience will begin at 8pm."

"So, after Darkholme says a few 'good intentioned' words, she's going to leave, right?" If Mystique stayed she would see them, if she saw them she would be mad, if she was mad then he would be dead. That kind of chain-reaction was not very appealing to Pietro.

"She can't go… as a Principal she's part of the judges." Claudia noticed how nervous Pietro was getting. She didn't figure him the type to have stage fright…

"Aw!… are you scared little Pietro?…." Claudia was pinching his cheek. "Well… DON'T BE!! You're my male lead! You can't get scared!"

"Gee, thanks for your inspiring words… and I'm not afraid! It's just that… well, Darkholme might not be the right person to be announcing. It should be you Claudia!" Pietro smiled sweetly at his favorite play-god.

"It should be me, shouldn't it…. But it won't happen. Just make sure to be here on time Maximoff!" Claudia simply walked away while still making lists and preparations.

Pietro was not happy with this. Mystique couldn't see them! Sure, he could always give the excuse that it was all acting but… he just didn't want her to see the play. He needed help, and although his friends were usually the best qualified he was almost completely sure Lance wouldn't help him. So that left un-mischievous, no-trouble maker Kitty as his partner in crime.

~~ Well… it's about time she learned anyway. ~~ Pietro made his way toward the small gathering of girls that were talking to Kitty. It seemed she had made a lot of new friends lately. Of course, most of these girls couldn't talk to Kitty outside of rehearsals since Mallory would kill them…

~~ Gee, what ever happened to that girl?… ~~ Pietro had nearly forgot about the original female lead… he hadn't heard from her in a while. But that wasn't important now… right now he had a crisis!

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"And so like, that sweater is so like not your color Heather… you should like, try a light blue tone… Oh, hi Pietro." Kitty had just noticed her boyfriend was standing in front of the small group of girls.

She used the term 'boyfriend' loosely… sure, Kurt and Scott had caught them kissing and immediately labeled them as a couple, and Rogue had told her Pietro had feelings for her but that wasn't good enough since it hadn't been Pietro himself to say such things. She knew she had to talk to him about that… but with Scott and Lance popping up from nowhere it was rather hard to find some time alone.

"I know I'm probably interrupting some sort of very serious girly talk about clothes, nail polish and boys… but I really need to borrow Kitty from you ladies for a while, okay?" Pietro smiled sweetly at the group of girls who were giving him knowing smiles.

"Off to 'practice your lines' again Pietro?" one of the girls was teasing them. Everyone in the room knew those two were together; of course 'said couple' hadn't been hiding it very well.

"Right…. That's it. So I'll give her back to you later. See ya." Pietro took Kitty by the hand and leaded her toward a more private corner of the room.

"Ok, like Pietro, what's wrong?" Kitty knew he must be upset about something since he was practically racing to get away from everyone else. Usually he would tone down his speed since he knew she couldn't catch up.

"Well, didn't you listen to Claudia just now? We do our first performance this Friday!" when Pietro is upset about something he finds himself with a lot of energy so as a way to release it he decides to start pacing around in a circle around Kitty. This was starting to make her sick though.

"Pietro… could you like… stop moving." She was feeling a little dizzy now.

"Oh… ok." He sat down on the floor but immediately felt the urge to jump up and do something. Why couldn't he stand still for one minute?

"So like, I still don't see the problem… Are you nervous? Like, that is so not like you." Kitty looked at the restless expression on Pietro's face and simply borrowed a nearby book and placed it gently on top of the boys' head. Pietro immediately became occupied with balancing the heavy thing, it seemed it had now become his new favorite pass-time.

"I'm not nervous! I can do this play in my sleep!… it's just that this Friday Darkholme will be watching us doing the play… Hello! Ring a bell?"

"Oh my God!…. like, oh my God! We're so going to die!" Pietro just had to roll his eyes at that one.

"Wow… good thing I wasn't emotionally counting on your optimism." He gave Kitty a 'look' as he continued to balance the book.

~~ I have a very weird girlfriend… ~~

Girlfriend…. That word still sounded alien to him. He was so used to simply flirting and fooling around with girls that the idea that he was now with just one was a little strange.

Pietro had been asking himself exactly since when he had become Kitty's boyfriend… had it been when they first kissed and they both realized they liked it? Or when their friends had decided to play spy and caught them making out on the hallway?

He hadn't asked how Kitty felt about all of this… he supposed she agreed, after all she hadn't complained yet. He should be thankful he hasn't had to go through all the hassle of 'the question' with Kitty… but still, did that mean that if he hasn't officially asked then Kitty could go out with some other guy if she wanted to?

~~ As if she'd want to… ~~ Pietro's ego could not imagine that happening, but the possibility was out there…

"Gee, like sorry… but what are we like going to do about Darkholme? She can't see us doing this play, she could like turn ballistic or something." Kitty was starting to chew on the tips of her ponytail.

"Well, we're going to have to make sure she has other plans this Friday, now wont we…" Pietro had no idea how to stop Mystique from coming to the play… but not having a plan had never stopped him from doing things before.

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The sudden change from the warm and sunny hallway to the cold and slightly darker air-conditioner room came as a shock to the youngest member of the Brotherhood. Todd was simply not used to teleporting.

"Do you see them yo?" he would've looked up himself but he didn't wish to expose his neck to the cold air.

"Yes, they're still talking… Are you still cold? We've been here for a while, I thought you'd be ok by now." Kurt sat next to the shivering Todd as he kept an eye out for Kitty.

"Easy for you to say, you've got fur yo!" Todd just didn't know it was going to be this cold in the room; otherwise he would've stayed outside with Freddy.

"Fine, whatever… but did you hear what the director said? The play is this Friday and Pietro didn't seem to like that one bit." Kurt stole a glace at Claudia 'the play-god', she was one busy girl… Kurt wondered if she had even more energy then Quicksilver.

"What he didn't like was Mystique showing up. She's going to cut Pietro's head off and later do the same to Lance." Todd could already see the hideous transformation Mystique would put on for them.

"Why would she be mad at Lance?" Kurt tilted his head sideways as he asked.

"I don't know yo… she always picks on Lance whenever Pietro does something… it's almost like if she wasn't allowed to be angry at Pietro directly. It's weird… she has no problem screaming at the rest of us though."

The rest of the Brotherhood had noticed that little detail about Mystique's general screaming… it was never directed at Pietro. The latest example was the infamous 'grocery bill'. After Lance and Pietro were called to Mystique's office Todd secretly followed and landed himself a nice front row seat outside the window.

"You boys spent $398 with 58 cents! Why didn't you just take the entire building while you were at it?!" Mystique had been furious.

"We tried but it wouldn't fit in the car…" leave it to Pietro to say the wrong thing at the wrong person. Lance kept quiet, but he elbowed the young white-haired boy on the ribs.

"And look at the items you bought… 5 different cereals! Why 5?!"

"Well, they were out of Froot-Loops… otherwise it would've been six." Pietro winced as he felt the poking on his ribs again.

"You're not helping" whispered Lance while trying not to draw attention to himself.

"Eight boxes of Twinkies?"

"Four were for Freddy!" added a helpful Pietro.

"More toilet paper then I can count…"

"I'm not explaining that one." Indeed, Mystique needed to learn what is was like to live with four young teenage boys.

"Ten different types of magazines?"

"We were bored while we were waiting in line… and once we were paying no one remembered to put the magazines away." It was an honest mistake of course.

"All of those items I can understand… but there's a very expensive box of chocolates on this bill and I don't know how it got there." Mystique wanted answers for that one very insulting food item.

"Umm…. Todd bought that!" Pietro screamed with more force then necessary.

~~ I am so going to tell Freddy to kick your ass yo! ~~ How dare Pietro blame the chocolates on him, he had been against Pietro buying them in the first place.

"Why would he buy that?" Mystique didn't believe the young speed demon.

"Maybe little Toddy has a girlfriend…" Pietro smiled sweetly.

"Ah… never mind, I am not interested in Mr. Tolensky's love life."

~~ Or lack of it… ~~ Todd had thought back then. It was rather funny he hadn't picked up on Pietro's girlfriend comment; it would've made things so much easier.

Mystique had then turned her vengeful eyes toward poor Lance. He had been sitting quietly praying the conversation would remain 'Mystique vs. Pietro', no such luck though.

"So Mr. Alvers… do you believe spending $398 is a wise consumer choice?"

"No Ma'am." The best course of action was always to answer in as fewer words as possible.

"And with 58 cents to boot!" Lance stared down at Pietro as this ungodly feeling to smack the young boy was over powering him. Pietro sensed this and decided he should remain quiet for now.

"I hope you realized Mr. Alvers, that this is all your fault."

"But why…?"

"I will not tolerate this kind of behavior from my charges!"

"I didn't…"

"You better start to learn the value of money Mr. Alvers or you will see yourself without any!"

Lance just stared at her in some sort of stupefied state. Todd figured it was a miracle the whole school wasn't shaking due to the older boy's anger.

After that both Lance and Pietro left Mystique's office and Todd decided to go back and find Freddy. Nothing unusual that day… evil boss lady picking on Lance again… oh well.

Now back to reality Todd realized exactly what would happen if Mystique ever knew about Pietro and Kitty.

"We have to find Lance yo! It's his neck that is hanging here." Said Todd as he grabbed Kurt by the arm.

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End chapter 11