I woke up the next morning and sauntered out into the living room finding
Jean-Luc sleeping on the couch, I smiled to myself. Creeping past the couch
I opened the door a crack to see Bobby face down on the floor drooling.
Quietly I made my way back to my room and quickly showered, changing into
some jeans and a tank top I walked back out into the main room. I was
putting a pot of coffee on when Jean-Luc woke up.
"Mornin'." I said with a smile. He nodded in return, for a split second I believed that my old grandfather was back, the one who never smiled and was always about business. My worries were soon replaced by a giggle when he slumped over and sat at the kitchen table. I had never seen my grandfather in a disheveled state before this.
"I'm glad you stayed." I said pouring coffee into three cups, knowing full well that Bobby would wake at the smell of caffeine. Jean-Luc nodded and I made a mental note that he wasn't a morning person. Most people aren't, I guess I'm just weird.
Bobby bounced into the room a moment later and took his seat beside me, gulping the coffee down in less than a second. "Good morning everyone!" he said.
I laughed at his perky self. I don't know how Bobby managed to wake up completely hyper every morning, but he did. "You have too much energy for this hour mon ami." I commented and he made a funny face.
"I should be going now. Thank you for the coffee chere." Jean-Luc said and he stood to leave.
"You don' have to." I said quickly, almost too quickly. It wasn't until then that I realized how much I wanted family with me. Don't get me wrong, Bobby was my family, but there's the other family who you need just as much sometimes.
"Remy 'spectin' me." Jean-Luc said smiling for the first time that morning. " Don' worry chere, I'll see you at the reunion non?"
I nodded and hugged my grandfather before he left.
"You miss him?" Bobby asked from behind me. I turned around and looked at him like he was crazy.
"He jus' left..." I said slowly.
"No, I mean your dad. Do you miss him?" Bobby asked.
I shrugged, not really sure how to answer the question. I mean if I said no I would be a horrible daughter, and a liar. But if I said yes I would be a liar too. "Sometimes." Was my simplistic reply. Bobby nodded.
"Let's do something fun today." He stated. I agreed quickly. "Roller- blading?"
I grinned my devilish grin, Bobby and I always ended up in trouble when we went roller-blading.
"Deal." I stated and we both ran to our rooms, showered and changed, meeting back in the living room just as the phone rang. Our shoulders slumped in perfect unison.
"Do we have to answer it?" Bobby asked and I sighed and nodded, of course that meant that he had to answer the phone. He reluctantly skated over to the phone and picked it up. "Hello?"
I tensed, please don't make him go to work, I begged.
"Oh hey Hank." Bobby said with relief. I tensed even more, they couldn't know could they. "Yea I'm still coming. You worry too much Blue; I'll be there. Oh yea and I'm bringing a guest." By the color of his cheeks I'm guessing what Hank said wasn't all that appropriate. "Good-bye Hank!" Bobby said, ending the conversation forcefully. I giggled at his still pink tinged cheeks and we made our way outside.
"To the street fair?" I asked. There was a huge street fair that was on all month, it was awesome fun. I saw Bobby's eyes drift towards the street fair and his usual happy demeanor change slightly.
"Not today Kale, let's just, go to the Skate Park and watch the kids fall okay?" Bobby said. I nodded reluctantly, as much as watching people fall was it wasn't even on the same scale as the street fair. "Come on Kale, let's get out of here." I noticed the apprehension in his voice and skated alongside him lethargically.
Soon he started to speed up, I didn't, I wasn't here for a work out I just wanted to roll around. But soon he was several blocks ahead of me. It was when he reached the walk light that he turned around to see I wasn't beside him. Fear splashed across his face and he doubled back.
"Come on!" He yelled.
"What's de problem?" I asked as he dragged me along by the elbow. I threw his head back and I turned to see a group of people wearing shirts that I was way too familiar with. An Anti-mutant group was hot on my heels, how they knew we were mutants I had no clue. Fighting my incredible urge to go and yell at them and ask them how someone could be so stupid, Bobby and I sped up.
I followed Bobby down a labyrinth of back alleys and shortcuts, he'd obviously done this before. Finally he stopped at the foot of our apartment building and sat down.
"How did you know?" I asked.
He looked up at me, his eyes filled with confusion.
"Dat dey would be der?" I clarified. Bobby gave me a weak smile.
"They had a sign." He said. I laughed with my friend. "I'm going onto the roof, I'll be back in ten okay?"
I nodded. That was codeword for 'don't follow me'. I sat on the front step by myself until I got really really bored and went up to the roof.
Bobby was kicking the shit out of the punching bag, I've never seen him so angry. I took a step back and let him vent about something. When he finally stopped he grabbed the punching bag, as one is prone to do after a hard workout, and put his forehead against the bag with a sigh.
"Bobby?" I asked in a small voice. I don't remember the last time I sounded that childish. He spun to look at me.
"Hey kiddo." He said with another sigh, sitting down and leaning against the wall. I walked over and sat next to him.
"Something you need t' talk about?" I asked hopefully, despite my calm appearance I was pretty worried about my friend. Thankfully, he couldn't keep something bottled up if he tried.
"They're so ignorant!" he yelled, startling me and a few birds that were on the railing. "They think just because they're normal it makes them better than us? And it's not even that we're different, it's that we're more advanced. So they get this stupid inferiority complex and decide to try and kill us? How fair is that? Especially when we go out of our way to help them! Do you have any idea how many times I've put my life on the line just so they can live in a peaceful world? 'Cause I can't count that high! And what's even worse is that WE have to run. We can't sit there and use our powers for defense.NOOOOOO! Because then we would be attacking humans and that would just be wrong. So we run! Fuck Kale, you're just a kid, you shouldn't have to run from anything! I wish more than anything that some crazed Brotherhood punk would go after them and then they could run and scream at us for help...and you know what? I wouldn't. I would sit and watch. But I can't do that because I'm a 'super-hero' it's my duty to protect them. EVEN WHEN THEY"RE ATTACKING ME! And I hate standing alone against a mob, when probably half of them are mutants themselves but they're too scared to admit it. So I stand alone against a huge mob of people throwing insults or even worse throwing things, trying to kill the freak. They don't get it. They have no idea what it's like. They weren't thrown out of their house because their parents didn't want people to know they had a freak for a child. They don't know what it's like to sit in an alley scared to death or what's happening to you. Because you don't know what's going all, all that you know is it didn't say puberty was going to be anything like this. So you sit huddled in a corner, day and night not daring to move, not even to piss, until finally the greatest man in the entire world offers you a safe haven and you take the opportunity. Next thing you know you can turn into something completely different and you're thinking that this is really cool and that the times of living in exile are over. You have friends, a family, a team and you finally fit in somewhere. Then somebody comes and tears it away from you again! So you distance yourself from everything and everyone so you don't have to go through it all again and you think you can finally have some peace of mind until you go out one day and end up running for your life! They don't understand...no one understands!" When Bobby was done he collapsed onto my shoulder, sobs wrenching through his body I wrapped my arms around my friend. "I don't know what to do Kaley."
The whimper in his voice was enough to make my heart break into a thousand pieces.
"I do." I stated firmly. Bobby looked up at me with the same confused look on his face that I had seen a million times before. "We have to take you home." I wasn't blind, I could see how much Bobby needed everyone back at the school, so I pushed my apprehensions aside, because I needed to do this for Bobby. This is what he needed. A good friend would take him where he needed to go and somehow I had a feeling that the Xavier Institute of higher Learning is exactly where he needed to be.
"I don't understand....." He said cautiously. I stood and pulled Bobby to his feet.
"What's to understand mon amis? We pack and leave tonight." I said leading him down to our apartment. Bobby's eyes lit up as he finally understood and he went to pack.
I went to my room and slowly shoved all the clothing I had brought or bought into a small bag. I knew I had to do this for Bobby and his mental health but that didn't stop the fact that I was going home. Not only that I was going home with Bobby. I was going home with Bobby early. I was going home with Bobby early and I was scared. Shaking my head in a lame attempt to rid it of imposing thoughts I continued packing everything that I had either brought or bought.
"Bobby you want me t' pack your comics?" I asked in a teasing voice, we both knew that he would die before letting me manhandle his precious comic book collection. He came flying out of his room and jumped onto his comic books, protecting them from me.
"Back away from the comics." He said in a nervous voice that made me laugh.
"I'm going out to spend my money, I'll be back for supper okay?" I said and he nodded quickly, anything to get me away from his comics. I smiled and walked out of the apartment with my money still in my pocket. I walked down through the street fair, completely confident that no one would spot me out of a crowd, I was right, I had a tendency to fit in. It was then that I realized that I shouldn't have to fit in. I was raised believing that I was an incredible person and that anyone who thought otherwise could go to hell.
With that thought lingering on my mind I went to the nearest clothing store. By the time I was done shopping I had acquired a whole new leather wardrobe, most of it was black, as it was my favorite color, a new pair of Oakleys and new motorcycle boots. I was sure Bobby would approve. I was on my way back to the apartment since it was getting late when a little store caught my eye, grinning I ran in and after twenty minutes of convincing I sat myself down for my first tattoo.
I got home a little after seven to find Bobby pacing in front of the couch where Nancy and her husband were comfortably seated.
"Hey, sorry I'm late." I said walking in and dumping my stuff.
"S'ok." Nancy said as Bobby pulled me into one of his giant bear hugs. "We decided that you guys are leaving tomorrow as opposed to tonight, so we're going to watch Moulin Rouge one last time before you go." She said and produced the movie from the couch.
"Sounds good." I said and put my stuff in my room, laying out what I planned to wear home the next day.
"Hey what happened to your neck?" George asked as I walked by. I grinned my devilish grin.
"Tattoo." I stated sitting on the floor in front of the television.
"Lemme see!" Bobby chanted until I peeled the bandage off of my neck, exposing the freshly inked area. It was a Kanji for Fire, nothing special just a little reminder of who I was and what I could do.
"Did it hurt?" Bobby asked, completely in awe.
"Hell yes!" I said and the group laughed before Nancy placed her hand over the back of my neck. I felt a cool sensation on the back of my neck before the pain went away, she removed her hand and I smiled at her. I knew she was one of us.
"That was so cool!" Bobby exclaimed.
"How much sugar have you had today mon amis?" I asked and he blushed and shrugged. IT was obvious that it was way too much. "Can we watch de movie now?" I asked and everyone nodded. We sang at the top of our lungs, with more emotion than we ever had before. Maybe it was because we knew that we were leaving the next day, maybe it was because we had to drown out Bobby, whatever the reason was it was the best night of my life.
When Nancy and George left Bobby turned to me.
"You want t' leave now?" I asked, reading his expression perfectly. He nodded sheepishly and I sighed. "den lets get going." I said. We moved everything into the back of the U-Haul that Bobby had rented, including Papa's bike and hopped in.
We only made it halfway before pulling into a motel to sleep. Sugar rushes only last so long.
A/N: yeah I know that this was short and not very good, I've been busy, hopefully the reunioin chapter (which is next) will be up sooner than this one was... review review REVIEW...and go see x-men 2 I went today.BEST MOVIE EVER..review.
"Mornin'." I said with a smile. He nodded in return, for a split second I believed that my old grandfather was back, the one who never smiled and was always about business. My worries were soon replaced by a giggle when he slumped over and sat at the kitchen table. I had never seen my grandfather in a disheveled state before this.
"I'm glad you stayed." I said pouring coffee into three cups, knowing full well that Bobby would wake at the smell of caffeine. Jean-Luc nodded and I made a mental note that he wasn't a morning person. Most people aren't, I guess I'm just weird.
Bobby bounced into the room a moment later and took his seat beside me, gulping the coffee down in less than a second. "Good morning everyone!" he said.
I laughed at his perky self. I don't know how Bobby managed to wake up completely hyper every morning, but he did. "You have too much energy for this hour mon ami." I commented and he made a funny face.
"I should be going now. Thank you for the coffee chere." Jean-Luc said and he stood to leave.
"You don' have to." I said quickly, almost too quickly. It wasn't until then that I realized how much I wanted family with me. Don't get me wrong, Bobby was my family, but there's the other family who you need just as much sometimes.
"Remy 'spectin' me." Jean-Luc said smiling for the first time that morning. " Don' worry chere, I'll see you at the reunion non?"
I nodded and hugged my grandfather before he left.
"You miss him?" Bobby asked from behind me. I turned around and looked at him like he was crazy.
"He jus' left..." I said slowly.
"No, I mean your dad. Do you miss him?" Bobby asked.
I shrugged, not really sure how to answer the question. I mean if I said no I would be a horrible daughter, and a liar. But if I said yes I would be a liar too. "Sometimes." Was my simplistic reply. Bobby nodded.
"Let's do something fun today." He stated. I agreed quickly. "Roller- blading?"
I grinned my devilish grin, Bobby and I always ended up in trouble when we went roller-blading.
"Deal." I stated and we both ran to our rooms, showered and changed, meeting back in the living room just as the phone rang. Our shoulders slumped in perfect unison.
"Do we have to answer it?" Bobby asked and I sighed and nodded, of course that meant that he had to answer the phone. He reluctantly skated over to the phone and picked it up. "Hello?"
I tensed, please don't make him go to work, I begged.
"Oh hey Hank." Bobby said with relief. I tensed even more, they couldn't know could they. "Yea I'm still coming. You worry too much Blue; I'll be there. Oh yea and I'm bringing a guest." By the color of his cheeks I'm guessing what Hank said wasn't all that appropriate. "Good-bye Hank!" Bobby said, ending the conversation forcefully. I giggled at his still pink tinged cheeks and we made our way outside.
"To the street fair?" I asked. There was a huge street fair that was on all month, it was awesome fun. I saw Bobby's eyes drift towards the street fair and his usual happy demeanor change slightly.
"Not today Kale, let's just, go to the Skate Park and watch the kids fall okay?" Bobby said. I nodded reluctantly, as much as watching people fall was it wasn't even on the same scale as the street fair. "Come on Kale, let's get out of here." I noticed the apprehension in his voice and skated alongside him lethargically.
Soon he started to speed up, I didn't, I wasn't here for a work out I just wanted to roll around. But soon he was several blocks ahead of me. It was when he reached the walk light that he turned around to see I wasn't beside him. Fear splashed across his face and he doubled back.
"Come on!" He yelled.
"What's de problem?" I asked as he dragged me along by the elbow. I threw his head back and I turned to see a group of people wearing shirts that I was way too familiar with. An Anti-mutant group was hot on my heels, how they knew we were mutants I had no clue. Fighting my incredible urge to go and yell at them and ask them how someone could be so stupid, Bobby and I sped up.
I followed Bobby down a labyrinth of back alleys and shortcuts, he'd obviously done this before. Finally he stopped at the foot of our apartment building and sat down.
"How did you know?" I asked.
He looked up at me, his eyes filled with confusion.
"Dat dey would be der?" I clarified. Bobby gave me a weak smile.
"They had a sign." He said. I laughed with my friend. "I'm going onto the roof, I'll be back in ten okay?"
I nodded. That was codeword for 'don't follow me'. I sat on the front step by myself until I got really really bored and went up to the roof.
Bobby was kicking the shit out of the punching bag, I've never seen him so angry. I took a step back and let him vent about something. When he finally stopped he grabbed the punching bag, as one is prone to do after a hard workout, and put his forehead against the bag with a sigh.
"Bobby?" I asked in a small voice. I don't remember the last time I sounded that childish. He spun to look at me.
"Hey kiddo." He said with another sigh, sitting down and leaning against the wall. I walked over and sat next to him.
"Something you need t' talk about?" I asked hopefully, despite my calm appearance I was pretty worried about my friend. Thankfully, he couldn't keep something bottled up if he tried.
"They're so ignorant!" he yelled, startling me and a few birds that were on the railing. "They think just because they're normal it makes them better than us? And it's not even that we're different, it's that we're more advanced. So they get this stupid inferiority complex and decide to try and kill us? How fair is that? Especially when we go out of our way to help them! Do you have any idea how many times I've put my life on the line just so they can live in a peaceful world? 'Cause I can't count that high! And what's even worse is that WE have to run. We can't sit there and use our powers for defense.NOOOOOO! Because then we would be attacking humans and that would just be wrong. So we run! Fuck Kale, you're just a kid, you shouldn't have to run from anything! I wish more than anything that some crazed Brotherhood punk would go after them and then they could run and scream at us for help...and you know what? I wouldn't. I would sit and watch. But I can't do that because I'm a 'super-hero' it's my duty to protect them. EVEN WHEN THEY"RE ATTACKING ME! And I hate standing alone against a mob, when probably half of them are mutants themselves but they're too scared to admit it. So I stand alone against a huge mob of people throwing insults or even worse throwing things, trying to kill the freak. They don't get it. They have no idea what it's like. They weren't thrown out of their house because their parents didn't want people to know they had a freak for a child. They don't know what it's like to sit in an alley scared to death or what's happening to you. Because you don't know what's going all, all that you know is it didn't say puberty was going to be anything like this. So you sit huddled in a corner, day and night not daring to move, not even to piss, until finally the greatest man in the entire world offers you a safe haven and you take the opportunity. Next thing you know you can turn into something completely different and you're thinking that this is really cool and that the times of living in exile are over. You have friends, a family, a team and you finally fit in somewhere. Then somebody comes and tears it away from you again! So you distance yourself from everything and everyone so you don't have to go through it all again and you think you can finally have some peace of mind until you go out one day and end up running for your life! They don't understand...no one understands!" When Bobby was done he collapsed onto my shoulder, sobs wrenching through his body I wrapped my arms around my friend. "I don't know what to do Kaley."
The whimper in his voice was enough to make my heart break into a thousand pieces.
"I do." I stated firmly. Bobby looked up at me with the same confused look on his face that I had seen a million times before. "We have to take you home." I wasn't blind, I could see how much Bobby needed everyone back at the school, so I pushed my apprehensions aside, because I needed to do this for Bobby. This is what he needed. A good friend would take him where he needed to go and somehow I had a feeling that the Xavier Institute of higher Learning is exactly where he needed to be.
"I don't understand....." He said cautiously. I stood and pulled Bobby to his feet.
"What's to understand mon amis? We pack and leave tonight." I said leading him down to our apartment. Bobby's eyes lit up as he finally understood and he went to pack.
I went to my room and slowly shoved all the clothing I had brought or bought into a small bag. I knew I had to do this for Bobby and his mental health but that didn't stop the fact that I was going home. Not only that I was going home with Bobby. I was going home with Bobby early. I was going home with Bobby early and I was scared. Shaking my head in a lame attempt to rid it of imposing thoughts I continued packing everything that I had either brought or bought.
"Bobby you want me t' pack your comics?" I asked in a teasing voice, we both knew that he would die before letting me manhandle his precious comic book collection. He came flying out of his room and jumped onto his comic books, protecting them from me.
"Back away from the comics." He said in a nervous voice that made me laugh.
"I'm going out to spend my money, I'll be back for supper okay?" I said and he nodded quickly, anything to get me away from his comics. I smiled and walked out of the apartment with my money still in my pocket. I walked down through the street fair, completely confident that no one would spot me out of a crowd, I was right, I had a tendency to fit in. It was then that I realized that I shouldn't have to fit in. I was raised believing that I was an incredible person and that anyone who thought otherwise could go to hell.
With that thought lingering on my mind I went to the nearest clothing store. By the time I was done shopping I had acquired a whole new leather wardrobe, most of it was black, as it was my favorite color, a new pair of Oakleys and new motorcycle boots. I was sure Bobby would approve. I was on my way back to the apartment since it was getting late when a little store caught my eye, grinning I ran in and after twenty minutes of convincing I sat myself down for my first tattoo.
I got home a little after seven to find Bobby pacing in front of the couch where Nancy and her husband were comfortably seated.
"Hey, sorry I'm late." I said walking in and dumping my stuff.
"S'ok." Nancy said as Bobby pulled me into one of his giant bear hugs. "We decided that you guys are leaving tomorrow as opposed to tonight, so we're going to watch Moulin Rouge one last time before you go." She said and produced the movie from the couch.
"Sounds good." I said and put my stuff in my room, laying out what I planned to wear home the next day.
"Hey what happened to your neck?" George asked as I walked by. I grinned my devilish grin.
"Tattoo." I stated sitting on the floor in front of the television.
"Lemme see!" Bobby chanted until I peeled the bandage off of my neck, exposing the freshly inked area. It was a Kanji for Fire, nothing special just a little reminder of who I was and what I could do.
"Did it hurt?" Bobby asked, completely in awe.
"Hell yes!" I said and the group laughed before Nancy placed her hand over the back of my neck. I felt a cool sensation on the back of my neck before the pain went away, she removed her hand and I smiled at her. I knew she was one of us.
"That was so cool!" Bobby exclaimed.
"How much sugar have you had today mon amis?" I asked and he blushed and shrugged. IT was obvious that it was way too much. "Can we watch de movie now?" I asked and everyone nodded. We sang at the top of our lungs, with more emotion than we ever had before. Maybe it was because we knew that we were leaving the next day, maybe it was because we had to drown out Bobby, whatever the reason was it was the best night of my life.
When Nancy and George left Bobby turned to me.
"You want t' leave now?" I asked, reading his expression perfectly. He nodded sheepishly and I sighed. "den lets get going." I said. We moved everything into the back of the U-Haul that Bobby had rented, including Papa's bike and hopped in.
We only made it halfway before pulling into a motel to sleep. Sugar rushes only last so long.
A/N: yeah I know that this was short and not very good, I've been busy, hopefully the reunioin chapter (which is next) will be up sooner than this one was... review review REVIEW...and go see x-men 2 I went today.BEST MOVIE EVER..review.