We sat around in a circle waiting for the first girl to speak. I took her
silence as an opportunity to look around the room. The boys outnumbered the
girls 4 to 3. I watched as the girl to my right chewed on her side-lip
ring. I grinned, our team looked cool.
"Start vith your name........." Kurt prompted, the girl gave him a small smile.
"My name is Katherine, people call me Kat." She grinned looking up, it was the first time I caught her cat-like eyes. "I have the ability to turn into a panther at will." She shrugged and motioned to her inhibitor bracelets.
"Oh!" Kurt exclaimed startling most of us. "Please, please feel free to take off de bracelets."
Everyone gave a sigh of relief and took off their bracelets. Kat smiled and slowly turned into a panther, a big one. In fact it was bordering massive. She stretched and then morphed, turned.........I don't know what the right word is.........back with a smile. We all turned to the girl next to her.
"Alexandria." She stated smoothly. "I control electricity." She said as if it was nothing, we all waited until she rolled her eyes and put her hands together, before pulling them apart revealing lines of what looked like electric current. With a flick of her wrist they disappeared and everyone turned to look at me.
"Kale." I said, leaving my last name out of it. "Kale controls fire." I said making a small fireball roll around my hand, I like doing it; it was fun. I turned to look at Sean who grinned back at me.
"My name's Sean." He said not moving. "Um, I can control people emotions and apparently I'm telepathic, I didn't know that." We all chuckled. "I'm uh, not gonna do a little demo, considering I don't' know what I'm doing." That's when I noticed he was still wearing his bracelets. The kid next to him shifted uncomfortably under our stares.
"I'm Noah." He said pushing up his sleeves. "I um.........I'm basically a human Internet, my mind just takes things in and stores them, I can learn pretty much anything." He said a blush rising in his cheeks beneath his thick- framed glasses. "I don't know how I would demonstrate that."
He looked down at his feet and we all looked next to him.
"I'm Austin." He said with a huge smile that made everyone in the room smile with him. "I can fly." Well that was pretty simple. He could fly. I waited, there was always more, it was never that easy. "In theory I have all the attributes of a hawk. Or eagle or something, I can fly, hunt, see things pretty damn well, I have good hearing, you know all that good stuff." He just smiled again and everyone smiled with him.
We turned to the last kid in the circle who just looked back at us as he slowly disappeared. How awkward.
"My name is Montaro." He said and then appeared again as if nothing had happened. We were definitely a sweet team. We all turned to Kurt who was smiling his toothy grin. Just then the door burst open and Logan and Jubilee waltzed in. I smiled, our team was going to kick ass.
"This is Logan, I'm Jubilee, sorry we're late." She said crossing her arms in front of her chest. Logan stood beside her in the exact same position and we sat in silence waiting for something to happen. When it didn't Austin stood.
"I'm Austin." He said shaking both of their hands. "This here is Kat, Alexandria, Kale, Sean, Noah and Montaro." I smiled at him, Austin seemed like a pretty cool kid.
"Well now that we know yer names, yer dismissed fer the day, I hafta talk to the elf." Logan grunted and we all filed out of the room.
"I wonder if that guy ever smiles." Alexandria said as we walked towards the dorms.
"Rarely mon ami." I said grinning at her.
"So what now?" Sean asked as the 7 of us walked together. We all looked at one another.
"Kale wouldn' turn down a game of pool." I said raising an eyebrow at Sean. He nodded and our little team turned towards the games room. It was in the middle of the game that Sean realized that he was being played and decided to tackle me.
"You didn't say you knew how to play!" he said as our team laughed behind us.
"Didn' ask mon ami." I said with my trademark grin in place. He punched me in the shoulder and then helped me up.
"Hey smallpint!" Bobby said running into the room, screeching to a halt behind me. I laughed at him.
"Trouble again mon ami?" I asked, before he could answer Bishop walked in. Seeing Bobby behind me, he stalked over.
"Kale, I suggest you duck while I pummel Mr. Drake." He said. I ducked and Bishop picked Bobby up by the collar of the shirt.
"Aw c'mon Bish, you can't tell me that you didn't miss me!" Bobby said, half-pleading with the mountain of a man in front of him. Bishop lowered him to the ground and stalked back out of the room without another word. I looked to Bobby for an explanation who just shrugged with a grin on his face. "So grocery shopping?" he asked. I nodded. "Let's go now before supper, it'll be fun!"
"If anyone lookin' fo me........."I trailed off and Sean nodded. And I walked out with Bobby, who produced some keys from somewhere. I raised my eyebrow at him again. Eh grinned devilishly and in watched as the lights on Scott's brand new SUV lit up. "Gon' get us killed mon ami."
Bobby just laughed and we sped off to the grocery store. Bobby had made a map. He had made a map of the grocery store. A normal person might have made a list, but no.........Bobby made a map. Complete with a pirate-shopping cart containing a picture of the two of us. And according to the map we started with junk food. Although it was in the middle of the grocery store and it made more sense to go from one side to the other, I did not question the integrity of the map. So we started with a shopping cart. 6 cases of pop and 20 bags of assorted snacks later, he sent me for a new cart. Next we went to cereal and breakfast food, Kool-aid, rice, and such things filled up another cart. Then we went to vegetables and meat, two more carts down. And finally frozen things, Popsicles, ice cream, all essentials I assure.
The cashier looked at the amount of food in the 6 carts that we were pulling and called for backup. While they rang everything through I turned to Bobby.
"Could Bobby come an' get Kale's t'ings later? From de house........." I said trailing off, I figured he would, he never let me down.
"Um, I'd rather not kiddo." He said smiling over at me. My eyes snapped up to his. What? No! he had to come with me! He had to have my back, SOMEONE had to have my back.
"Wha?" I asked, my eyes filling with a mixture of fear and confusion. He just put his and on the back of my neck. He smiled and paid the girls.
"I really don't want to get in the middle of that whole debacle." He said with another strained smile. I bit my tongue as the two of us, along with a bunch of workers walked the groceries to the SUV. Bobby thanked them and gave them each a tip and then we stood in silence loading the bags into the back of the SUV. I got into the passenger seat and waited until Bobby was belted in before talking again.
"Why not?" I asked finally. Bobby just sighed and started the engine.
"Because smallpint, I don't. I know you don't understand this but Rogue been my friend for years, decades.........well you get the point. And I don't want to choose sides, so instead of choosing sides I'm just going to stay out of it from now on." He said as we drove towards home. If he wasn't choosing sides, why did I feel so abandoned? He looked over at me and just nodded, looking down at my hands. After a few minutes of awkward silence he muttered an obscenity and pulled onto the shoulder of the road. Hitting the hazards, he took off his seatbelt and turned to me.
"Are you ever going to listen to her?" he asked. I looked up at him, was he serious?
"Tried dat mon ami, jus' made t'ings worse non?" I said. Bobby ran his hands over his face, fighting the internal battle that was trying to tell him to stay out of it. I just waited and finally he looked up at me again.
"If you would just listen to her........." Bobby began but I cut him off.
"Don' need t' talk to her; she de reason everyt'in wen' wrong. She de reason dat Papa isn' talkin' t' me!" I said, trying to explain it to him. I never thought I would have to explain myself to Bobby, I thought he was just cool enough to let it be.
"No Kale!" Bobby yelled, slamming his fist down onto the console. I jumped a bit; Bobby had never ever yelled at me. "She ISN'T the reason everything went wrong! Remy isn't talking to you because YOU left! Not because she came!" Anger knitted his brow and I nodded; I now knew where his loyalties lay. He took a deep breath and then started to apologize but I held up my hand to stop him. "I didn't mean........." he sputtered before stopping.
"Bobby never say anyt'in' he don' mean." I said with a bitter grin. "Seems t' me dat you already chose sides hieh?" I gave a bitter chuckle. "An' t' t'ink Kale t'ought she had a frien'." I said and then nodded and turned to face the front. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Bobby's horror stricken face and grinned to myself. Good. He could hurt; he deserved it.
"I am your friend Kale, that's why I'm trying to explain what you're doing is wrong. You haven't even given her a chance to explain what you saw; you haven't given her a chance to explain anything. And this thing with your dad.........it's probably the most childish fight between adults I've ever seen." He said, when I didn't respond he just sighed and turned back to the wheel, we continued in silence. Fuck him, I didn't need a preacher.
When we got to the mansion I got out without a word, carried all the groceries I could, dumped them in the kitchen, where dinner was being prepared and then walked up to my room, ignoring everyone who said anything to me.
"I take it groceries wasn't as fun as you thought it would be?" Sean asked as I stalked into the room and pummeled my pillow. I glared at him and he held his hands up in defeat. "You wanna talk about it?"
"Non." I stated. He just nodded.
"You coming down for food?" he asked cautiously. I shook my head and he shrugged and left the room, shutting the door behind him.
God dammit! Why the hell did everyone seem to get pissed off at me? Sitting up I ran my hand over my face and looked out the window. Perfect view of my old house, how convenient. I swung my legs off the side of the bed and put my head in my hands. Fine, I guess I would just have to do this alone. With a sigh I stood and walked downstairs and out the back door, walking towards the house that I used to call home. I stood on the stoop where Papa and I used to sit and watch the stars and knocked twice.
The door swung open and Papa's smile faded into a rock hard emotionless expression I'd only see him use against people he hated. He stepped aside and without another word I walked upstairs to my room, grabbing my backpack from under my bed I shoved a bunch of clothes inside. I looked around my room, there was nothing in here I desperately needed, grabbing a bunch of hair supplies I put my backpack on my back and walked over to my guitar, putting it in it's case, picked it up in one hand, my amp in the other and turned to find Papa's slender form leaning in the doorway. We held eye contact until I looked away, tears welling in my eyes. It wasn't fair that he could be mad at me. It just wasn't.
"Dat all you need?" he asked, his voice cold as ice. I looked up at him and nodded again and he moved away from the door letting me pass. I walked down the stairs to see the door swing open and Bobby and Rogue walk in together laughing. They both stopped abruptly seeing me at the bottom of the staircase. Rogue sidestepped away from the door but Bobby stood in front of me, sputtering for an excuse I just gave him a hatefilled look.
"Don' owe strangers excuses." I said and pushed past him, feeling his shoulders slump from beside me. Damn right, he hurt me I hurt him, that's the way I operated. I heard Rogue call my name but I kept walking, like I wanted to deal with her right now. I shifted my backpack onto my shoulder and stopped waiting for her to catch up with me. When she did she came and stood in front of me. I stood in a stoic silence and waited for her to say something.
"Ya can't treat people like that!" she said, a hurt in her eyes. I just chuckled bitterly and walked by her towards the mansion. "Ah'm not kiddin' you shugah, you're gonna realize that actions have reprucussions, ya need t' stop actin' like a chile."
With a shake of my head I made my way back to the mansion and upstairs into the dorms. I threw my bag on the bed and set my guitar and amp down. Sean looked up from his book and raised an eyebrow.
"Any chance dat you know where Scott is mon ami?" I asked. His eyes filled with confusion and I smiled. "Monsieur Summers." I clarified for him. He shrugged.
"Haven't seen him since supper." He said. "Why?"
"Gotta debt t' pay." I said with a forced smile before walking down to the kitchen, where I found him and Jean mid lip-lock over the dishes. "Now t'ink of all de children dat coulda walked in on dis." I said leaning in the doorway. They both jumped and turned to me, Scott turning bright red and Jean just glaring at me playfully.
"Can I help you Kale?' Scott asked, after clearing his throat.
"Owe you hours in de Danger Room, thought dat we could head over." I said, trying not to let it show that I just really wanted to burn something. Something big. Something big that looked like Rogue. Or maybe just Rogue.
"I'll meet you there in ten." He said and I grinned and walked out of the room. Heading down to the metallic hallway I met Logan walking out of the room.
"You supposed to be down here young blood?" he asked raising an eyebrow. I nodded.
"Sessions wit' Scott." I said. Logan just nodded and continued on his way. I sat in front of the doors until Scott trotted down the hallway and pushed in the access codes. I walked into the middle of the room and stretched out my arms, Scott called out a simulation and I set myself in the ready position.
Two hours later Scott called it quits, despite my protests.
"Kale it's 8, we both have floor meetings." He said, successfully halting my complaints. I nodded and walked back up to the dorms and changed before Sean and I walked to the floor meeting with Kurt.
We were the oldest people on our floor. We played Clue for an hour before Kurt let us go, since the younger kids had to be in bed.
"You wanna go see what's happening in the game room?" Sean asked slinging his arm around my aching shoulders, I shrugged and let him lead me to the game room where the older kids were all watching the O.C. I rolled my eyes and sat down by a table and began to play solitaire. Luke came over and sat across from me.
"Where's de wife?" I asked, not looking up from my card game. He growled slightly.
"None of your business." He said and ssat across from me, elbows on his knees, staring at me. Finally I sighed and looked up at him. "What's the deal with you and the new kid?"
"None yo' business." I stated and with another growl he stalked back to the television. I heard the chatter die down as a couple of the teachers walked in. Smiling to myself I kept playing. It amused me how the kids were afraid of the teachers, maybe it was because I had lived here my entire life but they just didn't seem that scary unless you pissed them off and I should know, I did that a lot.
Jubilee came and hit me in the shoulder, I turned to look at her. "Let's walk." She stated. I shrugged and packed up my cards and followed her out onto the patio beside the pool. She sat in her regular lawn-chair.
"I hear you and Bobby got into a little spat." She stated bluntly. I smiled, I loved Jubilee to death, partially because she was honest.
"News travels fast non?" I said with a grin, stretching out on my lawn chair and looking up at the dark sky.
"In a house full of telepaths? You know it." She said with a smile. "So what? You guys aren't talking anymore? Friendship over?" I shrugged.
"Bobby picked a side." I said. How else was I going to explain the betrayal that a felt when Bobby had decided to leave me alone. Jubilee just sighed at me.
"God it's like we're in some sort of dodgeball tournament." She stated. WE sat in silence staring at the sky for a few moments. "Everyone chooses a side sometimes."
"Oui, jus' dat........." I stopped myself. Staring at a certain star I tried to forget the conversation, which was hard since Jubilee began poking me repeatedly in the shoulder. "Jus' dat, it seem like everyone is choosin' de other side."
"So you're pouting and picking fights?" Jubilee asked with her perfected scoff. I turned and looked at her. "Come on Kaley, you gotta grow up. Nobody is going to pick sides until you make them. So, do us all a favor and don't make us okay?"
I shrugged and let her continue.
"Stop acting like a spoiled little kid okay?" she said in the nicest voice she could manage. I just shrugged again and let her walk back inside, Sean replaced her soon after.
"Lights out in ten. You comin' up?" he asked attempting to find what was fascinating me in the sky.
"Gon' sleep out here tonight chere." I said and smiled at him. EH just looked at me like I was nuts and went back inside regardless. I waited a few minutes until the stars didn't interest me anymore and went into the kitchen, grabbing a Pepsi and a beer I sat down at the kitchen table.
A few minutes later Logan walked in and chuckled. "What're you tryin' t' do kid? Turn this into some nightly ritual?"
I smiled genuinely for the first time that day and nodded.
"Heard you were scrappin' with the Popsicle." He said cracking open his Molson. I rolled my eyes, making him chuckle again. "An' I take it you already got at least one lecture?"
I grinned at him. "Somethin' like dat."
"Sometimes yeh jus' wish that everyone would mind they're own damn business." Logan said and I nodded. "Mind you, there hasn' been this much damn drama 'round here in a while."
I had to laugh at that, it was probably true; I was indeed stirring up the pot a bit. I stood and got him another beer as he finished his in another gulp. He grunted his appreciation. We sat in silence through my second Pepsi and his third beer before he stood to leave.
"Logan not gon' tell me t' grow up an' stop actin' like a chile?" I asked as he turned to leave. HE turned around an looked at me.
"Why would I tell a wolf to stop howlin'?" he said and left before I could respond.
"Start vith your name........." Kurt prompted, the girl gave him a small smile.
"My name is Katherine, people call me Kat." She grinned looking up, it was the first time I caught her cat-like eyes. "I have the ability to turn into a panther at will." She shrugged and motioned to her inhibitor bracelets.
"Oh!" Kurt exclaimed startling most of us. "Please, please feel free to take off de bracelets."
Everyone gave a sigh of relief and took off their bracelets. Kat smiled and slowly turned into a panther, a big one. In fact it was bordering massive. She stretched and then morphed, turned.........I don't know what the right word is.........back with a smile. We all turned to the girl next to her.
"Alexandria." She stated smoothly. "I control electricity." She said as if it was nothing, we all waited until she rolled her eyes and put her hands together, before pulling them apart revealing lines of what looked like electric current. With a flick of her wrist they disappeared and everyone turned to look at me.
"Kale." I said, leaving my last name out of it. "Kale controls fire." I said making a small fireball roll around my hand, I like doing it; it was fun. I turned to look at Sean who grinned back at me.
"My name's Sean." He said not moving. "Um, I can control people emotions and apparently I'm telepathic, I didn't know that." We all chuckled. "I'm uh, not gonna do a little demo, considering I don't' know what I'm doing." That's when I noticed he was still wearing his bracelets. The kid next to him shifted uncomfortably under our stares.
"I'm Noah." He said pushing up his sleeves. "I um.........I'm basically a human Internet, my mind just takes things in and stores them, I can learn pretty much anything." He said a blush rising in his cheeks beneath his thick- framed glasses. "I don't know how I would demonstrate that."
He looked down at his feet and we all looked next to him.
"I'm Austin." He said with a huge smile that made everyone in the room smile with him. "I can fly." Well that was pretty simple. He could fly. I waited, there was always more, it was never that easy. "In theory I have all the attributes of a hawk. Or eagle or something, I can fly, hunt, see things pretty damn well, I have good hearing, you know all that good stuff." He just smiled again and everyone smiled with him.
We turned to the last kid in the circle who just looked back at us as he slowly disappeared. How awkward.
"My name is Montaro." He said and then appeared again as if nothing had happened. We were definitely a sweet team. We all turned to Kurt who was smiling his toothy grin. Just then the door burst open and Logan and Jubilee waltzed in. I smiled, our team was going to kick ass.
"This is Logan, I'm Jubilee, sorry we're late." She said crossing her arms in front of her chest. Logan stood beside her in the exact same position and we sat in silence waiting for something to happen. When it didn't Austin stood.
"I'm Austin." He said shaking both of their hands. "This here is Kat, Alexandria, Kale, Sean, Noah and Montaro." I smiled at him, Austin seemed like a pretty cool kid.
"Well now that we know yer names, yer dismissed fer the day, I hafta talk to the elf." Logan grunted and we all filed out of the room.
"I wonder if that guy ever smiles." Alexandria said as we walked towards the dorms.
"Rarely mon ami." I said grinning at her.
"So what now?" Sean asked as the 7 of us walked together. We all looked at one another.
"Kale wouldn' turn down a game of pool." I said raising an eyebrow at Sean. He nodded and our little team turned towards the games room. It was in the middle of the game that Sean realized that he was being played and decided to tackle me.
"You didn't say you knew how to play!" he said as our team laughed behind us.
"Didn' ask mon ami." I said with my trademark grin in place. He punched me in the shoulder and then helped me up.
"Hey smallpint!" Bobby said running into the room, screeching to a halt behind me. I laughed at him.
"Trouble again mon ami?" I asked, before he could answer Bishop walked in. Seeing Bobby behind me, he stalked over.
"Kale, I suggest you duck while I pummel Mr. Drake." He said. I ducked and Bishop picked Bobby up by the collar of the shirt.
"Aw c'mon Bish, you can't tell me that you didn't miss me!" Bobby said, half-pleading with the mountain of a man in front of him. Bishop lowered him to the ground and stalked back out of the room without another word. I looked to Bobby for an explanation who just shrugged with a grin on his face. "So grocery shopping?" he asked. I nodded. "Let's go now before supper, it'll be fun!"
"If anyone lookin' fo me........."I trailed off and Sean nodded. And I walked out with Bobby, who produced some keys from somewhere. I raised my eyebrow at him again. Eh grinned devilishly and in watched as the lights on Scott's brand new SUV lit up. "Gon' get us killed mon ami."
Bobby just laughed and we sped off to the grocery store. Bobby had made a map. He had made a map of the grocery store. A normal person might have made a list, but no.........Bobby made a map. Complete with a pirate-shopping cart containing a picture of the two of us. And according to the map we started with junk food. Although it was in the middle of the grocery store and it made more sense to go from one side to the other, I did not question the integrity of the map. So we started with a shopping cart. 6 cases of pop and 20 bags of assorted snacks later, he sent me for a new cart. Next we went to cereal and breakfast food, Kool-aid, rice, and such things filled up another cart. Then we went to vegetables and meat, two more carts down. And finally frozen things, Popsicles, ice cream, all essentials I assure.
The cashier looked at the amount of food in the 6 carts that we were pulling and called for backup. While they rang everything through I turned to Bobby.
"Could Bobby come an' get Kale's t'ings later? From de house........." I said trailing off, I figured he would, he never let me down.
"Um, I'd rather not kiddo." He said smiling over at me. My eyes snapped up to his. What? No! he had to come with me! He had to have my back, SOMEONE had to have my back.
"Wha?" I asked, my eyes filling with a mixture of fear and confusion. He just put his and on the back of my neck. He smiled and paid the girls.
"I really don't want to get in the middle of that whole debacle." He said with another strained smile. I bit my tongue as the two of us, along with a bunch of workers walked the groceries to the SUV. Bobby thanked them and gave them each a tip and then we stood in silence loading the bags into the back of the SUV. I got into the passenger seat and waited until Bobby was belted in before talking again.
"Why not?" I asked finally. Bobby just sighed and started the engine.
"Because smallpint, I don't. I know you don't understand this but Rogue been my friend for years, decades.........well you get the point. And I don't want to choose sides, so instead of choosing sides I'm just going to stay out of it from now on." He said as we drove towards home. If he wasn't choosing sides, why did I feel so abandoned? He looked over at me and just nodded, looking down at my hands. After a few minutes of awkward silence he muttered an obscenity and pulled onto the shoulder of the road. Hitting the hazards, he took off his seatbelt and turned to me.
"Are you ever going to listen to her?" he asked. I looked up at him, was he serious?
"Tried dat mon ami, jus' made t'ings worse non?" I said. Bobby ran his hands over his face, fighting the internal battle that was trying to tell him to stay out of it. I just waited and finally he looked up at me again.
"If you would just listen to her........." Bobby began but I cut him off.
"Don' need t' talk to her; she de reason everyt'in wen' wrong. She de reason dat Papa isn' talkin' t' me!" I said, trying to explain it to him. I never thought I would have to explain myself to Bobby, I thought he was just cool enough to let it be.
"No Kale!" Bobby yelled, slamming his fist down onto the console. I jumped a bit; Bobby had never ever yelled at me. "She ISN'T the reason everything went wrong! Remy isn't talking to you because YOU left! Not because she came!" Anger knitted his brow and I nodded; I now knew where his loyalties lay. He took a deep breath and then started to apologize but I held up my hand to stop him. "I didn't mean........." he sputtered before stopping.
"Bobby never say anyt'in' he don' mean." I said with a bitter grin. "Seems t' me dat you already chose sides hieh?" I gave a bitter chuckle. "An' t' t'ink Kale t'ought she had a frien'." I said and then nodded and turned to face the front. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Bobby's horror stricken face and grinned to myself. Good. He could hurt; he deserved it.
"I am your friend Kale, that's why I'm trying to explain what you're doing is wrong. You haven't even given her a chance to explain what you saw; you haven't given her a chance to explain anything. And this thing with your dad.........it's probably the most childish fight between adults I've ever seen." He said, when I didn't respond he just sighed and turned back to the wheel, we continued in silence. Fuck him, I didn't need a preacher.
When we got to the mansion I got out without a word, carried all the groceries I could, dumped them in the kitchen, where dinner was being prepared and then walked up to my room, ignoring everyone who said anything to me.
"I take it groceries wasn't as fun as you thought it would be?" Sean asked as I stalked into the room and pummeled my pillow. I glared at him and he held his hands up in defeat. "You wanna talk about it?"
"Non." I stated. He just nodded.
"You coming down for food?" he asked cautiously. I shook my head and he shrugged and left the room, shutting the door behind him.
God dammit! Why the hell did everyone seem to get pissed off at me? Sitting up I ran my hand over my face and looked out the window. Perfect view of my old house, how convenient. I swung my legs off the side of the bed and put my head in my hands. Fine, I guess I would just have to do this alone. With a sigh I stood and walked downstairs and out the back door, walking towards the house that I used to call home. I stood on the stoop where Papa and I used to sit and watch the stars and knocked twice.
The door swung open and Papa's smile faded into a rock hard emotionless expression I'd only see him use against people he hated. He stepped aside and without another word I walked upstairs to my room, grabbing my backpack from under my bed I shoved a bunch of clothes inside. I looked around my room, there was nothing in here I desperately needed, grabbing a bunch of hair supplies I put my backpack on my back and walked over to my guitar, putting it in it's case, picked it up in one hand, my amp in the other and turned to find Papa's slender form leaning in the doorway. We held eye contact until I looked away, tears welling in my eyes. It wasn't fair that he could be mad at me. It just wasn't.
"Dat all you need?" he asked, his voice cold as ice. I looked up at him and nodded again and he moved away from the door letting me pass. I walked down the stairs to see the door swing open and Bobby and Rogue walk in together laughing. They both stopped abruptly seeing me at the bottom of the staircase. Rogue sidestepped away from the door but Bobby stood in front of me, sputtering for an excuse I just gave him a hatefilled look.
"Don' owe strangers excuses." I said and pushed past him, feeling his shoulders slump from beside me. Damn right, he hurt me I hurt him, that's the way I operated. I heard Rogue call my name but I kept walking, like I wanted to deal with her right now. I shifted my backpack onto my shoulder and stopped waiting for her to catch up with me. When she did she came and stood in front of me. I stood in a stoic silence and waited for her to say something.
"Ya can't treat people like that!" she said, a hurt in her eyes. I just chuckled bitterly and walked by her towards the mansion. "Ah'm not kiddin' you shugah, you're gonna realize that actions have reprucussions, ya need t' stop actin' like a chile."
With a shake of my head I made my way back to the mansion and upstairs into the dorms. I threw my bag on the bed and set my guitar and amp down. Sean looked up from his book and raised an eyebrow.
"Any chance dat you know where Scott is mon ami?" I asked. His eyes filled with confusion and I smiled. "Monsieur Summers." I clarified for him. He shrugged.
"Haven't seen him since supper." He said. "Why?"
"Gotta debt t' pay." I said with a forced smile before walking down to the kitchen, where I found him and Jean mid lip-lock over the dishes. "Now t'ink of all de children dat coulda walked in on dis." I said leaning in the doorway. They both jumped and turned to me, Scott turning bright red and Jean just glaring at me playfully.
"Can I help you Kale?' Scott asked, after clearing his throat.
"Owe you hours in de Danger Room, thought dat we could head over." I said, trying not to let it show that I just really wanted to burn something. Something big. Something big that looked like Rogue. Or maybe just Rogue.
"I'll meet you there in ten." He said and I grinned and walked out of the room. Heading down to the metallic hallway I met Logan walking out of the room.
"You supposed to be down here young blood?" he asked raising an eyebrow. I nodded.
"Sessions wit' Scott." I said. Logan just nodded and continued on his way. I sat in front of the doors until Scott trotted down the hallway and pushed in the access codes. I walked into the middle of the room and stretched out my arms, Scott called out a simulation and I set myself in the ready position.
Two hours later Scott called it quits, despite my protests.
"Kale it's 8, we both have floor meetings." He said, successfully halting my complaints. I nodded and walked back up to the dorms and changed before Sean and I walked to the floor meeting with Kurt.
We were the oldest people on our floor. We played Clue for an hour before Kurt let us go, since the younger kids had to be in bed.
"You wanna go see what's happening in the game room?" Sean asked slinging his arm around my aching shoulders, I shrugged and let him lead me to the game room where the older kids were all watching the O.C. I rolled my eyes and sat down by a table and began to play solitaire. Luke came over and sat across from me.
"Where's de wife?" I asked, not looking up from my card game. He growled slightly.
"None of your business." He said and ssat across from me, elbows on his knees, staring at me. Finally I sighed and looked up at him. "What's the deal with you and the new kid?"
"None yo' business." I stated and with another growl he stalked back to the television. I heard the chatter die down as a couple of the teachers walked in. Smiling to myself I kept playing. It amused me how the kids were afraid of the teachers, maybe it was because I had lived here my entire life but they just didn't seem that scary unless you pissed them off and I should know, I did that a lot.
Jubilee came and hit me in the shoulder, I turned to look at her. "Let's walk." She stated. I shrugged and packed up my cards and followed her out onto the patio beside the pool. She sat in her regular lawn-chair.
"I hear you and Bobby got into a little spat." She stated bluntly. I smiled, I loved Jubilee to death, partially because she was honest.
"News travels fast non?" I said with a grin, stretching out on my lawn chair and looking up at the dark sky.
"In a house full of telepaths? You know it." She said with a smile. "So what? You guys aren't talking anymore? Friendship over?" I shrugged.
"Bobby picked a side." I said. How else was I going to explain the betrayal that a felt when Bobby had decided to leave me alone. Jubilee just sighed at me.
"God it's like we're in some sort of dodgeball tournament." She stated. WE sat in silence staring at the sky for a few moments. "Everyone chooses a side sometimes."
"Oui, jus' dat........." I stopped myself. Staring at a certain star I tried to forget the conversation, which was hard since Jubilee began poking me repeatedly in the shoulder. "Jus' dat, it seem like everyone is choosin' de other side."
"So you're pouting and picking fights?" Jubilee asked with her perfected scoff. I turned and looked at her. "Come on Kaley, you gotta grow up. Nobody is going to pick sides until you make them. So, do us all a favor and don't make us okay?"
I shrugged and let her continue.
"Stop acting like a spoiled little kid okay?" she said in the nicest voice she could manage. I just shrugged again and let her walk back inside, Sean replaced her soon after.
"Lights out in ten. You comin' up?" he asked attempting to find what was fascinating me in the sky.
"Gon' sleep out here tonight chere." I said and smiled at him. EH just looked at me like I was nuts and went back inside regardless. I waited a few minutes until the stars didn't interest me anymore and went into the kitchen, grabbing a Pepsi and a beer I sat down at the kitchen table.
A few minutes later Logan walked in and chuckled. "What're you tryin' t' do kid? Turn this into some nightly ritual?"
I smiled genuinely for the first time that day and nodded.
"Heard you were scrappin' with the Popsicle." He said cracking open his Molson. I rolled my eyes, making him chuckle again. "An' I take it you already got at least one lecture?"
I grinned at him. "Somethin' like dat."
"Sometimes yeh jus' wish that everyone would mind they're own damn business." Logan said and I nodded. "Mind you, there hasn' been this much damn drama 'round here in a while."
I had to laugh at that, it was probably true; I was indeed stirring up the pot a bit. I stood and got him another beer as he finished his in another gulp. He grunted his appreciation. We sat in silence through my second Pepsi and his third beer before he stood to leave.
"Logan not gon' tell me t' grow up an' stop actin' like a chile?" I asked as he turned to leave. HE turned around an looked at me.
"Why would I tell a wolf to stop howlin'?" he said and left before I could respond.