The X-van pulled into an empty parking space at the Bayville public library, the boys in the back seat flying forward an inch as Anastacia slammed on the breaks.
"Damn," Ray exclaimed. "I thought you could drive!"
She shrugged it off, pulling her notebook out of the console and pocketing the keys. "Be back at the van by twelve-thirty or I'm leaving you and you can walk back."
The boys nodded and leapt out of the Van as Anastacia locked the doors. They walked in as a group but scattered a moment later, Sam taking an available computer as Kurt began digging through the card catalog. Ray confiscated a table as Bobby stared at the line of encyclopedias.
Anastacia paused next to Sam's chair for a moment, surveying the three other boys. "Make sure they behave, Guthrie," she whispered, patting his shoulder with a gloved hand.
He nodded and she took off towards the foreign language section, stopping as she noticed a large art book displayed in front of the row of shelves. She flipped one of the glossy pages and stared at the line drawing of a pair of dancers. Impulsively, she reached up and touched at the dove pendant under her shirt, shrugging off the urge to rip the page to pieces in pain. She buried herself in Chinese grammar books, glancing up as one of the books fell of the shelf next to her.
A plump blonde rushed around the edge of the shelf, quickly placing the book back in its slot. "Sorry," she whispered apprehensively before rushing back to the other side of the shelf.
She nearly collided with Denise who was blowing bubbles with her bubble gum in boredom. "Remind me why we're here again, Darce."
Darcy rolled her eyes as she led the brunette over nearly five levels, pointing at the metal display cases. "Free cartoons. And classic movies."
Denise quickly inhaled the swelled bubble. "Really? You think they have 'Guys and Dolls'?"
Darcy nodded in a slightly condescending manner. "Good chance," she muttered, shooing the other girl down the aisle. Once she was satisfied Denise was totally engrossed, she took off towards the nonfiction, moving only two aisles before she slammed into a boy her age. Both went flying, Darcy landing jarringly on her behind, an encyclopedia falling onto her shoulder. Another crushed her hand, making her shriek and swear.
"Sorry, sorry, sorry," the boy stuttered, repeating himself as he tried to collect tall of the encyclopedias. "God, I'm so sorry."
Darcy looked up, catching sight of wayward brown hair and apologetic blue eyes. She handed him the volume that had landed on her hand, muttering dumbly, "It's OK." She cringed though, as her bruised knuckle over-extended.
"No, it's not OK. I'm sorry, I have this report and my partner is doing no work," he rambled stood and held out a hand to her. She took it hesitantly and let him pull her to her feet. When she was upright, he continued stacking the encyclopedias before standing straight and favoring her with an uneasy smile.
"How's your hand?" His blue eyes were searching but sweet.
"Fine," she assured, slightly cradling her hand. "I'm Darcy, by the way," she blurted out.
"Bobby," he supplied. "Nice to drop a reference book on you." She giggled as he bent and picked up the stack of books. He wobbled for a minute, so she held a hand up to the books and placed the other on his shoulder to steady him. He stopped wobbling but blushed at her close proximity.
"Thanks," he mumbled. "You know, there's a water fountain over there. Maybe we could run water over your hand. It looks like it hurts."
Darcy sputtered, her head buzzing. "Sure." He walked off in the general direction, Darcy following behind him. Bobby stopped at the table where Ray was studying.
They fell with a thud, jarring Ray out of reviewing his notes. As he looked up, all he saw was the back end of Bobby leading a blonde girl towards the water fountain. He shrugged, diving through the encyclopedias only to find that Bobby had forgotten the B volume.
"Idiot," he growled, pushing his chair away from the table and stalking towards the reference section. He snatched up the B volume and exited the aisle, his shoulder colliding with that of a girl approximately his height.
He kept walking until he heard a disdainful voice call out to him. "Usually you say 'I'm sorry' or 'Excuse me', jackass." He turned, his face a mixing ground for rage and shock. The girl he had bumped into was giving him a vicious glare, three bronze braids falling in front of her disdainful blue eyes.
"You could say 'Excuse me' too," he replied.
"You bumped into me!" She stalked forward, inches from his face.
"Yeah, well you started all of this!" Ray felt like screaming at her but kept his voice to a loud whisper.
"Jeez, you have an anger problem." She turned on her heel and took off down the row of books.
"The same could be said about you," he replied in a hurried whisper, following her.
She spun, her eyes wide. "Why are you following me?!?!?"
"I'm not following you!" His voice got a twinge louder and an array of silencing noises came from the front desk. He reached down and found the B volume. "I'm looking for this," he whispered back, brandishing the book.
She made a guttural noise of frustration and stormed further down the aisle. Ray compulsively stalked after her. She pointed at him, accusing. "Now you are following me!! Why are you following me??"
"I don't know." He plucked up a English to Greek dictionary and waved that at her. "To get this!"
She gave him a quizzical look. "You speak Greek?"
"No," he relinquished. "I'm following you and I don't know why."
"I don't know whether to be freaked out or feel complimented."
"Complimented," he mumbled. "You're beautiful."
She stared back in shock. "What do they call you at the insane asylum?"
He chuckled. "Patient 25Q. But the other crazys call me Ray. How about you?"
She smiled. "Josephine. My crazys call me Josie."
Ray held out a hand. "Can I get you a soda?"
Josie nodded. "As long as it's orange and as long as you're paying." He dropped the two books and began whispering with Josie about Bobby's incompetence.
She giggled which sent up another array of silencing noises from someone at the desk. No, not someone from the desk. From Sam!! Sam shook his head, continuing the search on the computer. From across the terminal, he heard a girl smacking on some type of candy. 'A lollipop,' he realized.
He leaned to the side, ready to reprimand the person making so much noise when he stopped. A beautiful girl was licking a lime green lollipop and idly staring at the screen of her computer. She met his gaze, her green contacts looking out of place for some reason.
"Ummmm," he stuttered. "Excuse me. You're making a bit of noise. I was wondering if you could, ummm-"
"You want me to stop with my lollipop?" She cut him off, wrapping the candy up in a scrap of paper. "Sorry, I just didn't have any lunch."
"Well, a lollipop ain't lunch."
She giggled, looking embarrassed. "No, I guess it isn't. I'm just broke."
Something sprung loose in Sam Guthrie and he stood up, smiling down at her. "I could treat you to a bag of chips and a candy bar if you'd share them with me?"
She returned the smile, standing so that they were near the same height. "I'd love to. I'm Alyssa, by the way."
"Sam," he supplied, going around the end of the terminal to stand next to her, holding out his arm. "May I escort you?"
She looked absolutely entranced, taking his arm. "Of course." As they walked out of the library, Kurt was rushing over to the foreign language section where Anastacia had buried herself in books.
"That girl from the Brotherhood is here!" Kurt waved his notebook to get her attention but she barely looked up.
"Which one?"
He looked like he was going to have a coronary. "The one who screwed up the driveway!"
She glanced up, hair tucked in odd ways and a pencil behind each ear. "Wasn't she the one who was also flirting with you??" He sputtered indignantly but didn't respond.
"Don't tell me about it. You go talk to the girl." She returned to making notes from the book she held, ignoring him as he stared out of the end of the row towards the section where Denise was tearing through videocassettes. He took a deep breath and paced for several minutes.
## The Xavier institute- - same time ##
Ryan wandered around the front lawn of the Institute, staring at the mess the latest battle had created. 'Geez, I hope that girl knows better now,' he thought, kicking at the closest gnarled mass of concrete. Suddenly, he felt a sharp tug on his tail, pulling him back several steps. He spun, his nose and granite ears twitching as he smelled for his offender. The bushes twittered and he pounced, pinning his offender in the lush grass behind the trimmed bushes. He was careful of his claws but as his eyes focused he felt like scratching the person beneath him. Keyaira was smiling broadly back at him, her hair spread in the grass.
"Keya, I could have hurt you!" He scowled at her but didn't move, his tail switching furiously behind him in the air.
Her smile faded as she tried to sit up, only to be forced back into the grass. "Don't call me that Ry! Besides, it was more fun than just calling your name." She giggled again, her brown eyes mischievous.
He rolled off so he wasn't pinning her anymore, lying in the grass and staring up at the sky. "Aren't you supposed to be doing laundry or something?"
She sat halfway up, picking stray bits of dried grass off his chest. "That's Kitty and Rogue. All we have to do is fix the driveway and not go anywhere."
She traced spirals on his chest, her nails scraping gently. He restrained the urge to purr. 'I'd never live it down.' "Yet," he replied, "Here we are. Not in the mansion like good little kiddies."
She leaned in, scrunching her nose playfully. "Kitties?"
"Kiddies," he annunciated. "With a D."
She giggled at his frustration, laying her cheek on his chest, just above his heart. "Aren't we awful rule-breakers?" Her voice was still slightly drowsy with sleep.
"Awful," he whispered back. They lay that way, staring at the clouds for several moments.
"I was supposed to give you a message," Keyaira whispered, her fingers still idly drawing circles in his abs. He tried to feign interest but even his higher brain functions couldn't get past how close she was.
"Tabby wanted to meet you at about two," she continued. "But I don't have a watch and I forgot what time it was when I left the mansion."
He didn't move a muscle but it felt like he had to do a gymnastic routine just to speak. "We'll check later. I don't feel like moving."
She sat up, hair draping over one side of her face. "A cat nap?"
He reached over and pushed her back to her former position. "I'm too tired to dispute that horrible, horrible pun." The stared back up at the sky and forgot about the time entirely.
Hope you guys liked it. It seems long enough to be considered a real update. So Review.