Kurt continued pacing hurriedly, stalking past a tacit and unconcerned Anastacia. After several minutes of this, he crept to the edge of the aisle and peeked his head out to stare at the petite brunette before resuming pacing. Anastacia snapped shut her book on Japanese verbs and jabbed Kurt in the ankle with it.

"What?!" He nearly yelled at her, pulling his foot out of the vicinity of where she sat cross-legged on the carpet.

"Why," she questioned him, voice solid, "Won't you stop wandering around like a chicken about to clutch?"

"Clutch?"

"Lay eggs," she supplied quickly, her voice growing testy.

Kurt made a rude noise. "I'm not going to lay eggs," he assured her. "But I am wondering-"

"Why you don't go talk to her?" she cut him off irritably. "Such a good question. I suggest you do. If you still need to think about it some more, go do it some place else. Your pacing is rather annoying." Her voice rose in a vicious whisper, her white gloved hand still clasped around the spine of the book reaching towards him.

Before Kurt could realize it, she had used the strategically placed book to propel him out of the aisle. He stumbled, drawing several stares. He dismissed them with a polite smile. He turned a glare on Anastacia, but she was already engrossed in her book. Turning his attention away from her, he scanned the library for the petite girl in question. 'She's my height,' he realized, unable to find her. Suddenly, he spotted her nestled among the video tapes and smacking on baby blue bubble gum. Without the pretense of surprising her, he walked down the aisle and noticed the stack of video tapes positioned at her elbow. He smiled to see there were classic cartoons, and old Christmas special and a 3-tape set of Gone with the Wind. She was cradling one video to her chest, so he couldn't make out the title. He tapped her shoulder cautiously, jumping when she did.

"Oh, sorry," she admonished, setting the video she had been holding tightly on top of the stack.

"It's all right, I didn't mean to frighten you."

"Not frighten so much as startle. Did you want to get past me or look at this section?"

Kurt stared at her blankly. "You don't remember me?"

She shook her head, eyes growing wide. "No, can't say I do. Should I?"

'Damn, the image inducer,' he remembered with a start. "Let's just say," he whispered, "I'm usually much more colorful. How do you feel about the color blue?"

Denise sputtered, looking him up and down. "I think I like it better than this look."

"You being only of the only people to think so," he muttered. "You're Denise, right?"

"So my cousin tells me so," she responded quickly.

"That was really sweet of you," he whispered. "Calling the mansion. Not many people would have the decency to do that."

"No," she replied, rolling her eyes in self loathing. "They would have had the self-restraint to control their powers. I was being an idiot."

"We could help you, at the mansion," he interjected absently.

"I won't leave my cousin. And I don't think our teaching philosophies will mesh. Mutant freedom not oppression, and all that jazz." She collected her tapes, staring him down as he continued to block her path.

"You call me when you change your mind then," he responded, stepping aside to allow her to pass.

She stopped, directly in front of him and within a very close proximity. "You call me. I called you last time. It's supposed to be your move." She stalked past him, her video stack resting on her hip as she made her way to check out. Kurt's tail impulsively twitched, sending three videos off the shelf. He muttered several curses before bending to pick them up and replace them on the shelf. As he peeked out of the aisle, he noticed bitterly that Bobby was still chatting with the same brunette girl as before. A quick check on the vending machines found both Ray and Sam in heavy conversation with a different girl. Scowling and feeling rather vindictive, he found Anastacia and told her he'd teleport home.

"The other guys are walking home," he informed her with a sinister smile. She simply nodded and piled her hair back on top of her head. Ducking into the bathroom, he teleported to Gutbomb and ordered a massive plate of curly chili fries. He sat down at his preferred table and ate several before a jovial voice broke his sulking.

"Having girl troubles, buddy?" He looked up and was met by another teenage boy holding an identical order of food.

"How could you tell?" His voice had no energy in it and sounded very surreal.

The boy sat down across from Kurt, his blue eyes dancing with mirth. "Because every time this girl throws me through a window, I feel an insatiable need to drown my sorrows in curly chili fries."

"She throws you through a window?" Kurt stared incredulously at the boy as he stuffed a fry into his mouth.

"She's a real special girl," he assured.

"I'll bet," Kurt said, his voice growing a bit lighter. "I'm Kurt, by the way."

"I'm trouble," the other teen replied. "But my friends call me Havok. Right before they scream, 'Oh my God, he's dropped his pants!'"

Kurt snorted helplessly in laughter as the other boy smiled widely before continuing. "So what's so special about your girl, Kurt?"

## Sorry it took so long. Have been having no inspiration. Thanks to the hurricanes, it's coming back. I'm in FL, experiencing the 4th hurricane in so short a time. It's crazy but it gives me time to write. Time for a shameless plug. Read my 'Guess they forgot me here' if you liked the X2 movie. I'd also love feed back on my Crow story, 'Elements of Destruction'. Sorry again it took so long, and is so horribly short. ##