THE WRAITH CHRONICLES

The Getting-used-to-Bayville Bear

Wraith slowly opened her eyes and groaned. It took a couple of seconds to remember again where she was. She sighed and grabbed her clock. Hey, it's eight thirty, not a bad sleep in for an unfamiliar place,she thought.

She rolled out of the sheets and immediately regretted it. It was freezing compared to her nice warm bed. She quickly got her stuff and headed for the shower. The good thing about there being hardly anyone around is that she avoided the morning squabbles for the bathroom, and the noise.

Once she was done and back in her room she had a look at herself in the mirror on the back of her door. Not too bad she thought and tucked a stray strand of her blue streaked hair behind her ear. She was wearing a white round necked skivvy and had pushed the sleeves up. Her pants were dark, brown-green cargos and she had on a pair of large-ish silver hoops that matched her silver necklace. It had a small crystal dangling on it that reflected the light, like a prism, and it sent rainbows everywhere when she held it up to the sunshine.

Simple yet styley, she thought and then rolled her eyes at herself for being so vain. She placated herself with the excuse, that she wanted to give a good impression ,and then trudged down the hall to find Kurt, appreciating her socks and slippers for their warmth.

She knocked on his door.

"Wha.... go avay, I'm still asleep. I'sto early!"she heard him mumble.

"No it's not, otherwise I'd still be asleep. It's nine. We were going to the mall remember?"

she called through the closed door.

He groaned a sleepy 'alright' and then was silent for such a long time Wraith had thought he'd gone back to sleep. But then he said that she should go and find Rogue and he would be ready in a while. She left him saying something about, annoying friends waking him up from a nice dream about being asleep, and went off to find Rogue like he suggested.

She found her already having breakfast in the dinning room by herself.

"You lost shuga?" she said looking up at Wraith while sipping her hot chocolate. Rogue was wearing her dark purple skivvy and lilac scarf with her usual gloves and a long , dark, jean skirt with splits down the sides. Just to make sure she didn't freeze she also had black, thigh length socks on.

" No, um.... I was just wondering...." Wraith trailed off.

" Spit it out. Ah don't bite." Rogue calmly started on her toast.

" If you don't have anything planned for today , do you want to come to the mall with me and Kurt?"

"Sure, Ah'd like ta get out and besides, it's not like ah've got anathin better ta do."

" Remind me again why Ah agreed ta this!!?" Rogue said grumbling good naturedly as she was dragged away from the CD she was looking at by an enthusiastic Wraith, who was clutching her sleeve.

"Hey it's not my fault. Who knew she vas such a crazy person deep down?" Kurt said with a laugh following them.

They had been at the mall now for an hour and Wraith seemed to be taking the professor's parting words to them, to heart. He had agreed with the idea of showing Wraith around and had told them to 'have fun'. Wraith certainly was! She loved looking at stuff even if she couldn't buy it. Ah... the joy of window shopping. Wraith had been through the clothing stores, toy stores and spent the longest at the book shop and pet store. Kurt and Rogue watched her in amusement as she cooed at the rabbits and kittens and exclaimed " How cute!" and "It's sooo adorable".

The interesting part came about ten minutes after they had eaten morning tea at a cafe. Kurt had two donuts and Rogue ate a slice of custard pie, both had coffee with their food. Wraith had a piece of chocolate cake and several mocochinos. The cafe had a 'buy four deserts and get a free drink' deal going. When they left Wraith also bought a vanilla coke so now she was on a bit of a high. Okay, so that's a slight down play, she was now bouncing up and down and squealing in delight. Honestly she was having such a good time she was more high on joy than suger.

Now Wraith dragged Rogue into another shop. It had jewelery and photo frames, odds and ends, but Wraith was pointing joyously at the teddy bears.

" Lookit , look at this one!"

I should warn you right now that if there's one thing that girl had a soft spot for, it was soft toys. The object of her affection was a gorgeous bear by anyone's standards. It had long plush fur that was lovely and soft. It's colouring was a mixture of deep blue and violet splodges on a cream body, it's mouth and nose were stitched in deep blue that went with the lilac fur on the inside of it's ears and the pads of it's feet. It had shiny black eyes, one of which had a patch of the darker fur ringing it , and to top it off it wore a silver star on a wide white, see-through ribbon that was in a bow around it's neck.

Wraith had pulled it out from the back of the toy stuffed shelf and now held it in a fierce hug. She looked at her companions and said suddenly very serious;

" I've got to have this one. I found it and there's only one. It's special and I haven't got a teddy for Bayville yet. I need one so that I can truly feel at home here. She can be my getting-used-to-Bayville bear. She's so lovely." she said caressing the bear's face, "What do you think?" ,she asked.

All through this speech Kurt had been watching her face carefully. He'd seen flashes of feelings that were completely out of place to how she had been acting before. He thought he saw loneliness, sadness and something else he couldn't describe. Suddenly he needed for her to be happy again. He walked over to her and , putting on a smile took the bear from her arms. He turned it this way and that , tickling it's ear and rubbing it's feet while Rogue and Wraith watched curiously. Finally handing the bear back to Wraith he grinned and said ;

" Vell it seems to be in tip-top shape, no finer bear I've ever seen!", leaning in conspiratorially he added "Although I vouldn't let it eat too many sweats if I were you, it might get fat!". He was pleased to see a smile break out on both Wraith and Rogue's faces and he laughed.

Wraith hadn't bought anything other than a novel and the food so she had just enough cash left to buy the bear. Before she had left home her mother had given her some money and had told her to get herself a present, Wraith had been saving it and it seemed appropriate to spend it now.

" Well Ah think you've had enough of an outin for one day, can we go home now Wraith?" Rogue asked changing the hand she was holding her things with. " With all this wandering round you've ben doin , Ah'm worn out."

And so they went back the manor, all with different thoughts on their minds. Kurt was thinking curiously about why Wraith had looked so strange and why he even wanted to know. Rogue was thinking of the new top she had bought and how fun it had been shopping with Wraith,which was unusual for her since she didn't like shopping too much. They had been normal and it was a nice feeling. Wraith herself saved her thoughts until she was alone, in her room.

She thought about Kurt and Rogue as she put her bear in a place of honor on her dresser. She let her mind wander on their interesting day as she fell asleep.