Chapter 3. Cafeteria Conversations.
Lance could have cheered at the sound of the lunch bell. His head felt like it was splitting, no, more like there were a hundred avalanches in it. He quickly ducked into a bathroom and pulled out a bottle of aspirin and tossed four into his mouth. As he swallowed them, he happened to look at the mirror. He couldn't help but turn away.
They were right to be worried; he even looked terrible- the dark shadows under his eyes, clashing with his now pale skin. He ran a hand through his hair, brushing off the stray droplets of sweat before stepping outside.
He headed for the cafeteria but turned sharply when a hand touched his shoulder from behind.
"Alvers, we need to talk."
Lance twisted away from Scott's touch and scowled at him. "What do you want, Summers."
"You know what I'm talking about," Scott glared back, his hand reaching for his sunglasses.
"No, I'm not the psychic, if you don't remember. Now go save the world or something, I don't have time for this."
"Ve don't vant you hurting Kitty," Kurt spoke up, and Lance noticed for the first time that Kurt and Evan were standing behind Scott.
"Look, do your little thing later, I'm not dealing with you right now," Lance snapped, turning to leave.
"We're not finished talking..." Scott started, but was cut off when Lance turned back sharply, and the ground shook in accord with his anger. The lockers shuddered violently as Lance glared at the three X-Men.
"Back. Off." he snarled and left, his exit calming the ground beneath them to a low rumble until it stopped.
"Vell, do you zink ve should go after him?" A slightly shaken Kurt murmured after a long moment.
Scott stared at the way Lance had left. His eyes narrowed. "No, we can't risk powers. But we'll keep a close eye on him."
"Man, we could totally take him, forget powers." Evan said, and his words fully drew the three out of the daze.
"Yeah but zen zeProfessor vould get angry vith us."
Kurt and Evan started off, heading for the cafeteria as well.
Scott paused in thought. Lance seemed different than usual, even the way the earth shook had felt different today. He shook his head. The earthquake was the same as always; Lance's response was the same as always. Lance was Lance after all.
At the cafeteria Lance grabbed a dish and took the nearest article of 'food' on the counter and went to the table where the Brotherhood hung out. It was at one end of the cafeteria, and mostly secluded because the other students avoided the tables nearby. Which suit the Brotherhood just fine.
Only Todd was there, snagging a fly out of the air casually.
"Hey Todd," Lance sat down, his back towards the rest of the cafeteria. "What's up."
"Tabby and Fred got another detention, can you believe that?" Todd said, turning back to the table and his regular lunch.
"While you, Pietro and I are detention-free you mean," Lance smirked.
"No, but you only got thrown in because you beat up one of Matthews's jerks and that was because they were bullying me. And at least 'Tro got caught a day late and had some fun out of his."
"Yeah but you gotta admit, pink really doesn't work with Kelly, even if it is only his car."
"It's not like the whole thing's pink," Fred put in as he sat down, food piled on his several plates.
"Polka-dots are so cliché though," Tabitha said, announcing her arrival.
"Well you and Freddy only got as far as Matthews's locker today, you-can't-complain," Pietro replied, the last to join.
"Where have you been," Todd looked at the speed demon.
"Just giving Kelly another little surprise," Pietro said cheerfully.
"As funny as this is, we should keep a low profile for a while," Lance cut in, drawing the attention on him.
"Why?"
"'Cause if I miss another day of work from detention I'm going to get fired again."
"So you stay low. We'll do your share for you, don't worry."
Lance frowned at Pietro. "You know Kelly's going to make all of us have detention. He knows we're a group, and he'll take any excuse to put us in trouble."
"All right, so we'll keep quiet for a while, k Lancey?" Tabitha spoke up, before Pietro could argue that Lance just skip, surprising Lance himself.
"Yeah we'll stay out of trouble for a day or two." Fred agreed.
"Or just not get caught," Pietro said hopefully.
"Pietro..."
"All right, I'll cut down. And I already had all my plans." Pietro sighed and put a hand to his head in mock drama. "O cruel fate, must you mock me?"
"Here he goes again," Tabitha rolled her eyes.
"No one understands a genius," Pietro went on.
"More like no one understands the insane hyper speed demon," Todd laughed.
Pietro smacked him on the head, but they were all just joking and they knew it. Insults were a regular form of Brotherhood communication.
"There's Kitty, I have to go." Lance said, spotting Kitty across the room and getting up.
The rest of the Brotherhood turned to each other, each with different expressions but all knowing what the other was thinking.
"Me-too-catch-you-later," Pietro said, and was gone.
"Um yeah Fred, don't we have something we gotta do?" Todd gulped and looked at the bigger boy.
"What?"
"You know, that thing..." Todd nodded over to Lance, who was only a few steps away from Kitty. Fred caught on, and the two exchanged meaningful looks. Fred nodded vigorously. "Right, see you later Tabby."
"You guys are bailing out on me? It's not going to be that bad, just stay and watch!" Tabitha suggested as the two boys left quickly, still finishing up the rest of her hamburger.
Then Lance's shocked "What!" could be heard.
"Well I'm full," Tabitha tossed the last bit of her lunch in the trash and followed the examples of her co-conspirators.
Lance smiled as he caught up with Kitty.
"Hey Kitty..." before he could even finish his greeting, Kitty shot Lance a death glare.
"I can't believe you have the nerve to talk to me after what you did!"
Lace swallowed hard. How had Kitty found out about the fight? Jean probably told her, the red head was always hanging around with Matthews. Or maybe she had heard about Pietro's trick? Anyone could link the Brotherhood to each other, so it was possible she thought him responsible for any of the others' pranks. Trouble followed the name of the Brotherhood, they were used to getting in the middle of it and even blames for things they did not do.
"Wait Kitty, that was totally defensive, I swear! Matthews's guy hit Todd first; he started the whole thing! And I didn't do any of the other things! I didn't even know about most of them!"
"I don't know what you're talking about, but I'm not talking to you!" Kitty walked off, her blue eyes angry fires.
"Huh?"
She didn't know about the fight. Or the pranks. Lance quickly pulled himself out of the temporary confusion and ran in front of Kitty.
"Kitty, at least tell me what I did wrong!"
"Like you don't know!" Kitty snapped as she roughly pushed past him. Lance grabbed her wrist, hurriedly but lightly.
"I really don't! What did I do?"
Kitty jerked out of his hand. "Lance Alvers, if you think standing me up was funny, you can just forget about any future dates! In fact, you can just forget about even being my lab partner, I'll ask Jake to help me!"
"What!" Lance was so shocked he couldn't even stop Kitty as she stomped away. Then the answer dawned on him.
"I'M GOING TO KILL THEM!" he ran out the cafeteria.
