Chapter 7. Going on a date.
It had been one long week.
Every measure had been taken for him to not get detention or to successfully ditch it. He managed to be detention-free on Tuesday. Every effort had been made by the Brotherhood to stay quiet, and when that wore off by the end of second period, they had made every effort to keep Lance out of their troubles.
They even avoided all sorts of quarrels with the X-Men, and Pietros tricks on Evan had significantly decreased. And after keeping Tuesday free of detentions, Lance had worked double-time, making it so he could leave Friday open. His other job let him off two days each week, so that had been easy; he gave up Saturday in favor of Friday.
He had gotten detention on Wednesday, but had snuck out during the middle of it to go to work. Unfortunately this had been discovered and he had gotten double detention on Thursday. He got to work late and had to work overtime to get his boss to let him off Friday, as well as promising to come out during the weekend.
And so on.
But it had been worth it. He had just one job to go to on Friday, and he would be free for the rest of the evening.
And now it was finally Friday, and Lance had it all planned out. He hadnt had much money, just enough for a cheap dinner, but the others had pitched in so he and Kitty could see a movie. They were still feeling guilty about the previous week, and even made efforts to stop teasing him, though it didnt yield the best results.
"So Ill pick you up at seven," Lance grinned.
Kitty nodded. "Dont be late," she smiled.
"Never," Lance waved as she got in the car of a very annoyed Scott. He heard the complaining and lecturing of the X-Men in the car even from his place, but he could tell Kitty was okay with it. He had avoided fights with the X-Men all week, though Summers and some of the others had come up to him more than once, demanding that he leave Kitty alone.
"Come on Lover-boy, youve got to get to work before youre late again," Tabithas voice alerted him.
"Promise me you guys will not do anything, at least for this date," Lance said to the four teens as he got in the jeep.
"We promise already. Again," Pietro replied, aggravated.
"Yeah we wont bother you this time, dont worry so much," Todd said as the car started.
"All right, I cant help it. Thanks again for the money guys."
Lance dropped them off at the run down house that was their home, and headed for work. Once he was certain he was out of sight, he opened a bottle of aspirin and downed a couple pills for his throbbing headache.
Work was more or less uneventful, though he had had to take another set of pills, hiding in the bathroom, away from the vigilant eyes of his boss. It wouldnt be good for his bosses to find out he was taking medicine at work- they might make him go home, or worse, quit till he got better. And he needed the money. His various earnings all added up together barely covered the food and water bill, and it was already fall. To lose even one pay would have dire consequences in the upcoming winter- they had gone without heat a couple times before, and Todd plus a cold was not a pleasant sight. Lance was already trying to find extra jobs- though he had to be discreet about it, for if he were to let on that he was, everyone else would try as well, and then hed have talk them out of it so they could focus on school.
"Alvers, are you sleeping on my time?!"
His bosss voice snapped him back to the conscious world. He had fallen asleep; the headaches were making him infinitely tired. He had long since given up hope for an actual full nights sleep, catching short naps at school, work, and home whenever possible.
"No sir, I was awake," he quickly answered, sitting up straight and hoping his boss would not notice the line that had formed on his forehead from being pressed against his shirtsleeve. He mentally cursed himself for falling asleep on the job.
His boss looked at him hard for a moment, and Lance cringed, waiting for the tirade that would follow. His boss had threatened to fire him the next time he fell asleep at work, but Lance was desperately hoping he wouldnt carry out his threat.
"Go home, Alvers."
Lance blinked, staring at his boss. He swiftly stole a glance at the clock. Five. There was still an hour of work left. His eyes widened in panic.
"Wait sir, dont fire me, please, I wont sleep again; I really need this job-"
"Im not firing you, Lance. Im letting you go home early. Youre too tired to get any real work done. Go home and get some rest. Ill give you this hour for free."
Now Lance was just stunned, but he pushed away the suspicion rising in his mind and nodded, getting up from his seat.
"Yes sir, Ill be on time tomorrow," he said and started to walk out, but paused. "Sir?"
"What Lance?"
"Um, thank you."
Lance hastily left the building, running after he thought he was out of sight and hurriedly getting in his jeep. He wanted to leave before his boss had a change of heart and decided that it would be better to fire him after all. This was one of his better paying jobs, losing it would be drastic.
Back in the building, Lances boss watched the fleeting figure of the jeep and shook his head as he turned away from the window.
