Authoress's note: WHOA, sorry for the lateness. This chapter is a bit of a bore, I'm afraid, but I need something to bridge it with the other chapters... this is what I came up with. Don't sue me. At lest I'm introducing a new OC! Everyone, meet Melavina! (I've mentioned her before, but you only meet her now )

Reviewers' Response:

MLV the Ice Queen (hehe, you keep changing your name...) - I hope I can keep writing on forever and ever – I know the feeling of how it is waiting for a really good story you love to update (lol, aren't I flattering myself? ). I'm glad you like my versions of Kurt and Professor X. I do try :P

Pyro Lady – that's strange, your spelling was always okay – you've reviewed before now... but never mind. About advice – which twins were you talking about? I know Gambit, but I haven't read the comics or seen a lot of Evolution, so I wouldn't know. If you need any advice you can always ask, though. I'm here :D

chelsey-pudge – I think so too :P but Logan's also so cute... so I'm in a dilemma.

Silverone3 – hehe, rowdy friends you've got there! Van Helsing, ahh!! I loved that movie. Saw it twice in the theater and again (a friend's burned DVD) at home. Hugh is so cute there! We don't celebrate Halloween, true, but we have what's called Purim, which is more about the fun side of costumes and festivals rather than the scary part. According to the Bible, we're supposed to drink until we're too drunk to know who's friend and who's foe. ;D

Bananas in Pajamas – here you are!

Chapter 8: Marbles, Costumes, and Crushes.

"Ja? Come in," came the answer when she knocked.

"Hi Kurt."

"Hallo." Kurt smiled at her. "How was your lesson with Professor Xavier?"

"Pretty okay. He was surprised at first, that I could already do some telekinesis. I told him you taught me."

Kurt blushed, the purplish tinge evident even on his blue skin. "I merely explained how I teleport. It was you who turned it into moving other objects."

"Yeah, but still," Amanda flopped onto Kurt's bed and chased his tail for a minuet. "It was you who helped me actually do it." She smiled up at him. "Anyways, I'm up to marbles for now. I have to practice lifting them all up and moving them around, plus learn to ignore distractions."

"And are you any good at it?"

Amanda feigned a hurt look. "You doubt me so? Of course I'm good. But I'll have to get better. Do you want to help me practice?"

"I would be happy to help." Kurt moved to sit behind her." Do you have the marbles here with you?"

"Mm-hm," said Amanda, producing the cloth bag. She emptied the marbles onto the bed. "What are you doing back there?" she turned and grinned at him over her shoulder.

"Oh, nothing. I hope I won't ... distract you."

"Oh, I see," she grinned wider. "Okay then. Show me what you've got." She turned to the marbles. One by one, slowly, they rose, and hovered in a cluster in front of her face. Then she felt a tug on her shirt. A marble dropped to the bed as she started slightly. She frowned and lifted it again, bracing herself for Kurt's next distraction. It came soon enough, in the form of a poke in the lower back. The cluster of marbles wobbled.

"You're doing good," said Kurt, another distraction. She could hear the grin in his voice. She grinned slightly as well.

"Not gonna happen, blue," she said softly. Slowly, she split her concentration again. The larger portion of it went to keeping eleven marbles airborne, while about a tenth went to guiding the single last marble around the larger group. Kurt's fingers trailed up and down her back, gripping at the corners of her concentration.

Oh no, you don't, she thought. She switched her tactics, making eleven marbles now orbit the first.

Behind her back, Kurt's eyes widened. Mein Gott, she is good, he thought. Even better than I thought. She is a fast learner. Let's see if she's ready for something a bit more startling...

Amanda jumped as she felt Kurt's hand against the bare skin of her back, under her shirt. All twelve marbles dropped to the bed. She turned to look at him, her plait whipping around. "Oh, that was low, Kurt. Very low."

Kurt grinned at her. "And if you can't concentrate when someone touches you, how will you manage with people shooting at you?"

"Aw, Kurt, you're hopeless." Amanda flopped back onto her back on the bed and guided the marbles back into the bag held in Kurt's hands. "But I wouldn't have you any other way."

Kurt smiled. "That is good to know, Liebchen."

"Uh... Kurt?"

"Yes?"

"Are we really going to have people shooting at us?"

Kurt merely smiled.

-X-

"Hi Manda."

"Tell me, Kitty, are you always here?" Amanda sat on the couch next to her.

"More or less, yeah," said Kitty, flipping through the channels. She came to rest, as usual, on Star World. "Aw, damn, I've missed half of the show!"

"Kitty, tear yourself away from the TV for a few seconds, will you?"

Kitty turned the television off. "Sorry, Manda, I don't do well with these kinds of talks. You need someone who likes to listen..." she thought for a moment, then hollered up at the ceiling, "Kurt! Get your blue ass down here!"

Within a minuet, Kurt appeared, accompanied as always by his cloud of blue smoke. "The professor will have your head for that, Kätzchen," he told Kitty. "You know he allows no swearing in the school."

Kitty frowned. "Logan swears."

Kurt raised his hands. "Logan is something else."

"You can say that again," said Kitty, grinning. "Anyway, Manda here needs a heart-to-heart talk, and I'm not one for listening much. So, have fun." She sank through the couch.

Kurt looked at Amanda. "What was that about? Do you need to talk about something?"

"Nope," Amanda grinned. "I just wanted the TV. Kitty was the one who immediately assumed I needed to talk." She flipped the television on and turned to Mtv. "Eugh, Britney Spears. Hate her. (A/N: no offense to anyone out there who does like her XD) So, have you though of a costume for the Halloween party yet?"

"No," said Kurt, "not yet." He sat down in the vacated seat next to Amanda and scratched the back of his head. "I have no idea what to go as. What about you?"

Amanda shrugged. "I have no idea whatsoever. I was thinking maybe a cat... or a butterfly, maybe. But I want something else. Maybe I'll go as Cleopatra?"

"I was planning on going as that," said Storm, joining the pair of them on the couch.

"Oh, that's exactly you, Storm!" said Amanda, grinning at the older woman. "Lots of gold jewelry, and a white dress... you'll look fabulous. Very exotic."

"Yes, I also think you'd make an excellent Cleopatra, Ororo," said Kurt.

"Thanks, Kurt. Amanda, we're taking the kids out on Friday, tomorrow, to do some shopping for their costumes. We'll give some time out in the world ... maybe take them again next weekend, in case they don't have everything this time. Would you like to come along?"

"Of course," replied Amanda. "I need a costume, too!"

"All right, then it's settled." Storm stood up. "By the way, dinner's in ten minuets."

"Ten minuets?" said Amanda, slapping her palm to her forehead. "Ai, how does this keep happening to me?"

-X-

"May I have everybody's attention please, students and staff?" The whole of the cafeteria turned to the Professor. "We will be going out this Friday –" Xavier was forced to stop here as loud cheering filled the cafeteria. "Yes, I know this excites you; the mansion does tend to get quite dull after a while, I'm sure." Xavier smiled. "Which is exactly why we plan to take you all to the nearest mall tomorrow to shop for your Halloween costumes."

Amanda grinned and cheered along with the rest of the students. "Ooh, but that means I have exactly one day to think of a costume," she said to Kitty, who grinned.

"We'll work something out, won't we, Mel?" she turned to the girl sitting next to her, Melavina Coulter. She was quite a noticeable girl, Amanda thought, and very outgoing. Her violet-purple eyes shone with mischief and her long turquoise hair was pulled into a loose braid. She greatly reminded Amanda of a Japanese Anime character.

"Oh, we will," she said. "Count on it, Manda. You'll be the prettiest thing on the dancefloor. I wonder what Scott'll come as..."

Kitty groaned. Mel's favorite pastime, other than 'wreaking havoc on the school with Kitty', as Kurt had so fondly put it, was looking at Scott, talking about Scott, thinking about Scott, and Scott. "What about you, Kurt?" she said, hoping to distract Mel from Scott with her next-favorite male of the house, the blue teleporter.

Kurt sighed. "I don't know. Do you have any ideas for me?"

Mel shrugged. "We'll work something out for you. Shouldn't be too hard. Now, what should I go as? I need something sexy ... something that'll make Scott want­ me..."

Kitty groaned again and took a spoonful of strawberry ice-cream. She wondered briefly whether to fling it a Melavina or not, but then realized that an act such as that would no doubt start a good-fight, and Professor Xavier would not like that. She settled for eating said ice-cream.

Author's notes: Erm. As you can see, it's going to take a while before I manage to get the Halloween party in here. Of course, I couldn't have written it before the real Halloween arrived last month, so we'll all just have to settle with reading it, heh. Don't hate me for not writing quick enough! :::cries:::