Disclaimer: I don't own XMen, blahblahblah...
Summary: Yay! I'm writing again! After a horrid thing of writer's block... Ok, so well... Here's some more Pyro for all of you! Horahh! If you don't remember where we left off, John just asked Sherry to be his girlfriend and she said yes. Horahh! lol ok then--on we go!
Chapter 4
A Day at the Pier
"John--John! Wake up!"
John opened his eyes at the sound of Bobby's voice. He was shaking him out of the bed. "What? For the love of God, what?"
"Did you forget? Today we're all going to the Pier and meeting Sherry there for a double-thing."
"What! What time is it? Oh, God--I gotta get dressed-- Where the hell are my pants!"
Bobby laughed as John fumbled for his clothes and such, hurrying to slick back his hair and spray on some Axe. Grabbing his SHARK(for all the people who reviewed and corrected me) lighter and heading down the stairs in a stampede of his own to join several other students with Logan and Storm. Rogue was already waiting for them.
"Where have you been?" she asked in her natural Southern drawl. "I can't wait forever."
Bobby laughed and apologized. "Hadta wake up Pyro here."
She shook her head. "Okay, okay... But I can't recognize this girl till you show her to me!" she whispered. "I can't wait to meet her."
"Yea..." Surprisingly, John wasn't as excited as one would assume. Sure, he wanted to see Sherry, but what Cuervo had said to him the other night had jogged his nerves. What if she found out that he was a mutant? Oh, God--when was he going to tell her about it? She was his girlfriend now, and he had to be honest with her. Would she understand? Would she be afraid? Would she even look at him again? Or maybe he could just keep it from her...? Would that work? Shit! he thought. This fucking sucks... Now what?
"Okay! Everybody listen up please, feel free to wander around, but don't leave the pier or boardwalk at any time. We'll all meet back here at the base of the ferris wheel at 7pm." Storm announced. "Gene, Logan and myself will not tolerate any unacceptable behavior, so please control yourselves. All right, have fun everyone!"
Students scattered and ran off through the various places of the boardwalk, cheering and laughing and such. John, Bobby and Rogue walked off westward down the boardwalk.
"So where are we meeting Sherry?" Bobby asked.
John shrugged. "She said to meet her in front of the Style of Egypt Dance Studio. I guess she's finishing up her dance classes--I think it's like ballet or something. Oh, wait, here it is!"
They came to a small studio with a big red sign. They looked into the window pane to see Sherry at the head of the class; she was teaching a belly-dancing class, coin belt and all. Pyro smiled when he saw her and waved. She glanced up and waved at the three and motioned for them all to come in.
"All right class, that was a great session. Class dismissed!" Everyone applauded and began to clear out their things. Sherry came over to them, her long chestnut hair tied back into a low ponytail, her straight bangs falling just below her brows. She's so pretty... "Hey, John! How are you?" She came and kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks for meeting me here."
"U-Uh..."
"Aww, I think he's actually blushin'!" said Rogue, laughing.
"Shutup." The girls both laughed. "Uh, Sherry, these are Bobby and Rogue, my friends from school."
"Oh, hi!" She shook both their hands. "Cool gloves, where'd ya get them?" she asked.
"Oh...around, y'know..." Rogue said, a little shyly.
She nodded. "Right, cool..." Sherry turned to John. "Well, I gotta change out of my dance clothes. Will you wait a second out here? I'll just be right back."
She walked off into a back room. Rogue, Bobby and Pyro all sat on the floor next to the big mirrors to wait for Sherry. "Well, she seems pretty nice."
John nodded and leaned his head against the mirror. "Yea, she's pretty sweet, huh?"
"Dude," Bobby said with a scoff, "you toally scored--oof!" He was cut off by Rogue elbowing him in the side.
"Okay, I'm ready." Sherry came out of the back room wearing a flowy long white skirt and pretty pink camisole. She hung a long-strapped leather bag over her right shoulder and smiled. "Alright, let's go!" she said. "Aunt Bennu, I'm going now!"
"Ok, Shaharezhad!" called a very ethnic sounding voice from the back. "Wait a second!" An older woman came out, about 40 or so, dark and short. "You come here and give this food to your Uncle Osahar okay? Okay bybye! Nice to meet you all, bybye!" She was gone as soon as she came.
Sherry laughed. "Funny thing is that my Uncle and cousins that 'need the food' run a shiskebob stand." Everyone giggled. "It's not too far down the pier. Let's all go there for lunch, okay?"
"Sounds good to me," said Rogue, encircling her arm around Sherry's. "So, you have to tell me absolutely everything about yourself." Bobby and John tagged behind the girls as they talked.
"So, we doin okay so far?" asked Bobby, half-way down the pier as the girls chatted idly.
"Yea, so far..." John seemed a little tense, but he still enjoyed the company. For a little bit, he felt like a normal teenager, down at the pier with his friends and his girlfriend. He sighed. I can't believe I actually have a girlfriend now... When will I tell her about the whole mutant thing? Or will I...?
"John, come up here, I want you to meet my family!" called Sherry as the approached the Shishkebob stand.
"Huh? Oh, sure!" He jogged up to her side. His nose was soon filled with delicious smells of spiced meats and vegetables; smoke rose from the little stand as three identical boys--about 24 each--were walking about behind the counter, one serving a few customers, the other two cooking and talking in Egyptian.
Sherry called out in Egyptian. They greeted her with kisses and smiles. She then broke off into English. "Set, Sethos, Shabaka, this is my new boyfriend, John Allerdyce."
"Hallo!" They all called, then going back to their work.
"Shahareshad!" came another voice of a very tall Egyptian man, his head wrapped in a turbin. "How beautiful you look today," he said as he came out with a short, plump woman who looked to be his wife. "Does she not look beautiful today, Sharifa?"
"Oh, yes, like a young flower!" Aunt Sharifa beamed.
"Thanks, Uncle Osahar. Bennu wanted to you have this food."
"Oh, the wonderful food. You know, your Aunt Bennu is only the second best cook in the family. Your mother is the first, as I'm sure you know! Speaking of which," he said, looking off to the other three. "I see you have a boy-friend in the house now?" 'Boyfriend' was said in a heavy Egyptian accent.
Sherry laughed. "Not in the house, but yes, Uncle. This is John Allerdyce--"
"But he is so thin!" cried Aunt Sharifa. "Come come, I give you good shishkebob for free--all of you, come!"
The four were dragged over to the stand in a hurricane of wonderful smells and colors of the spices and veggies. Everything looked so delicious, and smelled so good. Each recieved a piece of pita bread and two full shishkebobs inside them. The meat was so tender, the vegetables crisp and spicy.
"Oh, be careful, John, that sauce on the side is hot!"
"It's okay, I like spicy food." He dipped a bit of the shishkebob into the red sauce on the side. As soon as he tasted it, smoke filled his mouth and nose--his eyes watered and turned red-- Oh, god! "ACHOO!" A burst of red flames came from John's mouth. Bobby quickly covered it and laughed it off, to make it seem like not such a big deal.
"A fire-breather!" cried Set--or perhaps it was Shabaka?--pointing. "Shaharezhad, he performs too?"
Performs? thought John. Oh, thank God!
She laughed. "Uh... I guess so..."
"Speaking of which," said Uncle Osahar, "John Allerdyce, did you know that Shaharezhad is a fine belly dancer? Oh, yes, she's a fine performer in our pyrotechnics group! It is called Usi-chen. We will perform tomorrow; you tell friends, yes?"
They all laughed. "Yes, we'll tell their friends tomorrow, Uncle."
Once the shishkebobs were finished, they walked around the pier for the remainder of the day. When the sun set, all four of them bought tickets to the ferris wheel and rode it to the top, where fireworks greeted them at precisely 6:24 pm. John slipped his arm around Sherry's shoulder when they stopped at the top. She smiled and looked to him.
"I guess this means that we're official now?" she asked, leaning her head on his shoulder.
He smirked. "Yea... I guess so."
The fireworks lit up the ocean in a million colors. Light dance all across the sky and across Shaharezhad's freckled cheeks. John looked at her and smiled at her eyes.
"Well?" she asked. "Aren't you gonna kiss me?"
HAHAHAHAHA! I'll leave it to your imagination! Woot! lol XD! Oh, dang I'm evil... Okay, well,I'm sorry it took so long, but I'm glad that I finally have it down! LUVYA! MWAH! R&R PLZ! I'll try to have Chapter 5 soon--no, I mean it this time!