A/N: Finally! After nearly a month of the world conspiring against this story, I'm back!!! I won't go into the details of how I worked my problems out because chances are you don't care. However, I do want to say thank you to Lyranfan and Collabo who both volunteered to help me get everything online sooner. In the end things worked out so that I had to figure it out myself but I appreciate your kindness anyway. So, now we can finally get on with the fic! I suppose this chapter really isn't the best one to follow up a month long absence with, but it's the next chapter regardless. I hope you all enjoy it!

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The kids returned to school on Monday of the next week. Logan and Ororo were both back. The police tape was gone. Things almost felt like normal again. Almost.

Things would have been more normal if it had been a normal school day. But it wasn't. Today was a special day at BHS. On this day there was a memorial ceremony held in the memory of Duncan Matthews. If the Professor had known this was happening, he would have waited one more day before he sent the kids back to school. But fate didn't work out that way.

The whole day seemed to be a buildup to the afternoon memorial. The first sign the X-Men noticed that things were different when they arrived at school was that a lot of kids were wearing black, many more than normal. From there, things just compounded to make their first day back a miserable one.

When Jean got to her first period class, her friends all sat around her to comfort her. Unfortunately, none of them really knew what they were talking about.

"Look Jean, I'm really sorry about Duncan," said Taryn. "We were all friends with him, but we know this is a lot harder on you."

"I still can't believe this is happening," said another girl named Rachel. "I hope that Summers kid rots in jail for this!"

Jean looked up in surprise at the vicious comment. "We don't know for sure that Scott did it."

"Oh c'mon, Jean! The whole world knows it was him!" said Taryn.

Jean was shocked to hear people talk about Scott like so. He had never been incredibly popular, but he was pretty well liked. It just seemed wrong to hear people who had always treated Scott well saying he should rot in jail.

"Look, I know Scott better than most people and I'm not convinced it was him."

"Oh yeah, you live with him, don't you!" said Rachel. "I forgot about that. Wow, I guess that kinda puts a whole new perspective on this."

The three girls sat in silence for a moment, Rachel and Taryn shocked at Jean's compassion for Scott, and Jean shocked at Rachel and Taryn's speed to blame him.

"Jean, you have to admit that he looks pretty guilty," said Taryn, one hand reaching out to Jean's shoulder.

Jean shook her head as she turned back to look at the chalkboard in the front of the room. "Yeah, I know," she whispered back.

Kitty and Rogue had both been pestered with questions throughout their first classes. But they had the same second period class and both were relieved to be able to find comfort in each other's presence. When they arrived in class though, they immediately had to start fielding questions from the students who hadn't seen any of the other of the Institute's students yet that morning.

"Did Scott really do it?"

"Did he really have a bomb strapped to his chest?"

"How much blood was there?"

"Did he do it alone or did someone help him?"

"How many times did Scott shoot him?"

"I heard he killed three cops too!"

"Is it true he got shot in the stomach by the cops when they arrested him?"

Finally, Rogue had had it! She had suffered through these questions throughout first period and was not about to listen to it over and over again for the rest of the day. She dropped her books on the floor and cried out at the top of her lungs. "Would all of you jus' shut up an' leave us alone!"

The room was instantly quiet, including the teacher. Rogue glanced around and controlled herself.

"We don't know anything, so don' ask."

Rogue and Kitty then quickly made their way through the crowd of silent students and sat down at their desks. They had hoped they could just come to school and no one would bother them. Clearly they had hoped wrong.

At lunch, Kitty and Kurt found each other and made their way to their normal table, which had thankfully not been stolen by another group of kids during their week-long absence. They sat down and began nibbling on their meals. Neither was really that hungry.

Kurt's day had been every bit as annoying as Kitty, Rogue, and Jean's. The whole morning had been nothing but stupid questions, infuriating accusations of Scott, and misguided attempts at comfort. To be honest, Kurt wasn't sure he could handle it much longer. There had been many times that he had considered ducking into the bathroom and porting away.

Kurt and Kitty shared their meal quietly. They hadn't been sitting at the table for very long before Evan came to join them. Like the other X-Men, his day was going horribly and he was looking forward to having lunch with people who weren't going to ask if it was true that Scott had sliced Duncan's body in half with a samurai sword.

Unfortunately, he and Kurt still weren't getting along well. They were still friends, but they had both said some pretty hurtful things that neither was quite able to forget. Despite the months they'd spent as good friends, a definite rift had been forged between the two teenage mutants that seemed to grow every day.

"Well, well. It's the X-geeks finally back at school!" came the voice of Pietro from behind them as Evan sat down.

Kurt, Kitty, and Evan all sighed as they turned around and faced the approaching Brotherhood.

"Yeah, we didn't think you guys would ever be back!" said Toad.

"Shut up, Pietro," said Evan angrily. "I'm not in the mood!"

"Yeah, like, leave us alone, guys!" said Kitty quickly while returning to her lunch.

"C'mon Kitty," said Lance. "We're not gonna give you a hard time about it. That Matthews guy was always giving us trouble. Frankly, I'm glad he's gone! Summers did us all a favor if ya ask me!"

Kurt jumped out of his chair and turned around to face Lance. He was so fast that only Pietro's eyes were able to follow his movements. The others didn't know what was happening until Kurt was face to face with Lance, his hands gripping the boy's shirt.

"He didn't do it," said Kurt, nearly under his breath. His nostrils flared a little as his gaze seemed to bore straight through Lance's skull.

Lance brushed Kurt's hands away and took a quick step back from the intimidating figure. "Whoa, calm down man. I didn't know it was a sore spot for ya."

Kurt huffed. "Vhat else vould it be?! He's our friend and he's innocent. So you guys need to back off now!"

The Brotherhood members all shared a quick glance at each other, then turned around and walked away without another word. Kurt sat back down and returned to his meal as if nothing had happened. Kitty and Evan stared at him for a moment, but decided not to mess with him for the time being. They'd let him calm down before trying to talk to him again.

Soon lunch was over and Kurt and Evan walked to their chemistry class, together but not enjoying each other's company. Mr. Gompers was clearly ready to leave teaching behind him. His lessons had always been boring, but it was obvious that he didn't even care about it anymore. His apathy carried over to the students and Kurt and Evan soon found themselves half-asleep. Evan began wondering why all this had happened. Kurt was still trying to calm down from the incident with the Brotherhood.

At 2:15 that afternoon, the whole school assembled in the gym for the Memorial. Two wreaths of flowers were set up at half court with a picture of Duncan smiling in his letter jacket with a football tucked under his arm between the arrangements. The X-Men all found each other before the assembly began and decided to sit together. Everyone in school had seemed to feel bad for them all day and had tried to comfort them whether they needed it or not, but now as people found themselves looking at the picture of Duncan, the X-Men were beginning to feel out of place. They kept catching glances that suggested they were somehow to blame for this! They had practically been forced into the top corner of the bleachers for fear of the harsh looks from the other students.

Once everyone was there, Ms. Darkholme walked to mid-court and began speaking into the microphone.

"Hello everyone. Thank you for coming. As you all know, Bayville High School lost one of its best students exactly one week ago. Duncan Matthews was a bright star among his peers. He was a beloved friend to many of us and a great student. His athleticism made him one of the best quarterbacks in Bayville history and his scholastic achievement continued the excellent standards he set for himself on the field."

A few chuckles could be heard from smirking students around the gym at that comment. Everyone felt awful about Duncan's death, but it was no secret that he was far from being a good student. Ms. Darkholme ignored the stifled laughs and went on.

"Duncan's achievements brought glory to him and his school. Sadly, his life ended far too early at the hands of a cold-blooded killer."

The X-Men all gasped. Everyone in the room quickly turned their heads up to glare at them. Kurt was fuming. He kept control of his temper though and Ms. Darkholme soon continued on with her speech."

"But out of this tragedy, a new day will rise for the school that Duncan loved. In honor of his memory, the football field will now officially be known as Matthews Stadium. His spirit will forever hover around the place that he loved to be more than any other place on Earth. We will never forget the memory of Duncan Matthews."

The audience clapped at the name change. It was a fitting memorial to Duncan. After all, his football skills had been his best attribute by far.

"Now," said Ms. Darkholme when the applause had died down, "I'd like to introduce Coach Coleman who wants to say a few words."

The football coach made his way to the center of the court and began giving another speech. He talked about what a great person Duncan had been and all the potential that he had. Finally, he had an announcement to make as well. Duncan's football number would be retired so that no Bayville player would ever wear the number 8 again. This, of course, drew applause from the crowd as well.

Next up on the agenda were a few of Duncan's friends and teammates who all said pretty much the same thing. He was a great guy who didn't deserve to die so young. Maybe the rest of the students could learn from his example. A few girls stood up to speak but were overcome by tears so only their sobs were heard. It was the typical speeches that everyone had expected to hear.

Finally, at 3:00, school was released and everyone went home. The X-Men were the first ones out the door. It had been a long day and they were just ready to get home where no one would give them any trouble about Duncan or Scott.