"Lance, like, relax!" Kitty sat in the desk next to Lance.
Lance got his pencils out, "that's simple for someone who never got anything lower than a B in her life to say. If I don't ace this test, or at least pass, I'll get kicked out of Chemistry." He lowered his voice, "then, I'll never get to be with you. You know this is the only class I have with you. I don't want to be stuck in stupid kid classes with your other X-New-Mutants, Kitty."
Kitty had full confidence in Lance, "Just calm down, Lance. I promise you you'd do well in this test. If you ace it, I'll treat you to Lunch, Ok?"
Lance rubbed his neck, "Ok. Kitty, I…I wanna' apologize for what happened last night. I didn't mean it, and I know I was wrong. Believe me, I just didn't know what I was thinking then-."
"No harm done, Lance. I know you didn't mean it and I trust you too. I know you won't want to take advantage of me. The most, I'll just phase through you."
"I don't want it to happen again-."
"I promise it won't, Lance."
The dreaded Mrs.B walked in with a stack of papers in her arm, "Class, get back to your seats." She dumped the papers on her desk and pushed her glasses up. "Don't you just love today, class? It's a day which I'll finally have somebody to get out of Chemistry, and I'll have one less headache as well. Now, let's get this teat over-with, so I'll mark it immediately and get overcome with somebody's amazing brilliance." Obviously, she was making things tough for Lance.
"I can't fail. I'll show that sucking Mrs.B what I made of and I'm not going to disappoint Kitty by getting kicked out of this class." Lance whispered under his breath.
The paper landed in front of him. Lance scanned the paper with his eyes. He couldn't believe it. It was everything Kitty had taught him. It was almost…simple.
"Begin, class. And Mr.Alvers, don't bother with that. If you want to leave now, I give you the permission to."
"No need, Mrs.B." Lance replied, picking up his pencil. I'll definitely show her big time.
Lance scribbled through the paper. It was all so easy. All the things he had already memorize was in it. This was totally chicken feet.
I think I'll like Chem after all.
Lance finished it faster than the other students. He studied their expressions carefully. Most of them had yet to finish at all. Some sweated, some looked awfully desperate.
Lance glanced at Kitty. She too had finish.
Kitty gave Lance a thumbs up. Lance smiled and nodded. It was way to easy. He never imagined that Chemistry could be so fun.
Lance grabbed his paper and bag and walked up to the front. Dropping the paper on Mrs.B's desk, he made his way out, with Kitty behind him.
"Mr.Alvers. Have you gave up on that test?"
No reply. Lance had vanished down the hallway already, looking pretty smug.
Mrs.B flipped through Lance's paper and her eyes grew wide.
Impossible.
"So, how was it? If I'm not wrong, I remembered someone aced it already. He actually finished it before half the class." Kitty looked up at Lance.
"Hey, no big deal. I never thought Chem teats could be that easy."
"So, you know you'll ace it, huh?"
Lance shrugged, "I hope so. It was simple though."
"You've said that one before. I have full confidence in you already. You will ace it."
"How'd you know?"
"Because I do. When we get to Chemistry tomorrow, you'll see. I'm already preparing for Lunch. Don't let me down."
"But, Kitty, what if I-."
"Oh, look! There's Jean. She promised to lend me her "Best Country Hits 2005" CD. I better not keep her waiting, cos' she hates it just as much as I hate Logan sessions. Ok, catch you later, Lance." Kitty dashed off towards Jean's direction.
"Sorry, Jean. Was talking to Lance." Kitty said.
"No problem, Kitty. Here's the CD, and take all the time you want with it." Jean had her eyes on Lance, who was walking away.
"Thanks, Jean."
"You know, you shouldn't be hanging out with lance. You do know Lance is the leader of the Brotherhood, now that Mystique is still missing, don't you?"
"Jean, I don't care. I like Lance. You ought to know that too." Kitty said, turning her back at Jean.
Jean sighed, "But it should be somebody else, Kitty. Why can't it be someone else?"
"I like him, Jean. Just like you like Scott. At least I know he likes me too. Not like you, seeing your best friend's about to score him away and you still stand there and do nothin'."
Jean was almost shocked. But it was true. Taryn was always hanging out with Scott. She was a bigger loser than Kitty. She was so lousy.
Kitty looked at Jean. "Jean, I didn't mean what I said. Of course, I didn't know what I was thinking. I was just careless with words and-."
Jean faked a smile at Kitty, "Kitty, I know you didn't mean what you were saying. You were just angry because I said about you and Lance first, right?"
Kitty nodded, "yeah, kind of. Anyway, about you and Scott, we all know you're at Scott's top list. He'd like you more than Taryn or anybody else. Really."
"Reading people's fortune now?" Jean said.
"Saw that on the "Seventeen" magazine yesterday. Said something about…um…when one is depressed, you'd most likely have more luck than anyone else. I know it's too dumb to believe, but in your case, you have to."
"Thanks, I think." Jean smiled.
Kitty hugged her books to her chest, "Oh, got Astrophysics class next. Can't be late. Bye!"
"Yeah, bye." Jean walked off. It was so depressing. No matter how could she is at soccer, basketball or her grades and appearance, she can't make Scott like her. But is it true, what Kitty said? He's like you more than Taryn or anybody else. Really. It sounded daft to her.
"Jean! Jean! I've got two tickets to the movie "Aeon Flux"! Wanna' watch with me?"
"Duncan!" Jean slapped her head, "pick anyone else but me. I'm, so, not free tonight. So get going!" Jean marched off.
"Woah!" Scott said from behind, "shot down, huh?"
"Watch your mouth, Summers. If you'll like to live longer."
Scott turned to look at Jean walk away. If only Jean would like him, he'd do anything.
Esther spotted Ray, Amara, Jubilee and Bobby all in one table during Lunch. She wanted to find out…to find out if they really were as scary and as dangerous as Magneto had said. They all were smiling, chatting and having fun. They all didn't look dangerousto her. They looked fun, compared to all the delinquents in the Acolytes.
"Hey, Ray! She looking at ya'…"Jubilee pointed to Esther behind Ray.
Ray turned to look behind him. Esther. She immediately realized they had spotted her and started to turn tail.
"Hey, Esther! Wait up!" Ray yelled across the Cafeteria. He got up from his seat and dashed towards her.
"Who's Esther?" Amara wanted to know. "He looks like he got the hots for her."
"He does. She's the girl in Magneto's team. We were s'pose to recruit her but Magneto got to her first."
"The one from Alabama?" Jubilee sipped her soda.
"Yeah. Now he's head over heels in love with her." Bobby chuckled.
"How did you know?" Jubilee said.
"Hey, I'm the information carrier. Don't doubt me."
Jubilee frowned, "This stupid soda's not even cold enough."
"Here, I'll help you." Bobby froze the soda's insides.
"Bobby, no powers outside of school!" Amara whispered harshly.
"Who cares anyway? No one knows."
Ray caught up with Esther, "Hey! You don't have to walk so fast."
"I…we aren't suppose to talk, Ray. You are in the X-men. I'm in Acolytes and that's a fact."
"We can't even be friends? After all, look at Lance and kitty. They love each other but they're in opposing teams."
"I'm not sure…" Esther did want to know him.
Ray said, "C'mon, let's find a place to sit down."
"I don't think we should, though." Esther said. "But here's my number." She spotted Ray's phone sticking out of his pocket. Grabbing it, she typed her number in.
"Here. Call me tonight at 8pm."
Then, she turned tail and walked off.
"Should I call her?" Ray asked, throwing the phone in the air and then caught it again. "Should I?"
"I say you should. After all, you like her, don't cha?" Bobby nudged him.
Ray looked boringly at Bobby, "Bobby, shut that gap before I fry you, Ok?"
Wolfsbane shrugged, "I've heard about her. She seems nice. Why would she do something that stupid and join Magneto's stupid crew?" Being 14 plus, she was really smart.
"Who knows? Don't look at me, guys." Evan said. They were all gathered in the snack room. "Tell me about it." Kurt said, grabbing a bottle of water out of the fridge.
"You don't have to listen to all of their mess. Just…do what you want, Ray." Rahne said.
"Don't say we didn't warn you. She is after all, part of Magneto's gang." Jubes said.
"I'm…I'm calling." Ray said. He marched out of the room. He had his doubts but he is going to call.
He shifted his foot as he waited for her to pick up the phone. C'mon, pick it up!
The familiar Kelly Clarkson "Because of You" Ring tone rang like crazy on her phone. 8 O'clock. It must be him. It must be.
"Hi!" Esther said.
"Oh, uh, hi too."
"You don't sound so thrilled, Ray."
"No! It's just my friends. Their Ego's are really big. "They said…-."
"They asked you not to call me right? They knew that you were going to, isn't it?"
How did she even know? Is she telepathic or what?
"How did you guess?" Ray asked.
"I just knew. Just because I'm from Magneto's crew means…-."
"Hey, it makes no difference to me. You are still a mutant, just like me."
"Are you sure you don't mind? After all, I'm not even sure why I'm here at all. It's all so weird. Magneto makes me train and train and all those maniacs, they aren't even my friends. I thought coming to Bayville would change my life, but it didn't. It's still the same. Magneto promised me answers, but he only taught me to hate you, treat the X-men as my enemies and he wanted me to destroy you." Esther sighed.
"But…but you didn't. Or else, you won't be here talking to me."
"Why should I hate you? You guys treated me so well. Like, you, Kitty…you guys made me feel better here. You were my real friends here, not…not the Acolytes. Their just a bunch of no-brainers."
Ray said, "Maybe, tomorrow, you'll like to Lunch along with me?"
"You don't think it's too…"
"Nah. I'm ok about it."
Esther smiled, "Great. I'll meet you at your locker."
"Fine…"
Esther was just about to tell him he had been so sweet about it, until Sabretooth shouted, "Hey, you! Training time!"
Esther sighed, "Gotta' sign off now. I…I have to go train." With all those nut cases.
"Ok. I'll look forward to tomorrow then."
"Yeah, me too." Click.
Esther asked herself: What am I doing here anyway?
Chemistry classroom. Oh my god. Lance asked himself, "Should he go in?"
Kitty laughed, "Lance, c'mon. Let's go in."
"What if I fail?"
"It isn't the end of your life, Lance." Kitty pulled him towards his seat.
"I'm still not sure. I'm…uh…"
"The great Avalanche isn't going weak, is he?"
"I'm still the tough me, kitty!"
"Oh, great. Cos' here comes Mrs.B with all of our results too."
Lance gulped. This woman was scary. She worked so quickly. How did she mark all of them in half a day and still get sleep?
"I must say this test was harder than the one before. I'm surprised that a quarter of you people can fail. It's too disgraceful, I tell you. What happened? Some of you can even give me the wrong formula for sugar!" Mrs.B shook her head.
"Well. I must also say Ms Kitty Pryde has managed to keep her place as being the best of this class. Ms Amanda Sefton has also made me proud by coming in 2nd, just one mark lesser than Ms.Pryde. It has been a joy teaching them. Alright, I won't keep any of you waiting anymore…Katherine Pryde!"
Kitty got her paper back with a huge smile. "Alright! I got A+ and Mrs.B told me to keep up the good work."
"See? I knew you'd ace it as usual."
"Lance, have more confidence."
Everybody seemed to have got his or her paper back already. What about his? There were angry, disappointed and very happy faces if you looked around carefully.
Lance was the last of them all. As Mrs.B called his name, he almost shivered for the first time in his life. This was SO it…
Alvers again…He's gonna fail again…
No doubt he'll finally get kicked out of Chem…
For sure…
Harsh whispers reached Lance's ear and Mrs.B looked at him with wary eyes. "Mr.Alvers. I remember the first day you stepped into my class. You were the worst of the lot, you failed and you never paid much attention, even though I placed you to sit with Ms.Pryde, our class best of all. You always disrupted classes, and you were the last to hand up anything. But now, I take all those words back…"
Lance was puzzled. What did she even mean by that? His paper was thrown in front of him. What? Impossible! He got an…
"A, Mr.Alvers. I looked at you most of the time that day. You never cheated and I also believed my eyes. Either age must be catching up on me, or you must have worked a miracle. I say it was the miracle. See, Alvers? If you worked hard, you'll pass well with no problem. Keep that up and you'll be working your way up and you'll soon find yourself not getting kicked out of my class."
Lance could hardly believe his ears and his eyes. Was it true? The students looked at each other with shocked looks. Lance Alvers. An A? No way!
"Work hard, Mr.Alvers, and do me proud too. Now, get back to your seat or else you will be kicked out alright."
"Uh…sure…right away." Lance moved back to his seat. He did it! He really did it!
"See, Lance? I knew it! You'll do it, with determination. Even Mrs.B praised you in front of everyone. And besides, you were a fast learner. Guess Lunch is, like, on me."
Lance stashed the precious paper in his bag, "you're on!" smiles.
"Hi! Is Lunch room always so packed?" Esther said.
"You'll not wanna know, Esther." Ray said. They both picked a table and even started chatting.
"You also have sessions too?" Esther asked.
"Sure! With either Logan, Storm, Beast or the Professor Xavier. They're all Ok, except for Logan. He's a little more strict than the other trainers but he is ok, I s'pose."
"Sounds good, especially that part where you said you guys once threw a party and Logan almost sliced you people into a million slices with his claws." She giggled.
"Don't any of the Acolytes have any sense of humor?" Ray asked, biting into his burger.
"No. I…never got to do such cool things, like you X-men did."
"Then, why don't you join us? We'll have you fit in with all of us. You'll like it here, trust me."
"I can?"
"Sure, the professor can ask Magneto to let you join us. At least you don't have to suffer three sessions of training each day." Ray said.
"Magneto and Professor Xavier aren't the best of friends, I heard from Gambit."
"Yeah…well, we can always ask, can't we?"
"I'm still not so sure, Ray. You told me so much and all but I still want to make sure myself that the X-men is where I want to go."
"I'll bring you there myself, Esther. This afternoon…"
"And this is my room." Ray pushed open the door. It's not the biggest and we all have to share bathrooms and stuff."
"I think it's so cozy and a lot brighter than Magneto has to offer. I'd rather have this room." Esther looked at the sticky board at Ray's desk. Pictures and some school notes were pasted there. "Hey, are all these your friends?" Esther pointed to a photo.
"Yeah. We were at the California Red Woods then."
"Who's this blue guy?" Esther wanted to know.
"He's Beast, the trainer I've told you about. He's a cool guy."
"Do all trainers look like him?"
"Cos' not but there is another blue furred guy you might want to know."
"Who's that?"
Ray pointed at Kurt in a picture, "See? He's Kurt, better known as Nightcrawler. He's a teleporter and he's a great guy too. He's funny and you'll like him a lot.
"Teleportation? That's cool, cept for his prehensile tail part."
"Yeah, and when he ports in front of you suddenly, it can get a little too annoying. I once fired him out of the window and the professor had to get it fixed. Man, Logan scolded us so hard then, we almost died on the spot!"
Esther laughed, "You are so funny. I almost feel like I'm part of you guys already."
"You should be part of us."
"Oh, I have to go back now. Magneto has a time limit to when I return you know."
"I'll tell the professor later on. You go on."
"Thanks…" Ray watched Esther fly out of the institute. He had to find out how to get her out of the Acolytes. Someone like her shouldn't be in Magneto's team…
"Was lunch good enough?" Kitty asked.
Lance offered to walk Kitty back to the institute cos' Pietro stole his keys as to use his Jeep. He must be chasing pretty girls again.
"Yup, it was great. Though Salad isn't my idea."
"Oh…"
"But it's still good. I liked their sauce. Too bad you're a vegetarian kitty."
"I didn't choose that one, Lance."
"Still, I'm so glad I aced this fing test."
"Lance, not such words please."
"Used to em, Kitty. We say these all day at the Brotherhood Boarding House."
"You still shouldn't, Lance. But you were right, I'm glad you aced this test. It was a mark in your life."
"I guess so."
"Lance, can I give you part two for acing?"
"And what's that?"
He felt Kitty press her lips on his own.
"You deserved it, Lance. And I have to tell you, you were great."
"I am?"
"Yeah, you are."
And I love you.