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Chapter Seven –Her 'alone time' with Logan hadn't been what she had dreamt. Every day, he would teach her something new – something she didn't want to learn. She had hoped that he would at least start to catch the hint and see her the way she saw him, but, nope.
He would meet her at the door as soon as she got home from school, as if to make sure she didn't have time to call a friend or watch television or do anything fun in the slightest bit. Then, Logan would tell her what she needed to do, whether it be washing dishes, cleaning the jet, or mopping the floor – pretty much anything that had come up that was in need of cleaning. Next, she would ask him to demonstrate, seeing as she had never done any of this stuff before. After he did so, he left… and that was it.
It was a huge disappointment, and every day she told herself to tell him how she felt, but every day she couldn't bring herself to do it. She had never felt this nervous – especially about a guy. Was it her fear of rejection? After all, she had experienced rejection frequently now that she had moved to Bayville.
Whatever it was, it made it hard for Brianna to do what she wanted to do most, and that was get her hands on him.
It was her third day of 'probation,' as he had called it, and no sparks had flown.
Brianna was thinking of the advice Kitty had given her – yes, she had sunk low enough to ask for help with this – as she watched him clean a window. He was giving her step-by-step instructions on completely this simple task.
"Just… go for it," Kitty had told her one afternoon, over lunch. "I mean, don't even, like, give yourself time to think about it, because if you do, you'll totally psyche yourself out. Who, like, cares what they're gonna say? Either they like you or not, and if not, what's, like, the worst they can do? It's not like Logan's immature or anything."
"Thanks," Brianna had said, looking away. She tended to do that, whenever she had to say 'thank you,' because she didn't feel comfortable seeing the other person's reaction that what was in her opinion, 'her corniness.' "I know you aren't into the whole me and Logan thing, but I really… appreciate your help and stuff." Brianna couldn't bring herself to finish her sentence with anything other than 'and stuff,' because she felt that would be going into extreme corny mode.
Yeah, right, Brianna told herself. What Kitty had said didn't help her at all. The only thing it did was make her feel stupid for not being able to 'just… go for it.' And to think – Brianna actually thanked her for that crap advice!
Logan was starting to leave the kitchen, biting into an apple he grabbed from the fridge.
That was it – it was the perfect time to take the plunge – they had just shared some friendly conversation, well, as friendly as conversation got with that beast of a guy, and Danger Room sessions had been cancelled for that day, so Logan had nothing better to do, right?
"Oh, Logan," Brianna said, stepping towards him. She had been trembling in doubt of herself, but she had managed to steady herself long enough to delicately run her fingers up and down his arm, looking down at her hands as she did so. Wow… this was actually happening.
Or was it?
It had taken a while for all of it to sink in, but when it did, Logan pushed her hand away. He was bewildered – he knew the Professor had warned him about her feelings, and how strong they were, but Logan had never expected all of this. He wasn't sure whether to respond to it in his usual gruff manner, or take the wise, old teacher approach – that is what he was expected to be to her, right? A teacher – certainly not a boyfriend or anything of the sort.
"Listen, kid." He tried acting soft, but it wasn't really working for him. He was quite the animalistic person by nature, and now he was supposed to be this soft-spoken little wimp? "I'm sure you're very mature – Hell, you were probably reading Cosmo by the age of five, but this just isn't right."
"But—" Brianna piped, lifting her hand to his arm again, only to be smacked away another time.
This girl was really pushing it, making the next words come out in a voice even harsher than usual, "That stuff just isn't going to fly, all right? I'm not under the age of eighteen, which means you won't be getting with me anytime soon."
By then, he had been spitting his words out from behind clenched teeth, which made it all even more upsetting to the high school sophomore. What had made him so angry? Sure, a lot of people wouldn't consider what she was doing right, but it was nothing to get completely furious over. Maybe those were just his ways…
He then walked off after a brief stare-down, leaving the room empty with the exception of her, the Windex that waited for her, and those filthy, filthy windows.
"What a failure," Brianna breathed. Her voice was something pitiable – so pitiable that her ears stung when she heard herself. Well, at least she wasn't crying. She wouldn't let herself cry, because that was too large of a blow to her pride.
Why would she cry, in the first place? Logan wasn't special… She surely didn't love him; she just had a thing for him. Some stupid little thing… she'd had them before. Even if he had liked her back – they wouldn't go anywhere. She wasn't looking to go anywhere. She was young, and all she needed was fun.
When she finished rubbing down all the windows, Brianna headed straight for her room. That was the only place to go, seeing as the recreation room was banned to anyone that was grounded, and that's where the rest of the teenagers were right then.
On the bright side, this was a golden opportunity to blast some music, since there was no one occupying the rooms around her. There for, no one could complain.
Brianna had been playing "Lovefool" by The Cardigans – a song her mother had always enjoyed, and although it didn't really express her feelings at that moment, she sang as if it did, with passion. It had calmed her down a bit, but not enough for what was coming next.
There was a soft knocking on her door, which had been impossible for her to hear with her music turned up so loud. Brianna hadn't realized that there was someone just outside the door until the knocking got louder and louder with impatience.
"I'm coming!" she shouted, muting the radio.
There stood Jamie. He was dressed up in a firmly pressed suit and he had a bouquet of brightly colored tulips in his hand. Jamie also wore a self-conscious smile.
To most, this would be something that would cheer you up, but with the timing and all, it only made her angrier.
Here this little boy stood – he'd probably heard all about Logan! Logan had blabbed to the entire Mansion! How perfect! And now this preteen of a thing thought he actually had a shot? She wouldn't be surprised if he was just like, 'Hey, Logan didn't want her – I bet no one wants her! That must mean I can have her!'
"You… little… creep!" Then, Brianna slammed the door on him, before he even had the chance to give her the flowers.
Sure enough, he had been brought to tears – Bobby told him that Brianna had liked him!
Bobby had been waiting just down the hall, snickering. Jamie had tried running past him, but when he saw the younger boy had been crying, Bobby grabbed onto him, and asked, "Whoa, little man, what happened?"
"I… Well, I-I-I…" Jamie sniffled.
"Man, I told you that you should've chose Jean Grey!"
This didn't help. Jamie got away, and started jogging to his room. His tears floated off of his face as he did so, hitting the walls and floor.
One even touched Nightcrawler's fuzzy cheek. First, he inspected the ceiling to make sure there wasn't a leak or anything. "Hmm…" He shrugged his shoulders and saw a red-faced, sobbing Jamie head into his bedroom.
He thought about going in and talking to him himself, but he wasn't much of a person that was good at cheering people up, especially little kids. Who knew what made twelve-year-olds feel better, anyways?
Kurt knew who he had to get, and it was Jean Grey, so he teleported into the library. That's where he spotted Jean last. She had been making out with Scott – that's where they always went to make out, because it wasn't like anyone was going to walk in on them in there.
Scott coughed at the smoke Kurt had brought into the room, lifting himself up from the couch and combing his unruly hair with his fingers. Jean did the same.
"How many times do I have to tell you, Kurt?" Scott fumed. "Just walk like a normal person!"
"Veah, yeah," Kurt said. Scott's words were coming in one ear and out the other. "Jean, Jamie's crying about somezing – maybe you could talk to him?"
"Oh, uh, maybe you should talk to him, Scott." She looked over to her boyfriend. "He'll probably to someone of his gender. You know how it is."
Scott angrily muttered something under his breath that sounded a lot like, 'It was just getting good.' But, he still got up and headed towards Jamie's room.
He found Jamie sprawled out on his bed. Jamie was lying on his stomach, and heavily breathing into his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle pillow.
"Jamie?" Scott said, lowering onto the foot of the twin-sized bed. "Are you all right?"
As an answer, Jamie turned around so Scott could see his face. It was wet, and all scrunched up when it got when you cried – snot was even coming out of his nose, not a very pretty sight.
Scott got up and searched Jamie's room for a box of tissues. When Scott found one on his desk, he brought the box to Jamie's bed, and handing him one. "So, what happened?"
Jamie let out a deep sigh before saying a bit shakily, "Well, B-Bobby told me that Jean Grey and B-Brianna liked me, s-so he t-told me what I should d-do to win Brianna o-o-over. W-We bought a suit, flowers, and e-even some mint spray. B-But, she didn't like me at all! She shut the d-door right in my face… I d-didn't even g-give her the flowers yet!" He pointed to the carpet, where the bouquet sat, sadly.
He should've known it was Bobby. That kid was always up to something. "You know, she was probably just surprised. Who needs her, anyways? She's not that pretty."
When Jamie didn't look any better, Scott knew what he had to do. There goes the thirty-five bucks he found on the ground just the other day. If he was going to treat one person to ice cream, everyone expected a cone. "How does ice cream sound?"
The next day, Danger Room sessions were back on. The New Mutants had been scheduled after the X-Men, giving Briana the time to finish mowing the lawn and change into her uniform.
It was exactly like the rest of the New Mutants uniforms – black with a yellow belt, yellow gloves, and yellow shoes. There was a black 'X' on either shoulders and on the belt buckle, with red behind it. It was skin-tight, and Briana wasn't fat or anything near it, but it hugged onto all the areas that she was worried about.
When Briana had arrived in the Danger Room, Jamie looked sad to see her, and refused to look in her direction.
Before they got started, Sam had asked, "Did you really do all that stuff to Jamie?"
She blinked, before shoving him away.
"All right," Logan said the doors mechanically opening as her entered the mutant's gym. Cyclops walked next to him. "Today we'll be facin' a laser. It shoots at random places, and your tryin' to get from point A to point B without getting touched. Any questions?"
"Yeah," Brianna hissed, everyone looking at her. No one ever asked questions, because Logan wasn't the patient type. "What am I suppose to do? My power is useless in this case. What am I suppose to do – spook it into shooting elsewhere? Not possible! Great lesson you've planned out. You know, I don't even know why you make me train! I'll never be able to use my power in combat." She then stormed out, leaving everyone else clueless as to what that was all about.
Everyone except for Wolverine, who figured this had to be about the day before. She was probably still angry with him, therefore lashing out at anything he tried to do – like planning a Danger Room session, for example. Stupid kids.
The rest of the mutants lined up at the starting point and Scott counted down, "Three… two… one! Go!"
Soon after he freak out, Professor Charles Xavier joined Brianna in her room.
"Brianna, I hear that you have been underestimating your mutation," he said. "This is funny because I was going to ask you if you would be interested in joining the X-Men, once you've come to control your gift a bit more. I know it isn't great offense, but it will make for extraordinary defense. Although I am not proud of your doing this, but that waiter hasn't been the same since that whole incident. Your illusions are very powerful indeed."
"Hah, you know, Professor, you don't have to do all this just to make me feel better."
"That's not what I'm trying to do," he countered. "I know very well that you are capable of dealing with your own personal issues. My offer still stands."
Once he left, Brianna let herself think about it. Wow, it took the other mutants a while to graduate onto the X-Men, and she had the opportunity only after a month. Well, it kind of made sense – her power was a bit different from the rest, while each of the other New Mutants had a power similar to one of the X-Man's. Sure, it would take a few more lessons and everything, but once that was over… she'd get to go on all those exciting missions Kitty was constantly talking her ear off about.
