Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men: Evolution… like, at all. I don't even own them a little bit, okay?
Chapter Ten –
Scott Summers was outraged to hear what had just passed Brianna's lips, and he wore a face that proved it. They were cruising along in his car, for he was bringing her home from school, since Jean was off somewhere, leaving his passenger's seat open. He was doing her a great favor – giving her a lift – and this was how she repaid him? She repaid him by telling him that she was thinking of joining the Brotherhood?
It was all going fine – Brianna was giving him a report on how her day had been going so far. This report was filled with her encounters with people she had called 'fatties' and 'dirt bags' – and even though the name-calling bugged him, it didn't matter because of one of his favorite R.E.M. songs was playing, and he was happily drumming to the beat on his steering wheel.
Then, she wrecked it all by saying, "I'm really getting tired of this place. They aren't letting me live my life. It's like they're keeping me in one, big cage, and they're not even my parents. You know what, Scott? I should join the Brotherhood. No, really, I should. They do whatever they want, and don't have to worry about some baldie breathing down their necks."
"Wait, you want to become one of them?" Scott questioned, emphasizing 'them' as if they were the scum of the Earth – the gum off the bottom of his shoe. "It's just because of Pietro. It's no secret you guys are having some fling. Well, trust me, he'll be over you in two weeks – tops. And don't you think you deserve the punishment the Professor gave you? You snuck out, when you were already grounded! He was just being reasonable."
Scott was much like a brother to Brianna, but she hated it when he acted like one. He was all protective, but, of course, he was so loyal to Professor Xavier, that he had to be biased. Scott didn't have to talk about Pietro, though – it was really none of his business what went on between the two of them.
She said nothing, but instead shoved a cigarette into her mouth. Ah, sweet cancer on a stick – Pietro was right; it was soothing. It was as if the cloud of smoke that issued from her mouth took all of her worries with it. With a single exhale, she felt better about everything that was going on around her.
"Who gave you that?" Scott asked, and grabbed onto it, then threw it into the wind, flashing her a concerned look.
"It's my life!" Brianna barked. "But if you must know, Pietro gave it to me, and he gave me more, too. He knows how much I need a stress reliever, living with all of you pricks!"
"There's no way I'm letting you join them, now. There's no telling what they'll have you started on next!"
Brianna brutally murdered the conversation by refusing to speak, just looking off into the distance, even when Scott told her that she was just being stupid.
When they got out of the car, Brianna tried to lose him by walking quickly, her flip-flops squeaking against the ground with every step, but he stopped her by placing his arms lightly around her in that caring type of way. "Brianna, I know what you're going through –"
At first, Brianna just gave him a sweet smile, as if she was happy about him helping her through her 'tough times,' but she then took advantage of him being so close by elbowing him, hard. "I can't talk now, Scott. I don't want to keep Logan waiting. He always looks so happy to tell me what to do, you know."
She gave him another one of her fake grins, but then left him to clutch his stomach.
Once she exchanged harsh words with Logan, and he told her to load the dishwasher and then mop the floor, she started her work. She wanted to talk to Pietro, and figured she could sneak a phone call without being caught. No one hung around the kitchen at this hour of the day, anyways; everybody had by then grabbed their snacks and tapped the cupboards dry of any junk food. Brianna was expected to wait, however, for Bobby was using the phone to flirt with his 'honey in Oregon.'
When he did finish his talk, she took the phone from the hook and returned to the kitchen, to continue her duties as slave. She placed a plate into the dishwasher as the phone rang, cradling it between her chin and shoulder. She could multitask, couldn't she? She knew that if Logan saw her with the telephone like this, he would call her a 'slacker' or something like that, but that only made her want to do it more. There was nothing that made her day quite like seeing the great Wolverine frustrated.
"Hello?" boomed Fred. He startled her – being so thunderous and all – and she dropped a cup to the ground, but it had luckily been plastic.
Great. She picked up the cup. "Is Pietro there?"
"Yeah!"
"Can I talk to him?" She rolled her eyes – Blob was such an idiot.
"Oh, yeah, all right, I guess. Just wait a second!"
"Mmkay," Brianna said, in a snobbish tone, as if she were superior. If Blob said one more thing, she was going to get to their house all by herself, wrap her fingers around his big, tree trunk of a neck – digging her fake nails into his fat as she did so – and strangle him.
"Give this to Pietro," she could hear Blob's muffled voice call out. He was probably too lazy to lift his enormous butt from the couch, or wherever he happened to be sitting at that moment.
"Oh, snookums! You couldn't keep your mind off of me after our last meeting, snookums?" Toad had taken another try at a 'sexy' voice, and it only made Brianna squirm, uncomfortably.
She didn't reply at all, for a second, asking herself, 'What's the worst possible thing I could say to this green-skinned thing on the other end?' She didn't really come up with anything. "Listen, wart face, I know that's what your wildest dreams are about and everything, but hand the phone over to Pietro." She then heard him noisily bouncing up the creaky stairs and into Pietro's room.
"Toad, can't you see that I'm in the middle of something? I mean, c'mon, there's babes all over me!"
"No, there—" Toad started to protest, but then Pietro ripped the phone from his slimy hands.
Brianna raised her eyebrows in mild interest. She knew what this was about. She could remember how she and Pietro had fought that day at lunch, when he whipped out a brand new Sidekick and gave her one of those boastful looks.
"What were you thinking?" she had screeched, and everyone looked to them, wondering what all the commotion was about. "You could have at least bought me one, too – after making me lose my cell phone and all!"
Pietro had furrowed his brow. "Hey, I didn't make you lose anything! You were stupid enough to lose it all by yourself!"
Brianna wasn't sure why they always fought like this… it was as if they were an old, married couple, which was especially weird to her because they weren't even officially dating yet. "Who was the one that made me get out of that car so fast – like it was on fire or something?"
Trying to avoid answering that question, he dodged himself with, "You know what? You're just jealous!"
"Jealous of what?" she howled. At that point, she was really into the fight. She even had her fingers clenched into a fist, ready to send it flying at any given moment.
"That someone has something better than you!" The bell then rang, and Pietro pushed in his chair with a slam.
She was over the fight – it was long gone, in her mind, so why couldn't he get over it? She figured that he just had a lot of growing up to do.
"Like I said, I'm a little busy right now, so why don't you bother someone else," Pietro sneered. "Just stay out of my hair."
Brianna's cheeks flushed in rage. "Oh, you mean that white as snow thing on top of your freakishly oversized head?"
"No, I mean the gorgeous, slick thing on top of my perfectly normal head, that you always rake those make-up stained fingers through when you're forcing me to make out with you!"
"Oh, snap!" Toad exclaimed, and laughed his aggravating little laugh. "Would you like some ice with that burn?"
"Okay, okay, first of all, you don't have any girls there with you, so stop lying. Nobody would want you. And, who was the one who suggested we get into the janitor's closet before fifth period today?"
"Oh, excuse me, I need to brush my teeth after all of that spit-swapping I just did with all those other girls!" Pietro put her on hold, and Toad's remake of the chorus to Gwen Stefani's "Rich Girl" began to play, making Brianna cringe.
Actually, Pietro didn't brush his teeth, but instead sat next to the phone until he felt an appropriate amount of time had passed – which happened to be five and a half seconds.
"Well, what about you, then?" Pietro inquired.
"What do you mean?"
"You said no one would ever want me," he came back with. "And that's not what I heard you saying the other night. 'Oh, Pietro, yes, oh, yes… do me right here!'"
He had mimicked her voice in such a ridiculous, prissy way that she couldn't contain her laughter. "I never said anything like that to you. And to answer your question, I don't want anyone that doesn't want me, so, no, I guess I don't want you."
Pietro just said, "Hardy-har-har." He hated when she pouted. It was rather bothersome, and not cute at all. "So, what'd you call for?"
"Well, I don't want to hold you back from all those imaginary 'babes.' But, anyways, I was bored, so continue to amuse me."
His lips tugged into a minor smirk. "Come over, and I will."
Oh, what a bad influence Pietro was being. And to think, Brianna was certain that she was the only individual short of angelic in Bayville, New York, upon first arriving. Why was he trying to tempt her into breaking the rules, on yet another occasion? He must want her to be doomed forever more. "No, I can't, but, hey, is there an open room over there?"
"Yeah, my room is open to you anytime, baby girl!" Toad said, still hunched over Pietro's shoulder, listening in.
"Get out!" Pietro yelled, and things were being thrown. She wasn't sure what was being thrown, exactly, but it chased him away. Could they be more careless as to what happened to their place?
Once Toad had given into Pietro's wrath, Pietro locked his bedroom door, and then returned to the phone, which he had positioned on his bed.
"Why didn't you do that sooner?" she nagged. "Why'd you let him listen to our conversation like that?"
"I'm teaching him," Pietro retorted, not really painting an image for Brianna.
"Teaching him what?"
"I'm teaching him how to talk to girls, okay? He needs some help, in case you haven't already noticed!"
Brianna snorted. She was surprised that Pietro would be kind enough to do something like that, but she figured that he had to give into Toad, living with him, and all. She could just picture it then, Todd asking Pietro to coach him on how to talk to girls every five seconds until Pietro finally caved.
"Well, anyways, we don't have an empty room, but we do have a couch, that isn't being used right now, since none of Lance's buddies are in town at the moment. He brings the biggest moochers here, I swear."
Brianna couldn't even visualize herself camping out on their revolting couch, knowing that the rest of the Brotherhood slept soundly upstairs, in comfy beds. She deserved a bed more than Blob or Toad, and she was sure about that. If she were to move in, one of them would just have to give up their room to her.
"Why?" Pietro asked her, in the midst of her thinking.
"I may move soon. I'm getting tired of this place, and all of these losers." She knew that the Brotherhood held more losers than the Mansion did, even if the Mansion outnumbered the Brotherhood a lot, but at least the Brotherhood losers wouldn't critique her on every wrong move she made. If anyone was going to be critiquing at the Brotherhood, it would probably be her.
"I know you would get sick of it – sooner or later. You just don't seem like you fit in there."
"Oh, and you think I'd fit in with you guys any better? Well, I wouldn't. I don't fit in anywhere, except for California. People love me there… I have so many friends there that it's hard to keep track. That's where I need to go." She took what Pietro had said offensively – what made him even think that she would be more suited living with them? They were gross, and at least the Mansion was sanitary.
"Don't," Pietro shortly pleaded, in a way that seemed halfway loving, and it tugged at her heart a little bit, because they hadn't really had one of those moments up until then. She was Brianna Ranae Contrares, but not even she could be completely heartless after hearing that.
"You should say stuff like that more often," Brianna gushed. He should, right? Brianna felt as if she needed to be complimented – even if the compliment wasn't direct or anything – by him more often.
Embarrassed, Pietro scoffed. "Don't expect too much. Just see what it's like here, though, and if it's not for you, do whatever you want. I don't care."
"You don't care?" She sounded a little bit disappointed.
"No, no, haha, uhm… I just meant that I can't stop you from doing what you want to do." He pounded his head against his wooden bed frame. How could he say something like that? But, he figured that the she would like to hear the whole 'I can't stop you from doing what you want to do' thing.
"Oh," Brianna said, calming down a bit. This talk was beginning to bore her, so she felt the strong need to get off of the phone. "I'm going to go, so, see you."
She placed the phone on the receiver, not waiting for his, "Bye."
And, so, days went by and she hadn't made much progress on deciding where she wanted to stay – where she felt she belonged, though this was always on her mind. Actually, where she belonged wasn't really a part of it, because if she got to stay where she felt she belonged, she'd be lounging around the best penthouse the United States had to offer. There would be a Chihuahua occupying her lap, and a strikingly handsome French underwear model occupying her lips.
Brianna did like how everyone seemed to be buttering her up now that she was making her decision, though. Kitty was now telling her how great she looked every time she emerged from her room looking different in the slightest, even when she was wearing no make-up on her face, and even Brianna said herself that she was 'all make-up.' This was a confidence booster; though she probably didn't need it… it was only feeding her ego, and blowing it up to a remarkable size. Pietro had even made all of his drooling, crazed fan girls shoo, leaving Brianna and him alone to their table. This pleased her, even though she thought he should've done that a long time ago, and even though the majority of their time at lunch was spent arguing over random things, anyways. She was beginning to think that this was Pietro's way of showing that he liked having her around – by disagreeing with everything that came flying out of her mouth.
Oddly enough, the side she had been favoring wasn't buttering her up at all, and that was the side of Orange County. On the contrary, her mother hadn't even sent her the money for a new phone, and Nykky, who had been one of Brianna's closest friends for thirteen years, hadn't been returning her e-mails.
One Friday night, however, Beast told her that she had a phone call from her mom. These were the only phone calls that Brianna, or any other grounded people were permitted to take, because Xavier couldn't very well cut off all communication with parents, unless he wanted to cause a huge uproar.
"Oh, Brianna, darling!" her mother greeted, her Spanish accent heavy.
Her accent and slur of words always became noticeable when she was distressed, so Brianna knew what was coming. Her mother had somehow lost money, because money was what fueled Delia Parker's happiness. This must mean that she was getting a divorce. Why? Hadn't her mother and the well-known stockbroker William Parker had a decent relationship? Her mom actually seemed to like him, unlike most of her previous husbands.
"Baby… I'm going to get right to it. Mama is getting a divorce, okay, and she needs you to come home."
Brianna's jaw nearly hit the floor. "W-What?" She knew that she had been thinking about going back to Orange County, anyways, but now that she was actually going to leave, she wasn't sure if she was okay with it.
