"Come on Audrey." Amelia said without unfolding her arms.

Audrey's shoulders drooped and she put the piece of pizza down.

"I gotta go." She said quietly and slid off the table she was perched on. "But, you have to show me around later." She told Bobby. "Because… well, I decided you have to." She added and he nodded. She him and the others a smile and a wave. Then headed in Amelia's direction.

They walked into the hallway, Amelia beside her sister, Logan following behind them.

"Its time for you to go home." Amelia said stiffly.

"Huh?" Audrey said, stopping and looking at her sister curiously.

"I'm taking you home." Amelia repeated- not meeting her sisters eyes.

"Wait- home-home- or school home?" Audrey asked. "Because home-home is not an option."

"School home." Amelia clarified. "And what's wrong with home-home?"

"Like you wouldn't know." Audrey grumbled. "I don't want to go back to my school anyways. I want to stay here, with you."

Amelia looked at her sister finally, much like someone would look at a small lost kitten.- that she was about to have to kick.

"You cant stay here." Amelia said firmly.

"But-"

"Its not up for discussion." She said to her sister and began walking.

Audrey made a stubborn expression and looked up at Logan who just shrugged at her. She jogged after her sister. She couldn't think of anything convincing enough at the moment to tell her sister to get her to stay, which meant she'd have to stall.

Unfortunately Amelia knew this just as well as Audrey did.

"Your not stalling me, or changing my mind." Amelia said, turning to her sister. Who scowled. "Don't hate me." Amelia said stiffly, the desperation of the statement well hidden. "I know you think this place is 'cool' or whatever but, it is not safe for you."

"Neither is school, I got kidnapped from there remember. And yea I think this place is awesome. Besides." She added matter o' factly. "Here you'd be able to protect me. The safest place I can be is with you." Audrey said, the purity of her trust made Amelia want to hit her.

"There are lots of places safer than with me." Amelia said sharply.

Audrey took a step back, the only person in the world with the ability to truly scare her just had. Amelia regretted her tone the second it had escaped her. Logan looked at her with an expression which read 'harsh grim, harsh.'

Amelia rubbed her temple. "I can't take care of you right now Audrey."

"You don't have to, I feed myself, I bathe myself, I even change my own underwear." Audrey said as though truly proud of herself.

Logan's expression changed to slight entertainment.

Amelia looked at him and he changed his expression to 'I didn't think it was funny.'

She looked back to her sister. "Your not staying." She said firmly and walked down the hall.

Audrey looked up at Logan smugly. "Oh, I'm staying." She said with full confidence, and followed behind her sister.

Logan scratched his neck. Then walked off in the exact opposite direction of those two. He knew how to avoid a fight.


"You want me here." Audrey argued as they walked into Grim's room.

Amelia didn't respond, only walked to her closet and pulled out a windbreaker.

"You want me here?" She repeated, not taking the jacket Amelia was offering. "Amelia?" Audrey asked, sounding hurt.

The jacket Grim held clutched in her hand exploded into a fine mist of black ash and Amelia stepped back rapidly. "Damn it!" She exclaimed, frustrated.

Audrey looked at her sister, for the first time worried. Amelia began to pace much like a caged animal of some kind.

"You cant stay." She said softly, and stopped her pacing to rub her forehead.

"Amelia." Audrey said.

"Its not safe." Amelia said sadly.

"What isn't safe?" Audrey asked.

Amelia didn't answer, and Audrey left the room.

Amelia dropped her hand and looked over at the door with fully dilated dark grey eyes.

"Me." She whispered.


Rogue stood in the kitchen listening to Bobby.

"She's… " Bobby stared.

"Different." Rogue said.

"Yea, and she's not a mutant." He told her.

"She isn't?" Rogue asked.

"No- but she made it clear that she thinks they're awesome." He said in amazement.

"Johns here." Rogue said after a minute of silence.

"What?" Bobby asked.

"I saw him today, coming out of the… 'basement'" She said.

"Your sure it was him?" Bobby asked.

"Yea."

"Do you think he's up to something?" He questioned suspiciously.

"I don't know, he looked pretty bad though." She confessed.

What neither of them knew was that John was standing outside of the kitchen, and that he could hear them perfectly.

"I don't like the fact he's here." Bobby stated. "He has to be up to something."

John tapped his fingers on the wall and turned back the way he had come. Having made his decision on staying or going.


Audrey padded barefoot down the hall in deep thought. She walked down the stares onto the first floor and sighed. Something was different about Amelia, and it wasn't that her dark brown hair had turned charcoal- or that her green eyes had gone grey.

She went outside and walked across the front yard, silently she sat on the edge of the fountain that was in front of the school. It was big, deep, long, and the water was pretty enough to distract her from her thoughts if she looked at it. But she didn't of course- she sat looking away from the water instead of into it.

Which is why she saw John when he walked around the back of the school. He looked clean and shaved, although still a little too skinny in her opinion.

"Hey!" Audrey called to him, waving her hand above her head.

He went very still. Then glanced over to where she was sitting.

She was there- and he liked her. He liked the way she waved. He liked the way she called his name- and who the hell was iceboy to think he could run him out of the school and from something he liked.

John smiled and walked over. Standing in front of her, Audrey beamed up at him.

"Hiya." Audrey said.

"Hey." He replied.

"So." She cleared her throat. "What is my kidnapper up to?"

John lifted his eyebrows.

"Okay, so technically, you're the hero formally known as my kidnapper." Audrey corrected.

"Your not going to change my name to a symbol next are you?" He asked.

"Maybe- how do you feel about aardvarks?" She asked mischievously.

"As my symbol?" He questioned, putting his hands in his pockets.

"No, as an animal." She told him, stretching her legs out in front of her.

"I think they look like pig elephants." He stated.

"Me too." She said, lighting up.

John grinned.

"Tha-" She began as Bobby jogged up behind John.

John looked over his shoulder.

"Hey Bob." Audrey called, standing up.

"You know him?" John asked.

"Yea, I'm making him show me around the joint." She said.

Bobby reached them and looked at John coldly.

"Pyro." He said as unenthusiastically as possible.

"Iceboy." John digged.

"Audrey." Audrey said brightly, without missing a beat.

Both of the boys looked at her.

"So you guys know each other." Bobby asked.

"Yea." John said looking at Bobby arrogantly.

Bobby looked at Audrey.

"He saved my life." She said.

John smiled.

"I thought he kidnapped you." Bobby stated.

John's smile faded dangerously.

Audrey's eyes flickered from John to Bobby- then she took a step back so her leg caught on the edge of fountain. She screeched and fell in with a loud splash.

The two guys immediately forgot all about the staredown and reached in to fish her out.

She popped up, her butt sitting at the bottom of the cold fountain. John grasped her arm, Bobby her other arm. But she wouldn't budge.

They looked at her, confused. Then she spit out a mouthful of water an grinned.

"That was unexpected." She said, her eyes shifting towards John. "And Nippy."

He let go of her arm and stepped away from the fountain, smirking.

"Come on, that waters freezing." Bobby said and pulled her out.

"I'm okay, really." She told him, patting his arm. She hopped out of the water and wrung out her shirt.

"I'm going to go get you a towel." Bobby said and Audrey nodded.

When Bobby walked away, and was out of earshot John looked at her, amused.

"You did that on purpose." He said quietly.

She sniffed. "Don't know what your talking about."

Bobby went inside and Audrey turned to John.

"C'mon, lets go." She said, ruffling her hair and walking towards the gate.

"What?" John asked, following her.

"I did that on purpose." She stated.

"Knew that." He told her.

"So we could go out and have some fun, because between kidnappings, coma's I have had no fun." She told him, tapping the closed gate that didn't budge.

"Your soaking wet." John stated.

"Bet that wasn't a sentence you'd planned on saying to me today." Audrey noted, grinning.

John suppressed a smile. "You haven't gotten any shoes on."

"So we knock over an old lady and take hers." She said rationally, while climbing the gate.

John couldn't hold his smile back this time.

Audrey looked over her shoulder. "Are you coming."

"I thought you wanted Bobby to show you ar--"

"Blah. Blah. Blah." She said, hopping down on the other side of the gate, she stood and turned to put her face between the bars. "I did, yes- but I just recently decided going out with you will be more fun. Now come on."

"Alright." John said smugly.

He walked over and pushed a button beside the gate, and the gate began to swing open slowly.

"Hey." She said. "That's cheating."

"Its easier than climbing." He told her.

"Yea, but it ruins the getaway vibe."


AN: I know, this one was a little short- but the next chapters goodness and length will make up for it. I promise. Oh and also- I'm just going to mention my other story 'Anywhere but here… please?' Its about two friends who get sucked into a zombie movie 'Dawn of the dead' and wreak havoc. Next chapter soon!

PS. I have to mention that I love you all for reviewing- it rocks my day when I see that I got a review. Um, sorry if any spelling is out- I'm actually going through 'Pardon Me' and fixing the mistakes there, and being more careful when I'm typing. And Aoibhinn, your awesome, and I wish I could tell ya about Logan and Amelia, but even I havent decided fully yet.