A/N: Still pissed beyond all measure about the play…oh, just so you don't think I'm completely whiny, I did get a part in it, and I am understudy to the part I wanted. So now the lead girl (aka the principal's daughter) must break her leg…or BOTH! Mwahahahahaha! Yeah, I won't do that, but still. Wistful sigh.

A/N 2: "Feeling This" is a blink-182 song. FYI. I spent my entire summer with it on repeat. Yeah, I'm not a dork. (Sarcasm).

Disclaimer: As per usual, I do not own the X-Men. If I did, I'd get the lead in the play, because Xavier doesn't have a daughter to get favored. GRRR. Wait, does he? Damn, I wish I knew what I was actually talking about more than .3 of the time.

Chapter Fourteen: Keep It Together

New York, Present Day

Gwen lifted her pencil up from her English journal, and, chewing on her eraser, peeked up through her hair to get a glimpse of Scott Summers, her teacher and Jean Grey's previous fiancé, leaning over his desk in a wilted, depressed manner. She looked down at what he was staring at, thinking it may have been some papers or whatever, but there was nothing there. He was simply staring at nothing.

Gwen winced. He had been like that for almost a year, ever since Jean had died. He had lost his previous neat, slightly obsessive manner, in both teaching and his everyday work, when that happened, and on his shoddier days, he had resorted to having the children write in their journals for most of the class.

It appeared to be one of those days. Gwen and her classmates had been writing for the past forty minutes, continually stopping to glare at the clock on the wall over Scott's desk. They had about five minutes left before their next class, which, Gwen realized with an inward groan, was detention. Which meant a class with Kurt, who was currently in almost the same state as Scott, which meant another hour of sitting and doing nothing. She subconsciously stretched her legs under her desk, completely aware of a cramp already growing in her calf.

Jubilee, sitting next to her, was pausing and staring off into space, mouth slightly open. Gwen nudged her and she woke up, startled.

Gwen sighed, and instead of writing, moved her pencil quickly over her paper, never letting the lead and the book touch, hoping no one would realize that she was just pretending, and with her left hand, she reached into her small purse that she carried around during the school day, sifted through an assortment of lipsticks and pens, until her hand clenched around a small piece of folded paper.

Her previous class had been History with Storm, who was also preoccupied with something or other. As Gwen was leaving, Her teacher had called her up to her desk, ripped off a piece of an old assignment sheet, scribbled on it quickly, and told her to give it to Kurt at detention, with a serious, "Don't read it, Gwen," accompanying it.

Gwen was surprised that she had lasted so long without looking at it. Forty-five minutes, her new record, she grinned to herself, and opened it up. It was smeared with lead filings from her purse, and she brushed them off, using her leg to keep it steady. Still moving her right hand, she stared down at the note:

Kurt-

I need to talk with you. Meet me at my garden at 5 today. Don't try to avoid me anymore. Gwen, stop reading this.

-Storm

Gwen frowned. Kurt had been avoiding Storm? She hadn't noticed, since Kurt hadn't been talking to anyone over the weekend. Gwen wondered if it had anything to do with his mysterious black eye. She had, of course, asked him about it that morning at breakfast, but he'd just muttered something about walking into a door. This had led to a strong temptation to read his mind and find out what the hell was actually going on, but she remembered her promise to him. And, unlike most other times, she was really going to stick to it, since it was Kurt.

She nudged Jubileewith her elbow. When her friend turned around, Gwen slid the note across the table, making sure to keep it hidden from Scott, and let her read it.

Jubilee looked a bit surprised, and mouthed, "Huh?" Gwen nodded, and carefully slipped the note back into her purse. Then, still watching Scott (who hadn't moved anyways), she slowly cleared her mind.

She had used her telepathy with other people several times before, but it still felt like a total roller coaster ride every time. She had to be extremely careful, make sure her thoughts didn't get mixed in with the other person's, or there'd be trouble. If that went on too long, she could some damage. So she made a small window between their minds, using that to project her thoughts and allowing the other person to let their own thoughts in as well. It seemed simple, but it took extreme concentration and patience, as she sorted out her thoughts. If she didn't, she could be susceptible to the other person's memories, which was something she did not like to do, as she had told Storm just a few days before.

Gwen made sure to keep her face straight during the entire process, so as not to arouse any of Scott's suspicions, and finally made a connection to Jubilee's mind, then opened up the window.

Want to go to the garden with me tonight? Like, at five? she projected through it.

"Ow, dude, get your elbow out of my face," Jubilee muttered as they squirmed against the garden fence. Jubilee was tall enough to just peek over the top of it, but Gwen was shorter, and was on Jubilee piggyback-style. From her uncomfortable perch, she could see Kurt sitting, slumped over, on the bench near the fence parallel to the girls and Storm standing over him, looking concerned.

Gwen carefully moved her elbow and whispered, "What are they saying?"

"I can't hear, stop talking for a moment." Jubilee pursed her lips in concentration.

Gwen stopped moving, until everything was quiet, and she could hear Storm's contralto voice more easily.

"...and you look completely sick. You've been in your room for the past two days, and I think it has something to do with your black eye." She sat down on the bench next to him, and tentatively put her hand on his shoulder. He didn't look up.

"Kurt," she said, more quietly, and Gwen strained to hear her, "I'm worried about you."

"There's nothing wrong with me, Ororo," Kurt's voice suddenly said, crisp and loud in stark contrast to Storm's hushed tone. "I'm fine."

Gwen heard something creeping into his speech, something she had rarely heard before from him. Once, when some sleazy guy had tried to French her when she was fourteen, Kurt had gotten so pissed off he'd smacked him back to the Stone Age, but that was the only time she'd seen him mad.

Now she could hear that edge again, and it was scaring her. Kurt didn't get angry easily, and she figured that it wasn't Storm who was making him like that.

"There is something wrong. I have never seen you like this," Storm told him, taking her hand away and putting it in her own lap. "Kurt, I hate it. I know Gwen's upset about all of this, too. She was completely distracted in class this morning-"

"She's always distracted. There's nothing wrong," Kurt stood up angrily, facing Storm. She tilted her face up to him, and Gwen realized she could obviously hear the edge, too.

"Kurt-" Storm started, then tried again. "Wh- Please, Kurt, what's wrong?"

Gwen could hear tears in her voice, but before she could let that sink in, Kurt spoke again.

"There's nothing wrong, Ororo!" he yelled, his voice loud. "Just- just- don't! Leave me alone!" He turned on heel, facing Gwen and Jubilee's direction, and stormed out through the gate, right past the tree they were hiding behind, but he didn't seem to notice them. Gwen, in her surprise and fear, fell off of Jubilee's back and landed square on her ass, but she didn't yell in pain, so as not to let the two adults know they were listening in.

She heard Kurt stomp back to the mansion and slam the door behind him. No one moved, until Gwen managed to shake herself out of her startled reverie and stand up quietly to see Storm.

She was sitting on the bench, mouth agape in shock, not moving at all. Gwen saw that she looked sad, very much so, and she gazed at Jubilee in amazedly, who returned the stare.

Everyone remained in their positions for a long time, until the silence was interrupted by Storm making a sort of noise, a cross between and sigh and a sob. She stood up, and ran to the gate with her hands over her face, hunched over. She didn't see the girls either, as she dashed into the mansion, her white hair flying over her shoulder.

Gwen sank to the ground; hand over her mouth. She wiped sweat from her upper lip, then put her hand in her lap.

"Damn," she muttered. Jubilee sat down next to her.

"You got that right, Gwennie," she said. "Totally weird."

"What now? Kurt actually yelled at someone. He yelled at Storm. This is fully an out of body experience." She stood up. "Why the hell is Kurt in such a freaking bad mood? And it's not Storm who's getting the bad end of this. My dad's coming on Friday, and he and Kurt haven't EVER EVEN SPOKEN."

Gwen rubbed her eyes. What, she thought, is the matter? What was wrong?

How was she going to fix all of it?

A/N: Oh my god, the next chapter's gonna be good! Ta!