26

Rogue woke up late the next day. She cursed under her breath then ran out as soon as she could. She went straight passed the kitchen, not checking to see if Gambit was there and straight to the garage.

Rogue glanced around, looking for Colossus and for some reason, expecting him to be there. But he wasn't. And neither was the van they always took to school.

"You're gonna be late." Gambit said, appearing from seemingly nowhere and heading straight to his bike.

Rogue just stared at him for a moment. She wasn't in shock, at least, she didn't think so. Just surprised to see him.

Gambit had stopped, folding his arms over his chest and raising her eyebrow at her pointing. He seemed… annoyed with her.

"I can't find Pete." She said, glancing away, feeling guilt.

"He went out." Gambit said. He'd actually convinced the friendly giant to leave with the van this morning and that Rogue would get a lift with him. He lied and told him she'd be fine with it, but it was one he didn't regret. Magneto had demanded he started to take Rogue back to school again, so he was and this was the way he knew how.

Rogue glanced around the garage, hoping she'd find another vehicle besides her own stolen bike but there was none.

She then eyed the helmet that Gambit was handing to her. She pulled her backpack further on her shoulders, turning away from him as she said,

"I… guess I might have ta walk to school."

She heard Gambit tsk and just saw him reach out to grasp her arm.

"Just get on the-" he began to say.

"Don't touch me!" Rogue snapped at him, jumping back slightly.

Rogue felt bad as soon as the words left her mouth. She just couldn't help it. Cody might have told her to take a chance last night, but… well, it was just hard.

Gambit let it drop and was just staring at her with those cold, emotionless eyes. He'd woke up still sour from last night with Rogue. He was sure she was trying to avoid him again that morning when she didn't show up for breakfast. Well, he was going to unsettle her today if she thought she could keep avoiding him.

Rogue felt guilty, but at the same time, she was right in what she was doing.

"If you walk, you'll be late, get detention and Mags will be pissed. Get on de bike Rogue." Gambit said.

Rogue glanced away from him, eyeing the exit. Did she take his offer? But then, she'd be holding on to him. There was more chance of skin on skin contact which meant he might end up in a coma and well…

"It ain't just your arse on the firing line here." Gambit said, seeing her hesitation.

Rogue glanced back at him there. She guessed he meant he'd get in trouble for some reason. Her mind went to thinking about Colossus and his sister. If she was late and pissed Magneto off would he punish her? It was a possibility. And… she had ridden on a bike with Gambit before. If she was very very careful, she might be able to avoid that dark fate for everyone.

Rogue, finally, took the helmet and put it on. She sat on the bike as far away from Gambit as she could and did the same with her hands. Surprisingly, Gambit didn't try and get her to wrap her arms around him more like he usually did. He just started the bike and took off.

Xxxxx

Before Gambit even stopped the bike, Rogue was off it and near sprinting away from him. Gambit stopped the bike and watched Rogue go. He just couldn't understand why she had been so cold with him all day and then had a go at him in the evening. None of it made sense. A part of him wished he'd pulled Rogue aside and demanded to know what it was she was truly playing at. Hell, even use his empathy on her if he had to. But the thing he said about Magneto was true.

"Hey, your, like, Remy right?" a girl asked.

Gambit turned to see a cheerleader right in front of him. He moved back a little bit, taken back by how close she really was.

"Oui, who askin'?" he said, forcing a smile on his face.

There were a few other cheerleaders surrounding him now and he didn't think this was good. Girls didn't normally crowd around him like this. At least, not under these circumstances. Why were they all giggling and smiling at him?

"My name's Stacy. I'm a friend of Rogue's. She told me she knew this cute, single, Cajun, but she totally under sold you." Stacy said.

Gambit gave a bittersweet smirk at that. He'd never heard Rogue call him cute before, but the idea was nice. That is, if she wasn't currently pushing him away and avoiding him. Gambit glanced back over to where he saw Rogue go. What he saw wiped the smirk off his face. Duncan's arm was wrapped around her again. Her hand was against his chest and she was talking with him. Gambit grew irritated by that. Why couldn't she just tell that jerk no and kick him to the side! What's more, why was she putting up with that idiot and pushing him away? What did that guy have that he didn't?

His attention went back to Stacy as he looked away from Rogue and his eyes landed right back on her. There was something about how this girl, Stacy, said single to him though that made him uneasy. That, and the fact that she was almost jumping him gave him bad vibes.

"Your point?" he asked, not really knowing much else of what to say.

Gambit wasn't prepared at all for Stacy to reach her hand out and place it on his shoulder. Her chest came near up to his as she was practically sitting on his lap. The other cheerleaders surrounding him all giggled. Stacy had this massive, charming smile on her face.

"Well, I just wanna say that Rogue told us about your sister. And I'm really sorry about what happened to her. You're so brave for going through all that and looking out for. She's such a good friend to me and I just wanna express how thankful I am that you've been so protective over her. You really are a catch, you know? Any girl would be lucky to have you."

Gambit chuckled nervously, took Stacy's hand and pushed her away. He knew that he liked it when Rogue came onto him without him needing to make any move on her at all, but this, this felt different. He didn't much like it. The attention, yes. But, all he felt from Stacy's touch was lust. Rogue had been lustful too though when she touched him the first time, but… not lust like this. Besides, she hadn't been this interested in him the last few times he had dropped Rogue off. Why now? Just because Rogue had webbed a story about him? About Colossus too? Yeah, he remembered her as one of those girl's desperate for the big man's attention. Luckily, because of his height, he never had to deal with girls just wrapping themselves around him.

"Thanks petite, but I best be goin' now. Take care of mon girl for me, non?" Gambit said, starting his engine and driving off.

He needed to cool off where he parked for a while. As soon as that girl, Stacy, touched him he had felt her lusting emotions and it had gone straight to his head. It was driving him insane and he needed a minute to get control over himself once again.

Xxxxx

Rogue had seen Risty and was heading towards her. But, that was when Duncan had found her once again and had his arm wrapped around her. Rogue stiffened straight away, biting her tongue as she wanted to scream out. Why did people want to touch her? Why?

"Hey babe." He said.

"Oh, Duncan, hi," Rogue said, twisting in his hold to place a hand on his chest and to push him away. "My skin, remember?" she said, trying to be as calm as she could.

"Don't worry about it. I won't hurt you." Duncan said, moving his hand down to her lower back.

Rogue sighed, wanting to hit her head against a brick wall at how much of an idiot Duncan was being. "Why's that freak givin' you a ride?" Duncan questioned, pointing behind them.

Rogue used that as an excuse to turn in Duncan's arms and try to push her body away from his. What she saw when she did turn to look at Gambit made her upset. He was surrounded by cheerleaders. Beautiful cheerleaders and Stacy was sat in his lap. Seeing that, it just made her sad. Gambit was smiling and laughing it seemed. It… hurt. She knew she had pushed him away yesterday. She knew that nothing could really happen between them considering she couldn't touch anyone at all, but… She'd had hope, it seemed. Hope that had just been stamped on. She turned her head, not wanting to see another girl making Gambit that way.

Rogue's body shuck as she felt Duncan wrap his arms around her waist and pull her into his chest.

"So, my parents are away tonight and I've got the house to myself. I was thinking about throwing a party. Although, it wouldn't be much of one if you weren't there. So what do you say?" Duncan asked.

"I, erm, well I…" Rogue found herself stuttering to answer Duncan's question. She was just pushed up so close to him and she didn't feel safe. He wasn't safe. This wasn't right. She was scared. Fearful. Her adrenaline was going and she wanted to flee, but she didn't know how.

Duncan seemed to be taking her stuttered reply as a bit of a compliment though and he began to talk about how there was no need for her to be so overwhelmed and all.

That was when Risty came in, however.

"Seriously! We or not being late for class again. Let's go!" Risty said, physically pulling Rogue away and out of Duncan's grasp.

It took Rogue a while to realise that she was out of harms away. But then, there were so many people in the hallway, it was putting her on edge. Risty saw that Rogue was close to hyperventilating and pulled her aside, into the girl's bathroom.

"Hey, you alright?" Risty asked Rogue.

Rogue finally began to take deep breaths again.

"Y-yeah," she stuttered, coming back to herself and placing a piece of hair behind her ear, "I'm fine." She said more confidently.

Rogue saw the sinks and moved towards them. She began to splash some water on her face to try and calm herself. She just needed something, anything to do to keep clam and to go on with the day.

"Sure doesn't seem it." Risty said, folding her arms and raising an eyebrow at Rogue.

"It's just Duncan. He caught meh off guard and I just… well…"

"I see. So, this has nothing to do with Remy? I noticed he gave you a ride today rather than that brother of yours." Risty said.

"No, no" Rogue said, her voice gargled as her face was emerged with water. "This has nothin' ta do with him. I'm just… well, it's just Duncan tryna touch meh again, I guess. I already warned him about ma skin condition and he just ain't listenin'." Rogue said, turning the tap off.

"I'm with ya. But, you are gonna be alright, right?" Risty asked.

"Yeah… Yes," Rogue said, staring at herself in the mirror and standing up straight. Yes, she was going to be fine. She had to be. She made a promise to Cody to try and live her life the best she could while he couldn't. She couldn't just wallo away in the girl's bathrooms after she'd made a promise like that.

Rogue turned to Risty, feeling more confident by the minute. "I'm gonna be just fine. Now, you were right. We can't be late again." Rogue said, walking passed Risty and braving the busy hallway again.

Risty stared after Rogue, a frown appearing on her face. She wasn't happy.

xxxxx

Rogue found herself sitting with the X-Men at lunch. She'd been going through the motions all day of trying to politely get Duncan to back off as well as fighting the cheerleaders off with their million questions about Gambit and Colossus. She had bumped into Jean while queueing up to collect her food. She wasn't sure if Jean had read her mind or not when Duncan arrived, asking Rogue to come sit with him, but she was glad Jean did what she did.

"Oh, Rogue's agreed to sit with me today, haven't you?" Jean Grey said, noticing how Rogue became uncomfortable under Duncan's arm.

"Oh, yeah." Rogue said, taking Jean's offer. "I'm sorry," she said to Duncan, "maybe another time."

So, that was how Rogue and Risty had ended up joining the X-Men.

They had all been welcoming and friendly to Rogue and Risty. The conversation wasn't on either of them for most of the time. Instead, Kitty was kicking up a fuss how she wasn't allowed to go to Duncan's party. Scott had been kind and said that she could come anyway.

"Wait, y'all are goin' to that?" Rogue asked.

"Totally!" Kurt said, jumping on the table and throwing out some dance moves. "It's time to party!" he said.

Rogue noticed his tail come out and quickly glanced over to Risty to ask her if she was going. Scott had the chance to pull Kurt down and Rogue felt all the X-Men's eyes watching Rogue and Risty, wondering whether they'd noticed his tail or not.

"Oh totally! That is, if you're going. You are going, right?" Risty asked.

"Erm," Rogue said, now glancing around at the X-Men. Magneto had said to get close to them and well, maybe a party would be fun. It would certainly take her mind off things. And besides, wasn't Cody always wanting to go to parties? "Yeah. Why not?" Rogue said.

"Alright!" Kitty said, then began talking to Risty about what she was going to wear.

Rogue heard Jean clear her throat besides her. She glanced at her, seeing that Jean actually seemed to be looking at her.

"So, erm, did you figure out what your heart was telling you?" Jean asked.

Rogue's smile dropped. She forgot the conversation she'd had with Jean about Remy because of Mystique. Now though, she was remembering it. Rogue put her folk down to think of an answer to that. Kitty and Kurt were getting louder and louder, bursting with excitement for the party. It was covering their conversation perfectly. "I…still honestly don't know." Rogue huffed. "I think… I do like him, but… there's just too many big things in the way." Rogue said.

"Oh," Jean said, sounding sympathetic.

"Maybe…" Rogue said, thinking. Cody had told her to try. Gambit had seemed to do nothing but try, even when the going was tough. He'd even took her on a date knowing what her skin could do. Not many men wanted to do that after learning about her mutation. Rogue quickly stopped thinking about that when she remembered she was sat next to the psychic. But, she didn't need to think about her mutation to think about all the times Gambit had been there for her, trying. "Maybe, though, we could work through some of those problems."

Jean smiled at that.

"By the way, it was that guy, Remy, you were talking about yesterday, right?" Jean asked.

Rogue snorted at that. "Yeah, it's him. I'm not interested in Duncan. He's all yours if you want him." Rogue said.

"Oh, no, I'm not interested in Duncan!" Jean said.

"You're not?" Rogue asked, finding this worrying for herself.

"Well, I don't know. It's complicated, you know?" Jean said.

Rogue actually chuckled at that. "Yeah, I know."

"Hey, Jean, can I like totally borrow those pink heels of yours?" Kitty asked, moving the two out of their conversation.

Risty, however, had heard all of it and she wasn't happy.

Xxxxx

Gambit had been near of course. Listening in. He heard Rogue agree to go to that Duncan Matthew's party. He wasn't happy about it. But he did see that she agreed only after she learned the X-Men were going. He guessed she was planning to get the X-Men alone and touch one of them like Magneto wanted her to. He knew he couldn't argue with that. But still.

He couldn't hear what Jean and Rogue were whispering about. Kitty and Kurt had got too loud. He did notice Risty's reaction to what was said, however. He didn't know if that irritated look was a good thing or not. Risty never acted on it though and when the bell rang, they all went to class.

Xxxxx

As the end of the day rolled around, Gambit watched Duncan appear from the school. He was with his football friends, but seemed distracted as he looked around for someone. Gambit had already guessed who that someone was. What he didn't expect was what he saw next.

Rogue had come almost running out to Duncan, stopping by his side. She said something to him which made Duncan seem chuffed and full of himself. Gambit saw Duncan reach out to wrap his arm around Rogue's waist almost in slow motion. But then, Rogue beat him to it. She went on her tip toes, grabbed Duncan's shoulders and gave his a quick peak on the lips.

Both Duncan and Gambit were stunned.

Rogue, who seemed chipper, pulled away from Duncan and it looked like something had just come to her mind. She turned and headed straight back into the school. Gambit saw Duncan call after her, but he didn't follow. Instead, he just touched his lips, his shock turning into a devious grin.

Gambit began to see red then. He was angry. Way too angry. Rogue had kissed him. Kissed that baboon, Duncan Matthews when she couldn't even touch! Or, that's what she told everyone anyway. She would kiss the popular high school boy who treated her as second best, but not the man who worshiped her and only had eyes for her? He was hurt and extremely angry.

Duncan moved back over to his jock friends, boosting about the kiss he'd just received. He spotted Gambit and eyed him, smirking at his victory.

"Hey handsome, you doing alright?" Came the voice of Stacy.

He found himself surrounded by cheerleaders again and he didn't hate it. In fact, he welcomed the distraction. He glanced back at the school doors just to see Rogue walking out of it, talking with Kitty and Jean as she was. She looked so calm and cool like she hadn't just kissed the football captain in front of him. It really was driving him insane.

He turned his attention back to Stacy and smiled widely.

"Am now dat de school day be over," he said, eyeing Stacy up and down. She was quite an attractive girl. She was slowly moving closer towards him and he let her. "Be a crime, I think, to lock up all de belle femmes for most of de day, non?"

Stacy's smirk grew at that as she got up closer to him. Gambit didn't move as he felt her now touching his side with her body. He felt himself become a little uncomfortable at the lust that screamed through his body as Stacy touched him. He did want to embrace it though. Lust was a better feeling than the emotion he was feeling right then.

"Yeah, totally. Hey, so there's this party going down tonight and I was wondering if you wanted to come?" Stacy asked.

"A party, huh?" Gambit said, eyeing Rogue who was being approached by Duncan. This was the party she had agreed to go to with the X-Men and he was supposed to be keeping close to her and forcing his way into her social circles by whatever means necessary.

"Yeah, it's at Duncan Matthew's house. You know, the one towards the east on the big hill. His place is amazing. It has great views. So, will I be seeing you there tonight?" Stacy asked.

"I know de place," Gambit said, watching Duncan try and take Rogue in his arms again, but Rogue seemed uncomfortable as she spoke. He found that amusing. She'd just kissed the guy barely two seconds ago and now she looked all helpless and awkward. What a joke! He was getting sick of these games she was playing. But, then again, he needed to play them with her. Magneto after all had commanded him to watch her. But if she wanted to play games with him, she was playing with the wrong man.

"I think dat be a yes, petite." He said, still eyeing Rogue as he saw her brush off Duncan who had tried to take her away to his car. Gambit didn't like that, but he honestly wasn't in the mood for dealing with Rogue right then. But… something wasn't letting him turn away. He really didn't want Rogue to get into Duncan Matthew's car and cause a scene where he'd have to physically remove her from said car. Even though she was moving away from Duncan now and saying her goodbyes to the X-Men as she approached him, he still felt on edge that Duncan was going to chase after Rogue, scoop her up off her feet (like he once had) and run off with her back to his car.

"Great! Then it's a date!" Stacy said, practically jumping for joy as her hands came to wander on Gambit's chest.

"Pardon?" Gambit said, now turning to glance at Stacy. He'd been so focused on Rogue, he felt like he'd missed part of the conversation where he was involved.

"You, me, Duncan Matthew's party. It's a date." Stacy said, leaning in towards Gambit's face oh so close." So, I'll see you then hot stuff." Stacy said, moving a single finger up his chest and then tapping his chin while winking.

Gambit watched as Stacy and the other cheerleaders left. He felt a pair of eyes on him and turned to see Rogue staring after the cheerleaders with her eyebrow raised.

"Did I miss something?" Rogue asked, now turning to look back at Gambit. The truth was that she had heard Stacy's last sentence as she approached them. She had practically yelled it for the whole school to hear.

"Think I just got invited out ta a party tonight." Gambit said, keeping his cool and letting a small smirk appear on his lips.

Rogue seemed irritated. He was wondering if she was jealous. He kind of enjoyed it. It serves her right for blowing him off after he'd put so much work into trying to win her over. He was Remy LeBeau for crying out loud. He could have any girl he wanted. Any, expect Rogue.

"You mean on a date?" Rogue questioned.

"Stacy seems to think so." Gambit said, looking after Stacy who was getting into Duncan's car.

"Stacy, huh?" Rogue said, glaring after the cheerleader. Rogue found it funny that she had been called a slut when Stacy was clearly the one throwing it around, trying to get attention wherever she could. Since things hadn't worked out with Colossus, she'd now moved onto Gambit who, apparently, was a lot weaker to her charms.

"Oui, dat be her name." Gambit said, still staring after her.

Rogue huffed, grabbing her helmet, putting it on and sitting on the back of the bike.

"Well? Are we goin' or not?" Rogue demanded to know seeing as how Gambit was still stood up.

Gambit was smirking down at Rogue, enjoying her little tantrum. He obliged. He felt her emotions rage through him as she touched his sides lightly. She was angry. Very angry. Seeing red angry. And, driving that anger was… upset… That was something odd. The girl had literally just kissed Duncan right in front of him to mess with him. Why the hell was she feeling sad? Because he flirted with a few cheerleaders? Well, tough luck, he thought, kicking the bike into gear and driving off.