"You've got to be kidding me." Jacelynn dropped her books on the desk with a thud.
"You don't know how lucky you are to be sitting with the amazing Pietro, there are plenty of girls who would kill to be in your shoes, 'Lynn. Can I call you 'Lynn?" he flashes a smirk, gesturing to the seat next to him. Specifically, the seat she had been in since the start of the class.
"No." she said flatly, dropping into her seat. No point in looking around - everywhere else was taken.
"Aw, you don't seem all too excited for this class 'Lynn. Aren't you eager to learn about equations?"
"Oh, of course. Who isn't?" she replied, the sarcasm in her voice evident.
"Try to keep your staring at me to a minimum then, wouldn't want to distract you too much from your learning."
"Then the least you can do is promise you won't start romancing your reflection in the test tubes.' she responded and flipped open her textbook.
"So you admit I'm handsome?"
"No, I'm saying you seem like you have an ego the size of the school," she said flatly.
"You don't hold back, do you?"
"There's no fun in being mild," she responded, smiling insincerely as the teacher walks through the door to the science lab.
"Touche 'Lynn. Touche." The two turn to the front, their conversation halting as the teacher begins the lesson.
" Would you look at this Lance? Pietro didn't question the fact that we have a table we sit at every day without fail and just went along with it. He gets the schedule, and its his first day here. How crazy is that?" Jacelynn commented as she took the spot between Lance and Todd.
"What is with you people and your damned schedule?' Lance shook his head.
"It's not just a schedule. It's a way of life." Todd quipped.
"We have a schedule?" asked Fred.
"Of course we do. It's the schedule. Don't you remember?" Jacelynn unabashedly lied. There was no schedule, and if there was it was a shitty one because she and Todd changed it on a daily basis. They were such good friends to Lance.
"No?"
"I've already got the thing memorized" Pietro cut in rather nonchalantly, seemingly already picking up on the in-joke.
"I hate the lot of you." Lance groaned and rolled his eyes.
"You're the one that is being difficult, you could just accept the schedule and we could get on with our lives," Jacelynn suggested.
"I'd rather fucking die, thanks."
"Have it your way, then."
"Blob man, you gotta help me!"
"Toad get back here! You've got some explaining to do!"
One thing Jacelynn had been noticing as of recently is that the louder and angrier Rogue got, the more pronounced her southern drawl got. And how infinitely more annoying it became with every syllable she yelled.
Grinding her teeth, she tried to get back into the Dracula book she had been reading, but the walls of the boarding house were unfortunately thin.
"What's going on?" she heard Fred ask.
"Rogue has gone ballistic man! She's tryna kill me!" Todd yelped in reply.
"If I did then you'd deserve it!"
Lance, who had previously been quietly lounging in a chair and channel surfacing, put a hand to his forehead, groaning quietly. Jacelynn doubted it had anything to do with the frequent migraines he suffered as a result of his powers.
A gust of wind could be heard next, flying down the flight of stairs and into the kitchen.
"What is all this noise about? I was trying to do important things." the speedster said.
"Like what, doing your hair?" Todd snarked, and she could hear Fred chuckle in agreement.
"Yes, actually. You should give it a try, maybe you'd be slightly less repulsive."
"Can we get back to the point, please? Fred, stop shielding Toad and get out of my way!"
"Sorry Rogue, not happening. Why are you mad anyway?"
"Because there is slime all over my room!"
"It wasn't me, I swear!" Todd claimed.
"Who else could it be?"
"I don't think you're helping him, Pietro."
"Who says I wanted to help him, Blob?"
"Can I at least get an explanation?"
"Ok, so I was hungry, and there was this big juicy bug flying around upstairs. So I tried to slime it, but I missed, and it flew away, and it might of have gone into your room Rogue. And I went in and I tried to get it but I kept missing it. But lucky for you, I got it eventually!"
"How was any of that, in any way, lucky for me?"
"I got rid of the bug for you."
In defeat, Jacelynn closed the book and dropped it into her lap. Then, leaning over the arm of the couch she whispered. "You know, if we get out of here now, we'd have an alibi for when they break something and Mystique finds out."
Lance snickered. If he was going to say anything in reply, it was cut short by an aggravated yell, a high-pitched scream, and then the sound of something shattering in quick succession.
They both winced.
"I think I might take you up on that," Lance said as he moved to get up, "Do you want to get the hell out of here before she shows up?"
"I am right behind you."
It struck her as they were cruising down the road that they hadn't hung out solo before. The closest was them both sitting in the living room, doing their own thing in the same space. Although, to be honest, it was a little strange to have so much space in the car behind her. Usually, they packed all six of them into the five-person vehicle like a can of sardines.
"Where are we going?" she asked.
"I honestly don't know. I just found a road and started driving."
"Fair enough," she smiled.
"Have any place you'd want to go? I don't want to waste a full tank of gas driving aimlessly."
She hummed, wracking her mind for any interesting places. "Want to go see a movie?"
" That'd be cool, but neither of us has any money. So we'd have to pay for parking and to get in."
"Oh Lance, you forget who you're dealing with. When you're with me, money's not a problem," she winked.
"You're pretty persuasive, Jacelynn; I'll give you that. But I don't think there's much you can do against a parking meter."
"That's easy. Isn't there a grocery store down the street? We use their parking lot and walk the rest of the way.
"Smart. Alright, I'm in," he said.
"Of course, it's smart. I basically have a Ph.D. in getting shit for free."
"Do you pay for anything at all? Ever?" he asked, glancing over at her.
"Not if I can help it," she replied, flashing a mischievous smile.
"I'm surprised you're not the most popular person in school."
She barked out a laugh. "Yeah, no. You're a special case, Lance. I don't help other people get free things, especially not kids at school. 'Stique would kill me."
"Because you'd out yourself as a mutant?"
"That, but mostly the fact I'd be using my powers to do stuff for humans. She's not exactly a big fan of non-mutants if you haven't noticed," she replied as the jeep pulled into an empty parking space.
"Really? I had no idea," he deadpanned as he got out of the car. She snickered in response while she exited out of her door. "How did you meet her, anyway?"
"Who? Mystique?"
"Yeah."
Lance had started walking towards the theatre already, but his question made her pause for a moment. Lance had been a decent dude in their brief friendship thus far, but the keyword there was brief. She didn't know what his personal opinions were. Was it a good idea to divulge the details about the fact that she was here all because one day she kissed a girl with a boyfriend?
No, it was probably not.
He was only ahead by a few paces, and she was quickly able to get to his side, "She saved me, actually," Jacelynn explained, " I was young and dumb and got myself into a fight. Mystique knew I was a mutant and liked the way I handled myself despite it being 3 on 1."
"No way. And she just knew you were a mutant?"
A pang of grief hit Jacelynn's chest as she remembered how Mystique probably only helped since she knew her mother. However, the feeling was quickly brushed aside as she did her best to stay present. "Yeah, apparently. I don't know. It's like she has some freaky mutant radar," Jacelynn lied, "What about you? How'd she scoop you up?"
"I destroyed my high school."
"What? Bullshit."
"Honest!"
"There is no way in hell you managed to do that."
"It was all over the news: freak earthquake causes a high school to collapse," he mimics the voice of a news anchor reading a headline as he spoke, " That has to ring a bell."
Jacelynn shook her head.
"C'mon, how else do you think Mystique scouted me out?"
"I'm pretty sure she found the rest of us without frontpage worthy headlines. She has that mutant radar in her head, obviously."
Lance narrowed his eyes at her. "I think you're being stubborn about this just to bug me."
Jacelynn batted her eyes and put on the sweetest voice she could muster. "Me? Be annoying on purpose? Lance, I would never!"
He laughed at her. "You are way too good at that."
"At what?"
"Being all innocent."
"I told you I have a in getting shit for free. Not getting caught is an important step, you know," She smiled winningly at her friend.
He nodded. "You know, I didn't get caught when I destroyed my school."
"Can't get caught if it didn't happen," she shot back.
"Oh fuck off," he laughed, shoving her with enough force that she almost lost her balance.
The pair walked into the theatre. Jacelynn stopped a few feet from the counter and scanned over the night's showings. "Haunted sounds like a horror movie," she mused, "That could be a fun watch."
"I've heard people talking about that," Lance replied, "It's apparently god awful."
"Ooh, even better! We can laugh at it the whole time," she turned to look at him, "Are you down?"
He shrugged. "Why not?"
With the movie selected, Jacelynn waltzed over to the ticket counter. The guy at the counter - who had to probably be around her age - looked up at her with absolute disinterest.
"Hi, how can I help you today?" he asked.
"Two tickets for tonight's showing of Haunted," she replied.
"Alright, that'll be-"
"You're going to give it to us for free," she interjected, lacing power into the words. The employee's eye's took on a glazed look, and she did her best to keep her smile friendly rather than triumphant. "Right?"
"Yes, I'm giving it to you for free," he murmured as he started punching in numbers to his cash register.
"And you don't find this strange at all. This is perfectly normal. You're happy to do this"
He didn't respond directly, but instead, his posture straightened, and a smile slid over his face. " Ok, guys! You're all set to go. Here are your tickets," he said as he handed the papers to her.
"Thanks so much," she spun on her heel and walked away from the counter with her friend.
"Wow," said Lance, "That was impressive. Mildly terrifying, but impressive."
"Oh, that? That was a cakewalk. You should see what I can do in a fight," she grinned, "Now come on, I want to get some snacks."
"You know what our next excursion is going to be together?" she asked as they settled into their seats in the theatre.
"What?"
"Shoe shopping."
Lance made a face. "Ugh, absolutely not."
"Trust me, Lance, it's for the greater good. Those shoes give me physical pain every time I see them."
He leaned over in his seat. "What's wrong with my shoes?"
"For starters, they look like cinder blocks."
He peered at his shoes for a moment before turning back to her. "Well, maybe that's the look I was going for." he shot back.
"Uh, why?"
" Um…. Because...Cinder blocks are heavy. People will think I'm super strong for walking around wearing them. I'll be drowning in girls."
"I'm pretty sure girls care about a couple more things than just how much a guy can lift."
"I dunno Jacelynn; it seems to be working out pretty well for the guys on the football team," he gestures to a familiar blonde sitting in the row in front of him.
Jacelynn's eyes widened. "Oh, shit," she whispered, "that's Duncan."
"And that's a problem?"
"It's not a problem for us," she explained, "but the girl he has his arm around is definitely not Jean." The girl in question had dark curly hair, but she couldn't tell who it is from just the back of her head.
"You think he's cheating?"
"It certainly doesn't seem platonic," she said, "and Duncan got accused of cheating on his ex last year…" she frowned. "It's not my business, but I hope I'm wrong."
"Finally," Lance said, obviously not paying attention to what she was saying, "The movie is starting."
The movie was, as the pair had expected, absolutely awful. But it fell into that sweet spot of way overshooting being good and landing somewhere hilarious. She and Lance spent most of the runtime snickering and mocking the characters - all in all, it was an excellent way to spend an afternoon.
Occasionally her gaze would flicker down to Duncan and not-Jean. And about halfway through the film, her suspicions were confirmed when she spied the pair making out as the blonde girl on screen was being brutally murdered. She grimaced. What an ass, she thought to herself, Jean doesn't deserve this.
Not that Jean was ever going to know, she realized. She highly doubted this was going to be something he was going to share.
He wouldn't, but Jacelynn could. Maybe she was being a tad hypocritical considering she had kinda been the other girl once. But unlike the rest of her friends, she didn't have any grudges against the other mutants. Jean seemed perfectly nice. She may not have much in common with the redhead, if anything a all, but it would feel wrong to not give the other teen a heads up.
With that decided, she returned her focus to the terrible, yet absolutely wonderful horror movie.
