After dinner the seven of them made their way to the den where there were foozball tables, pool tables, sundry arcade games, a pinball machine and what looked to be the largest, most comfortable couch and recliners that Alexis had ever seen in front of a windscreen television. Lifestyles of the rich and the famous, she thought, though it made sense, this was a school for mutants not all of which could just mosey into the local arcade. So, bring the arcade to them.
It was quickly apparent why Rogue had wanted to play pool after dinner though, when they found Wolverine and another man she didn't recognize occupying one of the tables. They seemed to be evenly matched, though the guy in the shades seemed to be overly tense about something.
"That's Mr. Summers," Rogue pointed the unknown man out to her, "he teaches here too, math, most people don't like him cause they think he's got a stick up his butt, though personally I've always thought he was okay."
"I can see why they would think that..." Alexis studied the man in the red shades more carefully, he did appear the anal retentive type with his button front, perfectly pressed shirt and chinos. Something straight out of a J. Crew catalogue. He was watching the Wolverine closely as the other man found his shot and sunk the 3 ball, something was going on between them that's for sure. If she wasn't so adamant about not getting involved she might be curious as to what that something was.
"Come on, lets take the other table." Jubilee grabbed Alexis' arm and dragged her over to the table next to the one where the two men were playing.
"You must be Alexis, welcome to Xaviers, I'm Scott Summers," she reached out to shake his proffered hand, "and this is Logan." He just nodded at her.
"Thanks." Shy and quiet, avoid eye contact, fidget. Sometimes it amazed her how easily you could fool people.
"Well, I'll let you get back to your game, and I'll be seeing you in class I'm sure." Scott smiled at her and then gave Jubilee a look. "You too Jubilee."
"Yeah, yeah Mr. Summers I'll be there." Jubilee finished racking the balls and grabbed a cue from the wall, handing it to Alexis. "You break?"
Alexis nodded and chalked her cue before lining up her break. One solid hit and two solids and a striped fell into their pockets. "I'll take solids." She sank two more balls before purposefully missing her third shot and letting Jubilee have the table. All the while she felt Logan's eyes on her when he wasn't lining up his own shots. She was going to have to be careful of him, he made her hackles rise, and that always meant trouble.
After fifteen minutes or so Alexis finished the game by sinking the eight ball in the side pocket. By that time Scott and Logan had also finished their game and had watched her sink her last couple of shots.
"Wow, you're really good." Jubilee handed her pool cue over to Remy who had called winner. Alexis just shrugged.
"Lessee how she does against someone who know how to play, eh?" Remy racked the balls and broke sinking two striped balls.
Ten minutes later Alexis once again sunk the eight ball to win the game, this time she had purposely missed less shots. Remy was actually good enough that she didn't have to work to seem to match his skill.
"Oui, she is good with the cue." Remy handed his cue over to Bobby, and Alexis handed hers to Rogue, choosing to sit the next game out.
"How about a real game?" Logan had wandered over to where she was standing watching Bobby and Rogue's equally poor performance at the game.
"What do you mean?" Alexis felt her danger signals start to go off, she didn't like to be this close to him. She normally wasn't scared of much, but this man...he scared her.
"You missed shots on purpose to try and be nice. You're better then you look, so I'm offering you a chance to go all out. You game?" He raised an eyebrow in her direction.
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Halfway through their game Alexis was reconfirming her thoughts that this was possibly the stupidest thing she had ever done. She had let Logan goad her into playing pool against him, and now she was being watched by not only her new "friends", but by what seemed to be the rest of the school as well. Apparently news spreads quickly in the school, and about two minutes after she broke students had started to trickle into the den. Just a couple at first, but then they started to show up in twos and threes, making a horseshoe around the pool table where she and Logan were playing.
Logan didn't seem to be phased by their audience, but it was setting her on edge. It was hard to stay anonymous when suddenly the whole student body was watching your every move. Apparently even some of the staff had heard that there was a real game going on, because Ororo had shown up, as well as a red head that she had yet to meet.
Though apparently Logan knew her, because as soon as she stepped into the room his eyes had gone to her. The red head had smiled at him, but then had gone over to stand next to Scott. They were definitely a couple, though Alexis couldn't help but wonder if she was being less then faithful, if the look Logan had given her was any indication. Then again Scott wasn't exactly ugly, so maybe not. It was hard to tell with people you'd only known for half a day, and Alexis wasn't anxious to get sucked into their lives and gossip. Though it would explain the tense anxiety she had witnessed between Logan and Scott earlier.
Logan had missed his last shot, and she took her eyes off the crowd to concentrate on lining her shot up. Logan hadn't left her much to work with angle wise, but she might be able to pull something off. So far they were pretty well even, each with three balls left on the table plus the black eight ball. She wasn't holding back, and neither was he, and for the first time in a long time Alexis was actually having fun instead of trying to hustle someone at the game. She lined up her shot, and hit the cue ball against the head rail of the table, where it hit and rolled back towards the red one ball. The one rolled towards the corner pocket on her left side, but glanced off the rail. Alexis had not only missed her shot, but had left the cue ball in perfect position for Logan to sink his 12 ball.
"Crap."
Logan just smirked at her frown and then sank his remaining balls and the eight ball in short order.
"Good game." Logan set his cue down on the green felt and offered his hand. She shook it and went to return her cue stick to the wall rack. Logan did the same, and Alexis almost slammed into him when she turned around to walk away.
"How'd you get that good?" He had asked innocently enough, but Alexis could sense the underlying suspicion.
"When I was little, my grandfather taught me." Alexis stepped past the larger man, intent on getting out of the room as quickly as possible.
"Interesting," she shrugged, as he put his cue back on the wall rack, and turned to face her, "because you play like a hustler."
Alexis narrowed her eyes, but before she could say anything she found herself surrounded by Jubilee, Rogue, and what seemed like 20 other people she didn't know.
"Wow chica! You totally almost kicked Wolvie's butt!" Jubilee latched onto her elbow and dragged her from the den all the while chattering incessantly while Alexis just shrugged or nodded. She could feel Logan's eyes on her as she left the room, and knew it was only a matter of time before he caught up with her again and next time she might have to answer his questions. Somehow, she was going to have to avoid him until Xavier returned.
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