A/N: I'm pleased to report that for the next few months school will not be getting in the way of my fiction, so hopefully this chapter is worth the wait…
The high-pitched noise comes to a sudden stop as the elevator lurches upwards and then dips suddenly, signaling the end of the elevator ride. A curled up Kitty opens her eyes, which had been tightly shut, and removes her hands from her ears. The sweet sound of the elevator bell greets her, and she quickly scrambles off of the floor of the elevator as the doors open. As the doors slide open, Kitty is greeted by curious looks from other students who happened to be walking by the elevator.
"I thought I heard you scream" Jubilee says, rushing to Kitty's side. "Are you alright?" Kitty nods her head, not wanting to burden anyone with her troubles. She opens her mouth so explain the noise, but is forced to clear her hoarse throat. "Like, I didn't scream," Kitty reassures, "I think the noise you're talking about was the elevator squeaking. I think we should get someone in here to check it out." With a sigh of relief, Jubilee lets Kitty pass, as she makes her way back up to her bedroom.
Kitty phases through her door and dives onto her bed, face-planting among the pillows. She looks at her alarm clock, grimaces as she remembers that it did not serve its purpose this morning, the orange numbers shining 9:24 AM. Kitty rolls over onto her back, staring upward at the plain cream ceiling. "I've been rushed out of bed, late to a session, beaten up by a fake dinosaur, walked up countless numbers of stairs, patched up, and started having auditory hallucinations all before breakfast," she sarcastically explains to the ceiling. "And all before I've even eaten breakfast, so today seems like it's gonna be a good day". She gives the silent ceiling a cheeky smile and two thumbs up, before crawling under the covers and shutting her eyes.
Kitty awakes to someone knocking on her bedroom door. Rubbing her eyes, Kitty checks her alarm clock, 5:47 PM. She does a double-take, and confirms that she had in fact slept most of the day away. She contemplates closing her eyes again, but the persistent knocking forces her to abandon that thought and answer the door. On the other side stands Scott, and though Kitty cannot see his eyes, she knows he's glaring at her.
"Like, what's up Scott?" she asks casually, stifling a yawn. Scott holds the cordless phone in front of her, a disgusted look on his face. "I don't know why he calls here," Scott says as Kitty takes the phone from him. "Maybe he wants to piss you off as much as he wants to talk to me, Kitty shrugs. "You know, kill two birds with one stone?" She smirks at her own joke, and Scott goes into hot-head mode. "You know what Kitty? I'm not sure what happened to you today, but your attitude isn't…" "Yeah yeah whatever," Kitty cuts his rant off by shutting the door in his face, and turns her attention to the individual on the other line. "Like, hey Lance! What's up?"
"Did you just shut the door on Summers?" Lance asks. "Yeah," Kitty says nonchalantly, "Not in the mood for a lecture right now." "Nice Kitty," Lance says, and she can tell from the tone in Lance's voice that he is quite amused. "But anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to do something tonight?" Kitty sits on the edge of her bed, asks what her boyfriend has in mind. "Me and a few of the guys heard there's a party tonight," he explains, adding that he knows how much Kitty likes to dance. "Pietro heard Tabitha's gonna be there and he really wants to talk to her. He doesn't wanna go it alone—and I'm not gonna walk in with Pietro, cuz people might get the wrong idea, with him being so flamboyant and all—so I figured I would extend the invitation to someone I would rather spend time with." Kitty smiles at the explanation, contemplates her answer. She's slept most of the day away, which meant she still had hours of homework sitting on her desk that would only continue to pile up; conversely, the time she had spent awake had been awful, and she could really use the night to unwind.
"That sounds fun," Kitty says, laying back on her bed. "Like, what time do you wanna pick me up?" They plan for Lance to pick her up around seven, which gives Kitty plenty of time to get ready, as well go through the proper channels in order to ask for permission to leave. She may be able to walk through solid matter, but Kitty Pryde's mutant ability is useless when it comes to making her way through the red tape of the Xavier Institute.
Feeling awake after her shower, fresh after brushing her teeth and putting on make-up, and free in her party clothes, Kitty rushes to meet Lance and Pietro at the door before Logan does. Even though she has worked hard to prove to her surrogate father-figure that Lance and Pietro had proved themselves worthy of her time when they came to Mexico to help in the fight against Apocalypse, Kitty was unable to change his attitude towards the two Brotherhood boys. He still stood in the doorway glaring, still imposed strict rules and regulations about the time Kitty and the other young X-Men spent mingling with the Brotherhood boys. To Logan they are thugs, and there is no sense in changing his mind, though Kitty feels he could be a bit more empathetic towards them. "Like, I'm sure you know what it's like to be the guy who everyone thought was no good," Kitty would tell Logan, in an attempt to reason with him; though Logan's only response was to shrug.
Kitty feels relief when she notices that Logan is not looming in the doorway as the Jeep comes into view. She quickly rushes to the doors, running her fingers through her slightly-moistened hair for a final time. Logan rounds the corner just as Kitty bolts through the door, hears him call after her when she is heading towards the car. "What's up?" she asks, phasing her head and shoulders through the glass entrance. "Eleven o'clock, no later," Logan says, eyeing the attire of his young student. "And cover up," he barks before turning on his heel and heading towards the kitchen. Kitty rolls her eyes, and slinks down the cement stairs towards Lance and his silver-haired friend.
"Looking good Pryde," Pietro compliments as he climbs into the back seat of the Jeep. Kitty responds with a slight nod, and waits for Lance's reaction before taking her seat beside him. Lance appears to like what he sees—the studious girl with her auburn hair hanging about her shoulders, her tight black tank top exposing her toned midsection, and her tight dark jeans—though no words come out of his mouth. Kitty spins for him, asks if he likes what he sees, to which he can only nod. "Then let's get this party started!" Pietro cheers, thrusting the passenger door open for Kitty.
The three drive off, eager to dance and blend in with a crowd of normal people, though blissfully unaware of what events will unfold.
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