Chapter 6

Lance smirked when lunchtime rolled around. Just as he'd predicted, Tabitha was flirting like crazy with a very freaked out Pietro and didn't seem to understand he was struggling to get away and not closer to her. He wasn't paying much attention, however, and instead was focused on Kitty. She seemed to be deep in conversation with the X-geeks, but Lance had few qualms about interrupting whatever unimportant discussion they were having.

As he neared, he felt his hackles rise when he heard Kitty's voice. Why the hell would she be talking about that creep? She should be telling them how much she missed him! Lance wouldn't admit he felt more than a little upset she wasn't crying over him, but rather was telling her friends how amazing "Piotr" was for giving her a ride.

"And when I asked if it was okay, he said 'It is no problem, Katya, I am happy to be of help.'" Kitty sighed dreamily. "Can you believe how awesome he is? How many guys would do that for a girl and not complain?"

Jean put a reassuring hand on Scott's shoulder, and snuggled closer to her boyfriend. He grinned and wrapped an arm around her, well aware of the glaring from across the room. Duncan and Taryn were dating now, but they still hadn't gotten over their rejection from a few months prior.

"Scott's sweet enough to do that," Jean reminded Kitty. The valley girl blinked and glared at Scott, remembering suddenly how he'd left her behind.

"You mean like how he left me today? How you all left me?" she asked angrily. Scott and the others shared an amused look.

"I'm sorry, Kitty," Scott apologized. "I was just in such a hurry…But are you really mad? I mean if I had stayed, you wouldn't have scored the chance to ride with Colossus."

"Yeah," Kitty sighed again, "I guess you're righ…Hey! You planned that didn't you?" she accused more than asked with sudden realization. The X-men turned away or coughed, while Scott and Jean began whistling innocently and looking anywhere but at Kitty.

"I have no idea what you mean," Scott said. Kitty could just make out a smile threatening to appear on his face, and she allowed herself a good laugh. She should've guessed! He was just as bad as Rogue!

"Oh you…" she trailed off, unable to think of a word to describe him. Jean looked defensive at first, ready to protect her boyfriend, but when Kitty only smiled she relaxed and leaned against him.

"Kitty!" the masculine voice startled the mutants, and all turned to stare at the approaching Lance. Well, Kitty stared, her friends glared and Scott fisted one of his hands under the table. A quick look had him leaning back with a disappointed frown on his face. She didn't want a fight on her behalf.

"Lance? Can I help you?" Kitty asked bravely, looking at him coolly. She thought she'd done a good job acting aloof, but he merely smiled at her.

"I really need to talk to you. Alone." Lance looked pointedly at Scott and Kurt, the two most protective of the younger girl.

Kurt started to rise, but Kitty quickly placed a soothing hand on his shoulder. He halted and sat back down, glaring distrustfully at Lance. Kitty looked at him with questioning blue eyes, unsure what he could possibly want to discuss. She made sure to keep close to Kurt just in case he tried something right here. Didn't he have Tabitha anyway?

"What do you want, Lance?" Kitty asked harsher than intended. "If you can tell me, you can tell my friends."

"Okay," Lance frowned. He didn't like this sudden bravery Kitty acquired. What happened to the scared girl he met so long ago? The girl he used to break into their old school to change their grades. Never matter, he decided. He would just come out and say it. "I want to get back together."

"WHAT!?"

Several heads turned at the sudden shout, staring at the standing Scott and Kurt. Actually, everyone at the "Xavier" table, as they called it, was standing except for Pryde. She looked too shocked to do anything. Whispers broke out about what could possibly be happening, and the students watched on with anticipation.

"Uh, I think we should talk alone," Kitty said, finally coming back to herself.

She tried to stand, found herself to weak too, shook away the unease and shock, and stood again. Looking at Lance, she smiled nervously and glanced at his table from the corner of her eye. The Brotherhood was watching them interestedly, and Tabitha was shooting her an "if looks could kill" glare. Briefly, Kitty felt satisfaction at making Tabitha Smith jealous, but she quickly shook it away and followed Lance out of the lunchroom. Not without shooting her friends a warning look though, and mentally telling Jean to keep Scott and Kurt in the cafeteria.

The redhead looked unsure at the request, but conceded when Kitty pleaded for her to just do that one thing. She promised to scream as loud as she could and send Jean a message of what was happening if he tried anything. Otherwise, she wanted her to make sure Scott and Kurt didn't do something that would get them suspended – especially Scott whom would soon be graduating and didn't need to be on Kelly's bad side.

When they were out of the cafeteria, Kitty stopped walking. Lance continued on for a few steps before realizing she was still by the doors and turning back to her. Kitty crossed her arms, feeling a bit more secure and glared at Lance threateningly, or at least as threateningly as she could. Being Kitty, it wasn't a truly scary glare, but it got the point across. She wouldn't be going anywhere until he explained himself further.

"What do you mean you want to get back together?" she demanded. "What about Tabitha?"

"Tabitha isn't what I thought she'd be," Lance said softly. He ran a hand through his hair, a gesture Kitty used to adore but now paid little attention too. "I can't stop thinking about you when I'm with her."

"You weren't thinking about either of us when you were eyeing Eleanor!" Kitty exclaimed and immediately chastised herself for doing so. Now he knew for sure she'd been watching him at the restaurant, exactly what she didn't need Lance to find out!

He had to think for a few minutes as to whom Eleanor was, but then the waitress came to mind and he smirked. He knew Kitty was watching him, but that she'd said it aloud only made it all the more real. It made him feel good to know she'd been jealous, even as she protested his offer now.

"Jealous?" he teased lightly. Kitty hmphed and tightened her arms around her.

"Not likely," she retorted. Lance could hear the slight tremble in her voice though, a tale-tale sign she was lying. He grinned inwardly, but only smiled slightly on the outside. He didn't need her to know he'd already caught her where he wanted her.

"I forgot about her seconds later," he told her. "My eyes kept finding you and that…that…thing."

"Thing? Piotr is NOT a thing!" Kitty exclaimed heatedly. Unwrapping her arms, she poked his chest dangerously, and Lance actually backed up a few steps. He'd never seen Kitty so angry before. "Piotr is a very special man! He doesn't see the point in flirting with everything that moves, he listens to what I have to say, and he is a much better boyfriend than you!"

As soon as the words left her mouth, Kitty clamped her hands over her mouth. How could she say such a thing? Piotr and she weren't dating, and she'd just implied they were! Actually, she just said he was her boyfriend outright! How would he take this news? She couldn't take it back now though; Lance already heard it and he would never let her live it down if she told him she wasn't dating Piotr!

"Um…I mean…"

"You…" Lance said slowly, his face ghostly white, "and Tin-man?"

Kitty gulped, then gathered her courage, silently apologized to Piotr, and glared at Lance. "His name is Piotr, and yes, we're dating!"

Slowly, Lance's frown melted into a smile. "Hahaha! You had me goin' there for a second, pretty Kitty."

Kitty winced at the nickname she used to love so much. Somehow it wasn't as pleasant as Katya anymore. She glared at him, and silently hoped she wasn't making a terrible mistake by doing this. Anger had taken over, however, and she didn't give it too much thought before glaring at Lance. How dare he think she couldn't get a boyfriend?

"I'll have you know Piotr and I are very happy together! In fact, that night at the restaurant was our first date!" she smiled smugly. It wasn't a complete lie. It really had been a date, and the first one they'd ever gone on. Unfortunately, she thought, it would probably also be the only one they ever went on. She'd be lucky if Piotr even talked to her after she told him about this.

Lance snorted. "You must not be too happy then, otherwise you wouldn't have been watching me and Tabby."

"I was only wondering if we'd ever get our own waitress!" Kitty said, though she knew the lie was weak. She'd never been good at lying like Rogue and Remy were. Hell, even Scott was a better liar than her. Luckily, Jean couldn't lie very well either or else she might feel left out.

"Riiight," Lance drawled. He quite obviously didn't believe a word Kitty said.

Feeling her anger grow by the minute, Kitty huffed and pulled him back into the cafeteria. She only vaguely noticed everyone's eyes on hers as she marched to her table and stopped next to Scott. He'd been leaning back in his chair so it tilted on two legs much to Jean's ire (she hated when people didn't use chairs the right way, but loved Scott and thought he looked too cute tilting back like that to complain), but he dropped it as soon as Kitty stopped next to him. He looked between her and Lance, silently asking if she wanted him to take care of the problem.

"Scott, would you be a dear and tell Lance," she spat out his name as though it were poison, "that Piotr and I are most definitely dating?"

"Wha?" Scott started, surprised by her request. Catching on quickly, and thinking of how he and Rogue might use this to their advantage, he smirked smugly at Lance. "Of course you are, Kit. Why else would he drive you to school today after I left? Most guys would just make you walk if you weren't dating them."

Lance frowned. As much as he hated to say it, Scooter had a point there. He wouldn't put it past those X-geeks to help each other out though, and he refused to believe Kitty would possibly move on. However, something in Scott's tone told him he was very serious about their relationship existing. Really, he knew it would one day exist and was very serious about that, but Lance didn't need to know that little bit of information.

"Fine," Lance growled, "but this isn't over yet."

Looking pointedly at Kitty, he stalked back to his table. As soon as he sat down, Tabitha was climbing all over him again. Kitty just barely held in her lunch at the sight of it, and instead took her seat and turned away from them. She was all too aware of Lance's glare, but ignored it as best she could.

"So, when did you and Piotr start dating?" Jean asked interestedly.

"We aren't," Kitty groaned, placing her head in her hands.

"What?" Jean frowned. "But you said…" she looked at Scott questioningly. "And you said…"

"I know," Kitty sobbed. "What am I going to tell him when we get back?"

"The truth," Scott said thoughtfully. Kitty looked at him as though he'd lost his mind, but he wasn't looking at her. Rather, he was smirking at some unseen thing above him – or maybe it was just the ceiling, you couldn't really tell when sunglasses were constantly covering his eyes. "You'll tell him the truth."

"But he'll hate me!" Kitty exclaimed. "He'll—"

"I doubt that," Jean pointed out. "Piotr wouldn't hate you if you ruined one of his paintings!"

"Maybe you're right," Kitty sighed. "But I can't tell him the truth."

"If you don't," Scott said, "I will. He'll find out one way or another, you might as well get it over with. Besides, soon enough it'll be true."

This time Jean smiled with him. Kitty felt her hopes raise a little at their words, though she wasn't too sure if those smiles were any good. She certainly wouldn't mind if it were true though. Nodding, she decided to spend the rest of lunch thinking over how she would explain this new dilemma to Piotr. Meanwhile, Jean and Scott conversed quietly and the rest of the X-men wisely decided to just stay out of it. Really, it was the best idea they could think of.

&&&&&&

"Rogue!" Scott called as he ran through the mansion with Jean. "Gambit, Magma, Pyro!"

The couples poked their heads out of their respective rooms, looking rather irritated. They piled into the hall where Jean and Scott were smiling widely. Apparently, Amara decided to skip school again to spend time with Pyro. That would explain why no one had seen her throughout the day, and with the professor and everyone else too afraid to really go near them when either couple was "in the mood", they weren't likely to be scolded until later about it.

"What is it, sugah?" Rogue asked, placing her hands on her hips. At least they'd all had the decency to be dressed before coming into the hall.

"Dis best be good, homme," Remy threatened, though they knew he wouldn't do too much harm.

"Yeah," Pyro agreed, "we were busy!"

"It's about Kitty and Piotr," Scott said before Amara could add her two cense. Immediately, they shut up.

"What happened?" Rogue asked eagerly. Scott grinned.

"Well…"

As he explained what happened, their irritation melted into amusement. Finally, Rogue clapped her hands gleefully. This would indeed aid them. After all, when two people pretended to be in a relationship, what else could come of it except love? This was gonna be good.