The rest of the morning went by fairly slowly, at least for Scott. Most of the occupied students didn't notice, as they were actually engaged in something. He'd brought a book, but it was so easy to get sidetracked, now that she wouldn't notice him staring (though it would have been preferable for her to be able to talk with him). Lunch time approached, gradually as it was, and the buses swung into a small, Massachusetts Town for a pit stop and to top off the gas tanks.
Gratefully, the students stood stiffly and waddled their way off of the warm, heated bus and into the cool Massachusetts air. Scott groaned as he stood up, limbs stretching and limbering up as he strained his legs and stretched his arms over his head. After stretching, Scott turned to the still snoozing Katie and leaned over her. As gently as possible, he tapped the back of Katie's hand. Shaking it as well, mumbling: "Katie... Katie... wake up... we've stopped. It's time for lunch..."
"mmm..." she mumbled incoherently, blinking as she came to herself. "Wha?" She added, wondering why she was so comfy and looking up at the (as usual) attractive Scott, who hadn't quite let go of her hand... "Ooh... riight. The trip." Sitting up, she smiled at him, before, with a stray glance out the window, realizing where exactly she was. Katie gasped. "Oh my god." she breathed. They were in her and Nicole's hometown.
Scott, who hadn't the slightest clue to what was going on, peered at Katie in concern. "What, what is it?" He said his voice sharp and alert. Was there something amiss?
"This is where I live. This is my hometown..."
He looked at her puzzled for a moment, before realizing. "Oh, right, Wilmington! So this", he looked out of the window again, appraising the Cumberland Farms that they were parked at, across from a small plaza (the main attraction of which was a Market Basket). "This is Wilmington?"
Katie sighed. "Yes. This, as exciting as it is, is my hometown." She paused for a moment, considering staying inside the bus.
He saw the look on her face, in the set of her mouth. "Maybe you'll see someone you know…?"
She smiled, lips twitching sarcastically. "That's kind of what I'm afraid of."
"Well," Scott sighed, running his fingers through his hair before smiling gently, "You do need to eat, so... I suggest you go into the store, buy yourself a sandwich, and if you see anyone that you don't want to talk to... run back to the bus before they realize who you are." he suggested, laughing when Katie looked at him as if he were somewhat insane.
Katie smiled quirkily, "You know, that's exactly like something Nicole would suggest," She laughed, "and me being me, I usually listen to what she says. Even if lands me in extremely bad situations. But, here goes..." Katie fixed her face as if she were about to enter a funeral as she got up. Scott allowed her to pass him, and she momentarily disappeared while descending the bus stairs.
Katie was gone but a minute before her head reappeared, looking nervous. "Uhm... could you- Well, I mean... you need lunch too right? Could you come with me?"
He smiled at her, running a hand through his hair again. Like he would ever (could ever) say no to such a simple, request? Especially from her... her dismal expression made him ache unpleasantly, as though facing some sort of guillotine. "Of course I can."
Katie's anxious face melted into relief. "Oh... thankyouthankyouthankyou..." she exhaled as she disappeared from view once more.
Snorting with amusement, Scott followed at his own leisurely pace, finally stepping out and into a brilliantly sunlight afternoon. He was quite glad at that moment that he was forced to wear sunglasses. Katie on the other hand was squinting, shading her eyes with her hand, waiting for him a few feet away from the bus. Scott smiled. "'K, lets go." he prompted.
Katie smiled, nodding. The two of them walked the few feet that were between the bus and the quaint little store. Scott had just began to open the door for Katie when-
"KATIEEEE!!!!" A mass of blond hair obstructed Katie's vision momentarily as, Lindsay, a friend of hers and Nicole's. Lindsay, among a select few other people, was one of the only ones who Katie and Nicole sorely missed.
Katie hugged Lindsay back enthusiastically; looking the happiest she'd looked all day. "LINDSAY!"
"KATIE!" they hopped around for a moment in that happy, giggly way teenage girls have. "What are you doing here?" Lindsay asked at last, still grinning.
"We're on a field trip," Katie gestured towards the buses. "And we ended up stopping by here!" Any more happy exclamations were cut short by the arrival of another streak, this one only blonde-highlighted, as another one of those few friends crashed into Katie's other side.
Katie jumped as a name tag bit into her side as Hillary, in a mauve Market Basket uniform jacket, gave her remaining side a bone crushing squeeze. Light blue/grey eyes sparkled in excitement and her mouth was wide open. "Oh my god, you whore! Why didn't you tell me you were coming to visit? I would have taken a day from work! You're so lucky that it's my lunch break. I misss yoouuuuuuuuuuu..."
Scott, standing off on the sideline, blinked at them, utterly confused. Not only was it a shocking reminder that Katie was indeed still a teenager, but the display of utter teenage-girl-ishness managed to completely confuse him. Apparently 'whore' was a term of endearment? Why did they insist on squishing each other? Did they all act like this? He'd never really paid that much attention before...
Unfortunately, Scott being unaware of his teenage heart throb worthy appearance, he raked his hand through his hair in confusion. This sudden movement disturbed the precariously balanced calm that had just begun to settle among the girls. The two new girls' heads whipped to face him in a flurry of hair, three monochromatic sets of differently shaded blue eyes stared at him. Katie's attempting to apologize in advance as if to say, whatever happens, I am so sorry. Lindsay and Hillary both grinned both sheepishly and slyly at Scott, who didn't know what to do. "Oh... Katie... who's your friend?"
"Um..." Katie looked around, as though trying to find someone to save her from this massively awkward situation. What was she supposed to do? They obviously agreed that he was attractive, and were probably hoping that he was an older, available student. "That's Scott, my math teacher."
Hillary and Lindsay simultaneously exchanged a look of complete disbelief. "But-but..." Lindsay began, more than a bit puzzled.
Hillary eyed Scott suspiciously. "Then why-?" Hillary began to inquire.
Scott flushed, looking extremely uncomfortable in the unwelcome lime light. He rushed to explain. "I'm a chaperone for Katie's group for the trip. We're just making a pit stop to buy sandwiches and to fill up the gas tanks before we head off..."
Katie looked from Scott to her friends, wishing that a) this wasn't such an awkward situation, and b) that they could have met under different circumstances... "Well, I'm going to go get something to eat with them... you don't need to wait for me or anything..." Katie mumbled, edging away from the group, trying not to hurt anyone's feelings or give anyone the wrong idea about any relationships.
Scott, glad to have an exit, nodded impassively. "Make sure to be back before twelve forty-five! We wouldn't want to leave you here." Without another look at her he ducked inside the store, bent on finally getting his long awaited scone and a strong cup of coffee.
The minute Scott left them, Hillary's head whipped to face Katie in a whirl of thick golden brown hair. "You creep! I can't believe you're hanging out with a teacher. Even if he is amazingly, uber hearthrobtastic." she hollered a little on the loud side.
"Say it a bit louder Hill, I don't think Dublin quite heard you clearly enough." Katie hissed, pouting in the direction of some locals who had paused to stare at the group of girls incredulously. She and her two companions began making their way inside the store; none of them had had anything to eat yet.
Hillary rolled her eyes, "Har har. Why don't you hang out with Colie instead of your teacher? Is she not hot enough for you?" She commented derisively, looking at the rows of packaged sandwiches as though they had a hand in the conspiracy.
Katie gave Hillary a warning look. "I'm not hanging out with him 'cause he's hot, I'm hanging out with him because Nicole's sick and I don't have anyone else I know to sit with, alright? Nicole's not here or I would be hanging out with her!" Really, it was bad enough what she put herself through in her own mind about the whole infatuation-thing; she didn't need Hillary telling her what a creep she was. She tried to keep her voice (and those of her friends) down. No need to let any of the other students in on their conversation. Fishing out a chicken salad sandwich from the case, she began eyeing the drink cases.
Lindsay sucked in a breath. "Colie? She's sick? And all alone? How could you do that?" she asked concern in her eyes, balancing her Sprite on top of her turkey sandwich as she wrestled with the case door.
Katie couldn't help but smile, her lips curling upward in complete and utter amusement and sarcasm. "Well, she's not exactly alone..." she suggested, "Though she would have been better off alone..." Katie shrugged. They got into line, which was thankfully short as most of the students were still hanging around, not thinking about lunch.
Lindsay furrowed her brow. "What d'you mean... not exactly alone. Are their other students that didn't go on the trip? Who's staying with her?" she inquired, befuddled.
"They left Logan to see to her." Katie replied, her face looking sour.
Hillary's expression took on a dawning sense of foreboding. "Why, who is Logan...?"
Katie's voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper, she didn't want any of the other students listening in. "Well, it's complicated..." She began with Logan's and Nicole's less-than-stellar meeting, to their frequent fights, and his apparent crusade to claim her virginity. "And I don't think they would have let me stay with her without a really good reason... and that would mean telling the whole story... So now she'd stuck. All alone with Logan. For like a week." Katie finished. It was their turn at the register; further discussion was stalled as the three paid for their lunches and left the store (Katie sending Scott, who was waiting for everyone else to have gotten their lunch before he bought anything, an appreciative and vaguely apologetic look).
The look that both Lindsay and Hillary exchanged was very grave indeed, as they sat down on the pavement in front of the Cumberland Farms. Lindsay cleared her throat, clearly not sure whether to laugh or be concerned. "You left Nicole with an older, perverted, hairy man?! It's not that I don't trust him, I'm sure he has some sort of sense of the law... I'd be more afraid of Nicole actually giving in to his advances..." she worried, her blue green eyes sparkling with slight humor. She wiggled her eyebrows theatrically.
Hillary, who had a slightly less optimistic view on the subject decided: "She'll have been laid by Monday. Pregnant already, even." They ate as they talked,
Katie laughed a bit at this. "I can't say I disagree... I'll have to call Nicole tonight, try and give her some moral fiber." The conversation then changed to what had been going on in good ole Wilmington, and would have gone on for quite some time if a high, nasty voice hadn't interrupted (by this time, they had finished eating).
"Hey, look, its The Freak!" Katie, with her back to the voice, spun around in alarm. Several of the other mutant students who had already eaten did as well, knowing what that person had meant. Mostly this meant Pyro's group, who'd drifted closer (obviously, Pyro wanting some of the foxy ladies Katie was chatting with).
"Oh, shit." Katie muttered to herself.
Katie had turned to face a fairly large group of 'Wilmies'. The generic, typical band of losers who thought that they were 'gangsta' and hip, yo. Wrong. Altogether there had to be at least half a dozen of them. The girl who had cried out "It's the freak", being in the middle, and she just happened to be the smallest of the bunch. She had shoulder length brown hair and a rather unpleasant mousy face, including the slightly larger front two teeth. She had an anorexic look about her and she wore a very unpleasant sneer on her freckly face. "Well," she drawled, "Look who's back in town. Where did you go anyway... did you get a scholarship to some gay school for the defected? Or did you just get tired of getting caught sticking your fingers in outlets in public?"
There came a resounding "Oooh." from the girl's peers.
A girl next to her giggled manically. "Good one, Kaylie."
Hillary could be heard behind Katie grumbling, "Whore... you little anorexic whore…"
Katie pursed her lips, feeling the buzzing, angry spark of fury ignite within her. She was suddenly very aware of every particle of energy that hung in the cool air, felt the electricity running through the wires and into lights in the stores, heard the faint electric hum of the refrigerators. "Shut up. For your information, I was invited to join a private school. You know, one of those places were people learn. Away from bigoted trash like you."
The previously furious clicking of the lighter slowed, and it was then that Katie realized how close over some of her other, newer, friends had drifted.
One of the taller girls, just as skinny with a more masculine face and her blonde hair hairsprayed in a large lump at the top of her head, glared at Katie as though she was some sort of bug. "You're just jealous cuz she's a real person, not some fucked up shit like you." This other girl snarled, with a self-satisfied, ugly smirk.
Pyro's lighter resumed its furious clicking, and Katie could hear him growling angrily. Both Bobby and Kitty had entered the mob of Xavier students and had similar scowls of disgust on their faces. Katie growled in frustration. "Why on earth would I be jealous of any one of you, never mind her?" She pointed a finger accusingly at 'Kaylie', feeling a faint spark about to sprout from its tip. The ends of Katie's hair were just beginning to crackle. "All you guys are is a group of wise asses who think that you're amazing just because you are 'normal'." Katie blustered.
Pyro nodded fiercely behind her, taking a few daring steps towards the group of antagonists, his lighter clicking open to show a quick flare of flame before snapping shut. "You guys have got a lot of nerve, thinking that you're high and mighty just because you're normal. The way I see it, is that you're not normal, you're just the weaker species. We're stronger than you; we've got abilities that you couldn't even dream of. We're the future."
A charged silence (somewhat literally as well, as a few small, spider-web-y sparks had escaped Katie's control and were crackling about her temples.) greeted Pyro's announcement. At any other time, Katie would not have agreed, as she thought of herself as an equal, not superior. But now, angriest she'd been since she left Wilmington, it was hard not to get carried away.
The 'Wilmies' seemed vaguely stunned, as though his vocabulary had overloaded their tiny brains. "Bitch." one of the before-silent anorexic chicks, this one with quite the nose, reached out and slapped Katie across the face. There was a bright flash of light as the electricity transferred to the girl's hand and the equivalent of several electric fences shocked up the girl's arm.
Katie jumped back with an "Oh," surprised and in some pain as Erica (the girl)'s false nails opened a cut on her cheek.
Scott's mind was elsewhere as he stood in line to pay for his coffee and scone. Katie had looked so very awkward when her friends had asked who he was. Was it because she'd been disgusted by the idea of thinking about him as more than just a teacher? Or had she just been concerned with not wanting him to over hear her brushing it off? Or had (maybe? possibly? hopefully?) she'd been afraid to let him over hear her agree? Deep in his own thoughts, he did not see the pandemonium outside.
Meanwhile, the pandemonium was just beginning. A few of the 'Wilmie' guys strode forward, their overly baggy pants billowing around their skinny legs, and twisting their caps to the side. "Yo, that's not cool, are you retahted (retarded) or something?" one of them grunted, his lip curling as he looked Katie up and down. Katie barely had enough energy to respond, she merely stared down at the blood shining on her fingertips. The boy advanced a little more. "Hey, you bitch, I said: Are you retahted or somethin'?" He hollered a little more aggressively.
Pyro advanced, pushing Katie back slightly in defense. "Back off."
The kid swaggered forward a bit more, aggressively, sunlight glinting off of his glittery, rapper-style diamond earring. "What the fuck are you gonna do to me? Huh?" He challenged Pyro. Built like a football player, with broad shoulders and not much neck; he obviously did not seem particularly intelligent. "Get the fuck out of my way."
Raising and eyebrow, Pyro stepped towards his assailant so that they were directly face to face. "Oh, I could do a lot of things. None of which you would like very much." Pyro growled, slowly holding up his lighter and flicking it open in the blink of an eye. The guy, Mike, snorted in that way that stupid people snort to make it look like they were laughing at you because they know more than you do. "What are ya gunna do, steal my smokes or somethin'? Gimme a break freak."
"I should warn you first..." Pyro commented offhand, looking pleased with himself. "But I don't really want to." Before Mike could comment, or even think about moving, the lighter was flicked open in Pyro's hand. The flame did not stay small, as light flames do, but grew. Grinning, Pyro (thoroughly earning his name), flicked the mass of fire so that it caught the center of Mike's white sweatshirt.
The flames licked up Mike's white shirt, eating it away from his skin and barely grazing his chest. He stumbled backward with an ill concealed scream of fright. The feminine portion of both sides wailed with shock, covering their mouths with their hands. The shock wore off rather quickly as almost all of the 'Wilmie's surged forward to avenge their comrade.
It was unclear who made the first blow but the fight sparked then caught on with all who were involved, bystanders and participants. Mutant and Human boys rolled around in a large brawl, their fists landing where ever they could find an opportune spot. Meanwhile the girls fought in a slightly more vicious fashion, false nails scraping into faces and clumps of hair being ripped from their heads as they grabbed hold of each other, emitting screams and hisses of an entirely animalistic nature.
Katie tried to grab a hold of the bitch that'd gotten behind her. One hand was yanking at her hair, bringing water to her eyes, the other groping for her neck. Managing to find the girl's hand, Katie (pissed off and in pain) shocked her. Feeling her convulse through the electric current, before finally collapsing in a faint (apparently Katie'd been a bit overenthusiastic and used a bit too much); she took a moment to survey the brawl. Hopefully a teacher would notice soon, before the Wilmies got too hurt... things were getting nasty.
Katie had just enough time to see that Kitty had Erica in a headlock and Bobby was freezing anyone who gained enough momentum to actually potentially hurt anyone before she was yanked into a huddle of brawling girls by the hair. Searing pain shot through her head as a good handful of hair was wrenched from her head. That's what it felt like anyhow. In truth it was only a small amount of hair that Kaylie ripped from Katie's scalp.
Katie screamed in pain. "Ah, oww! Someone get Scott!" she wailed, trying to escape the scratching talons and vise like grips of the girls.
Hillary heard Katie's plea and quickly elbowed a bitch in the ribs before sprinting into Cumberland Farms as fast as she could. "Scott!"
Scott had just finished paying for his coffee and scone (giving the empty picture slot in his wallet a guilty look), when a mostly unfamiliar voice yelled his name. "What?" Looking up, he saw one of Katie's friends run in, panicking.
"Scott!" She called again, making sure she got his attention. "There's this huge fight going on outside!"
Scott snapped to attention. "Fight? What do you mean, fight?" he said, quickly, his expression hardening.
Hillary's light eyes widened expressively, "A fight you know like:" she motioned punching someone and then motioned using a mutant power. "Like that."
Scott couldn't help but snort slightly before putting down his coffee and scone
, telling the cashier to guard them with his life, then followed Hillary outside. Outside was total mayhem. Adolescent Wilmington residents and the students were battling it out tooth and claw. The girls mostly, a few of them bleeding badly from the faces and necks from scratches, letting out screeches like banshees. "Oh shit."
Best thing to do first would be to break up the girls, he determined. They were the ones drawing blood, and looking as though they really did mean to kill each other. "That's IT! Break it up!" he yelled at them, trying to act officious enough to make them pay attention to him. Only one of the Wilmington girls, the one Kitty had just released from the headlock looked up at him.
"Who the fuck are you?" She asked calmly, before trying to get back to clawing out Kitty's eyes.
Scowling, Scott mentally made a note to do something about his 'officious' tone. It apparently did nothing. Striding forward, he grabbed a hold of the girl by the back of her shirt, holding her back. She screeched in protest, still trying to get a hold on Kitty's face. Scott growled, calming down enough to utter in her ear in an eerily calm voice: "I am, or could be, your worst nightmare. Kindly keep your hands to yourself."
The girl paused in her thrashing momentarily before shouting, "Fuck off you creep!" she shouted.
Scott sighed, violently hoisting the girl up by the back of her shirt to hang a few feet from the air, hoping to high heaven that the shirt was sturdy. The girl screamed, attracting everyone's attention. The boys separated from each other, glancing curiously up at the thrashing bitch in the air high above Scott's head. "Clear out! All of you! Students, get on the buses, NOW."
Katie picked herself up off of the ground gratefully, looking relieved as did most of the other students. Pyro, on the other hand, looked loathe to stop tormenting these arrogant bastards... but even he back down and made for the buses when Scott gave him a very unamused look, still holding the girl off of the ground.