"Oh my gosh! I can't believe we're actually here!" Amara trilled for the third time. The rest of her party knowingly and promptly put their hands to their ears as she emitted a scream of joy that tested both her vocal chords and the ear buds of everyone surrounding. Amara was, by far, the most enthusiastic person in their group. The boys looked as though they were about to throw up, Tabitha looked disappointed, and Wolverine had a determined look splashed across his face, though no one was quite sure what could motivate him.

On stage, Alison Blaire, otherwise known as Dazzler, was putting on an amazing show. Back-up dancers populated the stage as she gyrated while singing. Every now and then she would gesture with her hands to emphasize a downbeat, and an amazing light effect would light up the air.

Dazzler was an anomaly in the pop world. Already in her late thirties, she had no past fame to fall back on and bolster her career. She been present in the music scene for the past decade, yes, but she had never been as popular as she was now. It was strange, but looking at her past efforts it seemed that her heart had never really been into it. Now, however, her act was refined. Her singing reflected training, and her dancing was practiced to a point of fluidity that failed to betray the many hours she had spent practicing with her choreographer. She was a pop sensation now, and her name was on everyone lips, making her almost as high profile as Madonna.

"I can't believe I'm actually here," Tabitha echoed Amara, but with ample depression evident in her voice.

"What are you talking about?" Wolverine asked gruffly, not sounding too interested in the answer to the question. "You were practically threatening me earlier today when you wanted to come here."

Tabitha rolled her eyes huffily. "Can't we just forget my past mistakes? Look, I made a huge error. There are practically no boys here! And the ones who are here are either attached to a girl or another boy… this totally sucks." Tabby folded her arms angrily, obviously not impressed with the raucous up on stage.

"I thought you said you weren't interested in boys," Logan replied, suppressing a grin for the sake of his own sanity.

"Yeah? And I thought you didn't care enough about a bunch of kids to take them to a concert that you're obviously not enjoying." At this, Tabitha threw an arm around her mentor. "You know, you really are getting soft." Then she laughed and removed the arm, deciding that she might as well pretend to enjoy being there. After all, there was a fine line between acting and reality.

Logan shook his head sadly. He almost wished that he had taken the kids here just so they could have a good time. They all deserved it; the training sessions since Apocalypse's appearance had been brutal. It was for their own good, but whenever Jamie or Amara were left near to tears, Logan wondered if he was taking it too far. They were just kids, after all.

Kids with raging hormones, apparently.

"Can you see alright?" Bobby asked, sidling up next to Amara. The standing room where they were wasn't too crowded, as most concert-goers had opted for seats, but Amara was still having to get up on her tip-toes to try and see around the rare tall boy escorting his girlfriend.

"Sometimes," Amara giggled, then groaned, frustrated, as a tall girl filled the gap between heads that Amara had been looking through. Sam, who had been watching as Amara was thwarted again and again, stepped forward to offer his help, but before he had a chance to speak up, Bobby did.

"Hey, why don't you get on my shoulders?" he offered. Sam, a little taken aback, hid his surprise and pretended he had never stopped watching the concert (which he was also pretending to vaguely dislike, as the Closet Worshippers constitution decreed).

"I don't know," Amara replied warily. "Don't you think I'll be too heavy?"

"Too heavy? Are you kidding?" Bobby laughed. "After carrying Sam on my shoulders a couple of times, no one can be too heavy!" Amara giggled at this, and nodded to consent.

In the hustle and bustle of getting Amara up onto Bobby's shoulders (she somehow had less grace than Sam), everyone in the group took notice.

"Hey, I can't see very well either," Tabitha announced loudly, to no one in particular.

"I thought you weren't enjoying the concert," Logan growled lowly, an amused smirk on his face.

"I might as well be able to see what I'm enjoying," she hissed, allowing no one else to hear but Logan. "Ray," she purred, turning toward the boy who she knew eyed her every time she left a room., "do you think I could get up on your shoulders?"

Jamie chose that moment to speak up, "I can't see at all!"

"Deal with it, pipsqueak," Ray said, messing up Jamie's hair before allowing Tabitha to get up on his shoulders.

"That's not fair! So what, I have to have boobs in order to get noticed?" He made a disgusted face. "Girls are gross!"

"Just wait until you're older, Jamie," Roberto sighed. "You'll understand. Or you won't, and you'll just play along anyway. It's what we're supposed to do."

"Not me! I'm never going to like girls like that. It's stupid and makes people act weird. I mean, weirder than usual. Weird without a reason. Or, at least, weird for a stupid reason!"

"I'll remember those words. Trust me, you'll regret saying them. One way or another, you will start to get interested in girls in that way. Or in boys, whatever. It's the way things are." Grinning, Roberto also messed up Jamie's already tasseled hair.

"And I like it that way!" Tabitha chimed in, laughing happily atop Ray's shoulders and acting like she had just made a conquest. The taller boy beneath her swayed lightly under her erratic motions, and grumbled to Bobby, who was also chuckling like he had made a conquest. On his shoulders, Amara was laughing gleefully to the music while Sam, almost at Amara's height, sighed morosely. Logan was the only one to notice, and assumed it was the rather annoying music of the concert that was getting to the boy, much it the same way it was getting to him. With a final grunt, Logan pushed the thought out of his mind and hoped that meeting with Allison Blaire would be worth all this torture

The concert ended with a great finale that consisted of a note held for an extremely long time followed by an explosion of lights that practically blinded the crowd, and Dazzler was gone. Everyone in the audience stayed for another five minutes shouting for an encore until it became obvious that she was not going to give them one. Disappointed, the crowd began to clear out. The X-kids all turned to Logan, waiting for some indication that they were leaving, but he seemed inclined to stay put.

Once almost everyone had filed out, he finally spoke up. "Well, I suppose she'll be ready now, let's head in." the students all looked at him quizzically.

"What?" Jamie said.

"I just heard some crazy talk," Tabitha added from atop Ray, as she had still not relinquished her new stronghold. Amara, however, had her feet firmly planted on the ground again, and also looked very confused.

"Logan, what are you talking about?" she asked.

"Oh, ah, we get to go backstage," he blurted out. "I know Allison- err… Dazzler… kind of."

There was silence, save the few concert goers still making their way out. It was pierced, however, before it could be fully enjoyed by those whose ears buzzed from the show, by a screech emitted by Amara.

"Oh! My! GAWD! Are you serious?" She was in a frenzy, ignoring the fact that she was going to regret her unregulated reaction later.

The boys were doing a much better job of containing their excitement, but barely. It was easily to tell that they were excited about meeting Allison Blaire, a fact that they would prefer to hide from persons such as Tabitha and Logan.

Swinging her legs around, Tabitha vaulted off of Ray, causing him to stumble a bit and glare at her, rubbing his neck. "Logan, are you sure you know Dazzler? I mean, this is really weird. You're out of touch with stuff like this, I mean."

"Look," he replied, glaring. "I know her and now you kids get to meet her, so you can either come back stage with me, or you can go wait in the van." With that he stalked off toward an entrance blocked by a security guard. Shrugging, the rest of the kids followed him. Amara led them, a giddy look and a smile plastered on her face.

Logan reached the guard, who asked for his name.

"Logan."

Checking over his list, the guard shook his head, and motioned for them to leave.

"Okay," Logan growled, shaking his head, "try 'Wolverine'"

The guard looked again, and then motioned that they all could enter. Wolverine stalked in, and Bobby ran to catch up so he could talk to Logan. "Wolverine? She knows you're Wolverine? How does a pop star know about your not-all-that-secret identity. Are we about to end up in the middle of something bad… you know, like usual?"

"Look kid," Logan replied, "I'd appreciate you leaving me alone. I have some business to take care of, and you kids to look after. I don't really need to explain myself so long as no one ends up maimed, right?"

"Sure…" Bobby fell back, giving Tabitha and Ray a look that let them know they needed to be on alert.

They were all led into a room that had a star on the door, and was obviously Allison's dressing room. Bobby was ready for anything. He was prepared. He knew what happened when Wolverine's past came for a visit, and he wasn't going to be caught off guard. His future embarrassment at fainting at the sight of the Dazzler was total understandable.