Samiamf69: Yes, to make a contrast with everyone else, Amara is the rich girl who's a snob, but really has her heart in the right place.
To be honest, Bobby found the dioramas, with the fake animals with their glass eyes standing still in their habitats and everything, to be a bit creepy.
He wasn't scared of them or anything but the models were created to look so realistic that the result was rather weird to see them posing stationary in a museum. After a while, it kind of felt like he was staring at animal carcasses in each exhibit. And once that thought was in his mind, it wouldn't go away and he was beginning to feel uncomfortable.
Piotr, though, didn't seem to be bothered by this. With his artist's eyes, he studied each diorama, as if memorizing the scene with his eyes to draw later, once he had a sketchpad and a pencil. Starting in the first hall they entered, the name of which Bobby didn't remember (Something with mammals?), Piotr remained at each diorama for an average of seven minutes (At the third one, Bobby had been bored enough to time him), longer than he spent at any other exhibit and Bobby stayed with him through each and every one.
Now that they were at the final diorama, Bobby was worrying that their group had already departed for the next hall. This diorama was the last one at the end of the corridor, and somewhat isolated from the others. Too anxious to focus on the diorama's subject, which was something about ancient oceans, he let Piotr examine the exhibit while he turned his back and faced the rest of the upper level, watching the empty hall outside of the little alcove.
He was just falling into a stupor of tedium when he saw two familiar figures walk past; Saint-John Allerdyce and Jean-Paul Martin, clad in all black and striding swiftly down that hall like a pair ninjas moving stealthily in the night.
"Hey," he said.
Piotr's gaze shifted to him in an instant, fully attentive despite being absorbed in the diorama only seconds earlier. "What is it?"
"I just saw Saint-John and Jean-Paul walk by here. But there's nothing up in the direction they're going. Let's follow them to see what they're doing."
Bobby hadn't even finished talking when he started off, with Piotr on his heels, objecting in his deep voice intoned with a Russian accent.
"This is not a good idea, Bobby," he said as they hurried to the very end of the hallway. "You do not like Jean-Paul very much and I know that he doesn't think very much of you. You would only be antagonizing him."
Bobby wasn't paying attention to his friend's words. He was focusing on the upcoming dead end. "Where could they- " he began, but then he glimpsed another smaller alcove, containing only a door marked with an "Employees Only" sign. "They went in there," he told Piotr.
"So let them go," Piotr said with a shrug. "They will get caught, but we will have stayed out of trouble."
However, Bobby had already opened the door and entered, knowing that he could count on Piotr to follow.
They found themselves quickly descending a staircase, heading to an exit sign hanging above a metal door at the bottom and another corridor. The two stopped when they reached it.
"Do you think we could open the door and not set off an alarm?" Piotr inquired.
"I don't know," Bobby said, starting off and walking down the hall a few steps. It led to a door marked "Employees' Lounge" and another further down with sign that read "Employee Museum Entrance." Then he said, "They must have gone out that way. Let's follow them."
He didn't give Piotr the chance to protest before he cautiously cracked the door open, only a few centimeters. No alarms, no flashing lights, nothing.
"Let's roll," Bobby said, pushing the door open wider, and walking out, Piotr following suit.
He could see Jean-Paul and Saint-John a little ways ahead, strolling casually along a concrete walkway, as if they were merely tourists enjoying the sights.
"After them!" Bobby hissed to Piotr and they took off, sprinting toward their classmates. "Jean-Paul!" He called once they were only a dozen feet away.
Both them turned, Saint-John with raised eyebrows and Jean-Paul with a slightly more vicious scowl than usual. "What are you doing?"
"I could ask you the same thing," Bobby retorted.
Saint-John glanced at Jean-Paul, who barely looked at him. Bobby was reminded of how starkly different Jean-Paul was from the rest of the students. With his unchangingly expressionless face, icy demeanor, and winter pale complexion, he was closer in resemblance to a cold, white marble statue enchanted by some supernatural means rather than a human with blood coursing through his veins, especially when reviewing his behavior, which was strikingly dissonant in comparison with that of his peers.
The two companions held eye contact for such a long time that Bobby was reminded of the shared gaze between two movie love interests before they kissed.
Finally, one of them spoke. "We're ditching," Saint-John declared.
"We'll come with you." The words slipped out of Bobby's mouth before he could think properly. He heard Piotr sigh beside him.
A guarded look descended on Jean-Paul's handsome features. "Please don't," he said, though there was little venom in his voice.
"You two don't know much about the city," Bobby said. He gestured to Jean-Paul, "You spent all of your life in boarding school and you," he turned to Saint-John, "lived in a rural-ish suburb with your dad and stepmom."
The smile on Saint-John's face became slightly less amused and more ironic (read: sarcastic). "Sounds like Jubilation Lee is still reading the files in Professor Xavier's office and gossiping about us."
"Look," Bobby continued, "if there are more people, it's less dangerous. It will be safer."
"He's right," Piotr contributed, sounding resigned to his fate.
Saint-John exchanged a long look with Jean-Paul.
"Oh, fine," Jean-Paul spat eventually, only a minor amount of displeasure in his voice.
Bobby couldn't help but smile victoriously. "Cool. Hey, I know a shortcut."
"We haven't even decided where we're going," Jean-Paul informed him coolly.
Bobby shrugged. "Does it matter?"
And from there on out, everything worked out perfectly.
Except when Bobby's shortcut led them to a parking lot with a grand theft auto in progress.
Author's Note: Thanks for all input and reviews! Unfortunately, I couldn't work in all of your ideas, but if you keep on letting me know where you'd like this fic to go, I'll see what I can do!
Thoughts on Saint-John and Jean-Paul? (Other than their names with hyphens, that is . . . )