Big surprise this chapter! But being the smart little lovelies that you guys are, I bet you all saw this coming ;D
Please review!
J.C Posch
xXx
We all met in the hanger for our first duty of punishment. Me and the rest of the junior X-men had gotten off easier than we had expected. We weren't kicked off the team at least. We've been put on probation and banned from all missions until further notice. During our free time (meaning whenever we aren't in class) we are to report for assigned duties such as meal preparation and clean up, maintenance jobs of the public rooms such as the rec rooms and wash rooms, cleaning windows, etc. Today was Saturday and our job at the moment was to clean the Blackbird (yeah, as in the huge mother trucking jet. Goody for us).
I looked up and down at the large black jet and grimaced. Not to my surprise, the rest of my teammates were doing the same.
"Don't give me those looks." Jean said sternly, crossing her arms. "You kids should be groveling with thanks that we didn't dismiss you."
"Yes ma'am." We said in unison, sharing the same tone of defeat.
Jean suppressed a smile and clapped Bobby on the back. "Cheer up guys, you'll be done before you know it."
And with that we got to work.
Along with my punishment from the X-men, I also had to deal with the 'rents. The rest of the team didn't have their parents at the school, but I did (well, that wasn't quite true. Alex was under his brother's and Jean's care, so he got extra punishment like me). And they were pissed. Once they got over the 'oh we're so glad you didn't die' phase quickly and jumped into the 'HOW COULD YOU DO SOMETHING SO STUPID!' phase and then finished with the classic 'you are grounded until you die' one. Dad really took a round out of me. A part of me feels grateful that my parents care so much, but the rest of me wishes they would lay off me a bit. When I'm not serving the X-men's punishments, I'm grounded at the apartment. No cellphone, no tv (hey, with the NHL lockout it wasn't like there was anything to watch anyway) and I could only use my computer for homework (and my parents made SURE it was for only homework). I wasn't allowed to leave the apartment for anything but classes and punishments. They even took away my lessons with Cap!
I didn't argue though, with any of it. I knew I had been stupid and there was nothing I could say to change that fact.
We we're about two hours into it when our audience showed up.
"Oh, please tell me they're joking." Sam moaned, seeing who turned up.
We all looked over to see Remy and Warren walking across the cement, carrying lawn chairs and refreshments.
"This looks like a good spot, doesn't it Remy?" Warren asked cheerfully, setting down his chair.
"Yeah, the view be looking pretty good." Remy agreed in an equally cheerful tone.
They made a production of setting up their chairs and taking their seats. They made loud conversation and went to great extents of passing around their chip bags and drinks.
"I hate them, I really do." Kitty growled, scrubbing one particularly grimy window.
"Hey Iceboy, quit fogging up them windows and just clean 'em!" Remy called.
"Put a little more elbow grease into your scrub, Pryde." Warren said sweetly. "You're never going to get anything clean with those girly little swipes."
"Oh, I'll give you a girly little swipe you annoying son of a-!"
"Hey hey hey, do yah kiss yah mama with that mouth?" Remy interrupted, setting the two senior members into a fit of laughter.
Their heckling and . One particular highlight for the two goofs was when Peter accidently stepped in a bucket of water.
"Any ideas on how we can get rid of Statler and Waldorf?" Bobby muttered to us.
"Who?" Rogue asked.
"That's the name of the two old guys in the Muppets who heckle everybody." I explained, catching the childhood reference.
"I say we let Peter go all Colossus on them." Alex growled.
"I'd be up for that." Peter said agreeably.
Kitty shook her head. "We're on probation, we'd probably be kicked off the team."
"Might be worth it." Alex muttered.
"Hey ladies, you're slowing down! Pick up the pace or you'll never finish!" Warren called in a sing song voice.
"You can't insult us by calling us girls. Half of us are girls!" Kitty yelled back.
"Hey, what's all the yelling in here?" Jean shouted, entering the hanger.
"Those two keep heckling us!" Sam called back.
Jean looked down at the two young men in their chairs. "Is that true?"
"Yes." They admitted.
Jean survived the scene. "Are those all dressed potato chips?"
"Uh, yes?"
"Cool." Jean smiled. Using her telekinetic powers she pulled a work stool over from one of the benches and placed it beside Warren's chair. Remy handed her the bag of chips. "Get back to work! Hey Summers, you missed a spot!"
"There is no justice in this world." Rogue muttered darkly.
xXx
At lunch Jean allowed us a break. While the others rushed in for food, I snuck away from the group. I used my stealth skills to sneak into the garage. I was fairly certain no one say me, well, except for a one eyed grey squirrel. But I was pretty sure my secret was safe with him. I hadn't been allowed to make my garage visits as part of my punishment, so this was the first time in a week that I was able to breathe in the familiar scent of oil, metal and exhaust. I went and knelt by the bike I bought (Dad and Cap both gave their approval over my choice), giving it a loving stroke.
"Good ta be home, petite?"
I spun to see Remy giving me his 100 watt smile.
"Don't tell anybody I was here." I begged.
"Or what, petite?" Remy asked, faking a curious voice.
"Or else, well, I don't know." I admitted. "But trust me, you won't like it swamprat."
Remy laughed at that and came to stand over me. I heard Dad call him swamprat a couple times and I had picked up the habit. He never took me seriously when I called him it. But he called me 'petite' and 'cher' in response.
"Ah won't squeal on yah. Ah hardly get ta see yah anymore as it is, with yah be'n grounded and all." Remy replied smoothly.
"Aw, do you miss me Lebeau?" I cooed in a voice suitable for a baby.
"Yeah, actually, Ah do." Remy answered seriously.
I looked up to see that he was looking at me weird. There was some of foreign look in his eyes that made me feel uneasy. Not exactly uneasy, more like, I don't know. Uncomfortable but excited at the same time. The intensity of the emotion in his beautiful eyes made me look away. I occupied my hands with polishing my bike.
"Well, I'm not surprised." I said in a light tone, avoiding his gaze. "I'm charming, engaging and hilarious. How could anyone not miss me?"
"Yah'r also vain, stubborn and smell like a dead horse." Remy said sweetly.
"Thank you ever so much for keeping me modest." I rolled my eyes, and threw my polishing rag at him. "And I reek right now because I spent the morning scrubbing a giant dirty plane! With no help from you."
"Hey, yah were being punished? How yah ever gonna learn yo lesson if I helped you?" Remy joked.
"What ever would I do without you to be my conscience?"
"Just call me Jiminy Cricket."
I snorted and got off the ground. I walked to the supply shelf and searched for the metal polish.
"Hey, do you know where the-?" I looked over to see Remy holding the brand of metal polish I always used. "Nevermind. Can I have that please?"
"Mmm, nope." Remy grinned. "Come get it, greasemonkey."
"Greasemonkey?" I moved to take the polish, but Remy dodged me.
"If Ah'm swamprat, than yo' my little greasemonkey." Remy replied, smooth as silk.
"Hilarious. Give me the polish." I snatched at the tube again but he was too quick.
"Uh-uh. Gimme gimme never gets." Remy chanted, holding the tube over his head.
"You are so immature!" I groaned, jumping for the tube. The cretin was about a foot taller than me and he used it to his advantage.
"Ah, cher, yah flatter me."
I leapt again for the tube and got a hold of it, but Remy kept his grip. This resulted in me dangling in the air like an idiot.
"I bet you think this is pretty funny." I said coolly looking into Remy's black and red eyes.
"Mmh, Ah admit, Ah do." Remy answered. He backed us up so that my back was up against the garage wall. He lowered me to the ground but still kept my hands in the air above my head.
That frightening look was in his eyes again.
And then he lowered his head and kissed me fully on the lips. His warm, firm lips tasted like spices and were experienced. They definitely knew what they were doing as they formed my lips to their will.
WAKE UP MORON! My mind yelled. What do you think you're doing?!
I broke away from the kiss and from Remy. I scurried to the work bench where I panted softly, trying to regain the breath I hadn't known I'd been holding. Remy, thankfully, stayed where he was.
"Ah'm sorry." He said softly.
"No you're not!" I spat, feeling the redness spread over my face.
The cretin didn't even have the decency to cover his smirk. "Dat's true, Ah'm not. It was a nice kiss. Can yah tell me honestly dat yah disagree."
Instead of responding to his silliness I warned "Dad said I could stab you if you ever got feely with me."
"Ah don't doubt that at all." Remy said calmly. "But Ah do doubt that ye'd stab yo' old buddy Remy."
He was right, I'd never stab him.
"I have to go, my break's over." I announced. I walked as quickly as I could out of the garage without making it look as though I was running away.
Which was of course what I was doing.
I liked Remy, I really did. He understood me and made me laugh. I found him really attractive, as did the rest of the planet who checked the 'interested in men' opinion on Facebook. Had it been a different time or place, I might have been ecstatic about the Cajun kissing me. But it wasn't a different time or place. We were here and now, and this here and now sucked.
The last boy I kissed had died. Was it really appropriate to kissing a new person hardly a year after his death?
To my disgust, I found tears running down my cheeks. The same one eyed squirrel who had witnessed my escape to the garage looked up at me. Furiously I brushed them away with the back of my hand and hurried back to the hangar.
I didn't want to think about these things.
xXx
The grey squirrel scurried into the shadow of the large oak tree. Seconds later, a teenage boy stepped around the trunk to watch Leah disappear into the hanger. Out of the corner of his one eye he saw the Cajun man exit the garage and whistle a tune as he headed towards the mansion.
The boy's face was horribly scared on the one side. Where his one eye should have been was a hollow socket. His other eye was sparling green and undamaged. He held his mouth in a firm frown.
"You're mine Leah, and you always will be." Eric Craig whispered, staring intently at the door which she had disappeared through.