Currently I am at school sitting at a lunch table with my fellow X-men. I am lost in my own thoughts not really paying attention to what's happening around me. It's been a confusing few weeks for me. I know how I feel about Pietro, but I don't know if I want to tell him.

I still really like him and I feel really connected to him, but how could this possibly work? One, he is probably working with the bad guys now. Two, he tried to hurt Evan. Three, he calls us, well them, the X-geeks. And four, he's friends with Lance who is still always staring at me.

I know how I feel, I'm just processing what to do about those feelings. My options are very limited. Pietro texts me to check on me or just talk to me or complain about living with the others to me. I'm apparently very weak, because nine times out of ten I end up texting him back. This is honestly a disaster.

I'm pulled out of my thoughts when Scott says, "Go to Duncan Matthews party? Eh, I don't think so."

Evan says, "You gonna finish that moo juice?" Just call it milk.

Jean says, "You can have mine. Come on. It might be fun."

Scott says, "Matthews is a jerk!" I don't really know him, but Jean is pretty close to him, I don't think she would be if he was a total jerk, but I could be wrong.

I say, "No, he's not, I'd go."

Scott says, "No freshmen allowed."

I say, "Oh, Matthews is a jerk." I never got that rule. Like what are freshmen really going to do to ruin the party.

Scott says, "Half of the school will be there. Suppose someone gets too close to Kurt. That holoprojector won't stop them from feeling his fur." While Scott has a point we can't stop living our lives and if Kurt wants to go he should be able too.

Kurt says, "Hey, chicks dig the fuzzy dude, right?" I like Kurt as an annoying brother, but that is about where it ends.

I say, "I am, like, so out of here. Later."

As I am walking away I hear Kurt say, "Oh, yeah. She can't resist." Yeah right.

I don't get too far out of sight from our table before someone grabs me and pulls me behind a building. The person says, "You have been avoiding me."

I sigh and say, "I haven't been avoiding you Pietro, I've had a lot going on."

He says, "Are you avoiding me because you know you want me, but you're too caught up in your goody friends to admit it?" I mean kind of, I just wouldn't word it like that.

I say, "Pietro this whole situation is so complicated. I do like you, but I can't support the decisions the brotherhood makes. And you hang out with Lance, the creepy guy who stares at me all the time and followed me here from our old school."

Pietro says, "I didn't choose to join the brotherhood. It's the only way my father would bail me out of jail. I am not always a fan of Lance and he definitely shouldn't be staring at you, but he too was only offered help if he joined the brotherhood. I can keep him away from you."

I sigh and say, "I get that this wasn't your choice, but you don't seem to realize at some point we could have to fight each other."

Pietro says, "We don't have to fight each other, I just have to fight the X-men and you just have to fight the Brotherhood. We don't ever actually have to fight each other and if for some reason it comes to that we just agree to have no hard feelings about the whole thing."

I say, "I just need more time Pietro. I do really like you, but I had a lot of change happened all at once and I wasn't even done figuring that out before you showed up and I had more to figure out and adjust too. I'm not saying no yet and I promise I won't ignore you, but I need time to really fall into my role as an X-man and as a mutant."

Pietro nods and says, "I understand. I will give you time to figure things out. It was never my plan to make things harder on you. I just want to be with you, which is weird because I never just want to be with someone. It helps to know you do like me."

I say, "I am, like, doing my best to figure this all out, but it's not going to happen over night. I need you to understand that."

He nods and says, "I do understand and I will do my best not to make this more difficult on you."

I smile and say, "Thank you Pietro. I will figure all of this out it will just take time."

Pietro says, "I know, but we can figure this out together."

I nod and say, "We'll work on it, but right now I need to get to class."

He nods and says, "I'll text you later." I kiss his cheek softly and hurry away.

I make my way to class, I do not want to be late. Getting grounded at the institute is not something anyone wants to do. It's pretty rough and we already have a lot to do without even being in trouble.

Classes are pretty boring for me, mostly because I already know all of this stuff. When my class is over I walk out with Evan. Evan tells me about what I missed when I left the lunch table. Scott should not have pulled Kurt's tail, but Kurt could stand to be a little more mature sometimes. I also know Scott could stand to be a little more relaxed.

Evan says, "Man Scott's gotta lighten up." He does need to learn when to be chill and when to be, like, super serious.

I say, "Yeah, but Kurt's gotta, like, know when to quit." We both laugh as we continue to walk down the hall.

Evan says, "I guess, but it's nice to be around someone who can have so much fun sometimes."

I nod and say, "You're right, but sometimes things need to be serious and he doesn't always realize when that is. Well I have to get to my next class. See you later."

Evan says, "Later Kitty."

My class drags by and when it's over I hear Jean's voice in my head, "Kurt's missing. We believe Toad may have done something to him. He's outside the school with a strange device, suit up and find him."

I hurry to the nearest restroom and change quickly than head outside to find toad. Once we find him he starts hopping away as fast as he can. We run behind him and Scott says, "There he goes."

Scott shoots a blast at him, which makes Toad turn around and blast the weird device at us as he says, "Take that!"

The blast comes towards me, so Jean says, "Shadowcat down!" I phase through the ground so the blast will miss me. It hits a fountain and the fountain disappears which causes water to spray all over the place.

Scott yells, "Get him!" We're, like, trying. Can't he see that?

We continue to chase after Toad and he continues to try to hop away. We are closing in on him though. We literally chase him up a tree. Toad says, "Get lost. I'm warning ya."

Scott shoots a blast at the branch Toad is on and Toad falls. Jean says, "Got it!" As she uses her powers to stop the device from falling. Jean lowers the device so she can grab it.

Toad says, "That's it I'm outta here!"

Spyke sends a spike to trap him to the tree by Toad's uniform. Spyke says, "Why don't you stick around for a while?"

Scott kneels down beside Toad and says, "Now tell us what you did to Kurt." He puts his hand on his visor like he might actually blast Toad, but everyone here, besides maybe Toad, knows he won't do that while Toad is defenseless.

Toad covers his head and says, "I didn't do anything."

We hear, "He didn't. I did. And if you all want to find blue boy, you better let him go." This girl is giving me whiplash. I know she is lost and confused, but I really need her to pick a side, because this back and forth thing is confusing. And I have enough confusing in my life right now.

We let Toad go and follow Rogue to an abandoned area of the school. It looks like something bad happened here. Rogue walks through the doors and sys, "This is where it happened."

Once we are standing still Evan and I begin running a diagnostic on the machine to try to figure out what it is and what it really does. I stay listening to everyone talking around us, but I focus on the machine in front of me. I have never seen anything like this.

Scott says, "If you hurt him, I'm gonna.."

He is cut off by Rogue saying, "If youstart threatening me and you're never gonna find your friend."

Jean steps between the two and says, "Woah take it easy cyclops."

I say, "Yo, guys. We've been running a diagnostic on this thing."

Evan says, "Can you believe it? It uses C.P.M. I mean talk about retro man."

I say, "It's putting out some kind of, like, steady, low-power pulse wave that jst seems to disappear into thin air."

They look a little confused as Scott says, "And that means what exactly?"

Evan says, "Well we figue that the pulse has trapped the crawler in some other dimension." That's the only answer that makes sense.

Scott says, "Ok, so let's trash this thing." I don't know if that is the best solution. We're not really sure what that will do or if it will work.

I say, "Are we sure that's the best plan? If we destroy it before we know if we should we can't undo that or replicate the device."

Evan says, "I agree with Scott. Let's destroy it." I guess I've been out voted.

Scott sets the device down on a table and says, "Everyone stand back. I'm gonna use full power. This could get messy." Why? That's not necessary, like, at all.

I say, "Um, you know, I could just, like, phase through the gizmo and, like, quietly short it out." The guys just stare at me like I'm crazy. I say, "Right. Forget I mentioned it." I turn to Jean and say, "Like, what is it with guys and explosions anyway?"

Jean just says, "Heh."

Before Scott can destory the gizmo we see a buch of static and Kurt appears he says, "Reset, don't des–" He disappears before he can finish what he was going to say.

Scott says, "You guys saw that right?"

Rogue says, "He's still alive."

Jean says, "What was he saying?" I shrug because he happened so fast, I'm not sure I understood him.

Evan says, "He said 'reset, dont.' You know, don't reset it. He wants you to blow it up. Do it."

I say, "I swear these guys are, like, obsessed. I don't think that's what he meant and I was against destroying it from the start."

Scott nods and says, "Kitty may be right. It sounded more like a warning to me."

Evan says, "A warning? From the goodman himself? Nah, come on. Shred that sucker." Evan needs to chill we may only have one chance to save Kurt. We have to be careful.

Scott says, "No, Nightcrawler's a joker, but even he knows when it's time to get serious. Look, if he wanted to blow up the projector, why didn't he just say, 'don't reset,' instead of 'reset' then don't'? I think he wants us to reset this thing."

Scott starts reading the buttons on the back, "Uh, 'intensity settings','power regulators'. Uh, 'beam width', 'restart'." He hits restart and the gizmo starts to shake then it opens some kind of portal. I feel my phoe vibrate and I check it to see if it's any of the institute teachers.

It's Pietro he sent a text that says the brotherhood are heading our way fast. I keep watch out of the corner of my eye for their arrival, while also watching the portal. Once the portal is fully formed we see Kurt and another guy inside.

Scott shouts, "Come on! Teleport through!"

Kurt says something to the guy, but we can't hear what it is. The guys says something back and Kurt points at us, but they still aren't coming out. Scott yells, "What's the matter? Let's go!" They poof away, but don't come out of the portal.

Evan says, "What are they doing?"

Scott responds, "I don't know, but I hope they hustle."

I say, "It may be more complicated then just teleporting out. I hope they finish it fast." As I'm talking I notice the brotherhood minus Pietro have arrived. I wonder why he didn't come?

No one else notices them until Toad says, "There they are! And they still got that vape ray I was telling you about."

Avalanche says, "Rogue, Mystique sent us to find you. So you with us or them?"

Scott says, "Mystique? You working for her?" Like obviously? Did he not know that? Mystique is literally the reason she fears us. Does he not pay attention?

Rogue says, "Hey, Summers, you got your friends, I got mine. But this ain't my fight. I'm outta here." I think she will join us one day. Mystique can't keep up the lies forever. Rogue is way too smart for that.

Blob says, "Ok, fork it over losers." Do they really think it'll be that simple? One, we out number them. Two, we actually train to work as a team and help each other. And three, we are trying to save a team member.

Avalanche says, "Or this place is going to rock." That was, like, a terrible line.

Cyclops says, "The projector stays with us. X-men keep that portal open." We all stand together in front of the portal to protect it.

Avalanche says, "Your call." Then proceeds to use his powers to create his tremors. We fight to stay on balance as the three run at us.

Scott and Jean are taking on blob. They work best together and blob is a hard target to take down so that makes sense. They manage to take him down.

I am taking on Lance aka Avalanche. Lance says, "You and me have a date pretty Kitty. How about a ride on the concrete coaster?" First of all how dare he call we what Pietro does. Second of all we definitely don't have a date.

He uses his power to send me into the wall, but I just go right through the way. I then come right back through the wall and say, "Lousy right loser."

While I'm dealing with Lance Spyke is taking on Toad. He gets the easiest one to deal with, but he is still doing a really good job.

The brotherhood regroup and come together. We stand in front of the portal to continue to protect it. Kurt needs to hurry up. Blob says, "Ok, enough of the warm-ups. Time for some serious smashin'." We here a car horn coming from behind us.

Cyclops says, "Look out!" And we all dive out of the way. A car comes driving out of the portal and crashes into Blob.

Blob says, "Good thing I'm the Blob."

Toad says, "Yeah, you can say that again."

Lance says, "Aw, come on guys. This party's over." This way a party to you?

Kurt and the other guy get out of the car and we all meet Forge. He explains about his science fair project and how he ended up there. Kurt explains how he found the lab. Poor Rogue is horrified thinking this is her fault, but it sounds like it was just an accident on both parts.

We make our way out of the school and to Scott's car. We were in that lab longer than I thought, because it is already dark out. Once we make it to Scott's car Scott says, "Hey, you're welcome to crash with us a while, Forge. Xaiver's cool, you'd like him."

Forge says, "Thaks, but I'd better go find my parents. I'm 20 years late for curfew." He turns to Kurt and says, "Thanks for bailing me out."

Kurt says, "Hey, anytime."

Scott says, "Hop in we'll give you a lift."

Forge says, "No problem it's just a few blocks."

Scott pulls out a notebook and a pen as he says, "Ok, but if you need any help, just call." He writes down our number and gives it to Forge. Which is a good idea, in case his parents have moved or something.

Forge says, "Sure I'll do that."

Kurt says, "See ya, dude."

I say, "See ya."

Jean says, "Bye bye."

Scott says, "Good luck."

Evan says, "Later dude."

We all get in Scott's car. Scott uses his mirror to look back at Kurt. Scott says, "Uh, you're going to have to duck until we can get you a new holowatch." Professor definitely has a couple extra because he knows Kurt can be hard on them.

He even taught me how to program and fix them in case he can't do it. The professor is so cool sometimes. Kurt's current watch is beyond repair or I would have fixed it.

Kurt says, "So, it's true. You really are ashamed of me."

We all laugh and Scott says, "Right, dude. Hey, listen. About what happened before. My bad." We all had shocked looks as he says this.

Kurt says, "No, it was on me, too."

Scott says, "Maybe, *sigh* Maybe you're right. I take things too seriously. I need to lighten up some." I mean he, like, does, but I can't believe he admitted it.

Jean says, "Oh, Scott. Not you." It was said with sarcasm.

I say, "Check his temperature. Mr. Military's goin' soft." I check his head jokingly as I say this. We all laugh.

Kurt says, "Yeah. And I could probably dial down the goofing a little."

They do the fist bump thing while Scott says, "Aw, welcome back. Ok, so, now, what do you say we head home, gear up, and run a level 3 training sim in the danger room?"

We all groan and I sa, "Give us a break!"

Kurt says, Oh, man! See? That's what I'm talking about. Always serious."

Scott says, "Psych!"

Jean says, "You got us!" As we all laugh together.

Kurt says, "Aw, very nice. There's hope for you yet."

Scott says, "Yeah, well, tell me about it on the way to Ducan Matthews party."

I say, "Oh, I can't go, remember? I'm, like, a freshman."

Scott puts his arm around me and says, "Hey, you're also one of the X-men."

Scott removes his arm ad Jean puts her hand on my shoulder as she says, "Don't worry we'll make it happen."

Kurt says, "Let's roll!" We all cheer as we head to the institute to get Kurt a new watch before we head to Duncan's party. I text Pietro while we are driving. I thank him for warning me about the brotherhoods arrival and tell him we are heading to Duncan's party. He tells me that he'll be at the party.

It doesn't take long for us to get to the institute and to get Kurt's watch figured out. While Kurt was dealing with that Jean and I touched up our makeup.

When we get to the party it's in full swing. Duncan sees me and comes over to say something, but Jean meets him half way. I don't know what she said, but he tuns around and walks away without a word. She gives me a thumbs up and walks to her friends.

Scott, Kurt, and Evan all head to their own friends and I see a flash of white hair outside. I make my way to a balcony where I say the flash. As soon as I step outside I hear, "Fancy seeing you here."

I laugh and say, "I told you I'd be here. Why weren't you with the brotherhood earlier?"

He says, "They decided to do that fight on their own it wasn't something we had to do. So I decided to not go. I don't want to fight you if I don't have too. And while I don't care for your friends, I know you do care for them so I didn't want to fight them either. I want you to know we can find a way to make this work if we try."

I smile softly and say, "I'm actually starting to believe we might be able too. But you told me you could keep Lance away from me and that hasn't happened yet. During the fight he had the audacity to call me pretty Kittty and attack me after saying we had a date. Then he said something about going on the concrete coaster. It was truly terrible."

Pietro sighs and says, "I'm working on it. I didn't realize how much of a crush he had on you. But he should not be calling you pretty Kitty that's what I call you. I'll keep trying I promise."

I say, "I appreciate that you're at least trying."

He nods and says, "Would you like to dance?"

I nod and say, "I would love too." We spend the rest of the night dancing and talking. It was so much fun and I'm glad we had the chance to do this. Today I really am leaning towards giving this a chance, but I know I need more time to figure it all out.

Eventually I notice Scott and Jean looking around. I say, "I think my ride is ready to go. I better go to them before they come to me. I had a lot of fun tonight. I'll text you later."

Pietro says, "I had a lot of fun too. I'm glad I had an opportunity to show you how we could make this work. I can't wait to hear from you."

I meet up with the other X-men and we head back to the institute. We all head to our rooms once we get there. I change into my pajamas and then text Pietro. I stay up most of the night watching movies on my laptop and texting Pietro. What a day.