Since I usually hung out with Logan after dinner, I didn’t have to stop to think about where I was going; I just headed right to the teacher’s lounge. Logan wasn’t officially a professor, especially not of art. He was part security guard, part hall monitor. Mostly, he monopolized the Danger Room and watched TV. Exciting life. It was, however, infinitely better than that tiny camper he’d been living out of before he met me. I liked to take some credit for the fact that he was now living in a mansion. After all, it had been me Sabretooth was after in the first place. Logan had just been along for the ride.
Without regard to decorum, I pushed open the door to the lounge and walked right in. Students weren’t normally allowed in there, but I had made myself the exception to that rule the minute Logan had returned from Canada. Logan and Cyclops were the only ones inside. They were drinking contraband beer and playing pool. The room smelled like cigar smoke, but that was all Logan’s doing. From behind his red-tinted glasses, Cyclops fixed me with a stare that made me wish I’d knocked or something. I always got the feeling that there was something about me he didn’t quite approve of.
Logan glanced up from his shot and gave me a half-smile. “Hey, kid. Give me a minute to put ole One-Eye here out of his misery, and you and me can play.”
I shut the door behind me and came into the room, not bothering to take a seat since there was only one ball left on the table. Logan effortlessly banked the eight ball into the designated corner pocket. Straightening, he shot me a wink and then turned to Cyclops. “That’ll be fifty bucks. Sorry, bub.”
Smirking, Cyclops pulled his wallet out of his khakis. “It’s all right. I know you can’t afford it. Doesn’t bother me a bit.” He tossed the bills on the table. “Buy yourself something pretty.” He stalked off, acknowledging me with a curt nod at me as he went by.
“Ooh,” I said when was gone. “Who knew such an attitude could be found under that straight-laced façade?”
“How does your head feel?”
“Fine,” I replied, not expecting that question.
“You had a pretty nasty bump yesterday.”
I understood now. “Logan, thanks for helping me, but you need to quit doing that. I could hurt you.”
Logan paid no attention to my warning. “Where’ve you been all day?” he asked, putting out his cigar in the ashtray Professor Xavier had demanded he use or stop smoking altogether, probably figuring that if he couldn’t tame Logan he could at least see that he was housebroken.
“Around,” I replied, moving over to edge of the table. I tossed the empty glass beer bottle Cyclops had left behind in the trash and picked up the pool cue. “Do you wanna break?”
“Nah, you can do it,” Logan replied, setting up the balls at the other end. “So what were you doing around?” he inquired.
“Not much. Just thinking.”
“About yesterday?”
“Yeah, and about Bobby. I broke up with him.”
Logan arched an eyebrow. “Why?”
Shrugging, I set up for the break. In spite of my half-realized intention to use Bobby to make Logan jealous, Logan had genuinely come to like Bobby, at least as much as he liked anyone. Tolerate was probably a better word. “It was time. We weren’t getting anywhere. It’s better for us just to be friends.” My break knocked in the five ball.
“Is it,” Logan challenged as I came around to his side for a follow-up shot.
“Yes, it is.”
“And I suppose you’re using your skin as an excuse.”
“Not an excuse, really. More like the whole reason.”
“You know, there are…creative ways to get around that little problem.”
“Creative ways,” I repeated sardonically. “Are there? Pray, do tell. It sounds like you’ve thought about it more than I have.”
“Rogue,” he said darkly, causing me to miss.
“You brought it up,” I replied defensively. I went over to lean against the wall. Logan was a master pool shark. When he got going, he didn’t stop. It was pretty much guaranteed now that I was going to lose this game.
“If you’ve thought about it, then you probably realize that it is possible.”
“You’re right. What am I thinking? Let me borrow that fifty bucks so I can go to an S&M shop and pick up a dominatrix outfit and a deluxe box of condoms right now. I don’t have my dignity or anything.”
He fixed me with an impatient look.
Meeting his gaze straight on, I admitted softly, “I don’t want to have to get around anything. I want it to be natural, like everybody else.”
His face softened. “I know you do, kid. I know it. But if you go through life taking all or nothing, you’re gonna miss out on a lot.”
“I don’t care. I’m not missing anything if I have to compromise what I really want in order to get something not as good.”
“Whatever you say, kid.”
There was a particular emphasis on the way he said kid. Normally, I was happy that he called me kid because it sounded to me a lot like a term of endearment. I even used to get jealous when he used it on other people. I didn’t like it so much that time. It was patronizing, what with all the growing up I’d done that day.
“It is whatever I say. It’s my life. Look, I’m pretty tired. Rain check?”
I couldn’t remember ever having willingly cut my time with Logan short, and neither could he if the expression on his face was any indication. I walked out on him. First time for everything.
The only problem was, I really wasn’t tired and now I had nothing to do but more wandering. Luckily, my attention was caught right away. Since school wasn’t in session, I’d expected the classrooms to be totally empty.
That’s why I was curious enough to investigate the unfamiliar music coming from one of them. The door was partially ajar, so I peaked through the crack. I smiled to myself upon seeing Kurt sitting at his desk reading, his tail swaying along to the music.
He glanced up and saw me in the doorway. “Guten Abend,” he welcomed shyly.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to bother you. I heard the music out in the hallway. It’s beautiful. What is it?”
“Gregorian chant. This is Hildegard von Bingen’s ‘Antiphons for Saint Ursula.’”
“Oh,” I remarked, because that meant nothing to me.
“Would you like to sit down? Have some hot cocoa with me, perhaps?” he offered.
“Thank you,” I accepted happily, pulling up a chair to his desk.
“One moment, please,” he said, disappearing into the door behind his desk. I didn’t look in after him, not wanting to be rude, but I assumed his room was back there, which made sense because I’d never seen him down any other hallway. In fact, I’d rarely ever seen him at all.
“Ah, there we are,” he said, coming out with two steaming mugs. He put them down and settled back into his chair. “It is a warm night, but I like the taste too much to care,” he smiled.
“Me too,” I agreed heartily after taking a sip.
“Are you enjoying your break, Rogue?”
He stumbled on my name and, for some reason, I told him, “That’s what a lot of people call me, but my real name is Anna Marie. Anna Marie D’Ancanto.” The words felt strange on my tongue. I hadn’t introduced myself that way in the longest time.
“Anna Marie is a very pretty name,” he commented. The way he said it was pure comfort, like when my momma would wake me from a nightmare.
“You can call me Anna Marie, if you’d like, Mr. Wagner.”
“I would like that very much,” he replied, sounding flattered. “But, please, for you I am simply Kurt. So, are you enjoying your break then, Anna Marie?”
“Yeah. Yeah, it’s been great. Except, yesterday I had sort of an accident.” Concern was evident in his yellow eyes. “No one got hurt. At least, not permanently. It’s my skin. I don’t know if anyone told you, but when people touch me, I absorb their energy and powers and stuff. A couple of younger boys decided to put it to the test. I guess they thought messing with me would be funny or something.”
“Not boys from this school, surely?”
“They were. Travis Ryan and a few others.”
“I know him,” Kurt said rather sadly.
Delicately, I asked, “Has he bothered you, too?”
“It was more the other way around. I heard he was a good gymnast and I’m a bit of an acrobat myself – I was in the Munich Circus, you know.”
“The Incredible Nightcrawler.”
“Ja.” He sipped his cocoa absentmindedly, as if he were reflecting back on fond memories. After a moment, his focus turned outward again. “Well, I thought that since he and I had something in common, that he would like to see some of the things I can do.“ His eyelids drooped. “I scared him.”
I didn’t have to say anything to convey my sympathy. It was enough that we were alike.
“So, what kind of things can you do?” I asked eventually.
“Oh, many kinds. I learned a great deal at the circus.”
I cringed inwardly, thinking that being a mutant circus performer would be degrading. “Did you like it there?” I asked, wondering how he could have.
“Ach ja, sehr viel. It was one of the best times of my life. The people who came to the shows, they cared what I looked like at first, but then once I did my act they stood up and applauded.”
Kurt entertained me with stories from his circus days for the rest of the night, not stopping until I couldn’t hold my yawns in any longer.
“I’ve lost track of time. It’s late. You should go get your rest.”
“But you didn’t finish. What happened with Fräulein Hure?”
Kurt was sheepish. “Perhaps it’s best that I didn’t finish that story. Off you go to bed now.”
“Can I come back sometime?”
“Whenever you like.”
“Goodnight, then.”
“Gute Nacht, Anna Marie.”
I left Kurt’s classroom feeling infinitely less stressed than I had coming in.