Well, Gateway did try tae warn me, Sean thought ruefully as he helped an exhausted (and very embarrassed) Jonothon to his feet. He sat his student on a wide pipe poking up horizontally from the ground. "I need to ring up Emma and tell her what's happened," Sean announced after checking to see if Jono was okay.

"No need, Mr. Cassidy," Paige said, pointing up the driveway with a metallic finger. "Here comes one of her limos now."

The long black car screeched to a halt in front of the wreck that used to be the girls' dorm, and Emma Frost, aka the telepath called the White Queen, leaped out a back door as if her rear was on fire. The rest of Generation X wasn't far behind. "WHAT HAPPENED HERE?!?!" Emma shouted mentally and physically. Sean and Paige reeled from the shock and Jono fell off the pipe, holding his head in pain. The silent, enigmatic Penance skittered away.

"Em, please!" Sean gasped, grabbing his forehead.

Emma got her shock under control and reined in her power. "What happened here?" she asked in a calmer voice.

*I blew the place up,* Jonothon answered matter-of-factly, pulling himself back onto the pipe.

Emma's frigid blue eyes whipped over to him. "And why did you?" she queried in a voice wracked with cold.

"It was an power accident, Emma. Jono was talkin' wi' Paige and it just happened," Sean said, jumping to the boy's defense.

Emma's eyes remained icy. Then she threw her hands to the sky with an exasperated "why me?" expression on her face. "The repair bill is going to be astronomical," she declared. "We need mortar, window glass, wood, professional builders.... and not to mention that the girls need new necessities and who knows what else...." she stopped, then sighed in disgust. "I'm going to make a few phone calls and see if there is any place that sells building supplies for a low price. Sean, when you find the time, take Paige, Monet and Jubilee shopping for the things they need," she ordered, and stomped toward the main building. "When you get back, we'll discuss where the girls will sleep," she added over her shoulder.

Shaking his head in amazement, Angelo went over to check on Jonothon. Everett, Sean, Artie and Leech began digging through the rubble to see if they could salvage anything for the moment. When everyone else's attention was diverted, Jubilee -the spunky pyrotechnic manipulator- glanced around at the former dorm. "Wow. Someone really blew their top," she quipped.

Paige grimaced and shot a quick look at Jono, then turned back to her teammate. "Bad choice of words, Lee," she hissed warningly. Jubilee stifled a snort of glee.

Monet raised her chin and cocked her head to the side, the action giving her a slightly arrogant look. "What were you and Jonothon talking about?" she asked quietly. "It had to have been something very.... interesting, in order for something like this to happen," she said, gesturing to the wreckage.

Paige felt her cheeks start to burn. Thankfully, a sudden split in the metal skin of her right arm saved her. "Can't talk now, Monet," she replied. "I need to find some clothing."

As if on cue, Synch dug up a pair of ripped blue jeans and a long-sleeved, purple croptop. He tossed them to Paige just as a wide crack snaked up her back. "Hope those fit," he called. Everyone politely turned away as there was a loud, cracking SHRRIIIIIPPP! and Paige morphed back to normal. Swiftly, she shook the dust off the clothing and pulled it all on.

Emma came out of the main building after they were gone. "Come on, girls," she commanded, walking toward her private cottage. "I'll loan you some clothes to wear in town."

"I'll be there in a minute, Ms. Frost," Paige answered. Emma nodded and lead the others away as Sean departed to bring out the van. Chewing her lip nervously, Paige began walking over to Jonothon, who was still sitting on the piping with his head in his hands. Paige wanted to talk to him, but wasn't quite sure what to say. She stepped up to his front, hesitated, then extended a hand and rested it on his shoulder while venturing, "Jono-"

Jonothon jerked as if he had been burned and backfisted Paige's hand away so hard it hurt. Paige yanked her hand to her chest and cradled it with the other. She had forgotten how strong Jonothon was. Then Jono's angrily glittering green eyes nailed her sapphire blue ones with a steely glare. *Don't touch me,* he growled in a voice edged with daggers of emotion.

Hurting emotionally too, Paige blurted, "Jono, why-"

*Don't touch me,* Jonothon reiterated in a much harder tone, and stood. *Or do you want me.... to blow somethin' else up? I'm game if.... you are, gel,* he finished in his halting psi-speech, pushing past her and storming away with long, purposeful strides.

Paige stared after him, feeling a rift she didn't want grow between them. This never would have happened if I hadn't been stupid enough to get drunk, she thought mournfully. With eyes glazed with unshed tears instead of the booze she had quaffed, she trudged to Emma's cottage.

Jonothon stomped down the creaky old stairs into the basement of the boys' dorm, seething with raging thoughts and feelings that he didn't understand. Why? he kept asking himself. Why did we kiss like that? It wasn't even a real kiss, 'cause of my missing lips! Why did I get so excited.... all right, aroused, over something so idiotic? The gel was DRUNK, for God's sake! She didn't mean anything by it. So what was she tryin' to do? Why couldn't I just stop the whole thing? Why couldn't I control myself? Why did I hide the whole truth from Banshee? Why....

Jonothon threw himself onto his lumpy couch, quivering with longing. The kiss had stirred emotions he thought he could not feel any more. Ever since the emergence of his mutantcy had devestated and isolated him, he had schooled himself to feel nothing; to keep his heart wrapped in bands of steel and further shut off by the barb wire of will. To feel, to need something so powerfully like what the kiss had awoken disturbed him.

To say the least.

Jonothon clenched his fists to his temples and squeezed his eyes shut, trying to regain control of himself. But the image of the beautiful, ardent Paige lingered on the backs of his eyelids. He moaned hopelessly. What was the use? No matter how hard he tried, he could not be rid of the feelings that throttled him. There was no release....

Wait. Maybe there was.

Jonothon lifted his fist and swiftly knife-handed himself at the base of his neck. Nerves were compressed and Jonothon passed out, falling into the blissful oblivion of sleep. Not even lingering, torturous memories of longed-for passion could follow him into the depths of dreamlessness.

He would be somewhat stronger emotionally when he woke. Then, Chamber would figure out a way to keep the kiss from the other students.

For his sake as much as Husk's.