A Rainy Day at the Library

or

Surge and M&M's - Nectar of the Gods

Monet settled down next to Paige, thumbing through a book on Shakespearean Literature. The hushed pleading coming from the direction of the phones was effectively ignored by both of them. When the whining grew louder, Paige glared over irritatedly at Jubilee and hissed quietly at her classmate. "Jubes! Stop acting like a little brat! It won't kill you to stay a liittle while longer."

The rain poured down in Snow Valley, effectively trapping six bored members of Gen-X in the local library. Despite the road floodings, they had intended to go back to the school, only to be thwarted by a persistent mental voice of Emma Frost, headmistress. Eventually they caved to her repetitive orders to deal with it the way any normal teenagers would have to, by taking shelter where they were until the rain stopped. The two hours that had followed might as well have been the forty days and forty nights from Noah and the flood, and the rain didn't seem inclined to let up. Jubilee had managed to find a phone card in the bottom of the black hole she called a purse and was glued to the payphone, begging one of her buddies from her time with the X-Men for a break.

"C'mon Stormy! We're like, bored out of our skulls and I'm missing the Power Puff Girls!"

"No. The rain is needed badly there, and I do not see a reason to change the weather patterns."

"Puh-leeeeeze?"

Click.

Pouting dramatically, Jubilee sulked back to the windows, staring desolately into the rain. Suddenly she saw a sight that made her face brighten like the sun coming through the clouds after a long rain, it was the most glorious thing she thought she'd ever seen up to that moment; the sun, after such a long and drenching rain was finally breaking through the clouds! Oh, wait no, false alarm. It went as quickly as it came and Jubilee went back to staring desolately out the window.

Angelo meanwhile, was having the time of his short life. Seeing as the library was unsupervised due to a miscommunication by the only two librarian's that volunteered at the Snow Valley Public Library, apparently the librarian that had skipped out on a lunch break shortly after the kids had arrived had misunderstood the other librarian's phone message, "I'm not coming in today. Sick as a dog. Please, send help."

Anywhoo, this miscommunication as stated above left the library unattended and therefore the library's vast collection of 'adult literature' (BTW: Snow Valley is not perfect. It has an extremely high rate for repressed, middle-class, perverts) was left for the underaged eyes of one very happy 'barrio boy'.

He had just settled down to 'read' his latest aquiration when the book was yanked out of his hands and came down with a heavy crack on top of his head. Rubbing his head sorely, he looked up with a sour expression on his face to meet the half-face of his fellow classmate. ~Don' even think about it! Doncha have any idea what Ms. Frost'd do if she picked up on you with this? Two words. Dead. Meat.~ Angelo slumped down in his chair, grumbling darkly about psi-powers and how there was something horridly wrong when your teacher possessed them. Jono shook with silently sympathetic laughter, placing the writing in question back onto the shelf and walking away.

"Hey waitaminute! How'd you know what shelf that went on?"

Jono gave the approximation of a shrug and kept walking, disappearing behind the Science Fiction. ~I am eighteen ya' know.~ he 'murmured' once he was out of sight. Angelo spent a few sulky minutes glaring at where Jono's back had been before getting up with a huff, 'have to cut back on those cigs.' he reminded himself. I wonder what our little 'good cheer committee' is up to. He thought as he made his way over to the tables where he had last seen the girls. To his surprise Jubilee was sitting quietly and staring out the window. Quietly. It was kinda scary considering how peppy she usually...caffeine. And sugar.

Angelo thought he could see the light, cast from the bright idea above his head, reflecting off the snack machines at the entrance of the library. Telling himself that he was just going to go smoke a cigarette and that he was not sympathetic towards the little firecracker at all, he slunk off to the vending machines. One or two puffs into a fresh cancer-stick, he sold the little voice screaming at him in his head that he was being affectionate to her to shuttup and bought Jubes a bottle of Surge and a pack of M&Ms. After all, he reasoned, he had to get rid of the change in his pocket somehow. Grinding out the still smoking stub of his cigarette, he sauntered casually by her again and tossed the peace offerings at her silently. He sat at a neighboring table under the false pretense of waking the dozing Ev, all the while watching her out of the corner of his eye.

Snapping out of her daze as soon as the heavy cold bottle of Surge hit her she looked down at the peace offering, 'who couldv'e...who wouldv'e? Monet? Did I even bother asking that? Paige...why? Jono...no where in sight. Ev? Maybe, hopeful,...NO he's sleeping. Or maybe he's just pretending...Ange? Well, that would explain why he's throwing me those sideways glances.' After completing her thought cycle Jubilee was bushed but she mustered the strength to casually walk over to where Ange was vaguely trying to coach Ev out of a deep, drooling sleep over a text book.

"Hey," she said, plopping down across from him. "Wanna share?" She graciously held out the pack of M&M's jiggling the contents temptingly.

"Shure, Jubetica. No luck with Storm, I take it?" Mentally congratulating himself for faking casual so well, he snagged a few M&Ms.

"The Weather Goddess herself is being peevish and absasmurfly refuses to help a friend in desperate need and in the middle of a Power Puff Girls withdrawl. The nerve!" After chugging down a good sized swig of caffeine-loaded, carbonated goodness, she sighed dramatically. "Need help waking 'Synch the Snoozer?'" Jubilee smiled mischievously.

"Shure. If you don't, our dear friend may drown. But he won't wake up, no matter what!"

"What would you people do without me? Grab his feet." Lifting Ev's arms, she directed Angelo in hauling their teammate physically out the door and dropping him none to gently into a freezing cold puddle.

"AAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!! What is WRONG with you two?!?!?!?!" Everett raved, his entire rear end soaked. But neither one heard him. Jubilee had chosen that moment to notice that the rain and stopped, and was dancing around happily, little 'pafs' spinning around her like a laser show. Angelo was simply smiling to himself, shading his eyes from the neon lights. Impulsively, he ran through the puddles to join her, laughing. The others streamed out of the building, laughing and splashing in the puddles. Ev sat stupefied in the rain puddle, pulled to his feet by a compulsively friendly Monet.

""What's wrong with those two," Everett asked the skeptical looking (to hide her shock) Monet.

Monet shrugged nonchalantly and looking casually at her nails she answered," Isn't it obvious, dear Everett, they're doing a mating dance."