xp_logs | Surprise surprise, Angelo's being angsty. Two logs.

Angelo wandered along one of the corridors, looking for a vacant study room where he could do his homework for the day. Peering round one of the doors, he saw Bobby sitting at the desk grading papers, and made the snap decision to leave his homework for later. "Hey."

Bobby looked up, his expression rather glazed. "Angelo!" He gratefully pushed the stack of papers aside, placing the cap back on the mandatory 'red pen'. "What's up, man?"

Angelo sighed, dropping into a chair. "Nothing. Stuff. Don't know." He glanced up, grinning slightly unconvincingly. "How about you, Mr Drake?"

Bobby shuddered. "Dear God, don't call me that! Honestly, what they were thinking when they asked me to teach is beyond me." He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, then gave Angelo a calculating look. "So what's really up?"

Angelo looked back at him for a long moment, trying to keep up the charade, then sighed and gave up. "The usual. You know."

Bobby nodded slowly. "You wanna talk about it?"

Angelo took a slow breath. "Guess so. She's not happy..."

"Yeah, I kinda got that feeling. Been meaning to talk to her, actually." Bobby leaned back in his chair, shaking his head. "So what's going on? I'm afraid I've missed the latest 'All My Mutants', what with trying to wrap my mind around the whole 'congratulations, you're a teacher' idea..."

"Same old", Angelo told him sadly. "It just seems to be getting to her more lately."

Bobby's hands curled into fists as he tried not to let his frustration at Jono's behavior get the best of him--and his powers. "Any idea why? Just getting tired of it, or is there something else bothering her, too?" He smiled just a bit. "I should probably ask her, huh?"

"I don't know", Angelo said, eyes downcast. "She's said a couple of things about Jono that make me think he's done something new, but she won't talk even to me about it."

Bobby wondered if that was because it was Angelo asking, or if she'd be as reticent with anyone. "I can try to talk to her, if you want," he offered, wanting to rid his friend's face of that hurt look.

Angelo looked up, with a weak attempt at a smile that didn't make it to his eyes. "You can try. She yelled at Doug yesterday, though, so I don't know how far you'd get..."

Bobby grimaced slightly. "Man, something must be bugging her, then." He shrugged. "I'll give it a shot, but I won't push her. Last thing I want is her mad at me, too."

Angelo shrugged helplessly. "Think she's mad at the world right now. Or hurting, or both." He sighed miserably. "I hate this."

Bobby nodded. "Yeah. I wish I knew what to tell you, but...I don't really have much experience in the relationship department." Just Marie, and look how he'd messed that one up. "Or with girls in general, for that matter."

Angelo sat back and closed his eyes, pained. "It's my fault", he said flatly. "And I can't fix it."

Bobby sat up straight at that, frowning. "Wait a minute. How is it your fault?"

"I put this whole thing on Paige's shoulders. I should never have said anything, I'd have got over it." He opened his eyes, looking bleak. "She's hurting because of me."

"You can't help how you feel..." Bobby assured him, his voice not as certain as he'd like. He couldn't very well tell Angelo that keeping his feelings a secret would've been wrong, since he was doing quite a bit of that himself. "Don't blame yourself, man. It's not your fault."

"I can't help loving her, no", Angelo acknowledged. "But I didn't have to tell her, that part was a decision. And it's brought bad stuff from day one. Not only bad stuff, never that, but... yeah."

"Do you regret doing it, then?" Bobby asked quietly, Angelo's obvious distress and guilt just making him more resolute to keep his own peace.

Angelo stopped to think about that. "I don't know, man. I mean, when it's good, I can forget the bad parts. But when it gets like this, and she's hurting, and there's nothing I can do... then yeah. I regret it some. For her sake."

"I can understand that, yeah...but it's done now. All you can do from here is try to help her...let her know you care. Which I'm sure you're doing." No, Bobby was definitely not guidance counselor material, that was clear. "I don't know what to tell you, other than that." He shrugged helplessly, sighing. He hated to see two of his closest friends hurting like this, especially when there was nothing he could do.

Angelo just shrugged and looked down again, having nothing to say in response except a dejected, "Thanks, man."

Bobby nodded. "Yeah..." He sighed and looked at the stack of papers on the table in front of him, shooting Angelo an apologetic look. "I really should get back to those..." He nodded his head at the papers.

Angelo glanced up, nodding. "Yeah", he said flatly. "Got work to do myself, sorry to keep you from yours."

"I've always got time to listen," Bobby assured him, sitting forward and reluctantly pulling the assignments toward him again. "I wish I knew how to help," he said quietly, uncapping his felt pen again, looking none too cheerful.

Angelo laughed bitterly. "Yeah, so do I. But... thanks anyway. Helps just to get it said, you know?"

"Sure." Bobby wasn't sure he did know, but if it helped Angelo, then that was good, anyway. "And hey, if you think of anything I can do to help, just let me know."

Angelo nodded gratefully. "Will do. See you soon."

"You'd better," Bobby tried a smile and found it wasn't too difficult--although it wasn't too broad, either. With that, he bent his head over the papers again, scanning the answers and occasionally making notations to the side.

Angelo looked at him for a long moment, as if he wanted to say something more, then got up and headed silently for the door, closing it quietly behind him.

It had been a long time since lunch, and longer yet since Kitty hadn't actually remembered to eat lunch. Subsequently, she was poking around in the kitchen, putting together some food. I wonder how Lorna's doing...?

It was at that moment that Angelo happened to wander into the kitchen, deep in thought, and head straight for a cupboard without really noticing Kitty was there.

Pulling her head out of the fridge, Kitty looked up. "Hey Angelo."

Angelo glanced round, startled, then relaxed with a faint smile. "Hey, Kitty. How's things?"

"Not bad. Classes have only started, so for once I don't even have that much work. Well, except for the stuff I end up piling on myself. How bout you?"

Angelo shrugged. "Okay, I guess."

"You guess?" she asked, raising a eyebrow slightly. "You seemed kind of preocupied when you wandered in here. Anything up?"

"Nothing new", Angelo told her, unsure how much he should say, and waiting until he worked out how much she already knew.

"Which means it's an old issue? Which means it's probably about a certain pretty blonde and a certain surly brit." Kitty might not have specifics about anything, but she knew the flavor of the various conflicts and trials of the mansion very well.

Angelo blinked, then grinned sheepishly. "You know me too well." He sighed and admitted, "Yeah."

Kitty just smiled in answer. "You wanna talk about it? I was just about to make, um..." a quick glance over the assorted left overs in the fridge had her wrinkling her nose. "... looks like stir fry is doable, if you want some."

That brought a warm smile. "Stir fry sounds great." He dropped into a chair, but not before grabbing two plates from the cupboard and setting them on the table.

Grabbing veggies, a pair of eggs, and the left over chicken out of the fridge she moved over to the counter to start chopping. "So, what's up?"

Angelo ducked his head. "Your guess is as good as mine - it's not like Paige's telling me anything detailed. But anyone can see she's not happy - and they have. Doug and Shinobi have, anyway..."

"Yeah, well, the sarcastic posts on the journals also help," Kitty said with a wry smile. "Can you grab a pan for me? One of the big frying pans will do."

Angelo got up to oblige, passing over the frying pan before sitting back down. "I just want to make it better, but I don't know how..."

"Well," Kitty suggested as she turned on the heat and dumped in the veggies to start them off. "Don't push'd be the obvious suggestion. She seems touchy enough. I'd say just be there for her. See if she'd want to go see a movie, something fun. I think Love Actually's still at the second run theater, or they've got Big Fish in the cinneplex if you want something less 'date movie' like."

Angelo looked up with a weak smile. "Less "date movie" might be an idea. I think it's all getting to her..."

"Big Fish then, or maybe Master and Commander, if you don't mind her swooning over Crowe, Bettany, or Boyde." Breaking the eggs and beating them up slightly, she dumped them into the pan, quickly stirring them about so they'd break apart.

Angelo nodded. "Sounds like an idea. I'll see what she says..."

"There you go. Dating 101 with Kitty, listen to the girl and go watch movies. Not bad, given I'm 15 and have had one boyfriend in my life." She flashed a grin over her shoulder as she poked about the pan a little more before dumping in the sliced up chicken to warm.

Angelo did his best to return the grin, not completely convincingly. "You're doing good. I just hate seeing her all upset and hurting like this."

"Yeah, I know." Her voice was quite. "But, you know, 'life is pain,' as the swashbuckler said, and sometimes you just have to ride out the bad stuff."

Angelo's voice was even quieter, when he next spoke. "How about when you *caused* the bad stuff?"

"I rather doubt you're the _cause_."

Angelo shook his head in definite disagreement. "Of this bad stuff now, I'm... I started it all off."

She raised an eyebrow. "There's a difference between being _a_ catalyst and being _the_ cause."

Angelo blinked. "Not a scientist, Kit. Explain?"

"Sure," she said, turning the heat off and gesturing for him to bring over the two plates. "Basically, you can take two inert substances and add a third, equally inert substance, and end up with a boom. You have to have all three to get the boom. Just one and two, or just two and three, etc, doesn't work." Looking at him as she spooned stir fry onto the plates she added, "As in, not just the one thing being at fault."

Angelo looked back at her doubtfully, countering, "But one is *more* at fault than the others."

"No, not really. In chem, the reason one is called the catalyst and the other two aren't is," she paused, thinking about how to explain. "Is more to do with the end result than the actual boom. It's about chemical combinations. And it's more complicated than a good analogy really needs." Kitty smiled faintly. "You take thoes back to the table," she added, gesturing to the plates, "and I'll get the soy sauce."

Angelo did as she said, still doubtful but lacking the energy to argue any more. So he said simply, "Thanks."

Setting down the soy sauce and taking her seat, Kitty sighed. "Look, I know having me or anyone else tell you it's not your fault isn't going to make you _feel_ otherwise, because feeling things isn't rational, and so rational arguments don't work." She picked up a fork. "So, how about we just settle for me feeding you and you being my witness that I did eventually remember to eat today?"

"Works for me", Angelo said with a slight smile. "Witness to who, just so I know?"

"Well, Jamie and anyone else who takes a more traditional approach to my health than I do. I maintain that eating when I'm hungry is fine, but Jamie tends to point out that when I'm working I forget that I'm hungry, which is a valid argument."

Angelo laughed. "Yeah, I've noticed. Glad someone's looking after you."

She grinned. "Reassuring, I know."

"Yeah, it is", he teased. "Somebody has to."

Kitty stuck out her tounge. "Someday I'm just going to do what Dr. McCoy does, and set up my own supplies down in the lab."

"Well, at least then you'd *eat*", he replied, a little more seriously. "Gotta stay healthy, Kit."

"I eat more than any two girls in my ballet class combined, but that's because _I_ am not an idiot." She made a face, scowling at something.

Angelo blinked again. "Sorry, you've lost me. Did something happen?"

"Oh, I just get hassled more often ever since that exclusive on the school came out. They managed to be smart enough, just barely, to put one and one together and come up with 'that Kitty girl's more of a freak than we thought.' Stevie, our instructor, won't let them do anything to me, and they're afraid of Jamie anyway, but it's... frustrating."

Angelo squeezed her hand. "They didn't know you were a mutant?"

"Nope. I'm not exactly obvious, as long as I don't get startled too badly. They knew I went to Xavier's, but nobody knew about the school until then. 'S why my parents wouldn't let me be in the show - nobody back home knows either."

Angelo nodded sympathetically. "I hear you. Only my trouble is that people back home *do* know. I don't think it's likely they'd come all the way here to get me, but I wasn't taking the risk. Not to mention the cops..."

Kitty nodded. "I know, I'm pretty lucky. The only place I'm getting grief is my dance class, and if I had to I could quit. I'm not going to, because I'm not letting thoes bigots win, but there you have it."

"Quite right too", Angelo told her. "If they decide Jamie doesn't scare them anymore, you tell me, okay? I bet I would."

"Oh, I know you would. For one thing, they're all at least as small as I am, if not smaller. Plus, one of them is the little sister of the asshole who jumped Doug in the mall."

Angelo scowled at the reminder. "Is she now. Takes after her brother, does she?"

"Only in her opinions, and I'm hoping that knowing I'm a mutant and not scary will help with that. Maybe." Glancing at his scowl, she added, "They're ballerinas, not footballers. They're no threat, and even if they were they couldn't touch me."

Angelo nodded. "Oh, I wouldn't hurt her. Her brother, possibly, if I ever get my hands on him again, but not her."

"Yeah, alright then. He deserves it. Told her that Dougie jumped him, made up a whole slew of lies."

Angelo's fists clenched under the table, where Kitty couldn't see, and he said carefully and through gritted teeth, "Has she ever *seen* Doug? And I'm guessing Artie didn't make it into that version of the story?"

"Not as Artie, no, of course not. And no, she hasn't seen Doug. These are local kids, they go to the local high school. Up until a few months ago they thought I was just one of the snobs who went to the school on the hill, and now they 'know' I'm one of the freakish mutant snobs who goes to the freakish mustant school on the hill. Not that it's all of them. There's some girls in the class who're really good, or would be if they weren't being kept quite, I suspect."

"Right", Angelo said, still angry. "Maybe someone needs to have a little talk with this girl, let her know exactly what her precious brother did."

"We _did_ Angelo, or we tried." Kitty sighed. "It's part of why I'm still taking lessons there, I guess. I hate the idea of leaving when they're still... being so stupid."

Angelo nodded. "Yeah. There might be hope for some of them, I guess."

"And the more people who don't hate us, the better."

A flat "Yeah" was the only reply. Angelo had already begun to lose hope of many people outside the mansion not hating them. It was hardly surprising with his past experiences, but it was the last thing he was going to say to Kitty. If she still had hope, he wasn't willing to be the one to crush it...

Sighing, a little depressed by the whole thing, Kitty changed the subject. "Do you want a little more, or should I put the leftovers away?"

"I'll just finish what I've got here", Angelo told her. "You can put the rest away if you want, or I'll do it in a bit."

"No worries," she said, standing and putting her empty plate in the sink before moving about the kitchen. "Figure I shouldn't make you do too much work, given it's my mess."

Angelo chuckled. "Ah, but you cooked. Some would say that makes it my job to clear up."

"But you're still eating. Therefor, my job."

"Hey, I'm not arguing", he said lightly. "Just sayin', you don't have to clear up if you don't want."

"Noted," she said with a smile, closing up the tupperware and putting it in the fridge before dumping the pan in the sink and turning on the water.