Smells Like Teen Spirit (open)

[Rogue]

Rogue sighed. Oh lord, what was this boy getting himself into? He was gonna be just like her, caught in the middle of a tug-of war between the X-men and the Brotherhood. But after the pleading of him to let Lance stay... well... it would seem she was the one intruding on their territory. And she didn't want to go sticking her nose in more places it just didn't belong.

"Well, I can see that Ah wasn't exactly invited..." Rogue said, standing upright from where she was leaning on the table. "Ah guess Ah'll just leave the two of ya be."

Rogue began to walk away, but looked back for a second. "Oh, Sam. If ya want there's a seat open for you at our table," she said, pointing her thumb over her shoulder to it. Now it was up to him to decide what he wanted. She had nothing against him staying with Lance. It just meant they'd have to bond with him later at the institute.

[Lance Alvers]

Lance paused when he heard Sam behind him and looked over his shoulders. He looked over at Rogue and saw her make a decision, so he turned around as she got up to leave. He refused to feel guilty about it; she was the one that had decided to leave. He just didn’t want to deal with her or any of her hypocritical friends over there. Though something told him he probably would have stayed anyway. This kid was just too pathetic to leave on his own. He’d probably do something stupid again.

Lance snorted again when she gave Sam her “offer.” Rogue may have meant it, but the others at the table wouldn’t have even known that there was a new person there had she been able to convince Sam to go with her. They were all too concerned about themselves and their own superiority despite the pitch they gave new recruits.

Not that he ever got said pitch. Which was probably a good thing; he would have just thrown it back in their faces. Probably.

“Love the loyalty they show you,” he murmured, still standing next to the table while he watched Rogue walk away.

[Sam Barker]

Sam couldn't help but sigh when Rogue had left, though Lance had decided to stay. So maybe it wasn't so bad? Still he felt bad, he didn't really want either one of them to go, and he tried to not make a choice, but it seemed like he did anyway. That it really could only be one or the other. That ruled out them dating, maybe they were broken up or something though, which would explain their seeming inability to be near each other. He couldn't help but watch Rogue go, looking once again to the table that the other kids from the institute were sitting at. Part of him wanted to get up and follow her, but then Lance spoke up. And part of his words did hit true with Sam.

Rogue seemed like a nice girl, and it seemed like she had wanted to help him. But in the end she did decide to leave him when he asked them both to stay, while Lance decided to stay. Maybe that said something about both of them, maybe it said something about the institute? Would he be forced to only be friends with their friends? Would he be controlled and molded in to what they thought he should be? Though on the other hand, could he learn how to use his powers elsewhere? Probably, Lance knew how to use his. At least, he assumed Lance knew how to use his since he took on a lecturing tone with Sam at the start of their conversation.

"I'm sure she has her reasons..." He said quietly still looking at the table. She had offered him a spot over there. But, he still didn't think he could go. Besides, it seemed that the only reason she even talked to him was because he was talking to Lance, was he really that bad? He seemed nice enough to Sam, well maybe not nice. But tolerant, and he hadn't really done anything to mean, except take his soda. That thought caused him to frown again, but he still didn't do anything about it. Truth be told he was used to being bullied and picked on, so he didn't think much about small things like that.

Sighing again he would slink down in his chair now facing Lance, feeling sorry for himself. He was sure that if he had done something differently Rogue wouldn't have left. He wasn't sure what he would do if she confronted him about Lance at the mansion.

Picking up his plastic fork Sam began to twirl the pasta around on his tray with his fork, not really interested in eating it. He didn't really know what to say to Lance now that he decided to stay, at least nothing that wouldn't make him sound like a bigger loser then he was. So he sat in silence for a few moments until he did find something to ask. He said that at the BH house they welcomed people, but Sam still had no idea what the BH was, maybe Lance would tell him.

"So... you uh said something about a 'BH' house before. I was wondering, what is the BH?" He asked quietly feeling stupid for not already knowing what it meant.

[Lance Alvers]

Lance looked down at Sam and sighed. Looks like the kid wasn’t exactly going to be thrilling companionship, but then, he hadn’t expected him to be. He scoffed a bit at Sam’s answer and sat down, not believing it for a second.

“She just thinks she’s better than everybody now,” he murmured. He watched as Sam looked over then down at his food. Lance didn’t know and didn’t want to know what the lunchroom was serving today, but it looked disgusting. He was thinking he might just leave anyway to get away from it when Sam grew some backbone and spoke.

“Brotherhood. It’s a boarding house just out of town,” Lance answered, once again getting comfortable in his chair. He should probably go out into the hall and get some chips to eat at least, but he could probably get one later.

[Sam Barker]

"The Brotherhood?" Sam asked, still not really understanding what it was, though at least he knew what it meant. "Is that like the Institute?" He asked. He assumed it was something like that, after all Lance was a mutant and Rogue knew him so it had to be something like that. A place where they teach you to use your powers, and if it was maybe it would be better for Sam. Maybe they would be more willing to reach out to him.

Giving his food one last disgusted look he decided that he really didn't have the stomach to eat any more and looking at it might just make him sick. So he would push the tray away from him, and look at the trash can, thinking about how he could pull it over to him with his powers, but with Lance there he would just get yelled at again. Plus he was right and using them again here would just be stupid. Even more stupid then picking up that can, pulling a trash can was sure to get some attention. So he would just wait until he was done to throw it away, the plus side was that since he really didn't eat that much he wasn't going to throw up from the lack of soda.

[Lance Alvers]

“Hardly,” Lance answered, mentally rolling his eyes at the idea. They weren’t anything like the Institute freaks. They were better, and they didn’t follow some idealistic twit. Not that Magneto had all his marbles, but at least he could see reality. Humanity would never accept them. The best they could ever hope for was fear, and Lance was perfectly willing to settle for that as long as it gained him freedom.

Lance easily noticed the looks Sam was giving the trashcan and he wanted to growl in annoyance. Had this kid learned nothing? What, did X find him the day his powers manifested or something. This kid knew nothing about surviving on his own.

Lance was able to suppress the growl, but he still let out a sigh and he grabbed Sam’s arm, forcing him to get up and dragging him towards the exit. Seems like this kid was gonna need more than a scolding, but Lance really wouldn’t be able to lay it all out here in a crowded cafeteria. “Come on, you and me need to talk for real,” he said.

[Sam Barker]

Oh God, I'm dead.

He didn't know how to react when Lance grabbed him and started to pull him in the direction of the exit. He didn't know what he did, and while Lance didn't seem to be angry, more annoyed then anything if Sam had to guess. The action of grabbing him and pulling him to leave was aggressive enough to get Sam's heart pounding, though he was to afraid to do anything but follow along, leaving the small mess on the table for someone else to clean up, maybe that girl that was upset about the can earlier.

Lance said that they had to talk for real, and that idea scared him a bit. He didn't use his powers again, he had thought about it but how would Lance know that? Could he read his mind? That thought sent a shiver down his spine and caused his face to pale again wondering if Lance could read his mind.

Once outside of the Cafeteria Sam would look behind him as the door closed, cringing slightly at the sound of the bang. To him it was like a judges gavel slamming down on wood, sentencing him to whatever Lance had in store.

"Why did we have to come out here?" He asked nervously, his eyes looking around at the empty hallway wishing that someone else was here. Thinking that maybe just maybe if they were not alone he wouldn't be so afraid, though he knew that was a lie. Just like he knew that he was powerless to stop anything that Lance decided to do, so he sincerely hoped that Lance was being literal when he said that they needed to talk.

[Lance Alvers]

Lance looked up and down the hallway, making sure they were really alone. He was tempted to just drag this kid into an empty classroom, but the last thing he wanted was to be accused of tampering with a test or homework or one of the million things he’d been accused of in the past when he used a classroom as his personal office. This was important, but it wasn’t worth getting detention over.

Once he was satisfied that they didn’t have an audience, he focused again on the other boy. He mentally cringed at how scared the boy looked, but maybe that was a good thing. A little fear never hurt anyone and maybe it would be enough incentive to get the boy to listen for real.

“Because we couldn’t talk in there,” Lance said, letting his annoyance cloud his voice. He let go of the boy’s wrist but got into his personal space instead. “I don’t know what Xavier’s told you about your powers, and frankly I don’t care. But if I get busted because you were too stupid to keep yourself in check, I know exactly what kind of hole I’m gonna drop you in. Understand?” he threatened, a little of his power leaking out to shake the halls. He heard the noise level raise a bit in the cafeteria, and growled. He glared over his shoulder at the cafeteria doors as he got his emotions and powers under control. So he wasn’t perfect with his powers, but at least he didn’t go out of his way to show them off like a moron.

“You got it?” he asked, turning back to the younger boy.

[Sam Barker]

He hung his head as Lance started to chew him out, even threatening him this time. He didn't really know what to say. He was brand new and could only control his power somewhat. Most of the time it just happened when he was afraid or angry. And right now he was really afraid. He was actually shaking from fear, no wait. He wasn't the building was shaking. That's when he say Lance's reaction, that was his power. He could cause Earthquakes it seemed. Which meant his threat took on a whole new light. What if he could split the ground and then drop Sam in to it? Sam could see himself dropping in to a gaping black abyss with Lance standing on top of the chasm, telling him that he warned Sam not to use his powers. For the third time in lunch he lost all the color in his face and he began to breath rapidly starting to panic.

He couldn't say anything and he felt something building, he couldn't explain it but before he knew it he felt a force release and everything around him flew back, lockers bent with the force that hit them, and trash now littered the hall from the trash can that had been sent flying. Even the vending machines were bent inwards, some of their contents spilling out on to the ground.

This was the first time something like this had happened to Sam, well kind of. It had to be something like when he flew that one time, escaping the bullies. Sam didn't want to sit around and think about it, he had used his powers again in public, he didn't mean to but now he was afraid that Lance would be angry at him and would drop him in to a hole. So Sam did the only thing that he could think of. He ran. He ran down the hall, looking to go nowhere in particular but just away, somewhere quiet where he could calm down.

[Lance Alvers]

Lance always knew that losing his temper was a bad thing. Even when he was at his most furious, a little voice in the back of his mind would always tell him that he was going to end up regretting it, and that little voice was screaming at him right now. He had exactly three seconds to realize what a monumental mistake he just made before he was thrown backwards into the closest wall. Thankfully, he landed between two lockers so he didn’t have to deal with having anything pressing into his back, but he could still feel a… weight on top of him pressing him further into the metal.

By the time the weight was gone and he was able to peel himself out of the locker, Sam was already running down the hall and he could hear people coming towards the cafeteria doors. One look around easily told him that he did not want to be here when people discovered the mess, so he also made his way down the hallway and around the corner. He’d lost track of Sam, but the sound of the stairwell door slamming shut gave him a clue where he might have gone and he took off after him. Fortunately for him, Sam hadn’t decided yet if he wanted to go up or down once he caught up. Either that or he didn’t even notice that he was in a stairwell and not a classroom. The kid looked freaked out enough for that to be a distinct possibility.

“Hey, you ok?” Lance asked, slowly opening the door and trying to look and sound as unthreatening as possible.

[Sam Barker]

Panic, that was the best way to describe what Sam was feeling. He was terrified over what happened, first with the bullies he was able to escape them, and now he somehow pushed everything away. He knew what he did, though he didn't know how he did it. He only really had a little bit of control over his powers. He knew how to pick up things, and he knew that he could fly. Though he was still working on how he did that. Something about picking himself up, it was just really weird.

He ran and ran, not really caring where he where he ran to until he ended up inside a stairwell. Running forward he gripped the railing of the stairs and looked down at the ground below him. He felt sick and wanted to throw up, and he started to heave. His retches filling the stairwell, though nothing would come out. Over and over his body tried to throw up, but nothing would come out, just dry heaving until his eyes watered and his face turned red.

He heard the door open and slowly Sam slide down to his knees his hands still gripping the railing, pressing his forehead against the cold metal of the rail. The person that entered behind him asked him if he was ok. The voice sounded far away, but that was only because he was hearing it through his panic, his vision still felt dull as well. However he was able to tell who it was by the voice, it was Lance, of course he followed him. He resisted the urge to cringe, but only barely. To Sam's surprise Lance didn't sound to be angry, but he couldn't muster up any relief, he could barely muster up anything. He couldn't even make himself speak, all he could do was grip the railing tighter and shake his head no.

He was not ok, and he hasn't been in a while. Even before these powers manifested he hadn't been ok. This had just made things worse, everything was worse. It was cool, but he wished he didn't have these abilities. He felt like a freak and his life was all but ruined, he was lucky in a way that he had pushed Lance. That was because Lance was like him, but what if there had been other people there? What if someone got hurt? What if this happened in class and he hurt his classmates? What if he killed someone? That thought made him retch again, his head pressing against the bars so in the off chance he did actually vomit it would go to the bottom of the stairs.

Slowly he tried to compose himself, taking deep breaths and closing his eyes trying to regain the ability to speak. He felt his breathing and heart rate slow as he concentrated on it. Swallowing hard he pushed himself off the railing to help turn around to face Lance, looking down at the floor still, shaking his head again, saying that he wasn't ok.

"No... I'm not ok. Not only am I a freak I am dangerous. I shouldn't be here. What if I had hurt someone back there!? I thought I had hurt you. I am to dangerous to be here, I don't belong here." He said louder then he had spoken yet, his shy voice tinted with bitterness and fear. He didn't know what to do, and he was afraid to go back to class, unsure on if something like this was going to happen again but with other people around next time.