The Wanderer - 227

[A/N: I didn't want their school life to just vanish from the story, so this little interlude is to prevent that. Enjoy!]

Chapter 227 – “Are you serious?”

[2009 – October]

"A cheerleader?", Ellie asked, biting her lower lip as she looked at Jean and tried to force down her laughter. Though she failed eventually as she continued with a teasing laugh: "I have no problem seeing this happen."

Leaning back against my shins and knees, my Firefly retorted: "I didn't agree to do it. She just asked me if I would be interested in joining after she realized that I had some experience from my junior years."

"Also, being a cheerleader is hard work if you are doing it right, you goof.", Jean added as she gave Ellie, who sat cross-legged beside her, a playful push.

It was lunch break and we were currently in the large gym after having finished our lunch. There were a few large wide steps that simultaneously acted as a tribune during games, which was a spot many students like to hang out.

A few guys from the basketball team were playing on the field while dozens of other students were hanging around the tribunes or at the side of the field doing whatever. Surprisingly or unsurprisingly, Flash was amongst them, though I didn't pay him any mind.

Instead, I was sitting a step above Jean, Yukio, Laura, Ellie, and Rogue, my gaze fixed on the small booklet in my hands that was filled with Mongolian vocabulary, which was the language that I was currently learning.

To be more accurate, I held onto the booklet with one hand since it was small enough to comfortably hold it and turn the pages while doing so. The fingers of my other hand were busy lazily combing through Jean's flaming locks.

She, Ellie, Rogue, and Yukio sat around each other, even though there wasn't enough space for them to sit in a loose circle.

On a side note, I wasn't sure if it was because they were all mutants but none of the girls looked too tired despite the fact that we had been out late last night for karaoke. I assumed that this was the case though, since mutants generally had a better physique than normal humans, being able to endure more physical stress, including sleep deprivation.

Naturally, this thought was not applicable to Jean, Laura, Pietro, and me, as our innate strengths practically made us immune to sleep deficits as long as we drew on this strength, consciously or not.

At present, Laura was laying next to Jean, her head resting on mine and her own bag while her calves were placed in Jean's lap. She had an earbud in one of her ears while listening to the conversation around her with the other.

She generally did it like this as she always wanted to have at least one ear on her surroundings, which was undoubtedly a habit that she had retained from her childhood training as a living weapon.

The only times that she really listened with both ears was when she felt like she was in a safe place, where she didn't have to be ready for combat at all times.

Pietro was also present, though he was busy playing some games on two phones simultaneously while sitting right next to me. He also had his headphones on but they only covered his left ear as his right ear too listened to the girl's conversations.

He truly did his best to strain his mind and have it engaged, his urge for hyperactivity a clear downside of his abilities.

Naturally, I likewise didn't have a problem with splitting my attention considering my world-crushing mental strength. In fact, I could problem listen in on a million conversations without any effort, even if I saw no reason to do that.

I knew that the 'she' that Jean was talking about was her P.E. Teacher, Mrs. Delgado, who was a beautiful Latin lady that looked hardly a day over 30 even though I could estimate by her life force that she was in her early forties.

She had a very effervescent personality, which made her popular with the girls that she was teaching and she truly seemed to take an interest in her student's lives.

She was one of Jean's favorite teachers, even though my Firefly was actually a student that focused on her advanced technical and science classes as she wanted to study medicine and become a doctor.

That alone was proof enough to make me understand how nice of a teacher Mrs. Delgado was, which was why I wasn't surprised that my lovely redhead was finding it a bit hard to make up her mind about Cheerleading.

"I always wanted to try Cheerleading!", Yukio exclaimed somewhat excitedly before turning to Ellie and leaning in with a giggle before half-whispering into her girlfriend's ear, "And you didn't seem to mind it when we were playing 'The naughty cheerleader and her inexperienced geeky friend' a few nights ago, babe."

Even I wasn't sure if Yukio purposefully whispered loudly so we all could hear her or if she just didn't realize that she was being too loud.

Either way, Ellie turned beet-red almost immediately and opted to not comment on the topic any further, while Jean and Rogue threw her inquisitive and teasing looks.

“Swinging around pom-poms and constantly flashing your ass to some horny teenage boys, I am not sure where the appeal is in that.”, Rogue stated dryly after a short pause, “Since you are already taking dance lessons at Emma's school, might as well save yourself from being gawked at all the time.”

The untouchable mutant girl wasn't wrong with her words, but Yukio seemed to have another opinion as she giggled and said: "But isn't that like half the fun, being naughty and all?"

This time even Laura couldn't help but join in on the conversation as she stared at Yukio and uttered only a single sentence: "A dyke and a tease, you're quite the package."

She delivered those words with such brutal bluntness, her dry tone obscuring her humor so brilliantly, that Rogue, Jean, Pietro, and even Ellie couldn't help but burst out laughing while Yukio had a rather comically shocked expression on her delicate face, a faint blush rising to her cheeks.

I was smirking myself, about to laugh out loud when my Extrasensory Perception gave me a warning, my other senses catching up instantly as I moved before the others could even react, catching the airborne basketball that would have otherwise hit Ellie's temple.

My smile vanished as I stared at the blonde jock that had 'unfortunately missed' his shot at the hoop and almost hit Ellie by 'accident'.

Rising to my feet, I stared down at Flash, easily spotting the surprise and the glint of disappointment in his eyes, which disappeared quickly as he looked up at me with a provocative smile.

Carefully, measured, I asked in a low voice: "Are you serious?"