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Chapter 5 "Jono, if ya keep stopping ta check out the sights, we are like NEVER gonna get anywhere, you know?" Jubilee sighed, resting her chin on her hands as Jono snapped another polaroid. It was their fourth day on the road, and she was sitting at a picnic table waiting for Jono to finish Being A Tourist and get back in the car. She poked at the remains of her lunch. At least she'd sorted out THAT problem. For the first three days, she had been content to just drift along, letting Jono decide when and where they would stop to eat or sleep・he had even made regular pit-stops for her benefit, so that she'd never even had to worry about that. This morning, however, her apathetic lack of interest in life had taken one too many salad sandwiches to the tastebuds, and had kicked a hissy fit. She had, therefore, asked Jono if they could, say, eat at McDonalds just for a change. He had shaken his head, conveying by a few gestures that it was Very Unhealthy and she'd be much better off with some nice cinnamon toast and orange juice. Jubilee had tried sulking. It hadn't worked. She doubted, what with one thing and another, that he'd even noticed, since so far moody staring out of the window had been de rigeur for the trip. At lunch, therefore, she had put her foot down, insisting that his was HER trip, and ordered him to take her to a fast food place on pain of getting severely beaten up. Rather to her surprise, he had meekly acquiesced, and three cheeseburgers, two chocolate milkshakes, two servings of fries and an icecream later she was feeling considerably more in charge of life in general and her stomach in particular. Slurping up the last drops of her second milkshake, she glared at her partner-in-travel. Knowing him, he'd planned the entire thing. Jono wandered up to her table, completely unfazed by her scowl, and jerked his thumb at the Jeep, raising his eyebrows questioningly. "Yeah, yeah, I'm ready." She stretched, and stood up, automatically gathering up the debris from her lunch and dropping it in a nearby bin. He crinkled disarmingly at her, and held up a large bottle of Coke, a smaller bottle of spring water, and a bag of 'homebaked' cookies. Jubilee smiled a little, her crankiness easing slightly. Of all the people she'd gone on roadtrips with, Jono was the first to whom it had even occurred to buy goodies for her in case she got hungry between stops. Not only that, but he even included an bottle of water in case she got carsick, which had already happened once. She decided to forgive him for manipulating her into asserting herself. "Let's hit the road, dude." She patted him on the shoulder, taking the bags and bottles so that he could begin the little which-pocket-did-I-put-the-keys-in-this-time dance routine which was already becoming an established part of the departure proceedings. "Ya can take more pictures when we stop for the night." * * * Emma frowned at the parcel which sat innocuously in the middle of her desk. It was a nodescript brown paper affair, a little longer than it was wide and neatly labeled with Jubilee's name. The return address was the school at Westchester. A small sticker with a cheery smiley face claimed that the receiver 'mustn't open me until your birthday!'. Which, in Jubilee's case, was tomorrow. The sheer _thoughtlessness_of whoever had sent it was what was bothering her. After everything that had happened recently, all Jubilee got for her birthday was a _parcel_!? ONE parcel? Emma fumed. <<That's it, this is the _last_ neglectful straw. I'll・ I'll・ I'll do the most horrible thing I can think of to them as just as soon as I think of it!>> * * * Paige sighed. She had to talk to Sam. Really, she did. She couldn't keep on putting it off. He was the only one who might know. Definitely the person to ask. He'd know. Probably. Almost certainly. She kicked a chair-leg irritably. <<But how exactly am Ah supposed ta bring up what amounts ta child abuse ta my big brother? It ain't something Ah can bring up in casual conversation. Ah don't think he even thinks Ah KNOW about that stuff.>> "Paige?" The object of her quandry looked at her from under a shock of blonde hair. "Ya been like a cat on a hotplate ever since ya got back. What's up? Can Ah help?" "Um・ well・" Paige opened her mouth to pour out the whole story. Though the spirit was willing, however, the vocal chords were weak. "How were the X-Men when ya left?" "Fine, Ah guess・ a couple o' troublemakers there, but they'll be fine." Sam emptied his coffee-cup. "Ah'd better get back ta helpin' the kids pack up for the trip." "Wait! Uh・" Paige bit her lip, gazing worriedly at her big brother. When she was a little girl she'd been convinced that Sam could do anything, and fix any problem in the whole world. She'd lost that childlike adulation over the years, but he was still her big brother, and still, when push came to shove, the person she wanted to take the really big problems to. "Ah know this sounds a little weird・ but has Wolverine ben himself lately?" Sam blinked. "Uh・Ah guess so. He's been a little cranky, and there was that incident with Marrow, but other than that he's been just fine. Why?" "Incident with Marrow?" Paige got a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach. Unconsciously she wrung her hands, twisting them around each other in a near-mirror image of their mother's most noticable I'm-worried signal. He frowned, noticing the mannerism. "Well・ they got into a fight durin' a training session, and he kinda beat up on her a bit, but she handed out her share of knocks too. It was kinda uncalled for, but he musta had a reason, Ah guess・" He trailed off, looking suspiciously at his sister. "Why?" "Uhm・Sam? How old is Marrow?" Paige's throat had gone dry, and her voice rasped a little. "About fifteen or sixteen, Ah think. WHY, Paige?" Her face had gone white, and she leaned on the table. "What's wrong? What'ss goin' on?!" "Ah・" She sat down, looking as though her legs wouldn't support her anymore. "Sam, Ah hoped Ange was wrong, Ah really did, but this・" "WHAT?!" Sam raised his voice to his sister for the fifth time in her entire life. She told him the entire story, leaving nothing out, including a summary of the contents of Jubilee's suicide note, which Monet had sneaked a look at and recited word for word over the phone. Paige insisted that everything they had come up with was pure speculation, but stressed equally the evidence that was accumulating to support the theory. When she was done, she stared down at her hands, which lay folded on the kitchen table. Sam had not said a single word throughout the entire recitation. Now that the spate of words had finally run dry, he stood up, his face calm. "Ah'm gonna be out for most of the rest of today, Paige." His voice was even. "Could ya make up the guest-room, please?" Without another word, he was out the door and blasting into the air. Heading, she noticed without surprise, straight for Westchester. * * * Jono tapped his fingers jauntily on the wheel. Deciding that that was boring, he bounced around in his seat a little, vaguely in time to the strains of Matchbox 20's '3 a.m'. Nodding with the beat, he swung the wheel back and forth a little. "Jono?" Jubilee looked up from her drearily depressing, gore-drenched comic-book. Jono had held out in favour of Wonder Woman, but had been firmly overridden. "Didja forget which side of the road it is again?" He shook his head and bopped around in his seat a little more. Rolling her eyes, she went back to the adventures of Lord Gore or whatever it was. Jono frowned. That was a bad comic for her to be reading, he was sure. He liked Sandman, and he was all in favour of anything involving practically naked vampire women or the like, but this one was apparently entirely devoted to mass slaughter interposed with suicides every third page, and it was starting to depress _him_ , and he wasn't even the one reading it. <<Which ain't what's supposed ter happen here,>> he thought, frowning a little. He was trying very hard not to be overtly depressive, and she just wasn't helping at all. <<Ain't like _I_ can't do the I'm-totally-depressed-my-life-isn't-worth-living-nobody-really-cares-about-me-and-why-would-they-anyway-I'm-not-worth-caring-about-why-don't-I-just-die thing, and do it with more style, too.>> He shook his head. <<Oh well, it's her trip, she can be depressive if she wants. But I ain't joinin' in. Nope, not gonna happen. I'm being happy-happy-nice-kind Jono now! Yup, that's me!>> He sighed mentally, not having quite convinced himself. The cheerful front wasn't an easy one to maintain. He had wallowed in his self-hatred and despair for so long that it was a deeply-ingrained habit, which was harder to break than he had originally thought. Still, he was determined. Jubilee's suicide attempt had had a profound impact on the gloomy young englishman. Used to devoting his time to obsessing over either his own flaws, or his 'hopeless' love for Paige, he had completely failed to notice Jubilee's state of mind until it was almost too late. What had surprised him was that Jubilee, normally so happy by nature, could fall so fast into despair. What had stunned him was the utter anguish that that near-loss had caused him. He had always been so caught up in his yearning for Paige that he had never realised how much he loved Jubilee. Not in the same way, of course・ even if he weren't committed to Paige, Jubilee was much too young for THAT. Not even fifteen until tomorrow. Even so, she was a big girl, capable of making adult decisions, and the general view of her as an endearing if irritating child baffled him. Jubilee, to him, was simply his friend, someone he trusted absolutely, and he adored her for the sweet, brave, irreverent ball of energy that she was・and respected her for the same reason. He shook his head, fighting off incipient depression. Jubilee needed him, and he was going to be happy for her if it killed him. To cheer himself up, he turned up the volume on the radio a little and boogied around in his seat for a while. The song finished, and Elton John started up with 'Crocodile Rock'. Jono's eyes gleamed. Perfect. **I remember when rock was young The car swung a little, as Jono played with the steering wheel. Jubilee ignored it, immersed in an eight way battle to the death. **Well, Crocodile Rockin' The car boogied a little. Jono was getting the hang of it now. **I never knew me a better time La la-la-la-la la, By now the car was out and out dancing down the road, heedless of such piffling considerations as right and left sides. Jono beamed, swinging the wheel and, just to make things even more interesting, pressing first the accelerator then the brake so that the car moved in little jerks. **But the years went by and the rock just
died, Jubilee grabbed her armrest as the car rocked around a corner, swinging its back end and actually managing a hop or two. "Jono! What are you doing?!" The car swung back the other way, almost dumping her in Jono's lap. "Jono!! Cars aren't supposed to dance!!" **But they'll never kill the dreams we've
got, He ignored her, swinging the wheel back and forth and causing the car to make an energetically wavy line down the middle of the road. Almost against her will, Jubilee giggled at the blissfuly happy expression on Jono's face as he and the Jeep got down to the old song. "Jono, yer such a weirdo!! Stoppit!" **Well, Crocodile Rockin' The old Jeep hopped and shimmied down the empty road, bouncing its passengers around in time to the beat. Jono was obviously having a ball, tapping his feet and occasionally leaning out the window to feel the breeze. Her heart lightened by the absurd sight, Jubilee laughed for the first time in days and hung onto her seat for dear life. **La la-la-la-la la, Jubilee sang along, sticking her head out the window too. She even risked letting go of her seat for a second to wave an arm. She felt suddenly, absurdly happy as the Jeep bucked and twisted to the old tune, the past briefly forgotten in the thrill of the gloriously dotty present. **I remember when rock was young If he'd had a face, Jono would have been grinning like the Cheshire Cat. He'd never had more fun in his whole life, he decided. Certainly never at - he checked the speedometer - eight under the limit. Jubilee was singing and giggling, occasionally bouncing off his shoulder when he swung to the right. Neither of them even noticed the car that pulled out behind them. **Well, Crocodile Rockin' _Weeoohweeooh_!! Sirens blared briefly from right behind them, and Jono and Jubilee jumped in guilty unison. "Ooops." She muttered. "Bust-eeed!" **La la-la-la-la la, Jono pulled over, looking as guilty as if he'd been caught robbing a bank. The cop walked up to the window, and looked in, smiling the special fake smile reserved for use by those who have you over the proverbial barrel. "Thanks for pulling over, kids." **La la-la-la-la la, Jubilee switched off the radio, and gave him her very best sweet, innocent smile. "Hello, officer. Is there a problem?" * * * Marrow sulked down a corridor. <<Stupid room-stealing pretty-pretties.>> She kicked at the floor. <<None of them take me seriously. Little ugly crazy girl in the basement. Serve them right if I juooop!>> A hand fastened around her arm and yanked her around a corner. She came within an inch of detaching it from its owner, then saw who it was, and decided to leave the hand where it belonged in case it might be useful later. "What do you want, hayseed? Leave your security blanket behind?" She snarled at him, just so that he wouldn't think that she'd missed him or anything. "Marrow, please, not now." He looked worried・almost frantic, actually. He cupped her shoulders, looking searchingly into her eyes. "Listen. When you and Wolverine fought, did he・ do anything he shouldn't have?" "Apart from trying to kill me?" Marrow frowned. The hayseed was acting even stranger than usual. He was actually・blushing・ "You mean, did he try to cop a feel or something?!" "Did he?" Sam looked so worried for her that Marrow actually felt her heart soften. She squashed the reaction firmly. "If he had, I would have killed him for sure." She folded her arms, her bones forming a spiny defense across her chest. "Nobody tries that sort of thing with me." "Good." He took his hands off her shoulders and moved back slightly, automatically respecting the 'back off' signal of her crossed arms. Marrow ruthlessly crushed a regretful impulse, refusing to think about how sweet he was when he respected her personal space. "Look, Ah'm probably makin' a fool out of myself, here・ but I don't want to take the chance that I'm not." He gave her an adorably confused-but-determined look. "Sarah, Ah wanna take you back to my family's farm for a little while, okay? Ah'd feel a lot better if Ah knew you were there, and・" He trailed off, blushing a little. "And?" "And safe," he finished in a very small voice. "Ah know you can take care o' yourself and all, but・ Ah also know how everyone here feels about you. If anything did happen, they wouldn't believe you. They wouldn't _trust_ you." He actually wanted to _protect_ her? Sarah didn't know whether to kiss him or slap him for thinking she needed his protection. He was being totally infuriating and utterly adorable at one and the same time and it was getting her all confused. As sometimes happens in these cases, her subconsious sneaked up and operated her mouth while her internal censors were busy. "Why would he try anything with someone as ugly as me, anyway?" it asked bitterly. "Why wouldn't he go for one of the pretty-pretty upworlder girls who're always hanging around him?" Sam took her hands gently in his. "One, you ain't ugly. A little unusual lookin', but not ugly. And two・" He bit his lip. "He might have. Maybe." "Oh." She thought about that. She really didn't trust any of these people・ and Sam was being very sweet・ what the heck. "Fine. Haul me off to the back of beyond. See if I care." He beamed at her. "You'll like it on the farm," he promised blithely. "Doubt it." Marrow muttered. * * * Jubilee kicked the legs of her chair, and turned a winsomely innocent expression on the seargant behind the desk. "Look, I know we shouldn't have been car-dancing like that, but it's not actually illegal, is it?" "Well・" He sighed. These two had been one big headache ever since they got pulled over. Not that they'd ben unco-operative・ But how did you breathalyze a kid who not only didn't breath unless he wanted to, but didn't even have a mouth to blow with? All the drug tests were coming up negative. He couldn't even talk to explain why he'd been - according to the guy who'd brought them in - making their Jeep dance. The chinese girl had had to translate his gestures・ and the seargant still wasn't sure why a fifteen year old girl was going around with a deformed mutant in the first place. "I mean, he wasn't driving under the influence of anything, and he was under the speed limit, and we were both strapped in, and the road was, like, totally empty." She smiled hopefully at him. "WHY was he 'car-dancing' in the first place?" He looked as stern as he could manage. "I think he was trying to cheer me up." The girl・Jubilee, wasn't it?・shrugged her thin shoulders. "I was feelin' kinda down today, and Jono hates that." She smiled. "He always tries to cheer me up." "Really." The sergeant frowned. "And if I might ask, little lady, what are you doing travelling alone with a boy his age?" He did his best 'stern father' look. "Do your parents know where you are?" The girl shrugged again. "No parents. They're dead." She held up a student ID card. "Jono and I go to school together. We've got a week off because they're renovating, so we headed off ta see some of the country. I'm from SoCal, right? And he's, like, English? So neither of us ever saw Pennsylvania before, and we thought it'd be fun, since neither of us got homes to go to." She handed him a business card. "Miss Frost owns the school, and she's my guardian. Call her, and she'll tell ya we got permission." He hummed and hawed for a minute. Calling a place like Frost Enterprises and asking for the managing director didn't really appeal to him. And the matching school ID's and the English driver's license bore out her story. And the girl certainly LOOKED like she was being treated all right. And no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't come up with any law against・ car dancing. "Well・ guess I could let you off with a warning this time. But don't do it again!" "We won't." She assured him. "Promise." * * * Emma drifted up to the counter at the post office, smiling sweetly. "Excuse me," she cooed to the dazzled clerk. "I should give this to you, right?" "Uh・yes ma'am." He managed. "I'll deal with it for you. Not a problem." "Thanks. I appreciate it." The sweet smile remained fixed to her face until she left the post office, then curdled into a sneer as she walked away. <<Let's see how they deal with this one!>> The clerk smiled wistfully. <<Bet I'll never see her again.>> he thought wistfully, as he picked up the package. It was an ordinary looking thing, wrapped in brown paper and with a cheerfully smiling sticker in the bottom left corner. It was addressed in crabbed, scrawling handwriting, which had subsequently been crossed out. Writing in another, much neater hand filled the lower right hand corner. ((Please return to sender,)) it read. ((Resident no longer at this address.)) End Part Five (Author's note: Yes, cars really can dance, given a song with a beat and an insane driver. <shudders> As my mother dearly loves to demonstrate.)
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