HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY! AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLONDBANANA!

I don't this is one of my better chapters… I don't like it much. Lemme know what you think. I don't really have much to say or blab on and on about apart from that, so…..

WAIT! I start camp tomorrow! Woot Woot! (So this may mean even fewer updates… hehe)

Okay, now I'm done. On with the show!

Kiss Her Already!

To say he was worried was a serious understatement. Okay, so he was responsible for putting glue on all the door handles last week, and changing the garage door password the week before. It was his fault that the bathroom flooded on Wednesday, and he could lay claim to skateboard Ororo had slipped on and blamed Evan. But he hadn't done anything today! Not even yesterday!

Bobby was not nervous as he stood outside the Professor's office, going through all possible reasons Xavier would want to talk to him. Apprehensive? Yes. Uneasy? Yes. Not nervous. Nervous was when he knew he was guilty of something and was waiting for Logan to discover it. Nervous was bugging an angry telepath and wondering if she was going to castrate him or kill him in a very painful manner. Nervous was asking a certain Jubilation Lee on a date.

No, do not go there! Bobby swallowed and tried to redirect his thoughts elsewhere. An anxious frown creased his brow just slightly.

Usually, the Prof wouldn't keep anyone waiting in the hall for so long – he'd send them a message saying to come in or to wait a couple more minutes – but so far, nothing. Bobby figured it was to mess with his head, though he wouldn't normally count on the Professor to do something like that. He was becoming paranoid.

He knocked on the wooden door twice before opening the door a crack.

"Ah, Bobby. I wasn't expecting you so early," the Professor said as the boy stepped into the room hesitantly. Across from him, in a chair in front of the desk was Dr. Hank McCoy, also known as Beast. The blue mutant looked over the papers he was explaining to Xavier at Bobby, his spectacles sliding down his nose.

"Hello, Bobby."

"Hey, Mr. McCoy. You wanted to see me, Professor?" The professor's claim did not ease Bobby's paranoia. Rather, it just became worse. The professor only called when he was free. Meaning, he was planning something.

"Yes, there is something I would like to discuss with you, Mr. Drake."

Gulp. Uh-oh.

"Um, shall I come back later?" Mr. McCoy asked, gathering up his papers.

"No, no, it's fine, Hank," Professor Xavier said, smiling secretively. Bobby did not like the look of it.

"But, Charles – "

Xavier gave him a look that just had to be paired with a mental message, effectively silencing the furry mutant, before turning back to Bobby. Hank now had a smirk similar to Xavier's on his face.

Double gulp.

"Now, Bobby," the Professor began, "It has come to my attention that you have been the victim of, for lack of a better word, bullying, from some of the other students."

Hallelu – wha…? To say he was not expecting this would be the understatement of the year. At least I'm not in trouble… I think….

"No, Bobby, you aren't in trouble," Professor Xavier chuckled. "Now, as I was saying – "

Just then, the door opened, and Ororo entered. Behind her, Logan leaned against the doorframe. Oh, man….

The weather witch strode briskly over to the professor and put a stack of papers on his desk. "Here are the files on the house insurance, as you requested. Am I… interrupting something?"

"No, not at all," Xavier smiled. Again, there had to be a telepathic message behind it.

"Of course," Storm smiled knowingly, moving to stand behind Professor Xavier's right shoulder.

Bobby suddenly became aware that he was standing in the middle of the room, quite surrounded, with no way out but through the reinforced windows. He briefly considered attempting to escape with whatever dignity he had left, but then figured that Logan would be able to turn him into a pile of minced meat before he could even take a step, so he scrapped that idea.

"So, Bobby," Xavier said, pulling the boy out of his escape plans. "You are quite aware that, as a telepath, I am attuned to peoples' thoughts, as Jean is."

Bobby nodded wordlessly, wondering where this was going.

"And your pining over Jubilee… hmm, how do I put this?" He placed his fingertips together and several wrinkles appeared in his brow. Bobby tensed apprehensively. "As teenagers nowadays would put it, it's become quite a pain in the ass."

A small sound emanated from the back of Bobby's throat in surprise. He didn't know what he felt stronger: the surprise of hearing the Professor swear, or the mortification that he was quite aware of the whole Jubilee situation.

He stared in shock as the teachers around the room nodded in agreement. Only as expected, Bobby started working on his fish-out-of-water routine, producing occasional squeaks. There was relative silence while the adults let this information sink in, watching Bobby with looks of sympathy, amusement, and anticipation.

The expectant silence was rather anticlimactic on Bobby's part, but Forge did come bursting into the room. Naturally, he tripped over Logan's boot – he was still standing in the doorway – and flew halfway across the room, landing unceremoniously next to the speechless teen.

He jumped to his feet and brushed himself off – shooting a dirty look at Logan, but quickly looked away when he saw the fearsome mutant's expression – trying to regain a bit of his dignity.

"I'm nah! – dude, is he okay?" Forge curiously regarded Bobby, who looked like he was having trouble breathing. "Is he having an asthma attack? Does anyone know CPR? Is he choking? The Heimlich maneuver, then - "*

"Forge, it's all right. Calm down," Ororo said, an amused smile tugging at her lips.

"Oh." He blinked, returning to his senses. "So wazza dizzle?"*

He was met with total silence and blank stares.

Forge sighed. "What's-with-him?"

Oh.

"Well," Beast started, "the Professor is, um, trying to find a simple way of telling Bobby to ask Jubilation out, without actually tampering with his thoughts or using the more… popular phrase at the moment."

"Which is…?" Forge said expectantly, but Mr. McCoy just dropped his gaze.

"And Chuck swore," Logan put in from his corner.

"Say what?" Forge exclaimed, his eyebrows shooting up*. "Fo' shizzle? You ain't fakin' me out?"

Logan responded with his usual glare, though a smirk was tugging at his lips. Forge looked over at Charles, and he coughed sheepishly.

"Well, I was trying to use terms more understandable, but perhaps you could do a better job…?"

Suddenly, Forge understood why he'd been summoned. "You mean… oh. Not a problem."

Bobby gasped like he was taking a deep breath after coming close to drowning and blinked – one eye at a time – like he was coming out of a trance. His eyes seemed to clear up as he took a moment to remember where he was. Aw, man! Hey, when did Forge get here?

Just when he was about to voice his question out loud for the benefit of everyone not the professor, Forge started talking.

"Yo, man. Here's the skinny: I don't mean to break foul on ya, but you better make a move on Jubes, ya hear? Don't deny it – I see you scopin' her. And my crib's the basement, man! Nah, don't look at me like I'm talkin' static, yo, can ya dig it?"

Bobby blinked each eye individually again. It sounded like he was speaking English, at least, he was pretty sure. There were definitely some words he recognized in there. Like Jubes. And basement.

"You don't get it." Forge looked quite disappointed at Bobby's lack of comprehension. "Damn it, Jim! Just kiss her already!"

That did it. Bobby yelped like he'd been attacked, jumping visibly. Too distressed to notice the quote from Star Trek or to remind Forge that he name was Bobby, he let out an anguished cry. "Why? Why me!"

He bolted out of the room, flying through the doorframe past Logan, into the hall.

"Oh, dear," Ororo said, shaking her head.

"Yes, that was exactly what I was trying to avoid," the professor sighed, rubbing his temples.

Forge, looking a little sheepish, rubbed the back of his head. "Uhm, oops?"

"Yeah, oops," Logan laughed, earning a look from Ororo.

"The poor child," she said.

"Methinks the boy doth protest too much," Hank said, adapting the Shakespearean quote from Romeo and Juliet, grinning.

"On the contrary," the professor disagreed. "I think he is quite aware of his predicament, he just needs to take a course of action."

"Well, whatever the case, I think you just pushed him over the edge," Logan grunted, though he looked quite entertained. Indeed, it would take Bobby some time to recover from this episode.

* Yes, I am quite aware that you do not use CPR to treat an asthma attack. Just in case you were thinking of accusing me of anything, y'know. Can't be too careful in this world…

* Okay, so I was looking up 70s lingo to try and be more accurate with Forge's slang, but looking at this website, I use a lot of these phrases in my daily language. Go figure. Check it:

http:/www. inthe70s. com/ generated/terms. shtml. Without the spaces.

* Just realized: I haven't done much of my signature eyebrow action. Gotta fix that!

Sorry if Forge seems a bit OC. I don't know much about him, just what the cameos in Evo provided. And a bit from fics, but that's not much.

No, Bobby is not broken. Barely sane enough to go through a few more chapters, but he is not broken!

J. J. Bean