Driving Time
By Sarai (aka Princess Emma)
Feedback: [email protected]
Disclaimer: I own nothing. I'm a college student going to school to get my teaching degree. Yeah, one of these days I'll be a rich and famous teacher…. ::waits for laughter to die down:: Exactly my point. Let's leave the fate of our children and the future to overworked and underpayed men and women who get no respect for the job they do. The only reason that theory works is because teachers—for some odd reason—love their jobs. Go give your teacher a hug, right now. They need them. (Anyway, not mine, never was, never will be. Don't sue.)
Author's Note: This is entirely for my Zoe, the only person anyone can blame for my X-Men obsession. Here's to empty movie theatres and 15-minute summaries of X-Men before seeing X2. And here's to chatting away until 5 am online, and long, in depth conversations about why Scott can see color—not to mention any of the times we just sat at our respective computer screens and went "ehhh…" And for watching clips of Second Noah with me and letting me rant for the bagillionth time about the untimely and UNFAIR cancellation of said show. Anyway, thanks for dragging me into yet another superhero fandom and making me obsessed. I owe you. Love you, babe!!
This is just a little ditty that came to me when I was bored and ignoring homework. Such is the life of a college student. Zoe didn't appreciate the music Scott's car blasted in X2, and honestly, Scott doesn't strike me as a huge boy band fan. So, teeny tiny spoiler for X2, and let's face it… I pretty much just spoiled the spoiler right now, so you're safe to read on. Just some fun. And my brother had Driver's Ed this summer and now has his permit. That's all I can say. (I never get to drive anymore when I'm home!!) And I have nothing against 'N Sync. "Bye, Bye, Bye" happens to be the theme song for my sophomore biology class, in fact. Just ask Pipet. And I do hope Lindsay's singing something different nowadays…
P.S.: If anyone anywhere has ANY Second Noah merchandise, or knows where to get it, please, please, please for the love of all that is good and right in this universe, tell me where I can find some! If they don't release that show on DVD now, I might just have a nervous breakdown. My videotapes are getting worn out, and according to a listing of episodes I found online, I think I'm missing one. And GRRRR about that, anyway. (Is it sad and pathetic that I'm still not over the cancellation of a show that ran in '96 and '97? Nah. Just call me devoted.)
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"No, Kitty."
Kitty Pryde pouted, crossing her arms across her chest. "Come on, Mr. Summers," she pleaded, "Please…"
Scott Summers shook his head, taking a file folder of homework from his 'to-do' pile and pulling it to him. "Absolutely not. You have homework and I-"
"Oh, come on, Mr. Summers!" Jubilation Lee (who preferred "Jubilee") interrupted, sitting on the edge of his desk and ignoring the dangerous raised eyebrow. "It'd just be a few hours, and it's not like anybody really wants that homework back, ya know."
"Gee… Thank you so much, Jubilee," Scott said dryly. "Get off," he ordered, waving a hand at her and reaching for the gradebook she had been sitting on. "I said no. You girls had better go do your homework because I happen to know someone's giving a pop quiz tomorrow."
"Miss Munroe. We knew that," Kitty replied impatiently, waving a hand. "Oh, come on," she said, rolling her eyes. "It's hardly a pop quiz if we know when it's coming. She always gives pop quizzes on the third Tuesday of every other month."
Scott blinked at Kitty from behind his glasses. He doubted even Ororo knew that she did that. Gathering himself, he looked down at the first paper in the stack. "Well, if you know about it, I suppose that means you'll ace this one." Scott supposed that it was cruel to find the girls' slight squirming satisfying.
Jubilee sighed, and asked again, a note of pleading in her voice, "Mr. Summers, please? I swear, we won't ask again… At least not for a long time!"
Scott sighed, setting down his pen and feeling annoyed. "Jubilee, Kitty… Do we need to have a talk about what the word 'no' means? No means no. I don't know how many times I've told you it's not happening tonight, so why are you still asking? It's only annoying me, and that's not going to make me change my mind."
Jubilee made a face somewhere between a pout and a glare, but Kitty shrugged. "Well… But see, Mr. Summers, you promised."
"What?"
"You told us that if we didn't bug you about it, and if we improved by one whole letter grade with our next essay, you would take us driving, and even let us pick the car."
Scott stared at her, feeling a bit foolish and wanting to slap himself upside the head. "I… did, didn't I?" Damn.
"That's right!" Jubilee cried, jumping up and down on the balls of her feet, giddy. "And remember, I raised my grade from a D to a B, Mr. Summers! That's two letter grades! And Kitty and I haven't asked you once in a month and Kitty got an A on that last essay! So you have to take us driving now!"
Damn. Scott sighed, and rubbed his forehead, knowing that they had him with this. "All right, all right… I'll take you driving, but not tonight. This weekend."
Jubilee was grinning and clapped her hands as she gave a small, excited squeal. But Kitty was frowning at him. "But Mr. Summers, we only need about an hour of night driving each before we can send in for our licenses! And if we don't do it soon, we'll have to take driver's ed all over again! Couldn't we please, please, please, please just go driving tonight? It'd just be a few hours, and then you'd never have to take us driving again! Nobody else will go with us! We've asked!"
"I said no, Kitty."
Kitty gave him her best wounded look, and gained a raised eyebrow for her trouble. "Pleeeeeeeeeease?" she whined, doing her best to look pathetic. He was cracking, and she knew it. If she and Jubilee just kept this up for a little longer, they would wind up either getting their way or getting grounded… And she was betting on the former, since they had been actually trying to do their homework lately. (Of course, it didn't hurt that they were spending more time with Bobby and Rogue, getting help from them every so often…)
Scott shook his head, growing frustrated. "No! How many times do I have to say 'no' before you realize I mean it?"
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"Don't even think about it."
"But you promised!"
"Not. That. Car."
"You did promise, Mr. Summers," Jubilee pointed out gleefully, half an hour later, following Kitty and Scott into the garage and towards Scott's newest car. "And we did do exactly what you told us to do."
"Not exactly, Jubilee. I did ask you to leave me alone, didn't I?"
"But that was after you promised us we could pick the car if we raised our grades," Kitty pointed out. "And besides, you don't want us to think we can't trust you to keep your word, do you?"
Scott glared at the teenager, wishing she could see that he was doing so. "Fine," he snapped, feeling defeated and annoyed. He just wanted these two hours over with. After this… no more driving with Kitty and Jubilee… He had to keep reminding himself of that as he took out the keys and let Kitty take them. Scott climbed into the passenger seat and buckled his seat belt while Jubilee climbed into the back.
Once Scott had forced Kitty to go through the entire checklist their driver's ed instructor had given them of things the girls had to do before driving (much to their annoyance, the zillionth time they went through it), Kitty grinned and pulled a CD case out of her purse. Scott felt a slight panic.
"Kitty…"
"You said the driver picks the music, Mr. Summers, the other day in the van, when we went to the mall, remember?"
Scott was beginning to think that perhaps he would be better off keeping his mouth shut. "How is it you remember absolutely everything I say outside of class, Kitty, but nothing you're actually supposed to remember?"
Kitty just grinned and slipped the yellow disk, obviously one she had burned, into the player. Scott's jaw literally dropped when the music began.
"No, Kitty! Absolutely not! We are not listening to that!"
"Why not?" Jubilee asked from the backseat, where she was already dancing in her seat to the Backstreet Boys. "It's good music!"
Scott looked back at her, jaw extremely tense. He felt like he might be in danger of breaking a few teeth. "Change it, Kitty."
"Come on, Mr. Summers! It's pop culture!"
"Yeah!" Jubilee agreed from the backseat. "Consider it studying for our pop quiz tomorrow! It's history!"
Scott shook his head disbelievingly. "Your quiz is on the Renaissance!"
"Well… they had music then…"
"Besides, Mr. Summers, the Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync are important figures in music history and pop culture!" Jubilee argued, leaning forward between the front seats. "They were huge! They were the biggest boy bands since New Kids on the Block! And they were the first boy band!"
That left Scott at a momentary loss for words. "You don't remember New Kids on the Block!"
"Yes I do!"
Scott shook his head, laughing. "Jubilee, I remember them, because I was in high school, but you weren't even born when they were popular!"
Jubilee pouted. "I have an older sister! She had the bed sheets, and the towels, and the dolls, and the cartoons and all the music! And then she gave them all to me!"
Scott shook his head, feeling that this night could not bring any more surprises. "Well… They were not the first boy band, anyway."
Kitty made a frustrated noise. "Can I please drive now?"
Scott sighed, tightened his seat belt and nodded. At least he knew this driving trip couldn't end in complete disaster… There was no way the universe could be so cruel as to kill him while the radio blasted "Bye, Bye, Bye".
Finis
Technically, the Beach Boys were a boy band. So, much as it pains me to say, New Kids were indeed not the first boy band. And neither were the Beach Boys, I'm sure. Just a random tidbit. (And for the record…. All that New Kids on the Block paraphernalia? Had it. Loved it. Still have it somewhere in my closet. Step by Step. Oo, baby.)