Disclaimer: I do NOT own the X-Men. (Or do I?)

Replay: Slow Motion

Pietro couldn't take it any longer. He was getting nowhere. All he needed to do was go from his chemistry class on the main floor to his english class in the basement. This should take a normal person two minutes at the most. It should only take Quicksilver TWO SECONDS at the most. Apparently the gossiping girls and the macho dimwits of Bayville had better things to do than get to class though.

Twenty girls stood in the middle of the hallway talking about nail polish and perfume fragrances. A couple of football players were tossing a ball across the hallway to one another. A girl ran into Pietro chasing some guy down the hallway. 'How immature' he thought to himself.

Trying to maneuver his way through the crowd, Pietro walked into a couple making out by the lockers. 'This is absolutely infuriating!'It was hard enough to move at a normal pace (which took great self-restraint on his part) but this was agony. He felt like he was treading through waist high quicksand. 'COME ON PEOPLE MOVE!'he shouted in his head. As soon as he saw a clearing in the crowd – he was gone.

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Rogue could not stand being in the hallway with all of these people. Hardly any of them ever paid attention to where they were walking or what they were doing. A group of girls all huddled around giving each other beauty tips. A few glanced at Rogue giving her dirty looks. 'Like Ah care!'she thought shooting daggers back at them.

The captain of the football team was tossing a ball to the quarterback. Only he over-shot and the receiver started running backwards headed straight for her. Rogue moved out of the way just in time and the catcher ran into a locker. "Watch where ya are goin' next time" she said coldly and continued making her way down the hall.

She tried to avoid as many people as possible and went to go around a large group of people when she almost ran into a couple making out. Her anger was quickly replaced with sadness. 'Wow' she thought. Maybe she had been staring, because the two parted lips and the girl looked right at Rogue.

"Got a problem?" she asked annoyance clear in her voice.

"No…sorry. Sorry" she said, embarrassment flushing her cheeks. She walked away quickly, hoping no one would notice the tears starting to form in her eyes. 'Stupid.Stupid.Stupid.'She repeated. Hot tears slid down her cheeks. She removed one of her gloves to wipe the tears from her face and turned to go into her english class when someone ran into her.

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"HAY!" she said angrily. "Watch it!"

"WhoopssorryRogueyRoo" Pietro said skidding to a halt. Something seemed… odd to Pietro just then but he chose to ignore it.

"Ya betta be."

"I said I was sorry. YEESH!"

"Well whateva." she said facing the opposite direction, wiping away her tears. She meant to do it discreetly so that Pietro would not notice but to him her movements were slow. He moved a little closer to see if she was all right when she turned around, dropping her hands to her sides. The two now being very close in proximity made Rogue a bit nervous. She was both excited and scared by their closeness. It was not often that someone would willingly stand this close to her, and especially not ones that were quite as good looking. She looked up into his eyes and felt like she could drown. Then quickly looked away after thinking that way about an enemy of the X-Men. Pietro had caught her staring and smirked.

"You alright?" he asked, half jokingly, half-serious. She let out a sigh.

"Ya Ahm fine." she said using her hand in a dismissive movement and walked into the classroom. Leaving a very confused Pietro out in the hallway. 'Well I wonder what's up with her. That girl doesn't even know her own strength! It hurt when she whapped me with her hand just now.' He tried to nurse his hand back to health, rubbing it gently when something occurred to him. What had been awkward about her hitting him again? Something had seemed…he peered at the figure of the girl in the classroom, his eyes dropping down to her hips, jaw dropping. 'That's what it had been!' he realized upon seeing her un-gloved hand.

She had touched him.

TBC>