Moral of the Story

Chapter 1

I was sitting around the bonfire with the other faculty at Xavier's after all the students had gone to bed: talking shit, spilling fresh gossip, and discussing all the latest trends. Next to me was my best friend, Ororo when she said, "You do know Logan's cheating on you, right?"

"Please, Storm. We've been over this. There's no way he does that, it just isn't like him."

"Please," she begged, "everyone else on campus knows, we see the subtle glances, we hear the quiet 'I Love You's, we smell his cologne on her so why can't you see it?"

She and I had had a big fight about this earlier, to her it was as obvious as the sun. I was holding on to something that wasn't there, a distant memory long forgotten by him

I didn't believe what they said- moreover, I couldn't believe- Logan was the first thing in my life that I knew Jean couldn't cheat me out of or beat me at. Walking down the hall in the teachers' wing I heard moaning and grunting coming from Jean and Scott's room, two definite voices.

I had seen Scott less than five minutes ago when I left the bonfire, and that's when it dawned on me. I crept over to their door, wanting to catch this mysterious offender who Jean was cheating with, a soft gasp escaped my lips when I peered through the crack.

There on the bed lay the Jean Gray who had bested me at everything in life legs wide open with her brassiere unclasped at the front with a barely concealed Logan between her thighs.

Tears welled in my eyes as I took a step back, unsure of what I was supposed to do. I mean, no one tells you what to do if you see your boyfriend of three years fucking another woman.

Walking into our shared room I started packing away my things, everything that was valuable enough to bring with me. I knew I had to come back for the rest but I couldn't think about that now, I just wanted out.

After I fill my duffle bags and suitcases, I go to make my way out of the door when Logan walks in, looking like he had just gotten out of the shower.

"Honey, whatcha doing? Thought you wanted to stay out at the bonfire a little longer."

"Cut the shit, Lo. I know everything." I move towards the door, and he grabs my arm.

"Sugar, I don't know what you're talking 'bout, you're gonna have to be more specific than that." He says while slightly pushing my baggage down.

"I saw you," I let out a shaky breath, " I saw you with Jean just then. I trusted you! Even when everyone told me you were cheating I trusted you! Why would you do this to me, Logan?"

He stood there. Silent, still. As if processing what I had just said. Not moving even an inch.

A few minutes must have passed before he moved to bring his hand to my cheek before I shied away. "Sweetie, baby, please," he begged, a thing I seldom saw from him, "I swear, that was the only time."

"Really? Because the rest of the faculty, save Scott and Professor Xavier, has been telling me all this for months!" I didn't care if I woke the entire school, I had been wronged and cheated by the one person I trusted with my deepest fears and my insecurities. The man I had wanted to spend the rest of my life mere hours earlier betrayed me in a way no one should have to experience, and I would let him fucking know.

After hours of yelling at Logan, my voice was hoarse and raw as tears streamed down my face, people began to run over to the faculty wing to find out what the commotion was all about, hearing the scandalous but anticipated news and spreading it down the chain. Until everyone from the bonfire called it a night only to find they couldn't even get to their rooms with the amount of people crowded around.

Scott shoved his way through to the front as I yelled, hearing me say his partner's name in the context of cheating, he looked at her, across the hall from where Logan and I stood, hope draining from his eyes and he understood that she had chosen Logan while trying to keep him along.

"I'm sorry, you had to find out this way, Scott," I say, apologizing to Jean once again.

He turns around and the crowd separates like the Red Sea for him, now with Jean following, apologizing, begging for him to forget about this, how it didn't mean anything to her, to turn over a new leaf; to wipe the slate clean. He doesn't face her, not while I can see.

I pick up my bags again just for Logan to reach out once again, "Please?"

He sits there silently begging. I pull away, watching the hope in his eyes crumble.

"We both know it's too late for that, Lo."

The crowd separates once more as I make my way down the stairs, out the front door, and to the garage where my 65' Thunderbird sits. Popping the trunk, I picked up my suitcase when I saw a silver streak of light pass by.

"You're gonna leave, just like that?" Peter says, leaning back on the driver's door.

"What else should I do? It's not like I want to see them after this." I load my smaller bags in and shut the trunk before moving to the door.

"That's fair." Peter says, backing away, "But is there nothing else keeping you here?"

A soft gaze met mine, practically begging me to stay.

"Pete, I don't need another reminder that I'm nothing but sub-par in comparison to the great Jean Gray. I don't want to feel like that anymore. I've been compared to her my entire life, it's time I meet someone who sees me for me."

And with the nod of his head, I drove out of Xavier's School of Gifted Children for the last time.