X-Men Evolution: Rogue Evolution

Secrets Secrets 9.6

"Got costume jewelry, the costumes, wigs," Kitty pecked at a list on her phone in one hand while pressing her empty hot pink thermos and a load of library books into her person with the other. "Even got a tall weird one that I gave a long white stripe for your girl Frankenstein costume, An."

Evan snorted with his face buried in his phone as they walked shoulder to shoulder along the walkway running the perimeter outside of the school campus. "She's going as the Bride of Frankinstin Monster, not Frankinstin."

"Whats the dif?"

"Frankenstein was the doctor, not the monster."

"So?"

"So, they are two completely different characters! One was a dick-head scientist and the other was his creation."

"His name is seriously just 'Frankinstin's Monster?' That sounds like some hella lazy writing."

"Isn't that the point?" Kurt interjected as he walked along Anna's left side and opposite to the others. "He's the one stripped most of his humanity, but in the story, he's ironically the most human out of all of them."

"I don't know. I'll leave this to the one who has to suffer through Mrs. Crane's insane English class." While Kitty scrolled through her phone, she heard only the sounds of their footsteps on the craggy asphalt underfoot. She eventually looked up at the taller girl to her left. "Calling Anna...An? You there?"

Anna had her history textbook clung to her chest. It was the same spot from where she had picked it up and held it after reviewing that night's homework in the latter part of her last class. Her chin was pointed towards the cloudy gray sky where she could just spot a plane passing overhead through a particularly whispy patch of flying cotton. Despite her eyes feeling tired and dried, she could seem to pull her gaze away from the gray sky.

"Earth to Anna." Kitty shook her shoulder.

Anna blinked and sucked in a spike of cold air. The world around her suddenly came into view like a video game being rendered. The patchy rectangular sod around them, the black crack-filled asphalt before them, and the red brick of the school to their right. "Sorry. What's up?"

"You've been so dang spacy today. You having weird dreams again?"

"No - no, sleeping alright. Just guess I have a lot on my mind."

"So, is Frankenstin's monster an analogy for humanity's loss of humanity or what?"

"Try replacing 'analogy' with 'allegory' and 'humanity's' with a 'person's' and you might actually have a sentence that makes sense, Kitty."

Kitty turned on Evan. "Why don't you try replacing that mouth of yours with shutting up before I replace your nose with my fist for correcting me every two seconds, Evan!

"Well, we haven't actually read Frankenstein yet in class," Anna brushed her hair behind her ear. "But Miss Crane still likes to go on weird random rants about books and movies sometimes. Usually, they end up circling the drain about how horrible men are in some way or another. I think she said something about the book being Mary Shelly's way of coping with a lost child and Lord Byron being a tool... or something like that."

"Byron," Kurt stuck his thumbs through the straps of his backpack. "Wasn't he a poet?"

"Yeah. He and Mary Shelly knew each other. Miss Craine seems to hate him for whatever reason. I think she said he was essentially the 'fuck boy' of the time."

"Huh. Weird to think of anyone from that long ago being a 'fuck boy.'" Kurt finger quoted.

"There was plenty of them. In Mr. McCoy's class, we've been learning about Lindon B Johnson." Anna shrugged a shoulder. "Well, he wasn't a 'fuck boy' exactly, but he was a ragging piece of shit. He was so eager to be sworn in after JFK's assassination, that JFK's wife still had the dude's brains on her dress during the inauguration." Anna blinked. "Oh speaking of JFK," She looked at Evan, "You learn anything more about Xavier's code?"