Playing With Fire (EDITING)

Prank'd

The dining room was a wooden paneled hall with a couple wooden tables pushed end to end to make room for everyone. Scores of mutants chose seats around the table and I found myself jostled into a chair between Kitty and Cyclops.

Once everyone was seated, bowls of food were passed around. Buttered carrots, mashed potatoes, lasagna, asparagus, beets, pork chops, fruit salad, jello salad, baked potatoes, sweet potato fries, fried fish- everything imaginable appeared to be on that table. Never in my life had I seen so much food.

Considering the plans for the night, I ate lightly and refused another scoop of the delicious stir fry Cyclops offered. "C'mon, eat," he encouraged. "You've got to be hungrier than that."

"No thanks," I declined. During the meal, Kitty started at the head of the table with Professor Xavier and moved clockwise, telling me everyone's name and mutation. I knew I'd never remember them all, but I made an effort.

"And see that guy there, that's Warpath. He's joining two others on a mission to Africa. And the three girls beside him are part of a group of five going on a different mission."

After dessert of chocolate pudding that looked like a valiant but hopelessly failed attempt, Kitty, Megan, and I excused ourselves from the table. Megan pulled me toward the stairs that led to the bedrooms. "Are you sure this is going to work? What if it isn't good enough?"

Glancing around, I could see the living room filling up and people filtering into the kitchen. Not to be overheard, I pulled Megan and Kitty to the landing between flights of stairs. "It'll be fine. The guys won't know what hit them."

"Incoming!" Kitty hissed.

"Sparky!" Kurt's voice called out. My eyes found him coming up the stairs, but Megan and Kitty had both disappeared- Kitty phased through the floor and popped up across the room, eyes locked on the stairs. Megan materialized beside her. "Hey. Running away so soon?" He stood to my right, leaving no way back to the living room and little space between us. Instinctively, I felt behind and stepped up onto the next stair. Kurt seemed to take this personally and apologized, "Sorry. Didn't think you'd be one to spook like that, but fine."

His hand fiddled with his wristwatch until his outline became indistinct and his tail disappeared. His fingers split into five; gold eyes with feline pupils became blue irises and round pupils; his teeth lost their points, and his ears rounded at the tip. Lastly, the blue hue to his skin became warm peachy-pink, and his hair became brown and curly. "Prof made it for me so I could go out in public," he explained.

"That's really cool," I answered sincerely. "But it wasn't that. Just proximity." My words crumbled to a mumble.

"Oh, sorry again. Anyway, I was wondering if you could help me with something."

"With what?"

"Pranking Megan and Kittycat."

I fought the urge to laugh aloud. "How so?" Why not lead him on for a bit? I knew where my allegiances were and he couldn't sway me, but he might have useful information.

"Honey and feathers. Doug and I stashed them in our room. We knew the girls would retaliate tonight so when they do, we'll have the trap set to catch them. Like a less harmful version of tar-and-feather. What do you say?"

I smirked and stepped back down so we stood toe to toe. "I'll see you tonight."

"Good." He smiled and slid down the railing to join the other young men on the couch.

I descended the stairs in a much more civil manner until Kitty pulled me into a game of Nestle poker. "Prof doesn't let us gamble, so we use chocolate," she explained. After three games, I moved on to play Stratego with Megan.