Unspoken: The Peanut Gallery

The Peanut Gallery
by Minisinoo

Rating: PG

Summary: Listening at keyholes. I figured it was time the students give their opinions.

Notes: Dani Moonstar was in the professor's physics lesson right along with Kitty, Jubilee, and the boys. Neal Sharra asked Bobby in the hallway if he'd seen Rogue. In the comics, Dani was Scott's choice as leader of the New Mutants. This ficlet is short and not particularly profound, but I'm continuing in the vein of trying to write characters I don't normally write.

Date: September 26, 2001

"So . . . whatcha hear, chica?"

"Goddamn!" Dani turned to glare at a gum-popping Jubilee. "Just scare shit out of me next time, ain't it?"

Unrepentant, Jubilee grinned, teeth Ultra-brite white to set off the puca shells at her neck and the hoops in her ears. "We haven't heard anything -– yet," Bobby said, before Dani could jump down Jubilee's throat. Not that Jubes would be much fazed. She took Dani's serious streak in stride.

Now, the three of them knelt in the shadowed lee of the kitchen freezer and listened at the old door -– long sealed up -– to the pantry. Dani had put the open end of a glass to the wooden door, and was listening at the other end. Simple physics, but leave it to Dani to think of it. Or Kitty. Those two were Mr. Summer's pets, Dani for her common sense and Kitty for her math brain. Bobby sighed. He had his own special status here as the first of the younger generation – Scott's informal little brother -– but that status didn't get him As on The Tests From Hell.

Minutes ticked by. The buzz of the freezers, two long and one upright, made a background to the indistinct rise and fall of two voices beyond the door. He couldn't make out a word, was hoping that Dani was having better luck. She seemed to be, if her intent face was any indication. His nature inclined him to patience, but Jubes fidgety, if disinclined to interfere in an ‘intelligence gathering operation' -– better known as spying on the adults. "Who's in there?" Jubes whispered now to Bobby.

"Dani said she saw Ms. Munroe and Mr. Worthington go in. They were talking about the new doctor, so she dragged me in here, to listen."

"Would you two be still?" Dani hissed.

Bobby bit his lips and made a funny face as Jubes rolled her eyes. Dani would be Dani, but she got things done. That was why she was Mr. Summer's pet. Abruptly, she jerked the glass away from the door and made a shushing motion to both of them. In the kitchen beyond their alcove, they heard the main pantry door open and shut, the movement of feet, and Ororo Munroe's voice. "I think I'm going to get some ice cream, before I go up to my room."

"Oh, shit," Jubilee muttered, as all three of them tried to flatten themselves further back in the shadows between the freezer and the wall, and keep the crowns of their heads below the top of the long freezer. At least the ice-cream was kept in the tall freezer. It smelled musty back here, and a gag-sweet, as if a mouse had gotten stuck in the wall and inconveniently died. They could hear Ms. Munroe singing to herself in Bantu -– or something that wasn't English –- as she pillaged the freezer for ice-cream. The dust was getting to Bobby. He felt his nose tickle.

He was *not* going to give away their presence by that oh-so-tired cliche of sneeze.

Except, of course, that he did.

Ms. Munroe let out a little squeak, and they heard the cartoon of ice cream hit the floor, then a soft, "Damn!" The main overhead light flicked on and she was standing in front of the narrow corridor, hands on hips, glaring at the three of them. "*What* do you think you are doing?" But even as she asked, she noticed the old pantry door and pursed her lips. "Never mind. I can guess." And she made a gesture with one hand, graceful like a dancer. "Out."

The three of them slunk out and lined up again a low table, shoved into a corner. Ms. Munroe looked them each over, head to foot. "You are all a mess. Bobby, there are cobwebs in your hair, and mildew on your cheek, Jubilation. I suggest that you clean yourselves up, and be glad that it was me who found you. Mr. Worthington would have been inclined to march all of you off to Mr. Summers." She gave Dani a special frown. "You should know better."

Dani shrugged one shoulder, looked unrepentant and sheepish and annoyed at once. "Mr. Summers is always telling us not to be caught be surprise. And my grandfather taught me to pay attention to what's going on around me."

"Mmm. Nice rationalization, Dani. Not very convincing, but an A for effort." She motioned to the door. "Now get out of here before I change my mind and make you clean up the spilled ice cream."

All three of them fled.

Twenty minutes later, back in the dorm room that Jubilee shared with Kitty, six members of the senior class settled in for The Report: Kitty, Bobby and Johnny on Kitty's bed, Jubilee sharing with Neal Sharra. Dani had settled herself against Kitty's desk, drawing all their eyes with that simple motion. The desk light glinted off the silver in her ears. "All right," she said. "This is how I heard it. The new woman has up and gone, but neither Ms. Munroe nor Mr. Worthington know where."

"Anybody say *why*?" St. John asked.

Dani frowned at Jubes. "I was interrupted for half that part."

Johnny waved away the complaint. "So spill what you did hear."

Pulling back to the matter at hand, Dani shifted her weight from one hip to the other. Black hair fell over her shoulders. "I'm not sure. Ms. Munroe said something about the new woman having a breakdown in the library the other day. She is a telepath -– like the professor. But Mr. Worthington said that he thinks she has left because of Mr. Summers and Ms. Rogue."

"I doubt *he* wanted her to go," Jubes said.

"Who? Summers or Worthington?" Johnny asked.

"Either one," Jubes replied with a wicked grin and glanced to Dani, who nodded slowly.

"True. The new woman has got eyes only for Mr. Summers, but I think Mr. Worthington wouldn't mind distracting her."

"Mr. Summers wouldn't leave Ms. Rogue for her. Would she?" Kitty asked.

"Not if she ain't here to be left for." But then Dani shrugged a shoulder. "Still. There is no ring on Ms. Rogue's hand these days, ain't it? And she is sleeping in another room."

"And spending a lot of time with Tarzan the Wolf Man," Jubes added.

Dani shrugged again. "He saved her life."

"Sure he did. And he's testosterone on two legs, too." Jubes had found a nailfile somewhere and was busy filing. "I give it a month. Whether the new woman comes back or not, I say Ms. Rogue'll be shagging fuzzy-burns in thirty-one days. And if the new woman *does* come back, then I give it *less* than a month before she winds up in Mr. Summer's bed."

Kitty made a tisking sound. "You're shameless, Jubes."

"I'm realistic, babe. Mr. Summers and that new doc have a nuclear reaction going. One look between them and they could light up the whole Big Apple."

"Oh, please!" Kitty said. "This is Mr. Summers. He's *engaged*."

"Was engaged," Johnny pointed out. "You just think he can walk on water."

"Do not!"

"Chill, dudette."

"Ms. Rogue isn't going to be in the wolf guy's bed in a month," Neal put in.

"Ooo . . . ." Jubes grinned. "A defender of Ms. Rogue's honor. You care to lay a wager?"

"Fine. Twenty bucks says Ms. Rogue won't be sleeping around, and definitely not with that new guy. He smells. And he growls."

"He has a nice chest," Kitty put in.

"He's got *knives* in his hands, man!"

"So?" Jubes asked. "You're not exactly safe, Mr. My-mutation-is-a-solar-flare."

"It's not a solar flare, dingbat. It's a plasma burst."

"WHATever," Jubilee said. "You're on, Neal. Twenty bucks." They shook on it. Then Jubes turned to Kitty with a sly look. "You want to make a similar bet about Mr. Summers, Kitty-kat? Or how about you, Ice-eyes?"

"Don't look at me!" Bobby held up both hands. He'd known Scott a long time, and he'd *never* seen Mr. Summers react towards anyone like he'd been reacting towards the new woman. Glancing sideway, he caught Johnny and Dani exchanging a look, and shaking heads faintly. Neither was any more of an idiot than Bobby was.

But Kitty had her illusions. "You want a bet? Fine. Twenty bucks says Mr. Summers will not only *not* be in the new doctor's bed, but he'll be back with Ms. Rogue. One month."

Jubes popped her gum and shook her head, but grinned hugely. "You guys are such easy marks."

~*~

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Disclaimer: All X-Men characters belong to Marvel and Fox; this piece of fan-written fiction intends no infringement on any copyrights.