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Chapter Two
Seven Minutes in Heaven

The end of the summer came too quickly. The grownups had decided it would be nice to have an end of the summer picnic at the lake for the families to relax. The air was filled with the smell of smoking barbecue and laughter. Later that night, Wanda and Pietro Maximoff were having a party at their house. Ororo had never been to a party where grownups weren’t present. She wondered if it would really be different or if people would just do the same old things they would do if their parents were there.

When she asked her parents if she could go, she’d taken Jean’s advice and had conveniently forgotten to mention that there would be no grownups there. It wasn’t lying. She just left out the information she didn’t think they needed to know. If they had asked her if Wanda and Pietro’s mother was going to be there, she would have told them the truth… maybe. Besides, she was thirteen now, and that practically made her a grownup.

Ororo turned thirteen the week before. She didn’t have a party for her birthday. She hadn’t wanted one. Her mother had wanted to throw a party, saying you only turn thirteen once, but Ororo had stood firmly against it. She was too old for some childish birthday party with streamers and balloons. Instead, she had a girls’ day out with Jean. Her mother had dropped them off at the mall and warned them to be careful. She spent her birthday with her best friend shopping.

Her parents were giving her s few more freedoms, including a later curfew, but she still was expecting to feel different. She was expecting to feel grownup suddenly, but she didn’t really feel any different. She was just another year older. The only thing different about her was the fact that her breasts seemed to sprout out of nowhere. If you let her tell the story, she went to bed with no breasts one night, and the next morning they were there. They weren’t all that big, but they were still there.

She decided that she didn’t like them as much as she thought she would. Sometimes she could close her eyes and wish for them to disappear, but her wish never came true.

She felt someone push her slightly. She turned and faced Bishop. She pushed him back, but he barely moved. Bishop had grown a little more over the summer as well. He didn’t look as young and awkward anymore, and every time he was around, her heart would start to beat a little faster. She read about skipping heartbeats in Jean’s romance novels she hid under her bed, but Ororo thought her heart might skip three, four, or five beats when Bishop was around.

He picked her up and swung her around like he always did while she laughed. “Put me down, Bishop, or I’m going to punch you,” she threatened.

“You have to catch me first.” Bishop said, running away from Ororo.

“You know I’ll catch you. I can outrun you and any boy on the block and you know it,” she yelled behind him. Ororo pulled off her shoes and took off behind Bishop.

- - -

Earlier, Logan hiked through the woods with Scott, Ororo, Bishop, Wanda, and Jean. Scott was in the lead, of course. Logan was convinced that Scott had some fixation with being the leader.

Jean was busy scowling at Wanda while Wanda batted her pretty eyes and pretended not to notice.

After a few minutes of walking, Ororo had charged ahead with Scott and Bishop. Jean and Wanda hung back, screaming at every little thing that moved, grabbing his arm, asking him to make sure there weren’t any snakes around. He had felt important at first protecting them, but after a while, he thought it was silly that they jumped at everything.

They came to a clearing where a brook ran. Scott and Bishop started wading in the water and were joined by Wanda. When Scott splashed Wanda, an all-out water war started.

Jean lay in the grass saying she needed to “catch a few rays,” but what she really meant is she had to seethe. And Ororo sat on the ground next to her, turning her face to the sun, closing her eyes. Logan saw her do this often, not just during the day, but at night as well. Sometimes, when they would play a twilight game of football, tag, hide-n-seek, or anything else she could be found standing there, gazing at the heavens, transfixed.

He sat down beside her and stared up at the sky, trying to see what it was she saw, trying to capture some of that fascination, but he couldn’t. He pulled a strand of her hair, and she swatted away his hand playfully. He was much more comfortable around her now. It didn’t even bother him when she played football, basketball, or kickball with them now. She was actually pretty good at sports.

She really was almost like one of the guys with breasts. He tried not to look at her chest though, but it was as if one day, she barely had any and the next they were there. He couldn’t remember how many times he’d gotten distracted during a game because of them. Still, boobs and all, she was good at sports.

He wondered if she would always be that way of if she would grow out of it. She was okay. When he talked to her, he didn’t have to worry about what he would say to her. He could say anything to her… almost. One thing he was grateful for was the fact she didn’t giggle a lot”at least not when she was talking to him. She giggled plenty with Jean. He didn’t like giggling. It always made him think that something was in his teeth.

“How come you got white hair and blue eyes and neither of your parents do? Were you adopted? Is your dad your real dad?” he asked her suddenly, pulling on another strand of her hair.

She opened her eyes, slowly, slapping his hand away from her forcefully. “My parents are my real parents,” she said, her voice frosty. She shot him a cool glare that made her eyes seem like two pools of ice. She stood up and walked toward Bishop, Wanda, and Scott.

“Was it somethin’ I said?” He muttered after her.

Jean pulled her sunglasses off her eyes and said, “Yeah, it was. Ororo’s mother is originally from Africa, and sometimes, the women in her mother’s side family are born with white hair and blue eyes. It’s seen as a blessing in Africa, but here she has to do a lot of explaining.”

“I didn’t mean to upset her. I was just curious.”

“It’s one thing to be curious. And another to say something dumb. You asked her if she was adopted, and then you asked if her father was somebody else. That would hurt anybody’s feelings.” Jean said, pulling her sunglasses back down over her eyes.

He mulled over that for a minute and decided that she might be right.

They headed back after a while, and he tried to think of a way to tell her he was sorry. When he finally decided to just say it, before he could get the words out of his mouth, she waved him away as if he were an annoying bug and said, “It’s okay. I know you didn’t mean anything by it.” He was glad that she understood what he was trying to say without him actually saying it.

Now, he watched as Ororo chase Bishop around the lake and up a small hill where a rope was tied to a tree. Bishop grabbed the rope. She wrapped her spindly arms around Bishop’s neck and her legs around his waist. Bishop pushed off the ledge with his feet. Ororo and Bishop let out a loud whoop as the sailed over the water. Then, Bishop released the rope, and just as they hit the water, Ororo let go of him. They entered the water with a splash. Seconds later, they emerged from beneath the water. Logan could hear Ororo’s laughter floating across the lake.

“David, if that girl lives to see 16, it’ll be a miracle.” Logan heard Ororo’s mother sigh behind him.

“It could be worse, N’Dare.” Ororo’s father said with a chuckle.

“Please, don’t say things like that. I worry about her enough as it is.”

Bishop and Ororo wrestled in the water for a moment. Then, they stopped abruptly and looked at each other, a sort of embarrassed look spread across their faces. He saw Ororo punch Bishop in the shoulder and smile at him. Her lips moved and Bishop smiled back. Then, they swam back to the opposite shore.

Scott was standing on the slight hill now, taking off his shirt. Logan laughed at how dumb he looked beating his bird chest like King Kong. He grabbed the rope and made some pathetic sounding Tarzan yell as he swung across the water. Logan wandered off to a spot and joined a couple of kids in throwing around a ball until it was time to eat.

- - -

Wanda’s basement seemed to be packed with bodies. There weren’t just people from their school there, but she saw some high schoolers and people from the other schools. “Control” by Janet Jackson was blaring from a stereo, and Ororo saw some of the older kids against the wall grinding against each other. She actually felt a little embarrassed for them”even though they probably weren’t embarrassed.

Pietro was zipping across the room, making sure that no one was destroying his home. He stopped to talk to them once. He talked so fast that it was always impossible to catch everything he said. He could hold a conversation that would take most people an hour in secods.

“Isn’t this awesome?” Jean asked excited. Ororo wanted to stay no, but she just nodded. She didn’t want to dampen Jean’s spirit.

At the refreshment table, they saw Bishop. Jean made small talk that mostly revolved around Scott while Ororo looked at the ceiling and Bishop looked at his shoes. Jean seemed oblivious to the awkward situation. “Have you seen Scott?” Jean finally asked.

“Last time I saw him was when I was upstairs about ten minutes ago.” Bishop said. Ororo and Bishop both looked at each other shyly and then looked away again. Ororo wanted to fall through the floor. “Uh… I gotta go,” he said and disappeared before Jean could say anything else.

“What’s wrong with him?” Jean asked huffily.

“I think he’s embarrassed.” Ororo said, scrubbing the toe of her sneakers against the floor.

“Embarrassed about what?” Ororo mumbled something in response looking down at her shoes. “Huh? I couldn’t hear you.” Jean said, moving her head closer to Ororo’s mouth.

Ororo dragged Jean to a corner of the basement that wasn’t occupied. “I said Bishop accidentally touched my breast today while we were at the lake earlier, and I think that’s why he’s acting weird.” Ororo confessed to Jean.

“He did what? Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?”

“I told you it was an accident. We were joking around in the lake, pushing each other and stuff and it just sort of happened.” Ororo said, her cheeks starting to burn at the memory. God, she hated her breasts. They made everything weird.

“You have breasts all of two months and already boys are touching them.” Jean said enviously.

“He didn’t mean to.” Ororo said again in Bishop’s defense.

“How do you know?” Jean asked, not sounding too convinced.

Ororo couldn’t believe that Jean thought Bishop would do something like that on purpose. They were just kidding around and it happened. “I just know. C’mon, it’s Bishop.”

“How did it feel?” Jean whispered, her question barely more than a movement of lips.

Ororo thought back to the way Bishop’s hand felt when he touched her, and she chewed on her lip. The scene had already played itself out in her head a thousand times. “I just… I don’t want to talk about it.” Her voice held a note of pleading. It was already embarrassing enough without going through it again with Jean.

“Why not? You’re supposed to tell me stuff like this because we’re best friends.” Jean said miffed

“Well, why don’t you let Scott touch your chest? And then you’ll know how it feels.” Ororo said annoyed.

“Maybe I will.” Jean snapped back.

Ororo tried to keep on her angry face, but she couldn’t help giggling at the thought of Scott touching Jean’s breasts. Scott probably wouldn’t do it. “Would you really do that?” Ororo asked between giggles.

“Not even! Well… If he really wanted to,” Jean responded, giggling along with Ororo. “Do you think he’s touched Wanda’s boobs?”

“Who hasn’t touched them?” Ororo smirked.

“Good point. Wanda is so nasty.” Jean laughed. Both girls laughed, but they were a little envious of Wanda. Wanda was pretty and perky and she always had guys drooling over her, even older guys liked Wanda. Jean’s sister, Amanda, said it was because Wanda was giving it up.

The stood there quietly for a minute before Ororo asked, “Do you really want to know what it felt like?”

Jean’s eyes shined brightly. “You know I do. I’m the only person who’s ever touched,” and she made a motion at her chest. “I’ve always wondered what it would feel like to have someone else touch them.”

Ororo opened her mouth to tell Jean, but was interrupted by Wanda. “Hey, girls. C’mon, we’re going to play a game.” Wanda said, grabbing Ororo and Jean’s hand.

Ororo found herself sitting in a circle beside two boys she didn’t know (she believed they were in high school) as she put her hand hesitantly on the bottle. If Wanda had mentioned what game they were going to play before she agreed to do it, she would have made an excuse for why she couldn’t play.

Wanda had made everyone sit boy-girl and presented an empty Coke bottle before Ororo realized what was going on. She wouldn’t have been so apprehensive if it had just been a regular game of spin-the-bottle, but it wasn’t. It was what Wanda called seven minutes in heaven.

Ororo spun the bottle, and when it stopped, her stomach fell to her knees. Of all the people, she complained to herself. She would’ve even kissed Scott if it meant she wouldn’t have to kiss Logan. She should’ve never played this stupid game to begin with. Now she was going to be stuck in the closet for seven minutes with him.

It wasn’t that she didn’t like Logan. She liked him well enough; he was her friend after all. And she really wasn’t mad anymore about what he said earlier. She just didn’t want to kiss him, and the thought of being in the closet with him made her feel… funny.

She stood up slowly, looking to Jean for support. Jean held up a thumb. Ororo looked at Logan again and felt her stomach drop even further. He stood slowly as if were the most natural thing in the world. “Let’s get this over with,” he muttered, and she followed him silently to the closet.

Wanda was standing at the door with a tube of bright red lipstick. “You’re so lucky. I want to hear every single detail before you go home,” she whispered in Ororo’s ear as she put on the lipstick.

Why don’t you go in the closet and kiss him then? Ororo thought to herself. All she could think about was how she was going to explain to her parents that she was pregnant now from kissing Logan. The scenario didn’t play to well in her mind. She could almost see her father strangling Logan.

She walked into the closet, pressing herself against the corner furthest away from him, pressing her lips firmly together. She wondered why he even played the game. He seemed like one of those people who would be above playing a silly kissing game.

He walked over to her and grabbed her shoulders, and she squirmed under his hands. “Quit movin’,” he said, but she didn’t comply. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“If I you kiss me using your tongue, I’ll get pregnant.” She said fearfully.

“Who told you that? You don’t get pregnant from kissin’.” He said with a snort.

“Uh-huh.”

“No, you don’t. You ain’t never gonna get pregnant from kissin’.”

“How do girls get pregnant then?” She asked indignantly.

“Your parents didn’t give you the talk?”

“The talk? The talk about what?” She looked lost.

“The talk about sex and babies and all that other stuff.”

“Well… no…” She remembered her parents trying to talk to her about something, but they kept stammering around the subject until finally they agreed to try again later. Maybe that’s what they were trying to tell her about.

Logan sighed. He couldn’t believe that her parents hadn’t told her this stuff. His parents had given him “the talk” before his mother died. “Look, this is how girls get pregnant…”

She listened fascinated and horrified as he explained that a man had to stick his thing”except he didn’t say “thing,” he said something she wasn’t allowed to say”in a woman’s thing, except instead of saying “thing,”again, he said something far worse. Then, the man shot this stuff inside a woman, and the stuff fertilized these eggs that were inside the woman, and a baby was formed.

“That’s the most disgusting thing I have ever heard,” she said when he finished. She couldn’t help looking at him with a disgusted look. It was fascinating. She wondered what sex was like, but at the same time, it sounded gross. Then, she asked, “Have you ever done it?”

“That ain’t none of your business. I don’t need some kid blabbin’ my business all over the place,” he said. He didn’t really mean that she was a kid. She had grown in more ways than one since they first met, but he was serious about that not being any of her business.

She took offense to him calling her a kid. She wasn’t a kid anymore. She was a teenager. She was also a little hurt that he thought she was a kid. She had breasts and everything.

That mean she was no longer a kid. She was more than ready for those seven minutes to be over. She felt like she had already been in there an hour. She leaned over and kissed him chastely on the lips without letting any vital body parts touch each other, just in case, and she started to pull away from him.

Then, he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer, not allowing her to escape. He pressed his lips to hers “ harder this time. She closed her eyes and her lips parted of their own will. Her heart was thumping hard against her chest, and she thought he might feel it. She opened her eyes wide when she felt his tongue slide into her mouth.

At first, she didn’t know what to do. She thought she sort of liked the way his tongue probed her mouth gently. Then, visions of pregnancy danced in her head and without thinking, she brought her knee up just as her father told her to when a boy was getting fresh with her.

“Damn,” he groaned, folding over. That hurt like hell, and his eyes started to sting. She got him good. He couldn’t believe she just kneed him just slipping her a little tongue.

She opened the door and ran out. “Wait, it hasn’t been seven minutes yet,” she heard Wanda say behind her.

“God, Ororo, what did you do to him?” she heard someone else say as she ran up the stairs, rubbing her lips with the back of her hand, smearing red lipstick all over it.

Later that night, Ororo and Jean lay on the floor of Jean’s bedroom talking. Ororo had just told Jean how it felt to have someone touch your breast. It couldn’t have lasted a split second, but it seemed like it lasted forever. The way his hand touched her had made her shiver, but it wasn’t a bad shiver.

Then, her stomach felt all funny for a second, but that a feeling of embarrassment quickly overshadowed all feeling. She tried to shrug it off for Bishop’s sake. She knew he had felt bad enough about the accidental touch.

Then, they talked about Wanda’s party. They giggled over the fact that Jean had to kiss Fred. Jean kept making gagging noises while she told Ororo about how it was a miracle that Fred didn’t get stuck in the closet. Then, Jean said she thought he was going to pass out when she kissed him on the cheek.

Ororo tried to skirt around her time in the closet with Logan, but Jean wasn’t going for her vague answers. “Why did you knee Logan, anyway? Did he touch your boobs, too?” Jean teased.

“No. He put his tongue in my mouth.” Ororo answered, trying to sound nonchalant about it. She thought she might’ve actually liked it. What would’ve happened if she hadn’t kneed Logan?

“No way! How did it feel? Are you pregnant now?”

“It was nasty. Well, it wasn’t too nasty. It just felt weird,” Ororo said, and then added haughtily, “and no, I’m not pregnant. Besides, you don’t get pregnant from kissing.” Ororo told Jean what Logan told her about getting pregnant.

“Ororo Munroe,” Jean said with a repulsed look, “you’re the biggest liar this side of Westchester, New York.”

- - -

Author’s Notes: The music mentioned in this chapter did come out during the time period of late-1986 to late-1987. I may not be completely accurate with the date the songs came out, but they did come out during this time. I didn’t change as much as I thought I would. Thanks everyone for your reviews.





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