Fan Fiction ❯ Masks We Wear ❯ Party Time ( Chapter 6 )

Disclaimer: I sadly do not own the X-Men. Things would be a whole lot easier if I did.
Telepathy = telepathy
Thoughts = thoughts

Jubilee walked into another store in the mall. She had purposely walked through three clothing stores just so Scott wouldn't suspect anything. It wasn't the easiest thing in the world, but it was clearly possible. She now had a new coat that would hide her gift and booby traps from Scott's eyes.

She had to be careful though. Last time she tried to booby trap a box, she had been caught and called 'a crazy pyromaniac'. Thankfully, Scott didn't see her that way. In fact, her last gift from him was booby trapped. He had it coming. Aaaaaaaaaaw! It's perfect!

Scott noticed Jubilee head to pay out on her fourth store. He just knew she was up to something, and he couldn't fault her on it. He had gotten her good last time. She had been so nervous about the box, that she didn't think about the envelope. When she opened it, a small bag's worth of confetti spilt onto her lap.

The look on her face was priceless. Come to think about it, he still had that picture somewhere. Maybe he'd find it when they got home.

Jubilee glanced out of the store's window towards Scott. He had that look which stated he was thinking on someone's picture he took, after a prank he had played on them. All in all, it was a good sign. It meant that he was to busy with his thoughts to notice what she had gotten him.

"Ma'am?" She whispered, suddenly, trying to catch the cashier's attention. The elderly clerk looked over at her, with the 'I've done this all my life, what do you want from me' look. "Could you please place these things in with my jacket. They're for a friend that brought me here, and I don't want him to know, yet." The clerk just shook her head with a knowing smile.

Jubilee walked towards where Scott was waiting. "Ok Scott, I'm ready to go now."

"Find everything you were looking for?"

"Yep."

"Are you going to tell me now?"

"Nope. Didn't hurt you to ask though."

As soon as they got back to the mansion, Jubilee ran off and hid in her room. She had given Scott a very good reason not to even attempt to figure out what she had gotten him. Having all of his codes changed was not worth any risk he might take with Jubilee.

The next few days seemed to drag on for Scott. They flew by for Jubilee however, for that she was thankful. As the 'Great Responsible Leader,' Scott couldn't ask a thing about what anyone had gotten him for his birthday. But, as Jubilee's best bud, he could pester her about it.

Finally the big day arrived, much to Scott's exitement and Jubilee's relief. The only thing that bothered Jubilee about the day was that Jean was told to take Scott somewhere else for a couple of hours. They had just finished setting up for the party, when Scott and Jean pulled up.

"Yo Gumbo, where's Jean's present?" Jubilee asked worridly.

"Not sure petite, t'ink Rogue might know t'ough."

Before Jubilee could get to Rogue though, they came into the room. Scott looked around carefully. Rogue's gift was easy to tell. She always had a thing for green. Wolverine had, as usual, thrown his gift in an old paper bag. Remy had a medium sized box on the table, wrapped in black paper. Ororo had a bonsai tree on the table. Leave it to their residential gardener to give him a plant. Professor Xavier had an envelope on the table. Jubilee's box was wrapped in a firecracker print wrapping paper. What worried him most, was Jean had nothing there. Even if she had something else planned, in order to avoid suspicion, she would have a card or something there.

They had a cake first. He suspected Ororo and Rogue were the culprits there, it just wasn't as good as Jubilee's chocolate and cream cheese cake was. They really didn't have any games. It was one of the many times Scott wished he wasn't the 'Great Responsible Leader'.

They got to the gifts rather quickly. He supposed everyone just wanted to be done with the party. Rogue had gotten him a nice dress shirt. Wolverine gave him combat boots. Remy had gotten him a nice desk lamp. The professor gave him a gift card. Jean apologized. It turned out she had forgotten that it was his birthday. So far, it was turning out to be a lousy party.

Finally he picked up Jubilee's gift. He ripped off the wrapping paper to find a plain brown box. There was writing on the bottom. It had an arrow pointing towards the bottom and read 'This Side Up.' He shrugged and rolled the box so the bottom was up. On the bottom of that side it once again had an arrow pointing to the bottom that read 'This Side Up.' He flipped the box a few more times. He then looked at Jubilee and she just shrugged. He turned the box to the right untill the other side was facing him. The little brat had wrote the same phrase on both sides of the box, pointing the arrows in opposite directions.

He took out the wolf printed knife she gave him last christmas, and carefully opened the box. He hadn't noticed the small counter-weight she had placed on the edge of the box. Thus there was no where to run when the silly string shot out of the box. There was a mix of disapproving glares at Jubilee's direction and muffled snickers. Once the silly string cleared, Scott reached into the box. She had a few wolf figurines that, once Scott pulled them out and flipped them over, it was discovered that she had filled them up with a mix of glitter and confetti. Underneath the figurines was a bunch of packing peanuts. Getting rid of the peanuts, he noticed what Jubilee had been hiding from him. It was a gorgeous cookoo clock, with a wolfish design.

"On the hour a wolf pack will run on the track."

"Thank you Jubilee. It's beautiful."

"Since you've made such a mess Jubilation, you should clean it." At Ororo's comments, everyone dispersed rather rapidly, leaving Scott and Jubilee alone.

"You truly are the prank box master."

"Thanks Scott."