Inner Conflicts

Inner Conflicts -- Part 26 Gangsta's Paradise Inner Conflicts Part 26 Todd and Tabby checked to see that no one was following them before jumping into the car before them. A young guy sat in there,  holding an envelope. "Well?" asked Tabby. The guy gave her the envelope, which she promptly opened, pulling out some photos. Todd peeked at them through the cracks of his fingers that covered most of his face. They weren't too revealing...but one could see what was going on. "Thanks, Greg," Tabby muttered, shoving them into her back pack. "No problem. Mom almost caught me while I was developing those, so the price went up a bit." Tabby froze. "What?" "You heard." Tabby narrowed her eyes, then peered into the envelope once more.  "You have the damn negatives, I think that's payment enough, you sick bastard!" Greg laughed.  "Okay, okay, didn't know you were bright enough to realize that." Tabby hit him over the head several times with the envelope. Greg laughed crazily as he held out one arm in defense. "Sell the copies on the Internet for all I care, but keep those damn negatives safe until I say otherwise." With that, Tabby shoved Todd out of the car. Todd looked at her.  "Isn't that illegal, yo?" Tabby nodded. "Yeah, I'd say so, but Greg doesn't care.  Come on.  We have a set schedule to do this.  Bell's about to ring." X Kurt fidgeted as the clock slowly ticked towards lunch time. Lance was mad. That much was obvious.  He hadn't said a word to whenwhen he dragged him off to classes, and he didn't give him the wink and smile he had received the past week and a half.   He wasn't even waiting at the lockers like he had started to. Would Lance be in a better mood at lunch? He hoped so. X Lance was pissed. Things had been going so well. Kurt was hanging on his every word, he had fucked on a girl on the side, and Kurt hadn't been talking to any of the X-geeks. Figures. The first morning that he left Kurt alone, he came back only to find him in the arms of Scott. He knew it was nothing sexual, but still. . . Kurt wasn't suppose to be friendly with any of the X-men, especially preppy Summers. He had thought his anger would simmer down by lunchtime...but he was wrong. By the time lunch came about, his anger had worked up to an explosive point. X Kitty was on her way to lunch when someone grabbed her arm and yanked her into an empty classroom. "Like, hey!" she exclaimed, annoyed. To her mild disgust, she saw that it was Tabitha. "I need to know how much you know," she said to her, while holding an envelope in her hand. "Know what?" asked Kitty. "About Lance and Kurt." "You live with them, what do I know?" Tabitha sighed.  "Do you know why he chose to live with us?" Kitty sighed.  "Tabitha, like, I really don't like guessing games, okay?" "All I know is that Kurt came running to us last week because of some argument at the Institute." "I didn't get to hear it. I was led away before Kurt ran out on us." Tabitha remained silent for a moment.  "Kitty. . ." "Yes?" "Lance is a bastard." "He's not that bad. Why is..." "He's fucking taking advantage of Kurt!" Kitty's face paled.  "What are you talking about?"  Was Lance using Kurt to rob places or something? "Open you eyes, Kitty-cat...Haven't you seen how they're always hanging around each other, how Kurt just keeps acting submissive around him?  Or the way Lance keeps touching him from time to time, small touches that linger on a little bit longer than normal?" Kitty shook her head. Now that she thought about it. . . No!  Lance was straight. Kurt was straight! They both liked her for chrissakes! But. . . "I-it's not r-really t-taking advantage if th-they want it, r-right?"  Ohmigod, she couldn't believe she just sthatthat.  It was as if some part of her believed it. Tabitha sighed in exasperation.  "I don't think Kurt really wants it, I think he was tricked!" "What makes you think it wasn't the other way around?" It wasn't possible. . . Either way, it wasn't possible. Kurt was always flirting with her, and Lance...well, Lance kept calling her. Until spring break. . . Then there had been nothing. Around the same time when Kurt was acting funny...distant. . . lost. Lance taking advantage of Kurt. . . The truth was there. . . only hidden by one tiny veil of an unknown fact. Lance must have done something to trigger that behavior.  And now... But Kurt couldn't possibly fall for that trap, could he? He wasn't that gullible... Then again. . . He liked attention, and he liked affection, and Kitty suddenly felt ashamed knowing that she never really gave him either one.  The only time she paid attention was when he was right in her face.  If Lance really did. . . was it possible? Tabitha suddenly shoved some photo's into Kitty's hands.  "Look.  This is what he was doing in the meantime while playing on Kurt's emotions. And he probably would have done it to you!" Kitty felt the last shred of affection she had for Lance dissolve.  Instead, a silent burning fury grew from the bottom of her heart. Whether or not Lance and Kurt were together in the relationship sense, screwing some girl when he supposedly liked her was still unforgivable. Tabitha grabbed her hand.  "I'm on my way to show these to Kurt.  He needs to know the truth, and I'm hoping he'll be more receptive to this coming from you, since, well, you know...You were the only one that really liked Lance from your geek squad." Kitty nodded, her face flushed pink.  She needed to know the truth. "Where to?" "I've seen Lance and Kurt hang out just right out of school property over...ah!" Kitty phased through the  nearest wall, dragging Tabitha with her. X "Ow, Lance, you are hurting me," said Kurt, as Lance dragged him by the wrist away from the school. Lance didn't say a word as he continued to plow forward. After a few moments, he finally stopped and let go of Kurt's wrist. Kurt rubbed his wrist while giving Lance a concerned look.   "So what the hell was that all about in the library?!" Kurt took a step back as Lance shouted at him. "Excuse me?" "Are you fucking him behind my back?" Kurt was stunned into complete silence. Him and Scott? "Nein!! I don't like him like that!" The idea was...unthinkable. "Or are you just getting ready to leave me and go running back to them? Have you forgotten that they chased you out in the first place?" "No..." Kurt whispered.  "B-but...but Scott said they d-do m-miss m-me..." he stammered. The look on Lance's face was deadly.  He took a deep breath and turned around. Kurt tentativily reached out for him, before pulling his hand back. "So you do want to go back..." came Lance's voice. "N-no..." "DON'T LIE TO ME!!" Lance whirled around. . . . . . and struck. X Anger. Red, blinding, viscious, furious anger. Scott was once again a dangerous threat. A threat to his growing hold on Kurt. He hated not being in control. And Kurt. . . Kurt wasn't letting himself be fully controlled. So he did the first thing that came to his mind. He lashed out. X Tabitha and Kitty trudged across the lawn, headed to the edge of the school campus that lay hidden a tre trees. "I really wish I had Kurt's skills," growled Kitty. Tabitha was actually having trouble keeping up with her.   "Are you, like, sure they come out this way?" Tabitha nodded.  "Or at least the couple times I was able to follow Lance." Up ahead, they heard some yelling. The two girls looked at each other, before sprinting the rest of the way. As soon as they reached the group of trees, they were able to spot two familiar people up ahead. They were still some distance away, but every action was clear. Just as both of them were about to to shout to get their attention, they were shocked into utter silence by the action of Lance Alvers. Kurt was completely unprepared for the impact. Kitty stood paralyzed, while Tabitha was suddenly thrown into a dark memory, whispering over and over. . ."It's Matt all over again...It's Matt all over again. . ." X The force was enough to spin him around and land on his face flat on the ground. Kurt pushed himself up and turned his upper body to look at Lance, eyes wide in shock.  One hand was pressed against the side of his mouth where Lance had struck him with his fist. He hadn't even seen that coming. Pulling his hand away, he was horrified to see a blotch of blood. That explained the stinging sensation on his lips. He hadn't realized that Lance was this angry. . . and it was probably his fault. I shouldn't have let Scott hug me. . . Lance stood over him, fists still clenched. He lunged towards him and Kurt flinched, raising one arm, hoping that he would be able to block Lance's blows. Instead, Lance's hand shot through his weak defense, grabbed him by the collar, and hauled him up. Demanding lips crushed against his before being pulled away.  "I told you that I love you and need you, Kurt.  Don't make me hurt you by making me angry, now come on! We're ditching class.  I want to see if you really do love me or are just fucking with my emotions." Kurt no, hi, his whole body trembling with fear.  It was probably not a good idea to refuse at this point. He quickly thought of Lance's jeep in the parking lot, and ported, swearing he heard a screeching sound. X Kitty was the first to move. Watching Lance force a kiss upon Kurt kind of forced her to. She quickly smacked Tabitha, bring her out of her stupor. It was eerie how quickly Tabitha transformed from a traumatized wimp to a murderous bitch. One of her explosive power balls formed in her hand, bigger than she had ever seen it before. Tabitha let out a shriek and hurled it towards Lance, all reason gone out of her mind, not even thinking about Kurt's proximity to her target. Not that it mattered. The two had ported out of sight before her energy ball reached it's destination. Both girls remained silent. tbc. . .