"Wake up, Rogue!"

From deep beneath her covers, Marie mumbled and tried to ignore the feeling that told her a pillow was thumping down on her head. There was no doubt in her drowsy mind who was causing the unpleasant sensation.

"Jubes, if ya'll hit me one more time, Ah'm gonna hurt you."

Jubilee's response to the muffled threat was prompt. Swinging the pillow up above her head, Jubilee brought it down in a particularly vicious thump. Growling, Marie opened her eyes underneath the comforter, cursing her overly exuberant roommate for waking her. Jubilee, hearing that Marie was awake, grinned and bounced off the bed and ran into the shower. Marie sighed and hauled her protesting body out of bed. Jubilee obviously wasn't going to let her get anymore sleep. Sighing, she shuffled over to her dressor and dug out a pair of jeans and a crimson sweater. Ever mindful of her deadly skin, black leather gloves completed her outfit.

Marie was brushing her hair out, when Jubilee came out of the bathroom.

"Ta da!" she announced.

Marie smiled as she turned to look at her obnoxious roommate -- and her jaw dropped. Turning away, she shook her head and yelled over her shoulder.

"Geez, Jubes! Nice Birthday-Suit!" She laughed a little and left the room.

Jubilee stared after her. Then she looked down at her outfit. Black jeans and a black tank top under her usual long yellow jacket.

"I happen to like this outfit," she protested indignantly. Glaring, she stalked to the doorway and yelled down the hall at Marie. "And it was a CHRISTMAS present!"

---

"That girl is nuts," Rogue murmured as she walked down the hall.

"Allo, Chere."

Marie smiled as she recognized the smooth voice behind her. It was Remy, Jubilee's new boyfriend. He must be on his way to see Jubes, thought Marie. She was still debating on whether to tell the suave Cajun about his girlfriend's sense of humor this morning when she turned around -- and gasped.

"Remy!" Marie shrieked, her hands flying up to cover her eyes. Frantically trying to fight the blush that was creeping up her cheeks, she tried to banish the image she'd just seen. Stunts like this she could almost expect from Jubilee -- but she couldn't believe her best friend's boyfriend was standing there in the hallway and acting like everything was normal. Stark naked.

Remy's instincts took over at the tone of her voice. In seconds he was crouched down, playing card charged with kinetic energy in his hand, staring down the hallway behind him. Finding no sign of a threat, he cautiously absorbed the energy back into himself. Slowly returning the card to his pocket her regarded Rogue with concern.

"Chere, you all right? Gambit don mean t'-"

Marie started as she heard him take a step closer.

"No!" she said quickly. Unable to come up with anything intelligent to say, she did the only thing she could think of. She turned and ran down the hall as fast as she could.

Remy raised his eyebrows as he watched her quickly retreating back. Finally, he shook his head.

"Dat Chere," he murmured. "Strange girl."

---

Marie didn't stop running until she got to the gym. Collapsing against a wall, she slid down to sit on the floor. What was with those two, she wondered.

"Jubilee must be rubbing off on the boy more than Ah thought," she muttered to herself. She shook her head in bewilderment. She just hoped they weren't planning to streak around the mansion. Professor Xavier was used to the weird things that one saw running a school for mutants, he was even understanding. Still, Marie doubted he would be able to take to naked teenagers running around the grounds in stride.

Suddenly, Marie became aware of two voices. Freezing, she listened, straining to place the voices before revealing herself. No pun intended.

"Kitty and I decided we make better friends than a couple," a voice Marie identified as Bobby's said.

"Oh? Well, whatever you two think is best."

Marie smiled. The second voice was St. John. The pyromaniac and the iceman had been getting closer and closer lately. Everyone suspected they were getting to be more than friends. Not wanting to eavesdrop, but unable to resist, Rogue listened some more, safley hidden from sight behind a set of weights.

There was a short silence before Bobby spoke again.

"Yeah, so, I was just wondering if you wanted to hang out tonight? Maybe go out and shoot some pool or something?"

Before St. John could answer, Rogue sneezed.

"What was that?"

"It came from over there."

Marie cursed herself, silently. Oh well, Ah'm caught. Resigning herself to her fate, she stood up and walked around the weights to face the music. Her mind was racing to come up with an excuse for eavesdropping. That's why she didn't notice the boys' state of undress until too late. Marie's jaw dropped as she raised her eye to find two very naked boys.

"Oh mah god! Ah'm so sorry! Don't let me interrupt!" she babbled, turning on her heel. Marie shot out of the room like greased lightening, leaving behind a perturbed St. John and Bobby watching after her.

After a few moments of silence, St. John sighed.

"Women," he muttered despairingly.

Bobby nodded.

---

"This isn't happening. This isn't happening," Marie repeated over and over. She ran into the kitchen and spotted Storm out the window. Her mouth hung open as she watched the weather goddess watering the plants outside, naked as the day she was born.

Jean!" Marie screamed, turning to continue her flight.

"It's all in mah mind. Jean can fix it," Marie repeated over and over. Bursting into the rec room she stopped short.

Jean and Scott were sitting on the couch together.

"No. No. No. No. No," Marie whimpered.

The pale skin of her two teammates was unmarred by a scrap of clothing. Muffling her own shriek, Marie sprinted back to her room and slammed the door. Diving under her comforter, she covered her head with her pillow. After a few moments, she curled into a ball, trying desperately to block the images of her naked teammates from her mind.

---

"Logan, I think you should go talk to her. She's locked herself in her room and she refuses to come out."

Wolverine frowned.

"What happened?" he asked as he walked to the stairs. Jean followed behind him, shrugging her shoulders.

"No one knows, Logan. The other students said she's been acting strangely all day. I'm not picking up any clear thoughts from her, and I don't want to push. Maybe she'll tell you."

"Damn straight, she'll tell me," he muttered. He walked down the hall to Marie's room and knocked on the door.

"Marie? Marie open up."

No answer. Logan sighed.

"All right, we'll do it the hard way."

Popping a claw he unhesitantly sliced into the lock. Where his young charge's state of well-being was concerned, the Wolverine had absolutely no patience for subtlety. The mangled door swung open and Logan looked over at Marie, who was huddled under her blanket, rocking back and forth.

"Marie?" he asked softly, sitting on the side of her bed.

"Gotta be careful."

If it weren't for his enhanced hearing, Wolverine wouldn't even have heard her. Frowning, he stared at the lump underneath the comforter.

"What, Marie?"

"Always gotta be careful. Too much skin showing. Don't wanna hurt anyone."

Logan furrowed his eyebrows. "Marie, what are you talking about? You hardly ever have skin showing."

"Not me. The others."

Logan put a hand on her back above the covers. "Kid, I don't get it. What's wrong?"

Marie slowly sat up, poking her head out from under the covers so only her face was showing. She seemed to concentrate very hard on keeping her gaze on Logan's face, and he saw a wild look in her brown eyes. Finally, she leaned forward so her mouth was a hair's breadth away from his ear.

"Ah see naked people."

End