"I have to go to the mall, does anyone want to come?" Bobby grabbed his jacket off the hanger in the closet and put it on before remembering it had a hole in it. That's why Jean was making him get a new one. Sheesh, one little hole and she jumped all over him!

"Which mall are you going to?" Jubilee asked as she and Everett walked up.

"That one down there."

"Oh, that tells us a lot." Jubilee rolled her eyes and pulled her jacket out of the closet. "But I guess I'll go."

"Me too." Everett ran upstairs for his shoes, then came back down with almost all of Generation X.

"Ulp," Bobby swallowed, "You all want to go?!"

"Yeah, we're bored," Everett said.

"Aren't some of you grounded for sneaking out last night?"

"No." They lied in uison.

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"Okay, remember, stay in groups, no getting into trouble, and meet back here in one hour. Got it?"

"Yeah!"

"Uh huh."

"Got it," rang out through the small group that stood there, pretending like they were listening to Bobby.

"Okay, I want to check who's here one more time. Jube?"

"Here."

"Ev?"

"Here."

"Paige?"

"Here."

"M?"

"..."

"She's here."

"And Mondo."

"I'm right here!" His smile almost blinded Bobby.

"Okay, then, go have fun! And remember, STAY OUT OF--trouble." He sighed and turned away. As if they would have obeyed if they'd been listening anyway.

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"Howza bout this one?" Jubilee held up another jacket and looked at Everett expectantly.

"J--I don't know! They all look the same to me! We've been here for half an hour, and I still want to go to the comic book store, can't you hurry up?"

Jubilee glared at the traitorous friend. "Fine. I'll just get them all." She picked up all five leather jackets and walked to the counter, setting them down and diving for her wallet.

"Jube, you don't have the money to pay for all those!" Everett whispered in her ear.

"That's true, I don't. But SEAN does." And with that she produced a credit card.

"Uh, aren't you going to get in trouble for that?"

"Sheeya, right. With the X-MEN watchin' us? Get real. I mean, We're grounded for the next two weeks according to Cyc, but Bobby let us come without thinking twice. We're teenagers. We can handle anything they can throw at us. And besides, this is our school, not theirs, and they are not the headmasters so they can't tell us what to do anyway." Jubilee smiled triumphantly.

"You have a point. Let me see that card." Jubilee smiled and handed it over.

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"Ooh, M! It's beautiful!" Paige exclaimed as Monet walked out of the woman's dressing room wearing a floor length evening gown.

"Yes, it is quite charming. Still, I don't know. More sequins maybe . . . Perhaps we should bring the men back later and see what they think?"

"That'd be a good idea, since we have to head back now."

"I'll change and be right out," Monet said as she glided back into the dressing rooms.

"Are you almost done?" Mondo asked, standing outside in the hall, trying to look cool amid glitzy dresses.

"We'll be right out!" Paige answered.

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"Hi guys, did you have fun?" Bobby asked as the group walked up, chattering and smiling.

"Before we go, do you mind if we stop at payless shoes? They're having a sale and I need some new loafers." Paige blinked her long eyelashes at Iceman, pleading with him silently.

"All right, but only for a minute okay? I need to get home." He answered with a large sigh.

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"Oooooooohhhhhhh, these are soooo cute Paige, try them on too!" Jubilee said as she pulled sandals off the shelf. "In fact, I think I'll try them on!"

"No, now wait a minute! You said we'd only be here for a little bit!" Bobby protested.

"Calm down, Drake. We're not going to make you late for your hot date." Jubilee smiled.

"He's going on a date tonight?" Now M was curious. Iceman groaned.

"Yeah, some girl that Jean used to know." Jubilee pulled off her shoes and stuck the new ones on her feet, admiring them before putting them back.

"And he's going with the clothes we've seen him wear?" M was aghast.

"Yeah."

"What's wrong with what I wear?"

M rolled her eyes. "It has no class at all. If you want to impress this girl you have to look good."

"Oh, come on! I do look good!"

M shook her head. "There's no denying it. You need new clothes. Oh, these are nice shoes. Try these ones on, Paige."

"I'll get new clothes later, promise. Right now could we leave? I'm gonna be late."

"With our help she'll forgive you. Paige, buy those ones." Monet smiled up at Bobby, trying to decide what he would look best in. Maybe tan . . . .

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"No, girls, we have to go, NOW." He tried to sound as powerful and demanding as he could, but still they ignored him. And with his arms full of shoes and Jubilee's jackets there wasn't much he could do about it.

"What do you think, this shirt, or this one?" Monet asked, holding up two stylish tan shirts.

"Neither. I think we ought to go with something in gray," Paige said, looking first at Bobby and then at the shirts.

"No, I think we oughtta go less formal, looser looking."

Monet nodded, thinking. "Perhaps a silk collarless shirt." She took off into another section of the men's department, dragging Bobby along behind her. The salesman shook his head in sympathy.

"M! You let me go this minute! I swear, when I get my hands free--"

"Here, try this on." She said, tossing something on his head and giving him a good shove into the dressing room.

They waited outside for ten minutes before he finally emerged wearing a soft grayish-tan silk button up shirt without a collar.

"Oh, I think he looks good." Jubilee commented, much to Bobby's shock.

"Really?"

"Oh yeah. Now we just need to find him some pants."

"Hey wait, I have pants! We are not finding me pants! No, M! Come back here!" The other customers glared at him and his fair skin turned red before he ducked back into the room, waiting for relief.

It was forty five minutes later when the girls returned, sans the guys.

"Where's Mondo and Ev?" He glared at them, giving them his best Scott impression. It didn't faze any of them.

"We sent them off to look for a jacket. Put these on." Paige flipped slacks over the door, smacking him in the face.

Grumbling he put them on, tucked in his shirt and walked out. "Well?" he said, sounding resigned. He knew that even if he made a run for it, and managed to escape M, Scott would make him come back and get them. So he might as well stay.

"Very nice. Put this belt on."

Obediently he did as he was told, buckling the belt and standing back so they could see.

"Good. Here come the guys with some jackets." Paige ran out to meet them, stood talking for a moment, then came back carrying one of the jackets while Ev and Mondo went to get some more.

"How 'bout this one?" She asked.

M scrutinized it. "It'll do if we can't find a better one." She threw it at Bobby, who put it on and looked in the mirror. He looked good. It surprised him. Then he looked at his watch. He was gonna be LATE.

"We've gotta get out of here, now!" He called frantically. He ran to the checkout desk still wearing the clothes, telling the woman there that he wanted to wear them out.

"Three hundred, sixty two dollars and twenty one cents," she said primly. Bobby gagged. No way could he ever come up with that money!

"We'll charge it," came a voice from his right. Everett held out a credit card for the woman and smiled reassuringly. She swiped the card, then looked hard at the screen. She looked up and smiled.

"Just a minute please." She walked away, behind closed doors, and found a security man as soon as she could.

"That man out there! He's using a stolen credit card, it was just registered!"

"I'll take care of it, ma'am." He said in his deep voice. Walking up behind Bobby he tapped his shoulder, making him turn around.

"Sir, you're under arrest for the use of a stolen card. Please come with me." He slapped handcuffs around Bobby's wrists, dragging him off.

"Go call Scott!" He shouted back to the kids.

"Well, I guess we can't use this any more." Jubilee looked longingly at the Mastercard, then threw it into the trash. "But we can still use this!" Her face lit up as she pulled Scott's wallet out of her pocket.

"Cool!"

"Guys? Shouldn't we call Scott?"

"All in good time, my friend. For now, we have some shopping to do!" Jubilee grinned.

"What about Bobby's hot date?"

J shrugged. "We're doing her a favor. Everett, wasn't there that comic you wanted? And M, I heard you found this great dress, and isn't it one of your brother's birthdays, Paige?"

"Oh yeah! Ah gotta get somethin' foh Mikey!"

"I did see a new Hawaiian print shirt I wanted . . ." Mondo said slowly.

"And it's not like Bobby's gonna get into trouble in jail." Jubilee rationalized. "Yeah."

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Four hours later . . .

"Hey Warren? It's Jube. I think something happened to Bobby. I mean, we were supposed to meet him back here, but he hasn't shown up yet. Grounded? No, we're not grounded." Jubilee smiled evily.

Twenty-five days left...

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