The mall:
Jubilee tells Meg that she saw Principal Avery kissing his assistant, Judy. Meg can’t believe it but Jubilee swears to her friend that it’s the truth. She knew that the kissing would get them both into a lot of trouble, so Avery made a deal with her: if Jubilee wouldn’t tell anything about it to anyone, she wouldn’t need to be a counselor anymore. And, of course, Jubilee agreed to that! Meg doesn’t know how to react to this crazy story, but is thrilled for her friend.
Jubilee stops talking when she sees… Shane Shooter?! Shooter says hi, and fakes that he’s got a few big leads on the stolen car. Jubilee knows that they aren’t worth anything, since the car was brought back to the point it was stolen from. Meg asks Jubilee if she’s going to the dance. She doesn’t, since she doesn’t have a date and doesn’t want to see Dale there. Meg begs her to join her, since she’s going alone. It’ll be fun! But Jubilee doesn’t want to go. Not without a date. Shooter stands there quietly, and in a hinting way he whistles. “Naaah!” Jubilee says, “You?!”
She asks Shane how old he is. Seventeen, he answers. Meg doesn’t believe that and asks Shooter why he isn’t in school then. Shane explains that he dropped out when he was sixteen. He felt that he wasn’t learning anything, and thought that he didn’t need the knowledge. After that, Shane applied himself and went straight into the workforce. He’s a “self-made man.”
Jubilee doesn’t call the “work” Shane does as being part of the workforce. Shane says that it all depends on one’s interpretation. He changes the subject, and asks Jubilee if she doesn’t want to go with him to the dance. Jubilee didn’t say that…
Payton-Noble High School…
(after hours, sometimes known as Magic Time –other times also known as Detention Time. Tonight, it’s called Dance Time!)
Principal Avery goes to see Judy, who’s working late. Surprised, she asks Carlton what he’s still doing there. He says that he’s observing the preparations for the dance, and making sure that the punch doesn’t get spiked. Judy notices the bad mood Carlton is in, and asks if it’s about the fact that Jubilee used their kissing-fact to get out of counseling. Carlton confirms. Judy asks if she can make it up to him somehow.
Carlton suggests that they make out a little. Judy walks out of her office and, on her way, jokingly tells Carlton that their kissing got him in the bad mood he is now. Judy goes home and asks Carlton if he wants to join her. Very much so, he answers.
Downtown L.A., a local office building…
Hope and Brad are surrounded by gangsters. Hope talks in Japanese to the gangster’s leader. He says that he detests America in every way possible and he knows that Hope knows this. And yet, the boss says, there he is tying up Hope’s lose ends. Brad, not understanding a word of what’s being said, asks Hope for a translation, but she ignores her partner.
Hope tell the gang leader that she isn’t just a lose end to tie up. She knows that she was the boss’ best. Hope recalls how she preached loyalty and honor to him for years and, in return, she only received betrayal. Brad, still not understanding what’s going on, asks Hope what she’s saying, but she still ignores the armed man.
The boss claims that he didn’t betray her. He believes that Hope should have graciously accepted the honorable death he had in mind for her. Hope smiles and tells the boss that he doesn’t get rid of her that easily. Brad again tries to ask Hope what she’s talking about, but still doesn’t get an answer.
Turning his face into a serious look, the boss says that he does think he can get rid of Hope easy. And he orders his boys to do it for him! The thugs do as told and open fire!
Hope and Lee jump into safety and hide behind a desk. Brad asks Hope what she said, but she answers that it doesn’t matter now. Brad can’t believe that he’s missing a concert for this. Hope tells him to shut up, and they fight back.
An explosion takes place and destroys most of the building…
Jubilee’s home…
Shane, all dressed up, says hi to Jubilee and brags on his good looks. He congratulates Jubilee on the fine dress she wears and points her to his car. Jubilee finds his car, which looks more like a truck, and won’t step into the ridiculous thing. Shane tells Jubilee that this is his only ride, so she doesn’t have a choice. Jubilee isn’t so sure of that.
Some time later…
Jubilee took her scooter and Shane sat at the back! Without saying a word to each other, they step into the school building and to the dance room. They stand against a wall, and look at the happy couples dancing. Time passes by, and no word is said. Jubilee has had enough of it and asks Shane if he too wants to bail. He sure does!
Carlton watches Jubilee and Shane leaving. He’s still in a bad mood. Judy approaches him and can’t believe that he’s still angry at Jubilee. Carlton says that he isn’t; he just hates to see a student leaving the dance early. He knows that an unsupervised teenager will only get into trouble.
Judy tells Carlton that he’s taking his job too far. Carlton tells Judy that it’s Mr. Avery in front of the students. Realizing that he made the same mistake, he quickly corrects himself and talks to “Ms. Kingsley.” Judy asks Carlton he wants to dance with her, but Carlton doesn’t want to. Not in front of the students. He asks Judy if she would please show some restraint. Judy tells Carlton that he’s no fun at all...
Meanwhile, Meg sits alone at a table. Dale approaches her and asks Meg if she’s here alone. Meg confirms that she is. Dale says he is too, and can’t believe it. He explains that Missy caught him flirting with Sarah Ammerman. And now Dale thinks that his relationship with Missy is over for good. Dale says that he didn’t want to come, but since he helped organize the dance he just thought that it would be weird if he didn’t show up. He asks Meg if she wants to dance with him.
“Yeah!” Meg happily shouts! She relaxes herself, and calmly says that she would love to.
Los Angeles…
Hope and Brad take the elevator down and make it to the parking lot. Brad sarcastically tells his boss that the “making-them-pay” plan didn’t work out so well. Hope tells him to shut up. They run to their car. Some surviving gangsters show up and open fire. Hope and Brad get to the car and hide behind it.
Brad jokingly says that the hiding brings back some memories. He forgot it, and asks Hope how they got out from behind the desk. When Hope thinks that it was when she threw that grenade, Brad asks Hope if she got some more. Hope doesn’t, because she used the other one she had to keep the thugs out of their elevator. Brad panics and asks Hope what they are going to do.
Hope tells Brad that he hops into the car and drives away. She’ll kill all the guards and meet with him back home. Brad refuses to leave her. Hope tells Brad that he will, since that is an order. And she knows that she’ll be fine, since she won’t have him to worry about anymore.
Brad does as told and drives away. Hope, while fighting the thugs, hopes that Jubilee is still at the dance.
The B.M. Burger Mart…
Shane is glad that Jubilee agreed to leave the dance so early. He never went to a dance before, but knew that it would be bad. But that bad! And it got worse, Shane says, when he remembered they came to the dance on that idiot scooter. Jubilee laughs and can’t believe that a tough little mutant like Shane himself is actually afraid of it. Not of it, Shooter says, but he is afraid of Jubilee! And of the way she drives. He asks Jubilee if she’s got a drivers license. Jubilee laughs even more, and confirms that she has one. And she adds that the scooter doesn’t go that fast.
Shooter says that he can shoot energy bullets out of his fingers, but he isn’t super-strong or invulnerable. And, angry a bit, Shane says that he isn’t little. Jubilee smiles and tells Shane that he is little. Units of measure do not lie. But, to avoid an energy bullet to her face, Jubilee changes the subject and asks Shooter how he learned to use his powers.
Shooter learned it all on the streets. Shane doesn’t need a stuffy white dude too busy shining his head for TV to teach him how to use his powers. Shane explains that he did okay and even learned a few tricks. For example, he can shoot energy out all of his fingers at once, but the less fingers he uses, the more powerful the bursts are. And he learned all that out of his own.
Jubilee explains that she did that too – more or less. She reveals to Shane that she used to live in a mall there in Los Angeles and used her powers to become a sort of street magician so she could earn some money for food. After that, Jubilee continues, Xavier taught her to control her light bursts better and how to make them more intense for defense purposes. But, for the most part, Jubilee says she learned on her own, just like Shane.
Surprised to hear that Jubilee was homeless, he asks her when that was. Jubilee explains that it happened a few years ago, when her parents died and drifted around for a while, until she hooked up with the X-Men.
Shane asks Jubilee how the X-Men worked out for her. Though realizing that it wasn’t probably great, because now she is there, he wants to know how the life was there. Jubilee thinks that she was never considered a full member. She knows that she went along on a few missions and even fought Magneto once, but for the most part she was just tagging on with Wolverine. Shane asks who that is. Jubilee describes Logan as the hairy dude with the claws. Shane has seen him.
So anyway, Jubilee continues, she says that the X-Men were just getting kind of old for her, referring to the stress and all that. The last time that the mansion got destroyed was enough for her. She just needed a break. And, luckily for Jubilee, her long-lost Aunt Hope was there with open arms. It was all very convenient.
Shane is impressed to hear that Jubilee was homeless. He never was. And being homeless is rough; he knows that. Jubilee claims that it was all nothing, and all ancient history now. Speaking of history, Shane asks Jubilee if she wants to get out of there. Jubilee agrees and asks Shane where he wants to go next. Shane suggests to go back to her place, since he’s got to go back there at some point to get his car back. So he suggest to chill there. Jubilee thinks about it for a while, and eventually agrees.
Some time later, they arrive at Jubilee’s home. They enter and Jubilee jokes to Shane not to steal anything. They move over to the couch and look at each other. Jubilee knows that she’s going to regret this. They open their mouths and prepare to kiss each other.
They get interrupted by a knock on the door. Jubilee goes to open it and thinks it’s the butler who forgot his keys. She opens the door, and is startled to see… WOLVERINE! Happy, Wolverine says hi to his friend, and hopes that he wasn’t interrupting anything.
