001.

Her feet dangled a few inches from the ground. A gentle breeze ran through her long brown hair. She shivered since she only wore a t-shirt and a skirt but it didn't phase her enough to go back inside. There was too much going on inside the mansion. She needed to be alone, away from people and alone with her thoughts. The swing set in the backyard was her sanctuary. People knew when she was sitting there by herself, it was when she wanted to be alone.

People were coming out of the mansion and onto the backyard. While the younger ones sat on the grass, the more older kids had a football in their hands and a smile formed on her face. It was always amusing to watch mutants playing a game of football. All of them used their special abilities to win for their team, causing almost every game to go to overtime.

A couple of the younger kids saw her looking and waved at her. She smiled brightly at them, waving back. Ah, she remembered the days of being a kid at the school. It had been fun. Professor Xavier had been kind enough to bring her and provide her with everything that she needed when she had nothing to offer in return.

"HEY HAYLEY! WANNA PLAY?" Piotr called out to her, jokingly flexing his biceps towards her. The other kids giggled.

Hayley rolled her eyes and waved him off. "No thanks, Pete. Thanks though." She'd rather watch than play.

Her green eyes fell upon the bench in front of the flower bushes. The flowers were in full bloom now. Her eyes narrowed at the sight of the bench. Her heart pained at the old memories. But that's what they were. Just memories.

She held onto the grey Zippo lighter. On the sides was a drawing of a shark with its jaws open. Her finger traced over the lines and she did her best to hold back the tears that were ready to escape. She would not cry for him. She had done enough of that. She would force herself to be strong and move on instead of moping around and wishing for stupid things that would never come true.

Easier said than done.

She was still hopeful. She still wished on stars and when the time read 11:11. These were all foolish, childish things to do especially since she was no longer a child.

But she felt like a child. A child that had been left abandoned by the people who were supposed to care about her.

He had left her.

John Allerdyce had broken Hayley Madden's heart by abandoning her.

And Hayley felt like a fool.

He left with her his most treasured Zippo lighter as if that were to make the abandonment okay. Hayley scoffed at it but she still kept it. It was her reminder of him, though she was angry with him, she still cared for him. She loved him.

It's hard to forget your first love.

Hayley's eyes wandered towards the bench. That was where they had first taken notice of each other about six years ago when they both had been students at Xavier's School for the Gifted. The bench was where they had started to get to know each other. It was the first of many- their confession of adoration for each other, their first kiss and their first "I love you"'s. It was also there that John had decided to tell her that he was leaving.

She closed her eyes, not wanting the tears to fall. It had been almost two months ago since the day he left but it pained her as if it had happened just yesterday. He had never given her a real explanation- he just left with her a last kiss and his Zippo lighter. He never told her when he'd be coming back.. that is, if he ever was going to come back. Or even why he had left. He just left.

"Hey kid."

Hayley turned around to see Logan walking towards her. She chuckled when he felt a small push from behind, giving her a light swing. She lightly pumped her legs to keep the momentum. "Didn't know you were back, Logan."

"Just got back now," he said, taking a swing beside her. "How are the rest of the squirts doing?"

Hayley chuckled. "Doing well as you can tell," she said, pointing towards the football game. Piotr had a bunch of the smaller kids holding onto him as he trudged along the grass without being out of breath.

"What about you, Logan?" she asked.

Logan shrugged, pulling out a cigar from his jacket pocket. He lit it, sticking it in his mouth. "Just here and there." He let out a puff of smoke into the air. Hayley wrinkled her nose.

"Just cause you've been away for a while doesn't mean that Professor's gonna allow you to smoke around here."

"I know." He continued to smoke. "So how are you?"

Hayley looked at the ground. "I'm good."

"Kid, remember who you're talking to. I know you better than pretty much everyone else here," Logan pointed out. He dug his feet into the ground to bring his swing to a stop. "It's about Pyro, isn't it?"

"John."

"Whatever kid." He turned towards her. "You gotta get over him. Once was enough. I don't want to see you moping around like last time this happened."

Hayley scowled. She didn't want to be reminded of the last time John decided to run off. The last time, the mansion had been seiged by military men led by a man named William Stryker. They had captured some of the students while Hayley, John, their friend Rogue and Bobby had escaped with the help of Logan. Teaming up with some enemies, they fought against Stryker but John had left to go side with Magneto.

But they had reunited when there had been an epic battle on Alcatraz Island. It had been one of the hardest nights of Hayely's life. But later, John admitted defeat, admitted that he had been wrong in what he had done and the X-Men had accepted him back. Hayley had accepted him back and their relationship had been renewed and stronger than ever.

Or so Hayley thought.

"It's not easy," she snapped. "I love-,"

"If he loved you as much as you do then he wouldn't have left." Logan looked at her sternly. "You don't deserve him. You deserve better."

"Don't. Don't you dare tell me what to do and who to love," she said harshly.

"I'm just looking out for you, kid."

"I'm not a kid anymore, Logan," Hayley said firmly.

"Anyone younger than me is still a kid, you should know that," he chuckled, making a joke about his inability to grow old due to his healing powers.

Hayley smiled but sighed.

"I'm serious Hayley. Stop moping around for Pyro. He ain't coming back and if he does, well, he doesn't deserve you."

Hayley shook her head. "You don't understand."

Logan let out a frustrated growl. "You don't understand yourself, kid. You don't understand that he's gone and you need to move on with your life. I'm sorry but that Pyro is a piece of shit who can't see what he's lost."

She narrowed her eyes at him. She was a bit touched by his words and she knew he meant well but it hurt. "Well, what about you? What about Jean died, huh?" she shot back.

It was a cheap shot and she immediately felt bad when she saw the hurt flash in Logan's eyes. Hayley sighed and made her swing come to a halt. "Logan, I'm sorry.. I didn't mean to bring that up.."

He shook his head. "It's alright, squirt. But that was a different situation." He stood up from the swing. "You need to wise up. Get your act together and move on with your life because kid, you deserve the best. And that Pyro ain't the best." He gave her a pat on the shoulder before leaving her on the swing.

Hayley couldn't help but feel frustrated with her feelings and the words that Logan had said to her. He was right despite how much she didn't want to admit it. She did need to suck it up. She had already gone through this same ole dance the first time he left.

Being the mopey, lovesick, heartbroken girl was not the girl that Hayley intended to be. She didn't like to depend on other people nor did she like to invest her emotions into other people. She made the mistake of putting her feelings on the line with John. She was determined not to fall into that same trap again.

Logan is right. She needed to stop.

Hayley stood up from the swing. She tucked her hair behind her ears and walked towards the house.

She wasn't going to let John get to her. Not this time.