The Avengers Weakness

Chapter Thirty-Four

A couple weeks later, Penny was waiting for Wanda to leave the hall in front of the lunchroom from behind a large blue column. Once the redhead was out of her line of sight, she sighed and stepped back. She prepared herself for her walk to the library, to hide from her cousin like she'd been doing for over a month now. She adjusted her backpack on her shoulder and took another step back while turning around. Her face hit into something when she spun around and she felt a hand clasp down onto her shoulder. She slowly looked up and noticed it was Brad, her eyes widened.

"Where do you think you're going, little cousin?" he asked.

She tried to pull out of the grip he had on her shoulder, "T-tutoring...." she stuttered.

"Really? You tutoring?" he asked, tightening his grip on her shoulder, "I seriously doubt you need tutoring."

"I-It's not for me....I'm the tutor." she replied, spouting the lie quickly hoping he'd believe her.

"Who?" he asked.

"His n-name is uh Zach, I-I'm helping him-him in math."

He scoffed, "You think I'm stupid?" he asked, "Midtown doesn't let freshman tutor people; you have to be a junior. And unless you've skipped two grades since August, you're still a freshman." he replied, smirking.

She gulped, "O-Oh." she hung her head, knowing that he wasn't going to leave her be.

"So where have you been? Where are you going cuz?" he asked again.

She sighed, "N-nowhere...." she replied quietly.

He grinned, "Exactly."

He slid his hand down to her forearm and gripped it tightly as he pulled her over to the lunch table where the rest of his group was. He roughly pushed her down into a seat and sat down next to her, placing his hand on her knee as he dug his fingers into her leg.

She winced, making him smirk.

He turned to look at the group, "Look who I found," he announced.

Chris smiled at her, "Where have you been freak show?" he asked.

"P-places." she mumbled.

He looked at Brad, "It looks like the freak is growing a pair," he laughed, "We'll have to fix it won't we?"

Brad scoffed, "Nah, she's hiding like the rat she is. But yeah, let's fix it. You shouldn't be hiding from me." he replied, slightly growling the last words out.

Penny felt him dig his nails into her leg a little deeper, causing her to whimper.

He tightened his grip and leaned over before hissing into her ear, "Wipe that look off of your face and shut up if you know what's good for you." he hissed.

Liz looked at him, a slightly concerned expression on her face while she watched their interaction.

Penny shakily nodded her head and stared down at the table, preparing herself for what was to come.

Across the cafeteria, the two boys that Pietro had asked to keep an eye on her noticed the group. The raven-haired one of the pair nudged his friend in the side and motioned across the large room to the table.

"Isn't that the freshie that Pietro told us to keep an eye out for?"

"Huh?" the boy replied, looking up from the food he was eating.