Here to haunt me?

3. Familiar face.

She was kind of nervous to go to school the next day. It didn't help that it was raining. Typical New York fall weather, she had noticed over the years. Delilah, Ana's mom, told them they had to walk anyway. Something about it being rush hour.

As they walked through the rain, physically shielding their backpacks, Juliette couldn't help but think about her magical shield yesterday. The superhero's surprised face, even through his mask. She was pretty sure he saw her vanish, which isn't something a normal, dressed up person could do. 

Suddenly, she realized she had stopped thinking about the boy she couldn't get out of her head a day ago. "What happened to Peter? Is his aunt okay?" She asked her friend. 

Ana responded grumpily, saying; "He's fine, his aunt is fine, everything is fine. You know what isn't fine? My hair!" She had curled it beautifully, probably hoping Wesley would glance at her during their chem class, like he always did. She never dared to tell Ana he also looked at other girls during the same class.

She felt kind of guilty she hadn't thought of Peter, her mind to busy going over all the possible future scenarios concerning another tall, broad-shouldered spider-boy. Man? Juliette actually had no idea how old he was. Maybe he was well into his forties. 

That was unlikely, though, she continued in her head. He sounded pretty young, maybe around twenty-five? Juliette wasn't even an adult yet. Her mom would've scolded her for putting herself in harm's way so young. She didn't think seventeen was that young, but she never would have argued on that with her mother.

Ana's voice took her attention; "Ah, speak of the devil, there he is." It took Juliette a second to realize she was talking about Peter. 

He was skateboarding. Through the rain, on his way to school. Her mouth hung open a bit, as she notices his hair was completely soaked. It was really pretty, a dark brown, and it managed to catch seemingly the only sunbeam in the entire city. Beautiful, she kept thinking to herself.

"How can he do that?" Ana said incredulously. "Isn't he worried his books will get wet, or he'll slip or something?"

"Maybe he has a waterproof bag?" Juliette suggested. Ana just grunted and kept walking. Once they got close to the entrance, they sprinted inside. She considered just drying herself off effortlessly, like she wanted to every time she got wet, but she could never do that. Not in a high school. She was waiting to graduate and live by herself until she would use her magic freely. She didn't want anything to tie her past to the people she was with now. 

They walked into their chem class. She noticed Peter looking at her at the same time Ana saw Wesley. Juliette met Peter's eyes and she straightened her back a little. She wanted to fidget with her hands in a heartbeat. She nearly scoffed at herself, she was definitely falling for the guy.

They took their seats in the room, she always sat next to Ana. Halfway through the class Juliette was bored. She already understood the material, and she'd make the homework later. She looked around. Her friend and Wesley were staring at each-other, always somehow just missing eye contact. Her eyes drifted to Peter again.

He was always so nice to her. Always polite and respectful. And so handsome. So why not ask him out? Juliette was just scared. After everything that happened with her first girlfriend, and later with her mom and her brother, she was scared to start anything. She wouldn't say she was traumatized, or anything, just ... careful.

There was a knock on the door, and all eyes turned to the vice-principal as she walked in. Most of her classmates were probably happy with the interruption, as her science teacher tended to get off track and start telling way-too-personal stories. 

The vice-principal asked; "Juliette? Is there a Juliette here?"

Everyone's eyes shot to her, which wasn't the greatest thing ever. She raised her hand and the woman told her to grab her things. She felt her stomach fill with dread. After all, the last time she had been grabbed out of her class was when she left her country to flee. She knew it was probably nothing, though, maybe her art teacher decided to finally be strict about homework. She was behind on a couple of projects.

She told Ana; "I'll text you later, okay?" Her friend gave her a quick nod, obvious not paying much attention to anything or anyone but the boy she was sitting across from. Juliette decided to glance at Peter, and saw that his eyes were already on her. He looked concentrated, almost like he was studying her. She felt some heat rush to her cheeks and left with the vice-principal before anyone could see. 

When they had made their way to the hall, she asked the woman; "Is there anything wrong?" The woman shook her head, and seemed to be gathering her words. 

"Well, um, there is a man waiting for you outside. Quite a famous one, actually." The vice-principal chuckled nervously. She continued; "He said he's picking you up."

"Oh." Was all Juliette could say. She racked her brain, thinking who would come see her on a Monday afternoon. She knew a few famous people, but she seriously doubted any one of them cared about her existence. She guessed she would just have to go see who it was herself. 

"Alright, you go then, and um," The woman paused, "I'll be curious to see how you know him the next time you get detention, or something."

Juliette had never gotten detention, but she nodded. "I will. Thank you, miss." She made her way to her locker and grabbed her coat. Then she walked outside. She had her shields up, in case. But when her eyes adjusted to the light outside, she froze. Standing in front of her was a man she had met once, but had seen everywhere over the last couple years.

She couldn't help but smile lightly when she made way towards him. "Hi, Mister Barton, was it?" She asked. 

Luckily he smiled right back, a warm smile. Juliette remembered she had liked him when they first met. 

It was in a large building, mostly empty, when she first met one of her mom's best friends. He introduced himself as Clint, but she had called him Mister Barton, because she was always scared to talk to grown-ups. She must have been eight, or nine, then. Holding her mother's hand, hiding behind her legs. She remembered now he also had kids. Three of them, with his wife. They lived on a farm.

He spoke politely; "It's so good to see you again, Juliette. It's been a really long time. You were so young when I last saw you." His eyes became a bit sadder when he said; "You have your mother's hair color." He added, chuckling; "And accent, of course."

She laughed. "Yeah, so I've heard. I'm working on it." But he didn't seem to care about her accent. She knew him and her mom were close, and that he was part of the evacuation plan all those years ago. It took her a couple seconds to realize he must have been there when her mom died. She waited for him to say something.

After a while, he cleared his throat and started speaking again. "You're probably wondering why I'm here." She nodded lightly and he continued; "I'm here to discuss a few things with you about your future, and I also have a bit of news. But we can't talk about it here."

Juliette understood that much, so she said; "Yes, of course. Where are we going? Also, do my host parents know you're picking me up?"

He hesitated a bit, saying; "Well, they don't know, since I'm suspecting they know nothing about your past. Let's just hope the school doesn't call them." He laughed. "And I'm taking you to a friend's place, just somewhere we can talk."

She wanted to tell him that Ana would definitely tell her parents, but it all seemed kind of irrelevant. This man was a direct connection to her mother, who she missed so much. Any kind of news would be invaluable, since he would probably leave her alone again after today. So she said; "Okay, let's go."