𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐔𝐒𝐊

10. 𝗮 𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗽 𝘁𝗼 𝗱.𝗰.

"My sister was there."

Pepper frowns sympathetically. "I--I didn't know about that . . ."

It was obvious that it was tearing Eszter apart, hurting from the inside out. Tony hadn't told her about that, but now that Pepper does know, the woman couldn't ignore the guilt. No one deserves to go through that much trauma, especially not Eszter; the girl had gone through too much pain, and New York was supposed to be her safe spot. Nothing good seemed to be going through Eszter's favor, and whenever she does come across anything remotely close enough, something comes crashing down. Always wanting to ruin Eszter's happiness.

"Can we just get to the school? I don't wanna be late," Eszter grumbles, shutting everyone out.

Once Eszter gets to a certain low point of her life, the enhanced tends to deal with it independently, hating the feeling of being pitied. Eszter often closes people off, keeps to herself, and barely talks. Ever since the death of her parents, the enhanced has a hard time expressing herself. And with Wanda gone, Eszter most certainly doesn't like many people at the moment.

Pepper stares longingly at the Eszter's side profile, and she frowns sympathetically.

💜

Eszter slides on her yellow jacket as soon as Happy pulls into the school parking lot, finding a group of students beginning to form around the yellow bus. The enhanced pulls her hair out from beneath the jacket, keeping it on her back and out of her face. Happy pulls over near the bus, catching curious eyes as they watched a sleek car pull up to the side.

"Alright, have a good time. Kick some butt, or win some answers," Pepper beams.

Eszter chuckles. "I'm not going in today, but thanks," she nods in appreciation. The enhanced exit the car as she ignores the wandering eyes, knowing they were talking about Eszter and her personal driver. Happy closes the trunk and passes Eszter her bags. "Thanks, Happy."

"Don't go causing trouble," Happy points warningly.

"Yeah, yeah," she waves her hand dismissively, beckoning him to leave as quickly as possible.

Happy looks at Eszter sternly. "I mean it, kid."

Eszter nods once more, pressing her lips in a tight line. "I got it, Happy. I'll be good," she assures, taking her suitcase from Happy's grasp.

Turning away, the enhanced makes her way towards the group near the bus, noticing that they were all crowded together as they watched Happy and Pepper drive away. Luckily, their amusement no longer amused as they turn away and continue on their own conversations. However, a few people walked over and greeted Eszter.

To Eszter's surprise, Liz smiles at the enhanced, waving at her.

"Hey, Eszter."

"Hey."

"Eszter!" Ned greets, stepping away from the bus as he suddenly pulls Eszter into a hug.

Taken off-guard, Eszter smiles in confusion. Then, Abraham walks over and beams at the girl.

"Eszter, you look great," Abraham compliments.

"Thanks, Abe. You don't look bad yourself. I mean, your tie is amazing," Eszter gives the boy a thumbs up.

Abraham grins widely, patting his yellow jacket as he was pleased to hear the compliment from someone else; he already knew he looked good, but he wanted to hear someone else say it as well. It was a booster to his self-esteem. Abraham was dressed nicely, wanting to look highly sophisticated for nationals.