The last thing Cat wanted was to sit on a bus full of her former classmates. Sunglasses and the old leather jacket on, she leaned against the fancy transportation and waited, when the teenagers rounded the corner and spotted their new ride, Cat smiled and opened her arms in a welcoming gesture.
"You guys didn't think I forgot about you, did you?" She asked them. "I had to crash one last school trip before parting ways!"
"C.C?!" Betty exclaimed. "Oh my God! I almost didn't recognize you!"
"She looks the same to me," Flash commented. "Hi, babe-"
"Don't even think about it," Cat said harshly.
"C.C. you didn't have to!" Mr. Harrington beamed. "This is so generous!"
"Just giving back to the school that I loved dearly," she retorted with a sweet smile.
MJ walked past her. "That's what every rich person says, but they're always up to something. "
Cat was expecting MJ to be mad at her, the girl had called after Pietro's death once, it was the only time she'd decided to answer, and the last. Peter had told her it'd been the heart condition they'd made up, it was close to blasphemous to claim Pietro had died in such a helpless way.
Ned and Peter approached when the others had already entered the bus, Peter was upset.
"Cat."
"C.C.," she reminded him tensely, "but just for a few days."
Ned gave her a short, somewhat sympathetic smile as he got on the bus, he even patted her shoulder. Peter opened his mouth to complain but she didn't give him the chance.
"I was forced into this as much as you, don't start."
He handed his suitcase to the agent that was accompanying her. "What's the story you'll tell our friends?"
"The story I'll tell your friends," she replied, "it's simple: I found out you were having a terrible trip and I decided to help. C.C. Stark's been out of the country studying abroad."
"What's she studying?"
"Business management," she responded, "she's thinking about working on Stark Industries, after all."
"They really thought about everything, huh?" Peter looked around with curious eyes.
"I had plenty of time to think about C.C.'s life if the blip hadn't occurred..." her voice sounded a bit shy. "Five years."
Peter glanced at her, Cat hadn't shown the slightest hint of missing her old life until then, and the boy wondered if she was only keeping her act together for the sake of her reputation.
***
Ten minutes into the trip someone sat next to her.
Copycat stared at MJ and waited for the girl to start talking, if she were the one to start the conversation she'd end up saying the wrong thing, but her old friend wasn't trying to speak, she wanted to fight.
"You shouldn't have come."
Cat looked out the window with a disgruntled expression. "Jeez, I'm glad to hear I've been missed..."
"You've been missed, that's the problem," MJ told her gravely, "Peter was miserable after you guys broke up. He left half of his extracurriculars again, he had these huge dark circles under his eyes-"
"If you're here to try and convince me to take him back-"
"I think you did the right thing."
Cat looked back at her, now truly upset. "Then what the hell are you nagging me for?"
"You had no right to cut ties with all of us without a word."
"I had no right?" Cat raised a brow. "I'm sorry, but I think I haven't made myself clear. I'm an adult. You are not. I won't have any kind of relationship with underage people, no matter how entitled you feel to it."
"P.J. was older than us and he never-"
"Don't use P.J. against me."
Cat's eyes weren't visible through her sunglasses, but her voice was clear enough. She held onto the armrest MJ couldn't see, her claws pierced the plastic material.
"My brother was only two years older. I'm twice that amount. It's different, and I know you know it's different. It's not okay for me to interact with you. Especially if we think about our history."
"I don't understand why our friendship's problematic!"
"It just is!" Cat was feeling a harsh pressure in her chest, she wanted the conversation to be over cause she couldn't be honest, and she'd once promised she would never lie to MJ again.
"Is it because you think it'll be awkward? Peter told us you were dating someone new-"
"Peter misunderstood me. I said I had feelings for someone. He had the right to know, I didn't want him to think he had a chance to revive what we had, that would've ended up hurting him."
"What about me?"
"I..." Cat blinked. "What?"
"Why did you ghost me?" MJ's expression turned into a pout. It was barely noticeable, but it was real. "I only had you. Ned and Peter kept inviting me to their outings and I like them, so it was never hard for me to say yes, but I couldn't help feeling like it was out of pity."
"They're not like that," Cat replied in genuine distress.
"I always thought you were the one keeping us together... I don't know what to think of you now. I have good memories with you, I'm sad you turned into an asshole. P.J. would be sad to see it too."
Cat's heart was pounding so hard that she was having trouble focusing. She swallowed thickly, slowly, she unstuck her claws from the armrest.
"If you're done, I'm going to ask you to leave right now."
"That's all?"
Something inside Cat's brain turned off and suddenly she couldn't feel a thing.
"I'm not going to fight. It would only give you the wrong idea," she looked at MJ through her sunglasses. "Put the blame on me, hate me if you want... the only person you'll be hurting is yourself."
***
"Hi. Is this seat taken?" Peter sat next to her without waiting for her reply. "Let's talk about our plan-"
She pushed the sunglasses up her nose. "If you force me to talk right now, I'll projectile vomit all over you."
Peter's voice was overflowing with mirth. "You still get carsick?"
"I left my stupid pills in the suitcase," Cat grumbled.
"I can ask MJ if she's got-"
"I don't want anything from her."
"C.C. this isn't gonna work if you keep avoiding them," Peter whispered in frustration, "they're supposed to think you're here because you missed them, they won't buy it if you stay in a corner the whole time!"
"Is that any different from how I used to be?" She was too dizzy to think.
"Of course," he said, "you used to love our friends, that doesn't go away easily- at least not in normal people, and you're supposed to be one."
"I don't understand why I tried so hard to be normal..." she pushed her head back and stared up at the ceiling. "I gave and gave, and it brought nothing."
"Don't say that in front of Ned, you'll hurt his feelings."
"Ned hated me!"
"No, he didn't know you," Peter clarified, "but he watched your back for years. Did you forget all the things he did for us?"
"I remember," Cat replied in a bad mood. "Can you stop talking to me? I'm really nauseous..."
He kept his eyes ahead, but after a second he moved to the side and faced her to continue the conversation. "Why is it that every time we fight, I have to corner you on a bus to get you to speak to me?"
"If you have to chase the girl, that means she's not interested. Has no one ever explained that to you?"
"I don't care if you're not interested," he frowned, "I still wanna know..."
She looked out the window, struggling to take deep breaths. "Did we only fight twice during our whole time together?"
He tilted his head trying to remember. "The first time we weren't dating... and we're no longer dating now..."
"You're saying that the whole year and few months we dated... We never had an argument?"
Peter moved again, deep in thought. "Not in a way that was like, a real fight. We'd discuss which movies to watch, or which pizza we'd order, but we never got mad."
Her relationship with Peter could very well be described in a simple word: Easy. But what had been left of it? She couldn't look him in the eye, or speak to him without getting down, and Peter was heartbroken. Kids don't stay young forever, and dreams always come to an end.
"You know what they say about the couples that don't fight?" She inquired. "That they're lying. And if they're not lying, that they don't care enough about each other."
"You know," he replied quietly, "after the blip, the first thing everyone asked me was if you were okay."
"Peter..."
"I told them you hadn't blipped," he laughed a little, "then some of them congratulated me for dating an older girl... and I told them you didn't feel comfortable dating a high school kid. They thought that was very mature. I didn't."
"I was trying to-"
"I know," he interrupted, "I know what you think you were doing. That doesn't mean it didn't hurt."
"You're okay now, though, MJ's made sure of that," she pointed out cruelly.
"Don't start." It surprised her how defensive he sounded. "She doesn't know."
"You think she doesn't know," Cat shrugged, "but if she's still talking to you it must be because she feels the same way."
Peter couldn't believe this person was the same girl he'd fallen in love with all those years back. Cold, cynical, and rude, while C.C. may have appeared to be that way, once you got to know her you'd realize it was only her lack of experience. It wasn't the same now, she was mean by choice.
"I'm glad I'll have C.C. back for a few days," he muttered, "she's nicer than you."
"Like I don't know," she sulked. "Everyone liked her better. She had everything, of course she had no reason to be angry..."
Peter's annoyance grew when he realized he would not be able to stay mad at her if she continued to say things like that. Losing her old life had bruised her in a way that could not be mended.
How close was she to her friends now, if she had any? Was her new boyfriend good to her? Peter knew she'd started dating someone cause Happy said it during one of the times he'd visited his aunt.
"I'm sure your boyfriend likes you as you are," he blurted out.
"You gotta stop telling that lie to everyone," she made a face, "I don't have a boyfriend. Who told you that?"
He felt his cheeks burning. "Well, you said you liked someone else so I just thought-"
"Doesn't mean I'll date them," he could imagine her eyes rolling behind the sunglasses. "I don't have time for that."
"Adults never date?"
"I didn't say that," she retorted with exasperation. "Your aunt and Happy seem to be doing well, right?"
"What!"
"Oh shit, you didn't know?" She raised her eyebrows.
"I didn't think they were-"
"I mean it's been what, eight years since your uncle-?"
"It wasn't that long for us," Peter reminded her, "it's been three years in our time."
She frowned. "Right. Well, I mean, May's a lovely woman. I think Happy's good company as long as he learns to respect boundaries."
"...so it won't last."
Cat's lips twitched a bit, but she managed to hide it. "Don't say that in front of Happy or you'll hurt his feelings."
Peter chortled -he actually laughed!
"He was the one who told me you were seeing someone," the boy confessed.
"Ah, I think I know why..." Cat pushed up her sunglasses and leaned her head back once more. "I've been acting as this rich girl for the sake of a mission and I befriended Billy Russo..."
"Wait," Peter lowered his voice, "you're Katrina Maxwell?"
Cat looked back at him, taken by surprise. "You know her?"
"Yes! Flash rambles about you all the time! He can't shut up about how hot you are-"
"Ew."
Peter smiled. "How is it to be rich and famous?"
"You're famous," she chuckled.
"Not in the same way Katrina is," he retorted.
"Not bad." She wrinkled her nose. "Not fun either."
"But how come Happy thinks you're dating the guy?"
"Well, I kinda am- But he's not dating me. He dates Katrina."
"You don't look like her, it's crazy," Peter reached out and she was still too dizzy to stop him, he lifted her sunglasses. "Your eyes are smaller, and her hair's red... Do you use a wig?"
"I'm a shapeshifter, Pete."
"You can control it now?" He gaped.
"Yup," she squinted, thumb going up to rub her forehead. "Crap."
Cat opened her window and bent over. Peter moved away, but he clasped the back of her jacket to stop her from falling out. Once she was done, she fell back on her seat and let out a pained groan.
"Your sunglasses fell off," Peter pointed out with a little grin.
"I'm aware," she replied weakly. "God, I hate this mission."