"So, kid." Tony's voice was heard through the loud chatting.
"Yeah?" You answered while laughing at Thor trying to fit six pop tarts in his mouth after Clint dared him to.
"You know, I got an interesting call the day before yesterday, while you were still...you know."
"Fighting for my life?"
"Yes right about then. Of course I didn't answer at the moment but I did call them back eventually."
"Okay, who was it? And more importantly why does this only concern me?"
"Well, it was a call from London."
Suddenly everyone at the table stopped talking. No one had brought up London since you got your memories back. You didn't exactly have time to think about that either.
The truth was that now that everything was over you needed to decide what to do about that. You had a whole other life back there. You had school, which you were probably not going back to, you had your home, a job and...
"Laura! Did Laura call you? God I completely forgot to call her." You said in panic. You also realised that you didn't know where your phone was. You actually hadn't seen it in a while. Definitely before Sokovia.
"No, it wasn't Laura." Tony calmed you down.
"But you should probably call her at some point, she is really worried." Clint said.
"Yeah, your phone has been ringing like crazy since we got back from Sokovia. Not to mention the amount of messages that she has left you." Nat added.
"Yeah, I should call her." You made a mental note.
"Anyway," Tony tried to continue. "as I was saying... A very interesting call from London."
"So who was it?" You asked him impatiently.
"Your collage actually."
"Oh." You said almost as if you didn't care.
You really didn't. Collage was no longer a priority for you. This was the dream of someone else. The dream of the normal Y/n that didn't have anything else to worry about.
You turned your gaze away from Tony and back to your plate. You cut a piece of your pancake and put it in your mouth. As far as you were concerned the conversation was over. You knew very well where Tony was headed and you didn't want it to go there.
"Hey, why did they call you?" You tried to change the subject.
"Why wouldn't they? I have been paying them for the past three years." He said and you were suddenly stunned.
What did he mean by that? He wasn't paying for anything. You had a scholarship.
"Why would you be paying them?" You asked.
"Kid how exactly did you think your tuition had been paid all this time?"
"I had a scholarship."
Tony let out a loud laugh. He couldn't help it really. He stopped once you gave him a death stare and took a sip of his coffee. He then cleared his throat.
"Kid you're going to Imperial College of London, the best school in there. One of the best in the world. Did you really think you were there on a scholarship?"
Ouch.
Tony's words were not at all nice at that point. Though only from the look on his face you knew that he was not being serious. He was simply mocking you. As always.
"Well I am an excellent student."
"Yes."
"At the top of my class."
"Yep."
"Hard working."
"Yes those are all great qualities kid but they are not enough for them. Not to mention that you started in the middle of the year."
"I thought they really liked me." At that point you could see what Tony was talking about.
You were really so dumb to believe that you actually had gotten a scholarship there. One out of twenty of the best students managed to get into that school.
You really were confident.
"Anyway that is not important. Because you managed to do so well and money had nothing to do with it."
"Thanks Tony."
You smiled at him and returned to your breakfast. You quickly forgot about the conversation but the rest of your family didn't seem to do the same.
Everyone had stopped eating and you could feel their eyes on you. They wanted to know more about your school situation. Little did they know that you had already made up your mind. From the first moment that your memories came back.
"What?" You finally lifted your head and looked at everyone.
"I believe that the team would like to know what the news Tony was talking about is." Vision said and you tried to hold back a laugh at your friend who was still not able to understand a few things about real humans.
You still found it funny that old J.A.R.V.I.S had turned into a living, breathing person. But he was still extremely naive. He kept entering rooms by just passing through walls. You were all trying to get him to stop that.
"Okay kid, listen. They told me that your class will be graduating in a month or so." Tony said.
"I know." You told him and he looked at you in confusion.
"So? Aren't you going?"
"Nope."
"What?" Clint was the most shocked one.
"Y/n you can't be serious right now." Steve added.
"Okay." You sighed and let down your fork. "Tony, did they also tell you that I can not graduate in a month?"
"They said that you need to take one final exam."
"Which I missed to come here and help you guys."
You sounded a bit like you were blaming then as well as the situation. You really weren't though. This was your life, not the one in London. That was just a few years break from the superhero life. And you knew that even with your memories gone.
Not that you wanted a break, but anyway.
You didn't want your family to feel like they were responsible for you not finishing collage. Of course you liked it there but there was nothing that was going to stop you from being helping your family.
After all getting a degree was not your dream, nor was it going to be useful to you in the future. When you were with no powers and memories of your real life you really wanted to do it all but now...
Now it just seemed unnecessary.
"Look guys. The matter it's not debatable."
"Actually, it is." Tony said and you looked at him in confusion. "I called them again this morning and they said that you can take the exam now."
"Now?"
"Well not now now. But yeah. You can take the exam in..." Tony's words tailed off as he opened his phone and looked at it for a few moments. "Yes! In a week."
"Okay." You laughed and looked away. "Not happening."
"Y/n you need to do it." Bucky told you.
"Why on earth would I need to do this?" You asked him. "Getting a degree at this point in my life is pointless. I have a life guys. I seriously do not need a degree."
"I remember a point where you really wanted it though." Nat looked you deep in the eyes.
"That's a long time ago." You avoided eye context with her.
"May I, take a wild guess here?" Loki suddenly said.
You nodded, knowing damn well what was coming your way. Loki was going to say the exact words that you were feeling. Even the ones that you hadn't admitted yourself. He always did that. He always knew exactly what you were feeling. Most of the times you loved him about it but others...You still loved him but he was quite getting in your nerves.
"I don't believe that you do not want to do it. I believed that you are scared to."
And there he was. Describing your feelings exactly. Out loud. And now everyone was looking at you. They knew that it was true. They knew Loki was always right. He always was.
"Fine." You finally sighed. "I just can't do it."
"Why not?"
"Because, I can't! I haven't even studied and a week is not that long."
"Didn't you say that you were first in your class?" Clint asked you.
"Yes."
"Then I bet you can do it. Besides, if you can't, you can just cheat. I mean you have the power." He suggested.
"There is no way that I am cheating. If I'm going to do this I'm going to do it the right way."
"Then what are you afraid of?"
"I really don't want to fail." You sighed and stuck your eyes on your hands.
Loki put his hand around you and pulled you closer to him. You felt one or two tears forming in the corner of your eyes but you weren't going to let them escape. You closed your eyes shut and when you opened them again the urge to cry was gone. You lifted your head and looked at your family. They were all looking at you and smiling sympathetically. Tony though had his 'I've got a plan' face on so you knew you weren't going to like his next words.
"Whatever got into your mind I do not want to hear it." You said before he could even talk.
"Will you just listen to me?"
"Tony there is no way that you can pull of teaching me three weeks of material in less than six days."
"Wanna bet?" Tony leaned closer to you and stared into your eyes with a mischievous smile on his lips.
"No thank you." You laughed and sat back on your seat.
But Tony didn't seem to mind. He stood up and started walking towards you. At that point he kind of scared you. You knew very well that once this man put something in his head nothing was going to stand in his way of succeeding but you really didn't want to know what you would have to go through in order for that to happen.
You continued staring into Tony's eyes as he walked closer and closer to you. This was not going to end well.
Why did they have to call him really?
"F.R.I.D.A.Y would you please clean up here? The team has an urgent mission." He said the moment he was next to you, without even looking away.
"Wait where are we going?" Clint asked.
"The library." Tony answered him.
"Wherever that is, Stark, my food shall come with me." Thor objected, hugging two packages of Pop-tarts.
"I'm sorry Point Break but there won't be much time for eating. We have studying to do."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Bucky slowly stood up and locked eyes with Tony. "Why do we need to study? She is the one with the exam." He looked terrified. You almost wanted to laugh. But deep down you were terrified too. Even though many thought so, Tony wasn't the most lenient teacher of all.
"Okay I know that the whole twenty first century is a bit new to you but try to keep up Manchurian Candidate okay?"
"Just...Make your point Stark." Steve said while clearly keeping Bucky from attacking Tony.
"Look, people work better in groups. Study groups to be exact. We are all going to help Y/n pass that exam."
No one had to think about it a lot. They all just agreed with Tony almost immediately. That really made you feel a lot more confident. It was as if you were almost sure that with your family by your side, you would be able to do anything.
"Thank you guys." You said.
"Hey, anything for you Y/n." Nat said. "Besides, study group with those idiots will make you feel like a genius." She pointed at Clint, Bucky and Thor and you both giggled.
They didn't seem to find it equally funny but it didn't matter. They knew she was kidding, or at least you were hopping she was.
One thing though was for sure; the following days were going to be hard, but you were almost sure you were going to make it.
As F.R.I.D.A.Y. was cleaning everything and the team was trying to figure out the details of what to do next you looked for your phone in the living room. You finally found it laying around on the coffee table and picked it up.
At that point you hadn't opened it since London. Everything had happened so fast that you hadn't had time for anything. Once the screen lit you saw about twenty unread messages and so many more unanswered calls.
"What is it darling." You suddenly heard Loki's voice behind you and turned around.
"Nothing..." You said as you scrolled through the messages. "I just...I really need to call Laura."
"Your friend from London?" Loki asked and you nodded.
You really needed to speak with her. Given from the amount of times that she tried to reach out she was really worried. She deserved to know the truth. You had left so suddenly and you had promised to call her but never did.
Her last message was about three hours ago. She had been trying to reach you for a week. You felt so bad. You needed to talk to her immediately.