Monday morning rolled around and Peter was the first one up. He was always the first one up when it came to the first day of school; he was always too excited to get good enough sleep and always ended up waking up really early in the morning. It never mattered if it was just a simple break or if it was the actual first day of school. Every year on the first day of school, the first day back after spring break, the first day back after Christmas break, and the first day back after fall break he could never sleep well. He sat up and ran his fingers through his newly cut locks, causing them to stick up in different directions. He tossed his covers off and pushed himself out of his bed, grabbing a t-shirt and boxers from his dresser before going to the bathroom. He jumped in the shower and let the water run over him as it washed the sweat and dirt off of him from last night's patrol. He didn't know how he managed it, but dirt and always managed to get dirt in his suit, which for the most part was air tight. The previous night, he'd been out till two in the morning; but Tony and Pepper had given him a new curfew for school nights, he had to be back home by twelve-thirty a.m. and in bed by one. The previous night, he'd stopped three robberies, helped six intoxicated college students get back to their dorms, stopped a mugging, and had helped a woman get her cat out of the tree. Thirty minutes later, he was out of the shower and using a towel to dry his chestnut brown hair. After he finished drying his hair, he started to try to style it; which didn't really work that well, his hair nearly unmanageable at times. He walked out of the bathroom, and back towards his room, grabbing his bluejeans and putting on a blue and gray flannel shirt. He walked back into the bathroom and started trying to comb his hair back a bit. With his super hearing, he could hear his sister getting up for the day; he smiled a little to himself and turned the light out in their joint bathroom before going back to his room to put on his converse and sweatshirt. After he'd tied his shoes, he grabbed his backpack and headed downstairs for breakfast.
Wanda woke up at five-thirty shortly after Peter did. She rubbed her eyes and threw the dark gray comforter off of herself and leaned over to turn off her alarm. She sat up and swung her feet over the side of her bed and into the black cat slippers that Peter had gotten her for Christmas last year. She switched on her lamp by her bed as well as the one on her vanity before undoing her long red hair from its braid and started to brush it. After she braided back half of her hair in a dutch braid she tied it off with a black ribbon and started working on the makeup that she wore almost every day. After finishing up her makeup, she grabbed the red and black mesh skirt she'd laid out the previous evening and pulled it on. She quickly finished getting dressed, her finished outfit consisted of a black tube top, fishnets, Nat's red jacket, and the black platform combat boots she'd worn on Saturday to the mall. She looked at herself in the mirror and adjusted her choker before neatly organizing her backpack once again in an effort to make sure she was ready for the new school year.
Yelena and Kate had slept in the same room; in the middle of the night, Yelena came into Kate's room claiming she couldn't sleep because she was worried how she'd do in actual school. She'd never been to public school, when she first came to the compound Nat had her homeschooled for the reason that the red room was still out there and she didn't want to put the blonde in any danger. Nat and Clint both wanted to make sure it was safe before sending the then fifteen year old out to the public; both of them would never forgive themselves if anything ever happened to the teenager. After Kate calmed her down from almost throwing herself into a slight panic attack, they watched the Bride of Chucky to help her sleep. After the movie was over, they had both fallen asleep. Kate was a hugger in her sleep and Yelena liked to steal the covers, it wasn't the first time the two teenagers could be found in the same bed together. Kate woke up first to see that her and Yelena were tangled once again in her deep purple comforter. Kate started to untwist the comforter from herself and removed her left leg from over Yelena's body, making her grumble in disagreement.
Yelena actually enjoyed it when Kate cuddled up to her, it was soothing, it made her feel oddly safe and it was one of the only times where she got a decent night's sleep. Only Natasha and Kate made her feel completely safe. Yelena woke up when she felt Kate's presence leave the bed next to her. She sat up, her blonde hair falling out of its bun; she blinked her eyes, trying to blink away the tiredness from them. When she fully opened her eyes, she saw Kate standing with her back to her. She was wearing a pair of black cargo shorts and a sports bra. Yelena blushed a little at the sight of the brunette as she pulled her long brown hair into a high ponytail. Kate turned around to look at her, her striking blue eyes were shining at her.
"Morning Lena." she greeted, hopping back onto the bed as she sat on her knees.
"Good morning Kate Bishop." the blond replied.
"Uh....you want to borrow some of my clothes or do you want to change in your room?" Kate asked, her cheeks were pink.
Yelena blushed a little bit more, "I'll change in my room." she replied.
"Okay," Kate responded, nodding her head.
Yelena noticed her best friend sounded a little sad at her response, but pushed the thought to the side, surely she was imagining it. By the time Yelena had thrown off the covers and was walking over to the door, Kate had pulled on a split toned white and black cropped tank.
She adjusted her hair over her shoulder before speaking up again, "See you downstairs Lena...I'm glad you'll be at school with us...with me." she replied.
Yelena smiled at her, "Me too Kate. See you down stairs," she responded.
Yelena went back down the hall to her room, it was the seventh door on the left. She shut her bedroom door behind her and pulled off the t-shirt she often wore to bed and threw it haphazardly on her bed before grabbing a pale blue tank top and a black miniskirt with blue decals on it and putting it on. She looked at herself in the mirror before shrugging and pulling her hair out of its bun. She sat there for a few minutes with her hairbrush in her hand, thinking about her brunette best friend and how she loved her more than any of their other friends. Something about the brunette made Yelena feel something, her striking blue eyes reminded Yelena of the ocean. She found herself getting lost in them every time she looked at them, Yelena found herself wanting to make Kate laugh more and more, because one of her favorite things was the brunette girl's laugh. To Yelena, it was like the best music in the world, it was beautiful. Yelena knew what this was, she had studied it in the red room, so she could one day mimic it for a future mission, but now it was actually happening. She was falling in love and she was falling for her best friend. Yelena pushed her thoughts to the back of her mind and started brushing her hair when she heard a knock on the door.
Her sisters' voice rang out, "Are you almost ready for school Lena?" she asked.
"Of course I am!" she yelled back, quickly running the brush through her hair.
"Downstairs in ten minutes, you need breakfast." the redhead called.
"Whatever you say Natasha," she replied.
After she finished brushing her hair, she grabbed a blue headband from off of her dresser and used it to push back her hair, making sure she left her bangs out. She quickly started doing her eyeliner, something simple she liked doing, a habit the red room had taught her. A young lady always wore makeup, but Yelena knew it wasn't true, it was just hard to keep Melina and that place's teachings out of her head sometimes. Natasha only wore makeup for work or to parties, Kate never wore makeup, Pepper only wore makeup to the company and she'd never seen Penny wear makeup. Besides, she liked doing her eyeliner, Wanda had taught her many different ways of doing it, the older girl was basically a goddess when it came to doing her eye makeup, or any make-up really. After she finished getting ready in the next two minutes, Yelena grabbed the white over the shoulder backpack her sister had bought for her and slung it over her shoulder before pulling on a pair of light blue vans and walking out of her room.
Pietro wasn't nervous for school, he could personally care less. It was just another school year, one year closer to graduating and going to NYU or Columbia so he could get any degree he wanted. The one thing he looked forward to was track and field, baseball, swimming, and cross country, as well as Betty. He found the blonde to be particularly attractive, she was funny and bubbly and had a really sweet personality. He was honestly shocked that she could be best friends with someone like Liz, but then again Liz was deceiving. Even though the girl had never personally been cruel to him, his sister and Kate often talked about how the girl acted when neither of the boys were around. When Peter wasn't around she was kind of well, a bitch; she always cut looks at Wanda and Kate and she flirted with him now that he thought about it. He didn't have the heart to tell the younger boy that his girlfriend wasn't as sweet as she seemed to be, but she also made Peter happy. That's all that really mattered to Pietro, as long as his little brother was happy, even if he was with someone like Liz, just as long as Peter was happy. He pulled on another pair of black skinny jeans and a gray t-shirt before running his fingers through his ash blond hair. He grabbed his unabomber jacket and shoved it in his backpack before pulling on his sneakers. He looked at himself in the mirror and smirked, he was ready to go.
Penny had been awake for nearly two hours, she'd woken up soon after her brother did. She was too anxious, she wished her bed would swallow her whole. She was starting highschool; she actually had friends for once, but she was nervous. She was always nervous about school, but this was a completely new school. Barely anyone she knew from her old school was going to be there, they were all going to the other school, which that in itself was a relief. But still there'd be new people she had to meet, new potential bullies, new potential friends, but she never connected much with people that were close to her age. She didn't understand them; she'd never had the opportunity to act her age. She always kept to herself, trying to manage the balance between school and her home life. She pulled herself out of bed, trying to pull herself out of her thoughts with that action and stepped onto the soft deep green shag rug. She closed her eyes, then opened them and took a deep breath, five things she can see.....her toes, the rug, her teddy bear from her dad....the fairy lights on her walls, her backpack....deep breath out, deep breath in. Four things she can feel- the soft rug, the comforter, her hair touching her face and her pillow in her hand. Breathe out, breathe in, three things she can hear....the air purifier in her room that Tony insisted be there because he heard it was good for asthmatics, Peter grumbling in the bathroom about his hair not doing what he wanted it too, her heartbeat steadily beating in her head. Breathe out....breath in....two things she can smell, Peter's shampoo and....Wanda's perfume from down the hall. Breathe out....breathe in. One thing she can taste, the water she drank when she first woke up. She ran her fingers through her hair, she was okay. She stood up and tugged her nightgown off over her head and folded it up before stuffing it under her pillow. She looked at the khaki skirt and teal and khaki t-shirt she'd picked out the previous night and took another deep breath. A minute at a time, that was how she was telling herself how she would get through the day. She grabbed the skirt and pulled it on and then tugged the t-shirt over her head. She pulled her long messy curls out of the neckline of the shirt before tucking the shirt into her skirt. She put on the choker that Wanda had given her on Saturday. It had a little star on it, and matched her t-shirt with a moon and star design perfectly. She slipped on her socks and a pair of dark teal high top converse before grabbing her backpack and pulled it over her shoulders. Before she opened her bedroom door she grabbed Peter's zip up hoodie off of her cushioned chair that was in front of her vanity and tied it around her waist. It made her feel safe and as long as she had it, she felt she'd be okay. When she finally opened her door, she saw Pietro, he was leaning against her door frame.
"Oh...hi Pietro." she greeted, slightly shocked that he was waiting for her was he waiting for her?
"Hello princessa. Are you ready for today?" he asked, shooting her a small grin.
"Uh huh..." she replied, nodding her head.
He looked at her skeptically, "Uh huh.....you don't sound so sure about that princessa."
"It's just because it's the first day of highschool and I don't really enjoy the first day of school." she replied, giving a light shrug.
He sighed a little, then quickly smiled at her, "I don't think anyone does. Don't worry about it hmm? You have us, yes?" he tossed his arm over her shoulder, " Nothing will happen, and if something does, you can tell any of us. Especially me, I'm always here for you princessa." he replied, trying his best to brush off her insecurities.
"Thank you....are you ready?" she asked.
Pietro shrugged and took her backpack, "School is school, it's always the same." he replied, sounding bored with the idea of going back to school.
"That's what I'm afraid of..." Penny whispered.
Pietro seemed to overhear her, "What do you mean?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at her hushed whisper.
"It's nothing," she replied quickly.
"No, don't do that princessa. You're brother does that," he replied, frowning; he hated it when Peter did it, "you have people who care, so tell Pietro what's going on in that big brain of yours Princessa." he replied, crossing his arms over his chest.
Penny smiled a little at the older boy referring to himself in the third person, "Being the youngest in your grade has its setbacks......" she replied, carefully wording her response.
He looked down at her, "Care to elaborate?" he asked, giving the younger girl a questioning look.
"Umm...."
"I can't help you if I don't know what its happening princessa," he called softly.
"I get bullied sometimes, well a lot of the time..." she replied quietly, "When you're twelve in the eighth grade and barely over 4'5"...plus being smarter than most people doesn't help either. I'm an easy target....Especially when it's common knowledge that I don't have parents and that my aunt and uncle don't really care what I did as long as I kept A's and stayed out of trouble. Put all that together, then you get an easy target. I didn't really make friends." she replied, shrugging.
Pietro was frowning largely and hugged her, "Well you have us now, we're your family princessa." he replied, grinning at her, "Family is always friends, as long as they are a good family. We go to a school of nerds, no offense princessa," he replied, patting her head as he hugged her, "we won't let that happen again. You tell me or any of us if someone says something. You understand?"
Penny nodded her head "Yeah....Brad goes to Midtown...he's a junior. If he sees me, he'll do it no matter what happens." she replied, frowning.
Pietro leaned back from her and looked down at her, "That idiot is in my grade?" he asked, a scowl creeping on his face.
Penny nodded her head, "Uh huh."
"Well then, if I see him, I'll make sure to give him the message." mimicking that he'd hit the boy.
Penny shook her head and frowned.
Pietro sighed, "Fine...if I see or hear about him saying anything or doing anything. I will do something about it, don't worry about him. He's nothing." he replied, shrugging the younger girl's worries off.
"Thank you." she replied.
"Anytime princessa. Now let's get some breakfast before Nat and Pepper come, Yes?"
Penny nodded her head and followed Pietro downstairs, she saw Peter, he was on his phone with a half eaten apple in his hand. Wanda was leaning against the wall with her eyes closed, she was meditating amongst the morning chaos, even though it wasn't that chaotic. Pietro set her black and white striped backpack down with the others and went over to the counter where Pepper had already set out a plate of eggs, toast, bacon, and sausage for him. He started devouring the plate of food as he talked with Peter. Kate was drinking coffee and nibbling on toast and some apple slices, her long wavy deep brown hair was tied up in a ponytail with some pieces left out to purposefully frame her face. Yelena was teasing her sister a little, Penny could see that it was to cover her nerves. Peter looked up from his phone and smiled when he saw his sister. He stood up and came over to her and kissed her forehead.
"Morning princess." he greeted.
Penny stood on her tiptoes and he knelt down a little and kissed his cheek, "Morning Petey." she replied, offering him a small smile.
"You look nice, you want breakfast? Pepper and Nat made toast,eggs, and a bunch of other stuff." he asked.
"Thank you...I'm a little hungry."
"Good," Peter announced.
Peter put his hands on her shoulders and started to guide her over to the kitchen counter. Pepper smiled at her before handing her a plate of scrambled eggs and toast as she wished her good morning. Penny thanked her and sat down on the other side of Pietro, who was already on his second plate of breakfast. Penny picked at her food slowly, despite trying to take it a minute at a time and what Pietro had said to her earlier, she was still worried due to previous first days.
Pepper watched the teenagers in the room, they were all her kids. Her and Nat, even Laura when she was here, were the mothers of the compound; even though Nat was more like a sister than a mother figure considering she was ten to thirteen years older than the teenagers. The strawberry-blonde smiled at the group, Peter had finished his fifth large plate of the food she and Natasha had made. He was laughing at something Pietro had said, Pepper was glad that she and Tony had decided to foster him and Penny after May died. She didn't know what she'd do if she didn't see the boy, everyday-either of the Parker siblings for that matter. Pietro was almost finished with his second plate and Natasha was ready to give him his third one. Wanda was now socializing with the group, she was talking to Yelena, who seemed nervous for her first day of school. The blonde had stopped teasing her sister, she'd finished her breakfast quickly and was now lazily leaning against Wanda who was nibbling on a slice of toast as she seemed to attempt to calm the blonde's nerves. Pepper was in awe at how gentle Wanda always was with everyone. She was always calm and kind with the younger kids. She treated them all like they were all her little sisters and brothers. It was something refreshing. Kate was talking a little to the older girls, but most of her attention was taken by eight year-old Morgan who had her arms wrapped around her neck and her legs were dangling a little as they wrapped around her waist. Her head was tucked into Kate's neck as Kate whispered to her about how fun third grade was going to be for her. Pepper also noticed Penny, the thirteen year-old was picking at her food, she seemed to be lost in thought. Pepper reached out and touched her arm and Penny suddenly looked up at her.
"Are you alright sweetpea? You've barely touched your breakfast." she asked.
"Oh....y-yeah...I'm okay." the thirteen year old replied, nodding her head slightly while she shot her a half-hearted smile.
Pepper pursed her lips, it seemed like both Parker siblings had a habit of saying everything was fine when it clearly wasn't, "Are you sure? You're awfully quiet this morning. What's on your mind?" she asked.
"It's nothing really. Just first day of school jitters."
Pepper smiled reassuringly at the girl, "Don't worry Sweetie, MidTown is a great school. You will do amazing." she replied, offering the younger brunette a reassuring smile.
Penny gave her a small smile and ate a little more of her food, "I'll try Misses Potts. I wanted to tell you and Mister Stark thank you for letting me go to MidTown; I never thought I'd get to go there and I know it's really expensive, so thank you."
The strawberry-blonde smiled at the teenager, "It's not a problem sweetpea, you are just as smart as your brother, maybe smarter. We'll see." she replied giving her a small wink, "Money is not a problem, we'll do everything we can to keep you and your brother happy and healthy, I promise. And with minds like yours, giving you the best education possible is necessary."
Penny nodded, "Thank you miss Potts."
"No need to thank me Sweetie, just call me Pepper." she repeated.
"Okay." the younger girl replied, nodding her head slightly.
"Now, finish your breakfast," Pepper replied, pointing to her plate, "Growing girls need their food." she replied, nudging the girl gently with her fingers.
Penny nodded her head, "Yes ma'am." she replied, before taking another bite.
All the teens soon finished their breakfast, and now Morgan was sitting next to Penny on the couch, she was talking about how excited she was for third grade. Penny was smiling at her, she remembered how excited she was for third grade, it would have been the first time Brad wasn't in school with her and she was looking forward to him not being there. But she'd been wrong about not being bullied, some of the others had picked up on how her cousin treated her and they decided to join in on it. Penny sighed a little at the memory when Peter came and sat down next to her and Morgan. He greeted both of them and laid down, resting his head on her lap. Pietro rolled his eyes at the sight of the younger boy stretched out on part of the couch. He walked over and picked Peter's legs up and sat down before dropping them in his lap, Peter looked towards him and laughed a little. Natasha and Pepper came into the living room to see the group of kids spread out on the couch.
"Time for pictures," Pepper announced, motioning for the teenagers and Morgan to come over to where they were.
The group of teens posed in various poses with each other. Peter and Penny took a few together, Wanda and Pietro took a few, there were some Kate and Yelena, all the girls, all of the kids got pictures and so on. At seven twenty-five, Natasha announced it was time to head to school. The group of teens piled back in the van that Steve had used on Saturday and Pepper grabbed Morgan to drop her off at the elementary school on her way to Stark Industries. Pietro grabbed the front seat once again, and Yelena jumped into the back with Kate. The two girls curled up together looking at something on Kate's phone and going over their schedules again. Penny found herself sitting between Peter and Wanda, she was now wearing Peter's hoodie over her outfit. She was laying her head on Peter's shoulder and he was tracing circles on the back of her hand, Wanda was holding her other hand. Penny could feel her anxieties easing up with the two sitting with her. The group soon pulled up to school and everyone started piling out of the car. Natasha told everyone to have a good day at school before going to the company. The group of six stood in front of the school and watched as students poured in and out of it and as they congregated in groups amongst themselves.
MJ got off of the subway and quickly ran across the street when she saw a group of people standing in front of the school. She recognized it as her group of friends. It was ironic that two years ago she had no friends, then she started sitting with Peter and Ned at lunch and then after that fall break she met Wanda and Pietro and got her best friend. Last year Kate joined their little group, because apparently she lived in the same building with Wanda and Pietro, she was cool. She kind of reminded her of Peter a little, just not as hyper, she met Yelena a few months ago. The blonde came with Kate to a party at Liz's house and MJ quickly picked up that the pair were joined at the hip. Now it looked like she'd get a new friend, Peter's baby sister. She smirked a little when she saw the group, Pietro's ash-blond hair stuck out like a sore thumb, Wanda looked like a gothic-rocker chick-it was something MJ loved about her, Kate and Lena looked like your average teenagers, and Peter was in his usual flannel in jeans. There was no doubt in her mind that the boy was probably wearing another t-shirt with a science pun on it. Now there was something new to their group, Penny. The girl was tiny, she looked to be the size of a sixth grader, yet she was a freshman. She was wearing Peter's hoodie, and MJ noticed her wearing it on Saturday. It looked cute, and MJ didn't usually find things cute, but the sight of the tiny teenager wearing her older brother's clearly too big hoodie was definitely cute. It went almost to her knees and the sleeves were rolled up but they still were extremely baggie on her. She walked over to the group and greeted them.
"Losers, mini-loser," she greeted, she got a "sup" from Pietro, he always tried to be cooler than he was which she found interesting, a "Hey!" from Peter paired with a hug, Wanda nodded in response, Kate and Yelena responded with "hellos" and Penny shyly waved at her. MJ noticed she didn't speak much, she'd get Wanda to work on that with her, "Ready to get back into hell?"
Penny looked up at her and tilted her head a little.
Peter shook his head a little, "Yep." he replied.
MJ rolled her eyes a little before lightly hitting him in the arm, "Of course you are loser."
Yelena snickered at the interaction causing Peter to glare at her.
"Where's Ned?" Wanda asked.
"He's probably running late, he always finds me at my locker." Peter replied, shrugging slightly.
"Speaking of locker...I'm going to put everything in mine." Pietro announced, he ran as fast as he could, without using his powers and made his way to his locker.
The first bell of the morning rang, giving them twenty minutes to get to their classes. MJ and Wanda split off from the group to put their supplies in their lockers, which were next to each other this year. Kate and Yelena decided to go to their lockers before lunch but Kate wanted to show Yelena around a little bit so they split off from the group. This left Penny and Peter by themselves, Peter grinned a little and swung his arm around her shoulders.
"Let's get to your locker princess." he announced.
"We can go to yours first Pete." she replied.
"Nope," he replied, popping the 'p', "mine's in the same hall as our English class, yours is in the science hall. Makes more sense to put your stuff up first."
"Okay, can you show me?" she asked.
"Of course," he teased slightly as he motioned for her to follow him with a nod of his head.
Peter kept his arm around her shoulder as they walked into the building. Peter tensed a little and tucked his head down as they pushed through the swarm of students. When they stopped at the locker she noticed it was the last one on the hall, it was in its own little alcove. She slipped her backpack off of her shoulders and was about to put it on the floor when Peter grabbed it before she could.
"Trust me princess, the floor's gross, don't put your bag on it." he replied, scrunching his nose slightly.
"Okay, thanks Pete."
"No problem," he replied, nodding his head.
Penny started twisting the combination lock on the locker to put in her code, 29-07-16, the lock clicked open and fell into her palm, she held onto it and opened the locker noticing it already had shelving in it for organizing. Peter handed her her backpack and she unzipped it, she pulled out the textbooks that Tony had bought ahead of time. She pulled her schedule out again and looked over the schedule again. She had first lunch, Peter told her that most freshmen had it and that there were a few juniors and an occasional sophomore spread throughout it. But neither Pietro or Wanda had the first lunch, so she was by herself, but that also meant that she had lunch right after third period, so she wouldn't need anything for History, Geometry, or Biology till after lunch. She slipped her textbooks and the extra notebooks for those classes into her locker and shut it before locking it.
"Are you ready to head over to my locker princess?" he asked.
"Yeah." she replied, nodding her head.
Penny listened to her brother ramble as they walked halfway across the campus to the English Hall to go to Peter's locker.
"You'll love it here princess. We have a bunch of science programs and math, mainly because it's a STEM school, but they branch out into music and stuff like that. I know how much you like playing different instruments, I used to watch the live stream performances for your classes."
Penny smiled a little at that, even when she wasn't around he was still looking for her.
"......and here we are," he announced.
She had zoned out a little as he rambled on about different topics, he seemed to talk more than when he did when he was little. It made her happy, she'd missed his voice when she was younger, and now they were back together again. She wouldn't lose this, not again. Peter held his back pack with one hand as he unlocked his locker, Penny shifted hers to her shoulder so she could take off Peter's jacket. She tied it back around her waist and saw her brother pushing textbooks and notebooks into his locker. She saw Ned come up out of the corner of her eye and basically jump on her brother, making him jump in return. She giggled when Peter spun around with wide eyes to see the Filipino boy with a large smile.
"Ned!" he laughed.
Ned laughed a little, "Dude I thought you'd know I was there. Hi Penny."
Penny waved at him.
Peter shook his head at his best friend.
"Anyways, you want to come over and hang out after school?" he asked.
Peter nodded, "Sure, but only for like an hour and a half, Mister Stark wants me to help in the lab."
"Cool." the teenager replied, grinning at him.
"I'll just text Happy that he won't need to pick me up." Peter replied as he pulled his phone out of his jeans pocket and texted Happy. He looked up and gave Ned a thumbs up, "He said it was fine and Mister Stark said it was cool. But you should probably get over to Robotics with Pietro, class starts in two minutes."
Ned went wide eyed a little at Peter's words, "You're right!! See you in Algebra Pete!" Ned and Peter quickly did their handshake and Ned reached over and patted Penny's head. "See you around Penny." he called as he ran down the hall.
Peter and Penny went into the English classroom and the teacher, Miss Moore, gave them each a syllabus and greeted them. They sat in the front of the class in the corner, so Penny could see easily. Penny was in front of her brother, she turned around and looked at him.
"Are you nervous?" she asked, wondering if he had the same nerves as she did.
"Not really, I'm excited....Are you nervous princess?" he asked.
"A-a little..."
Peter leaned forward and ruffled her hair making her scowl a little at him.
"Peeeete," she groaned, fixing her already messy hair.
He grinned, "Don't stress over it princess."
The morning bell rang and classes officially began.
An hour and thirty minutes later, Yelena was now by herself. Kate wasn't with her anymore and now she felt vulnerable. She hated feeling vulnerable so she stacked her walls back up. She had been the first one to get to the small dance studio that was connected to the auditorium. The door was still open and over the sound of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake she could hear the other students milling about in the halls and the sounds of people talking echoing down the hall from the gymnasium. She pulled the head band out of her hair and pushed it into the duffle bag that held her dance clothes as she went into the changing rooms. After changing into a black leotard and a pair of black flowy shorts over her ballet tights, she pulled her hair up into a neat bun on the top of her head. She put her duffle back in the cubbyhole that had been assigned to her and clicked the lock back in its place, she put the key on the pocket of her shorts. Yelena lowered herself into a split position and started stretching her body like the instructors at the red room had taught her. By the time the other students had arrived, she was already warming up by the barre. The teacher introduced herself as Madama Mitchener, and the first thing she had the small class of fifteen to do was warm up. Yelena followed the movements of everyone else, she recognized one person in her class. It was Betty, the girl that Pietro had a crush on. She recognized her from when they hung out with Peter's girlfriend and her friends. Yelena didn't like Peter's girlfriend, she seemed stuck up and she was possessive. Whenever Peter wasn't around, she was constantly trying to flirt with Pietro and she was making snide remarks to Wanda, Kate and to Yelena. But the others seemed to agree that as long as she wasn't hurting Peter and that he was happy, they'd put up with her. But Pietro didn't really seem to notice her behavior, he really ignored her most of the time and Liz wasn't making her comments when he was around as much either, it was like she wanted both of them. Yelena found herself sinking into her thoughts as she listened to the dance teacher give them instruction after instruction. The woman wanted to gauge what level her students were at. It was the basics: three Pliés, an Arabesque, some turn-outs that she randomly called out, a couple Croisés, and an assemblé. Then she wanted more moves, which was easier for Yelena. Yelena showed her a perfect grande jeté, a eight turn pirouette, along with some pliers, glissers, relievers, sauters, and a routine that she'd memorized from watching the nutcracker ballet with Kate last Christmas. When she finished, she was sweating and her muscles were sore. She hadn't danced in a while, especially not ballet type of dancing, but she found herself enjoying it. It calmed her nerves, she looked up after she bowed for the class to see the dance instructor clapping for her.
"Excellent. Exactly what I want to see. It looks like I've found my best student," she complimented.
Yelena felt herself smiling, "Thank you madame." she replied, flashing her a grin.
The woman clapped her hands and turned back to the group, they all stood in second position waiting for her instructions, "I saw a lot of impressive things," she announced, "I look forward to working with you all this year, you may change back into your school clothes. On your way out make sure to see me for your syllabuses." she announced.
Yelena relaxed her position and followed the group of other teenagers into the changing room and unlocked the flimsy cubby hole door and pulled her duffle bag out, she had already pulled off her shoes by the time she reached the changing stall. She pulled her shorts off and followed suit with the tights and leotard and replaced them with her skirt and tank top. She grabbed her black leather jacket and pulled it back on and slid on her vans over her socks. She stuffed her dance clothes and shoes into her duffle bag and shoved it back in the cubby hole she had. After locking it, she picked up the head band she'd placed on top of her shoulder bag and pulled her rings out of the side pouch of her bag. She slung the bag over her shoulder and was sliding on her rings as she walked out the changing rooms, she undid her bun and shook her hair out and slid it back with her headband once again before going over to her instructor. The woman saw her and smiled largely when she handed her the syllabus.
"Miss Belova, where did you study dance?"
"Oh...I grew up in Russia for a few years, I learned at a school over there," she replied, half lying to the woman.
"Well you dance beautifully, they taught you well." the woman replied.
"Thank you," Yelena replied, smiling uncomfortably.
"I look forward to helping develop your techniques this year," the woman replied.
"I look forward to learning everything I can," Yelena replied, smiling.
After she turned around and left the dance room, she dropped her smile, her face was sore from all the smiling. Dance and Natasha were the only good things the red room ever did for her, other than that the place could burn for all she cared. She was glad that it was gone, no one could be hurt by Dreykov and there were no future widows anymore. They were all free, and that was all she'd ever wanted at that time and now she had it, she was going to enjoy it with everything she had. She saw Wanda by the door of the Gym waiting for her, she was surprised by how fast the girl had gotten there, but then again Wanda was always a mystery. They stood there for a few minutes waiting for Penny, when the smallest member of their trio finally pushed through the crowd. She ran over to them, her face was flushed and she was breathing a little heavy. Yelena and Wanda both frowned.
"There was no need to run Peanut." Wanda replied softly.
"You..were wa...iting on me." she replied, gently shaking her head.
Wanda sighed, "We would've waited longer," she fussed.
"You are definitely Peter's sister," Yelena replied, rolling her eyes slightly, "you both have no self preservation." she announced after Penny gave her a slightly confused expression.
"We should ....go..inside". smallest of the three replied, deciding to ignore her comment.
"You should catch your breath," Wanda countered, slightly narrowing her eyes at the girl.
"But-"
"No buts Peanut," Wanda replied, crossing her arms, "catch your breath, then we'll go inside, we have ten minutes till the class starts."
She looked like she was about to protest; Yelena rolled her eyes, her and Peter definitely were related, "Don't argue with Wanda Penny Parker, you will get nowhere." she replied.
She sighed and nodded her head.
The group stood there for a few moments, letting the thirteen year-old get her breathing under control. Both of the older girls wanted Doctor Strange to get to the compound quicker than he was planning, because if he couldn't give her an inhaler for her treatment he could at least get her into his friend's who could. After she caught her breath, the three made their way into the gymnasium. Yelena had her arm looped through the shorter girl's as they walked into the gymnasium and over to the teacher. Wanda was holding her backpack, even though she'd protested it, saying that she was fine. After checking in with the PE teacher, they were walking over to the bleachers across the hall when a tan-skinned boy walked over to them.
"Maximoff!" he called.
The redhead ignored him.
"Hey Wacko Wanda!" he called again.
Wanda groaned and turned around to look at him "What do you want?" she demanded, rolling her eyes.
"Whose your friends?" he asked, he had an amused, yet mocking tone in his voice.
"None of your business." she replied, it was clear that she didn't like the shorter teen.
"No seriously." he called, "Who let Tiny in highschool?" he asked, pointing at Penny.
Wanda rolled her eyes and restrained herself from insulting the boy, "The school board did Flash, you know the people who run this place?"
He scoffed and looked Penny up and down, "What are you ten?"
Penny found herself shrinking back from him a little.
"She's thirteen dipshit." Yelena replied, not caring about insulting the boy.
Flash bent over and looked her in the face, "You look familiar tiny. What's your name?"
"Penny." she replied.
"Huh, don't remember meeting a Penny. I'd remember meeting someone the size of a hobbit." he replied, laughing.
Penny frowned a little at the boy.
Yelena looked like she was about to hit the boy when Wanda stopped her, "Don't waste your time on him Lena, he's not worth it." she replied, grabbing the teenager's hand.
"Lena huh?" Flash asked, he was now focusing his attention on Yelena "That's a pretty name for a pretty girl." he replied, grinning at her.
Yelena scrunched her nose at him gross, "Yelena," she corrected, "only my friends call me Lena."
"I'm your friend aren't I?" he asked, smirking at her.
Yelena rolled her eyes, "No you are not." she replied, her tone flat.
"You have a wicked accent, where are you from?" he asked, reaching out to grab his hand.
The blonde dodged his advance, "None of your business Flash," she replied, her accent was growing thicker the more irritated she got with the boy, "What type of person names their son Flash Wanda Maximoff?" she asked, "Is this another American tradition to give their children stupid names?" she asked, smirking slightly at the redhead.
Wanda resisted the urge to smirk, she knew Yelena was trying to get under his skin, "I don't know Lena, but he named himself. He's actually called Euguene."
Flash scoffed, "Whatever, Maximoff." he grabbed Yelena's hand and pulled a pen out of his pocket before scribbling his number across her palm, "Call me" he yelled before winking at her and walking back over to his friends.
"Do you have any bleach Wanda Maximoff?" the blonde asked, she was glaring at the back of the boys head.
"No?" Wanda asked questioningly.
"Great, now I will never be clean from his touch," she pouted.
Wanda and Penny laughed at her as she looked at her hand with disgust.
"I'm serious, I'm going to have to burn my hand off to get rid of it." she replied.
"I have hand sanitizer in my backpack if you want Yelena," Penny offered.
"Thank you Penny...you don't need to call me Yelena, you're my friend remember? I claimed you." she responded, grinning at the younger teen; she'd meant what she said when she claimed the girl as hers.
Penny smiled at her, "Okay."
After they got the bleachers, Penny got her bag and handed Yelena the hand sanitizer to which the blonde scrubbed her hand till it was red. Wanda was chuckling a little at Yelena's response to the boy touching her, if they were anywhere else Yelena would have probably hit him. Half the time she wanted to hit him herself, he was a class A jerk. He bullied Peter constantly, tried to be friendly with Pietro as if he wasn't insulting Peter right in front of him and would openly flirt with Kate and by the looks of it Yelena was added onto the list. He didn't really mess with her, he just called her Maximoff, like it was an insult by using her last name instead of her first. But the boy also seemed to realize that her and Pietro were twins, and that they stuck together. Too bad for him, he was an idiot on top of being a jerk; he seemed to really believe that he would get Pietro to ditch her and Peter to go hang out with his group of friends. He turned seventeen the day before school started, he always bragged to Pietro how if his birthday was just a little sooner he'd be a junior with them and not stuck with the sophomores. Pietro tolerated him, because Peter declared he could handle it even though he knew couldn't. Peter also claimed he could take it and that as long Flash was only messing with him, he was fine with it. The second youngest member of their now group of six, had declared that because he was Spider-man he should take it and even though they all knew Peter could easily fight back, he said he wouldn't because since he couldn't before, he couldn't now. It really annoyed them all, like Yelena pointed out earlier their curly-haired friend had no self preservation skills.
Yelena suddenly grabbed Wanda's arm and looked her in the eyes, "Flash, isn't that the boy who harasses Peter?"
"Uh huh." Wanda replied.
"Why don't we do something?" she asked, pouting.
"We can't. His parent's basically own the school, Peter would be the only one getting in trouble and we'd get in trouble too. Besides, no one knows who we actually are, so it's pointless."
"We can't let him get away with it," she hissed, crossing her arms over her chest.
Penny looked over at them "Get away with what?" she asked, she didn't hear Yelena's whispered realization.
"That-"
Wanda quickly cut Yelena off, "Don't worry about it Peanut" she responded, glaring at the blonde.
Yelena leaned over to her and whispered in her ear, "She doesn't know?!!"
"No she doesn't," Wanda responded, whispering as well, "Peter doesn't want her knowing, it's not our place."
Yelena paused for a second after rolling her eyes again "Peter Parker has no self preservation skills, he's to selfless....he's essentially an idiot." she replied.
Wanda flicked her forehead, "Peter is smarter than all of us."
"I know that," Yelena replied, rubbing her forehead, "I meant he is an idiot when it comes to protecting himself." she corrected herself.
Wanda nodded solemnly.
Yelena paused for a few minutes before a mischievous gleam caught her eye, "Can I kill him?" she asked.
"Who?" Wanda asked cautiously, narrowing her eyes at the boy.
"That boy," she replied, referring to Flash, "the one that messes with poor Peter."
"No, you can't kill him Lena," Wanda sighed, rubbing her forehead; she could feel a headache coming on just thinking about keeping the younger green-eyed teenager from killing people she didn't like.
"You ruin my fun like Natasha." Yelena replied, pouting.
"Because it's illegal to kill people and besides Peter wants us to leave it alone...trust me Lena, you're not the only one who wants Flash put in his place." she replied, trying to soothe the girl's anger.
"Stupid American laws." the teenager muttered under her breath.
"Killing people is illegal in most places," Wanda countered.
Yelena huffed and leaned back against the bleachers, "What is the point of this class anyways?"
"Physical torture basically." the redhead replied, shrugging as she spoke, " You are forced to run, do push ups, basketball, and several other things."
"Then why aren't we doing anything?" she asked.
"It's the first day of school," Penny replied, she could now hear their conversation as they stopped whispering between themselves.
"I am quite aware little Peter," Yelena replied.
Penny scrunched her nose, "'M not little Peter, I'm Penny." she replied.
"I was trying a nickname like the others, I won't use that one again." the blonde replied, shrugging.
Penny nodded slowly, her nose still slightly scrunched, "...Okay. But it's the first day of school, they don't have uniforms yet. The uniforms are mandatory in order to participate, so for the first week to week and a half, you just sit around with your friends and go over the basics. Every school I've gone to has been this way."
Yelena nodded, "Sounds stupid." she replied.
Penny shrugged, "It kind of is."
Gym passed quickly, Wanda talked to the younger girls about how their first days as high schoolers were going. Yelena was draped across her lap saying she wanted to go home; that she'd rather be training at the compound than be here. Penny giggled a little at her, she was actually having a good time, other than Flash, but she'd expected some comments about being small. Yelena had pulled her back so her head was resting on Wanda's knees so she could play with her hair. Soon the bell rang and Yelena groaned, she really didn't want to go to computer coding class, but Penny knew that she just didn't want to be in a class by herself.
"Come on," Wanda called, motioning for the girl to follow.
Penny wasn't even aware that Wanda had moved, but she now realized that she was sitting upright and Yelena was now laying on the bleachers. Penny stuffed her book into her backpack and grabbed Peter's hoodie and tied it back around her waist after folding it partially in half. Yelena groaned as she sat up and tossed her backpack over her shoulder.
"Why do we even have to come to this place?" she asked as they followed Wanda back into the hallway.
"Because the government says so."
"The government can't tell me what to do," Yelena shot back, narrowing her green eyes at the older teenager.
"Fine, the government and Nat say so." the redhead corrected.
Yelena paused before responding, "Jeez no need to bring Natasha into this." she muttered.
"It's the only way you listen Lena." she replied.
The group walked together until they passed the science and technology hall in which Yelena split off from the group. She was greeted by a grinning Ned, which seemed to make her mood a little better, even if she always teased him and told him he was too happy. Wanda and Penny walked together until they stopped in front of the large cafeteria. Wanda ruffled her hair and said goodbye, leaving Penny to stand there and look at the crowded room. Deep breaths, breathe in.....breathe out, she whispered to herself. She tightened her grip on the backpack that was on her shoulder and followed the crowd to the lunch line. She waited her time in line and listened to the conversations around her, Breathe in and hold....Five things she could see.... her shoes, the students in front of her, the yellow and blue mural on the wall, the floor, the lunch lady at check out...breathe out. She took another step forward, deep breath in and hold, four things she could feel... Peter's hoodie rubbing against her knees, the weight of her backpack, how hot the cafeteria was, and people brushing against her....breath out. She took another couple steps forwards, deep breath in and hold....three things she can hear. She could hear her thoughts, her breathing, and the conversations of the people around her. Breathe out, breathe in, hold....two things she could smell- the different lunches in the cafeteria and the cologne or body spray of the boy behind her. Breath out, breathe in, hold. One thing she can taste...nothing. By the time she'd finished the ritual that Tony had shown her, it was her turn to order her lunch.
"What would you like?" the older woman asked.
"May I have the spaghetti please?" she asked.
"Here you go, anything else?" the woman asked.
Penny looked at the other options, "May I have some grapes and the green beans?"
The woman didn't respond to her, she just gave her the tray of food, "Thank you...have a nice day." she replied.
"Thanks kid, have a good day," she responded.
Penny grabbed a bottle of chocolate milk that was sitting in the cooler next to the silverware and placed it on her tray before grabbing a fork and some napkins.
"Please enter your number." the woman at the checkout counter told her.
"Yes ma'am," she replied, entering her number 179021.
"We start scanning IDs on Wednesday after they all get distributed." the woman informed her.
"Okay, have a good day."
"Thanks hun, have a good rest of your day."
"Thank you."
Penny weaved through the crowds of people and sat down at an empty table in the corner and placed her lunch and her backpack down. She picked at her lunch, slowly nibbling away at the food until she saw someone drop their tray down across from her. She lifted her head, and saw a boy who she'd gone to school with since fifth grade.
"Thought I recognized you weirdo," he announced, sitting down.
"Hi David." she replied, she sighed internally, at the sight of ginger-haired boy.
"Didn't think you'd get to come here. You get the scholarship or something?"
She decided to ignore him and looked back at her plate.
The boy across from her grunted angrily and reached over, pulling her plate away from her, "I'm talking to you weirdo, answer me."
"N-no I didn't," she replied, deciding on not letting his comments get to her.
"Then how'd ya do it? Huh? Everybody knows that your aunt and uncle don't give a shit about you, they'd never pay for you to come here."
"I moved." she replied, her tone flat and void of any emotion.
"Yeah right." he replied, scoffing.
Penny shrugged in response, "It's true."
"Since when did you start responding without stuttering? You get bold over the summer weirdo?"
She let his "nickname" roll off of her, she'd been called worse, "No, have a good lunch David." she replied, picking up her backpack and pulling it over her shoulder.
She leaned over and grabbed her lunch tray from him and picked up the bottle of chocolate milk and held it in her hand as she went to throw her lunch away. She kept her head down, wanting to go back to her locker, they still had ten minutes left of lunch. She ended up running into someone who quickly turned around. She looked up to see the boy from gym class who had been flirting with Yelena.
"S-sorry."
He grinned at her, "Well if it isn't tiny." he announced.
She stepped to the side to move around him and he moved in front of her.
"Where do ya think you're going?"
"My locker..." she replied softly.
"Why don't you sit with me and my friends?"
"N-no thank you, I really need to get to my locker."
He looked her up and down, "Are you really thirteen because you look like you're ten," he was smirking at her. "I mean, I knew this place let a bunch of freak shows and weirdos in but I think this takes the cake." he announced, laughing to himself at his comment.
"Excuse me," she replied, she felt her chest tightening, she really wanted to go.
"Ya know Tiny, someone like you could really get hurt in this place. Why don't you go down to preschool like the other little kids."
Penny heard some people snicker at his comment, "I didn't go to preschool." she responded.
He smirked, "Oh...another peasant," he announced to his friends.
She took another deep breath and release it slowly, "Didn't need it,"
"Now it makes sense...you're one of them freaky geniuses." he replied, grinning as he leaned over to look at her.
Before she could respond another student came over to him and told him to lay off, she thanked him silently in her mind but took the time to dart around them and leave. It looks like she already has a new bully, good for her....Once she reached her locker, she pulled out her textbooks and pushed them into her locker and replaced them with the ones for the rest of her day. She slid down the wall after closing her locker and hugged her knees close to herself. She really wished she had one of the others at lunch with her. She looked at the clock that hung over the door and saw it read three minutes till the bell; she stood up. She untied Peter's hoodie from around her waist and slipped it on, she rolled the sleeves up and started going back towards the other classes, the bell rang when she got out of the hallway so she started trying to push her way through the crowd, she'd rather be anywhere but here. She finally reached her history class and slid down in the seat, she set her bag down and took out her history notebook and prepared for the day. An hour later, the bell rang again, signaling that it was time to switch classes once more. After reaching her computer class, she sat in the back of the classroom; after adjusting her chair to where she could see over the top of the computer screen, she leaned back against the wall. She heard her cousin's voice enter the room and heard it abruptly stop, she looked to her left and noticed he was now sitting in the seat next to her, an unnerving grin was on his face.
"Long time no see cuz." he greeted, smirking at her.
Penny lowered her seat and grabbed her backpack, she went to move when he grabbed her arm and roughly pulled her back down into her chair.
"Coach has a rule, once you take your seat you're stuck there," he hissed in her ear.
She took another deep breath and shook her wrist out after he let go, that'd definitely leave a mark, she thought. She tried scooting her seat away from him when she noticed another boy sat on her other side, he pushed her seat back over and smiled at her. His name was Chris, he was one of her cousin's best friends and usually joined in on the tormenting.
"We've missed you at home," Brad whispered, he was right next to her ear, "you miss us little cousin?" he asked.
Penny slowly shook her head.
"Why not..don't you love us Penny?" asked, pretending to be hurt.
"Y-yes I d-do." she was stammering, she wanted more than anything at this moment to go to her brother or any of the older teens from home.
"Then why don't you miss us? We're waiting for you at home." he replied.
Penny looked at him, why would she possibly miss them?
Their interaction was cut short by the teacher who started speaking out to the class.
"Welcome to Computer Science. I'm coach Jennings, you're instructor, look to your right and left. The people next to you are your partners for the year, you cannot move seats unless there are extenuating circumstances. If you just don't like your partner too bad; you'll need to suck it up. When I call your name, raise your hand and say here." she looked down at the list in her hands, "Bradley Davis?"
Brad raised his hand and smiled, "Here." he announced.
She looked up from her list and rolled her eyes, "Will you pass my class this time Mister Davis?"
Brad nodded his head, grinning at the woman.
"Chris Mackey?"
Christ raised his hand "Here."
Penny listened to the teacher call out names until she called out hers.
"Penny Parker."
"Here." she replied, raising her hand.
The woman looked up, but only really saw the hand and part of her arm above the computer monitor, "Any relation to Peter Parker?" she asked.
Penny nodded, even though the woman couldn't see her, "Yes ma'am he's my brother."
"If you're anything like your brother it'll be my pleasure to teach you miss Parker." the woman announced, she could hear the smile in her voice.
"Thank you ma'am." the teenager replied.
Penny slumped down in her seat as Chris and Brad both scooted their chairs closer to her. She tried to ignore them and listen to Coach Jenning talk about what they were doing for the semester but it was hard to do with the pair of them whispering insults back and forth about her and when each one kept roughly pinching her every now and then. She had already decided that she hated this class and prayed it would end soon, yet it seemed to drag on forever.
Peter was sitting next to Pietro and Ned was on the other side of the older boy, they were listening to Mister Harrington talk about what this semester of Robotics held in store for them. They were halfway through the class and Peter was starving; he'd already eaten the granola bar that he decided on shoving at the last minute into his pocket, he hated that he had a third lunch; it was the last lunch period of the day. His stomach growled loudly, causing Pietro to raise an eyebrow at him and Ned to snicker. He became flushed a little and shushed them, trying to ignore his hunger. Mister Harrington soon stopped talking and declared the rest of the class as a free period. Peter plopped his head on Pietro's shoulder, making the other boy look down at him.
"What's up small fry?" he asked, typing into his laptop.
"'M not small...but I'm hungry." he replied.
"You're always hungry and yes you are." the teenager replied, turning his attention back to his computer screen.
Peter rolled his eyes and groaned a little when his stomach growled again.
"Did you bring any snacks like Pepper told you to? Like Wanda and Nat both reminded you." the seventeen year old asked.
Peter shook his head sheepishly, "I grabbed a last-minute granola bar, but I ate that in the third period."
Pietro sighed, "They warned you."
"Do you have any food Pietro?" Peter asked.
"Yes I do...but I think I'll let you sit there and suffer," Pietro replied with a straight face.
Peter frowned, "Please P?"
Pietro shook his head and tried his best to conceal his grin, "You should have brought more than one granola bar."
"I forgot," the teen replied.
"You have no common sense Peter."
"Dude I thought you said you had food." Ned cut in.
"I did, but I already ate it." Peter repealed.
"He brought one granola bar," Pietro corrected, narrowing his deep blue eyes at the pair of sixteen year olds.
Ned frowned at his friend, "aren't you supposed to snack like every three hours and eat three meals?"
Peter's stomach growled again and he draped himself more across Pietro, "Please give me food..." he asked, sounding like a little kid begging for a treat.
Pietro rolled his eyes at Peter, "You brought this on yourself little brother and yes he is but like our dear Lena keeps pointing out, Peter Parker has no self preservation skills."
Pietro resisted the urge to smirk at Peter, he was planning on giving him the large bag of gummy bears he'd brought because he knew the younger boy would forget to bring himself something to eat.
Peter sighed indignantly, "I do too and stop calling me little Pietro." he whined.
"How tall are you again?"
"Five eight..." Peter huffed.
"I'm sorry I couldn't hear you, can you repeat that?" Pietro asked, he was smirking now.
"I'm five eight," Peter replied a little louder.
"Exactly, four whole inches smaller than me, therefore little." the boy replied, shrugging as he smirked at the younger teenager.
Peter's stomach grumbled again, he looked over at Pietro, his brown eyes were slightly bigger than normal, "....What snack did you bring?"
Pietro smiled, knowingly, "Gummy bears." he replied in a slight sing-songy fashion.
Peter looked offended, "Those are my favorite!"
"I know," Pietro replied smugly.
"I'm sorry I don't have anything Pete," Ned told him, after searching through his bag.
Peter tried to sneak his hand into the left pocket of Pietro's unabomber jacket that was currently unbuttoned; he knew that's where the older boy kept his snacks. Pietro quickly caught his hand right before it went into his pocket and pushed it back towards Peter. He smugly pulled out the bag of gummy bears and noticed Peter's eyes get a little big before opening it and popping one into his mouth.
"These are mine oh small one." he teased.
Peter rolled his eyes at the teasing nickname for his size and looked up at Pietro, "Can I have some please? You have a huge bag."
Pietro shook his head and ate a couple more, knowing Peter was watching him. The seventeen year old knew he was going to give Peter the bag in a few moments, he just enjoyed teasing him. Peter suddenly smiled a little at Ned and Ned smirked knowingly. Uh oh, Pietro thought, this wasn't a good thing. Peter looked up at him and Pietro met his eyes, something he immediately regretted. He was going to cave sooner than he thought, Peter had his eyes as big as he possibly could and had his bottom lip protruding slightly, his pupils were largely dilated. Pietro huffed, he was a sucker for when the younger boy used his puppy eyes on him. He really wished Wanda never taught him or Kate how to do that, he almost always fell for Kate's but he always fell for Peters. Peter was really good at guilt tripping, Pietro pushed the bag of gummy bears over to him.
"Go ahead...take them," he replied in defeat, he wanted to have his fun a little longer, but he was a sucker for Peter's signature broken puppy look. But at least it wasn't the actual broken puppy look, Pietro had seen that look a few times on Peter's face and he never wanted to see it again.
Peter smiled triumphantly and stuffed a handful of gummy bears into his mouth. He grinned at Pietro, "Thank you.." he replied through his mouthful of candy.
"You're such a little shit," Pietro teased, lightly shoving the teenager.
Peter smiled at him innocently, "You know you love me." he replied.
Pietro scoffed, "...Unfortunately. You know I was going to give them to you anyways, I was just going to let you suffer."
Peter's smile seemed to grow, "I know, but it's not my fault you always fall for it," he replied shrugging, he was lightly swinging his legs under the desk.
Pietro flicked his ear making Ned laugh, "You two are such brothers," he observed.
"Why thank you Nedward," Pietro responded, smirking at the younger boy.
Peter blushed a little.
Ned looked at his phone, "The bell is going to ring in a few minutes," he announced, he was already packing up his bag.
Pietro packed his bag and Peter followed suit right after, Pietro had grabbed his wrist and was speed walking him to the cafeteria. Peter had made sure to grab his best friend's chubby hand before Pietro could get too far down the hallway.
School soon finished and Penny found herself hugging Peter's jacket to her chest as she waited for her brother at his locker, she wanted to go home. Not only was Chris in her computer class but he was in her Geometry class as well because he failed it the previous year. She'd been sat away from Yelena and Kate, who luckily got sat together and right behind her was Chris and another boy named Dave who was also friends with her cousin. She sighed a little when the girl Peter had introduced her to at Aunt May's funeral came walking up to the locker. Penny offered her a small wave, pushing back Kate's warning from the funeral she doesn't like any girl that is close to Peter, the voice played over in her head. The girl rolled her eyes, when she walked over to her.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, her tone was annoyed.
"I'm waiting for Peter....Are you waiting for him?" Penny asked, slightly taken back by the girl's tone.
"Duh, don't be stupid." she snapped.
"Oh...I'm sorry," Penny replied, whispering the last part.
"Don't get too close to Peter, he's mine."
Penny looked at her funny.
"I mean in it, he's my boyfriend, he doesn't need you complicating his life."
"I-I'm not trying to steal him..he's my brother." Penny responded, "We can share him."
"I don't share my boyfriends, back off. I don't need some brat ruining my relationship."
Penny nodded her head slowly. It looked like Kate was right, she really doesn't like any girl close to Peter, "B-but I live with him..."
"Don't think I can't change that. I can tell Peter anything I want about you and he'll believe it, then you'll go back to where you came from." she replied, smirking at the younger girl's comment.
Penny felt part of herself freeze at that, "H-he wouldn't believe you," she replied, but she wasn't so sure of herself Would Peter take her side?
Liz smiled meanly at her, "You don't sound too sure of yourself."
"I know my brother," Penny replied softly,
"I know him better, we've been together for almost two years....you just popped up again, what three weeks ago?"
Penny's already upset demeanor shifted into a deeper one that was now mixed with self doubt, she was looking at Liz who was still talking to her, but she wasn't paying attention to her. She wanted to go home and be alone, that's all she wanted right now. Liz's demeanor and tone when talking to her quickly changed once again, it confused her.
"So....how are you liking highschool?" she asked, her tone was now cheery and completely unlike it had been seconds ago.
Penny looked at her confused, "....It..it's okay."
"That's so good! I'm so happy you're here!" the girl announced.
Penny wondered if the girl had a split personality, but soon her confusion was cleared when she felt someone ruffle her hair and give her a quick hug. She saw her brother and smiled at him, all she wanted was for him to take her home. Peter walked over to Liz and kissed the brunette on her cheek and the girl responded with a quick peck on his lips. Her brother blushed and ran his hand through his hair as he opened his locker.
"How was your first day, babe?"
"It was amazing, I was just getting to know Penny. I think we'll be good friends don't you Penny?" she asked, her tone was sickly sweet.
Penny nodded her head, "Y-yeah."
"It's so nice to have her here, I can see why you love her so much." the teenager replied, smiling sweetly at the teenager.
Peter smiled, "I'm glad you two are getting along." He gave Liz another quick kiss on the cheek and grabbed her hand, "I'll walk you to the doors, I'm hanging out with Ned tonight."
"That sounds like a lot of fun." she replied.
Peter draped his arm around Penny's shoulders, "How was your first day of highschool princess?"
"Um...It was...okay." she lied.
Peter looked at her, and raised an eyebrow at her, "You sure? You know you can tell me if anything happened."
Penny saw Liz looking at her from behind Peter, she quickly plastered a smile on her face, it was one she'd mastered at a young age, "Y-yeah everything was good....It just uh a lot um more work than I thought and I'm kind of tired."
"Oh, maybe take a nap when you get home, don't want you getting sick."
Penny rolled her eyes him, "You and I both know that being tired doesn't have anything to do with people getting sick."
Peter smirked at her, "Okay smartypants," he teased, "but you and I also know that if you are too tired, it affects your mental health, digestive health, school performance, and your immune system. If you get too tired, you can still catch something. You already have a sucky immune system," he replied.
"So do you!" she pointed out.
Peter shook his head, "Nuh uh, my asthma cleared up, I outgrew it. Only thing left is my new allergies and those headaches.''
Penny pursed her lips a little, "No fair, how come I didn't grow out of mine?"
Peter grinned at his baby sister, "Big brother privilege princess." he teased.
Once they reached the front doors and walked down to the bottom of the stairs they were greeted by Ned from afar, their other friends were not in sight. Peter grinned and waved back, Liz smiled at Ned and Penny offered him a small wave back. Peter hugged Liz once more and kissed her sweetly before saying he'd call her tonight. The girl sweetly replied and they said their I love you's before Peter hugged his sister tightly and kissed her forehead and said he'd see her in a couple hours.
"Be safe Pete!" Penny called after her brother as he ran over to Ned.
Peter turned around and mockingly saluted her, "Always am!" he called back.
After Ned's mom pulled off, Liz turned back and looked at Penny, "Remember our conversation, I won't hesitate to remind you yeah?"
"Um....yeah." she replied.
Liz smiled sweetly at her, "Good."
Liz left Penny by herself a few minutes before Pietro popped up next to her. Pietro noticed the youngest member of his group was lost in thought about something. Her brow was knitted, like she was thinking about something that confused her, she seemed upset. He draped his arm over her shoulder, causing her to flinch away from him. He frowned, she hadn't done that in a couple weeks, at least not around him.
"I'm sorry princessa, I didn't mean to startle you." he replied.
He noticed her visibly relax a little and offer him a small, uneasy smile, "Oh...I'm sorry."
"Nope, no apologizing for things you can't help. Remember?" he replied, brushing off her apology.
"Yeah..."
Pietro carefully draped his arm around her shoulder again and guided her over to where the group of teens usually waited for Happy to pick them up, "Are you okay princessa?" he asked.
"Yeah...just tired." she replied, giving him a tired smile.
Pietro took her backpack from her, "Let me carry this then." he announced, slinging it over his shoulder.
Penny protested, "I can carry it, I'm not a little girl."
Pietro looked at her pointedly, "I hate to tell you this princessa but you are quite little."
Penny furrowed her brow, "But I can handle it, I'm not broken." she replied, a little hurt that he saw her that way.
"I'm not saying you are princessa, you are one of the strongest people I know," he replied, tapping her forehead gently with his index finger, "I just want to help because I know the first day of highschool is exhausting. Considering that you are younger than everyone here, I can assume it is more exhausting for you, yes?"
"...Yes..." she admitted reluctantly.
"See Pietro knows best," he announced.
Penny giggled a little at him, "I think Wanda will hurt you if you keep talking about yourself in the third person." she replied.
He shrugged at her words, "Good thing Wanda doesn't scare me then princessa." he announced bravely.
"Really?" Wanda challenged, she literally came out nowhere.
Pietro jumped at her words, "I was being sarcastic Wands," he added after a few minutes of opening and closing his mouth like a fish.
Penny started giggling at him, she was already starting to feel better.
Pietro looked at her, "You find that funny Princessa?" he asked.
Penny nodded her head.
Pietro was about to grab her so he could toss her over his shoulder again, forgetting they were outside the school; he just wanted to tease the younger girl. Yelena popped up in front of him and had her arms protectively wrapped around the short girl. She was glaring at him, Pietro froze for a second and dropped his hands quickly, backing away from the blonde.
"Don't touch my little P." she challenged.
"Nope," Kate called, "as much as I love you Lena, you can't steal my nickname for Little P."
"Fine." the blonde groaned.
Pietro looked at her incredulously, "Your?" he asked sarcastically.
"Yes, I claimed her. Therefore when Peter Parker is not around, she is mine." the blonde announced.
Wanda sighed, "You can't claim people, she doesn't belong to anyone."
Yelena rolled her eyes, "Okay...but I heard the last time you did that, you and Peter caused a small asthma attack, yes? Penny Parker does not need an asthma attack, when she doesn't have any medicine for it." she replied, glaring at the teenager.
Pietro stared at her, "Who told you!" he demanded, placing his hands on his hips.
"I will not reveal my source." Yelena replied, smirking at the ash-blond.
"Kate why did you tell her?" he challenged, looking over to the brunette to his left.
"Why do you blame me?!" the brunette asked, feigning innocence, she most definitely told Yelena about it, but she didn't plan on the blonde telling him she knew.
"Because you tell her everything!" he countered.
"Kate Bishop, did not tell me anything," Yelena replied, quickly coming to the brunette's defense.
Pietro was about to retort when Happy pulled up in a large black SUV. Pietro hopped in the front seat as always, declaring it was because he was the tallest out of them. Penny volunteered to climb in the back row, Kate helped her get in the back seat. Penny assured them all that she was fine sitting in the back by herself and after some convincing and grumbling from Happy, they gave in to her requests and the older three girls sat in the middle. Penny pulled her knees up to her chest for the third time that day, pulled Peter's hood over her head and buried her face in her knees as they rode home. The three girls in the middle didn't seem to notice as Yelena complained to them about how much she did not enjoy school. Pietro noticed Penny in the backseat, and decided on believing her story about being tired, he was trusting the thirteen year-old to tell him if something was happening. Afterall, she had promised him that morning that she'd tell him or one of the others. However Happy recognized the behavior, he'd seen Peter do it hundreds of times before in the eighth grade. The then fourteen year old would curl up on himself after being beat up by some bullies in an effort to hide the bruises from Happy. But Happy hadn't seen any bruises or marks on the girl, but nevertheless he recognized the behavior from Peter. It was a stance where he closed himself off from things and apparently his little sister had the same habit. After they pulled up to the compound, Happy gently pulled Penny over to the side.
"Did something happen at school today honey?" he asked.
Penny quickly shook her head, but she wasn't looking him in the face.
He frowned a little, he thought they were past that, "Can you look me in the face and tell me that?" he asked softly.
She looked at him, "I'm just tired that's all Uncle Happy." she replied softly.
He could tell she was lying and decided not to push it, he'd mention it to Tony and Pepper, "Well get some rest and you can talk to me, alright hun?" he reminded.
"I-i know. Thanks uncle Happy."
Happy smiled and gave her a small hug that she returned, "You have a good day at school?"
"Y-yeah, they just cram a lot of classes on you at once..."
"I bet so, I got some errands to run for Tony but I'll be around tomorrow." he replied.
"Okay, see you tomorrow." she replied.
"See you tomorrow honey."
She hugged his waist again, "Be safe Uncle Happy," she bad as he patted her back softly.
He smiled a little, "I promise, now go get some rest. Pretty sure Pepper came home early today from the company to make you kids a snack."
"Okay."
Penny went inside and Happy pressed the button on the roof of the SUV to close the garage door after making sure she closed the door. He made a mental note to tell Tony and Pepper to keep an eye on the kid.
After saying Happy bye, Penny decided to skip the snack, she wanted to be by herself. She ran up the stairs to her room. When she opened the bedroom door, she shut and locked it behind her before dropping her back pack by her desk and pulling Peter's hoodie off and putting it neatly on her vanity. She grabbed her teddy bear from off her bed and went into the hideaway nook in her room. She turned the light switch off on the outside of the curtain and turned her fairy lights on before curling up in the large bean bag and pulling a green blanket over herself. She hugged the bear from her dad close to her chest and squeezed her eyes shut, this year was going to be exactly the same.