The Avengers Weakness

Chapter Thirty-Four

A couple weeks later, Penny was waiting for Wanda to leave the hall in front of the lunchroom from behind a large blue column. Once the redhead was out of her line of sight, she sighed and stepped back. She prepared herself for her walk to the library, to hide from her cousin like she'd been doing for over a month now. She adjusted her backpack on her shoulder and took another step back while turning around. Her face hit into something when she spun around and she felt a hand clasp down onto her shoulder. She slowly looked up and noticed it was Brad, her eyes widened.

"Where do you think you're going, little cousin?" he asked.

She tried to pull out of the grip he had on her shoulder, "T-tutoring...." she stuttered.

"Really? You tutoring?" he asked, tightening his grip on her shoulder, "I seriously doubt you need tutoring."

"I-It's not for me....I'm the tutor." she replied, spouting the lie quickly hoping he'd believe her.

"Who?" he asked.

"His n-name is uh Zach, I-I'm helping him-him in math."

He scoffed, "You think I'm stupid?" he asked, "Midtown doesn't let freshman tutor people; you have to be a junior. And unless you've skipped two grades since August, you're still a freshman." he replied, smirking.

She gulped, "O-Oh." she hung her head, knowing that he wasn't going to leave her be.

"So where have you been? Where are you going cuz?" he asked again.

She sighed, "N-nowhere...." she replied quietly.

He grinned, "Exactly."

He slid his hand down to her forearm and gripped it tightly as he pulled her over to the lunch table where the rest of his group was. He roughly pushed her down into a seat and sat down next to her, placing his hand on her knee as he dug his fingers into her leg.

She winced, making him smirk.

He turned to look at the group, "Look who I found," he announced.

Chris smiled at her, "Where have you been freak show?" he asked.

"P-places." she mumbled.

He looked at Brad, "It looks like the freak is growing a pair," he laughed, "We'll have to fix it won't we?"

Brad scoffed, "Nah, she's hiding like the rat she is. But yeah, let's fix it. You shouldn't be hiding from me." he replied, slightly growling the last words out.

Penny felt him dig his nails into her leg a little deeper, causing her to whimper.

He tightened his grip and leaned over before hissing into her ear, "Wipe that look off of your face and shut up if you know what's good for you." he hissed.

Liz looked at him, a slightly concerned expression on her face while she watched their interaction.

Penny shakily nodded her head and stared down at the table, preparing herself for what was to come.

Across the cafeteria, the two boys that Pietro had asked to keep an eye on her noticed the group. The raven-haired one of the pair nudged his friend in the side and motioned across the large room to the table.

"Isn't that the freshie that Pietro told us to keep an eye out for?"

"Huh?" the boy replied, looking up from the food he was eating.

His friend pointed to where the table was, "Look over there, isn't that the girl P told us to watch out for?"

"Oh yeah...it is..." he replied in between chewing bites of his sandwich.

"Does that look okay to you dude?" the dark-haired boy asked.

They looked back at the scene across the cafeteria. The young girl was surrounded by a group of people; she looked to be on the verge of tears. Her eyes were darting around the room before falling back to the table, her bottom lip was quivering. They didn't fail to notice how Brad's hand seemed to disappear under the table where her leg would be. The two boys looked at each other, the situation striking them odd.

"No it doesn't," the blond replied, "wait isn't that Brad?"

"Looks like it."

"What's he doing with a freshman with his hand on her leg? He's almost eighteen, she's what fourteen?"

"Thirteen," the raven-haired boy corrected.

The blond teenager frowned, "I'm going to take a picture, that doesn't look right."

"Send it to Pietro."

"I don't know dude..."

The darker haired teen looked at his friend, "Pietro told us to tell him if something is off with her, we haven't seen her in here once in the month we've been trying to keep an eye on her and all of a sudden she's with him?"

"True..." the boy replied, slightly nodding his head.

"I don't know about you, but that doesn't look right. She looks like she's going to cry."

He sighed, "Fine...I sent it."

"I'm going over there, I want a closer look, hand me your tray." the older boy announced, motioning for him to hand over his tray.

The lighter haired boy pushed his tray over to him after he moved his bottle of water off of it to the counter.

"Thanks," he replied, standing up.

The dark-haired teen started walking towards the trash cans that happened to be near the other group's table. As he approached the table, he slowed his pace so he could listen in on the conversation; he continued on his way to the trash cans and drop off area for the lunch trays. When he walked back over to the table he could hear more of the conversation

"Pl-please...I-I want to go...B-brad. I won't tell a-anyone." the younger girl asked quietly, her voice shaking.

The boy frowned at the sound of her scared voice.

Brad smirked at her and leaned closer to her, his dark eyes glaring at her, "I know you won't, and why would I let you go? You've been missing from lunch for the past month and a half. I just want to spend time with you little cousin." he replied, his muscles tensing up.

She winced, "Y-you're h-hurting m-me...l-let go."

"I don't care," he hissed.

The dark-haired boy cast his gaze down to under the table where he noticed Brad's hand was in fact on her leg like he and Robbie had suspected. He noticed the tight grip he had on the girl's leg, something was definitely off with this.

He cleared his throat to get the group's attention, "Uh hey guys," he greeted.

Brad quickly moved his hand from the thirteen year old and shifted himself away from her, "Sup man." he replied, flashing him a smile.

"Whatcha doin'?" he asked.

The boy slung his arm around the thirteen year old, he noticed the girl flinch and tense up at the action as Brad grinned at him, "W'ere just having lunch with my little cousin. She doesn't make many friends, too shy. Right cuz?" he asked, his tone hinting at her to agree with him.

She nodded her head, "Y-yes," she whispered.

"Yeah, I've met her. Penny, right?" he asked her.

"Uh y-yeah."

"You're friends with Pietro." the boy replied, looking at the group of juniors and Flash, "Hey I was uh wondering if you would help me with something for school real quick, Pietro said you're crazy smart. Maybe you can help me?" he asked.

She was about to respond when Brad spoke up for her, "Can it wait Josh?" he asked.

"No, I need this for next period. You can have her back later, I swear on it." he replied, flashing the other teen a fake smile.

"Fine, see you later Pen," the tanned boy replied, giving her a look.

She shakily nodded her head and stood up, backing away from the table.

Josh bent over and picked up her backpack that had been where her feet were and slung it over his shoulder. She started following him; he went to reach out for her arm so he could help lead her through the crowded room when she flinched back from him.

He frowned, "You okay kid?" he asked, looking at her with a concerned expression.

"Y-yeah I'm okay." she replied, giving him an uneasy smile.

He didn't believe her, but decided to go along with her statement as he nodded his head softly, "We're right over here."

She nodded and followed him over to the high table he and Robbie were sitting at.

He held his hand out for her to grab in order for her to climb into the chair and she took it, pushing herself up to where she was seated in the chair across from Robbie. He placed her backpack on the table in front of her and moved into his seat across from her.

"Wh-what did you um w-want to work on?" she asked quietly.

He shrugged, "Oh, nothing." he replied, "I don't have any questions. We finished our project two days ago."

She tilted her head to the side and frowned slightly, a confused expression slightly taking over her features, "Then why um why a-am I here?" she asked, she sounded almost scared to ask the question.

"Pietro asked us to keep an eye on you, he was worried someone was messing with you." he announced.

She nodded a little, "Oh..."

The blond teen next to him announced as he stuffed a cheeto into his mouth, "And by the looks of it, he's not wrong."

Penny looked over at the boy who was slouched slightly in the seat, his arms crossed lazily over his chest.

"So why aren't you telling him or your brother?" the dark-haired boy asked, it wasn't angry sounding, just concerned.

She shrugged, "B-because I can handle it."

The other boy snorted softly to himself, "Sure you can...One of the smallest thirteen year old's I've ever met against five juniors and a sophomore." he replied sarcastically.

She stayed quiet, not knowing how to respond to his comment.

Josh elbowed his friend, "Dude!" he hissed.

"Sorry...no offense squirt." the boy replied, rubbing his side as he gave a small glare that was pointed at the taller boy.

"None taken...I better get back over there," she mumbled, looking over to the table where Brad was staring at her from.

"No way," Josh replied, shaking his head, "I wanted to get you away from that jerk."

"He's not too bad." she defended half-heartedly.

"Tell that to your leg." the dark haired boy replied, pointing to the bruises that were forming on her knee.

She looked down at it and frowned, "How am I supposed to explain this away?" she whispered to herself. 

The blond teen leaned forward, propping himself up on the table, "Explain away? How long has this been going on?" he asked.

"I-I dunno." she replied.

"Penny?" Josh called.

She looked up at him, not at her hands that were playing with each other under the table, "Yeah?"

"We want to help you. But we can't do that if you aren't honest." he replied.

She sighed, "You can't tell anyone."

"We sent Pietro a picture of you guys earlier, kind of what we were told to do." he replied shrugging.

"Oh...but don't tell him what I tell you. Please."

"I'll think about it," the blond replied.

"Robbie," Josh replied, holding out his name.

He shook his head, his spiky hair not really moving at the action, "No way, remember when we kept her brother's secret last year? Pietro looked like he was going to kill us." he replied, crossing his arms.

Josh paused for a few seconds, thinking about what the other boy had reminded him of, "True...we'll think about it kid."

She sighed again, "...Okay...it started the first day of school....well more like since I was five." she replied, mumbling the last part.

"Since you were five?" the blond asked.

"I-I used to live with him...it wasn't...nice...." she replied softly.

The two nodded their heads, understanding what she meant, "And he just decided to continue it in highschool because you don't live with him anymore?" Josh asked.

"I-I guess." she replied, shrugging softly; she knew why he did it, it was because it was easy for him.

"How bad does he hurt you? He was digging his fingers in pretty hard from what I saw."

"Not t-to bad."

"Is that why you haven't been at lunch?"

"I like to hide in the library." she replied.

Robbie frowned at her words.

"How about this, one of us will wait for you by the columns every day and we'll walk with you through the lunch line and you sit with us. Every day." Josh replied, repeating the fact that they'd do it every day.

"I don't want to bother you." she replied, shaking her head.

"You need to eat squirt, plus you seem like a good kid. Any friend of Pietro's is a friend of ours." Robbie replied.

She gave them a small, uneasy smile, "O-okay. I'll just tell Wanda, she walks me to lunch."

Josh nodded, "Good, we know Wanda." 

"I better get to my locker, I need to switch my books out." she replied, no longer stumbling over her words.

"You want one of us to go with you?"

"I'm okay." she replied, declining the Robbie's offer.

"Okay, I'm Josh by the way," the dark-haired boy replied, holding out his hand.

She shook it and offered him a small smile.

"Robbie," the blond replied, giving her a slight wave.

She returned the gesture, "Penny."

"See ya tomorrow kid," Josh replied as she slid out of the seat.

"See you tomorrow," she confirmed, "a-and thank you."

"No problem, Pietro's part of our team and a team is a family." Robbie replied.

Josh nodded as he leaned against the table, "Family helps family and if you're Pietro's family, you're ours too."

She gave them a small smile and nodded her head.

The two watched her disappear into the crowd and made sure that none of the people at Brad's table went to follow her.

"Definitely telling him, that's some pretty decent bullying." Robbie replied.

"It's abuse and harassment." Josh corrected.

"Wasn't that Parker's girlfriend with them?"

"Don't know, maybe?"

Robbie looked over at Josh who was still leaning against the table, "Wouldn't she be nice to her boyfriend's baby sister?" he asked.

The dark-haired teen shrugged, "You never know with some people, they can act totally two faced when the right people aren't watching."

Robbie nodded his head, knowing that what he was saying was the truth.

"Tell him during in sixth period," Josh announced.

"Why me?" he asked, giving the boy a glare.

He shrugged, "Because you have the next available class with him Rob, we don't see him till third period tomorrow."

"His sister's in that class." he reminded the other boy.

"So?"

"We told her we'd tell Pietro, not his twin too."

Josh rolled his eyes, "Just whisper it to him, it's not like she can hear you."

"Fine." the boy exasperatedly replied, throwing up his hands, "But you owe me."

"Should we tell Parker?"

"Let's leave that up to Pietro to decide."

Once Penny reached her locker, she quickly replaced her books with the ones in her locker and shut the locker. She looked at the clock and saw she had five minutes before the bell rang for her to leave. She squeezed her eyes shut and leaned back against her locker, mentally kicking herself for ratting out her cousin to Pietro's friends. Kate was the only person who knew, well she knew about Liz. She'd overheard a conversation between the younger girl and her brother's girlfriend when she went to the bathroom. Penny had asked to go to the bathroom during her French class, which used the same bathrooms as the English hall, where Liz followed her to continue breaking the thirteen year old down when she tried to escape the hurtful words that were being thrown her way. When the curly-haired girl had left, Kate stepped out of the bathroom stall and immediately hugged the thirteen year old who had started begging her not to tell her brother about it. Kate made her promise that she'd tell Peter eventually, that was two weeks ago after she'd come back to school after the meeting with Mister Layne. Penny had yet to tell her brother, for several reasons. The first being what if Liz was right and Peter only tolerated her because he felt responsible for her and guilty for what happened? The second was she couldn't cause her brother to have relationship problems with his girlfriend, especially not when he seemed so happy with her. She couldn't bring herself to take away her brother's happiness. Kate had started being extra nice to her, she let Penny talk to her whenever she needed it, she asked about Liz everyday and asked how Peter was handling it, to which Penny often lied and said that Peter had said he'd take care of it. As far as she knew, Kate never mentioned it to her brother, because her brother never mentioned it to her. Kate even let Lucky sleep in her room most of the time now, which Pepper didn't really approve of, but since the dog seemed to help her sleep better, she let it happen. But soon Pietro would know, and she didn't know how the older boy would react. She'd seen how angry he seemed to get when Flash made his comments about her and Peter, how angry would he get when he found out that Brad did more than just make comments to her? The bell soon rang and she opened her eyes, and she started pushing through the halls to get to her fourth period.

Robbie slipped into the chair next to Pietro an hour and a half later, the ash-blond looked over at his friend, a slightly off-put expression written on his face.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Asked Coach if I could sit here for the day, said that my laptop was dying." he announced.

"Uh huh, well welcome to the corner." Pietro responded, turning back to his work.

"Uh hey Wanda." the blond greeted.

She cast a glance over to him and gave him a small wave of her fingers, "Hey Robbie."

"You get my picture?" he whispered to the ash-blonde teen who was seated next to him.

"I got a message, but haven't checked it yet." the taller boy replied, his finger steadily drumming on the keys of his laptop.

"Look at it," he urged.

"We're in class, I can do it later," Pietro replied, brushing him off.

"Trust me dude, you'll want to look now. It's to do with what you asked Josh and I to do." the boy replied.

Pietro looked at him, "With princessa?" he asked, pulling his phone out of his pocket.

Pietro unlocked his phone and clicked on the message that was from his blond friend, his eyes darkened by what he saw. The picture on his phone was of Brad and his group of friends, he was pretty sure he recognized Liz too, but all he could see was the back of her head. Brad was leaning over towards Penny, his hand underneath the table, presumably where her leg was, with a wicked grin on his face. It was clear to see he was saying something to her. The young brunette looked to be on the verge of tears, and she looked terrified.

"What the hell is this?" he asked, his accent starting to grow thick.

Robbi bit back the sarcastic comment that was threatening to escape his lips, "What you were worried about." he replied.

Pietro cut him an unimpressed glare, "Did you do anything about it?" he asked, his eyes continuing to narrow as he stared at the picture on his phone.

The blond boy was worried that he was going to shoot lasers out of his eyes if he continued to glare at his phone like he was, "We got her away from him, but the dude seriously has issues." he replied.

"She said she was avoiding him." the boy replied, his glare slightly easing up, but the frown on his face was still prominent.

"She has been, she told Josh and I that she goes to the library to avoid them. She hasn't been in the cafeteria at all until today. Meaning she probably hasn't been eating lunch either."

Pietro's frown deepened, the last thing the thirteen year old needed to do was skip meals, "What was he doing?" he asked.

"Josh said he was talking to her. He overheard him telling her that he didn't care when she told him he was hurting her."

Pietro clenched his fist, "He hurt her?....I'll kill him." he hissed.

Robbie nodded a little, "She's got a pretty nasty bruise forming on her leg from where he was gripping it. Josh pulled her away under the guise that he needed help with a project." Robbie replied, eying his friend's hand as his knuckles turned white.

"Did she tell you anything else?"

"Just not to tell you or Parker about it."

"Will you keep watching her?" the older teen asked.

"We're doing better than that," the blond responded, "we'll meet her in the front of the cafeteria every day and walk her through the lunch line, other than that she's sitting with us." 

He nodded, "Thanks," he replied honestly, Pietro looked at the photo on his phone again, "I need to talk to Coach Jennings about this." he announced.

"Why?" he asked, furrowing his brow.

"She's in the class before this one with him and Chris," he replied, pointing to the boy that was on the other side of her in the picture, "She's been coming home with bruises, but she wasn't saying anything. She just shuts down, it's the trauma." Pietro replied.

"She told us that it wasn't nice, pretty sure I get the picture. My dad used to be not nice when I was a kid." Robbie replied, he more than understood what the younger girl meant when she'd said that her aunt and uncle weren't nice.

Pietro slightly nodded his head, before looking over at him, "He still around?" he asked, he was fully ready to change that fact.

Robbie shook his head, "Not any more, cops got him after mom pressed charges when he broke her collarbone and nose."

"Good, soon enough he'll have a few friends in there by the name of Davis." the ash-blond replied bitterly.

Robbie nodded his head, "Is she okay? Now, I mean..." he knew all too well what it did to his head when he was younger.

"We're working on it." Pietro replied, "Thanks for keeping an eye out."

"No problem, team's a family. Your family is my family."

Pietro gave him a thumbs up, "Good."

"And dude?"

"Yeah?"

"You can't kill him, let karma get him."

"Karma's not good enough." Pietro replied, angrily.

"Well you getting arrested isn't good either. Tell her parents."

"Their parents are dead," Pietro replied.

Robbie sighed, it was common knowledge that Peter's parents had died in their school, Flash made sure to broadcast the fact the brunet was an orphan after he found out about it, "They live with you right?"

"You can say that, same building," Pietro replied.

"Well, do they have foster parents or something?" he asked.

"They do actually,"

"Tell them, if they care enough."

"They care, trust me. But I think me killing him is a better option."

Wanda leaned over to her brother, "Killing who is a better option?" she asked, eyeing her brother's hand that was still clenched in a fist.

"No one, don't worry about it, Witchy." he replied.

She placed her hand on her brother's, "We'll talk about it later, because if you want to kill someone it's a problem. Besides, if you keep clenching your fist like that, you'll make yourself bleed." she replied, slowly prying his fingers open to reveal the deep crescent shaped indent in the older boy's palm.

"I'm fine." Pietro replied quickly.

Robbie noticed her eyes flash a topaz color as she cut her twin a look, "Pietro." she replied, her tone firm.

"Fine." the boy grumbled, "You act like such a mom."

She rolled her eyes and leaned back over to her area, "Big sister actually." she corrected.

"But you're not," Pietro replied, rolling his eyes.

"Then start acting like you're older than me," she challenged, crossing her arms.

Robbie snickered a little at their argument.

He found it amusing that Pietro was scared of his twin. Wanda was only five-seven and probably weighed a hundred thirty pounds, yet her six foot tall brother seemed to cave into her glare. He had to admit, Wanda could be scary at times, but he knew underneath how she portrayed herself, she was sweet and kind. What she showed people at school was a facade, however, he also knew that she could be protective. He'd seen it when Josh finally told Pietro about Flash bullying Peter after they found the then fourteen and a half year-old badly beaten up in the hallway. He was pretty sure she would have done something to the other boy if her brother and the younger brunet hadn't stopped her.

A half hour later, the twins were walking out of their class as they headed towards their next ones.

Wanda grabbed her brother's arm as they walked out of their computer class, "What's going on P?" she asked, looking him in the eyes.

"Don't worry about it right now," he told her quietly.

"Well I am worried," she replied, "so tell me what's going on? Or I'll do it."

"You know better," he replied.

"No one will see anything and your thoughts are very loud at the moment. What did Brad do?" she challenged.

"Wanda..." he warned.

"Pietro." she challenged back, the topaz flecks in her eyes glistening as she narrowed her green eyes.

"Fine but you can't do anything to him, I'll handle it." he replied, giving into her; he knew when the topaz rings in her eyes started glowing like they were that she was starting to grow angry.

"No promises," she replied, crossing her arms.

"I'm serious witch." he replied, looking her in the eye as they walked down the hall.

"...Okay..." she sighed.

"Princessa hasn't been too honest with us about everything."

"Like what?" she asked as she narrowed her eyes a little more. "What has Brad done?"

"I'll send you the picture that Robbie sent me. I've had him and Josh keep an eye out for her for a few months after you said that Scarlett was going to be moving."

"What'd they find?" she asked, the topaz flecks in her eyes glowing a little bit brighter.

"He and his friends have been bullying her..."

Wanda's eyes darkened.

"I'm handling it, he's not going to continue this." the ash-blonde whispered, noticing how his sister's eyes were starting to glow.

"Let me do it." she replied.

"No, I'm doing it." he replied, "I'm not going to physically harm him unless the need arises, you most definitely will. You work on Princessa. Make sure she's okay, that you're okay." he replied.

"...Okay....but if he does anything else, I'm handling it." she replied.

"Maybe."

"Better me than Lena."

"When you're angry, you can be almost as....dangerous...as her..." her twin replied, eying her cautiously.

Wanda took a steadying breath, "Fine...just let me know what happens," she replied, twisting her sleeve around her arm.

"I will."

"He's giving her the bruises." she replied, it was more of a statement than a question.

"Yes....he has. Don't worry about it. I'm going to handle him and I'm telling Pepper."

Wanda smirked, enjoying the idea of the strawberry-blonde handling the boy, "Good. Pepper can do a lot worse than I can." she replied.

Pietro nodded, "She has quite a way with words, doesn't she?" he replied, slightly smirking.

"Yes. She. Does." Wanda replied.

The twins soon split up, in front of the cafeteria once again, to head their separate ways. Wanda slipped into her desk in her forensic science class and pulled out her notebook, setting it on her desk. She started working on the outline of her thesis, questions looming about in her mind as she tried to push her anger to the side.

Three thirty rolled around a few hours later and Penny was watching her brother from the end of the hall. She no longer avoided him at home, she spent a lot of time with him when he was home from his internship, decathlon, and his outings with Liz and his other friends. However, she still avoided him if she could when she was at school. She didn't meet up with him at his locker, she didn't really talk to him unless she had too, because Liz was always watching. Brad was always watching. She tried to make things easier on herself, avoiding the things they told her too and most of all, keeping quiet. She jumped when she felt a hand fall on her shoulder, she expected someone else to be behind her. She sighed in relief when she noticed it was Pietro and slightly relaxed.

The seventeen year old pulled his hand back, when he noticed her panic expressed, "Sorry princesa....Why are you back here? Peter won't be upset with you if you go over to him." he announced.

"I-I know..."she stuttered.

"Does someone not want you talking to him?" he asked, he'd noticed a while ago that the thirteen year old seemed more tense around Liz.

She didn't respond, just blinked her eyes at him before slowly shaking her head.

"Is Liz bothering you?" he asked.

"N-no." she replied, her nose slightly twitching at the lie.

"Princessa," he called.

"No really, she just wants space for her and Pete."

Pietro nodded, " She wants a little space or you not around?"

"Space."

"Well, I think we should say hi," he announced, wrapping his arm around her.

"W-we don't have too." she replied, trying to get him to go the other direction.

He shrugged, "Too late, we're already walking over there."

She sighed, giving in to him.

"We are going to have a conversation later princessa," he whispered, "You need to work on talking to people when you're in trouble."

She hung her head and her shoulders dropped at his words, "S-sorry....they told you d-didn't they?" she replied quietly.

He nodded and ran a hand through his slightly longer hair, "Yes they did, but you're not a great liar princessa. I've noticed something was off with you for a while now. All of us have."

She gave him an offended look, "Actually..." she started to argue.

He cut her off, "Ah ah ah," she replied, "You are no good at lying, especially to us. Those people were idiots, they just chose to believe you when they knew deep down that something was wrong. You don't need to lie anymore."

She nodded, "Okay." she replied, sounding unsure of herself.

"But we'll talk about this later," he replied, gently touching her nose, "Pete!" he called loudly when the shorter teen's mess of curly brown hair came more into view.

Peter looked up at the pair and waved to them, "Hey P! Hiya princess," he called, pulling Liz along with him, as he appropached the pair of teenagers.

Pietro noticed the dark-haired girl cast an annoyed glare towards Penny, but she quickly wiped it off and replaced it with a smile.

"Hi you two," she greeted.

"H-hey Liz," Penny replied, Pietro felt her slightly shift back into his arm.

He tightened his arm around her, "Liz." he replied.

Peter had his arm wrapped around Liz's waist, "Whatcha doing here?" he asked, knowing Penny rarely came to see him at his locker.

"Just though we'd say hi." Pietro replied, flashing the couple a grin as he patted Penny's head with the hand that was previously draped around her shoulders.

Liz looked at Penny, "Did you help Josh with his project Penny? You never finished lunch." she asked.

"Wha- O-oh, um yeah." she replied, stumbling over her words, "It was Algebra, just little formulas he needed help with."

"You two have lunch together?" Peter asked, looking happy at the prospect of the two girls getting along.

"Uh huh," Liz replied, "My friends and I noticed her by herself, just wanted her to feel welcome. Today was the first time she's been in there in a while."

Peter looked at his girlfriend, "That's great Liz," he replied, "Princess where did you go? Wanda says she drops you off in the cafeteria every day."

"Th-the library," she replied, honestly, "I help the librarians sometimes a-and eat um lunch with them."

Peter grinned at her and leaned forward to ruffle her hair with his free hand, "Always helping people," he replied proudly.

"Y-yeah..."

Pietro was clenching his fist in his pocket, he knew he recognized Liz from the photo, "That's so kind of you Liz, Princessa's had trouble with bullies in the past." he announced, hinting to the girl that he knew the truth, "It's nice to see you looking out for her."

The girls' smile faltered, "Uh y-yeah, of course."

Peter didn't seem to notice the tension between the two, "We better get to decathlon Liz. MJ might not be too thrilled if we are late."

"Yeah we better go," she replied, eying Pietro uneasily.

Peter moved over to Penny and hugged her quickly, pressing a kiss on the top of her head, "See you at home princess."

"See you later Pete," she replied, offering a quick side hug.

"We better go too princessa, Wanda texted and said Happy just pulled up."

She nodded.

Once they started walking away from Peter and Liz, Pietro decided to speak up again.

"So she knows." he announced.

"About what?"

"Brad," he replied.

She tensed next to him at the name, "A little," she replied.

"She help you do anything about it?" he asked.

She shook her head, "U-"

He interrupted her, knowing that she was about to lie to him, "The truth princessa, does she help him or you?"

"Him." she replied softly.

Pietro nodded, "Of course she does. Wanda was right about her." he replied, scowling.

He scoffed, "We need to tell Peter."

She grabbed his arm, "No!" she replied, firmly.

"Why not?" he asked.

"B-because. I don't want to ruin how happy he is. Sh-she makes him happy."

"So you'll sacrifice your happiness and safety?" he asked, sceptically looking at the younger girl.

She nodded her head.

He rolled his eyes, he hated that habit of the two youngest members of their group, "You two are too self-sacrificing for your own good. We'll talk about it later," he replied, motioning at her with an outstretched index finger, "Wanda wants to talk to you first." he announced.

"Y-you told her?!" she squeaked.

"Not willingly," he replied, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.

"You were thinking too loudly weren't you?" she asked, looking up at him.

"She says so." he replied, shrugging.

"Why does she want to talk to me?"

He laughed slightly, "Because she's easier to talk to than I am and to see if you're okay. She's protective of you and the others. Your thoughts are loud, perhaps the loudest out of all of ours. But yours are different she says, they have to get to a certain point of loud in order for her to hear them, before that it's white noise for her."

"O-oh," she replied, "does it hurt her?"

"She doesn't tell me," he replied,shaking his head, "but she wants to make sure you're okay."

"Okay." she replied quietly.

"Good," he replied, opening the door for her.

Penny climbed in the seat next to Wanda, the redhead tucked her arm around her and pulled her closer to her side. She laid her head on top of the thirteen year old's and started twisting a ringlet of the girl's hair around her finger. Pietro climbed into the front seat and crossed his legs; he was about to put them on the dash when Happy pushed his feet back and cut him a glare. Pietro rolled his eyes and left them on the floor, one leg crossed over the other. Penny heard Kate and Yelena laughing to themselves in the backseat. She relaxed into Wanda's embrace and closed her eyes slightly she was exhausted.

"I want to talk to you when we get home, peanut," the redhead whispered.

The thirteen year old nodded her head.

"I'm not mad, just worried about you." she assured, she could hear the girl's worried thoughts starting to consume her.

"'M'kay...." she replied, softly.

Once they got into the compound, Wanda used her powers to teleport food up to her room where she guided Penny to. She sat down on her bed and crossed her legs, patting the spot next to her as a motion for the teenager to sit next to her. Penny walked over to the bed and sat down next to her, slipping off her flats before pulling her knees up to her chest.

"What's going on Peanut?" Wanda asked.

"It's not much, I promise."

Wanda looked at Penny, the thirteen year old's knee catching her eye. She frowned and pushed back the hem of the orange dress the girl was wearing back. "Peanut?" she called, pointing to the dark bruise.

"Uh yeah?"

"What happened here?" she asked.

Penny remained silent and stared at her knee.

"Did he do this?"

She nodded her head, "Y-yeah. It doesn't hurt that bad, I've had worse." she replied, shrugging.

"What did he do?"

She shook her head, "Can...can you j-just read my mind? I-I don't want to talk about, he said n-not to talk about i-it. I know better than to talk about it." she replied softly.

Wanda's expression softened at the girl's words, "Okay." she replied, nodding her head slowly.

Wanda reached out for Penny's hand and closed her eyes once she felt the younger teen's small hand in her own. She saw flashes of different memories, the young girl's mind was flipping from one place to another. With her powers, she saw the young girl trying to stand up or move away from him as she fought to get away from him. The boy stared at her, his dark eyes, glaring at her with malice as he reached over and roughly gripped onto her leg. The dark-haired boy dug his fingers into the soft places on either side of her knee every few moments, leaving the tell-tale red and blue mark on her leg. She pulled her hand back after a few moments, not like the memories she saw, they made her head hurt.

She looked the younger girl in her eyes, her green eyes slightly glowing, "He grabbed you?" she asked.

"Y-yeah..." the younger girl replied quietly.

"Does he do it often?"

Penny nodded her head, "All the time." she whispered.

"Kate said you're been in the library a lot and you told Josh and Robbie you like to go to the library during lunch. Why?" she asked.

The younger girl tightened her grip on her knees, "They aren't in the library...it's peaceful, no one can hurt me there." she replied quietly.

"You're hiding." Wanda responded.

She nodded her head "Yeah..."

"What else happens? Tell me everything." the redhead asked, reaching over to slowly run her fingers through the girl's hair.

"E-everything?" the brunette asked, her voice cracking as she spoke.

She nodded, "Yes peanut, everything. What happens at school when none of us are around?"

"I-it's not too bad." she whispered.

Wanda frowned, "Your definition of not too bad is badly skewed peanut." she replied, leaning her head over slightly and resting it against the younger girl's.

"I guess you're right. W-well I guess I better start from the beginning?" she replied, slightly raising her voice at the end of her sentence.

"I'd be preferred," the redhead replied.

"It started the first day of school....B-Brad and Chris are i-in my technology class....they saw me th-the first day of school a-and sat next to me. I-I tried to move but coach J-Jennings has the rule that once you pick your seat, you can't change it..."

"The bruises?" she asked, nodding her head along with what the younger girl was saying; she knew about the coach's rule.

"...Are from them...." she whispered, pressing her chin against the top of her knees, "They pinch me o-or squeeze my arm or l-leg...Sometimes they elbow me...i-it leaves bruises."

"Where do they elbow you?" Wanda asked softly, brushing her fingers through the thirteen year old's hair.

"M-my side...or the ribs....It hurts and it m-makes it hard to breathe....it really hurts."

Wanda nodded.

"They say things...."

"Like what Peanut?"

"I'm a fr-freak or that I'm useless, worthless.....that no one wants m-me because I-I'm a...curse. I poison everything and everyone I touch."

Wanda hugged her tightly and quickly, "They are lying to you Peanut. You are not a freak, you're intelligent and beautiful. Look at me peanut," Wanda called, leaning back and gently bringing the thirteen year old's face up to look at her. "You are not a burden. You are not a curse. You haven't ruined everything."

"Th-they're right....I do." she replied.

Wanda pressed her forehead against the younger girl's, her green eyes staring into Penny's deep brown ones as she shook her head, "Hey, hey, hey, no self hate." She called softly, "Stop talking about yourself like that. You haven't ruined anything, not for me, not for any of us. If I had anything to say about it, my life has gotten a lot better with you here. Nothing's been ruined, you haven't hurt anything or anyone. They are wrong, Peanut."

"B-but..."

"Penny, you are not a curse. You are an amazing, sweet, intelligent person. They are wrong! We all love you here. You've done nothing wrong, peanut, you're perfect in our eyes. They are just bullies and idiots."

"You think so?" she asked softly, tears were brimming her eyes, "I-I'm so tired Wanda...It never stops, they keep going and going a-and I can't fight b-back. I want it t-to stop. How do I m-make it stop?" she asked, the tears finally slipping down her cheeks.

Wanda pulled her closer to her, "By telling people who care peanut. Pietro's going to tell Pepper." she replie, gently wiping away the girl's tears with her thumbs.

Penny pushed herself back from her and started shaking her head, "N-no, Brad said I'm not supposed to tell people! It only makes it worse!"

"Peanut, this time it will be different. You're not there anymore, you're here. Here we help you because we care. That is the difference. Pepper won't let anything happen, she has a way with her words and considering she's the CEO of SI, people tend to listen."

"B-but-"

"I promise you, Pepper will fix it. We will fix it." Wanda assured.

"Promise?"

Wanda held up her pinky, "Promise." she replied.

Penny linked her pinky with the seventeen year old.

"Peanut?"

"Y-yeah?" she asked, wiping the tears from her face.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"Because it doesn't matter Wanda, I don't matter." the younger girl replied.

"Of course it does peanut, you matter to a lot of people. You matter to me. You could've told Peter, he would have helped."

Penny shook her head, "N-no he wouldn't." she whispered, Liz's words starting to play over and over into her head again.

Wanda looked down at the girl in her arms, "Why do you say that?"

"B-because he tolerates me. He doesn't want me around, he feels like he owes it to aunt May. He thinks I'm a burden. He doesn't want me, he never wanted me. He s-said so."

Wanda furrowed her brow, "He said that to you?"

Penny shook her head again, tears running down her cheeks, "N-no, but he's said it to someone else."

"Who? He hasn't said anything to any of us about it."

"Not you." the thirteen year old replied, the conversations with Liz playing on repeat in her mind.

"Who did he say that to Peanut? I promise you he would never say that."

"B-but he d-did. He told her I-I just stress everyone out and that th-the only reason he lets me stay i-is because he feels like he owes it t-to May. He told her he wished I-I stayed with them."

"Who told you that?"

Penny remained silent, her thoughts growing louder and louder in her head.

Wanda pressed her chin against the top of the thirteen year old's head, she closed her eyes, waiting for the thirteen year old to tell her. After a few minutes of sitting in silence, she started hearing the whispers of Penny's thoughts. She tried her best to block it out, to try and let the younger girl tell her what was going on, but she failed to do so. "He doesn't want you. No one wants you Penny. You're pathetic and useless. Peter thinks so, it's all he talks about. Stay away from him and maybe he'll actually love you and not pretend to. Remember, I can make him do anything I want. All I need to do is tell him that you're better off wherever they found you and he'll send you back. He doesn't deserve someone like you." Wanda tensed, when she heard the voice.

"It was Liz, wasn't it peanut?" she asked quietly, anger boiling in her veins.

Penny squeezed her eyes shut, "N-no," she replied,

"Your thoughts are loud peanut, I can hear them. I can hear her voice in your head. Please tell me the truth."

"Y-yeah it was..." she finally admitted.

"She's lying to you, Peanut."

"But she said-"

Wanda stopped her, "Trust me, do you trust me?" she asked.

Penny nodded, "Yes."

"Well, trust me when I tell you that Peter would never say anything like that to anyone. Peter would never talk about anyone like that, especially not you. He loves you more than anything in the world, and Liz knows that. She also knows that you'd believe her because she's smart and manipulative. She plays on people's weaknesses and she knows that your biggest fear is bothering anyone and everyone. She's playing with your mind, peanut. She knows that if you tell Peter what is going on, he'll break up with her because of how she treats you. She told you that if you asked Peter about it he'd deny it, right?"

Penny nodded her head.

Wanda wiped a stray tear from the girl's cheek, "She knew you wouldn't ask him about it when she told you that. I also know you wouldn't have said anything either, because you don't want to ruin something that makes him happy. Liz is a bully, she's always been a bully. She doesn't like any girl that's close to Peter, she never has and probably never will. He would never, ever send you back there." she replied, hugging her slightly tighter, "He'd rather die than let that happen. To him, you are the most important thing in the world, more than Liz even will be."

"I-I'm sorry."

Wanda frowned, "Don't apologize for anything."

"Okay..." she replied softly,

Wanda looked at the large bowl of grapes she'd teleported to her room, "Well look at that, we've finished the grapes." she replied, trying to change the subject; she hated that the thirteen year old was crying.

"Someone else knew..." Penny continued.

Wanda paused for a second, her frown deepening, "Who?" she asked.

"W-well two people..." she stuttered.

"Who peanut?"

Penny sighed quietly, "Kate and Lena." she admitted.

"They knew?!"

"Lena knew about Chris, she threatened him in Geometry when she saw him and Dave messing with me...She made me promise to tell her if they continued."

"But they did and she would've stopped it by now if you told her."

"Dave stopped, he's kind of scared of Lena, he calls her the scary blonde chick." she replied, a small, temporary smile creeping up on her face, "Chris doesn't do anything there, just at lunch and in my technology class. But it's not as bad, he doesn't hurt me anymore, he leaves that to Brad. He just says things. I didn't tell Lena because I don't want her to get in trouble."

"Trouble?"

"She threatened to kill Flash for bullying Peter and them for me. If she kills them, she goes away." the younger girl replied.

Wanda smiled faintly, "You were protecting her...."

"Trying too..." Penny replied, nodding her head.

"Okay, What about Kate?"

"She heard Liz in the bathroom, not everything, just some stuff."

"What did she do?"

"I made her promise not to tell anyone, and she made me promise to tell Peter."

"And considering how they are still together, I guess you haven't."

"I don't want to ruin something that makes him happy...."

"Peanut, you wouldn't ruin anything for him."

"He deserves to be happy Wands," she replied softly, "a-and if Liz is what does that...then it's okay."

"No it isn't. I'm going to call Kate and Lena in here, we're all going to discuss this."

"Okay."

Wanda was about to text the group chat with the teens asking the other two girls to come to her room when a knock came on her door.

"Come in!" she called.

The door swung open revealing an upset Kate with Yelena behind her, "Little P, why didn't you tell me?!" she asked, she looked more upset than angry.

"Kate, calm down." Yelena replied, her voice was even, but her eyes showed restrained anger.

"She didn't want to bother anyone," Wanda replied, to the brunette's upset state; she sighed, "Katherine Elizabeth calm down. You getting upset isn't going to help anything."

Kate looked at her and sighed, before running over to the bed and enveloping Penny in a hug, "You were supposed to tell me if it continued." she mumbled, squeezing the younger girl tightly.

Yelena shut the door right after Lucky slipped into the room. The yellow dog jumped up on the bed and laid his head in Penny's lap, Penny started to gently run her fingers through his fur. Yelena walked over and sat on the bed next to Wanda.

She crossed her arms, "Penny Parker, I thought we had a deal......" she announced, a frown tugging down at the corners of her lips; she sighed a little when she noticed Penny's tear-stained face, "but I'm not angry with you." she added.

Penny nodded her head and was about to reply.

"Don't you dare apologize Little P." Kate replied, quickly cutting her off.

Penny nodded her head and kept her mouth shut.

"How did you two find out?" Wanda asked.

"Pietro told me." Kate replied.

"She was upset and I was eavesdropping." Yelena replied.

"We'll get back to you eavesdropping on people's conversations in a second Lena," Wanda replied, giving the blonde a disapproving look, "but we have bigger problems."

"Can we kill them?" the blonde asked blankly.

"No!" the other three replied in unison.

"You can't kill people for bullying Lena," Kate replied.

Yelena shrugged, "An eye for an eye." she replied.

"That's an eye for a life." the brunette corrected.

Yelena rolled her eyes, "So what do we do?" she asked, brushing off the blue-eyed girl's comment.

"Pietro's telling Pepper, who will end up going to the school probably tomorrow." Wanda announced.

"Mama Bear Pepper," Kate replied, nodding.

"May they go agonizingly," Yelena replied as she grinned softly at the idea of Pepper reaming someone over with her words.

Wanda nodded her head in agreement, "We are going to figure out how to fix this." she announced.

"So who's been messing with you Penny Parker?"

"Brad...Chris...and their friends." Penny replied softly.

"Names of these friends?" 

"Um Flash...he's one of the nicer ones......um Spencer, Adam, Dean, and Scott that's it."

"And Liz." Kate added.

"Y-yeah her too." Penny replied quietly as she cut the brunette a slightly disappointed look for announcing that little bit of information.

"As in Peter's girlfriend?" Yelena asked, narrowing her gray tinted eyes at the younger girl.

"Yes." Kate announced quickly before Penny could deny it.

Yelena huffed, "Such a bit-" she started to loudly announced.

"Lena!" Wanda replied, covering her mouth before she could finish her statement.

"Witch." Yelena corrected.

Kate snickered at the older two girls. Wanda wasn't bothered by the blonde's angry glare as she gave an equally chilling one back to the younger girl. Yelena rolled her eyes at both the redhead and the brunette who was laughing quietly to herself before swatting the younger teenager away.

"So peanut, how do you want to handle this?" Wanda asked.

"I-I don't know...I usually just y'know deal with it..." she replied as she shrugged off her response like it was normal.

Kate frowned and emphatically shook her head, "Well that's not an option Little P, if you think we're just going to let them continue. You're wrong."

"Can I mention ki-"

"No you can't Yelena," Wanda replied, sighing in disappointment at the blonde's solution.

"Fine." the sixteen year old huffed, "You are no fun." she replied, crossing her arms over her chest as she leaned against the redhead's headboard.

"I'm keeping you out of jail." Wanda challenged.

"I can escape." she challenged back.

"Lena...." Kate called.

Yelena looked at Kate and sighed, "Fine, no killing them."

"Thank you," the brunette replied, smiling at the green-eyed girl who tried to hide her blush.

"I was thinking that we get you some friends." Wanda announced.

"People tend to avoid me. Being the youngest kid in the school and being in advanced classes at the same time tends to give the impression that I'm a know-it-all."

"Well they are idiots." Yelena replied.

Wanda was looking over her messages from Josh, "Josh says that he's in your French class."

"O-oh yeah...I forgot about that." 

"Madame Monet is changing seats tomorrow, right?" the redhead asked, looking up from her phone.

"Yes she is."

"Josh says sit with him and Caroline, she's his sister, she's a sophomore."

Penny nodded, "Okay."

"Caroline is really sweet, she's shy too, so you two would be good friends." Wanda replied, knowing that the younger girl was uncomfortable with meeting and talking to new people.

Penny nodded faintly, "O-okay."

"What are your other classes that don't have us?" Kate asked

"World History Honors and Computer Science."

"Fourth and fifth period's okay...I know you have Jennings, who's your history teacher?"

"Mister Todd?"

"Okay...Anyone in that class with you?"

"No..."

"OH!" Kate replied, her eyes lighting up slightly,

"What is it Kate Bishop?" Yelena asked, looking over at the blue-eye girl who stood on her knees at her announcement.

"I know a couple people in your tech class, Little P." she announced, grinning.

"How?" the younger girl asked.

"They're trying out for my archery club after school."

"You started an archery club?"

"Yup. I'm bringing something other than football and cross country to the school."

"Okay...Who are they?" Wanda asked.

"Um Sarah and Sebastian, they're triplets."

"Who's the third one?"

"Her name is Samantha, but she's not in her class."

"I know them, they're nice...they sit in the front. But Coach Jenning's says we're not allowed to move seats."

"I'll talk to her." Wanda announced, she remembered the speech that was given the first day of class; she knew that the younger girl remembered it too and that she didn't think that her circumstances were part of the requirements of moving seats, "She'll make an exception and I also know that if you tell her that they make you uncomfortable and they are bullying you, then she'll let you move."

Penny nodded, "Okay." she replied quietly.

"So we get to school early, and talk to her." the redhead announced.

"Do we have to tell Peter?" Penny asked.

Kate nodded, "I think Pietro is going too."

"Does he know about Liz?"

"No he doesn't..." Kate replied, realizing that the younger girl had in fact not told her brother like she said she did.

"Then do we have to tell him about her?" she asked, sounding slightly hopeful about not mentioning it.

Kate nodded her head, "Yes we do, Little P. If you don't tell him I will." she replied.

"Can we both do it?" she asked.

Kate nodded, "Sure, but he's not going to be mad at you."

Penny nodded her head, "You think it'll get better?" she asked, looking at Wanda for a bit of hope.

"Yes it will." Wanda replied.

"If it doesn't I'm resulting to my own methods," Yelena announced.

"No killing."

"No killing." the blonde replied, "Just slight injury."

"No hurting people."

"Fine...no hurting them either." she replied, rolling her eyes.

Penny laughed a little at the blonde's annoyed expression after Wanda told her that she couldn't hurt anyone.

A few hours later the group was at dinner. Natasha and Steve were out for a mission, leaving Bucky in charge of the twins and Yelena. Sam had gone back home for the week to help with his niece and nephew, but he was still going to call twice a week for the therapy meetings that Penny had started with him; which were seeming to help with her panic attacks. Pietro was sitting across from Peter and the table, the ash-blond was avoiding the young boy's eyes as he ignored him; he'd decided on blaming the younger boy for not realizing what was going on in his blind anger. Peter was slouched in his chair while he half-heartedly picked at his dinner, something that worried almost everyone considering the boy couldn't afford to not eat properly. Penny was seated in between Pepper and Morgan. She and Pepper had had a conversation before dinner about what was going on at school after the strawberry-blonde had found out about it from Pietro. She'd promised she'd handle it as soon as possible; the strawberry-blonde had announced that she was going to the school in the morning after dropping Morgan off at school and that she wouldn't be leaving until the matter was handled. She'd also made Penny promise she'd tell her if it kept continuing after she'd handled it or if something else started to happen. The strawberry-blonde CEO was eying her two older children with a worried expression as she picked at her food herself. She blamed herself for being a bad mother- one wasn't eating like he should be at the moment and the other one had been keeping the fact that she was being bullied a secret from everyone.

"Pep," Tony whispered, leaning over to his wife, "We'll handle it." he assured, patting her hand gently ounder the table.

"We're terrible parents." she whispered as she peeled her eyes away from the two teenagers.

Tony frowned at his wife's statement, "Ouch...but no we're not." he replied, doing his best to shake her words off, "We can't force them to tell us everything."

Pepper nodded.

Bucky cleared his throat and set his fork down; he hated the tension he was feeling in the room, "This is the most awkward dinner I've ever had in this compound." he announced, "And that's saying something considering..." he paused, not wanting to bring up old wounds with Tony, "What's up with everyone?" he asked, changing the durection the conversation was about to go in.

"We're handling it Manchurian." Tony replied, his tone hinting for the brunet to drop the topic.

Bucky shook his head and leaned back in his chair., "Nope. My niece looks like she's considering committing a crime, my little widow looks like she's going to commit murder, speedy here looks pissed at the world, the baby bird looks like the world is ending, doll is extra quiet, and webs isn't eating. Not to mention Pepper looks really guilty about something. The only normal ones here are me and dollie." he announced, "So what's up?" 

"Everything is fine Uncle Buck," Wanda replied as she lightly stabbed a piece of chicken on her plate.

Bucky groaned, deciding to ignore the obvious lie from the redhead, "Pietro, why are you angry?"

Pietro cast a glance towards Peter, "No reason." he replied angrily.

"He's mad at me." Peter replied, sounding like a kicked puppy.

"What happened?" he asked, looking between the pair.

Peter sighed and pushed his plate away, he wasn't feeling hungry at the moment, "He's mad because I wasn't being a good big brother." he announced, not looking towards the ash-blond or the soldier he was speaking to, "I didn't know Penny was getting bullied at school and he blames me for not doing anything about it. H-he's right...I'm an awful person and an even worse brother." he announced.

Pietro put his fork down and sighed; he felt guilty for what he said to the younger boy, who'd obviously taken his words to heart, "I don't blame you..." he replied quietly before he looked at Peter, "I-I'm sorry small fry, it's not your fault. Princessa is pretty good at keeping secrets. I was just mad and you were the first person I could push the blame onto so I'd stop beating myself up....You're a good big brother...I didn't mean what I said." he replied.

Peter looked at him, "Promise?" he asked, his brown eyes wide.

"Promise." Pietro cracked a small grin, "Now eat your food small fry or I'll force feed you myself." he announced, pushing the plate back towards the younger teenager.

"'M not that hungry," Peter announced, pushing around the food on his plate.

"Doesn't matter kid, eat up." Tony announced, giving the younger boy a pointed look.

Bucky leaned further back in his chair, "You're being bullied doll?" he asked, looking at the thirteen year old with a concerned expression

"Y-yeah." she admitted softly.

"Is it handled?"

"I'm handling it in the morning and the girls are going to talk to her teachers to see what we can do about them in her classes." Pepper replied.

"Good." the man replied, "What's up with baby bird?" he asked, motioning over to Kate, who didn't reply that she wasn't a baby bird like she usually did.

Pietro spoke up, "Kate feels like a bad friend for not telling what she knew, but you were trying to be a good friend blue eyes. " he replied, "you were going to let princessa do it on her own."

The younger girl nodded softly, not really acknowledging his words

Pietro looked towards her, knowing another reason why she was acting the way she was, "And she doesn't like tension." he replied.

She nodded, "It reminds me of my mom..." she quietly admitted as she uncomfortably shifted in her seat.

The tense atmosphere made her feel like she was back in the stuffy New York City apartment with her mother after she'd been lectured over doing something wrong again. She hated how it felt, she felt like she couldn't breathe at the moment and more than anything she wanted the usually light and airy atmosphere to come back.

"Kate..." Wanda replied softly, "it's okay. We're fixing it."

"Still..." the brunette started.

"You're not a bad friend Katie." Penny replied.

"Yes I am." she replied.

Penny shook her head, "No, you aren't, you've been extra nice to me the past couple weeks. You were going to let me do it on my own, you were just going to be there..."

Kate offered a small smile, "Thanks little P."

"You're welcome," the younger girl replied.

Kate gave the brunet soldier a half-hearted glare, "And I'm not a baby bird, Bucky." she announced.

Bucky nodded again, "Wanda what's going on your head?" he asked, leaning forward as he eyed the redhead next to him.

"Nothing." the girl replied.

"Comeone îngeraș," he called. (Angel in Romanian)

"I'm angry." she replied, the topaz flecks in her eyes were still slightly glowing in anger, "What makes them think that they can get away with what they are doing? How is it fair? How can she think what she's said to Penny is okay?" she asked.

"It's not," Bucky replied, patting her arm gently, "we'll work out that anger after supper." he announced.

Bucky turned his attention to Yelena, "Little Widow?" he called.

"Yes sergeant?" the blonde replied, looking up from her plate.

"No killing." he replied, "I know what's going on in that head of yours. You and your sister have the same look when you're angry. So what you are going to do is go and take out your anger on the punching bag downstairs after dinner like Wanda is. Work that anger out so you don't explode and do something that we can't fix."

Yelena huffed, "Fine." she replied.

Bucky nodded, proud of himself, it looked like his therapy sessions and watching Sam with everyone else was helping him get better at defusing situations instead of making them worse, "Good, now let's finish dinner." he announced.

An hour later Peter laying across his bed, with his head hanging off the edge while he tossed a ball up in the air. How could he not know that Penny was being bullied? Pietro's words from earlier were playing on repeat in his head. It didn't matter that she never told anyone, it was his job as the big brother to know when something was wrong, but he didn't. He felt like he was failing. He sighed heavily and chucked the ball a little harder into the air. He felt his sense tingle slightly and opened his eyes to see that the ball was about to crash into the ceiling. He jumped and grabbed it, sticking to the ceiling. He heard a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" he called.

"Penny," a faint voice called.

He looked around, "Um, give me a second princess."

"Okay,"

He let go of the ceiling and shoved his suit under his bed before opening the door to find Kate and Penny, "Hey princess, Kate. Um what's up?" he asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

"We wanted to tell you something." Kate replied.

"What did you want to tell me?"

"Can we come in Pete?" Penny asked.

"Oh um yeah," he replied, moving out of the way as he motioned for them to come into his room.

Kate grabbed the seat from his desk, sitting cross-legged while she faced the bed, leaving the two siblings to take a seat on Peter's bed.

"What did you guys want to talk about?" he asked as he jumped onto his bed, a fake smile plastered onto his face so they couldn't see that he was upset.

"I'm moral support." Kate replied, giving a quick nod of her head towards Penny, who was nervously picking at the hem of her dress while she sat next to her brother, "Little P's going to do most of the talking."

"Okay...what did you want to talk about princess?" he asked, turning around to face the younger girl.

"Brad and his friends aren't the only ones who bully me..." she started, she didn't know how to word her news to the brunet teen in front of her how was she supposed to tell him that his girlfriend was one of them?

"Who is it?" he asked, tilting his head slightly to the side as he looked at her expectantly, "I talked to Liz about them bullying you and she said she'd help you out at lunch. Help you avoid them." he replied, giving her a soft smile.

Penny's face fell, "About that Pete..."

"What's wrong princess? I thought you'd be happy that Liz wanted to help, since you're getting along so well."

"Um..." Penny replied, pausing before she could get the words out maybe this isn't the best idea....

"Liz isn't helping her Peter." Kate blurted once she realized that Penny was second guessing herself.

The boy frowned, "What are you talking about?" he asked, spinning around on his bed to look at the blue-eyed girl.

Kate sighed, "She sits with Brad and their group at lunch Pete, she's known about the bullying the entire time."

Peter looked at Penny, "Is that true princess?" he asked.

"Well..."

"Penny?" he asked softly.

"Yes?" the younger girl replied, the end of her response slightly picking up.

"She hasn't done anything at all about it?" he asked.

"N-no...."

"Why hasn't she mentioned it to me? Did you ask her not to?" he asked.

Penny was quick to shake her head, "No!" she replied, "No I didn't."

"Pete, Liz is the other person who's bullying her." Kate announced.

"What? No, why would she-" he stopped himself and looked at Penny, "Princess is that true?" he asked, knowing that Penny would never lie about something like that.

The younger girl sighed quietly and reluctantly nodded her head, "Y-yeah..."

Peter searched her expression, "She's been bullying you?" he asked, hurt ringing in his voice.

Penny nodded her head.

"Wh-why didn't you tell me? I don't want to be with someone who bullies people, especially if they bully you. You could've told me." he replied.

"She said all this stuff a-and said that all it took was a few words from her and you'd tell Mister Stark you didn't want me around anymore. She said that you'd send me back a-and I don't want to go back. I-I was scared and she said you told her you d-didn't like me around, that I bothered you all the t-time a-and that I was too stressful but you wouldn't say anything to me about it because you felt like you owed aunt May. A-and she said that you told her you d-don't like m-me and that y-you hate me. But she said i-if I asked you about...about it that you'd d-deny it bec...because you didn't want to hurt my f-feelings and it sounded like something y-you'd do...Not the words, b-but not telling m-me how you f-feel because you d-don't want to upset m-me and I-I believed her. A-and you looked so...so happy and I-I couldn't ruin that f-for you s-so I kept it t-to myself. She said you'd never believe me i-if I told you." she blurted, tears were running down her face.

Peter pulled her into a hug, "I'm so, so sorry princess. Believe me, I-I'd never say anything like that. I'd never tell mister Stark to send you back or-or that you were a bother. I love you more than anything Penny. She was lying t-to you...I'll always believe you. Always." he replied, tightening his grip on her slightly, "I'm sorry you didn't feel like you could tell me, I've been a horrible big brother to you."

"N-no you haven't...you're a great one...pl-please don't say that." she replied, frowning deeply at his words.

"Okay, I'm sorry. I'm breaking up with her and telling her to leave you alone a-"

Penny interrupted him and shook her head, "You don't have too...not for me."

He scoffed at the idea that he wouldn't do it, "I'm definitely doing it. For the both of us, is that why you avoid me at school? Don't think I haven't noticed- you barely look at me in the halls, you never meet up by my locker anymore unless Pietro drags you over. And I can read you like a book princess, you look happy to be there but your eyes say you want to leave and I-I thought it was because of me. But it was her wasn't it?"

"Yeah...she said not to be around you, to leave you alone."

"Why would she act that way? I thought....I thought she was sweet..." Peter replied.

Kate scoffed, "No offense Pete, but you've had a crush on her since we were in the eighth grade, she's a junior now and she's always been that way. She doesn't like any girls around you, not even Little P. She said some pretty messed up stuff to her."

"You knew?!" he asked, his voice slightly raised.

Penny put her hands up to cut her brother off before he angrily fussed at the blue-eyed girl, "Don't be mad with her, she said I needed to tell you...I told her I-I was working on it, but I wasn't. She thought that I told you..."

"Oh..." he replied, frowning, "I'm sorry for yelling at you Kate," he apologized, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.

The older girl shrugged, "Don't sweat it, but Pete, she's an awful person. I know you like her a lot and that she's your girlfriend-"

"Soon to be ex." Peter added.

"Soon to be ex, but she flirts with Pietro all the time. He's too oblivious to notice it most of the time, but she does. She's always been a mean girl, she just chose Penny to be her favorite target."

"Oh...why didn't you tell me?" he asked, frowning at this new information.

"Because you were happy and it was rare to find you so happy. You were really stressed with everything going on and you were always upset because you couldn't see Little P and because you missed her. Then there was homecoming...and then all the bullying...It was a rough couple years for you and it was hard for us to see you like that. Liz seemed to make you happy and we just wanted you happy."

"Well I'm okay now and I don't want to be with someone who acts like a totally different person when I'm not around. I'll handle her tomorrow." he announced.

"I'm sorry Pete." Penny replied quietly, she felt guilty for being the reason that her brother was going to be heartbroken for the first time.

He shook his head, "Don't apologize Princess, I've been dating an awful person. That's not your fault...it's mine."

"It's not your fault either Pete." Kate replied frowning, "Neither of you two are to blame. You're both really smart... but also really gullible. You see the good in people, even if you've seen all the bad they can offer...you see the good in them. People took advantage of that, that's their fault. Not yours, never yours." 

The two nodded.

"Now that we've got that handled, come on Little P, we're having girl's night in Wanda's room." the brunette announced, pushing herself up from Peter's chair.

"Is Morgan and Pepper going to be there?" the younger girl asked.

"Nah. Morgan's already in bed, Pepper wouldn't let us bring her......" she replied, pausing, "and Pep is planning for tomorrow."

"She's going all Mama Bear isn't she?" Peter asked.

"She's planning." Kate repeated, shrugging, "So probably." she nodded.

"Is that a good thing?" Penny asked.

Kate grinned slightly, "For you definitely. For everyone else..."

"Definitely not," Peter added, "it's just her way of showing how much she loves us." he announced.

"Pete?"

"Yeah princess?"

"I'm sorry..."

"It's okay and you shouldn't apologize to me....Just next time, promise me you'll talk to me about it, okay? I mean it, just talk to me, don't keep it to yourself. I'll always help you, I swear."

"Swear?" she asked.

Peter grinned a little and held up his pinky, "Swear."

She grinned and linked her pinky with his, they both pressed their lips against their fists in an effort to seal it.

"Now go have fun with the girls, but make sure you all get some sleep." Peter reminded them, knowing that Kate wasn't the most pleasant person to be around when she didn't get enough sleep.

Kate rolled her eyes, "Totally, but remember, the only two people you're older than are Little P and Morgie. I'm older than you." she replied, happily.

"By six months," he shot back.

"Still older." the brunette replied.

Peter groaned, "Whatever."

Penny and Kate joined Yelena and Wanda, who were already in Wanda's room. They quickly changed into their pajamas and climbed into Wanda's bed. Wanda had The Edge of Seventeen playing in the background. Penny eyed the movie for a second while Yelena braided her hair.

"What is it peanut?" the redhead asked, noticing the girl's expression.

"Kate looks a lot like Nadine."

Kate looked over at the T.V., "No I don't!" she groaned, falling against Yelena's arm.

Yelena laughed, "Give me a second Kate Bishop," she replied, gently pushing the girl off of herself.

"Wands says that every single time and it's not true," the younger girl groaned.

Wanda smiled.

A few hours later, Pepper found the four teenagers piled into Wanda's be sounds asleep. Kate and Yelena were tangled up with each other on the right side of the bed. Yelena's leg was dangling off the edge of the bed, over Kate's body. The blonde's face was pressed into the other girl's dark hair while she hugged her. Kate had her face nuzzled into Yelena's arm and had a faint smile in her sleep; they looked very comfortable. Wanda was in between Yelena and Penny; her red hair was braided into a bun on the top of her head. She looked peaceful, while she slept on her side, her back facing Yelena with one arm draped over Penny's frame. The thirteen year old was curled up next to the older girl, her arms holding the redhead's arm in place as she nestled down into the blankets. Pepper pulled the blankets down from her face, worried she'd suffocate from being completely covered in the blankets. She kissed each girl good night and left the door slightly cracked so Lucky could get out if he wanted to; the retriever was laying across the foot of the bed, sound asleep as well. Penny and Yelena woke up at the same time that morning. Penny rolled out of the bed after slipping out of Wanda's arms, small fly away curls were framing her face as she gently shook Wanda awake. Yelena unwrapped herself and Kate before trying to wake up the younger sixteen year old. After fighting against the covers, she pulled her leg back from over the brunette's body and wiggled out of her embrace. Kate slowly blinked her eyes open, slightly glaring at the blonde.

"Why'd you leave?" she whined, "I was comfortable."

"It's a school day, it's only Thursday." Yelena replied, grinning at the half-asleep sixteen year old.

"We can skip." the brunette replied, reaching out for the blonde to lay back down.

"No we can't Katie." Yelena announced, shaking her head, "Tomorrow's our last day before Thanksgiving break."

"Come on Kate," Wanda called, "we have the whole week off next week and you and Lena aren't even going to be here."

"...Fineeee," she replied, holding out the word.

She moved slightly and started falling off of the bed since she had already been on the edge of Wanda's queen-sized bed. She reached out to grab Yelena and pulled the blonde down with her. Her face reddened when she saw Yelena's face inches from hers; her body pressed up against hers. Yelena quickly pushed herself off of the brunette and helped her up from the floor, her cheeks a medium shade of pink.

"Are you two okay over there?" Wanda asked.

"Y-yep, totally." Kate replied, rubbing her arm.

"I'm going to change," Yelena announced.

"M-me too." Kate announced following the blonde out of the room.

"Do you think they'll ever admit they like each other?" Penny asked, helping pull the sheets up on Wanda's bed.

"I don't know Peanut. But you should get changed. I need to change too and get coffee. I really need coffee." the redhead replied.

Penny giggled as Wanda rubbed her cheeks with her hands.

Yelena pulled her t-shirt off from over her head, she stared at herself in the mirror for a second before pulling her eyes away. She was mentally kicking herself for acting the way she did a few minutes ago, her face reddened slightly more when she thought about how close she'd been to kissing Kate. She wasn't sure what she wanted...she knew she loved the brunette more than a friend. But Kate was big on physical touch, she liked cuddling and holding hands. Yelena wouldn't be too surprised if she liked other things as well; but Yelena wasn't that way. The farthest thing Yelena would probably ever do would be to kiss someone, that someone being the brunette that was right down the hall. But she didn't want to make Kate feel like she had to settle, if she ever confessed her feelings to her. She knew that Kate knew about her asexuality, she was one of the only people who knew other than Peter and her sister. The only reason Peter knew was because he had accidentally overheard her telling Kate, he'd grinned largely at her and welcomed her to the community. That was how she found out about Peter being bisexual, Kate being a lesbian, and Wanda being pansexual; the only straight one in their group of five was Pietro. She knew Kate would never push her boundaries or force her to do something that she'd never wanted to. She groaned and pulled a corduroy skirt and blazer set out of her closet and tossed it on her bed. She grabbed a white short-sleeved t-shirt out of her dresser and a pair of white tights as well. Before tugging them both on. After she finished getting dressed, she pulled on a pair of brown boots to go with the tan and blue outfit. She looked herself in the mirror, what was she going to do?, and pulled the hair ties out of her braids before running her fingers through her hair and pushing it back with a headband. She pulled the blazer on and grabbed her backpack, how would Kate react if she admitted her feelings?. She opened her door and walked downstairs to the kitchen, where she went straight to the coffee machine. After she made her second cup of coffee and Kate's first, she placed the cups on either side of herself and hopped up onto the counter.

Kate ran to her room and quickly slammed the door behind herself, she leaned against the door and squeezed her eyes shut. She was nose to nose with Lena, she'd been so close to kissing her, so fricking close. She rubbed her face with her fist, trying to push the thoughts from her mind as she tugged her t-shirt off over her head. She was in trouble, she couldn't be falling for her. Not because she was a girl, Kate was very open with the fact that she liked girls, but it was because she was Lena. She was her best friend and Lena hadn't ever expressed romantic desires with anyone. Did Yelena even like girls? She was asexual, what would be too far for her, even if they got into a relationship?. Kate rubbed her eyes with her fists before grabbing a blue lace-up hoodie from her dresser and pulling it over her head. She looked at herself in the mirror and started lacing up the hoodie before tying it neatly in a bow at the bottom. She pulled off her pajama pants and started digging through her drawer for a pair of pants. She pulled out a pair of black loose-fitted pants and pulled them on before she slipped on her vans. She unraveled the messy braid she was wearing and grabbed her comb and another hair tie and went downstairs to see if Yelena would re-braid her hair. When she reached the bottom steps, Yelena was the only one there at the moment. She was sitting on the counter, with her legs swinging below her while she sipped on a cup of coffee. The blonde set her cup down and picked up a steaming purple mug, holding it out to her. Kate offered her a small smile and took the mug and took a sip of the warm liquid, she sighed happily and sat on the stool in front of her and laid her head on Yelena's knees.

Yelena's fingers easily found their way into her hair, "Are you okay Kate Bishop?" Yelena asked softly.

"'M fine..." she mumbled.

Yelena continued to comb her fingers through the brunette's long hair, "You don't seem fine..."

"Just thinking." Kate replied, softly, "Thanks for the coffee."

Yelena noticed the comb in the brunette's hand, "Do you want me to braid your hair?" she asked.

Kate nodded her head, "Please." she replied, giving her a small smile as she looked up at her.

Yelena gently pushed Kate up from her resting position and spun the stool to where Kate's back was resting against her knees. Yelena pulled Kate back onto her lap and gently pulled Kate's head back so she could start the braid. Kate closed her eyes while Yelena worked on her hair. Yelena studied Kate's features as she pulled sections of hair into the braid. Her long, dark lashes that were brushing against her cheeks as her eyes fluttered beneath her eyelids, her delicate nose, her pink cheeks. Everything about the girl was beautiful, she tapped her pinky on Kate's ear as a sign for her to pull her head forward. Kate followed the order and moved her head down so Yelena could finish the braid. After Yelena finished the braid, she laid it over Kate's shoulder.

"Finished." she announced.

"Thanks," Kate replied, twisting the end of it between her fingers.

"No problem Katie."

Kate's cheeks turned more pink at the nickname, she gave Yelena an uneasy smile as she turned her chair around to face her.

The two nursed on their cups of coffee while they waited for the rest of their friends to come downstairs. Peter was the next to come down, his messy brown hair flopping up and down as he made his way down the stairs while he talked to Pepper. Pepper nodded her head along to whatever the boy was saying as he grabbed the bag of eggos from the freezer. Pepper turned on the three, double toaster ovens. Peter started dropping waffles into the twelve slots between the three toasters while Pepper pulled out the chocolate spread, peanut butter, butter, syrup and placed them on the counter. Pietro sped down the stairs next, his speed making Peter's hair fly up a little as he sped by the shorter boy; the younger teen grumbled in annoyance as he reached up and started to attempt to flatten his hair. Pietro snagged an apple from the boy's hand and sat down in his seat, he already had a cup of coffee in his hand.

Yelena rolled her eyes, "Show off." she mumbled.

"You're just jealous that I can do it." he replied, grinning at her.

"No I'm not!" she replied indignantly, crossing her arms over her chest.

He shrugged, "Whatever you say blondie."

Yelena rolled her eyes at the boy, "You're blonde too," she replied.

"It's silver." he corrected.

"It's actually ash-blonde," Peter cut in, not looking up from what he was doing.

"Don't encourage her small fry," the older boy replied, leaning over the counter to mess with Peter's hair.

Peter dodged his hand and placed a plate of waffles in front of him, "Round one Señor," he announced.

"Gracias oh small one," he replied teasingly one he realized that the boy was practicing his Spanish for their Spanish-speaking quiz that afternoon.

Peter rolled his eyes, "I'll give your food to Lena." he grumbled as he pouted slightly.

Pietro snorted and started slathering peanut butter onto his waffles, "She won't take them now." he replied.

Yelena eyed his plate, "Disgusting." she remarked, her nose wrinkling slightly.

"Don't knock till ya try it blondie."

"I have." she shuddered as she paused her statement, "I stand by my statement." she replied in disgust.

Peter handed Kate and Yelena each a plate of waffles, "Your waffles." he announced.

"Thanks Pete" Kate replied, taking each plate.

"Yes thank you Peter Parker."

"You're welcome."

Wanda and Penny came down stairs next, they were making small conversation as Lucky followed the two of them down stairs.

"You look comfortable witchy," Pietro announced, motioning to his sister's velvet pants.

"I am," she replied, sitting down next to him.

"You girls have fun last night?" Peter asked setting a plate of waffles in front of Penny and Wanda.

"Uh huh, we watched the Edge of Seventeen, Nadine looks like Kate. But Kate doesn't agree with me or Wanda, but she does." Penny replied, nodding her head.

Peter grinned at her as she grabbed the chocolate spread and put a little on her plate.

"Don't forget to wash your hand's Pietro, we don't need a hospital stay." Pepper reminded the ash-blond.

"You got it Pep," the boy replied, giving her a mock salute.

The woman rolled her deep blue eyes at the boy before turning her attention to Peter who was still putting eggos in the toasters, "Peter, sit down and eat your breakfast, I'll finish the extra waffles."

"You sure Pepper?" he asked.

She kissed his cheek, "Yes I'm a hundred percent sure. Now eat." she replied, handing him a plate of eight waffles.

"Where's Morgan?" Kate asked.

The woman sighed, "She's got a cold this morning. Tony's taking her to the doctor, so I'm taking you six to school."

"Oh...didn't she have the flu like two months ago?"

"Yes, but there's a viral cold going around her school. Stephen's back at the Sanctum in London, so we're down a doctor."

"She'll be okay right?" Penny asked.

"She'll be fine sweetpea," she assured, giving the younger girl a reassuring smile.

Peter climbed into the seat next to Penny, "I like the jumper princess," he announced.

Penny looked down at the blue jean jumper with little mushrooms on it, "Thank's Petey." she replied.

"Are you going to be okay today?" he asked.

She nodded her head, and grabbed his hand, "I think so," she replied.

"Good, call me if you need to," he replied.

"I will." she replied

He decided to get his point across, knowing she probably wouldn't do it, "I mean it, it doesn't matter if I'm in class. Call me."

She nodded her head and laid it on his shoulder, "I promise."

Peter studied her for a second, ".....Okay." he replied with a nod of his head.

The group soon finished their food and put their plates into the dishwasher before following Pepper out to the black Cadillac that Happy had pulled up to the door for them. She thanked Happy when he handed her the keys and the teenagers piled into the car. They arrived at the school at seven thirty, a half hour before school started. Pietro grabbed Peter's arm and drug him over to where Brad was. Out of the corner of her eye, Penny caught sight of the two boys talking with Brad and his friends. She tensed up next to Wanda.

Wanda grabbed her hand, "Don't worry about it peanut, they're fine. Pietro and Peter can handle themselves."

Penny slowly nodded her head.

The four girls followed Pepper into the building, Pepper left them as she went into the front office, asking to speak with the principal on an important matter. The three older girls prayed a silent prayer for the man to whatever God was listening to them at the moment and made their way to the technology hall.

Coach Jennings looked up at the four girls who made their way into her classroom, she noticed two of them as her students. She set down her paperwork and looked up at the two girls.

"Miss Maximoff, Miss Parker, what can I help you with? I didn't realize you knew each other." she announced.

The two girls greeted her, "We need to talk to you about something Coach Jennings," Wanda announced.

"If it is about a grade, I cannot change it; however you two are some of my best students, so I doubt that's the issue. What's going on?" the woman asked, slightly straightening her posture.
"You have a Bradley Davis and Chris Mackey in your class, right?" Wanda asked

"Yes I do, they are desk partners with Miss Parker. Is something the matter with them?"

"They're fine-"

"Unfortunately..." Yelena muttered under her breath, causing Wanda to give her a small glare.

"But Penny needs to tell you something, don't you peanut?" Wanda replied, gently motioning for the younger girl to speak up.

"Um...."

"Go ahead Miss Parker," the woman replied, crossing her arms.

"Yes ma'am...well you see, um Brad is my cousin..."

"I didn't know that," the woman replied, intrigue starting to set in.

"N-not many people do..." the brunet replied, "but we uh we don't have a good relationship a-and I was wondering if I could possibly change seats?"

"May I know the reason? The fact that you don't have a good relationship with him, isn't a good enough reason to move your seat."

"R-right...well it's been going on for a while...he uh he told me n-not to say anything about it...b-but..."

The woman decided to get to the point, it was obvious the girl was getting uncomfortable, "Are you saying that Mister Davis is bullying you?" she asked, picking up the signs from the girl's behavior.

"Y-yes ma'am." she replied softly.

The woman softened slightly, "Well that's a good reason to move you then. Why haven't you said a-anything?" she asked

"N-no one's ever cared b-before and it makes things worse..."

The woman nodded, "Is Mister Mackey bothering you as well?"

Penny nodded her head.

"I see, well Miss Parker, usually I don't move my students this far into the semester; however, seeing the importance of this matter, I will make an exception. I will be referring Mister Davis and Mister Mackey to the office for disciplinary action. Where would you like to sit?" she asked.

"In the front if that's okay."

"Of course, since there are only three students in a row, I'll move you next to Sarah McConnell, is that okay with you?"

Penny gave her a small smile, "Yes ma'am, thank you."

"You're welcome. Miss Parker, if this continues, please let me know. I take bullying very seriously."

Penny nodded , "Yes ma'am."

"See peanut," Wanda replied, running a hand through the girl's hair, "I told you we'd fix it. Let's get you to Geometry. Thank you, Coach, for listening." she replied, giving the gray-haired woman a small smile.

"No problem girls." the woman replied.

The girls all filed out of the computer lab and started making their way down to the math hall; they were a group on a mission.

In the principal's office, Principal Morita was looking at the woman across from him. She looked calm and collected, however, the way she was drumming her fingers on the sleeve of her pin-striped blazer, proved that she was keeping herself calm.

He decided to speak to the strawberry blonde in front of him, "To what do I owe the honor Miss Potts?" he asked.

"I thought we handled this issue before, but I'm back for the same reason." she announced, she sounded slightly angry.

He frowned, remembering their last conversation when she sounded this eerily calm yet angry, "Is someone still bothering Mister Parker?" he asked, "He um he hasn't mentioned anything about it to anyone. We can't exactly do our job if he keeps it to himself." he replied nervously, the woman in front of him made him uneasy.

"This isn't about Peter, it's about someone else." she replied.

"Do you have another child in my school?"

"Yes I do, her name is Penny Parker."

"Penny...ah yes, Mister Parker's younger sister. She seems to be fitting in quite well, she's at the top of all of her classes, there is not a single complaint about her." he replied, giving the woman a small smile, hoping that the woman would be happy with the news.

The strawberry-blonde nodded her head softly, her expression unchanging, "That's good to hear, but a group of upperclassmen have been bullying my daughter." she announced.

He swallowed, thickly, "Really? No one's noticed anything..." he replied.

"The same boy who was bothering Peter a couple years ago has now moved on to picking on my daughter." she replied.

"I can assure that Mister Thompson will face some sort of disciplinary action for his actions, I apologize for his behavior."

"I'm not finished, he's actually one of the nicer ones." she replied, cutting him off before he could make an excuse, "I'm here to file a complaint about Bradley Davis and Chris Mackey, as well as a Scott Harvey, Adam Anderson, Spencer Gilreath, and a Dean Johansonn. They have been taking things too far with their bullying."

Principal Morita nodded his head, "Please continue," he replied, knowing better than to cut the woman off; he'd seen enough interviews with reporters doing that to the woman in front of him and it never ended well for any of them.

"My daughter has been coming home with bruises." Pepper replied, her gaze steely.

"The camera's haven't caught any fights in the building." he replied, laughing uncomfortably as he tugged at his tie.

"That's because there haven't been any." she announced, crossing one leg over the other as she straightened her posture in her chair, "They have been pinching, elbowing, tripping, and pulling her hair since the beginning of the school year. She's terrified of this place, she doesn't want to come to school half of the time. She's a bright girl with a bright future, and I don't want a group of imbeciles harassing her until they graduate. And before you say anything about her needing to talk to people, they've been threatening her." she replied, narrowing her eyes as if she was challenging him to make an excuse on behalf of the five boys.

"I apologize for their behavior." the man replied.

"Brad Davis has been harassing and bullying my daughter since she was five years old. His parents refused to help her and let the abuse continue at home. Now that she is under my care, I refuse to stand by and watch her become more and more terrified of this place or of some immature teenage boy who thinks that it is alright for him to abuse and harrass her just because he can."

The man nodded, "I understand Miss Potts."

"I don't think you do. Penny used to live in an environment that was extremely neglectful and harmful to her physically and mentally. She's been terrified of Bradley Davis and his family for the majority of her childhood and I want this taken care of immediately. I will sue the school and these boys parent's if something isn't done about this soon."

He swallowed thickly at the mention of a lawsuit, "I can assure you the issue will be handled. I'll speak to her teachers myself and tell them to keep an eye out." he replied.

"She's talking to her teachers as we speak, that is not needed but it would be most appreciated." she replied, giving him a semi-sweet smile, "However I'd also like to speak to you about Liz Allan."

"What about her?"

"She's been bullying her as well. I want her to face suspension at the least, for the things she's been saying to my daughter."

"Miss Potts-" he started.

She held her hand up, "I know all about her father and honestly I don't care; after all the man tried to rob my company. Her father is a criminal, while it is sad that she is currently without a father, it doesn't mean that she gets to harass my daughter. Penny is thirteen years old, I don't appreciate a seventeen year old picking on someone who is four years younger than her."

"I think we can come to an agreement," the dark-haired man replied.

Pepper smiled sweetly at him, "Perfect. Principal Morita, what can you do for me?" she asked, slightly leaning forward in the chair across from him.

The man cleared his throat and started speaking.

Pietro and Peter were walking down the hall, when they saw Liz. Peter shook his head and sighed heavily; he wasn't looking forward to what he was about to do.

"You'll do fine, little brother." Pietro told him as he ruffled the teen's messy hair.

Peter frowned, "I can't believe I ever liked her....that I loved her. How could I fall for someone so-so..."

"Mean?" Pietro asked when the younger boy stopped talking.

He nodded, "Yeah! I thought she was this great person, but she's not. And it sucks...."

"You see the good in people. It's this thing in you and princessa that draws people to you. You're charismatic and smart and funny and people want that. Sometimes it draws the wrong people. Don't take it to heart Pete, just do what you want to do and we'll fix everything else." the older boy replied.

Peter nodded, "Thanks."

Peter walked over to Liz where she was standing with some of her friends, she smiled brightly and waved at him. He gave a small, unenthusiastic wave back.

"Hey babe." she replied, grabbing his hand as she leaned in for a kiss.

Peter pulled his hand out of her grasp and shoved it into his pocket as he leaned away from her, "Can I talk to you...in private please?" he asked, when the girl's friends were still there.

"Sure baby," she replied, "I'll catch up with you girls later." she told her friends, shooing them away. "What did you want to talk to me about?" she asked, giving him a sweet smile.

"I'm breaking up with you Liz." he announced, not bothering to sugar coat his response, she didn't deserve it.

"What? You're breaking up with me?!" she asked, shocked at his words.

"Yes. I am." he replied.

"Why, what did I do wrong?" she asked, starting to shed fake tears.

Peter could tell they were fake, they didn't have the same glucose smell they did as sad ones; his sense of smell had taught him that. "I know those aren't real Liz," he replied.

She stopped crying, her tears immediately ceasing as she crossed her arms over her chest, anger brimming in her eyes, "Fine. Why are you breaking up with me then?" she asked, her tone flat and angry, "Don't you know how lucky you are that I chose you?"

"You've been bullying my sister. You've been bullying a lot of people actually." he corrected, he was angry and hurt, "I don't want to be with someone who makes everyone feel bad because it makes you feel better about yourself. I'm not lucky if I'm with someone like that and you'll find other people."

"I'm helping her grow thicker skin." she replied, her tone flat.

"She doesn't need thicker skin," he replied as he narrowed his eyes at her, "she's already got these walls built up around her that she uses to push everyone away. She needs those walls broken down a little, not built up so thick that she doesn't seek help when she needs it." he replied, his tone slightly growing louder. He paused for a few seconds and pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed so he could rein in his voice; he opened his eyes, giving her a dark glare, "How dare you tell her that I hated her and that I would send her back. I would never send her back there, they were awful to her. You might not have been the one leaving the bruises, but you were the one that caused the most damage. She's thirteen and you were my girlfriend, you're supposed to love her like she's your little sister and if you didn't love her you should at least be nice to her. And you should love her because she's my sister and you love me. You were wrong for what you did. Nothing you've done was to help her, it was to make you happy, to make you feel better about yourself."

Liz faltered for a second at the boy's glare, she'd never seen Peter look so angry even when Flash was insulting him to the point where most people would break down in tears; she rolled her eyes, deciding that she wasn't going to let him shake her, "She was being so selfish. Always hanging around you, hugging you. You call her princess, I want that." she replied, stomping her foot slightly like a little kid wanting to get her way, "It doesn't matter if she's your sister or not; you're my boyfriend. I'm supposed to have you all to myself, I'm not sharing with a thirteen year old brat who's too weak to stand up for herself." she spat.

Peter clenched his fist in his pocket, "She's not a brat and I'm not your boyfriend. Not anymore. And I never will be again. She's my sister, you could share me with my friends and with my sister. I call her princess because her dad did, it was the nickname our dad called her and my uncle Ben. Your dad already called you his princess, he still calls you his little princess." he replied, finding her reasons for doing what she did ridiculous, "She's not weak either, she's strong and she's brave. She doesn't stand up for herself because she doesn't know how to! All her life she's been told to take it and that no one cares. Well I care, Pietro cares, all my friends care! You are the one being selfish Liz, so incredibly selfish." he replied angrily.

"Me? Selfish?" she asked loudly.

He nodded, his ears ringing from the anger he was feeling and her steadily increasing voice, "Yes, you! How could I not see what an awful person you are! You're selfish and cruel Liz. You tear people down to make yourself feel better because you're insecure. You flirt with other guys when I'm not around, you flirt with Pietro, who's basically my brother. How come you can flirt with other people, but I can't have female friends or be around my sister? Don't you see how toxic that is?" he asked, hurt ringing in his voice.

"Because you're special Peter." she angrily snapped, "I don't know why, but you are. A lot of people like you and I guarantee you that your little girl friends see you as more than a friend."

"They do, because we're family." Peter replied, rolling her eyes.

"You don't think that freak Wanda likes you. I see the way she looks at you, how gentle she is. She's a bitch to everyone else but to you and your little friends she's different-"

"Don't call her that." He snapped, clenching his fists a little tighter in his pockets, "Wanda is an amazing person, she's not bitchy and she's not a freak. She doesn't want to let people in because of people like you. People like you, who judge her just because of how she dresses and has a slight accident. Her home was destroyed a few years ago, completely destroyed. All her Sokovian friends died, her parents died...so she blocks people out. It takes a while for her to warm up to people and she doesn't want to get with me. That's gross, she's almost eighteen, I'm barely sixteen. She's my sister." he replied, his nose scrunching at his words.

She scoffed, rolling his eyes in disbelief, "What about Kate Bishop? She's always hugging you and laughing at what you say. She holds your hand too, if you want to tell me that she doesn't have some sort of crush on you then you're an idiot." she shot back.

Peter laughed at the brunette's words, "Kate's love language is physical touch."" he replied, "She loves hugging people, it's who she is. She's always hugging everyone and holding their hands, it's how she shows she loves you. And she loves to laugh, I rarely hear her not laughing. It's why we love her. And Kate is definitely not interested in me." he replied, trying not to laugh at his last sentence.

"How do you know that?"

"Have you ever listened to a conversation when she talks about relationships?" he asked.

She rolled her eyes, "Why would I do that," she asked, disgust clear in her voice, "I don't want to hear her talk about you."

Peter rolled his eyes, almost everyone knew that Kate was gay, she was very open about her sexuality, "She talks about girls Liz." he replied, "She's gay, she's not even physically attracted to boys at all. Besides, she likes someone else and it definitely is not me, Kate's one of my best friends."

Liz's face fell for a second, "Oh...well what about Yelena?" she asked, completely discarding the boy's response.

"What about her?" Peter asked.

"She's so hard to read. She's always standing around when I'm around and she just stares with her creepy stares. She just stands there with her arms crossed over her chest or shoved in her pockets."

"Because she doesn't trust you and I can see why." Peter replied, he could feel the angry tears slipping out of his eyes, "And Yelena literally calls me her baby brother half the time. It's really annoying because I'm eight months younger than her. Yelena only likes one person like that and that person feels the same way for her. We're trying to get them together, I wanted to go on double dates with you when we finally got them together." he replied sighing, his heart feeling like it was breaking more and more as he spoke; he was definitely angry but he had loved her and it hurt to be doing this, but he knew it was the best thing, "But that's not happening ever. We're done Liz. I don't want to talk to you about this anymore." he replied, "I can't believe I ever saw anything in you." he finished, his voice slightly cracking.

Peter turned around and wiped angry tears from his eyes as he walked back over to Pietro, he ignored Liz calling out to him. Pietro ruffled his hair and pulled him under his arm in an effort to make him feel better, when he saw the boy's tears. Pietro walked with the younger boy back to where they were going to meet the other group. Finally, the six teens met back up with Pepper in front of the building , where the strawberry-blonde was waiting for them.

"I've handled everything sweetpea," the woman replied, pressing a gentle kiss on the girl's forehead, when Penny walked over to her.

"Thank you," she replied softly, hugging the woman softly.

"Don't mention it baby," she replied softly as she hugged the younger girl; her eyes caught the sight of Peter who still had thick wet tears running down his cheeks, "Peter sweetie, why are you crying?" she asked as reached over to him and wiped a tear away with her thumb.

"I-I dumped Liz..." he whispered, "I feel so angry and it hurts..." he replied, his voice raw with emotion.

"Oh baby," the blue-eyed woman replied as she pulled him in for a small hug.

Penny ran over to him and hugged him, her small arms wrapped around his waist as she smashed her face into his chest, "I'm sorry Peter," she whispered.

He hugged her back, "I'm sorry too princess. But I'll be okay, we'll be okay." he replied, pushing his head down into her hair.

"You girls get everything fixed in her classes?" Pepper asked as Peter pulled away from her.

"Yep," Kate replied.

"Coach Jennings agreed to move Penny up to the front of the classroom away from Brad and Chris. Josh and Robbie are going to sit with her at lunch and my friend Scarlett said she would before she moves-"

"And Penny has switched seats with Brianne in our geometry class," Yelena added, accidentally cutting the redhead off.

Pepper grinned at the younger teenager, "See, everything is being fixed sweepea. Tony is going to have Brad put on a restraining order at the hearing."

"Will he have to move schools?" the thirteen year old asked.

"No, he won't. He won't be put in any of your classes next year and he'll be barred from being around you at lunch and in your class you share." Pepper replied.

Penny nodded.

"Well I better go, school's starting in five minutes." the strawberry-blonde announced, hugging each of the teenagers before walking towards her car, "You kids get to class and if there are any problems text or call me."

The group of teens nodded and watched the strawberry blonde climb into the SUV before driving off.

Almost eight hours later, Penny was waiting for Peter at his locker for school with Pietro, who decided to tag along just in case he was needed. The day had gone well. For once, she ate lunch in peace for the first time in a while, and she could actually enjoy her technology class. She now sat with Josh in her French class, he was really good at the language to her surprise and he was funny, really funny. He called her kid most of the time, which reminded her of Tony because that was what Tony called Peter most of the time and he walked her to the Gym that day. Liz hadn't said anything to her at all throughout the class, and whenever Penny caught her looking at her the older girl quickly averted her eyes when Josh did something behind her. Overall, the day went well, maybe the rest of the school wouldn't be too bad. A few moments later, Peter walked over to his locker, he grinned at her as she threw herself at him, hugging him as tight as she could. He laughed and spun around for a few seconds, causing her legs to spin out a little at the action. Finally, things seemed to be looking up.

A/N: 

Thank you guys so much for 3.5K reads! That is so cool!!!