Penny woke up at five a.m. on Monday morning, she excitedly threw off the pale green duvet cover that she'd gotten for her birthday and climbed out of her bed. She slipped on a pair of slippers and grabbed a towel off of the coat rack behind her door and walked over to her dresser. She grabbed another oversized t-shirt and some under clothes before slipping into the bathroom to get her shower. The brunette stripped herself from her pajamas and pinned her curls up on top of her head to avoid getting wet before she stepped into the shower. She turned the water on and let the hot water cascade over herself, using her powers to keep her stitches and hair dry. Fifteen minutes later, she stepped out onto the soft striped rug in the bathroom that she shared with her brother and started drying herself off. A few moments later, she had pulled on the t-shirt and her underclothes and walked out of the bathroom and into her bedroom. She pulled the clip out of her hair, letting her long, hip length curls unravel themselves. She sprayed them down with detangler and ran her comb through them before pulling a section up and starting to braid it back before pinning it up into a bun. She used her powers to hold a mirror and angle it to see how her hair looked. She smiled proudly to herself when she saw her handiwork, mentally thanking Yelena and Wanda for showing her how to braid her hair in different ways. She started digging around in her dresser, looking for an outfit to wear for her first day back to school in almost two months. She settled on a high-waisted pair of floral patterned navy blue shorts and a cropped matching blouse that was decorated with small ribbons on its sleeves; it effectively covered her stitches, the small black thread had yet to be removed just yet. She put back on the gold opal necklace that Peter had given her from May before walking back over to her bed and unplugging her phone. She stuffed it in her backpack along with her laptop that she rarely used. The brown-eyed teenager slung the bag over her shoulder and draped one of her brother's sweatshirts over her arm while slipping on her flats before she walked over to the door. She walked downstairs to where her brother and Yelena already were. Peter was seated at the counter, nibbling on his first round of french toast and blueberries; he turned around to face the fourteen year old and grinned at her.
"Morning princess." he greeted.
She offered a toothy smile and a small wave, "Mornin' Petey." she greeted.
He pulled out the stool next to him, "Sit here," he replied, patting the top of it as he nibbled on a handful of blueberries.
She nodded and placed her backpack by the door where the other two teen's backpacks were and walked over to where he was seated. He pulled her stool closer to him once she settled down and put a couple pieces of French toast and a handful of blueberries on her plate before setting it in front of her. She thanked him and started slicing up the pieces of the fried bread while he stuffed another bite of toast into his mouth. He tilted his head back moaning in happiness at the food, she grinned and sighed in content, feeling everything slipping back into normalcy, something that she'd missed during the past few weeks. A few moments later, the twins appeared downstairs; Pietro was in his usual ripped, dark skinny jeans, fitted tee and jacket, his longer hair half pulled back in a ponytail. His sister had her red curls braided back, its end draped over her shoulder, with a small purple ribbon weaving its way throught the long braid. Her purple and black dress was paired with another set of decalled fishnets, platform combat boots, and a black leather jacket with a choker. The redhead made her way over to the coffee machine and fixed herself her first cup of the morning and used her powers to teleport a cup to where her twin was sitting. Pietro sat on Penny's other side and ruffled her hair, giving her the largest grin he could muster at the moment before taking a long sip of his coffee.
"Good morning princessa," he greeted.
"Good morning Pietro." she replied, giving him a large smile.
He started stacking pieces of toast on his plate, ignoring the blueberries that were placed in the large bowl on the counter, "You excited for school?" he asked.
She nodded her head excitedly at the ash blond teen, "I've been ready for a week." she replied.
He laughed, "We've missed you there princess, we need you to bring the peace back please." he announced, he turned to look at her, "School's been so boring with without you; I've missed waiting for you outside for you and at Peter's locker."
She grinned at him.
He flashed her a large, toothy smile, "Now that you're back, life will return to the school."
The fourteen year old giggled at the older teen and took another bite of her breakfast, falling back into her old pace.
The two boys both got another helping as Kate came downstairs, her wavy brown locks pulled up in a large messy bun on the top of her head with a few strands falling out that framed her face. Yelena held out a cup of coffee to the girl as well as a plate of French toast and powdered sugar. The sleepy blue-eyed girl thanked her and kissed her cheek sweetly before taking the two things from her. She sat down in front of the blonde teenager, letting the girl play with the decals on the neckline of her shirt while she ate. The four girls finished eating before the two boys did and went into the living room. Wanda sat next to Penny and placed her arm over the younger girl's shoulders, the telltale red glow of her powers twisting around her fingertips. Penny looked down at her fingers, considering showing her own powers to the redhead, she could feel them trying to push their way out of her body. She quickly pushed that thought away when her anxieties started pushing their way forward. Kate was sitting in Yelena's lap in their usual spot on the couch, absent-mindedly playing with her fingers that were settling in her lap. Yelena had her chin resting on her girlfriend's shoulder while the four girls waited for Peter and Pietro to finish their breakfast. A few moments later, Morgan came running in the room, she was ready to finish her last week of school. She jumped onto Penny's lap, causing the fourteen year old, who let out a squeak of surprise, mixed with slight pain. Penny grinned at her little sister after the eight year old apologized and hugged her tightly, ignoring how her pigtails tickled her nose; she was happy.
An hour later, they were standing outside the school once again. Penny was squished in between Pietro and her brother, who were both telling her to call them if she felt sick or anxious at any moment of the day. She saw Wanda sigh and Yelena and Kate shaking their heads at the two boys. She sighed at her brother and pseudo older brother and did her best to assure them that she'd be fine, while shooting the other three girls a pleading look to distract them. Robbie and Josh soon came over to the group, both grinning when they saw her and quickening their pace over to them.
"Hey kid!" the darker hair teen greeted.
"Hi Josh," she replied, giving him a slight wave.
Robbie reached over and gently ruffled her hair, "Hey squirt, it's good to have you back." he replied, he was the only one of Pietro's friends that knew where the younger girl really was.
She flashed them both a big grin, "I'm glad to be back." she replied.
"Glad you're feeling better, you were sick for a good while." Josh commented.
She nodded, "Oh yeah.....I um I got pneumonia....a-and my uh my spleen ruptured so I had to have it removed." she replied, flashing a slightly flustered smile.
The boy's eyes wided, "Jesus," he replied with a low whistle, "well I'm glad you're all better."
She nodded her head, she was glad she was better too.
Robbie flashed her a smile, "Well, we gotta go squirt," he announced, "Coach wants us in class for an early study session for the exam before homeroom."
"See you guys later." Pietro replied, waving the two off.
Peter slung an arm around his sister's shoulders grinning, he was glad that his sister had friends. The six of them talked a little bit before MJ walked over, her hair pulled up in a messy ponytail. The brunet could feel his heart rate speeding up and his palms felt sweaty as she walked over to them. He'd started noticing more things about her in the past few months, especially since January. The way her eyes sparkled when she shot Flash's snarky comments down or when she talked about a particularly interesting book or how enamored she got when talking about a topic she was interested in. The way her curls were messy and unruly, yet pretty in a way that only she seemed to be able to pull off. That she wore the same dark brown jacket every day, no matter what or how she always seemed to smell of jasmine and lemongrass. He failed to remember their conversations now, he just knew he got excited, and he felt sick to his stomach whenever he thought about her, but in a good way. He stood there grinning like an idiot, hoping he didn't look as stupid as he felt while she talked with his sister and Wanda. He was slightly shocked that MJ had switched up from calling someone by their dedicated nickname when she'd referred to Penny by her name and had given her a small side hug instead of her usual "mini loser". He watched her leave and waved awkwardly, mentally cursing himself after she was out of sight with Wanda. Why was he so weird?
Pietro chuckled at him and leaned over, "Small fry you are as my pops would say twitterpated." he teased, slightly nudging him in the side with his elbow.
Peter smacked his arm, "Am not, shut up P." he replied, his ears flushing a bright red.
Pietro ruffled his hair, which had been trimmed the previous day by Wanda who was tired of it being in his eyes all the time, it was back to his slightly longer length that he'd sported it in when he was younger, "Whatever you say, little brother." the ash-blond teased
Peter swatted his hand away, rolling his eyes as he ducked the older teen's touch, "I'm not twitterpated. MJ and I are just friends." he replied, trying to convince himself almost as much as was trying to convince the eighteen year old.
Pietro smirked at him, seemingly amused.
Peter rolled his eyes again, "I'm leaving." he announced; he decided on avoiding further teasing from the taller teenager, he lightly grabbed Penny's arm, "Princess, let's get to your locker." he announced.
She nodded, "Okay Petey. Bye Lena, bye Kate, bye P." she replied, waving at the older teens.
They waved back at the curly-haired girl who was being gently pulled by her arm inside the school. Peter pulled his sister to her locker so she could pull out some of her textbooks from her backpack. He helped her put her items away but continued to insist on carrying the bag for her, even though it was lighter than it had been recently; it was purely for the fact that he was worried that she'd rip her stitches if she carried too much. They walked down to their English class and took their seats. Peter placed his younger sister's backpack on the floor next to her before pulling out his textbook, notebook, and his laptop. She grinned at him and thanked him before pulling out her own items and placing them on the table in front of her. They made small talk together for the next few minutes before the bell rang and a few other students welcomed the fourteen year old back. The bell rang a few moments later and their teacher walked in, she stopped in front of Penny, a small smile creeping its way on her face.
"Welcome back Miss Parker." she greeted the younger girl.
Penny grinned at the younger woman, "Thank you Miss Moore."
Penny focused her attention to the front of the classroom and continued to focus on what they were reviewing; the familiar sound of Kahoot filled the room and she grinned. She logged in and the game started, by the end of the game she was in first place and Peter was in a very close second. The last question passed and she clicked the answer right before her brother did; she ended up winning, making him grin proudly at her. He reached over to ruffle her hair and she dodged his hand, making him laugh. The bell rang once again a few moments later and they started walking to their next classes. Her classes passed quickly and without a problem in any of them. In French, she found out she was ahead of her class from her French practice with Loki when she was in captivity. Loki was unsurprisingly good at languages, which was to be considered, considering that he was over a thousand years old. In the gym she'd sat out, it didn't count against her considering everything, but it had been a little boring not being able to participate in class. Yelena and Wanda had spent the majority of the class playing badminton in front of where she was seated so they could talk to her so she wouldn't be completely by herself. By her shared geometry class with Kate and Yelena, her second to last of the day, she was exhausted and ready to go home. She was sitting behind Yelena, forcing herself to keep her eyes open while they watched a video for their geometry review. Her eyes burned with exhaustion and her body screamed to sleep, luckily she had no homework; she'd done it all at lunch or in her left over time in class so she could sleep when she got home. She gripped onto her pen, scribbling circles in the corner of her notebook so she would stay awake. The video ended and their math teacher flipped the light on announcing that they could do whatever they wanted. Kate and Yelena turned around to face her.
"Are you okay Little P?" the brunette asked, noticing the younger girl's expression.
Penny nodded, "Mhmmm just tired." she replied, stifling a yawn.
Yelena nodded, "I bet you are," she replied, her accent still thick as if she'd just come to the country, "you were sick for so long that it took a lot of energy out of you. You need to build your energy back up, I'm surprised you lasted this long buba."
Penny nodded, she knew Lena was right, "I used to do this all the time...I don't understand what's different this time." she replied quietly.
She remembered going to school hiding dislocated joints, broken fingers or arms, broken ribs, a concussion, several bruises and various other injuries. After having her appendix taken out when she was nine after a particularly bad beating from her uncle that had caused it rupture, she'd been sent back to school right after she'd been discharged. Instead of taking her home and letting her rest for the rest of the week like she'd been told they'd dropped her off at school with a doctor's note saying she'd been sick and told her to make sure that her stitches didn't rip because they wouldn't be taking her back to get them redone. She remembered several incidents of similar proportions, the lies she'd told had been mediocre at best and looking back at them she wondered why everyone believed her when she told them. Yelena's response pulled her out of her thoughts.
The blonde reached over and lightly flicked her forehead, "Because you have people who care this time about you, Penny Parker, and did what they were supposed to do. You've gotten used to being treated like a human being, like a child; like you should be instead of an animal. You were able to relax and recover like you should, not run on adrenaline and fear of something happening again." she replied.
Penny nodded, she hadn't really thought of it that way, she'd been so used to the abuse that it was normal, it never fazed her. Even after all these months it still felt weird getting used to how her parents and everyone at the compound treated her, "Sometimes I forget that it wasn't normal..." she replied, her voice almost in a whisper.
Kate nodded, "I know...my mom never hit me but she was never affectionate unless she had to be. I was never used to all the hugs and being asked if I was okay and what I wanted. I know my mom loved me, but she never showed it. She never really said I love you or celebrated anything I did really, it took a while to get used to." she replied.
Yelena shrugged slightly, her green eyes glistening with emotion, "The red room never gave us any type of party, I would've forgotten when my birthday was if it wasn't for Natasha. There was a schedule we had to follow; the only celebration they ever had was the graduation ceremony where they did the surgery.'' The blonde shuddered, she heard the stories and remembered hearing her sister cry about how she'd never be able to have children with Steve when she was drunk once, it was something that haunted her nightmares. Kate reached over and placed her hand on top of hers, "There was training and sleep, nothing more, nothing less. When I first came here, it took a bit to get used to the lack of a schedule. I didn't have to ask permission for everything, didn't have to sleep with a knife under my pillow just in case, and didn't have to worry about leaving one day and never waking up. I got to make my own choices, something I hadn't done since I was four years old. I used to be so angry. But we understand, it takes getting used too, it takes a while to undo the damage of what was created through years of abuse and manipulation." she replied, completely understanding where Penny was coming from.
Penny nodded, "It happened for so long that it felt normal. I knew it was wrong but it didn't bother me that much, because I thought that I deserved it for some reason...I got used to keeping everything to myself because no one believed me o-or they did nothing that I got used to not talking about it." She squeezed her eyes closed, and shook her head, "I get scared..." she whispered.
Yelena pushed herself up from her chair to where she was sitting on the brunette's desk, she placed her hand on the younger girl's shoulder, "I know you do buba...but I'm not going to let anything happen, none of us will." she assured, "We take care of each other."
"I-I know that...sometimes I get worried and I wonder if I deserve it because it feels weird getting things. I never really got new clothes. I got clothes maybe once every two years, but that was only from donation bins that they stole from. I never got to see their friends and I was locked in the closet when they had company. I knew better than to make noise because I'd get in trouble and that made things worse...I hate the dark..." she whispered, shuddering slightly at the memories of being locked in the small, dark closet.
Kate nodded and gave her a sad smile, "We know little P...." she replied quietly.
"I hate it...I feel alone and I feel like I'm back in my room and that one of them is going to pull me out again and that I'll wake up and this will all be a dream but I really don't want this to be a dream."
Kate frowned, "Penny..." she whispered, she stood up from her desk and hugged the girl, pulling her close to her chest, "it's not a dream, I promise. This is all real...we're here and Peter's here. Everything that has happened has happened...good and bad...you have exams starting Thursday...your party's next week. It's all real, I promise." she replied, giving the girl the tightest hug she could muster.
She felt Penny nod and squeeze her arm.
Yelena looked at the younger girl, noticing the temporary change in her eye color, their deep brown hue changed to a vibrant amber before returning to their usual shade. "Penny Parker, we are survivors, nothing can change that and nothing will put any of us back where we came from." she replied, pushing away the questions that were forming in her mind when she saw the younger girl's eyes.
Penny nodded and gave them both a smile.
The bell rang fifteen minutes later and the two brunettes split off from Yelena to go to their biology class, where they played a series of games that were created to help them study for their exam. When the bell rang, Penny split off from Kate, who went to find Yelena, so she could go over to Peter's locker. She waited for her brother by his locker and the curly-haired boy soon appeared, sporting a large grin when he saw her. He quickened his pace and hugged her, pressing a gentle kiss against her temple before putting his books in his locker and plucking her bag from off her shoulder and slinging it over his other one. He slung his other arm around her shoulders and started guiding her through the group of teenagers who were pouring out the doors. They arrived at their usual spot, being the first ones there. Pietro appeared a few moments later, a few strands falling out of his ponytail and into his face. He leaned against the lamppost and crossed his arms against his chest, greeting the youngest two members of their group before the other three teens came over. Ten minutes later Happy had picked them up, Yelena and Kate had taken the back seat so Penny could sit in the middle with Peter and Wanda. Penny ended up dozing off on the car ride back to the compound with her head on her brother's shoulder. He didn't have the heart to wake her up when they'd gotten back so he handed her backpack to Pietro and carried her to the elevator and over to the couch once they reached the main floor, deciding to let her rest from the day's activities. He set her down and brushed a stray curl out of her face and draped a blanket over her before going to the kitchen to get his snack. He returned to the living room after finishing his snack and sat beside her, making sure that her head was resting in his lap so she would sleep well.
Over the rest of the week and a half, their exams started. Pietro and Peter had their robotics and engineering exams that Monday morning; Peter was sure he'd failed both of them, but Pietro was sure that the brunet had passed while he knew that he'd scraped by on the skin of his teeth. Wanda had taken her forensic science exam on Monday as well. All three sophomores had their chemistry EOC's that Tuesday and Peter had his physics exam that day as well. Yelena had a dance recital that Wednesday night, in which everyone who was at the compound attended, and during the day she and Wanda finished their last test for the gym finals. Thursday, they all had exams, considering the entire school had their English 1, 3, and 4 exams, as well as the English 2 EOCs for the advanced freshman and the majority of the sophomores that day. They were all relieved when Friday rolled around and they had nothing to do but study in their classes. The classes that they'd completed exams in no longer required their attendance, so they'd spend their time in the library or in the cafeteria, whichever area was quieter at the time for Peter's and Wanda's sake. Monday came again and Morgan didn't have school once since her last day of the third grade was the previous Wednesday, but the teenagers did, they still had two more weeks much to their changrin. That day they had the rest of their science's exams, meaning that Kate and Penny had their Biology EOCs and Wanda had her environmental science exam. Tuesday was the day for math exams, meaning all the teens had an exam that day. Peter was panicking a few hours later, after his and the twins' algebra 2 EOCs, once again convincing himself that he'd failed it like he was sure he had the others. On Wednesday, the seniors had no exams and it was senior ditch day, unfortunately for the group, none of them were seniors just yet. That left them taking their history exams as well as arts classes exams, meaning that Pietro had a concert that night and Kate had to turn in her art final. The next day was foreign language exam day: Penny and Wanda had their French exams in the library while the other four teens had their Spanish exams in their classrooms. Thursday was the last day of exams, it was the computer technology and coding exams. The school would shut down till Tuesday when their results would be in and the last over all "exam" was the orchestra concert the following Thursday that would finish off the grading period and then report cards would come out the following Monday and the school Graduation was that Friday; registration for the next year's classes was the Tuesday through Thursday in between report card distribution day and graduation, then they'd be free for the summer. When Happy picked them up that Thursday, all six were exhausted from exams and were ready to rest for the weekend, but unfortunately, that wasn't going to happen.
A/N:
Sorry for the short chapter and the weeks chapter's being late. I know I said I'd post both chapters on Satarday, but I spent the entire week at summer camp in the mountains(it was amazing to help out at and a lot of fun); we got back on Friday, which happened to be my younger brother's birthday. We ended up celebrating his birthday Saturday instead because we were exausted from camp and my sister had work on Friday. I'm also going through another asthma flare up so yay :((, but chapter forty-seven is here! Chapter updates will continue as usual. Thank you for all the views and I hope you enjoy!