THE BOILER ROOM and the night she had spent there were impossible to push out of Jenna's thoughts — she wasn't sure why, but the memory of last night kept replaying in her mind, no matter how hard she tried to focus on studying and being productive. Falling asleep had been nearly impossible and required too much effort from the girl, who had merely stared at the ceiling and hid under the warm covers whilst smiling to herself. Fitz's accent was vivid in her mind as she recalled their moment just outside her room before she had sneaked in and placed her hand on her twitching lips. He had some kind of a positive effect on her, and maybe that was why Jenna stayed up until the first rays of sunshine were already peeking through the poorly shut blinds on her window.
Still, she had gotten all her homework done in time, and when the first lesson of the next day had a pop quiz, Jenna easily got full points. Sure, she was this shy, awkward girl whose heart was suddenly yearning for Fitz, but she was in the academy for a reason. She was a smart girl with ambitions, and she wasn't going to let any boy come in the way of that.
But she had to admit, she wasn't really disappointed when she was sitting in computer glass, in the backrow where her short, bare nails were clicking quickly against the keyboard. They had been given a list of tasks to complete over the 75 minutes of their lesson, and with a half an hour still left on the clock, Jenna was proudly finishing the last one — which was good, because her rapid typing was suddenly interrupted by an incoming email. The notification popped up on the screen of her laptop, causing Jenna to stop and look up at the unfamiliar email address before her eyes, but it was easy for her to pick up a name from it.
Leo Fitz.
Breaking into a wide grin, Jenna quickly glanced around the classroom to make sure no one would catch her taking a break — not that it was so strictly forbidden, but personally, she hated procrastinating and breaking the rules — and once she came to the conclusion no one paid attention, and the teacher was sitting by his own computer, the blonde clicked on the email and opened it.
"Hi, Jenna. I know, somewhat creepy for me to know what class you are in, but I kind of checked your schedule. How's computer class? - Fitz", was what it read, and in an instant, Jenna's day felt somewhat better. No one had ever bothered to do something like this, put an effort into being friends with her, been interested enough to send messages to her in the middle of a lesson. It warmed her heart, and before she even realized it, she found herself responding to the email with one of her own.
"Hey there, Fitz. Not creepy at all, trust me, this kind of made my day. Computer class is fine, I'm almost done with all the tasks so your timing is impeccable. What class are you in right now?", Jenna replied, too enthusiastic to even reread the message in case she had misspelled some words — she simply sent it, and then proceeded to nervously tick her nail against the table whilst waiting in a state of utter impatience.
A familiar whoosh eventually informed her of a new email, and almost jumping in her seat, Jenna leaned closer to read every word carefully. "Of course you're almost done. You're really smart, duh. I don't have a class at the moment, it just ended and Simmons left me to go somewhere with her idiot boyfriend. Ugh. So now I'm awkwardly sitting on one of these benches and emailing you in the hopes of looking less anti-social", Fitz explained, and Jenna let out a quiet giggle as she imagined the situation, one that she often struggled with, as well. However, something in particular caught her eye, and that was the word boyfriend.
"Jemma has a boyfriend? Who is it? If you don't mind me asking, of course. And what makes him an idiot?", Jenna quickly typed and sent a new reply, before realizing she had something more to say. "And aw, I know the feeling. Don't worry, if you ever need to look social and busy, I'm here for you and your cute emails", the second email said, and even though Jenna was a bit hesitant to send such a brave, confident message, she did so nonetheless.
But it did cause her to feel regret and worry immediately — the kind of nervousness that you felt when sending a risky text, and she hated how it was eating her from within. Luckily, Fitz responded soon enough, and all the heavy weight lifted from Jenna's heart when she opened it and eagerly read over the lines he had typed for her.
"This lad Milton. He's the absolute worst, with his stupid voice and a weirdly shaped head. But whatever. At least I have you — and I do appreciate it, Jenna. Thanks." Jenna's heart swelled as she imagined the sweet words in his adorable voice, and then, she suddenly felt the urge to do something she rarely did — ask him out. Not on a date, obviously, that would have been absurd. But since Fitz had invited her to the boiler room, Jenna wondered if the boy and Jemma would like to join her for lunch after this class — her stomach was starting to growl with hunger, anyway.
"Well, if this idiot Milton leaves her side eventually, would you and Simmons like to have lunch with me after this class? It's completely fine if you don't, but I'd have to eat alone, so...", Jenna nervously typed one more message, and once she had pressed send, fear landed into the pit of her stomach and she ended up chewing on her bottom lip — something she had a bad habit of doing whenever anxiety kicked in.
The seconds felt eternal, and with each tick of the clock on the wall, the ball of worry expanded within Jenna and she felt almost sick, beyond frustrated waiting for a reply. What if Fitz would refuse? Even worse, what if he wouldn't even bother to answer? What if it had been a mistake, what if Jenna had just set their friendship on fire? What if—
But then, she received a new email, and exhaling shakily, Jenna opened it and expected the worse, only to receive the best.
"We'd love to!"
—————
THE EXACT SECOND that the teacher encouraged students to pack their stuff and turn off their computers, Jenna had already rushed out of the door behind an equally eager boy — she wasn't sure what was his deal, but Jenna herself was in a rush because she had agreed to have lunch with Fitz and Simmons. And, just like they had promised, the two geniuses were sitting on one of the benches in the hallway, both of them instantly smiling when their curious gazes landed onto Jenna, who found herself grinning as well. Shrugging her backpack onto her shoulder better, the blonde then gestured for Leo and Jemma to stand up and follow her, which they did without any questions or objections.
"I need to drop my backpack and get my wallet from my room. It'll take just two seconds, I promise", she looked over to her friends, and nodding, both Fitz and Simmons assured that it was perfectly fine.
"No rush. The next class doesn't start in another hour or so. And we already picked the perfect place to eat in — there's this little café type of place in the lobby and you simply have to try their salmon sandwich", Simmons grinned convincingly as the three of them were walking towards Jenna's room, but in return, the blonde offered a sad smile and a shake of her head.
"I'm allergic to fish", she sighed, "other than that, sounds good."
The rest of their walk was silent, but fortunately, Jenna's room wasn't very far away and they were quickly standing in front of the right door. Jenna opened the door swiftly, but before she could step in, she was smacked in the face with abrupt shock as "Surprise!" was yelled into her face, causing her backpack to drop from her shoulder. With widening eyes, Jenna froze on the spot, making Fitz stumble into her back, but before the girl could apologize for the sudden stop, she had stepped forward with open arms.
"What are you guys doing here?", she laughed quietly, her voice becoming a quiet murmur as the older, blonde woman in the room pulled Jenna into a hug and squeezed tight. Leo and Jemma merely stood at the doorway and stared, unsure what was happening, but luckily Jenna was quick to explain, once the warm hug was over.
"Uh, guys, this is my mom, Magdeline. And my brother, Evan", the blonde gestured towards the two unexpected family members with her hand, a bright smile shining on her pink lips. Fitz and Simmons had seen Jenna smile before, but concluding from the utter, pure enthusiasm and love she was just radiating with, these were, indeed, important people in her life.
The older blonde, Magdeline turned to her daughter with an equally radiant smile, and in that moment, the two aspiring scientists by the doorway could see the resemblance — their eyes crinkled the same way and their pearl white teeth flashed carefully as they let the happiness in them come out for all to see. "Well, we wanted to see our favorite genius. We missed you already!", the woman sighed, "Jane would have loved to come with us, but she's too busy with work, as always", earning an understanding nod from Jenna. Jane was her sister — a few years older, but equally hard-working and ambitious. However, whereas Jenna desired to be appreciated for her wisdom and potential as a S.H.I.E.L.D agent, Jane owned a restaurant and was working most hours of most days.
Then, before Jenna could say anything, Magdeline had stepped forward to Leo and Jemma, snapping them both out of their many thoughts. With a wide, genuine smile, Simmons then offered Maggie her hand and insisted that it was so lovely to meet Jenna's mother, and brother — in fact, it seemed like Jemma's eyes lingered on Evan for a little longer. Jenna didn't blame her, since that usually happened. Whereas she was blessed with plenty of knowledge and intelligence above average, and Jane was a social butterfly and a professional chef, Evan was the ruggedly handsome cop in New York that everyone wanted to be arrested by. Or at least, the wishes usually involved handcuffs despite the situation.
"We were thinking about getting lunch. You guys hungry?", Evan then spoke up, lifting an eyebrow whilst eyeing Jenna and her new friends — which, Jenna could tell, was a surprise for her mother and brother. Clearly, they had expected her to still be the quiet girl who enjoyed spending time with her thoughts, rather than people. It was still somewhat true, and she didn't really expect to find any more friends, but she was more than happy with Fitz and Simmons and the bond they were slowly but surely forming.
"Starving", Fitz groaned, placing a hand on his apparently growling stomach, which made the rest of them smile.
Nodding, Jenna then grabbed her wallet from her bag and pointed towards the door, "To the food!"
»»»
it took me five days to update and it was so weird?? but kinda okay. i guess it's okay to not update every day. anyway, this was a little shorter like i intended, hope you liked it!!
i've included jenna and her family in my "meet my ocs" book, but in case you are too lazy to check it out, here is the cast for her family:
but if you want more information of jenna (and my other characters) you should definitely check the book out! x