note; rewritten 01/15/2022
• switched from first person to third person
• more detail added
WAKING UP THE next day was a blur. cindy guessed that somehow during her slumber, she had forgotten the fact that he had been taken in by tony stark— iron man—, because when she woke up in the big, unfamiliar room, she panicked.
she pushed herself up off of the mattress, pawing at her eyelids as she fought to keep the morning sunrise away from her vision. she yawned, running fingers through her hair, searching her brain for an answer.
cindy's irises finally fell upon the silk suit as it laid scattered on the desk against the grand window,, her backpack hung on the back of the desk chair. she sighed and slumped her shoulders as the memory of yesterday finally processed in her brain.
she messed with the mass of noir tangles upon her head, and she tossed the covers off of her legs, swinging them over the edge of the mattress. she made her way over to the desk, rummaging through her bag for her hairbrush, working through the mangled forest atop her head.
all seemed peaceful, that was, until a series of knocks rapped against the bedroom door, and it began to creak open. she turned as tony's head peeked through the crack, his fingers curled around the edge of the door.
"oh, good, you're awake," he sighed in relief, pushing the door open all the way and making his grand entrance. "chop chop! you have school today, don't you?"
with tired eyes, she reached for her phone where it lay plugged up on the nightstand, checking the time.
"shit!" she exclaimed, scrambling around the room and grabbing clothes left and right. she wasn't used to being so far away from school, thus, she had woken up way later than she intended to.
"when you're done, happy is in the lobby waiting to take you to school!" tony yelled over cindy's panic, which she had just barely heard over her own heavy footsteps. he turned, closing the door behind him as she hopped on a single foot, tugging a sock over her foot.
at last, her struggle was over-- not without falling to the floor a couple times-- and she snatched her backpack off of the back of the desk chair. she halted in her tracks, however, a flash of white, black, and red catching her attention from the corner of her eye. she shook it off, she hadn't any time to waste. she practically sprinted out of the room, whisking past both tony and a woman with strawberry blonde hair, frantically stabbing at the elevator buttons.
"oh tony, is that the kid?" she heard the woman's voice question, as the elevator doors slid open, in which cindy scurried inside, giving her a small wave. "we'll talk later," the woman laughed as the doors slid back shut, cindy frantically pressing more buttons.
cindy banged her head against the elevator wall, digging her phone out of her pocket, the screen illuminating a new message.
from ella
so you coming to school today?
to ella
yeah, running a little late, I'll explain later
she locked her phone and stuffed it back into her pocket as the elevator finally came to a halt at the ground level. she wasted no time sprinting out of the small box as the doors slid open, bursting through the doors and over to the car where happy waited.
"i would yell at you for making me wait, but i'm not the one late for school," he snickered as she hopped into the backseat, him getting into the driver's seat. she rolled her eyes at his comment as he started the engine and quickly drove off.
during the ride, she had opened her instagram to finally look at the private messages from peter, debating whether or not to message him back. she shrugged, deciding to wait since she was sure he would be coming up to her later anyways.
_______________________________
heads turned as happy pulled up to the front of the school, to which cindy scrambled out, not bothering to bid farewell to him— he wouldn't have cared, anyways. she sprinted her way up the steps of the entrance, everything and everyone she passed a blur.
she stumbled into her first hour classroom, heads snapping her direction as she panted, holding a hand up as if to say, "let me catch my breath."
"i'm sorry i'm late, i—"
"don't worry about it, cindy, i am very aware of your situation," the teacher smiled awkwardly to say the very least. cindy's eyebrows furrowed as ella, in the corner of the room, gestured for her to sit down, in which she complied.
what did he mean he knew of my situation? did everybody know about everything that had happened yesterday already?
as the teacher picked back up his lesson, the tingling feeling of someone's eyes boring into her head pricked at her skin, and she scanned the room. finally, her eyes met peter parker's as he turned to gaze back at her, his eyelids narrowed, analyzing her.
ella seemed to have noticed this as she leaned over towards her and whispered into her ear, "you have a lot of explaining to do."
___________________________
"you've gotta be shitting me," ella laughed, holding onto her stomach to stabilize herself. "you cannot sit here and bullshit me like that."
cindy's eyes rolled in their sockets and she pinched the bridge of nose, daggers pricking the inside of her forehead. how could she possibly convince her to believe her?
"listen, if you don't believe me, then that's on you, not me," cindy replied, her tone audibly impatient. "because i'm telling you the truth, so i don't know what else to tell you. why would i lie about something like this?"
ella had since stuffed a bite of her sandwich into her mouth and she gazed down to her tray, as if trying to figure it out herself. she shrugged, "i don't know but come on, it doesn't make any sense that tony stark would take you in."
"i know," cindy sighed as she looked down to her own tray, her food looking even less appetizing now. "who knows, maybe he and his wife have been planning to do adopt for awhile."
"yeah but like, wouldn't they adopt a child?" ella tittered, chugging her gatorade. "why would tony stark adopt a teenager?"
"ella, please! he quiet!" cindy slapped her arm, scolding her. "i don't know if i'm supposed to even be talking about this."
"well, i mean, the teachers know about it, it's only a matter of time before the whole school, no, the whole world, finds out about it."
cindy groaned and pursed her lips, realizing that she was right. alas, as much as she didn't want to be known as "tony's stark new adopted daughter," she guessed that it was better than being known as "silk, a wanted criminal." still, she found it within herself to scoff at the idea of being someone's adopted daughter. she didn't want to be known as anyone's daughter, she wanted to be known as her birth parent's daughter.
"cindy?"
the sound of peter parker's voice broke her from her thoughts and she glimpsed up at him as he loomed over their table, hands inside his jean pockets. ella peeked over at cindy from her peripheral vision, suspicion painted in a raised eyebrow.
"can we talk?" he asked, looking over to ella. "alone if you wouldn't mind?"
cindy glanced over to ella who had already gone back to devouring her club sandwich, earning a pout from her friend.
"um, sure," cindy shrugged, rising from her seat, finally meeting eye to eye with peter parker. he was just a couple of inches taller, his umber locks falling just slightly over his matching eyes. he turned, leading her away from the cafeteria. cindy huffed-- she knew exactly what all of this was about.
he led her into an empty classroom, crossing his arms over his chest as she shut the door closed behind her. she turned back to him, throwing her hands up into the air. "so, what's up, peter?"
"did you-- did you see my messages yesterday?" he questioned, stuttering as he shifted around, obviously uncomfortable. "about mr. stark?"
she nodded her head, recalling the many messages she had received through instagram.
"yeah, sorry i--uh-- just saw them this morning," she replied awkwardly, the tension between them two almost suffocating. "i didn't have time to answer them."
he shuffled his feet around again, silence ensuing as she rocked back and forth on her feet, puffing out her cheeks as she awaited him to continue.
"so, what did he-- what did he need with you?" he inquired-- it was obvious that he hadn't rehearsed this. she rocked back and forth on her heels for a few more heartbeats before finally beckoning him to come forth. he was understandably hesitant before he complied, inching closer and closer. she tugged him forward by the wrist, reducing her voice to a hushed tone.
"first of all, you need to promise that everything that's discussed between us right now stays between us, okay?" she stared him dead in the eyes as he nodded, his eyelids widened that she almost feared his eyeball would pop out. she shook her head, "words, peter. so i know you mean it."
"o-okay, i promise," he replied breathlessly, blinking hard, shaking his head. she did the same, inhaling a deep breath, exhaling it back out.
"peter, i know your secret," cindy blurted. his eyes seemed to widen in slow motion as he backed away, pointing a finger at himself. "my- my secret? what-- what are you talking about? i don't have a secret. i am completely and one-hundred percent--"
"spider-man," she finished, although she got the hunch that that wasn't what he was going to say. "you are completely and one-hundred percent spider-man."
as if it were possible, his eyes widened even more, practically bulging out of their sockets. "how did you-- how did you know?" he queried, scanning through her eyes for answers. "did mr. stark tell you?"
"no, uh tony didn't tell me," she interrupted his rambling. "this is the crazy part."
"you knowing i was spider-man wasn't the crazy part?"
cindy chuckled uncomfortably, a hand slithering to the back of her neck so her fingernails could scratch an invisible itch. "peter, remember when i was taken from school, like, months ago?" she asked, playing with her fingers. "long story short, i went to germany."
the longer she gazed into his deep, dark brown eyes, she could tell he was starting to put the pieces together. his lips moved, yet at first, nothing emitted. he was taken aback-- flabbergasted-- unable to wrap his head around things.
"germany," he muttered under his breath. "girl spider, girl spi-- are you?"
her smile was an awkward crescent and her hands ascended, shaking about as if to say, "surprise!"
"peter, i'm silk. we fought each other back in germany," she tittered, as if it would relieve some of the tension. peter's expression was nothing short of confused, and understandably.
"but you were-- you were on captain america's side, so what did mr. stark need with you unless he was gonna turn you in to like,the fbi or something? it just doesn't make sense," he scoffed, searching for places to look other than her irises.
"peter trust me, even i don't understand the situation," cindy mused. "but hear me out."