'I'm the violence in the pouring rain
I'm a hurricane'

-Hurricane; Halsey

~X~

The flames made her eyes shine with a fiery red colour. Tears welled up in them and rolled down her cheeks, dirty with the ashes. But she didn't even realize she was crying, she was too shocked for that. All she could do was stare whilst standing next to the fireman. She heard the the fire crackling, it sounded just like the fireplace. It was just a matter of time until both her parents walked out and hugged her. She was so young, who could blame her. After all, her dreams slowly turned to ashes and she could do nothing to stop that.

"NO! MOM! DAD! MOM! DAD!" Natasha screamed at the top of her lungs as the firemen drove them away. The tears multiplied as she realised, it was a desperate sadness, a desperate cry. The men and women in the truck with her tried to calm her down, but her sobs were endless, she refused to let them go.

Natasha sat in the cold examination room and for the first time she felt completely alone. There was that feeling she couldn't shake off, she was hoping they would walk through the hospital doors and take her home. It was all a bad dream. That's what she kept telling herself.

But she never woke up from that nightmare. Not when she went into the adoption system, not during the three years she spent there.

When she was six a man named Ivan adopted her. Living with him made her feel like life wasn't so bad after all.

~X~

11 years later

No one seemed to care about what happened that night. If the people of the town knew what happened, they chose to ignore it, to believe the fire had been an accident. But still, for no reason at all, the people who went to her school spread the rumour that she was the arsonist. Of course it wasn't true, but it was an excuse for them to exclude her. And it stuck with her. She knew it was the mayor who'd done it, she knew he hated her parents because her father was running for mayor would have won the election had he not died.

But they all forgot. And just like that the memory of her parents faded.

Living with Ivan was hard, he was a very demanding man, he would accept nothing but perfection from Natasha because he knew she could achieve it. She too had perfect grades, straight As. Even though her parents had left an inheritance, he wanted her to get a scholarship for one of the Ivy League colleges, so she was part of the gymnastics club, the best gymnast they had. She'd even gone to international competitions once. All those experiences she had when she went on competitions outside the city made Natasha hate the place even more. She hated the school and she hated the quiet streets, she hated the same old people who would look at her with disgust and she counted the days until the SAT so she could leave that hellhole.

But of all the people, she nurtured a special hatred for the mayor's son. He was about her age, 17 years old. And he was charismatic, he was handsome, had good grades, was the captain of the football team, he was popular, had the perfect life and looked just like his father. He had all she could've had but didn't because of his father.

~X~

She slammed her locker door, her books on one arm and her backpack on her shoulder. She walked with decided steps towards the chemistry lab. The beginning of the year was always tough, new schedules, new teachers, new lab partners, but old students. She hated it. Especially the lab part. Natasha felt the gazes of all the students there, they burned holes on her skin, after all those years one thought she would have gotten used to it, but it still bothered her.

Her first class was chemistry and she was the first one to arrive at the classroom, so she got to choose where she wanted to seat. Natasha chose a seat on the second row, so she could pay attention to the teacher without receiving much attention herself. Slowly, the classroom started to fill up, friends chatted and talked about their summer whilst Natasha texted her friend who lived in a city nearby, Clint.

'So, Nat, any cute boys around there?' he teased.

'Come on, Clint, it's just the same old people." she replied.

'Same here.' she could almost hear him sigh.

I wished you and I went to the same school… she typed but deleted right after.

'Gotta go, class starting.' She locked the phone.

She sank in her thoughts, but was suddenly forced back into reality by the sound of the chair by her side being pulled. Natasha lazily moved her head to see who was going to be her partner that year and her eyes widened when she found out that the one sitting by her side was no one but Steve Rogers.

"Hey… Natasha, is it?" He asked with a kind smile that just made her want to punch him.

But his smile didn't matter to her, nothing mattered. That was what she wanted for so many years, her chance to get back at the mayor. Starting by his most prized possession, his son.

"I'm sorry, did I startle you?"

"No, of course not. And yes, I'm Natasha. You're Steve, right?" Natasha smiled at him sweetly.

"You don't mind if I sit here, do you?" He asked.

"Help yourself." She ran a hand through her red curls and looked to the front of the class, the teacher had just entered the room.

"Hello, I'm mr. Coulson. I'll be your new chemistry teacher this year." The man wrote his name in huge letters on the blackboard and then turned to face the class. "That's all you need to know about me, so, let's begin, this is going to be a long year and the sooner we get started the faster the time will pass."

Natasha ran a hand through her hair and copied every single word and formula he wrote, she could see from the corner of her eye that Steve was doing the same, peeking every now and then at her notes to fill in the blank of his.

"It's almost the end of the class, so I'm going to say one last thing, I hope you are happy with who you sat with today, they will be your partner for the rest of the year." He gathered a couple of papers from his desk but then looked at them again, "Unless I decide the pairs aren't productive. Good luck with the rest of your day."

Natasha bit her lip for a moment, she would be Steve Rogers' partner for the rest of the year huh? Interesting.

"Well, I'm looking forward to working with you, Natasha." Steve smiled as he gathered his material.

"So am I." She got her backpack and left the classroom before he did.

~X~

The bell rang for the last time that day, marking the time she loved the most, the gymnastics practice. She ran to the gymnasium where the teacher was happy to see her. Perhaps the one person who actually liked to see Natasha was Anna, the teacher. She did the stunts and backflips and used the equipments perfectly outshining the other girls, who looked at her with contempt. They whispered about her, about the girl who didn't fit in, the one who'd killed her parents. They didn't talk to her in the locker room, sometimes they even cut her clothes while she showered and wrote insults, 'arsonist', 'slut', 'whore'... it happened countless times before she finally learned to wait for them to leave before going in herself, the teacher trusted her to lock up the place, so she always the last one to leave.

When she was done, she went to the locker room, showered and got her bag. She had the keys to her car on one hand and her bag on her shoulder. From far away, she could hear the practice of the football team just as everyday but, this time, she was curious and she walked up to the field for the first time in forever she sat on the benches and watched - from the last row and as quietly as she could - the boys play.

Natasha noticed it was getting dark and started to leave, when she was almost out of their vision field, she heard him call her.

"Hey, Natasha!" Steve walked up to her, "I thought we were the only ones in the school."

"Oh, hi, Steve. Well, I'm on the Gymnastics Team and was practicing a bit longer." She shrugged, "Well, I have to go now, it was very nice meeting you."

Natasha turned her back on him and started walking to her car when she heard.

"See ya, Nat." His voice was so cheerful and made her cringe. She had to force herself not to stop and she had to try really hard not to show her disgust when he called her that.

Natasha longed for the comfort of her room or even the one of her car, a place where she could let everything go and not worry about Steve or anyone else. She put the keys in the ignition and turned the radio on. Before she left, she reached for her bag and touched the small package. No, she shouldn't be doing that, it had already been almost six months... but her body screamed for it. So she opened the window and lit a cigarette. Then she took off.

It tasted like death and burned her lungs, but she loved that sensation. Smoking was the one thing she wasn't allowed to do, so it felt different to be break a rule every now and then. She parked her car in the garage, Ivan's car wasn't there, but she had already grown used to that, living with him was almost like living by herself.

She went to her room, she studied and finished the little homework she had to do. She made herself a sandwich and locked herself in her room again. She laid on the bed and started eating. Natasha put some music on the speakers as if it would block her thoughts and the outside world. She really didn't want any contact with those.

Natasha had another shower before she went to bed. But she couldn't sleep, she kept thinking of what happened that day. Steve seemed like such a nice guy, it was a shame she couldn't say the same about his father. She shook her head as if to make those thoughts go away. If she really wanted her plan to work, then she had to be ruthless.

She had to begin the destruction of the mayor's life right away and that meant approaching Steve.

Natasha took a deep breath and closed her eyes. When she was finally falling asleep, she heard her phone beep. She reached for it and checked the screen. 'You have a new Friend Request'. She unlocked the phone and went into Facebook. That was weird, she didn't have any friends there but the people from the town near hers.

It was Steve. She sat on the bed.

"What the…" She groaned, she tapped the accept option and laid back on the bed. That night, she almost didn't sleep.

~X~

The next morning, Natasha was waiting for the english teacher in the room by herself when Steve sat by her side.

"Hey, Nat." He smiled, "Good morning."

"Hey, Steve." She smiled back. Was he following her or something? "How are you?"

"I'm fine and you?"

"Same." She shrugged.

"Well, I'm throwing a party at my house this weekend, my dad is on a business trip." Steve said, "Please, come."

Natasha raised a brow and smiled, "Count me in."

"I will." The smiled on his face was one of child-like joy and told her that he had never hosted a party before. He placed his books on the table where he was sitting, apparently he was planning to stay.

"Hey, Steve." She said ignoring the looks of hate that came from all the girls in the class, "If you need any help with the party, just ask."

"Okay." He nodded.

There were still 4 days until the party, more than enough for her to get more familiar with Steve.

Natasha sighed and asked herself. Why Steve of all people was talking to her? He was supposed to hate her just like everyone else and not be trying to befriend her like he was doing, especially because of his father. But he was a good guy - and that was something she thought she'd never say about him. And that was when she realised that perhaps not everyone hated her, perhaps there was this one person who didn't mind her being there and didn't want to make her life a living hell. Even if that person was the son of the mayor.

But why was she thinking that? She shouldn't be thinking that. She could help him with the party, being allowed to enter his house was the beginning of her plan. Of her revenge.

~X~

She sat at her desk organizing her notes when she got a message.

"Hey, Nat." It was Steve.

She reached for her phone, debating whether to answer the facebook message or not, she chose not to and kept reading the biology book and making some annotations.

"I was wondering if you could help me with the party…" the phone beeped again.

"You see, I've never actually hosted a party before hahaha" there was a third ring. Natasha chuckled, he was hopeless.

Natasha finally decided to answer, "Hey, Steve, of course I'll help you. Just tell me what you need"

"k, I'll message you saturday so you can come over and help."

"Steve are you doing something tomorrow after practice?"

"Nope, why?"

"Well, we could have some ice cream and discuss the details of the party."

"Sure, meet me at the field after practice okay?"

"K."

Natasha ended the conversation with that. After that, she gave up on studying, she had something bigger in mind. She had to win his trust, she needed to hold him in the palm of her hand. So she could tear his family apart from the inside and make the mayor regret the day he was born.