There's a new world comin'. and it's just around the bend.
There's a new world comin', this one's comin' to an end.
There's a new voice callin', you can hear it if you try.
And it's growin' stronger with each day that passes by.
There's a brand new mornin', rising clear and sweet and free.

-New World Coming; by Mama Cass Elliot

The day Gemma Ricci found out her parents were getting a divorce, it felt as if her world had been torn apart. She had a feeling, deep down, that a divorce would one day happen, but she wasn't expecting it so soon. Gemma's mother, Izabela, had tried her best to keep her marriage together for the sake of her children — Izabela had mentioned on multiple occasions, for as long as Gemma could remember, how she grew up in a broken family and didn't want that for her kids — but it just couldn't happen.

Leonard Ricci, Gemma's father, had been unfaithful and uninterested in the marriage, in his family. Despite Izabela's best attempts to make things work, Leonard had his focus on other things; his mistress, his job, going out with friends — anywhere but home with his wife and kids.

As the years went on and Gemma came to understand what her father was doing, she came to resent him. It was obvious he didn't care about anyone but himself. Maybe he cared about his family once upon a time, but he just couldn't do it anymore. And Gemma couldn't understand how he could so effortlessly toss them aside for someone else, for an "easier" life.

The divorce had been an unexpectedly expected surprise. Gemma knew it'd happen one day, but she didn't think it'd happen when she was so close to starting her freshman year in high school.

And she really didn't expect her mother, herself, and her brothers having to be forced out of their old home and being told to go buy a new one. As if something like that could be done so easily.

0-0-0-0

About three and a half months after moving to Queens, Gemma, her mother, and her brothers finally settled into their new apartment. It was obviously different compared to their old home, but it would have to do until Izabela could find a job good enough to afford a home. Izabela had some friends in Queens who managed to pull some strings and land her two jobs, though they weren't the best paying jobs around. Gemma's eldest brother, Remy, managed to land a job as a bartender in order to help out, though Izabela was anxious to have him do anything like that; she wasn't one who really liked depending on other people for their help, she could be stubborn sometimes and it usually made it difficult to be around her.

Gemma, on the other hand, was underage, so she couldn't legally get a job yet. Neither could her two other older brothers. In the meantime, she'd have to handle officially starting her new school, some science and technology school. Gemma had hopes of going into a career involving programming, and Izabela suggested that one. While it wouldn't have been Gemma's first choice, it seemed like a relatively decent school from what she could tell.

"Isn't this exciting?" Izabela exclaimed, throwing a smile her daughter's way. "You'll be going to a new school, making new friends — how'd you feel?"

Shrugging, Gemma nestled herself further into the passenger's seat. It was her first day of school, and she wasn't exactly thrilled or nervous.

"Don't be such a downer, Gem," Izabela groaned. "This'll be a new beginning for you. Isn't that a good thing?"

"I wouldn't have minded going to school back home," she muttered, scowling slightly.

With a sigh, Gemma's mother's entire demeanor changed. It was true; Gemma missed her old life, her old friends. Izabela did, too. The divorce had been difficult for her just as it had been for her children. Having to find out her ex-husband was having an affair wasn't easy to swallow, then finding out that he was going to leave them for the mistress had been even worse. Izabela filed for divorce to make the idea of Leonard leaving less painful for the kids. Though she knew they were smarter than she wanted to believe.

"Look, I understand you'd rather be back home," Izabela muttered. "I would give anything to be back home, too. I'm sure your brothers are thinking the same way. But...we just can't. I wanted us to have a chance to start over, to put all of that behind us. Do you understand? I didn't want to upset you guys."

"I'm not mad at you," Gemma exclaimed, her scowl deepening, "I'm mad at dad, at his stupid new wife, at everything! If dad hadn't been such a dick, maybe things would've been better."

"Well, you're not wrong." Izabela shrugged somewhat nonchalantly. "Your father was a bit of a prick. I just wish I had done something sooner." Looking over at her daughter, Izabela felt her face fall a little. She could tell that her only daughter was still struggling with everything that happened. Remy and the other boys seemed to have adjusted relatively well to the apartment, to living in Queens. Remy had his job and some new friends; Titus, the second eldest, seemed to be doing fairly well, having made a few friends himself; and Jai, who was just a year and a half older than Gemma, was doing just as well. Gemma always had problems adapting to change, she liked having things the way they were, the way she was used to them being. Anything that was different or foreign to her in any way was greeted with hostility and uncertainty. "Please try to make this work," Izabela sighed. "I'm doing this for you, Gem. I want you to do well here."

"I'm not making any promises," she muttered.

"And I can't afford to have anything go wrong."

0-0-0-0

Midtown School of Science and Technology. It was a really nice looking school. Gemma almost couldn't believe she'd be attending it. A nauseating roll of anxiousness wrecked havoc in her stomach, making her freeze in her seat in her mother's car. Why was she so nervous? It wasn't like her to freeze up all of a sudden.

"Is something wrong?" Izabela asked.

"No, I'm fine," Gemma replied, trying to keep her tone even. What if she did something stupid and humiliated herself? None of the other students would let her live it down. What if she didn't make any friends? All her brothers managed to make friends! She would hate herself to no end if she had to go friendless in high school. But what if she got bad teachers? How would she be able to handle that? The anxiousness settled even deeper in her stomach.

"Did you want to go home?"

"I said I'm fine." Grabbing her backpack, Gemma looked at her mother for a minute. The idea of going back home sounded nice, but she knew she wouldn't be able to avoid going to school forever. "I'll see you after school," she replied, hoping her voice didn't give away how nervous he was.

"Remy may be picking you up, OK?" Izabela said. "My boss may have me covering someone's shift."

Waving it off, Gemma muttered a "that's fine".

Giving a small smile, Izabela nodded. "Be safe," she said. "Have a nice day."

(A/N):

How'd you like this chapter? Was it good? Was it bad? Was it meh? Constructive criticism is always welcome! Also, I am currently doing summer classes at my community college, so I'll be busy with schoolwork plus my job. I'm only working parttime, but my hours have increased since, ya know, it's summertime. Because of all this, any chances of my updating new chapters may not be as frequent.

I own nothing in the MARVEL universe.

Even though this story is under a CAPTAIN AMERICA category, it'll be mostly focusing on Peter, my OCs, any characters that were in SPIDER MAN: HOMECOMING (which is an amazing movie, by the way), and any other OCs that are added to the story. I'm writing the story before CIVIL WAR happens, so it'll probably be a while before I write that in. I'm also thinking of having HOMECOMING serve as a kind of sequel to this story, once the new SPIDEY movie is on DVD. How does that sound? Did any of that make any sense?

Before I forget, if anything — and I mean anything — that I write comes off as weird, confusing, or unclear, don't hesitate to let me know! I will clear it up to the best of my ability.

That's about it!

Let me know if there's anything I should improve on.

Thanks.

Jasper