Hey guys. Second chapter is now up and I hope you enjoy. There are more words and other.. stuff.. yeah. By the way, be aware of the shadows behind your back. Don't worry, it's probably nothing, just take my word for it. Give an occasional glance over your shoulder. That is all. Enjoy football and this chapter.

New Friends?

/Bruce's POV\

"A bow?" Sitwell had taken a look of complete confusion on his face.

Clint nodded, a smile still plastered on his face. "Yes, sir."

Sitwell blinked once. Twice. Three times, his expression unwavering. It took all of my willpower to hold in my laughter. I distracted myself by silently engaging with my friends on Clint's statement. Only, they were just as confused as Sitwell.

Natasha's eyebrows knitted together in thought as she gazed at the blonde standing at the front of the room. Her posture was a mix of relaxed and tense, as if she were a cat thinking of attacking it's prey.

Steve had a shocked expression with his eyebrows raised and eyes bright with confusion. His fingers lightly tapped on the desk, a sign that he had been sitting still for too long and/or that he was trying to figure things out.

Tony had a surprised look on his face, before morphing into one of mischief and thought. I internally sighed; knowing him, he's probably planning all sorts of crazy machines and other various ideas. None of which will turn out to be a good idea after all.

Thor had taken a look of uttermost interest in Clint. A small smile had formed on his lips and his eyes were lit up in what seemed to be excitement. I wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing... no one could ever be sure with Thor.

Meanwhile, my head was buzzing with questions. But one in particular stood out to me the most.

Why a bow?

A bow is silent and can be lethal if needed. Clint is particularly quiet and he seems like the guy who can defend himself and others when he wants to. But still, a bow?

"By now, Sitwell regained his posture and control of his face. "I don't want to intrude, but why a bow?"

Clint's smile dropped and he bit his lip. "Well, I guess with a bow you have more control over the target. If you're gonna hit it, that is. With a gun, you pull the trigger and it fires, just like that. But with a bow, you have to contemplate: are you going to let go of the string? What are you aiming to hit? Are you going to hit it?"

I smiled. emSo that's how his mind works.

The rest of the class were whispering to each other and the accessional snicker rang out among low voices. I glanced at Skull's group and nearly growled in anger and disgust. They looked at Clint like he was their next meal; Skull had a smirk formed on his lips and a thoughtful expression. His loyal band of greedy followers whispered to each other with the occasional sneaky glance at Clint. Skull looked over at us and I glared at him, a snarl on my face. Tony looked at me questionably, then saw Skull looking at us and narrowed his eyes. Skull merely grinned and turned back to his goons.

"Well... thank you for sharing that with us, Clint. And we welcome you to SHEILD High."

My eyes snapped back up to the front just in time to see Clint nod and return to his seat. On the way back, someone stuck their foot out just as he passed and I braced myself for impact. Clint tripped but caught himself on his hands, summersaulted forward, rolled into a stand, and continued walking as if nothing happened.

Everyone's eyes widened and a few jaws dropped. Including mine. The only time I had ever seen something like that happen was in movies or when Natasha was practicing martial arts.

Clint sat down and whipped out his pen, continuing drawing a design on his wrists. He didn't notice the stares he got. But if he did, he was doing an excellent job of hiding it.

/Clint's POV\

God, I hope I don't look embarrassed under their stares. I had subconsciously reacted on instinct and forgot where I was. Crap. What will they think of me now? Their gonna be asking questions and I'll be at loss.

Someone was walking in my direction; judging by the footsteps, the person was a female.

Dammit.

"Hey,"

Oh no, first question. Here it comes...

"Clint, right?"

Well, that wasn't too bad.

I looked up at the speaker. It was the pretty red-haired girl from before. I took this moment to observe. Green eyes, pale skin, a posture that says 'don't mess with me or there will be hell to pay.' So far, so good.

I looked back down, doing my best to conceal my blush. "Yeah, it's Clint."

She nodded, and she extended her hand out to me. "Natasha."

My eyes focused on her outstretched hand and I hesitated before taking it in my own. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, too." I could practically hear the smirk in her voice. "So..."

Question number two, on it's way.

"You wanna sit with us?"

I froze. What did she say?

My mouth reacted before I could. "W-What?"

"Do you wanna come sit with us? You look a little.. I don't know, alone?"

The hell was she getting at?

"I kind of like being alone. It's in my nature."

She sighed and flung her hands up above her head. "Okay, Mr. Nature Guy. I can understand that. But I'm helping you out here. You do emnot/em want to end up in a bad group of people."

I looked up at her and stared into her bright green eyes. "How do I know you're not a bad group of people. You might have gotten me out of one little mishap, but whose to say you're just trying to make yourself look good?"

div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"Her eyes widened in shock. Her mouth opened and closed several times but no words came out of her mouth. "I... I-"

"We aren't those kinds of people."

My attention turned to a blonde speaking. The same one who had stuck up for me, like an idiot, to the other guy. Skull, was it?

The blonde, Steve if I remember correctly, stood next to Natasha and the bluest pair of eyes I'd ever seen bored into mine.

"We don't want attention or fame. We want to help people inside and outside of this school. Our group consists of people who aren't afraid to be who they are and do what they want to do. Something tells me you're that kind of person, and that you believe me."

...Was I that readable?

I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. "You've got a good voice, I'll give you that... Fine, I do believe you. And.."

My eyes looked up from the ground to their expectant faces. "I'll accept you're help."

Natasha gave a smile and Steve grinned. "Great. Gather your stuff and-"

The sound of the bell echoed through the halls.

I couldn't help but laugh as a shouldered my bag and stood.

Steve opened his mouth, no doubt to tell me this wasn't over. Knowing there was not way out of this, I spoke before him.

"I'll see you guys at lunch."

SO. Thoughts? Reviews? Fruit? Leave them down in the comments below! Until the next chapter..