Author's Note: Hey guys! This chapter is a little mundane, sorry, but it's important to the plot later. Updates will really only come once a week now that school has started. Please leave reviews and favorite if you like it!
-o-
After we were dismissed from the cafeteria, Peter and I had to go our separate ways. His class was all the way across the school from mine. Groups formed around both of us almost instantaneously. Pete was bombarded by guys asking for relationship advice and flirtatious girls, and I was surrounded by jocks and other guys.
"What's Parker got over me, babe?" Thomas, our wide receiver, asked. He wrapped his arm around me and laughed.
I shoved it off in disgust. "You wish, asshole," I growled as I shoved my sunglasses back on. This was a mess. Luckily, my best friend Mary Jane was to the rescue.
"Back off, she has better things to do," she said, guiding me through the halls. Half the school was following us around, but she talked to me to pull my attention away from them. Thank God for MJ! I thought. We pushed everyone away and barely managed to get to first period on time. Once class started, I texted her through my contacts, knowing her phone was probably out. History was so easy; neither one of us ever paid attention, and we were still nailing the class.
"Hey," my message read, "Thanks. You're a lifesaver."
"Sure thing, Stark," a reply appeared right away. MJ always called me Stark when I was upset. It was like she knew that reminding me that Iron Man was my dad would give me the strength I needed. "I saw the news. You and Parker, huh? Jk lol," she wrote. MJ already knew, of course. She was the first to know, excluding Ned. We told him first because Mr. Guy in the Chair just had to know everything regarding Peter. MJ and I had more boundaries, but we were still very close.
I laughed under my breath, catching the teacher's attention. Lucky for me, my contacts couldn't be taken from me, so I was off the hook. She glared at me, but I didn't back down. I was a Stark, it was what I do best. There was no proof I was texting, other than MJ's phone. And no one ever noticed her; that was what she did best. We were a great team.
The first half of the day flew by without a hitch after that. Lunch, however, was a different story.
-o-
MJ and I walked into the cafeteria, mustering as much confidence as possible. Everyone turned to look at us, but I just found my Spidey in the lunch line and stopped next to him.
"Hey! No cutting, loser. Especially not with Penis Parker," Flash spit from behind us. Ugh, not this kid, I thought, my eye roll so obvious you could hear it.
"Aw, it's alright, sweetie. I'm not buying anything. And Mr. Parker here is just minding his own business, so I suggest you do the same," I countered, clicking something on my nano-tech earpiece. He was not messing with me today. A gauntlet formed around my hand and powered on, and I flicked my wrist. Flash flinched, and MJ and I broke out laughing. The gauntlet disappeared, and I grabbed Pete's wrist, pulling him ahead in the line. Only then did I notice he was stroking my hair and that I was gripping my left wrist tightly. No, no! This was backward! He was the one being hurt, so I should be the one consoling him. Even as I had laughed at Flash, my anxiety was kicking up, and Pete knew. He knew all the signs; he even recognized them before me. He quickly got us both food while leaving me to MJ. She hugged me and guided me to the library since we had to eat there until this all blew over. Ned and they were the only friends I had told about my anxiety attacks, and they knew exactly what would comfort me. MJ was an expert at taking me away from situations before they got bad. I let her pull me away, but I really should have checked to see how Flash reacted. I really should have noticed the crowd of teachers forming around him. I should have avoided the situation completely. But I didn't.
"Kate, baby. Look at me," Peter said, sitting me down with our food. He carried three trays, two for his fast metabolism, and one for me.
"No, no, it's all wrong," I whimpered. "Everything today is wrong."
"Nothing is wrong. We're here, together. That's all that matters, okay?" He mused, pushing my chin up and forcing me to look at him. He kissed me on both cheeks, and I slowly came back from my panic. Good thing, too, otherwise I wouldn't have been prepared for what happened next. Sometimes I was just like my dad. An irresponsible, trouble-making mess. I shouldn't have made Flash mad.
Suddenly, our AP bust into the library, causing everyone to stop reading and stare at her. In her kindest voice, she asked, "May I please see Peter Parker and Katelyn Stark in the office? I've already called your parents." I gulped. Crap, Flash! I thought. I wanted to kill that kid for hurting Peter. My fists clenched, but I rose from my seat.
We followed her out to the office, and to Peter's surprise, we were met by a very angry Mr. Stark. "What happened?" he seethed, frustration rolling off him.
"Mr. Stark! Sir! Um…" Peter trailed off. I came to the rescue and spoke up.
"The jerk kid Flash I've mentioned before called him Penis Parker, and I stood up to him," I answered flatly. "It's been a rough day," I added under my breath, but Peter's super-hearing picked up on it, and he looked at me with concerned eyes.
"Then why on earth," Dad continued quietly, so only I could hear him, "Did Fri alert me that you activated your suit?!"
Only then did I notice the wrinkles of stress on his forehead and his hair sticking up. It looked like the only styling it got today was being pulled on. He must have thought there was a threat at the school. "Dad, I was just trying to scare him. I didn't power up, just got a gauntlet out, okay? No need to worry. Oh, and do you have pills on you? I had a minor panic episode, nothing major," I said, trying to calm him down. I tried to downplay to the panic attack, so he wouldn't freak out.
We were interrupted by the assistant principal again. "May we take this to my office, please?" she asked. "Where is Peter's aunt?" she asked, noticing the wrong ratio of kids to parents.
"She was busy, and I am his next emergency contact," Tony said, hiding his fists in his jacket. He was mad, but I wasn't sure if it was at me or Flash. I silently prayed it was the second one. Dad could be mean when he was mad. Like crazy mean. "Let's deal with this," he turned to me, waiting for us to head in the small room. Dang it, I realized, It's both of us. That was the worst possible option. Now I would have to deal with his anger and his frustration. All he did was try to protect Peter and me, and he would go crazy later since he failed today.
"So, according to your fellow student, Flash, you two approached him and started to threaten him about decathlon. You, Miss Stark," she practically spat out the name, "activated an unauthorized weapon in an attempt to hurt him. Does this all seem correct?" She glared between me and Peter, and Peter squirmed in his chair, looking like he was ready to confess to all these things he had never done. I just sat there trying to steady my breathing.
"All due respect, Miss," Dad spoke up first, "but this is not the story I heard. As my daughter is constantly under stress from the press, I have a camera recording her that my security sees. I believe the video from earlier would surprise you. Would you like me to show it to you?" He asked, not bothering to act like he did for the press. He was mad, and it showed. Dad pulled up the footage and played it out. I grimaced at Peter's face when Flash called him out, and Pete lay a comforting hand on my wrist. The video really highlighted how upset he gets when Flash make fun of him.
"Oh!" the AP tried to hide her surprise, but she failed miserably. "Usually we don't look at the footage and try to trust the students. But I was clearly misinformed. Peter, does Flash behave this way often?"
We all turned to look at him. His leg twitched with nerves. "Well, yeah, but it's not usually physical. Only a few times," he said, looking down. He swore slightly and silently when he remembered that this time wasn't physical and that he had released more than needed. I looked at him, shocked. Why did I not know about this? I thought. Sure, I knew Flash was a jerk, but I never knew that my Pete had to deal with that. Peter was obviously trying to keep from us how bad the situation had gotten. "And we need him for the team; I didn't want him to be kicked off it because of me. He typically just calls me names and… uh..." he paused there, staring even more intently at his shoes. I breathed out a breath I hadn't noticed I was holding.
"Uh… What?" I was practically steaming from the ears. "What else?" Alex began to play a soft tune in my head in attempts to calm me down, but it wasn't working. My knuckles turned white as I continued to clench and unclench my fists. How did I not know?
"uhhhhh… he blames my parents and Ben's deaths on me," he added on in a rush. Tears were pooling in his eyes. Or were they my tears? I couldn't tell anymore.
This time it was Dad's turn to freak out; I was too exhausted. "HE DOES WHAT?" he roared. He stood up, fuming, and popped out three pills, one for me and two for him. We both tried our anxiety release techniques. I counted the tiles on the ceiling, and he began to assess his surroundings.
"It's not a big deal," Peter tried.
"No, it's not. It's just your mental health at stake," I grumbled, despite my dad's glare from me talking out of turn. Even in this situation, he got mad over the little things. I kicked at the carpet, signaling we'd talk about it later. This didn't call for politeness; someone had hurt MY PETER! Screw the press rules!
"Peter, this is a very big deal," our AP said, writing something in her notes. "Mr. Stark, I will have the Flash problem addressed, but surely you understand we must punish your daughter for threatening a student, especially when she did not know this occurred often?" she pressed, trying to tighten her hold on the situation. "The councilors can talk more with Peter later, but I really need to address the weapons issues," she gestured over to me and my nanotech earpiece.
"I was just being an upstander!" I cried, trying to relieve the tension. "Just like you're always telling us to," I said. I couldn't get this on my record. Not now. The press would murder me. SI would lose so many stocks! This day just got worse and worse.
Dad whirled on me. "No. An upstander asks them to stop, but they DO NOT, under any circumstances, threaten a civilian. No suit of mine is to be used that way, do you understand?" the anxiety was still ever-present in his eyes, but his jaw was tight with anger. "And don't think this conversation is over. Your mother will be hearing about this, young lady."
My mouth opened and closed. I had nothing to say to that, so I cast my glance downward in guilt. I knew he was mad, but I had never seen Dad so angry with me! They continued talking, something about detention for a week as long as the press stayed in the quiet. I wasn't listening anymore. Tears built up in my eyes, and I popped another pill from Dad's pocket. How many had I had? He looked stressed, but for the first time ever, I was in worse shape. It wasn't a full-blown panic attack like earlier- I could still stand on my own- But man, I really couldn't breathe. Parker was being bullied under my nose. Ugh, I was an idiot! How did I not know?!
Suddenly everyone stood up, and I realized I had zoned out for the end of the conference. I only caught the AP'S last sentence. Apparently, we could leave early today to calm down. Peter had the option to stay, but Dad dragged him out the door and smothered him with apologies. Dad and I both blamed ourselves for the Flash incident. He looked sick with guilt. "Kid, I'm so, so sorry," I heard him say.
I walked up to Parker and smacked him. "Why didn't you tell us?" I asked, all the anger from today's events evident in my tone.
"Well, can you blame me? This isn't exactly better than being bullied. Now," he sighed, "you're in detention."
At that, Dad was riled back up. "No, kid, you definitely should have told us. I'm glad you're okay, and I know you can't fight back, what with super-strength and all, but this isn't fine. You're not off the hook either, by the way. May is going to be so mad," he chuckled, but the smile didn't last long, nor did it reach his eyes.
We hopped in the armored van that Dad used to evade the press. He was prepared, I'd give him that. The drive back to the tower was long and awkward. We were silent, and all of us were dead tired. All that I could think was How did I not know? Why did I let Peter get hurt right under my nose?
-o-
And yes, Mom and May were extremely mad when they found out, and yes, I was definitely not off the hook. To put it lightly, Dad was pissed, and it showed in the punishment. I stayed under his supervision for the remainder of the day, and he assured me there was more to come. I wasn't even allowed to see Peter after school, and Peter was prohibited from Spiderman. Alex was taken offline, and my phone was confiscated. My earpiece was left with me, but only for protection, and it was only able to be turned on by direct orders from Dad. Karen wasn't allowed to help me with anything, and FRIDAY would only update me twice a day. Basically, I came straight home from school and had no technology. The only fun thing I could do was hang in my labs, but Dad or Mom had to approve any of my experiments.
This is going to be a long two weeks, I thought, shaking my head.