Her eyes blinked open slowly and she turned to look at her clock, 8.42am. She pushed the covers aside, it was the weekend and she had a rough idea of what she was going to do. She reached to the side of her table, Macbeth, she would learn at least a verse today before returning to her studies. She began to read "Great Glamis, worthy Cawdor, Greater than both, by the all-hail hereafter…" only to be interrupted by a banging on the door.

"Natasha open up," Maria said, she made her way to the door still in her pjs.

"Can I help you?" she asked opening the door and welcoming her in.

"You can't help this hangover honey," she said removing her sunglasses and resting them at the centre of her white vest top which was tucked into her light blue jeans, she wore a dark blue blazer type jacket which was undone and white flats. Her hair was tied to the side in a fishnet braid.

"What's up then?" she asked going into the kitchen and grabbing an apple from the fruit bowl on the counter.

"We're going shopping because I need something to put me off this headache," she answered rubbing her temple gingerly and taking a seat on her sofa.

"Actually I was planning to learn a verse for the play and study today," she said taking a seat next to her.

"Not anymore," she smiled searching for the remote and clicking the TV on "go get changed," she ordered shooing her back into her bedroom. Natasha sighed and trudged along back into her room and looked back at Maria begrudgingly. Closing her door she made her way over to her wardrobe and picked out what she would be wearing, it was warm outside which was surprising for November but she supposed it was the quiet after the storm. She settled on a white skater dress that had vibrant red flowers for its pattern to match her hair, she remembered that Pepper had picked it out for her and made her buy it. It had short sleeves and a low dipping neck line that flattered her hourglass figure immensely; she tied her hair back as she had done the night before and put on some deep red lipstick before exiting, gaining a look of appreciation from Maria.

"God damn Natasha," she said switching off the TV and walking over to the door.

"You like it," she said looking down at the dress modestly.

"You look like a supermodel," she said flatteringly, Natasha smiled, slipped on her white heels and grabbed her backpack "No way, put that down," she scolded disapprovingly "Go get a handbag," she said taking it away from her.

"I don't really have one," she said in exasperation.

"Give me your purse and we'll go buy one today," she said, Natasha sighed and handed her it for her to put in her blue handbag.

"Let's just go," she said before locking the door and placing her phone and keys in her pockets.

Natasha had soon realised who was really doing the shopping, she stood by helplessly while Maria chose all her clothes for her, she finally spoke up after seeing a white silk night gown that didn't leave much to the imagination being picked out "Oh come on that's ridiculous," she said putting the thing back.

"And the kimono isn't?" she asked raising an eyebrow and taking it back of the clothes rail.

"That's just for after the shower and when I'm going about the house, but that looks itchy," she complained trying to grab it back off her.

"You don't have a say," she said taking it away from her reach, she gave up and looked at what Maria had picked out so far: several vest tops, two pairs of shorts, a black trench coat, a blue long sleeved shirt, black heels and a navy blue fitted skirt. She was finding the whole process rather boring, "yes," Maria muttered taking a short sleeved, deep red collared dress from off one of the rails. She heard Maria gasp in surprise as she set her eyes on blindingly white, backless, short sleeved dress that was covered in a layer of lace, it's neckline was close to the collar and clung tight to the body before flaring out at the waist where a bow of silver lace hung neatly. It truly was beautiful. Maria picked took it off the coat hanger and handed it to her.

Natasha checked the label "$100" she muttered in annoyance.

"Please get it Nat," she pleaded stroking the lace tentatively.

"Okay," she sighed, it looked like her savings were all gone.

It was the day of the exams and all the students in her year were lined up outside the gym hall where the exams would be taken. Natasha wasn't nervous but clearly most of the students were including Pepper who was fiddling with a lock of her hair in anticipation. She had been studing for weeks and knew nearly everything there was to know about every subject she had taken. She was aware that they would be in there for 3 hours before getting a 30 minute break and returning once again to the exam hall.

"I've been studying for weeks," she heard Betty say to Pepper from behind her.

"Yeah me too," Pepper said in reply, she saw Jane walk past and thought for a minute she was going to talk to her but instead she just walked straight to Pepper.

"Thanks for waiting for me," she said smiling at them both, they then proceeded to complain about how Jane was so good at science and would do so much better than them. Natasha rolled her eyes, that may have been true but she had not once seen Jane in library.

"Natasha," a familiar voice drawled from behind her "there's my little study buddy." Natasha groaned.

"We did homework together once and you copied all my answers," she said looking back ahead trying not to pay attention to him.

"Tony, get back here," Pepper shouted over to him, it was clear that Pepper and her group still hadn't any intention of forgiving her since they would have summoned her over too. He gave a small smile before returning to Peppers side. She certainly hoped this day would go quickly.

Natasha closed her book and set it aside, she had always enjoyed reading that one in particular, she remembered that Luke had said he liked reading which had not struck her as odd. She had been thinking of him a lot recently, the dream he had made an appearance in had not been forgotten. His smile, his smell, his eyes, the way his lips felt against hers, she tried to shake all thoughts of him out of her head.

Her exams had gone relatively well, she didn't falter once and she had no doubt that she would be among the top students in her year. She ran a pale hand through her hair got up, it was getting late and she should go to bed but she had the nagging urge that something wasn't quite right. She knew all her friends were at Tony's annual after exams party which –from what she had heard- usually involved a lot of drinking, dancing and making out with strangers. She shuddered at the thought of going but something told her she needed to protect her friends. She picked up her phone and called Maria.

"Hey," she said, Natasha was the last person she would expect to get a call from.

"I'll be there in ten minutes," she said not bothering with the light conversation that was usually customary with phone calls.

"What?" Maria asked hushing a few people who were screeching loudly alongside her "I thought you were staying at home."

"Yeah well I changed my mind," she said walking into her room and choosing a tight fitting, knee length black dress from her wardrobe.

"Fine, I'll meet you at the entrance of Stark tower," she said before hanging up. Natasha picked out the black bag Maria had picked out for her and put a gun -that Fury had given her as an extra precaution since her attack- inside. If there was going to be an attack, she was definitely going to stop it.

So this chapter's a lot shorter than usual but I couldn't really fit what's going to happen next into the same chapter without it looking confusing :p I promise I'll update soon.

- Anna