A/N: Am I late? Am I early? Honestly, I don't know anymore. This chapter was kind of tricky to write considering that halfway through writing it, I realized something. Remember the long timeline from like chapter 6? Yeah, well it was wrong. I thought Age of Ultron happened in 2016 along with Civil War but turns out that I had just made a typo on my phone that made 2015 into 2016 which is just great because now I had to re-plot everything that I had planned and all the climaxes that I had been building have to be put on hold now and hopefully, it's smooth and not too noticeable. Hopefully. So with all that being said, Age of Ultron starts next chapter and I had to kind of fast forward the time after this chapter.

Anyway, so last chapter we saw Adelaide and the rest of Midtown Middle finding out about Coach Ross' death. This chapter, a little bit of a cliffhanger, but not really a major one and the consequences following the last chapter with the assembly and Coach Ross' murder. Originally it was supposed to be longer, but then I realized that it didn't fit so I took out a whole scene and I realize that I'm just rambling at this point. Sorry. It's this stupid timeline that keep messing with my head. I just can't seem to get it right and it's sooooo annoyingggggg. Ughhh. Anyway, you guys just sit back and relax with this chapter while I continue to pull my hair out in the background.

Fluffymarshmallows: First of all, can I just say thank you for leaving great reviews on every chapter? I always look forward to reading them, so thank you so much! And as for Ned, I guess we'll just have to see...

lizlil: I really appreciate you taking time to leave a review for every chapter! It's so fun to read them! And your reaction about Ross dying was great lol.

Also, thank you to Flufflymarshmallows, lizlil, and cats131011 for following/favoriting or leaving a review! It really means a lot!

"We were just breaking up."

The funeral for Coach Ross had been over the weekend and everyone she knew had attended. Even Flash was there. Adelaide had managed to coax Pepper into coming with her, although she hid her face behind a thick scarf and a hat. JARVIS thought that fake prescription glasses would disguise her better so Pepper ended up wearing those, too.

Although many people attended, it was a small service. Adelaide noticed a woman silently crying next to the casket and the teenager assumed she was Coach Ross' wife. She looked regretful and tired as if she was holding the weight of a million worlds on her shoulders. Her hands kept wandering and Adelaide realized it was because she didn't know where to put them anymore. Adelaide was sitting towards the back of the church next to Pepper when Peter and Ned walked in. Adelaide waved her hand to get their attention as they walked past and then the two boys took a seat next to her.

"Uh, hi…" Peter said, and Adelaide realized he was talking to Pepper. Suddenly, it struck her that she hadn't thought of a fake name for Pepper. Luckily, Pepper had it figured out.

"Hi, I'm Virginia, Adelaide's aunt. You must be Peter. Adelaide's told me a lot about you," she said and Adelaide subtly elbowed her. Peter smiled.

"Nice to meet you," he replied politely, pushing his glasses up.

"Ned, right?" Pepper asked, smiling at Ned who looked slightly confused. Adelaide raised an eyebrow, but he didn't seem to notice.

"Y-Yeah," he said, laughing nervously, "That's me."

The funeral service started and ended within the half-hour and then they all gathered outside as the casket was buried. The police never did find Coach Ross' body so the casket was buried with memories of him. It was a peaceful service. The chill had lessened and there was only a light breeze outside as the sun was setting into the city skyline, coloring the sky a million colors. Maybe Coach Ross would've thought it was too soft or too beautiful – he was a little unsentimental – but it clearly brought contentment to his wife's heart. Somewhere during the service, she had found her closure.

After the service was over, everyone began departing. It had started to get colder and people huddled in their coats, quickly walking to their car for warmth. Adelaide hung back with Peter and Ned as Pepper left to get the car started.

"It was very nice to meet you two," Pepper told Peter and Ned before heading off. For a moment, the three of them stood in the grass, silently watching the skyline.

"Your aunt's really nice," Peter said, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"So is yours," Adelaide replied, shrugging. They were silent again.

"It was a great service," Ned said after a while. The other two teenagers nodded in agreement. Once again, silence passed over them. It was interrupted when someone shouted Peter's name. It was Ben, behind the wheel of a car. Adelaide grinned, waving at him. The three teenagers walked along with Peter to his car.

"Hey kids," Ben said, "How'd it go?"

"I think his wife needed this," Adelaide said. Ben nodded understandingly.

"See you tomorrow, guys," Peter said, waving as he walked over to the passenger seat.

"See ya," Ned said, waving back. Adelaide stuffed her hands in her coat.

"Bye Pete, see you, Ben. Tell May I said hi," she said, taking a step back. Peter waved.

"Will do," Ben replied, "Bye Ned." He rolled up the window and then drove away. Right behind Peter's car, Ned's mother was waiting for him. Ned said goodbye and got into his car and left, leaving Adelaide alone with her thoughts. She briefly wondered what was taking Pepper so long. Adelaide found a bench near the sidewalk and sat down, pulling her coat tighter. She could begin to see her breath when she exhaled. The sun had set and the city was starting to get a lot colder. From the corner of her eye, Adelaide saw someone sitting down on the bench, next to her. Turning to look, she saw that it was Michelle. Adelaide realized that she hadn't seen her since the day she had disappeared before the assembly.

"Hey Michelle," she greeted, "Where were you? You missed the whole service." Michelle stared straight ahead, at Coach Ross's tombstone. Her gaze was hard as ice and Adelaide hesitated to ask why.

"There's something I have to tell you," she said after a long while. She was still staring at the tombstone. Adelaide studied her curiously. Michelle had never showed this much emotion before. Something was definitely wrong.

"What is it?" she asked the girl carefully. One wrong move, and Michelle might not tell her at all and Adelaide was dying to know. Michelle took her time to answer. She inhaled deeply, but her breath was shaky.

"Coach Ross didn't die by accident." Adelaide's heartbeat sped up and she found herself leaning forward as if doing so would make her say it faster. She had been right about the NYPD hiding something, but how did Michelle know what it was?

"He was murdered."

"Adelaide!" Adelaide whipped her head around, fear coursing through her veins. It was Pepper waiting in the car. Adelaide held up a hand, telling her to wait. When she turned back to Michelle, she was gone. The teenager stood up, frantically scanning the whole cemetery for her, but she was nowhere. It was completely dark now and it would be impossible to even try to look for the girl. Taking a shaky breath, Adelaide stuffed her hands in her coat and hurried out of the graveyard.

The next day at school, Adelaide was anxious to find her curly-haired friend. The suspense had kept her awake all night long and she hadn't been able to get even a wink of sleep. Despite that, she didn't feel tired at all. If anything, she was pumped with adrenaline. At this point, it was the only thing keeping her from nodding off. She was jittery, constantly tapping her foot or pen, always searching the room as if she was expecting something to jump out at her. And to make things worse, she had a double dose of caffeine this morning, the second cup hidden from Pepper, of course. Tony had watched her swallow the whole cup in seconds, but didn't bother asking. At this point, the billionaire knew the teenager was more questions than answers.

Michelle wasn't in English in the morning or even at lunch in the afternoon. Adelaide had searched the library 7 times now, in hopes that she would find her there, but no avail. Peter and Ned could clearly see the worry on their friend's face as she plopped down in front of them.

"Where's your lunch?" Peter asked her. She barely seemed to hear his question, staring at the empty spot by the wall. Where on earth was that girl? She was driving Adelaide up the wall.

"Adelaide," Ned said, waving his hand in front of her. She blinked, looking away.

"Hm? Oh, I'm not hungry," she answered. Truth was, she hadn't eaten anything all day besides the two – three – cups of coffee which, she doubted counted. Even then, she wasn't hungry and she knew she wouldn't be until she figured out what the hell was going on. Adelaide began tapping her foot anxiously, searching the cafeteria. She knew Michelle was here – she had seen her this morning as she was walking into school. Adelaide had ran after her, shouted her name, but the girl had kept walking and after she had turned the corner, it was like she had disappeared into the crowd of kids and Adelaide hadn't seen her since. If there was one thing Michelle was good at, it was hiding. You couldn't find her unless she wanted to be found. But if there was one thing Adelaide was good at, it was being stubborn. She going to find Michelle somehow even if it meant tracking her down to her house. Although, she hoped it wouldn't come to that.

"Adelaide, are you okay?" Ned asked, "You seem a little…"

"Jumpy," Peter finished. Adelaide shook her head.

"I'm fine. Nothing's wrong. I'm fine." The two boys hardly looked convinced and shared a worried look.

"If you say so," Ned said, turning back to his lunch. Peter continued to watch the girl, not entirely convinced. She was hiding something.

"What it is, Ada?" he asked. The use of the nickname made Adelaide look at him. He looked genuinely concerned. Adelaide forced a smile.

"I'm fine, really," she said, hoping that would be enough to convince him. "I've just had a lot of coffee today, that's all."

"I heard about this woman who bought a coffee from Starbucks and she found a spider inside so she sued and won a million dollars," Ned said, "Did you find a spider in your coffee?" Despite the stress, Adelaide smiled. He could be such a dork sometimes.

"No, Ned, I didn't find a spider in my coffee today. You'll be the first to know if I do." After that, Peter and Ned launched off into a conversation about people suing other people and Adelaide silently slipped out of the cafeteria. She decided to go to the bathroom to wash her face, maybe clear her a mind a little. She could definitely use some cold water to wake herself up. Since everyone was at lunch, the bathroom was empty which was just what Adelaide needed. Some peace and quiet. Just as she was wiping her face with a paper towel, Adelaide heard the sound of a toilet flushing and then Michelle walked out of the stall. Adelaide was onto her in seconds.

"Where the hell have you been? I've been looking for you all day like a complete madwoman," she whisper-yelled. Even the walls had ears, but Adelaide was barely keeping her temper in check right now. Michelle had gone MIA ever since this morning and now she turns up – 7 hours later – in the fucking bathroom. Did she have any idea how anxious Adelaide had been all day?

"Avoiding you," the girl answered, walking past her to wash her hands. Adelaide stood in her spot for a second, wondering what on earth just happened. Then, she followed Michelle to the sink, angered.

"Avoiding me? What the hell, Michelle? You came up to me yesterday. You don't just drop a sentence like that on someone and expect them to go on merrily with their life." She wasn't even trying to keep quiet now; the anger that had built up over the day was finally released and Michelle happened to be the person it was for. Yet, the curly-haired girl seemed unaffected as she calmly washed her hands.

"Excuse me," Michelle said, walking past Adelaide to grab a paper towel. Adelaide stood in front of the dispenser.

"No. Don't do that. You have to tell me everything you know," Adelaide demanded. Michelle gave her a hard look. Adelaide sighed.

"Please." It was Michelle's turn to sigh as she turned away, drying her hands on her pants. For a long, anxious moment, Michelle stood there with her back to Adelaide while Adelaide impatiently waited for the girl the say something.

"I told you everything I know." Adelaide laughed involuntarily. The sound was unexpected in a conversation like this.

"No, you didn't. You know more."

"Adelaide."

"Michelle." It was silent again between the two until Adelaide sighed. Suddenly, a blonde-headed girl walked into the bathroom, looking at Adelaide and then at Michelle. Adelaide began tapping her foot impatiently as she waited for the girl to leave. She took her time in the bathroom and then what seemed like 20 minutes to wash her hands. The blonde kept glancing at the other two girls with curious eyes and Adelaide internally groaned. Could she be any more slower?

"We were just breaking up," Adelaide told her as the girl lingered by the door to watch them. At the statement, the blonde's eyes grew wide and she quickly walked out the door. Finally. Adelaide turned to Michelle's back, wondering how she was supposed to convince this girl to spill her secrets.

"Look, Michelle, I don't know why you told me what you did, but if you trusted me once, you can trust me again." Michelle didn't answer for so long, Adelaide almost thought she wasn't going to. Then:

"I had to tell someone what I saw, but I didn't want to tell the NYPD," she said. Adelaide was all ears now and she carefully took a step forward.

"What did you see?" she asked quietly. In the mirror, Adelaide saw Michelle's shoulders slumping.

"I was in the library when it happened. I saw a man, dragging Coach Ross' body in a body bag. I know, because I saw his shoes sticking out. The man was holding a knife that still had blood on it. I didn't see his face, but he was wearing janitor's pants," she said, turning around, "That's all I know. Now will you stop bothering me?" Adelaide nodded, too shocked to speak. She stared at the floor where Michelle was standing as the girl walked out of the bathroom, seemingly in a rush to leave. Adelaide leaned against the wall, thinking. She still had so many questions, but she knew Michelle wasn't going to answer them whether she knew the answers or not. There was only one way to find the truth.

Adelaide would have to get the answers herself.

The gym was surprisingly silent. Ever since the assembly, people had tried to avoid coming here as much as possible for obvious reasons. The school hadn't been able to find a coach to replace Coach Ross yet, so they were making do with a substitute teacher who really didn't know how to coach at all. Now, everybody just aimlessly walked around the gym during class. The substitute, Coach Stiles, was a lanky guy and he only emerged from his office to take roll. And that was only if he remembered to do it.

Adelaide made herself invisible before walking through the gym doors, just to be safe even though there was not one person here. It wasn't just the students who were avoiding this place. Only couple overhead lights were on and since there were no windows in the gym, it was kind of dark, making the gym look slightly eerie. Finally, Adelaide made her way to the teacher's lounge. It was marked off by several yellow 'DO NOT CROSS' tapes, but Adelaide ignored them. She needed to find the truth and she wasn't resting until she did. Quietly as possible, she twisted open the door which was left stupidly unlocked. The NYPD put a million tapes and signs to shield the door, but they didn't think about locking it. Shaking her head, Adelaide walked inside.

Inside, the room was pitch black. She fumbled for a light switch and then the room lit up, row by row. It was a rather narrow room, but excessively long. It probably crossed the length of the gym. She closed the door behind her. Her heart was beating twice as fast and her stomach was tying itself into knot after knot. Adelaide forced herself to stay calm and focus. She was here to look for clues, not get distracted by her extremely loud heartbeat that was pounding in her ears. Michelle had said the man had a knife which meant he had stabbed Coach Ross. Adelaide began searching through the room, looking for anything that screamed murder. She looked in the cabinets, under the desks, and even in the fridge. Whoever had killed Coach Ross was a professional and he didn't leave behind a single clue. Then, her eyes landed on a file cabinet which was left slightly ajar. There was a piece of paper sticking out of it and as Adelaide picked it out, she realized it was covered in blood. She let out a small scream, dropping it.

For a moment, she leaned against the wall, trying to catch her breath. She closed her eyes and tried to get her hands to stop shaking. Then, being extra careful, she bent over and picked the paper up again. How had the NYPD missed this? With shaky hands, she unfolded the paper, being careful to avoid touching the blood. In the note, there were only two words that instilled fear into Adelaide's bones beyond imagination.

Stop looking.

From that moment on, Adelaide couldn't think of anything but the murder and who had done it. It haunted her like a ghost. Yet, ever since then, she was too terrified to even look for answers. And after a month without answers or even clues, Adelaide decided that it was really time to stop searching. The NYPD had given up already. A month later, Adelaide had officially given up, too.

A/N: All this suspense...I tried my best to build the climax and hopefully your heartbeat sped up at least little. Anyway, next chapter is kickstarting Age of Ultron! Woohoo! I'm actually so excited for this even though it means I'll probably have to rewatch the movie sometime and I honestly don't know when I'll be able to do that. Probably, I'll be staying up till 2 am to watch it so helloo dark circles. There's this character that I AM SO EXCITED for in Age of Ultron and he/she is probably gonna end up being like Adie's best friend (after Peter and Ned, of course). Bet you can't guess who...