Stephanie Rogers grunted as she swung her fist at the punching bag. It came back to hit her, but she lifted her leg up and kicked it with as much force as possible. Sweat ran down her forehead, trying to get in her eyes. She wiped it away as she kept going at the punching bag.
The sounds of her fighting echoed throughout the empty basement. Tenants weren't supposed to be down there, but she had nowhere else to train. It wasn't like she was allowed in a gym or anything.
Her punches grew more forceful as anger flooded through her veins. It was irritating how women weren't allowed to join the fight against the stupid Nazis. She wanted to fight alongside the men of her country.
The lighting turned on and Stephanie froze before stopping the bag from hitting her in the face.
"Don't stop on my account."
Sighing in relief, even though she was highly embarrassed, Stephanie turned toward her brother's best friend. "Bucky," she said, noting his uniform. "When do you leave?"
"Tomorrow morning. I got the 107th."
Jealousy made her break eye contact with him. She started to pull off the medical tape she used to protect her hands.
"Hey, Steph. What's wrong? Is it because I caught you acting very unladylike?"
A chuckle escaped her lips before she shook her head. Bucky was the only one who knew how much she wanted to participate in the war. He had even given her a few training lessons when Steve was busy with trying to enlist.
She met her friend's eyes and sighed. Why did he always have to give her that feeling in the pit of her stomach? Ever since they had become teenagers, she had been getting that feeling and no matter what she did, it never went away.
Stephanie tightened her high ponytail. "Just tired. You know how it is."
Bucky smirked, pointing his thumb towards the ceiling. "I got Steve getting ready. You wanna join us?"
"Where are we going?" she questioned, walking away from the punching bag.
He let her walk up the stairs ahead of him. "Stark Expo."
A smile crept onto her face. She had heard about that and was secretly excited Bucky invited her.
As the two walked into Steve and Stephanie's apartment, Steve came out of his room looking clean and fresh. He narrowed his eyes when he noticed how sweaty Stephanie was. "Steph, what were you doing?"
"I have no clue what you're talking about, baby brother," she said, giggling when Steve cringed at the nickname. She stepped into the bathroom before he could bother her anymore.
A/N: Not a very super awesome chapter but it gets better, I promise. This is one of the books for the poll on my profile. If you want me to focus on just this book than put this as your vote! Hopefully, you guys like this chapter!