Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
Be-
Danielle woke up abruptly from the sounds of her final alarm set for having to leave the house. She quickly shut it off and checked the time. 7:54. Crap. She was going to miss the Subway. She staggered out of bed and quickly dressed in her clothes before snatching up her granola bar and backpack. She ran out of the apartment door and reappeared on the Subway station platform just as it pulled up. She knew she wasn't supposed to use her powers outside of the Compound, but she didn't want to miss the train either.
Danielle quickly boarded the train only to be met by Peter who was seated at their usual morning subway seat in the corner of the cabin. "Morning." She greeted him, snapping him from the concentrated state he was in looking over something in his journal. "What are you doing?" The brunette asked as she took a seat beside him.
"Oh, uh, Chemistry. We have a test today and I totally forgot to study." He explained with a frown. "Did you?"
Danielle shrugged. She never really needed to study. Dr. Selvig had gone above and beyond to teach her everything in science up to Physics, so Chemistry really came easily to her. "A little." She lied. "You need some help?"
"That'd be great." Peter sighed.
"Here." Danielle took the journal from him and tried to figure out how she could possibly make this easier for Peter. "Mmm...when I study, I usually used flash cards, but I guess this could work. Uh, what color does Litmus paper turn when exposed to an Acid?"
Peter focused for a moment before snapping in realization. "Uh, red!"
Danielle nodded before continuing. "What does it mean for something to be 'aqueous'?"
Peter scrunched his face. "Does that mean it...dissolves in water?" Danielle smiled and nodded. "Yes! Okay, next one?" This cycle continued on until the subway pulled up to their stop. Once of the train was usually when the pair went on their separate ways to enter the school. Danielle usually would go off to find Betty, Liz, Sally, and Cindy, while Peter would go off to find Ned. But today, Peter called after her. "Hey, Elle!" She spun around at the odd nickname. "You wanna help me some more? I could use it."
Danielle shrugged before Peter and her headed up to the tops of the bleachers link the right side of the large football field just outside the school. After their miniature study date on the bleachers, the bell rang and they both quickly rushed to class. "Thanks for helping me, Elle."
"'Elle'?" Danielle finally questioned.
"Yeah, you know. Short for 'Danielle'." Peter tried to explain. "I mean, if you don't like it-"
"No, it's fine. It's just...weird." She struggled to find the Name of the feeling it left her with hearing someone call her something other than 'Danielle', 'Harper', 'Enhanced', or 'weapon'. It especially made her feel welcomed in her new life here. "Your welcome for the studying. I hope you do good today."
"You too. See ya then." Peter called to her before the hallways began to disperse and the minute bell chimed, signaling for the to head to class. Danielle waved slightly before making her way to Algebra 2.
The day went by in a breeze and soon, Danielle found herself already seated between Betty and Michelle for fourth period English. She was content to finish reading 'Lord of the Flies' when Betty tapped her shoulder with the eraser of her pencil. The brunette looked over at the girl questioningly.
"You think about what Liz, Cindy, and I said about soccer?" She asked with a friendly smile.
Danielle felt Michelle's heavy gaze beside her. Despite that Danielle actually wanted to join soccer, she wasn't sure how she reacted to Michelle's words. "Actually, I have, and I think I'll join when the season starts."
Betty's smile faltered before she chuckled. "Uh, great. I hope to see you on the field in May."
"For sure." Danielle said before returning back to her book.
After class heading to lunch, Danielle waited for the inevitable assault Michelle would launch on her due to her decision. Sure enough, Michelle slid beside Danielle in the lunch line. "Soccer? Seriously?"
"Look, Betty seems nice. I really don't think her, Liz, or any of the girls would set me up for failure." Danielle tried to defend as her eyes fell to Michelle's empty food tray. "I've never seen you get lunch food before."
"Because I don't eat lunch." She explained vaguely.
"Then what are you doing in the line?"
"Trying to talk you out of making a fool of yourself. Obviously."
"I thought you said you don't care."
Michelle sighed. "I don't."
Danielle looked down at her plate of food. "Michelle, thanks for the advice, but I don't think you're right about Betty."
Michelle threw her arms up. "Fine. I'm just trying to warn you."
"Thanks anyways." She said sheepishly before grabbing her tray and heading over to Liz's table.
Before she made it to her usual seat, Peter called her over. "Hey, Elle! Over here!" Danielle smiled over at her friend before making her way over to his table where he sat beside a shorter, tan kid with a more husky appearance. "Ned, this is my friend Elle. Elle, this is Ned."
"Hi." She greeted him as she sat across from both him and Peter.
"Wow," Ned breathed in awe. "You actually want to sit by us?"
Danielle furrowed her eyebrows at his question. "Um, why wouldn't I?"
"Aren't Liz and them waiting for you?" Peter pointed out.
Danielle shrugged. "I'm sure they wouldn't mind if I sat over here."
Peter let a smile cross his face at the small gesture. "Cool."
The rest of lunch was different than most Danielle had had while being here at Midtown. Sitting with Peter and Ned was a whole lot different then sitting with Liz, Betty, Cindy, and Sally. The girls always talked about other people, whether that be good or bad, but Peter and Ned just wanted to know a bit about Danielle before they jumped right into weird topics like Star Wars and other Sci-Fi pop culture references Danielle knew next to nothing about.
After lunch, everyone went their separate ways, Peter, Ned, and Danielle bumping into each other here or there. Even stopping to chat by one another's locker every once in a while. And Danielle had to admit, she liked having geeky friends like them.
It wasn't until Danielle was on her way to Photography when Liz approached her with Cindy by her side. "Hey, we missed you at lunch. Where'd you go?"
"Oh, I just went to sit with some of my other friends. Sorry, I forgot to tell you." Danielle answered.
"Don't sweat it." Liz brushed off. "We were just wondering what happened. Come on, we're gonna be late for class." She pointed out before the trio started down to their seventh period together.
"So," Cindy started. "Who were the friends you sat with?"
"Ned and Peter." Danielle replied.
"Oh, they're cool. They're on the Decathlon team." Liz explained. "Have you thought about joining?"
"Actually, I was hoping I could if that was alright."
"Really?!" The two replied, excitedly. "That's amazing. We'd be happy to have you." Liz exclaimed. "The next practice is next Tuesday, good luck at auditions."
"Thanks." Danielle muttered as Cindy went off to her class and Liz and her walked into Photography.
As soon as they were seated, Liz tuned out the teacher and turned to Danielle. "So, hey. Flash is having this party Friday night and I wanted to know if you wanted to come with."
Danielle felt the blood sink from her face. "Uh, I'm, I don't, probably, maybe-"
"It's okay if you don't want to." Liz cut off her rambling.
"No. It's not that. It's just, I've never been to...a party before."
"Seriously?" Liz hissed under her breath. "What about birthdays?"
"Um, they were usually small dinners with my family." Which was true. Despite her three years at HYDRA where they didn't hardy even recognize the sibling's birthdays, her mom and dad always just had a small dinner where they served her cake and gave her presents. And Danielle hadn't been at the Avengers Compound long enough to have a birthday, but they did take Jack to a bar for his 21st and didn't come home until the next morning.
"Oh my God, you totally have to come them." Liz insisted. "It's just a block from school and since Flash's dad is loaded, he usually scores some pretty exotic drinks there."
"Drinks?" Danielle muttered fearfully.
"What? Don't tell me you don't drink either." Danielle shook her head. "Okay, you're totally going. Look at it as a Senior-Sophomore-Outreach-Program. This new year here is going to be one of new experiences. And I'm going to help you live them." Liz declared.
"But, my family is super strict about...parties."
"Well, you can always tell them youre studying or staying the night with me if you want." Liz suggested.
"You-you want me to lie?"
Liz chuckled. "You are like a Life-Virgin. Everything is new to you." She joked, but Danielle knew she had no clue. "Just tell whoever you stay with that you're coming to study back at my place on Friday and after school you and I can just head straight to Flash's. Sound good?" Danielle only nodded. "Great! It's settled." Liz then turned back to the front of the class.
The end of the day came by fast and Danielle found herself second guessing whether or not she even wanted to go to the party. But, maybe a part of her did. When she watched Jack and the rest of the Avengers go out to party for his birthday, she found herself wanting to do that. Have fun, get wild, dance the night away. Maybe Liz was the key to all that. Danielle already had some sort of high standard at the school just from hanging out with Liz. So what if she wanted to take advantage of that? Besides, a little party never killed anybody...right?
That day after school, Danielle left to the apartment where Sharon already had dinner and a movie waiting. The pair sat themselves on the couch while munching on some meatball subs and watching the Breakfast Club. Sharon noticed Danielle's lack of speaking, but passed it off as her normal behavior. But when Danielle finally did speak, Sharon wasn't sure how to react. "I'm going to my friend, Liz's house on Friday night to study. If that's alright."
Sharon blinked. She wasn't sure whether to be happy that Danielle finally made friends she could stay the night with or if she should be terrified that the enhanced individual in her care wanted to go out unsupervised. So she did the responsible thing and replied, "Uh, I think that's a discussion you need to have with Steve." Yes, that was good. Push the problem onto Steve and have him decide.
Danielle nodded. "O-Okay. I'll call him later."
Sure enough, after dinner passed, the young girl headed straight to her room and called up the super soldier. The phone rang for about ten seconds before he answered. "Hello?"
"Hi, Steve. I-It's Danielle." She tried to swallow the lump in her throat. She knew what she was doing was wrong, but Liz made it seem like it was so natural to lie to your guardians. She figured it wouldn't matter if that's what she did in this instance. "I was just calling to wonder if I could maybe skip this weekend's trio to the compound so I could stay the night at my friend's to study..and stuff."
Steve was silent on the other end for a moment before finally speaking. "Study? Study for what?"
"Uh, the Decathlon." Danielle quickly lied. "I'm joining."
"Oh. That's great. Well, I guess it would be alright if you...missed this weekend's visit."
Danielle could hear the disappointment in his voice and it made her feel even more guilty. "Okay. Thanks. Tell Jack and Wanda and everyone else I said 'hi'."
"I will. Goodnight. Have fun at your friend's and be safe."
"Okay. Bye. Goodnight." And after that, Danielle quickly hung up before her conscious got the best of her and made her fess up to what she was really doing on Friday.
When Friday came around, Danielle was as nervous as ever. She left her and Sharon's apartment with a big duffel bag instead of her backpack. Peter had given her an odd look, but decided against asking about it as he watched her dash through the student parking lot to drop it off at Liz's car. Peter didn't know how to feel about his new found friend moving up in the high school hierarchy. Jealous, maybe? Happy? He felt a bit abandoned when he would see her run off to her new group of friends, but felt a sense of joy when Danielle would ditch them to have lunch with him and Ned. He'd also seen her recently at Decathlon meetings and now after school at soccer practice. But somehow, she always made time to talk to him at least.
So, when Peter found out Danielle was going to Flash's party with Liz, anger was an emotion he kept in spades.
"You're seriously considering going to this stupid party?!" Peter demanded of his friend as they walked through the bookshelves in the library together.
Danielle made a small unsure frown as she sorted through a section of books. "Liz wanted me to go. I didn't argue because she was my friend and it seemed like a nice suggestion to go. Plus, I've never been to a party before." She admit.
"Well, I'll take you to one!" Peter stated. "I'll take you to any party you want. Just not HIS!" He hissed as he directed their gaze to Flash Thompson who was sitting in the far corner of the library throwing wadded pieces of paper at people passing by.
"You want me to ditch Liz because you don't like Flash?" Danielle muttered.
"Yes." Peter replied, but quickly realized it sounded wrong. "Wait-No!"
Danielle scrunched her face in confusion. "I thought, being my friend, you'd support me going to this party."
"I support you with a lot of things, but sneaking to go to Flash Thompson's party isn't the best thing to do, Elle."
"Peter, it's just a party." She pointed out.
Peter let out a heavy sigh before shrugging. "Fine. I'll see you on Monday, I guess."
Danielle watched as Perer then left her alone in the bookshelves. She couldn't help but feel guilty not only for lying to Stevr and Sharon, but now for going behind Peter's back and going to Flash's party. Why did it all seem so wrong? It was just a party.
The end of the day couldn't have come any faster. Liz met Danielle in the student parking lot who was already waiting in Cindy, Sally, and Betty. They all climbed into the car and drove to Liz's house to get ready for the party.
"Ooh, what about this blouse with this skirt?" Betty asked as she held up the clothing items to Danielle.
"I like that skirt with the red blouse." Liz said.
Betty threw the white blouse originally in her hand and grabbed a red blouse instead to go with the black skirt. "Perfect." Cindy chimed.
"Great. Put it on, Ellie." Betty said as she handed the clothes to Danielle and ushered her to the bathroom.
After getting dressed. Liz insisted on doing Danielle's hair and make up. "I-I don't wear make up." Danielle admit as the brunette pushed her into the chair in front of the vanity.
"Well, that is going to change tonight." Liz said as she began to work her magic. By the time she was done, Danielle hardly recognized the girl in the mirror who had blush on her cheeks, mascara and eye shadow along her eyes, and lipstick across her lips. Her usual layered nappy hair do was turned into a curly master piece. "I'm missing something." Liz said as she looked down at her work of art.
"Glitter, duh." Cindy said from the bed as she did her own make up.
"Right! Glitter." Liz said as she grabbed a small canister of glitter and sprinkled a tiny bit into Danielle's hair. "There. So, how do you like it?"
"I-I..." Danielle stammered as she stared at the unrecognizable girl looking back at her. The only thing she could think of was the fact that Wanda would be pissed if she found out that someone else got to do her make up. "It looks nice." She finally managed.
"Yay!" Betty cheered as she latched some hoop earrings on. "Now, let's go. The party started, like, an hour ago."
"Calm down, Betty." Cindy said as they all grabbed their phones and purses. "It's always good to be fashionably late."
And late they were. The party was booming when they arrived. The street was filled with cars, the front yard of the house was littered with trash and lingering people, inside the house was full of more people dancing, talking, laughing, drinking. The music was at full volume and pulsing lights were the only thing that allowed people to see.
'How could people enjoy this?', was the only thing going through Danielle's mind as she followed behind Liz and the girls to the kitchen. "Beer?" Betty asked as she grabbed red solo cups from the counter.
"Yes, please." Cindy chimed as Betty began to fill up some cups.
"Ellie, you want some?" Liz asked.
Danielle quickly shook her head. It was bad enough she lied to Steve and ditched Peter, beer would be taking it a step too far. "I-I shouldn't."
"Come on!" Betty encouraged. "It's not that bad. Consider it the apart of the soccer team initiation."
"Just one, Ellie?" Cindy nudged her.
Danielle finally sighed and shrugged. The girls cheered before filling her up a cup. Danielle took a sip and winced slightly. "It tastes like stale bread." She remarked.
"See? Not that bad." Betty said. "Now let's party, girls!"
"Woo!"
The rest of the night, Danielle tried to stay as close to Liz, Cindy, and Betty as possible. Liz introduced Danielle to most of the Decathlon Team and Betty introduced her to the soccer team girls. Danielle even ran into Michelle who was standing off to the side reading a book and eating Twizzlers. The party began to accelerate as groups of college kids began to come in to raid the party of its beer. Then, kids started jumping into the pool.
Danielle watched as people dunked into the swimming pool fully clothed from afar as she spoke to a few of the soccer team players. "So, you're gonna try out next week?" One of the girls, Amber, asked.
Danielle nodded as she took another drink of something Cindy called Rum and Coke. It wasn't that bad, but it had a more bitter taste than beer nd was definitely strong. "Betty told me it would be fun."
"Well, it will be once we get enough girls. You look like you could definitely hold your own on the field." Another senior player named Ashley said. "I look forward to playing with you, Elle."
"You too." She replied as the girls walked off and Betty, Liz, and Cindy came back. "What's in this drink again?" Danielle asked Cindy.
"Uh, rum and Coke?" Cindy laughed.
"What's Rum?"
Betty cackled. "Oh my God. You are totally drunk."
"I'm not!" Danielle declared before a burp escaped her lips and horror crossed her features. "Oh my God, I'm drunk."
Liz laughed. "It's okay. Just stay clear of the pool."
Danielle nodded, but as soon as she said that, something much more worrisome than the pool happened; her phone started buzzing and the caller ID was Tony. Danielle dropped her solo cup of Rum and Coke and her heart began to race. What was Tony doing calling her this late? What was Tony doing calling her at all? "I-I-I have to take this." Danielle stammered as she stumbled further into the backyard away from all the music andd loud noises before answering. "H-Hello?"
"Hey, kiddo! Just calling to check in on you. Steve was worried so he had me come fly in to make sure you were alright at your friend's house." Tony explained and Danielle's heart fell and color rushed from her face. "But that's the thing. I tracked your phone to your so called friend's house and from up here it looks like a party."
"Hey, look! It's Iron Man!" One of the party goers called out. Everyone's eyes shot up to the sky above the house to find the Iron Man suit hovering over.
Danielle's eyes widened. "Tony, I can explain-"
"Don't bother. I already called the police and the party's getting shut down. Meet me at the end of the street in ten." He cut her off harshly and flew away.
As the call ended, police sirens rang out from the front of the house. "The cops are here!" Another party goer shouted.
Liz, Betty, and Cindy had disappeared and most everyone was being escorted from the house. "Awe, man." Flash groaned. "My parents are gonna kill me."
Danielle couldn't help but feel guilty that she had caused all this. She tried looking for her friends, but found none. She then did as instructed and walked down to the end of the street-more like stumbled-to find Tony. Sure enough, the Iron Man suit landed beside her at the street corner. "What were you thinking?" Tony asked as he exited the suit.
"I-It was just a party." Danielle muttered.
"Yeah, a par full of people drinking and smoking and doing bad things." Tony exclaimed. "There were college kids there, Dani. Adults at a kid's party. What weren't thinking? It was your first month of school and already you're mixed up in the wrong crowd."
"My friends said it would be fun." Danielle whimpered, but slurred a few words before burping. Her eyes widened. Shit, she was made.
"Are you drunk?" Tony narrowed his eyes at her as he took a step closer. "You're drunk, aren't you?" Danielle let her gaze drop to her shoes. "You were drinking at the party?!"
"I don't feel so good." Danielle said, clutching her abdomen as a wave of nausea swept over her.
"No, don't change the subject on me, Danielle Harper." Tony scolded. "Tellmme you weren't drinking-" He was cut off when Danielle doubled over and spewed vomit all of Tony's shoes. Tony looked down in disgust before quickly looking away. "God, Cap's going to kill us both."
A/N: What was Cap's, Sharon's, Jack's, and the rest of the Avenger's reactions? Well, you have to wait too next chapter to find out. Why? Because I'm evil.
TheaScohy: One, I love your profile picture. And two, don't apologize for being nitpicky I need people to criticize me to help fix my mistakes so thank you so much for keeping me in check.
So, on the point of Czechslovakia. I did put Slovakia on my docs, but my stupid thing must've kept auto correcting it. But after maybe ten chapters I'll go bad and fix my mistakes.
Another thing, actually have no clue where I got Hong Kong, Chine from. One of my brain farts. I'll definitely be going back to fix that, thanks for pointing it out.
And finally, the siblings' last name Harper. Their father was Slovakian and their mother was American. You'll learn more about their parents in later chapters and why they took on her last name stead of his because there is more to their back story than the eye meets that I'll go more into detail about.
Once again, thank you for your nitpicking and constructive criticism. If there are any more details you find are flawed in here, don't be afraid to point them out, I need it.
~Thank you, Ally
