The rest of the Spanish class passed quickly, and Bobbi was pleased to discover that she had very little catching up to do to keep up with the other kids. About half of the class was, like Clint, both checked out and not especially interested in the language, but the rest seemed to take it seriously. Natasha was clearly one of the more successful students in the room, and Bobbi decided stoutly that she was going to be just as good as her by the end of the semester.

She trekked back to Mrs. Diaz's room for biology afterwards, and was disappointed to see that the stool she had occupied in homeroom was already filled by a scruffy-looking white boy the time she arrived. The boy was slumped over onto the lab table, and Bobbi wasn't sure if he was awake or not, so she opted for another stool closer to the front of the room.

Mrs. Diaz was an engaging teacher, and even though the class seemed to be in the middle of a unit on identifying and classifying vascular plants, Bobbi found herself interested in the material. Besides languages, biology was the other subject she liked best, although she had never learned much about plants before. Still, she was proud of herself for figuring out what gymnosperm and angiosperm both meant by the time the class had ended.

Geometry followed, which Bobbi enjoyed considerably less, and she was grateful when the class ended and she could stop trying to keep track of all the triangles that had been swimming across the whiteboard. She was even more grateful when she realized she had American History next, which meant she would get to see both Mack and Phil. It was sort of silly to think of either of them as "familiar faces," since she had only known Phil a few days and had only known Mack a few hours, but she was content to take the small victory.

Phil was waiting outside his classroom door when she arrived, and he was greeting students by name as they strolled into his class. He was already smiling, but his face broke into an even bigger grin when he saw Bobbi lurching down the hall towards him.

"Hi Bobbi," he said as she drew near. "How's your first day going so far?" So far... Bobbi chewed on her bottom lip, trying to decide how best to assess her day. She settled on a noncommittal "okay."

Her day actually hadn't been too bad, but still, there was a lot of new information to take in, plus countless people she didn't know jostling around her all the time. She had been getting more than her fair share of stares and gawking looks, probably from the crutches more than anything else, but most people hadn't felt the need to say anything. Mack had been nice, and so had Natasha, and even Clint in his own, bizarre way, so she counted those as plusses, but her confidence had definitely taken a blow in geometry, so she counted that as a negative. Okay was going to have to do.

"Okay, good," Phil said. His smile stayed in place, but his eyes changed. He looked sad, maybe. Or worried. "Well, come on in and get settled. We're starting soon."

Phil's classroom had the usual array of posters and maps that she had expected from a history teacher, although not without some Phil-like flair. One of his posters was of Captain America in the Uncle Sam recruitment-style pose with his finger pointing out at the person looking at the poster. Captain America had a big speech bubble coming out of his mouth that said "I want YOU to study for American History!" She had to admit it was kind of funny.

From one side of the room, Mack waved to get her attention. On one side of him was an empty desk that looked as though he had saved it for her, and on the other was the boy Bobbi had seen asleep in her bio class earlier that morning. He only looked slightly more awake now than he had then.

"Bobbi, hey! Over here!" Mack called. Once she had joined him and settled into her seat, Mack wasted no time in making introductions.

"Bobbi, this is my buddy Lance Hunter. Hunter, this is Bobbi. She's new here." The scruffy boy gave her a quick look up and down. He was white, and had light brown hair cut short on the sides and slightly longer on the top. His sweatshirt had "Manitowoc Soccer" emblazoned across the front, and his expression didn't appear to be all that impressed.

"Bobby?" he said, one eyebrow cocked high. "As in the name usually short for Robert?" He had an unusual accent, like a chimney sweep from Mary Poppins or something.

"No, as in the name short for Barbara, which honestly, is worse," she said with a grimace. To her surprise, the boy, Hunter, let out a sharp laugh.

"She's got spunk! Where'd you find this girl, Mack?"

"In the hallway, after she hit me with her crutch," Mack admitted. Hunter laughed again.

"Oh, that's amazing! I like you already," he said, grinning. "And I would tend to agree with you, Barbara is worse than Robert."

Bobbi was kept from further exploration of the mystifying Hunter and his odd sense of humor by the arrival of Phil, who looked excited to start class.

"That's Mr. Coulson," Mack murmured to her. "He's awesome, you're really going to like him."

"Yeah, Phil's all right," Bobbi agreed before she could stop herself. She felt the blood drain from her face as soon as she heard herself say Phil's name out loud. "I mean Mr. Coulson," she said quickly. "I mean he seems all right."

"Phil? Do you know him already or something?" Mack wanted to know. Beside him, Hunter was leaning over his own desk, craning to get a look at Bobbi's face, which she was sure was going red.

"I, uh…" she spluttered. She hadn't thought about how much she wanted to explain about her living situation to anyone yet. She honestly hadn't thought she'd get this far on day one. Whether he knew it or not, Phil saved her by calling the class to attention.

Mack had been right, she did really like Phil as a teacher. The class was talking about the Articles of Confederation, and after he had lectured for a little bit, he had them break into small groups to talk about the pros and cons of the Articles of Confederation as a system of government.

"Talk it out for fifteen minutes in your groups," he said as the class began to push their desks into clusters. "When we come back together we'll have a class debate, so be ready to defend either side." Judging by the excited looks on most of the kids' faces, class debates were something people looked forward to.

Mack and Hunter shoved their desks closer to Bobbi's and started talking almost immediately, although not about the Articles of Confederation.

"So how do you know Mr. C?" Mack asked.

"You called Coulson Phil!" Hunter cackled. "That's almost as bad as calling a teacher mum." Mack slugged Hunter softly in the arm.

"No way, calling a teacher mom is embarrassing. Calling Mr. C Phil just means she knows him in real life, which is awesome. How do you know him?" he asked again. How did she know him? How did she know him? She knew how she knew him, obviously, but did she really want to tell two strangers about foster care and the circumstances that brought her to this point?

"He's… my uncle." The words flew out of her mouth before she knew what she was saying. Bobbi wanted nothing more than for the floor to open up and swallow her whole right then and there. Normally she hated lying. She had kept her dad's secrets for years, and the whole thing was so exhausting that she tried not to hide the truth about anything else, but here she was blurting out complete falsehoods without a moment's hesitation.

Mack and Hunter's jaws dropped.

"No way!"

"Mr. C's your uncle? That's so cool. He's basically the best teacher in the whole school."

Bobbi couldn't believe what was happening. Liar. She was a big, fat liar, and she didn't know how to set the record straight without looking like a complete fool in front of the two people who stood the best chance of becoming her new friends here. Her brain scrambled to find a way to at least interject something truthful into the whole situation, as a kind of peace offering to the universe for the deception she was creating.

"Yeah, I… live with him now. I just moved here to stay with Phil… uncle Phil… and his wife."

"You get to live with him?" Mack was in total fanboy mode. He was practically glowing with excitement, which only made Bobbi feel worse.

"What's he like at home?" Hunter wanted to know. "Is he in teacher mode at the dinner table? Or does he just laze around in his shorts in front of the tv?"

"Um, he's… normal?" Bobbi said. She wasn't really sure what Hunter was asking, or if he was even being serious or not.

"So how come you came to live with him?" Mack asked. Bobbi felt her throat tighten. This was exactly what she had been hoping to avoid. Her fingers twitched and it felt like someone had turned up the volume on the whole room. Without her batons to calm her down, she noticed her hands inching towards the handles of her crutches, which were propped up beside her. Almost without thinking, one of her hands wrapped around the grip and her fingers began to drum nervously on the rubber.

"My… my dad, he…" Bobbi tried to find the words. She wasn't about to tell these two about what her dad had done to her, she just couldn't do it, but she could at least invent some reason for why he couldn't take care of her for now.

"Is it because of those?" asked Mack softly. Those. Her crutches. He had noticed her holding onto her crutch. At a loss, Bobbi nodded. Partial truth.

"What happened?" Hunter interrupted. He seemed not to have picked up on the sensitivity of the topic the way Mack had.

"You don't have to tell us," Mack said quickly. "It's cool." Cool. Cool. Cool. It was definitely not cool. But she felt like she had to say something, otherwise they would just start coming up with explanations of their own in their heads.

"Car accident," she told them, her voice thicker than she had meant it to come out. She cleared her throat. "Busted up my knee. My dad…"

"Oh my god, he's not…" Hunter's face blanched. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to—"

"No, he's alive," Bobbi assured him. His expression returned to normal, although he looked a little embarrassed. "He just… he can't take care of me right now, so I'm staying with Phil."

"Gotcha," Mack said, sending a gentle smile her way. "When my dad sprained his ankle at work, he ended up staying with a friend while it healed, because our house had too many stairs for him to get up and down on with his crutches. I mean, that was only for a couple of weeks, and we still got to see him, but it sounds kind of the same. Is your dad okay?"

"I guess so," Bobbi shrugged. She had no idea how her dad was doing, if he was at home or in jail, if he was feeding himself and doing his own laundry. She was eager to move away from this topic of conversation and towards something infinitely safer. "Are we supposed to be talking about the Articles of Confederation or something?"

Phil pulled the class back together after a few more minutes, and had them arrange their desks into two long rows that faced each other. He assigned each side a position, either pro or con on the Articles, and then began the debate. Each side was given five minutes to present their cases and two minutes to respond to the other side's argument, and Phil made sure that at least three people on each team got to speak in each round. Most of the class seemed to be deeply invested in the outcome of the debate, with a few kids scribbling furious notes to pass up to their speakers and the ones who talked becoming more and more passionate as the rounds went on.

Bobbi felt a little bewildered by the whole thing, and looked towards Mack and Hunter for a silent explanation. Mack was too engrossed in taking counterpoint notes on whatever the kid from the other team was saying to notice, but Hunter, who seemed to be only half-listening anyways, leaned over to whisper to her.

"We always pick the same teams for debate, so there's a running win-loss record. People get very competitive in here."

"Not you?" Bobbi wondered aloud. She had assumed that if he played soccer, he would have a competitive streak in him.

"For the right cause," he grinned back. "The way I see it, my side already lost the war, so I'm not too invested in how the government shapes up afterwards." Mack must have heard them whispering, because he muttered at them out of the corner of his mouth.

"You've lived in America for five years, dummy. Don't you think it's time to let the Revolutionary War go?"

"And let the Yanks revel in their victory even longer? Never." Hunter's eyes gleamed with impish amusement, and Bobbi realized she was starting to get a beat on his sarcasm. "Besides," Hunter continued, "we both know for a fact that Carl Creel never has anything worthwhile to say." He jutted his chin over to the boy who was speaking for the other team. He was one of the beefy, lettermen jacket wearing types Bobbi had spotted earlier, and his hair was buzzed down in an impossibly short, military-style cut.

"Total idiot," Hunter informed her. "Even plays the wrong kind of football, if you can believe it."

Phil cleared his throat then, and looked pointedly over at Bobbi and Hunter. Hunter held his hands up in surrender and leaned back into his own seat. He pantomimed zipping his mouth shut, and Phil just shook his head with a smile. Apparently, Hunter talking in class was a common occurrence.

Phil declared the debate completed with only a few minutes before the bell, and informed the class that the team on Carl Creel's side of the room had been awarded the point. Mack scowled, and Hunter explained that the teams were tied again.

"Cheer up, mate. I'm sure there'll be another one next week," Hunter teased. "It's a long school year."

"Yeah, yeah," Mack flapped a hand, waving Hunter off. "Still, you'd think since the US decided not to go with the Articles that the 'con' side would deserve the win." He shrugged then, and just like that he seemed to move on from the disappointment of the loss. "So, Bobbi, got any plans for lunch?"

"Not really," she said. She wasn't sure where Mack was going with the question, but she hoped it at least meant she could avoid braving the cafeteria alone.

"And how do you feel about movies?" Mack continued, a smile spreading across his face.

"Wait, don't tell me you guys are in Phil's AV club?"

"Of course! Why else do you think he's our favorite teacher?" Hunter said. "Who else is going to let us watch horror movies at school?"

"We do other cool stuff, too," protested Mack. "Sometimes we talk about video production, or we film stuff…"

"I'm just in it for the movies," said Hunter. "Then again, I'm much cooler than Mack, so there's that as well."

Phil, who had been over near the door seeing students out, came over to where Bobbi, Mack, and Hunter were sitting, a huge smile on his face.

"Hey guys, ready for AV Club? Bobbi, are you joining us?" Bobbi only paused for a second before nodding resolutely. The three of them had won her over. She hadn't thought it was possible, but Phil's smile grew even bigger.

"Fantastic! I'm so glad the three of you connected," he added. "These two can be a little… rambunctious at times, but they're good company. I was hoping you all would get along."

"Mr. C, it's so cool that you get to have your niece stay with you," Mack said. Bobbi felt an anchor crash into the pit of her stomach. "Bobbi was just telling us about how she's living here for a while until she and her dad get better." Her whole concocted story was about to blow up in her face. Phil was going to tell them the truth and then Mack and Hunter wouldn't want anything to do with her. She felt the corners of her eyes start to sting, and she looked up towards Phil, preparing herself for the worst.

To her surprise, Phil didn't immediately say anything. His smile flickered slightly, and she noticed how his eyes changed from happy to confused to sad before going back to their normal look, all in the space of a few seconds. He was staring at her, and she blinked hard a couple of times to clear any tears that were lurking in her eyes. She didn't want Phil to think any worse of her than he probably already did.

"Yeah, well, Bobbi's a great kid. We were happy to help her out, under the circumstances. She's an important part of our family," Phil said. Bobbi had to force her face not to betray how utterly agape she was feeling. Phil hadn't lied, exactly, but he hadn't said anything about the cockamamie story that had just come out of Mack's mouth. Was he not going to rat her out? What was going on?

"You mind helping me set up the desks, guys?" Phil asked Mack and Hunter. The nodded and began the work of moving the desks around into what Bobbi assumed was prime movie-watching position. "The Koenigs are all out sick today, so we'll have a few less than usual," Phil told them as he pulled down the projector screen in front of his whiteboard.

A few kids started to trickle in then, and Phil made sure to introduce each of them to Bobbi as they joined the group. There was Trevor, a lanky South Asian guy, and Piper and Davis, a white girl and boy who came in together. Piper had short, dark hair and a tough look in her eyes and Davis wore his light brown hair slicked back. He was big and looked like he might be kind of klutzy. If Bobbi had been playing soccer against him, she definitely would have been working to keep him off balance.

The next two to come in were Natasha and Clint from her Spanish class, and Bobbi felt herself taken totally off-guard by their arrival. She would not have pegged either one of them as a film buff, but they were both greeted warmly by Phil and the rest of the club, so she supposed they must be regulars.

The last kid to show up was a short Latina girl who Phil introduced as Elena. She had long brown hair that she wore with the front pieces pulled back in little braids and cunning eyes. She looked like the kind of person who was always thinking about something, Bobbi thought. She also seemed like she might be a little younger than everyone else, maybe a freshman. She smiled at Bobbi, but otherwise stayed pretty quiet as the club settled into their seats and Phil fired up the projector. Bobbi noticed that Mack kept his eyes on Elena, but when he realized Bobbi was watching him, he looked away quickly and started a conversation with Clint, who had come over with Natasha to sit next to him, Hunter, and Bobbi.

"AV club, huh?" Bobbi glanced up to see Natasha smiling at her. Bobbi shrugged and offered a sheepish smile of her own.

"I met Mack and Hunter earlier and they kind of talked me into it," she explained, and Natasha chuckled.

"I'm not surprised," she said. "I happen to have some very persuasive friends."

"So I guess you all know each other, then?" asked Bobbi. She wanted to try and keep everyone straight in her head.

"Yeah. Clint plays soccer with Mack and that knucklehead," Natasha gestured towards Hunter, "so we first met through that, but then we really all got to know each other doing AV last year. I wasn't really into it at first, but Clint loves movies, and Mr. Coulson's a cool guy, so I figured it was worth a try."

Mack, overhearing Natasha and Bobbi's conversation, perked up. "Did you know that Mr. C is Bobbi's uncle?" he asked excitedly. "That's why she moved here." Bobbi felt her face flush. Why did he have to tell them that? Now her lie was spreading to even more people right before her eyes, and she didn't even have anything to do with it this time.

"That's cool," Natasha said. Something in the way she looked at Bobbi made her feel like she had been knocked totally off-kilter. Like she was trying to stand up straight on the side of steep hill, but she just kept keeling to one side. Bobbi looked away. She couldn't risk anything in her face giving her away after Phil had just covered for her a few minutes ago.

"Totally cool," Clint added. "Coulson's like, one of our favorite teachers. I actually made sure I could hear when I was in his class." It took Bobbi a second to realize he was joking, but soon everyone was laughing along with him and she joined weakly.

A few minutes later, Phil had pulled up the movie and lowered the lights. The group was part of the way through some cheesy 80s flick about killer robots in a mall, and everyone seemed to be really into it, despite its dated special effects and corny dialogue. Bobbi found herself growing more captivated as the movie went on, and Hunter's nearly constant stream of commentary had her actually laughing on more than one occasion.

"The robots are completely useless," he crowed, as one of the main characters managed to trick a robot into zapping one of its friends.

"Hey man, robots are no joke," Mack said seriously. "AI cannot be trusted."

"Plus the robots have already killed, like, eight people," Elena chimed in. Bobbi was surprised at how husky her voice sounded. Mack gave Elena an appreciative look.

"See, Elena knows what's up," he said. "She understands the severity of the robot apocalypse."

"It's three security bots in a mall, I'd hardly call that an apocalypse," Hunter countered. "And they look like discount WALL-Es. Not exactly intimidating." Clint and Natasha cracked up at that, and even Bobbi had to laugh. Mack shushed them all and muttered something about none of them appreciated the artistry, which made Hunter, Natasha, and Clint start laughing all over again.

The movie ended with just a few minutes left before the bell that signaled the end of lunch, giving them all enough time to throw out their trash and put Phil's classroom back in order.

"Know where you're heading next?" Phil asked Bobbi as she got to her feet and started making her way to the door. She nodded.

"French with Mrs. Duvall. I think her room is a few down from where I had Spanish earlier."

"Okay, great. Well, just meet me back here at the end of the day, and then we can head over to the middle school to grab Skye and Jemma, and then we'll go home and call it a day. Sound good?"

"You've got kids at the middle school, Mr. Coulson?" Hunter had overheard their conversation and looked intrigued. "I didn't know that."

"Two girls," Phil said. "My wife and I are fostering them, so they're kind of a recent addition."

"I've got a cousin over there," said Hunter. "I pick him up everyday and drop him off at home before coming back here for practice."

"Oh, little Turbo?" Mack had joined them then, and his face lit up when he heard Hunter mention his cousin. "I love that little dude. He's hilarious."

"That's one word for it," Hunter mused. "He's a little bit of an oddball, if you catch my meaning," he said to Bobbi. "But Mack finds him amusing. He loves Mack, of course."

"Who wouldn't?" Mack teased.

"I think it's probably because Mack is the only one who'll play video games with him," Hunter said with a smirk. The bell rang out then, prompting everyone to start heading to class in earnest. Three minutes wasn't much time to go from one end of the school to the other.

As Bobbi thumped her way down the hall, she saw a flash of red hair out of the corner of her eye. Natasha had caught up and drew level with her, slowing her pace to keep in step with Bobbi's clumsy moves.

"Hey, did I hear you say you have French with Duvall now?" she asked. Bobbi nodded. "That's wild," Natasha said, chuckling. "So do I. You weren't kidding when you said you liked languages."

"I could say the same about you," Bobbi shrugged. She felt a twinge of defensiveness, even though Natasha was being nothing but nice. She just couldn't get the suspicious look Natasha had worn when Mack had told her about the Phil lie out of her head. If anybody was going to catch her deception, she had a sinking feeling it was going to be Natasha.

"That's true. I think we're the only two people who are double-dipping on language this year. I'm not the greatest at school," Natasha admitted, "but languages were always something I could do well. I'm guessing it has something to do with being forced to be bilingual at a young age, but I'm not good enough at biology or psychology to say if that's actually true or not." She laughed a little, and Bobbi tried lamely to match her. True. True or not. Not. She hadn't told the truth. She just hoped it wouldn't come back to ruin her life the way her last secret had.

I know having two Bobbi chapters in a row doesn't follow my usual pattern, but there was a lot to cover for her first day of school, and it felt like too much for just one chapter. Thanks for reading! Hope you all liked it!