It's dark and all I can hear is my heart beat. My throat hurts. I must've been screaming. Why would I be screaming? My face feels sticky too. I wasn't screaming...I was crying. Why am I crying?
I feel around my surroundings until I find a locked door.
That's right, the McKneels had locked be in the closet. I forget what I did. It's always something. I'll take it as long as they don't hurt Dani. She's too sick.
I hear footsteps coming and my heart beat speeds up.
I back up against the wall and curl up in a ball.
I hear the jiggle of the door knob. My heart beat is in my ears. The sound is loud.
The door creaks open-
I spring awake breathing hard. I glance at the clock and see that it's around 7. I smile when I realize that I actually got a decent amount of sleep last night, even with the dream. I climb out of my bed and get dressed before wandering into the main living area of the floor. Honestly, I'm not expecting anyone to be up but I'm pleasantly surprised when I see Pepper sitting on couch with her laptop.
She smiles as I walk into the room, "Good morning."
"Morning," I say as I take a seat across from her.
"How did you sleep?"
"Well. How about you?"
"I also slept well. Did you have fun yesterday?"
I nod, "Yes. It was kind of cool to meet all the Avengers and their families. I never really thought about them having personal lives."
Pepper smiles, "Most people don't."
"Do you see them often?"
"We see the Banner, Romanoff, and the others fairly often. We usually visit the Bartons once a month so Morgan and Nate can play. Hope comes by for visits and sometimes Scott comes. Cassie usually doesn't come, but she has babysat Morgan a couple times when Hope and Tony are busy and Scott and I are out. I know she sees the Bartons more often because she's friends with Cooper and Lila, and Scott and Clint became friends. Why?"
I shrug, "No reason."
Pepper closes her laptop and smirks, "So this has nothing to do with Cassie?"
"What?! No! Where would you get that idea?"
She shrugs, "Maybe the fact that she slipped you her number?"
I blush, "Can we uh...change the subject?"
She laughs as she stands, "Don't worry, I'm the only one who noticed. But yes, we can switch the subject. Giants or Jets?"
I look up in surprise, "You watch football?"
She nods as she walks to the kitchen, "I'm full of surprises."
"Jets."
She looks at me like I'm crazy.
I shrug and she laughs as we go to cook breakfast and start a conversation about football.
About a half hour later, Morgan skips into the room along with Peter.
"Morning," she says cheerily.
"Good morning, baby," Pepper says with a smile.
Peter nods to Pepper and me before collapsing on a bar stool half-way awake.
Morgan turns to me, "Good morning AJ! Why are yo awake? I thought boys had to sleep in."
I chuckle, "We don't have to, it's just most boys you know sleep in."
"Oh," she says, content with my answer.
Pepper places a plate with eggs and sausage, with a side of blueberries in front of her.
"Mommy, can I have some juice please?"
Pepper nods, and pours Morgan a glass of orange juice. Peter also grabs a glass and his own plate.
As Morgan starts to eat, "Mommy, do I start school today?"
Pepper shakes her head with a chuckle, "Not today, but soon."
Peter leans over to me, "She's been asking everyday since Tony told her she gets to go to kindergarten this year."
I smile at that.
Morgan looks over to us, "What grade are you going into AJ?"
I stiffen at that, "Honestly, I don't know. I uh...didn't really finish most of the last few school years."
"Why?" Morgan asks innocently.
I feel Peter and Pepper tense up, waiting for my reaction, "Uh...I kept leaving. It was boring."
Morgan looks at Pepper concerned, "Is school boring?"
Pepper shakes her head, "Of course not, Mo."
She looks at Peter uncertainly, "It is sometimes but you make lots of friends and you learn cool new stuff. It'll be really fun, promise."
I nod, "It wasn't all bad Morgan. I'm sure you'll love it."
She smiles, "Ok! Mommy, when do I get to go?"
"Well, your school starts in two weeks, Peter's starts in a week, and Harley is suppose to go back to school tomorrow."
"Why does Harley get to go?" Morgan pouts.
"Because I'm in college," Harley says walking into the kitchen rubbing his eyes. Tony's stumbling in behind him and making a beeline for the coffee on the counter.
"What's college?"
"It's where big boys and girls go to school away from their parents," Tony answers.
Morgan looks at Peter, "Are you going to go too?"
"Not for another year. You'll be stuck with me until then! Well, when I'm not with Aunt May."
Morgan gives him a relieved smile, "Yay! I didn't want you to go."
Harley gives her an offended look, "But you're ok if I go?"
She nods, "You live somewhere else most of the time anyways."
He tilts his head back and forth, "I'll give you that."
Tony looks up from his coffee mug, "Why are we talking about school anyways?"
"Morgan is exciting about going," Pepper answers stealing her husband's mug.
Morgan nods excitedly, "Yeah, and I promise I won't leave if I get bored like AJ did."
Tony shoots me a confused look and I shrug, "She asked me what grade I was in and I said I didn't know because I kept leaving when I got bored."
Tony nods, "Speaking of, we need to get you registered for school."
I groan, "Do you?"
"Legally, we have to," Pepper says giving me a sympathetic look.
I sigh again. I hate school.
"Where would I even go?"
"You can come to my school," Peter suggests around a bite of eggs.
I look at him wearily, remembering what Flash did to me.
Peter looks up, "Flash got expelled, so you won't have to worry about him. Plus, you're too good at math and science for your age. They also have personalized curriculum so you could take really advance courses in some subjects and normal courses in others, like the ones you need to catch up in."
Tony looks over at Peter, "That's not a bad idea, Pete."
Pepper nods in agreement.
"What do you think, AJ?"
I shrug, "I don't really care."
I look over at Pepper and Tony and I can tell that they are actually considering it. Oh great.
Peter looks over at me, "We're suppose to come to campus today to get our classes, lockers, and stuff. You can come with me if you want. You know, to check out the school and stuff."
Pepper smiles at him, "I think that's a great idea."
Tony nods in agreement.
I try desperately to get out of it, "Morgan, don't you need me around today?"
She shakes her head, "Nope! Harley said we could spend the day together watching Disney movies."
"I can do that with you!"
She shakes her head, "That's ok AJ."
I sigh as Tony laughs, "Fine, I guess I'm going to school."
"Dude, cheer up! It'll be fun," Peter says way to optimistically.
I groan.
An few hours later we're stepping off of a train station in Midtown.
Peter looks at me, "So we're not going directly to the school. I have some people I want you to meet first."
"Oh joy!" I say sarcastically.
We walk off of the train platform and I follow Peter to a nearby pizza parlor. It looked like a place the occupants of the school would often go to eat after school. Peter pulls the door open and I'm hit with the delish smell of New York pizza. Peter looks to his right and waves at a boy and a girl sitting at a table.
The girl had a scowl on her face before turning to us. When she saw Peter, her facial features softened into almost a small smile. Her eyes were dark and she had long, frizzy, light brown hair. The boy had a wide smile and was wearing a fedora with his t-shirt. He looked a lot friendlier than the girl.
Peter dragged me over and says to them, "Hey guys!"
"What's up man?" the other boy says and then they precede to do a handshake. I stare at them. Peter is much more of a dork than I thought.
The girl barely addresses Peter before gesturing towards me, "Who's he?"
Peter turns back to me with a smile and says, "Guys, this AJ Diaz. AJ, this is my girlfriend MJ and my best friend Ned."
"Nice to meet you guys," I say.
"So you're Tony's illegitimate kid," MJ says bluntly.
I'm surprised she knows who my dad is and I turn to Peter questioningly. He shrugs, "I tell them everything, uh now. They know about my connection to Tony."
"Oh," I say before turning back to them, "I prefer bastard. It's shorter."
MJ chuckles before turning back to Peter, "I like him."
Peter wraps his arm around her, "I knew you would."
Ned looks over at me, "So, what's it like to find out Tony Stark is your dad?"
"Um...overwhelming? I don't know. What's it like to find out your best friend is a superhero?"
"Overwhelming, for sure. Did you have the same reaction when you found out about Peter?," he answers.
"Uh...not really. It was kind of a stressful situation. I think Peter was more surprised at my chemistry skills."
Peter glanced at Ned, "He made a bomb out of heart pills, string, and play dough containers at the same time he found out I was Spiderman. I think it was a mutual shock."
"Where did you learn to make a bomb?"
I shrug, "A foster home awhile ago."
"Interesting," MJ says with a smile.
Peter looks at her, "Should I be concerned that you're so intrigued?"
She kisses his cheek, "Nope."
She turns to me, "So Peter says your interested in coming to Midtown School of Science and Technology."
I shrug, "Um...I don't know. It seems better than normal school. Plus, Peter's recommendation sounds good."
Ned stands, "Come on man, you're going to love it! We can show you around, speaking of which we should get going."
Peter nods in agreement as he and MJ both stand.
I reluctantly follow them.
It only takes us a few minutes of walking before we arrive at the school. The first time I was here I hadn't really paid attention to the school. I was too busy dreading Flash. Now, I'm actually surprised at how big it is. The outside was white and I saw a lot of fancy cars were in the parking lot. I wasn't surprised to see a lot of kids walking around saying high to all their friends.
Peter, MJ, and Ned drag me towards the front doors.
Peter looks over at me, slightly guiltly, "Ok, so we have to go to grab a few things and a visitor id for you. Can you wait here for a bit?"
I shrug, "Sure. I'll just entertain myself amongst a bunch of strangers. You guys go ahead."
"We'll be back in like ten minutes, and then we'll show you around," he promised as they walk off.
"Great," I mumble as I look around. There didn't seem to much to do, so I pulled out my phone and started to sketch a design for a new play castle for Morgan. She'd mentioned a castle last night in one of her rants and I thought it sounded interesting.
After a few minutes someone says, "You should print that out."
I jump about a foot and quickly turn around. There was a small nerdy looking asian kid leaning against the wall where I had just been standing.
He held up his hands in surrender, "Hey, I didn't mean to scare you."
"No, just sneak up on a clearly distracted person," I respond sarcastically.
"Sorry! I was just saw you standing by yourself and I figured if I stood by you people would assume we're together and wouldn't bother me. I just happened to glance at your design. What is it?"
I sigh, "A play castle for my little sister."
"Looks fun. You know they have a lab here where you could print out a prototype."
"So I've heard."
The kid looked at me, "Are you new around here?"
I glance at him, "No newer than you. Aren't you a freshmen?"
He nods, "I'm here for registration. My sister graduated last year. I'm trying to avoid any of her old teachers that my parents are trying to introduce me to. They're off talking to the principal or something. You a freshie too?"
I shrug, "Uh...not exactly. A family friend volunteered to show me around while my...uh parents...decide where to send me to school. Just moved here so I'm not registered yet."
"Oh, where you from?"
Honestly, I had no clue how to answer that, "Um...around. Can we use the three d printer?"
The kid nodded, distracted from by vague answer, "Oh yeah, they let kids do personal projects all the time. They might have a lab open if you want to go and see."
I glance around for Peter and see him still getting registered. I shoot him a quick text and nod to the kid, "Sure. I'm up for some exploring."
The kid smiles as he outstretches his hand, "Great. I'm always looking for an accomplice. By the way, my name's Nolan Yang."
"AJ Diaz," I say shaking his hand as we walk towards the lab. Might as well have some fun today.
