Guest Review Responses

Guest: Yesssss! You updated! (By the way, same guest as before) It is so good! I have been checking for updates everyday since the 8th. Oh, I must know what happens! Thank you so much for writing this! And you updated so quickly! I've read fics where they update like once a month! Why will Tony be hanging out with Sam? I must know! Is Sam still an ass? Whatever happens Sam is not allowed to ruin my adorable Pepperony! You can't let her! – HAHAHAHAAHA! Damn! Sam is so hated already, and she hasn't even done the horrible things she's gonna do! By the way, I am guilty of updating once a month… or once every three months :P But not to worry for this story, though. This one is so easy to write! Although, there will be cliffhangers… that I can't help myself :D Glad you liked it, and thank you so much for taking the time to review ^_^

Miss geek: First I love ur stories especially this one I already hate sam is that bad ? Anyhoo love ur username I love star she's my fav pls update this ASA u can thanks – Nope, not bad at all! I think hating Sam is going to be a common trend around here. I don't hate her… much… yet… but I'll see how she ends up acting after a while. I do have some very specific things planned for her (such as the ending, which I already have written), but in the meantime… MUHAHAHAAH! XD Thanks for the review!

Chapter 5

"Why do you call her: Pep?"

"Huh?"

Samantha rolled her eyes, leaned closer to his desk, and clarified her inquiry in a slightly higher whisper.

"My sister. Why do you call her that?"

"It's short for: Pepper," the inventor deadpanned, anger simmering in him towards the brunette. He had recommended to Pepper to give her sister a chance, he had stated that people changed, and that perhaps Samantha was not as bad as she remembered her to be, but he still had a bone to pick with the young woman. While most of his advice for the ginger had been: a) what he honestly believed could take place between Sam and Pepper; and, b) meant to calm down his upset redhead, this did not mean that he was going to allow Samantha to go scot-free for belittling his girlfriend's abilities.

It was one thing for Samantha to assume that Pepper cheated off him just because of how smart he was – and how anyone could have potentially taken advantage of his intelligence to get good grades a la Happy Hogan. Yet, now that he knew that Samantha actually knew Pepper, it was a completely different situation for him that the brunette had made the rude comment about Pepper's IQ.

While Samantha shared genes with the redhead, Tony firmly believed that there was no reason whatsoever to insult your own kin in the way Samantha had done so.

"I know that," the brunette scoffed at Tony's sarcastic response before tacking on one of her own. "Are you sure you're a genius?"

Tony rolled his eyes at her and then shrugged.

"I don't know. It just came out once, and it stuck."

"Oh, I agree," Sam nodded. "It does suck."

"What?" Tony was barely able to keep his voice down to avoid being heard by the in-school-suspension teacher that was partly dozing off at the front of the class. "I didn't say: suck! I said: stuck!"

"Oh," the girl's eyebrows rose. "Yeah… my bad."

Both teens returned to pretending they were not breaking the strict rules of detention when they noticed that the teacher had opened one eye to check up on them. However, as soon as light snores began coming from the teacher's desk once again, Tony was the one to ask the next question.

"Why did you lie?"

"Huh?" Samantha furrowed her brow.

"Why. Did. You. Lie."

"When did I lie?" she was taken aback.

"You know what I'm talking about," Tony narrowed his eyes.

"No. I don't."

"Yes. You do! You didn't tell me you were Pepper's sister!"

"And I never said that I wasn't."

"Lying by omission is still lying!"

"Then you lied to me, too."

"What? How? When?"

"You didn't tell me you were her boyfriend."

"Everybody knows that! Plus, you didn't ask!"

"And you didn't ask if I was her sister, either."

"I-I-I…"

Tony held back a groan and further narrowed his eyes when the girl sitting next to him smirked in triumph.

"Fine!" he begrudgingly admitted. "But you knew who I was before I introduced myself. You could have said who you were right off the bat!"

"Well, I was gonna do just that," she pulled away and crossed her arms over chest, in a manner that reminding him so much of Pepper, that it was way too unnerving to watch. "But you interrupted my introduction long enough during first period for the teacher to cut it short. And then, when I did say who I was at the beginning of Science class, you weren't even there! You were late for class!"

"I…" Tony's mouth opened and closed several times, but no words came out.

"And then, when we both had an off period, you were in detention."

"Uhm…"

"And then, during lunch, you were on the roof with her."

"Hey, how did you–"

"And the next period, you didn't even talk to me at all because you were gushing all over her!"

"But–"

"And then, we don't have class together again until the last period, and you spent it glaring at me the whole time!"

"I–"

"And now… NOW that we both have detention and you're finally talking to me again, you only do it to accuse me of something I didn't do!"

The staring contest between them did not last long; Samantha was the first to break eye contact, look away, and sigh.

"Besides, I didn't want people to talk to me or assume things of me just because I'm Pepper's sister. I wanted people to take interest in me because of who I am, and not because of who I know. I wanted people to like me because I am me: Samantha, and not from extrapolations or hypothesis based on my relationship with Pepper. I didn't want people to try to get to know me only because I'm Rescue's younger sister. That was all there was to it. I wasn't trying to hide or lie. I just wanted a fair chance to make friends. I know it sounds really stupid to you, but I don't expect someone like you to understand this at all. I mean: you're Tony Stark. You're practically a household name."

From the corner of his right eye, Tony stared at the now deflated teen, her glossy gaze evidence that she had made her peace with ending the argument at hand; no matter who won or who lost. There was not much else left to say, after all, and the genius resentfully agreed with the younger Potts's words. Most of his life, and sometimes even today, he was known to the masses simply because of the fame carried by his family. Furthermore, all while growing up, he had always, without fail, been compared to his old man. It had not been until he had been found to be Iron Man after the Makluan Invasion that he had finally begun gaining some reputation of his own, given all he had done while his father had been presumed dead. Yet, even nowadays, it never failed for someone to still attribute his genius-level intellect and his charming good looks to simply being a Stark.

To some of the most well-known and outspoken media outlets, it was as if Anthony Edward Stark could have never been who he was and what he was, on his own sweat, tears, blood, and hard work: he was just lucky. He was simply blessed. The stars had merely shone upon him since birth. He had done nothing worthy at all to deserve the best. In fact, as far as the media was concerned, Tony Stark had not earned all of what he owned and had.

Yes. He did understand where Samantha was coming from. More than he would ever care to admit to her, in fact.

"Alright, kids. Time's up. Go home. I want to take another nap before I go to my second job."

The words of unprofessional dismissal coming from the indifferent teacher were loud and clear to the two misbehaving teens, but neither of them cared enough to point out the obvious lack of dedication the man had to his line of work. They did not want to spend another minute inside this poorly lit and uncomfortable room, wasting time they knew could have been better spent doing something they actually loved to do.

Without further ado, both Tony and Sam silently stood up from their seats and walked in conjunction towards the door, only to then find a nail-biting Pepper Potts waiting for them outside, her detention having ended just mere seconds ago.

xxxXXXxxx

Her current situation was awkward as heck, to say the least, as she quietly trailed behind a babbling Pepper Potts and her silently regarding and always timely-nodding boyfriend, Tony Stark. However, said event did not at all mean that this opportunity was not one that she could take advantage of; one that she could not learn from, despite how much of her brain power it was taking to follow along with what was unfolding before her very eyes. The dynamics of the couple in front of her were rather odd – unlike anything she had ever personally witnessed, read about, or seen on TV. It was as if, for one quick second, the duo acted like nothing more than long-time buddies; only for the next second to show tender affection that clearly went beyond a simple close-knit friendship.

Were they really dating or were they faking it? Was it all just an elaborated ploy to remain on the first page of cheap, questionable tabloids? What the heck would Tony Stark possibly gain out of dating her?

Sam herself had very little experience in being part of a romantic relationship – most guys tended to initially talk to her merely due to her looks, only to then flee in panic due to her smarts. It was as if she was fated to be misunderstood and alone her entire life, while her sister – her far less intelligent and not as beautiful older sister – got to parade around the block while being side-hugged by Tony freaking Stark.

She was well aware that the concept of fairness was nothing more than a man-made fallacy – something that did not exist in nature at all. However, at this very moment, when she once again watched Tony smile fondly at her sister before he playfully tapped her nose with his left index finger to make her stop talking long enough for him to get two words out, the concept of unfairness was beginning to have quite the tangible meaning for her.

Yup. It definitely was not fair that someone like Pepper had someone like Tony by her side. This just had to be a temporary fling – a lucky alignment of the stars. Not that Sam was much into astrology or pseudo-science per se, but there was simply no other logical explanation for what she was beholding at the moment. Why in the world would the brightest young male mind on the entire planet give a flying carrot about last night's events in Breakdancing with Celebrities?

"Say whatever you want, Pep," Tony smirked and half shrugged. "I still think you're gonna owe me five bucks tomorrow."

"Puh-lease," Pepper rolled her eyes and tried to dismiss his confidence with a wave of her right hand, their worries of the morning almost completely gone from her mind. "You're taking bets on the wrong contestant. Lara is totally gonna win this round! I just know it! I can feel it! You'll be eating your words tonight, Stark!"

"We'll see," the inventor's smirk did not falter despite his girlfriend's attempts at breaking his self-assurance. "I still think you ought to be piling up all of your bus tokens to exchange them for quarters tonight."

"Whatever, Tony," Pepper chuckled. "Win or lose, what do you care anyway? Five bucks doesn't even register as pocket change for you."

"It's obviously not about the money, Pepper," Tony immediately replied. "It's about my pride."

"Your pride is worth five dollars?" Pepper's eyebrows rose in a mocking manner that matched her jesting tone of voice. "I can definitely afford that. That's good to know."

"Ha-ha, very funny, Pep," Tony bobbed his head from side to side with his sarcastic retort. "If you're so confident Lara's gonna win, why don't we raise the stakes, then?"

"Ah-what?" Pepper's head recoiled and her eyes opened wide to stare at an arrogant-looking inventor staring right back at her.

"What? Not really interested? Doubting, all of a sudden? Or are you… I don't know, maybe…" he paused for effect before leaning his head closer to hers, never breaking eye contact or their trek, and then whispered the last of his words. "Scared, Potts?"

Her shaking head immediately said: no. But her eyes clearly said: yes.

"Huh," Tony suspiciously narrowed his eyes at her. "I think you are scared, Pep. Actually, I know you are."

"N-no!" Pepper shook her head fervently. "I-I-I'm not scared!"

"Prove it."

"How?" the ginger asked after a gulp, pushing away her fear of losing in favor of heeding her need to never back down from a dare. "Wanna make it ten bucks?"

"No."

"Fifteen?"

"Nope."

"Twenty?" the redhead asked in a high-pitched tone, her hands starting to sweat. She had been saving that money for a very specific reason. She would hate to lose it overnight to a stupid bet with the person that was the cause of her saving her money in the first place.

"No. Not money. Let's bet something… else."

"Something else? Like what?" Pepper furrowed her brow.

Tony smiled deviously at his redhead, opened his mouth to retort, but then snapped it shut when he remembered that they were not alone. Samantha noticed his hesitation, rolled her eyes at him, and then picked up her pace to reach the door to her home's apartment complex before they did.

"I don't think I want to know," Sam added as she opened the front door of the building to leave Tony and Pepper standing right outside of it.

"Nope," Tony agreed, his hands grabbing onto Pepper's to keep the ginger in place in front of him. "You really don't."

"Whatever, Stark," Sam said with a shake of her head before she stomped her way inside the entrance hall and slammed the door shut behind her.

The inventor waited a few seconds to allow for the brunette to be out of earshot before he returned his attention to the overly curious redhead, both unaware that Sam was watching them from behind a tinted window positioned by the landing towards the second floor of the complex. Their voices were muffled behind the wall and glass, but Sam did not have to hear a thing to understand what was happening between them.

Or, at the very least, she was easily able to infer the intimacy of their conversation by how they were behaving at the moment.

It was not the best angle to observe them, but it was good enough to see fretfulness in Pepper's face as Tony took his time to relay to her the new terms of their bet. The redhead kept tugging at his hands while he chuckled at her desperate face, clearly enjoying how much she was dying to know what he had in mind. Nearly a minute went by of this tedious dance of "Tell me," and "Not yet," until Tony's face finally changed.

Their eyes locked on each other. The genius's head slowly leaned in towards Pepper's face, and just when Samantha thought she would have to poke her eyes out with pencils at watching them kiss, the inventor did something she had not expected to see.

The blue-eyed boy's lips went past her mouth and straight up to Pepper's right ear, giving Samantha a clear view of her sister's face – and of how red it turned after Tony finished whispering into her ear whatever idea he had come up with for their bet. The hero slowly pulled back from his girlfriend's impossibly flustered face and winked at her, only to watch Pepper's jaw fall and her cheeks burn even more than before.

At first glance, it appeared as if whatever suggestion Tony had made was going to be refuted by the girl. But after a minute or so, once her cheeks were not as rosy, Pepper lowered her gaze, nodded a couple of times, and missed the moment when Tony's face filled with shocking disbelief. He composed quickly, however, and by the time Pepper returned her eyes to him, he was smiling proudly at what he had done.

Knowing what was going to happen next, and not wanting to see it for herself, Samantha Potts turned around in place and sped up the stairs to go home and lock herself in her room.

It truly was not fair.

Something had to be done.