A/N
Thanks for reviewing guys! Special shout out to Ophelia Claire and MysteryGal5 for their continued support 3 Anyhoo, here it is, chapter 6!
Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel
To leave or not to leave, that is the question. My sights are set on the clock that sits left of the whiteboard, counting down the seconds until our first break. Two minutes until the bell, and the only thoughts going through my brain are those of dread. I've already had another run-in with those cheerleaders this morning, and it wasn't pretty. Trish scratched my arm in passing, her manicured nails drawing blood. The other two just threw an insult or three my way, but apart from that, I survived. Although, I can almost imagine the showdown between me and Trish at lunch. Wagging the rest of the school day seems like the only option for me right now. Mum's always said that running away from your problems is never the solution, but I would much rather be curled up on the couch watching Marvel movies than have food thrown at me or my feelings destroyed.
I haven't been back in the Marvel universe since the talk I had with mum on Friday. She made it quite clear that she didn't want me going back there. My curiosity always wins out in the end, so I'm giving it a few days for her to relax a bit before going back in. Besides, what she doesn't know won't kill her.
Lost in my thoughts, I'm knocked out of my trance by the obnoxiously dull bell that rings through the school. My old school didn't even have a bell.
I decide to stick out the rest of the day, remembering how disappointed my mum was when she got a text from the school saying I was absent. She mentioned it to me after dinner on Friday, having been too preoccupied with the Traveller stuff to tell me off immediately when she got home.
My two lunch breaks are spent hiding out in the back of the library, sneakily eating my lunch behind the history shelves. Considering what I've gathered from the cheerleaders in American movies, Trish wouldn't step foot in the library in a million years, so I should be safe.
I went most of the day unscathed, that is until I bump into her in the courtyard after school.
"Ew," is the first word she says to me when she sees me. I picture a little baby, with Trish's caked face on it, and her nasally voice spitting that word out. I can't help but chuckle.
"What are you laughing at?" she spits. She seems more vicious without her cronies, if that's possible.
"Nothing, nothing," I stammer, trying to stifle the giggles threatening to spill out.
She scowls, knowing full well that I was laughing at her.
"You're going to be sorry you ever stepped foot into my school," she seethes.
"Your school? Honey, don't be ridiculous," I quip back, anticipating a harsh reaction from her. Instead, she's eerily calm, turning her back on me and stalking away, but not before shooting me one last icy glare. She's scheming something in that evil cheerleader head of hers, and I get the feeling I will be very sorry after this.
I lay fully awake in bed, my eyes trained on the ceiling. It's 11PM, and I'm waiting for my mum to fall asleep before I can make a move. My eyes wander over the wardrobe, one that I would hopefully be walking through very soon. Next my sights set on the tattered brown notebook sitting on my bedside table. I had flicked through it the night it was given to me, but a lot of the writing had faded away, and most of the information that's still legible is confusing to me. There's a list of universes in there, but the portals that lead to them are almost completely illegible to me, this time the handwriting being a bigger problem than faded ink.
I decide to go through it again, hoping to be able to make out some of the portal locations to these universes. With this new incentive in mind, I flip the switch to my bedside lamp and gently lift the notebook off the table. I lift the book to my neck, where I insert the key pendant inside. I twist, a click sounding as it unlocks.
An hour or so passes while I'm completely enthralled by the notebook, so carried away with reading it that I nearly fail to notice that mum's lights are out, and have been for quite a while.
Quietly, I climb off my bed and shut the door to my bedroom. As silently and carefully as I can, I step into the wardrobe and through the white wall.
I stand inside the wardrobe on the other side, frozen. The light that usually seeps through the cracks between the doors is no more, leaving me in complete and utter darkness. Slowly, carefully, I push one of the doors as quietly as possible. It opens, revealing a room in complete blackness.
One step at a time, I make my way over to where I remember the bed to be situated, but I forgot to include the fact that this is a boy's room into the equation. My barefoot lands on a piece of material that sits on the floor, forcing me to slip and lose my balance. I hit the ground with a thud, one loud enough to wake the sleeping boy. The lights in the room switch on instantly, revealing my pathetic position on the floor and Calum in all his shirtless glory. Honestly, does that boy ever wear clothes?
"What are you doing here?" he groans, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes as he sits back on his bed, relieved that I'm not the intruder he was expecting.
I fling the article of clothing I had slipped on, a plain grey training shirt, and shoot him a glare.
"Well I was coming to visit my dear friend Calum, but I know when I'm not wanted," I joke, standing up and dusting off my pyjama shorts. His eyes soften, a small smile curling at his lips.
"Shut up," he laughs. "What's up?"
"Not much, really. Coulson said to use the story you gave him as a cover, but he wouldn't tell me what it is…care to explain?"
"Oh…um…" Calum trails, the faintest red tinging his cheeks.
"Go on, spill," I urge.
"You're my girlfriend from SciTech and you snuck into Operations to see me."
I try to scowl, but I can't resist the smile that breaks through.
"You're making me the clingy one, huh?" I tease. Calum laughs, falling back onto his bed.
"If I remember correctly, I'm not the one who broke into the other's room when they were half dressed," he counters playfully.
"That was your own fault."
Suddenly, alarms start blaring and a look of confusion mixed with fear crosses both of our faces. Calum leaps out of his bed and tugs a fresh training outfit on before we head for the door. The hallways are dimmed, with harsh red lights swirling on the walls and screaming students file through the halls to safety. A clear mist begins to form, a safety precaution of some sort I presume, gradually thickening as the seconds tick by.
My eyes widen in realisation. Mum said that each time I go through the portal, it causes a spike in cosmic energy which can be traced. What if I'm the reason that this is happening?
"Go back home!" Calum shouts over the deafening alarm.
"No! I'm not leaving you here."
We look fearfully at the frantic students when Director Coulson emerges from the crowd.
"Go, go!" he shouts, waving us back into Calum's room. "I've got this taken care of."
Calum and I share a confused glance. "But he can't-"
"He can, just make sure you're touching when you go through," Coulson instructs before disappearing again.
Without another thought, Calum and I run back into his room and toward the closet. Linking hands, we step through, and sure enough, Calum enters the portal.
My room is silent, serene in comparison to the chaos we just escaped.
"Welcome to my chambers." Calum just looks at me, not a sound leaving his mouth, not even a chuckle. "Nothing? Seriously?" I ask incredulously.
He suddenly bursts out into a fit of the fakest laughter I've ever heard, bringing an unimpressed frown to my lips.
"That was rude," I mumble.
Silence washes over us, which sends my mind into a frenzy. The guilt of leaving those frightened junior agents behind, the ones in serious trouble because of me.
"I should go back," I say.
"No, you need to stay here, where it's safe," Calum replies sternly.
"But they're in trouble because of me!"
"Be that as it may, Coulson's orders were to come here, and here you'll stay."
"What about you?"
"You're going to help me get back."
"So how come I have to stay here, but you get to go back?" I ask.
"Because my little sister is in there and I have to make sure she's safe," he responds, a determine look on his face.
"Alright, but I'm coming with," I insist.
"Fine, but you have to stick by me at all times."
"Yes, mother."
Calum and I link hands again and don't hesitate when we dive into the portal, milliseconds before colliding into two tall, well-built men holding the biggest guns I've ever seen.
"Uh oh."