Chapter Two:

A Penny for Your Thoughts

"There you are Panic, I have been looking everywhere for you, it is nearly time for class," Rae says, stepping into the Auto Body Shop. She lingers near the doorway, clearly out of her element. Emotional stuff has never been her forte.

Hissing under my breath, I pull myself from under the the vehicle and slowly sit up. The sudden movement disorienting my senses. Rae steps further into the room kneeling down beside me as if to get a closer look.

"You look dreadful, are you well?" she asks, her green eyes piercing right through me.

Not wanting to worry her with my problems, I shrug and tell a lie. "Of course."

Her eyes narrow, but she doesn't make a comment. Instead she rises to her feet and hold out a black sleeved arm out for me to take. She pulls me to my feet and swipes my bag off the workbench.

"So..." I trail off, not sure what to say. "How's your morning going?"

"Oliver and Sierra are worried about you. They informed me of your lack of correspondence over the summer and what little you had with me was shoddy at best. Would you like to clarify the reasoning?" she retorts, biting accusations in her tone. Part of me feels an instant wave of guilt. I know I've been a shitty friend lately, but I've had a lot to deal with lately.

Another part of me is furious, how dare she accuse me like that. She knows that the Incident really screwed with my psyche, I'm generally surprised I'm as sane as I am. If not for that poison I've been drinking, I'm sure I'd be doing much more harm to myself.

Pulling away from Rae's helping hand, I sneer. "Look I know you think you're oh-so helpful, but back the hell off. I can take care of myself!" Without another word, I turn and march towards

Normally I'd sit in the middle row on the left beside Rae, but after my blow-up earlier, I resorted to sitting in the back of the classroom by the creepy looking skeletons of the human body. Mrs. Pennington's class is the most lifeless and boring of the bunch, I bite back a yawn and try not to draw attention as her nasally monotone voice drones on.

In a futile attempt to stretch the sluggishness out of my movements, I lean back against the plastic blue chair and extend my limbs out as far as I can reach. As no one pays attention to the back row, I pull my headphones from my pocket and slip them into my ears.

What's the point in listening to her bore me to death when I'm gonna have to go back through this crappy textbook later to reread the junk she's spewing out hr face-hole. The lull of the music washes over me like a cool breeze, I close my eyes. Maybe catching a few more hours of sleep will put in me in a better mood. Unfortunately I never got to find out.

Nudging to my side alerts me of a presence so I look up at the stormy face of Mrs. the music blaring in my ears, words leaving her mouth look like only mute movement of her lips rather than words. Half time her annoying voice reminds me of that show The Nanny. Only she'd be a much more pleasant sight to behold.

Mrs. Pennington is one big blob of heft, practically a walking watermelon with stubby little legs that shouldn't be able to support that body. They're tiny little things that just barely peek out beneath her puss yellow dress made of tablecloth fabric.

I'm 99.9% sure that she just took her Thanksgiving Day table cloth off the minute the holiday ended just to sow it into a dress.

Her nearly gray-blonde hair was pulled righting back in a bun with stray strands hanging around her face. Her fat lips continue to flap like an overgrown carp fish begging locals for food. She's an absolute joke. She's always on my ass, seems to think I'm so privilege little rich girl cause Daddy's a superhero billionaire. She's always gone out of her way to treat me like shit.

Today I'm not in the mood for it.

I've already got Pepper on my ass today and I'm really fed up with these smart-mouth teachers like wannabe Mother Superior of the Monastery over here preaching to me like she actually knows anything useful. She's a has-been high school teacher making next to nothing, she can't say a damn thing.

I pluck out an earbud. "You need something?" I say, none to kindly.

Mrs. Pennington gives me a withering look, her pudgy face red. "Where's your textbook?"

Feigning shock, I gasp, "at home." A shrug given saying, 'can't be helped.'

All eyes in the room are on the two of us.

Her dull green eyes narrow into slits, her lip curling into something unpleasant. "And what exactly is it doing there?" she reports, sounding smug.

"Having a hell of a lot more fun then me, that's for sure."

Half the room explodes in laughter while the other gasps in shock. Apparently Mrs. Pennington isn't amused because she crosses her meaty arms over her chest in what she thinks is an intimidating posture.

"How very clever you are. I know you believe the world revolves around you Ms. Stark because daddy is a rich 'superhero'" she makes sure to add sarcastic air quotes around that. "However, I find myself having to be the bearer of bad news. Unfortunately that does not exempt you of the rules your fellow peers are expected to follow. I cannot say for other classes, but in here you are no better than anyone else."

"When did I ever say I was, genius?" I wince inwardly as an ache rocks through my skull.

Her mouth is a firm line. "I suppose the conclusion is obvious. You didn't even bother to do your homework did you? Was in beneath the great Panic Stark?" Mrs. Pennington is now looming over me like a fat cloud blotting out the the light nearby has receded.

I shake my head in mock sorrow. "I apologize, but my dog ate it."

"Really...?" she retorts, leaning back slightly and quirking an eyebrow upward with an amusement twinkling in her eyes. "Of all the lies you could have told, it had to be the most pathetic of the lot."

"If I were to lie, it'd be more creative then that. I swear it's true," I hesitate a moment. "Well... Technically it was some else's dog and I had to smear it with honey, but I finally got him to eat it."

Her pudgy face flushes an ugly shade of red and her little eyes pop out. "You think you're so cute, don't you!?"

Twirling a strand of red hair, I reply innocently enough. "I'd like to believe so, especially in comparison to your unique physique."

"Is there something you're trying to say child?" Mrs. Pennington is practically snarling. Her big arms have dropped down to her sides, her fingers twitching restlessly as if itching to clench into a fist.

"Actually now that you mention it, how do you manage to waddle your fat ass up the stars in the Main Hall everyday without having a heart attack right there. I mean we all have a betting pool going on, what are you? Three-hundred pounds?"

Mrs. Pennington shrieks in offence, her face scarlet with anger. I wince as the shrill sound causes the dull ache in the back of my skull to move around my head and becomes a pulsing headache. The kind where you feel like your skull is expanding with each pulse.

"Quite frankly, you're heavy enough to cause an earthquake on California's fault line. Maybe you should avoid visiting there, don't wanna tip the state's weight limit. It's everyone's safety at risk here."

The class room has erupted in laughter. The group of three boys at the table beside me are practically falling out of their seats. Other students are covering their mouths in attempt to silence their defiant chortles.

Feeling a gaze burning through me, I shift my attention over to the front of the classroom where Rae sits. Her emerald eyes slice through me with pinpoint accuracy. In her face, there's a dark, looming expression haunting them. Like her feelings are on public display for my eyes only. They're searing my skin and piercing my soul in the one way I don't want to face.

She's disappointed in me. Even though I can see how much paler and more sickly looking she is, I tear my eyes away.

Looking anywhere that not her judging eyes.

Not that it helps. I know there's something wrong with the both of us. Something is broken inside her like something inside me. That's why I've avoided her, because I see myself reflecting back and I can't stand it.

"I-I... y-y-you..." Mrs. Pennington is trembling with boiling fury just beneath the surface. Her skin a mopey grey color with her sweaty, clammy skin. She swallows a few times, trying to formulate some kind of though.

One more jab, I had to. "Whale got your tongue?"

"Principals Office now!" she bellows. The words bursting front her shot little form like a bomb being detonated. Everyone is the room jumps a foot at the intensity of the shriek.

"Damn, took you long enough. Try not to die while I'm gone, yeah?" I snort, rising up from the chair and pushing right past Mrs. Pennington. I salute my fellow peers before shoving the door of the class open and stepping into the hall.

Tugging my hair in frustration, I pace back and forth in front of the hall that leads to the Front Office.

Everything inside me is shifting around like a broken boat in a glass bottle. What I need is some peace and quiet.

A drink wouldn't hurt either...

My attention shifts from the hall to the office to the exit to the left. It's an obvious choice, I turn and step out into the early afternoon air. Inhaling and exhaling, the pressure in my head eases every so slightly.

Reaching into my pocket, I pull out a pack of smokes. Seems like my afternoon's free.

Third Person POV:

While not apart of the original plan, the fallout of Emersyn's pathetic ploy certainly succeeded in a much more tragic way. The plan had failed and yet Panic Stark was irrevocably damaged. She was falling off the rails and neither her father or step-mother could reign her in. They were preoccupied with a brand new baby who needs them to dull out much effort onto her.

Tony Stark was learning how to be a parent, rather than having a teenager dropped onto him. Virginia Stark (nee Potts) dealing the same blow, yet noting the havoc wrecked upon Panic. She can see the carnage and doesn't understand how to heal it.

What neither of them know is how fractured she really was.

Not to mention the current state of affairs in their not so perfect family. The Avengers at odds with each other. Broken apart by the worst of cracks, those from within are ones so hard to mend. As the saying goes: a house divided cannot stand. And that's exactly what had happened. Two ideals based on the personal experiences of the masses that were so based in similarity yet so separated from the other.

Few could grasp such a devastating fracture. Derived from scorn and bloodied with suffering, it was the pain only someone like she could relate. A scared young child all alone, abandoned by those who were supposed to be there for her.

They left her. She was expected to fend for herself and so she did just that. Pulling herself out from the smokey depths that her father had left her in. She took control of her life and captured what once was his. Thus she could relate to the broken girl with fiery red hair currently seated in the back of the bar with a cigarette in one hand and a shot glass in the other.

Had she been a weaker soul, that would be a mirror of herself. Of what she could have been by choosing a less burdensome path. Instead there was another route available, the one taken. She became an enigma. A shadow against the night, a forgotten soul, a lost hope.

The Ghost.

A/N:

Here is it, after a million years of dealing with my procrastination. I was a bit lazy which is why it took me so long to get this chapter wrapped up. Not to mention the Third Person POV scene was focused on an entirely different character the first time. This time I figured showing this new character would be a better way to go to start setting up for Panic's final story which is gonna be crazy. We've got a while till then. Anyways, here you go. Hope it was worth the wait, I'll try to be quicker on the next one!