Chapter 12: Where Olivia Curses Out Her Brain

It was when I was on the bus on my way home, surfing the net on my phone, that I found out that another surprise storm was rolling up the coast towards New York. I immediately clicked on the video link to the news broadcast, listening intently. "It's scheduled to be just as bad as the previous storm we had on Monday, and it's just as sudden. We're guessing that it's going to being sometime around eleven o'clock on Thursday and last well into Friday morning. Again, the readings are almost identical to the previous storm. . ."

I swallowed hard. This could only mean one thing; another Avenger was on their way here, and they'd no doubt appear in the same place that Steve did. The only problem was that I couldn't call Steve and tell him. The only person home was Edward, and he was bound to notice that the phone had been answered by someone other than him.

Once again I had to sit on my hands to keep them still.

0o0o0

"Steve, I'm absolutely positive that another Avenger is coming," I said, swinging my legs back and forth and taking another bite out of my chocolate bar. I felt like a little kid—well, younger than I was, anyway. Compared to Steve, everyone was a little kid. He paced around the floor now, his brow furrowed as he wondered about what to do.

I had wasted no time rushing upstairs, dumping my bag in my room and entering Steve's room. I hadn't even wasted times with the usual "How was your day" crap, I just got straight to business. Steve didn't seem to mind, either. Okay, I'll admit, I wasted time asking him if he liked chocolate and if he wanted a piece of my chocolate bar, but that was it.

"I believe you," he nodded. "Don't worry about where they're going to stay," I added. "They can stay here, with you. Until you guys figure out a course of action, that is." Steve stopped pacing and looked at me in surprise. "Really?" he asked. "Are. . .are you sure?" I nodded. "Duh," I scoffed and outstretched my arms to the side. "Have you seen the size of this house? No one'll ever notice you two are here. Plus, there are like two more guest rooms down the hall from my room, they'll be nice and cozy. And there's an old library no one uses that has a fold out bed and a sofa and a TV, so we could use that for a room too." I bet Bruce would love it in there.

"But back to the storm," I said after Steve thanked me a million times. "Right," he agreed, and went back to pacing. "Obviously we want to be there, just in case someone else does appear. . .the only problem is that we can't be sure of the exact time that they're going to appear." He had a point. I thought about this for a second, and I was awful glad I had some candy, because candy kept me hyper and thinking. "Well, you appeared sometime around four thirty," I offered. "So maybe we could try there around four thirty."

Steve shook his head. There was a fault in my plan, but I didn't see it. "You'll just be getting out of school," he said, deep in thought. "And I can't get up there because I don't know this city that well. You'd have to come get me, and there's no way we could do all that in time." I shrugged. "We could be a little late, we'd still be able to find them." I said.

He shook his head again, staring at the carpet. "Not if it was Natasha, or Clint, or Tony. They'd wander away in an instant, and then we'd never be able to find them." He had a point. Again. "No, we have to be there just when they land." "How about I just skip scho—"

"No."

"Okay, okay. . ."

"I don't think there's any way we could both be there."

My heart sank. No, he had to be wrong. There had to be some kind of way that we could both be there. "Unless you. . .or I. . .or. . .or. . ." Shit, he was right. I looked down at my shoes. Damn. I guess I was sitting this one out. I swung my feet back and forth, unsure of what to say and do. Despite his words, Steve sounding extremely compassionate and caring. "I'm going to go, okay?" he said, and I silently nodded. "I think if they see me, they'll agree to come no matter who it is. It's a matter of trust, Olivia, because they don't know you." "S'okay, I get it," I murmured, my head still down.

Suddenly I wanted to cry again. Damn it, emotions! I screamed. Get it together! My brain replied, just as angrily as I was; We're TRYING! I blinked to keep the tears away. I don't even know why I was so upset; Steve would be bringing whoever it was back to my house, anyway. I guess because it was a matter of phycology.

If this new Avenger saw me with Steve, they'd figure that me and Steve were in this together and I was their equal. If they saw me after Steve, they'd probably just brush me off as some kid that was just helping. And I really didn't want to be seen as "just some kid". . .even though, technically, that's what I was. I wanted to be their friend.

Steve walked over and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Olivia," he said softly, and I looked up at him with puppy eyes. "Remember what I said about—" "Yeah, yeah, yeah," I interrupted bitterly, wiping my eyes with the back of my hand. "It's your fight, not mine. . ." "Yes," he nodded. "There's. . .there's just no way for you to do this. You know that if there was a way, I'd let you in on it. I wouldn't try and take it away from you because I know it means a lot. But—"

Oh, yeah, I have an idea. Said my brain. My eyes lit up once the idea hit me. I looked up at Steve hopefully. "I got it," I said breathlessly. "You come to school with me." At first he didn't say anything, so I sat up straight and started to explain. "Think about it," I began. "I have a friend who can drive. And has a car. If I call him up, he can pick us up and drive us to school, and you can spend the day with me—you look like a teenager and everything, it could work, Emmy brought in her visiting cousin one day—and then we could catch the bus home and bring the new Avenger back with us."

Steve thought for a moment. I held my breath. Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease—He smiled and nodded quickly. "That actually, just might work," he said in agreement. Holy shit. I am a genius. I grinned in excitement. "OMG YAY!" I screamed. Before I knew it, I had my arms wrapped around him and my head buried in his chest in a hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" I exclaimed, squeezing him tightly.

Holy shit did I just hug him?! I screamed. I hadn't meant to. It just. . .happened. Heat of the moment, I guess. But Steve only laughed and hugged me back. "It was your plan," he said. "If anything, I should be thanking you." I only shut my eyes with a smile. Captain America was hugging me. Could there be anything better? Well, yes there could, but let's not get into that.

0o0o0

Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring.

I groaned impatiently, already tired of holding the phone to my ear. I lay on my back on my bed, staring up at the ceiling as I moved my legs in circular motions. I had changed out of my uniform and into my causal clothes; now I was waiting for Aaron to pick up his damn phone. I rolled my eyes as the ringing switched to a song.

What I wanna say

Tell me I'm an angel,

Take this to my grave.

Tell me I'm a bad man,

Kick me like a stray.

Tell me I'm an angel,

Take this to my grave.

I smirked. I had told him to give that song a listen a long time ago. Nice to see that he liked it. The song suddenly stopped as the phone went click. Finally. "Dah?" he answered. "Aaron? Hey. It's Olivia." I spoke quickly, wanting to get to the point. "I need you to do be a favor." He groaned. "Does it involve me getting up from this couch right now?" he moaned. "If so, the answer is already no."

"Well lucky for me that's not the kind of favor I'm talking about," I replied. I crossed my legs back and forth, back and forth. "I need you to drive me and a friend to school tomorrow." "A friend?" Aaron asked. "Wait, which friend? I know all your friends, who are you talking ab—" "It's a new friend from out of town, okay!?" I snapped.

"Just. . .do you think you can do it?" I asked. "Well sure," he agreed, and I pumped my fist in the air with a grin. "But why?" "Mind your business Aaron," I said with a roll of my eyes. "Thanks, by the way. Later." "Wait, you call me to ask me to do something?!" he complained dramatically. "Unfair! Geez, you never call to talk or anything! You never say 'hey Aaron, what's up'? You—" "Goodbye Aaron," I interrupted, clicking End.

This was just too easy.

I threw my phone down and jumped off the bed. Now all I had to do was convince Edward not to drive me to school tomorrow.

0o0o0

I found him tidying up the dining room, apparently changing the table cloth.

"And tell me again why Aaron is picking you up, Miss Olivia."

"I don't think I ever told you in the first place."

"Exactly."

I sighed. "Well, I don't know really. But my birthday is at the end of next month, remember? I'll be eighteen," I paused. "I think it's time for me to start growing up, y'know?" Edward sighed. "Miss Olivia, I've always told you that it isn't wise to rush to grow up," he said flatly. "And once you grow up, you rush in desperation to be young." "Yatta, yatta, yatta I know, I know," I gave a flip of my wrist.

"It's just. . .I'll be eighteen in no time, and I still feel like I'm fifteen, y'know?" I explained. "Mom and Dad like to keep me under strict surveillance all the time. It gets annoying sometimes." Edward nodding a bit, seeing what I was saying. "If you were in their shoes, you'd understand," he said. I rolled my eyes. "But I don't even know why they always try to be so overprotective. They're not even around," I argued softly.

"They have their reasons," Was all Edward said. I threw my arms into the air. Geez, sometimes you couldn't get anywhere with adults. "They act like I'm some kind of. . .ticking time bomb sometimes!" I exclaimed. "It makes me so fed up sometimes, I just. . .urgh! It's so annoying! I feel like I can't live, that they're treating me like some kind of alien!"

"They have their reasons," Was all Edward said.