Chapter 5:

Dani POV-

The next morning, Jarvis woke me up with the news, weather details and my favorite song, not a bad way to wake up if you ask me. After that, he even had my outfit picked out for me: a pair of acid washed skinny jeans, a black sequined V-neck t-shirt, and a red leather jacket to go with a red pair of Converse tennis shoes. I looked at myself in the full-length mirror in the bathroom. This was so much better than anything I had ever worn while I was living in the orphanage.

'Clarissa is going to be stunned,' I thought to myself. Clarissa or Issa, as we sometimes call her, is my best friend. I met her through one of the older girls at the orphanage who was adopted a few years ago: Clarissa is her adoptive younger sister. As it turned out, Issa and I had a lot in common the first time we met, and we have been friends ever since.

Her and I are both well…individuals if you put it loosely, and we are both tomboys who love cars and rock music, which, unfortunately, makes us the targets of the popular girls way more often than not, but then again, it's not like either of us care what other people think about us.

"How do I look, Jarvis?" I asked.

"Stunning, miss Dani," he replied and I laughed picking up my new black backpack and going leaving my room, with Ghost right at my heels. I set my backpack on the couch and went into the kitchen where I saw a muffin had already been set out, along with a glass of juice. I sat at the barstool, unfortunately, alone.

Pepper told me that Tony would, undoubtedly be sleeping in most of the day, so I probably would not see him until I arrived home from school. That was okay with me, it gave me some time to explore this still, mostly-untouched house. Without turning on the lights, I quietly walked around aimlessly, poking my head into various hallways until I came to one. I found a staircase that looked like something that was frequently used by Tony. However, when I started in that direction, Jarvis stopped me.

"I'm sorry, miss Dani, but you are not authorized to access this area," he told me.

"Aw, come on Jarvis," I complained to the artificial intelligence system.

"I'm very sorry miss," he told me. I crossed my arms, pouting for a second as I walked back into the living room.

'What does mister billionaire have to hide?' I wondered but it didn't take me very long to remember that, I have ghost powers. A devilish smile crossed my face. I was seconds away from going to the bathroom (considering Tony probably has the place wired with video cameras) and going ghost, just to see what is down there, when ghost barked and Pepper opened the front door.

"Oh, hey Dani, I'm glad you're ready. Come on, let's go, we don't want you to be late for school," she told me, motioning for me to join her at the front door. I rolled my eyes, picking up my backpack and slinging it over my shoulder I headed to the door. Pepper looked down at ghost who was still eagerly pawing at her. Giving the pooch a smile, she picked him up, "Come on Ghost, you can come to work with me," she told him, making my dog yip with glee. I laughed and rubbed his fuzzy ears as her squirmed in her grasp, before both of us headed out the door.

When we arrived at school, I was early, which was odd, for me considering that most days I rode the bus, which meant that most days, I was late.

I went to my first period class when suddenly I heard a voice behind me.

"That can't be Dani," I smiled, knowing the voice and turned around to see my best friend rush up to me.

"The one and only," I grinned.

"Girl, what happened to you? You actually look good," she exclaimed. I feigned being offended.

"Are you saying that I don't always look good?" I asked, still pretending to be outraged.

"No, I'm saying that you usually look like something the cat threw up," she sneered, causing me to playfully smack her with the back of my hand, "Seriously though, what happened to you?"

"I got adopted," I said with a smile. She blinked and then embraced my tightly.

"Oh my gosh, really! That's so great!" she beamed at me.

"Yeah, it is!" I grinned back, "But the best part is, guess who I got adopted by."

She arched an eyebrow, "Who?" she asked, confused.

"Tony Stark," I said with complete seriousness, knowing that she would think that I am joking.

"You're joking?" she stared at me, trying to gauge whether I was or not. At this point I couldn't help it I shook my head with a smile lighting up my face.

"And guess what else!" I exclaimed.

"What?" she asked.

"I got a puppy!" I told her.

"No way, what's it's name?," she asked me.

"Ghost," I smirked and Issa immediately burst out laughing. I had told Issa my secret a while ago when we officially became best friends, so she totally understood and enjoyed the humor in my dog's name.

"Well, I'm coming over to see him," she announced.

"No problem, I'll let Pepper know that I'm bringing a friend home," I told her, pulling out my new iPhone.

"Wait a minute!" she pulled my phone out of my hand, like I expected she would, "You have an iPhone too!"

"Well, when you're adopted by Tony Stark…" I shrugged, or course, this was the time when Scarlett, the school's number one mean girl suddenly appeared behind us.

"Tony Stark," she sneered, "Wow Danielle, I knew you were poor, but I had no idea you were also a liar."

"She's not lying," Clarissa stood up for me, "See, Tony even got her an iPhone."

"Oh, so you have an iPhone, I guess that makes you a thief too," she sneered again. I gritted my teeth, but said nothing, only meeting her face smile with my solid glare.

"You know Scarlett, you are such a bitch," Clarissa said, moving towards her, probably to beat her up. The only problem was, I knew she would, so I had to hold her back, no matter how much I would like to see my best friend give that brat a new nose job.

"Come on Issa, she's not worth it," I shook my head, holding Issa's shoulders and pulling her away.

When we were out of earshot, Clarissa turned to me.

"You know you have the power to shut her up for life, right?" she asked.

I sighed, "Of course I do, I just can't mostly because that would expose, my secret and secondly because it's not right."

"But she deserves to be knocked down a couple pegs," she whined.

"Um…Issa, I think I know that better than anyone, but I still can't do it," I reminded her.

"Why not?" she whined again.

"Do you think Danny ever reacts when people are bullying him, no. He gets pushed around and shoved into lockers and lets it happen everyday," I told her.

"But Danielle, you're not your cousin, you can make your own decisions," she told me.

"I know, but Danny always does the right thing, so at least for now, I'm going to follow his example," I told her, effectively ending the conversation. Issa sighed, we'd had this discussion before and she knew I wasn't going to shift my position, but I will give her the credit for continuing to try.

Finally, we arrive at first period, sitting down in our seats exactly when the bell rang. The teacher started her lesson and I realized with a sigh, today was going to be a long Monday.