Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers.

Chapter 2: Meet the Gang

Erica and Lily got into their first period seats just as the bell rang, as usual. For some unknown reason, no matter how early Erica's mom drops them off at the school, they always find themselves racing against the bell to get in their seats in time. They have been running to class every day since Erica offered to let Lily stay at her house to avoid the bullies in foster care Lily had previously stayed with (an offer that had quickly become a permanent arrangement). The race against time probably had something to do with their tendency to waste time arguing about whether or not either of them looked ok. Well, whether or not Lily looked ok. Erica honestly doesn't really care how she looks so long as it is relatively presentable.

When the bell had finished its far-to-long shriek, the biology teacher, Mr. Parker, got out of his chair and started writing the morning assignment on the board. Mr. Peter Parker is Erica's favorite science teacher. Unlike most of the other teachers in this New York public school, he actually knew his subject. More importantly, he made biology interesting. They made posters of the taxonomy classifications, watched cute meiosis videos, and at the end of the year they got to dissect a fetal pig! (Ok, maybe not everyone was as excited about that as Erica.) From what Erica had heard, he had a wife named Gwen Parker who worked at Oscorp, and Mr. Parker had worked there for a while. No one knew what he was doing teaching Pre-AP high school Biology instead of working for some big-name company like Stark Industries or Hammer International, but they were all grateful anyway.

The problem that Mr. Parker had picked out for today was very easy, so after writing a short answer in her notebook, Erica started scanning the room for something to entertain herself with. In front of her was the tall, buff, and blond jock named James Rogers. Yes, James as in Lily's crush. He was the quarterback, incredibly smart, and a very polite gentleman. In other words, the perfect recipe for a high school heartthrob. Although Erica has to admit that he has a pretty nice body, she doesn't think it's worth it to compete against every other girl in school. To say the least, this isn't the case for Lily.

Continuing to look around the room for something interesting, Erica noticed her 2nd best friend, Anastasia Barton. When Erica and Lily where in third grade, they had noticed that there was this really pretty girl getting all the boys to do everything for her. A few months into the school year, said pretty girl had stomped over to their table and asked to join them. Lily was skeptical and asked her why she wanted to work with them and not her "pitiful little lap dogs?" (Lily's words, not Erica's.) Anastasia had just flipped her hair and said, "They think that just 'cause I'm a girl I can't do anything. Oh, and they made fun of Robin Hood, my hero." A few Norse Mythology projects later and the three of them where practically inseparable. Currently, Anastasia was the only real member of the school archery club (Lily and Erica had joined to show their support for their friend, but weren't actually interested in shooting arrows). She was an expert gymnast and probably could be a cheerleader except she didn't have time after school because of "family stuff." Erica has been meaning to interrogate her about what exactly in going on with her family since she doesn't recall ever actually meeting any of Ana's relatives.

Looking behind her to the back of the room, Erica saw Phil Ross and Timothy Star. Erica seriously LOVES these guys. Well, not loves as in loves, but as in best-guy-friends-in-the-whole-world kind of love. Though, sometimes, every so often, Tim would do or say something that makes Erica think about how cute he is when he smiles… SNAP OUT OF IT ERICA! Anyway, in additional to being Erica, Lily, and Ana's best guy friends they are also practically inseparable. Well, Timmy is inseparable from Phil. Phil is an introvert and deals with Tim's craziness in return for a lab partner that is willing to do some of the work for himself.

Phil Ross had transferred from a High School in Utah halfway through first semester last year. He is really quiet and shy, but a total genius. The guy has straight A's without even trying, and still has time to tinker with some personal projects in the Chemistry lab and engineering workshop. After trying for several months to get the guy to open up since he had been assigned as Erica's lab partner for Physics last year after this little incident with a Tesla coil (Erica hadn't meant to put her lazy, annoying cheerleader lab partner in the hospital), Erica had finally broken down and done a Google search for his old High School. According to the Internet Newspaper article she had found, some kind of bomb had exploded in the Gym and had injured several students and teachers. Thankfully no one was killed, but this knowledge convinced Erica that the poor guy was probably suffering from post-traumatic stress. This would also explain the pills she had seen him taking just before lunch.

However, if anyone was going to get Phil Ross out of his shell, it would be Timothy Star. The guy was like a machine. A hyperactive, way to smart, sarcastic robot. He had transferred at the beginning of the year, and was already the life of the classroom. His bubbly personality was contagious. Although he very often needed people to give him a reality check and bring him down to earth, he was really nice to everyone, even when they shot down one of his brilliant "let's see what would happen if..." ideas. And despite being actually quite popular, he preferred to stay single and hang out with Erica's gang and his science bro. He is the only person who could ever challenge Phil's current unspoken title as smartest guy in school. They guy can hack into anything, as proven by removing the Tesla coil incident from Erica's permanent record. And when the boy smiles…

"Earth to Erica Foster?" Mr. Parker was asking her a question.

"Sorry Mr. Parker. Could you repeat the question, please?" Erica didn't want to seem stupid to Mr. Parker. Right now he seemed to be the only teacher who didn't think she was either stupid or in need of Psychiatric care.

Lily rolled her eyes. "The difference between osmosis and diffusion is that osmosis only has to do with water."

"Thank you, Ms. Frost," Mr. Parker nodded to Lily. "Now class, this is important because…."

Erica slumped in her seat. This day wasn't turning out to good.

Lily leaned over and whispered in her ear, "got certain Timothy on your mind?"

"Shut up."

So... this chapter didn't flow quite as well as the last one. I know there are parts I was unsure about the tense, but I tried my best... and that's what reviews are for! The main purpouse of this chapter was to introduce you to most of my OCs.

Reviews make me feel all warm & fuzzy and want to update this story more! :D