Chapter 2: Attraction

The bell rang, alerting the students it was time to go to their first block class, which Pepper now knew was biology in room 202. She hadn't gotten as much time as she would of liked to to process her new thoughts about Tony, since the teacher handed out paper after paper; it being the first day and all. As she walked out of her classroom she felt a little confused still. Sure, now she recognized that he was attractive. Sure she'd always known he wasn't ugly but now… she saw something else in him. Or rather felt, something else towards him.

No. They were just friends.

She was just over thinking things.

There was a simple explanation for this onset of feelings: He came back with a great tan and gave her a hug. Those things can throw a girl off sometimes. Especially if those things were coming from Tony Stark.

It was nothing to worry about.

Nothing at all.

Now with her mind clear of ridiculous thoughts towards Tony, Pepper made her way down the hallway and up the stairs to room 202, for biology.

Although, when she saw just who was in that classroom, all of those thoughts flooded back.

"Pepper? No way!" Tony was sitting on one of the desks at the front of the room, legs dangling off and a wild grin on his face. The teacher wasn't in the room yet, and Tony was taking full advantage of that.

Pepper walked in and smiled at him, chucking softy as they got a few looks from his raised voice. "Do we finally have bio together?" she asked, trying not to sound too excited.

"Seems that way!" Tony grinned almost maniacally. Clearly he had enough excitement for the both of them. His eyes wandered away from the redhead as a few more kids began to come into the classroom. "Come on, I want a seat in the back before they're all gone." he whispered, and hoped over the back of the desk to make his way to the very left hand corner of the room.

Pepper could only smile and follow him to the back, weaving through the tables, unlike him, who made a point of sliding across and over the last desktop, getting to his spot. He was going to take a seat in the corner against the wall, when a voice came from behind him, stopping him.

"Hey Tony!"

Pepper didn't need to turn around to know who it was.

Tony on the other hand did. He wasn't very good with putting faces to voices. Too many people talked to him on a daily basis, and he just stopped trying after a while. "….Oh, hey Maya. What's up?" he replied smoothly, giving her a friendly smile.

Pepper thought it was forced.

The girl was Maya Hansen. Pepper honestly didn't know too much about her, other than that she was an honour student and always won the class award for biology. Oh, also that she hooked up with Tony at a party last year. She definitely knew that much about her, since she saw it first hand.

"Oh nothing." Maya replied with a shrug, holding her books to her chest. "Just thought my biology partner for the past three years would still want to sit with me, but I guess not…?" she trailed off teasingly, looking to the seat Pepper was about to take, and then down to the floor.

Pepper felt something tick inside her. So what if they were partners for three years? She'd known Tony for nearly twelve years! She had quite the seniority over seats with Tony Stark in her opinion.

Tony gave a pained expression. "Oh yeah, well I mean- I was going to sit beside Pep." he shrugged, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck.

For a moment, Pepper smiled widely. She was glad he saw her above Maya, as …sad as that sounded. Though, it was nice to be someones first choice. Especially when it was Tony's.

Maya nodded, acknowledging Pepper with a little nod of her head and a smile. "Why don't you sit between the both of us then?"

Tony bit the inside of his lip. He liked sitting by the wall, he could lean his head against it when the lessons got boring and it's not like he was going to tell Pepper to move. "I…" he paused, glancing to Pepper, and then back to Maya. " Sorry but… the wall is kind of my thing." he said, hoping he was giving off an apologetic front. "You can sit beside Pepper though if you want?" he suggested.

After hearing Tony wasn't going to move, Pepper smiled a bit to herself before she took her seat on Tony's right.

If Maya was disappointed, she didn't show it. "Oh, okay." she said, and placed her books down next to Pepper.

Pepper honestly didn't have a problem with the girl. From what she'd heard she was genuinely nice and she was sure they'd get along fine. She just wasn't too fond of the idea that she somehow thought she had dibs on Tony.

Even if she did make out with him.

Tony nodded, glad that the situation got worked out and took his seat next to Pepper by the wall. He was about to say something before Maya cut him off. "Oh! Actually, I think I'm going to sit over there." she said, gesturing to the other side of the classroom.

Tony frowned and looked over to where she was, wondering what had suddenly changed her mind.

She noticed their struggle in seeing why she'd had the sudden change of heart and sighed. "With Aldrich." she clarified, looking over to the blonde haired boy wearing glasses much too large for his face who had now taken a seat at the front. He was currently all alone in his row of desks, and looked as though he was used to it. "He's new, but I've heard all about him."

"…Oh. Um, alright?" Tony said, acting as if he cared. "Have fun."

Maya gave a little smile before she pushed in her chair and walked over to Aldrich, who looked extremely surprised to see her talking to him.

One she was out of ear reach Tony snickered. "Well that's an odd couple."

Pepper turned to face him and couldn't help but agree. "She rebounds fast." she chuckled, straightening out the papers on her desk before looking up at him. "You know though, if you really wanted to be her partner, it's fine. I mean, three years and all…" she muttered jokingly.

Tony nearly barked out a laugh. "Are you kidding me?" he brought his voice lower and leaned a little closer to her. "Sure she's smart, and a good partner, but I think she's a little more interested in… my biology. If you get what I'm saying." he said in a hushed tone.

Pepper rolled her eyes. "If I remember correctly, you were pretty interested in her …biology at one time." she replied just as quiet.

Tony brought his hand up to his face. "That was one time, and I was drunk, and I'm pretty sure she got the wrong idea."

"Oh, and what idea are people supposed to get when they kiss you?" she teased with a laugh.

Tony opened his mouth to say something and then closed it, knowing she had a point. So, he came back with a point of his own. "Why don't you kiss me and find out?"

Pepper nearly choked. "Tony!" she coughed out with a nervous laugh.

"Pepper!" Tony mimicked with a huge grin.

At that moment their teacher decided to stroll into the room, not looking surprised that Tony was the one he heard yelling.

"Ah, Mr. Stark, what a pleasure to have you back in my class." Came the sarcastic drawl of Mr. Stryder, catching the attention of the rest of the class. It went from being dead silent, to a fury of everyone pushing in their chairs at once, now sitting straight and looking attentively to the tall figure looming over the front desk. Pepper took the time to try and diffuse the blush she felt slowly spreading across her cheeks.

"Nice to see you too Mr. S." Tony shot back, raising his brows and giving him a grin.

The teacher stared back at him, looking as though he was resisting a roll of his eyes, before he sighed and glanced down to the clipboard now in hand.

Tony smirked and leaned over to Pepper. "He loves me."

Pepper on the other hand, did roll her eyes.

Biology class was nothing special. The teacher went over the attendance and the outline for the year and other than that not much else happened. …Not much besides Pepper coming to the conclusion that Tony must be wearing a new cologne. After she calmed down over the fact he'd just asked her to kiss him she noticed it. Every time he leaned over, or stretched or just… moved, she got a wave of this scent that could only be described as …delicious. She felt like asking him, or making a point of it somehow, but never got the chance.

It started to get so distracting that she was slightly relieved when the bell rang at the end of class. Tony was beginning to drive her insane, and not in the way he usually did. His new cologne (or what she assumed to be new) kept catching her off guard, and before she knew it she kept glancing at him out of the corner of her eye. The worst part of it all, was that he noticed. Every time Pepper looked at him he would look too, giving her a raise of his brows or a little smile. She'd always look away, acting as if her stomach hadn't just done a flip from a simple glance.

So, when they were finally able to leave their seats and head out to the next class, Pepper was more than happy to get some fresh air. Air that wasn't contaminated with Tony's ….perfect, scent. Although, she despite her thoughts, hadn't escaped it just yet.

"So what class do you have next?" Tony asked, coming to walk beside her in the hallway.

"Um, AP English with Mayer. You?" she replied, somewhat hoping and dreading that they would have that class together too.

"Metal shop." he said quickly, "Though now I'm thinking I should switch my schedule. How the hell did you end up with Mayer again?"

Pepper chuckled, knowing he was only kidding, or she at least hoped he was. Tony was known for his rather impulsive decisions. "I guess I just got lucky." she said with a shrug of her shoulder and a smile.

"You certainly did." he muttered, shaking his head in envy.

They walked the short ways down the hall to the english wing together and slowed down as they came up to Ms. Mayers room. "Well, this is me." Pepper pointed out with a sheepish grin, only rubbing it in a little bit.

"I'm aware, and jealous." he commented with frown, peeking in through the window by the door and spotting his favourite english teacher. "…Well, tell her I say hi." he sighed, looking back at her and tilting up a corner of his mouth. "And I'll be seeing you, at lunch?"

Pepper smiled and gave a little nod. "I will, and yes." she said, standing outside the door a little awkwardly. Tony was just staring at her, and it was making her a little self conscious. What could he be thinking? It certainly wasn't about her or what he'd mentioned earlier about her kissing him, right? Since that totally wasn't what was on her mind right at this moment. "I'll um, see you then?" she asked raising a brow, completely masking her newfound inner turmoil.

Tony cocked his head to the side and narrowed his eyes before he seemed to snap back into it. "Uh yeah, yeah. Lunch. …See ya." he said, giving one last quick grin before he turned on his heel and went back into the hallway, just like this morning.

And once again, Pepper Potts was feeling conflicted.

Hey! I was thrilled to see such a great response from the first chapter and couldn't wait to write more! Please leave a review and tell me your thoughts so far :) Also I've finally added a bio to my page, and put a link to my Tumblr on there if anyones interested. Thanks again! :)