Sorry about the wait! Here is chapter 2! Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

1:00 came waaayyyyyyy too soon. And all day, I had been getting weird looks. From everyone. In class, in the hallways, in lunch. I hated every minute.

I was currently being shoved along into the PAC. I looked around; it seemed like the entire school was in here. Jeez. I decided to sit in the very back corner and to shrink as far down into my seat as possible. The lights dimmed and came back up, signaling that the presentation was about to begin. I was completely afraid of what was about to unfold.

Let's get this over with...I thought, shrugging deeper into my sweater and closing my eyes as the lights dimmed for good.

Seconds later I was nearly startled out of my seat as the entire assembly room erupted in screams. I rolled my eyes. I peered over some jumping students heads to see my family walk out on stage, dressed casually in workout gear. They smiled and waved to the crowd before sitting in some lined up chairs, and I gagged a little.

Tony walked up to the podium and tapped on the microphone. "Hello everyone!" He greeted, making the crowd scream even louder, if that was even possible. Tony held up his hand, and the students began quieting down. Just as it was about to be silent, some random girl shrieked "I LOVE YOU TONY!" Much to everyone's amusement.

I however, was skeeved out that a girl around my age would scream at my uncle like that. Tony paid no attention (I figured he was used to girls screaming their adoration for him) and simply waited until it was completely quiet.

"We are very excited to be here. You are the next generation of leaders for the world. We are here this week to train the leader inside each and every one of you. Today, we will start with some basic self-defense. You can never be too prepared to protect yourself from harm. Captain Rogers will demonstrate some basic techniques. Is Beth in the audience? We would like you to help demonstrate." Tony asked, looking around.

My mind snapped in two and my eye started twitching. This isn't real. I'm just having a really vivid nightmare...I thought to myself as it became hard for me to breathe. I pinched my arm and realized that I was indeed awake, much to my dismay.

"Beth? Are you out there?" He asked again. Suddenly, spotlight shone on me. I was mortified and became completely still, my eyes so wide that they were about to pop out of my skull. I also had never specifically hated the lighting department until now.

"Ah, there she is." Tony said cheerfully. I snuck a sideways glance and saw that the exits were too far away to escape, so I slowly got out of my seat and began walking down the steps to the stage, keeping my eyes straight ahead and trying to ignore the whispers from the audience. After an eternity I reached the stage.

"Beth. Could you please demonstrate the basic kick sequence for escaping an attacker?" Tony asked. I nodded, glaring at him away from the audience. He didn't react, fully in Tony-Stark-billionaire-presentation-mode. Steve was already standing at the ready. I took off my sweater, and tossed it to the side, leaving me in my tank top and shorts. Some guy hooted from the audience. I glared out at the crowd, completely embarrassed. He shut up and everybody laughed.

I walked up in front of Steve. He smiled a bit at me, but I remained emotionless and cracked my neck and knuckles. I tried to calm my racing heart with some deep breaths.

"This sequence is effective when your attacker comes at you from behind. You are to crouch and then swing your leg into the back of their knee in order to knock them down and make your escape. Beth and Captain Rogers will perform the sequence and then I will explain it in detail." Tony said.

I walked closer to Steve and then turned around, standing at the ready. We had practiced this sequence countless times among many others, so we didn't even have to speak. After what happened with Medicorp, the Avengers wanted me to be able to defend myself. I tensed up, ready to spring into action. Red hot rage and embarrassment filled my stomach. Steve grabbed my left arm. I somersaulted away from him and stood to turn around. I heard cheering. Steve was surprised at my change in plans but quickly came at me again, and I roundhouse kicked him in the chin before I really knew what I was doing. The crack of his jaw was loud enough to be heard by the audience.

Everybody gasped. I looked out into the audience again and was met with frightened stares instead of the laughter moments before. Steve looked at me dumbfounded as he rubbed the side of his face. I stood there for a second, in shock at the fact that I had just kicked my brother in the jaw in front of my whole school before walking through the red curtain and then backstage. My eyes filled with tears as the adrenaline wore off and I realized what I had done.

Tony's awkward "Right. That wasn't the sequence we had planned to show you. Black Widow, could you please demonstrate the correct sequence?" faded from my hearing as I found a back hallway behind the stage and cried.

I was completely shocked. Beth had actually kicked me in the face. And it hurt. I just stared at her and rubbed my jaw. She then walked offstage and Natasha was called up, and we finished demonstrating the rest of the sequences without a problem. But the entire time, my mind was reeling.

After the presentation was over. I decided to explore the school a bit and sort through my thoughts. After aimlessly walking around the hallways and waving and making small talk with the students, I found my way into the cafeteria. Some of the kids turned to look at me. A few smiled and waved. I nodded at them and found my way to an empty table. I looked around at the students. Some were obviously into sports, wearing their jerseys or tracksuits. I saw a few girls wearing matching tops and skirts. They each were carrying a bag that said they were on the dance team. We sure didn't have those back in the day...I thought with a small smile. A lot has changed.

After a bit, my mind returned to the disastrous presentation. Why we figured Beth would willingly come onstage and help us I'll never know...What were we thinking? I wondered, and reached up and touched my chin. I jerked back when I felt a bruise. Now I know not to underestimate Beth in a fight...

A girl walked up to my table carrying a backpack and a brown bag lunch. "Is anybody sitting here?" she asked brightly and gestured to an empty chair across from me.

I shook my head. "No ma'am." I replied, and wondered why she would want to sit with me. Didn't she have friends to sit with?

"Thanks. So Captain America, how's the jaw?" she asked as she took out her food. "Beth gotcha pretty good, huh?" she joked and began munching on some potato chips.

I chuckled. "Yeah. It was definitely unexpected...I really don't know why we thought it was a good idea to have her come on stage and demonstrate self-defense. You should have seen her back at home. She was furious that we had to come to her school." I explained, surprised at how easy it was to talk to this girl.

"I can imagine. That's like having your parents at school for a week. I get along great with mine, but I still couldn't handle the constant interaction." she agreed, and opened her soda. "My name's Olivia, by the way. Just curious, but why are you sitting by yourself?" she asked good-naturedly.

"Nice to meet you, Olivia. You can call me Steve if you want." I offered. "I wanted to collect my thoughts after being kicked in the face. You know, I knew that Beth was mad, but I never expected her to do that..." I said. "We've all fought with each other back at the Tower, like families do I suppose. However, it's never escalated to outright physical violence..."

It was Olivia's turn to chuckle. "I'm not one of Beth's close friends, but I've been in classes with her for a few years. She's not shy, but doesn't necessarily want to be the center of attention. Especially because of anything Avengers-related." she explained. "When everyone thought you guys died and she gave the eulogy for the whole city, EVERYONE treated her weirdly. It wasn't like only a few of her close friends knew what she was going through, it was the entire school. Everybody would give her weird looks in the hallway, or constantly try to talk to her about it, or would tiptoe around her like she was made of glass or something. It was really hard for Beth. I bet she just didn't want that much attention on her again."

I nodded slowly, letting Olivia's words sink in. "To tell you the truth, I never considered that our disappearance affected her at school. I thought she was just embarrassed of us teaching her friends. Thanks for the insight, Olivia." I responded.

She smiled. "No problem. Want my sandwich?" she asked, and held out a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in a plastic baggie.

I shook my head. "No thank you, ma'am. That's your lunch." I refused.

She rolled her eyes. "You got kicked in the face today. Take my sandwich." she said and tossed it to me. I smiled and opened the bag. Just then, the bell rang.

Olivia gathered her trash and stuffed it into the lunch sack. "Gotta take a physics test..." she said as she grabbed her backpack and pushed in her chair. "Lunch was nice. Good luck with Beth, Steve. Just try to understand where she's coming from." Olivia said and walked away.

I looked down at the sandwich before taking a massive bite. It was a pretty good PB&J. I guess some things never change.