Surprise! I managed to get my assignment done early so here's a treat for you guys! Behold, chapter 3! I'm probably going to fail my final exam tomorrow but whatever. Here it is!
Over the years, Clint and Natasha grew closer. Clint even had a tendency to neglect his friendship with Thor and Steve and spend more time with Natasha. This would often lead to confrontation between Thor, Steve, and Clint, but they would quickly forgive and forget and their friendship would be back to normal.
It wasn't until Clint, Steve, and Thor were in fourth grade and Natasha was in third grade that they realized they would be separated for the first time the following year. After fourth grade, Clint, Steve, and Thor would move on to bigger and better things in fifth grade at Stroudsburg Middle School, the second school in the district which was home to grades five through eight. Clint felt terrible about leaving Natasha behind but he figured they'd be reunited in school within another year when she moved up to fifth grade. Besides, it's not like they wouldn't see each other anyways. They had play dates practically every weekend!
Thor and Steve weren't particularly pleased with leaving the school after fourth grade either. They'd also come to form a good friendship with Natasha. You don't just save a girl from playground bullies and not become friends with her.
Thor and Steve, as well as Clint, had also become friends with Natasha's classmates, Jane and Peggy. However, to say they had become friends with them would an understatement. Thor and Steve were practically harboring minor crushes on Jane and Peggy respectively. So much so that Thor was teased by Clint and Steve over his crush on Jane.
"Thor and Jane, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G," Steve and Clint chanted one day on the playground. "First comes love, then comes marriage. Then comes Jane with a baby carriage!"
"Stop, she'll hear you!" Thor hissed, his cheeks turning a light shade of pink.
It was too late. Jane was sitting under the shade with Peggy and Natasha, giggling over the boys' silliness. Thor thought he was in the clear. That was until she got up and made her way over to the boys who were standing under the swirly slide.
"Hi Thor," she said.
"Hello Jane," Thor said calmly. For someone who got really embarrassed around his friends, he was very composed when it came to talking to Jane.
"My mom and I were planning on getting some ice cream from Cherry Top after school, and she said I could bring a friend. Would you like to come?" Jane asked sheepishly.
"Yeah, sure. That would be cool," Thor said nonchalantly.
"Okay, great!" Jane said, and what she did next caught Thor completely off-guard. Jane leaned in and pecked Thor right on the cheek. She leaned back, squealed, and ran off to rejoin Peggy and Natasha underneath the shade.
"Uh oh," Thor said goofily, swaying back and forth as if he was about to faint. "I'm in love."
Clint and Steve burst into laughter as Thor turned a bright shade of red.
"We're 10-years-old Thor, we don't know what love is!" Steve said, clutching his side from laughter.
"Nuh-uh, Clint knows exactly what love is! He's been in love with Natasha since we saved her from those bullies!" Thor said, pointing a finger at Clint.
"Am not!" Clint retorted.
"Are too!"
The boys continued to argue back and forth until they were called back inside the building to start Science class.
It was a scorching hot day in the summer before fifth and fourth grade for Clint and Natasha respectively when they were sitting on Clint's back deck, sipping fresh squeezed lemonade and eating watermelon. They were watching Clint's brother, Barney, and his friend, Tony Stark, take turns running through the sprinkler in the backyard. Clint and Natasha had their turn an hour prior and had retired to the deck to let Barney and Tony play.
Barney and Tony were both going into seventh grade. Clint couldn't even fathom how time flew. It felt just like yesterday that it was the first day of first grade and he was rescuing Natasha from the playground bullies during her first day of kindergarten.
Natasha was chomping on her fourth slice of watermelon when Clint began to wonder if her parents still fought like they did when she was in kindergarten. She never really talked about it since that day on the school bus, and Clint never really asked. That was, until now.
"Do your parents still fight, Nat?" Clint asked, using one of the few nicknames she allowed him to call her.
She shrugged her shoulders while wiping the watermelon juice off of her face with the back of her hand.
"Not as much as they used to," she said taking a sip of lemonade to wash down the fruit. "When they do, they try to do it as quietly as possible."
Clint turned his attention back to his piece of watermelon, biting off a rather large chunk.
"That's why I like it better at your house," she said. "No one fights, except maybe you and your brother but I guess that's normal. Your mom makes the best cookies too."
Clint finally realized that not once had he actually had a play date at Natasha's house, and now he knew why. He'd never actually seen or met her parents. If they went to Natasha's house to pick her up, she always left through the front door by herself. If Natasha's mom or dad dropped her off, Natasha was always left alone to ring the doorbell to Clint's house.
Clint didn't want to push the subject any further so he suggested they join Barney and Tony in the backyard by the sprinkler. The four kids ran through the sprinkler until Clint's mom called the kids inside to eat some sandwiches she'd prepared for dinner.
Starting fourth grade scared Natasha right to her core. She had absolutely no problem with academics, or gym class, or the bus ride to and from school. Even though she wasn't very artistic, art class didn't even intimidate her!
She was scared because this was the first time Clint would not be in school with her. Secretly, she was scared that without Clint around, the playground bullies would come back and tease her. She didn't know if they were in the same grade as her, or if they had been older than her when they teased her. Either way, she didn't want them to come back. If they did, Clint wouldn't be around to help her.
Normally Natasha didn't show many emotions, but she couldn't help but cry the day the bullies teased her. She'd been excited about starting school at Hamilton Elementary. It wasn't just because she was eager to learn but she thought it would be a safe haven from her parents' constant fighting. She was in for a rude awakening when she got to the playground and the boys started to tease her. No matter where she went, there was constant hate and dislike. Meeting Clint made things better; his house was her safe haven.
However, it wasn't as if she didn't have other friends. Peggy and Jane were in her fourth grade class, as well as Bruce Banner, whom she hadn't been in class with since kindergarten. At least she would have someone to lean on throughout the day if need be.
Natasha's first day of fourth grade quickly approached and she couldn't be less than thrilled. As she stood out at the end of her driveway, waiting for the bus, she couldn't help but wonder if Clint was feeling the same exact way.
A new school year. A new school. A new school bus. Clint was nervous about joining fifth grade at Stroudsburg Middle School. There were eighth graders in the same building for Pete's sake!
"Don't worry, baby brother! If anyone bothers you, come find me and I'll set them straight," Barney said, clapping his brother on the back.
Clint let out a nervous laugh and peaked down the road to check if the school bus was coming. Yes, there it was!
Alright, Clint thought. Let's get this day over with.
The first week of school went by in a blur. Clint wasn't particularly pleased with being in the same class as just Thor. Thor and Clint had Mrs. Sanchez, while Steve was located in the neighboring hallway in Mrs. DeVivo's class.
The material was harder, especially math, which was not Clint's forte. There were lessons in English on punctuation, grammar, and how to spell even the most difficult words properly. Social Studies lessons were all about the colonial times and Clint couldn't help but think, Get with the program Pilgrims and just get electricity. Even Science wasn't even remotely interesting. No one cared about how magnets worked. Not even the challenge of "How many paperclips can you pick up with one magnet?" sparked Clint's interest.
By the time the weekend rolled around, all Clint wanted to do was sleep. He was physically and mentally exhausted. Fifth grade was hard.
Clint was awoken early Saturday morning by his mother, who told him that Natasha was on the phone. Clint quickly jumped out of bed and bounded down the steps to retrieve the phone from the kitchen.
"Nat, I'm so happy you called!" he practically screamed into the mouthpiece.
"Good morning to you too," she mumbled on the other end of the line.
"Sorry," he said sheepishly. "What are you doing today? Can you come over?"
"Yeah," she said excitedly. "My mom can bring me over when she goes into town in an hour."
Clint told her that he was excited to see her soon and hung up the phone. A reunion between him and Natasha was the one thing he needed to make this crappy week even better.
Natasha was ringing his door bell an hour later. When Clint answered the door, the two immediately ran into the living room to make a fort out of pillows and the couch cushions.
After Clint's mom had brought them some pretzels to snack on while they were bunkered down in their fort, Clint and Natasha began to share stories of their first week of school.
"Fifth grade's hard! My teacher's nice but she doesn't take crap from anybody!" Clint said, shoving a handful of pretzels in his mouth.
"My teacher's a weirdo," Natasha said. "I mean, just her name is weird. Who names their kid Sally Alley?"
Clint and Natasha giggled at Natasha's ridiculously named teacher, and continued to share more stories of their first week of school. Clint mentioned that he didn't like being in class with just Thor. It made him feel nervous that Steve was all alone in another classroom, let alone in a different hallway. Natasha mentioned that she didn't like swinging on the swings anymore. Jane and Peggy just didn't understand how competitive she was when it came to who could swing the highest, whereas Clint, Steve, and Thor knew exactly how competitive she was.
Most of all, Clint and Natasha didn't like being in different schools.
"This is going to be the longest school year ever," Clint sighed.
They sat in silence in their pillow fort for some time. Venting had somewhat managed to tire them out. Clint and Natasha fell back on the pillows they stowed away in their fort for relaxation. They were lying on their backs, staring at the top of the fort when Natasha broke the silence.
"I miss my best friend," Natasha sighed.
Clint cracked a small smile. It was the best news he'd heard all day.
I had a smile on my face the entire time I was writing this. All of them are just so adorable, even I can't handle the cuteness overload!
By the way, the teachers mentioned throughout this fanfiction are all teachers I had when I was in elementary school (and I'm going to do the same for the rest of the teachers later on, except they'll be teachers I had in high school). So, yes, I did have a teacher named Sally Alley. I would not make that up!
Thank you, once again, to everyone who has been reading this, adding it to their favorites, and reviewing it. With that said, please review! I'd love to hear what you guys think!