Chapter Two

Peggy had gone to school 20 minutes early that day. Truth be told, it was because she wanted to see the Steve kid again. He was the only person who had on their own accord talked to her. Sure, she had made friends with other people, but that was because she made the effort. With Steve on the other hand, he had spoken to her first. She walked the halls till she found her locker, and as she finished putting her bag away and getting her books, Steve slowly passed her with his head down.

"Steve!" she called his name out as she shut her blue metal locker door. He stopped suddenly, like a dog with bristling fur. He began to walk again, as if he were hiding something. Peggy trotted up and stopped him, standing in front of him. "What's the matter with you?" she tried to look him in the face, but he kept ducking his head.

"Nothing I'm fine…." The hallway was mostly empty since it was so early. She set her books down on the ground and touched his chin, pulling his face up to the light. On his jawline there was a red, tender bruise. Their conversation went a little like this:

"Did you put any ice on that?" she gently turned his head so she could see it better.

"Yeah. Don't worry, it'll be okay." He leaned down and picked her books up for her.

"...Steve?" she was waiting for him to elaborate on what had happened. "Did someone hit you?"

"No! I—ran into a wall when I was leaving the locker room."

"I don't believe you."

"It's true. I wasn't paying attention."

"Walls don't bruise your jaw line."

"This wall did…?"

"So you are lying! Who hit you?!"

After some coaxing, Steve managed to glance shyly over to where Stark was leaning up against a girl's locker and talking to her smoothly, his backpack still hanging on his broad shoulders. Peggy didn't hesitate to walk up to him, Steve hastily slinking behind. "Stark!" she yelled at him as he smiled haughtily. "You gormless prat!" she growled, stepping up toe to toe with him. The girl backed up a step as if she were assessing the situation, her ginger hair pulled up into a simple, suave ponytail.

"Is that British for 'I'm free tonight?'" he charmed. She ignored his comment with a solid dark eyed glare.

"I know you punched Rogers!" Tony went blank, as if trying to recollect the memory.

"Yeah, chill. He.. just intercepted a punch meant for someone else."

"-You what?! Tony!" the ginger spoke finally.

"You're lying, you punched him on purpose." Peggy growled, narrowing her eyes and setting her hips. A firm stance makes a better punch, her hand-to-hand combat teacher used to tell her. "Why?"

"…It's classified…?" for a genius, he seemed at a loss for excuses.

"Tony I swear to God. I will personally beat your ass if you don't apologize."

"But Pep—"

"Oh! I'm Pepper Potts, by the way." Her tone instantly softened to a brighter smile as she turned and introduced herself to Peggy. "You're new, aren't you? I think you're in my English class."

"Oh yes, hello, I'm Peggy Carter." Pepper turned back to Tony, her eyes narrowing.

"Tony! Go!"

Gym class was slightly awkward on Stark's part. He didn't make a single vulgar comment toward Peggy as they ran laps around the gym, though some other guys did manage to get out some comments about her being female. She, to Steve's protest, disregarded their opinions.

Peggy walked out of gym back in her regular clothes: white blouse tucked into brown pants rolled up to the calf and her classy dark brown shoes. Steve panted as he ran from the boys locker room entrance to her.

"Hey, Peggy—," he breathed, "thanks for earlier this morning. I don't know that I ever did thank you…."

"You did. In fact, this is the third time you have." She gave a small laugh.

"Oh! Well, yesterday you asked me if I was an artist—and well, I've noticed that you have quite remarkable facial structure, with your prominent cheekbones and your eyes and such… but I drew you!" he pulled out a slightly crumpled sheet of paper, it was ripped down the center but he had taped it together with the most careful precision that he could. It was just a sketch, it still had the guidelines for eyes and nose and such, but it captured her features spot on, and she was just smiling with her head cocked, he had even gone the liberty of coloring in her lips with a red pastel, giving it a thick paint-y look.

"Oh Steve, that's darling!" she amazed, holding it gently in her hands as if she were going to rip it even more just by touching it.

"Sorry about the tape and the wrinkles and such… it was just a bit of a misunderstanding with Stark."

"This is why that wanker punched you?" she held it up to her face so he could see the comparisons.

"Well… yeah. I swear it was an accident. Things just got a little rough. I can defend myself." He took the sheet back from her and tucked it inside a thick geometry textbook.

"I can't believe him." She sighed, pressing her binder and notebook against her chest.

"I'll make you another one—one that isn't ruined…" he looked down at the maths book downcast.

"No I like the crinkles and the tape and the rip. It adds character, something that it had before the accident."

"You think so?" he smiled brightly. She realized that he hadn't blushed in the past five minutes.

"Of course! Not even Stark could ruin a piece of yours." They walked down the hall, talking about what class they had next.

It wasn't until eighth period that Peggy saw Steve again, and that was in art class. The art room is a fairly large room with five long horizontal tables facing the front of the classroom, several different drying racks throughout the room, imitations of famous paintings spanning across the cinder block walls, and two different nooks, one of which had a huge work in progress of the school's musical backdrop, and the other having the teacher's desk. Peggy realized that is was strange how he hadn't been there yesterday—but she figured that it had been because he was sent home with the 'wall injury.' Peggy slid into the seat next to him, and his face brightened up from the distant look that he had before he realized she was in the class.

"Peg!" he blushed because he had used a nickname.

"Hello." She greeted briskly. "Do you know what we're doing today?" she looked around the classroom for a hint. Then she saw a pile of table size easels out. Painting. She absolutely hated painting, it took patience and precision and you couldn't mess up or else the whole thing would be… a mess.

Miss Martinelli, the art (and theatre) teacher walked into the classroom right as the bell sounded, shutting the door behind her. Her dark hair was swept to the side in a simple chignon and she was wearing another one of her short colorful dresses.

"Painting today! Go ahead and grab an easel and canvas from over there and I'll take attendance." She danced over to her computer where she marked down the two absent students and sent it down in an email to the office. Peggy gave a short breathe and walked over, grabbing the objects and making her way back to her seat, pressing up against the desk so that Steve could brush past to his seat closest to the window.

"I strongly dislike painting." Peggy remarked to Steve. Other teens were whispered excitedly because they actually enjoyed painting. Steve seemed to be one of them, because he was grinning and looking at Peggy.

"Painting is so exciting though!" he yipped, his skinny fingers pulling out a pencil from his pocket so that he was prematurely ready.

"The theme for this paint will be 40s. The only way to fail this assignment is if you either don't try or don't do anything remotely related to the 40s era. Any questions see me." Miss Martinelli made her way to the area where she would work on the musical backdrop. Peggy took out her own pencil and sat, wishing for ideas. She overheard people deciding to sketch out a battle scene or something to do with the war, but when she looked at Steve, he was already sketching out a street scene. There were old shops that looked new, retro signs, a diner, and other things you would see on a street back in the years. Peggy began sketching out her own idea. She, of course, being a terrible artist and painter, had to use an anatomy book and had all the faces turned away or blurred so that she didn't have to struggle with facial features. But when she was done she had to consult to Steve for help, who was doing the finishing touches on his own sketch.

"Is it a dance?" he smiled, running his fingers across the soft pencil marks on the canvas. Peggy nodded.

"I rather like dancing." She admitted. Steve looked at her fondly and pointed out numerous things she would need to fix for it to be right to the era and, ultimately, good.

By the end of the forty minute class period, Peggy had just started on the painting of the main girl's red dress and Steve was finished with painting the dimming dusk sky. Miss Martinelli announced that it would be due at the end of the week, and then dismissed them from where she sat on the ground, painting her musical scene.

"You dance?" Steve finally said as they exited the class, avoiding the very busy main hallway and taking the long, less crowded way to the upstairs seniors locker area.

"Yes. Well, I did a little bit of fun dancing with my father and some school mates back in London, but my aunt has sent me to a gymnast dance class like from the television programs. I don't like it much, it's not as natural." She admitted, looking at him. "Can you dance?" Steve laughed at that idea.

"I'm afraid I'd step on your toes." He smiled, making Peggy laugh a little.

"No I think you'd do fine." She stopped at her locker, twisting in the combination.

"I guess I'll go. I'll see you tomorrow, Peggy." He left and turned the corner, out of sight. Peggy grabbed her backpack, and whispered a goodbye.

/

AN

I was hoping to get this up yesterday, but I totally failed. We're wrapping up our English novel and my grandparents were over for the week so I'm really glad I actually finished this today. Anyway, I tried to hint to the fact that she can fight in the chapter, and the next chapter may or may not have a bit of drama *wink wink.* Is an author aloud to freak out over their own work? Because I totally flipped when I added the part about dancing in reference to the movie….

As always, reviews are awesome and ILY -Aslin