"Peggy? Mr. Fury will see you now." The secretary, Mrs. Hill, said with one of those fake smiles, but you could tell in her eyes that she was judging Peggy as a rude child that most definitely wouldn't be "of the next generation." Peggy pursed her lips and stood up curtly, showing off her cut knuckles from punching a kid. She walked with purpose down the small hallway where a tall, dark skinned man stood holding the door open. He was in a black dress shirt, black dress pants, black overcoat, black shoes, black eye patch. Peggy hadn't realized how intimidating he was until she was told to take a seat, and she sat in an uncomfortable cushioned red chair, folding a leg under herself.

"Mrs. Carter. Why don't you tell me everything that happened?"

It had been earlier that day. Peggy had gotten into the habit of coming into school at least ten minutes early.

"Hey Peg! I'm working on a filming project in English, and well, I still have this bruise Stark gave me a week and a half ago. Do you have anything to cover it up?" he was holding her books; he would hold them while she put her backpack away, but she refused to let him carry them around for her.

"Yes, just a second." She reached into her bag and pulled out a foundation. It was a bit darker then his pasty skin, but it would work for a movie project. She dabbed it on his jaw line and smudged it in so his bruise was camouflaged, and he furrowed his eyebrows like a puppy that got stepped on as she touched his delicate skin.

Gym went fairly well that day. She was, as always, one of the first chosen for a team. It didn't take long for the guys to realize that she was actually somebody that you want on your dodge ball team. Steve was, as always, the last to be chosen. The team captains played rock, paper, scissors for him, and Tony (grumbling) ended up losing, therefore getting the reward of a scrawny player who wasn't afraid to get hit, but was really bad at throwing, not getting hit, and catching. Fortunately for him, Stark had also chosen Peggy earlier on in the picking, and so she protected him the entire time much to his disappointment. As they were leaving the gym, Steve caught up with her and so they walked together to where they parted until lunch.

"You know, one of these days I will be the one protecting you in dodge ball." He grinned, and she breathed out a laugh.

"I believe it," she nodded, "I'm waiting for that day." He nodded her farewell, and she made her way to her next class, chemistry.

Lunch was sixth period, right after English with Pepper Potts. She had partnered with Pepper during an English project the week previous, and since the bruise incident and the project they had been pretty good friends. The lunch was divided into Lunch A, Lunch B, and Lunch C. Peggy was in Lunch C along with several other seniors in her classes, multiple juniors, some sophomores, and a small handful of freshmen. Peggy sat her tray down in the booth where she, Steve, and one of Steve's Junior friends James "Bucky" Barnes usually sat. Neither were there yet, which was strange since she was a bit late and they were always here. She looked around the cafeteria. Where were they? It was very loud so she had no hope of hearing them (some freshmen were screaming because of a heated pokemon card duel as well as all the football members laughing loudly and mixing school food in strange, disgusting combinations.) Peggy crinkled her nose as she saw them and stood up, deciding to do a walkthrough of the cafeteria to find her friends.

It wasn't until she reached the doors that led to a small outcrop of picnic tables for outdoor eating that she found them. It was getting colder and nobody hung out in the outdoor area on the old creaky wooden tables or under the aged oak tree on the previous year's leaves. But, she did see Steve, Bucky, and a few other guys she didn't recognize. Steve's face was red, the foundation had been smudged, and Bucky was toe-to-toe with a large guy.

"He's wearing make-up Barnes, which proves my theory that he's a girl." The kid, Peggy now recognized as Quill, has his lip curled and nose scrunched.

"Would you shut up? He's covering up a bruise he got. I bet you've never even been in a fight!" Bucky growled, giving Quill a push away from himself.

"I assure you I have." He glared, pushing Bucky in response. Peggy thought it would be brilliant to step in between them in that moment.

"Quill you indolent man-child." She rolled her eyes at him, "why would you even think it's remotely funny to make fun of Steve?"

"You aren't my mom." He growled roughly shoving past her so that he was facing Bucky again. Peggy blinked and grabbed his shoulder so that he faced her, and he fixed his green eyes lazily on her. "What do you want? I can't help that the squirm is a faggot." He growled.

Peggy narrowed her eyes, turning her hips and drawing her fist back, curving the throw right into his jaw, all in a swift movement. Bucky took a step forward and caught Quill as he fell back stunned. Peter instantly regained his footing. By now, several other students were gathering around at the door leading inside, some even stepping outside for a better look. Peggy raised her eyes over to Steve, who still stood against the old brick wall. Shock stained his face, but a grin was forming on his lips. Peggy closed her eyes and smiled to herself, looking up at Peter, who still didn't quite know what to do exactly. It was dead quiet. Finally some kid, Peggy thought it was Flash Thompson, whisper.

"Peggy Carter just punched Peter Quill…" immediately loud shouts broke out, some cheers, some laughs, some chanting 'FIGHT!' Peggy pushed past Quill gently, walking toward Steve where he joined her and Bucky back toward the cafeteria. Three seconds after they sat down, however, Mr. Coulson had swooped in and was dragging her toward the office, but she just looked back with a mischievous grin at her scrawny best friend.

"So you punched a kid because he was bullying your friend?" Principal Fury said slowly. Peggy bit her lip and nodded slowly.

"Yes." She looked down at her feet for a second, before returning her gaze to him.

"Don't do it again." He said after a moment. Peggy blinked, her dark eyes widening.

"That's it?" she practically choked.

"Well, detention Thursday afternoon of course for an hour. Other than that, get a pack of frozen peas for your hand. I don't want you getting behind on your school work because of cut knuckles." Peggy nodded quickly.

"Y-Yes, sir." She stood up slowly, smoothing down her high-waisted olive shorts. She shut the door slowly behind her, making sure it didn't make a sound and she strutted out, not even looking at Mrs. Hill and her judging stair. She grabbed her books and walked down the hall to the art room because it was eighth period. As soon as she walked in, everybody stopped working on their newspaper paper mâché. They looked, expecting something from her. Finally Clint Barton raised his eyebrows and spoke.

"Dude. What happened?" he asked aloud. Peggy sat down, a grin playing across her cherry red lips.

"He let me go with a detention." An eruption of talking started, people telling stories about a kid who had gotten expelled for getting in a fight and anecdotes like so.

"I'm staying afterschool Thursday." Steve announced to her. Thursday was the only day for detentions.

"Oh what a coincident, I am too!" she joked, dipped a long piece of newspaper into the plaster. She layed it down on her mold so far that she had started the previous day, Steve making sure to fix it so it was correct, and they went on like that for the rest of the period with hands covered in plaster, and momentary hand brushes.

AN:

I've got nothing against Peter Quill. He's pretty cool actually. But he plays the part of bully better than any other MARVEL hero…. oops sorry Quill. Um yeah I guess you could count the last paragraph as fluffy? I don't know. Tumblr says that Aquarius have no feelings (In Zodiac I'm an Aquarius.) I've recently had a spurt of interest in tumblr, in case you haven't realized, but I won't give out my username until I actually post something xD This was awful short but I didn't want to drag it on and ruin it. I might not be able to update for the next few weeks. Please hear me out and don't get mad, though. My grandmother is very very very sick. She has incurable, very rapidly progressing brain cancer. Chemo and other typical treatments will only make her worse. I'm leaving for Texas anywhere from tomorrow or Sunday. I'm praying I won't get too far behind in school… ugh. I'm not bringing my computer though because it heavily relies on its charger and I'm not bringing it into a hospital.

Review if you want, as always and forever, I love you all. Catcha' on the flip side my loves. -Aslin