Grace did end up enrolling at school. Though she soon realised that she didn't really like it. It wasn't that she didn't like the school work. She enjoyed learning, she really did, but she soon found herself getting bored with the easy work, however the private school that her father had enrolled her in, noticed this. So despite her being in the 4th grade, she found herself taking classes with the 6th grade students. The school had also arranged for her to receive some lessons from a teacher from a middle school. Although she was good at most of the subjects, she particularly English, maths and Science the most. Her dad was most likely responsible for the maths and science, as she always watched him in the workshop. However she loved reading, so that's where her love of English came from.
What she didn't like about school, was the people in it. Despite Pepper's hope of Grace making friends with children her own age. She found it difficult to connect with children the same age. She found it difficult to talk to strangers. The other children also didn't like how smart she was, as they thought it made her weird. The older kids didn't want a "Baby" like her in their class, so they took to picking on her, mainly in gangs, in the playground.
It wasn't rare for her to be seen alone in the playground.
However what she hated the most was PE. She hated how no one wanted her on their team in games. She hated how they liked to throw and kick balls at her in games. She hated how they liked to push and shove her. But most of all…
She hated having to get changed for PE.
She would get changed in the toilets, so that the wounds on her back and her stomach wouldn't be seen, but her skimpy Shorts and Polo shirt didn't cover the wounds on her arms, or the few on her legs.
And that led to the name calling.
It led to the looks of pity from the pe teachers.
It led to her wishing that a black hole would swallow her, so she could escape the torture that was Pe.
Soon the aggression she received from PE became an everyday occurrence, being tripped in the corridors, or shoved in the playground. The physical bullying wasn't what bothered her. Cal had done much worse to her.
It was the name calling.
The constant reminder of how different she was, battered down what little confidence she had developed in the care of her father.
However, she made sure that Pepper and her father weren't aware of what was going on. She focused on working hard in her studies, and enjoying her time at home. She was used covering up injuries, before, so she hadn't thought it would matter. She learned a lesson that many children her age, wouldn't realise till later on in life.
That faking a smile was your best disguise.
Like Tony, who hid behind his arrogant façade, Grace learnt to hide her pain, and how fearful of the world she was, by smiling. No one could tell how much you were hurting, or how much they were hurting you, if you smiled.
She wouldn't be a burden to anybody if she smiled. And that was the one fear that plagued her mind. That she would become a burden, and that she would be abandoned.
Like how her mother had abandoned her
However even she couldn't put on her mask, when that day happened…
The day that her father went missing. She'd been 14, when her father, her best friend, disappeared, and was then later declared dead.
It was if her world had stopped revolving. Suddenly she found herself trapped alone, not even Pepper being able to comfort her.
She isolated herself at home, deciding to drop out the hell that was her school. She took over her father's workshop and spent most of her time completing her education online at a rapid pace, or creating something in his workshop. She like her father, had a talent for inventing, though she found that she much preferred hacking. But she like her father, would get so distracted by inventing, that she would forget to look after herself. She took to drinking cups of coffee, and she rarely slept in fear of the nightmares plaguing her every time she closed her eyes. Pepper could only watch as the girl slowly destroyed herself, and nothing the woman could say, could save Grace from herself.
Grace also took on the role of Ceo of Stark industries, though this was only known to a select few. Obadiah, an old friend of her fathers, had wanted her to sign away the company to him. But Grace couldn't. It would have been as if she was signing away all her father had worked for.
It would have been as if she was accepting he would never come back. So she had blatantly refused, much to the man's annoyance. So to the mass public, the board of directors was running the company, but actually, Grace was.
Obviously there was objection. Why would they want a young girl running a multi-billion company? None of them even knew that Grace was Tony's daughter, she acted nothing like him after all. Everyone except for Pepper, Obadiah and Rhodey thought that she was a relative of Pepper's. This was due to Grace's desire to remain away from the limelight, and for her own safety. It's also why, that to the public, her name wasn't Stark, but Holloway. None the less, perhaps, it was because of her known intelligence, as well as the work she had shown them, they had reluctantly allowed her be acting Ceo.
Grace, during her father's absence, had lost that little bit of light that had kept that smile on her face, to Pepper, it was almost as if she was seeing the 8 year old girl, who had been so untrusting of the world.
The young Stark, who had shouldered such a burden, only ever real spoke to Jarvis, who would convey her messages to pepper, who would organise this with the company. She rarely smiled and when she was giving orders to her to convey to the company, her quiet, soft voice lost its innocence, and it was colder, and made her sound hollow almost. It was something that made Pepper's heart break. Rhodey would try and contact her, but she shut him out too.
Mostly out of fear, that he would tell her that her father was dead. That they had found his body. If they had a body, Grace would have no hope to hold on to.
Her life went on with her in this state for the next few months. Her birthday came and went, though she refused to celebrate. Before she had come to live with her father, she had never celebrated it, so it wasn't like it mattered. Intact when she had been living with Cal, when she had mentioned her birthday, he made sure hurt her more than usual.
She hadn't mentioned it again.
"Miss Stark, might I suggest you take a break? You have been working consecutively for 36 hours" Grace, who was tweaking with one her current projects, shook her head
"Thanks, J" She began softly "But I'd like to work on this, could you make me another cup of coffee"
"…Of course Miss Stark, though I inform you that your phone is ringing" Grace, had created a advanced phone, that worked at a higher capability then your typical iPhone, with more memory, a direct link with Jarvis, as well as hologram capabilities. She checked said phone, to see that it was one of the directors of the board.
"Ignore it J" Jarvis, despite him being an AI was important to Grace.
For one, he could not be fooled like other people. He knew that Grace would lie about her injuries, and he was always there for her when she needed him. Not that had he much choice in that considering he had to watch over the stark residency. He would keep her company when her father or Pepper would work.
Jarvis was one of the only ones she could really trust anymore either. She had lost the ability to trust people a long time, and even when she found it in herself to trust people. They would disappear from her life.
Like her mother.
Like her father.
"Are you sure Miss Stark?" Grace nodded, as she tinkered with her latest project.
"I'm sure J- I've already told them what needs to be done" She monotone.
"They question every decision I made, but I don't see them coming up with solutions"
"Quite right Miss, you've been doing an excellent job, the company has even achieved a 1.5% increase in sales, Not to mention that working efficiency has also increased by 0.58%, especially amongst the members of the board" Grace felt a small smile slip across her face for a moment, Jarvis had a lot of sass for an A I, which she blamed her father for, the smile soon faded from her face.
She didn't like being the acting Ceo, It had been necessary, but she had never really liked how her father was selling weapons. She had never mentioned it, because, she felt it wasn't her place to say so. Not to mention it would sound ungrateful, as her father was keeping a roof over her head.
So she continued to work, though she was once again disrupted by Pepper's voice outside the workshop. Grace had hacked into Jarvis security system, and locked the door to the workshop, because however much she loved Pepper. Grace just wanted to be alone.
"Grace, I've been calling your phone! Why haven't you answered?" Grace had been ignoring her phone calls too, and for a moment she felt guilty, but then the emptiness inside her consumed her once more.
"The board of directors have been calling me, The Senator is requesting a meeting to discuss the agreements from the last meeting" She pulled out another screwdriver as she continued.
"Jarvis, forward my instructions to Pepper's computer, and we can hope that the board actually listens to me this time"
"Yes Miss, though Miss-"
Pepper interrupted Jarvis, as she continued to talk to Grace, who wasn't even looking in her direction
"Grace! I needed to talk to you! Listen Rhodey wanted to tell you about your father. H-"
"Pepper, I don't have time for this." She snapped coldly. "I don't care if Rhodey still hasn't found my dad, tell him to keep looking. I don't want him trying to convince me to give up, just because everyone else has." Grace was angry, something she rarely displayed.
She was just sick and tired of finding no trace of her father, she was sick and tired of people giving her looks of pity, as they talked to her in a patronizing manner, telling her everything was going to be okay. She was sick and tired of just getting bad news.
She was sick and tired of feeling so tired and empty"
Without her father…It was never going to be okay.
Pepper could only watch the angry, cold girl snap at her. The shy, sweet girl that she loved like a daughter, was slowly destroying herself, and it hurt to see her like this.
"The media, the company, Rhodey, you, why is that everyone else has given up on him? I'll never give up on him, because he never gave up on me like everyone else"
When nothing but silence followed, she assumed that Pepper had left, and she ran a hand through her messy brown locks in her exhaustion, and was about to continue her work, when she heard the workshop door open. For a moment she thought it was Jarvis. But then she heard…Him.
"Hey kiddo, fancy a burger? I got you a chocolate milkshake too, with extra cream. It's your favourite"