The rest of the day went pretty uneventfully. Chemistry was the first class where I knew absolutely no one, but the teacher made no special notice of me, barely even registering the inquisitive looks from the other students when he read my name off for attendance, so I liked him already. It was another group of new faces in Physics, and a teacher that made me go up to the front of the class to introduce myself. Plus, I felt as lost with the material as I did trying to navigate the hallways, making it a top contender for worst class. I took a wrong turn on the way to History, but thankfully encountered Liz who happily helped me find my way to where Ned was waiting with a spot saved for me. They were having a solo work period, so while everyone else worked, the teacher pulled me quietly aside to welcome me and give me materials and instructions. She had a kind way about her, and I liked her immediately.

I followed Ned to PE, with a brief stop at our lockers to grab our change of clothes, and I met up with MJ in the girls' changeroom.

"Hey Y/N, how's your afternoon been?"

I shrug, "About as well as to be expected."

She nodded and we went out into the gym. I was also looking forward to this class, as I'd always been decent at sports and such. Not amazing or anything, but good enough to not make a fool out of myself most of the time. Plus, with the training I'd be doing with the Avengers, I had a feeling this class might get easier as my stamina and reflexes improved.

We rejoined Ned and Peter at the side of the court, ignoring Flash's dirty looks from across the room.

The gym teacher came in, handing out jerseys to everyone. "Okay, dodgeball time, your jersey colour is your team. There'll be four teams and we'll be playing tournament style. First up: yellow and blue teams."

I was on the yellow team and Ned was on the blue, so we both got into positions on the court. I saw a few sideways glances at me from the other students on my team, and one girl leaned over to me, "Are you any good at this?"

I shrugged, "Sometimes. Sometimes not so much."

She laughed, "I feel that. Hopefully today will be a good day, so we can win."

I laughed with her, "Hope so."

The teacher blew the whistle and the balls started flying. I dodged a few hits and got in a few of my own, trying to avoid aiming for Ned. Except then he aimed at me, and I lost my sympathy, taking him out with my next ball. Shortly after, the blue team was down to one person, while we still had five, and we made short work of the poor girl across from us. We walked off the court, my teammates high-fiving and fist-bumping each other—a few of them even reaching out to me. I smiled as I returned the action.

Next, red and green faced off. Peter, MJ, and Liz were all on red, while Flash was on green. I watched, secretly hoping someone would hit Flash in the head. I soon found myself wincing as Peter repeatedly tripped over his own feet and missed most of his throws. Though he did a really good job of dodging, especially considering Flash seemed intent on hitting him. I would have bet on Peter making it further, except all of a sudden, he seemed to forget how to dodge, so much so that it almost seemed like he let himself get hit when a brunette threw a ball in his direction.

Green ended up winning, which meant my team got to go up against them. As we lined up facing the other team, Flash winked at me and mouthed, "You're going down." I narrowed my eyes at him. I didn't care if I did end up getting hit out, as long as it wasn't by him. I decided to take a page from his book, and tried aiming for him any time I had a clear shot. Unfortunately, he kept managing to dodge. Until finally, he didn't. I hit him right in the side and he was tagged out. But my victory was short lived as immediately after I also got hit, joining several of my team members on the sidelines.

It came down to a one-on-one, a short blonde on my team facing off against a lanky redhead on the green team. The whole gym was quiet as we anxiously watched the two play, my team erupting into cheers as the blonde hit the redhead on the leg. I was pulled into the center of the court as we surrounded the blonde, celebrating, and for a brief moment I felt a sense of belonging as I was swept up into the team's enthusiasm.

The rest of gym class was spent doing small training exercises and I got paired with the girl I'd spoken to at the beginning of dodgeball, learning her name was Rose. She was friendly, and we got along well.

She mentioned that I was in Chemistry and Physics with her, and I apologized for not having recognized her.

"It's okay, I'm sure most of us are just blurs to you right now."

I laughed, "Pretty much, yeah. It's going to take getting some used to."

"I'm sure you'll get the hang of it soon enough—but for now, you can at least add one more familiar face to your list."

We smiled at each other, and I followed her back to the change rooms where I once more joined MJ. Once we'd changed, we met up with the boys and went to our lockers at the other end of the school. Surprisingly, the principal was waiting by mine.

"Hi, Principal Morita."

"Hi, Y/N, I was wondering if I could have a quick word with you before you left?"

I looked questioningly at Peter, "Will we miss the subway?"

He shook his head, "There's one that comes a bit after, so we'll be fine."

I turned back to the principal, "Guess I'm good then."

"Great, come with me."

I followed him in silence to his office, where he closed the door behind us and sat down at his desk, his hands clasped together. I nervously sat in the chair across from him.

"What can I help you with, sir?"

"How did your first day go?"

"Um, pretty well?"

"Good, good. So, you're settling in okay? Classes are good, the other students are friendly?"

I nodded, uncertain why I was here.

"No problems at all?"

I tilted my head, looking at him questioningly, "Did you expect there to be?"

His eyes widened, "No, no, of course not."

Resisting the urge to roll my eyes, I raised my eyebrows, "So why am I here, sir?"

He looked down at his hands, nervously folding and unfolding them on the desk, "The thing is, Y/N, there seems to be a problem with your paperwork."

Odd, Pepper seemed very good at this kind of thing…but maybe she'd been a bit less thorough what with all the chaos that seemed to be going on at the company. "What kind of problem?"

He visibly steeled himself, his fingers firmly interlocking as he gave me a stern look, "We don't tolerate forgeries here, Ms. Y/l/n."

Huh?

"What are you talking about?"

"Your paperwork has you labelled as the daughter of Tony Stark. Mr. Stark has no children, this is a rather public fact."

I sat back in my chair, crossing my arms over my chest. "Just because something is a 'public fact' doesn't make it true."

He made a small hum of discontent, a determined expression on his face, "Miss Y/l/n, it would be in your best interest to begin telling the truth, and to provide us with your proper contact and guardianship information."

He wouldn't be budging anytime soon, I could tell.

I bristled internally, straightening up and laying my hands palm-down on his desk as I leaned towards him, "I'm not lying. And I didn't forge anything. Tony Stark is my father and legal guardian. Pepper Potts handled my school application. If you have any questions, you can contact them. I'm sure their numbers are in the paperwork. Or you can walk downtown and walk into Stark Industries—it's the big tower with the massive 'Stark' sign. But we are done here. I'm going home. Good day, Mr. Morita."

I stood up and strode out of the office, not giving him a chance to reply. I met up with Peter and the others in the hallway, giving a brusque "Let's go," as I headed to the main doors with them scrambling after me.

Peter caught up first, followed shortly by the others, "Y/N, what happened? What did Mr. Morita want?"

I glanced at him, my expression relaying my annoyance. "He had some questions about my paperwork—accused me of forging documents and lying about being Tony's daughter."

"Oh."

"That about covers it."

Ned's voice came out in a hurried rush of concern, "He can't do anything with that though,right? You won't getkickedoutofschool?"

I glanced at him, "I doubt Tony and Pepper would let that happen."

His head bobbed up and down several times, "Rightobviously."

MJ rolled her eyes, "This is probably just Mr. Morita going on a power trip. It also shows how much of a role he actually has in accepting new students, since they've had plenty of time to notice those details before now. Makes me wonder what is really involved in the selection process."

I nodded along with her, my rapid pace slowing to a more normal walking speed, Ned noticeably heaving a relieved sigh at the change.

Suddenly, Peter's phone beeped and he looked down to check it, immediately whipping his head up with a slightly panicked and guilty look, "SorryY/N, Igottago, NedandMJ willgetyouhome, seeyoulater!" and he ran off, heading off into a nearby alley that I guessed was a shortcut to wherever he had to go.

I stood there, mildly stunned at his quick exit, then turned to look back at MJ and Ned. MJ's expression hadn't changed at all, but Ned looked nervous. When he saw my gaze land on him, he gestured in the direction we'd been heading, "Okay, guesswe're theones bringing you home now, so we'll just keep going this way…." He rambled on all the way until we boarded the train, the entire time we rode it, and up until the moment we reached Stark tower. I hadn't registered anything he'd said for the last like five minutes and my head mildly hurt. I waved goodbye as I entered the building, grateful for the relative silence of the lobby.

I nodded to Olivia as I went through the side panel of the security section—not needing to be scanned upon entry anymore now that I was a known high-access person—and headed to the elevator.

"Welcome back, Y/N."

"Hey, Friday." I pressed the gold button.

The now familiar "Identification needed" chimed and I responded with a wry smile, "Surprise Stark."

"Identification confirmed."

The elevator moved smoothly up and I exited into the hallway, mentally planning to go upstairs and do some homework before Tony got off of work for dinner.

Those plans were immediately set aside as I pushed through the doors into the living space and was greeted with the sight of Tony pacing the floor, anxiously talking with FRIDAY.

I walked in, heading past Tony to bring my bag to my room. I gave him a quick wave, not wanting to interrupt, but he held his finger up, indicating to me to wait, giving one last set of instructions to FRIDAY, "Let me know immediately if he needs back-up, okay FRI?"

"Will do, Boss."

Tony turned to me, "Hey kid, how was school?"

"Good…until I got accused of forgery by the principal."

"I'm sorry, what!?"

I filled him in on my conversation with Principal Morita, his eyes darkening in anger and his brow furrowing. "He's not going to have a job by tomorrow! What did you say his name was again, Principal Moron? How fitting…"

I stifled a laugh at the insult, "Tony, you don't have to get him fired. You just have to be prepared in case he decides to call here to confirm."

"You're a Stark, you shouldn't have to deal with this crap."

I shrugged, "I'm a secret Stark, on a need-to-know basis only. Honestly, we should have seen this coming. Maybe we should have just given the school some fake family information instead of my true identity, might have raised less questions. And I wouldn't have to defend who I am…"

"Hmph." Tony picked up a throw pillow, lightly kneading its edges as he walked around the room, "I'll tell Pepper, she'll take care of it."

"Because that worked so well the first time."

His gaze narrowed at me, "Hey, don't take this out on Pepper. This is the school's fault."

I rolled my eyes, "I mean yes, but I also feel like she could have maybe taken steps to have avoided this kind of misunderstanding."

"If your school was any kind of competent, she shouldn't have had to."

"It's paperwork and enrollment and bureaucracy, obviously there's going to be red tape, and it's kinda obvious they would have doublechecked the details and facts of their applicants, and who wouldn't question someone claiming to be Tony Stark's child!? Up until just over a week ago, you would have laughed at anyone who suggested you had a kid! So yes, maybe, just maybe, Ms. Perfect Pepper Potts should have seen something like this coming—"

"That's enough!" Tony gruffly cut me off, his voice raising slightly.

I stepped back, blinking in shock, momentarily taken aback at his anger. I'd seen him get angry already, but it had never been at me before. It didn't take me long to bounce back though, and I moved forwards again, my own voice coming out low and tense. It was a tone my mother had long ago learned to take as a warning.

"What, I'm not allowed to speak my mind?"

"Not when you're disrespecting Pepper and everything she's done for you!"

"I never asked her to do any of that for me—that was all you, so I owe her nothing."

His face darkened, "It doesn't matter who asked her to do it, it still benefits you. So you should be appreciative, young lady!"

My voice came out dripping with sarcasm, "Oh, I'm so sorry, you're absolutely right, I should be appreciative for alllllll the things Pepper's done for me. I would never have been capable of doing any of that. I'm an incapable teenager who can't do anything on her own, never mind that I managed to get to New York and survive here on my own."

I stepped forwards so I was right in front of him, making him tilt his head down to look at me, "And don't forget that you," I poked his chest with my finger, "are the one who wanted to make me your legal responsibility, so I'm supposed to be thankful you're making sure the job you signed up for is getting done? Even though you couldn't be bothered to it yourself, you had to have your girlfriend do it."

He grabbed my finger and gently, but firmly, pushed me back away from him. "That's it! There is no reason for this attitude from you—you're grounded, go to your room!" The words came out forcefully, but there was a fragile uncertainty behind them.

An uncertainty that made me smirk and tilt my head up, staring him straight in the eyes. "No."

He blustered, a glare crossing his features as he pointed his finger at me, "You're my daughter, and you will do what I tell you!"

I scoffed, "I've only been your daughter for a week, I don't have to do a damn thing you tell me."

Anger glowed in his eyes and his voice grew even louder, echoing off the walls. "ROOM! NOW!" He emphatically pointed the stairs, the gesture making me flinch, thinking he might be moving to hit me.

That sudden thought grounded me, and realizing I truly had no idea whether he was someone who would hit in anger or not, I immediately backed down, giving a small nod and bolting off to my bedroom. I slammed the door behind me and locked it, backing away trembling to sit on my bed.

My backpack dropped to the floor, and I buried my head in my hands, hot tears spilling down my cheeks.

I know I'd been out of line with some of the things I'd said, but I had a bad habit of not being able to control myself when I was angry and his refusal to even see try and understand what I was saying had been infuriating. I thought back briefly to the moment where I'd thought he was going to hit me, and wondered again whether that was a possibility. He was Ironman after all, who tended to handle problems basically by beating them up, and maybe some of those instincts would come into his non-superhero conflicts as well. Yet, from what I knew of him so far and what I'd heard about him from others, it didn't really seem like something he would do…

Pushing those thoughts away, I laid back, shifting to curl around a pillow. It had been an exhausting first day of school with a frustrating end, made worse by the fight with Tony. With sticky tear tracks running down the cheek pressed against my damp pillow, I drifted off.