A/N: PLEASE READ

This chapter is really late and I'm sorry, I got back from Atlanta a couple days ago and with all the unpacking and people coming over to our house, I seriously haven't had time to write much. But I have been planning like a million plot points like a madwoman and it's taken ages trying to straighten everything out. The notes app in my phone is so full. I can literally tell you where every character in the MCU was during each movie and now I don't have any room in my head for anything else. Just MCU. Oh, and Tom Holland daydreams. On a side note, I didn't see him in Atlanta. :(

Anyway, this past week of planning has been a bit confusing and I've changed a few things so I'm going to lay it all out for you guys. Let's start with the thing I've changed.

I warned you guys that Adelaide's age isn't set in stone and so I'm changing it. Her birthday is in August and in this specific chapter it's February and she's going to the last few months of 8th grade which means she's gonna be 13 years old. Okay now I'm going to layout the whole timeline just so we're on the same page. Also, just note that this story started on January 1, 2014.

The Avengers happens in 2012

Iron Man 3 happens in 2013

Captain America: The Winter Soldier happens in January 2014 (So this chapter is set just after it, though it's really just happening in the background)

Age of Ultron happens in March 2015 (freshman year)

Peter becomes Spider-Man happens in December 2015 (freshman year)

Civil War happens in June 2016 (sophomore year)

Spider-Man: Homecoming happens in September 2016 (sophomore year)

And I still need to find out about Infinity War but that's still a long ways away so we're good for now.

So this is kinda what my notes app looks like right about now. Add a million asterisks and side notes and you get the picture. I know that this probably seems messy and disorganized, but I've decided to make this fic something I make up as I go because I've noticed that when I try to plan a story before I write it, I end up giving up on it because I lose interest. And I definitely don't want to stop writing this story because I'm 100% here for it. I'll have this all organized, I promise, but until then, thank you for sticking with me through all this mess. This story means a lot to me and I'm going to make sure it's perfect.

This chapter is the longest chapter yet and a lot of things happen. For one, Peter meets Adie. I know you guys have been excited about that because I know I have. We get to see some new characters like Ned, Flash, and Michelle. Oh and we get to see Happy again because we haven't seen him in a while now. With Peter and Adie's relationship, I tried to make them become friends instantly, but this is Peter before he was bitten so his ego is kinda deflated. Although, until he does get bitten, I do want to put some more tension between the two because I don't want them to get together without any problems, of course. After Peter gets bitten, then we'll see a lotttt more tension.

Without further ado, the longly awaited chapter 6!

Remember: Adie's in late 8th grade and she's now 13 years old.

————————————————————
"The money she gets from

selling the drugs helps

her pay off her teachers

to expel her."
————————————————————

ONE MONTH LATER

"Tony."

"No."

"It's been a month!" Pepper argued.

"I don't care. I'm not sending her to that prison." Pepper sighed. She rubbed her forehead, as if she were rubbing away an impending headache.

"It's not a prison and you know it. Don't make it sound so negative," she said.

The billionaire looked unaffected, staring at the tv. Pepper glanced at the tv and snatched the remote from her boyfriend's hand, switching it off. He stubbornly continued to stare at it.

"Look, Tony," she started, "we've been searching for answers for a whole month now. And I'm not saying that we should stop looking, but she's still only 13. She can't just stay with us in the Tower for the rest of her life. She needs to be her own person."

The billionaire sighed, rubbing his face.

"If we tell her she has to go to school, she'll run away." Pepper held back a smile.

"She's not going to run away."

"I would."

"Tony, I'm being serious. She needs friends and an education."

Tony sighed again, tossing his head back onto the couch. He turned to look at his girlfriend with an accusing glare.

"If she runs away, I'm blaming you," he said. Pepper smiled.

"You can blame me," she agreed.

"And I get to take you out tomorrow night," he demanded.

"And you get to take me out tomorrow night." She searched his face. "Anything else?"

"An espresso," he grinned. She stood up, tossing the remote back to him.

"Get it yourself," she said, smiling before walking away.

Tony turned around after she left and switched the tv on again, but his mind was wandering. He didn't want to send Adie to school. In this past month, she hadn't left his sight even once. With the powers she had and her past, the billionaire was sure sending her to school would be the worst idea yet.

Someone was after her and he wasn't going to send the teenager straight into his hands. Even then, Pepper was right. Adie still was a teenager and she couldn't spend her life in the security of the Tower. She needed to make friends and be her own person. Tony sighed. He knew he was going to regret this.

-----

"I'm not going to school."

Tony gave Pepper a look. She rolled her eyes.

"Yes, you are," she said, "You're still just a teenager."

Adelaide didn't look convinced.

"But I'm not just a teenager," she said, putting emphasis on 'just a teenager', "You know I'm more complicated than that."

"Yes Adelaide, I do know but it's been a whole month and we haven't even found so much as a clue. I'm not telling you to stop looking, but while we are, you have to go to school. You need an education. You need to make friends your age"

"I don't want to go to school. It's like a prison. A few hundred hormonal teenagers forced to go to leave their room and learn stuff they couldn't care less about? I'm not going."

Tony gave his girlfriend a triumphant look. Pepper sighed. She didn't think that forcing a teenager to go to school could be so hard.

At the same time, Adelaide and Pepper both said, "Tony, tell her"

The billionaire looked as if he wanted to teleport out of the room. Pepper glared at Tony and he immediately cleared his throat.

"You're going to school starting Monday," Tony said. Adelaide narrowed her eyes.

"I can't believe you're on her side!" the teenager complained. He shook his head.

"Me neither," he mumbled underneath his breath.

"Tony," Pepper said accusingly. He sighed.

"Sorry kid, but you're going to school. We already registered you." Adelaide groaned loudly. The last place she wanted to be was school.

It would confine her into a building for 7 hours of the day 5 days a week. That meant less time to search for answers. Even though she hadn't been able to find any answers in the past month, that didn't mean going to school was going to make it any better. If anything, it would take even longer.

After talking with the Avengers, she was certain there was someone after her and going to school would only raise the chances of being caught. She felt safe in the Tower; she didn't want to leave, but she knew Pepper and Tony would be just as stubborn as she was.

"Which school is it?" she asked begrudgingly. Pepper was quick to answer, knowing they were finally getting to the teenager.

"Midtown Middle."

"Where is that?" Adelaide asked, sounded unenthused.

"Queens. Not too far from here. Happy has agreed to take you there everyday."

"It's a school for geniuses," Tony said, failing to sound excited about it. Adelaide sighed. Pepper watched the teenager.

"So you'll go?"

"Do I have a choice?" Pepper pretended to think about it, smiling.

"No," she said, getting up. She ruffled the teenager's brown hair. "You're going to love it."

"No, I'm not," she grumbled under her breath. She glared at Tony, but he just shrugged. She was going to hate school.

-----

Adelaide studied the raindrops on the car window, as if trying to find answers in them. She sighed, turning away and leaning her head back against the seat.

In this past month, she had gone crazy trying to find out what had happened after that night. Sure, Tony and Pepper had helped, but when the caffeine in their system ran out at 2 in the morning, Adelaide was the one who stayed up and kept searching.

There were days when she hadn't slept for longer than a half hour nap in the afternoon to avoid falling asleep in front of the computer again. Whoever was after her, covered his tracks so well, Adelaide wouldn't believe Henry and Ava even existed if it weren't for her memory. After her first memory, she hadn't had another one since.

The lack of answers had made her become frustrated with everything. She was easily angered. There were times when she ended up yelling at Tony just because the internet was slow or her coffee wasn't sweet enough. Although Tony understood, she immediately regretted lashing out.

Pepper and Tony both knew she was getting restless, but there was nothing they could to do help it. Deep down, she knew she needed to step back from her mad search for a while. And although she'd never admit it to Tony and Pepper, school was just the perfect distraction.

There was a part of her who just wanted to give up the search all together, but then she saw that gun pressed against her father's head again and then she'd want nothing more than to give that bastard what he deserved. She was going to make him pay for what he did. If only she could find him...

Adelaide sighed again, closing her eyes.

"Aaand we're here," Happy said, making Adelaide look outside.

Midtown Middle already looked boring.

Happy turned around, looking more energetic than she had felt in weeks.

"I'll be here to pick you up at 3," he said. Adelaide nodded. He raised an eyebrow. "Don't get in trouble on your first day. Oh, and try not to yell at your teachers."

Adelaide smiled.

"I'll try my best," she said, opening the door and stepping out after grabbing her backpack. Tony had given her an Iron man keychain to put on it and she had made him sign it just for the heck of it.

She closed the door behind her and waved goodbye at Happy through the window. She stood there until the car was gone and then turned around after taking a deep breath. She had survived a car accident and a madman when she was five years old, she could survive school.

Taking another deep breath, she hitched her backpack higher up on her shoulder and stepped into the crowd of kids entering the school. Everyone knew where they were going except for her. She was wandering the halls, trying to find her first period class, English. Adelaide wanted to ask someone, but she didn't want anyone to know she was lost. Especially because she was starting in the middle of the year.

"God, I hate going to English with Mrs. Goodall first thing in the morning," she heard someone say. She turned around to find who said that. It was a brown-haired girl wearing sweats and a hoodie. She really looked like she didn't like going to school at all.

Adelaide sighed and followed her to English, relieved she wouldn't have to be lost. The class was on the second floor and not too far from the stairs. Walking inside, Adelaide found that the class was already full and there was only one seat left. It was in the back next to...a book? Getting closer, she realized that it was a curly-haired girl with her nose in a book. She didn't even seem to realize that someone had sat next to her.

Good, Adelaide thought, the less attention the better.

Mrs. Goodall was a young-looking, middle-aged woman with short blonde hair and a permanent smile etched onto her face. Adelaide couldn't tell if it was fake or real, but then decided that she didn't care. She didn't even want to be here in the first place. Mrs. Goodall clapped her hands and the chatter quieted down.

"Good morning, everyone. I hope you all had a great weekend. We have a new student in our class today," she said, making eye contact with Adelaide. She didn't smile.

"If you would please introduce yourself," she said, her smile beginning to look taunting. Adelaide let out a heavy sigh as she stood up. So much for no attention.

"I'm Adelaide Rivers and I'm new to New York," she said, internally cringing. Why did she make her do this again? She sat down again quickly, avoiding any eye contact. Suddenly, she wanted nothing more than to snatch the book from the girl next to her and hide behind it. From the corner of her eye, she could see the girl looking at her from above her book. Adelaide looked away, fiddling with her hoodie strings.

"Welcome to the class, Miss Rivers. Now, everyone take out your homework and lay it on your desk. I will come by and pick it up. Make sure your name..." Adelaide tuned her out and looked out the window.

It was raining again and JARVIS had told her that it was even supposed to snow later today. It was only February and this was New York, after all. Adelaide could see the curly-haired girl staring at her again and Adelaide bit her tongue and turned away.

She tried paying attention to what Mrs. Goodall was saying, but her mind continued to drift. In this past month, she'd had covered all the possible suspects with Tony and Pepper, but everyone they looked into wasn't guilty. It was almost as if someone had left fake trails for them to follow so they would stay busy.

It was so goddamn frustrating. Sometimes, she wanted to rip his hair out and make him feel the pain she'd felt.

Adelaide noticed the girl staring at her again. She turned around, deciding to confront her.

"Why do you keep staring at me?" The girl shrugged, unaffected by the question.

"Dunno. Take a guess."

Adelaide studied her carefully. She genuinely didn't think the girl was worried she was caught staring. Her attitude just screamed nonchalant. Adelaide decided to go with it. This was more amusing than Mrs. Goodall's lecture about sentence fragments.

"I don't know," she said, "Humor me." The girl's face was void of any emotion.

"You're interesting to look at."

"How so?"

"I don't know. Not anymore," she said, turning her nose back into her book. Adelaide sighed, leaning back in her chair. Mrs. Goodall was handing out their homework for tonight with the permanent smile on her face. This was going to be a long first day.

-----

It was PE time and it was Peter Parker's least favorite thing in the world. He was always humiliated in that class. And the coaches were ruthless.

Parker, run faster. Parker, no resting. Parker, my grandma walks faster than you run. Peter sighed, pushing open the gym doors and walking inside. He went straight to the locker room to change and that's where his best friend Ned Leeds was waiting. He was already dressed and tying his shoes.

"Hey, Ned."

"Oh, hey Peter. I heard Ross is going to make us sprint today." Just when he thought his day couldn't get any worse. This morning, he was called out by two teachers for nodding off in class. It wasn't his fault that the Star Wars special was on late last night. He yawned while opening his locker.

After he had changed, the two of them left the locker room and waited in the gym for Coach Ross. Peter noticed a group of boys making a ruckus on the other side of the gym.

Flash Thompson was in the middle of it, being the most popular. Peter didn't like him. He was constantly pestering and humiliating him in front of everyone. Peter didn't know what he'd done to make Flash hate him, but he wanted nothing more than to humiliate him once in front of the school. Although, he'd have to find the courage to stand up to him in the first place.

"Alright everyone, get in line," Coach Ross said after blowing his whistle. Peter and Ned shared a look. They both really hated it when they had to sprint. It never ended well.

"Today, you guys are going to sprint. I see anyone running slow or jogging, they're doing 100 squats. Understood?" he asked, looking directly at Peter. He looked away. He hated gym.

"I don't think Parker heard you, Coach," Flash said, snickering. Peter tried not to glare at him.

"Alright, alright. That's enough, Flash. Whether he heard me or not, we all know Parker's doing a 100 squats today," Ross said, making everyone laugh.

Ned nudged him, trying to tell him to stay quiet. Peter could feel his face getting red from anger, but he bit his tongue, knowing that saying anything would just make matters worse. He'd suffered this humiliation since the day he met Flash Thompson, he could survive one more day. He was used to it by now.

They all began running around the gym and he and Ned were at the very back, running as fast as they could.

"Have you heard about the new girl in school?" Ned asked, breathless. Peter shook his head. Ned was seemingly bursting with excitement.

"I heard that she's been expelled from 28 schools and now her parents are forcing her to come here, but, catch this," he said, taking a deep breath, "no one knows why she's been expelled so many times. Some people say it's because...because she has a drinking problem, but I think she pays the teachers to expel her so she...she doesn't have to go," Ned said. Peter furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"Really?" he asked. Ned shrugged, breathing through his mouth.

"That's...That's what they say. I think it's a genius way to avoid school."

"Why would someone want to get expelled?" Peter asked, still not understanding. Ben and May would kill him if he was expelled.

"I don't know. So they...they wouldn't have to go to school?" He said it like it was obvious. Peter raised an eyebrow. School wasn't the best thing in the world, but he'd never want to get expelled on purpose. He'd be stupid if he did.

"Parker! Move your tiny legs faster!" Ross yelled. Peter groaned and picked up the pace. He was going to be so tired today. It seemed like forever before Ross told them to stop and Peter's legs felt like they were liquid.

"Coach, I think Parker needs to do a 100 squats," Flash said, smirking at Peter. Somehow, he wasn't out of breath.

"You're right, Flash, but class is over. Parker, remind me tomorrow. You're due a 100 squats." Peter nodded reluctantly. He hoped Ross would forget, but he knew that Flash wouldn't. He'd have to do a 100 squats tomorrow whether he wanted to or not.

After the nightmare of PE was over, it was lunchtime. He and Ned sat down together, as far away from Flash as they could.

"...and the new girl has a tattoo behind her ear. It's a gang symbol that she's secretly a part of. And, I heard the gang is really famous in New York. The money she gets from selling the drugs helps her pay off her teachers to expel her," Ned said.

"She has a tattoo? But she's not even 18!" Peter exclaimed. Ned shook his head gravely.

"Exactly. She sounds scary," Ned said. Peter