A/N: I have good news and bad news.

Bad news first: The next couple of updates are probably going to be as late as this one because I, unfortunately, have final exams coming up.

Good news: THE SEMESTER ENDS IN 3 WEEKS!

Also good news: Once the semester is over, hopefully, updates will be much faster and you guys won't hate me as much. :)

Alright so quick recap: Last chapter, Peter, Adie, and Ned were supposed to hang out but Peter didn't show up and Adie got super mad. Like SUPER SUPER mad.

Alright, so I don't have much else to say, but I will give you this: Chapter 29 is a verrrryyyyy specialllll chapter ;) ;) ;)

————————————————————
"You live in the Stark Tower,

smart genes should be floating

in your direction all the time."
————————————————————

Peter waved Uncle Ben goodbye and lingered around until his car pulled out of the drop-off lane at the school. Then he turned around and made his way towards the school, looping his thumbs under his backpack strap. It was unusually cold today, he noticed.

Peter looked upwards. As usual, there was so sun, but the sky was filled with dark clouds which Peter hoped was snow and not rain. The more snow, the better. That way school would cancelled. Then again, he hadn't really tested his web shooters in below freezing conditions. It would be a good time to test that out.

Rubbing his hands together to warm them up, Peter walked inside the school. Instantly, he was greeted with warmth and he let out a breath. He checked his watch, he still had a good 10 minutes until he was supposed to be in his seat for his first class of the day. Peter looked around the room, but he couldn't find Ada or Ned anywhere. That's strange. They were usually here before him. Scratch that, they were always here before him.

"Hey Parker," Flash said, coming up from behind him. He patted his shoulder with a little more force than necessary.

"Listen," Flash started, "about our...argument last week. I say we just put it behind us and forget about the whole thing. What do you think, Parker?"

He squeezed Peter's shoulder, trying to hurt him subtly. Peter realized that a few people were actually watching this conversation so he put up a nervous smile.

"Yeah," he said through gritted teeth, "Sure, Flash."

Once again, Flash patted his shoulder a little harder than was necessary. With a fake, bright smile, he left. As soon as he was out of sight, Peter rubbed his shoulder, rolling it around. He had a feeling that Flash wasn't going to be as friendly as he was acting. At least, that's what his shoulder told him. He was going to have to be more careful.

As he looked around again, he still couldn't see Ada or Ned anywhere. It was almost time for class and the hallway was getting emptier. Where were they? And then, he heard them. Well, her at least. What a coincidence that there was no one left in the hallway to save him.

"PETER BENJAMIN PARKER! You asshole!"

Peter hadn't realized that it was Ada who was yelling at him until she shoved him. Caught off guard, he stumbled backwards a bit. Peter watched his friend heaving with anger, trying to piece together what was going on.

"Ada–"

"Where the hell were you last night?! Do you know how many times I texted you? Called you? Peter, I filled your entire voicemail box and sent you 258 messages which you still haven't answered! We were supposed to watch a movie. The three of us. And you had promised! What the hell was so important that you couldn't come and be yourself for one night? What's gotten into you? You didn't even read any of my texts! I had to call Uncle Ben to ask him where the hell his nephew was and you know what? He had no idea either! So you lied to everyone and disappeared and have the audacity to look surprised that I'm mad at you?"

Peter blinked. His brain was running a bit slow and he was still trying to process everything. He definitely did not expect for Ada to be this mad.

"Look, Ada, you're overreacting. I was just–"

"I'm overreacting?!" she gasped angrily.

Uh-oh. That was definitely not the right thing to say. Then again, what exactly was he supposed to say in a situation like this? Maybe I'm sorry would have been acceptable. It was too early for this — he was hardly fully awake.

"That's not what I mea–"

"Then what did you mean, Peter? Because if worrying all night long wondering if you were okay is overreacting then yes, I was. If feeling my heart beating in my rib cage out of fear for two hours, then yes, Peter I was overreacting. I'm sorry for worrying and I'm sorry for caring too damn much. Maybe it's better off this way," she said, ending with a cold, hard look.

Before Peter even had a chance to say anything, she turned around and left. A moment later, the bell rang and Peter sighed. That was definitely the shortest confrontation in history and Peter had a feeling Ada wasn't going to be in the mood to confront him again anytime soon.

—————

Adelaide had ignored him the best she could all day.

During lunch, Peter tried to make conversation with her but he only got one-word answers and shrugs in reply. And that was only if it was a yes or no question. Otherwise, it was cold, cold silence. Even Ned was kind of mad at him, but then Peter had apologized and they got over it. He just couldn't understand why Ada was so angry about it. He knew that it was his fault and he should have called her and he was willing to apologize for it too, but, apparently, that wasn't enough for Adelaide. He didn't know what else to do or say. She wasn't even willing to listen.

Peter thought that Ada was wrong to get this mad. So he had a secret. So did she. It wasn't like he questioned where she had disappeared to for a month during 8th grade or why she showed up for the last day with no explanation. And he never forced her to let him go to her house even though she's been to his a million times. And that one time during Halloween when she had disappeared from his house and didn't answer his calls or texts all night. So why couldn't she let this one time slide?

Peter had already made several attempts to apologize throughout the day but she wasn't hearing it so he eventually gave up, not knowing what else to do or say. If she wanted to be stubborn, then fine — so could he.

It was almost time to leave and they were packing up their things after their lesson ended in English. The moment the bell rang, Adelaide was the first one out the door. Peter sighed, zipping up his backpack and slinging it over his shoulder. He waited for Ned to finish packing up and then they both made their way out together.

"Adelaide's really mad," Ned said quietly. Peter looked at him.

"Really? I had no idea," he said sarcastically. Ned rolled his eyes.

"You know what I mean, Peter. Man, you should have seen her last night. I don't think I've ever seen her look that panicked. I don't think I've ever seen anyone look that panicked. You really hurt her, Peter."

"Well it's not like she hasn't done this to me before," Peter argued, "Remember Halloween? How she disappeared and didn't answer any of my calls or messages all night? What about that, Ned? I hadn't even gotten mad."

"That was different."

Peter looked at him, slightly annoyed that his best friend wasn't taking his side.

"Different how? I was just as worried as her."

"Peter, you knew that she was going home. You saw the car pick her up. Last night, she called Uncle Ben and he had no idea where you were either. She was really scared."

Peter looked away.

"I already tried apologizing," he said. He shrugged. "I don't know what else to do."

Ned thought about it.

"What if you put her in a situation where she was forced to talk to you?"

Peter looked at him with slightly worried eyes.

"I'm not going to torture her until she talks to me, Ned."

"What? No! No, that's not what I meant," Ned said, "Listen, we have this big Algebra test coming up this Friday. What if you, you know, offered to help her out with it? Like you guys always do."

Peter chuckled.

"I don't think she even wants to be in the same room as me, I doubt she'll agree to that."

Ned looked around as if he was making sure no one could hear what he was about to say and then he pulled Peter's arm to talk into his ear.

"Between you and me, she definitely needs the help. And I'm pretty sure she knows it too," Ned whispered. Peter raised an eyebrow.

"You know she'd get really mad at you if she heard that?"

"How is it going to help if she's mad at both of us, Peter?" Ned said like it was obvious.

"I'm just saying that it would piss her off," Peter shrugged. Ned let out a breath.

"Do you want my help or not?"

"Okay, okay. So how do I ask her? Should I go to her house? Do you know where she lives?"

Ned's eyes grew wide and he cleared his throat nervously.

"W-Why don't you just text her?" he offered, changing the subject. He knew that he'd give it away if he tried to lie. Peter considered it. It could work. She probably wouldn't answer his first text or the first ten but he doubted that she could ignore a hundred of them.

"Fine," Peter said. They were approaching the exit now where students were getting into cars and going home. "But this is my last attempt to apologize to her. After this, if she doesn't want to listen, I'm not going to keep trying."

There go his plans of swinging around for the afternoon.

"Okay," Ned said giving him a thumbs up. Peter noticed that Uncle Ben was already here and he began to make his way to the car after waving goodbye to Ned. Halfway there, Ned shouted his name. Peter turned around.

"What?"

"Get a box of chocolates. You know, for damage control," Ned said. Peter nodded thoughtfully and then got inside the car.

"Hey kiddo, tough day at school?" Ben asked, pulling onto the road.

"You have no idea," Peter sighed. A moment later, "Hey, Uncle Ben, can we stop by a chocolate shop?"

"Sure thing, champ."

—————

Adelaide had locked herself in her room again and she was looking through her parents' files, though her mind was elsewhere. Every time she thought about him or their fight, she felt angry again. She could not believe that he thought she was overreacting. She'd show him overreacting. And when she had left the school, he didn't even try to stop her to apologize. She wouldn't have forgave him, of course, but it would have been nice to know that he was sorry.

With a very heavy sigh, Adelaide opened up another file. She had finished the video documentaries and the rest were just results of their experiment — or Project 1978. She still had no idea what it was for or why it was called 1978. That was such a weird name to give to a project.

She skimmed through the file that she had just opened. This one was different from the rest. It wasn't written by her parents but it was a file about some man.

Agent #1585

Sex: M

Eye color: Black

Height: 6' 7"

Nationality: Russia

Date of recruitment: September 1983

Handicaps: None

— Edit: Partially visually handicapped

Assignment: Agent #1183

Supervisor: Ivan Lukov

Background: Mother and Father presumably deceased due to drug overdose. Raised by abusive and alcoholic uncle. Joined a local gang and later joined HYDRA. Assigned Agent #1183 a few months later.

There were some other things in that file but they didn't make sense to Adelaide so she closed the file. It had nothing to do with her parents so why was it here? Maybe it was a glitch. As Adelaide moved on to open the next file, a small voice in the back of her mind told her that HYDRA didn't make glitches. She decided that she would talk to Ned about it later.

The next file was about a report from an experiment from Project 1978. It was about the energy field and it was written by her father.

Particle accelerator is in stage four of five of construction. The location is secured. Energy field expected to be peaking exactly two weeks from now around midnight. Levels of instability are reaching unprecedented heights. Note, it is a surprise that facility held up for so long after its shut down in '65. Optimal time for the production of Project 1978 is 23:55. To be finalized soon. Energy field harness and reflector completed 27 consecutively successful run-throughs today. The repeated experimentation might have slightly altered the time or date for the production of Project 1978.

The next file was about the subject that they were experimenting on in Project 1978. Just as the file was opening, her phone buzzed. She glanced at it. It was a message from Peter. Adelaide's face hardened in anger as she picked up the phone to read the message.

Peter: I know you're mad at me
and I want to make it up to you.
What if you came over and
I helped you study for your math test?
Like we always do.

Adelaide rolled her eyes and tossed her phone to the side, making sure it landed face-down so she wouldn't have to read any more of the messages. A moment later, she turned her attention back to the file. It was a description of the subject her parents had experimented on for Project 1978.

The description was very vague. It only listed a few physical aspects and then some medical. Other than that, she couldn't get any more information from it.

Age: 5

Sex: F

Height: 3' 2"

Weight: 40 lbs

BMI: Healthy

All required shots: Completed

Red blood cell count: Healthy

White blood cell count: Healthy

Physical abnormalities: None

The thing that Adelaide found most unusual was the age. They were experimenting on a 5 year old? With a particle accelerator and a strange energy field? What in the world was Project 1978? She read the description of the subject once again, but it gave no indication. Sighing, she closed the file. Well, that was the last file in that folder.

Upon opening the next folder, she discovered that there was a single video documentation in it. Just as she was about to click on it, her phone began ringing. She flipped it around, her eyes darting to the caller ID. Peter.

She pressed the red button, effectively hanging up the call. She did not want to talk with him. Once again, just as she was about to open the file, her phone began ringing again.

Adelaide had the sudden urge to chuck it out the window but, instead, she just ended it again. This time, she turned her ringer off. Taking a deep breath, she faced the computer once again.

Again, the phone began vibrating loudly on her desk just as she was about the open the file. Adelaide groaned, tossing her head back in anger. If this was Peter's idea of apologizing, it was certainly having the very opposite effect.

Just so he would stop calling, she picked up.

"What," she hissed through gritted teeth. It wasn't even a question — it was a demand. Either he didn't sense the anger dripping from her voice or he chose to ignore it.

"Hey," he said rather cheerfully, "did you get my message?"

"Yes," she said curtly. He waited for a heartbeat, expecting an explanation. When she offered none, he cleared his throat.

"And?"

"No." Go choke on a fly.

"Please? Look, I'm trying to make it up to you. How can I make it up to you if you don't even give me a chance? And, plus, I know how important this math test is. I can really help you study for it and I promise that you'll have my full attention and I won't leave until you do. I think it's a —"

"Fine," she snapped, sounding angry still.

"Great! And I have a surprise too..."

"Goodbye," she said, ending the call.

The only reason she had agreed was so that he would stop calling her. She considered standing him up like he had her but then she concluded that she wasn't like him and he would probably catch on and not get worried like she had. On the other hand, she had needed help with this test but she was too prideful to ask. Especially after...the events of this morning. But that didn't mean that she was any less mad at him.

Taking a deep breath, she focused her attention back to the computer. The video. It was about the 5 year old they were experimenting on. With another deep breath, she opened the video.

It had not even been half a second of the video when Tony shouted her name. Adelaide groaned loudly, hitting her head against the desk.

"I'm doing homework!" she shouted back. He knocked on her door and Adelaide immediately flipped her laptop shut, turning around. In her haste, she almost knocked over the cup of coffee sitting on her desk. Luckily, she caught it just in time. Tony pushed open the door and walked inside.

"I have something more important," he said, matter-of-factly. Adelaide raised an eyebrow.

"Even worth getting an earful from Pepper once I tell her that you're not letting me do my homework?"

He shrugged.

"You can do your homework later. Haven't you been getting a lot more than usual lately?" he inquired with slightly narrowed eyes. Adelaide cleared her throat, stalling.

"Yeah, well, um...you know, midterms are coming up," she lied. Midtown High didn't have midterms. But she'd already lied so many times so why not once more?

"You don't need to study," he said, "You live in the Stark Tower, smart genes should be floating in your direction all the time."

Adelaide furrowed her eyebrows.

"Um, sorry to break your bubble, but that's not how genetics work," she said. Tony rolled his eyes.

"Are you gonna help me or not?"

She slumped into her seat.

"Can't you go bother Pepper? Or Happy?"

"They're both out. Now get off of your lazy butt and come help me," he said.

"You can say 'ass', you know" Adelaide said, getting up and begrudgingly following him down the hall.

"You're too young for that kind of language," he said, waving his hand. Adelaide scowled.

"I am 14," she reminded him, irritated, "I think can handle a cuss word, Tony."

"Mm, I don't think so," he said, opening up the door to his lab. She walked in after him, rolling her eyes.

This man. Argh.

"What do you need me for? You have like a million suits and robots to do stuff for you," she said, almost turning to go back.

"None of them can control light, can they?"

"I don't know," she shrugged.

"Well, they can't," he said, hunched over something on his desk, "Not yet, at least."

"Good to know," she grumbled, crossing her arms across her chest, "I still don't know what you need me for."

"I was getting there," he said. Suddenly, he stood up abruptly and turned around, grinning broadly. "I'm making a software update for my machinery."

"I'm the last person on earth that could help you with that," she pointed out, "Actually, I probably couldn't help you then, either."

"I need you," he said, walking around his desk, "to create an illusion of an extreme situation so I can test my beta program."

"Situation? What kind of situation?"

He shrugged.

"That's up to you," he said.