The Avengers Are My Family

First Day Of School

"Drew! Time to wake up! It's 6:45! School starts at 8:30!" says Pepper. Drew rolls off of her bed and falls on the floor. "Drew!" says Pepper. "I'm okay!" says Drew. Then she springs into action. Drew gets her bed made, and she showers and gets dressed in her favorite red jumpsuit in record time. Nat does her hair in two French braids, and Drew dashes to the elevator to get breakfast before she has to go. She eats a quick bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios before running upstairs to brush her teeth. Nat's been timing Drew since she heard that Drew was woken up. Drew runs out of the elevator and grabs her backpack. Nat stops the stopwatch. "45 minutes," says Nat. "Not bad. I know I can do better, though," says Drew. Then she puts her lunchbox, computer, phone, and all of her school supplies into her backpack. Then Drew adds the first Land of Stories book, which she is already 1/4 through, and zips her bag up. Drew's been wearing her Shield watch non-stop since she got it. It has an everlasting battery, so it never needs to be charged. She puts her water bottle in the side pocket of her backpack. Her backpack is red and has the Avengers A logo in white on it. Tony bought it, and Nat complained about the logo being a giveaway to Drew's real identity, but in the end, Tony won the backpack battle but barely. Nat has decided that Drew must have a two-inch knife on her at all times for safety, so Drew puts it in her sock. She has a cover on the blade so that it won't cut her. Nat has also said that she will handle things if someone finds out about Drew's knife.

Steve drags Drew outside and takes a million pictures of her. Drew rolls her eyes in between all of them. Then she cuts Steve off and insists that she has to go. She hugs everyone goodbye and climbs into Yelena's car in the backseat. Bucky is sitting upfront. Besides, 7-year-olds aren't allowed to sit up front no matter who their parents are.

Drew fiddles nervously with her backpack during the twenty-minute drive to school. Yelena looks in the mirror and sees this. "Drew. It's going to be okay. You've done and been through much harder things than going to school," says Yelena. "You're sure it'll be okay?" asks Drew. "Yep!" says Bucky. Drew feels a lot better. She arrives at 8:15 and sees hundreds of kids walking in the front gates. "Bye, Yelena! Bye Bucky!" says Drew as she climbs out of the car. "Bye, Drew! Have a great day!" says Yelena and Bucky in unison.

Drew waves to them as she walks towards the front gates. Their car pulls away, and Drew takes a deep breath before making herself walk past the gates and into the school. She walks to the front office and asks where her classroom is. The lady at the front desk is super friendly and tells Drew where her classroom is and how to get there. Drew thanks her and says, "Have a nice day!" Then she walks in the direction of her classroom, which is towards the front of the school.

She arrives at her classroom at 8:20, and she walks in and sees some of her classmates trying to find their desks or sitting at their desks talking to their friends. Drew spots her teacher standing at her desk. Drew looks at her teacher's desk and notices a nameplate on her desk. It says, Mrs. Thompson. Drew thinks to herself, "So that's what my teacher's name is. I'll make sure to look out for suspicious behavior." It takes Drew a moment to remember that this isn't a mission, and this is school. Drew walks around the five tables of four, trying to find hers. All of them have name tags on them. She finally finds her desk in the group of four on the left closest to Mrs. Thompson's desk. Her spot is the top right corner, barely a foot away from Mrs. Thompson's desk. Her name tag says Drew Barnes, and it has a red smiley face sticker on it.

She notices that all of the other kids have unpacked their school supplies and then hung their backpacks on numbered hooks above a long row of cubbies on one of the walls in the classroom. Drew looks at her name tag again and sees 13 written to the left of her name. Drew thinks to herself, "Yes! I got my lucky number, and my sticker is red, which is my favorite color!" Drew unzips her backpack and takes out everything except for her lunchbox, water bottle, and phone. She organizes everything inside her desk. It takes Drew a moment to locate her number on the wall. She finds it, gets up, walks to the hooks, and hangs her backpack on her hook. On top of her cubby, she notices a tray that says Drew on it. She guesses that it's for graded homework or something. Then she sits down and waits for her teacher's instructions.