Valen | Peter Parker

School

Ned softly knocked on Valen's door a few times. "Hey Valen, I have to go. You're going to be by yourself for a few hours. Is that okay?"

Valen opened up the door, which spooked Ned. "Where are you going?"

"It's Monday. I have to go to school."

"Can I come?"

Ned didn't know how to tell her no. One, because she would get mad or two, because she would get sad. He didn't want to see either side. "It's the end of the semester. They can't enroll new students."

"I don't want to be enrolled."

"Uh, I don't know how Peter would feel about this. Don't you want to stay hidden? You know so that no one finds out you're no longer being kept at Hydra and staying here?"

Valen turned invisible. "I can do this all day."

"You really want to go to school?"

"I don't want to be alone."

Ned fell for the pity trick. He viewed her as a sad lost puppy. He nodded his head and let Valen come to school with him. He would randomly poke her to make sure she was still with him and hadn't run away.

It was raining outside as they made their way to the school. When they made it to the subway station, Valen grabbed a random umbrella. She put it over her and Ned as they walked. Raindrops looked like they weren't able to touch Ned since the umbrella was also invisible. To normal people, it looked like the raindrop fell from the sky, hit an unseeable force, and curved around until it dropped to the ground, leaving Ned dry.

"Thanks Valen." Ned said as they finally made it inside the school and she collapsed the umbrella.

A guy with black hair laughed at Ned. He pointed at him so others in the hallway knew who he was talking about. "Are you talking to yourself?"

Ned looked over where Valen was standing. He didn't know how to say he wasn't talking to himself even though there wasn't anyone beside him. "No."

"It sure sounded like you were. Who are you talking to? Your imaginary friend?" The guy taunted.

Valen grabbed the umbrella and flipped it around in her hand. She took the handle part that curved around and hooked it around his ankle. She jerked hard so the guy would fall flat onto the floor. Everyone looked at him and laughed. The guy looked around for the culprit, but no one was close enough to him to have tripped him.

Ned stared in disbelief with a smile, not sure how to react. He stepped over the guy who raised his head to touch his hand to his nose. Valen walked behind Ned to keep clear of the people in the busy hallway. She didn't want to hit anyone and accidentally blow her cover.

As Ned was busy putting his stuff away in his locker, Valen admired everything around her. She watched all the teenagers interact with each other. Some boys were shoving some other boy. Some girls were gossiping by their lockers. There was a boy and girl making out in the corner.

Valen wondered what her life would've been like if she was a normal teenager like them. Would she be one of the girls that had cheer uniforms on? Would she be one of the girls all dolled up with makeup and a dress? Would she be the emo girl dressed in all black? Would she be the one wearing a jersey because it was game day?

"How's Valen?"

Valen and Ned's head snapped towards Peter. Ned was fumbling over his words, trying to figure out what to say. "She's go- she's uh, she's doing fine. She's awake. No, asleep. I mean, she might be awake now, but she was asleep when I left."