Untold Stories On An Alternate Earth

Part 15

Once again, things were falling apart. I idiotically thought that it was going to be a terrific day, but of course things had to go wrong. The three of us started walking to class, and Peter whispered to me, "They're going to call you to the office at some point during the day. Go ahead and prepare yourself for that." After that, he was completely silent. I had probably offended him by making it sound as if I would be embarrassed if people thought we were dating. Of course, I wouldn't be embarrassed if people thought that. It would be the wrong idea, but I would never be embarrassed. But did he know that? No, no he didn't. Because I shut him out, we were fighting. You try to keep everything inside, and people say to share. You voice your true feelings, and people are offended. Then they wonder why you don't share. I can never win. And even if I did like him like that, it is pretty obvious that he has a crush on MJ. Sorry for the rant. That was way off topic. Reigning it in now.

During science, Peter was quiet. It was obvious to me that he wasn't going to initiate the conversation which meant it was up to me. I scooted my lab chair closer to him as quietly as possible. Waiting for the optimal time to talk to him was torture. With each fleeting second, my guilt grew. I wanted so badly to apologize. The longer I had to wait, the more I got the feeling that everyone was watching my every move.

Our science teacher had to take a call outside. Everyone was quiet until she was out of earshot. Then everyone took a quick look at me and started talking to their lab partner. I was so close to telling Peter that I was sorry when my name came on the PA system. The speaker called me to Principal Morita's office for the second time in my two days of going to school at Midtown. I snatched up my bag and stormed out.

Another opportunity missed, my brain said. Way to go idiot.

Shut up! I interjected. The whole world is against me right now, so don't you be too.

My brain was quiet which I took as a good sign. I walked to the office, thinking of the probable jail sentence I would be given. Thoughts raced through my head too quickly to comprehend. As I approached, there were no cops, at least none visible. My guard was up, though. Even if I couldn't see them, it didn't mean they weren't there.

When I entered, he could tell that I was, at the very least, jumpy. He told me to take a seat and assured me that the authorities had not been involved. "Why didn't you call the police on me? I exposed myself as a powered individual. The Sokovia Accords require anyone who has seen someone like me, has to turn them in, so they can be verified as on the list of signatures. If they haven't signed, they either agree to the terms or are locked up until they do."

"If I were going to turn anyone in to the police," Principal Morita began, "it would be Mr. Thompson. He was texting while driving, speeding, and almost killed people. That's called reckless endangerment which he will be punished for."

"Sir, why did you call me here if you aren't turning me in?"

"I wanted to commend you for saving lives." I was starting to feel good about this meeting before he continued. "But what you did must never happen again unless you have an extremely good reason for it."

"Yes sir. Never again unless absolutely necessary."

"I do have one last question. Have you signed the Sokovia Accords?"

"No I haven't."

Once I agreed to his terms, he said that I was free to go back to class. Even though the bell hadn't rung yet, I headed straight for math because I had seen the clock before leaving. The bell was two minutes from ringing for second period. By the time it rang, I was waiting right outside the door. Getting there first had its advantages. I was able to get the giant table in the back of the room with three seats. All the other tables could only fit two people, but this way we would all be together. It also meant that I had time to think through what to say.

It wasn't enough. I was still thinking about what to say when everyone started piling in. Quickly, I moved to the only single desk so I could buy myself some time to think. Eventually, Ned and Peter entered apparently deep in argument. Ned seemed to drag Peter to the desk I had originally been at and motioned for me to come over. I begrudgingly stood up and walked over. Part of me wanted to keep pondering and delaying as much as possible. The rest of me wanted to get it over with. I went with the majority vote.

I sat down and whispered,"I wouldn't be embarrassed if people thought that we were dating. You are not embarrassing and have much more character than anyone else here. Besides, it's pretty obvious that you like MJ. But if I had to choose anyone from here to date, I would choose you." He started to perk up. To seal the deal I added, "I'm sorry I shot down your idea. I just didn't want any more absences."

"I'm sorry I got mad," he responded. "I just couldn't deal with the thought of one of my best friends thinking that I was embarrassing. Truly I knew the whole time that you didn't think that but still."

"Yay, everything is patched up," Ned interjected. "Maybe now we can actually learn."

To that we both chuckled as quietly as possible. The day started to look better. I was getting caught up with my work and things got easier. In math we worked with trigonometry, so I can't necessarily say it was fun, but it beat a hospital bed. About halfway through, I started to develop a headache, but I wrote it off as a side effect of the concussion. In shop class we got to build pretty much whatever we wanted. Peter built a replica of Thor's hammer, Ned made a scale model of Avengers tower, and I made a copy of the mind stone on a cord to give to Wanda.