I hear a knock on my door. "Go away" I say, making no attempt to get up from where I'm lying on my bed. The door opens, I roll my eyes. Why can't anybody ever listen to me in this stupid place? It better not be Natasha or Steve. I glance and see that it's not, it's Peter, MJ, and Ned.
"That's not very nice" MJ says, walking over to me. Tony said he'd send Peter up, but I didn't think MJ or Ned were here. I sit up, MJ sits down next to me. "I'm sorry." Clover was friends with all four of us, it's not just me she hurt. She was close with Peter, and I thought she liked MJ and Ned, but obviously she was faking.
"Thank you" I say, there's nothing else to say. Peter and Ned sit on the end on my bed, they look at each other and then at MJ. I frown, why are they looking at each other like that?
"Storm, you're our friend, but being a friend sometimes means having to tell people things they don't want to hear, don't you think?" Ned says uncertainly, I reluctantly nod, knowing what's about to come. I fiddle with a strand of brown hair; I don't know if I'm prepared for my friends to tell that Clover's a terrible person.
"Clover doesn't love you" MJ says, my eyes widen at her bluntness. Natasha said the same thing, but it sounds different coming from MJ.
"MJ!" Peter and Ned both exclaim.
"What? It's better to rip off a band-aid fast" MJ shrugs, I can understand where MJ is coming from, she's not the type of person to say things nicely, she just says it how it is.
My eyes flicker towards the ripped-up pictures of Clover in my bin. I don't know if I can go through this again, I already dealt with caring about Scarlett when I believed she didn't give a shit about me, now I'm left realising Clover never cared.
"I can't go through this again" I whisper, a tear rolling down my cheek. MJ immediately hugs me. Peter reaches forward and places his hand on my shoulder, Ned gives me an understanding, sympathetic smile.
"It's okay, you've got us" MJ says softly, I know I do and I'm grateful for the three of them, but I also wish Clover and Scarlett were here, I wish things hadn't got so fucked up.
"We're here for you" Ned adds, I give him a half-hearted smile, I appreciate the support but I'm sad thinking about Clover and Scarlett.
"Storm, do you understand that Clover does need to face consequences for trying to kill Steve?" Peter asks, looking nervous. I close my eyes; I might understand why Clover needs to face punishment but that doesn't mean I want to see it happen.
"I know she was wrong; I know she used me" I say, glancing at Peter, he looks relived to see me agree with him. "But what if she did care about us? She wanted me to run away with her."
MJ sighs, Peter looks uncomfortable, and Ned looks away from me. I can tell none of the trio agree with what I'm saying, they're completely certain that Clover was using us, using me.
"Probably so if you were caught she could pin Steve's death on you" Ned says quietly, glancing at Peter who nods in agreement.
"Or so she could use you as a hostage if the avengers came after her for Steve's death" Peter says, I sigh in response. They're both probably right, my mind flickers to the simulation. Did Magneto know? I doubt it was just a coincidence that Clover killed me in a simulation right before she betrayed me in real life.
My stomach ties itself into a knot and my heart begins to race. What if Clover is working with Magneto? I could've seriously jeopardised the safety of this place, the x-men could finally have figured out a way in. Who knows what Clover was doing when everybody was asleep.
"What if she's working with Magneto? She killed me in the simulation then right after betrayed me" I say, Magneto believes loyalty is my weakness, maybe he wanted to see how far I'd go, if I'd let Clover escape once I found out.
"Tony's already thought of that, they're changing the security systems" Peter assures me. All I've done is make Tony's life harder from the moment we met, yet he goes out of his way to protect me and make sure I feel loved and safe. "Storm, it's not your fault."
"What?" I say, my eyes meeting Peter's.
"It's not your fault."
"I know" I say quickly, too quickly. It is my fault, I'm the idiot that trusted Clover and invited her to stay here when I'd known her for a second. I should've known something was going on, why would Clover like me? I'm not a good person. I might be pretty but that's not something I'm proud of, it's just something that was given to me through genetics.
"Storm, it's not your fault" Ned says seriously. "We all trusted her."
"Okay, enough of the sadness, we're ordering pizza and watching a movie" MJ says, she pulls out her phone. "What pizza do we want?"
Peter opens up my laptop and we all glance through Netflix, trying to find a movie that all of us will enjoy.
*Author's Note* Peter, Ned, and MJ are one of the best canon trios.
YOU ARE READING
Beautiful Ruins
Acción"Maybe there was a fleeting moment where I wanted to be a hero and believed I could be one, but the truth is I'm not, I won't ever be. My past does define me, it made me a villain" - Storm. Fifteen-year-old Storm is the daughter of Black Widow and I...
