My Life with the Avengers

What They Decided

Clint and Natasha came home on Sunday night, right before I went to bed. When Natasha saw my injuries, she wasn't too pleased. And that's like saying World War Two was a minor disagreement. She actually woke me up with all of her yelling after I had tried to go to bed. "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU LET HIM GET AWAY WITH THAT!! IF I HAD BEEN THERE--"

"Aunt Natasha...?" I said, walking into the kitchen where they had all been shouting at each other.

Her mood changed almost immediately. "Hi Jackie." She said. "Did we wake you up?"

"No, it was more like you kept me from going to sleep in the first place." I said. "But we all need to talk."

The whole family sat down at the table and, once I had their attention, I spoke up. "So what's everyone yelling about?" I asked. "Is it about the game?"

Natasha nodded.

"We think that... maybe public school wasn't such a good idea." Steve said.

"WHAT?!?" I exclaimed. "You're not going to take me out, are you?"

Everyone looked sceptical.

"You can't take me out." I said. "I love it there."

"But that boy could have seriously hurt you." Tony said. "He did seriously hurt you and we don't want to have that happen again."

"But I'm fine." I insisted. "Its just a few bruises. Nothing I can't shake off."

"He knocked you out." Bruce said.

"But I got up. And I'm fine now. Please, you can't take me out of school. I love it there. I'm on the football team, my classes are great and I finally have some real friends. You can't just take that away."

"Yes we can." Steve said. "If being there is a risk to your safety, we will."

"Its not a risk to my safety." I insisted. I turned to Clint. "Please back me up on this."

Clint sighed. "I'm sorry, Jackie." He said. "But I agree with them. I would hate it if you got hurt again."

"You can't take me out!" I cried.

"Give us one good reason why we should let you keep going to that school." Bruce said.

"Because for the first time in my life, I have been able to be somewhat normal." I said, holding back tears. "I've been able to make real friends, like Caleb. I told him that you guys are my family, and he honestly doesn't care. He became my friend because he got to know me and not because I have the World's Mightiest Heroes taking care of me. And you know what, you've all taught me to take care of myself, I could have easily fought back when Mitchell was beating me up. But you know what? I chose not to. I knew it was important for people to see what he really is. He's not the star of the varsity football team, or the ladies man that everyone thinks he is. He's nothing more than a bully. And now, the students, the teachers, and the principals know it. Yes, I got the snot beaten out of me. But I also exposed a bully and hopefully stopped other people from getting hurt at his hands."

They all seemed to think about this for a moment. "Can you promise that something like this won't happen again?" Steve asked.

I sighed. "I'm not sure." I said. "I'm going to stand up for what I know is right, no matter what. And if I get hurt while doing that, I guess that's life. But you guys do stuff like this all the time, I don't see why you wouldn't want me doing the same."

"I do." Tony said. "Its because you're only fourteen years old. You're still our kid and we're going to keep you safe."

"You're not always going to be around to do that." I pointed out. "But that's beside the point. Please don't take me out of school. I don't want to go back to being homeschooled. And I don't want to lose my friends."

"We'll talk about this in the morning." Clint said. "You need to go back to bed."

I walked back up to my room and crashed down on my bed, tears of worry streaming down my cheeks. They can't take me out. I thought. They just can't.

I arrived at school the next morning and everyone seemed to be staring at me. I honestly didn't care. If they weren't at the game to see what happened, they had surely found out about it now. Eventually, I ran into Caleb. "How are you feeling?" He asked.

"Better." I said, faking a smile.

"Are you sure?" Caleb asked. "You seem sad. Is everything okay?"

I choked back tears and shook my head.

"What's wrong?"

I shook my head.

Caleb wrapped his arms around me and gave me a hug. "Please tell me what's wrong. I'm here to help."

I choked on my words but eventually managed to say it. "They're taking me out of school."