Legend's Apprentice

Party

I finish my tutoring sessions with a feeling of relief. Now that I have a better alternative lined up, I can admit that I'm not really fond of tutoring and I'll be relieved when I can give it up.

"But instructing can be rewarding," my uncle says as we wait for Aunt Emma to finish lunch. I offered to help, but she shooed me to sit with Uncle Bucky.

"If the students want to be there," I say wryly. "I wouldn't know how that feels. The parents of all my students kind of force them to be there."

"But you've never managed to reach a student, even briefly?" he asks.

I remember the real estate kid and have to nod. "Once. It did feel good," I have to agree. He grins. "But work with the Avengers," I point out. "That must be easy for you."

"Not as much as you might think," he says, leaning back with a groan. "Your aunt there wasn't enthusiastic at all. I had to scare her periodically to get her to really focus." My eyes widen as she chuckles and turns to the table with a bowl of salad.

"Yeah, if I'd had my way, I would have just spent my time in the lab, but they kept dragging me out. Steve made me run this horrible obstacle course. He kept changing it. Then there were calisthenics and weights, just like gym class used to be, then the daily torture with Bucky. Steve was lucky I loved him or I probably would have tried to kill him in his sleep," she said, and I giggled. "You think I'm joking, but I'm not. The only thing good about that course was the zip line." Wow. That did sound awesome. "One time I was running it and there was this vast mud field. About as long as a football field, mud over my knees." She shook her head. "We had quite a spat about that. And to keep me motivated, Bucky was the Winter Soldier when he trained me. I about peed myself the first time we sparred."

"She was not the most motivated student," Bucky agrees. "But I did manage to scare her into competence with her poleaxe, so that's something." He sighs. "She was very reluctant to hit me."

I was kind of baffled, looking between the two of them. "But it's not like you could really hurt him, unless there was a big accident," I say tactlessly. Uncle Bucky about busts a gut laughing and Aunt Emma flushes.

"See? There's the respect for my skills," he goads his wife, who rolls her eyes.

"I don't like to hurt people," she says firmly, and we let it drop. But, really? I could go full out against him, with my new, very limited skills, and I doubt that I could lay a glove on him unless he let me or made a mistake. It was reassuring, actually.

Aunt Emma came to the table with a plate of paninis. Oh, wow. Yum. We ate in silence until the first pangs of hunger were satisfied, then she asked me how my job was going (so far so good) and they both had questions about my classes and tutoring. We were just finishing when Mr Stark came in. Geeze, it's like he lives here or something. It's not all that relaxing to have my uber boss turning up unpredictably all the damn time, but on the other hand, it's not my house. And I have to say, it wasn't so bad. He mostly listened to what I was saying (I was answering a question about the classes I wanted to take next fall) and then told me that there was a tuition reimbursement program at work if I wanted to take some college-level courses before graduation. I perked up immediately. That would be a huge help. Finally, though, I had to get going. I had some studying to do before I went out with Aslyn. Uncle Bucky walked me out, advising me to be careful again, and told me to call if I ran into any trouble. I gave him a little hug and a thanks for lunch again, and went home. He's so solid it's like hugging a brick wall, but more...cozy. With flannel. It's a nice spring day, but he says he doesn't like to be cold.

I managed to get my term paper for honors English done before it was time to get ready. It was supposed to be a casual party, so I wore my favorite jeans, booties, and a pretty rose-colored blouse. I stuffed some money in my pocket, put the card with the cab information that Uncle Bucky had given me in my coat with my phone, and checked out with Sam and Mindy, who also told me to call if I needed a ride. I waved and met Aslyn and two of her friends that go to school elsewhere at the restaurant. We ordered a bunch of appetizers for the variety and they were good about explaining who people and what happened at other times so I could follow along. Karen was a dancer, I found out quickly, who went to the Fame school. We started to talk about dance, and she told me that I should contact a studio where she took classes during the summer; they had a shorter session for those who weren't leaving for the summer and she thought there might still be room. It was awfully tempting. I'd have to crunch some numbers, but I might be able to do it. By the end of dinner, I'd exchanged phone numbers with Karen and Rill (short for Marilla) and felt like I had a couple of new friends. Aslyn told us about her interview and the other two were impressed that we were going to be working at Stark Tech. Rill had a job at Sephora and Karen was going to be learning project management skills at her family's renovation company.