Always {Book 1} [COMPLETED]

|09|

"So, Academic Decathlon, it's pretty fun." Peter stated to Tessa as the two sat in his room, him looking at the computer, her playing with a sphere of red licking flames.

She shrugged at the comment and lifted the ball into the air, and made it spread across the ceiling. "Math isn't my strong suit, oddly. It's chemistry."

"But the Academic Decathlon is fun, am I right?"

Tessa made the red cascade down in little bits, making the room be showered with bits of red slowly falling. "What are you getting at, Parker?"

He swiped the little pieces of red off his shoulders while saying, "You better vacuum my room." She rolled her eyes and made it deteriorate, "Done."

Peter swiveled in his chair to turn to her, who was on the top bunk. "The tracker stopped in D.C. The Academic Decathlon is going there tomorrow for the final competition—"

"I'm not even on the team, Peter."

"But I am, and I can get you to tag along, trust me. I'll talk to the coach, he'll let you on. Come on, we could see where this guy is going, see who the boss is, take em down."

Tessa dryly laughed while saying, "My dad would never let me!"

+

"They need me, Dad!" Tessa stated, crossing her arms.

"So, let me get this straight. The Academic Decathlon personally asked for you to go with them to help them win their final competition?"

"I know it's hard to believe, but they did, honest! Dad, I could help them, please, let me go. I go tomorrow and come back the next day, it's not even that long."

Tony Stark sighed and scratched his growing stubble in stress. "Fine. But! You let me put a tracker on you."

Without missing a beat, she answered, "Of course."

+

It was the morning of the next day, and Tessa carried her packed up backpack over to the doors of the school bus. She smiled up at the lead teacher, who smiled right back at her.

"Everyone, this is Theresa Wood, and she'll be attending the trip with us to help us win the Academic Decathlon! That means, Flash, you really don't even have to come."

"W-What! I'm coming anyway, I'm apart of this team!" Flash sputtered, completely offended by the man's statement. "Okay, then. Everyone, it's bus time!"

Tessa was one of the last students to get on the bus, but she still managed to get a seat in the back. She put her backpack on the floor and leaned back with a sigh. Peter went over and sat down in the seat with her, and Ned in the seat right in front of them.

"Hey, Ned." She greeter with a smile, and he said in an excited whisper, "Hey, Spider-Man's sidekick!"

Her eyes widened as she turned to Peter, who held a sheepish look with his features. "You told him!" She hissed, and he immediately defended himself with, "He caught me in the act!"

"But not me, Peter!"

"Oh, yeah. I guess I sorta did tell him about you. . ."

Tessa puffed air out of her mouth while rolling her eyes and leaning back. She looked straight ahead of her in annoyance, and her eyes widened in shock upon seeing Liz Allen only a few seats in front of them.

Her light mood instantly darkened as she suddenly wondered why she was even talking to Peter anymore. She had somehow completely forgotten about Liz when it looked like he was going to kiss her, and then she couldn't stop thinking about that singular moment.