Shadowbreath: The New Avenger

Chapter 4

Note: Edit (02/01)

Peter's eyes flickered back to the clock hanging above Ms. Tidwell's head for the seventh time since class began. The pent up energy coursing within his body escaped through a series of obnoxious foot tapping and drumming fingers. He bit his bottom lip to try and calm himself down when Ms. Tidwell raised an annoyed eyebrow at him.

Ned leaned over from Peter's left, "Dude, why are you so twitchy today?"

Peter held his hands together to keep them from shaking with excitement and whispered back, "This is my first weekend staying at the compound with Mr. Stark. Happy is picking me up from school today."

He heard Ned's breath hitch as he sucked in too much air, and a giggle escaped Peter's lips when he saw the saucers Ned's eyes resembled. "Dude, are you freaking serious? That's the coolest thing I've ever heard! I can't believe my best friend is an Avenger!"

Peter shushed the boy quickly, "Go ahead and announce it to the whole class, why don't you?" Ned gave him an apologetic smile, "And I'm not an Avenger. Mr. Stark wants to train with me for a while."

"That's so, so cool! The Tony Stark wants to spend the weekend with you!" His best friend finished the sentence a little too loud, earning each of them a reprimand from their teacher.

"Sorry Ms. Tidwell, it won't happen again Ms. Tidwell." Both boys recited immediately.

Peter sneaked a peak at Ned, whose face was still lit up, and found his own excitement growing. He had barely been able to hold it together this week, and now that his last class was five minutes from letting out, Peter couldn't contain himself. May had helped him pack his bag for the entire weekend, as Mr. Stark assured her that Peter would have his own room to stay in, which was currently holed up in his locker. He tried calculating exactly how long it would take him to sprint out of class, grab his duffel bag and meet Happy outside, but someone interrupted his thoughts.

"Have somewhere to be, Penis Parker?" Flash quipped from two seats up. "I hope you're not still on about that whole Stark internship." He laughed cruelly, causing a few of their surrounding classmates to follow suit, "As if!"

Ned glanced nervously at Peter, who was silently trying to communicate to his best friend that he needed to keep his mouth shut about this. Flash was just a bully, there was no reason to flaunt the fact that he not only knew Tony Stark, but was going to be staying with him on the weekends. Thankfully, neither of them needed to come up with an excuse.

"Flash," Michelle interjected, sounding utterly bored with the whole situation, "Somewhere out there, a tree is working very hard to replace the oxygen you consume. Now go apologize to it."

The three boys blinked at her, before a shade of pink stretched over Flash's ears. "S-shut up Michelle! You're such a freak!"

She closed her book and turned slowly in her chair to face him. When Michelle had a full view of Flash, she popped an impressed brow. "I've been called worse things by better people." She stood up abruptly, causing Flash to flinch, the moment before the bell rang. Michelle's eyes flickered to Peter, and he gave her a half-smile r in thanks, knowing her expression wouldn't change. He was right of course, and she just picked up her books and filed out the door with the rest of the class.

Ned blew out a heavy breath and shook his head, "She scares the crap out of me."

Peter nodded his agreement. Michelle did scare him, but not because of the reasons Ned and Flash were afraid of her. She was absolutely brilliant and had this incredible ability to not let anything or anyone get to her. He could never be sure of what she was thinking, and that's what was scary.