Torn

-|INVITATION|-

The next day, Katia practically skipped down the hallways. She got many odd looks from her peers because ever since she had come to the school she had never once been so enthusiastic. She got to her locker and put her bag in, getting out her things for her next class. MJ looked at her with curiosity. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah! Why wouldn't I be?" Katia questioned.

"You seem very... enthused..."

"Well... I just... didn't have any nightmares last night..." That much was true. She smiled to herself. She spent most of the night thinking about the fact that she had actually made out with someone. And on top of that, it was someone she cared about! The Red Room has always taught to kiss to seduce not to care. 'Well I care, so suck it, Madame B!' She thought.

"That's great!" MJ smiled at her. She knew there was more to it though. And it probably involved romance. But whatever, it was none of MJ's business...

They walked to class together, passing Peter along the way. Peter smiles and waves at Katia. Katia stifles her grin but is unable to stop the pink hue creeping onto her cheeks. MJ noticed this. So it was Peter. MJ was happy for Katia but she would have to give Peter the 'best friend talk' later.

At lunch, Peter and Ned were sitting at one table and Katia and MJ were sitting at another. Katia was inconspicuously looking over at Peter. He looked like he was having a conversation with Ned. MJ noticed Katia's specific line of sight. "Okay, that's it. Go talk to him."

"What?" Katia looked back at MJ.

"You've been looking at him the whole period! You haven't even started eating your lunch yet! Now go." MJ motioned towards Katia's untouched sandwich and then pointed at Peter. Katia rolled her eyes and said "Fine." Then walked over to Peter and Ned.

She over heard part of their conversation.

"So do you lay eggs?"

"What? No!"

"Why are you asking if Peter lays eggs..." Katia said as she slowly sat down. Ned looked alarmed and Peter looked kind of irritated.

"He's been asking me these kinds of questions all day." Peter said, sounding exasperated.

"Oooh. He found out?"

"Yep."

"Wait she knows too?" Ned questioned in surprise.

"Yeah, I found out last night." Katia explained.

"But I found out last night too. I was in Peters room building the Death Star and he came in and took his mask off looking all happy and- Oooooooooh!"

Peter looked embarrassed. He blushed. So did Katia.

Finally, they got to they got to the past period of the day, PE. At first, it seemed like any normal class, with the idiotic Captain America PSA videos and all the "jocks"(as they like to call themselves) showing off on the pull up bars. Then Ned did something incredibly stupid. "PETER KNOWS SPIDER-MAN!"

I shot him a look while Peter panicked. Katia then rolled her eyes, she was going to have no part in this stupidity. She went back to her sit-ups, only half listening. There's something about Peter getting invited to a dumb party. Honestly, he was probably gonna end up drunk or stoned or-

"Katia?" Her head shot up to see Liz looking at her.

"Oh, sorry, I wasn't paying attention..."

"That's fine. I asked if you wanted to come to the party? I just figured you might wanna go too since you and Peter have been smiling and blushing at each other all day now." Liz said, surprisingly sincerely. Looks like she's not the 'stereotypical cool kid' and actually cares and pays attention to other people. That's a relief.

"Sure! Thanks!" Katia fake smiles. The truth is, she didn't wanna go. But she knew that Ned probably wasn't gonna be very good at keeping Peter away from the inevitable drugs drinks and peer pressure.

The hard part was asking Natasha if she could go. In theory, Katia could just sneak out, but if Natasha checked into her and didn't find her in her room she couldn't imagine the kind of stress that would put her in. Especially because of the fact that they had both run away from the Red Room and Hydra so it was probable that both organizations had been looking for them.

When Katia got home, she saw Steve, Sam, and Natasha sitting in the living room. She had honestly forgotten they were there. "Hey, Мама, there's this party tonight and-"

"And you want to go... well thank you for asking first..." Natasha thought about it for a while. "Okay."

"Wait, just like that?"

"Yeah. I trust you and your Russian alcohol tolerance. Just don't do drugs and keep your friends away from them too." Natasha said nonchalantly.

"O-okay... thanks... I'm gonna get ready then." Katia said as she started walking towards her room.

She looked in her closet. She didn't have a lot of party clothes. She had to dig through a little more to find a dress that she got just for fun when she was shopping with Natasha once. It was a burgundy, A-line, strapless dress that came up to just above her knees. She wore black sheer tights under it and a black sweater over it. She pinned her long brown hair up into a loose French braid.

She took a deep breath in the mirror. Then she grabs a purse, puts on some combat boots and leaves. Luckily for her, Natasha let her take the motorcycle...

Peter got out of May's car and started walking up to Liz's house. Katia said that she would be here but he didn't see her yet. Then a black motorcycle pulled up. To Peter's surprise, Katia hopped off and smiled at him. "That was so badass!"

"Why, thank you." Katia said, fake bowing. Peter laughed. "So, let's party, I guess!"

"Ha, yeah..."

"Oh and I'm making it my mission to keep you away from the alcohol, okay?" Katia said sternly.

Peter chuckled. "Okay. I'll do the same for you then."

"Oh there's no need. My mom said that because my Russian alcohol tolerance I'll be fine. I mean, I don't really believe it but hey, apparently it's in my genes?"

"Well, lucky you, then." Peter said.

"Yep, I'm probably not gonna drink anyway though. I need to be completely sober to make sure you don't do any dumb shit." Katia stated.

"Yeah... about that... I'm gonna leave the party in like ten minutes to change into my Spider-Man suit and then come back to the party."

"That is really dumb... but I'm guessing that's not gonna stop you..."

"I'm sorry, it's just that if I don't do this I'll be the subject of even more torment for weeks."

"I get it... have fun, I guess..." Katia sighed. She kissed him on the cheek and then went to explore the party.

Peter was slightly taken aback by the kiss but then he remembered that they literally made out last night. He went into the party, saw Ned and MJ, greeted Liz, rolled his eyes at Flash, and then went to the roof.