don't let me lose you too.

3

our school was... well... old to say the least.

the bricks were starting to lose their red-orange colour, the result of being built almost thirty years ago.
the building was very large (it used to be an old factory) and due to that, there were a lot of rooms we didn't use for classes. if you went exploring in the empty rooms, you'd either find a room full of dust and cockroaches, or teens making out. it was always exciting.
there was a petition to convert the old rooms to new swimming pools or libraries, but our school didnt have the funding or resources for those things.

it was a pretty good school, but quite obviously not the fanciest one in queens.
my dad tony had tried to convince us to go to the fancy private school up north, but we protested heavily against that.

but what our school lacked in money, we made up for in... uh.. team spirit?
our football field was huge, and the pride and joy of midtown high school.
the games and pep rallies were often the highlight of the year here.

me and peter have been here since we were freshmen, and even though it was old, the teachers, students, and courses were amazing. as mentioned before, the field, and entire campus, were insanely huge. he building only took up a small part of it. there were many green fields for students to work on, with paths and benches littered throughout them.
there was even part of a forest on the grounds we could hang out in, and a bunch of different buildings in smaller areas.

we didn't want to go to some snobby rich kid school, where all the students would look down on us, no matter how much dad would be willing to pay.
worst of all, we wouldn't even be able to tell the snobby rich kids who we are.
let me explain
a lot of them are sons and daughters of the most imporant people in america.
i obviously can't tell them my dad is tony stark, so they'd assume we weren't important, and we'd be outcasts.
yeah, there are some downsides to being iron man's daughter.

dad has to keep me a secret, out of danger. mainly to keep my life and childhood as normal as possible.
i was generally fine with it, but my friends don't even know my real surname. i don't like lying.

i would love to tell people who my father is, but the media, being famous, expectations that i'll be as genius as him?...
i don't want to deal with that.
for now anyway.

i was lost in my thoughts when wanda grabbed my arm and pulled me up.

realising we'd already stopped, i let her drag me out of the bus and up the long walkway to the main building.

"payton you walk really slow" peter commented.
"that's very cool peter" i replied back, half ignoring him, as i got my spanish books out of my bag.

"wanda you need to head to the main reception area, i'll come with you., it's on the other side of the campus so pretty far away."
i nodded to peter and ned. "we'll catch up with you in a few minutes."

they nodded and started to head off.
when they were a couple metres away, i remembered something else and yelled
"peter, don't forget to tell mr garciá i'll be late!" across the campus.

peter groaned at all the eyes that were on him now, nodded, and turned back around.
"don't you just love annoying younger kids?" i said playfully to wanda.
she looked at me darkly. "well i wouldn't know would i, seeing as i'm the youngest out of all three of us..." she replied.

"exactly! that's what makes it so fun for me" i grinned, before starting to run to the administration.

"come on slowcoach keep up!" i yelled from in front of her.
soon me and wanda embarked on a chase filled with laughter through the green path leading to the administration building.
when we arrived, both of us were out of breath (once again). the building was a small, modern looking cube house, the main school building on one side, and said small forest on the other.
panting, i said "okay, we've arrived..." i looked around to make sure no one was here "god we really need to work on our running... for superheroes with magical abilities we get breathless pretty quickly" i laughed.
"that's true, but you should be glad you have the powers you do pay... they're amazing."
"i'm the daughter of iron man," i teased. " i'm destined to be coo-"

i was interrupted by something rustling in a nearby bush. i whipped around, my senses on high alert.
what if someone had heard that comment? no one could know who we were, or who my father was.
wanda's blue eyes darted around the trees, searching for something that might have heard.

slowly that blue started turning to a light shade of red, as she tried to use her powers to see what was going on.

"wanda," i exclaimed quietly. "your eyes."
even i sometimes forget, she is insanely powerful.
often she doesn't even realise what she's doing until it's done.
she focussed her attention away from the forest and whatever was in it, and her scarlet eyes started fading.

quite suddenly, the door to the administration opened, and a tall, gray-haired man appeared in the frame. he must have been around 50, yet he still looked young, and fitter than most at that age.
something about him was off. his smile, it wasn't real. he didn't look like part of the faculty.
wanda gasped beside me, and although i wanted to look at her and make sure she was okay, i plastered a fake smile on my face, and said
"hi there. you must be the person who'll give my cousin here all her supplies! i don't think i've ever seen you around the school building, have i?" in my cheeriest tone.

he chuckled quietly. "yes, my name is mr. dawson, i'm the head administrator. and you are correct, you haven't seen me because i transferred from a different school this year."
he welcomed us into the building.

wanda and i entered carefully and on high alert, glancing at each other quickly. inside there were a few other faculty and staff members.

huh. maybe everything was fine. right?
a woman was clicking on a computer at a desk, another person was drinking coffee at a printer.
i guess it was just a normal office, and we were too suspicious of everything after ultron happened.

mr dawson brought us to the lady at the desk, who looked up at the both of us with a kind smile.
"hello, my name is ms. richards. now what can i do for you two dearies today?" she asked fondly, as if we were her grandkids.
wanda gave her a genuine smile. "i'm new to the school this year; i was told i had to come here to get my stuff and get registered." she replied.
"oh, and this is my cousin, she was showing me around," wanda nodded to me.

the woman looked back at her computer. "now, let me see... what's your name sweetie?" she asked.
"uh... wanda williams"
(no one could know both our names of course, so we'd decided to go with "williams.")
basic, yes we knew.
i had jarvis hack into the school system to change the names on our birth certificates.
click.
click.
click.
mrs richards types slow. the noise was infuriating.

"ah yes, here you are," she finally replied.
"i'll tell the headmaster you got here safely and on time. the school supplies we provide are right here, but you should have gotten most of them yourself?"

what was going to be a statement turned to a question, to which wanda replied
"yep, i bought them all."

as they were talking i glanced around the building for any signs of danger. i'd learnt how to properly analyse and sweep rooms from the other avengers, so i knew what i was doing.

i noticed dr dawson was still suspiciously glancing at me and wanda every few seconds, which made me shiver.

what if he heard me talking about superpowers? all of our lives could be in danger.

i was going to have to call dad when this was over. just in case.
it could be nothing. it probably was.
but if mr dawson was a shady guy he and heard me...
i'd be risking some people's lives, including wanda's. my heart hurt a little thinking about that.

i'd only known her for a couple of months, but i considered her my sister. family.
she still missed pietro, but she had just found this life, this new one where she was a normal kid.
she had found a place in the world.
i couldn't rip that away from her.