A LIFETIME AGO, Kaelyn had a plan to figure out what really happened to her parents all those years ago. She was different now. She learned, grew, discovered truths that were meant to stay buried six feet under with the people she believed to be her parents. Now, she had a new plan. She avoided as much contact with the people in her home in an effort to keep the memories she treasured alive and the parents she knew dead. Now, she had a plan to take them down. However, this plan had to be kept as absolutely secret as the last one, meaning no one besides Peter and Tony Stark (for S.H.I.E.L.D reasons, of course) could know. This called for the most heartbreaking thing Kaelyn had ever experienced: lying to Beth.

"Hey, you haven't been wearing your mom's necklace? I'd ask if she took it back but I can literally see it on your desk right there," Beth questioned as she hung upside down off the side of Kaelyn's bed. Her dark hair just barely touched the ground as she had recently cut it just past her chin, a decision Kaelyn supported one-hundred-percent. She was just glad she had been able to talk her friend out of getting bangs. As much as she loved her best friend, she didn't need her to start looking like Knives Chau. What's next? A blue streak? Ugh, Beth is so lucky to have Kaelyn by her side.

The redhead shrugged as she continued to braid her hair mindlessly while ignoring the open textbook on her desk. Eyeing the necklace, she tried her hardest not to think about how it almost felt like burning every time the thing touched her skin. That necklace belonged to someone Kaelyn could barely remember; definitely not the woman living in her home.

"I don't know. I guess now that I have my mom back I don't need it as much," Kaelyn answered, doing her best not to show any of her tells. Beth knew all of them, the fidgety fingers, the slight hesitation in her voice. As casually as she could, she went along with the lie, "It just doesn't feel as necessary. Plus Peter got me a gorgeous necklace for our one year so I might just start wearing that."

"Replacing your mom with your boyfriend? Ouch!" Beth joked, giggling so hard at her own statement she snorted and almost fell off the bed. "Just kidding, I know you're lying. You already told me Peter got you a sunflower bouquet and a promise ring, dumbass."

Kaelyn turned to face her friend with a furrowed brow, "What makes you think he didn't get me a necklace, too?"

"Kae, that boy's job is the superhero equivalent of an unpaid internship, he can't afford much more than that. Also, I know your tells, even the ones you don't know," Beth shrugged as she sat up and straightened out the mess her hair was after flipping over.

"Hey! You said you told me all my tells!"

"I lied, duh, how else would I be able to figure out you're lying if you hide your tells?" Beth said with a laugh, grabbing her friend by the wrist and pulling her over so they were both sitting cross-legged on the redhead's bed. "What aren't you telling me, Kae? I haven't seen that necklace anywhere but your neck for the past seven or eight years now."

Kaelyn sighed, avoiding her friend's eyes. She was foolish to think she could lie to someone who was practically her sister. She had always been a good liar, but never to Beth. Carefully, words raced themselves through her brain as she thought a good way to present her plans to Beth without sounding insane.

After a moment, the words finally fought their way past the lump in her throat. "Beth, I don't trust these people in my home. I don't know who they are or what their plan is, but I know it has something to do with breaking Adrian Toomes out of prison and just overall bad shit. Peter and I have a plan, we're gonna talk to Tony and see if we can possibly get something like S.H.I.E.L.D involved, I don't even know we're still working out some stuff. I just need to get them out and get them back where they belong and get back to normal with just Caden and I. I know you're gonna think I'm—"

"—I don't think you're crazy," Beth disagreed before the words could even leave the other girl's mouth. Somehow, she knew exactly the tangent Kaelyn was about to go off into. The two were close enough they could practically read each other's minds. "Listen, Kae, I'll do whatever you need me to do, okay? I mean, I'll do literally anything for you because I know you would do the same for me. Just, let's take things one step at a time okay? Teenager duties come before superhero ones. So, we need to get this homework done or else we're gonna be hella behind after tomorrow's field trip, okay? So, I need you to put on your big girl pants and think about your responsibilities. Everything, since you signed back on with Tony, has been just go go go Power Rangers or whatever and you need to just let yourself breathe for just a moment. Deep breathes, go."

Together, Kaelyn and Beth breathed in deep through their noses, held it for just a moment before exhaling through their mouths. Kaelyn couldn't pinpoint when they started doing this — practicing breaths together — but it had since become the easiest way to calm Kaelyn down. Beth even showed Peter how to do it properly in case she couldn't be there or in her ear. Maybe Kaelyn was going insane, at least, that's how she felt sometimes. Her life was far too much for one seventeen-year-old girl to handle. She didn't realize how rough things had gotten until she started crying because a freshman was a moment out of sync with the rest of the team. Huh, maybe she should quit the cheer team. That's a problem for another day.

"Thank you," Kaelyn uttered under her breath, not even realizing she was tearing up until the other girl reached up and wiped a tear away with her thumb. "I'm sorry for even trying to lie, I don't know why I thought it was a good idea."

"I don't even know why you thought it was gonna work in the first place, dumbass," Beth laughed, successfully lightening the mood as always, "We're sisters, you can't lie to me."

"If we're sisters than my mom has a hell of a lot of questions to answer."

"Hell yeah, she does!" Beth held up her hand for a high five, but Kaelyn just playfully rolled her eyes and pushed the girl so she was laying down, "Except theses questions are about crime!"

Kaelyn giggled to herself as she laid down next to the girl, pressing her finger against the center of her lips, "Shush, don't be too loud. They can't know I'm plotting against them, I'm not sure how far they aren't willing to go."

Beth scoffed, "What are they gonna do? Kill you? Can you even be killed?"

"Well, I don't wanna find out!"

my soft best friends are back because i realized beth has barely been in this so far and i missed her also if ANYONE tries to come for me saying that Knives is chinese and beth is vietnamese i KNOW THIS ALREADY IT WAS JUST A REFERENCE BECAUSE KNIVES IS THE FIRST CHARACTER I THOUGHT OF IN MASS MEDIA THAT IS ASIAN WITH BOBBED HAIR AND BANGS THANK YOU IM SO TIRED OF GETTING HATE OVER STUPID SHIT LIKE THIS