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ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING
iv. NERD ALERT

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  IF THERE WAS ONE thing Riley mastered after growing up under S.H.I.E.L.D., it was the art of being competitive.

  All of her life, Riley was pushed. She was pushed to be better, better than the best. From the very beginning, Riley was in with the big leagues. She didn't go through any initiation or train with other child agents. No, the discovery of her power to manipulate ultraviolet rays gave her the upper hand, and that was why S.H.I.E.L.D. pushed her so hard. They wanted her to be so good that she was no different than a machine.

  Of course, things change, and Riley wasn't exactly a machine. Still, she was cutthroat when it came to her craft. Riley always came out on top. Maybe not at first, but with the guidance of legends like Natasha Romanoff, Riley O'Dair was unstoppable. Nothing could tear her down. She refused to let anyone subdue her, not even her equally competitive Academic Decathlon peers, who were extremely skeptical of suddenly adding a new member to the team.

   "Maddalena Casulana is best known for what contribution?"

   Without hesitation, Riley quickly answered, "She was the first female composer in western music history to have her music printed and published. Feminism, am I right?"

   "Correct. What was the significance of the Earthrise photo?"

   "Taken by astronaut William Anders in '86 during the Apollo 8 mission, the photo is considered the most influential environmental photograph ever taken. It showed our planet as small, fragile, and mortal," Riley explained. "After the whole Chitauri alien thing that happened a few years back, that's a serious understatement."

   "Right again. Alright, I've got one for her," one of Riley's new peers, Sally said. "In place of rhyme in Passage to India, Walt Whitman primarily established continuity through?"

   "I've literally never heard of that in my life, but I'm gonna guess and say anaphora," Riley declared. She beamed when she was surprisingly right.

   The others didn't exactly appreciate her little comedic remarks, but Riley was just having fun. She loved being a smartass.

   Growing up, Riley learned a lot of new things at a ridiculous rate, especially since she graduated at a high school level at 10-years-old. When you learn things young, you're more likely to forget them. To combat this, Riley was constantly tested by her superiors, usually Director Nick Fury, at random times. In all honesty, Riley was built for something like the Academic Decathlon.

   Cindy Moon shook her head. "You're giving her all the easy questions!" accused the Asian girl before turning back to Riley. "Monocrystalline silicon ingots can be produced using what?"

   Riley scoffed. "Is that a joke? The ingots are produced by floating zone crystal growth process," she replied. Then, she sighed, yawning. "Does anyone else wanna test me? Or can I finally be accepted into your weird little cult?"

  A slow-clap grasped her attention. The coach of the Academic Decathlon team, Mr. Harrington approached the group, pleased. "Brava, brava!" he praised, causing her to happily smile.

  Geez, maybe I really am like Tinker Bell. I literally live off of praise, Riley thought to herself.

  "Guys, I think Miss O'Dair has proven herself to be pretty dang smart. You've all been attacking her rapid-fire all week," Mr. Harrington declared. "Can we just accept her into the crew and call it a day already?"

  Strangely enough, Riley understood why the kids of the Decathlon team were being so defensive. After all, they were going into the competition season after winning nationals last year. It made sense to her. She was just lucky she was smart enough for this kind of thing. It was another way to get close to Peter Parker.

  The captain of the team, a senior named Liz Allan, nodded. "Agreed," she chimed in. "Plus, she's kinda funny. All those in favor of letting Riley on the team?" A chorus of Aye's circulated around the room. Liz offered Riley a smile. "Then, it's official. Welcome to the team!"

  Mr. Harrington added, "There's only one real rule. No using the bell for comedic purposes."

  "Well, there are a few more rules than that," Liz politely mentioned as everyone laughed. "Maybe you'll help us win nationals again this year."

  "Thanks. I'll try my best," she promised, saluting Liz.

   It was nice being around people her age. It wasn't like anything she'd ever experienced before, which unfortunately seemed to show. For example, when her peers went up to properly welcome her to the team with acts such as high-fives, Riley nearly went to flip them over instead of simply hitting their hand.

  As everyone dispersed, Riley sat down to work on her AP Biology homework in hopes of multitasking as everyone casually discussed this year's Decathlon. She sat with her legs crossed, her mechanical pencil gripped in her hand as she focused on her homework.

   "I didn't realize you were such a nerd," a voice came from beside Riley. The Latina slowly looked to her right to see a dark-skinned girl who went by the name of Michelle Jones.

   She tilted her head to the side at the comment. "What... What do you mean?"

   Michelle shrugged. "You're a nerd."

   "This is the Academic Decathlon," reminded Riley. "And we go to a super nerdy school. Aren't we supposed to be nerds?"

   Michelle thought about it for a moment. "Maybe," she ominously replied. "Or maybe this is all just a simulation and we're just being controlled by the government." Riley wore a perplexed expression on her face upon hearing this, which caused Michelle's eyes to light up. "Perfect! Don't. Move."

   Michelle looked down at the notebook in her lap, sketching furiously. Then, she threw her pencil down and held up what she had been working on this entire time. "Boom."

   Riley stared at it. "Is... Is that a drawing of me?"

   Humming, Michelle nodded. "Yeah," she confirmed. "I like drawing people in distress."

   Riley paused. Then, she offered Michelle a smile, deciding that she liked her. "Huh, that's cool. I've never met anyone with a hobby like that."

   She looked up to see Peter and his best friend, Ned Leeds, chatting across the room. "Speaking of hobbies," segued Riley, "what do you know about Peter?"

   Michelle's gaze trailed toward the two, the gears in her head slowly turning. "Uh, he's nerdy. He's in Marching Band. The kid next to him, Ned, is his best friend... and his only friend, actually," she casually listed. "He lives with his aunt and he's really good at Spanish. Oh, and he has this huge crush on Liz, but she's the only one that doesn't know at this point." Riley paused, not having expected all of that. Michelle just shrugged. "I'm a very observant person."

   "Interesting..." She cleared her throat. "Uh, I was just asking because I have so many classes with him. Might as well find something to talk to him about, right?"

   Michelle nodded. "I guess." She nodded down at the worksheet before Riley. "By the way, that's not homework. It was just an activity for us to do for fun."

   Riley immediately scoffed. "For fun?" she repeated. She rolled her eyes and crumbled up the worksheet. Sure, she was a genius, but that didn't mean Riley always wanted to use her brain. She was a teenager, too! "High school is such a joke."

   Observing the girl's reaction, Michelle couldn't help but chuckle, amused. There was something off about Riley O'Dair... but then again, everyone was off to Michelle Jones.

   She shrugged. As long as she wasn't racist or sucked, Michelle didn't really care.