12|| orientation and unsupervised chemistry lab talks

"I don't think I'm in Carter High anymore."

Midtown High School, August 2016-

The car was silent as Alison stared out the window, her arms crossed with an annoyed look. The only sound was the silent whirring of the car's AC, and the soft music that was playing in the background.

Needless to say, it was driving Jackie insane that her younger cousin was not budging.

"Listen, Ali, you know that you have to do this." The woman sighed, pushing up her glasses from their position on her nose. "You made a deal with Tony Stark, and I'm pretty sure that neither of us want to see the consequences of you not following through with that deal."

"Can I make the argument that the fact that I never thought I'd make it out of the Raft was the only reason that I agreed to this deal? Not because I actually wanted to go to this school or be monitored by someone who's already being watched under the Sokovia Accords?" The girl grumbled out, earning a pointed look from her guardian.

Jackie let out a groan as she turned off the car, the whirring of the AC coming to a stop as the car dinged. "Get your ass out of the car, Alison. This isn't negotiable, and you know that." Grabbing her car keys from the lanyard they were hooked upon, Jackie opened the car door, stepping out of the car into the sunlight.

The two had been required to come to the new student "Orientation" as the school counselor that had called their household had called it, recommending it as a chance for them to get to know the school's campus and some of the students better in order to ensure an easier transition from her former school.

Alison let out a small curse of swears as she opened her own door, the sour face still plastered on her, not going away any time soon. Slamming her door shut, she got another glare from Jackie, to which she responded by rolling her eyes.

"C'mon, Ali." Jackie motioned towards the gates of the school, black and more than 10 feet tall. In all honesty, Alison thought that it looked kind of like a prison. A very technologically advanced and studious prison, at that.

Letting out a scoff at how ironic that it was that she was trading one floating ocean prison for another, Alison slowly walked up to be in stride with her cousin, who waited at the base of the steps for her. "You know, I could just figure my way around here on the first day of school." She protested, trying to look for a way out.

"And probably get multiple tardies that will get back to me?" Jackie fired back, keeping herself calm and collected as she took the steps two by two. "You know that I'm not going to let you get out of this. It's recommended that we go to these kind of things, and if this is going to be where you're going to high school for the next three years, then you might as well start getting involved."

Reaching the top of the steps, Jackie opened the door, arching an eyebrow expectantly at Alison while she waited for her to walk through the doors. It took a whole minute for the staring standoff to end, Alison caving when she realized that there was truly no way of getting out of this.

Stepping onto Midtown's campus for the first time, Alison felt hilariously outdone. This was nothing like what Carter was, the rundown hallways and lockers that were beat up replaced by pristine halls that looked like they had just been waxed, bright blue painted lockers adorning every single hall.

Student ambassadors lined the halls, people that she assumed were from the ASB group at the school, along with people that Alison assumed were the school counselors or teachers. Gratefully, it seemed like they weren't the only ones here for the orientation, many of the freshman that were coming into the school were awestruck themselves, along with a few juniors and seniors that probably had tested in late.

A young woman walked up to Alison, her skin darker and a bright smile painted on her lips. "Hi! I'm Liz Allan, head of the Dance Chair this year. I'm assuming you're new to Midtown this year, and that you're not a freshman. Where'd you come from?" She politely asked, holding out her hand for Alison to shake.

Eyeing up Liz for a moment, Alison tried to asses the situation. She could be a sourpuss and not want to do anything and sulk about the fact that she had completely left the life that she was alright with keeping at Carter, or start over at Midtown, and escape the party life and make some new friends. And from the way that Jackie kept glaring at her and the prominent fact that Charles would be coming to Midtown ( as he went to their neighboring middle school) in a few years, Alison decided to take Option B.

Might as well not tarnish the Marnell reputation before Charles got here, right?

"Alison Marnell." Ali shook Liz's hand, trying to put up a small smile. "I transferred here from Carter, actually." She smiled, gesturing her thumb back at the doors, knowing the comment that would come out of Liz's mouth.

"Carter! You mean the place that is rumored to have that crazy principal?" Liz questioned Alison, laughing when she gave a hesitant nod in return. "Don't worry, I tend not to believe the gossip that comes through these parts. Most of it is all just horsecrap."

"Glad you think that." Alison laughed, something about Liz's energetic demeanor putting her at ease inside of the Midtown halls. "Now, I have no idea how all of this-" She gestured around at the halls around her, just the smallest glint of worried glare visible in her eyes. "Works. Do you mind helping me out?"

"Of course!" Liz smiled, her delicately put together curls bouncing when she pepped up. "First, let's take you to see what your schedule looks like. I have a feeling that you should probably find out your classes first before we give a tour of campus."

Leading Alison over to the office, a polite young woman who was volunteering at the time printed out Alison's schedule, along with where her locker was. "Here's your schedule. This sheet here has your locker number and code on it." Looking at the paper for a moment, the volunteer read off what it said. "The locker is 752, and your combo is 12-18-00. Here's a map of the school as well, in case you get lost."

"Thank you!" Liz smiled back at the volunteer, waving goodbye as the two girls stepped out of the office. Politely grabbing Alison's schedule, Liz observed what was on it. "Oh my goodness! You signed up for Yearbook?"

Peering at her schedule for the first time, Alison saw the Yearbook class in the middle of her schedule, along with English Honors and was that... AP Chem and AP Physics? "Yeah. And apparently I'm in some AP's as well." She frowned, not realizing that she would be placed in those.

She guessed that Tony was behind that, choosing the classes that she was in, at least.

"It's definitely a step up from Carter, that's for sure." Liz agreed, brushing a piece of her hair out of her face. "It's an academic challenge, but I'm assuming that if you passed the test to get in here, then you must be good."

Alison's face turning red, she was unsure of what to tell Liz. "I actually didn't take the test." She muttered, looking kind of embarrassed as she did so. "I was specifically told to transfer here by... an old friend."

"Oh!" Liz seemed a little bit surprised by the fact that she hadn't tested in, but it clearly didn't bother her. "I'm sure they wouldn't let you in here if you didn't have the grades to be here, though." She pointed out, trying to get the red flush out of Alison's cheeks.

"I guess so." Alison smiled back at Liz, looking back down at her schedule. "I'm assuming that we should find my locker, right?" She nudged the girl, handing over the locker card and the location. "Locker 752."

"That's going to be in the upstairs East Hall." Liz stated in a matter-of-fact tone, taking a turn out of the main hallway, pointing at the stairs that were towards the right of them. "C'mon, this is the stairwell that you'll have to take to get there. It shouldn't be too hard to find."

The two girls scaling the steps, Liz stated some facts about the school and herself to break the ice, Alison telling her a little about herself as they made their way up the second flight of stairs. Coming to the top, Liz let out a satisfied sigh.

"Alright, the odd lockers are on the right, and the left holds the even." Liz pointed out the lockers, her eyes scanning the empty hallway. "752 should be in the middle of the hall, right across from one of the Senior classrooms. Let's get that thing unlocked, so that we can move on to learn where your classes are."

Finding the locker in no time, Alison found the code again, unlocking the door with ease. Finding nothing inside but some remaining stickers from its previous inhabitant, she stared at the small thing with a sigh. Ali shut the locker, finding Liz leaning against the lockers, looking at her phone with a frown.

"What is it?" Alison asked, trying to make sure that the girl was doing alright. "Is something up or.."

"Oh, it's nothing. My dad apparently just got back in town and he wants to meet me for lunch right now. He's right outside, actually." Liz winced, her phone pointing down the stairs. "I know I promised to help you find everything but-"

"It's fine." Alison shook her head, trying to reassure her. "I'm pretty sure that this map can lead me to anywhere that I need to go inside of Midtown. I can figure it out." She gave Liz a small smile, looking down at the map for a moment.

"Oh! Before I go." Liz took Alison's locker card, taking out a pen and scribbling something on it. Handing it back to Ali, the girl saw that Liz's number was written on the paper. "If you ever need something while at Midtown, whether it be a friend or some assistance, feel free to call or text."

Liz slowly gathered herself up, looking at her phone. "Oh shoot! He's actually yelling at me to go out front." Squishing Alison in a light hug, Liz waved goodbye, rushing herself out of the hallway with a bright smile.

Still shocked by the hug, Alison shook herself out of it, looking back down at her schedule and the map that was in front of her. "I got this." She mumbled, looking at her schedule again before looking around her.

The closest class to her was her chemistry class, so she might as well find her way there.

Scaling the stairs back down to the main floor, Alison took a few turns before landing upon the chemistry classroom. The door was barely even cracked open, and so Alison assumed that a teacher was inside, probably talking to kids about the curriculum. This would be a good place to start to learn about the Midtown academics.

"Is this the AP Chemistry class-" Alison peeked her head inside of the classroom, only seeing a kid inside, donned in a science pun graphic t-shirt and worn out jeans inside. Safety goggles were plastered on his face, his eyes wide like he had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

The boy quickly shoved whatever he was working on alone in the chemistry lab to the side, trying to act natural as he stared at Alison. "Um, h-hi." He waved, the gloves on his hands covered in something that looked a lot like Elmer's Glue.

"Hi." Alison stated back, unsure as to why he was so nervous. "I saw the door unlocked so I assumed that-" She looked at the wide open door that she had just stepped through, the noise from the "Orientation" a soft blur in the side hallway.

"Y-yeah. No, of course. I would typically assume that too." The boy nodded, his stutter kind of strange as he rushed out his words, almost if he wanted her to leave. Almost as if he was trying to hide something.

"So... what are you doing in this chemistry lab alone? I thought one of the rules of the lab was to not let wild teenagers roam around and risk the chance of blowing something up." Alison joked lightly, trying to figure out why this kid was in here alone.

"U-uh. Why do you care?" The boy questioned back, trying to keep the attention away from him. He was just trying to make sure that whatever he was working on didn't expose him, and it gave Alison a weird vibe from him.

"Well, whatever you're working on is definitely overflowing and is very close to the gas line." Alison noted, the boy turning around in shock, muttering a string of obscenities as he tried to fix whatever had just happened.

Pausing for a moment, Alison just stared at him for a moment, his voice sounding vaguely familiar. Maybe she had seen him at the Midtown party a few months back? She wasn't sure anymore, to be perfectly honest. "Alright, I'm just going to go then." Alison jacked her thumb at the door, making a quick escape before things got even more awkward.

Shutting the door quietly behind her, Alison stared back down at her map, trying to find her next class. However, her mind couldn't get out of the strange interaction she had just had. Why was the kind in there alone and unsupervised?

And, more importantly, why did he seem so familiar to her?

<~*~>

okay okay I know it's been a year since I revised a chapter from this book, but people keep commenting on what a bitch Alison was to Peter in the original, and I whole heartedly agree.

what the hell was I thinking, younger me?

anyways, I thought it would be better for Liz to lead Alison around Midtown ( it just made more sense, considering Peter would be too busy with Spider-Man stuff and all ) . plus, it would be fun for Alison to walk in on Peter doing some... Spider-Man stuff.

the seeds of suspicion have been planted!

now to update ash and dust and revise 11 ( which has been drafted for like a YEAR ), 12, & 13.

I think I'm going to check all of part two to see if they're up to par, and if it's not consistent with the plot line that I have been setting up with the new arc, then I'm going to change it

if you're rereading this, comment your favorite endgame scene because it's now on DVD!!

alright that's it, I hope y'all enjoyed and I'll see you in the next one!

bye