AS SHE STOOD OUTSIDE OF CLASSROOM 204 of Midtown School of Science and Technology, Sofia drew her shoulders back and hugged the books in her arms to really sell the part of 'new kid at school.'

Her right hand reached out to the doorknob and began to twist. Today starts Step 6 in her plan and she was very excited. Step 6 entails befriending Spider-Man, but how exactly did she know where he went to school? Now that was something that someone with common sense could figure out easily.

Apex and Spider-Man's past conversations have revealed many things, such as that he is a high schooler, is nerdy, and has no parents. She also had Felicia hack into Tony's files..once more.. and found that he pays much attention to Midtown. Coincidence? Those don't exist.

So, she enrolled herself as a student and marched up to her first day of classes. Not like she'll actually learn anything though, since she graduated high school in 2016.

Sofia didn't even tell Tony or anyone else at the Compound where she would be spending the day; they don't own her. However, she did take the liberty of 'borrowing' one of Tony's very fancy cars.

Sofia, luckily, has her learner's permit. So, what better chance to practice driving than in a 720s McLaren?

But all that's beside the point. Sofia was at Midtown for one reason only; to figure out Spider-Man's secret identity. Granted, she didn't think it would take long since he already admitted to being the same age as her.

So, back to the present.

The brunette turned the doorknob completely and entered the classroom swiftly. She managed to arrive exactly five minutes before class started to give her enough time to settle in and analyze her environment. She found four easy exit ways in case of an emergency (including windows); if needed, she could blow a hole through any given wall. Sofia would be safe for the time being.

There were already seven students sitting at their desks, each took a glance at Sofia as she entered the room. She felt their stares as if they were predators and she was their prey; though it was the complete opposite. Sofia was only faking insecurity at the moment.

Sofia decided to sit near the center of the room, allowing her to have a clear view of all the students. Once the rest of the class arrives, she'll quickly be able to determine which among them is the masked hero. Sitting at the center of the classroom also meant she'd be directly in the teacher's eye line, calling attention to herself. She needed to make "friends" and what better way than to seem friendly right off the bat?

She placed her backpack on the floor and crossed her feet under the chair. Every few minutes, she'd check the watch on her wrist and wait for class to begin.

Students began flowing in about thirty seconds before class supposedly begins. Girls and boys of all heights and sizes walked through the classroom's doors, but none of them exactly fit the description Sofia had for Spider-Man. Maybe he just wasn't in this first-period class? All she knew was that he was in the grade, not which particular classes.

The teacher finally walked into the room, precisely forty-nine seconds late. He was a shorter man with brown hair, a beard, and glasses. As the average teacher does, this man wore a collared shirt with a tie and khaki pants. He dropped his business-type bag on the chair and quickly grabbed the chalk. Sofia glanced at the nameplate on his desk. Mr. Harrington, his name was.

"Good morning class, today we will.." he turned to face the students and stopped upon seeing Sofia's face. He had forgotten all about the new addition to the class. "Ah, yes. Students, please welcome your newest classmate, Valentina Rose."

Everyone around the girl mumbled a quick "hello" before turning their attention back to the books in front of them. No one seemed interested in the girl; she had to change that.

"Valentina, would you like to stand up and introduce yourself?" Mr. Harrington asked.

Gladly, Sofia courageously stood up and unfolded her arms showing she was not very nervous. She had thought over the exact words to say for this scenario; Sofia did not want to bore anyone. With a slight Spanish accent, the girl said, "Hello, I'm Valentina, Val for short. I'm Venezuelan and moved to New York just a few weeks ago."

Sofia knew that high schoolers typically love foreign exchange students for the sole reason of them being 'mysterious' and completely different from American normalities. If she could manipulate this, then she'll have finished this part of the mission in no time.

A couple more pairs of eyes landed on Sofia as she captured their attention. Just as she had predicted.

"Wow!" the teacher enthused, "Do you want to say something in Spanish for the class?"

Sofia's left eye twitched ever so slightly, though she managed to cover it up with a quick blink. Why do teachers immediately have to jump to that question? No, I don't want to but what choice do I have, right? Sofia mentally rolled her eyes. "Erm, okay. Estás vestido como un idiota." (You are dressed like an idiot).

Someone in the back of the room seemed to have choked on air. They instantly tried to dismiss it as a cough, but Sofia knew better. The person definitely knew what she had just said. Now that she notices it, she doesn't recall having seen that person enter the classroom. Had they been here this entire time?

His laptop was open in front of his face, no wonder she hadn't seen him. Her eyes scanned over him quickly. He had chocolate brown eyes and hair that looked like it hadn't been brushed in a few days. His left eyebrow even has a few strands sticking up. Quite peculiar. Sofia would say it looks endearing, but would never admit it out loud.

She let her eyes wander on him for a few more seconds before returning her attention back to the teacher.

"And what does that mean?" Mr. Harrington curiously asked. He truly had no idea what she just said. Possibly even Spanish 1 levels could understand.

Before answering, Sofia saw smirks and giggles coming from three other students. Obviously, they had some common sense and could understand basic Spanish. "It means that I like your outfit, sir."

A smile spawned on the teacher's face, happy one of his students noticed the effort put into his outfit today. "Why thank you, Val. You see, my wife told me I'd look stupid wearing this but now I can proudly say I've proved her otherwise."

Clearly, your wife was right. Who would marry such a blithering idiot?  the brunette thought internally. She took a seat back down at her desk and opened her chemistry book to the page number on the board. The students all around her began asking if she could say certain words in Spanish, or all sorts of dumb questions. But for the sake of her own sanity, she declined each request.

Suddenly a ball of paper hit the back of her seat, gaining her attention. She picked up the paper from the floor and stretched it out. Her eyebrows furrowed at the drawn image. It was a funky drawing of herself saying the word, "idiota" in Spanish. This was, without a doubt, a recreation drawing of the scene that had just happened a few minutes ago.

Underneath the image was written, "His cluelessness is scary sometimes."

Sofia turned around in her seat, trying to find the person who threw the ball at her. It didn't take long, for only one person was staring her dead in the eye, and had a coloring pencil in hand. The girl had dark curly hair pulled back into a ponytail, only allowing a small strand to cover her right eye. She had darker skin and a smirk pulled onto her lips.

Sofia leaned toward the girl, deciding to start up a conversation. "Nice art skills. I'm Valentina."

"I know," she responded quickly, no interest sparked in her voice. It was very monotonic. "Michelle." Her eyes focused on the book placed on the desk once more as if she were focusing on the words on the page, but Michelle continued speaking. "Why is your English so perfect? I thought you said you moved here a few weeks ago; certainly not enough time to learn everything."

Sofia immediately knew that Michelle was not hard to fool. Out of everyone in the classroom, she was probably the only one asking the right questions. She kept the slight Spanish accent as she said, "I've been learning English for as long as I can remember. It's a required course in most countries."

Even with the completely valid answer, Michelle couldn't help but keep the suspicious tint in her eye. "Alright." There was something off about the new girl, she just couldn't place her finger on it, yet.

So, Michelle went back to minding her own business and continued reading her book in peace.

But just as Sofia was going to do the same, her eyes met with the boy's from earlier once more. He had already been staring directly at her, making eye contact. The girl didn't know why he was staring with such intensity -- as if he were trying to figure her out.

Sofia didn't let her eyes linger for too long, fearing it would cause even more suspicion. She instead lifted up her hand and sent him a small friendly wave. The girl created a mental note to speak with him later and examine his physical features up close. She's seen Spider-Man's mouth while he was eating away at the top of a building so surely she'd be able to recognize it for sure. Not to mention his child-like voice.

The rest of the class droned on endlessly. It was seriously the longest fifty minutes of Sofia's entire life. Mr. Harrington attempted to be funny on so many levels, but never succeeded in getting a laugh out of his students.

Sofia had drawn doodles all over her notebook. She drew them all of the possible upgrades for Apex's suit, knowing that Felicia would happily jump at the opportunity to recreate it. She made sure never to draw something a little bit too exposing, never knowing who could be lurking over her shoulder. Drawing another suit for her "alter-ego" or creating another plan would not be the smartest move ever. So, she kept the drawings exclusively Apex. If anyone's eyes drifted to her notebook, they'd probably think Sofia was just a fan.

Eventually, the bell finally rang. Sofia's eyes scanned over her schedule (given to her by the principal himself) while putting away her notebook back into her backpack. Her face grimaced as she saw what the next class was: Physical Education.

Making sure she wasn't the last the leave the classroom in order to avoid an awkward conversation with Mr. Harrington, Sofia was the fifth to bolt out the door.

Since this was her first day, she had no gym clothes, so she resorted to her practically dumpster diving the lost and found. Sofia began questioning her morals and doubted this school was worth losing her dignity over. But, she decided against leaving. Figuring out who Spider-Man is, was her top priority.... even if it meant she had to use old, and probably smelly, gym clothes.

The gym was not very hard to find. There were huge banners of tigers and their football team leading up to the main entrance. It seems that their football team was pretty popular. (Probably not) Sofia thought.

She immediately recognized some faces from her earlier class, but a large handful was completely new. Though, more importantly, she saw the face of the boy with chocolate brown hair — the exact person she wanted to talk to.

Sofia thought of different ways to approach him, but he looked rather shy. She didn't think he'd start talking to a strange girl just because she asked him a question. Sofia's always hated shy people; they always make situations so much harder for her. Instead, she sat on the benches and untied her shoelaces, only to tie them again to waste time. Sofia had to wait until the coach entered the gym and gave them their instructions for the class. But until then, she had nothing to do.

-♕-

"Alright class, line up!" the coach yelled as he entered the gym with a bag in hand. He didn't even glance at his students, alternatively walking to the bleachers and grabbing a whistle. Once he saw the students walking slowly and not putting any effort, he blew the whistle heavily, "Double time!"

Sofia complied just as the other kids her age did. She pretended to know what she was doing; it looked like this teacher was not one to play games. He most definitely did not care that Sofia was a "transfer student."

But luckily, the brunette played her cards right. She managed to stand right next to the boy she's been wanting to talk to. Her 'potentially Spider-Man' suspect. Sofia saw this as a perfect opportunity to start a conversation.

"What are we doing..?" She leaned closer to him, not wanting the coach to hear. With a whispered voice, the undercover student continued. "I haven't had a gym class in years."

For once, she actually told the truth. She hasn't had a gym class in years.

The boy looked surprised that the girl had chosen to ask him. No one ever willingly speaks to him. "Uh — right now it's just warmups. Usually, we start a game like dodgeball or basketball near the end of the period."

She's heard that voice before, but perhaps it was under a mask. "Oh," Sofia faked a look of understanding. Then, she furrowed her eyebrows. "Which warmups?"

"Just the basic ones," he finally turned his head to look the girl directly in the eye. There was something familiar about the girl, but he couldn't place his finger on it. Sofia noticed his staring and strengthened her facade of confusion. Now she was even more sure that this boy was her suspect. He blinked, probably thinking that Valentina was questioning his staring, so he resumed explaining, "Jumping jacks, push-ups, crunches, all that fun stuff."

"Oh, wonderful," Sofia sighed, wanting to show her dislike of the exercises. "Thanks for the run down, though. I'm Val."

She was finally going to get his name.

He grinned, "Peter" he paused, forgetting his last name, "—Parker." He heard her full name during the first period so it's only fair she gets his in return. Besides, there are multiple Peters in the school, what if she forgets which one she's currently talking to?

This time, a genuine smile creeped onto Sofia's face. She had finally pinned down Spider-Man, (at least she was 88% sure she did). Step 6 was finally over and had been successful. She was another step closer to ending the Avengers. All she had to do now was confirm that Peter was in fact, Spider-Man. But that itself was easy enough. All she'd have to do is test his strength, senses, morality, and reflexes. "It's nice to meet you, Peter."

-♕-

Once the long and dreadful school day was over, Sofia made her way back to the Compound. She opened her phone and created a brand new group chat including the two blonde psychos she's friends with. She might as well introduce Ruby to Felicia if they're all after the same goal. The more the merrier, right?

She thought of a stupid group name and added their contacts in. Although, she did have to privately chat with Felicia and alert her of the nickname "Val," instead of "Sofia."

Once all of that was done and Felicia got the text, Sofia sent the first message.

the jonas brothers

VAL:
Felicia, meet Ruby
Ruby, meet Felicia

RUBY:
who the fuck is
felicia?

VAL:
a similar idealist as us

RUBY:
oh
mk
hi

Sofia could tell that Ruby felt uncomfortable, even through text. It was another one of her superpowers....or simply common sense.

VAL:
dw, I trust her
besides are you not going
to acknowledge my amazing
gc name? I'm very proud
of it

FEL:
so you do have
a sense of humor?
well shit
but you saying you trust
me is a hugeeee ego
boost

VAL:
I take it back now
fuck you

Sofia turned off her phone as she finally arrived at the ginormous building. It still surprised her every time she walked inside. It was like a big reminder of everything she's achieved so far; she managed to welcome herself into the Avengers' home and let them treat her as one of their own. She was very proud of how far she's come.

She wandered through the halls and wondered why it was so quiet. She hasn't seen a single agent walking around with their obnoxiously loud tablets. Music wasn't blasting either so that probably meant Tony was either dead or kidnapped. There's always music playing — particularly 80s.

She finally heard some chatter through the big dining room, and Sofia decided to check it out. Although she'd heard unfamiliar voices, they were probably just the missing agents having a conversation.

She opened the large door, resurfacing Valentina from her break."Tony, I swear if you threw another party without me —"

She froze.

Everyone's eyes in the room fell on the girl. It was only then that the people in the room were not agents.... but completely different from what she'd imagined. Tony heard his name being called and smiled painfully, clearly stressed at the situation in front of him. "Ah, Val! I've been looking all over for you; where've you been? Whatever that doesn't matter, I want you to meet-"

Sofia took in a large intake of breath. Oh, this place was going to be the death of me one of these days...

A/N:

I am so sorry for disappearing with this story but now I have the motivation to continue updating it so don't worry regular updates will return!!

who do you think is sitting at the table that made Sofia stressed?