"Alright, everyone, car leaves in thirty minutes, whoever isn't down in time is getting the bus!"

The entire Mendes household was woken up by the sound of an air horn and the booming shout of Nathan Mendes. This was the routine for many years. Usually, Nora would find herself up first and dressed first, but would get trapped at the bathroom stage of the race. This was where both her brother and sister would take far too long, or fight about the other taking far too long. Sometimes it was both. This time however, was supposed to be the first time that Nora was the only one on the seven am wake up call. Aliya and Rafe were on the college run, but even then, when she got to the bathroom, someone was in there before her. She knocked on the door. "Hello?"

It was Rafe. "Occupied!"

"Yeah, I can see that, but I need to go."

"You can wait a few minutes."

Nora knocked again, a little harder this time. "Dude, come on, I'm not getting the bus."

She heard him scoff. "Please, getting the bus builds character."

She groaned, starting to knock until it was a constant rap against the door. "Rafe!"

There was a sound of another door swinging open, and a very sleepy looking Aliya scowled at her. "Nora, cut it out."

Her dad hollered up the stairs. "Five minutes!"

Aliya closed her door, just knowing that those two words were going to send the house into a frenzy. Nora just groaned louder, realising she was fighting a loosing battle. She rattled the handle, but nothing happened. "One minute!" her dad called again. Her mind debated what she could do, she could wait for the bathroom and end up getting the bus or go to the bathroom at school. She sighed, let's hope she didn't wet herself in her dad's cop car.

"I'm going to kill you when I come home." she said to the door.

Rafe laughed a mocking laugh. "You can't kill me, wouldn't that go against your character or something!"

She made a face at the door, annoyed that he was right. She raced into her room to grab her bag before running down the stairs and catching her dad on the way. He checked his watch. "Just on time as usual, monkey." he handed her a packed lunch. "You ready for freshmen year?"

"Am I ready for a year full of mountains of homework and puberty hitting teens?" she smiled. "Of course!"

He smirked. "Optimism at it's finest." he nodded in the direction of the door. "Come on."

When they reached the car, her dad cast a glance at her as he drove. "Now, I know I mention this every year-"

"Dad." she warned, shooting him a look. The impending conversation that was going to ensue was beating to death at this point. At the start of every year, he gave her the don't use your powers unless you have to talk, and it was getting quite old.

Despite her look, he continued. "Look, just keep it in mind, okay. Don't use them until it's absolutely necessary. Promise?"

Nora nodded, letting him satisfy the parental need festering inside him. Her powers weren't something he repressed, in fact everyone in the house knew about them and he encouraged her to use them, but he knew what people could be like. If they caught her healing someone or worse, using her powers offensively, they wouldn't take too kindly to it. He always reminded her that her birth mother told him to protect her, and he would do that until the day he died. So every year, on the first day, he would give her this lecture, and she would oblige.

"I promise."

They pulled into the school parking lot, watching as other students filled into the building. Nora did a once over of the stuff in her bag, making sure everything was there. When she was confident in that, she turned to her dad. "Are you able to pick me up later?"

"Can't, got a meeting with the ADA. Aliya will pick you up." she nodded, popping the last of the granola bar in her mouth. After quick goodbyes, she swung her bag on her back and exited the police car. Through the seas of kids, she made her way into the building of Midtown High School, school for the scientifically gifted, funded by Tony Stark. Nora always laughed at that. It was an inside joke between her and her brother that she was scientifically gifted, just not in the way people think.

She got to her locker in one piece, unlocking it and collecting her books for the first few classes. When the locker door closed, Nora stopped in her tracks to see the one and only Cindy Moon running up to her. "Hey, Cindy." she greeted with a smile.

Cindy was practically buzzing as she walked down the corridor. "So, freshmen year, am I right? We're practically the rulers of the school now."

Nora scoffed, trying to juggle the books she held in her hands. "Sure."

Cindy laughed, of course she was kidding, everyone knew the rulers of the school were Liz Allen and her group of friends. Nora and Cindy were in the middle group, where you didn't matter but everyone liked you. Nora liked being liked, she didn't know why, but she did. As they walked into home room, Nora changed the subject. "How was your internship?"

"Oh my god, it was amazing, the Bugle was everything I imagined. Jameson even said there's a winter internship up for grabs if I think I'm good enough."

Nora beamed for her friend. She knew it was the girl's dream to be the journalist, and to hear it was working out, meant the world to both of them. "That's amazing."

"I know. Imagine it: Cindy Moon, journalist for the Daily Bugle." she giggled. "Has a nice ring to it, huh?"

"Definitely."

They laughed until the teacher came into the classroom, and freshmen year began.

-

She should've expected Aliya to be late, the girl would be late to her own funeral.

Nora contemplated just texting her to say she didn't need to collect her, that she could walk home, but she knew how her sister could react. Aliya was a stubborn person, if she wasn't proving to someone that she could do something, she was proving to someone that she couldn't do something. Sometimes it was amusing to watch her tell someone one thing and then fail at it the next, other times it was frustrating. This time fell under the latter category. She had all her stuff packed away, even denied Cindy's offer of a ride home and now she was on the steps of Midtown, silently raging at the fact her sister was over a half hour late.

So here she sat, on the steps of the Midtown High entrance, her elbows on her knees, her chin in her palms. Her phone lay in the bend of her torso and thighs. Her foot bobbed as she looked out on the busy Queens street. Blowing a piece of hair out of her vision, she didn't take notice of the door opening behind her. "See you tomorrow, Ned!" came the voice of the person leaving. Nora's eyes followed the boy's steps as he walked down the steps, his eyes focused on his phone. He was at the bottom of the concrete steps, talking on the phone for a moment. He hung up, an irritated look of his own on his face. From the rim of her sunglasses she watched him retrace his steps, sitting on the steps like her. He rummaged in his bag for a moment, grumbling something under his breath, his fingers dabbing at his lips.

"Are you okay?" Nora asked, her instinct kicking in.

He jumped at her voice, looking up with wide eyes. Nora recognised him as Peter Parker, a boy she only knew in passing. All she really knew about him was that he was a gifted physics student. She was more of a biology girl. "I, uh, yeah. I'm good."

Nora tilted her head to the side. "Really?" a little smirk came to her lips. "Because that looks like a pretty bad split lip."

His fingers went back to his bottom lip, wincing a little bit at the contact. "Yeah, I apparently can't run for a bus without face planting."

Nora giggled, nodding in agreement. "Well, I've got you beat. I've fallen out of a bus once." She pointed at her forehead. "Got a pretty bad scar."

Peter leaned in a little closer, narrowing his eyes, trying to see where the scar was. Nora should've known it would've been gone. "Cleared up pretty well."

"It did." an idea sparked in her mind, holding out her hand. "I'm Nora."

A look of recognition hit his features. "Nora Mendes? As in Captain Nathan Mendes' daughter?"

She gave him a tight lipped smile, expelling air from her nose. That's how she was known here, as the police captains daughter. Not as the girl who could heal a broken arm in one minute flat or the girl who had straight A's in biology. Honestly, she didn't know how she felt about it but her father preferred it. "That's me."

He probably noticed that she wasn't too happy with the title he'd given here, so he held out his hand. "Let's start over, I'm Peter."

She took it, shaking it firmly, something she'd picked up from her dad. "Nora."

It took a lot in Peter not to recoil from the warmth creeping up his arm. It was hot, like being close to the hearth of a fire. When she let go, the warmth went with her and Peter missed it. He stared at her a moment, blinking at the feeling now radiating through his body. Nora blushed at his wide eyed look, opening her mouth to start up new conversation. A horn sounded out in the street. A red fiat coming into view. It was Aliya. "I'm here, I'm here."

Nora waved at her, standing up to leave. Peter turned to watch her. "Wait!" He called, she spun back. "Catch you tomorrow!"

With her hand on the door handle she nodded. "To be continued!"

And so Peter watched her get into her sisters car and drive off. His thumb grazed his palm in an effort to figure out what had caused that lovely sensation. Another car honked its horn, his aunt's banjaxed Toyota. He picked up his stuff and ran to the front seat. "How's it going, buddy?" She pointed at his wound. "That's seems to be clearing up well, huh?"

He frowned as he got in the car. The teenage boy flipped down the passenger mirror and stared dumbly at the now healed scab. "Yeah." He said distractedly, prodding the now normal looking bottom lip.

"Well, don't touch it, it might reappear."

Somehow, he had a feeling it wouldn't.
-

A/N: so, I think you all deserve a reason as to why I've been absent.

Recently, I've just felt my writing hasn't been good enough. I was bedridden for a few days about a month ago due to a sport injury and I couldn't even look at my drafts because I truly felt no one cared about my stories. There was a point where I felt like deleting everything except Heroes and just leave me account be. For awhile, Wattpad felt taxing to be on and it was anything but fun. Where once I would have loads of people read my stories, I can't barely get 100 people to notice. I know that sounds petty, but believe me it's not for the fame. I want feedback, I want to know my presence on this site means something to someone. I mean, I have over two and half thousand followers! I'd at least want some comments.

So, I'm sorry if I annoyed you by being petty and annoying. I just had a bit of a depressing episode if you will. I promise if won't happen again. Until next time! - Emma