Andi tapped her pencil against the notebook open in front of her. She had scribbled down some notes that were on the blackboard relating to covalent bonds but she was most uninterested at the moment. She was restless, and occasionally glancing to the clock on the wall, waiting for the period to end. There was still one more before class was officially done for the day, but Andi was too anxious because today was going to be her first big mission.

This was similar to her behaviour when she first started school. She would always wait for the day to end so she could get back to the base for her 'Avengers training'. Eventually that became routine as Andi adjusted, so there was no 'newness' to look forward to. Her initial excitement of school also faded with time when she realised that it was incredibly hard. It could be due to the fact that she had never been in school to learn any of the basics. It could also be due to the fact that Andi had a hard time concentrating in class.

The only ones she really excelled at were art and robotics, the latter being an elective because Andi did surprisingly well around metal — such a shocker.

Almost a whole year had passed, and life seemed to go on. And as tough as it was to complete homework, participate in projects, and juggle being an Avenger trainee, Andi loved it. She loved leading this life with actual friends and and people she considered family. She was learning so many new things, both in school and out.

And Andi was also pretty sure, that for the first time in her life, she had an actual crush.

It was weird at first, because she couldn't understand her feelings. From the day they first met, Peter Parker had been extremely nice to her. Considering he was also the first person she spoke to since joining school, she sought him out in the hallways and in the cafeteria during her first week, before, eventually, Andi found herself joining him and his best friend Ned at their table every day. She spoke to him in between classes, and whenever they had a shared class, she usually sat with him.

Except in Chemistry because while they were in the class together, lab partners were usually pre-assigned and that meant that Andi was stuck next to Flash Thompson, someone she had quickly grown annoyed of.

Even now, as she restlessly tapped her pencil against her book, something she knew to be an annoying tic, she grew irritated by the way Flash occasionally balled up pieces of paper when the teacher wasn't looking, to toss it at Peter, who sat a row ahead. At least focusing her irritation on him was a good way to distract herself from the time.

"Don't you get tired of being a dick?" Andi asked, trying to let as much anger seep into her tone as she could, while speaking in a hushed voice so the teacher wouldn't overhear.

Flash stopped himself from tossing the next scrap of paper so he could glance over to Andi with a raised eyebrow. "You're calling me a dick?" He asked. "No, no, you have me confused with Penis Parker over there," he smirked, nodding to Peter with a triumphant look on his face as though he expected her to praise him for coming up with that witty response.

All it did was fill Andi with more hatred for the guy. Before she could say anything though, Flash was looking at her again.

"Anyway, I'm having a party this weekend and you should totally come. I—" Flash didn't get to finish what he was saying though because all eyes turned to the door when a woman walked in. Andi recognised her as the woman who sat in the main office. She was the one to give Andi her class schedule and locker combo when she first joined school.

And right now, she was looking right at Andi before their Chemistry teacher, Mr. Cobbwell, spoke up. "Miss Costello," he addressed her. "What can I do for you?"

"Andi Owen's uncle is at the office so I'm going to need to take her out of class for the day," she explained.

And just like that, eyes turned on Andi, including Peter's, who gave her a skeptical look. She knew there would be questions about that later but all she could think of at the moment was the fact that someone had come to get her in between class, which never happened. Andi automatically assumed that something was wrong, so she just shot Peter one final glance before picking up her things and heading outside.

"Did my uncle say what he came for?" She asked Miss Costello as they walked toward the main office. She was careful not to specify the name of the uncle because, well, there were at least four potential candidates.

"He just said it was a family emergency," the woman explained, making Andi tense up even more.

Moments later, they walked in and Andi froze in the doorway to see a familiar head of blond hair. She forced herself to speak up, for the sake of appearances. "Uncle Steve," she gave him a nervous smile. "What's going on?"

Steve smiled back but paused to thank Miss Costello before he ushered her out of the office and began to lead her out of the school. Now that nobody was around, she felt okay to ask a more specific question. "Is everyone okay?"

"Everyone's fine," he assured her as they stepped out onto the street. The familiar blue minivan that was usually used to pick her up and drop her off at school was parked near the curb. "Something's come up though and we have to leave for our mission a little earlier than expected."

Andi got into the passenger seat and looked to Steve. "So you actually came to get me before going?" Andi was relieved that nobody was hurt, like she had first suspected, and now she was beginning to get a little excited.

Steve gave her a pointed look, and glanced briefly to the seatbelt as if to say that he wasn't going to answer till she got buckled in. With a sigh, Andi did just that before looking at him again. "Well, I did make a promise that you would come for this one," he told her with a small smile. "And consider it an early birthday gift."

Andi's birthday was in two days, still, but she certainly wasn't complaining. She was just excited that she was going on her first official mission as an Avenger because until now, it had mainly been indoor training and small missions that had been orchestrated to test her till the rest of the team thought she was finally ready.

"So where are we going?" She asked Steve, practically giddy with excitement.

He turned on the ignition and glanced to her briefly. "Lagos."