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It was way too early in the morning. All Andi could think about doing was sleeping, but she couldn't because of school and the incessantness of Tony Stark. He'd kept her up all night with texts regarding Peter's ventures the previous day—the ventures she hadn't kept watch on due to her necessary need to build a Lego Death Star with one of her friends, which they now had to rebuild.

Tony was unhappy with Andi, though. He was unhappy because she hadn't been present when Peter decided to blow up a bank and Delmar's Subs. The news upset her, not because she cared what Tony thought of her at three in the morning, but because Delmar's was so dear to her heart. His sandwiches were everything, and if she could, she would use every last bit of her money to purchase unlimited sandwiches. That was not an option anymore, however, as Delmar's was no more. She could only blame the ATM robbers Peter tried to put a stop to. It was the only reason she wished she'd been present.

Andi yawned and rubbed her eyes, once again ignoring the vibration in her pocket. Ned and Peter were talking with one another. Well, Ned was asking a bunch of questions, to which Peter was reluctantly answering. Andi couldn't care less about the conversation, though. All she cared about was finishing up the school day, looking after Peter, and going back to sleep.

"The spider's dead, Ned."

Andi could practically feel Ned's mood shift, and she chuckled under her breath. She stopped, though, when she took notice of the mess in front of her. Police officers, Andi assumed, were running around the area in front of Delmar's, while civilians watched on in curiosity. The building had been destroyed, leaving debris all over the ground. Andi hadn't known it looked as bad as it did. The ATM across the street looked just as terrible, and it was now she knew why Tony was on her ass about it.

As fate would have it, Andi's phone rang inside her pocket. She groaned and pulled it out, pressing the device to her ear without even bothering to check the caller I.D. It wasn't as if she needed to anyway. The same person had been trying to get ahold of her since three in the morning, and she doubted he would be giving up any time soon.

"Hello?" Andi answered the phone and strolled away from her friends. She couldn't risk Peter hearing Tony and recognizing the voice.

"It's about time you answered me," Tony chastised Andi. "I've been trying to reach you since three in the morning."

Andi rolled her eyes and leaned up against the wall of a random building, her eyes on Peter and Ned. "Believe me, I know. You're the reason I'm so exhausted."

"And here I figured the reason behind your exhaustion would stem from the fight you put up to help prevent Parker from laying waste to an entire block, but that's obviously not what happened, now is it?" Tony remarked.

"No."

"And why not?"

"My friend asked me to build a Lego Death Star with him, and so that was what I did," Andi answered him.

Tony chuckled on the other line. "You neglected your responsibilities to play with building blocks?"

"Legos," she corrected him.

"Oh my gosh."

"Listen, I'm trying to juggle work and being an actual teenager," Andi said to him. "It's a lot harder than you think, so give me a break, would ya?"

"Fine," Tony sighed. "But I'm watching you, Andrews."

Andi only shook her head and hung up the phone. Peter and Ned were now looking at her with raised brows. They were probably wondering who she'd been talking to, but she wouldn't tell them.

"You coming?" Peter gestured her forward.

Andi only nodded and ran a hand through her hair. She hadn't gotten much sleep at all, and both of the boys could tell.

"You look exhausted," Ned laughed.

"That's because I am," Andi breathed out. "I didn't get much sleep last night."

"Yeah, neither did I, because your phone kept going off," Peter teased the blonde.

Ned raised a brow at the two. "So you guys had a sleepover last night and didn't invite me?"

"Peter didn't even invite me," Andi laughed. "I just laid down and went to sleep."

"Yeah," Peter rolled his eyes. "And I was stuck on the top bunk."

"You could've moved her?" Ned suggested.

"I thought about it, but didn't really get up to do it until after she'd already fallen asleep, and then she just looked too peaceful, so I left her," Peter explained to Ned.

Andi smiled and shook her head. "Me looking peaceful when I'm asleep? That's a first."

Peter and Ned only laughed at her, and together the three of them continued on toward school.

The day dragged on for Andi. She decided to spend most of her classes napping, which she learned did her quite the service. Ned never stopped asking Peter questions, and it wasn't hard to tell that he'd gotten annoyed with them throughout the day. It was as if he wished Ned was more like Andi and just didn't care about the situation, which he still found strange, to be quite honest.

Andi was awake for gym, though. After being shown a video of Captain America, one she had seen way too many times, Andi wound up on the bleachers. She laid on the bleachers with her science textbook in her hands, her eyes reading over every single word. Her peers, aside from Liz, Betty, and a couple of other students she couldn't bother to learn the names of, were all on the gym floor working through the basics of the video they'd been shown earlier. They were all so loud, so unnecessarily loud to her enhanced senses, and she was trying her hardest to block them all out, but it was so much harder than she thought.

"Oh my, God, she's crushing on Spider-Man," Betty said after a remark made by Liz.

"I mean, kind of."

Andi could tell by the sound of Liz's voice that she was flustered, and that only made her roll her eyes. Their constant chatter was just so annoying. She would rather sit on the bleachers and read about interactive star charts or mitosis. Anything was better than listening to her peers talk about which Avenger they'd rather screw.

"Peter knows Spider-Man!"

Andi dropped her book on her chest and looked at Ned with wide eyes, while the rest of the students in the gym stopped what they were doing to look at the pair. With each passing second she wished the two of them hadn't gone over to Peter's house so early. Ned was screwing up so many things for Peter. Andi knew the young boy was willing to do anything to keep his secret, but if Ned continued running his mouth the way he was, it would be nearly impossible to, and she knew that was the last thing he wanted.

"No, I don't," Peter stood up quickly. "I-I mean—"

"They're friends," Ned added.

"Yeah, like Coach Wilson and Captain America are friends," Flash scoffed and jumped to the ground.

Andi swallowed the lump in her throat and picked her textbook back up. She listened as Peter continued to speak, glad that no one had involved her in the conversation.

"I've met him a couple times," Peter told everyone nervously. "But it's, um, through the Stark Internship, and I'm not really supposed to talk about it."

"Well, that's awesome," Flash replied sarcastically. "Maybe you should invite him to Liz's party."

"Yeah," Liz nodded. "I'm having people over tonight, you're more than welcome to come."

"Having a party?" Peter breathed out.

"Yeah, it's gonna be dope."

"It probably would be if you just so happened to not show up," Andi muttered to herself, but she'd forgotten just how quiet Ned's outburst left the gym. She felt eyes on her and she looked away from her book to find Peter, Ned, Flash, Liz, and a majority of other students looking at her.

"I'm sorry," Flash exclaimed. "Do you have something to say, Andrews?"

Andi let out a sigh of boredom and looked back at her book. "Nothing other than the fact that I don't like you and I really suggest you leave Peter alone."

"Someone's protective of her little boyfriend," Flash snorted.

"Protective, yes," Andi said. "Boyfriend, no."

"Lemme guess, you're dating Peter's imaginary friend Spider-Man," Flash mocked the blonde and made his way over to her. "It's not like you could get anyone else hangin' out with the loser patrol."

Andi rolled her eyes and sat up, closing her book rather harshly. Flash was standing in front of her with his arms crossed over his chest and a stupid smirk on his face. Andi was tired. She was so tired of him and everyone else like him. He treated everyone around him terribly, and no one was willing to stand up to him except for her, and that was exactly what she was going to do.

"What?" Flash laughed. "Don't have anything to say?"

Everyone was now watching the pair, waiting to see what would happen, but Andi paid them no mind at all. She stood up, gripping her textbook tightly in her hands, and in a single instant she was swinging it at his face. The Recluse in her told her not to do it at all, but the Andi in her was excellent at ignoring her inner self when the situation called for it.

"Not at all."

Andi grabbed her backpack and threw it over her shoulder just in time for the bell to ring. She made her way out of the gym, while everyone remained and watched with a mix of shock and surprise as Flash reached up to caress his aching face.

Andi knew her strength, though. She knew how hard she needed to hit him to bring him pain, but she also knew how hard not to hit him to prevent from knocking him out or even killing him. It was something she'd picked up after years of having her abilities. Flash would be fine so long as he respected the boundaries she'd indirectly placed upon him. A bruised cheek was definitely possible, but other than that he would be perfectly fine.

As Andi was making her way down the hall, somebody grabbed her arm. She stopped and turned to see Peter, who had a small grin on his face, likely from watching her give Flash what he deserved.

"Can I just be the first to say thank you?" Peter spoke nervously. "I've wanted to defend myself for so long, but I couldn't then, so I shouldn't now."

"I understand," Andi said to him. "It was about time someone stood up to him, though."

"Yeah, and you have no idea how glad I am it was you," Peter smiled and gave her arm a gentle squeeze. "I'll see you tonight, right?"

"Where?"

"The party?"

Andi scoffed and headed to her locker with Peter following closely behind her. "You're actually going to the party?"

"What do you think will happen if I don't?"

Andi only shrugged and grabbed the rest of her books for the day.

"I'll be the embarrassment of the century if I don't show up," he told her.

Andi let out a breath and slammed her locker shut. "Why do you care so much about what they think? So you don't fit in? Who cares? Standing out is better than being normal anyway, which is something you now know better than anyone. Own your abnormality, Peter Parker. Stop looking for everyone else's approval, especially Liz's. If you have to go so far out of your way to impress a girl, she is definitely not the one for you."

"So, I'll see you tonight?" Peter called to Andi's retreating figure.

"Whatever, Parker."

Andi continued her walk through the halls. All she wanted was for the day to be over, but as her job would have it, it was nowhere close.