JUANITA AND RAVEN WERE WALKING ALONGSIDE NATALIE TOWARDS THE BUS, "So, uh, what happened last night?" Juanita asked, stopping Natalie in her tracks as they were near the bus but not close enough for people to hear them.

"What are you talking about?"

"She's talking about how you out of nowhere went to the bathroom and then went completely quiet afterward, like, too quiet," Raven stated, her arms crossed against her chest.

Natalie shrugged, "I was just tired, that's all."

"Nat, we know when you're tired. You're extremely talkative when you're tired." Juanita pointed out softly.

The light brunette rolled her eyes, "I do not." She scoffed.

"You know you can talk to us about anything right?" Juanita reminded.

Natalie nodded lightly, "Yeah," She sighed, "look, can we just not talk about this right now and go back to the mission?"

Juanita opened her mouth to say something but Raven beat her to it, "Alright. Everyone knows their position right?" Raven asked.

"Yeah, I keep an eye on bug-boy and keep you two updated on what goes on," Natalie answered.

"And since we technically can't be on the trip with you, we'll get there on our own with disguises just in case," Juanita stated, sending Natalie pics of their disguises.

"Got it."

"Try not to blow your alter ego." Raven teased with a small smirk.

Natalie shook her head, "Like I would do that." She turned around to see Peter hasn't shown up yet. She sighed, turning back to face the girls, "I should get going."

"Good luck." Raven smiled softly, giving Natalie a small hug as Natalie whispered a soft 'thank you'.

"You're gonna do great!" Juanita calmed down her nerves, giving Natalie a comforting hug.

"Thanks, Nani." Natalie smiled, letting go of the hug and waving goodbye before she headed towards the bus.

"Natalie! You made it." Liz smiled warmly, noticing Natalie's presence.

Natalie nodded, mumbling a small 'yep' as MJ nudged her elbow as a hello.

"Hey, look. It's Peter." Abe called out cheerfully.

"Guys." Peter breathed out.

Natalie rolled her eyes, already knowing where this was going. Her arms crossed against her chest as she watched the scene go down right in front of her.

"Yeah, I was hoping maybe I could rejoin the team," Peter said sheepishly, shoving his clammy hands in his jacket pockets.

Flash scoffed, shoving past Natalie to walk toward Peter as Natalie's eyebrows furrowed at Flash's actions. "No, no way. You can't just quit on us, stroll, and be welcomed back by everyone." He said in disbelief.

Liz opened her mouth to defend Peter as Mr. Harrington walked out of the bus, "Hey, welcome back, Peter. Flash, you're back to first alternate." He smiled at Peter before looking at his clipboard and pointed at Flash.

"What?" Flash exasperated, looking at Mr. Harrington in bewilderment.

"He's taking your place." Abe pointed out with a huge grin on his face as if to rub it in Flash's face.

"Of course he is," Natalie muttered as she cleared her throat, looking down at her shoes.

MJ noticed Natalie's annoyed state, clearing her throat to catch the other students' attention. "Excuse me, can we go already?" She asked, her eyes squinting due to the sun hitting in her face as everyone fell silent. "'Cause I was hoping to get in some light protesting in front of one of the embassies before dinner, so." She shrugged lightly.

"Uh, yeah... Protesting is patriotic." Mr. Harrington nodded slowly, "Let's get on the bus." He motioned his students towards the doors of the bus.

Flash shook his head as he shrugged off his jacket and throws it aggressively into Peter's arm before getting on the bus. Peter earned a mixture of groans and mumbles. Peter nodded to himself, giving a small towards Natalie as she was the last person to enter the bus. She rolled her eyes as her arms fell to her sides, going on the bus whilst Peter reluctantly followed suit.

Liz decided to do a run-through with her flashcards to pass the time as some students were already getting stressed out and bored. Liz sighed, "Focus up, everyone." She cleared her throat, "Our next topic is the moons of Saturn."

Natalie zoned out everyone's voice staring out the window, hearing the sound of bells ringing continuously and different answers for each question Liz asked started to annoy her. She understood that this whole thing meant a lot to Liz, but Natalie felt like Liz was also suffocating them with questions to no end. Natalie was sat behind MJ, in front of Ned, who was keeping an eye on the same hologram model from last night. She sent out a quick update to the Angels about the hologram model, noticing Peter coming towards her way, towards Ned to be specific. She eyed him cautiously as he answered his phone also noticing MJ staring at him curiously from her book.

Natalie plugged her headphones in, tapping her phone into Peter's to listen in his phone call as she pretended to be listening to music whilst looking out the window.

"You left New York?" She heard Happy asked.

"Uh, yeah. No, it's just a school trip. It's, uh, it's nothing." Peter sat down in the row behind Ned, "Look, Happy, I gotta say... You tracking me without my permission is a complete violation of my privacy."

Natalie almost wanted to laugh at that statement. They were all doing the same thing but for different reasons of course, somewhat. Happy and Natalie were technically both keeping an eye of Peter whilst Peter was keeping track of the bad guys.

"That's different."

"What's different?"

She heard Peter stumble on his words, "Nothing. Look, it's just the Academic Decathlon. It's no big deal."

There was a beat of silence on Happy's end before he decided to speak up on the matter, "Sounds like it's not a big deal, but remember, I'm watching you." He reminded Peter.

"Mhm, got it," Peter answered before hanging up the phone.

Natalie sent another update to the Angels before taking out her headphones. She rested the back of her head against the window, her body facing the aisle of the bus as she closed her eyes for a bit.

"Hey, Natalie..." She felt a tap on her shoulder.

Her eyes fluttered open, rubbing her eyes to adjust from the lighting. She looked up at Peter who was looking at her shyly.

"We're here." He said softly.

She nodded her head in silence, getting up from her seat, slinging her backpack over her shoulder. "Thanks." She mumbled, getting off the bus with Peter following suit.

Natalie and Peter caught up with the group, Natalie walked up to MJ as Peter walked up to Ned. "Everyone stick together." Liz reminded, leading the group.

"Yeah." Mr. Harrington agreed, obviously not having entire control of the trip.

"You kidding me? This place is huge."

"I've seen bigger."

"There's a bird in here."

"Okay, everyone knows who they're sharing rooms with right?" Liz asked everyone as everyone nodded in return. "Great." She mumbled proudly to herself as she continued to lead the group to their assigned rooms.

Liz handed out everyone's room key, giving everyone her last speech for the day about how tomorrow is the big day and how everyone should rest tonight. Natalie opened the door to her room that she shared with MJ.

MJ dropped her bags on the right bed that was closest to the wall, throwing herself onto the bed with her book in hand as she continued reading.

Natalie let out a soft chuckle as she placed her bag on the empty bed. "You're really glued to that book, huh?" She teased.

"The only thing that's interesting from this trip." She teased back with a straight face only to shoot Natalie a quick smirk.

"I'm just glad Liz's flashcard drills are finally over." Natalie sighed as MJ hummed in response.

Natalie felt her phone buzz in her pocket, she looked at her the caller id, "I'm gonna take this. I'll be right back." She said with furrowed eyebrows.

"Okay," MJ responded unphased by the change in tone of Natalie's voice.

Natalie left the room, answering the phone. "Hello?" She strolled through the hallway.

"Where the hell are you?"

"I'm in D.C. It's the Academic Decathlon trip... for school." Natalie answered.

"And you didn't tell me about this? You know the rules young lady. You're not supposed to leave the house without permission."

"I know. I'm sorry." Natalie responded, knowing that if she told her guardian that she did, in fact, tell her about the trip she would get berated for and get told that she's talking back.

"I'm getting real tired of looking after you and constantly worrying about some teenager who's not even mine. If you keep this up, I'll send you back to the orphanage."

Natalie bit back her tongue, "Yes ma'am." She mumbled as her guardian hung up the phone. She let out a deep breath, trying to keep it together. She jumped a bit, her phone startling her as it buzzed once more. "Hello?" She answered quickly without looking at the phone.

"Natalie, any update? You went silent- is everything okay?" She heard Juanita's voice.

Natalie cleared her throat, "Yeah. Just got settled in my hotel room. So far, there hasn't been anything from the bug."

"Nothing?"

"He's been occupied with the tracker and I can't exactly spy on him at the moment." She mumbled as she contemplated her thoughts. "I know we're on a mission right now, but uh, do you think you guys can cut me out on this one? I really want to focus on the team." She changed the subject, the line falling silent. "I'll still give you guys updates on bug-boy, of course, but in just need to focus on one thing right now." She explained.

"Yeah, of course. You come first, Nat." Juanita reassured softly.

"Thanks."

"Hey, Nat?" Juanita asked as Natalie hummed in response, "You know we care about you and you can always talk to us, right?"

Natalie nodded, "I know." She said softly, clearing her throat. "Uh, you guys made it here yet?" She changed the subject once again.

Juanita sighed softly, noticing the subject change, "Actually, no. Not yet. Had to make several stops. You know how Raven is." She chuckled lightly.

"Yeah, always has to stop for her snacks." Natalie laughed softly.

"Hey! Leave me and my snacks alone." Natalie heard Raven yell out through the phone which caused Natalie to laugh harder.

Natalie noticed a figure walking toward her way, her eyes narrowed cautiously. "Hey, I gotta go. I'll talk to you guys later." She said, hanging up after she heard them say their goodbyes.

"Natalie! You up for a swim?"

Natalie relaxed once she realized it was Liz. "Oh, hey, Liz." She breathed out. "Like right now?"

"Yeah, We're gonna go for a late-night swim and just have some fun before the competition tomorrow." Liz shrugged as she motioned the other students to follow after her. "We also raided the vending machines."

"Sure sounds like fun." Natalie smiled lightly at her giggling teammates.

"Hey, Natalie," Sally whispered with an excited smile etched on her face.

"C'mon, Natalie." Cindy chimed in enthusiastically, trying to help Liz persuade Natalie for a late-night swim.

Flash puckered his lips towards Natalie's cheek as her palm met with his face, "Don't." She said sternly as Flash ran off. "I'll be there in a bit," Natalie answered Liz in hopes that she would just drop this conversation already.

"Oh, and if you see Peter would you tell him to join us?" Liz added.

Natalie gave her a tight-lipped smile, "Sure thing."

"Thanks!" Liz smiled back, running her way to the pool with the rest of the decathlon team.

Natalie sighed, continuing her walk down the hall bumping into the one and only.

"Hey, Natalie," Peter whispered, his eyes wide like a deer caught in headlights.

"Uh, Liz wanted me to tell you that she and the rest of the team are gonna go swimming." She informed him, her thumb pointing at the direction they went.

"What?" He whispered taken aback, "I was, uh... I was gonna go study, um," he cleared his throat, "in the business center."

"Of course you are." Natalie shook her head at his response.

"I'm sorry?" He said in confusion.

"Nothing." She went to walk away.

"Do you hate me or something?" He abruptly asked causing Natalie to stop in her tracks.

She sighed, pivoting to face Peter, "I don't necessarily... hate you. Just more annoyed by you." She shrugged as she tried to come up with an answer. "I mean, you quit the decathlon and then you're just welcomed back as if nothing happened." She stated truthfully.

Peter looked at her bewitched as Natalie shook her head, "Anyway, uh... It's probably a good thing Liz is doing this whole late-night swim before the competition especially with how much pressure we've been under."

"Hmm?"

"Uh, y'know, doing something fun or relaxing the night before a big test helps release stress," Natalie cleared her throat, "At least that's what I read or heard."

"Wow, I uh, I didn't realize... that me quitting the team would affect you guys."

"Yeah, Liz sort of has been on our asses once you left." She chuckled lightly. "Every little thing had to be perfect for her." She shrugged. "You know... the most annoying thing about you is that you're probably the smartest guy ever and you're gonna go study instead of just having fun with your teammates." She shook her head at him. "See ya later, Parker."

"See ya." He said softly as he watched Natalie walk away to her room. He glanced down at his watch before throwing his head back in thought. He let out a small sigh before continuing his way to his destination.

Before Natalie walked into her room she shot a quick text to the Angels that Peter was going to be studying in the business center but also keep a heads up that he might be after the bad guys.

『 LILLS SPEAKS! 』

some more natalie x peter content for maria 😌✋