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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟐
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐓 𝐃𝐀𝐘

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𝐓𝐖𝐎 𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐇𝐒 𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐑

The alarm on her phone blasted louder than expected through the silent apartment. Alex jumped at the sudden sound and almost fell off her bed before she relaxed. A small sigh passed over her lips as she reached over to silence the annoying beep and rubbed her hands down the sides of her face. The young girl didn't move for another minute or two then she forced herself out of bed and into the bathroom to get ready for the day.

The redhead went through her morning routine a lot slower than she usually did as her mind raced with thoughts of how the day could go. She hoped that her first day at Midtown School of Science and Technology would go smoothly and like how she imagined high school to be. But Alex knew she shouldn't have her hopes up so high. The only thing she knew for sure was that she had to keep her abilities in check. She couldn't risk getting discovered by anyone.

After finishing off the last of her toast, Alex placed her plate in the sink before going back to her room to grab her backpack. She walked across the small room and made her way towards her bag when her eyes landed on something she hadn't thought about since she arrived in New York. Her attention stayed glued to the suit that Charlie and Pietro had sent her while her mind replayed their conversation over and over in her head.

Alex soon shook off all her emotions and focused back on what the day held as she grabbed her backpack and walked out of her room. After grabbing her keys from the hook by the door and shoving them into her bag, she walked out of her apartment and onto the streets of New York. She took in the tall buildings while she journeyed through the city toward the school that was conveniently a block away.

When she finally reached the Midtown School of Science and Technology, the Easton girl couldn't believe her eyes. She simply stood outside the brick building and took everything in before a small smile appeared on her face. Her eyes stayed glued to her new school until her attention was drawn to a loud honking and tires screeching on the other side of the parking lot. When she looked over toward the source of the sound, her body froze at the sight of a brunette boy jumping out of the way of a silver car.

She instantly recognized him from when she first met Charlie a few months ago. He was the boy who was trying to convince the archer to turn Alex into the Avengers. It was just her luck that Peter Parker went to her new school. The redheaded girl shook off her conflicting emotions before turning her attention away from the boy and back toward the school. After letting out a long breath to calm her nerves, she walked up the steps and into the building. Alex listened to the morning announcements that were playing on the TVs that occupied the hallways as she wove between the many students in search of the front office. When she reached her destination, she pushed open the double doors and walked toward the woman sitting behind the front desk.

"Hi, my name's Alexis Montgomery," the redhead told her after getting close enough to the woman.

"Oh, yes! Our newest student!" she responded with a giant grin on her face as she placed a couple of papers on her desk, "here is your class schedule and your locker number and combination. We also have someone who volunteered to show you around. She should be here any minute."

As soon as she finished saying those words, the office doors opened behind them to reveal a raven-haired girl walking in. Alex studied the girl for a moment as she walked towards the front desk before she stopped right next to the redhead.

"Right on time, Ms. Allen," the woman at the front desk said then gestured towards the Easton girl, "this is Alexis Montgomery. Ms. Montgomery, this is Elizabeth Allen."

"Hi! I'm Liz! It's so nice to meet you!"

"I'm Alex and it's nice to meet you, too."

After the two girls exchanged a few more words, they shared a laugh as the redhead grabbed everything she needed from the front desk and followed Liz out of the office. Alex listened to the older girl explain everything about their school while she gestured to the different doors. Just as they turned the corner, the two of them almost ran straight into the blonde girl that was doing the morning announcements. The girl's eyes scanned over Alex for a moment before a giant grin formed on her face.

"You're the new girl, right?" she asked, only to receive a nod in response from the Easton girl before she continued, "my name's Betty Brant. Do you think I can interview you for the school paper?"

Alex opened her mouth to respond, only for it to slam shut when her eyes met a familiar pair staring back at her from across the hall. The two of them were in what felt like a trance-like state before the boy started walking toward her. The Easton girl's blood instantly ran cold as she watched him approach before her attention turned back to the two girls.

"Maybe we can do that interview another time," Alex told the blonde girl then looked up at Liz while gesturing in the direction they just came, "you said the restrooms were back this way, right?"

After receiving a quick nod from the Allen girl, the redhead turned and raced back in the direction she came from. Alex tried to keep her speed as human as possible as she wove in between the students in the halls. The speedster wasn't ready to face the brunette boy who didn't give her a chance when they first met. She knew that he tried to convince Charlie to call someone about her and she wasn't ready to forgive that just yet. And she also knew he wasn't ready to give her a chance to prove that she wasn't who he thought she was. A small smile formed on Alex's face after losing the brunette boy in the crowd. Little did she know that wasn't the last time she was going to run into Peter Parker.

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Half the morning went by in a flash and Alex found herself enjoying most of her first day. Of course, there were a few hiccups here and there. Like when one of her teachers made her stand up in front of the class and tell everyone about herself. She never lied so much at one time in her entire life but everyone seemed to buy it and didn't ask too many questions. After almost getting lost on her way to her last class, the Easton girl finally made it to the science lab. A small smile formed on her face as she entered the room of her favorite subject. She instantly took in all of the posters and information that covered the walls before she walked toward Ms. Warren.

"Hi, I'm Alex Montgomery, your new student," she greeted while trying to ignore all the stares she was receiving from her classmates.

"It's nice to finally meet you," the short-haired woman responded after writing something down in one of her notebooks, "you can have a seat next to Mr. Parker."

Alex's smile faltered at the sound of the boy's name as she turned in the direction the woman was gesturing to find Peter staring straight back at her. The two of them kept their eyes glued to each other for a long moment before Alex sent Ms. Warren a small nod and made her way to her seat. The Easton girl couldn't even take out her supplies before the brunette boy broke the uncomfortable silence that surrounded them.

"What are you doing here?" he questioned the girl just loud enough for her to hear.

"It's a school. I'm trying to get an education," Alex responded as she placed her notebook on the lab table then she looked over at him and sent him an innocent smile, "why else would I be here?"

Before the Parker boy could respond, Ms. Warren started her lesson. Alex took notes as the physics teacher discussed their lesson for the day. Luckily for her, she knew most of the information that Ms. Warren was teaching them thanks to her parents. At least they were good for something other than experimenting on her.

Everyone seemed just as invested as Alex in the lesson as Ms. Warren continued to point to different pictures drawn on the board. Well, everyone except for Peter Parker but the Easton girl chose to ignore the videos he was watching on his laptop. It wasn't like she hadn't already seen all the YouTube videos posted of his alter-ego swinging through the streets of New York on his laptop.

"Okay, so how do we calculate linear acceleration between points A and B?" Ms. Warren questioned her class as she walked in front of the whiteboard. Her eyes scanned over her students before they landed on one of the only hands raised to answer the question. "Flash."

"It's the product of sine of the angle and gravity divided by the mass," the boy sitting in front of Alex answered in a confident tone, only for their teacher to shoot him down. More hands flew up into the air to answer the question, including Alex's. They all watched the woman's eyes scan over her class before they landed on the one student who couldn't care less about her lesson.

"Peter. You still with us?" she questioned, causing the boy to sit up so fast that he almost fell off his chair.

"Uh, uh, yeah, yeah," the Parker boy responded as she slowly closed his laptop to look at the board, "mass cancels out, so it's just gravity times sine."

"Right," Ms. Warren told him with a smile before her attention fell back on the raven-haired boy, "see, Flash, being the fastest isn't always the best if you are wrong."

Alex stifled a laugh when Flash turned around and sent a glare at the Parker boy. The two boys had a staredown that was very out of place in the Easton girl's opinion before the Thompson boy muttered "you're dead," which made Alex want to laugh even harder. The redheaded girl studied Flash for another second then she turned her attention towards Peter, only to find him looking back at the clock as if he wasn't just threatened.

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Alex went through the rest of her classes with a smile on her face and a bounce in her step, which is more than she could say for the rest of the student body. The only thing that brought her mood down just a bit was having Peter Parker in every single one of her classes. He would either ignore her or glare at her the entire time, which drove Alex crazy. On top of that, in almost every class, the Parker boy would do something that was Spider-Man related. If it wasn't looking up videos in their math and English classes, it was making his web fluid in their science class. The Easton girl was starting to think that he wanted to get caught.

As soon as the redheaded girl walked out of her science class, Alex pulled out her school map to aid her search for the cafeteria. Due to her distraction, she failed to notice the open locker when she turned the corner and slammed straight into it. The force caused Alex to stumble back a bit before she tripped over her foot and fell to the floor. She sat there and took in what just happened before she looked up to meet a pair of startled brown eyes. The two of them just stared at each other for a long moment before the boy grabbed Alex's hands and pulled her to her feet.

"That looked like it hurt," the raven-haired boy said with a lopsided smile as he continued to study the girl in front of him before he bent down to pick up her map, "I take it you're new here. I'm Atlas."

"Alex," the Easton girl responded while she straightened herself out before taking her map from him.

Before their conversation could continue, a hand wrapped around Alex's upper arm then she was dragged away. The Easton girl took one last look at Atlas before she turned her attention toward an annoyed-looking Liz. Alex stayed silent and let the older girl drag her along until they reached the cafeteria. It wasn't long after they entered the large room when the Allen girl finally let go of Alex's arm before turning around to face her.

"What did he say to you?" she questioned with the same annoyed look in her eyes as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Uh, nothing really," Alex responded while trying to hide the confusion that was flowing through her veins, "I accidentally hit his locker then he helped me up and introduced himself. That's it."

"Okay," Liz sighed before letting out another long breath and she visibly relaxed, "let me offer some first-day advice. Steer clear of him."

The confusion the Easton girl was feeling instantly doubled as the annoyance in the Allen girl's eyes grew. Just as Alex was about to open her mouth to respond, Liz turned around and walked towards Betty, who was waiting for her friend to arrive so they could hang up their posters. Alex stood there dumbfounded before she moved to help her new friends with their task, completely unaware of the two boys watching her from the other side of the cafeteria.

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The day had finally come to an end and Alex found herself walking out of the building with a huge smile on her face. It had been a long time since the Easton girl felt genuinely happy and she didn't want the feeling to end. The only thing that would've made it better was going home to Charlie, Pietro, and Wanda instead of an empty apartment. She just hoped she'd be able to catch them at a good time and tell them about her first day.

The grin on her face never faded as she turned the corner and walked down the sidewalk that would lead her back to her apartment. Just as she was about to reach the end of the gate that surrounded her school, her attention was drawn to movement out of the corner of her eyes before Peter Parker landed in front of her. The two of them just stared at each other until Alex glanced up at the fence that the brunette boy just jumped over.

"Did you really just jump over that? In broad daylight? With nothing to hide who you are?" the Easton girl asked as she turned her attention back to the boy in front of her after the smirk on her face grew, "it's like you want the world to know you're Spider-Man."

"You're seriously questioning me about keeping my identity a secret? What about you? How'd you get over here so fast?" the Parker boy responded without even trying to hide the annoyance in his voice.

"It's called walking. You should try it sometime."

Before the boy could respond, Alex sent him a mocking smile and pushed past him to continue on her way home. She thought that was the last time she'd see Peter Parker that day. Boy, was she wrong.

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