Of Miscommunications and Petty Behaviour
“- and for your homework this week, I would like you to create a project for the science fair in two weeks time. I would like you in groups of 5, and your task between you is to create a presentation about your project, and a model or prototype that works as well as it can. Can I remind you that not everyone has access to the same materials, and to try and be creative about where you source your project from. There will also be help Friday after school for groups who are trying something a little more ambitious. I’m aware the lesson is almost over, but in the final five minutes I’d like you to form your groups and decide on a time when you can all work together.”
Mr Brading, their science teacher, hadn’t gotten the last word out before people began to stand up, running to their friend's desks and claiming teammates.
Ava didn’t need to so much as stand up, locking eyes with Cooper, Peter and Ned in turn.
“So, we, uh, we can be in a group?” confirmed the brunet anyway.
Ava beamed, “Of course we can, we’re the smartest people here anyway, it makes sense for us to work together.” she frowned, “We do need a fifth person though… do you think Mr Brading would let us work as a four?”
“Unlikely,” replied Cooper, “Perhaps we could-”
“What's up, losers?”
Ava blinked as MJ dumped her bag on a spare chair, dragging it over to sit with them.
“Hi MJ!” she said breezily, “You okay?”
The girl gave her the deadest stare she’d seen on an 11 year old.
“I’m joining your group.”
Ava’s smile grew tighter, “Oh, well we already -”
“- of course you can join! The more the merrier, right?” Cooper cut off, elbowing Ava in the ribs as he did so.
The blonde could’ve sworn she saw a smirk on the corner of the girl’s mouth.
“Wasn’t asking but thanks I guess. Whose house are we working at?”
“We could-”
“Mine.” cut in Ava smoothly, “Well, mine and Cooper’s anyway.”
Cooper gave her an incredulous look, “But we would have to check with our parents, “ he said pointedly, with a look that said what the hell are you playing at?I
None of your business she sent back primly, just being nice.
Peter coughed awkwardly, “That would be great, MJ! You’re kinda smart - wait! Not kinda, like really smart - like your smarter than like nearly everyone here - but I’m not saying that they’re stupid you’re just like - sorry, I’ll stop talking“
Peter’s voice ran higher and faster as he spoke to the kinky haired girl, who had raised an eyebrow.
Ava kicked him under the table, and he took the hint.
“Well anyway,” she continued, “Coop and I can speak to our parents tonight, and we’ll let you guys know tonight. What’s your phone number?”
She pulled out her phone expectantly, the one Tony had given her only that morning. It was the latest Stark model - not even on the production line yet, sleek, streamlined and top of the range.
“I don’t have a phone,” replied MJ evenly. “Tell me tomorrow.”
“You don’t have a phone?” asked Ava, scrunching her nose.
The girl somehow made her stare deader.
“Not all of us are rich daddy’s girls.”
There was a moment of silence, Ava’s mouth hanging slightly open.
Nobody moved.
Ava’s hand began to stretch, reaching for the bracelet she knew she could transfigure. Into a dagger perhaps.
She closed her fingers around it, pulling it suddenly from the sheath and then-
Briiiiiiing briiiiiiing briiiiiiing
The end of the lesson bell went off, and the world began to move again, Ava’s hand latching onto her bag, standing up as she did so. She smiled daintily at the girl, mind determined on her next move. Yeah, she might regret it later, but she highly doubted it.
“At least some of us have dad’s who don’t sleep around with every other woman on the block.”
Before swinging her bag over her shoulder and exiting the room, keeping her shoulders high and her face turned forward.
Which was hard to do when she heard a tiny sound come from behind her, the stoic girl breaking face for a single moment. Which was even harder, when instead of being flanked by her usual cohort, she left the room alone, the space where Cooper usually stood cold and barren.
But she managed it. She held her pride, and kept walking, down and out of the classroom, and into her next lesson.
It didn’t hurt when Peter, who she shared the class with, walked right by her, sitting on the other side of the classroom with some random kid from the maths team.
It didn’t hurt when she saw Cooper whisper something in MJ’s ear, and the girl, who’d she’d never even seen a smile before, broke out laughing.
It didn’t hurt when Ned wouldn’t meet her eyes in the corridor, walking with his head down.
And it certainly didn’t hurt when she arrived late at lunch, having run all the way from the library, heart aching, and apologies ready to spill, to find her usual spot taken, a head of raven hair taking the place she’d claimed the very first day. It didn’t hurt when she walked away calmly, pulling out her phone and dialling a number she’d gone three weeks without dialling during school hours.
“Vennen? What’s wrong?” Loki’s voice came through the speaker, laced with concern but not panic.
“I - I need to leave. Now. "She said tightly, “It’s too- can you pick me up?”
“I’m on my way.”
The phone disconnected, and Ava walked in a state of faux calm down the corridor, making her way to the office, where Loki had just strode in through the visitor’s entrance, evidently having teleported directly.
He exchanged a few words with the receptionist, presumably explaining who he was, and Ava’s special permissions, and then she was free, the pair of them quickly exiting the school grounds, before Loki teleported them directly to the Tower, the pair of them barely making into one of the seidr-proof rooms, before she exploded.
Pure power rushed out, Ava filling the void with a scream that hurt her own ears.
Finally, her energy burnt out, and she collapsed into the arms of her brother, who held her, as he’d held her all those years ago, sitting on the pavement of an alleyway, in the moments after she’d made a mistake she had thought she’d never regret, yet had haunted her for years.
Huh, guess not much had changed.
—--------------------
A few hours ago
“At least some of us have dad’s who don’t sleep around with every other woman on the block.”
Cooper sucked in a breath of shock.
Wha… what?
He didn’t believe it. Couldn’t.
Because his best friend was many things. She was brilliant, and bossy and stubborn and sometimes downright violent, but the one thing she wasn’t was cruel.
Sure she’d probably hit a few more people than she should, sure she’d made more than one person cry, but it was always in protection of the people she loved, or the people who needed it most.
She had practise at being mean - it was a necessity sometimes, but never before had she been cruel.
And that? Using something that sensitive against someone who’d done nothing to her?
That was cruel.
That was out of order.
Cooper watched as his best friend left in almost a state of shock, brain still not quite registering what had happened.
At least until MJ had sniffled.
It had been a tiny sound, quickly locked away back into the mask of apathy, but Cooper had heard it.
Gingerly, he reached a hand over to the girl,
“That was uncalled for.” he said quietly, “She -”
MJ’s face twisted in a sneer, “Let me guess, she’s not like that normally. She’s actually a really nice person.”
Cooper smiled wryly, “Actually generally she’s not. She can be savage when she wants to be. I’ll let that slide when it comes from a place that means well. But that? That was her being cruel for the sake of it. That was Ava being petty. She might be my best friend, but I’m not going to defend her on this one. Are you okay to go to your next lesson? I’m pretty sure we have English Lit together next. I can tell Miss that you're not feeling well.”
MJ seemed to shrug the weakness off, “Nah I’m fine. Just.. took me a little off guard. I’m good. “
The four of them began to walk together out of the room, Peter looking troubled and Ned looking uncomfortable. They said their goodbyes at the door, Cooper and MJ walking towards the English Department.
The lesson trickled by, Cooper hardly able to concentrate, his thoughts swirling around a certain blonde.
He hated feeling like this - feeling like Ava was slipping away from him again. Maybe they could talk it out? Neither side had been entirely blameless, although Ava had far less of an excuse. MJ had no way of knowing the sheer amount of crap Ava had been through, but that didn’t give her permission to hurt the girl back. Ava had violated MJ - likely on one of her trawls through the web, practising her hacking skills. She had found information to hurt the girl, and she’d used it without hesitation.
He was now swinging between talking it out, and talking it out in the ring.
Urgh, why could nothing in his life be simple?
—------------------
Peter was… uncomfortable. There was no other way to describe it. His skin felt too tight, his thoughts were too loud. All fixated on the conversation that morning. The conversation he’d been so excited about - finally able to talk to the girl he couldn’t help but notice, finally able to include her in the group. And then Ava had… said that.
Peter wasn’t used to having friends - he was too nerdy, too geeky, too uncool. Ned had been his best and only friend since he’d started school - most people didn’t want to listen to him hyperfixate on Star Wars and lego. He found out the hard way that his rambling lost him more friends than it gained. People got freaked out, or
bored or thought he was plain weird.
Meeting Ava at the Expo had been the strangest experience of his life - this girl, this super cool, pretty, amazing, fun girl, with her laid-back brother, had wanted to talk to him. Him. He’d been in awe of her. She was so cool, confident, and happy. Which was most of the reason why he’d left with her, letting her drag him through the crowd. It had been one of the best nights of his life - even considering the fact he’d almost gotten zapped by a robot. He’d made the coolest friend of his life, seen his hero, and then been saved by that same hero. When he’d realised he’d still had her hoodie, it had only served to make it more real. It was a reminder of what happened. A reminder that someone had liked him for him, that she’d listened to him talk about Iron Man, and dragged him on an adventure.
And then when he found her again? And she saved him from the jerk who’d made his life hell? It was more than he’d ever dreamed.
She’d been so badass, beating up Flash in front of the entire class, acting perfectly innocent in front of their new teacher, and then bringing him to sit with her.
She’d brought Ned as well, not so much as blinking at the prospect of two weird nerds being known openly as her friends - that was another thing he’d had; people wanting to be friends with him outside school, wanting to play Star Wars and lego and have sleepovers, but then ignoring him entirely at school, laughing at his face when he tried to talk to them.
Ava wasn’t like that. Yes, she could be a bit bossy, a bit loud, a bit domineering, if you would. But she didn’t hold the double standards he’d encountered so often.
She might have not been perfect, but she was perfect to him.
But now? He didn’t know what she was.
And that scared him.
So he walked by her in class.
He sat at another desk, next to a boy he’d never spoken to before.
She didn’t come find him.
And so he let her go.
—--------------------
MJ was… confused.
And angry. And sad.
She had spent 11 years by herself. She had never needed anyone, never wanted anyone.
And then she’d met Ava.
Ava was… an enigma.
She had a wicked sense of humour, impressive fighting skills and a sense of judgement that most people wouldn’t form for at least another decade or so.
She was also very, very weird.
And that was saying something, coming from someone who literally had a sketchpad full of people in crisis.
She hid it well - there was no denying that. The things she missed, Cooper would pick up, the pair working in tandem like two skaters on the ice.
But there were inconsistencies. Odd behaviours. Little looks and glances and inside jokes about things that an 11-year old should probably not have opinions on.
The first thing MJ noticed was how often she spaced out. It would never be for long, but every so often, her gaze would drift to somewhere further than MJ could see. Her eyes would go glassy, she’d still almost entirely, barely breathing. And then Cooper would pinch her, or kick her under the table, or whisper something in her ear, and she’d snap out of it.
Then there were the triggers. It had taken her over a month to piece them together, but she’d finally managed it.
Any mention of the New York Invasion was an immediate no - though that made sense, given that she’d probably been in New York at the time of the attack.
Then there was her hatred of the dark, tight spaces and being alone.
The first two were hardly unusual fears to have, but the last one was admittedly strange.
And her reaction to them? More than it should be.
MJ was no stranger to panic-attacks, having learnt to control them from a young age, and she recognised the beginnings of them far more than plausibly possible in what was meant to be a safe environment.
Both Ava and Cooper were well versed in disguising them, which indicated that they had been a regular thing for at least as long as Cooper had relocated to the city for.
Then there was the reactions to loud noises, to people sneaking up on her, to people touching her without consent or warning. MJ had once watched a documentary on the effects of war, and if she hadn’t known better, she’d say that Ava was suffering from PTSD. Well, more PTSD than the rest of them at least.
And finally, the most baffling of them, her apparent hatred of… blue? Or more specifically, to light and bright blue. And even more specifically, light and bright blue eyes. Which was downright odd.
So yeah, Ava was a little weird.
MJ was enamoured.
Well, mildly interested.
And when an opportunity came up to finally talk to the girl? She snapped it up faster than Ava had snatched Peter. Talking of whom, was really actually quite cute. Like an awkward puppy dog.
She’d sat down with them, using her usual tact and charm to convince them to let her join.
Which was when she suddenly remembered the teeny-tiny fact she’d forgotten about the blonde. In addition to being scarily intelligent, implausibly athletic and more than a little strange, she could also be a jealous brat.
It was an open secret that Ava’s family were rich - hell, they both wore designer clothes everyday, and they got dropped off every morning either by Ava’s sibling in a flashy black BMW, or by a freaking chauffeur in a rolls-royce. So not just filthy rich, but old money as well.
And the jealousy?
MJ wasn’t even sure the girl knew the vibe she was giving off - hostile as hell, and mean with it. If they’d been wolves, Ava would have been rubbing her scent glands all over the boys, growling ‘mine’.
Which made sense - she was clearly a complete daddy’s girl, spoiled to the 9th degree, unused to sharing the people she considered hers.
She had probably never faced a hardship in her life - the New York attack must’ve broken the delicate shell she’d spent her life wrapped up in, which was why she was so high-strung.
Her father probably spent a fortune on tutors and instructors, letting her live her life secluded.
Which also would explain the slightly stunted people skills - she was used the dealing with adults, children were just as much an enigma to her as Ava was to MJ.
And then the girl had shown her true colours.
She snapped - using information she should no way in hell have - cutting MJ to the bone, before floating out like a Prima Donna.
And MJ had let her.
It might’ve made her a bad person, but she needed an in with the group. She needed to know the truth. And if it was the only way she could get it? So be it.