Chapter 3
After the first five minutes of the tour Natasha came to the conclusion that she and the principal's daughter were not on the way to becoming good friends.
Antonia Dreykov was moving very fast through the corridors, her step so quick that she almost had to run after her. Natasha wasn't sure if she had misread the memo, but more than a guided tour it felt like a marathon to the nearest exit of each of the buildings. The girl spoke in a serious and distant tone, listing each of Midtown's great qualities with false pride and avoiding direct contact with everyone at all costs.
“We are one of the few high schools with such a high scientific performance, 95% of the graduating students enter their top three of their choice” continued Antonia as she headed towards the last exit of the educational buildings. “As you may have noticed, the whole complex is divided into two, on one side we have the high school and the other is destined for the middle school, both separated by the sports fields and the gym”
With the same haste with which they had crossed the first buildings, both girls headed outside. Once outside, Natasha looked around, carefully observing the groups of students running during their sports class, paying special attention to the blonde preteens she could make out in the distance. Despite the years full of disappointment the redhead had not been able to get rid of that habit, a part of her was still searching, still feeling guilty.
The problem is that it was never the same shade of blonde, and if it was then it wasn't the right shade of hazel eyes.
“…. there are more than 30 after-school clubs.” Antonia continued the tour on the soccer fields, she soon realized that her classmate was not following her as closely as she had before. Natasha jumped when a hand gripped her forearm, and she yanked herself out of the principal’s daughter's grasp. “Are you okay? I'm sorry I grabbed you without permission, only that you had been lost for a long time"
"Yes, everything is fine" the redhead answered immediately, with great effort she forced herself to smile when she noticed that the black-haired girl didn't believe her "It's been a tiring few days"
Without further ado, she turned around and continued on her way, although she didn't know where she was going, in more than one way.
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There was something different about the new girl that made Antonia Dreykov uneasy, she had felt a certain familiarity from the first moment she saw her when she entered the reception. The redhead had an aura of strength and confidence that she conveyed with great naturalness that caught the attention of everyone around her, an aura that Antonia had tried to achieve herself for many years with the insistence of her father.
Antonia hurried to reach the redhead, she had to admit that she had not been a good hostess, but she was very tired. The weekend training sessions had been very long and in the morning they had almost been late because she had taken so much time to check the bruises on Yelena's leg, but it had been necessary.
"I imagine it must be very hard to leave everything behind and start over again” commented the Antonia when she finally reached the new girl, Natasha looked surprised that she tried to continue the conversation but immediately composed her expression, putting friendly and calm face.
"A little, this city is... interesting, although I don't have much to compare it to" the redhead continued
"Where you come from?" Antonia asked as she returned to lead the walk, until she remembered that she barely knew this girl and was already asking her for personal details "I'm sorry, I mean, you don't have to tell me, just..."
"From Ohio" Natasha interrupted her before she could continue with her train of apologies, the principal’s daughter's shoulders relaxed when she verified that the redhead was not upset. This whole situation was very strange, normally Antonia had trouble communicating with her classmates, her father said that friends were an unnecessary distraction and that sooner or later everyone disappoints you, but there was something familiar about this girl, she just didn't know what it was exactly. The bell announcing the end of period startled them. “I think we should go back”
“I think so, I'm sorry if you couldn't see the rest of the school” Antonia commented as they headed back to the main building.
“It’s okay, I'll have time to know it better later" commented the redhead while smiling kindly "It was nice meeting you Antonia, maybe we'll have some class together, maybe we could become friends"
"Yes, we could be friends"
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"And how was the tour with Taskmaster?" Clint was balancing on one of the railings near the parking lot, after a boring English class Clint reminded her that she had earned meeting the cool kids. He had led her to a spot near the parking lot where four other people, whom he had introduced as Phil, Melinda, Laura and Maria, were already waiting for him. It was a strange group, in the few minutes that she had been with them she had noticed that the five of them had slightly opposite personalities and not at all similar tastes. However, Natasha could understand why they were friends, in a way they were like pieces of a puzzle, different, but together they formed something special.
“Fast” Natasha said without thinking much, Clint made a questioning noise "I mean, it wasn't bad, Antonia seems nice"
“Yes, nice…until you really get to know her” Clint commented sincerely.
"Clint!" Laura admonished, causing the teenager to lose his balance and go backwards on the railing, Natasha caught him before he fall.
"What? It's the truth! besides I just want to warn the little redhead here what she's getting herself into” Clint defended himself as he regained his balance. “Ok, maybe it's not her fault, but you can't deny everything that's happened, just remember last year with Mel!!!! she deserved…”
“That's a story May will share when she is ready,” Phil interrupted him gently. “Although I can't deny that what Clint says is true, I'm not saying that Antonia is a bad person Natasha, just that things don't end very well for the people who are close to her”
"Why? What happened?” Natasha asked with interest. She liked Clint, and everyone had been nice to her so far, but the serious way they talked about Antonia made her question what kind of trouble could provoke that kind of reaction.
"Nothing that can't be fixed," May commented as she put away her things, seconds later the bell rang "We don't want to make a bad impression on you, we just want you to be careful, the Dreykov family has a somewhat peculiar dynamic."
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"You're walking funny again" commented the archer as they headed towards the gym, the brunette trying to keep her balance as she walked over one of the low railings of the school "Antonia forgot to pick up her stupid legos again?"
“Yep”
"You know? these legos are causing a lot of trouble, at this rate we could file a lawsuit, or even create an anti-lego campaign”
"They were special edition legos" Corrected the blonde as she subtly watched her friend, after all Kate Bishop was known for her good aim and not for her good balance "There is no need to create an anti-lego campaign"
“Well, then a petitions against special edition legos!” exclaimed Kate seconds before losing the equilibrium. To her good luck Yelena managed to hold her before crashing to the ground, the bad thing is that the black-haired girl was taller and almost ended up crushing Yelena.
"Can you stop doing that?" murmured the blonde breathlessly “You know that you don't have to do everything Barton does to be a good archer? Besides, I'm sure that more than half of the advice he has given you has been lies to make himself look cooler than her really is”
"But I need to improve! And Clint is the best! He is Hawkeye!" Kate exclaimed
“Whatever Kate, Clint's a pretty good archer, but so are you!" Yelena commented
“Still, I need to improve” sighed the black-haired girl “Yelena I need to win that gold medal, I don't want it, I need it. My mom thinks I should give up archery, that it's just a distraction that's hurting my grades and won't do anything for college. College is years away and she's already being annoying!”
"You're going to make it, you've improved a lot, Antonia says that since you joined the team has had an almost perfect winning streak" Yelena exclaimed "I think you should..."
“Hey! wait!” Yelena and Kate stopped when they heard Peter running after them "Yelena, you're walking weird again”
“Antonia left her.”
"Special edition Legos on the floor“ interrupted Peter unconvinced “Well, May wants to make a special dinner this Saturday to celebrate her birthday, I forgot to mention it at recess"
“Yay! May’s food is the best!!” exclaimed Kate "What time?"
“She said she want you there at five” exclaimed Peter “Yelena, you are coming, right?”
"I don't know Pete, I have to ask my dad" commented the blonde, the other two winced at her response "But I'm going to do everything possible to be there"
At that moment another of the bells rang and the blonde paled when she noticed the time.
“I have to go, I'll see you guys later.” Yelena quickly disappeared into the distance, in her haste she didn't notice the worried look the two of her friends exchanged.
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"Hello May" exclaimed Peter as he closed the door of the apartment
"How was school Pete?" the woman asked as she methodically moved a saucepan on the stove.
“Boring, you know, the usual" said the boy trying to steal something from the stove
"Did you invite the little demons to come over on Saturday?" asked her while preventing her nephew to burn himself with the food
“Yes, everyone is very excited, although I think Yelena…”
"She's not going to be able to come" ended May with a sigh “Yes, it was to be expected, don't worry, we'll see what we can do"
She finished cooking while Peter put the table
"By the way, the guest list increased, there is a new scientist who works in the bio laboratory, I thought she was very nice so I invited her to come" commented May once they sat to eat,
"Seriously? it's been a long time since your company had new staff" commented Peter
"Yes, but apparently that woman is a genius and the pharmaceutical invested a lot to bring her closer to the central plant"
“Wow! the she really is a specialist, I’m glad you are making more friends you really need to leave more, what's her name?" asked the boy
“Melina Vostokoff”