Chapter 6
Taking my schedule out of my bag I decided to look at what the rest of my day would look like. From what I could tell the school did block scheduling, where some classes were only on certain days:
MWF:
1: AP EURO
2:Geometry
3:LUNCH
4:Chemistry 100
5:German 1
6:LAB
TTH
1: English
2: Geometry
3: Lunch
4: Chemistry 100
5: World History
5: LAB
For the most part the core subjects of a STEM school were taught every day, like math and Science, but I was also able to take a few history classes like I had wanted. It wasn’t like I didn’t like Science, but sometimes the stuff we talked about made me flashback to things my dad had taught me.
They were all good times, but the flashbacks always ended in me stepping into a metal container and having it collapse around me. It was a miracle I didn't get panic attacks, or had extensive trauma to the level that I couldn't function, but at the same time I wasn't completely right in the head.
Pushing thoughts back to my schedule, I took a look at the last item everyday- LAB. I wasn't exactly sure what that was, or how to get there, as there was no classroom number.
Confused, I looked around, as the classroom was starting to fill.
Over to my side, I saw that someone had sat next to me. I took in a calming breath, realising that human interaction was inevitable.
The person looked nice enough, a little plain like me- brown hair/ brown eyes, but I could also tell that they were probably insanely smart, as they had a backpack that had the stark industries logo on it.
I tapped my hand on her desk and pointed to my paper after I had gotten her attention, “Um, hey? Do you by any chance know what lab means?”
The girl had a confused look on her face, “eh? All Midtown students have to take a lab, you should know . . .”
Her face quickly morphed to a knowing one, “Ohhhh… You're a freshman huh? Or are you a transfer? Well, either way, congrats- this is one of the hardest AP’s we got!”
Great! leave it to me to pick one of the hardest classes on Accident!
“Uh, yeah I am a freshman . . . so, what's a LAB?” I said, skipping over her compliment.
The girl grabbed my schedule and flipped it over- There was a backside??!?!
“You see here” she pointed to a list of classes and their numbers, “These are kind of like electives, but focus on the aspect of creating- it’s kind of like a senior design project, but every year.”
I studied the list
-Woodshop
-mechanics shop (CAR)
-mechanics shop (GENERAL)
-material design
-Chemistry
-Agriculture
-SPACE
-enhancement
-Info systems
-Coding
“What’s your LAB?” I asked
“Well you can change it every year, but I really like my project - I took SPACE and was able to research foreign objects that we got from STARK industries.” She looked down to her bag.
“So do you like . . . work for Tony Stark then?” I found it hard to believe that a highschool student could produce something that had gained Iron Man’s interest.
The girl rubbed the back of her neck, embarrassed. “Uh, well. I actually got an offer because I won a contest - have you heard of the national youth science fair?”
I had, in fact, heard of the national youth science fair. It was basically brag central, the kids who won got tons of prizes and prestige. Things like money and job prospects, or If you won- a lot of the kids would get scholarships to top schools.
I wasn’t very interested in things like that though, I’d rather keep a low profile. My dad had won when he was a kid, and by won - I mean the whole thing, not in his category, but the whole fair. If I joined, I bet they would have questioned me on where he had ended up.
Not something I really wanted to talk about.
If this girl had won the whole thing, chances are she knew who my father was. I needed to know.
“Oh, wow, congrats! What place did you get!” I really was curious, but I did have ulterior motives.
“Oh, just 1st in my division - I wasn't even close to the final rankings. The kid in first had some type of spider exhibit, not really sure what it was, but the judges thought it was so amazing that he basically just skipped the whole college thing and got offered a job at Oscorp.”
Oscorp was huge, almost as big as stark industries. I was really impressed.
She continued talking, “I hadn't even known about the competition beforehand, but my LAB teacher recommended it to me. I eventually made it through to the finals and, BOOM! I got my internship at Stark industries.”
I smiled at her. this was good, most likely my father was nowhere near her radar. “That’s pretty awesome, have you started working for him yet? What are your hours?”
She smiled back, happy to brag about herself a little, “Well, I started this summer. Only as a part timer, but I got to meet him on my first day! We had a chat about what he and I both wanted out of my internship, and we decided on keeping my time light. I’m only a sophomore, so we agreed that I would come in after school like twice a week!”
“Dang, you got to meet Iron Man?” I raised my eyebrows, she had gotten to meet Stark himself! I was expecting a low level manager.
She flushed at my use of his hero name, “Oh man, it was so cool! I am such a sucker for super heros, I WISH I had powers like that!”
My smile dropped, and I blanched, “O-oh..”
The girl noticed my change in expression and back tracked a bit, “Oh, sorry, didn't mean to nerd out on you like that! I forget that everyone doesn't obsess over heroes like me- not to mention what happened yesterday…...:”
I waved my hand dismissively, trying to cover my reaction, “ah, no big deal. I am a bit of a nerd myself, just not used to people being so open about that kind of stuff.”
Her eyes lit back up, “Are you a fan too?! I heard that there is some kind of hero group in the works! Avengers, I think! It was all over the news this morning! Hulk, Thor, and Iron man all in one place!”
Looks like what I had predicted yesterday was right, they were forming a team. Unfortunately, I had had no confirmation until now because, well …. angry grandma.
“Um, yeah. I actually love to read comi-”
“GIRLS IN THE BACK. YOUR NAMES?”
Apparently through our conversation, the bell had rung, and the teacher had arrived. I hadn't even noticed that she had already started teaching.
Way to make a great first impression.
I looked over to the girl next to me and realised that I didn't even know her name. Really the only thing I knew about her was that she was insanely smart, a year older than me, and a superhero stan. I seriously wonder what her internal monologue was like the entire time she was meeting Tony Stark…
While I was contemplating on her meeting with Tony she had responded first, realising that I was waaaay too shy to answer first,
“Sorry Mrs. Johnson, My name is Katie O’neil, I was just explaining to…” She gestured for me to say my name.
“Jordan Donald”
Katie’s eyes narrowed for a split second, but then she seemed to waive the thought off, “right… yes. I was just explaining Jordan’s schedule to her, because she is a freshman.”
The teacher up front looked at me for a second, like she was going to argue about my age, but then she looked to my right and saw my crutches leaning against the wall. Her face switched from angry to almost overwhelmingly positive.
It was honestly really creepy.
“Oh, right! Jordan! I spoke with the principal about your accommodations, why don't you pick a student to accompany you 5 minutes before the bell to get you to your next class! I was under the impression that you would have someone with you, but I don't see them.”
My cheeks burned, was she really talking about this to the whole class right now?
“Oh… um. I think I am fine….”
The teacher's weirdly iridescent smile twitched a bit hearing my dismissal. “Nonsense! The principal insisted. Here at midtown we value accessibility for our studen-”
I was going to bang my head into the wall, or better yet, use her metal desk to knock her over. Luckily though, Katie looked over at me seething and interrupted the teacher in the middle of her explaining how “wonderful” the school was.
“I can just take Jordan.” she looked over at me winking, “sound good?”
I nodded, not only was this girl book-smart, she could also tell when someone absolutely did NOT want to be there. Boy was I glad that I had ditched Liz, Katie was much more my speed.
The teacher seemed glad that I had agreed to the principal's request, and went on to teach the rest of the class. Much like Katie had said earlier, the class seemed pretty difficult, and by the end of the 90 minutes my notebook was 10 pages full.
About 5 minutes before the bell I looked over to Katie and we quietly packed up and got the rest of our things. Once we got outside Katie turned to me and motioned towards the direction of the elevator,
“I looked at your schedule and it seems like you have geometry next, the math wing is actually on the first floor in the central wing, so it’s not too hard to get there. I’m not gonna walk with you, if you’d rather figure it out though.”
I breathed a sigh of relief, finally someone who wouldnt drag me around like a lost child.
“Where are you headed?” I asked politely.
She looked back to my face with a slight grimace on it, “Oh, I have my robotics elective next, it's technically in the basement. Not really my forte, but it was the only class that fit with my schedule.”
I raised my eyebrows and smirked, “A Tony Stark intern isn’t good with robots?”
She scowled at me and flicked my shoulder, “ Ha Ha, very funny. I’d like to see you do any better.”
My smirk grew, “I actually got into the school for my mechanical engineering skills, so yes. I can do better.”
Katie crossed her arms and pouted, but there was a glint in her eye, “alright freshman.”
I laughed and motioned for her to follow me towards the elevator, she understood the motion and followed me towards the metal doors. We stepped in and I pressed the main floor level, while she pressed the basement button.
I cleared my throat, nervous but hopeful. “I mean, Katie if you ever need help, I would be glad too. And if somehow you suddenly become a genius in robotics and don't need it, we should hang out and talk super heroes anyway.”
Katie’s eyes lit up and she nodded her head excitedly, “Oh man, I was hoping you would say that! I thought we vibed during class, but I didn't want to be too overbearing and ask to hang out right away!”
I nodded my head, I had thought we would get along too, “Yeah, I thought you were cool. We should hang out soon. Good luck in robotics!”
She groaned and rolled her eyes, “ Uhg, no promises.”
And with that, we exchanged numbers and we went on our way to our own classes for the rest of the day. Luckily no more teachers had insisted on me having a guide and I was able to find my way around the school by myself just fine.
By the end of the day I had found out that freshmen don't pick their labs until the second week of school, so I was able to go home early. It wasn't too long of a walk back as most of the space metal had been removed from the streets by then, and I didn't have anything to gawk at.
As I opened the door to our family condo, I saw my grandpa and grandma having tea at our breakfast nook, but what I saw next made my jaw drop.
“What the FUCK?!?”