Attitude
NATASHA POV:
Wanda had been acting strangely lately. She had asked me to stop calling her honey, asked me to sleep in my own room, tried to get me to stop bugging her about her homework, and overall just been acting weird. It seemed like she was trying to act older.
I mean, I guess it was only so long before this started to happen. She was 16 after all. The hugs have lessened and I haven't heard her call me mama in a long time.
She had started to call me mama more frequently, not only using it when she was upset but now using it when she was excited or sometimes when she needed to get my attention. Ever since I sent her back to school though, I hadn't heard her call me it once.
It was slightly upsetting to me and I longed to hear her call me it again but I couldn't force her too. I wasn't her biological mother and although that meant nothing to me, I still viewed her as my child, she might not feel the same way and I had to respect that.
At least she didn't seem to hate going to school at the moment. She wouldn't drag her feet as much in the morning now and would actually get out of the door on time. I was worried that she was skipping again but I kept a close eye on her school profile for attendance records and they stated that she was there every day.
One day, when I picked her up, she smelt like smoke. At first I was confused, was the smell coming from her or from the air surrounding the car. I quickly discovered that it was her and the longer I smelt it, the more it smelt like a cigarette. I was still confused though as I asked her if she had been smoking.
She looked at me with a slight look of disappointment which confused me even more. Normally if I caught her in an act, there would be a look of surprise and even fear. Not disappointment.
"What?" Wanda had asked after I asked about smoking.
Now I was getting slightly worried. Had she actually been smoking? "Have, you, been, smoking?" I asked her again, leaving slight pauses in between each word to show her that I was serious. I was trying not to blow up, I didn't actually have any evidence that she had been smoking.
Wanda seemed to think over her answer which was never a good sign before she very slowly said, "No." She said it almost in the form of a question.
"Then why do you smell like a cigarette?" I was getting mad, now thinking more and more that she had been smoking. Wanda looked perplexed as well as deep in thought. She didn't look worried that she was caught though so that was a good sign.
"What's a cigarette?" she finally decided to ask me.
That made me angry because she asked it almost satisfyingly like she had gotten out of trouble. "Don't play dumb with me Wanda! Were you or were you not smoking?"
"I wasn't!" she insisted.
"Let me ask you again then, why do you smell like a cigarette?"
"I don't know," she told me and she seemed relatively sincere. Something was going on but I don't think she was lying. I couldn't really tell because her expressions showed confusion. She also seemed like she was trying to figure something out. I didn't really see any sign of lying though. Maybe she hadn't been smoking. I decided to just believe her because I really didn't want to punish her. I would keep a close eye on her though.
"Okay, I don't want to ever see you smoking though, you'll be in serious trouble, got it?" I had never warned her about cigarettes so I was doing it now so she would never have an excuse if she was ever caught smoking.
"Yeah," she told me. I saw her expression change to one of relief which made me doubt my previous assumption that she wasn't lying but I decided to dismiss it. If she had been smoking, she knows she better not ever do it again if she doesn't want to get in trouble.
Once we got home, she practically bolted to her room, giving me the excuse that she had a ton of homework. I went to ask her if she needed any help with it but before I could, she was already gone. Oh well, I could check on her later.
I went further into the house to go find Pepper. I wanted to talk to her about my suspicions of Wanda smoking.
I finally found her in her office doing some work.
"Hey Pep," I said as I entered.
"Hey Nat! What's up?"
I sighed and sat down. "I think Wanda may have been smoking today." I still wasn't sure. She had denied it but something just seemed off.
"Why do you think that?" Pepper asked.
"She smelt like a cigarette when she got in the car and when I finally let it drop, she seemed relieved, like she had just gotten away with it."
"What did she say when you asked her?"
"She denied it. At first I thought she wasn't lying but now I'm not so sure. I dropped it though and told her that if she was ever caught smoking, that she would be in massive trouble. I just don't want her hurting her health. She worked hard to get her health back up to normal, I don't want her ruining it over a few cigarettes."
"Yeah, if she said she didn't do it and you didn't immediately think she was lying, then she probably didn't do it. Your intuition on whether or not someone is lying is normally right. It's actually scary how accurate it is." Pepper said as she laughed.
I gave her a light laugh and smile as I responded with, "Yeah, I hope I'm right, I really hope she's not smoking. What do I do if she is?"
"Well for now, I would talk to her and let her know the dangers of smoking. Really explain how dangerous it is and that you would never want to see her smoking because it could seriously hurt her. Then let her know that if she did, there would be consequences. Then let it go. If she was smoking today, she may not come out and tell you but at least then she'd know that it was a bad thing that was unacceptable."
"Okay, I guess I'll go head over and do that, thanks Pep," I told her.
"No worries! See you at dinner."
I left her office and headed over to Wanda's room. I walked in to see her quickly close her computer.
"How's the homework coming along?" I asked her.
"Nat, you need to knock before coming into my room! What if I was changing?" I was surprised by her reaction. I normally just walked into the room. This made me suspicious as to what she was doing on the computer.
"If you were changing then I would've averted my eyes and apologized. Now can you apologize for screaming at me?" I asked with my eyebrow raised.
"Fine, sorry, but I really do need my privacy," she said with a roll of her eyes. Her response was sassy instead of mumbled and sincere like her apologies normally were.
"I give you plenty of privacy Wanda, I didn't think you would need it for doing homework though, that's why I didn't knock. Wanna try that apology one more time?"
"Not really," she sassed back.
"Wanda," I warned, letting her know she was on thin ice.
"Ugh, sorry!" she said. It definitely wasn't sincere but I didn't want to argue with her. I figured she might be upset over having trouble with her homework.
"Thank you, wasn't one of your best apologies but you can work on that later. Now back to my original question, how's the homework coming along? Do you need any help?"
"It's fine," she told me with another eye roll.
"Hey, watch the attitude young lady," I told her sternly.
"I didn't do anything!" she shouted at me.
"You have been sassy ever since I came in to check how you were doing on your homework."
"Because you didn't knock! It's fucking annoying!"
"Hey, watch the language! Go stand in the corner until you have calmed down."
That made her look at me as she threw up her hands.
"I'm 16! I don't need to stand in the corner like a toddler! Can't you just leave me alone?"
"Wanda, corner, now," I said, calmly pointing to the corner.
"Ugh," she groaned as she shoved her chair back and stomped over to the corner.
"Thank you," I told her, glad she didn't continue to push. I pulled out her chair and sat on it, looking at the math worksheets on her desk. None of them had been touched yet.
"Hey!" I heard Wanda shout at me from the corner of the room. "Stop going through my stuff!" I turned to see her facing me instead of the corner.
"Turn around unless you want your time to start over," I told her. I had no idea what was up with the attitude but it was annoying me.
"You don't get to just go through my stuff!" she shouted as she left the corner to come snatch a math worksheet out of my hands.
"Wanda Maximoff!" I snapped, standing up from her chair. "Get your ass back in that corner now!"
"Then stop going through my stuff!"
"You are 16, you don't get to tell me what I can and cannot go through. Corner, now. Your time is starting over!"
"Ugh, I hate you!" she screamed as she stomped back to the corner of the room.
I sighed as I looked at my watch to see what time it was. I tried to be patient with her but it was hard when she was screaming at me over little things. I figured she may be all worked up over her math homework as none of it had even been started yet.
I understood her frustration but it still didn't give her the right to yell at me and have an attitude.
I waited until 16 minutes had passed before telling her she was allowed out of the corner. As she turned around, I could see that her attitude was most definitely not gone as she glared at me and stalked back over to her desk.
"Now what, you gonna spank me?" Wanda asked with sass.
"I'm tempted to but no, you didn't put yourself in danger. However, you are grounded for the weekend. No electronics, no going out, you are to stay in this room unless I say otherwise."
"What? That's so not fair! I didn't do anything to you! You can't ground me!"
"Yes I can and I am, now, what's going on?"
"Nothing," she said and I was surprised to see her whole demeanor change. She was now staring at the floor as she talked quietly, mumbling.
"Then what was that all about?" I asked her gently.
"Nothing," she repeated.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes," she said, raising her voice.
"Hey, you don't get to raise your voice at me young lady! I'm trying to help you, if you don't want to tell me what's going on though, I want you to do your homework. Do you need any help?" The conversation about cigarettes could wait until she was calmer.
"No, I don't need help," she told me.
"Okay then, I'm going to go make dinner. Let me know if you need any help." I stood up from the chair and left the room, watching as she sat down and grabbed a pencil before I closed the door and left.
Obviously something was going on with Wanda but she wouldn't tell me what.
Tony and Steve were both already in the kitchen by the time I got there. "Is everything alright?" Steve asked. "I heard yelling."
"Yeah," I sighed. "Something's going on with Wanda but she won't open up and tell me what it is."
"Maybe the little witch is just the average teenager with mood swings," Tony suggested.
"Maybe," I said but I didn't think that was it. Maybe she was acting out because I was making her go to school. She seemed to not absolutely hate it anymore though so I didn't think it was that.
Maybe, for once, Tony was right. When I had met Wanda, she was scared, timid, and very, very unhealthy. Now, she was relatively healthy and was no longer terrified that we were going to throw her out of the house if she looked at us wrong. Maybe she was just becoming an average teenager who has mood swings.
I sighed thinking about it as I started to help Tony and Steve with dinner. They were making lasagna, one of Wanda's favorites. Hopefully that would perk her up before our conversation about cigarettes.
I called Wanda out for dinner about an hour later. She didn't come so I headed to the room to let her know dinner was ready.
I popped my head into the room and told her, "Hey Wanda, dinner is ready. We made lasagna!"
"Yeah, I heard you," she told me. So she still had the attitude issue, great.
"Okay, then why didn't you come to the kitchen?"
"Because I'm not hungry."
"Wanda," I said, walking further into the room. "You have to eat, even if it's not a lot. Can you just try for me?" I was scared she was going to go back to old habits.
"Fine!" she shouted as she slammed her book closed, shoved her chair back, and tried to stomp past me.
"Hey!" I said as I grabbed her arm. "What is going on with you?"
"Nothing okay! Just leave me alone!" She then stormed out of the room and headed to the kitchen. Steve, Tony, Vision, Rhodey and Pepper were already sitting down, starting to eat.
I followed Wanda to the table and watched as she glared at her plate of lasagna.
I decided to not say anything about her eating and was relieved to see that after about 5 minutes, she started eating like the rest of us.
Her bad mood seemed to disappear over dinner as she started to join the conversation. She was even laughing and smiling by the end of it.
Dinner finished and I decided to have a quick conversation with her about cigarettes before seeing how far she was on her homework. Then we were going to bed.
"Hey Wanda, can I talk to you for a sec?" I asked her after dinner.
"Sure," she said with a shrug and I was glad to see that she didn't seem mad.
She followed me down the hall to her room and I closed the door behind us. "Before you start," Wanda started. "I'm sorry about earlier. I don't know what came over me."
"Thank you for your apology," I told her with a smile. "I just wanted to talk to you really quickly about the dangers of cigarettes."
"I know the dangers of cigarettes," she told me before I could go any further.
"Really? Then why did you tell me that you didn't know what a cigarette was earlier?"
She paused for a second before responding with, "Well I didn't know what a cigarette was earlier but as soon as I got home, I looked it up to see what it was."
"Okay, well then you know that smoking is very bad for you. I don't want to ever see you smoke okay? It is dangerous and causes increased risk in lung cancer, heart problems, breathing problems, and several other things. Smoking is dangerous and you know what happens when you put yourself in danger."
"Yeah Nat, I won't smoke!" Wanda responded quickly, knowing what I was implying.
"Good. I also know that since you are going to school, things may get introduced to you that are also dangerous. Drugs and alcohol are a big thing that goes around high school and they are extremely dangerous. We have no idea how they would react with your powers and I don't want any accidents happening or you getting hurt. I don't ever want to find out that you were doing drugs or drinking alcohol, got it?"
"Yeah, I understand, I won't do those things Nat, promise," she told me and it seemed sincere.
"Okay, thank you," I told her as I pulled her in for a side hug. My girl was good, I knew that. "Did you finish your homework?" I asked her.
"No," she told me sheepishly.
"Do you need help?"
"Yes please."
I got up and followed her to her desk to see what she was working on. It was more math. I grabbed a stool and sat down to start helping her.
We spent several hours on her math again. She just couldn't grasp what I was explaining to her. I explained each step of the process slowly, having her follow along with me. She got confused with what she was supposed to do with the numbers which ended up getting her upset.
"I can't do it Nat!" she told me after she had gotten another incorrect answer.
"Hey, hey, calm down," I told her gently. "You can do it, math is a hard subject for a lot of people and you are doing really good. How about we take a break? You need some sleep."
"We can't take a break! I'm so behind in math and we keep getting worksheets every day so the work keeps piling up! I can't just not turn in my homework because I don't understand it!" She was starting to panic and get increasingly more upset so I took a different route.
"Okay, do you think you could get extra help at school? Maybe a teacher or a student could explain it better? We could get you a tutor if you want?"
"No, the kids already think I'm stupid and weird as the new kid, I don't need to add on not knowing something as simple as math."
"Do the kids make fun of you?" I asked gently.
"No, it's just the way that they look at me, like some freak show walking through the halls. I think it's because of my accent."
"I love your accent," I told her. "And you don't need to change, I bet 90% of those kids are also having problems in math." Then I realized something. "Hey, I've got an idea!"
Wanda looked at me, waiting for me to tell her what the idea was. "C'mon," I told her. "Grab your math work and follow me." She looked confused but didn't question me as she grabbed her worksheets and pencils.
I led her down to Tony's lab.
"Hey Tones," I said as I entered the lab.
"Hey," he replied. "What's up?"
"Wanda and I need some help with this math. We just can't seem to get it right, could you try to explain it to us?"
"Of course, you know I'm more of a science bro but I guess I'm okay at math," he said with a wink. He had Wanda bring him the work and started explaining it to her.
Within 45 minutes, they had completed the worksheets. Wanda was beaming, so proud that she was able to understand the work. I knew that they were going to be moving on to a new concept in school soon but for tonight, I was glad she understood the current concepts in math.
"I finally did it Nat!" she said as she held up her completed worksheets. "I'm not dumb!"
"You're not dumb, ever, and I'm so proud of you!" I told her as I gave her a hug. "Now it's late, thank Tony and let's get to bed!"
"Thanks Tony," she said as she gave him a hug.
"No problem kiddo," he said as he ruffled her hair. I smiled watching them interact.
Wanda then led the way back to our room.
"Am I allowed to sleep in here tonight or do I need to go back to my room?" I asked as soon as we got to the room.
"You can sleep in here, I'm sorry for that too," she told me as she looked at me sheepishly.
I smiled at her as I quickly got changed and climbed into bed.
WANDA POV:
Nat and I had gotten into an argument that ended with me being sent to the corner and being grounded. So much for trying to be an adult. I don't know one teenager who still gets sent to the corner for punishment.
It pissed me off but I found that over dinner, I couldn't help but let go of it. Everyone was laughing and talking and it was contagious so soon, I was also laughing and talking.
Nat asked to talk to me after dinner and I was slightly worried that it would be a lecture about my attitude earlier. I felt bad for losing it with her, I just got mad that the one cool thing I had done, smoking, was against the rules.
Luckily, her talk wasn't a lecture about my attitude but rather a lecture on how I shouldn't smoke, drink, or do drugs. I knew that the last two were bad but I had never thought that smoking was something that was bad. Apparently, or at least according to Nat, it was.
The night passed slowly for me. With no phone to help keep me busy after I woke up from my first nightmare, I was forced to just lay there, fighting against the urge to close my eyes.
Tomorrow was Friday, the last day of school before the weekend. I wouldn't get to see my new friends or be able to smoke. I don't own cigarettes and I wasn't about to go buy some and risk Nat finding out.
Finally it was time to get up. I got up, got dressed, and ate some breakfast. I was looking forward to smoking again, it had made me feel calm after the nausea had passed. It was a nice feeling and I couldn't wait to feel it again.
If I smelt like a cigarette again when Nat came to pick me up, I would use the excuse that there were people smoking near me, that's why I smelt. I also made sure to pack some mint gum to cover up the smell on my breath.
"Let's go!" I told Natasha as she was moving too slow.
"What's this? All of a sudden in a rush to go to school?" she asked with a smile.
"I wanna go turn in all my math work before the bell rings!" In reality, I actually wanted to go see Blair and her friends. Maybe we could smoke one cigarette before class started.
"Okay, okay, go get in the car, I'll be right there," Nat told me as she started to put on her shoes. I grabbed the keys and headed out to the car.
Nat was there soon enough and then we started the drive to school. I wanted to text Blair but I was still grounded which meant no phone. It sucked but I wasn't going to say anything to Nat and get in even more trouble.
I got out of the car as soon as she stopped, without even waiting for her to place it in park.
"Have a good day!" Nat called after me. "Love you!"
"Bye!" I called out, rushing towards the doors.
I had no idea where to find Blair so I headed to where I had found her yesterday when I ran into her. She wasn't there but I didn't have to travel much further to find her.
"Hey!" I said as soon as I found her.
"Hey, why haven't you answered your phone?"
"Oh, um, I left it at home." I told her. I didn't want to tell her that I was grounded.
"Okay, but what about last night or this morning? I was texting you but you didn't answer!" Blair didn't seem mad, just curious.
"Oh, I had some family dinner last night and I wasn't allowed to have my phone turned on. Then I forgot about it this morning. Sorry!" I told her.
"No worries, now that you're here though, are you coming to the party?"
"What party?" I asked, my interest peaking.
"Sofia is holding a party at her house this weekend. It's going to be so cool, I heard Fiona's older brother is buying booze!" I had no idea who any of these people were but of course I wanted to go.
"Cool, when is it again?" I asked. I was grounded and I knew there was no way Nat would let me out of the house but maybe I could go anyway.
"Saturday night, starts at 9. Her parents are going out of town."
"Nice, I don't know where she lives though," I told her sheepishly.
"No worries, I can pick you up. Where do you live?" I then realized that I hadn't told anyone where I lived or who I lived with.
"Um, I literally live in the middle of nowhere," I told her with a laugh. "Can you pick me up at the ice cream shop on 34th street?" I asked her. There was an ice cream place right by where I always ditched. If I could sneak out of the house early, I could try to use my powers to fly over here in order to get here in time.
"I can come by your house," Blair laughed. "It's really not a problem."
"Um, I live pretty far away, I don't want you to drive that far." I tried to explain.
"It's really no worries. If you're worried about your parents hearing me, I always pick up friends with my lights off in the car. I'm silent, they'll never even hear me."
I didn't know if I should tell her where I lived but I figured that having her pick me up there was probably going to be easier than me having to sneak out all the way to the school.
"Okay, if you're sure it isn't a problem." I then gave her an address close to where I lived. I didn't want anyone to know I lived with the Avengers. I could travel 5 minutes to the house that I gave Blair the address too and then I could have her drop me off there too.
"No problem at all," she said, saving the address to her phone. "That's actually on the way to Sofia's, she lives in upstate New York."
"Cool," I told her. I was slightly worried Nat would catch me but I was excited to finally have fun and be cool at a party.
The bell rang before I had time to ask for a cigarette.
"See you at lunch," Blair told me. "Same place as yesterday."
"'Kay, see you at lunch," I told her as I headed to math class.
All I could think about through my morning classes was how I wanted a cigarette. I could hold off till lunch though.
Lunch came around and I headed to the water fountains where Blair and her group of friends were waiting.
We headed back to the middle of the bleachers where Ashley passed out the cigarettes. I quickly lit mine and started smoking, wanting to get the most out of it today.
I noticed that I got more dizzy and nauseous than I did yesterday but I still felt the calming effect. Everyone was talking about the party and I was getting more and more excited about it. Hopefully Nat didn't catch me but even if she did, it's not like I was putting myself in danger so the worst that would happen is my grounding would be extended. That's not bad at all and the party is more than worth that risk.
The bell rang and we all quickly stamped out our cigarettes before heading to class. I popped a piece of mint gum in my mouth on the way there, trying to cover up the smell of nicotine.
I was super nauseous during the last classes of the day but luckily, it was mostly gone by the time Nat picked me up.
"Hi!" I told her as I climbed in the car.
"Hi," she started and then stopped again. "Wanda," she said slowly. "Why do you smell like a cigarette, again?" Shit, time to use my excuse.
"Oh, I noticed today that right where I eat lunch, there are a group of kids who smoke. I would move but there is literally no place for me to go."
I watched as Nat seemed to contemplate this answer before she said, "Wow, I'm surprised none of the teachers say anything to them."
"Yeah, me too," I told her.
She then went on to ask me about my day. I told her it was good, giving her a run down of all of the assignments I had done in my classes.
"Do you have any homework?"
"A little," I told her. I only had a sheet from math as well as a project to finish for my digital class.
"Okay, do you need any help with it?"
"No, I think I've got it!" I told her excitedly. If I wanted to try to sneak out to this party, I needed to get Nat to trust me fully and not watch me constantly.
I was confident I could do this without being caught, it was just going to take a tiny bit of work.