Better Days

WANDA POV:

I had been spending the last several hours trying to find a way to leave the compound. Every single thing that I thought of ended in Natasha finding out as a result. 

I was ready to just sneak my phone from Natasha and let Blair know that I couldn't come when Nat gave me news that saved me. "Wanda," she said to me, making me look up from the book I was reading.

"What's up?"

"Nate has pneumonia and Laura and Clint asked if I could come watch the kids while they take Nate to the hospital. Pack a quick bag and let's go." Normally, I would pounce on the idea of getting to go see those kids but this was my opportunity.

"Oh no!" I said, sitting up. "Um, I would love to come but I'm not feeling the best and I don't want to get the kids sick." 

Nat walked over to me and put a hand on my forehead. "You don't feel warm."

"I'm fine, I just feel kinda under the weather. Can I stay here? I can go if I really need to, but I kinda just want to lay around."

"I'd feel better if you were with me," she told me worriedly.

"Please Nat, I'll call you frequently and if I need anything, Steve, Pepper, and Tony are all here to help."

She contemplated this for a moment before giving in. "Okay, rest and call me if you need anything. You can use your phone but only to call me! I should be back by tomorrow afternoon assuming Nate is okay and gets to come home tonight."

"Okay, thank you Nat," I told her as I gave her a quick hug. Yes! My plan was going to work!

"Okay, ask FRIDAY to get someone if you get worse okay?"

"Okay Nat, I'll be okay," I smiled at her lightly.

"Love you," she told me as she kissed me on the forehead.

"Love you too."

"I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow," I told her, trying to hide my excitement. 

As soon as Nat left, I headed to go find Pepper, Tony, and Steve. I needed to feed them excuses so that they didn't come looking for me at night, only to find me gone. I thought of telling them that I was going to the farm with Natasha but if Nat texted them, they would immediately know I was lying.

I found Pepper first. I knew I needed to act sick to really sell it.

"Pepper," I whined as I entered her office. Her head snapped up to look at me.

"Are you okay?"

"I don't feel good," I told her, slowly walking into her office as I tried to make myself look pitiful.

"Aww honey," she told me as she stood up and came over to hug me. "Where's Nat?" 

"She needed to go watch Clint's kids because his youngest has pneumonia. I didn't want to go because I didn't feel good."

"Well it's getting late, why don't we go get you some soup and then get you in bed." Pepper spoke to me in a soothing tone, rubbing my back gently. 

"That sounds good," I told her, still keeping a sad expression on my face. 

As soon as we got to the kitchen, I climbed into a chair and laid my head on the table, trying to act sick.

"Poor baby," I heard Pepper say as she rubbed my back for a few seconds. "Let me get you some soup." She felt my forehead and told me that I didn't feel warm but still went over to make the food.

"Hey little witch," I heard Tony's voice say.

I didn't lift my head and instead let out a whine.

"What's up?" he said, his voice sounding worried.

"She's not feeling good and Nat's not here," Pepper explained from her place near the stove. 

"Aww, poor little witch," Tony said quietly as he sat next to me, also rubbing my back. I had to hide my smile by turning my face into the crook of my elbow. I was tricking all of them and my plan was finally working. 

"I just wanna go to bed," I whined as Pepper set the soup down in front of me. "Please Pep," I begged, trying to sound like I was on the verge of tears.

"Just a little bit and then you can go to bed," she told me gently. 

I huffed but sat up and started to eat the soup. It was already almost 7:30 and I still had to get dressed and ready for the party. 

I made sure to eat the soup slow enough that they still thought I was sick but fast enough that I would have plenty of time to get ready and sneak out.

I realized while I was eating that Nat would probably want to talk to me when she landed so I put back on my fake whiny voice and said, "I wanna talk to Nat!" 

"Okay baby, we'll call Nat as soon as you're done with the soup," Pepper told me gently, moving my hair back from my face. 

After about 5 minutes, I had finished 90% of the soup. I didn't want to finish all of it because I would never finish all of it if I was actually sick and I didn't want to tip them off to me feeling well. "I'm done Pep," I told her while leaning into her slightly. I just needed to turn on her comforting, auntie mode and I was good to go.

"Okay baby, you did good, you can be done," she told me as she brought my bowl to the kitchen. She then helped me back to my room, making sure I got changed and in bed safely. "Let's call Nat now," she told me while she tucked me in. It was embarrassing, being tucked in like a toddler, but I needed to continue acting sick to complete my plan.

I waited for the phone to ring while Pepper ran her fingers through my hair. 

"Hello?" Nat answered the phone after a few seconds.

"Hi Tasha, I don't feel good," I told her, using the nickname I used when I felt especially vulnerable. 

"Aww honey, what's going on?" she asked me and her voice was full of worry. I kind of felt bad playing all of them like this and making Nat worry but I really wanted to go to this party and not get caught.

"I have a headache and my stomach hurts, I just wanna sleep," I told her.

"Okay baby, have Pepper, Tony, or Steve get you an ibuprofen and try to get some sleep. I want you to wake someone up if you have a nightmare or if you feel worse okay?"

"Okay Tasha, I miss you."

"I miss you too, is Pepper there?" she asked, probably because I was using her phone. 

"Yeah."

"Can I talk to her really quickly?"

"Yeah, I love you," I replied pitifully.

"I love you too honey, get some sleep and I'll be home soon."

I handed the phone to Pepper as I turned around, trying to hide the growing smile. 

"I'll be right back," I heard Pep say and I watched as she left the room. I was kinda bummed as I wanted to try to hear what Nat was going to say to her but I guess it was fine. I could kinda guess what she was going to tell her anyways.

A few seconds later, Pep came back into my room, now off the phone. She was also carrying an ibuprofen. I quickly took it with the glass of water she handed me. 

"Okay, I want you to try to get some sleep and if you can't sleep or you have a nightmare, I want you to come get me or have FRIDAY come get me, okay?"

"Okay Pep," I told her, doing my best to sound miserable. "Can you make sure Steve and Tony don't bother me? It's hard for me to fall asleep sometimes and I don't want them to accidentally wake me up," I explained to her. Technically it wasn't a complete lie, it was hard for me to fall asleep sometimes. 

"Of course honey," she told me with a small smile. "You get some sleep and we'll make sure not to bother you."

"Thank you," I told her gently as I closed my eyes.

I heard as she left the room and I stayed in bed for a few more minutes before climbing out of bed and starting to get ready. 

I first changed my outfit into a much shorter and skimpier one. I then put on a full face of makeup. I needed my phone so I headed to Nat's office to try to find it. I had to be quiet if I didn't want to get caught. I dug around in her drawers until I found all of my electronics. I grabbed my phone and headed back to my room. 

I quickly stuffed some pillows under the blankets to make it look like a person in case someone did happen to check on me. I also made sure all the makeup 

It was already nearing 8:30 by the time I was completely ready to go. I figured I would go out my window, use my powers to float down, stick to the edges of the gate, and then head to the house that I said I lived in. 

Blair said that she was picking me up at 8:45 so I had to be quick. 

"FRIDAY," I whispered.

"Yes Ms. Maximoff," she replied.

"Do you have to notify anyone if I leave the compound?"

"No Ms. Maximoff. May I ask, why are you requesting that information?"

I figured maybe FRIDAY could help me out if it came down to a close call with me being caught. "You have to promise not to tell Natasha or anyone else in the compound. Do you promise?" I asked her.

"It depends on the contents of your next statement."

"I'm going to go hang out with a friend but I don't want Nat to know," I told FRIDAY.

"Is this friend a boy?"

"No!" I shouted before lowering my voice again. "No, it's a girl." I paused and then thought of something else. "She's going to help me with my math but it's kinda embarrassing."

"Oh, no worries Ms. Maximoff, I will not notify Ms. Romanoff. If someone asks though, I am unable to lie to them."

"Okay, can you try to bend the truth though? I just really don't want anyone finding out about my difficulties with math."

"I will do my best Ms. Maximoff," FRIDAY told me warmly. 

"Thanks FRIDAY," I told her before hopping out my window. I made sure to close it all the way before using my powers to help me down. Since I'm still not great with using them, I crashed into the ground but was able to roll my body so that I didn't injure myself.

I ran across the yard to the edge of the really tall and large fence. I made sure to stay in the shadows in order to prevent being seen by anyone who happened to be looking out a window. 

I jogged along the edge of the fence, all the way to the gate. The gate was much lower than the fence surrounding the compound so I was able to use my powers to fling me over the gate, landing softly on the other side. 

I then checked my phone, saw that it was about 2 minutes until Blair was going to pick me up, and sprinted the rest of the way to the house. Normally, this house was about 5 minutes away from the compound, I made it there in 3. 

Luckily, Blair was a few minutes late picking me up and pulled up right as I had caught my breath from my long sprint. 

True to her word, she pulled up almost completely silently, lights off and no horn. 

I ran to get into the car and hopped in the back. Bri, Ashley, Aidan, and Zack were already in the car along with one person I didn't know. Blair pulled back onto the road and turned back on her lights after we were a short ways away from my "house." 

"Hi, I'm Caleb," the other boy in the car said.

"Wanda," I told him with a smile. I was filled with adrenaline, me, heading to my first party as a cool kid.

We pulled up to a nice house and I could already hear the blasting music. Their front lawn was crawling with teenagers. I was slightly nervous but mostly excited. 

Blair and all of her friends hopped out of the car and headed into the house. The house was extremely crowded and it made me nervous. I got overwhelmed by crowds way too easily. 

Blair grabbed my arm as she pulled me through the house, weaving her way in and out of other people. We made it to the kitchen where there were several drink choices. 

I was about to pour myself a cup of soda when Blair handed me a cup with a clear liquid. I sniffed it and it did not smell like water. 

"What is this?" I asked her.

"Vodka, try it!" she said over the loud music.

I knew vodka was an alcoholic beverage but I shrugged as I dumped the contents into my mouth. It immediately burned my mouth but it wasn't too bad and I was able to swallow it down. 

"Good?" Blair asked as soon as I had removed the cup from my mouth.

"Yeah," I told her as I nodded. 

She shoved another few cups into my hands and told me to drink them without giving me any information on what they were. Some tasted better than others but I noticed that after a while, I felt a warm buzz fill my body. It kind of felt like my powers when I don't let them out, but different in a way.

Blair pulled me outside to where there were people wearing glow sticks as jewelry. I had no idea how but within a matter of a few minutes, I had several bracelets and necklaces made from the glowing material. 

There was loud music playing and kids were dancing all over the place. Blair, Bri, and I were dancing together. Then eventually Ashley joined us and we spent at least 2 hours dancing and screaming. 

I was having a blast and finally felt like a cool kid. Two random boys came over and started dancing on Blair and Ashley. Bri and I backed up and continued dancing together. Then another guy came and started dancing up on us. 

I got really uncomfortable but Bri seemed to be enjoying it so I kept going. I felt really light and airy as I was dancing. I also laughed at every little thing. 

I checked my phone and saw that it was 3 in the morning but I didn't care, I was having fun. Eventually the guy pulled Bri away from me and they continued dancing. I was starting to get slightly nauseous so I decided to go get something else to drink. 

As soon as I got in the house, I was back to being surrounded by people. When we were outside, people were a little further apart which made it easier to breathe. 

I quickly made my way to the kitchen where some guy handed me a drink. I downed it and then poured myself another drink. I had no idea what the liquid was, it was in a clear bottle and burnt my throat. It made me feel good though so I dismissed the burn.

I walked around the house, wondering where to go when I felt a hand on my back. I jumped and turned around, ready for a fight, but was immediately relieved when I saw it was just Ashley and Blair.

"You ready to go?" Blair asked me over the music.

"Yeah, you?"

"Yup, let's grab the boys and go!"

"What about Bri?"

"She's making out with some guy upstairs who said he's gonna bring her home."

"Oh, cool," I said. I had had fun but I was honestly ready to go home and sleep. I was tired and the nausea was starting to come back.

Ashley, Blair, and I walked through the house until we found Aidan. He said that he was going to catch a ride with someone later so then we set off in search of Zack. We found him and he followed us. 

"Is Caleb coming?" Zack asked as we left the house. 

"No, he left earlier," Blair responded. I slightly stumbled on the way to the car but Ashley made sure I got to the car.

"Anyone sober?" Blair asked as we got to the car. 

None of us responded. 

"Nope," Ashley finally said after a few seconds of silence. 

"Okay, who's had the least?" I was confused as to what they were talking about. Ashley let go of me and all three of them started walking the opposite direction from the car.

Blair fell over and Zack stumbled off the sidewalk and into the grass. I just watched them, trying to figure out what was going on. Ashley stumbled over but managed to make it to the end of the sidewalk on her feet. 

On her way back to the car, she grabbed the keys from Blair and they all climbed into the car. I was the closest to the house so I was the first to be dropped off. 

I said bye to all of them and then watched as they left. I felt a little dizzy and a lot nauseous so I sat on the driveway of the house they dropped me off at. 

I leaned into the street and puked. It burned my nose and throat something fierce but I felt slightly better afterwards. 

I got up and stumbled towards the compound, I used my powers to lift me over the fence and then I stuck to the edge as I made my way to the outside of my room. There was a tiny roof right under my room window which I used to land on as my powers lifted me up. 

It felt like I was flying and I liked it. I stumbled on the roof and almost slipped so I decided to go into the house before anything happened.

I slipped the window up and closed it behind me. I knocked over some books that were on the shelf by my window on the way back in the room and I quickly picked them up and put them back.

"Ms. Maximoff, your blood alcohol level seems to be elevated, have you been drinking alcohol?" I jumped when I heard FRIDAY's voice but quickly calmed down when I realized who it was.

"No FRIDAY," I told her. "Just getting tutored on math."

"It is especially late to be getting tutored in mathematics," FRIDAY said in almost a judgmental tone.

"Well I needed extra help, anyone ask about me?" I asked as I stripped out of my clothes. 

"No Ms. Maximoff, no one asked if you had left the compound."

"Cool," I said as I slipped on my pj's. They were a lot more comfortable than the clothes I had worn to the party. I brushed my teeth and quickly returned my phone to Nat's office before getting into bed. 

I fell asleep in no time, thinking about how amazing my first party was. 

o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o

I woke up the next day to someone saying my name softly. I had a slight headache but it wasn't bad. I honestly hadn't drunk that much so I didn't really expect to have a hangover. I knew a lot more about alcohol than cigarettes. Strucker had drunk alcohol a lot when we were in his captivity so I picked up some information.

I rolled over and opened my eyes. Pepper was sitting on the edge of my bed, as she brushed some hair out of my face with her fingers. 

"Hi honey, how're you feeling?"

"Better," I told her. I still wanted to act a bit sick so that I didn't raise any suspicion at all. I moved my head closer to Pepper's leg and leaned against it. 

"I'm glad to hear that, you still look a little sick though huh?"

"Yeah," I groaned. 

"I'm sorry, we'll give you another pain killer this morning and hopefully you'll be good as new by this afternoon." 

I nodded. "Well we let you sleep in a bit but I figured I should get you up so that you could eat something."

"What time is it?" I asked.

"1 in the afternoon, Nat should be home in a few hours."

Wow, I really had slept in. "Cool," I told her as I started to sit up. I was happy to see that the room hadn't spun when I sat up and my nausea was completely gone from last night. If this light headache was all I got after having that much fun drinking, I could definitely put up with this!

I couldn't wait to go to another party but I knew I would have to figure out something for when Nat was here. I was lucky that she got called out of the house, I probably wouldn't be as lucky next time.

I quickly got dressed and then headed out to the kitchen to see Pepper making me some plain buttered toast. "This should be light on your stomach," she told me with a smile. 

I actually couldn't believe I had gotten away with going to that party last night. I was proud of myself for getting through it without getting caught, I was just surprised. I kinda went with the expectation that I was probably going to get caught and then I was going to get grounded. I was willing to sacrifice one week without electronics for an amazing night of fun that raised my social status. 

To ensure that I didn't get caught, I kept up the sick act for a little longer, saying that I was feeling a lot better but was not 100% yet. I didn't just want to magically heal in one night. 

As Pepper had told me earlier, Nat was home 4 hours after I woke up. As soon as she walked through the door, she rushed over to me, pulling me into a hug. "My poor baby, I heard you didn't feel well last night, how'd you sleep?" 

"Good," I told her. 

Nat looked to Pepper for confirmation. "I didn't get any notifications from FRIDAY of her waking up."

"Did you sleep at all last night?" Nat asked me almost sternly.

"Yes," I told her.

"She slept until 1 pm so I would say she slept," Pepper laughed. 

"Good," Nat told me as she hugged me again. "I missed you."

"I missed you too, how were the kids and Clint and Laura?"

"They're good, Nate is doing better. They all miss you and can't wait to see you again. I told them we'll have to go visit this summer, once you're out of school."

"Yeah, I'd love that!" I told her excitedly. The one bad thing about going to the party was that I missed out on a chance to see everyone again. I missed them all so much and couldn't wait to go back.

Nat insisted that we spend the remainder of the afternoon resting in order to make sure I felt better by tomorrow. I realized then that I could've milked the illness a little longer to miss school on Monday but I guess school wasn't that bad anymore, especially with Blair and all of her friends.

I ended up being forced to go to bed early by Nat to make sure I was 100% by tomorrow morning. She really didn't want me missing school.

My night was spent crying from nightmares. It had been one of my worst nights in a long time. I had one nightmare at around midnight, went back to sleep after a long time of crying, and then had woken up shortly after at 3 in the morning. I had cried into my pillow after each one, not wanting to wake Nat up. I desperately wanted her comfort but I wanted to act like an adult. It was a nightmare, I didn't need to wake my mom up to cry into her arms each time I got the slightest bit scared.

After my second nightmare, I had given up on sleep. By the time our alarm clock rang, signaling that it was time to get up and get ready for school, I was beyond relieved. 

My morning routine went about as usual, ending with Nat dropping me off at school. I had started trying to go to school earlier in order to hang out with Blair. 

My grounding had ended this morning so I got my phone back. It was nice to have my phone back because I knew I wasn't going to be able to keep coming up with excuses for why it was gone at school and at home much longer.

"Hey, how're you feeling?" Blair asked as soon as I found her.

"Good, why?"

"Well you were pretty drunk at the party," she laughed. "I thought you'd be here with like a killer headache or something."

"I must've slept it all off," I told her with a smirk. "So, when's the next one?"

"No idea, Bri's parents might be going out of town soon so we may be throwing one there but I'm not sure. I also heard Tyler mention a party but not sure where that one is. I'll let you know." 

I hoped the next party would be soon. I wanted to have the fun of drinking alcohol and dancing with my friends again. 

People who I hadn't known before the party were now smiling at me as I walked past them. My social status was going up and I couldn't be happier! I was in my own fantasy land when Blair's voice pulled me out.

"Hey, wanna ditch today? My second period teacher is giving us a test today, on a Monday, and I don't want to go."

I thought about what happened the last time I ditched but decided that I wanted to go. Nat would never find out and even if she did, it's not like I was in danger, I was with other people.

"Sure," I told her.

"Awesome, let's go find Bri and Ashley." We walked through the halls until we found them making out with some guys. I was slightly confused because they had both been dancing with different guys at the party but I didn't say anything. Blair cleared her throat and they all turned to look at us.

"Let's go," Blair said and Ashley and Bri both just left the guys and started following us. "We're ditching," she told them.

"My mom freaked the last time she found out," Ashley said. "She said if she caught me doing it again she was going to send me to a boarding school. And Kyle is in my math class." I had no idea who Kyle was or what that meant but I didn't care much.

"Fine, you're out, Bri?" Blair said. 

"I'm in," Bri said.

"Cool, let's go."

I had no idea where she planned to go but followed her and Bri as they walked out to the bleachers. I thought we would be leaving school but apparently they just wanted to smoke. 

I was fine with it because I liked smoking. We walked further back behind the bleachers this time, not stopping in the middle. I figured it was so that we were harder to see from the school.

Blair and Bri talked about the party while I just listened, smoking the cigarette. 

As soon as we were all done smoking, they turned around and started walking to the gate. I was quick to put out my cigarette and follow them.

The gate was tall and I could see the padlock wrapped around it, keeping us stuck inside school grounds. "How're we gonna get out?" I asked them as I looked around to try to find a way out.

"This way," Blair said as she walked a few feet to the left. She bent down and pulled up the bottom of the fence, showing that there was a hole that created enough space for us to fit through. "Tah-dah," Blair said sarcastically as Bri started shimmying through it.

I was next so I got down on the floor and army crawled my way through the hole in the bottom of the fence. Bri and I then held it up from the other side of the fence while Blair came through.

I was back to being a follower as Bri and Blair started walking. I had no idea where we were going. 

After we got about 5 minutes away from the school, I realized that I didn't know where Nat went during the day. Did she go home or was she somewhere around the school? I made sure to keep an eye out for her or her car as we made our way to a coffee shop.

I was enjoying my day off of school while I sipped a latte. "Ugh," Bri said.

"What?"

"My mom is texting me, asking why I have an absence." That statement made me panic a bit. I completely forgot about absences! How was I going to get away with this now?

"Does she know you skipped?" I asked, worried about being figured out myself.

"No, I just told her that I had a sub first period who must've marked me absent on accident. My second period teacher never takes attendance and counts on her memory to fill it out at the end of the day so there are always mistakes in that class and we'll be back by third period so it's not an issue."

That was a good idea, the sub thing. I checked my phone and saw that I hadn't gotten anything from Nat yet. I could come up with an excuse by the time I got home though. Bri had said we would be back by third period so I only had to think of an excuse for two periods.

We finished our coffee and made our way back to the school. I didn't want to go back to school but if Blair and Bri were, I wasn't going to stay out by myself.

We used the hole in the fence to squeeze our way back into the school and then stuck to the bleachers as we made our way back to the building. We waited outside the door to the hallway until we heard the bell ring and students started flooding the hallways, then we opened the doors and headed into school.

I made my way to my class after saying bye to Blair and Bri. I was kinda upset that I was back at school as I had thought that we were going to ditch all day but I was happy to find that most of my classes were easy due to it being the beginning of the week.

I left the school and immediately saw Nat's car. I was prepared to provide an excuse for absences if she questions me about it.

"Hey," I told her as I got in the car.

"Hey, oh, before I forget, I saw that you were absent from your first two periods today. Anything you want to tell me?" She didn't seem mad, just curious.

"Oh, yeah actually! The school counselor called me to her office to see how I was doing after my first few weeks of school. I made it to third period late but had a pass for them to mark me as here for that class. She said to not worry about it."

"Oh, okay, cool, what did you tell her?"

"I told her it was good."

"Good. Did you sit by the smoking kids at lunch again?" she asked me. I had smoked twice today so I probably smelt worse than normally.

"Yeah, there were more of them today."

"You should try to find somewhere else to sit," she told me.

"I know, it stinks out there."

Nat then went on to talk about dinner and other things that I didn't really care about. I was just glad that I had gone to a party, smoked, and ditched school and hadn't been caught. I smiled with this thought in my head as we drove home.