Chapter 26
“So if you all are paying attention to the readings you’ll see what the changes are happening over the time with the elements we have been talking about.” Your chemistry teacher is rambling on and you are somewhat following. You take some notes and try to follow along. But your eyes float to the door when MJ walks in. She’s an office aid during this period, and she’s holding a few slips of paper in her hands. MJ gives you a light smile before walking over to Mr. Dell and handing him what looks to be three slips of paper. “Thanks Michelle.” He glances at the slips in his hands. Two are yellow office passes that are usually used to call students to the office. The other is white which usually means it’s a note for the teachers. “Y/N, Keiron come get these. You can leave at the end of class.”
Both of you getting notes can’t be good. Especially coming from the office. You pull your phone out of your pocket, making it look like you’re checking your blood sugar, but text your dad with one hand, ignoring proper punctuation and capitalization.
Y: please tell me youre not meeting with the principle today
T: Ok I won’t tell you
Y: dad this isnt funny they just sent notes to me and keiron
T: That’s because you both are going to join us, his parents, and your chemistry teacher to deal with this once and for all.
Y: youre ruining my life you know that right?
T: I think you’re being over dramatic about the situation.
Y: if i dont come home today because of my social life being murdered tell peter i love him
T: We will have a discussion about this use of the L word later. You’re in class. Focus.
“Maybe if you didn’t text during class you might actually be smart enough to not need Daddy’s money to pass this class. And maybe then he might actually love you.” Keiron’s voice comes from the next aisle over. You bite your lip knowing that saying something will only make things worse. But the tears bubble up to your eyes. They don’t break free, but it makes you want to crawl into your dad’s arm and never come out. Or your mom’s arms. Or Peter’s arms. You blink away the tears, trying to bring the projector back into focus so you can write more notes. “Stupid bitch.” The harsh whisper makes you flinch, even though you should be relieved that this was going to finally be addressed.
You try to tune him out as you focus on jotting down the notes that Mr. Dell has said “may or may not be on the next test”. Every now and then Keiron will say something to try and get you to say something back, but you know that if you’re going into a meeting to make the situation better, you just need to make it through the next thirty minutes. Then you can fall into your parents arms and hopefully figure out something to put all of this behind you.
Mr Dell wraps up his lesson about ten minutes before the bell rings to tell the end of third period. He walks out of the room and comes back with Mr. Harrison a few moments later. “Mr. Harrison is going to sit with you all ‘til the end of the period. I have to take care of something. Y/N, Keiron, you two can head out now too.” You both pick up your things as he continues speaking. “Don’t forget that if you want to do the additional problems from chapter sixteen to get extra credit on the last test we took, that is due tomorrow. Otherwise don’t come crying to me that you want extra credit when your parents get your report cards.” He waits at the door for you and Keiron to walk out. “Let’s head to the office you two.” He says the moment the door closes behind you. You should have guessed that your dad would have made sure that Keiron wasn’t allowed to just walk down the hallway with you. Who knows what ugliness would have poured from his lips in the moments of being alone with you if he was allowed?
Walking in the office, you see Mrs. Clemmons, who you’ve seen a few times from coming to the office to get more insulin this school year. She smiles at you softly. MJ is sitting in the office aid chair and giving you a weird look. You mouth ‘lunch’ at her, to let her know you’ll explain later. Mrs. Clemmons talks to Mr. Dell for a moment, sharing pleasantries with him before motioning for all three of you to follow her towards what you can only assume is a conference room.
When the door opens, you see your parents, Happy, and three people who you met back during the adoption process, but can’t for the life of you remember their names, just that they are lawyers for your family. Across the table you see two people who resemble Keiron, so you assume they must be his parents. And at the head of the table you see Principal Morita. Your dad is the first to speak, motioning to the seat in between him and Pepper. “Hey kiddo.”
“Hi Dad.” You sit down, expecting the reception. Keiron on the other hand is looking a bit shocked at the group of people waiting for you both.
“Keiron, sit down.” His father is less friendly based on why they’re there.
“You were dropping last time I checked.” Pepper says, handing you a protein bar.
“Thanks Mom.” Your dad’s left hand drops to your knee, squeezing it, reassuring you. You open the protein bar, and after glancing at Kyle and see the double arrows down, take a bite.
“Some introductions I think are needed.” Principal Morita says, glancing at the entourage your parents brought.
“Sure.” Your dad takes over. “You probably know who I am, but Tony Stark. My wife Pepper. This is our head of security Happy Hogan. And then we have Anita, Ameer, and Liam. They are all from our law team at Stark Industries.”
“Why the need for lawyers Mr. Stark?” Keiron’s mother asks.
“Tony is fine.” Your dad says before Anita steps in.
“Well before we start this meeting, we need to deal with some business matters.” She passes some documents around the table handing one to everyone apart from you, your mom, your dad, and the SI hired people.
“What is this?” Mr. Garrison asks.
“It’s a pretty typical non-disclosure agreement. It basically means that anything covered in this meeting can not be disclosed, or sold. It also spells out what would happen if you break the agreement.”
“How come she doesn’t have to sign one?” Keiron spits out, stabbing his pen in your direction.
“Because my life is a non-disclosure agreement.” You state, as defensive as you can to your bully.
“I still don’t understand why we need lawyers and NDAs.” Mr. Garrison asks. Liam is the one to respond this time.
“Your son has been doing a lot of things, but we’re here because of his defamation of both Y/N and Tony’s names as well as the images he sold to the paparazzi.”
“Keiron.” His parents look at Keiron.
“You are defaming me right now.” Keiron says not wanting to admit to any of it.
“See that’s where you’re wrong.” Ameer steps in. “We have a statement from the person you sold the pictures to that you sold them the pictures of Y/N’s grades as well as that you sold them the story about how her dad bought her way into MSST. Even insinuated that her dad was going to have to donate a lot of money for her to pass her classes this year. We also have the check stub showing the payment you received for selling the photos and the untrue story. You know what that’s called? Defamation.”
“Otherwise known as slander against someone’s good name.” Liam clears up incase Keiron doesn’t understand. “We could take you to court for that and win easily.”
“It also goes against the honor code of MSST to take pictures of any student’s grades and post them online, much less sell them to the paparazzi.” Principal Morita states. “But that’s only the start of your problems, Keiron. Mr. and Mrs. Garrison, I have only recently been informed that Keiron has also been harassing and bullying Y/N since the beginning of the school year.”
“Keiron, I would ask if this is true, but based on the fact that you sold pictures of her grades and are being accused of defamation, there’s not much I would doubt from you right now.” His father says.
“Why do you care? You’re never around anyway.” Keiron spouts off.
“I’m here right now, and clearly I need to be around a lot more. We’ll talk about that later though.” Mr. Garrison says, turning back to Principal Morita. “What does this mean for Keiron?”
“Well if it was just the bullying, we would take a stance against it by suspending him and then moving him into a different class so that he wouldn’t be able to continue the bullying. But there’s the matter of selling the pictures to the press. Because we have a few students that have influential parents here, we include a zero tolerance for selling stories to the press for their safety and ability to have a normal learning environment. So unfortunately this is a case where the result is expulsion.”
“That’s not fair. I made it into this school. I had the grades. If that dumb bitch is allowed to stay here, I should be allowed to.”
“Keiron Mitchell, that’s the kind of things that have landed you in this position.” Mrs. Garrison reprimands him.
“It’s not like it’s not true. It’s probably not even true that she’s Tony Stark’s kid with how stupid she is.” Happy and Pepper both open their mouths to defend you, but Tony holds his hand up to stop them.
“Y/N is my kid. And anyone that ever questions that will have to deal with me. Which is not something you want to deal with. Remember kid, I am Iron Man.” He states, even though you know that threat has no real follow through. “Also my kids are loved by all the Avengers, which means you bully her, you have all the Avengers after you now. I don’t think that’s something you want.” That threat however, has a bit more follow through. The night the bullying had been revealed your Aunt Nat offered to make him disappear. Steve offered to give ‘the young man a talking to’ and Clint offered to help your Aunt Nat make sure no one would find the body, even though you both know she’s good enough to do that on her own. “Now question if my kid is mine ever again and you’ll have a whole other host of other problems.”
“You just threatened me.” Keiron says, shocked that Tony Stark just said all of that.
“Tell someone and you broke your NDA. I have the money to keep you in court until your great great great grandchildren are dead so I’d love to see how much fun that is.” Your dad’s voice sounds almost sinister, but you know he would do anything in the world to protect you so you’re not totally shocked by this. You feel Pepper’s hand on your knee, telling you that she won’t actually let your dad go that crazy, that this is all for show.
“Mr. and Mrs. Garrison, Keiron will have until the end of the day to clean out his locker and until the end of the week to return his textbooks to the front office. He will not be allowed to be on campus besides that.” Principal Morita says changing the subject.
“We’ll take him now to clean out his locker.” His dad looks at him, disappointment painted across his face at what his son had done. The family walks out of the room together.
“Mr. Dell, hopefully no more problems arise like this in your class.” Principal Morita says, looking towards your Chemistry teacher, seeming almost frustrated that one of the most famous kids at his school had been bullied under Mr. Dell’s watch.
“He didn’t know it was happening.” You admit. “I uh… didn’t tell anyone it was happening until a couple days ago.”
“Once we were aware of it, we stepped in.” Pepper explains.
“If I had known, I would have moved them apart.” Mr. Dell looks at you. “Anything else happens, you let me know and we can find a solution.” Then he looks at your dad. “I was hoping next time seeing each other would be the trip, but it’s always a pleasure.”
“Of course. That trip is all Y/N talks about lately. She’s very excited about it.”
“Hey, some of us didn’t jet out of the country for work as much as they wanted.” You tease your dad. His arm wraps around your shoulder.
“I know, I know. Your excitement is infectious. This trip will be fun.”
“We just have to get through state testing and finals before we can jet off.” Mr. Dell says and you can’t help but groan. State testing starts next week and you’re dreading it. “I know testing isn’t your strong suit, but I’m going to give out a review tomorrow and we’ll spend the next few days going over it to help everyone study. If you need extra help, let me know.”
“Thanks Mr. Dell.”
“Can we use the conference room for a few moments?” Tony asks your principal and he nods. Mr. Dell and him both step outside. Anita, Ameer, and Liam all step outside, sensing this was more of a private moment, not a lawyer moment. As the door shuts behind them, you pull your parents in for a hug. “Not that I’ll ever say no to a hug from any of my favorite girls, but what’s this for?”
“You made everything better.” You lean your head to rest on your dad’s shoulder.
“Of course we did.” Pepper says, her hand coming up to smooth your hair. “Next time tell us sooner and we’ll stop it before we have the lawyers coming in threatening defamation suits.”
“I still think we should sue the kid.” Tony grumbles.
“The story got pulled from the press, that's what matters.” Pepper states. “And he’s expelled. Doing anything more… seems excessive. Unless Y/N feels we need to do more.” You shake your head.
“You guys already did more than enough. All I wanted these days was to get through Chemistry without being called a dumb bitch.”
“Well hopefully, you never get called that in any of your classes ever again, because it’s the farthest from the truth. But if it does happen, you come to us, ok? No more hiding this for months and months ok?” Pepper says.
Before you can answer, your dad speaks. “I second that. No hiding something like this for months. Something like this happens again, come to us and we will make it stop immediately.”
“I know. I just didn’t want you to see me as weak. I mean I literally have one of the most powerful CEOs as a mom and a literal superhero as a dad. It’s a little daunting to live up to.” You admit.
“All you have to do is be you. That’s all we could ever want or need.” Your dad states. He places a kiss in your hair. “I have a feeling that you are going to do amazing things one day and we’re going to be blown away. I’m not usually wrong about things like that.” Pepper rolls her eyes, but she knows he’s right about you. “Maybe with that novel you wrote?”
“It literally was a pet project Dad.”
“You wrote a novel in a month. That’s a huge accomplishment.” You shrug.
“I just attempted what you told me to try. I wrote. Just because something happened means nothing.”
“Writes a book, calls it nothing.” Tony says dramatically.
You turn to your mom. “Can you tone down the dramatics?”
“I try my hardest but he doesn’t tend to listen.” She gives you an apologetic smile. The bell rings for a second time, signaling the start of your fourth period. “Should you head to class?”
“It’s just German.”
“You’re always trying to skip that class.” Tony teases.
“Am not.”
“Get to class. We should probably head out too. Someone has important things to do with their day.”
“We all know it’s not you so…” You tease him back. He pretends to be shocked, but still wraps his arm around you as you and your parents walk back into the office, Happy trailing behind you.
“I’ll be here to pick you up after your last class.”
“Thanks, Happy.”
“Love you kiddo.” Your dad peppers your head with kisses.
“I love you too Dad.” You wrap your arms around him, breathing in the smell of your dad as you hold him close. He senses you need just a few minutes longer of a hug, which he’ll never say no to.
“Do I get love too?” Your mom asks, teasing ever so slightly.
“Of course.” You go from one parent’s arm to the other’s arms. “I love you Mom.”
“Love you so much honey.” Pepper ghosts a kiss into your hair, as to not get red lipstick on you. “Tell Peter we say hello when you see him at lunch.”
“I will.” You take your books from Happy who had been holding them for you as you had left the conference room. “Thanks, Happy.” You throw your arms around him, giving him a hug. “You rock.”
Mrs. Clemmons hands you a pass to head to class. You make your way down the hallway to walk towards German class, turning around once to wave at your parents one last time.
Sitting through German is almost painful. You just want this period to be over so you can see Peter and soak up the feeling you get from being around him as well as the rest of your friends. You find yourself glancing at the clock, watching minutes passing slowly, counting down until you can see the face you miss. Finally though, the bell rings and you run off towards your locker to dump books, grab your lunch, and see the boy you’ve waited to see since first period started. You spin your combination with ease, opening the metal door to place your books down. Before you can even pick up any new books, a pair of arms wrap around your waist while a pair of lips place butterfly kisses to the side of your neck. You turn in his arms to face Peter, kissing his lips the moment you’re facing him.
“Hi.” You say breathlessly after pulling away from the kiss.
“Hi.” He doesn’t sound that differently.
“Keiron’s gone.”
“Did Natasha-” You cover his mouth to stop him from finishing that sentence, but feel his lips place more kisses on your hand.
“My parents set up that meeting with Principal Morita. They also brought the lawyers who had a bunch of proof that Keiron was the one who sold the pictures of my grades to the press. Between that and the bullying he broke a bunch of the honor code statements. So he got expelled.” Even though you don’t mind the kisses on your palm, you want to hear Peter’s reactions to what happened.
“Baby, I’m so happy for you. I’m glad he can’t hurt you anymore.”
“He also got threatened by Iron Man.”
“Did he now?” Peter asks as you reach in your locker to grab your lunch and your books for the rest of the day. You nod.
“He insinuated that I wasn’t my dad’s kid because I wasn’t smart enough to be. Dad basically told him that anyone who hurts me gets Iron Man on them and the Avengers. Keiron was like ‘did you just threaten me?’ but my dad was like ‘you signed an NDA and I can take you to court until your great great great grandkids are dead so try me’ and basically it was one of the greatest things ever.”
“I can imagine it was.” Peter says, wrapping an arm around you. “I still say Spider-Man should give him a lesson in why bullying isn’t nice.”
“That will just link Spider-Man back to me babe.”
“So? You know a lot of Avengers.”
“I think that’s kind of the reason Dad didn’t want me knowing Spider-Man.” You state as the two of you walk into the cafeteria. “Plus if Spider-Man beats up the guy that was bullying me, he might go to the press about it because that’s not under the NDA. And if the press might say huh Spider-Man fought Y/N’s bully. That seems like something a boyfriend would do. And you know who Y/N’s boyfriend is?” You trail off knowing that Peter could put the rest together as you walk up to your lunch table.
“I see your point.” He says as you both sit down next to Betty.
“Point about what?” Betty asks.
“Me saying why him asking to stay over at the cabin after studying was a bad idea.” You throw out as if it was what you were talking about.
“Oooof. With her overprotective dad? He’d probably have FRIDAY lock you in your room.” Betty states.
“That is a compromise.”
“Maybe. We’ll see.” You throw to him, but roll your eyes.