Penny was surprised to find herself nervous as she clutched the hands on either side of her. Head bowed, eyes closed, she repeated the serenity prayer after their coach, feeling only a little less silly than when she’d done it the first time. On the other side of the curtain was an audience full of people including May, all of them here to watch this competition, nothing like the Academic Decathlon meets she’d be to. No...this was a full house. Spectators from both schools, families and principals and teachers..the bleachers were absolutely packed.
She hadn’t wanted May to come. In fact, if keeping it a secret from May altogether had been an option, she would have gone with that one. Partly because it was almost embarrassing...sure, she’d wanted to be a cheerleader when she’d been a little girl, although asthma had been something of a barrier. Plus her general lack of grace. But as she’d grown up, she’d gone alone with the general population in their belief that cheerleaders were mostly stuck-up and rude, even at a STEM school like Midtown. Now, waiting for the serenity prayer to be over, her hands clasping those of her teammates, she felt bad about all those mean thoughts over the years.
She’d mostly lost her desire to be a cheerleader as she’d entered high school, entertaining it for a moment when she’d seen a flyer advertising tryouts after getting her powers, and then throwing it out as an idea when Mr. Stark had first come to visit her. And in that moment, when she’d confided in him that sure, she wished she could be a cheerleader now that she was different, she’d really felt it. Something about it had seemed almost irresistible. As much as she told Ned that she was fine with not being popular, the appeal of it was still there, always lurking in the back of her mind.
But it wouldn’t have been fair, she knew, to use her new powers to gain popularity and take a spot on a team that she hadn’t actually earned. Not even a little. So she’d brushed these thoughts away and contended herself with lab visits with Mr. Stark twice a month, spending time with Ned and MJ during Decathlon, and patrolling the streets of Queens.
And it was great. Really, it was. She had a fantastic life, and slowly but surely, she felt like she and Mr. Stark were getting closer. He would laugh more and seemed to almost look forward to seeing her on their lab days. There was something about him when they were working together...something light. Something happy. And she was happy too. Happy that there was someone in her life, not to take the place of her uncle, but...well, she wasn’t sure how she felt about it. And she doubted very much that Mr. Stark spent much time thinking about it either. Sometimes she worried that she was more of a bother...a nuisance, than anything approaching…
That didn’t matter.
It all started with a rumor.
Well...not a rumor, exactly. A whisper. Part of a whispered conversation heard in the hallway between classes. Ned has been shoving his books into his locker, and Penny had been grabbing her Chemistry book, stuffing it into her backpack, when she’d heard the words.
Glancing up on instinct when she’d heard the hitch in the other girl’s voice, she’d quickly dropped her eyes after realizing who it was. Mandy Wong. One of the prettiest girls in their grade. Close to top of the junior class, only four spots behind Penny (and five above Flash). And a cheerleader. Not just a cheerleader, though. One of the best, apparently. Practically the poster girl for the Midtown Cheerleaders.
Mandy’s eyes had been a little puffy as she had put her face close to Ally Thompson’s, and Penny had stared down at her book as they’d whispered.
“You have to tell someone.”
“Who’s going to believe me? He’s the best coach we’ve ever had. The season just started! Tryouts are next week! No way we’ll get someone new in time!”
And then Ned’s voice had cut thorough Penny’s concentration. “Okay, so I was thinking we could…”
Penny had held up a hand before Ned could finish his sentence. For a moment, he’d looked almost offended, but she had shaken her head and gave him an apologetic smile. “Just a second.”
He had looked around, trying to find out who she was listening to, but she’d grabbed his arm, shaking her head, mind spinning. She’d never had a class with Mr. Sanchez, one of their Pre Cal teachers and the cheerleading coach. And she’d never heard anything about him...no rumors of him being more difficult than other teachers or meaner or even a hint that he had ever been too...familiar with any of his students. There had been rumors about their old freshman social studies teacher being a bit too friendly with his favorite students, but then he’d retired.
But Mandy had been crying. She had been trying to hide it but still. And Penny didn’t know Mandy or the teacher personally. But she was Spider-Girl and Spider-Girl helped people. All people. Even cheerleaders who hadn’t always been exactly friendly to her. So, as she and Ned made their way to their next class, Penny had started to plan.
During breaks on patrols that evening, Penny had looked up instructional cheerleading videos, knowing in some part of her that this wasn’t her best plan, but it was the one she would go with. No way she could just wait for something to happen to another girl. And there was only one way she could investigate for herself...she didn’t exactly have any friends on the team. Squad. Whatever. So she’d watched videos for beginners, eyes tracking the moves on the tiny screen. She’d read articles. Tips on how to stand out in tryouts. She was sure that wouldn’t be much of an issue. She might not know much about cheerleading itself, but she had a feeling that her newfound flexibility and strength and her ability to do flips and cartwheels and handsprings and any other move listed on the websites would be a mark in her favor.
That evening, she’d sat nervously at the kitchen table, a flyer she’d snagged from the bulletin board in hand as she’d waited for May. She knew that May loved her...that her aunt would support her no matter what. She also knew that May would find a way to pay for her to do this if it was what she really wanted...and that her aunt could never know why exactly she suddenly decided to try out for the Midtown Wolverines Cheer Squad Using herself as bait for a possible pedophile would never go down well, no matter how nicely she phrased it. And she doubted she would be able to get Mr. Stark on board either.
As soon as May had stepped into the house, obviously taking note of the hot Thai takeout on the counter and the table set for two, she’d had know that something was up. But Penny had been pleasantly surprised, and guilty, when her aunt had seemed almost excited.
“I never thought you’d be interested in cheerleading...are you sure you have time between Academic Decathlon and the lab days and,” here she’d lowered her voice as though someone else had been close enough to hear, “lab days?”
“Yeah, I’m sure. And...I don’t know. It’s my junior year and I...I don’t really have that many more chances to try things in high school. But...you don’t think it’s cheating, do you?”
May had shaken her head, although her conviction hadn’t swayed Penny much. “Of course not. You still have to work with a team and practice...I’m just worried it’s going to be too much.”
“It won’t. I promise.”
“Alright...well, make sure you tell Mr. Stark just in case you have to miss lab days.”
And Penny had nodded with absolutely no intention of doing that. There was no reason for Mr. Stark to know that she was trying to become a cheerleader...or why she would do something like that.
As predicted, tryouts had been almost too easy thanks to her new skills. She’d even showed off a little, admitting to herself later that it had been fun. It had been fun to flip and tumble and even, toward the end, find herself paired up with one of the other junior boys, already on the team, with biceps the size of her head who had thrown her up in the air, allowing her to flip and spin and land securely in the arms of the two boys assigned to her section. It had been exhilarating to trust someone that much...to put her faith in those boys who had caught her every time without fail. It had been exciting to stand amongst the other girls, most of the incoming freshmen or sophomores, and wait to see what the coach would ask them to do next.
And despite the confused looks thrown her way from the girls already on the team, there had been no hostility. No demands to know why Penny Parker of all people thought she would be allowed to try out for the cheerleading squad. Instead, after the confusion had abated and they’d gotten a glimpse of what she could do, they’d looked even more excited than her aunt. And Coach Sanchez had looked the most excited of all. They were a good team, but a few of the best had graduated the year before, and they had been hoping to find some new talent.
Penny, it seemed, was that new talent.
She had quickly learned that cheerleading was not about cheering for the football team, but about grueling practices twice a week that often resulted in injuries, from torn muscles to bruised ribs to actual broken bones, all leading up to competitions between teams.
She’d also learned that she loved it. She loved working as a part of a big team and she loved the friendships that came with it...the family that came with it. She loved being thrown in the air just like she loved swinging around Queens, and she loved tumbling and competing and...and she loved almost every part of it. Keeping it a secret from Mr. Stark hadn’t been hard, since their lab days were usually on Saturdays when there was no practice, and their first competition was on a Sunday, so there was no worry of overlapping. Bruises and the sprained wrist she’d gotten were easily explained away as patrolling accidents, and they were never serious enough to make him question her any further.
He did ask her about school more and more as the first semester of her junior year went on, and about Academic Decathlon. She didn’t mention that MJ was pissed at her for missing a meet thanks to cheerleading practice, or that her friend didn’t know about Spider-Girl or her most recent undercover mission. She didn’t mention that the cheerleading coach had let his hand linger for just a little too long a few days ago, which meant that she was possibly getting closer to the truth, or that she’d stumbled upon Mandy crying in the locker room only for the girl to brush it off as pms. So, she thought, since he never asked directly about any of these things, she wasn’t lying by not bringing it up.
Right?
The boy on her left, Jeremy, who was her partner for quite a bit of their routine and who would be the one both throwing and catching her, squeezed her hand and gave her a tenuous smile that she struggled to return. Nerves clawed at her stomach, and Penny forced herself to take a deep breath. This was no big deal. Just a quick little routine like she’d done a thousand times. She knew it like the back of her hand...hand dreamed about it more than once. She had the aching ribs and bruised knees to prove it.
There was cheering from the audience as they started to run onto the stage, chanting and yelling and waving their arms, and just like every time she’d performed for an audience, Penny felt the adrenaline rush take over. Heart racing, she pasted the giddy smile on her face and ran out right behind Jeremy, moving to her spot on the hardwood floor. The green top and skirt, edged in sparkling gold, caught her eye as she saw her teammates moving into place, those same smiles on their faces.
And then the music started.
The routine was like breathing to Penny as she moved, every move listed in her brain in order, feet pounding on the floor as she tumbled in time to the beat, then moved into place for Jeremy to place his hands on her waist, both of them kneeling, then tossing her up so that he could get his hands under her feet and lift her high in the air. She’d been higher, of course. Hell, she’d perched on the edge of the Empire State Building...and then she’d jumped, freefalling for what felt like several minutes before shooting a web to catch herself, heart pounding with adrenaline. But this was different. This was trusting all the other people on her team to be in the right spot, to do the right things, as she was thrown up in the air, body twisting, toes pointed, until he caught her again.
First big jump, done.
The routine continued, the crowd screaming in encouragement under the beat of the music, and then Jeremy was holding her again, one of her arms straight up, the other bent at the elbow, fist against her hip. Her first pause as the tumblrs did their part, and she caught sight of May...and beside her, a flash of dark hair and dark glasses that made her heard flutter just a little.
Mr. Stark.
She almost missed her cue. Almost missed the change in Jeremy’s grip that meant it was time for her to jump...to be thrown high in the air and twist and spin, her favorite part of the routine, but just in time she bent her knees, then leapt, spinning and twisting…
And that was the last thing she remembered before the world went dark.
When Penny came to, there were people talking. Rushed, gasping words and fingers pressed to her neck and then a loud, authoritative voice she knew as well as her own by this point. “She’s my intern.”
“That doesn’t mean you can just…”
“It does. I have my own med team and they are going to take care of her.”
And beyond that, fierce, furious whispers. “Why weren’t you in your spot?” Jeremy. She’d never seen Jeremy, the six foot three boy from Harlem who could probably break her in half, angry. Frustrated, sure, but never actually angry. Now he sounded it.
“I was! You were…”
“No you weren’t!” That was Mandy, her voice almost tearful.
Penny’s head pounded, and she wanted to get up and assure everyone that she was okay. That it had just been a little bump or something...whatever it had been. But even twitching her eyelids made her head explode in pain, and so she was still until something was slid under her back, and a hand clasped hers.
“Penny? Kiddo? Can you hear me?”
Before she could answer, her eyelids were being peeled back and she gave a gasping scream as a pinpoint of light drilled it’s way into her brain.
“It’s okay. It’s just Helen. You’re okay.”
How had Helen gotten to her school so fast? Or maybe she’d been out for a long time? Either way, she felt tears run down her cheeks and the hand in hers squeezed as her coached yelled in the background.
It wasn’t until they were in a dark, enclosed room that she quickly realized was a van owned by Mr. Stark and specifically designed as a private ambulance that Penny managed to get her eyes open. Head pounding, she tried to bring a hand up to press against it, but her movements were slow and uncoordinated and she found it nearly impossible.
“Hey...easy, kiddo. You’re okay.”
“Wha...what happened?” She wanted to ask why he was there. What he was doing at her cheerleading competition and why Helen was there, but ‘what happened’ seemed to be the limit as her head throbbed, making thinking almost impossible.
“That asshole didn’t catch you,” Mr. Stark murmured, a hand brushing her hair back. When she tried to turn her head, she quickly discovered it was immobile. “Easy. Don’t try to move. Helen has you in a neck brace just in case. You’re okay.”
“Jeremy...he always catches me.”
“According to the coach, one of them was in the wrong spot,” he told her, voice soft. Almost soothing. He’d never been like this before, but it was a nice kind of strange. His fingers kept running through her hair, gently stroking her head and avoiding a spot that she assumed had been the place she’d hit, because it was the place that throbbed the most. “You’re going to be fine. Don’t worry.” For a moment, there was quiet between them, with Helen’s soft tapping on her tablet and the almost silent beeping of a machine being the only noises. “So...cheerleading, huh?”
There was really no point in denying it, so she hummed in the affirmative.
“You never told me you were a cheerleader.”
“You didn’t ask,” she muttered, and he gave a soft, almost incredulous chuckle.
“My bad, kiddo. Guess I should have gone down the list...are you on the football team? Soccer? Debate?” Penny gave a weak smile and he sighed, voice a little more serious. “How’s your head feel?”
“Hurts.”
“You landed hard, Pen...hell kid, I thought…” Penny looked up at him, watching his eyes close and his lips press together hard. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
She decided to go with a version of the truth. “I didn’t think it mattered.”
His eyebrows furrowed. “You didn’t think it mattered?”
Her head gave a spike of pain and she closed her eyes, fingers closing around his almost too tightly before she remembered herself and let go, gripping the sheets instead.
“Enough talk for now,” Helen interjected softly, placing a cool, wet rag over Penny’s eyes. “Penny, try to stay awake for me, okay? We’re going to get you to the medbay and have you spend the night under observation.”
Surprisingly, Mr. Stark gave up, just resting his hand over hers until they reached the tower.
It was hours later that Mr. Stark came to her room, tray in hand, and sat down beside her bed. “Your aunt mentioned the competition during our phone call. Otherwise I never would have known.” Placing the tray on the little table in front of her, he sat back, arms crossed as he observed her. Penny, dressed now in pajamas with an ice pack to her head, carefully removed the tray cover to reveal what looked like homemade lasagna.
“Your phone call?”
“Yeah. We have them every week...one of the conditions for me being allowed to help you out with the whole superhero thing.”
“Oh.” Grabbing the fork, she picked self-consciously at the food until he gestured for her to eat.
“She seemed surprised that I didn’t know.”
“I just…” Penny sighed, fighting the lingering pain and fatigue. All she wanted to do was sleep, but Helen had wanted her to stay awake for a little while longer. “I didn’t think you’d care, Mr. Stark. Really...it doesn’t have anything to do with Spider-Girl and…”
“Pen.” Mr. Stark’s voice was so soft that she might have missed it had she not had enhanced hearing. Dropping her eyes, she stared once more at her food. “Kiddo...you’ve got to know that Spider-Girl isn’t the only reason we spend time together.”
“I…” She shrugged. “That’s why you wanted to recruit me. And I get it! And it’s so cool that you let me come over and work in your lab but…” Penny trailed off, not wanting to say it. Not wanting it confirmed.
“You’re a smart kid, Penny. Hell, one of the smartest I’ve ever met. So you have to know how wrong that is.” Not daring to hope, she kept staring at the lasagna. “Pen, I…” Clearing his throat, the man glanced at the closed door, then back at her. “I never wanted kids, you know? I mean, I never even let myself think about it cause my dad...he was a real piece of work. And he fucked me up good. I didn’t want to be that person. So I never let myself think about it. But you...kid, you’re like...I mean, you’re May’s kid and I don’t think that I could ever take the place of your uncle. And I don’t want to! But...that...that’s how I think of you. I don’t want to spend time with you because you’re Spider-Girl. I want to spend time with you because you’re Penny Parker. And Penny Parker is...I think of her as like my kid.”
Penny ignored the tears that had spilled over, doing her best to keep them in, but when he moved over to the bed, pushing the table out of the way and wrapping his arm around her, she brought a hand up, gripping his shirt, and lost the battle with the sobs that had been fighting to get out. She hadn’t dared hope. Hadn’t even begun to let herself think about this...the chance that she might have been wrong had been too great, too scary to contemplate. But he’d said it! He thought of her as his kid!
It made sense. It had always made sense. She’d just never dared to hope.
Burying her face in his shirt, she let herself be held. Let herself remember Ben, and how he’d held her the same way, and let herself feel comforted now that she had someone in that place now. Not a replacement for Ben. Something new. Something different, but just as good. Mr. Stark rested a hand against the back of her head, lips pressing to her forehead as she cried, and she wondered if it was the relief or the concussion making her so emotional. Either way, it was a long time before she was finally able to calm down and eat the food that Mr. Stark had brought her.
That was when she decided to tell the truth. “Mr. Stark?”
“Yeah, kiddo?” he asked, taking a bite from the garlic bread he’d swiped from her plate. She didn’t mind. He was sure to have another tray of food brought in as soon as she was done with this one. They both knew how her metabolism worked.
“I...I need to tell you something?”
“Yeah…” he gave her a suspicious look. “Another secret team? Are you actually the quarterback too?”
Penny huffed a laugh that only hurt her head a little. “No...um...it’s about cheerleading.”
“Okay.” Mr. Stark crossed his arms, giving her his full attention.
“I didn’t join cheerleading because I wanted to.”
He narrowed his eyes. “You didn’t?”
“I mean...I really like,” she admitted. “Like...a lot. But...that’s not why I tried out.”
“Then why?”
“I think...I mean, I don’t have proof yet but...I think the coach....I think Coach Sanchez is hurting some of the girls.” It was as close as she could get to saying it, the words tumbling out of her mouth, and for a moment, he just watched her, and she could see the wheels turning in his brain. Then it clicked.
“You joined as bait?” he hissed, leaning in. Penny shrugged, giving her best smile.
“I mean...I couldn’t just question him. And I didn’t know anyone on the team so…”
Mr. Stark held up a hand, closing his eyes and seeming to gather himself. “Okay.” He sighed. “Okay. Does May know?”
“No!” she cried, shaking her head. And she can’t…” Penny pressed her lips together when he gave her a look. Not angry. More...reproving.
“Has he done anything to you?”
“No...not really.” He lifted an eyebrow, waiting. Concerned. “I mean, sometimes he’s really friendly, like, in a weird way, and he puts his hands on my shoulders a lot but…” Penny shrugged. That, though, was apparently enough for him.
“Okay. I’m going to take care of this.”
“No, Mr. Stark…”
“Look, Pen. What you were trying to do...it was good. And I know that you can handle yourself. But...just...let me do this, okay?” He leaned in, taking her hand and squeezing a little. “You shouldn’t have to be Spider-Girl in school. You shouldn’t be responsible from protecting students from teachers. And that includes yourself. Let me take care of it.” He was asking. And honestly, it was almost a relief. It would suck to lose her coach...but she wouldn’t have to worry anymore. Wouldn’t have to worry about him being alone with the other girls or figuring out a way to prove his guilt.
Mr. Stark was going to take care of it.
So she nodded, and he gave her a soft smile, reaching out and cupping the side of her head. “Alright, kiddo. Let me get you some more food and then you can rest. I set a room up for May down the hall. Just let me know if you need anything?”
Penny nodded, and, with a last smile and pat on her arm, he was gone to finish the job she’d started.
They had a new coach within the week.
Thank you for reading!