The Offer
May kept her emotions hidden, not wanting Skye to realise how much this was bothering her.
“You dropped out of school.” Her voice was empty, void of any telling inflections. Skye bit her lip, as if torn between acting defensive or apologetic.
“Technically, I just stopped going. There’s a difference.” She muttered awkwardly, avoiding eye contact.
“Can you even legally do that?” Phil asked, looking devastated, “Can she do that? She’s not legally an adult yet. Don’t we get to decide?”
May grimaced.
“Legally, it’s not our choice. She’s seventeen.”
Phil looked as if he might cry, and May didn’t feel far behind him. How could Skye have done this? She was so smart, so brilliant. She was just throwing away her future needlessly. It had come out of nowhere. Skye had said nothing about it at all, and then suddenly her school had rung up to ask where Skye had been, and the whole mess had come tumbling out.
“Look Skye, nobody likes school, but you have to go.” Phil tried. Skye shook her head.
“I don’t. I just- I can’t do it anymore. I can’t pretend that I-“
“You can’t get into Shield academy without finishing school, Skye.” May interrupted, hating that tears began to tumble down Skye’s cheeks.
“I know but it’s- I just-“
“I thought you wanted to go to Shield academy? To do your computer magic?” Phil asked, glancing helplessly over at May. She shook her head slightly. Neither of them had seen this coming. Skye seemed to flinch slightly.
“Not- it wasn’t computers. I-“
May waved her hand and Skye trailed off.
“Look, Skye. I’m sorry, but you’ll have to finish school. We’ve let you get away with a few things over the years, but this isn’t acceptable.” She announced firmly. Phil stepped forwards.
“I’d like you to go up to your room whilst your mom and I talk this over.”
Skye wiped away her tears and strode away without another word.
May placed a shaky hand on Phil’s shoulder as they watched her go.
“She just quit school.” Phil spoke into the stunned silence. May sighed.
“I just don’t know how to get through to her.” She agreed glumly, resting her head on Phil’s shoulder.
Skye cried herself to sleep. She was fairly sure she hadn’t had a panic attack, but breathing was difficult. The house was quiet when she woke up again, and her parents had left her a note. Skye took it with shaky hands.
Skye,
Phil was called in for a meeting. I have gone with him, to give you a chance to think things over.
Mom x
Skye reminded herself to breathe, fetching a glass of water and downing it quickly. She moved to refill it, but her hands were shaking so much that the glass slipped, crashing noisily to the floor. Skye yelped and stumbled back. She bent down, desperately trying to gather up the glass shards. It stung horribly, but she knew it would be worse if mom found out she’d broken another piece of crockery. She was already in trouble, anyway.
“Put down the glass before you seriously hurt yourself.”
Skye started, releasing the glass she had gathered.
“You’re supposed to be dead.”
“You’re supposed to be in school.” Nick pointed out, “Though it sounds like you’ve decided against that.”
Skye winced, standing up to face the former Shield Director.
“You don’t have to lecture me,” She told him, “Mom and dad already covered that.”
Nick handed her a damp cloth and led her back into the living room.
“I’m not here to lecture you, Skye. I’m here to listen.”
Skye scoffed.
“Nobody ever just wants to listen.” She bit back angrily.
Nick gave her a pointed look, and she shuffled her feet. Part of her just wanted to blurt out everything she was thinking and feeling, but her parents’ reaction from earlier held her back. She had never seen them that angry. Not once. They hadn’t let her explain what was going on. They just blamed her. Told her to do better, be a better person. To try again. It was useless. She was useless.
“I don’t regret dropping out of school.” She insisted. It was true, after all. There was very little point in her finishing school. She was failing most of her classes already. She didn’t need to see her parents’ disappointment when she handed them her stupid, useless results. Nick settled himself in one of the armchairs, watching her expectantly.
“I’m not good at school,” Skye tried to explain, “I never have been. I just sort of… floated through. Just barely okay enough to make it to the next year.”
“You’ve had a difficult education path, Skye.” Nick reminded her calmly, “The education you received from the nuns was severely lacking in most areas. It’s no surprise that you’ve struggled to keep up.”
Skye shrugged a shoulder.
“Mom and dad tried to help but it’s like there’s a block in my head, and the information just won’t stay put. I- um… I never wanted to have to ask for help on stuff I was already s’posed to know. They’d already covered that topic, y’know? I didn’t want to have to make them go over it again.” She blinked suddenly, annoyed that Nick’s tactics of getting her to open up had actually worked.
“You dropped out because you didn’t want to ask for help.”
Skye shook her head furiously.
“I dropped out because I was failing most of my classes, and there just didn’t seem to be a point in trying anymore. It was way too late for asking for help. And I’m- I’m glad that I did. I wanted to. It wasn’t an impulsive decision. I’d been thinking about doing it for months. I made a decision.”
“Seems to me,” Nick spoke up, “That you seem pretty upset for someone who claims to be glad about their decision.”
“I am.” Skye insisted, glaring.
“Why are you upset, Skye? It’s a simple question.”
Skye sat down, eyes flickering towards the pictures above the fireplace. She’d cried when mom and dad had first hung them up. Pictures of her, crammed between them, beaming like she was on top of the universe.
There was another one, tucked out of sight in case of civilian visitors, with Skye wearing her mom’s Shield jacket and proudly clutching the access badge Nick had given her. She’d just celebrated her first birthday with her parents, and Nick had presented her with the badge, informing her that it gave her access to all bases as long as she was accompanied by a selective group of trusted agents. It was Skye’s favourite photo, and she’d always imagined the day when it could be joined by another one, with her wearing her own Shield jacket, clutching her very own Agent’s badge.
“I- look, I know the rules about Shield Academy, okay? I know I have to have graduated High school and gone to college to get in. I guess I’m upset because I can’t be an agent anymore. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do now.”
Nick chuckled, and Skye’s eyes flickered over to him in surprise. That was not the reaction she had anticipated.
“You don’t need to go to the academy to be an agent, Skye.”
Skye frowned at him. People had been telling her all about Shield Academy her whole life. How it was the way forwards. The way to be an agent of Shield.
“Skye, Shield has wanted to snatch you up for years. It’s written in your file that as soon as you turn eighteen, Shield will try to recruit you as an agent. You’re an asset.”
“Because of my powers.” Skye realised, slumping slightly. Nick shook his head firmly.
“No, because you represent everything Shield values. Skye, do you remember when your school called me because you’d been in a fight?”
“Yeah. I was so scared you’d yell at me.”
Nick’s mouth twitched slightly.
“I asked you what you wanted to be when you were older, and you told me- “
“-That I wanted to be an agent. Yeah, I remember.”
He shook his head, leaning forwards to look at her properly.
“You told me that you wanted to protect people. That’s what Shield is about.”
Skye shifted in her seat.
“Okay?”
Nick almost looked frustrated, as if she wasn’t understanding what he was trying to say.
“What about that mission Natasha and Clint took you on?”
“Natasha said I’d make a good agent one day, ‘cos I managed to take down two guys.”
“No. Natasha thought you’d make a good agent,” Nick explained, “Because throughout the entire mission, all you cared about was keeping people safe. You made sure Anja was going to be safe before doing anything else. Made comforting her a priority as you got her to safety.”
Skye stared at him in shock.
“Seriously?”
“Skye, you will make an incredible agent of Shield. You are brave, kind, resilient. It doesn’t matter that you aren’t good at school, or that you won’t go to the academy. Frankly, you’ve already been trained more efficiently and more successfully than nearly every one of those academy recruits. Or have you forgotten who your family is?”
Slowly, hesitantly, Skye began to smile.
“I can be an agent of Shield?”
“Just as soon as you turn eighteen.” Nick confirmed, placing a hand on her shoulder. Skye beamed at him. God, she loved her family so much.
Skye was waiting by the door when May opened it, already tense at the thought of having to debate with Skye again. She noted, to her relief, that Skye looked a lot less miserable than she had earlier. Part of her wondered just which family member had spoken to their little girl, and somehow, she hoped they had been able to change Skye’s mind.
“I’m not going to quit school.” Skye burst out. May raised an eyebrow in surprise, eyes flickering towards Phil, who looked equally shocked.
“That’s…good? Any reason?”
Skye shrugged, letting them come in properly. She was fiddling with her hands, which indicated that she was nervous.
“I’m not going to pass all of my classes. I-I’m really awful at science, and I was never going to succeed at English. I guess… I guess I just thought that I was failing most of my classes anyway, and there wasn’t much point in trying anymore.”
“Let me guess,” Phil spoke up, a knowing glint in his eyes, “Someone showed up and reminded you why finishing school is a good idea, no matter how badly you think you might fail.”
May squinted at her husband, wondering what he knew that she didn’t. She was surprised to see Skye shake her head.
“He didn’t. I decided to keep going on my own. I’m not good at school. I know that. You know that. All of my teachers know that. But I have to finish. I don’t want to be the kind of person who gives up this close to the end. Nick, he- He just reminded me what kind of a person I am. I am not the kind of person who gives up.”
May and Phil glanced at each other, surprised but pleased by this change of heart. They both despised fighting with Skye, and they had felt so hurt when they’d found out what she’d done. May knew Skye had probably assumed that they were angry with her, but they weren’t. She was probably angrier with herself, for not knowing how to best help her little girl. For not having realised that something was wrong.
“Besides,” Skye added with a sly grin, “I still have a while before I turn eighteen and get recruited b\y Shield. Might as well make the best of that time.”
“What did you-“
“Hang on, Say that agai-“