Peter's sister, Nova II NovaVerse 1

Peter

"Let's go home," I say. Nova winces as she gets up from the couch and walks over to me slowly. I can tell that moving is painful, so I give her my arm to balance herself. Bruce walks over to May with a large paper bag. "I have painkillers, antibiotics..." I don't listen to what he says more after that. All I know is that the bag has her medications for her wounds and such. He hands May a paper with timings and instructions. "Thank you," she says. "I'll be sure to take care of her, don't worry!" I continue to hold up my arm for Nova, realizing that she is relying on it more and more. She must be getting tired. Everyone says goodbye, and I help Nova over to the car.

She almost collapses into it, and I sit in the middle seat. Separating her from May. Happy is the one who drives us home, but he keeps giving her an uncertain look. I wonder if Mr. Stark told him about her. It doesn't matter. Besides, she'll be getting a home where she doesn't get hurt. When I got home last night, I made sure that everything was set up right for her. The bottom of the bunkbed now is covered with blankets on the sides which the walls aren't so she can feel alone and get privacy. Half the closet is now empty so she can put her cloths in there too. When I first met her, I never thought that she would end up as my sister. But I'll be able to protect her now.

Her eyes have bags under them, and her face is only a little sunken in. I'm guessing it was because of how she was treated before which caused her to be skinny and wrapped in bandages and stitches. I'm not going to forget about the haunted look in her eyes...

We reach the apartment soon, and we all get out of the car. I support Nova as she walks up the stairs, even though she keeps trying to push me away and do it herself. May unlocks the door, and we all step inside. Last night, Clint told me he taught Nova some sign language. So, I thought I could learn some too. I showed her around the house and into the bedroom. I could tell she liked the idea of the open spaces being blinded when she gave me a small smile, "Thank you," She signed.
    I gave her a small nod. I'm happy. Mr. Stark guessed she was at least fourteen, so I'll be having a little sister. I decide to give her some space to settle in, so May and I walk out the door.
    "Do you think she likes it?" May asks. "Of course! She said thank you." My eyes go to the brown bag Bruce gave May. "How often does she have to take them?" May's eyes dim a little, and she grabs the paper with the instructions. "She has quite the few. Her next ones at lunch." I grab the paper and read it. There were about five different pills she had to take daily, which is a lot. And who knows? Maybe she would need more. She still didn't tell us everything the man did to her. "Bruce asked if you could figure out what happened to her," May asks. I nod. I need to help her. But first, I want to call Ned. He's my best friend and doesn't even know what happened.
I being out my phone and start to text him.
Peter: NEDDD
Peter: YOU'LL NEVER GUESS WHAT HAPPENED!!!
Ned: waitttttt
Ned: Did you get Star Wars legosssss :))
Peter: I went to another universe on a mission and came back with a sister
Ned: YOU WENT TO ANOTHER UNIVERSE?!?!
Ned: wait a minute...
Ned: YOU HAVE A SISTER?!
Peter: yeah no real way to sugarcoat that
Ned: how old is she
Peter: we think she is 14 she can't remember cause smth happened but idk
Ned: is she coming to school anytime soon
    I stop texting for a moment. That's a good question. My spider-senses go of slightly, and I go to Nova. She's still in my bedroom. Our bedroom. But she is kneeling on the floor and her breath is trembling slightly. But it looks like she's calming down. I go next to her and she slightly jumps. "Do you want to go to school this week? If you're ready," I write. There are still some signs I don't know, but I'll try my best to learn more today.  She tilts her head. I forgot she doesn't remember. "It's a place every kid goes to.  To learn. You want to come this week if you want to, or whenever you're ready." She thinks for a moment, her dark brown eyes looking up in thought. "Safe?" She signed. "Yes," I signed back. "Safe." She's still worried about safety even though I already told her she would always be.
    She relaxes a little. "Tomorrow," she signs.
'She wants to go to school so quickly? She only arrived in this universe two days ago.'
    I have to go to school now anyways. It's about 7:00 and classes start in half an hour. I nod, and head out the door to talk to May. "She wants to go to school tomorrow. We didn't even sign her up yet and she doesn't have enough cloths yet." May nods and thinks for a moment. "Tony told me he already signed her up the day she got here. I'll stay with her and get her cloths. Just let your teachers know she'll be coming. He made sure you both have the same classes." I sigh in relief. Mr. Stark always plans ahead. I go out the door.
     Ned is waiting outside the apartment entrance, an excited smile on his face. "What was it like?" He says, while walking. "Didn't get to see much of it," I reply plainly. "When is your sister coming to school?" I'm a little concerned she wants to come so quickly, but if it's what makes her happy... "She wants to come tomorrow."
      "But she just got here."
       "I know, Ned. But if she wants to come..."
      "What's her name?"
       "Nova."
        Sometimes Ned can be a bit annoying with his questions. He talks about the multiverse and Nova for basically the whole walk while I try to talk about the new Lego set he got. We finally arrive at school and head to first period. First period is language arts, which I'm not the best at. It's just too theoretical and not strait forward like how math is. I head over to Ms. Williams desk. "Excuse me," I say. She looks up at me, and adjusted the glasses on her eyes. "My sister is coming tomorrow, and I wanted to warn you and the rest of the class how she's... a bit different." She looks annoyed and confused at me. "Yes, yes I'm sure it'll be fine. Now go sit down." She doesn't get it. "Listen, she's adopted and her last family was abusive. Just please let everyone know tomorrow. She doesn't like it when other people get too close to her, and she is deaf." Ms. Williams confusion and annoyance turned into concern and sympathy. "Of course I'll let everyone know," she says. I nod and mumble a thank you before walking back to my seat.
     Ms. Williams drones on and on about something, and I wipe away the spitballs being shot at my face. This might be a problem for tomorrow. The bell rings, and I head up to Flash. "Flash," I say. But he pushes me against the locker.
'Oh no. He pinned me against the wall. Again,' I think sarcastically. "Listen, my sister is coming to school tomorrow and is really sensitive." It feels weird to say I have a sister, but it's true now. "Don't hurt her and I'll do your homework." He considers it for a moment, and then scoffs. "And I get to beat you up after school, everyday." He isn't that strong, so it wouldn't be too bad. "Fine." He lets me go, and I walk off to my next class.
'As long as she's safe.'
    I never thought I could care so much about a person I met two days ago. It all feels too fast. But without me, who does she trust? I'm all she has at the moment. I go to Spanish with Ned for second period.  I let the teacher know about Nova. I do this for the other four periods of the day, letting each teacher know about her.
     It's gym I'm worried about. Coach doesn't allow many people to not work in his class. I need to make sure that he understands. She almost fainted from exhaustion yesterday when she walked out the tower and into the car. She's too weak for gym. I walk into coaches office when I should be doing pull ups with Ned. "Coach, my sister is going to be coming tomorrow." He doesn't look up from his computer screen. "Good for you. Now get doing those pull ups." I sigh. He never understands. "She's adopted. Her last family was abusive. I don't think she can exercise for a little while." He looks up from his screen for a brief moment before going back to it. "We'll see."
     That was the closest thing to a yes from coach, and I go over to the mat where Ned is waiting. "What he say?" Ned asks. "We'll see," I quote. He sighs, and the pull ups begin. Ned found out I was Spider-Man a few days ago, so I don't need to pretend to struggle while I work.
     I hear Liz talking about Spider-Man. "What if he's like forty?" One of her friends say. "I'll like him for who is is on the inside," she replies.
'Would that mean she would like me?'
    "Peter knows Spider-Man!" Ned exclaims. I freeze on the spot. How could Ned say that? I'm so screwed now. "Why don't you invite him to my party, Peter?"  I really don't want to. "Ned's lying. I promised to help my sister with something, anyways." I feel myself almost stumble over my words, my face hot. Ned just embarrassed me in front of Liz. "I thought you met him at the Stark Internship. Unless you don't have it," Flash says, walking to me with a smug expression. "I do- I have seen him but I don't know him very well. Very busy guy." I stutter out the lie the best I can. I'm a terrible at lying, and I feel bad for doing it to my crush. But I really can't afford this.
      I go through the rest of the day, and the bell finally rings. I walk out the door and run into an alleyway. I change into my Spider-suit - the original one not the iron suit - and start to swing to the apartment. "Hey Karen!" I exclaim happily. Swinging around the city always filled me with excitement and made me feel free. But I wouldn't be able to do much of it today. I swing over to Mr. Delmars Sandwich place.
'Maybe Nova would like it.'
        I land and walk into the store, making my voice deeper so he can't recognize me. " Hi sir! Could I have two number eights and squish the pickles, please?" He nods, and hands me the sandwich, happy that Spider-Man went to his store for the third time this week. I thank him, and start to swing back to the apartment again.
          I land on the window, and crawl inside. I take off my mask and my suit, changing into my normal cloths. I peak into the bottom bunk by pushing away the blankets covering the open space. I see Nova, curled up into a ball in the corner of the bed reading a book. She looks up quickly, and then relaxes as she sees it's only me. I hand her the sandwich, and I'm about to unwrap mine.
   "Peter! I need to talk to you!" May explains from the kitchen. "Yeah May, what do you need?" I ask. She looks very concerned at me. "Nova hasn't been eating. At all. Could you try to convince her? And maybe find out what happened to her before." She kisses me on the forehead and I walk back. Only one bite out of the sandwich. "You need to eat," I sign. I was watching YouTube videos on the computer in class. She shakes her head. "Why?" I ask. She looks me in the eye, and signs back. "I don't feel like it." But that has to be a lie. She's already thirty pounds underweight. And not to mention suffering from malnutrition. "You have to." She shakes her head. She tries to sign something, but doesn't know it. She grabs the notebook and writes. "I don't trust it." I'm confused, and she can visibly see that. "Killer used to poison it for fun sometimes." Killer? Is that the man's name? I can see how it visibly hurts her to remember, and I don't want to intrude too much. "It's safe," I sign. "I'll show you." I take a bit of her's, and eat it. "It's fine. It isn't going to hurt you. I would never get something that would hurt you."
She nods, and eats about one third of it, which is a good start. I also make sure that she takes the pills with it. Just then, Mr. Stark texts.
Mr. Stark: Happy will pick you up tomorrow to go to the tower. Bring Nova and your suit. I already told May.
Peter: Ok, will do Mr. Stark!
But right now, I have to do my homework. I go to my desk, and I start to work.
Tomorrow's going to be a long day.