The Valiant (The Seventh Avenger)

Chapter 43

"You and you, I need to talk to you," I say and Flash just rolls his eyes.

"C'mon Grace, we already talked with him," Flash throws his hands toward the principal, "now we have to talk with you?" His nose is stuffed with tissue and specks of red are spread across it.

"I'm not that mad at you," I cross my arms and walk out to the hallway. They follow me out and Flash begins to question something but Peter elbows him in the side. "I just have a simple question for you."

"Grace, if you're asking me to apologize here it is, I'm sorry." He says and I put my hand up and sigh.

"No, it's not that either," I pinch the bridge of my nose and lift the sketchbook. "How much did you see in this?"

"Like I said to the therapist, I only saw that one drawing and to be honest I'm glad I didn't see any of the others," Flash says, he's not lying. Whenever someone lies, I get an itch in the back of my head, I guess it's just another extra little thing I got with my abilities. It definitely doesn't help when my teammates and friends would try to plan a surprise party for me.

"OK," I say and turn to Peter. "We need to talk too, but in private."

"Leaving me in chopped liver over here!" Flash says and we all begin to walk. I try to hide my amusement but Peter notices and pinches my arm. I smack him in the arm as a response and Flash chuckles. "You got a good one there Peter."

"Did you just say my real name?" Peter says and Flash just smirks at us.

"Did I?" He asks before walking faster and turning the corner. I turn towards Peter and take his hand, I hold my sketchbook on my other side.

"What did you want to talk about, Grace?" Peter asks. I feel my heart flutter and my stomach does a flip, I steady my breathing and try not to freak out when my watch begins to beep.

"Did you see the picture?" I ask and my knees wobble when he nods. "Do you know what the picture represents?" He shakes his head and I take a deep breath before telling him. I tell him how it's my worst nightmare, how I was shown this four months ago and how this brought me to realize how much I liked him. I took out the paper and pointed out every single detail to explain it to him. I don't know why I tell him, I think it has something to do with the fact that he won't... no, I won't think like that right now, I just want to live in the moment.

"Grace, I'm so sorry," he says after I finish.

"Why? You had nothing to do with this," I say as we begin to walk towards the commons. He was silent for a few moments before beginning.

"I just feel bad that you've been through so much," he says, "and the fact that I can't relate to it and how I don't know what you've been through." My breath catches in my throat, that's almost the exact same thing I told Ms. Ferass.

"Peter, there's so much you still don't know about me," I say and look down at my hands.

"Then tell me." I look up at him and he's just staring at me, I've never had someone almost beg me to tell them something. It felt different. He grabs my hands and gives them each three squeezes before kissing my forehead. "Please, we're a team now."

"I don't know where to begin, I don't know how," We walk into the commons and Ned and Michelle ask us with a million questions.

"Guys, please she needs space," Peter says and they apologize but I just shake my head.

"It's all good you guys. I just had a small panic attack but I'm OK now," I say. We walk back to our original spot in the corner, the gazes of my classmates burn onto my skin. Michelle takes my hand and I squeeze it, "I promise I am."

We sit down in the corner and I take out my phone to listen to music, usually my friends argue with me against it but I guess because of the events of today they won't. I drum my fingers as I text Peter.

Talk to you later about it.

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"Hey, Grace!" I almost run away from the car when I see Tony is in the driver's seat. I've had everyone's eyes on me all day and I don't need all of them to find out who I am. I jump into the passenger seat and quickly shut the door, thank God the windows are tinted.

"Hey Tony," I smile, "what are you doing here?"

"Well, since I've never had the privilege to pick you up from school, I decided to pick you up today, on your last day" he playfully punches me on the shoulder as we pull out of the parking lot and he smiles over at me. I can tell that there's a lot more going behind those eyes, I was about to ask him something but he beat me to it. "How was your day?"

"It was good, pretty relaxing actually since we don't have finals," I lie, I don't need him worrying about that right now. "What's wrong?"

He looks taken back at me asking this but quickly hides it as he looks forward at the road. "Nothing," he mumbles. The wound is still fresh for him. "It's just, I thought everything was going well for the two of us."

"You and Pepper?" I ask and he nods, "Tony, I'm so sorry."

"It's OK, we're just... we're just taking a break," I can hear his heart crack and it causes my chest to ache to see how much Tony is going through... alone. I can't imagine how he's still trudging through all of this.

"Tony, do you want to talk about it?" I ask and he just sighs.

"No, no I'm OK Grace, thank you though," he continues to look forward and refuses to make eye contact the rest of the way home.

________________________________________________________________________________

Can you talk now?

I text Peter. My arms and legs are stretched out across my bed as I pet Bella with my free hand. She rarely leaves my side since I've returned and a smile forms at my lips at the thought of it. She kisses my hands as my phone buzzed next to me.

Sorry Grace, cant talk rn

I sigh into my pillow and look at Bella. "Is it just me or has Peter seemed a little off lately?" I ask her and she just barks in response. "Yeah, at least I'm not the only one who sees that."