viridity |•| t.s daughter (1)

scarf

♡mara♡
age fourteen

2010

  After getting off the phone with Miss Sokolov, Mara wanted nothing more than to go against the woman. She was to stay as long as her father wanted, and during that time she was to collect information. Mara tried thinking of it as a mission, which almost made it more bare-able. She'd have to go on many missions like this in the future, this was just practice.

Just as expected, Mara was to go to some sort of publicity thing. She was prepared to lie, she was always prepared to lie. Maybe lying about her feelings was something easy to do for her since she barely felt a thing, it was just easy to pretend she did.

Walking down the stairs, Mara was ready to go, scarf already wrapped around her neck. Any time she went to one of these things she was to hide the scar that marred her neck, when she had been younger she wanted to hide it, now she couldn't care less. There were scars all over her body, if she wanted to she could make them all disappear, but she wasn't vain enough to care.

Tony was sat on the couch doing some work on some type of tablet, Pepper sat across from him. The both of them had been waiting on Maggie, then they were to leave. Tony looked up to where he saw Mara move, his eyes immediately going to the scarf.

"Okay, lets get going. And lose the scarf," Tony said, standing up and clapping his hands. Pepper glanced up from her work, a small smile on her face from Tony's gesture. Mara did as told, unwrapping the scarf from around her neck and discarding it on a side table.

Pepper glanced at Mara, seeing that she was wearing an ugly brown skirt and ugly white button up dress shirt.

"What are you wearing?" Pepper questioned, causing Mara to look down on herself. She supposed the outfit was rather horrid, but it wasn't like she hadn't worn it around Pepper before. Miss Sokolov didn't exactly pack Mara clothes that screamed 'I'm a billionaires daughter' and Mara was okay with that. But now that Mara would be spending much longer with her father than she ever had, she supposed she'd have to change her look.

"The same as I always do. I don't exactly have access to designer clothes at the academy," The closest city to the academy was small, it wasn't exactly overflowing with rich people. Pepper slowly nodded as she walked out the door, Mara following after her.

"Add shopping to list of things to do today," Tony piped in, glancing back at his daughter. Mara spared the man a glance, but could hardly stand to look at him. Once in the car, chatter between Pepper, Happy, and Tony began. Mara opted to stay out of it.

Mara had to speak many times, along with crying. It was one of her best performances, she had to admit. She had to act like she was rejoicing that her father was home, how happy she was to finally see him after so many months. The truth was that Mara had gone years without seeing her father, a few months was nothing to her. She could've gone the rest of her life without seeing him again.

There was obvious tension when it was all over with, Mara wiping away her fake tears and wiping any expression from her face once she knew there were no more prying eyes. Tony watched as she did so, his heart seeming to shatter as he witnessed his daughters emotionless face. She was such a good liar, even for a moment he had been convinced she actually cared about him. His hope of it being true was washed away.

"You're really good with public speaking," Pepper said, breaking the silence. The woman had noticed it a couple years ago when she saw Mara for the first time in five years. The little twelve year old Mara spoke so easily, faked so easily. She did not act nervous about talking to over a hundred people, being recorded for millions to watch. It was such a change from the anxious little girl she once knew that couldn't even talk, who was scared to talk.

"You have to be confident in front of crowds when you're a ballerina," Mara said, glancing out her window. She had to be confident at the academy, she couldn't second guess herself. If she gave herself time to overthink things, she could get killed. If she was in a serious fight and she hesitated, that could be it for her. Mara was confident with herself because she had to be.

"Oh, yes. Have you performed in front of any big crowds?" Pepper questioned, curious about Maras ballet career. She'd never seen the girl in action, although she was sure she was good due to being in training for such a long time.

"Mostly just parents or other ballet instructors," None of the girls at the academy had parents, none that visited. Mara was the only one, she had been targeted. The others were just unlucky little girls who had either been sold by their parents or kidnapped off the street. Mara was a lucky little girl with a very famous father.

"I'll have to come see you sometime," Tony said, having been listening to the conversation. This caused Mara to pause, he couldn't be serious, could he? Her father wanting to come to academy was bad news. Mara only hoped he'd stop with his silly sudden interest in her, it would be the best for him.

Instead of answering, Mara leaned her head against her window. She did not feel like talking to him after an hour of pretending to love him.

—

I feel as if it isn't the best, but it's something. I'm hoping to finish this book by the end of the year, but that might be cutting it close. I'm just excited to start on the second one! Btw to all of you asking for Nat, I am almost sure she'll be in the next book, but it depends on if I decide to end this book after Iron Man 1 or Iron Man 2.