Trapped in the Shadows

Chapter 5 - When Your Dad Almost Attacks the Principal

"Can you believe it? They actually thought I was cheating," I complained to MJ and Ned the following morning, having ranted to Peter before going on patrol the night before. "God, I hate this school more and more as time goes on."

"They seriously made you take a test?" Ned asked as he threw a book into his locker.

"Yeah, Mr. Caldwell threw one together for me to take. Except half of it wasn't anything that we have learned this year, he's deliberately trying to make it seem like I'm cheating. I don't understand that guy's problem, how hard can it be to acknowledge that women can be as smart, if not smarter, then men. It's completely idiotic."

"When do you find out how you did?" Peter questioned, intertwining his fingers with mine.

"During lunch, he has already made the appointment for dad and I to meet him there. So I just need to survive gym class."

I gave Peter a kiss on the cheek before MJ and I parted ways with the boys to go to our separate locker rooms. I really hoped that we were going to play a competitive sport today as I needed to take my frustration out, but discovered that we were instead going to take the Captain America fitness test, which we had also taken at the beginning of the year. Unlike the first time, however, I was prepared and had (A/I) record the video of Steve so that I could show all of the Avengers later and make fun of him.

Another change from the beginning of the year was that I felt as though I could actually demonstrate my full physical abilities. My identity was known, so nothing was going to happen if I showed up the rest of the class with how many crunches I could actually do. I scored remarkably high scores, mostly because it was a nerd school and very few were physically active at all, but also because of my training. By the end of the class I had easily achieved school records in every test and I was fairly certain I became Coach Wilson's favorite student.

After being dismissed, I changed back into my normal clothes and brushed out my hair, which was not looking to hot after the workout I had just had. I said goodbye to MJ and then made my way to the principal's office, eagerly awaiting the results.

"Well," he spoke, tossing down the test in front of me so I could see the one hundred written across the top in red lettering. "There is no way that you could have cheated on this test. Question eleven had you solve an equation, however that equation has never been solved before. Mr. Caldwell was hoping that you would realize simply recognize the theoretical purpose of the equation and how it would be used, but then you solved actually it. Therefore you couldn't have cheated, not even the internet would have been able to give you the answer."

"And so it is how I told you, my daughter is smarter than any one else here at this school and oftentimes she's proven herself smarter than me. She never needed to cheat and it's insulting that you would even think she would. Now that you have your proof, will that be all?" My father spat, shocking me with his anger towards the principal.

"Dad, I understand why they suspected that I cheated, my grades are much higher than most others here at the school. I suppose that you can't really blame them for becoming suspicious," I rationalized in the moment so that Tony wouldn't make a scene. I knew we would both be complaining about it over dinner with raised voices, but for now I needed him to drop it. No harm had been done by this test, instead I again had the opportunity to one up my sexist teacher.

"You may leave, Mr. Stark and (Y/N), and rest assured that we will not doubt her capabilities any longer," Principal Morita replied, looking as though he was a little scared as to what my father might do to him.

Tony rose, still glaring at my Principal, and placed his arm around my shoulders as he escorted me out of the office. Once outside, he turned to me, "if they bother you with anymore of this nonsense, let me know and I can step in, ok? I have enough pull to take a place like this down and will not hesitate to do so."

"Don't worry, dad, I'm sure it'll be fine. See you back home?" I replied, giving him a hug.

"Of course, stay safe."

Tony left the building and I made my way to the lunchroom, even though I only had a few minutes left to eat. And, of course, as I walked into the cafeteria, I was immediately surrounded by fans. I fought my way to my table, taking photos with those in between me and the table.

"How'd it go?" Peter asked me as I managed to get within reach.

I shrugged, "aced the test apparently, although I think Mr. Caldwell must hate me more now."

"Hey, losers, no more pictures today!" MJ called out the the people crowding around me.

I gave her a smile and a quiet thank you as the crowd began to disappear, their faces clouded by disappointment. I felt terrible denying them of a simple photograph, but I was really not in the mood for photography and being denied eating my lunch.

"You do know you can just say no to them yourself, right?" MJ asked, proud of her work.

"Yeah, I just don't want anyone to feel left out. I have already taken photos with a number of people and I don't want those remaining to think that I am showing favoritism," I replied, digging into my lunch and trying to scarf down as much food as I could in the few remaining minutes.

"So Gary hates you, what else is new? You're a woman, what exactly were you expecting? That sexist bastard," MJ changed the subject, inquiring more into what happened in the principal's office.

"Yes, well, he certainly won't be getting what he wants. It'll take a lot more than a difficult test to discredit me. But you should have seen my dad in there today, I swear he was about two seconds away from putting on his armor and fighting Principal Morita, he was that upset."

"Of course he was, a teacher deliberately set you up to fail after insinuating that his brilliant daughter needed to cheat in class to achieve good grades," Peter piped up, snaking his arm around my waist.

"Anyway, I was wondering if you guys would want to come over my house on Thursday and sleep over into Friday?" I asked, knowing that none of us would be attending school on Friday as it was our senior skip day.

"Um, you're asking us to hang out at the Avengers compound, of course we'll be there!" Ned replied, always excited to be invited over my house.

I laughed lightly, "Ned, you know you're welcome over at any time if you want to spend time with the Avengers. I promise that you don't need an explicit invitation beforehand."

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(A/N): ok so this story is kinda coming along slowly and I'm not sure I really like it but I'm going to pause and collect my thoughts and hopefully I can make it better? Idk, we'll see!