A New Life

Chapter Seven

The loud beeping in his ear made Alex groan. It didn't stop, and he didn't want to get up. He pulled his pillow over his head to muffle the sound.

"Alex! Time for school!" A voice called from the other end of the house.

He ignored them and heard approaching footsteps as someone walked down the hall towards his room. His alarm was turned off, and the pillow pulled off his head.

"You don't want to be late."

He heard his curtains being opened, and rolled over, squinting in the bright light.

"Aww come on Jack. Five more minutes?"

She looked him up and down before sitting down on the edge of his bed with a sigh. "Are you feeling alright, Alex? How much sleep did you get last night?"

Alex struggled to sit up. "Not much," he admitted.

Jack sighed again and patted the lump in the bed which was his leg. "I'm sure it won't be the end of the world if you were to have a day off school today." She ended the sentence with a smirk, and Alex grinned up at her. "But I have to go to work, so you're going to be here alone."

"I'll be fine, Jack. Anyway... I can go see the guys at the Avengers tower!" As soon as he said it, he regretted it.

"What are you talking about? I thought your friend just showed you around... what's going on Alex? What aren't you telling me?" Her voice rose an octave with every question, and Alex could have kicked himself.

Stupid stupid stupid!

"Jack! Calm down! It's nothing... I promise! When I was there the other day I... um... Peter introduced me to Tony Stark and-"

"Tony Stark? You mean Stark as in Iron Man? Alex!"

"I know! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to tell him but-"

"That's great! Wait... what were you about to say?" She narrowed her eyes suspiciously, and he felt his face redden.

"Um... nothing?"

"Alex..."

"I just told him that I really like science... and he wants me to start spending more time there with him in his lab." He waited with bated breath, hoping that she would believe him.

"... okay."

He could have sighed with relief.

Jack patted his leg again and stood up. "I'll see you after work Alex."

Only after he heard the front door slam did Alex relax, letting his head fall back onto his pillow with a thump.

I'm not looking forward to telling Jack the real reason I'm going to be spending more time at the tower...