A New Friend

A/NRemember, this is 1 year later...

          I slipped some new clothes I had gotten recently along with my favorite purse  and walked out of my room. Everyone was doing their own thing so I decided to get Starbucks. Peter was hanging out with this girl Michelle who I was positive had a crush on him and most of the other Avengers were training or on small missions. I haven't talked to Michelle yet, I tend to ignore people who have a crush on my crush. Tomorrow though, I'll have to talk to her since she goes to Midtown High as well and tomorrow's my first day there. I've been feeling like a normal teen for a little while, putting my past behind me and trying to be... regular. Of course, the daily patrols swinging through New York kind of take away the regularity but it's as close I can get it. I get in the elevator, trying to get my thoughts away from Peter. When the elevator stops I step out and walk outside, heading towards a car. When I get him Happy looks at me, I've gotten to know him better and we're pretty good friends even though he never smiles.           "Where to?" Happy asks.          "Starbucks, I'm bored and everyone else is doing their own thing." I state.           Happy nods then puts up the divider. I huff in annoyance but don't tell him to put it back down, not like he could hear me anyway. I pull out my phone and scroll through Instagram, nothing new, nothing new, nothing new. I sighed, this was going to be a looooooooooooong ride.            I stared out the window the whole ride, zoning out as I watch the city zoom bye. Finally the car stops and I step out, smiling gratefully at Happy.            "Thanks Happy." I say.            "Yeah whatever, it's my job. Do you need a bodyguard with you or do you want me to come with you?" Happy asked being concerned.             I give a huff of annoyance. Lately I've been going with bodyguards everywhere, or at least with Happy. The reason for that was Tony just announced that he adopted me and he was worried people would come after me, a few people have but I never got injured thanks to the bodyguards. I feel like everyone has gotten over the Attack-Tony-Stark's-Adopted-Daughter-Who's-Also-An-Avenger phase;  or it seems like that anyway.          "Nah Happy I'll be fine." I say before starting to walk towards the Starbucks door.           "Be safe!" Happy called out to me before driving off. I felt like Tony told him to say that.            The few people that were outside watched as I walked into Starbucks. I heard one little girl: "Mommy, isn't that Spider-Girl?"Her mom: "Spider-Woman honey, and yes, it is.""Can I go talk to her?""Let just leave her alone for now, she probably gets a lot of unwanted attention."           I smiled at that, a good mom. It made my chest pang thinking about mine but I tried to ignore it.            I put my hand on the door handle, about to pull open the door.

           "Mom I-I'm s-sorry I-"           "Hush, I'll be okay."           "But I-"           "No. Do it now."           BANG                      I felt a hand rest on my arm and I snapped out of it. I quickly looked up to see a girl about my age with caramel colored skin, and wavy chocolate brown hair that went past her shoulders. My eyes immediately went to hers which were two different colors, one brown, one blue. She smiled warmly.          "Are you okay? You zoned out there for a bit..." she asked.         "Y-yeah I'm... I'm fine..." I answer, feeling my cheeks heat up.         "Let me buy you coffee, you look like you need it." She smiles.          "Er... you don't have to... but thank you..."          "Cmon, I insist. I'm Beatrice by the way, but you can call me Trice. And you are...?"          "Um... Ashlyn, Ashlyn Moore."          "I know, you're kind of famous." Trice giggles.           She holds the door open for me and I walk in with her following close behind. We walk up to where we order.           "Can I call you Ash?" Trice asks.           I tense, I didn't let anyone call me that since... Abe. I didn't want to offend Trice though, she seemed nice. "I-I guess..." Trice smiles again and I felt myself get more comfortable with her, she was just buying me a drink, I didn't have to be so awkward. We walked forward and Trice ordered a hot chocolate before turning to me. I ordered one of the cheapest drinks on the menu, (a plain mint tea) not wanted to waste Trice's money. She eyed me when the barista stated the price of my drink but Trice didn't say anything. After she bought our drinks we sat down at a table near the window. "So, Ash, I want to get to know you more." Trice states, sipping her drink slowly. "Well... what do you want to know?" I ask. "I don't know... what's it like being famous? I bet you have tons of friends." Trice smiles. "Er... being famous is fine I guess. I don't like all the attention but... I owe the Avengers a lot." If it weren't for them I would have killed myself by now... "and as for friends, I don't really get out of the tower much." "Why?" "I'm homeschooled so I don't go to school and... there's enough to do at the tower, I have no reason to leave." "Oh. Well... can I be your first friend?" Friend? I don't want- no. I need to open myself up more. Hydra hasn't come for me yet, I'll be fine. "Sure." I smile as Trice takes out her phone. "Here, type in your number." Trice hands me her phone and I type in my number before handing her phone back to her. I finish drinking my tea and then stand up. "Thanks for the drink and everything but I need to get going."             She frowns and quickly stand up. "You sure? I thought since I bought you a drink..."             I felt kind of guilty, she's right, she did buy me a drink...              "Er... yeah but it's not like we're just going to sit here for the rest of the day." I state, fidgeting with my rings.              Trice smiles wide. "Oh, no, definitely not. There's this party..."