Peter's sister, Nova II NovaVerse 1

Peter

My Spidey-sense goes off, a ringing in the back of my head.

"Sorry. I really have to go to the bathroom," I say, and leave the classroom with my teacher in protest.

I rush down the empty halls looking for whatever is causing my senses to go off. I don't see anyone. But I hear something.

It's about across the school. Like the clanging of lockers, and a girls scream. Nova's scream.

I run down the halls filled with students art projects. My heart is racing out of worry.

I jump when the school bell rings and steady my breathing. "Nova!" I yell, even though she probably won't hear me over all these other kids in the hall.

"Fight! Fight! Aww, man! Coward!" I hear the crowd scream. I see them with their phones out. Flash's face is pale, and there's a puddle of blood in front of him.

I take him by the shirt before shoving him to the locker. "Please, where is Nova? Tell me she's okay. Did you do that to her," I point to the blood.

He looks dumbfounded and confused, his face pale. Flash points to the girls bathroom, and I hurry in as many of the girls run out screaming.

"Nova! Are you here? Nova!" I see her. She's on the ground, bent over the toilet seat. She's mainly unresponsive and her face is far more pale than even the day we had found her bloody and beat up in her cabin.

I kneel down to her. "Are you alright?" I move some black hair from her face. Her eyes are almost glazed over, but they're red. Like she's been crying. It would explain the tear stains on her cheeks.

I look to the toilet bowl. It's halfway full. This is definitely blood loss. I feel like I'm about to start having a panic attack, but I manage to pull myself together.

"I'm fine," she says softly. "Just tired. Don't call anyone."

I need to trust her. If she gets worse in the next few minutes then I'll call Dad. He would know what to do.

I position her onto my lap and she rests her head against my chest. I try to keep my breathing in line since it looks like she's trying to take breaths at the same time I am. It's something that I do with Dad when I'm anxious or scared.

She finally gets up using the support of the wall and uses me to steady herself when she almost trips. She looks dizzy. Then I look to her ripped jacket; beneath are scarred arms. I've always known that she's had scars. Killer hurt her. But I see fresh ones; poorly covered by band-aids.

"Novi, what happened to your arms?" I ask. She immediately try's to cover them, but I gently take her hands off her arms.

"I'm sorry." She whispers. I give her another hug. "Why?" I ask.

"I- I hate myself. I don't deserve happiness. All I do is hurt others and burden. I'm a burden. I want to be hurt. I deserve to be hurt. Killer was right. All I am is a freak. A freak who deserves to be in pain for as long as I live."

I should probably talk to her about this, but I lead her to the sink to wash her face first. I figure it should help her at least a little.

I start to sign after she drys her face.

"Hey. It's okay. I don't think any of that about you. You shouldn't believe any of that if that man said it. He was the one who was wrong. Not you. It's gonna be alright."

She smiles a little before I give her my own sweater to wear since Flash ripped her jacket. I still have a T-shirt underneath so I won't be half naked.

"I should call Da- Mr. Stark. He could find a way to help you." She grips her arm hard when I say that. She starts to shake her head as if to say, 'no.'