Should have never titled my chapters because now I'm having such a hard time thinking of anything good. . .

**

Bucky first thought to check the library, but Rebecca was not there.

There was a bad feeling that settled in the pit of his stomach. He couldn't exactly explain it, but it made his heart pound and his palms sweat.

Every time he passed someone with dark hair, his head shot up, but it was never his sister. Who he did see, though, was Stacy. When she spotted him a smirk settled on her face, and she leaned forward to whisper something into her friend's ear.

The friend was just as bitchy looking, with frizzy red hair and an expression like there was dog shit under her nose. Bucky already hated her, too.

He tried his best to not look in their direction as passed, but even with his poor hearing he couldn't miss Stacy's loud voice.

"I heard that a college boy got her pregnant."

Bucky didn't need to her Rebecca's name to know who this 'her' was that Stacy was talking about. What Bucky felt towards Stacy was ineffable; it was this hatred that he couldn't describe.

What she was claiming was beyond ridiculous, so entirely unbelievable that it was laughable. But Bucky wasn't laughing, and instead his blood was boiling. He didn't think he could ever hate some little, immature girl so much. He hated Stacy so much that his fists clenched, and he was worried for a moment that he'd turn right back around and do something stupid. It was this close to becoming the Pierce situation all over again, yet this time the consequences would have been much more severe.

He got himself in check and then continued on, hoping to play it off as if he had never heard her. Her heard derisive laughter of which he could not place, as if some test to see if he would turn back.

Bucky was in a little bit of a rut, entirely unsure of what the actual best thing to do was. To say that dealing with Stacy would end every single problem was chimerical, though it was still impossible to not be even a little bit hopeful. That was where he thought he was being selfish. He couldn't deny that he wanted everything to be worked out so that they didn't have to move, but he did also care for the well-being of his sister.

That was when he found himself heading to the principal's office.

Bucky never thought of himself as one to tattle, but it was different when it was for his sister. Regardless of whether or not they did move to Russia, this issue with Stacy did need to be resolved.

As soon as Bucky was face to face with Principal Fury his cheeks reddened. He was brutally reminded of their little encounter only just a few minutes ago, and the look that Fury sent him back was one of thorough amusement.

"Uh— er— s-sir—" Bucky stuttered helplessly.

"If you're here to apologize, I don't—"

"No!" Bucky intercepted. "No, sir. It's actually about my sister."

Fury raised a brow. "Oh?"

"Do you know of a girl named Stacy?" Bucky asked "She's in ninth grade. I can't remember her last name."

"I know of her, yes."

"Well, you see. . ." He wasn't exactly sure how to go about the whole ordeal. He realized then that he hardly had any proof, or anything at all to justify that his sister was being bullied by anyone. But he was here now, and he wasn't going to give up just yet.

"I don't have all day, Mr. Barnes," Fury said, staring into Bucky's eyes like he was staring into his soul.

"I have reason to believe that she's bullying my sister."

"You have reason to believe? Do you have proof?"

Fury looked entirely unsympathetic, and for that reason Bucky had this itch to just walk straight out. But he stayed for his sister.

"No, but why would I lie?" Bucky said.

"I'm not accusing you of lying. And I want to stop any bullying that goes on in this school. I'm just trying to get to the bottom of this."

"Well, lately Rebecca has been. . .different. I know that it has something to do with Stacy, because she always avoids her and today she almost looked afraid when Stacy passed us. And. . ."

Bucky trailed off, because he couldn't really say much else. As much as Stacy's last comment had tipped him off, logic had taken over and Bucky knew that he couldn't really use that to get Stacy into trouble. He could already picture Principal Fury telling him that while that unfortunate, there was really nothing he could do.

This whole thing had been pointless.

"I'm sorry James—" Bucky cringed at the sound of his name— "but if you don't have any proof this only ends up looking bad for you."

"But how?" Bucky spluttered.

Fury didn't answer. "I'll look into it, but I can't make any promises. Now—" he stood up, a clear dismissal— "I have some work to do."

Bucky felt entirely useless as he left the office. He thought, for once, that he could get somewhere. Now he was back at square one, and it seemed like Russia really was the only way to go.

**

"I'm not going!"

It seemed like that was the way Bucky had been getting up every day for the past week.

Both George and Winifred were beginning to lose patience, and were very close to allowing Rebecca to stay home since they were supposedly moving away soon anyway. The whole moving to Russia talk was not just talk anymore, and they were looking for places to rent online.

Just the fact that they only were looking to rent gave Bucky some hope. He had this idea that maybe they would move away, but then Rebecca wouldn't get any better, everyone else would be miserable with their life being torn apart yet again, and they'd move back to Brooklyn.

But it was already a complicated situation as it was, and Winifred, along with George, had had enough of moving in their lifetime. Bucky imagined that this move to Russia would be the last. If it was ever put into fruition.

As per usual, Bucky lugged his tired ass down the stairs and spent the next ten minutes trying to convince Rebecca to go to school.

Today, it was particularly difficult.

"I'll even drive you there," Bucky offered, something he had never done before.

"So? I'm still not going," Rebecca huffed.

In the beginning of the school year, Rebecca had always begged for Bucky to give her a ride. Bucky had always said no, and eventually Rebecca gave up asking. Maybe offering to give her a ride was a futile effort, but he thought that maybe it would actually work.

Bucky let out a frustrated sigh and sat next to his sister at the table. She had her head in her hands, a typical look of an angsty teen painted on her face.

"C'mon, Becca," Bucky said, incredibly close to moving her hand away and letting her head slam on the table.

"Is anything important going on at school today?" Winifred asked, and Bucky already knew where she was headed.

"No," Rebecca said.

"Well—"

"You can't give in!" Bucky interrupted. "And she's lying. Yesterday she was complaining about that math test she has today. Remember?"

Winifred tapped her chin in thought, and Bucky was convinced that he won. Winifred always seemed to think that you absolutely had to go to school on the day of a test, and even if Rebecca were puking her guts out Winifred would have dragged her to school. What she didn't understand was, at least at Bucky's school, teachers were pretty lenient and usually let you write when you came back with a legitimate excuse.

"Well, since we're moving away anyways—"

"If."

Rebecca shot Bucky a dirty look.

"Fine, if. I just don't see what a big deal it is to miss one test."

"Well, missy, I think it's a big deal!" Winifred shouted back, shuffling around the kitchen, looking for god knows what. In her nightgown, she bent over and Bucky was saved just in time from seeing more than he bargained for when Rebecca stood up and blocked his view.

Every step Rebecca took was in slow motion, slugging around with a miserable look on her face. Yes, Bucky was concerned for her, but at the same time her attitude could get rather annoying.

"Will you still drive me?" she asked.

"The offers off the table now," Bucky said, sliding off his seat and heading to the door, shoving an apple in his mouth.

"Come on!" Rebecca shouted after him. "You said you would!"

"Yeah, and you said 'so'," Bucky pointed out, in between bites of his apple.

Rebecca didn't follow him out the door, and Bucky was able to drive away in peace. Well, not exactly in peace since he never really could stop worrying about his sister.

As always, he still attempted to include her in his lunchtime activities— sitting in the cafeteria with his friends. If Tony and his friends joined then they pretty much took up a whole table (which the tables were quite large) and Bucky imagined that it was probably intimidating. He did talk to Sharon about trying to open up to Rebecca, but that hardly had any success.

Sometimes Rebecca contributed to conversation, but usually she sat at the end of the table where she was detached from everyone else. Bucky still considered this to be progress. At least she wasn't moping around by herself in the library. It also kept Stacy away.

Which, speaking of Stacy, Bucky hadn't actually seen her at all that day.

Because of this, Rebecca's mood seemed to have lifted ever so slightly. She smiled. A little.

"We're all thinking of going to Tony's cabin this weekend," Steve said. "You should totally come."

He said it to no one is particular, and Bucky was almost certain that the 'we' had only been Steve and Tony. This was the first Bucky was hearing about it, and wasn't like Steve was still mad enough to avoid telling him.

"All of us?" Wanda said. "That's a lot of people for one cabin."

"This is Tony we're talking about," Natasha said. She glanced at Rebecca, as if daring to ask if she'd be going.

"I do need to get some numbers," Tony said. "So, who wants to go?"

A few people mumbled something about having to ask their parents, though Bucky said, "I'll go."

He figured it would be a good opportunity to get away from everything for a little while. In fact, he actually hoped that Rebecca wouldn't want to go. Even though he didn't want to admit it, she would only kill the mood.

"I actually think that—"

Rebecca was interrupted when Pietro came racing in, shouting, "you'll never guess what just happened!"

He was already causing a scene, and the whispers started, though Bucky had the feeling that it was from something beyond Pietro's grand entrance.

"It was like the movies," he said. "The cops came in and dragged her out while everyone watched—"

"Wait, What?"

"You know that gossip freshman Stacy?" Bucky watched as Rebecca's face paled. "Well, she just got arrested!"

**

A/n: I'm sorry that this chapter was all over the place. I tried to drag it out a bit because I still want two more chapters after this. Tony's cabin was something I made up on the spot, and I don't plan on actually going anywhere with it.