POV Tony
The sleeves of Stephen's hoodie rode up my arms a little as I turned the steering wheel and pulled into the high school parking lot. I turned off the engine of Adrian's car, he had lent it to us because he wanted to compose at home today anyway and wasn't keen on us both taking the bus, just as I wasn't. I wouldn't be able to stand the stares in the building in front of me, but it was still better than staying at home and having to worry every second that Howard was banging on the door. With my hands still on the steering wheel, I stared at the three-story building in front of me, behind which dark, heavy storm clouds had gathered, and took a deep breath.

"Hey," Stephen worriedly put his hand on my forearm, "are you sure?" He looked at me questioningly. I tried to grin. "Yeah, I am." I pulled the key out of the ignition, grabbed the black backpack from the back seat and dropped it into it. "I have to do something, otherwise I'll go crazy." I sighed and ran my hand through my now short hair and pushed the door open. The increasing wind played with my hair and tugged at my clothes, which were slightly too big. "Look who's back!" Grinning slightly, I turned around and saw Pietro walking towards Stephen and me, carrying his backpack. He took the last two steps towards me and held out his hand, I jumped in and we hugged each other briefly "We should get going slowly" I looked at the ever-growing student stream who was streaming into the building, that had to mean that it was had to be shortly before class started. I couldn't say for sure because I didn't have a watch and my cell phone was still who knows where.

Pietro nodded as he took a quick look at his phone watch. "Yes, we should. I don't feel like doing extra work." He just mumbled the last bit under his breath. Apparently some teachers had copied the system from our math professor and made their students do extra work if they were late. "See you later" I stood on tiptoe and gave Stephen a quick kiss, then adjusted my backpack and walked towards the entrance to the school.
I no longer noticed the worried look that Stephen exchanged with Pietro, nor Stephen's silent request to Pietro to look after me. I walked further and further towards the school and shook off the instinct to look over my shoulder when I heard footsteps closing in on me. I stubbornly looked straight ahead because I could already feel the first glances on me, very few of them were malicious, just curious. Then I thought of something that would be good to know and I glanced at Pietro, who was walking slowly next to me so I could keep up with him. "What did Howard tell the school where I was?" I didn't think anyone was interested in where I'd been, but I still wanted to know.

Pietro snorted briefly and stopped the school door with one hand before it could close. "In Switzerland, at a private science academy." He walked into the school hallway after me and looked stubbornly straight ahead, but I could still see the anger at my father sparkling in his eyes. I just sighed, I had already thought something similar, he had also told Rhodey. But unlike at school, he hadn't believed it for a second. Pietro and I walked side by side in silence; it was still so unusual for me to be in the middle of so many people again after three weeks of isolation. I unconsciously jumped a little as a locker a meter away from me slammed shut. Images of the slamming door of my room at St. Helens flash before my mind. I clung tensely to the backpack strap on my shoulder and took a deep breath to stay in reality.

"You're good?" I turned my head in the direction where Pietro's worried voice came from and only then did I realize that I had simply stopped in the middle of the hallway. I rubbed my eyes with my right hand. "It's okay." I mumbled as I did so and then continued on my way. Fortunately, it wasn't that far to the classroom where we would now have lessons , because with every locker that was closed with a bang, the images flashed through my mind over and over again. I ignored them as best I could, kept telling myself in my head that they were just lockers where some students literally vented their aggression over forgotten homework or bad grades, and breathed a sigh of relief as I sank down on the wooden chair. Ignoring Pietro's worried look, I put my elbows on the table and tapped my foot a little.

"Stark!" I whirled around to face the voice and had to suppress an annoyed groan. Daniel chewed a piece of gum and rocked in his chair with his arms crossed. "It didn't take you long to realize what a failure he is." he burst a bubble and grinned maliciously at me. I just looked at him blankly "What do you mean?" I now turned completely around in the chair and mentally asked myself who the hell he was talking about. He laughed as if I had made a good joke and his chair tipped dangerously back but barely stayed standing. "The way Stephen has looked the last few weeks, you've probably dumped him."

An unbelievable anger pooled in my stomach when I finally understood what he meant. "I could never......" I jumped up in a rage and wanted to run towards him, but after just two steps I was stopped by Pietro, who had jumped up, and held me back "Hey man, come on, he's not worth it!" he tried to bring me to my senses. I growled and glared at Daniel with anger. "I'm not like you!" To show Pietro that I had myself under control, I took a step back, but still kept eye contact with Daniel. "I would never leave him!" I hissed and flopped back into my chair.

Behind me I could hear Pietro muttering something not particularly friendly in Russian. I still didn't understand Russian, but by now I could easily recognize when the twins were cursing in their home language. I took another deep breath and released my hands, which I had clenched into fists in anger. Daniel would never be able to understand this, but I would never be able to leave Stephen. I just loved him too much and we had already been through too much. Clacking footsteps announced the teacher and in the next second the door was opened.

As usual, the mathematician walked with quick, straight steps towards the desk in front of the blackboard and slammed his briefcase onto the table, which almost gave in under the weight of worksheets, tests, corrected homework and detention papers that were in the almost bursting briefcase. The man at the blackboard cast his stern gaze around the class. Almost immediately it was quiet, even Daniel stopped rocking his chair and put his chewing gum behind his teeth, everyone was quiet for fear of additional tasks that would cost them the whole afternoon.

When he looked at me he raised his eyebrow in surprise. "Tony, I thought you were still in Europe?" "Yes, I thought so too," I turned the corners of my mouth down a little, "but it just didn't fit there." Behind me I heard Pietro snort and mentally rolled my eyes, that wasn't noticeable at all. I just hoped that the school assumed everything was going well and wouldn't call Howard. Because if he found out that I had fled, he wouldn't rest until I was there again. The man just shrugged slightly. "Then it's nice that you're back." After saying these words, he dug into the vastness of his briefcase and pulled out a stack of papers, which he had a student hand out. The class, including Pietro, groaned when they saw all the complicated information. I, on the other hand, couldn't wait and at the same time I was afraid, afraid that the drugs they had fed me at St. Helens and the psychological torture they had subjected me to had had an effect on my mind that I hadn't noticed before.

With a click, I readied my pen and turned it back and forth in my fingers as I read the information. A huge chunk of stone was lifted from my heart when I saw the solution as clearly in front of me as if it were already there. I started to write down the page and didn't even notice how the hour went by.

Feeling somewhat exhausted, I pushed open the main doors of the school and squinted slightly upwards. It had been thundering in the distance off and on for the last five hours, but it had never started to rain and so the air was oppressively warm. I looked for any of the others and when I couldn't see them anywhere, I decided to just go to our usual spot under the big tree. But before I could even take a step, I saw something out of the corner of my eye that immediately caught my entire attention.

Ten meters away from me was Walker with two of his gang, but the three weren't the ones that caught my attention. It was the girl who was standing in front of Walker and obviously just wanted to pass. She had fiery red hair that fell in waves down to her waist. I narrowed my eyes a little, it couldn't be her, could it?
"Come on now little one, what's your name?" Walker grinned dirtyly at the girl.

I felt sick. I started walking towards the group to help the girl because no one else would do that, everyone was just passing by, ignoring that she needed help. The closer I got, the more confident I became. The girl who tried in vain to hide her fear from the three older boys was almost certainly Leila. "Leila!?" I called out questioningly. She spun around and now I could say for sure that it was Leila. Relief crossed her face when she recognized me.

I stood next to her and glared at Walker. "Leave her alone!" It certainly looked completely stupid, but I didn't care at that moment. Walker's gaze stayed on Leila for a moment, then he looked at me. "I never thought I would see you here again, Stark." He looked at me maliciously. A few weeks ago I would have shrunk under his predatory gaze, but now I didn't even bat an eyelash. I've met more frightening people in the last few weeks than John Walker. The quarterback himself also seemed to notice that I was virtually no longer afraid of him. "What happened to the scared dwarf?" he mocked.

I just rolled my eyes and looked at Leila "Come on, let's go" I gave Walker a contemptuous look and then turned around, Leila did the same. "Thanks Tony." she murmured quietly.
I waved it off. "It's not an issue." I narrowed my eyes a little and changed the direction of my walk because I had spotted Stephen at our car and was now heading towards it. "But tell me, what are you doing in this hell of a school? " I looked at her questioningly. She pushed a strand of hair out of her face. "Andrea's father lives near here..." but before she could continue, we heard Walker's voice again. "Wait now!" Faster than I could blink, he grabbed Leila by the wrist and pulled her towards him.

I tensed up and was ready to intervene, which wouldn't end particularly well for me, but I didn't want Walker to hurt Leila. As it turned out, the girl could take care of herself well. "Let go of me right now!" she spun around, taking advantage of the momentum of Walker's pull, and placed her hand in his face with a slap. Walker reflexively let go of her wrist and, with a painful groan, moved to his cheek, on which Leila's handprint was already visible.

The look on his face was so full of disbelief at being beaten by a girl that I couldn't help but laugh. But the laughter caught in my throat as the disbelief in his eyes turned to anger. "You little bitch!" he shouted at Leila and hit her so hard with the back of his hand that she fell to the ground and her lip split open and she remained lying on her side. "Hey, that's enough!" I roared. Irritated, Walker stopped and looked down at me. "That's still up to me to decide." "Listen, I really don't have the energy for your ego trip Walker at the moment, okay!" I looked at him annoyed and angry at the same time, his supposed best friends behind him couldn't help but grin. "You're way down on the list of the endless problems I have at the moment, take a number and leave it alone!" I helped Leila up and with a look over my shoulder to make sure he wasn't following us, I left the school bully and headed towards Stephen, who looked at me worried but also a little proud.

"Tones, how do you always manage to get yourself into trouble so quickly?" He greeted me, shaking his head and kissing me briefly.
I sighed at the end of my nerves "It's not my fault okay" I ran my hand through my hair "that guy is just an idiot."

"All in your opinion." came muffled from Leila, who was holding a handkerchief to her burst lip. Suddenly Stephen's cell phone flashed and the name Marry appeared on the display. I couldn't help but swallow because I knew exactly what that meant. As quickly as his shaking hands would allow, Stephen picked up. "Hello Marry, what's up...?" he took a few steps away.

"Tony are you okay, you've turned as pale as a wall?" Leila looked at me questioningly while she waved to a brown-haired girl who was already coming towards us. I scratched my head "Then I look the same as I feel." I murmured quietly. I only received a confused look from her for my answer, I cleared my throat. "Marry is Bucky's mom, she's a lawyer." I let my eyes wander over to Stephen, who always took two steps in one direction and then two steps in the other direction when he was on the phone "She wants to close the place down for good, that's the only way we can get Bucky and Sam out of there, but to do that I have to tell them what's really happening there." I became quieter towards the end.

"Shit, Tony." Leila looked at me in horror. In the meantime, the brown-haired girl had also arrived at our place and stood next to the red-haired girl. "Leila, where were you..." when Leila turned to her and she could see the bloody lip, she opened her eyes, "Who was that!" she almost shouted. Leila rolled her eyes. "Andrea, don't get upset. It's not that bad." I raised my eyebrow at the girl's handkerchief, which had already been almost completely stained with her blood.

"Walker happened." I explained to Andrea. "By the way, I'm Tony." I held out my hand to her, but instead of taking it she took two steps towards me and hugged me with a strength that I wouldn't have expected of her, with a strength that made me fear for the stability of my bones. "Thank you." she breathed into my ear, almost inaudible.
I knew immediately what she meant and just nodded in response. As quickly as she had squeezed me in, she let go of me again and went back to Leila where the two of them clasped their hands together.

"Okay, I'll see you soon." Stephen was saying goodbye to Marry and hanging up. A chill ran down my spine, despite the oppressive heat that was supposed to make me sweat on my forehead. My boyfriend came back to us and wrapped an arm around my waist. "Marry said someone has time, but we have to leave immediately." Goosebumps spread all over my body, every single muscle in my body tensed up. I was so incredibly glad Stephen was there because otherwise I would probably be paralyzed with fear or curled up in a ball on the floor. He gently placed a kiss on my temple. "You can do it." I just nodded, unable to speak. Just a single thought. "It's time." The world would finally know what terrible secrets lay behind the closed walls of this hospital.