Avi2112
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Chapter 221
🕑 Added 2025-05-08 09:32:50 +0000 UTCA lone girl walked barefoot down the steps of Midtown High. A backpack weighed down her shoulders, and in one hand she carried a crinkled plastic bag, the soggy tips of her ruined shoes sticking out.
"Penny Parker… you just can't catch a break," she muttered to herself, sighing heavily.
The school grounds were empty—everyone had left long ago. She had stayed behind, hoping to find her missing shoes after gym class. At first, she thought maybe she had misplaced them. She didn't want to bother her friends, MJ or Liz again—not after they had already gone out of their way to help her today. So she spent a long time searching alone.
But when she finally found them dumped in a toilet stall, soaked in foul water, her stomach twisted. The stench hit her first, then the humiliation. It had Sally and Ariel written all over it—no one else was that petty, that cruel. This had to be payback for Liz catching them bullying her during lunch.
"Ouch…" Penny muttered, wincing as a sharp pain flared in her side. Flash had kept pegging her with the ball during dodgeball—over and over, aiming straight for her.
Why was dodgeball even mandatory? It was like the P.E. teacher enjoyed watching the bullies take out their frustration on the quiet kids. And why did she always end up as the target?
"At least the day's over now…" Penny murmured, forcing a bitter smile as she stepped gingerly across the concrete.
"No its not over"
The voice made her jump.
Penny spun around, heart racing. "Jessica? Wh—what are you doing here?"
Jessica Jones stood behind her with her arms crossed, gaze locked on Penny's bare feet and the dripping plastic bag.
"It will never be over," Jessica said flatly, ignoring the question. "Not unless you stand up for yourself. Not unless you fight back."
Penny gave an awkward laugh, trying to mask the flush creeping up her neck. "Ah, this? Haha, nothing happened. They just… fell in the pool by accident." She quickly hid the bag behind her, curling her toes against the cold pavement.
Jessica didn't say anything. She just stared, her black eyes cold, disappointed… judgmental.
After a long, uncomfortable silence, Jessica turned away. "I hate cowards like you, Penny Parker," she muttered as she walked off towards the corner of the building.
Penny stood frozen, the weight of those words hitting harder than she expected. Her throat tightened as she watched Jessica disappear into the distance.
"I hate…" she whispered, a tear slipping down the side of her cheek, "…sniff… cowards like me too."
She wiped her face quickly with the back of her hand and looked down at her bare, dirt-streaked feet.
"Awesome job, Penny Parker. Now Jessica hates you for two reasons," she muttered bitterly, then turned and began the long walk to the subway—head down, shoes sloshing behind her in a cheap plastic bag.
—-
"Penny, luv, are you alright?"
"Huh? Ah—yeah. Yes, I'm fine… just fine," Penny muttered, struggling to push the dumbbells up with shaky arms.
"Alright, enough of that before you hurt yourself," Peggy said, casually taking the weights from her hands with ease. "Now tell me what's bothering you. Why do you look so down, mate?"
"Haa… it's nothing, Peggy. Just a bad day at school. Nothing new, hahaha," Penny laughed weakly, trying to brush it off.
"Right then, come on—let's take five," Peggy said, guiding her over to the nearby sofa and gently pushing her to sit. "Now I will ask again, what's wrong? And your answer had better not be just a bad day at school, young lady. I know the look of someone who's hurting—and I see it all over your face."
Her tone was kind but firm, her smile calm and reassuring.
Penny gave a wry smile as she wiped the sweat from her forehead. She looked at Peggy—Peggy Carter… or should she say Captain Carter?
She had made the connection the moment Peggy introduced herself with her full name. The woman could sprint a course in seconds that took Penny half an hour. She opened a sealed can, taking it's whole top off. Her physique was stunning, like something out of a war-era propaganda poster, and she was hilariously clueless about anything remotely modern. And of course, she was British.
When Penny had asked her—half-jokingly—if she was Captain Carter, Peggy had just laughed and waved it off, saying she was flattered, but that Captain Carter had died nearly seventy years ago.
She had said it with such confidence that even Penny started to doubt herself. But later that night, after scrolling through dozens of old photos of Captain Carter online… Penny was 90% sure that it was her.
She had wanted to confirm with Luke—ask if this was some big secret and whether she was supposed to keep it hush-hush. But apparently, Luke had flown off to Belgrade on some top-secret company business.
She didn't want to risk bringing it up over the phone, in case someone else was listening. Government types and all that. So for now… she would just have to wait. Either for Luke to return, or for Peggy to finally come clean herself.
Luke… that name sent her mind spiraling again, dragging her right back to that place.
Looking into Peggy's patient brown eyes, Penny finally opened her mouth—and poured her heart out.
"It's funny, really… after such a crappy day at school, the thing that hurt the most was finding out that the boy I have the biggest crush on is already dating a friend of mine. And I—I actually believed him when he said he liked girls like me. Maybe he just meant it as a friend… or maybe it's because I'm the same age as his little sister, and that's all he sees me as. A little sister."
She dropped her head into her hands, voice muffled.
"I sniff... I have been sisterzoned. That's even worse than being friendzoned."
Peggy sighed softly, reaching over to gently pat her back. "Oh, love… it's really not the end of the world. And frankly, I don't think you have anything to worry about when it comes to that boy."
"Wh-what? What do you mean?" Penny looked up, her eyes red and puffy.
"First things first—let's sort out your face, shall we?" Peggy said kindly, pulling out a napkin and wiping away the tears and a bit of lingering snot.
"Uhm… sorry. I'm usually not this… sniff emotional," Penny muttered with a sheepish smile.
"Trust me, dear, I get it," Peggy said with an understanding smile. "Now, tell me—the boy you're talking about… it's Lucas Watson, isn't it?" she asked, her tone teasing.
"H-how did you know?!" Penny's eyes widened. "Wait—can you read minds too? I didn't think that was one of Captain Carter's powers!"
Peggy laughed lightly. "No, love, nothing like that. I'm just a woman who has seen quite a bit of the world. And when you mentioned your friend Mary Jane Watson, and said her brother was the one you had a crush on… well, it wasn't too difficult to connect the dots."
"Ah… yeah. That's true," Penny said, rubbing the back of her head. She felt silly for trying to keep his name a secret when it had been figured out so quickly. Something that had felt so deeply personal suddenly seemed so obvious. "Ugh, that's kind of embarrassing…"
"Don't be embarrassed, sweetheart," Peggy said gently.
"Uhm… so if you've seen him," she added with a wry smile, "then you know why it ended up being a one-sided crush, right?"
Peggy tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Mm… I'm not so sure about that, actually. Like I said, I may not be the most tech-savvy person, but people? People I understand."
Penny rolled her eyes a little. Peggy wasn't even trying to hide the fact she was Captain Carter anymore.
"And Lucas Watson," Peggy continued, "well… he's quite a unique one. He has something I can only describe as a very large appetite… If I am not wrong the things you are worried about, I don't think will be of any problem to him."
"Appetite? What are you talking about?" Penny blinked, confused.
Peggy chuckled, reaching over to ruffle Penny's hair gently. "Oh, my sweet girl. What I'm saying is—your friend might look calm and collected, but deep down, he is a big bad wolf. And I've no doubt that a lovely little lamb like you would end up in his mouth sooner or later."
She leaned back, eyes twinkling with amusement. "Honestly, I have to be careful around those big large claws myself." She mutters chuckling remembering the length of his tool that she had seen in the lab.
"O-okay…?" Penny muttered, her head spinning slightly from the affectionate rub. She wasn't quite sure what Peggy meant—but for some reason, she didn't feel quite so hopeless anymore.
"But love, there's a much bigger problem we need to sort out," Peggy said seriously.
"What problem?" Penny asked, frowning.
"Your confidence, darling," Peggy replied with a sigh. "If we don't fix that, your school life is only going to get more miserable. You might think they're just pulling harmless pranks, but believe me—what starts off as a bit of fun can spiral into something far more serious, far too quickly."
"B-but it's fin—" Penny began, but Peggy gently placed a hand on her shoulder, stopping her.
"It's not fine, young lady," she said firmly. "You can't go through life letting people walk all over you."
"It's easy for you to say," Penny muttered, looking away. "You could just crack open a can in front of them and no one would dare say a word after that."
Peggy let out a short laugh. "Oh, love, do you really think my strength is all I've got going for me?"
“Umm, no… I mean—you’re really beautiful too,” Penny said with a faint blush, her eyes dropping to the floor.
"Well, thank you," Peggy replied with a warm smile. "A pretty young girl like you paying me a compliment always brightens my day. But no—that's not what I meant."
She straightened her posture, her tone shifting into something more focused.
Penny gave a small, wry smile at being called pretty, but quickly pushed the fluttery feeling aside and tried her best to focus. This might be the real Captain Carter, after all—the Captain Carter—sitting across from her and trying to help with something as mundane as her school problems… when else will she get a chance like that in her life.
"I was talking about my brains," Peggy said. "All my life, people have tried to put me down—because of how I look, because I'm a woman, because of my strength. There's always someone out there who can't stand to see you succeed."
Penny nodded slowly. She had read about Captain Carter's history—how hard it had been for her as a female in the army, how often she had been underestimated. She definitely had the experience to back up her words.
"So… how did you deal with it?" Penny asked quietly.
"There's only one universal way to shut people like that up," Peggy said. "You show them results. You show them success. You make it absolutely clear that no matter how they sneer, no matter what they say behind your back, you have accomplished things—and they haven't."
"But… wouldn't that just make them more jealous?" Penny asked with a weak smile.
"Oh, Penny. People will be jealous for no reason at all," Peggy said, waving the thought away. "So you might as well give them a proper reason. Let them be jealous of your talent, your work, your mind."
She leaned in with a warm smile. "You mentioned the robot thing you built, didn't you? I'm willing to bet that if those kids knew you were behind it, they would be too ashamed of themselves to even think of playing another prank on someone as clever as you."
Her hand moved to Penny's head, gently smoothing her hair. "You're not just smart, darling—you've got potential. And the sooner you believe that, the sooner the rest of the world will too."
"But what if they still don't stop?" Penny asked, still unsure.
"There it is again—that confidence issue I was telling you about," Peggy said, pointing gently. "You've got to believe in yourself, girl. Even if they knock you down, you've got to stand right back up. And if you can't hit back—then stand your ground. Look them straight in the eye, smile wide, and say with all the gusto you've got: 'I can do this all day, love.'"
Peggy let out a hearty laugh, the kind that seemed to echo with spirit.
Penny felt her blood stirring at those words—something raw, powerful, almost feral surged through her. There was a wild, battle-ready energy behind Peggy's voice that made it feel like she would stare down an army without flinching.
"Whatever you say… you're definitely my Captain Carter," Penny said aloud, her brown eyes sparkling with admiration.
"Haha! I'll take that as a compliment, love," Peggy grinned, and gave her a gentle pat on the back—
—which still sent Penny tumbling off the couch.
"Ow," she muttered, rubbing her backside.
"Oops, sorry, girl," Peggy chuckled, reaching down to pull her up with ease. "We really do need to put some muscle on you. Build a bit of strength, and I promise that confidence will follow. There's something about sweat and perseverance—trust me, it pays off."
"Hah… well, I trust you," Penny said with a small smile.
"Good. So let's get back to exercising, love," Peggy said brightly.
"I'm already regretting this," Penny muttered under her breath, a sense of doom settling in.
"Oh, don't be dramatic. It'll be fun," Peggy said with a wink.
As they walked back toward the weights, Penny glanced sideways and asked, "Peggy… that quote you said earlier—it felt really good, we can even print it on a t-shirt. Did you come up with it yourself?"
"Oh, no, no…" Peggy said, her tone softening. "That came from a very old… friend of mine. A scrawny little man with a lion's heart. He used to fall flat on his face during training—over and over again—but no matter how hard it got, he would push himself back up, legs trembling, and with the biggest smile he would say, 'I can do this all day.'"
"Wow," Penny said, smiling. "Sounds like a real inspiration."
"Oh, he was, girl," Peggy said quietly. "That he was."
***
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Comments
CkLance
Time for Penny's glow up 😤
Orvious
Thanks for the chapter. Penny needs really does need confidence.
