Hello, New York!

A/N: Hey guys! Here I am, back with another Bucky/OC fanfic because I'm Bucky trash. Don't worry, I'll still be updating 'Stay' really regularly, I'll just have this going too.

So: I'm really excited to get this up, but first a few little things.

Full Summary:

The wealthy, Upper-class teenagers of New York City attend the elite, affluent school of Hillbrook Crest. Aurora Prince moved from Portland with her parents for her father to take up a position that will make them millionaires. At her old school she was a queen, a doyenne, but at Hillbrook Crest she is just the new girl fighting to achieve high grades with the ridiculous academic standards of HC. There is one thing that makes it worth it though - the teachers are stunning. One, in particular.

New York is a beautiful, audacious city, but Mr Barnes is by far the most intriguing thing that Aurora discovers there.

This is obviously Bucky/OC. All human AU. Includes various other MCU characters. Bucky is 24 years old in this!

WARNING: please be aware of the teacher/student nature of the relationship and read at your own risk. Please don't comment mean things saying 'it's so wrong' blah blah. I am fully aware that it is wrong and in no way, shape or form am I endorsing relationships like this in real life. It's a story.

Now, onto the first chapter! Enjoy.

~O~

Navy blue was, at least, a colour Aurora Prince could definitely pull off. But the pleated skirt? The white button up shirt and tie? And don't even get her started on the hideous leather shoes. Even she couldn't make that ugly of an outfit work. (Seriously - why were girls expected to wear ties?)

"It's an affront to fashion," Aurora complained, staring in distaste at the uniform she would be required to wear for the next year.

Her father didn't even look up from where he was setting up his laptop at their new dining room table. Her mother at least acknowledged her with a sigh, slipping the pearl necklace off that was adorning her throat. "Stop complaining. Everyone else will be wearing it, so it shouldn't matter," her mother pointed out. "Although, it is an ugly thing. You'll just have to wear your very best clothes outside of school to make up for it."

Aurora gritted her teeth and turned away from the monstrous uniform, walking a few steps forward to look out of the large, glass panelled window that stretched along half of the wall. The new penthouse was at least nice, with a view over New York City that was to die for. Her room was large and spacious, with a big enough walk in wardrobe to store all of her clothes and shoes, plus more space to do a little therapy shopping.

But none of that really mattered to Aurora. She didn't care how beautiful the penthouse was, or how prestigious her new school was, or how high of a promotion her father had gotten to necessitate such a move to New York. She didn't care about any of that. She just wanted to go home. But Portland didn't feel like just a 6 hour flight away, it felt like a lifetime ago already. Her friends, her old school, her cheerleading squad. The memories, although seared into her brain, somehow already felt faded, worn.

One year, she thought wistfully, as she was starting her senior year along with the rest of the cohort tomorrow. One year of schooling and then I turn 18 and then I can move out. Go to college and make my own life.

But for a 17 year old girl, a year seemed like forever.

~O~

Hillbrook Crest was beautiful and sprawling, an old establishment designed to raise proud and educated young girls and boys from wealthy backgrounds. Its student body was not in the least bit diverse. It had one, single breed of teenagers; affluent, opulent, with parents who had holiday houses in the Hamptons and Puerto Rico. The students' parents were rich. And their grandparents, and their great grandparents and so on. Their children would always live luxurious lives and their grand-children would as well.

Aurora was in some ways, she supposed, the irregularity. Her mother had been born dirt poor and although Aurora knew nothing about her mother's parents, she assumed that they had not been exactly star guardians - they were immigrants, from Brazil, and Aurora had never met them. Her grandparents on her father's side had lived on a farm in rural Oregon and whilst they had never been poor, they hadn't had a lot of money to flaunt either. Her father had worked his way up and up, and by the time Aurora had been born, her mother and father were more than well off. Despite this, in Portland she'd still always gone to a public school. She hadn't minded it though - not one bit - she didn't have to wear a uniform there and she'd always excelled in her subjects. But she hadn't just attended a public school; she had ruled it. She was their queen, their head cheerleader, their shining star. She had been a Goddess among men, a queen among peasants. And now…now what was she? Richer, certainly. But somehow that made her less special, less powerful. Her father may have gotten a promotion, but Aurora had certainly retrogressed. It was a good thing that over the past few months she had realised that power and popularity were not of the utmost importance in their broken, fractured world.

Nonetheless, she held her head high as she walked through the school, a guide at her side. The girl she had been paired with was Wanda Maximoff, one of the two kids that had been adopted by Tony Stark, the Tony Stark, over ten years ago. Aurora was surprised to find that Wanda was nothing like her rich and famous adoptive father. She seemed, for the most part, down to earth and quite lovely.

Earlier that morning, when they had pulled up outside the towering, stone institution, Aurora had been nervous. Butterflies had made her feel near sick in the stomach and her hands had been shaking on her handbag.

"I don't want to do this," she had said quietly, although in hindsight she's not sure why. What had she expected, sympathy? If so, she would be sorely disappointed. Her mother had blinked at her, unaffected. Maria Prince was an elegant but hard woman. She had raised her daughter to be the same. Weakness was impermissible.

"Aurora, get out of the car," her mother's words had been blank; not a drop of emotion wavered them.

Aurora's dark eyes had flamed with indignation at being given such a command, her jaw setting and her chin tipping upward. She had flung the Mercedes door open and not looked back.

Wanda seemed funny and welcoming and Aurora was glad. She still had a slight accent from whatever obscure country she had lived in pre-adoption, but she seemed mostly very normal.

Aurora passed a countless number of students, all dressed in the same, ugly uniform. It was a sea of moving, laughing teenagers and Aurora was no more than another wave. Barely anyone spared her a second glance. It made her feel small, powerless. Unimportant. She was used to walking down the hall and just the clack of her heels demanding attention, respect. Instead the black, leather lace ups they were required to wear, were soundless on the hard floor.

The buzz of the start of a new year was in the air. Aurora was glad that she at least got to start at the beginning of Senior year, rather than halfway through it. She didn't want to have to play catch up in classes as well as in the social department.

"You're taking AP physics and AP Russian?" Wanda questioned, frowning down at Aurora's new timetable as they came to a stop outside of Aurora's also-new locker. "That's a big workload," Wanda pointed out.

Aurora shrugged - she knew it was going to be a lot of effort, but she also knew she wanted the distraction. And now that her family could afford any college in America, she wanted to be able to get into any Ivy League College that she wished. She didn't want to be held back because she didn't push herself enough. "It won't be easy, but I'll manage."

Wanda looked disbelieving, like she knew something that Aurora did not, but she didn't push the matter any further.

"Ok, first up you have Modern History," Wanda announced once Aurora had deposited her bag in her locker and just grabbed out the books she needed until lunch time. "You have Mr Rogers," Wanda's pink lips stretched into a grin. "Lucky you."

Aurora chuckled a little. "What do you mean?"

Wanda, evading the question, simply answered, "You'll see."

Aurora's eyebrows furrowed, her curiosity piqued.

"My brother's in your history class too. I'll introduce you to him and you can sit with him," Wanda promised. "He's a painful prick, but he's nice too. He's the best runner this school has, but don't let that fool you. He's really an idiot."

Aurora chuckled, although she was unsure whether she found that actually funny or was just laughing to be polite. Siblings, for Aurora, were a complicated matter. Her feelings on the subject were unreservedly murky.

Wanda walked her into the classroom, which was more like a small lecture room, with red velvet tiered seating and long bench desks, one large desk down the front for the teacher, a blank projector screen behind it. It was certainly a change from her old school, from plastic chairs and wooden desks and whiteboards.

Students were sitting in clumps, chatting and laughing.

"Pietro!" Wanda called, waving her hand toward a handsome boy their age, who immediately pulled away from his little circle of friends and sauntered toward them. He was familiar, although only from what little Aurora had seen about them in the news. He was tall and would have been lanky if not for the muscle that he had. His hair was almost white and his grin was confident, easy going. It was simple to tell where he stood in the social hierarchy of the school; up the top. Which was contrary to his sister, who was more independent, artsy probably, although too pretty to be considered unpopular.

"Who's this?" Pietro smirked, eyes wandering shamelessly up and down Aurora's body. Aurora did not cower away from his stare, although nor did she encourage it. She was used to boys looking at her like that and she took it in her stride, meeting his blue gaze strongly when he looked at her face.

"New girl," Wanda intoned. "Aurora Prince, meet my brother Pietro. Take care of her will you?"

"I can definitely do that," Pietro agreed with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"Don't traumatise her please," Wanda sighed, like it was not at all an improbable notion.

But Aurora surprised the Maximoff siblings by biting out a laugh. "I'm sure we'll manage," she smiled brightly. "Right Pietro?" She raised a single, dark and perfectly manicured eyebrow at him, daring him to step out of line.

His amusement grew. "Definitely."

Wanda left quickly after that to get to her own class in time and Pietro led Aurora over to his group of friends. There were three other boys and two girls, all sitting or standing at the edge of one of the long rows of bench seats.

"Hey everyone, this is Aurora. New girl," Pietro introduced her, leaning back against one of the benches. One of the girls immediately stepped forward, like she had a duty to complete and it was of the utmost importance.

She was, Aurora had to admit, gorgeous. Her long golden hair was curled to perfection, her heart shaped face beautiful in every sense of the word and her body tall and slim, but curvy enough to entice any boy. She, along with the other girl behind her, weren't dressed in the uniform that adorned every other student's body, but rather in a cheerleading one; the top and mini skirt a mixture of navy blue's and red's and white's. The letters HC were printed on the front of the cheerleading shirt in large, serif font.

"Aurora, it's so nice to meet you," the smile the girl gave her was harmless, and yet her entire being leaked of entitlement and peril. "I'm Betty Lockwood and this is Alison," she cast a look at her red-headed friend who looked Aurora up and down like she was something interesting. Betty clearly didn't deem Alison significant enough to give Aurora her last name.

"Betty," Aurora mused, refusing to be intimidated, even though her heart was pounding. "Is that Elizabeth or Bethany?"

Betty paused, her lips pursing together like it was somehow rude to ask her full name. "Elizabeth," she replied, crossing her arms over her chest and letting her green eyes travel over Aurora in acute scrutiny. "Are you new in our city? Or just a transfer from another school?"

Aurora looked at the other two boys whom she hadn't been introduced to yet - she assumed Betty hadn't found them important enough for such an introduction. "New."

"Where from?" Betty asked like she already knew the answer and it already didn't meet her standards. Aurora hesitated.

"Portland," she eventually replied. She didn't want to be ashamed - it wasn't like it was some small, country town; Portland was a big, beautiful city. But Aurora had the distinct feeling that Betty would accept nothing less than New York or Manhattan.

"Portland?" Betty's voice was free of any judgement and yet dripping of it at the same time. "How cute."

It sounded like an insult coming from the girl's lips.

Aurora opened her mouth to reply - she didn't know with what but with something - when the bottom door opened and their teacher walked in.

"Alright everyone, take your seats," he called out, a cheerful note to his voice. Betty spun on her heel, her blonde curls bouncing and gracefully slithered down the aisle a small ways to take her seat beside Alison.

"C'mon," Pietro nudged Aurora into the seat beside him, looking a little tired and unsurprised at Betty's behaviour. Aurora let out a long, steadying breath and sat beside Pietro, squaring her shoulders and finally looking at her new teacher. What met her gaze made her eyes widen fractionally.

Mr Rogers was gorgeous. Tall and ridiculously muscled - to the point where it looked like his button up was going to rip if he moved too suddenly. He had blonde hair and a charming, sweet smile on his face.

God I wish I had teachers that looked like that at my old school, Aurora thought. He was dressed a little like a grandpa, with the plaid button up shirt and brown trousers, but somehow that only added to his attractiveness.

He instructed the class to pull out their laptops and everyone obliged. Aurora had been issued hers that morning - like she didn't already have one at home, collecting dust. But they were required to all have the same one; a shiny new Macbook pro.

The class started and although it was the first lesson of the year for everyone, it did not start slowly. Mr Rogers jumped right into the history of the colonisation of the Congo and Aurora had to type almost frantically to keep up.

By the end of first period, she was already exhausted and her day had just begun. Betty and Alison insisted that Aurora sit with them at lunch and the new girl, not really having a wide variety of choices and Wanda not in sight, hesitantly agreed.

What was the saying? Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. It was something Aurora and Betty intended on abiding by. At least for now.

They were sitting outside, under a beautiful, large oak tree at a benched table and eating lunch. Along with Betty and Alison, Aurora had been introduced to Victoria and Isabella. Aurora was practically under interrogation, although the questions were punctuated by fluttering eyelashes and deceptively kind grins.

"Did you have a boyfriend back in Portland?" Alison asked, pushing a salad around with her fork. She was vegan, Aurora had learned. And Victoria was pescatarian - whatever the hell that meant.

A stab of pain jolted through Aurora's heart and she gripped her fork tightly in her hand, looking down at her tray momentarily. "Uh yeah. Yeah I did," she smiled, pulling herself together swiftly. "But when I found out I was moving to New York, we ended it."

"Oh I'm sorry," Betty said with surprisingly real sympathy in her voice. Her next words sliced that sympathy in half. "It mustn't have been too serious though - if you broke up over just a little distance."

Aurora's back straightened, her eyebrows raising. "Do you do Geography? Portland is a 42 hour drive away." Her voice had more bite in it than she probably intended, but Betty was not hindered.

Betty's eyebrows pulled down in confusion and a small, disbelieving laugh left her mouth. "Wait," she glanced to her friends like her next question was almost an affront to her morals. "Do you not own your own jet?" She asked like every single person in the school did and she had that expectation of them (which, in hindsight, was very possible). "Because it's only a six hour flight."

Aurora had faced competition at her old school. She had faced it with dignity and a subtlety (but ruthlessness) that had earned the respect of her entire grade. Passive aggressive was, if not created, then defined by Aurora Prince. But never had she been faced with someone like Elizabeth Lockwood.

She didn't realise her hands were shaking until her fork bumped the tray, creating a small sound. She met Betty's stare harshly. "No," she said strongly, because above all she would not let herself waver externally. "No, we don't own a jet." Betty's face of satisfaction was short lived. "My father prefers to funnel his money into long term investments rather than scarcely used commodities. Besides," Aurora smiled, flicking her hair over her shoulder. "We can afford the first class plane tickets, so it really doesn't matter."

Betty's face was in a near scowl, her eyes narrowed and angry, her eyebrows drawn down, but her lips were still twisted into a poisonous smile.

"And like you said," Aurora's silky voice indicated that she was agreeing with Betty, when it was in fact a biting remark. "Portland was cute. My old boyfriend was cute. But New York is…something else. I decided that cute bored me."

Betty gulped, her smile finally fading as she realised that she had lost this round. But although she had lost the first battle, it did not mean that she would settle for losing the war. And it was a war that Aurora was fairly uncertain she wanted to fight. She had been the queen bee at her last school because it had been, for the most part, easy. She had had other girls compete occasionally, but to be honest they had never been very hard competition. And ever since moving schools, moving cities and states, she just wasn't sure she cared about those same things anymore. Did she really want to be the it girl at a prestigious high school, with only one more year to go? She knew as soon as she got to college that something like her popularity in school would mean nothing.

"So," Betty quickly changed the subject, like her defeat wasn't felt by every single person sitting at the table. "Do you do cheerleading?"

"Definitely yes," Aurora smiled. "Have trials already been?"

"Yeah you just missed them at the end of last year," Betty pouted, her sadness seeming authentic. She leant her chin on her hand, cocking an eyebrow. "I'm the head cheerleader of the Crest Comets…I could make an exception for you since you're new…" She left the statement open and Aurora could see that she wanted her to ask for it, to beg maybe.

Usually, Aurora would refuse to give in, refuse to beg to anyone ever. But she didn't want to have this fight with Betty and cheerleading would look great on her college applications. Besides, she absolutely loved it and perhaps it might make her mother happy.

"That would be amazing," Aurora smiled sweetly. "If you could do that for me, I'd be so grateful."

Betty's lips stretched into a Cheshire cat grin and she knew she had conquered over Aurora. At least for now. "Come to the gym at second break and you can show us what you've got. But we only have the very best on the Comets."

"I'll be there."

~O~

A/N: eeee I hope you guys like it! I'm sorry there's no Bucky in this chapter - he appears in the next, I promise.

Please leave a review and let me know if this has caught your interest or not! I shall update in a few days!

I love you all, until next time xx