The New Girl Around

Chapter 23 ~ Gossip...

"What?" I say laughing nervously. I'm confused, expecting them to talk to me about yesterday when you ran off crying.

"Come on! Just tell us what's up with you and Peter!" Wanda says smiling widely.

"there's nothing going on with me and Peter. We're just friends." I say. I feel like those words have left my mouth so many times.

They both roll their eyes in unison and turn to stand in front of me, "he stayed over last night. In your room. By yourselves. Together." Nat raises her eyebrow at every point she makes leading me to look down to the floor.

"Look, there is nothing going on with me and Peter. We're just friends, nothing more." I say in a final tone. I roll your eyes and grab some food from the fridge, ready to return upstairs.

"yeah, you keep saying that. Now I want you to tell the truth. Do you like him?" Wanda says standing in front of me with a wide smile on her face.

"Even if I did like Peter, which I don't, I wouldn't go out with him. I'm 16, I don't need a boyfriend." I try and find more reasons to give them so they leave this subject be.

Nat laughs and playfully pushes my shoulder, Wanda joins in with her laugh, "You're 16, you DO need a boyfriend. Now go back upstairs to your 'friend' before you miss him too much." Wanda says, dismissing my last point.

She starts quickly pushing me out the door and I roll my eyes, slowly walking up the stairs. I open the door and hand Peter a small plate of fruit and give him a half smile.

"That's all I could get, sorry." I state, my mind going over everything Wanda and Nat said.

He looks up at me and smiles giving me a warm feeling inside, "It's fine, thanks. I've just started with the science homework. We have the same so I think we could help each other." He says, his eyes turning back to the work In front of him.

I nod and sit down next to him smiling. Looking at the homework, I can see he's nearly finished the whole thing, "Peter, You basically finished this whole thing!" I say, feeling bad that I left him to do this all by himself.

"Not really. I just did the easy questions." He says shrugging as if it was nothing.

"If those are the easy questions then I need to get smarter." I say as I look through the questions he did.

We both talk and look through what's left to do, but he takes control with most of it. We finish after a few minutes and then we both just lay on the bed and start to talk about the science trip.

"So, I talked to the teacher and I'm going but as an assistant to like help you all study." I say, turning my head to the side to look at him.

He looks to me and smiles widely, making me instantly return his smile with my own, "That's great!" He says, enthusiasm laced in his voice.

He coughed slightly, turning his head to look back at the roof, "I mean... that's good. It will be fun." He corrects, his awkwardness returning. I laugh slightly at how cute he gets when he's nervous.

"Anyway, I should get going. I'll see you tomorrow at school though." He says as he gets up.

I stand up with him and smile, "yeah, I'll see you tomorrow." I reply walking to the door to open it for him. "Thank you Peter. For everything." I let out sincerely, wanting him to know I'm grateful.

"Thank you for talking to me." He says sincerely and my heart feels like it's going to burst at his adorable face contorting into an awkward smile.

He walks over to the door and hugs me quickly before walking away shortly after. I giggle a little as I shut the door and sit on my bed.

I'm in my room watching a film on Netflix when someone knocks at the door, "come in!" I shout, pausing the tv before the door opens with a loud creak.

"Hey kid." Mr. Stark says, walking in with a smile in his face, "I finished everything with the adoption, all you need to do is go down to the orphanage and have that lady, who's name I cannot remember for the life of me, sign this paper." He says a thoughtful look an his face as if he's trying to remember Mrs Bernadine's name.

"What do you mean?" I ask as he hands me a form with a blank space for the signature.

"Well she's your guardian so she needs to read over everything and make sure she agrees you're in safe hands. Stuff like that." He says, obviously not going into detail as it's a long process.

I take a deep breath and put on a fake smile, "ok. I'll do that tomorrow after school. Thank you for this Mr. Stark." I thank him as a little bit of worry builds up in my heart.

He smiles back at me and turns for the door. He takes a couple of steps then stops. He looks over his shoulder and says, "If we're going to do this, call me Tony. I'll see you later kid." He walks out and shuts the door behind him leaving me with a no longer fake smile.

My smile falters slightly as a text distracts me. It's a text from an unknown number so I pick it up and read it with a concerned look.

~ Messages ~

Unknown:
Hey hope, it's Flash. Where did you go on our date the other day? I wasn't finished.

Hope:
Oh hey Flash! Sorry but I had some family problems. But I did the date so now you don't have to bother me.

Flash:
Uh no. You didn't do the whole date so it doesn't count. I'll take you out again tomorrow after school.

Hope:
No you won't.

Flash:
I will, otherwise that video is going back up again.

Hope:
It's too late, Flash. That videos already been shared enough times and I don't have a reason for it to be hidden anymore.

Flash:
Fine, but I know you like me. Now come on another date with me. We can do it Tuesday.

Hope:
I can't make it any clearer Flash! I don't want to go on a date with you! What else can I do to show you that.

Flash:
I will change your mind, you watch.

Hope:
I doubt that, Flash. I'm not sure what you think is going on here, but whatever it is, forget it. I don't and will never like you. End. Of.

Flash:
Stop playing hard to get Hope, just give in, come on. I know you want to.

Hope:
Our date yesterday was a clear indicator that my lack of feelings for you are justified.

Flash:
We had a good time though?

Hope:
No, you had a good time. I sat there listening to you talk about yourself for hours on end.

Flash:
And? I'm not sure what the problem is there.

Hope:
I hope you find a girl that is small enough to fit in a room with you and your ego. Unfortunately, that girl is not me. Goodbye, Flash.

Flash:
Trust me Hope, you may not think it now, but we will end up together.

I roll my eyes at his delusion and put my phone down, ready to return to my Netflix show.