FIXATED

CHAPTER 4

Y/N POV

I tugged on the strap of my bag while heading back to my dorm. I barely got to work on my homework, staying at the writing lab for so long. Usually I minded staying longer than I had to, but this particular day for some reason I wasn't as bothered. I spent a good two hours with Peter, helping him to edit his essay. I was probably left unbothered because it didn't really feel as much of a drag as it did editing other peoples paper. Usually it was awkward... well... in a way it was with Peter... but at least not in the awkward silence way. He was actually quite talkative once you got to know him. Nevertheless, I mean awkward in the way he acted. Awkward actually is a little too harsh of a word... either way it was cute... not cute he's just a classmate.

Walking past the common lounge of the dorm I paused to a stop as the group of students who usually crowd around the TV at this time were especially loud. Even before glancing at the TV I knew what they were so excited about. On the news was a live broadcast of Spiderman swinging from the Chrysler building. There seemed to be always something for Spiderman to do around New York and thus always something for the news broadcast to air. Of course everyone wondered who it was underneath that mask that was doing all of these amazing things, myself included. Nevertheless these college kids and the rest of the world seemed a little too invested in WHO spiderman is underneath that mask... so much so that it felt weird to include myself in these miniature fanclub formations for him.

I pressed forward to my dorm room as I had homework to do. Walking up the stairs two girls rushed past me with our shoulders colliding. I looked over my shoulder at them in disbelief. Barley paying me any mind they muttered a sorry to me before continuing on with their conversation, something about "him being on", Spiderman i'm sure they were referring to. They rushed to the lounge TV without a care.

This is more of what I was talking about. There seemed to be a big trend to be obsessed with all things spiderman, so much so that it's become integral to American culture, but especially New York culture. They seemed more obsessed with the idea of spiderman and the intreguire behind him rather than what he stands for.

Annoyed, I pulled out my ID to swipe into my room, utterly exhausted from the day. However, as if I wasn't already done with life, my ID started acting up as per usual.

"Y/N!" a familiar but somewhat unwelcomed voice called to me.

Of course at the most convenient times too this shit never works.

I forced a smile over to my neighbor, Emily, who was one actually the president of the real Spiderman fan club here at NYU.

She rushed over to me with an excited look about her, but I had a feeling what about. One could say I have some spidey sense of my own.

"Y/N did you see the news!? Spiderman saved a puppy from a burning building!" she exclaimed. "What a saint," I muttered in return, flipping my ID the other way to see if that would get me out of this badgering.

"Come to the lounge it's on the tv!" she urged while tugging my arm away from my dorm.

I flinched while trying to stand my ground, "I wish I could Emily but I have to finish this essay" I replied. Emily rolled her eyes at me but let me go. "Fine. But I'm still mad at you... don't think I forgot about your promise to me" she said, crossing her arms.

I sighed at her comment. She remembered that I didn't return her detergent, didn't she? Well unfortunately I used it all.

I smiled at her sheepishly trying to play off my guilt.

"Don't act dumb Y/N, you promised you'd come to the club yesterday, why didn't you?" she questioned poking my arms.

I widened my eyes in realization.

Oh... that promise...

I pressed my lips. "I-I'm sorry Emily... I was... doing my... laundry..." I uttered out, lost in my lies. However, Emily was not having it. She pointed her finger at me in shame.

"Well you're lucky I'm a forgiving neighbor, but I better see you there next Tuesday! Until then, read the article we'll have out tomorrow on the puppy situation, I wrote it myself" she finished with a smile, hurrying away to the lounge.

I nodded my head and swiped into the room which finally opened for me.

Closing it behind me I leaned against the door, letting out a sigh of relief. Emily was a sweet girl, very generous and talkative. A good dorm neighbor, especially considering she let's me borrow her detergent and an even better neighbor for forgetting it in the first place.

I threw my bag on the bed and sat in my desk chair, turning on my tv to see the news.

I curled up in the chair, hugging my knees.

I didn't have anything against the spider guy. I wasn't opposed to going to Emily's club nor admitting that saving a puppy from a burning building was a good thing. Infact, there was something about him that made me admire him. Something about a spiderman existed that made me feel safe. Rather, it was the crowd mentality that turned me majorly off from supporting him...publicly. Plus the public's obsession with knowing who was under the mask was detrimental. I mean, in finding out who is under the mask that takes away the mystery and sense of an inhuman protector that the mask provides. Obviously there was a guy under there, but finding out who and what he looked like and what he did during the day, all these boring things about humans would take away from the magic and power that spiderman brought about... at least that was my take.

I clicked to a different channel with the remote, bothered by the footage of the spotlights on the web slinger. I had an essay to finish.

In opening on my laptop and opening another essay of mine I couldn't help but think of Peter. For what reason I didn't know why. Sometimes I caught myself looking at him from across the room in English, but until today I could only pass off thinking about him later in the day because he was cute. Being around him today and in talking to him, witnessing first hand how naturally funny he was, there was something about him besides his looks that made him more self-conscious of everything I was doing.

That moment when the paper stuck to his fingers, however, was weird I had to admit. But I think it just added to his character for me at the moment. I shook my head to focus on the task at hand. I had an essay to write rather than thinking about some random guy from class, especially one who failed a paper.