Webs of Fate

7

Mateo started hiding the money he stole at his dorm on campus. He couldn't risk his mother finding wads of cash under his bed; that woman would definitely strangle him if she found money with no explanation. He groaned, looking at his uniform; he felt so boring here, but he needed to cover up his act by being the best student at Bellgrove. Since the few heists he has run, he began questioning if he even cared about Harvard, his future in physics, or even being top of his class. He didn't even feel satisfied by bickering with a sassy little Asian; she felt off as well, which he noticed. She wasn't as competitive even though her grades stayed on top of the class. She seemed to always have an excuse when it came to Tiwa saying she had to go do something for her dad. Hector avoided Mateo like the plague, and many other bullies did, too, just calling him psycho or hot-headed.

It was nice for him not to have to worry about bullies, but he did find his academics was slipping. He groaned, seeing his paper receive an 89 rather than he usual 100 he was used to seeing. His teacher frowned and patted his back, assuming the boy was having a rough week. He noticed Libbey peek at his grade surprised as well before looking a bit concerned.

"What the hell happened? Aren't you supposed to be my academic rival? How are you gonna do that if you aren't even giving it your all?" She asked for once, not sounding aggravated, but mostly concerned since she always saw him as her equal when it came to her studies.

"Don't wanna talk about it, Cho," Mateo muttered, throwing his test in his bag. "Why do you care anyway?"

"You're my equal here, Rodrigo. I need the rivalry; it boosts my ego," She teased, which made Mateo's lip quirk up. "Oh my god, Rodrigo, did I just see a smile? I didn't know you had human emotions!" He shoved her away, seeing a smile on her face.

He had no idea why he was being so laid back with her. Maybe it was because he missed a certain girl with that tight little spider suit. The next time they would encounter one another, he knew she was going to give him an earful. He wasn't sure why he hated the idea of disappointing the stranger, but he knew what was right for him. He had started paying the overdue bills, saying they were a donation, so his mother wouldn't question anything. She seemed relieved of the stress when she called to pay, but she seemed a bit off when finding out money was donated. He didn't question why only because he didn't wanna give his secret away. He started helping some of the small shops out by throwing out thieves when he wasn't in school, causing a few people around the neighborhood to call him a hero. That made him swell with pride. He would talk in a deep accent and only in spanish when he was there hoping no one would recognize him. During the heist, he had no care in the world.

"Shutup, I just have no comeback, Cho. I am human, you know," he stared over to her with a small smile, which caused a pink hue to appear on the girls face. He was surprised by the reaction, noting how she began walking, tugging on her hair. "Why aren't you with Tiwa?" She frowned, pouting her lip slightly.

"She's always with Hector. I've tried telling her how I feel about him, but she just holds him high on a pedestal. They've been sharing his dorm, too. She's barely there. It's kinda lonely." After her confession, she straightened up looking at the boy. "Not that I'm weak or lonely or -"

"I get it. I'd say we can hang out, but I'd rather die," shrugged the boy, heading to his next class.

Her heart fluttered before yelling about how she wished he would even though she didn't mean it. Lately, she's been feeling really weird around Mateo. She couldn't figure out if she was just sad about the rivalry or if she was worried about him or that she might have actually liked his attention. At least he tells her he doesn't like her rather than being played by that mask wearing pretty boy who paralyzed her.

She wanted to strangle Paralysis when she got her hands on him. How DARE he do that and humiliate her on the news. She bet he knew they were being filmed. She loved seeing his surprised expression when he was burned by her webs. It didn't seem to cause much effect to him; she assumed his suit was fire resistant, which made her start to think where he even got the suit made.