The Weight of The World ｡ Peter Parker [1]

2 : Cute But Fierce

     It's bright and early when I slipped into my usual seat in class, the overhead bell signalling my almost tardiness. I tried my best to ignore the boy genius in the seat next to me, pens and textbooks ready. He was always so annoyingly early.  

     "Please tell me you're not in another wordless fight with him," Mary Jane's got her books pushed against her chest and is causing a traffic jam in the space between desks. My friends had overheard the entire conversation in the corridor last night with Peter Parker and know all too well my temper lasts forever. "He's too sweet for your grudges." 

     After spending the entire night wide awake, my nightmares lingering ghosts, I'm not in the mood for her overkill sunshine today. "Drop it, Mary Jane."

     She pouted with my reply, but moved along. 

     Up front Mr. Warren cleared his throat randomly, and drew my attention to the doorway, where Gwen was giggling alongside Eugene Thompson, or commonly known among the lack of friends he has, as Flash. Static dread crawled up my spine and my chin jerked over my shoulder to find Mary Jane. She gave me a helpless shrug, both our minds haunted with the idea of Gwen dating him. 

     "Flash, class has started." Mr. Warren said. "Move along." 

     Wordlessly, I watched as Gwen smiled up at him like he'd collected the stars and moon for her. Willpower not to throw up my greatest gift suddenly. Focused on what's actually important, classwork, I yanked out my pen and binder while Mr. Warren speaks about our upcoming field trip. 

     "As we all know," he said, circling the classroom. "Next week's trip will be compulsory. Which means no skipping on the day. I promise, the midterm will be focused around the trip, so please pay attention on the day."

     Out of habit my pen started tapping against my desk as I listened to him, taking in the information he was writing on the board. My teeth grazed my bottom lip, enjoying the lecture. This was my element, the place where life wasn't so complicated. Numbers, formulas, equations, theories, all this was like music to my ears.

     After class, Mary Jane was stationed at my locker, her red hair tucked behind her ears and her pretty eyes glued upon me. "You're doing that thing," I muttered quietly. "Where you think by staring at me I might say something."

     Air gets sucked into her mouth. "I'm sorry."

     I shoved away one book, and grabbed another. "For what?"

     Guilt was written across her delicate face. "You know, for trying to force you into being friends with Pete. I just...you two have a lot in common. It makes sense. I only want you to see the good in him, like we all do." 

     Fed up, like always, I slammed my locker door shut with a clang. "We've got a lot in common? No, we absolutely do not." Mary Jane levelled her chin with mine. "I understand you like him, and jesus, the entire school does, but that doesn't mean I want anything to do with him. We aren't friends. Why change something that works so well, you know?"

     Backed into a corner, Mary Jane nodded. "Fine, but for the record, he's not that bad. If only you gave him a chance, you might actually find out you like him." Guilt was flopped into my heart suddenly, but before I can even begin to try and express the real reason I could never, ever, like him, she was gone. 

     I'm left alone with a sea of thoughts, most of them ugly. 

***

     I spend the afternoon at Oscorp, caught up in equations and ink on my fingertips. I'm thankfully not alone, a boy with a bright future he'd like to kiss away beside me.  

     "You'd be best friends," Harry Osborn smiled. He was elbow deep into his father's company reports, snooping for something. I would rather not question it. "I don't know why you want to fight fate. Tell me. Why don't you like Peter Parker?"

     My parents are in the next room, white labs coats and goggles and everything. They promised they'd be done in half an hour and we'd have a dinner around the table like a normal functioning family. That was an hour ago. 

     "I don't want to talk about him," I snipped, chewing on my pen. 

     Despite his money, terrible wit, and party boy nature, I had been friends with Harry for a few years, ever since my parents started working for his father's company. He'd been friends with Peter for, well, apparently forever, which meant he always played the I-know-him-so-well-card. 

     Harry's face lit up, putting his chin in his hands. "Oh, touchy subject?"

     "No," I hissed back. "Now, why did you tell him about my parents' work?"

     Harry sat back in his chair, shrugging. "Hmm, came up in causal conversation."

     I tilted my head to the side, fiddling with a pen. "Really? Casual conversation?"

     "Actually, it was a related topic of conversation. We were actually talking about you. About how cute and fierce you are, Parsons." Harry replied, giving me a big grin which I did not return, but he was still quite amused. "Okay, you're right, we were talking about your killer wit and fashionable taste in boys."

     "You're an ass, you know that?" I aim my pen at his head, but he only chuckled. 

     Harry gave me that dashing smile of his, the one that must work on all the girls at his private school. It had never worked on me because I was smarter than that. "Okay, true. But still it was a casual conversation, relax. Pete doesn't talk about you all that often."

     I grabbed my pen back from him and stared back down at my notebook again. I didn't have time to waste, not thinking about Peter Parker. Naturally, Harry went on rambling, but my head was somewhere else. 

     "Flo, are you even listening to me?"

     "Uh, no?"

     He blew out some air from his cheeks and flipped the folder he had been studying closed. "I was saying I'm moving to Midtown High and thought it might be something I should mention."

     Harry Osborn was all rich boy and peppy. I hadn't ever known him any differently. I couldn't even imagine him at Midtown. "You're transferring in the middle of the school year?" I questioned.

     He shrugged. "Something like that."

     "You got kicked out again, huh?" Harry had bounced from school to school for years. He hadn't stayed in one place for more than a year. Thankfully, daddy dearest was one of the richest men in the city. He funded Harry's trip through every private school in the New York area.

     "Eh, what's another school?" Harry replied with a wicked grin. "It might be fun to have a few familiar faces this time around, you know? Pete says you've got rather cute friends."

     There he was, the boy I knew. I rolled my eyes but a shy of a smile lingered on my lips. "Okay, stay away from my friends, they're too good for you."

     Harry just raised his eyebrows, accepting the challenge.