The Masks we Hide Behind || Peter Parker [1]

two: the world is watching

"I'm so sick, and tired of that guy!" Peter exclaims, chucking the small bouncy ball at his bedroom wall.

"I know." I say.

"And the way he grabbed your wrist. And looked at you. And called you hot." Peter says.

Peter noticed all of that?

"He has no right to say any of that crap!" He exclaims again, bouncing the ball even harder against his wall.

"Hey, Peter, calm down." I say. He catches the ball and sighs in frustration. I roll over on his roller chair to his bed and lay a hand on his forearm.

"That was pretty awesome, though. I didn't think you had it in you," Peter says, grinning. I roll my eyes.

"Maybe I'm a lot different than you all think." I say, smiling and crossing my arms over my chest. He raises and eyebrow and rolls onto his side.

"Really?" He asks. I chuckle and spin in his roller chair.

"I finished problems one through sixteen, if you wanna copy or do whatever." I say. I had come over to Peter's apartment to do math homework.

"How many problems are there?" He asks.

"Thirty." I say. I feel my phone buzz and I pull it out to check it. It's my older brother, Lucas.

"Ugh, I've got to go. Lucas wants me home for some reason." I say, rolling back over to his small desk and grabbing my backpack, stuffing my textbook and math journal into it.

"Okay, uh...I'll just finish it on my own." Peter says, sitting up.

"We can do it over text, too." I say as a white glove from my suit falls out of my backpack. I pick it up quickly, hoping Peter doesn't notice.

I pull my teal headphones out of my backpack and zip it up, sticking my phone in my pocket.

"See you later, Peter." I say, heading for his door.

"Here, uh, I'll walk you out." He says, leaping up and grabbing the door for me. I smile.

"Such a gentlemen," I say as I exit his bedroom.

"Going home already? I was going to make dinner." Peter's Aunt May says to me with a warm smile.

"Yeah, Lucas wants me home for some reason." I say, slipping my arm through the other strap of my backpack.

"Alright. Next time." She says.

"Of course. Thank you, Aunt May." I say. Everyone who knows Peter calls her Aunt May. It's just a thing, I guess. We've grown up with most of the kids at our school.

Peter grabs the door for me and walks me out.

"Remember. Football game Friday, decathlon tryouts Saturday." He says, grinning as the door shuts behind him.

"Hey, I still haven't said yes or no to decathlon." I say. He rolls his eyes playfully as I start down the stairs.

"Bye, Peter." I say.

"Goodbye, Mads." He replies, walking back into his apartment. I slip my headphones on and start playing music as I exit the apartment building.

As I'm walking home, I can't help but think about how Peter pointed out all the things Flash said or did to me about my appearance. I smile to myself as I walk. Although he may be my best friend, I have secretly liked him for awhile. Like, awhile. He's cute. He's funny. He's sweet. He's smart.

I wander into an alleyway on a less crowded side of town, making sure nobody was watching. I aim my wrist up, double checking that nobody was watching, and bring myself up with a web that sprouts out of my veins.