Walking the Wire | PETER PARKER [1]

| 13 |

Lucy and Elena are over at Eloise's apartment. The first semester's finals are coming up, and none of them are prepared. Both Lucy and Elena switched shifts at work so they could study right after school with Eloise instead of during the night.

The girls are spread across the kitchen, Lucy digging through Eloise's fridge and cupboards as Elena and Eloise are slouched over their work at the table.

Lucy snatches a box of Cheez-Its and plops down on the chair next to Eloise.

"So I'm failing chemistry whether I study or not," she says, popping a Cheez-It in her mouth. "So let's study for Algebra II, because I have somewhat of a chance of passing."

"Agreed," Elena sighs, setting her pencil down onto the table. "I don't even know what we're doing in that class."

"It's really not that hard," Eloise says as she pulls out her chemistry book. Lucy and Elena groan at just the sight of the large textbook, so Eloise sets it aside with a roll of her eyes. "Fine, but can I at least try to explain the lesson again before we ditch it entirely?"

Lucy throws another handful of Cheez-Its into her mouth. "Fine, whatever."

Eloise starts to teach her friends the lesson they're learning in chemistry, but as she gets deeper into it, she just starts to confuse herself and doesn't know how to finish. Lucy and Elena look lost, too.

Eloise leans back in her chair. "Okay, I guess I don't know the lesson as well as I thought I did."

Lucy's forehead smacks against the table in defeat. "We're hopeless. Failures. Never gonna graduate." Suddenly, her head snaps up and her eyes widen. "Wait."

Elena rubs her eyes exhaustedly. "What?"

"Doesn't your neighbor go to that nerd school?" Lucy asks, pointing at Eloise with the eraser of her pencil.

Eloise furrows her brow. "Yeah?"

She throws her arms up. "There we go, problem solved. Let's just kidnap your neighbor and have him teach us all this shit." She slams the chemistry book shut.

Although Peter would be more than happy to help, he stayed home from school today to rest. Eloise doesn't blame him, really; he was attacked by a super dangerous villain with giant mechanical wings. She would stay home, too.

"He hasn't been feeling very well lately," She says. "And he has his own homework and finals to worry about, I'm sure."

Lucy rolls her eyes. "Oh, come on. He's a nerd; he probably has all of his homework done for the rest of the week and started studying for finals since the first day of school."

"Fine." Eloise gives in, as desperate to learn the material as they are. "I'll be right back." She scoots her chair back and stands, tossing her pencil onto the table. She walks out the front door and knocks on Peter's.

There's silence on the other side.

She knocks again.

More silence follows, but then there are footsteps and then the door unlocks. It opens.

Peter peers out before opening it fully. "Hey." He leans against the doorframe, wincing slightly. "What's going on?"

She frowns at his pain. Maybe she shouldn't bother him. "It's ... nothing. Never mind. You can go sit back down or something-"

"Wait," Peter says, standing up straight. "I'm fine, honestly. Just sore." He crosses his arms. "What's up?"

Eloise motions to her apartment. "My friends and I were just studying for finals, but we have no idea what we're doing, and I was just wondering if you could come help us. But if you're resting then I understand-"