golden | peter parker

two

Penny sat at her desk, impatiently bouncing her knee up and down. It was three minutes before the bell rang for lunch, and her English teacher had chosen now to get into the heart of the lesson.

She glanced at the clock one more time, praying that time would somehow speed up. She drowned out all the background noise and focused on how hungry she was. It was pasta day at school, and as much as she hated to admit it, the pasta was actually really good.

The sound of a bell ripped Penny from her thoughts and she practically sprinted out the door, after muttering a quick thank you to the teacher. 

She bought her pasta and sat down at her usual spot waiting for Michelle to get to the cafeteria, ready to complain about how boring her classes were. As the lunchroom got louder, she kept peering over her shoulder searching for her friend. As she scanned behind her, a voice suddenly grabbed her attention.

"Hey Penny, looking for someone special?" None other than Flash Thompson asked with his signature smirk on his face.

While Penny knew he bullied kids and she couldn't stand that he was so heartless, he had only ever been kind to her. So, she put on a tight lipped smile and forced out a reply.

"Yes, actually. I was looking for my friend," Penny said vaguely, hoping Flash would leave her alone. He didn't seem to get the hint though, as he sat down next to her and said, "Well maybe I can help you look."

Penny tensed up as he smoothly put his arm around her shoulders. She felt so awkward in the situation that she was looking for any escape possible. 

"Uh, actually," She noticed a familiar face walking past her and towards his end of the table, "I found him! Peter!" She quickly stood up and speed walked to where Peter had stopped.

"There you are! I've been waiting for you, for like, ten minutes!" Penny moved her eyes quickly to Flash and back to Peter hoping he'd get the message.

"Uh, yeah sorry about that. My, um, Spanish teacher held me back after class. So y-you wanted to talk to me about something?" Peter replied relatively smoothly.

"Thanks for staying Flash but um, yeah I found who I was looking for," Penny directed her attention back to Flash while biting her lip nervously.

"Yeah, okay. Maybe we can hang another time. Later Penny," Flash winked at her before shoving past Peter grumbling something about penis's under his breath.

Penny let out a sigh of relief and placed a hand over her heart.

"I really owe you one. Thanks for saving my ass, again I guess," She smiled at Peter.

"Uh, sure. Of course. Flash sucks," Peter assured her. Penny nodded her head and turned back to her end of the table to see Michelle sat down reading a new book.

"So where were you, huh? You missed all the fun," Penny sarcastically said as she started to eat her pasta.

"Oh no, I saw it. I was watching from the side, curious as to how you would handle the situation. Interesting you went for Parker," Michelle grinned, putting her book down.

"You bitch! I can't believe you just let that whole thing play out!"

"And you managed to avoid my main jab. Why'd you choose Parker to help? Isn't he like, a loser?" Michelle asked, raising an eyebrow.

Penny rolled her eyes, "I mean technically speaking he's just not popular, but he kept my backpack from being stolen earlier today, so there's that. Also, I dunno, like when my mom died five years ago, he knew how it felt. So, we know each other from that."

"Morbid," was Michelle's only response as she munched on some chips.

Down on the other end of the table however, Ned would not stop teasing Peter.

"Dude! Penelope Collins went to you for help to escape Flash! She so likes you!" Ned exclaimed smacking the table.

Peter shushed him and glanced over to the girls sat 10 seats away from them.

"No, no, no. We're barely even friends. Besides, you know I like Liz. She's just-"

"Perfect, I know. You've only been talking about her since freshman year," Ned rolled his eyes in response to Peter. "Look man, Penny is a sophomore, and she's a girl, who talks to you. Take advantage of that!"

"Look, Ned. I barely even talk to her in Bio and Algebra. Nothing is going to happen between us, and especially when I'm this close to talking to Liz! I can't ruin my chances," Peter ranted.

"Dude, you're an idiot."

"Thanks Ned," Peter sighed.

They had started to eat when suddenly there was movement besides both of them. Peter looked up to see that Penny had sat next to him, with Michelle next to Ned.

"Did we hear that you like Liz?" Michelle asked Peter bluntly. He went red immediately and Ned's mouth hung open in shock. Penny hid her giggle behind her hand as she watched the boys.

"Uhhh..."

"No! Definitely not!"

Both girls snickered and shook their heads.

Michelle folded her arms over her chest and spoke almost sarcastically, "You do realize that everyone, and I mean everyone, at decathlon practice can tell you like her? Even Penny can, and she only visits me for like half of our practices."

Peter put his face in his hands, ready to die from embarrassment. He turned his head to look at Penny, and she nodded her head slightly, reaffirming Peter's worst fears.

"Ohhhhhh, myyyyy, godddddd," Peter breathed out absolutely mortified. Ned burst out laughing, causing the two girls to laugh with him. "Yeah, laugh it up all you want. I'm gonna go crawl in a hole and die now."

"Oh Peter, I'm sorry," Penny said placing a hand on his shoulder. She did feel bad that Michelle was almost cruel in her way of telling him, but it was funny seeing his reaction.

Michelle and Ned exchanged a quick glance with each other, before Penny pulled her hand away glaring at her friend.

"I think it's time that I head to Algebra, you know how much I like drawing on the whiteboards before class," Penny stated standing up. She started to walk away before glancing at Peter. "Hey, uh Peter, do you wanna come with? Since we're in the same class and all."

Peter shook his head, still way too embarrassed to do anything except wallow in his own self pity. Penny shrugged her shoulders and walked off, ready to get the next three classes over with.