Broken Hero || Peter Parker X Reader

The Murderer

"Ready for math?" I ask Reece, just as she closes her locker.

"No." She answers, struggling to keep all her books in her hands.

"Here, let me help you." And I take two books from her hands that were bound to drop at any second.

She re-adjusts her grip and grins up at me. "Thanks."

I smile back, trying hard to not stare at her dimples, though it seemed mildly impossible. "No problem." We make it to AP Calc and right away, I knew something was off.

We had assigned seats in this class so Reece got put on the opposite side of the room as me. This was probably the only class we weren't late for, so just as I sat in my desk, the bell rang.

"Dial it down, class." A man I've never seen before instructs to the class. The class goes silent, staring up at, what I'm guessing, is our substitute for Mrs. Garrett. "My name is Mr. Cuffman and I will be your new teacher for the rest of the year."

Something clicks in my brain when he had announced his name. Wait... Cuffman?! Reece and I quickly look at each other, thinking the exact same thing. Mr. Stark said the high functioning sociopath our mission is on was going under the name Andrew Cuffman.

Everyone starts turning to each other and whispering to each other, all of us asking the same question. What happened to Mrs. Garrett? A kid named Tom actually raises his hand to ask this question aloud.

Mr. Cuffman folds in hands in front of him, letting out a small cough. "She had an unfortunate accident and sadly passed away yesterday." And the whole class went dead silent. I can feel my heart drop and I stare at Reece with wide eyes, this sickening feeling bubbling up my stomach. I'm pretty positive this man standing before us murdered my teacher.

Reece can tell by the look on my face that I'm kinda freaking out. It's okay. She mouths, a sympathetic look on her face. We'll figure it out.

I swallow hard, nodding slowly. "I know this may be hard for some of you," Mr. Cuffman begins, looking me straight in the eye and I couldn't help but to quickly look away. "So the guidance counselor has informed me to tell you that she is always open to talk to."

The class remains silent, staring up at Mr. Cuffman, not knowing how to respond. A lot of us liked Mrs. Garrett, she was a good teacher. And now she's dead? It was hard to comprehend. But the only thing that was running through my mind was that he killed her.

"Alright..." Mr. Cuffman walks behind the desk and takes a seat. "Now if you'll open your books to page twenty three."

~~~
(Reece's POV)

Peter's face became so pale that I thought he was going to pass out or something. That look in his eye told me he was terrified, and I can't blame him. No one paid attention at all in AP Calc, and Peter wouldn't dare to look up at Mr. Cuffman. He did, after all, kill Mrs. Garrett. So Peter kept his eyes on me and I tried calming him down from the other side of the room because I could tell he was freaking out.

When the bell finally rang for lunch, Peter and I hauled ass out of that classroom. Together we walk down the hall, him being way faster than me, so I'm practically running as I'm trying to keep up with him.

We make it to his locker and he shoves all of his books into it. He slams his locker door shut, causing a loud banging noise to go off and echo through the hall. Peter then takes a deep breath, keeping his hands pressed against his locker door, letting his head hang low. He's angry. Frustrated. Confused. I get it. So I let him have his moment.

"I just..." He begins, biting his lip. "How do we catch this guy? How do we prove that he killed Mrs. Garrett?" Peter finally looks up at me, his eyes a bit glossy.

I shake my head. "I don't know... But we'll figure out, okay?" I assure him, staring deeply into his eyes. "Calm down." Peter nods slowly, stepping away from his locker, taking another deep breath. "For now, let's just go to lunch and we'll talk about it after school?" I suggest.

He glances down at me and nods before we begin for the cafeteria. Together we get into the line to buy food. I then gave Peter the money Happy gave me this morning after dropping me off.

"I'll pay for your lunch if you hand the lady the right amount of money." I explain because Peter gave me an odd look of confusion. "I'm still confused on now how it works."

Peter smiles, shaking his head. "I'll teach you after school. But you don't have to pay for my lunch, it's okay."

I shake my head and shrug. "Technically, Happy's paying, so it's okay! I've got it covered!"

Peter laughs once more and we pay for our food before I follow him to his usual lunch table. Ned is already there, waiting for us. "Hey, guys!" He smiles at us, waving.

Peter sits next to him and I sit across from both of them. "Hi." I say back to Ned.

Peter still looks shaken up about the whole Andrew Cuffman, the high functioning sociopath being our AP Calculus teacher that killed his previous teacher, thing. And Ned notices right away that something was off. "You alright, Peter?"

Peter glances up at him. "Did you hear about Mrs. Garrett?"

Ned furrows his eyebrows, obviously unaware. "No, I have her next period. Why? What happened to her?"

Peter presses his lips into a thin line, looking back at me. "She had some sort of accident." I inform Ned. "She passed away."

Peter looks down at his food but doesn't touch it. "Holy crap..." Ned looks shocked as well, shaking his head. "What the hell, she's dead?"

Peter glances up at his friend and nods. I think the worst part about all of this is that her killer was sitting right in front of us and only Peter and I knew it. "Okay, let's change the subject to something less depressing?" I suggest and Ned nods vigorously, while Peter just gives me a slight nod.

"How do you like our school, Reece?" Ned asks me and I thank him silently for coming up with the next subject.