𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕚 » 𝕡𝕖𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕡𝕒𝕣𝕜𝕖𝕣

FOUR

The first day of school was a lot more bearable than Astrid thought it'd be thanks to her new friends.

She always thought whenever Gwen gushed about her friends that there was no way people that nice existed- especially this day and age.

Yet here they all were getting along and laughing as if they had known each other their whole lives.

"Seriously though, with these two there's never a dull moment in life," Gwen smiled fondly towards the twins.

"Mostly me though," Harry smirked, "My sister can be a bit of a prude from time to time."

"Shut up," Astrid rolled her eyes, shoving Harry before looking at Gwen, "Where's Liz and Betty by the way?"

Ned chuckled, "As if Liz Allan or Betty Brant would ever sit with us."

"Even I hesitate to sit with them," Michelle joked, finally opening her book for the first time since lunch started.

Before Harry could even start to interrupt Michelle again, Gwen was quick to speak up, "So Harry, have you and Peter become besties yet?"

"Why would Peter and I become besties?" Harry snickered at Gwen's attempts to distract him.

"Because Peter and Astrid have gotten very close."

Astrid groaned almost immediately, "Why must you always drag me in the middle of everything?"

"Because just like how Harry's your weakness- it works vise-versa."

Harry ignored this as he now switched seats and sat across Peter.

"Peter... Parker, right?"

Peter nodded nervously, hating that Gwen put him in this position.

"That last name, it sounds familiar. Did your father work with ours by any chance?"

Peter slowly nodded, "My dad was Richard Parker."

"Was?"

"He and my mom... died."

"Ah," Harry sighed, "I'm sorry man. But hey- welcome to the dead parents club."

"Not sure that's a club he'd like to be a part of Harry," Astrid sighed, beginning to pick at her food.

"I don't think anyone would like to be a part of that club," Peter mumbled.

"Okay, fine. We'll ditch the club. Tell me something about yourself, Parker."

Peter didn't know where to begin and he was hoping someone would save him but Michelle already clocked out of the conversation and Ned refused to make any eye contact.

Before Astrid could make any moves, Gwen stood up, "Cmon, let's talk to Liz and Betty for a bit."

Gwen quickly whisked her away, making Astrid sigh, "Why are we doing this?"

"You like being a part of teams and extracurricular programs, don't you? Well, Liz is the captain of the Academic Decathlon and Betty is a school news anchor who is good friends with the cheerleading captain and-"

"I don't know if I'm up for any extracurricular stuff this year, G."

"Why the hell not?" Gwen frowned, immediately stopping them.

Seeing that look on her face was all Gwen needed to know what was up, "Cmon. Don't listen to Harry or even your dad- you are not the reason she's dead."

"Aren't I? She got weak because she gave birth to twins. Ma-Maybe if she just had Harry-"

"Okay, no. There is no Harry without Astrid. How could you even think like that?"

"I just know if she was still alive, everything would've been better. Dad and Harry would have her and maybe they'd be closer even and-"

"Astrid! Gwen!" Liz called out happily as she went up to them, "I'm so glad I caught you! Listen, Astrid, Gwen told me all about your previous teams and honor roll positions and I already spoke to Mr. Harrington about it and- we'd love to have you on our team!"

Astrid faked her best smile, "I didn't know Gwen would be telling you all of this... didn't realize this was High School Musical Sharpay Evans."

"Hey! Sharpay was the best!" Gwen protested, "So I'm actually okay with that reference."

Liz chuckled at their banter, "Well, I just have to introduce you to Mr. Harrington and the rest of the team but- you know what? Actually, we're having a meeting today after school so if you want to come along..."

"She'll be there!" Gwen quickly answered for her, earning a glare from Astrid.

"Great! Oh, and if you're ready Betty is all set to introduce you to the cheer captain."

Liz ran off and before Gwen could do the same, Astrid stopped her, "What are you doing? Do you plan on making me exhausted all through high school with all these programs?"

"As if you haven't done more," Gwen scoffed, grabbing a hold of her shoulders, "Cmon, Astrid. This is high school we're talking about. If we want to get into the big leagues together, we have to both work super hard- starting now."

Seeing how hesitant Astrid was being, Gwen pouted, "If not for you and not for me then for Oxford- for Oxford Gwen and Astrid."

"Fine," Astrid rolled her eyes, finally having enough of Gwen's antics.

Gwen cheered happily as she dragged Astrid away by the hand to join the other girls.

Meanwhile, Peter found himself finally relaxed as he spoke to Harry.

Contrary to what he initially thought, Harry was actually a cool guy he got along with almost immediately.

The pair didn't even realize that lunch had ended until Astrid and Michelle came up to them.

"Am I still showing you around?" Michelle asked unenthusiastically.

Harry chuckled, shaking his head, "I think Pete here is going to show me around. You have Astrid though."

"Fun," Michelle sighed, "Well, cmon, I don't like to be late."

Astrid mouthed 'help' to Peter who only laughed as he watched her chase after Michelle.

Harry noticed this small exchange as he and Peter began to walk out themselves now, "I hope you know now that we're buddies- Astrid is completely off limits."

"What?" Peter asked, caught off guard.

"I mean I get the whole 'I'm not property, you can't tell anyone who's allowed to be with me' and all that and while I do believe in women empowerment, I also believe in the bro code and the bro code clearly states: sisters are off limits."

"Um..."

"Great! Glad you understand! Now let's get going."

Peter didn't know what to say or even feel at the moment but he knew one thing for sure, the Osborns were definitely going to make his Freshman year at Midtown high an interesting time.

written: September 24, 2018
posted: October 23, 2018

*** I was going to start updating Tuesdays and Thursdays but I have hit a funk in this series (of course) so Tuesdays only it is