Observations

Harry

MJ really was the ultimate wing woman. Betty Brant and Ned Leeds were officially Midtown's newest couple. Flash and Seymour still had a ways to go, since Flash's father didn't know he was bisexual. But Michelle had an inkling that they would work out. So MJ was a secret romantic. No one needed to know.

Betty becoming Ned's girlfriend really changed the dynamic of their group. Betty now ate lunch with them and effortlessly integrated herself in their group. Michelle didn't know how she much she missed having another female presence. now she had someone to roll her yes with whenever peter and Ned went on one of their tangents. Betty began sitting next to Ned so MJ moved to the other side of the table, Peter to her right.

When Betty began sitting with them, slowly but surely, their table began filling up. First it was Cindy. With Cindy came Abe, Sally and Charles following suit. Seymour joined their table, even though he wasn't even on AcaDec, being one of Betty's best friends. Flash would occasionally sit next to him, when he wasn't sitting with his jerk friends. Soon enough it became the official AcaDec table.

Peter found it remarklable how his small group of just Ned and him had grown. first into a trio, the three musketeers 9don't tell MJ he said that) and now the hwole AcaDec team. it made him feel better when he had to ditch, knowing that Ned and MJ had more people around, so they wouldn't have to be alone.

Everything was going great. Until it wasn't.

Cue Harry Osborn, newly moved to New York for behavioral issues, he was the classic bad boy. The girls would swoon over his brown hair and dimples. Not to mention, he was also the son of Norman Osborn. Yes, THE Norman Osborn. The CEO and owner of Oscorp. So no only was Harry incredibly attractive, he was loaded too. Which again, gained him a lot of female attention.

When he joined AcaDec, Peter was initially confused. He couldn't see how MJ would agree to letting this John Travolta wannabe into AcaDec.

"I didn't have a say in it, " MJ shrugged during homeroom. "Mr. Harrington just said 'here's our newest member, do what you must.' As captain, I gotta do my job."

Since nationals was creeping up, MJ had been taking her role as captain more seriously than ever. She had started ditching movie nights and studying during lunch in the library to be prepared for practices and taking advantage of every member's skills. it had been almost two weeks since Peter been able to talk to Michelle. So when he saw her at their usual table, talking to Betty, he was inexplicably happy to see her.

They grabbed their food and began walking to their seats, Peter left of MJ and Ned in front of him. Before he could be seated, however, Harry appeared out of nowhere and sat beside Michelle. Peter stopped in his tracks. The entire table looked at him expectantly, wondering what he was going to do. Peter looked at MJ who merely shrugged and sat his tray next to Ned.

"So who's excited for nationals?" Ned asked, trying to diffuse the tension.

"Not me," MJ mumbled.

"You're literally the captain," Ned said.

"Remember what happened last year?" MJ quirked her brow.

"That was a one time thing."

"I'm with Michelle," Betty said. "I'm still a little shaken about going back."

MJ smirked triumphantly at Ned, who just rolled his eyes. The rest of the table began having a conversation about the other teams that would be competing. Peter took a moment to step back and observe his friends. Ned and Harry were deep in a conversation about the black hole picture that had been taken, crumbs falling out of Ned's mouth between bites of his sub. he noticed how Abe kept looking at Cindy out of the corner of his eyes. when she caught him, a faint blush appeared on both of their cheeks.

Briefly, Peter wondered if this is how Michelle felt all the time. she said she was observant, and peter had caught her staring at people and drawing them in her sketch book. did she always notice the little things like how Cindy and Abe are crushing on each other, Harry's left eye was smaller than his right, or how MJ was engrossed into her latest book, her hair falling out of it's curly bun and falling on her face. He knew it was  a good read by the way her finger curled around the pages. It was one of her tells.

"So Michelle..." Peter snapped up to hear Harry nervously address MJ.

"MJ is fine," she said with a small smile.

Harry's nervousness slowly faded as his smile got wider. "MJ, do you have a partner for the history project Mrs. Kats assigned yesterday?"

MJ shrugged. "I hadn't thought about it."

"Wanna be my partner?"

"Um.." MJ looks up at him confused, assessing him like she thinks he has a secret. She turns to peter who's mouth is gaping. She looks at him expectantly again, with the same face as before, asking him, daring him to say something.

Peter had figured that they might do the project together since Ned had already paired up with Betty. But as everyone looked at him, including MJ and Harry, he couldn't find the words and his voice got caught in his throat. He didn't say anything, opting instead to look at the ground.

He risked a look up and caught the flash of disappointment in her eyes. It was brief, but it was there. Or was he just imagining it?

MJ's face returned to it's usual indifference. "Sure. Why not?"

The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. Peter sped out of the cafeteria to avoid Ned. He had been giving him questioning looks at lunch and Peter wasn't sure he was ready for whatever questions he had for him.

"Dude." Too late. "What the heck happened at lunch today?"

"I don't know what you're talking about.'

"Peter, you know exactly what I'm talking about." Peter really wished Ned would drop it. "Weren't you and MJ going to partner up? Who are you going to partner with now?"

"I don't know. Flash?"

"Really? Flash?"

"Yeah," Peter shrugged. "He's not that bad."

"Sure he's not. Look, I can talk to Betty and.."

"No, Ned, you don't need to do that," Peter said. "She's your girlfriend. I totally get it if you want to be partners."

"It's not just that," Ned admitted honestly. "These past couple of weeks you've been acting strange."

"No I haven't."

"Yes, you have," Ned insisted. "At first it didn't seem like much, but I've noticed things. Like the incident in Mr. Harrison's class and just now at lunch."

"Ned, it's nothing."

"It's not nothing. You keep brushing it off like it is, but it's not."

"Trust me, it's nothing. If it was I'd t-"

"You'd what? You'd tell me?" Ned interrupted. "That's funny, because whenever I've tried to talk to you, you just ignore it."

"Look can we not talk about this right now?" Peter snapped.

Ned looked at Peter in disbelief. The warning bell rang. He tightened his grip on his backpack and began walking away. "Dude, I don't know what's going on with you. No, wait. I know exactly what's up with you. What I can't seem to figure out is why you don't want to talk about it with me, your best friend."

Peter shut his locker. "Ned, wait."

"Text me when I'm your best friend again."