the fire inside : spider-man

TWELVE

TWELVE
hallways of sadness
(mentions of sexual assault, read with caution please)

"Okay, What the fuck?"

—

Teresa stirred the young girl awake, insisting she get ready for school and manage to eat something without being late. Gia shuffled towards her bathroom, preparing herself for the day and later sat down in the kitchen. Teresa left her a piece of toast with a small bin on butter, Gia quickly fixed herself food before rushing out the door. The girl never managed to make it to her movie, she hadn't spoken to Peter Parker since that Saturday afternoon and it was now Monday. She felt relieved, her friends knew who Gia was and it lifted the weight off of her shoulders. The bus came on time, she boarded and remained silent. She admired the cars around her, the unusual yet normal people on the bus, the sun peaking between buildings, her little New York. Gia reminded herself of Tony's offer, feeling only a bit of regret and a majority of confidence. She only considered changing her mind once, the thought was quickly dismissed once she stepped outside of her window and sat on her fire escape. The streets of Queens captivated her once again, not that there was much, but she was home.

Gia looked beside her to the woman she sat with every morning, she noticed the quiet woman holding up her newspaper as she always did. Gia raised an eyebrow at the word, 'Spider-Man' sprawled out on the front cover. She bit her lip, poking the woman and asking for the front page. Gia studied the crisp page carefully, reading every word.

'Spider-Man saves New York from Vulture!'
'On Friday night, a Stark plane was shot down and hijacked by Vulture or Adrian Toomes, former owner of Bestman Salvage. Spider-Man managed to take down Vulture and save the contents onboard of the aircraft.'

She set down the Daily Bugle issue and handed it back to the sweet woman beside her. Gia gathered her backpack and climbed off of the bus, rushing towards the school. Gia wasn't upset that she wasn't mentioned, or at least Blaze wasn't. It wasn't her fight, one day it would be, and she'd be the one saving her New York from the bad guy. Gia sped up, not wanting to feel MJ's wrath this early in the morning. She noticed a few groups whispering to themselves, sad and shocked looks on their faces. Thankfully, the whispering and looks were not directed at Gia, if they were she'd be halfway across the country. Gia pushed open the schools double doors, making her way to Ned's locker. She spotted her three friends together, talking.

"Morning," She hummed as she stood in between Ned and Peter. Gia could feel eyes on her as she dug through her backpack, "You know I can feel you guys staring. Literally, I heat up a little bit." She rolled her eyes and pulled out her headphones from her bag.

"Right," MJ chuckled. "Like we were saying, the movie was really good. I mean, you wouldn't know, Gia. Would you?" MJ smirked, Gia raised her middle finger in annoyance receiving laughs. "Why so quiet, Parker?" MJ asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I-Uh, I'm not." Peter mumbled, looking up from the ground and smiling weakly at Gia.

"What are you hiding, Peter?" MJ walked closer to the boy. Peter quickly tensed up, looking between Ned and Gia in confusion. "Just kidding," She laughed and shoved the boy gently, Peter laughed awkwardly, taking his place beside Gia once again.

The whispering throughout the hallways could be heard once again, all heads turned towards the higher point of the school that led to the classrooms. Liz Allan walked beside a woman who seemed to be her mother, she carried a box and a glum look lingered on her face. Gia glanced at Peter who only had guilt in his eyes, he frowned at Liz with a half hearted smile, he felt pity.