Adventures in Babysitting ↠ Peter Parker [1] ✓

06 | Best Friend

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ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING
vi. BEST FRIEND

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   STUDIES HAVE PROVEN THAT nature holds therapeutic capabilities designed to make the human body, mind, and soul more felicitous, healthier. Whenever you spend even 10 minutes outside, your morale boosts staggeringly and you're overall left feeling much better than when you spend an excessive amount of time indoors. Or, at least, that was what Principal Morita was convinced of.

   However, for the campers at Camp Mirkhaven, they were left feeling sleepy and uncomfortably sweaty.

   Personally, Riley Stark couldn't tell if she was feeling troubled from the ant bites on her ankles or the dread building in her gut. All she could think about was how she promised herself that today, July 23rd, she was going to confess her stupid feelings to Peter Parker.

   It was daunting planning out the encounter in her head. She kept trying to predict every anticipated sentence like it would help her whatsoever. She'd been hoping it would come to her in a dream, but she was left unlucky. Riley had even thought about acting spontaneously, but thinking about talking to Peter constantly seemed to rule out any and all impulsivity.

   And so, Riley trudged through the dirt that morning with the weight of one thousand thoughts dragging her down. The sun leisurely warmed up the world, supplanting the previously cool climate. She and the campers were returning from a long morning jaunt through nature.

  She had also been hoping that her walk through the forest would clear her mind, but it did the exact opposite. All she could focus on were her nerves.

   Folding her arms over her chest, Riley attempted to tune out the sound of Warren's obnoxiously loud whistling. He had been leading the teenagers back to the campgrounds after talking their ear off about nature with Principal Morita. If Riley was being honest, all she wanted to do was make him shut up. His whistling was making her even more uneasy if that was even possible.

   "I can't do this," finally proclaimed Riley Stark. MJ was right by her side, one headphone in her ear. The two had been inseparable since camp started. "I can't tell him."

   "Wh—Riley!" hissed MJ. She squinted as the sun glistened against her eyes, coloring them gold. "Yes, you can. You're Riley Stark."

   "No," interposed Riley with a lowered voice, "I'm a nervous mess."

   "You've fought aliens, you know."

   "Yeah, but I wasn't exactly pining after them for, like, a year!" argued Riley. She puffed out her cheeks. "What if this ruins our friendship? Then what? It's not like I can avoid him. Dad loves him." She paused, remembering MJ didn't know Peter was Spider-Man. "You know, from the Stark Internship."