Trapped in the Shadows

Chapter 14 - Confessing Embarrassment

"So, you wanna tell me why you were acting so strangely at dinner last night?" I interrogated Peter as we walked down the hallway from physics, our fingers intertwined.

"Like I told you on patrol, I have no idea what you're talking about," he lied, making me roll my eyes.

"Then why don't you tell me why my dad asked you over? Not that it wasn't a wonderful surprise to spend more time with you and I'm happy that my dad really seems to like you, but it just seemed very out of the blue."

He diverted his gaze as he responded, "h-he actually had me over before dinner and asked if I would stay. Yeah, he told me that, um, he was thinking about making some upgrades."

"You know, if you want to continue trying to lie to the woman who grew up around Natasha Romanoff, then you should learn how to do it better. Seriously, what is going on? I hate all of this secrecy!"

He leaned towards me and lowered his voice to a whisper, "look, y-you can't ask me more about it, it's supposed to be a surprise, ok? I don't want to ruin it for you."

I sighed, "fine, you and my dad can have your own little secrets. But I still don't think that explains your awkward behavior. You didn't accidentally bring up our love life, did you?"

"No, but I would rather not tell you what happened."

"Oh come on, Parker! What did you say?"

"I don't want to tell you, you'll never stop teasing me about it."

"I promise I won't make fun of you, now spill."

"Oh look, we're at class now, guess we can't talk anymore." Peter grabbed the door to Mr. Caldwell's room and held it open for me.

I crossed my arms and stood my ground, "I'm not going in there until you tell me."

He waited a minute, as though testing to see if I would actually refuse to go in, before giving up. "Alright, fine. But you can't tell anyone or bring it up to him, understand?"

"Of course," I replied, the wait only making me more curious as to what had happened.

"On my way out of the lab, I may have accidentally called him dad," Peter confessed in a hushed tone, his cheeks flushed bright red.

"Wait, you called Tony dad?" I clarified, trying to keep from laughing.

"We were just working together and it just kinda slipped out, I don't know what made me say it. Please don't tell anyone."

"Oh, Pete, it's not me that you should worry about. Tony's never going let you forget about that. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the whole compound knows by the end of the week. Make sure you get him something for Father's day this year, he'll be offended if you don't."

"Very funny, (Y/N)," he replied sarcastically. "Now get to class, I've help up my end of the bargain. You have plenty of time to tease me about this later."

"And that I will," I promised with a smirk as I entered the classroom.

Our final projects of the year were laid on our desks when we walked in and I rushed to my desk to see what I had gotten for a grade. As it was an AP level class, there was no actual final so Mr. Caldwell has decided to give us a final project instead. It wasn't really necessary, but he liked making people work and the threat of a project that was worth twenty-five percent of our grade would certainly make us do that.

I turned my rubric over only to find a large F written across the top. Had it been any other grade I probably would have accepted it without caring too much, but I was not going to let myself fail a project that I had spent so much time on, knowing that the only reason that I had failed was because the teacher didn't like me.

Annoyed, I grabbed my rubric and marched up to Mr. Caldwell's desk. Slamming it down in front of him, I asked, "is this because I aced that stupid test of yours? I didn't fail the test you designed specifically so that I would do badly on on, so you made me fail this instead? What is your problem? Are you really that insecure that you cannot stand when a woman actually shows a shred of intelligence?"

"Miss Stark, I gave you the F because you failed to meet the requirements of the project. While your work was correct and impressive, it was not what I was looking for. This is not some sort of punishment or biased grade as you clearly think. If you would just read the note I left you, it explains-"

"Screw your note," I hissed, not letting him win this argument when the project was worth so much of my grade. "I know that I followed your instructions word by word and if my calculations were correct, then I shouldn't deserve this grade. I know that you hate me, but you are supposed to grade work fairly and without any personal bias."

"And that is what I did. Now, I would suggest that you return to your desk and stop making accusations that you cannot support before I have to give you a detention on your second to last day of school," Mr. Caldwell growled, his eyes flashing with warning.

As much as I wanted to fight his ultimatum, I was interrupted when one of the school's substitute teachers walked in. She informed Mr. Caldwell that Principal Morita wanted to see him and that she would be covering the class while he was gone. Mr. Caldwell issued one final glare at me before leaving the room and I was left with nothing to do except return to my seat.

Little did I know that I wasn't going to be seeing Mr. Caldwell again as by the following day, he had already cleared out his room. The substitute that had covered our class that day became the permanent sub for the rest of the year and my grade for the final project was exempted as the Principal suspected that I was not deserving of it. I wasn't sure what had brought about Mr. Caldwell's termination, but I couldn't say that I was disappointed to see him leave. And it was reassuring to know that it was not me who had caused the Principal to fire him.

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(A/N): Ok so it is official official that Tom will remain as Spider-Man and its rumored that Sony has plans for two films with him but like how are they going to erase he connection with all of the Marvel characters, especially Tony. I'm just hoping that they can still reach a deal with all of the fan uproar, but it may just be wishful thinking but until then I shall cry despite all of the hype we're getting for future Marvel and Star Wars content at D23. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this little chapter!