I Can't Make You Love Me || Peter Parker x OC

Chapter 6: Business Arrangement

Our plates were cleaned within the next few minutes, and a second batch was made and polished off within the remaining 20 minutes that were left before the clock struck 9 A.M. Peter, being the gentleman that he was, offered to wash up the dishes that we had used. I felt bad about him doing all the work while in my apartment, but he seemed to be oddly determined, and I found myself unable to resist the pleading edge that his childlike eyes took.

Now, as I sat on the counter a few feet away from the sink that Peter was working at, I was able to get a good look at him. The sleeves of his sweatshirt that were currently pushed up to his elbows and still speckled with pancake batter, were a deep navy color like the rest of his sweatshirt. A dusty gold block-font spelled out the words 'Academic Decathlon National Championships 2017: Midtown High; Queens, NY' across the front of his chest.

"Midtown High, that's not far from here, is it?"

I couldn't help but ask a little farther. I grew up in the Hillcrest, and Midtown High, just like pretty much every other building within a 3-mile radius of the freaking skyscraper that was my childhood home, was visible from one of the windows in the penthouse.

"Huh?" Peter looked confused for a second before he glanced down and realized what sweatshirt he was wearing. "Oh! No, I don't think it's too far. Then again, nothing really is, is it? What about you; what school did you go to?"

"The Thomas Edison Technology Center. On paper, I went to Jamaica High, but my parents had me transfered over and got me a private teacher to do all my classwork there instead. Something stupid about not wanting me to be around 'the wrong types'. I dunno. I always thought it was stupid, but it's not like I could really do anything about it."

I always thought that my schooling, for as effective as it was, was redundant and was almost worse than me actually going to a public school. If I had to take a guess, they thought that they were doing the right thing, spending extra money on me meant that they were doing the right thing in their opinion, but they usually never though much else of it. Yes, my teacher was a wonderful person and taught me very well, but that also meant that I had very little interaction with people my age, only seeing college students occasionally in the halls. Even then, the few minutes it took me to get to my private room in the mornings and afternoons weren't all that long to hold any sort of conversation.

"Dang! I've heard that the Tech College is really good. Midtown is one of those science-oriented schools, and Edison is one of the main ones that the seniors try to test into. I had my eyes set on it when I first started out at Midtown, but then the whole Spider-Man thing happened. I just can't see myself going to college all day and then having to deal with doing everything that I have to do with the Avengers. It just seems like a lot to handle, you know?"

I knew exactly what he meant. Mind you, I had never had any responsibilities quite to the extent of Peter and his double-life of saving the city, but I felt that, at least on some level, I could relate. Or at the very least, sympathize with the stress that he must be feeling with all of this.

"Yeah, I do. But I also feel like you shouldn't just give up on your dreams like that. Not that I know exactly what you want with youi life, and if I had to guess, you don't either, but you shouldn't just throw away everything that you've worked so hard for." I shot him an encouraging smile, one that he returned back to me.

"Thanks, Anneleisa. I promise I didn't mean to turn this into a therapy-type life lesson. But I do think you're right on the whole not giving up thing. I just don't know what else I would want to pursue. I got my powers a little under a year ago, and before that I had wanted to get into a good college and all that jazz, but now all I can really see myself doing is working with Mr. Stark like I am now. Fighting with the Avengers is an amazing opportunity, don't get me wrong, but It's not exactly the most stable job in the world. 18 is probably far too young to be thinking this far ahead in the future, but you can't support and be an active part of a family if your way of life is wearing spandex and putting yourself at risk of death on a daily basis."