Pointe Shoes and Spider Webs

50. Spider-Kiss

It's Monday. Daphne scrolls through her phone during lunch break, waiting for Peter. She's sitting by herself at a table, her feet are tapping the ground rhythmically. Bored, she decides to check out the group chat of her old class, which she had muted.

Daphne frowns as the words pass by. Her thumb flicks over the screen at a fast pace, trying to catch up. She purses her lips in anger. Unbelievable. She gets her to her feet and scans the cafeteria for the blonde who's always involved with everything. She must be able to help. Daphne rushes to the other side of the room when she spots her.

"Betty?"
"Oh! Hi, Daphne?" She smiles kindly, turning just her head to Daphne. "What's up?"
"I, uh... Have a bit of a weird request." Daphne's eyebrows curl up into a frown.
"Oh?" Betty turns her way completely now and puts her hands on her hips. "What weird request do you have?"
"So... my old school has a few-ehh... Legal issues." Betty frowns, but leans forward. There's a curious gleam in her eyes. "Money stuff..."
"Go on...?"
"My old class is not allowed to go to the Halloween party."
"Um, yikes, that's kinda mean."
"Yeah, that's what I thought," Daphne says as she glances at her phone.

Daphne takes a breath, gathering courage to ask her question.
"Do you think the Midtown Tech party can handle a couple more guests?" Betty's eyebrows shoot all the way up to her hairline. She starts shaking her head and Daphne takes a step towards her. "It's not fair. The principal is taking out his frustrations on them." Daphne brings her hands together to plead. "Please, please, please, consider!" Betty looks off to the side and bites the inside of her cheek. Her eyes squeeze into tiny slits as she thinks.

"I can't just go up to the board and ask them to invite students from a rivaling school," she starts. Daphne stays quiet, hoping she continues her train of thought. Thankfully, she does. "But if we can get something from the students who are invited..."
"Live music?" Daphne tries. Betty was aiming for Daphne to say that, because a large, knowing grin spreads on her face.
"Do your classmates know how to throw a party?" Betty cocks an eyebrow and now it's Daphne's turn to grin. She remembers all the previous parties the school hosted and all of them were memorable for their own reasons. All thanks to her class.

Daphne nods. One corner of her mouth curls up.
"Definitely."
"Alright, you ask your classmates if they're up for it and then I'll throw in my charm with the board." Daphne shrieks with joy and hugs Betty tightly. She didn't expect the sudden physical attention, but laughs and hugs Daphne back.
"Thank you, thank you, thank youuu!"

...

"Come on, Pete, be quiet!" Daphne whispers loudly as they stand among the boxes of costumes in the dance school's storage. Their hunt for an original Halloween outfit led them here and Peter accidentally bumped into a miscellaneous prop box. It's not really spacious in the storage room. The walking space can't be more than 2,5 feet wide and custom wooden shelving has been built in to accommodate all the boxes. There's a system to the room, but it's difficult to move around in it.

The school sure has a lot of stuff. Peter's not focusing. His attention constantly shifts from one prop to the other. It all looks so cool and Peter's like a puppy, in awe of all the things around him that he's never seen before. It's frustrating to Daphne that Peter's not being more careful. More sneaky. She knows he can be. Being Spider-Man, and all. His endless wonder for all the the items and costumes is kind of endearing, though, so she's not mad.

A muffled piano plays in the room next door and the teacher calls out combinations for the students to dance. Daphne and Peter just finished their own class and the next class that's happening now is still at the barre.
"Daph, why are we whispering?" he whispers back loudly. She browses for the right box, scanning all the labels carefully.
"Madame Touha said no one should know about us borrowing these costumes and these walls are thin as fuck," she replies with raised eyebrows.