Hush Little Baby (Discontinued)

Ch. 26

In the back of the room, Harley Keener was glancing through a textbook, looking up every now and then to answer questions from none other than Flash Thompson.

"What? Oh..." Ned followed the direction of Peter's gaze, shoulders slumping. "Crap."

The two made their way to adjoining seats, dropping backpacks under the seats, and sitting.

It only took a few minutes for Harley to notice him, then the teen gave him a quick smile and wave.

Peter copied the movement halfheartedly, noticing Flash turning to glare.

Crap.

"You know him?"

Harley nodded. "Yeah. We work together."

"Oh?"

"Yeah." Harley smiled stiffly.

Peter slumped in his seat.

This is getting worse by the minute.

"Just so you know, there's sort of a social order around here..." Flash leaned forward confidently. "And Parker's at the bottom of it. So you might not want to hang around the wrong sort of people. Just saying."

Suddenly Harley lost all traces of friendliness, smile falling, and face hardening. "I think I can tell the wrong sort of people for myself. Thanks."

With a practiced movement, the teen stood, grabbed his backpack, and  slid into a seat behind Peter and Ned.

"He's who you were talking about, right? The guy giving you crap about the internship?"

With a heavy sigh, Peter turned to face Harley. "Yeah. You probably just made him your enemy for life."

"I don't care." Harley lifted a shoulder. "I lived on a farm, so I've dealt with plenty of cows with an overinflated sense of importance. This isn't any different."

He kept his voice low, so no one else could hear, but they still turned to look at Peter's choked out laugh.

"Dude." He dropped his head on his arms. "MJ's gonna like you."

"Don't know who that is, but okay."

Spoiler alert, she did.

Sure enough, as soon as Michelle heard about it, she gave Harley a high five, then returned to reading her book.

In MJ speak, that was pretty much a declaration of eternal love.

Or friendship, at least.

Whatever.

Harley joined them for lunch, fitting in with ease, Peter noticed, which was weird.

He joked with Ned and MJ as if he'd known them for years, and included Peter, asking questions, and teasing him to no end.

By the end of the lunch period, the bad mood was gone, and the four walked to their next class together.

Only for Harley to trip, books hitting the floor with muted thuds.

Luckily, he had caught hold of the locker as he fell, and so wasn't flat on the floor.

The culprit, of course, was Flash.

It was a sight to see, though, because Harley looked positively enraged as he turned on the bully. "You touch me again and I'll wipe the floor with your face, and that's a promise."

"Oh boo-hoo," Flash mocked. "I'm so scared!"

"You know what?" Harley straightened, contempt clear on his face. "You're not worth it."

As he turned to walk away, Flash grabbed his shoulder to stop him, which, as anyone could have told him, was a bad idea.

Capital B and I.

The next moment happened almost in slow motion, Harley spinning, twisting his arm around to pin Flash's own, and hand slamming into his shoulderblade.

This sequence of movement ended with Flash on the floor, and Harley holding him down easily. "Dude. You don't know when to stop, do you?"

He bent down to whisper in Flash's ear. "You ever try anything like this again, and I'll give you a lot worse than a sore arm."

The instant he let go, Flash clawed himself to his feet, sputtering with anger, his entire face red. "My father will hear about this!"

"Oh..." Harley's grin was icy. "I'm counting on it."

Not a sound was heard as Flash disappeared around the corridor, and then Ned clapped his hands down on Harley's shoulders. "You. Are. Freaking. Awesome."

"Yeah," Peter added. "Nice. Tony didn't put you up to it, did he?"

"Nah." The other teen smiled slightly. "I was just sick of him."

"Yeah. Me too."