Spideyson: Troubles of High School

(2) Peter's New Friends

The final bell rang & Peter was released from the prison that was his new school, full of the inmates that wanted to be in his gang because of his father. He was locked in the cell-like classes for an hour with them & when he got to lunch, it was like chaos in the yard. Almost every girl was trying to cling onto Peter’s arm, the nerds were trying to be his friend, & the jocks pretended to accept him. 

But honestly, Peter knew what everyone wanted. It turns out, having a superhero as a dad isn’t the best. 

Peter knew if his last name wasn’t Stark, not one kid would look at Peter twice, the popular girls wouldn’t give him the time of the day, & the jocks would treat him lower than everyone else. But that wasn’t the case for Peter because he was a Stark, some would die for the name, but some times Peter wouldn’t mind changing it. 

He walked into the auditorium & saw the decathlon team practicing. There were 4 guys & 4 girls. Peter met Ned, Michelle, Betty, & Flash already. But he never met the other four, he quickly learned their names: Liz, Brad, Cindy, & Jason. 

Liz was the captain of the team, Cindy was the class president, Jason co-hosted the school news with Betty, & Brad was the captain of the basketball team. Rumor has it that Brad only joined Decathlon to get in Michelle’s pants, she was one of the only girls in school that wouldn’t go out with him, but he was having long-lasting relations with Liz since freshman year.  

Peter was analyzing everyone for so long that he didn’t realize that he was just standing in the auditorium, silent, & just watching everyone. 

“Hey! Just Peter”, Michelle yelled out. Peter popped back into reality, noticing that everyone was now staring at him. “You coming or what”? 

Peter opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He tried defending himself as he walked up, but he could & just walked up to the stage awkwardly. 

“Are you any good, Just Peter”, Cindy asked? Peter then realized the nickname was going to stick. 

“I don’t know, but my teachers in my past school always said I was gifted”, Peter said, he walked around the stage with the entire team looking at him questionably. 

Peter heard Flash whisper to Liz. 

“Are we sure about this guy”, Flash whispered. 

“Does it matter, we need a ninth member”, Liz replied. 

“It’s not like he could be any worse than Brad”, Michelle said, she briefly looked up from her book resting on the desk in front of her & to the group. Ned, Betty, Cindy, & Jason struggled not to laugh while the other three looked at Michelle with a look of frustration. “He doesn’t practice, he is holding a C+ average, & everyone knows Brad is still on the team only because you two are sleeping together”. 

Brad & Liz roll their eyes at Michelle & Peter. They turn away & start discussing privately. 

“Thank you”, Peter said as he walked up to Michelle. He sat his bag by the side of the desk & sat down next to her. 

“You’re welcome”, Michelle said, she closed her book & looked up to Peter. “I mean, someone has got to stand up for you, especially if you don’t do it for yourself”.