Children of Queens: The Story of Peter and Evelyn Parker

Academic Decommitment

3 Months Later...

Evelyn watched the city speed by outside the train. She sighed, already dreading the day of school ahead of them. The train stopped and she shot her hand out to catch on to the handholds, leaning forwards as it swung around. The only person who didn't move was Peter, despite using both hands to type on his phone.

"Who are you messaging?" Evie asked softly.

Peter hardly glanced up. "Happy."

"He isn't going to respond, you know."

Peter shrugged and sent the message anyway, scrolling through the other hundreds of unseen messages he had sent. Peter seemed convinced that if he spammed the phone enough, Happy would respond. Evie was certain he had block their numbers. That didn't stop her from pestering the man himself, though.

The train stopped again and they hopped off, walking in comfortable silence across the schoolyard. Flash attempted to run them over on his new car, honking his horn and sneering as they walked past. "What are you, blind, four-eyes!?" he shouted as he whizzed past.

"At least I can see people when they walk in front of me, unlike you!" Evie shot back, muttering under her breath. Peter simply watched the sleek car as it turned into the parking lot. They only had one car, and it was old.

The hallways were a crowded mess of students and teachers, sounds and chatter bouncing off the walls and lockers. The school news broadcast was playing, with Jason and Betty holding an awkward conversation about the upcoming Homecoming dance. The twins moved in sync to their lockers, putting in their books. Something popped up on Peter's shoulder and a bad imitation of Emperor Palpatine echoed in his ear.

"Come join me and together we'll build my new Lego Death Star."

"What!?" Peter whirled around to face Ned, trying to block out the mean whispers of people nearby. "No way. How many pieces!?"

"3803."

"That's a lot," Evie said from where she was reading.

"Yeah," Ned chuckled, smiling slightly. "We can build it tonight. D'you wanna join us?" He asked, almost shyly.

Evie smiled. "I'd love to, but we've got the internship."

Ned nodded slowly. "Right. You guys always have that internship."

The twins nodded, feeling slightly guilty that they hadn't been spending as much time with Ned. Peter shrugged, swinging his bag onto his back. "Yeah, well, hopefully it'll lead to real job with them."

"That would be so sweet," Ned breathed, his eyes far away as he dreamed of an internship with the Avengers. "He'd be all "Good job on those spreadsheets, Peter. Here's a gold coin." He paused as Evie raised an eyebrow. "I don't know how jobs work."

"That's exactly how they work," Evie said. Someone called her name and she looked up. "Hey, guys, I'll catch you later in Physics. Bye!"

"Who's over there?" Peter called after her as she jogged away.

"Someone who needs advice on life," she called over her shoulder.

Peter blinked as he watched her walk down the hall with another student. "People go to her for advice?"

"Yeah, it's pretty common. She's like the grade's therapist," Ned replied. "So I was thinking I'll knock out the basic bones of the Death Star at my place. And then-"

Peter fell in step with Ned, trying to listen to what he was saying. He was distracted, however, when a girl walked across the hall in front of them. Soft, deep locks framed her elegant face, the tan hue glowing in the light. Her full lips parted in a gentle smile as she noticed Peter, giving him a small wave as she continued past.