The Bite of the Spider: Spider-Man

Chapter 9

When (Y/n) got to school on that Monday, she headed over to Gwen's locker to wait for her, just like she did every day. Usually, Gwen would arrive five minutes after she did, but when (Y/n) looked around, she saw no sign of her friend. Ten minutes had passed, and she was starting to get worried. Pulling her phone out of her pocket, she opened her messages and texted Gwen.

(Y/n): Hey, where are you?

Putting her phone aside for a minute, she sighed, still looking back around to see if Gwen was coming down the hall, but she didn't see the familiar blonde hair. Instead, she locked eyes with Peter, who paused for a moment when they did. Looking down and away from him, (Y/n) cleared her throat a little, trying to remember what she was doing before. When her phone buzzed in her hand, she looked down, and groaned when she saw Gwen's response.

Gwen: Can't come in. Sick. Like, super sick. Can hardly look at phone or move.

(Y/n): Oh, I'm sorry! I hope you feel better soon!

Gwen: Thanks. I'm going to sleep now.

(Y/n): Want me to bring you anything after school?

Gwen: Homework, please.

(Y/n): You got it. Get lots of rest. I'll see you after school.

(Y/n) put her phone back in her pocket and sighed, her eyes glancing once more to the brown haired boy she so desperately despised. She saw him turn his head back to his locker when their eyes met, and groaned at the thought of having to deal with Peter without Gwen there to mediate their battles. Taking a breath, she walked over to her locker and opened it, Peter looking at her from his side.

"Where's Gwen today?" he asked her, looking from the floor to her (e/c) eyes.

(Y/n) bit her lip to stop a snarky remark coming out of her mouth, remembering their agreement, and turned with a fake smile at him. "Out sick." she answered shortly, grabbing her math book.

"Gwen? Sick?" Peter repeated, a little shocked at the fact. Gwen never got sick. She basically made it her ultimate goal to not get sick and miss anything from school. Peter had always said she was smart enough to quickly catch up, but she never wanted to take any chances.

"Yeah. That's what I said." (Y/n) nodded her head, and Peter could see that she was trying to maintain at least of content demeanor as he spoke to her. Peter just really wanted to get to know her as Peter Parker, not as Spider-Man anymore. Sure, he'd still visit, he couldn't take that away from either of them, but he wanted to show her as Peter that he wasn't a bad person. They just met under wrong circumstances, and their abysmal relationship had taken off from that.

"Wow. Gwen always went on and on about how she would never miss a day of school." Peter said with a slight chuckle, and he glanced her way to see a tiny, almost invisible, smile creeping up onto her face. He would take that as a win. He got her to smile, even if it was the tiniest smile he had ever seen. "Hey, uh, are you gonna come over tomorrow so we can finish the project? We only have to finish the presentation and then we're done."

She bit her lip as she thought, before letting it go and saying, "I suppose so. But that is the last time. We are getting everything done tomorrow, got it?" As she spoke, she pointed her finger at him sternly, like a mother scolding her child.

"Yeah. Yeah, got it." Peter nodded, fully facing her to show her that he meant it. (Y/n) noticed this little change in his stance, and it threw her off slightly, and she shifted on her feet before hugging her book close to her chest.

"Great." she spoke quickly, before closing her locker with furrowed eyebrows as she turned to head to their first class. On her way, she muttered to herself, "What the hell was that?"