Rift (Spider-Man fanfic)

Chapter 11: Liz's house

Diana's POV

    "Please! Just leave me alone." I walk away as fast as possible, making sure he doesn't see my face. I put my hood up to avoid being seen by anyone and walk into the bathroom. I wait for a second to see if I can hear anyone else, but thank goodness I'm alone. I pull my hood down and get a good look. The entire right side of my face is red, some of it starting to turn purple. 

    The door squeaks as it opens, and MJ walks into the bathroom. "Oh my god, Diana, what happened?"

    "It's nothing, I just tripped outside."

    "Are you sure? I saw you walk out the doors with Brad." She doesn't believe me.

    "I'm sure, we went outside to walk around together for a few minutes, away from the loud hallways. I fell while we were out there and I came in here to clean up." I don't know why I'm defending Brad. But now there's a constant fear in the back of my head, like he can hear anything I say to anyone. 

    MJ gives me a look, still not believing my story. "At least let me help you cover it up, you don't want to walk around with a giant bruise on your cheek." She starts to pull a small pouch out of her bag before stopping and putting it back. "Do you have your own concealer? I doubt we're the same shade." I laugh and pull out a small bag similar to hers. 

    She starts to help me cover it since she can see it better than me. "This sidewalk really did a number on you."

    "Yeah, it packs a powerful punch." I mean 'punch' more literally than the context suggests. MJ gives me a look of sympathy, obviously knowing what happened. 

   "I know you don't want to talk about it, but can you give me a little more information so I can understand what happened?" She asks. I plan to tell her about how he didn't like that I talk to Peter, or even MJ since she is one of Peter's friends. I was stupid and put up a fight, he doesn't have a right to chose my friends. He got mad.

    Before I can say any of those things, the bell rings, cutting our conversation short. She mostly finished with the makeup, it's a bit shiny since we didn't have time to put the powder on, but it will do. 

    MJ and I walk out of the bathroom, and neither of us say a word when Brad comes up to me and holds my hand like nothing ever happened. We have the same 1st period, so I need to endure another 45 minutes before I can get a break from him. We walk in, and Peter is already there. "Hey Diana!" He says cheerfully, and I put on my fakest smile to pretend he didn't see me crying outside. Peter looks behind me, and I see Brad silently sending me a warning. Don't talk to him, nothing good can come out of it. I look at Peter again, this time with a completely blank expression. 

    I sit down at my desk without another word. This is going to be a long class.

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    The bell rings and everyone starts to head to lunch. I was able to spend some quiet time in the library after some of my classes. Now, I walk excruciatingly slow to the cafeteria to spend as little time sitting down, inevitably with Brad, as possible. As I walk, MJ, Liz, Betty, and Peter walk up to me. "Hey Diana! I've heard so much about you from Peter and MJ, its nice to meet you!" Betty says, then hugs me. 

    "It's nice to meet you too!" I hug back.

    "Not a lot of people know you since you haven't been around much, and I think it would be really great if we got to know you outside of school."

    "Okay?" Where is she going with this?

    "Well, Liz is having a party tonight and I think you should come! I know its short notice, but I haven't seen you around until now. You should totally have Brad come with you! Introduce you as a couple!"