a million times over again

ch.8

Summary of the last chapter:
Peter struggles with his spiraling thoughts, he self-harms, and it's worse than he expected. He goes to talk to bucky who immediately picks up on the blood on Peter's sleeve. Bucky helps Peter take care of his wounds and reassures him that everyone cares about him. After that Peter goes to bed. 

I wake up to my alarm blaring in my ear. I check the time, 6:00 am. I roll out of bed and sift through my suitcase to find clothes. I end up with a science pun shirt (a periodic table that says "I wear this shirt periodically"), a pair of jeans, and a black (homemade) Ramones hoodie thrown over it. I grab my converse and double-check my backpack. 

notebooks? check. more pencils than I could ever use? check. pencil sharpener? fuck, this one doesn't work. I dig through my suitcase again and pull out an intact pencil sharpener to replace the old one. black pen? check. red pen? check. 

extra web fluid and spidey suit? I don't need that today, I'll probably come back to stark towers before I go on patrol. I take the extra wed fluid and suit out of my backpack and hide them in the closet. phone charger? yup. extra earbuds? double yup. reading glasses? don't really need them but they're there. ready to go. 

I put my normal earbuds in and hit play on how to save a life (the album) by the fray. of course, the first song it plays is Little house. I sling my bag over my shoulder and grab my watch from the nightstand. I check the time again as I leave my room. 6:45. 

I go into the bathroom and try my best to tame my bedhead. why did I decide to grow my hair out, I thought I'd look like Steve Harrington from stranger things but I look more like Joe Locke with less cute curls and more awkward curls. I get it to something that looks decent and walk down the hall towards the elevator.

"Woah! cool it speedster, what's the rush?" Mr.stark says, stopping me in the hallway. "school?" I say, confused. "school doesn't start until like 8:00, it's barely 7:00." he says. "I like to be there early, plus I don't know how long the subway ride will be backward. I know the route, obviously, but I don't usually time it," I explain. "I could have happy drive you" Mr.stark offers. "no thanks, I think this early in the morning the subway would be faster," I say. 

"Okay, just be careful kiddo." he says. "oh wait, stay right there, I'll be right back," he says, running off towards the kitchen and coming back with a small brown paper bag. "there's some fruit in there so you don't have to eat school breakfast, and $20 so you can walk to a sub shop or something for lunch," he says, turning me around by the shoulders and putting the bag in my backpack. "what? oh, thank you." I say, confused. what just happened? 

"I gotta go, bye Mr.stark!" I say, rushing into the elevator and out of the building. I reach the train just in time to catch the car. a woman in 50's style office attire holds the door so I can get in. "thank you!" I say, hopping into the subway car. funny enough when I get on the train my earbuds play in over my head (cable car) by the fray. good timing. I check the time as soon as the car starts moving. 7:09. 

when I leave the subway station near the school I check the time again. 7:24. from the subway station it's only a 3-minute walk to the high school. I go to Mr. Lenington's room and sit at the desk right in front of him. "hey peter, missed you yesterday, everything okay?" he asks. and the illusion crumbles. 

"I mean, as okay as it can be, I guess," I say, pulling out the brown paper bag Mr. Stark put in my backpack. I open the bag and see an apple, a peach, and a tiny Ziploc bag with $20 in it. I decide to grab the peach first. "did you have a fight with your aunt again?" he asks. that's usually why I would be in a bad mood, it happens, I mean, happened a lot. 

"no, not this time. she actually passed away a couple of days ago," I say, trying to just get it over with. "oh, peter I'm so sorry. do you need a place to stay? my house is always open to you." he says. from any other teacher that would be creepy, but not from Mr. Lenington. he's been basically my voice to the administration since I started going here. not to mention he teaches Russian here.

"no, actually my boss is letting me stay with him," I say. "your boss as in tony stark or your boss as in one of his employees?" he asks. "Mr.Stark. I know, sounds like a total lie or some story that someone would write online, but he had an extra room and I'm there a lot anyway." I explain.

"well, I'm glad you have somewhere to go that's familiar to you. that will certainly make things easier," he says. "if anyone gives you trouble today, or if you just don't want to be in class, you can always come to hide in my room. but if anyone asks you got permission to be here." he says. 

I hid in his room for a while after ben passed. some of my classes just got too overwhelming to handle. Mr. Lenington got all of the work from my teachers so I could still keep my grades up. I'm forever in his debt for that. 

the school day goes mostly the same way it always does. most of my classes are boring, I actually enjoy marine bio, ap Phys, and ap lang. at lunch, ned and MJ sit with me in Mr. Lenington's room, I don't eat lunch. no one except ned, MJ, and Mr. Lenington knows what happened. I'd like to keep it that way if I can. 

A/N 3 chapters in a week? don't get used to it, I'm just keeping myself busy lol. this chapter is mostly just a little touch of world-building/character-building. also, I totally based Mr. lenington on a teacher I have in real life, although he teaches apes (ap environmental science) and marine bio, not Russian. it's always good to have a teacher on your side that you trust. anyway, happy Litha for those who celebrate it :)