Who's This?

12

Peter woke up to the blaring sound of his alarm clock. Groaning, he carefully tapped the button to mute the sound and sat up. Today's the day. Peter tiredly smiled and threw his ironman blankets off of his body and onto the bottom of the bed. Standing up, Peter had to place his hand on his side table since his vision blurred and became spotted with flecks of black. However, for some reason, he felt slightly content with the strange feeling. After waiting a moment to get control over his senses again, Peter grabbed some clothes out of his closet and tiptoed to the bathroom.

Shutting the bathroom door behind him, being careful to not break anything, Peter twisted the lock and turned on the shower. They rarely had heated water, but when they did, he usually liked to save that for May. Slowly taking off his clothes, Peter winced at new bruises and scratches that had formed from patrol last night. Nothing particularly interesting happened, but he had a tendency to get injured even when he did nothing. Glancing at his now bare body in the mirror Peter felt slightly dissociated at the sight of himself. His collarbones looked as if they were jutting outside of his body, and his arms looked scrawny and weak. Frowning, Peter let his eyes drift to his stomach and the subtle pudge right above his hipbones. This is what I look like? I thought I had started to get a little more toned. Sighing, Peter shook his head and carefully stepped into the shower, allowing the bitter cold to properly wake him up.

Once Peter was finished, he dried himself off with a thin, raggedy towel, and clothed himself once again. After brushing his teeth, Peter exited the bathroom and quickly grabbed his backpack from his bedroom. Unfortunately, he still had to attend school today. As much as he'd love to ditch and go straight to his internship, he didn't think that would work well for him in the long run.

Noticing the fixed doorknob, undoubtedly May's doing, Peter smiled and swiftly locked it. Skittering down the sketchy stone stairway, Peter began his commute to Midtown High, mentally praying that school would go by smoothly and quickly. Once he had reached the stairs to the school, he could immediately sense a shift in the atmosphere surrounding the school grounds. Instead of the depressive, anxious teenager aura that usually consumed the hallways, a sense of excitement and hope bubbled through the air. Students stood around each other giggling and whispering to each other about God knows what.

Peter entered through the school doors and began walking to his first-period class, carefully avoiding as many of the rambunctious teenagers in the hallway as possible. As soon as he sat down at his desk, he winced as the screeching pitch of the school bell went off, signaling the start of hell. Just one more school day and then I have the internship and the weekend. Peter smiled, excited for what was to come.

Shortly after the teacher finished taking attendance, the buzzing of the intercom rang throughout the building, declaring the beginning of an announcement from the principal.

"Good morning, Tigers!" The principal's voice boomed through the speakers, causing unpleasant squealing feedback. "We have some very important news today! As many of you may know, we had applications for the Stark Internship in the office over the past few weeks. Judging by the frequent whispering and giggling this morning, I'm sure most of you already suspect that some of our students were accepted."

Peter looked around at his peers to see if he could figure out anyone else who may have been accepted. Thankfully, the only person he wouldn't want to be accepted is definitely not smart enough for it. No offense. Actually, all the offense. Peter fidgeted with his slender fingers and returned his attention back to the head of his school.

"Make sure to congratulate your peers who managed to be accepted. With that said, shall we announce the chosen ones?" The principal laughed through the intercom before clearing his throat. "The first to be accepted is Eugene Thompson!" He exclaimed, causing Peter to cringe for several different reasons. How Flash was accepted was beyond Peter, and frankly every other person in the school. He probably hired someone else to do the application for him. But wouldn't they do a background check? Or maybe even check his grades?