"i bombed that exam," you huffed, your face screwing up in frustration as you walked side by side with m.j. down the school hallway. "did you see question sixteen? what was that about? i don't think we even studied that this semester?" you were annoyed with yourself, because you knew you hadn't studied as hard as you should have for that exam.
"yeah, i saw it, i just took the same exam," m.j. furrowed her brows at you but you were too in your own head to care about her sarcasm. being m.j.'s friend for so many years meant that you tended to tune out the sarcasm that was always dripping from her voice. "i wouldn't worry about it, you always do well, it's like your thing. being smart at everything."
you shook your head, you were convinced you messed up that paper.
ever since your late night netflix session with peter, you'd been even more in your head than usual. you hated being this distracted. it was only because you had to keep your feelings to yourself, you had never been very good at keeping secrets, and this was too big a secret to be keeping to yourself. it was driving you crazy that he didn't know.
it was now monday, you hadn't seen peter since you fell asleep on him and he snuck back out your window. you had woken up the next day in an empty bed, with a text message from peter saying he had to run and that he'd see you in school.
you hadn't heard from him again, and you had yet to see him in school. you had to tell him. you had to tell him or you felt like you might combust. and you had finals to be worrying over, not a boy. if you got it off your chest, whether he felt the same or not, you knew you could at least focus better on your day to day. you were tired of avoiding him and pushing him away to keep a secret. he had to know.
-
you had colluded with michelle during gym and she, too, thought you coming clean to peter was a good idea. you were pretty sure she was just sick of talking to you and you not taking anything in that she was saying, which was happening more and more often, so you understood.
only, you hadn't actually seen peter all day to speak to him.
you spotted a familiar mop of black hair across the hallway at the end of the day, jogging over to meet ned at his locker. if anyone would know of peter's whereabouts it was his righthand man.
"ned!" you touched his shoulder, approaching him from behind, startling him a little as he jumped away from your touch. "sorry--" you apologised quickly when he mumbled shit y/n under his breath. "i just wanted to know if you'd seen peter?"
his face contorted for a second before furrowing his brows. "uh, peter? he just left-- i think he said something about mr stark? i don't know," you could tell he was lying, ned was always covering for peter, but you didn't push him. you just nodded.
"right, well, if you see him, tell him i need to talk to him?" he nodded and you backed away from him to leave. "i'll see you tomorrow!" you called, whipping out your phone and dialling peter's number as you moved down the crowded hallway.
it rang out, you let out an exasperated sigh. why was he all of sudden so hard to track down? you waited for the beep before leaving a message.
pete, call me back i need to talk to you-- can you meet me at delmar's? i'll be there at seven-- just call me
the one time you were actively seeking for him and he was nowhere to be found. you huffed, dragging yourself home to put some effort into studying before you'd meet up with peter later.
-
you tucked your hands in your pockets to conserve some of your warmth in the cold new york air, your feet speeding along the pavement as you took the short walk to delmar's. you had gotten a text from peter shortly after you left your voicemail saying he'd meet you there.
