𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐑𝐘 𝐁𝐔𝐁𝐁𝐋𝐄𝐆𝐔𝐌━𝐏. 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐊𝐄𝐑

𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐎𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓

"...see you when I come back down!..." 

___

   ━━AURORA WAS GOING to kill someone. Preferably, Peter Parker, if she could. The asshole had somehow managed to go missing before one of the most important matches of their lives!

   If he didn't have a good enough excuse, Aurora would see to it personally that he ended up in a ditch somehow. And she would! Mark her words. 

   Ned had come out of his shared room without Peter, and refused to say a word about his absence. But they couldn't take the time off to berate him, and Mr. Harrington and Liz decided that they could afford his absence. The rest of them━minus Flash, of course━certainly did not appreciate it.

   But, alas, they still had a competition to win. 

   And Aurora was only human, she couldn't afford to waste the time seething over Peter Parker's missing presence, when she could be calming her nerves and filing through her flash cards with Grace and Liz. 

   When the time came around for them to start, Grace was shaking like a leaf and Liz had paled significantly. Rory wasn't better off, her own face had lost its normal rosy tint and her stomach churned at the thought of what would be happening behind the door in just a few minutes. 

   To calm herself, she allowed her eyes to wonder around, where she found that her teammates were suffering just as much as the three girls. The only one who seemed remotely calm was MJ. But that might've only been so because she didn't usually get nervous like the rest of them did. 

   MJ was the type to quietly sit in her feelings, never really showing much emotion, if any at all. And Rory only knew this because Gracie was a keen observer (admirer) of hers. 

   An announcement was made overhead, something about having to turn their phones off and hand them off to the ladies in the front of the door before being allowed to enter. And so, to minimize the amount of time Aurora had to overthink this, she pushed her way through the entry and turned her phone in. 

   She took her seat on the second last chair, Charles and Sally sitting out as first rotations, and watched as her friends trickled in slowly, seeing Flash only served as a reminder of Peter's disappointment. 

   But she shook her head to forget him, and instead focused on running through everything she'd memorized from her flashcards, in her head. When everyone had settled into their respective seats, papers and pens were handed out. 

   The written part of the competition went by as fast as it came, and with it: Aurora's anxiety. With each correct answer they'd been awarded, her worries seemed to fade into the back of her mind and the only thing left was her will to win.