Having a nice meal at school was actually way harder than one might think. There was a place called the cafeteria but despite its name it primarily served as a socializing space rather than a dining one. And Gwen Stacy didn't have enough tolerance in her for that. So she usually took the other route, and ate her lunch sitting on a bench in the school yard. The problem was that most of the weirdos also avoided the cafeteria and chose the other options which led to multiple disturbed meals. The fact that this makes me one of those weirdos is just the tip of the iceberg.
The funny thing was that even though it was a really minor problem it still bothered her every single day, appearing bigger and bigger each time and driving her crazy. So in the grand scheme of things, she felt that she should be happy that now, it bothered her less since there were much bigger problems in her life. Nothing much, just the life threatening kind. Even though she kept up her annoyed and violent façade, the recent attack had shaken her up more than she let on to anyone. And on top of things, her crush had done that stupidly suicidal stunt of his as if her being worried about her dad wasn't enough already. At least that's what she hoped she was angry about. But a big, self-loathing part of herself told her that it was a more selfish reason: He had left her alone there.
Granted, she hadn't really needed a big supportive hug but after surviving that, he had just bailed on her, which had stung. Combining that with where he had been the next morning instead of class made her mood darker than even she was comfortable with. Fortunately, things weren't all bad. Apparently taking her words to heart, Peter had gone directly home yesterday. This allowed Gwen to participate in something she hadn't been to in god knows how long, if ever; a family dinner.
Given the quarrel they'd had the day before, the dinner had started out a bit awkward but it had dissolved relatively quickly. May Parker had personally prepared a very well-made chicken steak with steamed tomatoes and other mixtures of vegetables. It had been one of her specialties and she had worked on it all afternoon. Judging by the tons of deep-frozen food Gwen had accidently seen in the freezer, this kind of meal wasn't really an everyday thing for them and May had probably made it just for her sake. It had been unnecessary but she didn't want to damage her pride so she endured the truly delicious meal. A real self-sacrifice.
As the tension eased, they had slowly started talking and they were kind enough to try to include her in the conversation, too. What really surprised her was that even after the dinner was over they had stayed there, continuing the discussion. It had been then that May Parker had started telling some stories about Peter when he was younger. Like his own little theory about Santa Claus. Apparently when he was seven years old he had been visited by him whom, being as smart as he was even back then, he had clearly recognized as his Uncle Ben. But the thought that Santa Claus might not be real hadn't even crossed his mind so he came to the logical conclusion that his Uncle had a secret identity as the man who flew around the world once a year, giving out presents to all the kids. It had been one of the sweetest things she had ever heard.
When she had asked when exactly he had found out the truth, he told her with a cute blush (damn it) on his face that he had been ten when he got mad at his Uncle for never showing him his flying sleigh. But as soon as he had verbally confronted him about it, something had clicked in his brain and he realized that a flying sleigh was physically impossible. His face had flushed even harder when he also told her that the very first ten page letter he had ever written was actually a request for his Uncle to let him become one of his little helpers. He had worked months on it.
For the first time in years, Gwen had felt herself let out a warm and joyful laugh, without any of the usual dryness or sarcasm behind it. It had been a really uplifting experience. Even more surprisingly, when she had gotten ready to sleep in the guest room, she hadn't felt the urge to cry, as it had happened every day since her stay there.
