Spider-Man | Doesn't Need Help

CHAPTER 23

  I let out a soft groan as I touched my fingertip to my split lip, from which blood was leaking.

  Excellent.

  Damn Flash was getting worse and worse. At first he was just making fun of me and calling me names and stuff, then he was breaking my stuff, calling me names and making fun of me even more, and now he's doing it even more and started hitting me.

  It was already a dozen or so minutes after the bell, I told Ned to go to class and not say anything about my one-hour absence. After ten minutes of protesting, the boy gave in.

  Ned Leeds was a really cool dude…

  "What have you gotten yourself into now, Parker?" I snapped my head up to see the reflection of none other than Michelle in the mirror.

  I still miss her here…

  "Nothing, you must have mixed up the toilets, because this is the men's one." I noticed, but my words didn't move the brunette in any way.

  Did I mention that she really scared me sometimes?

  "I think you mixed up the nurse's office and the bathroom." I rolled my eyes, back, returning my gaze to my black eye, split lip, and the blood pouring from my nose. On top of that, I cut my right hand pretty hard, I don't even know how.

  Without paying attention, or rather completely ignoring the girl, I put the piece of paper to my nose, taking it away almost immediately.

  Fuck, my nose.

  "Give me that, you don't know anything..."

  "Don't even come near me, I know me better than you think." I growled aggressively, which made Jones stop.

  I didn't mean to be so harsh, but I was really fucking annoyed with all this Thomson stuff.

  As you can see, even that didn't deter the stubborn girl, as she quickly stood next to me, trying to remove my hand from under my nose.

  Of course it was the fact that she failed, but that made me even more upset.

  Jesus, that thing was thirteen years old and already this annoying!

  "Parker!" As you can see, I wasn't the only one getting irritated in that damn bathroom. "Let me help you!"

  "I don't need help."

  I looked at her really angry, but even that didn't scare her away.

  Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. I repeated in my mind as I looked into Michelle's big brown eyes.

  "But…

  "No. I don't need one, since I was four. I'm perfectly fine on my own," I said through my teeth, still not taking my eyes off hers.

  That was the truth, I had been doing fine on my own since my parents died. Maybe not entirely perfectly, but she didn't need to know that.

  "Why are you so stubborn?"

  "It’s just my nature, you see." She snorted, smiling and shaking her head.

  "Sure, I think you're a coward."

  "Excuse me?" I stood straight, looking directly at her.

  And God, I hated that I was shorter than her by those few inches.

  There was silence, a terribly heavy silence.

  I didn't break eye contact, I didn't want to lose, I didn't want to show her that I really was a coward.