Flightless | P. Parker

chapter four

It's noon when I finally force myself out bed. Stumbling down the hall, I bump into Chris. "Hey Ris, feelin' any better?" He asks softly. I shrug, shuffling alongside him and downstairs to the kitchen. He pours me a glass of juice and heats up a plate of leftovers, setting it in front of me carefully, like I could break at any second. Leaning over the kitchen counter, he holds his head up on his fists. 

"Are you in the mood to tell me what happened or do I need to acquire your favourite ice cream to unlock yesterday's tragedy?" I sigh and look at the food my brother lovingly prepared for me. 

"Peter, he..." I squeeze my eyes shut and let out a shaky breath before looking at my brother and telling him everything that was said. As I go on, a look of ire contorts his face.

"Here I was thinking he was a good kid. My god Iris, I can't believe he said that to you. He's been there for you ever since- And to have been lying-  He knew how much that would hurt you!" Chris' voice grows louder with each word, only stopping when I touch his arm.

He takes one look at the tears threatening to spill from my eyes and looks down. "Do you have any friends who you can sit with during lunch?" 

I think of the few friends I have, all of them being Peter's as well. "Michelle might, she's the only other girl," I think aloud. He might've pushed her away too. She'd probably be dealing with it better than me. I finish my food and go to my room, sending a text to her, knowing she'll be at lunch.

Me: Michelle?
Michelle: Hey! You okay?
Me: Not really. Is Peter there?
Michelle: Yeah, why? Did you get in a fight?
Me: Sort of, I'll tell you after school
Michelle: K, should I come over?
Me: Sounds great!

After finishing my conversation, I play my morning playlist as I find a pair of clean sweatpants in a drawer and change into them and a t-shirt. Quickly picking a book off of one of my bookcases, I head outside to enjoy the fresh air. I read for hours, finishing two and a half books before Chris comes out onto my part of the balcony to check on me. 

"Hey, Michelle's coming up right now. You wanted to see her right?"
"Oh, yeah, thanks!" I say with a quick smile, marking my place and heading inside to welcome her. I get to the entryway right as she appears and greet her with a hug before dragging her to my room.

"What's up? You were really vague earlier." She prods, sitting on my bed.
"Did Peter talk to you at all today? How was he?"

"A little, he seemed okay, he was joking around with the other guys. He only talked to me to ask if I was texting you today at lunch." She looks at my face and lifts an eyebrow. "He hurt you didn't he?" Michelle watches as I flop down next to her.

"He came over after school yesterday and you know his usual awkwardness? He seemed even more uncomfortable yesterday. I thought it was because he hadn't been here in forever but then he just came right out and told me I was crazy and he was done pretending. He said he'd been lying all this time, faking being my friend."

Michelle sits there listening to me and once I'm done, she pushes a stray piece of her curly brown hair out of her eyes. "Did he tell you that he was done being your friend too or am I only one?" She shakes her head, "Unless he's planning to tell me later, I think you're the only one for now." 

We talk for a while until I feel better and she's given me all the advice she can. We make a plan to sit across the lunch room with someone Michelle knows named Liz Allan. Michelle says she's super sweet and that I'd like her. "Oh, um, just a warning: she's in Student Council and all those 'nice girl' organisations so if she's too much let me know."

Right as we try to find a Netflix show to watch, her mum calls her home. "I'll see ya!" Michelle grabs her backpack and heads out the door, stops, and then pops back in. "Here's the homework you missed, I'll e-mail you the notes I took too. Bye!" She tosses a thin stack of paperclipped worksheets at me before dashing out. 

For the rest of the evening, I work on homework, catching up on absent work before I get behind. I worked hard to keep my grades in the B to A+ range so that when (and if) I decided what I wanted to do for a living, I could pick a school without too much trouble. Right as I finish the last page of my homework, I hear a thump on my balcony. I peek around the edge and see a homemade red superhero costume: Spiderman. I take a deep breath, worried he might've figured out Blue Jay's identity, and head outside.

"Spiderman?" He turns around quickly, his black swim goggles nearly falling off. 
"Uh, hi, sorry, just needed a place to land." He apologises. "What's your name?"
"Iris," I answer, gesturing for him to sit. "Can I get you anything?" My mother's lessons in being a good hostess start to rise as I start to list various things. 
"No, no! I'm good thanks." He assures me. He looks over my balcony, his movements almost hesitant. Not knowing what to say, I gesture to the chairs.
"If you want to sit down-"
"Oh, thanks!"

I giggle as he plops down on the nearest one and I sit across from him. "What brings you here?" "Just looking for a place to land," he says, a smile in his voice.

I look him over, the poorly drawn spider on his red sweatshirt-vest, the red ski mask, and the blue long-sleeved undershirt, it's all very homemade. My Bluejay costume is only slightly better, luckily I know how to sew. He must've caught me looking because he starts laughing. "Take a picture, it'll last longer and you'll have something to tell your friends."

My cheeks heat up and I look at the building across from mine. "The only friend I had that would care about you visiting is no longer my friend."

Spiderman leans towards me and tilts his head. "Something happen between you two?"

I smile warmly but fakely at the hero before me. "I don't want to fill up your evening with my depressing drama."
"I don't mind, I'm not doing anything right now..." He trails off, clearly wanting the story.

"This ex-friend was my best friend since my parents died. He's- he was always there for me whenever I needed him. He kept me going, encouraging me when he knew I needed it. I've always been labelled as 'the crazy girl' since the accident and he was one of the few that believed me.

"Then yesterday he comes over after school to do what I thought was homework. My mistake, he came over to tell me that he's been lying this whole time and no longer wants to be friends. I couldn't face him today after what he said so I called in sick. I'm sure he's happy not to deal with me anymore," I laugh bitterly. At that, Spiderman stiffens and looks away. 

"You okay?" I ask. 
"Yeah, I'm good," he says distractedly. "I just heard something so I gotta go, duty calls and all that!" With that, he shoots a line of spider silk out and swings off the edge of the balcony. With a sigh, I stand up and go back inside and get ready for bed with the hope that things will be better tomorrow. 

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I'm baaaaccckkk! I'm so sorry I left! I know I have no right after leaving for so long, but if you feel so inclined please vote and comment. I love hearing from you all! I'll work on my smut book soon and get the remaining requests finished up before I take more/write some for myself. Love you all, have a happy Easter (or just a great weekend if you don't celebrate Easter!)