A night to remember

Part 1

"You should really stop staring at him, you know..." one of your friends said, shaking her head as she picked at her fingernails.

     "What?" you frowned, turning your gaze from Peter who was laying on the gym mat before you, doing exercises together with his best friend, Ned. "I wasn't staring," you objected. The heat rose to your cheeks and even without the obvious lie still on your lips, you knew everyone could tell it wasn't true.

     "Yeah, right."

     "I wasn't..."

     "Oh, don't deny it. You're clearly in love with him," she said again.

     You were going to object, but Liz already stood up for you, like she always did when it came to Peter. You figured it was because she felt guilty. Everyone knew Peter had had a crush on her for years. She had told you many times she wasn't into him, but you still couldn't help but feel jealous. Especially at the way he looked at her during classes, lunch and anytime in general.

     You could only hope that one day he would look at you the same way.

     "Come on, Trace, leave [Name] alone. Or I'll tell everyone who you have a crush on."

     "Fine...But [Name] should really stop staring at him. It's getting embarrassing."

     "I wasn't staring," you said again, more to yourself than anyone else. Liz raised her brows at you and looked at you intensely until you let out an annoyed breath. "Fine... I won't stare at him anymore," you huffed, crossing your arms. "Can we talk about something else?"

     "Well, does anyone have anything interesting to tell?" Tracy looked at you, a bored expression covering her otherwise beautiful features. She wiped the blonde ponytail from her shoulder and leaned backward. Compared to Liz and her you stood out like a sore thumb. At least to your measures. Tracy never seemed to object when you complained about your looks, but Liz would always quickly deny it, telling you, you were just as pretty as they were.

     You didn't know who of them to believe more.

     "I do," Liz said. "Did you see the security footage of Spider-Man on YouTube? He fought off four guys!"

     "Oh my gosh, she's crushing on Spider-Man," Tracy laughed, shaking her head. "No way..."

     "I mean, kind of..."

     "Gross," you cringed your nose. "He's probably like... thirty," you continued, shaking off the image of an old guy dressed up in a super hero suit, going around High schools to hit on girls. You suppressed the urge to shiver, even though for all you know he could be as old as you were as well. With the full-on bodysuit, it was impossible to tell. "Besides, you don't even know what he looks like. What if he's like severely burned?"

     "I wouldn't care," Liz stated. "I'd still love him for the person he is on the inside."

     You snorted, somehow having a hard time believing that. Liz was a kind and caring girl, but even she couldn't be that perfect. Could she?

     "Peter knows Spider-Man!" it suddenly sounded from a few feet away. You all turned your heads towards Ned and Peter, who seemed like Ned had just told you something he really shouldn't have. Peter's eyes shifted from you to Liz and back and he swallowed hard as he quickly pushed himself from the gym mat.

     "N–No I don't," he said, trying to explain to the whole class what Ned had meant. "No, I–I mean..."

     "They're friends," Ned interrupted before Peter could say anything else to deny it.