golden | peter parker

ten

Penny was sat in her chair observing the decathlon practice that was going on around her. She didn't quite remember how school was already over, but she supposed that she was still in shock so time was distorted slightly.

All she remembered was that in Bio and photography she and Peter had made progress on both projects. As she sat with her laptop and books sprawled open around her she sighed and put her forehead on the table. Michelle came up behind her, placing a hand on Penny's shoulder.

"Hey man, you holding up alright?" Michelle knew what happened last night, after Peter left Penny called her and cried for two hours as Michelle tried to soothe her.

"As much as I can be," Penny replied a sad smile on her face. Peter watched the exchange from across the room. His heart dropped at seeing her so affected. He had almost forgot about it, and then he saw Penny in photography and the memories from the night before came rushing back.

Michelle walked up onto the stage and took her place next to Ned. Liz started to list off question after question, whipping the team into shape.

As Penny was typing the intro for the research paper, she heard Liz ask a particularly challenging question. 

She wasn't exactly listening to what Liz was saying but she heard numbers and started automatically calculating, without even realizing it, as she italicized the name of the researcher that she was quoting.

"Does no one have an answer?" She heard Liz ask. 

"Give me a second! I'm great at math!" Flash shouted trying to solve the problem, quickly. "Got it! 6.79π radians!"

"Incorrect," Liz was quick to reply. "Anyone else?"

The room was silent except for Penny's clacking.

"8.39π+17.2," Penny murmured under her breath. Liz glanced over when she heard the girl mutter some numbers.

"Wait, Penny? What did you say?" Liz questioned. Penny looked up, not realizing she had said anything out loud in the first place.

"Uh, 8.39π+17.2," Penny said tapping her pencil on her desk, slightly embarrassed.

"That is correct," Liz said nodding her head, clearly impressed.

"Way to go bestie!" Michelle shouted, as Flash shot her a look of annoyance.

One of the team members named Abraham rang his bell and said, "Flash got showed up by a girl who's not even on the team!" Everyone laughed, including Penny.

"Abraham, don't make me have a rule about not using the bell for comedic purposes," Liz said, trying to hide her amused smile.

Penny went back to her typing, patiently waiting for Peter to be done with his portion of the decathlon practice so they could work on their project.

Maybe 20 minutes later and Flash exclaimed suddenly, "Holy crap! Penny, Peter, are you guys the people in this video?!"

Everybody started to crowd around Flash's laptop. When Penny made her way over she saw that it was the elevator footage from both inside the elevator and on the floor, giving everyone exclusive feed of exactly what happened. 

Watching it back, Penny started to feel sick. Her lungs started to close and her heart rate was speeding up. She stumbled backwards and bumped into her desk, knocking everything over. She fell to the ground, everyone's eyes on her.

Peter and Michelle looked at her in worry before Penny stood up and bolted out the auditorium, the walls closing in on her.

Tears streamed down her face as she was back trapped in the elevator, except this time she missed Peters hand again. She imagined what would have happened if the weight of her landing snapped the cables and she was in the car as it plummeted down and crashed into the lobby.