golden | peter parker

eighteen

By the time Peter returned to school on Tuesday, everyone had presented their Bio projects, the photography and build-tech classes split up, algebra class had switched seats moving Peter away from Penny, and gym was split into two separate groups, which of course he wasn't with any of his friends but managed to get stuck with Flash.

Penny had asked about his black eye in algebra, and he replied that he got mugged.

When Peter sat down at lunch, Michelle immediately noticed the massive black eye he had.

"Woah, dude, what the hell happened?" She asked from across the table, examining his face.

Peter completely forgot the excuse he used on Penny, and struggled to come up with an answer. "I was uh, I was running around the hotel and tripped. My head, it uh, hit this metal pole, and obviously, it um, gave me this black eye."

Penny raised her eyebrows at him in disbelief, but didn't comment. He had used a different excuse for her. Was he lying to them?

"Well you look horrible. Have you tried using concealer to cover it up?" Michelle asked, smirking slightly.

Peter shot her a glare, Ned snickering in the background. "No, I'm not using makeup."

But Peter thought about it, if he was gonna get more bruises maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea.

Penny was looking at him with concern, she knew that he lied about how he got his black eye, but she didn't exactly want to push him for an answer.

She watched her friends laugh and talk about the most random things, staying quiet the whole time. She didn't like being lied to, but she didn't want to let Peter know she knew he was lying. He might try to cover it up, and start lying so good she wouldn't even be able to tell anymore. And that scared her, she wanted to know his tells. So as much as it bothered her, she would stay quiet, despite it eating away at her.

Peter eventually noticed Penny's quietness, and let Ned and Michelle have their own conversation.

"Hey, what's on your mind?" Peter asked softly, his eyes shining with concern. Penny sighed.

"It's nothing," She replied as she felt her stomach start to churn.

"No, come on. You can tell me," He reassured, offering her a small smile.

Penny shook her head, "Really, I'm fine."

Peter clearly didn't buy it, but he backed off anyway going back to his previous conversation. He didn't even realize that he had switched up his excuse, he had completely forgot that this was the second time Penny was there for his explanation on his black eye.

Penny sighed again, her stomach still twisting and turning. She watched the three of them talk. Her eyes focused on Peter's black eye, and they trailed down to his white t-shirt. She could see massive bruises all over his torso.

Her eyes widened as she also noticed a cut right below his jaw. Her stomach lurched, she was going to puke. Penny quickly grabbed her backpack and rushed out of the cafeteria in search of the nearest bathroom.

She entered a stall and immediately fell to her knees, not even bothering to lock the door as she was throwing up the entirety of the contents in her stomach. She groaned in pain, her throat killing her. She hadn't thrown up this violently in years.

"Penny?" She heard Michelle call out as she came into the bathroom.

Penny only responded with another round of vomiting. She was so dizzy and dehydrated. She felt Michelle kneel behind her as she rubbed Penny's back comforting her.