1 | YOUTH ⤷ SPIDERMAN HOMECOMING

27 | THE DANCE

Two weeks had passed since Juno and Peter stopped talking. Classes have been awkward, and Juno has been sitting at the opposite end of the table with Michelle during lunch. Peter and Juno even avoid eye contact now.

Ever since Tony took the spider suit back, Peter has shaped up. His attendance was back up and his grades were doing great. Juno still had the tech from Tony and it's been controlling her energy. Tony hasn't reached out to the two since the ferry incident, which was understandable.

This made Ned's situation hard. He was both of their best friends. The boy felt burdened and didn't want to pick sides. He usually stuck with Peter, but loved talking with Juno.

Tonight was the night of the homecoming dance. Michelle arrived at Juno's and got ready with her. Michelle wore a collared beige and yellow dress. It was very her — simple. On the other hand, Juno wore a black strapless dress with her signature pearls decorating her neck.

"Funny, Michelle," Juno snorted. "You do have legs!"

Michelle rolled her eyes. "Shut up." She handed Juno an eyeshadow brush. "You can do my makeup but keep it simple. I'm just gonna keep my hair in a ponytail."

"Wow, I love you!"

"I know."

At around six, the two girls were completely dolled up. They got into the limousine and made their way to Midtown. When they got there, Ned was waiting on the curbside. He opened the door so that Juno's driver didn't have to get out.

"Well hello, pretty ladies!"

"I'll kick you if you call me pretty again," Michelle retorted.

"Aw, Ned! You look awesome," Juno smiled. "Totally digging the hat and bowtie."

"Thank you, Juno!" He said while looking intensely at Michelle.

"I'm still not going to compliment you," Michelle shrugged. "Can we go inside?"

Ned held his arms out for both the girls. They each took one. "Let's dance!"

The dance was held in the gymnasium. Colorful streamers hung from the ceiling and the strobe lights illuminated the room. By one wall, teachers monitored the snacks and punch bowl. The deejay played mediocre music that the teens at the center of the gym danced to. Everybody was having a good time.

The three went over to the snack tables. Michelle poured herself a nice glass of fruit punch. Juno and Ned tried the different cheap desserts.

"The brownies are okay," Juno noted. "Ned, how are the cookies?"

"Dry," he replied, cringing. "MJ, hows the punch?"

"It's punch."

Ned took their trash away. Michelle and Juno hovered near the crowd. They didn't want to get trapped in the mob. The two were right by the door.

"Look," Michelle pointed. "Liz is coming in. She looks pretty good, not gonna lie."

Juno turned around to see Liz waiting by the door. The girl had a pinkish red dress on. It was tight at the top and flowy on the bottom, showing off her curves. She watched as people said hi to her, and saw Liz kindly smile back.

"Yeah," Juno replied. "The brownie made my mouth kind of dry, I'm gonna drink some punch. I'll be back."

"Have fun!"

Juno walked over to the snack table. Teachers raised eyebrows at her, but she didn't care. She poured herself some punch and gulped the red juice down. She threw her cup away and made her way back into the dance floor to find Ned and Michelle. They seemed to have gotten sucked deeper into the mob.

"There you guys are!" She smiled.

"Uh, he-hey! Juno!" Ned greeted. He pointed finger guns at her.

"Wow," Michelle whisper shouted at him. "Subtle."

"Is everything alright?"

"Yeah!" Ned replied nervously. "Wanna dance?"

"Totally," Juno smiled.

They all began dancing like the messes they were. It was fun, even Michelle thought so. Juno tried to dance around Ned but he didn't let her.

"You might want to dance over here," Michelle suggested.

Juno turned to face her and began walking backwards, pushing past Ned. "Why? What if I wanna dance over he–"

"Woah!"

Juno looked at Michelle and Ned's wide eyes. She walked forwards, not looking at who she bumped into because of Ned and Michelle's reaction. However, their reactions were so bad that it left her curious. So she did turn around, and well. . .

"Pete!" She gasped, "A-And Liz?"

Michelle grabbed her hand and pulled Juno towards her and Ned. Juno was frozen, confused. In front of them was Peter, his hand intertwined with Liz's.

"Hi, Juno," Peter said sheepishly.

"That's why," Ned whispered in her ear. Juno stomped on his foot. "Hey! That hurt."

"Weird, right?" Liz asked. "Peter finally had the guts to ask me out somewhere." She smiled at him, and he awkwardly smiled back at her.

Betty, who stood next to Liz, spoke up. "Yeah, it's super wild. Peter's been so into Liz. It's about time!"

"Nice!" Juno replied. She put on a fake smile. "Well have a nice time."

Liz turned around and began talking to Betty. Peter smiled at Juno sadly, but she didn't bother smiling back. Ned put his arm around her shoulders and led he out. Michelle looked Peter dead in the eye, flipped him off, then followed her friends.

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this is so long!!! but Izzywizzy567 knows how excited i was to write this

also totally forgot that dan and calli were characters so they might just appear in the last chapter oops!

thanks for 13k! have a good weekend