Ms. Stark [Peter Parker]

Chapter 50| Nice Girls

MARIA
8:11 am; Monday - Midtown Highschool

If there was one thing I never understood, was how fast life could change.
One minute, you could be holding somebody.
The next minute, they could be gone.
Time was precious, and not only that, valuable.
And I began to realize that as I walked down the hallways.

It felt like everyone's eyes were on me.
Or was it always like this?
I hugged my books to my chest and avoided judgemental faces. I continued to walk down the school hallway, trying to get to class as fast as possible.
Maybe they have always stared at me like this.
But because I've never felt so alone in my life, I didn't ever need to pay attention to the other students before.
Even before Peter, I had Ashtyn.
Now I had neither.
What was I supposed to do?

I looked around me to see everyone's faces at their lockers or passing me in the hallways. I couldn't help but have the urge to find Peter.

I attempted at texting him after homecoming, but he had never responded. He always responded, no matter what, so maybe something had happened. Once we talked and figured out what occurred, we should be fine. Everything will go back to normal, right?

I tried looking after the heads of everyone passing me and where Peter's locker was located. Over the tops of many students, I saw a messy floof of brunette hair I knew to belong to my Peter. Once it caught my eye, I pushed past everyone and scurried to him. I wasn't even sure how to exactly approach him, but I knew I needed to.

"Peter... get to Peter..." I whispered to myself, as if I was trying to remind myself what the goal was. Finally, after dodging two more groups of friends, I was only a few feet from him. He looked expressionless for some reason as he grabbed some books out of his locker. He kept looking around quickly, like he was trying to not get caught or something. As nervous as I was, I decided to act natural.

"Hey, P-Peter?" I walk up to him and he instantly turns his head up to me. He looks aghast, and stumbles back with his books glued to him. Why was he treating me like a scary monster?

I move closer to him, in a gentle way so I wouldn't scare him off. But every step I took closer, he backed off even more.

"Peter? Please? Can we just talk?" He seemed like he was frozen, but his mind and eyes kept racing back and forth. He had his mouth open, making gurgle noises as if he was searching for words. He then squinted and winced, like giving up on whatever he was about to say. He shook his head, before turning around and dashing off.

I was left, yet again, all by myself.

I shut my eyes, and let all the pain rush through me. Why did it have to be like this? What did I do? I felt like shaking, crying, screaming, but all I could do was stand still in the middle of the hallway as people brushed past me.

"Breathe in, " I whispered to myself as I inhaled deeply. I paused for a second, holding onto the breath. "And breathe-"

"Why hellooo, beautiful, what brings you to this side of town?"

A loud voice grabbed my shoulder and spun me around. I was met with the piercing blue eyes of Kade's, as he smiled charmingly down at me. I could feel my nose and mouth scrunch in agitation.

"Kade, I'm not really in the mood, " I say, as I turn back around and try to walk away. He was the last person I needed.

"Hey, hey, " he stopped in front of me like he was trying to tame a wild horse. He sighed and shook his head.