From the Shadows | PETER PARKER [2]

| 10 |

"Jones."

Eloise's head snaps up. When sees her teacher, along with the rest of the class, is watching her, she sheepishly turns off her phone and ducks her head. The teacher rolls her eyes at this and walks over to Eloise's desk with her hand extended.

"Phone please," the woman says. Knowing she would just get her phone taken away for a longer time if she didn't comply, Eloise places her phone face-up in her teacher's palm. She watches as the woman crosses the room to her desk and places the phone on it. "You'll get it back at the end of class. If I catch you with your phone out again I'll be seeing you in detention."

Eloise sits back in her seat, defeated. She was texting Ned and Peter in a group chat about how boring school is. Ned is in Anatomy and Peter is in a manufacturing class right now, which sounds more fun than boring old math in Eloise's opinion. She picks up her pencil and taps the eraser end on her desk as she looks up at the board in front of the class with equations written on it that look like a bunch of scribbles. She instantly regrets not paying attention because absolutely nothing in front of her makes sense.

The bell rings ten minutes later. After receiving her phone, Eloise takes her time to leave the classroom and head to her next class. She scrolls through the spammed messages Ned and Peter sent while her phone was on her teacher's desk and laughs under her breath at their nerdy-ness.

Eloise's eyes trained on her phone, she doesn't even notice the person right in front of her until she runs right into them. She fumbles with her phone and immediately starts to apologize.

"I'm so sorry, I wasn't watching—"

"It's all good, Ellie," a familiar voice peppered with a Mexican accent cuts her off.

Eloise looks up and realizes it was just Luis. His lips are quirked in amusement as he looks down at her. Her embarrassment is flushed away instantly.

Luis notices the phone in her hands and teases, "Don't you know that you aren't supposed to text and walk? You could have walked right into a wall and died."

"How would I die by running into a wall?" Eloise questions with a short laugh.

"Of embarrassment." Luis scratches his chin, which is now supporting a dark stubble. He leans his shoulder against a random locker and says, "I'm having a party tonight, by the way. I get that those aren't really your thing, but it's gonna be real low key. Lucy and Cliff are coming."

"Thanks, but—" Eloise starts to decline, but stops. Next year is her senior year, and she has never been to a high school party. Lucy has told her multiple times how she's going to get old and look back at her days in high school as boring because all she ever does is study. Although Eloise's years in high school are definitely not boring, she always felt like she was missing out when she opted out of parties. A low key party with her friends at the end of her junior year is a great way to dip her toe in the water. If she doesn't like it, then it's no big deal.

Eloise surprises herself and Luis by smiling and saying, "Sure, what time is it?"

Luis smirks. "Starts at 7 o'clock." He leans away from the lockers and walks past Eloise saying, "See you tonight, Ellie."

Eloise turns and watches Luis walk down the hallway, hoping she doesn't regret her decision.

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