Benefits ✶ PETER PARKER

22. SWIMMING

BENEFITS — CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO!

          THE STUDENTS STARED IN AWE as they all filed into the entryway. Mr. Harrington had to continuously tell them not to wander off. [Y/N] glared at a girl from another school who had walked into her. "People need to watch where they're going." She huffed, tugging onto Harry's hand.

               The boy sighed, brushing some stray hairs from her angry face. "I see that someone's already getting way too competitive."

               Behind Harry, [Y/N] watched as Ned and Peter talked to each other in hushed voices. Their conversation at the back of the bus playing on loop in the back of her mind. Shaking her head, [Y/N] gave Harry a half-hearted smile. "Oh, I'm not that bad. I just like winning." She insisted, trying to seem innocent.

               Harry chuckled as they followed Liz up the stairs leading to their rooms. "Mh-hm. Whatever helps you sleep at night." He grinned, his eyes lighting up as they passed the pool room.

               "Why would they have a pool at a science competition?" Cindy Moon questioned, her pink suitcase wheels getting caught on the tiled floor.

               Flash Thompson scoffed at her, "why the hell wouldn't they? This place obviously knows class unlike you."

               The asian girl glared at him, her fists clenched at her side. Sally grabbed her arm and pulled her along, the last thing she needed was to break up a screaming match between the pair. "Asshole." Someone mumbled, walking past the scowling Flash.

               Pulling [Y/N] along, Harry walked over to his best friend. "Come on dude, let's try and keep the entitled rich kid comments to a minimum, yeah?"

               [Y/N] still glared at Flash because unlike Harry, she wasn't Flash's best friend. The pair had never really gotten on, Flash was a very hard to like person. [Y/N] had always thought of him as the boy who picked on her best friend for no apparent reason other than "it was fun."

               Flash rolled his eyes as Harry slung an arm over his shoulder. "Whatever, dude. Let's go see if these hotel rooms meet my standard."

               "Spoiler alert: I doubt they're diamond and gold encrusted, so I doubt they'll reach your standards." [Y/N] snapped, letting go of Harry and walking ahead towards Michelle. Her black suitcase made a strained noise as she ripped it over a bump. "Hey MJ." She said as she stood by her best friend.

               Looking up from her book on history, Michelle gave her a weary smile. "Oh, [Y/N], hi." She said in her usual monotonous voice, sometimes [Y/N] wondered if she was secretly a robot. "Why aren't you attached to Harry's hip anymore? Did his privileged-white-boy gimmick get annoying?"

               [Y/N] shook her head, the ghost of a smile etched upon her lips. "No, Flash's did. Besides, Harry isn't like that — he's actually a really nice and down-to-earth guy." She said, defending her boyfriends honour.

               Michelle scoffed, shutting her book, "that's just what he wants you to think. Trust me, I've seen Harry Osborn's asshole side — it's the same, if not worse than Flash's."

               For once, [Y/N] did not have a sarcastic response. Luckily, Mr. Harrington interrupted them anyways. "Alright guys, here we are." He said gesturing down the hallway. "I'm going to read the roommates out — and no, there's no trading, Flash nor is there individual rooms — so don't forget who you're rooming with and what room number you're in."

               "Flash and Harry — room 278." Said Mr. Harrington, adjusting his glasses slightly. "Cindy and Sally — room 279. Abraham and Charles — room 280. Liz and Betty — room 281. Peter and Ned — room 282. Michelle and [Y/N] — 283..."

               Upon hearing her name, [Y/N] stopped paying attention and grabbed her key. She followed Michelle to their room, unlocking it for her.

               It was about 8pm when there was a knock on their door. Michelle made an annoyed noise as she pulled the door open. "What?" She spat as Liz stood before her in nothing but her bathing suit.

               The dark girl smiled at her in a friendly manner, ignoring her rude answering of the door. She looked past Michelle at [Y/N], "we're all going down for a swim, you both should come and join."

               [Y/N] smiled at her but Michelle didn't. "Can't. Currently going through menstruation." Michelle deadpanned, waking back over to her bed.

               "I'll come, can you give me five minutes to change?" [Y/N] called out to Liz as she grabbed her bathers out of her bag.

               Turning away from Michelle, Liz smiled at [Y/N] and nodded. "That's fine, we'll be down the hall trying to get Ned and Peter to join."

                [Y/N] let out a fake laugh, "good luck, Ned hates swimming." And with that, [Y/N] quickly ran into the bathroom to change.

               Meanwhile, Peter Parker was attempting to sneak out of his room. "Be careful." Said Ned from his bed. Peter nodded at him before pulling the door shut. He pulls his hood up and almost crashes straight into Liz.

               His eyes widen as he sees his teammates all in nothing but a bathing suit. "Hey Liz." Peter says, his voice a few octaves higher than usual. Ever since Michelle had made him aware of Liz's crush on him, he hadn't known how to act around her.

               "Good timing." Liz says in a whisper, "We're gonna go swimming." She says, at the same time [Y/N] comes out of her room and joins the group. Peters eyes suddenly become glued to her slim, bathing suit wearing figure. The material sure didn't leave much up to imagination — not that Peter had to imagine anymore.

               "Come on. Come on. Come on." Liz whisper-shouted at the others, ushering them past. "Hey Peter." Says Sally as the teenagers sneak past, giggling.

               As Flash and Harry passed, Flash slapped Peters butt. The brunette boy lets out an offended noise as he grabs onto his butt. "Peter." [Y/N] nodded, eyeing his outfit suspiciously.

               "Hey!" Peter called out to Flash before turning to the two girls. His face was turning a deep scarlet colour.  "I was, uh... I was gonna go study, um, in the business center."

               [Y/N]'s eyes narrow as Liz replies, something about the older girls body language annoyed her. Why was she leaning so close to Peter? "Peter, you don't need to study. You're, like, the smartest guy I've ever met." She smiled at him, realising what she's said, her cheeks turn pink.

               "And besides... Um, a rebellious group activity the day before competition is good for morale... Um, well, I read that in a TED Talk, so, I—I heard it in a TED Talk. And I read a coaching book." She added, only making her comment even more awkward.

               Peters eyes widen and he starts to feel guilty. He felt horrible for using the trip and competitions for his personal needs — no matter how important they might be. He was still being an asshole. "Wow, you really... this is really important to you."

               Liz nods, "Yeah. It's our future. I'm not gonna screw it up." She says, smiling innocently at him before digging through her pocket and throwing Cherry Ripe at him. "Besides, we raided the minibar and these candy bars were, like, eleven dollars. So get your trunks on and come on."

               "Yeah Peter," said [Y/N]. "Join us, bring Ned too." His eyes widened and he stared at his feet awkwardly. Guilt ate away at him as his teammates stared and listened. Why must they have such good timing?

               "Come on!" Charles called out impatiently. Everyone else started at the three expectantly.

               "We're coming! We're coming!" [Y/N] called, grinning at the boy. Somehow though, she knew he wouldn't turn up. Call it intuition or whatever but she just knew.

—•—

WRITTEN: 09/08/19
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WORD COUNT: 1314

p.s. do you guys like the new chapter titles? i find them fun to make so i'm going to stick to them for a bit :)