Winning the Game

Chapter 2

Peter was wearing long sleeves again.

Ned already knew the deal. If Peter wore a long-sleeved shirt to school that day, it meant the night before he was hurting himself. It meant that tomorrow Peter would bare his arms, and everyone would be none the wiser to his freshly healed wounds. But Ned wasn't just everyone; he was Peter's best friend.

"I thought we talked about this," Ned whispered to Peter during their history class. They sat next to each for years in history, but Peter wasn't as keen to pass funny notes or update Ned on his Spider-Man ventures anymore.

"Talked about what?" Peter whispered back, instinctually gripping the edges of his sleeves and pulling them down past his hands.

Ned raised his eyebrows pointedly and Peter sighed.

"I had a rough night, and I couldn't sleep. I kept thinking about...stuff."

Ned's face automatically contorted into a sympathetic smile even though he knew Peter hated being pitied.

"If you would just talk to someone, I'm sure they can help you deal with this," Ned suggested. "Even if you start small, like the school guidance counselor."

Peter shook his head. "I can't talk to anyone because no one can know who I really am."

Ned's heartstrings pulled because he knew it was true.

"Do you boys want to share with the rest of the class what's so important that you're talking about it during my lesson?" The history teacher glared at Peter and Ned, immediately shushing them.

"Uh, no, sorry sir," Ned said quickly.

Peter silently thanked the uptight teacher because he didn't want to talk to Ned about this anymore. Ned, like everyone else, would never understand what Peter was going through.

He was completely alone.

~~

         Y/N was starting to hate her lunch table.

         It used to be a lot more fun when she could relate to the others about their luxury cars and posh family vacations, but now that her family was teetering on the edge of being broke, she felt like an outcast.

         "Mother said she's buying me a Ferrari for my birthday this year," Flash boasted, picking the tomatoes out of his salad Y/N was sure one of his family's servants packed him.

         Y/N took a quick sip of water to hide her smile. She couldn't believe she never noticed how similar Flash was to Draco Malfoy from Harry Potter.

         The other teenagers at the table ooh'd and ahh'd over this information. Y/N just kept at her peach cup that she got out of the fridge this morning.

Packed lunches were encouraged in her friend group, seeing as they were too good for cheap and bordering-on-inedible school food. But, instead of packing her favorite and friend-approved kale salad mix with salmon and cheese imported from France, Y/N now brought fruit cups from the local grocery store and sandwiches...

         "So, how's your dad, Y/N?"

         Y/N looked up from her sad excuse for a lunch and made eye contact with the speaker: her frenemy, Chloe Holt. Her parents owned a string of hotels throughout the country, and she had the pompous attitude to prove it. Y/N knew Chloe's question was really a jab at her current status in society.

         "Um, he's good. Still looking for a job. It's been difficult with people dragging his name through the mud when they're so ignorant to the whole situation," Y/N said, nonchalantly. Really, she was jabbing right back, since Chloe's mother had been attending socialite dinners and running her mouth about how slimy Y/N's father was.

         Chloe gave a snide smile and went back to poking at her salad. She'd probably eat three bites before claiming she was full.

         Carli leaned over and nudged Y/N's shoulder. "Don't listen to her. She's had too many bleach jobs for that obviously fake blonde hair she thinks looks good."

         Y/N giggled with her best friend. Throughout her whole snobby friend group, Carli Rodriguez was the only one who was completely down to earth. Y/N thought she was, too, but that was before her life got flipped upside down and she realized how truly materialistic she was.

         Carli's family was well-off, but they never tried to rub it in people's faces the way all their other friends' families did. Her parents both made their own fortunes through respectable careers: her dad's a lawyer for the wrongfully convicted and her mom's a neurosurgeon. They drove average cars and lived in a beautiful brownstone apartment that always smelled like sandalwood and every possible surface was littered with photos of Carli, her parents, and her brothers grinning widely together. Very unlike Y/N's old apartment, which had been very white and minimalist. Barely any pictures of Y/N smiling with her parents.

         "You know, Y/N," Flash announced randomly to their table. "If you're struggling with money, I have a great idea for you to start making some."

         Y/N blushed and felt belittled, but everyone was on the edge of their seats wondering what Flash's proposal was about to be.

"Okay, Flash," Y/N said, composing herself quickly and covering up how much his comment affected her. "I'll bite. What's your novel idea?"

         "My father has been giving me more money recently to stop asking him to take me golfing, so I thought of a fun way to spend it," Flash said, glazing over how neglected he was by his parents. Y/N would feel bad for him if he wasn't such an asshole to everyone.

         "Are you getting to the point anytime soon?"

         "Eager, are we?" Flash wiggled his eyebrows, drunk on how much attention he was finally receiving from everyone.

         "Just tell everyone, Flash," Carli said, annoyed.

"Fine," Flash sighed. "I say we play a game. You and me try to make the two biggest losers in school fall in love with ya and get them crowned king or queen next to us at prom."

"I thought you said there was money involved?" Y/N folded her arms across her chest.

"Well, if you win, I'll give you my savings," Flash stated.

"And how much is your savings?"

"As of now, $9,600, but that could change by the time prom comes around," Flash replied, looking very smug about his bank account despite not having earned a dime of it himself.

"Okay," Y/N said slowly. "And what if, by some groundbreaking miracle, you win?"

Flash smiled suggestively. "Then, you sleep with me."

"Oh, gross," Carli exclaimed. "Don't be such a perv, Flash!"

But, Y/N considered the deal. She knew she was hot, and she knew she could be charismatic. She was also the most popular girl in school, to Chloe's obvious chagrin, so she knew pretty much all the guys in school wanted her. The straight ones, at least. Even the gay guys were dying to be within her inner circle. She could have this game in the bag.

"Who are our targets?" Y/N asked defiantly. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Carli give her a look that said, You're not seriously considering this?!

"I have to woo Michelle Jones, and you have to woo..." Flash trailed off as his eyes swept the lunchroom, looking for the perfect innocent dork for Y/N. "...Penis Parker."

An image of Peter curled up on his fire escape sobbing in the dark flashed briefly across Y/N's mind, but she shook it out her head. She needed money. She wanted to go to college, to keep her car, to buy her favorite clothing brands. She couldn't worry about Peter Parker's life right now. She had to worry about her own.

"Deal," Y/N's declared, and stuck out her hand to shake on it.

Carli shook her head in disbelief. "This isn't going to end well."

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Author's Note:

Hi everyone! Let me know if you're enjoying this story, and also check out my other one! Please comment and vote! :)