Spider-Man Season One: Freestyle

5-3: Catch Me If You Can Part 3

I was doing my best to stay positive.

I kept trying to remind myself that Amadeus was a very good student who definitely deserved some of the attention he was getting. I reminded myself that Amadeus had given me no indication that he was a bad person. I was definitely just overreacting.

I was busy reminding myself when I saw Harry walking past me. Suddenly, I desperately needed someone to talk to. "Harry! Wait up!"

However, to my surprise, he didn't really slow down at all. He glanced back. "Sorry, Pete. I got to talk to someone. Maybe later."

"But...Harry..!" I called, but he was moving with a purpose, and the crowd closed up around me. "Please..."

I sighed. 

"Ouch. Try not to let it bother you, Parker." I turned around and saw Eric standing there with a half smile.

I shook my head and turned around to keep moving. "Now is really not the time."

However, he put a hand on my shoulder and turned me around. "Are you sure? Because I think you'll find this better than what you're expecting."

I didn't face him, but I stopped and grunted, "Fine. Shoot."

"You know I'm friends with Harry, right? And...for whatever reason, he's friends with you now. N-no offense to you, though. You're great, and a...um, very cool..."

"Please move on."

He snapped his fingers. "Of course. Anyway...When all this Cho stuff started, Harry was pretty busy, but apparently not too busy to notice you and think about you. Which is...why I'm here."

He put his hands in his pockets with a sigh. "I know that it probably wasn't the best thing to make that joke to you the other day. But, I mean, you know me...I can't just...leave something alone." He sighed. "I'm sorry. And I hopes this blows over soon. You don't deserve the unneeded attention."

I looked back at him. He hung his head a little, but also fidgeted with his leg, which told me he was still pretty anxious for me to respond.

Until then, I'd never really looked at Eric O'Grady as anyone besides one of the cool guys who did whatever he wanted because he thought it was fun. But it wasn't a drastic change either...I could just...see that he was looking a little deeper. It was nice.

I grinned a little. "Alright. Thanks. It's cool."

He seemed like a weight came off his shoulders. "Thank you so much. I gotta go."

And just like that, he was gone. He reminded me of Speed Demon, except not a total asshole.

And then I was back to thinking of Speed Demon. Hooray.

---

Sitting in the library during tutoring bell was actually the worst part. Mary Jane was still with Amadeus, no one else ever came to me for tutoring, and all by my lonesome was the perfect place to dwell on how I'd almost died yesterday.

I grabbed my backpack and rummaged around, until I caught hold of my Algebra binder, and pulled it out to distract myself with some equations (man, I am so lame). 

I sat there working for a good while, and then suddenly heard Amadeus' voice jolt me back to reality.

"Hi, Peter!" He sat himself down in the seat in front of me with a thud, and extended his arm across the table. "It's good to see you again."

I blinked in confusion for a few seconds, then remembered that he had asked to meet with me. "Right." I replied, as I gave him my hand.

As we shook, he continued. "I'm sorry we couldn't talk yesterday.  I looked at more of the specific programs in your school yesterday, so I didn't get a chance."