MJ was in over her head now, she had never had a crush before and the feeling in the pit of her stomach wouldn't go away. She couldn't focus on school or art or even decathlon, her grades were still okay but they were dropping everyday. She wanted to do the work and keep up her grades but every time she looked up from her work she got distracted by the messy curly brown hair in front of her face. Peter Parker was the last person she ever expected to fall for, he was a geek, and goofy, and not to mention the fact that he is a SUPER HERO! But as hard as she tried her eyes would always wander back to him.
At lunch she had slowly begun to scoot closer to Peter and Ned but was careful not to get to close to soon, after about a week Ned looked at her while she was reading and cautiously asked " Hey, MJ wanna sit over here?" MJ was slightly shocked by Ned's sudden offer but she wouldn't let it show. "Fine, but only if I can have some of your gummy worms," she quipped with her best nonchalant shrug as she scooted closer to where the two guys were seated. They would often argue over fandoms or make plans for the night after Peter got done with the so called "Stark Internship". MJ knew this was code for Peter getting in the brightly colored onesie and jumping from building to building for a few hours. She would often make quick remarks during their conversations and they didn't seem to mind, in fact all three seemed quite content when she chimed in.
She was enjoying hanging out with Peter and Ned, even though she was still quiet, she liked having someone to talk to and make fun of. They were probably the only two people in their school who were more socially akward than her. She liked the feeling of fitting into a group and eventually she started getting invited to come over to Peter's to study or just hang out. When Peter first asked her if she wanted to come over to hang out she lost it, it was like she was entering a minefield with no map, in the dark, alone. After what seemed like an eternity of her freaking out she noticed that the guys were still waiting for an answer. "YES!" she replied a little louder and faster than she wanted to, but the guys didn't seem to notice.
After finishing a Biology quiz and finishing out her chapter of "Of Human Bondage" she headed out of the school to the bike racks, where she met up with Peter and Ned. She spotted Peter almost immediately after the bell, as he made his way over to her Flash jumped in front of him. He said something inaudible to Peter while glancing back at MJ then back at Peter. Peter just shrugged his shoulders and pushed past Flash with a blank stare on his face, but as he got closer a smile formed on his face and he leaned back on the bike rack next to MJ.
"Where is Ned?" she asked, not entirely comfortable being alone with him and being so close she could smell the clean laundry detergent on his clothes. "Oh, he said he forgot something in his locker he should be coming soon, Peter responded looking at MJ with his deep brown eyes, as soon as she saw him looking at her she opened her book with lightning speed and began pretending to read just so she could avoid eye contact. Eventually Ned came out and the trio began walking to Peter's house, it was only a few blocks from school and MJ usually walked a lot further so the walk felt short.
Once she was inside MJ felt surprisingly comfortable with everything, she had Ned and Peter and May to talk to and for the first time she had friends. Peter walked into the kitchen after a short hello to May and threw some snacks onto a paper plate and walked to his room, Ned followed without being told and MJ just wandered around scanning the living room before slowly walking into Peter's room. There was Star Wars stuff everywhere, MJ was pretty sure she was in a galaxy far far away. She attempted to stifle her amazement but holy crap it was like Star Wars and geek heaven had a baby and that was Peter Parker's bedroom.
While she had been taking in all of the decor in the room the guys had already sat down and started playing "super hero smash brothers" MJ laughed and sat down in between the guys so she could watch, she didn't play a lot of video games so she decided just to enjoy the sounds of the game and relax after a long day at school, "So this is your idea of studying?" she laughed, pulling her knees up to her chest and resting her chin on her knees. " We will study later, but for know we are just going to take a break okay mom?" Ned laughed at his joke and both Peter and MJ joined in.
The guys got back to playing their game and MJ watched for a bit, the decided to get a snack and read another chapter of her book. She grabbed the Pop-Tart off of the plate and began eating it slowly while reading her book, she can't remember falling asleep, she can't remember being carried to a bed, and she can't remember the blanket being put on top of her before everything went dark.