Peter and Ned had been friends for years. They constantly bonded over their love for science and Star Wars. Ned was the only person who knew that Peter was Spider-man. It killed him every day that he couldn't just blurt out Peter's secret to everyone, but he made it through. Having to keep such a big secret made it difficult for Ned to keep all the other little secrets he was supposed to keep.
It was an ordinary Thursday afternoon. Peter was at his locker staring across the hall at Holmes. She had moved to Queens a couple of years ago. She didn't really talk to many people and seemed to prefer the company of books to people. She was wearing a green jumper with the words "IF LOOKS COULD KALE" written across the front as she leaned against the wall with a book in her hands.
Peter had immediately noticed her the moment she walked through the doors of his advanced physics class. Her blue hair was flowing and her green eyes were glowing behind her adorable round glasses. Her cheeks were dotted with freckles and she was wearing a Doctor Who scarf which had Peter's nerd senses tingling.
Peter was disturbed from his daydream state when Ned walked in front of him, blocking his view.
"Hey man. What are you staring at?" Ned asked turning around to face the direction Peter was looking in.
"Nothing." Peter said, immediately turning around to fiddle with his books in his locker. He couldn't let Ned know about his secret crush. If he found out it would no longer be a secret crush.
"Why are you staring at Holmes?" Ned said turning around to face Peter, who was now blushing profusely.
"No reason." Peter squeaked, his voice getting high as he tried to lie to Ned.
"Oh my gosh. You like the new girl." Ned said, realising why Peter was staring at her.
Peter looked horrified when he finally made eye contact with Ned. "What are you talking about? No I don't." Peter grabbed his bag, now filled with books, and shut his locker, turning to walk away.
"Yes you do." Ned said scuttling after him.
"So what if I do?" Peter said stopping and turning to face Ned.
"You should talk to her." Ned said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Or ask her out. Do something dude!"
"I'll pass." Peter said, walking out the doors of the school. Ned followed shaking his head. He never understood why Peter didn't have much confidence when it came to girls. He was the smartest kid in school and he was pretty cute, if you're into the whole nerdy guy thing. Not to mention, the guy had super powers. Not that anyone knew that last bit.
"Come on Peter." Ned said. "How do you expect to ever get a girlfriend if you won't even talk to the girl you like."
"Ned, the last time I went out with a girl, her father ended up being a supervillain, who I put in jail." Peter said walking at a faster pace, wanting the conversation to end already.
"But what are the odds of that happening again?" Ned said nearly having to run to keep up with Peter's quick strides. Peter stopped suddenly causing Ned to bump into him.
"Fine. If I promise to talk to her tomorrow, will you drop the subject?" Peter had a pleading look on his face. He really didn't like talking about this type of thing.
"Absolutely." Ned said. "First thing tomorrow, you gotta talk to her or I'll tell everyone about your little crush. And by everyone, I mean Michelle, who will then tell the whole school."
"I promise. I'll talk to her. First thing tomorrow." Peter said crossing his heart.
The two boys continued their journey's home, one more nervous than when he left school.
When Peter arrived at school the next day he was extremely nervous. He didn't know why he was so nervous. It wasn't as if he was going to ask her out, he was just going to talk to her. He was pacing outside of the library. He knew she was in there. Every morning she would sit at the end of aisle 2 and read. She always had her nose stuck in a book.
Peter saw Ned coming down the hall and decided to be brave. He turned around and entered the library, taking a deep breath. 'You can do this,' he told himself. 'Come on Peter. You fight bad guys every night and you can't talk to a pretty girl.' He let out the breath he was holding and walked towards aisle 2.
He saw her sitting there and was about to approach her when he lost his courage. She looked really pretty today. Well, she always looked pretty in Peter's eyes. She had her long blue hair in a messy braid, trailing over her shoulder. Peter walked right passed the row and to the next one. He took a few deep breaths and tried to psych himself up. He never got this nervous around Liz. Probably because he knew he never had a shot with her. She was a popular senior, and he was a nobody sophomore. 'You got this.' He thought to himself.
He turned around and approached the row of books she was sitting in. This time he didn't walk right past and actually entered. He approached her slowly, being very quiet. He looked down at the book in her lap and nearly laughed out loud at the irony. She was reading Sherlock Holmes. He began to wonder if maybe he was her namesake.
"You know, I always was more of an Agatha Christie fan." Peter heard himself say.
Holmes startled at the voice of a stranger. She looked up and saw a familiar face. Peter and Holmes shared two classes together, Physics and gym. They never talked to each other, they didn't even sit near each other, but Peter always admired her from afar.
Holmes let out a small, nervous laugh and returned to her book. Peter knew this was going to be difficult. The girl was awfully shy so starting an actual conversation was going to be a challenge. But who didn't love a challenge?
"I'm Peter. Peter Parker." He claimed, waving a little awkwardly.
Holmes looked up and smiled slightly. "Holmes," was all she said. She was very quiet but Peter couldn't help but notice how smooth her voice sounded.
"I know." Peter blurted, eyes widening, immediately realising how creepy that sounded. "I-I-I mean, we have physics together." He corrected himself, blushing copiously.
"And gym." She added, smiling at his nervousness. Holmes knew exactly who Peter was. He was extremely smart and hung around with his best friend Ned all the time.
"Right. Gym." Peter affirmed, sighing with relief. "So are you named after him?" he asked sitting down next to her. They were so close but not yet touching. Peter didn't want to frighten her.
Holmes nodded, smiling at the nerdy boy. "M-my p-parents first met when they both reached for the same copy of Sherlock at the bookshop." She stuttered. Peter was lucky he had great hearing. She spoke so softly it was very difficult to hear her. Peter had never met someone who got nervous around him. Normally it was him doing the stuttering.
"That's actually really cool." He commented, smiling brightly over the fact that he was now actually having a conversation with the girl he had liked for weeks. "My parents just liked the name Peter, I suppose." He shrugged.
Holmes just smiled at Peter and returned her gaze to her book. Peter sat there for a moment, taking in her beauty. She was so effortlessly pretty. It drove Peter insane. He cast his eyes to the bookmark that was sitting on the floor next to her. He couldn't help but smile when he saw it.
"You like spiders?" Peter asked nodding towards her bookmark.
Holmes followed Peter's gaze and noticed her bookmark. "Oh," she marvelled with surprise. "Yeah. They're really fascinating." She said picking up the bookmark and placing it in her book. "Did you know when a spider walks it always has four legs on the ground and four legs off the ground?"
Peter smiled at her. It was a rather odd fascination. Spiders freaked most people out. But not this girl. "That's actually pretty interesting." He declared, genuinely finding the fact interesting.
"I was so excited when I found out we were moving here." She gushed, smiling brightly.
"Why was that?" Peter asked curiously. "Queens is pretty ordinary."
"Spider-man lives here." She beamed excitedly. "When I first saw him on the internet I thought it was fake, but then he kept showing up and I grew more curious. He's a man, with superpowers that make him similar to a spider."
"He's pretty awesome." Peter agreed. "I've actually seen him. He's pretty amazing." He said. He felt kind of weird talking about himself like this. He'd never really done it before but he really wanted to impress this girl and if talking about spider-man did that, then he wasn't going to complain.
"I'd love to study him one day. Find out what his webs are made from, find out how he got his powers." She gushed. Peter had never heard Holmes talk this much. She always kept to herself, only talking to people if she had to. She had never seemed this enthusiastic about something before either. Although there was this one time in the hallway, Peter was watching her read, it must have been a good ending because her face lit up like a Christmas tree. She looked really beautiful when she was happy.
"Maybe someday you'll meet him." Peter smiled at her.
"Hopefully." She smiled back. The pair just sat there, smiling at each other.
Their moment was disturbed when the bell rang. Peter jumped up and reached down to help Holmes up. She smiled and thanked him.
"I guess I'll see you in physics later?" Peter asked unsurely.
"I guess you will." Holmes agreed, grabbing her stuff and walking away.
"It was nice talking to you." Peter uttered hurriedly to her retreating figure.
She turned around and smiled at him once more. "It was nice talking to you too."
"We should do it again sometime." Peter said, sounding a little more confident this time.
"Definitely." She replied. "You know where to find me." She stated before she disappeared around the corner.
Peter sighed and rested his back against the bookshelf closest to him. He couldn't believe he got through an entire conversation with the girl he was crushing on, without making a total fool of himself.
For the rest of the day he couldn't stop smiling whenever he thought back to the conversation he had that morning. Holmes was really something, and he couldn't wait to get to know her more. There was just something about her that really drew Peter in. He had never met a girl like her. Who was quiet and shy but would get extremely confident when talking about spiders of all things.
He knew exactly what a certain superhero would be doing that afternoon, and it didn't involve grand theft bicycles or churros.