Say Something

She leaned against the cool metal of the lockers that lined the school halls. She watched as the throng of students rushed passed her to get to lunch. She chewed the inside of her cheek in irritation as she tried to look through each group for the familiar tall, shaggy brown haired boy. Peter wasn't in their math class last period, leaving her to fend for herself against the confusing numbers and letters of Calculus. She didn't have the math and science brain whereas Peter did, she on the other hand had a more artistic brain, always drawing in her notes during Math and Science.

She was growing impatient as the crowd was thinning. She sighed as she stood up straight and started to make her way to the cafeteria with the rest of the student body.

"Isabelle!"

She turned around to see her best friend, Peter Parker, running towards her, skateboard under his arm per usual. He was out of breath when he reached her. He smiled down at her. Forcing a weak smile Isabelle Henderson looked up at her friend.

"You're late. Where were you?" she asked. "You left me alone to figure out how to solve equations in Calculus."

Peter chuckled as he rubbed the back of his neck, like he always did when he was nervous or felt awkward. "Yeah, sorry about that."

"Where were you anyways?"

"Aunt May needed me to take her to a doctor's appointment," he hastily replied.

Isabelle looked up at him, skeptical, but shrugged her shoulders accepting his answer knowing that that was all she was going to get from him. But it was a viable explanation seeing as his aunt had no other way of getting anywhere by herself. Looking up to say something to Peter she noticed a bruise forming on his cheek.

"Peter, what happened?" she gasped, standing on her toes to get a better look at the wound.

"Oh uh I uh ran into the door at the doctor's office," Peter stuttered.

"You ran into the door?" she repeated.

"Is that an echo I hear?" he asked, putting a hand to his ear.

"Hilarious," Isabelle deadpanned. "You should probably get that looked at."

"I'll be fine, don't worry about it," Peter smiled.

"Okay, whatever you say, Pete."

Isabelle shook her head as she looked ahead of them. Peter had been acting strange for months now. She noticed it had started around the time his Uncle Ben died. It was a hard time for him and Aunt May, she knew that and she was there for him even though he had pushed her away multiple times. But he got worse as the days went by. He was always acting like he had some sort of secret and he would be busy whenever she called him up. Now, Isabelle felt like he was hardly ever there. And whenever he would appear she always saw him with bruises, scrapes, and cuts. But the next day they'd be gone, as if they were never there.

Peter was changing, very quickly in the last few months. Don't get her wrong, Isabelle didn't care, but what she did care about was his well-being. Peter had been her best friend since freshman year. He was the first person to make her feel less like the new girl when she moved to New York from Alabama. The first day of school she felt like an outsider and was terrified until she ran into Peter (literally). She was rushing through the halls to find one of her classes when she ran into him. After apologizing profusely to him he struck up a small conversation with her and offered to help her find her class. Since then the two had been inseparable. That is until now.

"But seriously," Isabelle began as she got her tray of food and walked over to a table with Peter. "Where are you running off to? You randomly disappear throughout the day. Are you an undercover spy or something?"

Peter laughed at her accusation. "You caught me."

"Ha. You wish you were that cool," she teased, taking a seat.

Peter gasped and put a hand over his heart. "You don't think I'm cool? All this time it's been a lie."

Isabelle rolled her eyes. "Drama queen."

"Now what are you two arguing about?" Gwen asked as she took the seat next to Isabelle.

Isabelle greeted Gwen with a smile. She enjoyed having a girl to talk with about things that she wouldn't tell Peter about. She was also happy that even though Peter and Gwen dating didn't last long they still remained friends. If any other couple it would have been awkward to be sitting with them after breaking up. Isabelle was glad that it wasn't like that for Gwen and Peter.

"We're not arguing, I'm only telling Peter how much of a drama queen he is," Isabelle stated while munching on a fry.

"Ah," Gwen said in understanding. "He does tend to have his moments."

"What? I do not!" Peter defended.

The two girls smirked at him. "Point proven," Gwen said with a laugh. She turned to Isabelle. "Hey, isn't your birthday in three days?"

"Yeah. My little sister is already cutting out a banner and other decorations," Isabelle laughed. "She's planning on decorating the whole house I think."

"Aw how cute," Gwen cooed. "Are you not doing anything for her then Peter?"

"I was planning on taking her to see a movie," Peter said, sliding some tickets onto the table. "But I mean if Jenny is planning on throwing a party for you, then I guess I can just sell these."

Isabelle grabbed one of the tickets, reading the movie title as her eyes grew wide. "You didn't," she said incredulously.

Peter laughed. "I did."

"It was sold out. How did you get tickets for it?" she asked, a smile spreading across her face.

"I have my ways," Peter grinned.

Gwen shook her head and laughed. "You two are one of a kind."

ooOOoo

Isabelle stood outside the theater as the wind blew around her, causing a chill to run up her spine. She sighed, her breath clouding in front of her face. "Where is he?"

She looked at her phone to see that it was five minutes until the movie started. She looked up and down the street, but no sign of her friend. Pulling her coat around her tightly she looked at her phone one more time before shaking her head. She had it. She walked with the crowd of other movie goers without another glance behind her.

ooOOoo

Peter walked up to the gate of his home. Sore all over he couldn't wait to lay in bed. What started out as a quick patrol around the block turned into a car chase and fighting thugs. Walking up the path he stopped seeing someone on the door steps.

"Bells?" he questioned as he approached the girl. "What are you doing here?"

Isabelle looked up with a defeated face. Holding out her hand she held a chocolate cupcake with white icing and chocolate sprinkles.

"Oh cool thanks," Peter said, taking the cupcake and unwrapping it. "I'm starving," he said through a mouth full of cake. He swallowed. "What's it for?"

"Take a guess," Isabelle said. She stood up with her arms folded across her chest, staring at him as she waited for him to answer.

Peter stared at her for a minute before his eyes widened. "Your birthday! Oh my god, Bells I am so so sorry. I'll make it up to yo-"

"Save it, Peter," she said bitterly.

"Bells, I can explain," he started. "I was with Gwen studying for our test in Physics tomorrow and I-"

"Gwen didn't forget. She was the first person to say happy birthday to me today. I thought it was going to be you, my best friend. But I never heard it. I wasn't expecting a gift, but at least a happy birthday, Pete," she said looking at him with hurt in her eyes.

"Bells, please, listen I-"

"No you listen! Ever since your uncle died you've changed. I was there for you when he died even when you pushed me away. You went back to your old self, which I was glad you did, but ever since then you've been acting different. You disappear randomly throughout the day; when you show up you're covered in bruises and cuts. But the next day they are gone. But what bugs me most is when we make plans you either have to cancel or completely forget about them! You forgot my birthday. We had made plans for today two days ago! But as usual, you forgot and left me alone at the theater."

"Isabelle, I'm sorry," Peter said weakly, not sure what to do with the enrage female.

"Yeah so you say. Usually when you say sorry it means you won't do it again. How many times have you said sorry to me?" she accused. "More than what I'd like to hear. Look at you! You look like you got run over in the subway! What? Are you in a gang or something?"

"What?" Peter exclaimed. "No, I'm not in a gang. Why would you think that?"

"Because you always show up beat up and limping!" she cried. "What's your excuse for that? Because I don't think it's anything to do with Aunt May. I hope you realize that by now I don't believe majority of your excuses. No way everything you do involves Aunt May. Do you have an actual excuse? Huh?"

Peter just stood there. He didn't know what to say and he sure as hell couldn't tell her that he was Spider Man. He hung his head.

"Say something!" she screamed, her voice broken and her eyes stinging from tears forming in them.

"Bells," Peter pleaded.

"Don't call me that," she said icily. "Don't call me Bells, don't call me, text me, anything! I don't want to see you anymore, Peter! I'm done! I give up!"

Isabelle shoved passed Peter, leaving him there, to watch his best friend leave.