He still remembers the first time he saw her- it was the second week of freshman year and he was walking through the halls, thinking about how best to fix the fan in the living room at home.

He had stopped to get a drink of water from the fountain, but as he waited, he glanced past the large doors that led out to the cafeteria courtyard.

There was a girl leaning up against a tree, a thick textbook lying open in her hands, with her eyes skimming feverishly over the pages. As he watched, she reached up to tuck a strand of blonde hair that had fallen out of her ponytail behind an ear, then flipped a page, mouthing words to herself. She was the only one doing so- the weather was beautiful and the rest of the students were milling about, talking and laughing during the seven-minute passing period.

Intrigued, Peter forgot about the water and moved closer to the door. He could barely make out the words on the cover- something about pre-calculus and the integration of physics- before he really looked at her- really sized her up.

He didn't know who she was (they most definitely didn't have any classes together) but there was no denying that she was the prettiest girl he had seen at Midtown. Whoever she was, she had short blonde hair and large, large eyes and she was so slender he thought a gust of air might just break her in half. She was wearing a dark purple skirt and black thigh-high socks that ended just before they met the hem, revealing a tantalizing strip of pale white skin, and her blouse was open at the throat, the buttons flapping a little in the wind.

As he looked, she snapped the book shut, muttering to herself and turned around, bending over to place it in her bag. Peter felt his mouth go dry as the skirt lifted, revealing more skin, and shook his head, dazed. He couldn't help himself- he reached out to open the door- drink all but forgotten-but he bumped into a tall boy with a crew cut and a green jacket.

"What the fuck, man," The boy said, turning around.

Peter barely glanced at him, his hand on the door.

"I said, what the fuck," The boy reached out and grabbed him by the shoulder, whirling him around. Peter tried to take a step back, but the boy held firm, anger evident in his eyes. "What's your name, asshole?"

Peter looked out at the girl- she was finishing packing up and about to leave- and turned back, hastily saying, "Parker. Peter Parker."

"Parker, Peter Parker," The boy mocked, shoving him backwards. "Well, Puny Parker, haven't you ever learned any manners? You're not- supposed- to- push- people!" He punctuated each word with a shove, eventually sending him crashing back into a row of lockers.

Wincing, Peter tried to shake it off, keeping his head low and attempting to push past the boy he would eventually know as Flash Thompson, but Flash was having too much fun and a crowd was gathering, attracted to the promise of a fight.

In the end (after a few weak half-thrown punches on his part and several well aimed ones by Flash), he missed the girl and went to his next class with bruised ribs and the imprint of a locker grill on his back. He waited around the courtyard for the rest of the week but never saw her, and reluctantly figured it was probably a good thing (most of the school knew how Flash beat the shit out of him, and that was never a promising start to a relationship).

But he did ask around about her for a week until he knew her name, that she was also a freshman, that her father was a cop and that she was supposedly the smartest kid in his class.

It was actually a month later that he saw her again- he was late heading home after school and happened to skate by a certain classroom on his way out when he caught a glimpse of that same blonde hair and he jumped straight off the board, paying no attention as it went careening into a wall. She was giving some sort of speech to a group of students- and with a start, he realized it was the debate club.

He waited outside the classroom, listening to her speak, and when she finished, everyone clapped and started to gather up their things. Suddenly, a tiny Asian girl appeared before him, shouldering a backpack and looking at him questioningly.

"Are you from the photography club?" She asked.

"What?" He replied intelligently.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you not here to take photos? Because if you aren't, you can't hang around our meetings. This stuff is classified! Can you imagine what would happen if our points and strategies were leaked out to other teams in the area? Are you a spy? Ohmygod, are you spying on us for a different high school?" Her voice had risen in volume and pitch, and in an attempt to shut her up, Peter panicked.

"Yes, yes, I'm the photographer! I am, okay? Not a spy, not a spy!"

"Oh. Great." She relaxed, holding out a hand. "I'm May. Nice to meet you. We're wrapping up for today so I doubt you'll be able to do much- but if you want to come back next week?"

"Sure, sure," Peter said, rubbing the back of his head. "Next week. I'll be here."

"Great," She repeated, smiling. "We'll see you then."

Nodding quickly, Peter took off, scooping up his skateboard on the way. He felt light as a bird- next week! He was going to see her next week- and possibly introduce himself, maybe talk to her, maybe get her number- the only snag was the camera.

Well, whatever. That was easy enough- he had money saved up and Uncle Ben was good with these things- they could pick out one easily. He'd have to join the photography club too, but it wouldn't be a problem, extracurriculars were good for college apps...

As he skated home, Peter grinned to himself.

This was shaping up to be the start of a very good year.

Hello everyone! I am a huge, huge fan of the Peter/Gwen relationship thing and I loved the idea of exploring the small scenes and incidents that likely happened between them that weren't explored in the movies- so this little fic was born :) I intend to continue writing one-shots between them and posting them as follow up chapters- and a few will definitely live up to the T rating (perhaps even M, if it gets that far).

Anyway, I'd love any feedback you have, reviews make me very happy haha.

Thanks,

-BC