Peter

Peter didn't understand why his heart was thrumming as he stood in line for coffee the next morning. Maybe it was because he was just waiting for the new girl who had been occupying his thoughts to show up for her morning fix. But there were only twenty minutes before the first morning bell was supposed to ring, and she was no where to be seen. He knew that after those twenty minutes were up she would be in french class sitting next to him.

He tossed the cup as he walked into the classroom. The energy in the room was low. The seat next to his was already occupied and the thumping of his heart increased. Her long hair was tied into two messy braids and her chin was propped on her forearm. Her eyes were focused on the window, following the clouds as the moved in the sky. She didn't even flinch when he sat down next to her.

He waited for her to acknowledge some form of his presence, a glance, a grin, something. He thought she had forgiven him for his frosty behavior when he saved her from becoming a hole in the floor.

"Hey, Ryland." She didn't move, didn't blink. He placed a hand on her shoulder, "Ryland?"

She jumped and looked up at him. "Hey, sorry. I was just…"

She looked down. He tried to smile at her, "Stuck in your mind?"

"Yeah," She grinned at him. A beautiful, shy grin, "Always stuck in my mind."

"I get that way too sometimes. One second I'm there then the next I'm gone." Ryland laughed softly. "Are you ready to speak some French?"

Ryland smirked at him, "Oui."

"Bonjour, ma classe. Today we will be talking about your famille." Mr. Dieye passed out sheets with vocabulary words listed out on them.

Peter's high hopes of them having an easy conversation was squashed when Ryland set right to work. The only time they communicated was when they agreed that they were both finished with the page of the textbook they had to share.

"So what's your family like?"

"What?" Ryland blinked at him with surprise.

"Your family. What are they like?"

"Oh. Um…" Ryland looked down at her paper. "It's small. Really small."

"Mine too."

Ryland nodded, "I've always wondered what it would be like to have a large family, you know? What it would be like for it to be the holidays and just be surrounded by people who just love each other."

"I've never really thought about it." For as long as he could remember it had been Aunt May, Uncle Ben, and himself on holidays. And that's how he liked it.

"I had a friend in Georgia who had fifteen cousins. They spent every holiday together. Even days like Labor Day and Memorial Day. One year I spent Thanksgiving with them and it was so hectic and loud, but it was like being in a warm bed. So much warmth and contentment. It was the best Thanksgiving."

"Where were your parents?"

Ryland paused as she tried to piece together how much she wanted to let Peter in, and Peter feared that she would clam up again. But she shrugged her shoulders, "My dad was probably on some film location in Dubai or Senegal."

"Maybe you'll have a big family like that one day."

"I hope so."

Peter let the conversation die and they continued to work. The silence held less of a chill than it had before. The bell rang and Ryland slung her book bag over her shoulder once more. She was about to walk away before she turned around.

"I'll see you in Calculus, Peter."

"Yeah, see you." He waited until she was out the door before he smiled a large, face cracking smile. He had successfully made it through a conversation with someone of the opposite sex without making a complete fool of himself. Mr. Dieye cleared his throat and looked at Peter over the rim of his glasses. Peter felt a flush of embarrassment rise over his cheeks as he cleared his throat, "Sorry, sir."

"I will just pretend I did not see that, Monsieur Parker." He looked down at the paper he was reading. Peter took that as his cue to leave. He bounced to his next class as he waited for his calculus class.

,*.

Ryland walked mindlessly into psychology. She had barely been able to avoid Flash's presence by ducking into the girl's restroom and waiting for a few seconds for him to leave. He was sitting and chatting with the blonde girl who had approached her during lunch the day before. She was smiling and nodding, but her eyes were focused on Ryland.

"There she is." Harry was smirking at Ryland. His slim fingers twirled a blue pen. His eyes ran themselves over her face and down to her converse clad feet. There was something about the way Harry looked at her that made her feel naked. "The talk of the town, the woman of the hour."

Ryland smiled and pretended to curtsy and bow for him, "That's me."

"How are you feeling?" Ryland slowly slid into her seat and shrugged.

"I'm fine. I…" She thought about the text she received this morning. "I'm in need of a good time, that's for sure."

"I'm all about having a good time. Come over to my place after school."

Ryland's heart dropped to her stomach and she grinned uneasily, "Not that kind of a good time."

"And I don't mean that kind of good time either. We can watch a movie and just relax." He put his hands up. "No funny business with me, Ryland."

"Sorry." Her shoulder's slumped as she rolled her eyes at herself. "At my last school when someone invited me for a 'good time', their hands ended up under my shirt and they ended up with a black eye."

"Damn, you threw a punch?"

"My grandfather taught me to fake miss them with a punch and nail them your elbow instead."

"He created a tough one, didn't he?"

She smiled, "He was my mom's dad. We called him the Crusher because he never let you win in any game. Even when I was a kid. He would never let me win just because I was a kid."

"Sounds like my dad, except I don't think I look like you do when I talk about him."

"What does that mean?"

"You have an affectionate look when you walk about him. I can't stand my dad."

"Really?"

"He's a pompous jackass." Harry's fingers tightened around the pen in his hand. "Nothing anyone does is good enough for him, you know? And especially because I…"

He abruptly stopped talking and his cool green eyes looked over at Ryland, who was staring at him waiting for him to continue. She didn't speak to him until he looked away from her.

"Because you?"

"Nothing." Harry inhaled deeply then forced a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Nothing, forget I said anything."

"Okay." Ryland smiled at him, and for a second he smiled a smile that touched his eyes. "I'll be there. Will there be snacks?"

He laughed, "I think that can be arranged."

"Awesome."

The next bell rang and Ryland decided to go off to her locker. Harry had to go talk to one of his teachers about his upcoming project so they agreed to meet back up for lunch. They parted at her locker. It wasn't until she was alone did she release the breath that she had been holding. She was looking into her locker when she felt as if she were no longer alone. Ryland slowly looked over her shoulder and jumped when she once again saw the blonde girl standing behind her.

"God." Ryland yelped and placed a hand over her chest. "What in the world?"

"I was just checking in on you and see if you wanted another chance at being in my crew."

Ryland shoved a book from her bag into the locker, "Listen, Brenda-"

"Brittany."

"Yeah, Brittany. I'm not really the cheerleading type. Or the clique type." Ryland turned to face her. "I think it would be better if we just did our own thing."

"Well, if you don't be my friend then you won't get into the cool parties or have fun sleepovers. What will you tell your kids twenty years from now? That you were a loser in high school?"

Oh, bless it. She shrugged, "I don't know, maybe I'll live a more exciting life in college."

Brittany stepped closer to her, "You know once Harry gets bored with you, he'll dump you and won't look back. He's done it to a lot of people, boys and girls. Don't come crying to me when you lose your only friend."

Ryland didn't respond to the girl. Instead she turned around and closed her locker. She gave her one more glance before walking away. Ryland rounded the corner with one last look over her shoulder. She was about to look forward again when her body was knocked over. The wind knocked out of her lungs as whatever ran her over landed on top of her. Stars burst in her vision.

It took a few seconds for her to come to. She groaned simultaneously with the person on top of her. Slowly she raised a hand to the back of her head, "Oh, man, ow."

"I'm so-" The person leaned up, and Ryland found herself looking into the puppy dog brown eyes of Peter Parker. "Ryland, hey. What's up?"

Ryland felt her eyebrows twitch, "Oh, you know. Just hanging out."

"I'm sorry. I was rushing and not paying attention." Ryland didn't know how hard she hit her head, but she felt herself dazed by Peter's lopsided grin. She couldn't resist smiling back at him. "I guess we should get up."

"I think it would help us get to lunch faster."

Peter positioned his hands on either side of her head before carefully lifting himself off of her. Once he was fully standing up, Peter stuck his hand out to help her up. She slid her hand into his and let him pull her off of the ground. It was when she was standing straight up that her vision seemed to go sideways. She leaned with it, her hand going to the bump forming on her head.

Peter's hands grasped her shoulders, "Woah, are you okay?"

"Yeah…Yeah. I just got a little dizzy standing up so fast, I guess." She tried to step again, but her world spun once more.

"How hard did you hit your head?" She tried to protest, but he gently moved her hand away from the spot on her head. He inspected it, his hands being careful as he moved the hair away from the sore spot. "We should probably get to the nurse."

"I'm fine. I just need to walk it off." She leaned down to pick her book bag up. Her fingers grazed the strap, but she felt another wave of dizziness. "Okay. Maybe she can get me an Advil or something."

Peter briefly let go of her and grabbed both of their book bags off of the ground. Slowly, he guided her to the nurse's office. It was a short walk to him. To Ryland, it felt like the mismatched tile floors expanded forever.

There were about three other student's already in the clinic when they arrived. A student was sitting in a chair next to the large brown desk. The nurse was standing in front of the student with her fingers feeling around his jaw line. Her sharp hazel eyes looked at Peter and Ryland.

"Yes?"

"We kind of…" Peter looked at Ryland. He looked embarrassed.

"I fell in the hallway and hit my head. I'm feeling a little bit dizzy."

She stepped away from the student she was helping and grabbed a thermometer off her desk. She gestured to one of the empty beds, "You're going to have to wait."

Ryland propped herself against the wall and Peter sat down next to her legs. She was looking at him curiously. "Is this payback for you saving my life yesterday?"

"What?"

"You know, you saved my life yesterday, so today you decided to take me out." She winced when she leaned her head against the wall. "With vengeance, apparently."

Peter felt his horrifying embarrassment rise once more, "What? No, of course not, Ryland. I swear it was an accident."

Ryland's lips pulled into the playful grin he was beginning to grow used to, "Relax, I'm only kidding. I would hope that if you were going to take me out, I sure hope it would be in a lot more effective way."

"If I were going yo take you out?" Peter shook his head, "How would you prefer to be taken out?"

"My dad is a movie director, so naturally I have a flare for the dramatics. So if you really want to take me out, please fling me from the Brooklyn Bridge or the Empire State Building." She laughed as he shook his head, "Something more exciting than being knocked flat on my back in a high school."

"How about we try not to be flung from anything, okay?"

"I'm just letting you know my preference. I have others if you'd like to know."

"Like?"

"Milk chocolate, roses, Americano, Return of the Jedi."

Peter laughed, "And those are?"

She made a gesture with her hands that signaled it was supposed to be obvious, "My preferences. Chocolate, flower, movie."

Peter felt something in his chest constrict. Was she flirting with him? He couldn't tell. If she was flirting, how was he supposed to respond? Nice preferences? He had to admit they were. She could have said her movie preference was something like The Notebook. What was he saying? He enjoyed The Notebook. It had a happy ending. Peter glanced at Ryland looking at him, waiting for him to respond. Luckily Mrs. Roberts came over to them.

"All right, let's take a look at that head." Much like he had done, she gently moved Ryland's hair away from the bump that had formed. "I don't think it's too serious. You probably just jolted yourself a little bit. We'll get some ice on the bump, and take it easy for a few days. What classes do you have left today?"

"Lunch and gym."

"Yeah, you're definitely not participating in gym today." Mrs. Roberts walked back to her desk. She grabbed a notepad off of the desk and scribbled something onto it. On her way back, she stopped by the mini fridge to grab a generic ice pack. "Give this to coach Ryan. Keep this on your head for about twenty minutes then you're free to go."

"Okay, thank you."

Mrs. Roberts placed the ice pack in Ryland's hand before guiding it to hold it over the bump. Ryland smiled as the nurse walked away. Peter couldn't help but feel guilty as he looked at the blue ice pack resting against her head. He should have sensed that she was coming around the corner when he was. It was one of the perks of having spidey reflexes. He had been so focused on listening to what Brittany was saying he hadn't thought of what came once Ryland walked away.

"You can go if you want." Ryland glanced at Peter.

"What?"

"You're missing lunch right now. You did your duty by at least getting me to the nurse's office."

"No, I caused this. I'm going to stick it out until the end."

Ryland placed a hand over her heart, "Oh my. A real life knight in shining armor."

"I've always been a sucker for damsels in distress."

The playfulness dropped from Ryland's face and it got very serious. "So what you're saying is I'm just another damsel in New York? Damn."

"No, I-" Peter felt his mouth open and close as he tried to come up with something to say, but the anxiety left when the playful look came back.

"I'm only kidding."

They smiled at each other, and the conversation came easily between them. The next twenty minutes flew by. Mrs. Roberts told them that they were having too much fun in the nurse's office, so they were told to go.

"All right, my Knight in Shining Armor." Ryland leaned against the lockers and looked up at him. She looked up at him with big blue eyes. He noticed that his cheeks were starting to hurt from how much he was smiling. "Thank you for coming to my rescue. Even though you were the cause of my needed rescue."

"Okay, okay you could have stopped at the thank you." Peter reached into his pocket for his phone, "You know, if you ever needed another rescue, you can always-"

"Ryland! Hey, where have you been?" Peter's hand stopped in his pocket as both of their heads turned to see Harry strolling down the hallway. He had one hand tucked in his pocket, and the other hand grasped the strap of his book bag. "I was worried when I didn't see you."

"I, uh," She glanced at Peter then gestured at her head, "I was putting a book in my book bag when I ran straight into Peter's locker. He was nice enough to get me to the nurse's office and help me ice my head."

Ryland didn't know what it was the compelled her to lie to Harry. Maybe it was because in a way she felt as though she were protecting Peter from Harry potentially making fun of him for mowing her down in the middle of the hallway. Peter looked at her with a confused glance, but she just grinned. Their looks were broken when Harry gently took Ryland's face between his hands and expected the darkening bruise. He smirked, "Damn, Parker, you really did a number on her."

Ryland pulled away with a roll of her eyes, "It was my fault. I just got lucky that he didn't leave me on the floor for too long. I'd have footprint bruises to match my one bruise."

"Well I'm assuming you can't go to gym class, so let's go."

Harry tugged her away from Peter. She glanced back at him. "Bye, Pete. I'll see you tomorrow. Bright and early for French."

"Bye." Peter gave a half wave before losing sight of her.

,*.

Ryland and Harry walked out of the school. Ryland was thrilled to be leaving school early, but part of her wanted to go back inside. She wanted to talk to Peter more. She felt so at ease in those twenty minutes of them talking. She glanced at Harry. She felt at ease with him, too, but there was something that made her second guess what she did and said around him.

Harry walked in front of her, and bowed, "My lady."

The car they were stopped at was a sleek, dark gray Mercedes. Her dad had offered that if she wanted to get a New York license she could have any car she wanted. But if she did that she would have to go to a private school on the outskirts of the city. Ryland had a feeling that if the kids in private schools in Georgia were bad, that there was no way the private schools in New York City were any better.

The interior was just as nice as the exterior. The black leather was smooth and soft against her skin. It still had the new car smell. Harry plopped in and started it. The car purred to life with ease.

"This is a very nice car for a seventeen year old."

Harry shrugged his shoulders, "My dad was on a business trip for my birthday, so to make up for it he told me I could pick anything and drive it right then and there off the lot."

"So naturally you picked the newest model in the Benz line?"

"Naturally." Ryland rolled her eyes at his smirk. She relaxed into the seat as he zoomed out of the school's parking lot.

It was a fifteen minute ride from the school to his apartment building. The entrance was marbled and gold, and it was very well lit. The lobby was quiet. The doorman stood next to the doors with a stiff posture. He bowed his head, "Mr. Osborne."

Harry didn't say anything back, just a polite nod. Ryland smiled at the doorman as she passed. She wiped her sweaty palms on her jeans.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, my head just still hurts from earlier." It wasn't a total lie. The bump was throbbing. But this could make or break her beginning friendship with Harry. He had assured her earlier that there was not going to be any funny business while hanging out, but just because he promised it doesn't mean he intended on keeping his word.

The first thing Ryland noticed about Harry's apartment was it was just as empty as hers. Empty in the sense that there were no personal photographs, no shoes out of place, no sign that anyone truly lived there.

"Mr. Osborn." A sophisticated looking man emerged from the shadows. Or the kitchen. She couldn't tell. He looked mildly surprised to see Ryland standing beside Harry. She forced a polite smile onto her face. She reached a hand out towards the butler and his face morphed into a thinly disguised look of disgust.

"Hello, I'm Ryland." The growing disgust on his face made Ryland drop her hand to her side and awkwardly clear her throat. She took a step closer to Harry. She faintly heard him chuckle.

"Ryland, this is our dear friend and butler, Charles Weekly."

"Pleasure." Charles tipped his head, but it was done in a way that made Ryland feel as though he were mocking her instead of actually pleased to meet her.

"We will be going to the theater room. If you will bring us something to snack on we would greatly appreciate it."

"Certainly."

Harry took her hand and led her to the dark wooden stairs. The layout of the upstairs was similar to hers. There was a long hallway filled with doors. All of them were closed, blocking a huge part of Ryland's curiosity. Towards the end of the hall, Harry stopped at the second to last door. He pushed the door open and led her in.

"Those other rooms are mostly guest bedrooms, my dad's room, and two of them are offices. This is my bedroom." Unlike the cream colored walls in her bedroom, Harry's were painted a dark navy blue with a thick duvet to match.

"Everything is so dark in here."

"Yeah, ever since my mom left my dad has had a thing against colors that could potentially bring him even a shred of happiness."

"You're so dramatic." Ryland said even though in her chest she knew very well how father's could be. She didn't know the last time her and her father actually had a conversation outside of him asking if she would rather have him have Rosa buy her birthday and Christmas gifts or just write her a check and stick it in her stocking. "I'm sure somewhere in him you bring him happiness."

"I'm sure. Deep, deep, deep." He leaned forward towards her as he emphasized the word deep. Ryland leaned away, giggling. "Down. But I don't want to talk about him."

He led her out of his room and to the room next door. The theatre room was long and narrow. There were only four chairs in there, two rows of two chairs side by side. Ryland plopped into one of the plush chairs. She grinned as she relaxed, "I wish I had a theater room in my apartment. But Rosa only likes to watch her telenovela's."

"That's funny. Okay, we have anything you could want to watch. I have every streaming site and we also still have DVD's."

"DVD's? How vintage of you."

"I know, I'm practically prehistoric."

They spent a few minutes flipping amongst the movies before finally landing on Silence of the Lambs. Charles eventually walked in with a platter filled with crackers, cheese, ham, and some sort of cheese spread. Ryland's stomach rumbled as a reminder that the last thing she had eaten was an apple on the go this morning duet her waking up late. And she had missed lunch due to her head injury. Charles set the plate on the cushioned armrest between Harry and Ryland. He didn't say anything as he departed.

"Want a soda or something?" Harry got up and walked to the corner of the room. Ryland nodded, her mouth already full with a cracker covered with the cheese spread. He chuckled and grabbed two red cans from the mini fridge.

He opened one can, but when he went to set it down his fingers caught on it. The can crashed to the ground and brown liquid soaked into the carpet. Harry swore under his breath and bent down. When he rested his hand on the middle section of the chair, it bumped the tray and flipped it over onto the floor.

"Oh, no." Ryland slid off the chair and flipped the platter over. She started picking up crackers and cheese, and she tried to avoid looking at the smear of what was left of the cheese spread in the carpet.

"Shit." He pressed his fingers to his forehead as if he were suffering from a migraine.

"I'm sure there's someway to get this up."

"This is so bad." Harry's eyes screwed shut. "Stop it."

"What?"

"Shut the hell up!" Shocked by the sudden change in his tone and voice made Ryland flinch away. "Stop it. Stop it!"

"Harry-"

His eyes opened once more. He looked shocked to see Ryland looking at him with wide blue eyes. "Ryland… I didn't… I wasn't…"

He trailed off and he swallowed harshly. "I think you should go. I'll pay for your cab ride home."

"No." Her voice was small, soft. "I got it."

Ryland felt stiff as she walked out of the theater room and back down the hallway. Charles was nowhere in sight when she arrived to the entrance. She didn't know how to feel on her ride home. Part of her had felt as if when he was yelling he wasn't talking to her. He was shocked when he opened his eyes. And he had gotten so pale.

"Hello, miss Ryland. Did you have a good time?" Rosa turned around from chopping vegetables. Her eyes widened and she came rushing over. "Your head. What happened?"

Ryland gently pulled away from Rosa. "I hit it at school. It was an accident. I'm fine, I promise."

"You need to be more careful. Your head is important." Rosa turned back to drop the chopped vegetables into the pot. "We are having my famous chicken and rice soup. Go rest. I will call you when it is ready."

Ryland felt as if her bones were lead as she climbed the stairs to her room. She dropped her book bag next to her bedroom door and collapsed against the pillows on her bed. Her phone buzzed quietly in her pocket. It took her a moment to find the will to fish it out of her pocket. She swiped on the screen and an unread message from Harry showed up.

From: Harry

I'm sorry I yelled at you… I just know my dad will freak if he sees the stains…It wasn't you.

Ryland rested the phone against her stomach before typing a quick 'It's okay' back. She didn't wait for him to respond. Instead she scrolled to the next message that she had left open, with no response.

Will be back Friday, see you for dinner 7.

Thank you for the reviews/follows/favorites! Sorry it took so long to upload. I have been working nonstop and life has just been crazy. Please leave a comment on what you think!