Okay, so hi guys. Sorry about the incredibly long delay, but I've just finished my uni apps (thank god). And because I'm so late, I have a little extra bonus at the bottom.

The usual disclaimer: I don't own Spider-Man.

Yay.

She's Just A Bit Rebellious

Chapter 11: MJ's Acting Tips

"Okay," MJ says for the thirteenth time. "Okay. So you missed your party because you were kidnapped?"

Gwen sighs. "Yes, MJ. I was kidnapped."

MJ pouts for a whole second, then: "But who was going to check my makeup?"

Gwen rolls her eyes.

Then MJ thinks for another whole second: "How was it?"

Gwen looks up from her textbook (they're supposed to be studying but really, they're sitting and talking about her party and Harry and Gwen's hoping that MJ's going to bring up Peter).

"Sucked."

"I guess so. No hot bod kidnappers?"

Gwen lets out a scandalous "Mary Jane!" before settling back down with her best friend. She knows MJ's teasing and that she isn't really this daft, and it's such a refreshing change from sympathetic teachers and quiet Dr. Caverly and classmates teaching her like fine china. MJ isn't one to give too much sympathy when someone didn't need it, and Gwen appreciates that.

Gwen tunes back in to MJ's blabbering again: "… so he took me out to this super fancy restaurant and I think the waiter was checking me out and he got so jealous, and it was so, like, cute! … Anyway. I was talking to Harry and I think you and your boy toy should come with us for a double date. Wouldn't that be fun?"

Gwen winced. "Um, about that… I dunno."

"Why not?"

"I'm just busy."

MJ lets out a mocking gasp. "With that internship of yours? You'd miss a date for test tubes!?"

Gwen's patience is running out. "No, MJ…"

But MJ's not listening.

"…Or is it that you don't like going out with me because I always order that bubble tea drink and you find it super weird? Or it's because you're scared I'll get drunk and sing Ode To Joy again, isn't it? Because I promise I won't!"

"MJ!" Gwen snaps. "It's because I don't have a… hot bod… to go with."

MJ blinks. "I'd say Peter's pretty yummy. Don't you think so?"

Gwen nearly cries. "Yes… yes I do. But he's not my hot bod."

MJ swallows. "So, whose is he?"

"Nobody's."

"What?"

Gwen finally sighs. "I think we've broken up."

That night, she thinks MJ went through more tissues than Gwen did at the prospect of a double date being cancelled.

School for the next week is awkward and suffocating. Not only are they treating her like fine china, there are rumours about why the boy, Peter, who follows her around like a puppy is ignoring her.

They think Gwen's cheated on him.

Which breaks her heart into a million little pieces because nobody really understands how much the boy means to her. He was her symbol of rebellion when she dated someone her father disapproved of. Then he was her symbol of broken promises which broke her heart, and then mended promises and hope again. Forget about cheating, she wouldn't even be able to keep what she had for breakfast a secret.

And therein lies the problem, she supposes. Peter tells her that he's Spider-Man on the first date-thing they've ever had (the awkward one where her dad all but threatens to shoot the boy for not finishing his stupid fish), and Gwen's been keeping this from him for god knows how long. In the simple prerequisite of trust, Peter opens himself up to her and she keeps one of the biggest parts of her life a secret.

I don't deserve him, she catches herself sniffling sometimes.

She searches for Harry because Harry's the only one who knows what's happening and what to do. She finds him fooling around with MJ. Unsurprisingly, Peter wanders away the second he sees Gwen.

Swallowing her hurt, she tugs lightly on Harry's sleeve and asks to talk to him in private.

That's something else she likes about MJ: she doesn't butt her head in. Instead, she saunters away, after blowing a kiss to Harry and giving him a flirtatious wink.

Harry turns to her. "What?"

"Um… Can we talk in private?"

"No."

"Oh." She wonders at Harry's standoffishness. The look he's giving her is exactly the same as the one he gave her the night she went to the bowling alley to confront Peter.

Somewhere, at the back of her mind, she recognizes it as disdain.

She brushes it off. "Harry, you know the thing nobody knows about? The thing I told you about earlier?"

"Yeah?"

"I think Peter might know."

"Yeah."

"…"

"Well. I'll catch you around." He turns to leave.

"Harry!" She yanks on his sleeve again. "Come on, Harry, please… Help me?"

"Why?" he asks bluntly. "You've broken my best friend's heart."

Half acting (MJ specializes in this look) and half because she really feels that way, she looks up at him beseechingly, watery eyed and quivering lower lip.

Harry sighs, then gives her a half amused, half dejected smile. "You've been hanging around my girlfriend too much."

Gwen smiles inwardly. "You've been hanging around my best friend too much."

"Touché." He grabs her elbow and leads her to the library. On the way, she thinks she sees a glowering boy with a mop of brown hair and a camera, but when she turns her head to further inspect the boy, nobody's there.

Once they're in the library, she instigates the conversation. "How does he know?" she whispers.

He gives her a pointed look. "You know how he knows. He was the one who saved your sorry ass."

Gwen winces. "Harry…"

"Sorry. Still angry."

Gwen dismisses the statement. "How did he react?"

"Let's just say I thought my dad was going to kill me if he woke up because of a drunk Peter breaking the living room vase."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Is he angry?"

Another pointed look.

"How angry is he?"

Harry rolls his eyes. "Gwen, if you're here to ask me questions to answers you already know, I have AP Lit in five minutes."

She glares at him. "What do I do?"

He looks at her fully, seriously. "Leave him alone for a while. Distance yourself from him. It's for the best."

Gwen blinks back tears. "That's it? Let him go?"

Harry looks uncomfortable. "Not indefinitely…"

"Just until he's over me, right?"

Harry doesn't answer.

Gwen swallows. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for this to get out of hand… I didn't mean to hurt him… I wanted to protect him too… That's all I wanted." Her lower lip quivers for real this time.

Harry puts an arm around her. "I know. But you still hurt him."

Gwen lets out a shuddering sob, and Harry continues. "So you need to lie in the bed you've made. I'm sorry if this sounds like tough love, but it's the truth."

Half of Gwen wanted to yell at Harry for being an insensitive jerk and not reassuring her that everything's going to be okay, but the other half knew that it really was her fault. So Gwen takes a deep breath, squares her shoulders, and looks at Harry.

"Okay," she says.

He looks at her for a long moment, squeezes her shoulder, and then gets up to leave.

Just before he leaves, he hears a small voice behind him.

"How... how is he?"

Harry doesn't turn back fully. "It's like someone's sucked the life out of him. He doesn't move much… He kind of just stares ahead. It's like… Everything he's lived for, everything he's tried to do… It's all gone and he's an empty shell of what used to be. I think he's broken, Gwen."

Gwen can surmise the rest: and it's all my fault.

Okay, so. This is something I thought was incredibly romantic. I showed it to my boyfriend and he found it incredibly embarrassing. What do you guys think? Is it just because my boyfriend's a typical guy or is it just me in my mental head who finds this sweet?

Let me know! (Oh, and this scene doesn't have anything to do with the story.)

He looks at her, tenderly, and he asks her if she wants to dance.

Gwen laughs, a full, resonating laugh, before she looks at him, eyes twinkling.

"Here?" she asks.

Peter blushes. They're in the middle of Madison Square Garden and everyone can see. Plus, there's no music.

"Yeah," he says shyly, then repeats it, more confidently.

She looks at him, assessing him for a minute, then says: "Okay." And she places both her hands on his shoulders and leans on his chest. She shuts her eyes.

Peter wraps his arms around her, too, and slowly starts to sway. She lets out a content sound against his chest, and he feels as though his heart might burst.

He doesn't bother looking around, but he knows everyone's watching. But when he's got the most beautiful girl in his arms, he finds that he doesn't care. Her body is pressed up against his so intimately that he can feel every crevice of her melting against him. He's seventeen and she's seventeen and they barely know what this world's about, but he knows that this is the real deal.

So he takes her hand gently, and spins her. And as she laughs again, he pulls her close and tentatively kisses the top of her head.

I love you, he mouths, and for a second, everything is at peace.