Peter is exhausted. He's probably fallen asleep in several of his classes already. Only one teacher yelled at him for it. But Peter decides that he deserves this. He had to go on an extra long patrol last night to make up for his absence on Saturday. And his extra long patrol didn't involve beating up a certain evil lizard and octopus, much to his dismay. It was full of normal, petty crime, though.
"Peter?" Gwen asks, waving a hand in front of his face. Peter must've spaced out again. Well, it's not the first time today.
"Huh?" he eloquently answers her.
"What's with you today? If I didn't know better, I'd guess you were sleepwalking for the past 2 minutes," Gwen scolds him as they continue their trek to chemistry. Last class of the day. Thank goodness.
"Sorry, Gwen. Late night."
"How long were you out?" she asks, clearly understanding what he meant.
"From 9 to 4," Peter says as he scrubs his face, trying to invoke energy into himself before his class.
"Peter!" Gwen hisses in shock and dismay. "You can't be doing that! You need to sleep."
"Well, I don't need to sleep as much as I used to. Plus, I didn't go out on Saturday and I needed to make up for it," Peter answers, as if it's the most obvious thing in the world.
"Peter you can't be punishing yourself over that. None of it was your fault."
"Well, tell that to Harry," Peter says, thinking of his stressed friend. All day Harry had been quiet, subdued, and royally ticked off. Probably the residue from his father's mood in the morning and last night from the break-in at Oscorp.
"Peter, Harry doesn't blame anyone except the Lizard and Doc Oc. He certainly isn't blaming Spiderman," she tells him as they come to a stop outside their classroom. "So try and cut him some slack. He's only human."
"Super human," Peter smiles as he jokingly corrects her.
"Super human," she agrees with a similar smile, rolling her eyes. "One that may be super exhausted if he doesn't get to sleep on time tonight," she finally tells him as they walk into class.
"Good luck in detention, Peter," Gwen tells him as she leaves for her Math League meeting. "Let me know how it goes, if you'd like." Peter only nods his head and offers a weak smile. He's so no looking forward to his detention with Flash. But maybe with a teacher there, Flash won't be so unbearable. Well, it also depends on which teacher is there giving their detention.
Finally, after everyone's left the classroom, including their teacher, Peter stands up from his desk and slowly swings his backpack onto his shoulder. He knows that going slow won't help him get rid of his detention. In fact, if he's late, they'll just add time at the end of his detention. The time he missed and extra time. No thank you.
So Peter forces himself out the door and down the hallway to Mrs. Skidmik's office. She's the head of all disciplinary action, and she's not Peter's biggest fan. Probably because he gets detention so often because of Flash, but none of the teachers ever stopped to consider that.
"Hi Ms. Skidmik," Peter greets her in a way to announce his presence in the doorway.
"Mr. Parker. I thought you were in detention today," she greets back, placing her pen down on her desk where the Daily Bugle is open to Peter's pictures of the scene he went to yesterday.
"Uh, yeah, but I was never told where the detention's being held or who it's with," Peter tells her getting right to the point. The headline reads: Coldblooded Break-in at Oscorp. Coldblooded because of lizards and octopi. That's a good one. Peter will have to commend Jack on that one.
"Perhaps you should have asked earlier, Mr. Parker. A little forethought on your part would be appreciated. Room 129, Mr. Parker," she sighs. "The drawing room with Mr. Snyder. I believe you and Mr. Thompson will be scrubbing desks along with other chores of Mr. Snyder's choice."
"Thanks," Peter says, ripping his eyes away from his and Jack's article currently laying on Ms. Skidmik's desk.
"You better walk quickly, Mr. Parker. By the looks of it, you're already five minutes late," she informs him as she takes her pen back in her hand. Clearly, Peter's dismissed.
"Mr. Snyder?" Peter tentatively calls into the drawing room over the music being played. Peter's relieved when he sees Mr. Snyder's head pop out from the back of the classroom behind the supply cabinets.
"Peter! Just in time! I'm gonna have you and Flash clean the sharpie, pen, paint, and charcoal off the desks here. Flash will particularly be cleaning the rude images he drew on my desks," Mr. Snyder grumbles at the last part. Peter can only assume he means the line drawings of male genitalia along with the rude language scribbled on others. It's kind of Flash's thing.
"Wait he's not here yet?" Peter asks. Of course Flash is late.
"No. So let's make the most of it while you're here. Don't worry, just because Flash isn't here doesn't mean you should have to stay late. I'll start an hour timer," Mr. Snyder puts Peter's troubles at ease, walking away to do as he said.
"How are you holding up from Friday, Pete?" Mr. Snyder asks from his desk, attempting to set the time on his phone. "I mean, no offense, but you were pretty beat up by Flash. I'm surprised they didn't give him more detention."
"Oh. Uh, no. No, not really. I'm perfectly fine now," Peter stutters, trying to remain calm and keep Mr. Snyder far away from suspicions. Spraying the first desk, Peter continues," I mean, you could barely tell that Flash used a human punching bag on Friday."
"Peter, how often does that happen?" Mr. Snyder asks. Peter shakes his head in response, continuing to scrub the sharpie makes off the desk with the miracle remover of Mr. Snyder's.
"Alright. Moving on," Mr. Snyder catches Peter's attitude change. Peter could probably kiss someone when his spider sense tells him that someone is approaching the classroom, bound to cut Mr. Snyder off from his next topic. "How've you been since your Unc -"
"Flash," Mr. Snyder interrupts himself upon Flash's appearance. "You and Peter are going to clean the desks for me today. And if you're done early, we're cleaning paint brushes. So grab a bottle over there and get your hour started. I want every single one of your dick drawings gone." Flash nods at Mr. Snyder's order, but sends Peter a glare that certainly isn't friendly.
Peter continues to scrub one of the desks as Flash slowly walks over to the desk next to Peter with his own spray. Flash angrily sprays and scrubs the first desk, something Peter found amusing. How often do you see a football jock angrily washing desks like a kid in a temper tantrum?
"Feel proud, Parker? Making me miss practice?" Flash seethes under his breath so that Mr. Snyder wouldn't hear despite the loud music. Peter knows what Flash is doing, and it's not going to work. Baiting Peter so that he hits Flash (as if he'd ever do that) and get more detention from it.
"You'll be the reason we lose the game this Friday. It'll be all your fault, Parker." Honestly, Peter could care less about the school football team, none of them had ever been really nice to him.
"But you don't care, do you? You want to crush everyone in this school because you hate all of us. You think you're so much better, don't you Puny Parker?" Flash is one to talk.
"Just because you've got good grades and are the teacher's pet," Flash continues to try and irk Peter. This guy should really just give up. Peter's not going to be so careless. So Peter just picks up his spray and paper towels and moves a desk over.
"Everyone thinks you're such a sob story. Your parents died when you were young, leaving you with your aunt and uncle," Flash says, following Peter down the row of desks. "I bet they left you because you were awful. Ugly, scrawny, puny Parker. And then your Uncle got himself killed trying to play hero. Wouldn't be surprised if he got himself killed just to get away from you. But you were there that night weren't you? It's probably your fault he's dead anyway," Flash continues, clearly reading Peter's tense body language at the mention of his parents and Uncle Ben. Yep, definitely struck a sore spot.
"Shut up, Flash," Peter says, scrubbing the desk harder and faster so that he can move to the other side of the room.
"Ooo, did I hit it on the nail, punk? Well, get over it, Parker. They've been long gone. It's about time you move on. But how can you? You're too weak, too cowardly, and it's all your fault that they're dead," Flash finishes, smiling as if he won something other than breaking Peter's precariously taped heart. Peter can almost feel his heart crumble inside his chest.
"I said, shut. UP!" Peter shouts back at him, catching Mr. Snyder's attention.
"What's going on over there?" Mr. Snyder asks, walking over in his best intimidating stance.
"Nothing, Mr. Snyder," Flash says with an innocent face plastered on. Peter just scoffs at Flash, his own rage slowly boiling over, fueled by all his hurt.
"Peter, how about you help me clean some of these palates? After all, Flash has lots of desks to clean of his 'artwork'," Mr. Snyder says, steering Peter back to the sinks behind the supply cabinets, and most importantly, away from Flash.
"You ok, Pete?" Mr. Snyder asks, handing Peter the first palate of the stack next to the sink. Is he alright? No, not really. Has he ever been alright since Uncle Ben died? No, now that he thinks about it. But Peter can't bring himself to say yes or no. Lie or tell the truth? Take the pity or be disrespectful?
"Do you want to talk about it?" Mr. Snyder asks, placing a comforting hand on Peter's shoulder. Mr. Snyder probably took his silence as a 'no', which would be correct. "If you tell me, I can report him for what he said," Mr. Snyder says. "Well, depending on what he said," Mr. Snyder gives Peter a smile.
But Flash can't really be reported for telling the truth. It was Peter's fault that Uncle Ben died. He could've stopped the guy who killed him before he even saw Uncle Ben. And who's to say that his parents didn't want him? They did leave him after all and then they died for one reason or another. Maybe they died because of him? Wouldn't that make him a murderer from age six?
"Peter," Mr. Snyder's voice pulls Peter out from his mind. Peter looks at Mr. Snyder, seeing a strange mix of emotions on the man's face. Pity. Compassion. Sorrow. Camaraderie.
"You don't have to tell me, but know that you shouldn't believe what bullies say. They string half truths together to bring us down. Just let the words flow over you like water on stone," Mr. Snyder says before turning back to the sink and the palates, beginning to scrub off some dried paint. Peter nods even though Mr. Snyder couldn't see it. So he follows his favorite teacher's lead and begins to scrub his own palate.
"Peter," Aunt May greets her nephew once she sees him in the door way. Aunt May is in the kitchen, sitting at the table with various papers spread around her. Peter smiles back to her, trying to seem happy for her sake, especially since she seems a little bit stressed out.
"Hey Aunt May," he says as he takes out his keys from the lock and closes the door behind him.
"How was school today?" she asks, taking off her glasses and putting down her own pen.
"Uh, fine. Same old, same old. How was your day?" he asks as he walks past her to open the fridge. Peter looks over her shoulder at the papers he could see. Yes, he knows he shouldn't be prying, but they're just laying out there. It's hard to read most of the small print from where he is, but Peter can take a pretty good guess that it's the rent for the month or taxes.
"Pretty good. Work was the same. Boring. But I think I got another permanent job rather than just subbing for Patty at yoga. She wants me to instruct every once in a while."
"Cool," Peter says in between spoonfuls of banana yogurt. He'll eat whatever he can get since his metabolism sky rocketed after the spider bite.
"Are you ok, Peter? You seem off, sweetheart," she asks him, her eyebrows crinkling together. Darn. He worried her. He probably didn't seem happy enough for her. She doesn't deserve this, she's already stressed enough. Between making ends meet and her multiple jobs and having to take care of Peter, she's stretched pretty thin.
"Sorry, Aunt May. I'm good, promise. I think I'm going to do some homework now, and then I can help out with dinner."
Poor Peter Parker. He's having a hard time. Don't worry, I'll be nice to him real soon. Everything I do has a reason. Does everyone hate Flash now? Somehow, I even made myself hate him. I guess that's good since that's what I wanted you guys to do. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed! With Easter this weekend, I have some time to work on this for you guys. Sorry for the long wait, too.
Please review for me and let me know what you think. (Don't worry, fight scenes are coming up real soon. And more Avengers, yay!) Let me know what you think about chapter sizes too. Is this a good length, or should I be adding a bit more?
Love,
Dopamine Lover
