"That was rough," I sighed, throwing in the combination to my locker dejectedly, not even bothering to conceal my stress and disappointment. I'd even studied for that quiz! Yet I still felt unsure about it. Peter shifted his weight, leaning a shoulder against the wall of lockers and watching me, an earbud pressed in one ear while the other dangled from the collar of his sweater. I don't think he studied at all over the weekend and he'd been one of the first kids done while I had to stay after the bell to finish.
"Sorry, I don't know why it took me so long," I continued, shrugging my jacket on. "Thanks for waiting though." Considering how much he loved his daily crime-fighting, it was sweet of him to sacrifice some of that time for me.
"Yeah. No problem." I felt his concerned eyes on me as I gathered my homework into my arms. "How do you think you did?" He asked carefully, tugging his earbud out and reaching out to take my books while I was distracted with grabbing my bag. I managed a smile, his usual chivalrous gesture never failing to lift my mood.
"I dunno. I don't think I failed but I definitely didn't ace it." I swung my locker shut. "What about you?" He probably got one-hundred-and-ten percent.
Peter nodded as we walked down the hallway toward the school's exit. "Y–Yeah, I think I uh, did pretty good." Briefly, he glanced at me. Confused, I peered at him with my eyebrows scrunched together.
"What?" I prompted.
Peter seemed to jump at my words. "What?" A laugh escaped my lips, making him grin in further puzzlement. "What?" He asked again, eyes dancing.
"Why'd you look at me like that?"
He exhaled a laugh and looked away to hide the rose creeping up his cheeks. His blushing almost made me blush. Jeez, the effect this boy has on me... Peter jogged forward, pushing open the door and holding it open for me.
I smiled, adjusting my glasses on my nose. "Thanks." He nodded, following me down the front steps of Midtown. "Hey, how's your shoulder?"
"Huh? Oh, y–yeah it's good. Great, actually... Hey, do–do you, uh, wanna do something? Tonight?"
"Yeah." I bit my lip against my growing smile, trying not to show my overwhelming excitement. "Like what?"
"Uh... I–I dunno," he admitted sheepishly. "What do you wanna do?"
I shrugged, heading down the stairs to the school field where some boys were fooling around with a football. "Well, I have math and that chem homework, so–" I stopped, seeing Peter's joyous expression falter and morph into one of horror.
"We have chemistry homework?" He breathed.
"Yeah, that sheet we got today on reactions. Why? Did you forget it?"
"Yeah," he sighed. "Shit. Hang on." He turned, rushing back up the steps and returning to the school for his forgotten work. Laughing silently to myself, I leaned back against the brick wall to watch the group of guys pass a ball between themselves. Much to my surprise, I found myself able to recognize a few of them.
Yep. That's Brian...Jason...Seymour, I think...Charlie...and...is that Flash? Of course it is. Officially uninterested, I shifted my attention to something, anything, else, and prayed the school bully wouldn't take any notice of me. They yelled and laughed obnoxiously. Maybe I should take cover. The stairs leading back up to the highschool were inset in the brick retaining wall, which would provide significant protection from being seen. I quickly moved to sit on the steps, hidden from sight behind the tall brick. Not a moment later, a football slammed into the wall where I'd previously been standing, followed by uproarious laughter from the boys.
They threw a fucking ball at me! Shocked and enraged, I stepped out from my hiding spot to glare at them. The boys were gathered in a tight clump, laughing and jostling each other. They threw a ball at me... My eyes stung with tears.
"Hey, Florez!" Flash called.
Gritting my teeth against my watery eyes, I lifted a hand into the sky, flipping him off and yelling, "dickhead!" That resulted in another bout of laughter.
"Kasey?" I spun, finding Peter standing at the bottom of the stairs and watching me in concern, my homework still in his arms. I wanted to hug him. I wanted to disappear from this moment and cling to him and just cry.
"Penis Parker!" Thompson yelled. "Throw it back!"
Pete looked between me and the boys, who waited expectantly to have their ball returned. "What happened?" He asked, stepping closer to me, his voice soft with worry. "Are you okay?" Nodding numbly, I reached down and picked up the football, trying to decide between hurling it in the opposite direction or nailing it at Flash Thompson's smirking face. It wasn't a very difficult decision, and before I knew it I was winding up and launching it into the air. I watched, hoping he wouldn't be able to catch it and it'd knock a tooth out or something. But it began spiraling downward before reaching it's mark. Wanting nothing more than to curl up in a corner and not exist, I turned toward the steps, intending to take the long way around the field. I could still hear those infuriating boys lauging as I walked back up the steps and it was killing me. Furiously, I blinked back tears. I just want to be home.
"Kasey!" Peter's footsteps sounded behind me. I stopped in my tracks but didn't turn around.
Don't cry, don't cry. Don't you dare.
"Hey," he ran up and stopped in front me, still holding my damn homework. "Hey, are you okay?" I pushed strands of hair from my face and nodded. But as soon as I looked up and into his warm eyes I knew I couldn't let myself lie to him again.
"No," I admitted, shaking my head slowly. Peter sighed, clenching his jaw and watching me with sad, sad eyes.
"I'm sorry," he breathed, shaking his head. "God, Kase, I'm sorry." He set my books down on a bench just to his right and stepped toward me with open arms. Without hesitation, I rushed forward and wrapped my arms around him, doing everything I could to contain my sobs. Why would they throw it at me? Why? I didn't do anything. As if he could hear my thoughts, Peter pulled me closer.
"I'm so sorry Kasey," he murmured. "It's not your fault. The only reason they're like this is because you're around me. M–Maybe–"
"No." I stopped him before he could suggest I stop hanging around him and Ned. "You're my friend," I declared sternly. "And Flash can get a fist in the face if he thinks he can change that."
With my head pressed to his chest I could feel his pulse quicken and the vibrations when he laughed. "Well he already got a football in the face."
"I missed," I muttered drily.
"It rebounded into his face," Peter explained, chuckling at the recollection. "It was pretty funny."
I managed a smile. "Good."
"...Have you ever been to Forest Park?"
"No." I'd hardly been anywhere in Queens despite having lived there for the majority of my life thus far.
His heartbeat sped up. "You wanna go?" I could hear the smile in his voice. "They have the best trees to climb."
I grinned, finding both his child-like excitement and nervousness adorable. "Sure...thank you."
Peter's arms tightened around me. "No problem." After a last, comforting squeeze, he released me and watched my face with careful eyes. "Are you okay? Di–Did they throw a football at you?"
"Yeah," I nodded, looking up at him and shrugging sadly. "It didn't hit me, but yeah. I'll be fine."
He sighed through his nose, gazing toward the field on his right and shaking his head. "I'm sorry, Kase," his eyes flicked back to me and I could see all the regret and all the sorrow clouding them. "I should've been there."
"Don't," I breathed. "Don't blame yourself. Please. Just...let's go home," I offered, retrieving my homework from the bench. "I have homework to finish before we go the park and climb some trees." Pete smiled, bringing one to my own face.
"You're gonna climb a tree?" He asked, almost in disbelief.
I was marginally offended. "You don't believe me?"
"No! N–No! I do! It–It's just that, I–Hey!" Peter stopped in his stuttering excuse when I hurried past him to continue around the school's field. He appeared beside me instantly, grabbing my homework from my hands without a word.
"Hey!"
•••
"How's your balance?"
I hopped onto the rail of the train-track, feeling as if I were in some sort of fantasy surrounded by full, green trees, chirping birds and blue sky. "Not bad." I glanced over at Peter, who strolled casually along the rail parallel to mine with his hands in his pant pockets. "Not as good as yours, obviously."
He laughed, glancing over at me with shining brown eyes. "So is this a good place?"
I nodded, looking down at my feet as I walked carefully along the track. "Yeah, I like it here. It's kinda hard to believe something like this is in Queens."
"Yeah, It's pretty cool. I used to come here a lot with May and Ben. But I meant f–for us to uh, talk."
I looked up suddenly, losing my balance just enough to have to step off the rail for a moment. "Oh," my cheeks heated in embarrassment and I hopped back onto the rail. "Right. I guess we both have something to say." I shot him a quick look. "You wanna go first?"
He shrugged, looking down at his feet. "Doesn't matter. Do you?"
"Well, I've been making you wait since this morning, so I'll go first." I took a deep breath. "You know last night when I said I wanted to be a physiotherapist?"
"Yeah." The wind rustled the leaves and tore hair from my unkempt bun.
"I lied. I never wanted to be one...I couldn't be one, I don't like people most of the time." Peter laughed and I couldn't help but grin for a moment before continuing. "Um, I actually learned that stuff from online...When Papá came home drunk he'd usually lash out at me. And I had to learn to cover it up and deal with it. So I stole the stuff that I needed and found online tutorials and stuff that taught me how to deal with bruises and cuts and everything." I shook my head and tucked loose strands of hair behind my ear. "I know it's a stupid thing to lie about, and I'm sorry. Trust me, it's been killing me since last night." I felt his eyes on me, so I looked up and met his gaze. He offered me a kind, lopsided smile.
"It's okay," he said. "I can understand that. I–I mean, not from personal experience. But I get it." He exhaled a large breath. "Okay. Uh...I think I'm gonna quit the decathlon team." My foot slipped off the rail in surprise but Peter caught my flailing hand before I could fall on my face. I looked across at him, my grin matching his own.
"Thanks," I said. "But why are you gonna quit the team? You already quit band."
He shrugged, causing our connected hands to lift with the movement. "I'm just really busy and the decathlon has meetings and stuff all the time, then they go on that trip to D.C. and what if something happens while we're there and Mr. Stark needs me?"
"Pete, it's a two day trip," I pointed out, swinging our clasped hands aimlessly. "And Ned's gonna be sad if you don't go." I'm gonna be sad if you don't go, you idiot. I just decided I might go with you guys and now you're gonna ditch me and Ned?
"I know," he sighed. "That's why I don't know what to do. I mean, I'll quit robotics lab tomorrow to free up more time, but I just really wanna be here if something happens," he gazed over at me. "What do you think I should do?"
I stared at him, half shocked and half overjoyed that he was asking for my opinion on this. "Well, I think you should at least go on the decathlon trip cuz it's only two days and I've never been to D.C. so it would suck to see it for the first time without you. But if you really wanna stay here then you can do that too. I just don't think anything super important can happen in two days."
"Yeah. Okay." Peter's eyes fell on me again, another grin taking over his face. "D.C. is usually pretty boring, but maybe it'll be fun with you." I laughed at the cliché but still found myself flattered. He lifted our still-connected hands stretching the gap of the train-track between us. "You don't mind?"
Smiling shyly, I shook my head. "No." For good measure, I added, "and you're keeping me from falling, so that's nice." I swung my hand in eccentric circles, dragging his after mine while we walked along the track.
Suddenly, he whipped his head toward me with an excited, childish grin plastered on his face. "You wanna climb a tree? There's a huge on over there."
"Sure." He hopped off the rail and dragged me after him as he rushed off toward the greenery. He released my hand to jump up and grab the low-hanging branch of a monstrous deciduous tree. I didn't even have to try to reach the same branch to know my height prevented me.
"I'm too short for this!" I pointed out.
"No you're not," he reached hand down to me, but I hesitated to take it. "Come on, you're not gonna drag me off the tree," he insisted, wiggling his fingers. So I grabbed his hand and he hauled me up without a problem until we were nose-to-nose, balanced precariously on the same branch.
"You got it?" Peter breathed. It took me a moment to realize he was referring to my balance.
"Yeah. I'm good," I watched him climb up to the next branch. "How far up are we going?"
"All the way," he responded, waving me up.
"Are you serious?" I laughed, following him up without height issues now that the branches were closer together.
"Yep. I've climbed this one tons of times."
I grasped the next branch firmly before pulling myself up. "With someone else?"
He turned his head to shoot me a grin. "Nope."
My jaw dropped. "Well that's not promising!"
He laughed. "It'll be fine! Come on, Kase, you really think I'm gonna let you fall out of a tree?" When I didn't reply immediately, he took it as a victory over the brief argument. "See? The top is just up there." I craned my head back, finding the top to be quite far away.
"Oh, awesome."
"Come on," he urged, grabbing my hand to drag me up to his branch.
"I'm wearing the worst shoes for tree-climbing," I muttered, glancing down at my old, tattered sneakers I'd had since eighth grade.
"Me too." I didn't even have to look down at his shoes because I knew it didn't matter if he was Spider-Man. Instead, I punched his shoulder lightly.
"You know that doesn't matter," I hissed. Peter grinned and swung up into the next forked branch of the tree.
"Almost there," he said before climbing upwards even further. I followed after him with a bemused shake of my head. This boy is an actual three year-old. "Kasey!" He called.
"I'm coming!" I laughed, dragging myself upwards until I was right below him. Peter stood in another fork that looked much too small for two people.
"It's fine," he insisted, grabbing my hand and hoisting me up before I could protest.
Once I stood in the small space with him, I looked around at the dense green foliage around us. "Is this it?" I asked. Peter grinned devilishly and began crawling outward along a branch that hung over the railroad track we'd previously been walking on.
"Peter!"
"What?" He laughed, shuffling out further to make room for me.
"Are you serious!?" I demanded.
"Yeah," he lifted a hand out to me. "Come on. It's cool."
I bit the inside of my lip, crouching down onto the same branch before I could change my mind. "If I fall and die I'm gonna kill you," I muttered, grabbing his hand to steady myself as I made my way out toward him.
"Don't worry, I got ya." When I'd at last settled beside him, I was grinning uncontrollably from the thrill of being so high. "See? It's cool, right?" I nodded, looking down at the train-track that was so far below.
"How are we gonna get down?" I asked.
"Uh…Don't worry about that yet."
"Okay," I laughed, leaning into him and listening to the wind in the trees and the singing of the birds. And even though I was an absolute mess and I had so much homework to do, I was here—a world away from Queens with Peter Parker, with my best friend.
AN: HEY IT'S BEEN A WHILE! I'm really sorry about the wait! It's around that time of year when my teachers are like 'well better start teaching these kids something' so I'm getting a ton of schoolwork and I've had project after project and I'm so tired lately lol it's been rough. But hot damn would you look at this kick ass chapter I just wrote!? Woohoo! And I'm even updating on a Thursday! Go me! Man, that would've been a cute kiss scene too. Sorry guys, but I already have that planned out so no kiss yet! That was a little emotional too, so I balanced it out with some cuteness ;)
So I want to address something to avoid confusion and save y'all some time: this story is not the typical cliché with a single intro chapter during which Spidey saves some girl and they instantly fall in love, then it follows with 15 chapters or so of an exact rendition of the movie with his girlfriend damsel and some steamy make-out sessions thrown in there. My stories are not like those, so if that's something you're looking for you're not gonna find that in my writing. Sorry! It's just not my style ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ But if you're looking for cute, realistic romance then you've found the right story! Hallelujah right!? I try to make my stories different from everyone else's (your welcome)! Which brings me to my next statement: realistic romance takes time, especially with a damaged character like Kasey. She's been through a lot and she just met Peter a few days ago, so they aren't gonna start sharing a bed and spontaneously making out purely because the other is attractive. That's not realistic! Kasey needs a friend and she's found that in Peter, so their romance is going to bloom from their friendship eventually. Again, I'm trying my hardest to make it real, and it's not real for Kasey and Peter to meet and have her immediately thrown into the conflict between Pete and Vulture and have them fall in love at the same time (not to mention how hard that would be to write)! I'm getting to the movie plot, but there's always gotta be a calm before the storm, and plus I enjoy the little before-time I get to write Kasey and Peter normally before the movie takes over, ya know? So yeah. I'm sorry if you're looking for instant romance and instant movie plot because that's not what this story is! But this story is different and it is as realistic as I can make it. I put a lot of effort into my writing, to make sure it's different and unique and I'm sorry if you don't like it, but if you do that's awesome and I love you guys! I appreciate all the criticism I receive and I just wanted to make sure there was no more confusion regarding the road this story is going to take. So yeah :)
Thank you guys for your continued support! I appreciate it so much and I love all of you! :D
Please review! :)