(A/N: I do not own Spiderman. That right belongs to Sony).
*After school*
Peter had to admit, having Felicia as a teaching assistant wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. She did take her job seriously when the need came for it to be and he had to admit, she knew her stuff. He was actually kind of surprised how knowledgeable she could be on historical facts. He guessed underneath all that beauty and charisma was a bit of a history nerd.
The day didn't really go too well, what with him and Harry splitting up as friends and Sally straight up calling him an alcoholic and mocking him for it in front his friends (Which now consisted of only girls, he noticed).
Speaking of Felicia, she had joined them at the Silver Spoon after school, still wearing her teaching outfit but her suit was undone and her hair was down. She sat down with Peter in between her and Liz on one side and on the other, Gwen and Mary-Jane.
"Do you really think it's a good idea for a teaching assistant to be sitting with students? People may look and wonder what's going on" Gwen said, raising an eyebrow towards Felicia.
Felicia shrugged. "I'm technically just a teaching assistant, not officially a teacher and I'll have you know I'm young enough to still want to hang out at places like these with a friend I've known since before I became an assistant" Then smiled at Peter.
"Wow, Tiger, smooth moves, getting all friendly with a teacher. I'm impressed" Mary-Jane said with a smirk. Peter just blushed.
"That reminds me, how did the two of you meet?" Gwen asked with a raised eyebrow. She had never seen this woman before and she had known Peter for quite a few years. She would have liked to think she would have some idea about who the people Peter hangs out with on a regular basis are.
"We swung in similar circles, so to speak" Felicia said then winked at Peter who glared at her and facially told her to shut up.
"I...see...and...just to make this perfectly clear, the both of you are…" Gwen trailed, looking between Liz and Felicia.
"Dating Peter, yes" Felicia finished for her, not really interested in listening to her stumble on the rest of the question.
"Oh...Ok...cool. I guess" Gwen said, twiddling her thumbs while sipping on a milkshake.
Peter noticed and twitched a little bit in guilt, knowing that despite the choices Gwen made, she still always loved him, not Harry.
Mary-Jane, noticing the awkwardness arising from all this tried to change the subject
"So Felicia, if I may call you that, can you get me the answers to the History Midterm?" Mary-Jane asked, trying to desperately bring some levity into the scene.
"Afraid not, sorry. While outside, I'm your guy's friend and in more...private settings, Peter's GF but I'm strict Ms. Hardy in school " Felicia said, shrugging.
"What a shame" Mary-Jane said with a smile nonetheless.
"Yes...but anyway, Peter's always had a special place in my heart, ever since I met him. At first I thought it was just a little crush but over time, I realized it was something more, something...more intimate. The fact is I really like Peter, maybe even love and I'll do anything I can to make sure he's happy because he's that worth it" Felicia said, smiling at him and holding his hand. Peter just smiled back and squeezed it.
"I see" Gwen said, tapping her foot.
After, there was a bit of an awkward silence that filled the area as they all ate their food and drank their drinks.
In a short time, the 'in crowd' showed up again. Sally Avril looked and saw Liz sitting down with the 'geek squad' and Mary-Jane. She looked sheepishly at the ground and then began to walk towards their table, away from her boyfriend who sighed a quick sigh of relief.
As the blonde walked to their table, Peter noticed and nudged Liz. Liz looked up and saw Sally looking down at them with sad eyes.
"H...hey, Lizzie" She said, waving awkwardly at her, ignoring the rest of the table.
"...Hey, Sally" Liz said, slightly glaring at her. Sally cringed.
"Hey...listen...I...I wanted to say sorry for how I acted over lunch. I...I didn't know Parker was that important to you, especially after you broke up with him" Sally said, gesturing to Peter as if he were just an object and not a human.
"Well, first, he actually broke up with me" Liz said bluntly. This caused Sally to raise an eyebrow in confusion.
"What...I...I thought you said-" Sally tried to say before interrupting.
"Look, Sally, the point is I lied to save my own image but the fact of the matter is, I'm over that. Peter broke up with me for his own reasons but at end of summer break, we were able to patch things up. Another thing, I don't care about being 'popular' anymore, Sally, I don't care about my social status, I just don't care about all that anymore. I realized there's more important things in the world to me. If me going out with Petey means I'm officially a geek then I'll wear that label with pride because I'd rather be a geek than that snobbish, bratty, mean girl type person I was before last year. That sort of life may get me by in high school but in the actual world outside school and our parent's wallets, that won't get us anywhere, at least not anywhere we want to be. I decided to grow up, Sal. Maybe it's time you should too" Liz said to her friend since Preschool who had a look of utter surprise on her face.
Randy in the background nodded vigorously. Finally, someone was telling her what she needed to hear.
"Lizzie, I-" Sally said before Liz interrupted again.
"And another thing, the person you really should be apologizing to is Petey. You cruelly made fun of his issues that he's trying to recover from right to his face and frankly, that's not even it. Over the past few years, he has done nothing to you and yet you insist on calling him names, making fun of him and just treating him like dirt. The fact that you're not even acknowledging him in this so-called apology of yours proves my point. Now we've been friends since Pre-K and I think that deep down, you're like me and are a relatively good person at heart. I'd like to continue our friendship but this attitude of yours has got to change and you have to start showing Petey some respect. So...what's it going to be?" Liz asked. She then stood up and placed both her hands on her hips and gave her a look that could rival Gwen's.
Sally said nothing for a long time while looking between Liz and Peter. After about 2 or 3 minutes, she just turned and walked back over to her group of friend. This caused Liz to sigh and sit back down.
"Wow...that was amazing, Liz!" Mary-Jane said, surprised as hell.
"Yeah, that was really something. You really put that preppy blonde in her place" Felicia said, proud of her co-partner.
"Thanks...it felt good to do it but it also felt pretty bad. I do hate talking to her like that...but I guess she gave me no choice" Liz said regretfully as she played with her sundae.
Peter comforted her by placing an arm around her.
"You did the best you could. I guess Sally's just not like you. Maybe she just needs to learn for herself what you learned last year" Peter suggested.
"Maybe...though I'm not sure myself, really" Liz said, sighing.
"Well this has been fascinating...but I've kind of had enough drama for one day. I need to get some homework done" Mary-Jane said, getting up from her seat.
"Yeah, dad will want me to get home soon too" Gwen said, standing up. She kinda wanted to get away from all the lovey dovey crap as well.
"I should probably get home as well. Do you mind, Liz? Felicia?" Peter asked both of them.
"No issues, Petey. I guess I have to do some homework anyway" Liz said with a small smile.
"Liz Allan, Midtown's most popular cheerleader, doing homework? The world is finally ending!" Peter said, mock scared which caused Liz to swat at his arm.
"Oh hush you. Now give me a kiss goodbye" Liz said, playfully which Peter obliged. After, he turned to Felicia.
"Sorry Cat. I would kiss you goodbye as well but...I'm still a student, you're a teaching assistant now and lots of people's eyes are on us now, especially with Liz's little speech" Peter shrugged.
"No worries, handsome. I'll get plenty of you tonight when we meet up for...tutoring" Felicia said, winking.
Of course, she meant patrolling as Spiderman and Black Cat. They started doing that together now that they were together officially. Cat had to admit, it didn't give her a thrill like stealing priceless earrings and necklaces...but it sufficed.
Peter could tell it was going to be a good night. Cat could get quite...frisky when they were out together at night.