After a week of chemo and recuperating from his injuries, Dr. Cho ruled that Peter would be okay to spend his week off from chemo at home. She also said that he could go out in public, but only for brief excursions, and only with a medical mask on. His immune system wasn't quite tanked yet, but that would be coming soon after his next week of chemo. All this really meant for Petter right now was no school, at least not full days. Not that he really had the energy to go to school anyways.
"We need to let your principal know."
Peter looked up at May. He had barely walked into the door of their apartment when she said this.
"What?"
"We need to let Principal Morita know about your cancer as soon as possible."
"Why? Can't you just keep telling them that I'm home sick? That worked, and it's not exactly a lie."
"No, I can't. The parent's manual for the school specifically states that you're only allowed a certain amount of absences per year. You're about to wrack them up big time, and the only way for you to not get a failing grade on all of your classes is to tell them the truth. That way when you need to miss school, it does not count against your grades. Your teachers should be aware of your situation as well."
Peter sighed and sat down heavily on the couch. "I really don't want anyone to know."
May sat down next to him. "I know, bud. But we have to tell them at some point. This way they should be accommodating should something come up or if your treatments go south."
Peter put his head in his hands. "Don't say that."
May rubbed his back. "I'm sorry, I know this is tough, bud, but I'll be here right beside you the entire time. You will never be alone in this, I promise."
Peter nodded and laid his head on her shoulder. "Okay."
—
Jim Morita sat in his office bright and early on Monday morning. Morning was his favorite part of the day. He enjoyed the peace and quiet that came with being one of the first people to arrive at the school building for the day. It allowed him an extra hour to get work done so that he could go home earlier to his wife and kids.
This morning, however, he was much earlier than usual. He had a meeting this morning with May and Peter Parker.
When the secretary told him of May Parker's request to have a meeting with him, he had agreed whole-heartedly. He hoped they would shed some light on Peter's recent behaviors and recent absences. Peter was a good kid, and Morita hated to see any good kid bring himself down by bad decisions.
His desk top phone buzzed.
"Yes, Mrs. Jenkins?" he inquired of the school secretary.
"Principal Morita, Mrs. Parker and Peter are here to see you."
"Thank you, send them in."
He stood and shook their hands when they came in.
"Good to see you again, Peter. Mrs. Parker."
"Good to see you too, Mr. Morita," May Parker replied.
Peter offered him a small smile, or at least that was what Morita gathered his face was doing from beneath the medical mask he was wearing.
"Have a seat," he offered, wondering why they were here.
"Thank you," May Parker replied as they sat down. Peter was unusually quiet and avoiding eye contact. He instead stared anywhere else in Morita's office, his eyes often landing on the framed black and white photo of Morita's grandfather, with whom he shared a name.
"What can I do for you today?" Morita asked the Parkers, now even more curious about the nature of their visit. He had had personal meetings with parents and their children for many reasons over the years, and Peter's silence and lack of eye contact was making him wonder even more which category this meeting would fall into.
"Peter has cancer," May Parker said suddenly.
Morita felt himself take a deep breath in order to keep his surprise from his face.
"Okay. What can I do?"
Peter sighed and looked like he wanted to disappear into his chair.
May Parker chewed her bottom lip. "I don't know. This whole situation is very new to us. We only found out three weeks ago, and he started treatment last week."
"Okay," Morita responded, "There isn't a cut and dry plan for this type of situation, but you should know that you are not the first kid at this school to go through this. I know it is very difficult, but things can be done at your pace. We will let your teachers know so that have accommodations for when you have to miss class, but letting anyone else know will be done in your own timing."
May looked at Peter. "Does that sound alright, Peter?"
Peter sat up more before addressing the adults. Now that Morita knew what was going on, he noticed that Peter did look at little paler than usual. "I don't want anyone to know yet, not even my teachers."
May opened her mouth to speak, but Morita held up his hand and addressed his student. "Peter, I know this is really difficult for you, but your teachers need to know so that they can help you. If they are left in the dark, they won't be able to give you longer deadlines or excuse you for doctor's appointments. We at this school just want to help you succeed. If that means giving you extra accommodations due to extenuating circumstances that are beyond your control, then that's the least we can do to help you get through this. Your health is the most important thing at this point."
Peter took a deep breath and nodded.
Morita nodded back and wrote on a sticky note. "I'm going to set up a meeting with all your teachers before classes start today. If you would like to be there, you are invited, but if not that's fine as well."
"I don't want to be there," Peter said, avoiding looking the principal in the eye.
"Okay, that's fine," Morita said, marking that down on his sticky note, "I'm assuming you would not like your classmates to know just yet."
This time Peter looked him directly in the eye as he shook his head animatedly.
Morita nodded again, and marked this on another sticky note, which he promptly placed inside the front cover of his planner. "If, when the time comes for your classmates to know, I am willing to be the bearer of bad news and tell them."
Peter looked up at him, surprise in his face. "I don't want them to ever know."
Morita nodded. "They will begin to wonder, so I think it's prudent to keep the idea in the back of your mind, but you don't need to worry about it just yet."
May nodded, "We'll let you know," she opened and closed her mouth again as if she was about to say something, and finally cutting to the chase.
"His immune system is starting to become very compromised. His doctors are not sure how he will react to the chemo yet, but they will likely need to put him on a stronger dose than what he received this past week."
"Okay," Morita nodded, adding this to his note, "I'm assuming the means that he will not be able to attend school?"
May nodded, "Yes."
Morita nodded again. "It is his doctors' call about whether or not he is healthy enough to continue coming to school. We'll just do our part. I'd appreciate it if you both keep channels of communication open so that we are in the loop and can help you in the best way possible."
"Of course," May smiled.
—
May and Peter walked out of Principal Morita's office after a long discussion about his cancer and treatment plan.
"Are you going to at least think about it?" May asked Peter as they walked down the semi-empty hall to Peter's locker. Only those students that arrived at school extremely early were around.
Peter sighed. "I don't know."
May gave him a pointed look. "I think Mr. Morita made a very valid point when he said that your classmates will start to wonder. I think it's better to tell everyone sooner rather than later so that you get less weird looks as your treatment progresses."
Peter looked at the ground and ran his hand through his hair. "I know, I'm just not ready for everyone to look at me differently yet. I'll let Principal Morita make the announcement, just not anytime soon."
"Okay," May said, nodding. "Whenever you're ready, just don't wait too long."
Peter nodded. "Okay."
May's phone rang suddenly. "It's work, I have to take this. Are you good to get your books by yourself?"
Peter nodded and smiled a little under his mask. "Yeah, I'm fine."
May smiled back at him. "Alright, I'll be close by," she said, answering her phone and walking back towards the front door of the school.
—
Flash hated his parents. They never paid him any attention, and when they did, they always found a flaw and punished him for it. Last night they found out that his English grade was slipping and made him come to school early today to talk to the teacher.
As he walked down the hall to his locker, he paused when he heard a thump- like books being dropped on the floor- around the corner.
"Parker?" Flash asked when he saw the other boy bent over and trying to pick up his books off the floor.
Parker looked up suddenly, his eyes widening. He hadn't been in school for a week- not since he had run out of the Homecoming dance and Liz had left the school. The strangest thing was the medical mask looped behind Parker's ears.
"Where have you been? Did you get suspended?" Flash asked as he watched Parker struggle to gather all of his books from his locker.
"No, Flash, I did not get suspended," Parker said, quickly standing up and then dropping most of his books again when his right leg gave out under him.
"Crap, are you okay?" Flash grabbed Parker's arm. He may not like Parker, and he may make fun of him, but he's still not going to just let him fall on his face. Maybe when other people were there to watch, but not now.
Parker sighed and stood up slowly, adjusting the books in his arms.
Just then, Parker's aunt rounded the corner. Flash quickly let go of the other boy's arm and took a few steps back.
Parker's aunt glanced at Flash and Flash could practically feel the burn of the venom in her gaze. She bent over and gathered up the books on the floor.
"All set?" she asked Parker, not giving Flash a second glance.
Flash could see Parker nod, and then both of them walked toward the front of the school without giving Flash another glance.
Flash walked slowly to his locker, thinking about what had just happened. Where had Parker been this week? If he wasn't suspended, why would he have not been in school after ditching Homecoming? And what was with the mask?
—
A/N: Not me casually/awkwardly trying to find an empty corner of campus/the library/the caf to publish a fanfic where it doesn't look like I'm publishing a fic and instead doing something productive, like I don't know, homework? :)