Chapter 12

'Math is hard!'

'Shut up Mike. It's not hard, you're just stupid,' a girl named Katherine yelled at Mike from her seat.

'You got a D in maths too, dummy!' Mike replied.

As her classmates continued to bicker around her, Gwen happily sat in silence in her seat, enjoying the daily exercises the teachers assigned them.

Having spent the last 3 years in her new environment, Gwen no longer has any trouble fitting in with her classmates. In fact, she often looks forward to the daily school experience, having found a circle of friends for herself amongst the girls.

'I wish I was as smart as Gwen,' one of her friends seated next to her sighed out loud.

'I'm not that smart,' Gwen blushed. 'Come on, let me help you with that,' Gwen excitedly went over to her friend as she helped her with her homework.

'I did the thing from left to right, just like you said!' her friend groaned dramatically, burying her face in her hands in frustration.

'Hmm? Is that wrong?' Gwen leaned over her friend's shoulders as she looked at the book, she has open in front of her.

'No. The answer's 13,' she groaned

Gwen mulled over the question in her head for a few moments. 'Peter did tell me about 'BODMAS' previously,' she thought out loud.

'What's that?' one of her friends asked curiously.

'It's a rule, to help you do your calculations,' Gwen explained as she re-did the question with her new method.

'And if you do the 'times' first, then you do the subtraction… and… done!' Gwen exclaimed triumphantly. '13!'

'Wait a minute, you just did from right to left,' the friend asked, slightly confused.

'No, you have to do the times & the divides first…,' Gwen continued to explain the process to her group of friends, feeling more than happy as she solved one question after another.

*School bell rings*

'Ok everyone, recess,' the teacher announced after the bell. 'I'll see you guys again in 30 minutes,'

Gwen neatly arranged her stationeries into her case, and tucked them away inside her bag, before getting up & waving her friends goodbye.

As she was heading towards the door, one of the boys from her class stumbled into her as he & his friends were chasing each other.

'Hey! Watch it!' Gwen exclaimed, slightly annoyed, as she straightened her dress & scarf back into position after the clash. Just like her mother, Gwen makes it a point to always look perfect & tidy. 'A place for everything, and everything in its place', her mother always says.

'Oof, sorry Gwen,' one of the boys apologized to her as they picked their friends up. 'Where are you heading?'

'I'm going to go hang out with Peter,' Gwen answered, as she blew her fringe into place. 'Now move aside,' Gwen said in a matter-of-fact manner.

'Again? What are you guys, dating?' One of the other boys snickered as he teased Gwen.

'Ewww! Hahaha!' their friends collectively jeered as they laughed & teased Gwen.

'What's wrong with that? Peter's a friend,' Gwen said defiantly, her ears turning slightly red as the teasing continued.

'He's weird is what he is,' the boy named Mike chipped in from within his group.

'What? No, he's not!' Gwen snapped at him.

'Hey, I'm just saying. Andy from Class B kept telling people about how weird Peter is,' Mike shrugged his shoulders, as he moved aside for Gwen to pass through. 'He doesn't even have any friends,' he added.

'Well, I'm his friend. And Andy's an idiot, so shut up,' Gwen pouted her lips angrily as she storms past them. She heads over to the next class and peeked through the doorway, to see Peter, nose deep in one of his encyclopedias, with his new glasses resting on his nose.

'Ehem, what you reading there Pete?' Gwen clears her throat as she peeked over Peter's tiny little shoulders.

'Oh; hey Gwen,' Peter beamed, slightly surprise at her sudden appearance. 'I'm just reading the book your dad gave me last week. It's really fun,' Peter said excitedly, as he turned his attention back towards the book.

Gwen clicks her tongue in disapproval as she pushed the book slightly further away from Peter's face. 'Didn't your aunt tell you that reading books too closely might hurt your eyes?'

'That's a myth apparently,' Peter said off-handedly, as he continued reading at the distance Gwen sets for him, not wishing to get in trouble with her.

'Hey Gwen,' one of the girls from Peter's class waved at Gwen as they walked past her. Gwen smiled at them and greeted them bac.

Gwen then took out the food her mom prepared for them & placed it on Peter's table. 'Come on monkey brain, my mom packed us some lunch,'

Peter turned his head excitedly at Gwen's offer. 'Cool, what did you bring?'

'Sandwiches,'

'Ooh neat, I love sandwiches,' Peter continued excitedly, as he & Gwen grabbed their respective sandwiches and munched down on it.

Another group of girls passed by them as they ate their lunch, again, greeting Gwen as they walked past the pair.

'Wow, you're popular,' Peter chuckled in between mouthfuls of sandwiches.

Gwen rolled her eyes at Peter, before turning back to him. 'Isn't it weird how I'm friends with more of your classmates than you are?' she questioned.

'Ehh, I don't know,' Peter shrugged off her question. 'You're more of a people person than I am I guess,'

Gwen continued chewing her food, whilst thinking about their situation right now.

'Don't you want to make more friends Pete?' she asked suddenly.

'Hmm? Not really,' Peter answered off-handedly, eyes already drawn back to the open encyclopedia on his desk. 'I already have you, don't I?' he chuckled.

Gwen felt her cheeks heating up suddenly, to her dismay. She quickly massaged her cheeks to try & restore them back to normal.

'Hmm? What's wrong Gwen?'

'I don't know, my cheeks feel hot for some reason, it's so weird,' Gwen frowned as she continues to massage her cheeks.

'Maybe you're not feeling well,' Peter thought for a moment before placing his hands on her forehead.

'Hmm, it's getting worse,' Gwen frowned as she feels more heat going into her cheeks.

'Huh, that's too bad then,' Peter lets out a small sigh, defeated.

'Why?'

'Uncle Ben bought me that new Chemistry Set we talked about,' Peter sighed deeply. 'I thought you could come over later and we can work on the experiments, together,' Peter explained, shoulders slumped.

'What? No way?!' Gwen exclaimed excitedly. 'I wanna come over then!'

Peter eyed her worriedly. 'Shouldn't you be getting some rest?'

'What? No,' Gwen answered defiantly. 'It's okay, I'll rest later. I wanna go see that Chemistry Set,' she continued excitedly.

'Hey Gwen, you going back?'

Gwen took a moment to fix her scarf back into place after a long day at school. 'Hmm? Yeah sure,' she said off-handedly.

'Listen, Andy's parents just got him a new inflatable palace yesterday!' the girl exclaimed excitedly. We're all heading over there now to go & play in it!' she squealed in excitement.

Gwen hesitated for a few moments before her friends continued asking her.

'Come on Gwen, let's go & play together. It'll be fun,' one of her classmates assured her.

'I kind of promised Peter that I'll go back with him today,' Gwen explained.

'What? It'll be fine!' another of her friends assured her. 'I'm sure he's okay with it,'

Gwen looked around at her friends, conflicted. 'I-I don't kno-,'

'Well, you're missing out if you don't go,' one of her friends shrugged her shoulders as they walked away from her. 'See you later then,'

Gwen hesitated for a few more moments.

'Wait!'

Her friends turned back towards her.

'I wanna go. Let me go as well,'

'I told you it'd be fun'

Gwen grinned excitedly as they cycled down the street. 'Yeah, that was great!'

'Best day of my life!' another girl quipped in excitedly, still excited from playing inside the inflatable palace with her friends.

'Arghh, why did we have to leave,' one of the girls said dejectedly.

'We can't play in there forever, Sarah,' Gwen shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly.

'Why not? It's massive enough for us to stay in there,' Sarah pouted her lips defiantly.

'Coz then your mom will get worried dummy,' another of their friends replied. As they continued their conversation, they eventually separated ways & headed to their respective homes.

Gwen cycled her way to her home, passing by the now empty school on her way. To her surprise, she sees Peter squatting down in front of the gate, his bike leaning against the wall.

'Peter?'

Peter's ear perked up at the mention of his name. He beams excitedly when he sees Gwenn calling out to him. 'Gwen! Thank goodness you're all right,' he said, relieved.

'O-oh, okay,' Gwen blinked in surprise at Peter's relieved reaction. 'What are you doing here?'

Peter raised his eyebrow in confusion at Gwen's question. 'I'm… waiting for you?' he offered slowly.

'What? Why?' Gwen said incredulously.

'Well, you said you wanted to go back together to check out that new chemistry set,' Peter said, slightly unsure about what's happening. 'So, I waited for you,'

'Peter, it's been 5 hours' Gwen exclaimed, her guilt welling up inside her.

'Well, I was worried, since you were feeling a bit unwell just now,' Peter said softly, feeling like he messed up somehow. 'I did try looking for you inside the school a couple of times, but I couldn't find you. So, I figured I'd stay outside and wait for you,' he explained innocently.

Gwen bit her lips as she struggles with the unpleasant emotions she felt inside her.

'Gwen?' Peter tapped her on the shoulders after she kept silent for a few seconds. 'You okay?'

'You're weird,' Gwen muttered softly under her breath.

'Sorry? I didn't hear you Gwen,' Peter scratched the back of his head, smiling sheepishly at her.

'You're such a weirdo you know that?' Gwen said to Peter with a straight face, before cycling away as hard as she could, leaving Peter behind as fast as she can.

'H-huh?'