Chapter 16

'I pick Gwen!'

'What?! No fair Kathy! I wanted to pick her first!' yelled out another boy.

'Well too bad, coz I got first pick,' the first girl stuck out her tongue mockingly at the boy.

'Tch fine,' the boy huffed under his breath. 'Luke, come over here,'

They spent the next few minutes picking the members for the team, as one by one they each stood behind their captain, until eventually, only one boy was left.

'Urk, Mrs. Millman, can I pick the bench as a team member?' the boy jokingly asked, earning laughter from his friends & classmates.

Mrs. Millman, the teacher-in-charge, frowned at him seriously. 'Why? What's wrong with Peter?'

The boy blinked back at her, a look of mock confusion on his face. 'Well, he's Peter,' he said blankly, his friends now howling with laughter in the background.

Gwen smiled weakly at her friends, looking over guiltily at the downcast Peter.

'Right, that's it, unless you all play together, or we're calling this off now and you're all going straight to detention,' Mrs. Millman glared angrily at the class. 'And you Johnny, I'm calling your mother after this.'

'WHAT?! That's not fair!' Johnny exclaimed loudly.

Before the situation could escalate any further, Peter silently went over to Mrs. Millman side and tugged on her shirt.

'Umm, Mrs. Millman, I'm actually not feeling well, I have a stomachache,' Peter smiled weakly at the teacher.

'Y-yeah! See?! I just didn't want to hurt him,' Johnny said smugly after hearing Peter.

'Peter…,' Mrs. Millman looked over at Peter, her frown still plastered across her face. 'You shouldn't-,'

Peter then started to clutch his stomach & started to bend over, slightly, in pain. 'I'm serious Mrs. Millman,' Peter looked over at the teacher pleadingly. 'Please,'

The teacher paused for a few moments, before letting out a deep, frustrated sigh, before relenting to Peter's request. 'Fine, you can sit over on the bench,' she said softly. 'Come on then, the rest of you, stand on your side of the field,' she ordered the rest of the class.

'Bwah, I need a drink…,' panted one of the girls, her body drenched with sweat after their class.

'Here,' Gwen handed her a glass of water, her brows slightly damp with sweat. 'It's tap water'

'Thanks' the girl said, before gulping down the content.

'Man, how are you not dying Gwen,' chimed in another girl, slightly out of breath from the recent exercise.

Gwen shrugged her shoulders dismissively. 'Ballet training, I guess,' she said off-handedly.

'Really? It's worse than this? That sounds grueling,' the first girl said in amazement, whilst wiping the water from her lips.

'But I bet Gwen looks super pretty doing it tho,' the other girl chimed in. 'Pretty & cool,' she smirked playfully.

Gwen blushed slightly at her friends' comments. 'N-no, it's a bit silly really,'

'Still, it'd be amazing if we could watch it one day,'

'Oh yeah! We can bring the whole class along!'

'Ehh, I don't think I'd want that,' Gwen offered weakly.

Just then, Kathy came along & greeted them. 'Yo Gwen, that was amazing! You were on fire today!'

Gwen shrugged her shoulders dismissively again, covering her slightly blushing face with her bangs. 'I got lucky,'

'Man, that look on Johnny's face when you hit him, that was amazing,' Kathy smirked triumphantly to herself. 'Serves the jerk right,'

'He's a cute jerk tho,' said the first girl, which earned her a look of disgust from all her friends. 'What?!'

'Eww, you got a crush on him or something, Evie?' the second girl blanched in disgust, Gwen & Kathy snickering along at her antics.

'Shut up Vanessa,' the first girl fired back, her cheeks turning slightly red after being teased. 'I just think he's kinda funny, and a bit cute,'

'Blegh, no he's not,' Kathy chimed in comically. 'The guy's full of himself,'

'I didn't hear you complaining about that joke on Peter,' Evelyn shot back sarcastically.

'Pfft, okay, that was funny,' Vanessa snickered lightly, water dripping out from her lips as she tried to hold the water in whilst snickering.

'Fine, but that was one joke! Right?' Kathy looked over towards Gwen expectantly, still smiling from the joke.

Gwen smiled back weakly at them, feeling slightly guilty for Peter's sake. 'Y-yeah, I guess so,'

'Oh man, Evie's crushing so hard right now,' Vanessa grinned slyly, before turning away from the group. 'Everyone! You wanna hear something funny?!' she exclaimed loudly as she ran away from the group.

'Wha-Wait! No!' Evelyn yelled out in embarrassment as she rushed over & chased after Vanessa, her face flushed red from a mixture of embarrassment & tiredness.

After the two left, Kathy eventually got up & stretched, before heading back into the classroom. 'Come on Gwen, let's go in. I wanna get back to class before the bell starts,'

'No, it's okay, you go in first,' Gwen shook her head. 'I'm just gonna go over & get another glass,' Gwen said, gesturing towards the glass of water in her hand.

'M'kay, see you in class,' Kathy said cheerfully, before disappearing into the halls.

As Gwen got up, & headed towards the water fountain, she heard some of the boys laughing. As she turned the corner, she saw Peter, surrounded by some of the boys from his class.

'Oops, sorry Pete, didn't see you there,' Johnny apologized mockingly. 'I thought it was 'nobody', turns out, it just you,' he smirked smugly, before high-fiving his friends.

'That doesn't even make any sense,' Peter said, as he tried to shoulder his way out of the group.

Gwen quickly took a few steps back & looked over at them from a distance, debating her next action with herself internally.

As Peter pushed his way past the group, one of the boys tripped him, and he fell down on his knees, his glasses skidding a few feet away from him.

'You dropped something there, Parker?' another boy asked mockingly, their group enjoying themselves at Peter's misfortune.

Peter grabbed his glasses & fixed it back into position, before trying to get back up. Before he did, he suddenly winced in pain, and crouched back down.

As the crowd stood in silence after seeing Peter's reaction, Gwen immediately rushed over from her hiding place, concerned for Peter. However, a sudden voice rang out from across them, causing Gwen to freeze in her tracks.

'PETER!' Mrs. Millman yelled out in exasperation, before running over to the group.

She bent over & saw Peter wincing in pain, a look of concern plastered across her face. She then touched one of his knees, and felt the damp cotton on her fingers, blood now staining the pants.

'What happened here?!' Mrs. Millman yelled out in anger, as she glared at the group of boys in front of her.

'W-we didn-,' the boys started to stammer, looking amongst themselves for someone to talk.

'I'm sorry Mrs. Millman, I tripped,' Peter smiled sheepishly, still wincing from the pain. 'I wasn't paying attention and I tripped on my own foot. Sorry,' Peter said softly.

Mrs. Millman pinched her nose in frustration, before helping Peter up. 'Fine, let's get you to the Nurse's Office,' she said firmly. 'Johnny, Cole, I want to see you in my office after this,' she said, glaring at them, whilst leading Peter away towards the school.

'Come in,' the nurse exclaimed after hearing the knock on her door.

As the door swung open, a young, blonde-haired girl stood in front of the door, staring awkwardly back at her.

'Ms. Stacy, how can I help you?' the nurse smiled softly at her.

'I-I'm here to check up on Peter,' Gwen said hesitantly. 'Is-is that okay Ms. Brown?'

'It certainly is okay Ms. Stacy,' Ms. Brown smiled warmly at her, ruffling her hair in the process. 'Actually, excellent timing, I needed to go & talk to Mrs. Millman about him anyway. Mind looking after him for me?' Ms. Brown looked at Gwen pleadingly.

'Oh, okay, sure, I can do that,' Gwen nodded confidently, before Ms. Brown gave her hair another ruffle.

'Good girl,' Ms. Brown smiled warmly before heading out. 'I'll only be a minute,'

After she left, Gwen slowly looked around the nurse's office, before opening the door & headed to Peter's bed.

As she approached him, she saw Peter, nose deep in one of his books, leaning close, nose almost touching the pages.

Gwen smiled to herself, before sitting down on a stool next to his bed.

'Ehem,' Gwen cleared her throat to catch Peter's attention.

'Gwen?' Peter said, surprised by her sudden presence.

Gwen smiled softly at him, before pushing the book slightly further away from Peter's face, her face frowning in disapproval.

'I see you still have that bad habit of reading too close,'

Peter blushed slightly at her sudden comments. 'Y-yeah, sorry about that,' Peter apologized. 'I'll, uh, work on that,'

'N-no, it's fine. It's a myth, apparently,' Gwen said softly, her gaze now turned away from Peter's.

A few moments passed, as they sat in silence, Gwen, trying to think of things to say to Peter. Her gaze then fell on the pair of large-size band-aids plastered across both of Peter's knees.

'That looks bad,' Gwen winced, feeling slightly guilty for letting it happen in front of her.

'Y-yeah,' Peter stammered awkwardly. 'It's actually not that bad, I fell & trip while I was walking. Haha, pathetic right?' Peter joked, trying to lift the awkward mood around them.

Gwen looked over at the wound, her head struggling with a mixture of emotions as she tried to find the right words to say to him. 'I-I'm sorry,' she managed softly.

Peter blinked in surprise for a few moments. 'W-what? No, no, it's not your fault,' Peter said quickly, a look of guilt creeping onto his face. 'Why are you apologizing Gwen?'

In her mind, she could think of so many reasons for her to apologize. She wanted to apologize for being a terrible friend, for not helping him when he needed her, for letting it happen right in front of her, for ignoring him for the last year.

'Okay,' Gwen managed softly, her feelings of guilt piling up inside her as the words left her mouth.

As they continued to sit in awkward silence, Gwen not willing to look Peter in the eyes, & Peter being scared to say anything in fear of making the situation worse, all they could hear was the ticking of the clock, signifying the time passing by.

After a few minutes, the sound of the front door opening snapped them back into reality.

'I think Ms. Brown's back,' Gwen brushed her hair behind her ears. 'I should get back to class,'

'Y-yeah' Peter nodded slowly, as Gwen got up & started towards the door.

'Gw-gwen,' Peter called out to her. 'You, uh, wanna go back home together today?'

Gwen stood in silence for a moment, her face covered by her bangs. 'I-I can't. I'm heading over to Kathy's house later,' she lied.

'O-Oh, okay,' Peter said softly, trying his best to hide his disappointment. 'I-I'll see you later then,'

Gwen gave him a soft nod before walking away.

As the doors closed behind her, and Peter staring at the ceiling in disappointment, he noticed a hairclip lying on the floor, next to his stool.

*School bell rings*

'Hey, did you guys see Peter after class?' Kathy asked.

'Hmm? Not really, did he not come back after P.E.?' Vanessa said dismissively.

'Maybe the stomachache thing was actually real,' Evelyn chimed in, as she packed her books into her bag. 'God, I thought he was faking it to avoid the embarrassment in P.E.' she mused to herself.

'Yeah, right? Imagine getting so embarrassed, you actually got sick. Hah, couldn't be me,' Vanessa joked, earning a few snickers from her friends.

As Gwen & her friends started to leave the classroom, suddenly, a figure started limping towards them.

'G-Gwen!' Peter called out, making his way over the group slowly.

'Peter?' Gwen looked back at him in surprise.

'Woah, what's wrong with Peter?' Vanessa whispered in surprise.

'Did he hurt his leg?' Evelyn continued.

As Peter limped his way over towards them, he eventually reached Gwen & smiled sheepishly at her. 'Uhm, you uh, dropped this hair clip back at the Nurse's office,' Peter offered, as he handed her the hairclip.

As they were all heading back home from class, the filled hallway was filled with murmurs as they turned their attention towards the pair.

'Woah, does Gwen & Parker know each other?'

'No way, I've never seen them talk before'

'Did she visit him at the Nurse's office?'

'What? She's friends with that weirdo?'

'Is that blood on his shins? Is he okay?'

'Huh, I thought she was one of the cool girls,'

'Wow, our school diva & the school weirdo? That's freaky,'

As the murmurs continued, Gwen couldn't help but hear some of them. She hesitated for a few moments, as she looked at Peter guiltily.

'Gwen?' Peter blinked in confusion, oblivious to the surrounding stares directed at him.

As they stood in silence for a few moments, Peter started to realize the stares given by the three girls around Gwen. As he blinked back in surprise, he slowly realized the stares & murmurs from the surrounding people in the hallway.

'No way, did he actually made that up to talk to her?'

'Oh man, that's so cringe bro!'

'Eww, that's so desperate,'

'Right, why would Gwen ever be friends with someone like Parker,'

'Hey, the blood patch's getting bigger man. Is he okay?'

'Urk, I bet even that limp was made up for pity points,'

'God, talk about attention-seeking much. Desperate,'

As Peter looked around in confusion at the people around them, he caught Gwen's eyes, & the hesitation behind it.

In the briefest of moments, Peter's face turned from confusion, to realization, to disappointment, to a warm, sad smile.

'Aha, I'm sorry. I guess I must've confused you with someone else,' Peter smiled weakly before taking back his outstretched hands, & pocketing the hair clip.

'You okay there, Peter?' Kathy asked, as she saw the red patch on his pants slowly getting bigger.

'Oh, y-yeah, I tripped while I was walking earlier,' Peter brushed the question off warmly as he turned away from the group. 'I-I'm sorry, I need to go back to class to pick my stuff up,' Peter said quickly before limping away into the class.

'O-kaaayyy,' Evelyn blinked in confusion for a few moments.

'That was weird' Vanessa mused out loud.

'L-let's just go,' Gwen quickly turned away, walking as fast as she could out of the school.

*Doorbell noise*

As the door swung open, she was greeted by the sight of her father frowning at her.

'Where have you been young lady?' Mr. Stacy asked firmly. 'We've been waiting for you for 3 hours,'

Gwen shifted uncomfortably. 'I, I went over to Evelyn's house for a while. Sorry,' she apologized.

'And you didn't think to call your mother? Or call me?' George vented in frustration. 'Do you have any idea how worried we were?'

'Honey, let her go. She said she went over to a friend's house to study. Right?' her mother smiled warmly at her from behind her father. 'What's wrong with visiting some friends? The important thing is she's here now,'

'Don't take her side on this! She needs to learn about responsibility!' her father argued back.

'I'm sorry dad. Next time I'll give you & mom a call before deciding. It won't happen again,' Gwen apologized, looking over at her dad with pleading eyes.

George stood grumbling to himself for a few moments, trying his best to resist Gwen's pleading eyes. 'Urgh, fine. I'll let you off this time,' he fumed, before walking over towards the kitchen. 'I need to talk with Evelyn's parents, the least they could've done was give us a call,' he started to talk to himself as he left Gwen & her mom alone.

Gwen turned & smiled weakly towards her mother, to which her mother replied with a warm smile of her own.

'Thanks mom,'

'It's fine. Now go & take a shower, we're going out for dinner tonight,' she smiled warmly at Gwen.

'Ooh, where are we going?' Gwen asked, as she made her way up the stairs towards her bedroom.

'That new Italian place that's just opened up. We're celebrating your father's recent promotion,'

'Neat!' Gwen beamed excitedly. 'I'll be done in a jiffy,'

Her mother smiled at her & gestured her away. 'Oh wait, Gwen?'

'Yes mom?' Gwen replied, her head peeking from above the stairs.

'Peter came over earlier,'

'O-oh,' Gwen's face immediately turned sullen as she recalled the events of the day.

'Yeah, he dropped by to hand over this hair clip. Said you dropped it at school,'

Mrs. Stacy then climbed up the stairs partially as she reached out & handed Gwen the clip from below.

'He's a nice kid, that Peter, isn't he?' Mrs. Stacy mused to herself as she made her way downstairs.

Gwen stared guiltily at the black & white panda hair clip in her hands. 'Y-yeah, I guess he is,'