☑ THE SHADOW | Peter Maximoff

o n e - y e a r - a g o | s i x

Her eyes widened when she realized his question.

"O-Oh, um... it, um..." She cleared her throat and showed him the cover. "It's just Pride and Prejudice."

"Really?" he asked, a cute frown on his face as he looked at the design. "How can you even read that, isn't the English all messed up?"

She shrugged. "Not really. It's just a bit more... proper, I guess."

Peter nodded, and she looked back down at the bench, nervously playing with her rings. This was the first time she had ever really spoken to him, and something was telling her she was making a big fool of herself.

Of course, the cute boy and the awkward, nobody girl. According to all of the books she read, this would turn out great. According to her anxiety, past trauma, and unlimited self-doubt and mistrust, it would be anything but.

"Is it any good?" Peter asked.

She pondered the question, sitting up a little more as she thought over the contents of the story.

"If... if you're into romances, it's good," was the conclusion she came up with.

He nodded. "Do you like romances?"

"I... um... yeah." The pages fanned her gently as she quickly flipped through them. "This... this is my favorite book."

His eyebrows raised in interest. "Is it?"

She hummed and smiled softly. Indeed it was.

Something about the story intrigued her like nothing she had ever read. It was almost poetic, the way the characters interacted between such contrasting emotions at any given moment, piquing her interest at every turn.

"I've read it... probably more times than I can count." She laughed breathlessly with a small shrug, but then realized how awfully pathetic that must have made her sound. Who reads the same book over and over again? "But I dunno. It's kind of weird, now that I think about it."

"It's not weird."

That sentence gave her the confidence to finally look into his eyes, and as soon as she did, she couldn't look away. Something was telling her not to.

She liked his eyes. Something about them was inviting, and kind, and... warm?

She didn't know how to describe it, but she liked them. Probably a little too much.

"How come you're not down there?" he asked, pulling her out of her trance. He pointed down to the ring, and she followed his finger to see Jean and the rest of the group.

She frowned, scratching the back of her head. Training could get quite aggressive with It, and in turn, quite dangerous. Amara had asked to train with the holograms on her own from the beginning, and it didn't take much to get the okay from Professor Xavier.

"I... um..." She rubbed the back of her neck. "The Professor lets me train on my own."

She swallowed thickly when he gave her a confused expression.

"It's better for me that way."

Amara was grateful that he simply nodded.

They both turned to the ring, where they watched Kurt and Ororo step into the ring. Except Amara's eyes fell back down to Peter's leg only a few seconds later, and she frowned.

The poor thing. His whole mutation revolved around him being able to use his legs, and with one broken, he must have felt like the biggest bump on a log.