NOT ANOTHER TEEN MOVIE ∙ Peter Parker

☆ Chapter Forty-One: All Better?

Sammy's eyes welled with more tears.

"It still hurts."

No one prepared Lizzie as an older sister for when her younger brother understood pain was not so easily fixed. No one brought that up about being the middle child—she learned by example. The one supposed to teach her everything didn't get to this part in the rulebook. Lizzie refused to cry in front of the youngest Carter, but her grip steeled. Sammy sniffled and clutched his hand to his chest, sinking further into the safety of his sister's arms. Lizzie didn't know how to take away his pain.

Sharon was not here to tell her what to say.

"I know. I know it does," she muttered against his dirty-blonde hair, purposefully ignoring any familiarity of its hue. "I'm so sorry. I've got you. I've always got you."

Sammy's fingers wrapped around the neck of her T-shirt and dog-tags, tugging. "I want sissy."

That was that. Lizzie broke eye contact with her brother and shot them to the ceiling to force the tears back before she could face him again. Please don't let me fuck this up for him. They were a set of three; the one meant to lead them was not there. And Lizzie had no idea what the fuck she was doing. Sharon made it look so easy.

"I know," she managed out. "Me too."

We're growing up without you, Sharon.

"I want back her, too."

───○☆ ✸ ☆○───

𝐌𝐈𝐃𝐓𝐎𝐖𝐍 𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐋 𝐎𝐅 𝐒𝐂𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 & 𝐓𝐄𝐂𝐇𝐍𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐘

𝟎𝟒 𝐌𝐀𝐘 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟖

Midtown junior year was, decidedly, the most uneventful school year. Peter Parker thought it when he wrote the date on his homework, noticing just how close they were to the end already. It could have something to do with the girl sitting next to him at the cafeteria table — considering freshman year and sophomore year, Lizzie Carter and himself got themselves into enough trouble (correction from author: Peter got himself into trouble, and Lizzie saved his ass). By junior year, Peter Parker knew better.

Well, he got better at hiding what would piss her off. Kind of like today.

Currently, he was depending on Lizzie's terrible use of social media to keep him alive through lunch. If she happened to check Twitter, or Instagram, or the group-chat between them and Art (who only texted "Peter, good luck!" which sealed his fate), Lizzie would see that Spider-Man got involved in something small last night. In his defense, the guy had a gun.

"Everybody still in for Hudson field trip at the end of the month?" Arthur asked casually as he dug his hands through a bag of chips, courtesy of the dollar Lizzie found in her jacket pocket when they walked past the vending machine. "I haven't been in years. My brother loved it, parents always used to take him to see it, but wasn't my thing."

Taylor started unpacking her mess of a lunch when she replied. "Yeah, still going. Lizzie and I went once in sixth grade...and got detention after for leaving the group."

"Three times," added her best friend, grinning as she took a drink of her water bottle.

"You know how people talk about bad influences?" Elijah asked casually. The comment didn't rub anyone the wrong way—except Lizzie, whose eyes darted to Eli in accusation. Don't get her wrong, Lizzie loved Eli, but the long-term relationship between him and Taylor had become a hot topic as of late. Not all things said were the best. "There's a reason people call you two the Terror Twins."