Forever

chapter four

At least he still had his other friends to look forward to though. Well, sometimes.

"You know, for someone who hates him so much, you talk about him a lot," MJ told him with a glance over her book.

"I do not! So we're still hanging out later?" Peter asked them, changing the subject.

"Yeah, it's gonna be so cool, I can't wait to see the tower!" Ned replied excitedly, while MJ just nodded that she could come.

"Good, I gotta go to class, but I'll see you guys later then!"

"Bye, Peter."

"Later, Loser. We're not done talking about this, by the way."

Pointedly ignoring her, he sighed as he got to his class. The only one with Harley, therefore the only one he couldn't focus in. He was there first, so by the time the bell rang Harley had sat next to him with a huff. He radiated annoyance.

That was another thing. For Peter, this whole thing started as an act, so he found it hard to really be mad at Harley. Well, until they started arguing, then of course it was quite easy to be mad. But while Harley was practically seething at merely sitting next to Peter, Peter felt nothing. Nothing good, nothing bad, absolutely nothing.

They sat in their stony silence for half the class until, inevitably, something went wrong. Peter, clumsy as ever, spilled his water so that it spilled down the front of Harley's t-shirt.

"Are you kidding? What the hell?" Harley practically growled.

"I didn't mean to!"

"'Course you didn't mean to. You're just a goddamn idiot sometimes, Parker."

Peter bristled at this comment and any sense of regret he felt for accidentally spilling his water went out the window.

"Well, you're no genius either."

"I'm not the one trying to be," Harley accused, pointing a finger at him. Oh, how Harley could push his buttons and irritate him like no other.

"I'm not," he bit out, slapping his hand away.

From there, Harley pushed him, and against his better judgment, Peter pushed back lightly and it was a blur. They ended up on the floor in a heap, Harley slipping in the water and pulling Peter down with him. The teacher stood over them demanding they go to the office immediately.

Huffing, they both stood up and got their stuff, heading to the office in another tense silence. This time, though, they must have thought better than to start arguing again.

Slumping into a chair in front of Mr. Morita's office, Peter rolled his eyes, watching Harley do the same across the small hallway. Peter knew he was the one responsible for this ongoing war between them, but he had to wonder how Harley hated him so much. Yes, he knew he was the one that fired the first shot, but how could it have escalated so quickly, from friends to less than strangers?

It was what he needed though. It was the only way to keep Nico, so he tried to will the pit in his stomach away.

Mr. Morita called them both in and Peter was surprised Tony wasn't already there, waiting to lecture them.

"Boys, let me get straight to it. I don't want to hear about who did or said what and what happened. Fighting is prohibited here and I'll appreciate that you don't start it again.

"Now, I recognize that you live together, so unless your guardian suggests it, I'm not going to suspend you. I believe this is something they should deal with. But, since you did break our rules here, you'll both have detention after school for the rest of the month, understood?"