Silken

Back To School

Gwen Stacy sat in silence as she stared down at her paper and nibbled on the eraser of her pencil. She glanced across the room where Peter sat, avoiding making eye contact with her or even just looking in her direction. "(Y/n)?"

The boy looked up as from his paper the second he heard his name. "What's up?" He asked quickly as he took her hand in his.

"When you talked to Peter at the funeral... did he say if I did something wrong? He hasn't talked to me since the day before Dad died" Gwen muttered as she looked over at her brother with a sad look.

"No, you did nothing wrong" (y/n) was quick to assure her as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a hug.

Gwen frowned but buried her head into her brother's chest. He wasn't even supposed to be in this class, he had gone to the office and had his class' switched around so he'd be in all of Gwen's classes from now on. It was probably a bad sign but right now Gwen found it comforting to always have him around so she ignored that.

Gwen pulled away a moment later before looking back to her worksheet. "Let's get to work" she muttered as she pressed her pencil against the paper and began to write.

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"This is to weird" Mary Jane spoke to break the silence that had overcome their small groups lunch. They were two members short today.

"Yeah" (y/n) muttered as he poked his water bottle so it fell over, not spilling since the cap was on. "I miss Cindy"

"We all do" MJ was quick to reply. "But where the hell is Peter?"

"Said he was skipping lunch today" Harry shrugged as Gwen sunk into a slouched position. "I tried to convince him otherwise but..."

"Let's talk about something el-" (y/n) was quickly cut off by a familiar voice.

"Hey Stacy!" Flash Thompson's voice called out as he made his way over towards them.

"Uh oh" MJ frowned as she looked to (y/n) who was slowly standing up and turning around.

"He better not try anything" Gwen muttered as she watched the boy approach them. He didn't seem angry but Flash was almost always angry about something. Even for him though beating on a kid who recently lost his father was low.

"Hey Flash" (y/n)'s calmness surprised them all.

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry man" Flash's kind tone surprised everyone but (y/n). Flash grabbed his shoulder and held it in a way which he hoped was comforting. "Cindy definitely deserved better than that, and I'm sure your Dad did too"

"Thanks" (y/n) couldn't help the small smile that grew on his face. He was glad Flash had known better than to ask if he was alright, the answer to that was obvious.

"When did you two become friends?" Gwen frowned as she looked between the two boys.

"When Cindy kicked his ass at tennis" (y/n) replied which caused Flash to roll his eyes and let go of him. "It was a while ago, I thought I told you"

"So weird" MJ whispered as she took a picture of the two boys.

Harry just looked at Flash, ready to leave if he started acting how he usually did.

"You want to join us?" (Y/n) quickly asked Flash, startling both MJ and Harry who were not big fans of the bully.

"Uh-" Flash glanced at MJ and Harry who both looked just as shocked as he was. "I'm not sure that's the best idea"

"Just don't misbehave" Gwen spoke as she motioned for Flash to sit down. It had been a while since she'd heard of any students having issues with Flash beyond just not liking him and if (y/n) trusted him now then she would too.

"Okay" Flash frowned but nodded. "I'll go grab some food and be right back" he walked off quickly.

"What the hell?!" MJ whisper yelled at (y/n), pulling his and Gwen's attention to her and Harry. "Why'd you have to invite him to eat with us?"

"It was the polite thing to do" (y/n) frowned as he looked between the upset pair. "Besides I don't see why you're so upset, didn't you date him? You know he's not all bad"

"I did not and I do not" MJ huffed. "That's a rumor that I'm ninety nine percent sure he made up"

"Oh" (y/n) frowned. "Well he's different now"

"Let's just give him a chance" Gwen cut in right before Harry could make whatever good point he was about to make. "Worst comes to worst you can throw your yogurt at him"

Mary Jane smiled at the idea of that as she put down the spoon that she was about to use to start eating her strawberry yogurt. "That would be fun"

"It will be fun" Harry smirked as he opened up his own yogurt. "One screw up and this is going right in his face"

"Who's the bully now?" They ignored (y/n)'s quiet words as they watched Flash get his food from the lunch ladies.

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As she opened her eyes Cindy Moon found that it hurt like hell when she looked at the light above her, the first sign of a concussion.

The second thing she realized was that she was in agony. She screamed in pain, unable to stop the sound from coming out. Everything hurt.

She slowly sat up and groaned in pain, more prepared for it this time. She glanced down to find that she was no longer in her suit, instead wrapped almost from head to toe in bandages, the only parts not in bandages were in casts.

She growled before grabbing with her hand at her stomach. She held tightly onto the bandages before ripping them, causing her to yell in pain again since she tore to violently.

She was burnt badly, she could tell that much from what she saw. There were also a number of stitches in areas that hurt much more than the rest of her stomach. She leaned her head back and began crying from the mixture of the pain and just how she looked in general. She hoped the burns would heal, she really did.

She looked around the room now, intent on keeping her mind off of her own condition. It wasn't a hospital. Thanks to her eidetic memory and her many injuries as a kid she was familiar with a number of hospitals and this looked nothing like any that she had ever seen. Sure there was some hospital equipment, but nothing else that there should be.

She was pulled from her thoughts as she coughed violently, blood shooting from her mouth and onto the pristine white floor below her. "Ugh" she gave up on trying to sit up and just lay back as she closed her eyes. Figuring this all out could wait, for now she needed rest.

Word count: 1182