Crush → Peter Parker ✓

02 | just peter

By the time he arrived at school, his nose felt way better than when he face planted.

Even with the unfavourable experience earlier, he still arrived first in his classroom. As soon as Peter got to his seat, he dropped his bag and his binder on his desk and quickly scribbled a 'romantic' note to place on Erika's table along with the medley of sunflowers and roses. He had been thinking of that note for a while now but have only recently found the balls to actually write it down on a piece of paper for her to see.

Peter then ran back to his respective seat, opened up a book from his bag and hid his face with it in a sorry attempt to look totally normal, even though his palms were sweating like pigs. Or maybe boars. He wiped his damp brow and thought, was it just him or was it really warm in this classroom?

Through his peripheral vision, he saw students come in and sit on their chairs, chatting away before class started. He looked around and sure enough, there was no sign of her yet. He looked to his wristwatch and there were 13 more minutes before classes would officially begin. He continued on hiding his face with the book and then he heard her.

If it was any more possible, his ears perked up, clearly loving the sound of her angelic laughter. He looked up oh-so subtly to see her laughing with her best friend.

Erika Carbonell was not popular, but neither was she unknown. She had dated one of the popular soccer players in their grade for a few months but then realized that she considered him more as a friend than a love interest. It does sound bad but no one could really hate her. She was the kindest, most gorgeous, most sincere and all the positive adjectives you could ever think of, in their grade. Well, to Peter, maybe the entire school.

Peter blissfully recalled the day she confronted the soccer player. Minutes before that occurred, Erika smiled at Peter when she passed by him in the hallway. Not just a halfhearted smile, but a smile wherein her eyes sparkled and crinkled. He smiled at the thought of it.

She was definitely beautiful, both inside and out.

It was just too bad that they were out of each other's leagues. A dork and a pretty girl like her do not belong with each other in any high school story.

After the quick recollection, Peter quickly hid his face with the book and tried to look interested in whatever he was reading so as not to blow his own cover.

Erika reached her desk and her best friend let out a shriek, which was very well heard by Peter because of his heightened hearing.

Guess it was one of the perks of being Spider-Man.

"Roses are red, violets are blue. Erika, this bouquet is for you! Oh my, this is sooo sweet!" Her best friend whispered to Erika which didn't go unheard by Peter. He looked up to Erika to see her looking around the classroom and he swore that their eyes met for a millisecond. But to him, it felt like a lifetime.

He muttered some profanities and immediately went back to reading the book but he just couldn't comprehend anything after that contact as uncertainties and nervousness clouded his brain. Normally, it was full of chemical and mathematic equations but now it was nothing but Erika, Erika, and Erika.

Did she figure out that it was him? Was he too obvious? He then heard laughter and footsteps heading his way. He flipped the page of the book he was 'reading' to act oblivious to it all.

"Peter, is it?" A feminine voice from above him spoke.

He took a deep breath and thought, holy crap, it's her.

"Yeah..? I-I mean yeah! I'm Peter." He mentally slapped himself for being so nervous; however, he just couldn't help it. There was a beautiful girl who knew his name.

The beautiful girl just so happened to be Erika Carbonell, his crush.

"Well, I'm Erika." She offered her hand for him to shake and he subtly wiped his hand on his knee before shaking it, which he had done a little too excitedly. He gave her a sheepish smile to which she grinned. She thought that the boy before her was awkward but cute.

"So.. what are you reading?" Erika sat on the empty seat in front of him and faced him.

Peter's palms were sweating once again. He couldn't believe it, was his crush really trying to spike up a conversation with him? He replied, "Just y-you know.. the Cold War."

"Wow, that's pretty cool! What's also cool is the fact that you could read your History book upside down." She grabbed his book and turned it to the right way. Redness suddenly flooded his cheeks; he was embarrassed to say the least. Not only was he 'reading' his book upside down, but also his crush was the one who noticed, not himself.

He covers his face with his hands and mutters to himself, "Oh God, this is embarrassing."

Erika laughs, "It's okay, Peter. We all have those moments."

Peter, needless to say, felt uneasy; his crush probably thought that he was a pathetic excuse of a human and for him that was enough to end his life right then and there. Well, not really but it was quite close. Also, he'll have to stick around longer to see if anything would brew up between him and his crush. Call him ambitious but don't stop believing, right?

On the other hand, Erika thought that Peter was being too adorable right now.

The person who owns the desk in front of Peter arrived and Erika stood up from the seat politely. "I should probably go to my own seat but catch you later, yeah?"

There was going to be a later, she said so. Due to this, Peter smiled and raised his hand to his head, saluting her. She shook her head at his ridiculousness and headed to her seat where her best friend was eyeing the entirety of their interaction curiously. He could hear her best friend ask Erika who he was and Erika answered, "Just Peter."

Yeah, that's what he was. Just Peter.

The boy sat in front of Peter turned to him and said, "Man, she's pretty."

Peter didn't take his eyes off Erika when he replied confidently, "Yeah, she is."

---

HOW ADORABLE WAS THAT CHAPTER (pretty adorable if you ask me)

UGH TOM HOLLAND WHY DO YOU HAVE TO BE SO CUTE

btw the picture attached is erika and her best friend (portrayed by amandla stenberg)

P.S. THIS WAS A PRETTY LONG CHAPTER COMPARED TO THE FIRST ONE ARE YOU ALL PROUD