The Weight of The World ｡ Peter Parker [1]

32 - Cat Burglars

After a moment of hesitation, I wrapped my covered hands onto the ladder's first bar and pulled myself up, one step at a time. When I reached the landing to the second floor, Gwen was already cracking open a window. She gave us a grin before sticking her head through the large gap and looking down. "How far down is it?" Mary Jane whispered out.

Gwen paused before turning back to us. "Okay, so it's a little higher up than I assumed but I think we can still manage it."

I stepped forward, my gloves pressing against the glass as I peered through the same gap, staring down at how far this drop was actually going to be. It was a good three meters down, at least. "I don't think that's all that safe."

Gwen was already hurrying us along though. "So, Florence is the tallest which means she should drop down first."

I stared at her, my mouth hanging wide open. "What? Why me? This was your idea in the first place and the only reason I tagged along was because I'm am idiot."

Mary Jane shifted a laugh as Gwen rolled her pretty eyes. "Don't be so dramatic, Flo. You'll go first because you've got longer legs, it will be easier on all of us and then you can help us two down."

"Fine, but you better not drop me, you hear me?" I snipped in her direction. I slowly circled around so my feet could slide through first. I held on tightly to the ledge, shimming my hips through the rather narrow window. Once I dangled freely, Gwen and Mary Jane took hold of my hands, leaning forward slightly so I could lower myself down further.

Mary Jane's hair fell in her eyes and all I could see was her red mane of hair when I looked back up to make sure they weren't going to drop me. "So, how's Peter?" Gwen asked innocently.

"You're asking about Peter when I'm dangling through a window as we fake a robbery?" I hissed through my teeth, my arms starting to get sore. The girls leaned forward a little more, my whole body shifting again. I squeezed my eyes shut, feeling fear course through my veins.

Gwen gave a cough. "I don't see another perfect chance where you can't run away from talking about the situation."

I shook my head at her. "There's nothing wrong."

Mary Jane gave me a pained look. "We know something happened. We're not blind. All week the two of you have been circling around each other, very careful not to be in the same place at the same time. It's getting ridiculous."

I could feel my hands slipping and my eyes yanked down to see how far I still dangled in the air. Even through the darkness I could make out the floor. "I'm letting go, alright?"

"You can't just change the subject." Gwen muttered out as my hands slipped and my stomach fell along with my weight. My feet hit the floor, a thump echoing through the store.

As I straightened, I glanced back up at my friends, flickering some hair out of my face. "I don't want to talk about Peter, okay?" I stepped closer to the wall, my eyes finding the cameras on the top floor. "Now, jump down so we can get this over and done with."

The two of them managed to get down from the window without breaking any bones as we dropped out of sight from the cameras. We were huddled behind a display of rings, all sparkling and begging for attention. My legs hurt from squatting for too long as we decided what to do next. Gwen pushed back her sleeve, setting her stopwatch for ten minutes, so we could know just how far away the police were once the alarms were set off.

"How are we going to set off the alarms?" Mary Jane asked me, crouched down on my left. "Are we just going to smash a display case?" In the low lighting I could see the fear in her eyes and I wanted to reach over and tell her everything was going to be alright but I didn't know that because this was by far the worst thing I had ever done in my life.