Clessidra | Peter Parker.

16. help me understand

The following week made June ease her nervous mind. She had at first avoided Simon, not feeling strong enough to deal with what he had brought into her life but, when she realized he was just as scared and shifty as she was, something in her head told her to go talk to him.

She attempted it during lunchtime. Simon was sitting on his own, just as always, and June didn't enjoy the idea of eating on her own as well, so she manned up and tightly gripped her food tray, making her way towards his table. He had his head low, not paying much attention to the food while his eyes were quickly scanning something on his phone.

"Is this place free?" she asked, trying not to scare him even if her attempt didn't work. Simon jumped on his seat and adjusted his glasses when he realized it was just June.

"You already know the answer," he replied with a chuckle, making June smile as well.

She sat down, gently placing the tray on the table, and folded her hands on her lap, looking around herself. She wanted to see if he had something to tell her and, if he didn't, she would have talked.

"I'm sorry for not talking to you this week," he mumbled, his eyes shifting between her and the phone.

"It's all right, really. I didn't either," she attempted a smile, even if the fact that the reasons and doubts that had brought her not to talk to Simon were still there and were still bothering her didn't make her feel too well.

"I can imagine what you're feeling. Meeting someone else with your same powers isn't something that happens every day. But... I don't know, maybe we can work on it together and, who knows, we might even decide to get something good out of them. Spiderman already does a good work but, you know, the more the merrier."

June froze when she heard Peter's superhero name, but relaxed when she noticed he was completely clueless.

"What do you think of him?" she asked, furrowing her eyebrows. Her hands moved on the table, where she moved her fingers as if she was playing the piano.

"He's the coolest. If I had his powers, instead of mine, I would have done the same exact thing, instead of hiding in the shadows."

June nodded. She attempted to say something, but got impolitely stopped by Gwen Stacy, who elegantly sat down between the two and looked at them with a disapproving stare.

"What are you doing here?" June asked her, trying not to sound too venomous.

"How are you doing, June?" she asked, placing her chin on her hand and looking at her with raised eyebrows.

"I'm...trying to eat?" June replied, even if her food was completely untouched and it was probably going to remain that way.

"Good, I'll keep you company," Gwen smiled, not paying any attention to Simon.

"I, um- I'm going to the bathroom for a second," he muttered, not waiting for any type of response as he stood up and quickly walked away from the two.

"What the hell are you doing?!" June whisper shouted to the blonde, slamming her hands on the table when she made sure Simon was far away.

"What are you doing?! You can't just start talking to every loser in this school just to try and replace Peter! He misses you, a lot, and being around him is enervating when all he does is complain about the things you two used to do together! I almost feel like the stupid friend who's helping him get over a breakup!"

June did her best not to scoff at the irony of the situation. Out of all the people who could have talked some sense into her to try and fix things with Peter, Gwen Stacy was the last person she would have expected. Considering the massive crush June had always had on Peter –which was incredibly obvious from her self-judging point of view-, none of that made any sense.