UNDERCOVER | PETER PARKER [DISCONTINUED]

01: LATE AGAIN

Ava woke up this morning, deciding if it was truly worth it- going to school that is. Everyone has that awkward moment in the morning when they sit on their bed for a good ten minutes, gazing at God knows what and just not giving a damn. For Ava, that ten minutes stretched out to at least thirty minutes and she had to be at school within thirty minutes exactly.

Everyday it was the same routine, wake up, gaze into space for thirty minutes, take another thirty minutes to get ready, miss her train, find enough money for a cab to be able to stop at a coffee shop, get school when first period starts, get sent to the principals office, he tells her she's been late everyday for the past week, gets a detention after school, comes homes to study, goes to bed at two in the morning and then wakes up and does the whole thing all over again. That's how much she didn't care. Every time she's sent to the principals office she contemplates on whether or not becoming an exotic dancer is the right way to go.

Since she lived with her grandmother, she took advantage of the 63-year-old woman and did whatever she pleased. When parent-teacher conferences came around, her grandmother expected the worse. She expected to hear about Ava's extreme below average grades, her poor attitude within the class and her everyday detentions.

Instead it was the exact opposite. Ava excelled in all her subjects, especially Math and Science, her attitude within class was closed off, only ever raising her hand when she had a question and never spoke or disrupted the rest of the class and her detentions were always cut short because she's number one in all her classes, but she's neck in neck with one kid that she couldn't care to pay attention to because he lives in the same building as her.

They always crossed paths when they would catch the train on the days when she's not late or when they were coming home from school. His name is Peter Parker and he lives just a door or two away from her. Ava never really spoke to him, but there was always a friendly smile even though on Ava's end it was mostly fake considering she hasn't exactly found a reason to smile for the past ten years. When she was five her parents, sisters and brother all died. That left her other brother and herself living with their grandmother. Hector was a really good brother, Ava was very proud of the things he accomplished and the fact that he went to college.

The only Ayala to ever go to a proper American college since her whole family, excluding herself was born in Puerto Rico. Ava does plan on going to college some day, but does she really want to graduate from school just to go to another school for a piece of paper with a stamp on it? She hates school as it is and people, like her grandmother, want her to go to college. It's not like her grandmother and herself were struggling, Hector left both of them a lot of money and Ava got a lot of insurance money from when the entire family just happened to die all at the same time. Ava just hasn't gotten it yet since she isn't eighteen.

The digital clock on her beside table was showing numbers that she didn't even care to acknowledge, but that knock of that door brought her out of her gazing state.

"Ava, you're going to be late," The older woman standing on the other side of the door let out a sigh, turning her body away from the door, "Again." Magdalena went back to the kitchen, preparing her granddaughter's lunch which she enjoyed doing because there was nothing for her to really do.

Magda did work, but she was a nurse who only had night shifts and for a women in her sixties, she was exceptionally fit. She didn't look a day over forty.

Ava got up and walked very slowly to her bathroom, not giving a damn. She looked at herself in the mirror, seeing that her hair was mess and she had a little dry drool on her chin with the sleeping marks from her pillow on the side of her face and that meant she definitely needed a shower. She really didn't want to go to school, but if she's being forced to go then she's going to show up at her own time. Her principal was probably ready for her late arrival, like always he stood out on the steps of the school, waiting for Ava to arrive in a cab as per usual. It didn't make sense to him that someone as intelligent as Ava, who got A's on all her work would not care about going, even though she's top in all her classes. But he gets it, she's been through a lot. All her family is dead and her next of kin probably won't be around for much longer. She'll be the last Ayala left if her grandmother had to die.

By the time Ava got dressed in the same outfit as always. Jeans, white tank top and her brother's large, green military jacket and his old pair of boots and put her hair in a messy bun, she realised she missed her train. That she was happy about. She walked out her bedroom, spotting an annoyed Magda with her arms crossed in the living room.

"Ava, I don't understand why you do..." "I'm not talking about this. I'll see you after school... If I don't have a detention." She said, walking to the front door and walking out her apartment. Ava loved her grandmother to bits, but she didn't understand what she was going through.

Yes, Magda lost her son and all her other grand children, but Ava lost both her parents and the one person who actually made her happy which was her older brother, Hector. Out of all her siblings he was the only one who truly cared and stood up for Ava when all her other siblings bullied her since she was the youngest. She had closed the front door of her apartment, turning her body and seeing Peter standing a door away from her, noticing the panic on his features. He obviously realised he missed the train. This was a first, but Ava just ignored him and put her earphones in, listening to something really loud and obnoxious so she wouldn't have to talk to Peter.

She acted as if she didn't see him and just kept looking down at her phone as she walked to the elevator. Peter watched her as she did so, he stood there for a moment until he realised he's going to be even more late. When Ava got to the elevator, it opened upon her arrival another person who lived on their floor came out and she gave them a nod. Getting in the elevator and before the doors shut, a hand came through and the door reopened, she looked up at saw Peter who gave her a smile and she nodded, pressing her lips together. Ava really didn't want to be in an elevator with him, but it was too late. When they got to the lobby, she went out first and greeted the people at the front desk and the doorman.

Peter has known Ava for a while now, they lived in the same apartment building for years and he knew all about her family and how she has no one left, like him. They weren't friends, Peter didn't understand why because he was a very likeable person. He shouldn't take it personally if Ava didn't want to be his friend, she doesn't have any friends just people she acknowledged which included him. She's a very reserved person and doesn't think she needs friends. Ava and Peter both went separate ways, instead of going right for the train station, Ava went left and Peter became confused.

He turned to her after hearing her whistle, "You're taking a cab?" He asked her, she turned to him as the yellow vehicle pulled up beside her. She wanted to do the right thing because she could see that he was going to be late, trains take another hour to arrive after the last one departs.

"You want a ride?"