DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE [ SPIDEYCHELLE ]

0.3

Michelle face turned into a disgusted expression, "I don't really drink, for one.. and my sister is coming home from Uni tomorrow night." She told them, Cindy's formerly happy face dropping.

"C'mon, MJ! It's gonna be so much fun.. and since when did you have a sister?"

"Uh.." Michelle muttered, "since I was born?" She said, though it came out more as a question. Her attitude came through with the words.

Cindy sighed, rolling her eyes. "Obviously. I meant that you've never mentioned her before."

"She's 5 years older than us, graduated when we were in grade eight." Michelle explained, "besides. That's my personal life." She added, trying to avoid the topic.

"I'm sure she'll be okay with you going to a party tomorrow night! Seriously, even Peter is going." Flash said, gesturing to the boy across from Michelle.

At the mention of his name, Peter looked at him with a perplexed look on his face. "I am?"

"Dude, the whole team is invited. I said this on Tuesday in the group chat." Flash scoffed, "do you not pay any attention to things other than old movies?"

Michelle gave Flash a sly glare for his second comment, before shifting in her spot and relaxing again. "I'll text Talya and see what she says, just so you'll get off my back about it." She told them, taking her phone out of the pocket of her jean jacket.

private chat
tea 🥃 [ talya ]
mickey 🐁 [ michelle ]

12:21pm
sept. 8th

micky 🐁
hey t
so ik you're coming home tmrw but a member of the Deca team is throwing a huge party and wants the whole team to go
but really just say no and I won't go
12:22pm

tea 🥃
what no hon go ahead!!
I won't be home until like 8pm tmrw and I'll be beat tired
So go ahead and have fun !! Don't drink too much tho
12:24pm

micky 🐁
i h8 u
i wanted you to say nooooo
but I won't lie to the team so
see you sundayy
12:27pm

"Okay, I can go." Michelle sighed, earning cheers of happiness from the team of students. "But, I'm saying right now that if any of you fuckers get drunk, I'm not taking care of you." She quickly said, a couple of the kids laughing.

After that, her and Peter looked at each other and shared a knowing glance, both fully aware they would probably be the only two sober ones from the team that night. Michelle had only seen Peter drink once, and she remembered the way his face turned up at the taste of the alcohol. It was at Flash's end year party for sophomore year, and he decided he was going to have some alcohol that wasn't his Italian aunt's red wine. Long story short, Peter hated it and scrunched his face up, Michelle laughed at him, and Peter tossed it away.

Peter abruptly stood from the lunch table after his phone went off, Michelle looking at him. He looked tense, his jaw tightened and eyebrows forward.

"What's up, Parker?" Flash asked, noticing how Peter was frantically typing away at his phone, before putting it back in his pocket.

"I gotta go." Was all Peter said before he was darting out of the cafeteria, Michelle's eyes following him until the doors shut.

"Wonder what's up with him." Flash scoffed, shaking his head. After that, people around the table started spilling ideas.

"Maybe Ned needed him."

"Dude, maybe it was that fake internship."

"Could've been his aunt."

"Maybe it just isn't our business, and we should stay out of it." Michelle chimed in, the table silencing as they turned to look at her. She raised her eyebrows, "what? You wouldn't want someone talking about you like this, would you?"

When all Michelle received was silence, she simply scoffed and stood from the table, deciding to finish her lunch period in the library with her book. She was reading the same book as she had been the day before, and she was nearly finished it. Whenever Michelle would read her book, everyone around her knew to not bug her, and nobody would bug her in the library. 

When Michelle walked into the large library, she waved to the librarian, Mr. Burns, and made her way to the same bean bag chair she sat in every time she went to the library. She settled herself into the plush seat, and read her book until the lunch hour ended. 

In last period, Study Hall, Michelle quickly noticed how Peter wasn't there. Beside his empty seat, there was Ned, who was typing away on his phone as if his life depended on it. First Peter seemed panicked, now Ned? He definitely knew something that Michelle didn't, and that was rare. 

Throughout Study Hall, Michelle would glance over at Ned and check if he was still typing or doing something on his phone. Almost every time she would sneak a glance, which was often, he was doing something on his phone. Each time, he would look excessively stressed. Something was up. 

Michelle didn't let the two boys and their anxious behaviours bug her, though. Not a lot, that is. She had finished her book in last period, and had a slightly boring bus ride home with nothing to read, but when she was home she picked up another book and buried herself in it. 

"Michelle, dinner!"

Jumping a bit in her bed from the sudden shout, she quickly recognized it to be her mom downstairs. Michelle looked to the clock on her nightside table, which read 8:24pm. Had she really been reading for 4 hours? 

"Coming!" She called back to Alicia before she set her bookmark between the pages and she got up, making her way downstairs. Her family tended to eat late because of her mother's job as the Deputy Commissioner of the NYPD. She worked long hours, and often came home with some complaint about New York City's own teenage hero, Spider-Man. Or, as her mother preferred to describe him, a teenage vigilante and nuisance. 

Michelle was the last person to enter the dining room, where the dinner was to be served. That night, it was fried shrimp linguine, something her father had concocted a few weeks ago and had become one of Karson's favourites. Karson was Michelle's 14 year old brother, but he didn't attend Midtown with her. Midtown was a science and math based school, which wasn't Karson's forte. He was very into literature and arts, mostly music. He attended Manhattan Music Academy, and was one of the top students. 

"Got any news on the spider guy, mom?" Karson asked, and Michelle held back a groan of annoyance. Couldn't they just have one dinner where this guy in red and blue tights wasn't a topic of conversation. 

"Nope." Alicia huffed, "I wish I could arrest him, he doesn't have the authority to do the things he does. We know hes most likely a teenager because someone in my precinct heard his voice. But who knows, we could be entirely wrong." 

"Isn't he kind of like.. helping you guys?" Michelle asked as she twirled her pasta around her fork. "I mean, you have had to do a lot less and haven't been as tired or stressed since he started this last year. He is kind of doing you a favour, if you ask me." 

Alicia looked at her daughter in disbelief before shaking her head without response. Michelle only grinned, since she had stumped her for once. If there was anyone who could argue better than Michelle, it was her mother. 

Sure, Michelle didn't like talking about Spider-Man, but he seemed like a pretty cool guy.