Walking the Wire | PETER PARKER [1]

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"Sorry," She immediately says, turning to make sure the person's okay.

The boy she ran into turns and looks her up and down. He notices Eloise's red t-shirt with Park East written across the chest in gold block letters and scoffs.

"Watch where you're going, my shirt's worth more than your life."

Eloise forces herself to ignore the comment and not let it get to her. "I said I was sorry."

The rude boy scoffs again and walks past her, shoulder-checking Eloise hard enough to cause her to lose her balance and fall down. She lands on her bottom again, much like how she landed when Spider-Man startled her the other night.

A shadow falls over Eloise's figure on the ground.

"Are you okay?"

She looks up at the familiar voice. Ned.

He extends his hand and helps her to her feet. She brushes herself off and smiles gratefully at him.

"Yeah, thanks."

Ned watches the boy who knocked her over walk over to his shiny silver car.

"Flash is a dick."

Eloise shrugs. Some people are wired differently than others.

She glances around Ned and spots Peter walking with earbuds in. When he looks up and makes eye-contact with her, his steps falter slightly before he continues over. He tears out both earbuds from his ears and tucks them in his pocket.

"Hi," Peter greets with a nervous smile playing on his thin pink lips. "Wh-what are you doing here?"

"Just passing by," Eloise responds.

There's a moment of uncomfortable silence before Ned speaks up.

"Hey, Eloise, Peter and I were going to go to this super cool comic book store that just opened. Do you want to join us?"

Peter's eyes widen slightly. Based on his reaction, Eloise figures he doesn't really want her to go with them.

"Sorry," She says as she rocks on the balls of her feet. "But I have to get home to my parents so they aren't worried and do some homework." It's a partial lie; her parents don't get home until at least seven. But hopefully she's making Peter happy by not agreeing to join them on their trip to the comic book store, as fun as it sounds. "Maybe I'll hang out with you guys some other time, though?"

Ned beams. "Of course!"

She smiles. "Cool. See you guys later."

"Bye, Eloise." Ned turns and Peter does too, but not until he gives a short wave.

As soon as she starts to walk away, she hears Peter go, "What if she doesn't like comic books? What if we look like total geeks now?"

Eloise stifles a laugh. How many times has she overheard their conversations? They really need to learn how to whisper, or at least to wait for her to be out of earshot.

"Dude, relax. She doesn't seem like the type of person to judge us just because we like comic books," Ned replies. "Maybe she'd like to go to that art museum a block over sometime."

Peter sighs. Eloise glances over her shoulder and sees him run his hand through his hair. It's a cute little action but it makes her stomach stir with butterflies.

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Eloise is woken up in the middle of the night by a loud thud. She sits up in bed and rubs her eyes.

What time is it?

It's still dark out, so it can't be too early. Eloise moves the mouse of her laptop on the small desk next to her bed that's crammed next to the wall.

3:45

She groans and runs a hand down her face. What even was that noise she heard?

She starts to drift back into a deep sleep, but then she hears it again.

Curious, she opens her eyes and slips out of bed, tip-toeing out of her bedroom into the hallway. The short hall leads to the living room and kitchen. She passes through and presses an ear against the front door.

There's another beat of silence, but then Eloise hears a door opening and hushed whispers. She can't make out what anyone's saying, but it sounds urgent.

With her curiosity getting the best of her, Eloise unlocks the door and opens it just a crack and sees the one and only Ned. His hands are behind his back and he smiles at her.

With her brow furrowed, Eloise opens the door all the way and whispers, "Ned?"

"Hi!" He says, but cringes at the loud volume of his voice. He brings it down. "What are you doing?"

She frowns. "What are you doing?"

He laughs suspiciously. "Who, me? Nothing. Just, I was staying over at Peter's and then I, uh, heard something so I decided to come out and check it out." He coughs nervously.

Eloise nods, unbelieving. "Okay."

"Yeah."

She glances behind him. "Was Peter out here, too?"

He rapidly shakes his head. "What? No. Peter's still in his room in his bed sleeping, sound asleep, yeah. Ha." He glances at the ceiling. Eloise starts to look up too, but then he coughs again and it brings her attention back to him.

Weird. He's definitely hiding something, but she knows that it's none of her business, so she shouldn't intrude.

"Alright. Well, goodnight, Ned."

"Goodnight."

Eloise slips back inside and closes the door quietly so she won't wake up her parents. She locks it again, and she's about to head back to bed to continue sleeping but then there's another thud. She leans her ear against the wooden door again and listens.

"That was close."

No more noises or voices are heard, so she returns to her room then, even more confused than she was before. It wasn't just because of Ned acting so weird, but more because it wasn't Ned's voice she heard through the door, but Peter's.

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Attached Song: Beautiful Life by The Collection

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