Walking the Wire | PETER PARKER [1]

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"Tell me if I'm hurting you," She tells him, then starts to unwrap his wound. The gash is still open, but it's no longer bleeding profoundly. She tosses the dirty bandages into the trash bin. To clean around the gash, Eloise takes his water glass and pours some on the towel. She dabs lightly around the wound and wipes off the dried blood before actually wrapping it back up.

When she finishes, she sets the supplies to the side. "How does that feel?" Eloise asks.

Peter stretches his back as he holds onto his side. "Good. Thanks."

"You don't have to thank me." Eloise stands and gathers the medical supplies. "And if you'd stop getting hurt, that'd be great too."

Peter sighs. "Sorry."

She turns. He meets her eyes. "You don't need to apologize, either." He looks away.

Eloise sighs. Sometimes she wishes she could see into people's minds and figure them out; why they do the things they do. Why does Peter insist on putting his life on the line time after time? He's only in high school and should have to only deal with high school struggles, not the weight of saving the entire city.

"Why do you do this?" Eloise asks him.

Peter looks up. "Be Spider-Man?" She nods. He runs his hand through his ruffled hair. "When you can do the things that I can, but you don't, and then the bad things happen ..." He pauses and looks down at his hands. "They happen because of you."

Eloise don't say anything. It makes sense; if you had the ability to do something when the city is attacked, wouldn't you try? But that doesn't change the fact that he's only a kid. He shouldn't have to play the hero against evil as the grown ups cower in fear and then don't give him any recognition, even going as far as calling him reckless and a vigilante in some newspaper articles. They don't deserve him, and he deserves more than this.

She glances at the digital clock by Peter's bed. "I should probably get to school." She walks over to his window and opens it. Eloise looks over her shoulder at him. He's watching her, too.

"Call me, or Ned, if you need anything."

"I will."

She turns and steps out of the window onto the fire escape. After closing the window again, she waves at Peter through the glass and climbs over to her window.

🕸

"Eloise!" Lucy calls. Eloise slows her pace and waits for her to catch up to her. Once she falls into step with her, Eloise continues at her regular pace towards their next class.

Lucy blows her hair out of her face and looks at her. "I didn't see you this morning." She says.

Eloise hugs her books to her chest. "Slept in."

Lucy shakes her head at her friend. "How many tardies is that now? You know, if you haven't already passed the limit of being late, you're getting pretty close."

"I know." Earlier this semester Eloise was chronically coming to school late. She had a hard time adjusting to the school schedule after the summer ended and she just wasn't used to getting up before the sun. She was slow to wake up, get dressed, and walk all the way to school. Eloise already had a lunch detention for her tardiness, but the school never contacted her parents.

Mrs. Greene, the school's secretary, turns and walks into the hallway Lucy and Eloise are currently in.

"Speak of the devil," Lucy mutters.

Eloise smiles at Mrs. Greene and expects her to walk right past them, but she slows and stops when she reaches the girls. Lucy and Eloise stop walking, too.

Mrs. Greene looks at Eloise. "Eloise, Mr. Williams would like to see you in the office."

🕸

"Detention!" Mrs. Jones exclaims, flinging the letter from the principal onto the table. Her husband looks over and takes the paper in his hands. He skims over it.

"I thought we already had a talk about priorities," he says.

"We did," Eloise agrees, but she never said that she listened to them. They're her parents, yes, but that doesn't automatically mean that everything they say is true and right.

Her father holds the detention slip in front of her. "Then why did this happen?"

Eloise looks at the paper. She's already read it; it just says that she got detention for coming to school late too many times. At least she didn't get detention for bullying or setting the school on fire.

"I had to help out a friend," Eloise tells them truthfully.

Her parents exchange a look. Her mom rubs her forehead in frustration.

"We told you that academics are to be above everything else."

Eloise snaps. "There are more important things than school!" She throws her hands up, finally having enough. They constantly tell her that school is the most important thing in her life, and honestly, it's suffocating. Eloise refuses to let her life revolve around something that she doesn't even care that much about.

Her mother crosses her arms.  "Like what?"

"My friends!"

Mr. Jones scoffs. "Friends come and go, school and academics come first."

Eloise glares at them. "My friends are my family. And family comes first."

"We are your family and we're telling you that you need to focus more at school!" Her mom yells.

"No you're not!" Eloise shouts. "My friends are more like my family than you two ever will be."

"Go to your room," Her father snaps quickly as her mother covers her mouth with her hand. "We will not put up with a disrespectful daughter."

Eloise glares at them, but without another word, obliges and storms into her bedroom. She slams the door shut.

Instead of collapsing on her bed and pouting, Eloise stands still in the middle of her room, hugging herself. A hot tear drops onto her cheek as she closes her eyes.

She stands there in her room, crying, lonely, her heart aching.

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Attached Song: Hero by Skillet

So I'm full of ice cream and watching the X Factor UK reruns on TV (even though I'm American), so yeah. I'm happy.

Also, who else can't wait for the next season of X Factor??? I'm literally like the only one I know aside from my sister that actually watches the show. Also, I'm going to miss Nicole, Sharon, and Louis Walsh judging, but the fact that Louis Tomlinson a.k.a. The Sass Master from Doncaster is judging this year makes up for it. It's going to be great 👌👌👌

Also also, I found someone at my school that also stans Tom Holland. She also wore a yellow Treat People With Kindness shirt and I'm like ???? Why haven't I ever talked to you before???? Why aren't we friends???

Ⓚ