LIMERENCE ━ Peter Parker

03

~•~

IT TOOK OVER a week for Faith to get used to seeing color. She didn't talk about it a lot, but Natalia could see in her eyes that the big change slightly bothered her. Now Faith was finally able to look around without feeling confused or shocked. If she was being honest, this was the most eventful week of the year for Natalia and her group. Their first friend found their soulmate, Vanessa got in a motorcycle accident, and ended up being saved by New York's masked hero. And during this chaos Natalia found her feelings for Peter growing as they sat close to each other in history.

Natalia walked down the halls of school with Isabella and Faith, conversing about their current lives like they did every other day. She sighed, "You know, I've decided I'm not going to like Peter anymore."

Issa snickered, "I thought you said you never liked him?"

"Well, I-I don't. I mean like I'm not going to be attracted to him anymore. If you know what I mean." She explained.

Faith's eyebrows knit together, "That's not how it works-"

"You said that about that other guy a year ago, and it still didn't happen." Issa interrupted.

"This time is gonna be different. I'm not catching any sort of feelings anymore."

"So," Isabella paused, "are you gonna wait around till your soulmate shows up?"

"I mean no, but if my soulmate happens to appear then I'd be open to the idea of a romantic relationship." Natalia smiled at the thought of a good looking man ending up being her soulmate.

"God, you talk so formal. It's weird."

Faith giggled, "That's just cause you have the vocabulary of a five-year-old, Issa."

Natalia laughed and walked off into her class as Faith and Issa walked away, bickering as they went. She walked up to the back table where she usually sat. There were two open seats next to MJ. Natalia greeted the girl happily as she sent an unenthusiastic wave back. Right as the bell rang Peter sprinted in, his hair was messy and he was panting. The only seat left was at the back table, beside MJ and Natalia.

"Here comes this loser." MJ whispered to Natalia as he started to walk towards the back.

"Michelle!"

"Relax, I'm just joking."

Peter sat down as he set his backpack onto the floor. He awkwardly looked at the two girls, Natalia was suppressing a smirk while MJ glared intimidatingly at him. Little did they know he was secretly freaking out about running into Natalia the other day. Well, Spiderman had talked to her, not Peter. The bruises that were hidden under his clothes proved that.

Natalia smiled at him, "Hey Peter."

"Hi guys." He said and gave a small smile back. Before Natalia could ask how he was doing their teacher began giving instructions.

"For your French Revolution presentations you will be working as a group with the people at your table. I'm passing out a rubric right now so you'll know what you need to include in this." She instructed.

"Guess I'm stuck with you guys." MJ jokingly said and Natalia playfully rolled her eyes.

The group worked on their presentation together, enjoying a few laughs and having interesting side conversations together. But it was mostly MJ expressing her feelings on certain politic issues. Surprisingly to all of them, they actually worked pretty well together.

"Should we," MJ paused, "like; get each other's numbers to work on this?"

"Um, sure." Peter said and they all exchanged numbers.

"This was actually kind of fun guys." Natalia gushed.

"Yippee." MJ joked, making the other two laugh quietly. Natalia sat up and grabbed her binders. As she was walking around the table her and Peter almost collided, but she stopped herself before colliding. She awkwardly took a step back.

"Oh-sorry." "Sorry." They said sheepishly in unison. She realized she was standing right in front of him and looking up. She backed away, a blush creeping to her cheeks.

"Uh, bye Peter. See you next time." Natalia said as she stepped away.

"Yeah, see you around."

She quickly walked away with MJ following behind. "That was awkward." She chuckled

"Shut up."

✦

It was a chilly day as the friends walked to Natalia's, like they usually did almost every day. This time Veronica, Issa's sister had tagged along. She was a senior and went to Midtown as well, though she was supposed to be in college already. She still had a gash on her forehead from the motorcycle accident.

"I'm only wanting to be friends with Peter." Natalia stated, "We talked a lot today in class and I think we're gonna be good friends."

Faith smiled at her, "That's good, Nat."

"You already said this." Issa grumbled.

"Well I wanted to make sure you guys understood."

"You know," Veronica spoke up, "stop wasting your time on boys. They aren't worth it."

"Please, you just sleep around." Isabella accused.

"I do not! I only like keeping my options open. I haven't had a boyfriend since I was your age, so don't be shaming me." Veronica explained.

Isabella laughed, "You're crazy."

"Oh Natalia, I almost forgot," Faith started saying, "Peter came up to me like weeks ago and asked if you liked him."

"What? Why am I just hearing about this now?"

Issa smirked, "You stopped liking him though, so you don't care... right?"

Natalia stuck her chin up, "Right." She firmly stated.

The three laughed at her attitude as she walked in front of them. She didn't notice when Peter jogged up to her. It was right after eighth period and they were outside of the school.

"Hey there Natalia, wait up!" He stopped in front of her and she suddenly started getting nervous.

"Hi-uh-Peter." She stuttered.

"You left this in history," He said as he pulled out her Star Wars themed notebook. She'd had it since elementary and never used it, but she couldn't just waste the paper now.

"Oh, thank you." She blushed.

"Those are good movies by the way." He shouted as he smirked and backed away. Incredibly embarrassed; she turned away, only to find her friends dying from laughter.

"You guys are the worst."