Adventures in Babysitting ↠ Peter Parker [1] ✓

02 | Origami

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ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING
ii. ORIGAMI

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   RILEY USED TO DREAM. It was normal for children of any and all ages to dream, to have dreams, to wish, to long for the wildest of things because they don't know any better. Riley's dreams were always simple.

   When Riley was young, she had a dream amongst many other dreams. One of the dreams that stood out to her the most was her desire to go to high school. Call her weird, call her abnormal, but Riley imagined high school was this incredible place where teens could go party and fall in love while getting a decent education. She found the entire idea of public school to be utterly fascinating and never quite understood when Clint, Tony, and her other colleagues laughed at her for this. Riley also didn't understand how the media often showed teenagers regularly skip class, for she couldn't imagine actually going to high school and wanting to skip and miss out on public education.

   Moreover, now that she was a real high school student, she understood what everyone said entirely. She dreamed of going to class and paying attention during the day only to party by night. Now, all she did was attend school, pretend to pay attention, and reteach herself the material (if necessary) at home.

   Riley had been focusing all of her attention on the homework assignment in front of her, but not in the way she should have been. While everyone all around her in her third period English class appeared to be working to some extent, she was doing something else to keep her busy.

   Peter, whose assigned seat happened to be right next to Riley, glimpsed over at her when he finally noticed how she wasn't working. He narrowed his brown eyes at her, eyebrows furrowed. "What are you doing?"

   The raven-haired beauty lifted the folded up piece of paper and smiled with satisfaction. "I made a paper crane," she revealed, content with her decision.

   Peter pointed his pencil and wondered, "Aren't you supposed to be some kind of perfectionist?" Riley innocently nodded. "Then why don't you ever actually do your work?"

   Placing the paper crane down, Riley answered, "Because, Bug-Boy, I'm an impressionable teenager in public high school, which means I've been exposed to the procrastination virus. Besides, I've already done this high school thing. I'm kind of a genius, you know."

   Peter stared at the crane, chuckling to himself. "A genius with crappy origami skills."

   "Hey!"

   "Well, someone had to tell ya."

   Riley rolled her eyes. "This is why I'm a superhero, not an artist."

   Peter couldn't help but laugh at this. He always found it intriguing, but rather perplexing how Riley wanted to stay in school. If Peter had it his way, he would be a full-time Avenger and leave high school behind. Then again, he knew he wasn't ready. He also knew that Mr. Stark would never let him get away with it in the end, and if Mr. Stark did for some reason, then Aunt May certainly wouldn't.

   Riley stared down at the assignment laying before her, unfolded in all of its glory. She pursed her lips out at the sight of it, causing Peter to snicker. "Did you do any of the reading?" he teased.

   Scoffing, Riley stated, "Of course not! That's what SparkNotes is for. I'm a busy person, Pete. I honestly can't remember the last time I read a book... even if it's The Narrative Diary of Meredith Brown."

   "I'm glad you're honest, Miss O'Dair. That's very scholarly of you," Mrs. Steinfeld jokingly said, grasping the rest of the class's attention. Riley's peers erupted with laughter at this, causing Riley's eyes to widen. She didn't even realize how loud she had been speaking. "Now that I have everyone's attention, I'd like to make an announcement. Our upcoming, end of the year field trip seems to have snuck up on us sooner than I had realized, so you'll have to forgive me for the late announcement on where our field trip will take place this year."

   "C'mon, Mrs. S, just spit it out already!" one of their peers shouted.

   "Yeah!" rejoiced another.

   "Settle down, class," Mrs. Steinfeld ordered with a light laugh. "Your annual field trip is at... the Museum of Modern Art!"

   Riley's eyes widened at the sound of it. The students that filled the classroom erupted with quiet conversation in response to the announcement. Riley turned to face her table partner. "Holy shit!" exclaimed Riley. "I haven't been to MoMA in so long! I think the last time was for this art exhibit. You know, I had to sneak into that? It was insane. I remember..."

   Peter was struck with amusement at Riley's instant excitement, listening as she rambled on about her love for art. He loved moments like these. Riley hardly ever acted her age before they became friends. She was already mature and serious to an extent, almost like a secret agent straight out of a cheesy TV show; however, now that they had become close, Riley was always letting her inner-child show. It warmed his heart, especially knowing that he and his friends were rubbing off on her.

   "I'm passing out your permission slips now," announced Mrs. Steinfeld. "Please have these signed and ready to turn into me by Friday, which is the day of your field trip. That's one week from today. Go over all of the information with your legal guardians before then. Is that understood, class?"

   "Yes, ma'am," the class chorused.

   "And another reminder for those of you going on the optional, annual trip to Europe, the payment is due at the end of the month," continued Mrs. Steinfeld, sliding the papers towards her students.

   Passing one of the slips to Riley, Peter skimmed the one in his hands quickly. "Hey, this is two days after the Midtown Jubilee," he casually commented to himself.

   "Midtown what?"

   "The Midtown Jubilee!" repeated Peter with the same amount of excitement as before. "C'mon, you seriously haven't heard of it" Riley shook her head. "Well, every 25 years, the school has a big celebration in honor of the day Midtown was built. The 75th anniversary is on Wednesday. It's at some park down the block from your place, I think. A bunch of students and alumni come together to celebrate. There's snacks and those really cheesy carnival games and tons of fireworks. You should come with me!" Peter paused. "I-I mean, me and May, of course!"

   She paused, her smile nearly dropping entirely. It was like something in her brain connected without Peter realizing it at first. "Uh... I'm gonna have to pass," she quietly said, looking away from his gaze. She cleared her throat, holding up her book she was supposed to be almost done with for class. "I've gotta catch up on my reading anyway."

   "Oh! O-Oh, okay," Peter quickly said in response, attempting to mask his subtle disappointment. "That's cool. That's actually a pretty smart idea." He paused. "Uh, are you sure?"

   She slouched back in her seat with a distant look on her face. "Yeah," she mumbled.

   "Oh... Alright."

   He stared at her for a moment longer as Riley picked up her pencil and actually began to work on her assignment. Was it something he said? Why was Riley acting so strange all of a sudden? Did he offend her? Maybe Wednesday was the anniversary of some traumatic childhood event? Or maybe Riley just hated carnival games and big crowds?

   Peter scrunched his eyebrows together before going back to working on his paper. That was weird.