✓ | TWO YOUNG HEARTS◦𝒑𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒓

24 - STICKY PLAN

"Shrek: The Musical," Mary Jane answered with a small grin. "I'm Liz's understudy."

"That's a musical?" Alissa raised a brow. There were a few out there musicals that she'd heard of thanks to Mary Jane, but never before had she heard of their being a musical for Shrek.

"Who's playing Shrek?" Alissa wondered, still trying to get over the fact that Mary Jane hadn't been guaranteed the lead.

"Jason," Gwen answered this time, pressing down on the pen that dangled between her fingers. "Ionello."

Harry cleared his throat, pushing his seat back slightly so it balanced on the back legs. His arm was resting on the back of Mary Jane's chair, the girl radiantly beaming. His eyes flickered to the dark haired girl, but then looked to the side when hearing feet scuffling along the carpet of the library. Alissa followed his gaze, her heart skipping a beat in her chest when seeing Peter.

"Hey, Pete," Harry greeted his friend, nodding to the chair at the table; the one slightly next to Harry and Alissa. Harry sent Alissa a wink. "You can sit by Al and I."

"Hey, sorry I'm late," Peter apologized, quickly plopping down in the chair. "I got up with helping Ned with his robotics project."

Alissa pressed her chin to her hand, propping her head with her elbow resting on the wooden table. "Isn't it a partner project?"

Peter nervously laughed, opening his folder that he'd pulled out. "Uh, yeah, b-but I'm not—I dropped robotics."

Harry's chair smacked against the floor, followed by a wince. Everyone's eyes widened, lips parting in surprise.

"Why?" Alissa demanded to know, hoping it didn't sound too firm. "I thought you guys were going to Nationals after Spring Break?"

Peter nodded, fiddling with his pencil. "They still are. I'm just not."

Alissa sighed, nodding at his answer. She sneakily looked to her friends and then to her unfinished geometry homework. "Since we've all—"

"Do you guys think Spider-Man likes Thai food?"

Alissa closed her mouth, head suspiciously turning to look at Gwen. All eyes were pinned to her, curious and confused. Gwen let out a laugh, pushing her homework away. Alissa sighed, doing the same and dropping her pen on the table. There was no way any of their homework was going to get down despite that being the whole reason for the little library session.

"What?" Harry blinked.

Gwen playfully rolled her eyes. "I want to meet him, and so does MJ." The said girl nodded her head in agreement, liking the idea that was stirring in Gwen's mind. "And we need to find a way to do that."

"And you think Thai food is the best way to go?" Harry didn't sound very on board with the idea. Mary Jane lightly smacked his chest. He laughed, innocently smiling at the girl. Peter faintly smiled, shaking his head, and stealing a glance at Alissa. He knew she wasn't the biggest fan of Spider-Man.

"Peter,"—the boy turned to face Gwen, wide eyed—"There's that new Thai place right by your apartment, isn't there?"

He nodded. "Y-Yeah, but I don't think they're—"

"Maybe we can convince them to give Spider-Man a deal or something on their food, and when he goes there, we just happen to be there at a table and when he comes in, we can go up and meet him," Gwen quickly explained, her smile widening with each word. Alissa sighed, shaking her head and drooping it to the side on her hand. "No one even has to get hurt."

"Do you really think he'd go? For Thai food, of all things?" Alissa couldn't help but ask, sounding uncertain.

Gwen shrugged. "I don't know, maybe? It would be really cool to meet him. Don't you think so?"

"Yeah, it would be—" Alissa began.

"Did you just say he's cool?" Mary Jane gasped.

Alissa quickly shook her head, not seeing the grin that wiped across Peter's face. "No, don't twist my words, MJ. I agreed it would be cool to meet him. He's not cool, okay?"

Peters face dropped ever so slightly at her words, but he quickly hid it by brushing back a few baby hairs that had dropped in front of his forehead.

"I-I think he's cool," Peter admitted.

"You think every hero's cool, Pete," Gwen teased.

"Hey!" Peter defensively said, laughing along as well. Alissa snickered, watching as Peter's smile continued to bring out his eyes more. Harry smiled, glancing from Alissa and back to Peter. "I do. . .okay, I kind of do, but Spider-Man's the best."

"Didn't you hear what he did with Brian?"

Alissa's head snapped over to Peter, her smile dropping and heart sinking. "What'd you just say?"

Peter slightly leaned back in the chair, a little fearful of the look in Alissa's eyes. "He-It wasn't anything bad, I promise. H-he just stopped a kid from picking on him, s'all," Peter hurriedly explained.

Alissa scoffed, pushing her chair back. "Unbelievable," she whispered, rolling her eyes.

"He didn't hurt him or—"

"How could B not tell me?" She asked to the group, offended and hurt that Brian didn't tell her something as important as meeting a superhero; one that he admired so much. "I thought we told each other everything. . ."

"Maybe he didn't have time," Mary Jane sincerely offered.

"Yeah, he was probably freaking out about meeting Spider-Man and it just slipped his mind. I'm sure he's planning to when he sees you in person, though," Gwen added in for good measure.

Alissa sighed, barely nodding. "Yeah," she quickly said. She bit her cheek, glancing from friend to friend until her gaze was on Gwen. "Now, I don't think Spider-Man is cool, but, I will go through with that plan of yours."

Gwen squealed, excitedly clapping her hands together. "You won't regret it."

"Oh yes I will."

"What made you decide to do it all of a sudden?" Harry couldn't help but wonder, snatching his own belongings off the table as the others began to follow Alissa's lead in packing up.

"It's not anything weird, but I just wanna thank him," Alissa honestly answered, smiling with her copy of The Outsiders carefully tucked under her arm. Peter smiled, hiding it by turning to shove his papers in his disorganized book bag; it was his sixth one that semester already. "Brian's special, and it's nice to see that he helped him."

"Yeah, he's a pretty good guy," peter tried adding. Alissa playfully narrowed her eyes at him, laughing a little.

"Well, I wouldn't go that far," she said. She turned to her friends, giving them a soft smile and a wave of her hand. "See ya."

When she was gone, Peter turned to the group, grinning. "I think she's starting to like Spider-Man."

"Oh, definitely," Mary Jane beamed, slinging her bag over her shoulder. Harry took her script packet from her hands, a blush creeping on her cheeks as she softly thanked him. "She just won't admit."

"Besides, she likes someone else more," Harry said, making Peter's brow furrow together. Gwen and Mary Jane shared a knowing look, shaking their heads.

"W-Who?" Peter asked, fastening his pace to walk alongside Harry. Gwen and Mary Jane were behind, side by side, quietly talking about the play.

Harry just smirked, glancing at Mary Jane before looking to Peter. He sighed, patting Peter's shoulder, whispering, "You'll find out soon enough, Pete."