A.N: So here's the next one, I actually really enjoyed writing this, it was cool adding a whole new location.
I felt bad that the updates had been more scarce than usual so this one is a bit longer for you guys and I'm going to try and be faster with the next update (my motivation does like to come and go though so no promises). I did however have a heart attack about 3400 words into this because I accidentally deleted the whole chapter. For some reason, there's a combination of buttons that highlights the entire text and deletes it which is not convenient. Thankfully I was able to delete the tab before it was saved which was relieving bc I would not have had the motivation to re write it. Hope you are having a more lucky day than me :|
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"So, what brings you here to midtown?" Flash asked her as they walked alongside each other.
"It was close to home" Seven shrugged, she wasn't a fan of small talk, everyone in her life until recently had been blunt, or they didn't talk at all.
"Oh cool, you know I'm kind of a celebrity at this school, Flash Thompson is a well-known name." He smirked at her but she didn't even glance his way, staring straight ahead.
"Oh really?" Seven asked, her tone unimpressed and not interested but Flash didn't pick up on it, "that's nice"
"Yeah, people are always talking about me, my good looks or how smart I am. People talk about me just as much as they talk about spider-man"
"Spider-man? People like him here?" Seven asked, it was the first thing Flash said that was remotely interesting. She could tell that it irritated him how she chose to talk about spider-man and not him.
"I mean yeah, I guess, people are always talking about him, he's so cool with his web-shooters and how he saves all those people..." Seven tuned him out as they walked, instead she focused on the school, the walls were covered with murals and posters, the lockers occasionally had words written on them which Seven focused on reading. She thought the hallways were bursting with life, unlike the halls of the facility.
"...And now you know he has his sidekick, Shadow? People are talking all about her too"
"I really don't think she's his sidekick" Seven interjected, "Aren't they more like partners?"
"Aren't you new here? What would you know?" Flash answered, he sounded almost offended that Seven would ever ask a thing like that, she weened it down to toxic masculinity because how dare a woman ever be equal with a man, right? She had to stop herself from punching him square in the nose.
"I guess you're right" She shrugged again, "I really wouldn't know a thing"
Flash went on again about his popularity in relation to Spider-Man's until Seven stopped walking, grabbing his attention.
"Hey, I think this is my locker" Seven walked up to the blue metal squares, tracing the numbers 112 with her fingers. She moved the dial around, putting in the code and grinned triumphantly when the locker opened, revealing an empty area. "Cool," She whispered to herself before shutting it again.
"Aren't you going to dump your bag in there? You just need your books" Flash asked from where he was stood behind her.
"No, it's okay" She shook her head.
"Well then you have to carry it all around with you, having your bag on your shoulder all day with your books in may be heavy and it'll hurt your shoulders"
"Well Eugine, I'm tougher than I look" She replied, swinging the bag further onto her right shoulder and walking away, leaving him to run to catch up.
"Flash" He called after her, "I said to call me flash"
"Oh yeah," She smiled, "I must have forgotten. If you just show me where my geography class is then I think I can figure the rest out"
"You sure? It's a big school and you'll probably get lost"
"I'm sure" She replied, "I have a friend here so if I get lost then I'll ask them for directions"
"Okay then, I have geography too so we can go together," Flash said and Seven wanted to groan, she wanted to get rid of this idiot before she lost any more brain cells talking to him. She could almost feel Flash walking closer to her as the other students piled out of their classrooms, as if he wanted to be seen with her.
Seven walked as fast as possible to get away from Flash as they entered the geography classroom. Turns out that the humanities classrooms were on the complete opposite end of the school and Flash had taken the long way round to try to spend more time with her.
Seven dropped her head down as the whole class watched the two walk in, some stares were on Flash as he announced his arrival and fist-bumped his friends for no apparent reason. Other eyes were on the unfamiliar red-headed girl who walked quietly and took a seat in the only other free chair, pulling out a pen and a notepad from her bag as she sat down.
The teacher was a gloomy woman with a sour expression and Seven listened quietly as she started reading names for attendance.
Nothing piqued her interest until one name was called, 'Ned' and Seven couldn't help but remember when Peter and herself were in the plane hangar and he had mentioned his friend Ned from school. The boy who answered was sat directly next to her and upon analysing his body language Seven knew he was trying his hardest not to stare at her.
He was wearing a science pun shirt and had brown floppy hair that was styled into some sort of curtain look, he didn't seem threatening.
Seven didn't talk to him but instead went back to staring ahead at the teacher and answering when her name was called last, as a new addition until she was confirmed into her classes and could be placed alphabetically.
She gritted her teeth as all eyes turned to look at her and she made sure not to shrink under their gaze and instead stare back. Any people who hadn't realised she was new when she walked into the classroom definitely knew now.
"Seven Thomas, welcome to MidTown, I'm sure all the students here will make you feel very welcome. Would you like to stand up and say a few things about yourself?" The way the woman spoke seemed as if she had never been friendly one day in her life and therefore did not know how to even fake it. The words came out forced and strained and the smile that was just slightly too big didn't help it either.
Seven didn't want to stand up and have everyone's eyes follow her, and she most definitely didn't want to talk about herself, she didn't even know what she would say if she did want to talk.
Seven didn't realise that when the teacher was asking her to stand up and talk about herself, it wasn't a question and more of an order so she shook her head and said, "no thanks" instead.
"Really?" The teacher asked, confusion and annoyance clear on her face. Seven didn't understand why she would be confused. "I'm sure your classmates would love to know some things about you"
"I'm sure they would" Seven agreed.
A moment passed where all students continued to stare at the hero until it was apparent that Seven had no interest in talking about herself and exchanging pleasantries so the teacher began the lesson.
When Seven walked into her fourth period gym class she was immediately grabbed and pulled to the side. Without thinking she grabbed their wrist and swept their leg from underneath them, easy to do as they were unprepared. When the person was on the floor and groaning she could finally make out that it was Peter who had leapt onto her.
"Peter" She hissed, "What the hell are you doing?"
"Sorry Ven" He groaned as she slid down the wall to sit next to him. "I forgot how jumpy Russian spies can be"
Seven wasn't used to the polo shirts and shorts that she had to wear for gym and she felt exposed without the presence of her layers and bag, she found herself reaching for her necklace more than usual.
The class seemed to be sitting around and waiting for the teacher to arrive so no one was paying any attention to them.
"Of course I'm jumpy" She fired back, "I don't know anyone here"
"Where were you?" Peter asked and she raised an eyebrow, indicating that she had no clue what he was going on about. "At break? In the cafeteria? You said you would meet me there and now MJ thinks I'm going insane and talking about someone who doesn't exist" He rolled his eyes.
"Who's MJ?" Seven asked, completely forgetting about the question.
"Seven?" He asked again,
"Oh right, well Mr James asked me to come back and talk to him, tell him about how I was finding it here" She rambled, "Nothing interesting"
"Why didn't you text me?" He sounded genuinely confused as to why that wasn't her first thought.
"Text you how?"
"With... your phone?" He stated obviously.
"Oh, I still don't know how to use it, the only app I can use is Spotify but I don't know what music I like so I'm just listening to everything"
"Right well remind me to teach you how to use it. Come on, class is starting" he pointed to the short man who had appeared and was taking attendance before pulling her up to her feet and dragging her over to sit down.
"Who's MJ?" She asked again.
"Alright, everyone!" The teacher called out and everyone instantly hushed, the mumbling and conversations stopping. "Today we are doing track, I'm going to put you in groups of three and you'll need to head out to the track. Same thing as always, grab your stopwatches and paper"
Seven sat quietly as the names were called, for any other new student this would seem like a great opportunity for them to branch out and make friends but Seven didn't see it that way. The closer she got to new people the more likely she would put them in danger with her complicated family and living situation and even more complicated past. Besides, she had Peter and that was all she needed.
Thankfully, she didn't need to worry about having to talk to new people. Not so thankfully, Flash was in her group.
"Flash, Peter, and new girl Seven" The man called out, "They'll tell you what to do."
Seven watched as Peter visibly deflated as the names were called out and as he anxiously watched Flash who groaned as Peter's name was called but high-fived his friends as hers was called.
"C'mon Parker let's go" Flash called over as he grabbed the stopwatch and notepad and jogged out the door.
Seven could tell that there was something going on with him as they walked the few minutes to the track lanes, Flash jogging way ahead of them.
"So Pete, I was thinking that we could maybe finish Star Wars later? Or the first one at least. You'll have to constantly explain what's going on and who Darth Vader is but..." She trailed off as she saw he wasn't really listening.
"Yeah sounds good" Peter mumbled, staring down at his feet as he dragged them and scuffed his trainers.
"Are you okay?" Seven asked while watching him intently out of her peripheral.
"What? Oh yeah, I'm fine" He shrugged, "Let's just get this over with"
"Oh kay" She said slowly.
"Hey Seven" Flash greeted enthusiastically as they stopped by their area at the track.
"Hey Flash" She replied monotonically. "Right so what are we doing?"
"We've got to run six laps of the track and the other two have to time it. Not to brag but I'm pretty fast"
"Okay great, then you can go first" Seven replied and Flash's grin faltered for a second before returning, twice as annoying.
"Of course, catch Parker" Flash hurled the stopwatch at Peter's head and it hit him right in the temple.
"Hey!" Seven called out, staring down Flash.
"Oops, hand must've slipped, better watch out Parker," Flash said and Seven could tell that it wasn't an accident based on the grin that was on Flash's face and how Peter was gritting his teeth. "Time me Parker!" He called out as he took off, running at a steady pace as Peter pressed the 'begin' button on the stopwatch.
The two friends sat on the cement together in silence, only speaking when Seven called out as he passed them, each time smirking at Seven which made her grimace.
"Four" Seven called out and Peter checked the timer before writing down his time on the clipboard.
"Hey Pete?" Seven asked, breaking the steady silence.
"Mhm?" he replied, not fully listening as he twirled the pencil between his fingers.
"Why'd you let the stopwatch hit you?" She had been thinking about it since it happened, why let it hit him when he could have easily dodged it, or even caught it.
"I didn't see it coming" He replied, absent-mindedly reaching up and pressing his finger against the area the stopwatch had hit.
"Bullshit" Seven called him out. "Even if you didn't see it coming, which you did, you would've felt it coming"
"How do you think it would look for me if I suddenly started catching things that were being hurled at my face Ven? I don't know whether you've noticed but I'm not the most athletic" He replied, drawing circles at the bottom of the page with the pencil.
"Not athletic? Peter you have abs to rival Steve's. That's bullshit too"
"Okay well, I haven't always had them. I'd love to suddenly be the fastest one here, or play on the football team, or join lacross but I couldn't then so I can't now" He explained but Seven disagreed.
"So what? You could've been training and working out" She replied.
"So I do shit in gym at school almost every day but then suddenly I've been training and getting better? That's still suspicious"
"Five"
"What?"
"Flash, he just did lap five, write it down"
"Oh"
Seven went back to staring at the students running the track and Peter went back to doodling on the bottom of the page.
"Done" Flash called out as he finished his sixth lap. "What's the timing Parker?"
"Eleven minutes and twelve seconds total," he said meekly.
"Almost a new record for me!" Flash yelled as he jumped around celebrating. "You know that I'm the fastest in the class right?" He said, dropping down to sit next to Seven as he spoke to her.
"That's not true" Peter scoffed and Flash tensed immediately, Seven could feel the tension.
"What did you say Parker?" He turned around menacingly.
"That obviously isn't true" He rolled his eyes,
"Oh really?" It was almost as if Flash was goading Peter, seeing if he would bite.
"There were at least two others who just finished before you" Peter pointed out, obviously retaliating.
"Like you could do any better" Flash scoffed. "Ignore him Seven, he doesn't know what he's talking about. Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to go out with me sometime, all the girls here would die for a chance to go out with me"
Before she could reply, Peter stood up from where he was sat, walking over to the track and throwing Seven the stopwatch over his shoulder.
"Time me" he called out and took off, starting his laps.
Seven watched for a moment before Flash cleared his throat, "So?" He grinned and Seven almost felt sorry for him. Clearly he'd never had someone tell him 'no' as a child.
"No thanks Flash" She replied bluntly and his mouth dropped open.
"W-what?" He spluttered, "Did you miss the part where I told you all about how the girls would die to get a chance of going out with me?"
"Nope, maybe you should spare them their deaths and go out with them instead."
"Wait, let's backtrack a second, why don't you want to go out with me?"
"One, write it down" She pointed at the notebook and pointed the stopwatch at him so he could copy the time.
"Do I need a reason? Can't I just say no?" She asked teasingly, she enjoyed him being lost for words.
"But I've been so nice to you" Flash argued, "Surely you should go out with me because of that"
"So because you were nice to me I instantly owe you something? I don't think so" She shook her head and laughed. "That's not how it works"
"B-but-"
"No buts Flash, now that's two, write it down"
"Fine, but you will go out with me, you'll realise you're missing out" He crossed his arms like a child.
"Sure, whatever helps you sleep at night"
The two sat in silence for the remaining four laps, Seven was amused and Flash was pouting.
"Done," Peter said as Seven stopped the stopwatch, a small smirk overtaking her face as she read the time.
"Six minutes and forty-nine seconds." Seven read off and Flash erupted.
"That's not possible! Puny Parker can't even run a lap in six minutes normally" He yelled as Seven took the notebook from his hands and wrote down the timing.
"I've been training" Peter shrugged and Flash continued demanding that it wasn't possible, that the stopwatch was broken, that he cheated.
"Shut up Flash, obviously the stopwatch isn't broken and he couldn't have cheated, we were watching him the whole time. With how intensely you were staring I'd think you were in love with him or something" Seven replied and Flash's mouth clamped shut.
"In love with Parker? I couldn't think of anything worse" He yelled as he pretend gagged.
"I don't know" She smiled at Peter who was already grinning at the exchange, "I think I could think of worse things."
She stood up from her spot on the ground and stretched her legs, they were stiff from being sat down for the entire time the other two had been running. "Here" She passed the notebook over to Peter while Flash continued to gag in the background. "I bet your handwriting is better than his" She winked at him before grinning and running over to the start area. "Time me Thompson!"
Flash pressed start on the stopwatch before continuing to gag, extra loudly to make sure Peter got the message. Even though he hated Flash and all he could hear was him gagging in the background, for some reason he couldn't wipe the grin off of his face.
Seven didn't have a hard time running the six laps, she knew she could run at least fifteen without even getting a stitch, a perk of being trained everyday. She set a note in her mind to go back to training, even though it had been awful in the past it was a great outlet for all her emotions she didn't want to feel.
By the time she had reached her fourth lap she had progressed back into her old fitness mindset, where she didn't focus on anything except the end goal. She developed her old minset when they had been doing her hardcore training for a couple of months. The moment she realised that she wasn't getting out of this alive unless she focused was the moment she switched into the attentive mood.
This was why Seven didn't feel herself getting faster and faster as she ran the last two laps, she was practically sprinting by the time she ran over the end line, so focused on running that she didn't even realise she had finished until Peter called her name and she snapped out of it.
"Done already?" She asked as she jogged over, "That felt like nothing." It was weird for her, snapping out of the fitness mindset and actually knowing that it was over, she wasn't going to have to suddenly run another ten laps just because her teacher felt that he wanted them to.
"Seven minutes and nineteen seconds" Peter read off, "Impressive"
"Ironic too" She added.
"I can't believe this" Flash mumbled next to them, "Today was an off day for me, I'm normally much faster"
"Really? I swear your fastest time is ten minutes" Peter pointed out. Normally he wouldn't say anything but today he just couldn't help himself.
"Watch yourself Parker" Flash hissed. "How are you so good?" He turned to Seven.
"I run a lot" She replied, offering no more.
The trio made their way back into the empty gym, their group was the first finished.
"You're finished already?" Mr Steele, the gym teacher, stood up as he heard their trainers squeak against the floor.
"Yes sir" Flash nodded.
"Alright then" He looked impressed. He picked up his clipboard from the bench and opened the notebook attached, "Flash, time?"
"Eleven minutes and twelve seconds total" He said, lacking the pride he usually laced in his words, Seven suspected it was because he knew what the other two's were.
"Not bad Thompson but you've had better." Mr Steele replied, writing it down.
"Parker, what about you?"
"six minutes, forty-nine seconds." Peter said and Mr Steele glanced up from his paper, eyeing the trio. "uh, sir" Peter added nervously.
"You sure?" He asked analytically, "you don't usually get under twelve minutes."
"I've been training sir" Peter replied, sounding proud of himself.
"Thompson?" The teacher looked over at Flash who looked as if someone had stuck a surprise lemon in his mouth.
"It's true sir" He spat out so Mr Steele wrote it down.
"And what about you new girl?" He looked up once more at the girl who was shorter than both the boys she was stood between.
"Seven minutes and nineteen seconds." She said simply.
"Great timing, you run a lot?"
"Yes sir" She nodded,
"Then I can tell you're going to fit in well" He replied, snapping the notebook on his clipboard shut. "Now you three hit the showers, you have twenty minutes until lunch but you can go early once you're done. Seven I'm glad to have you as a new addition to the class" He looked at her once more and Seven smiled back, she was happy to be doing well. "Parker, amazing improvement, keep it up"
"Thank you sir" Peter nodded,
"And Flash?" Flash perked up at his name. "At least you're consistent"
Seven walked ahead of the boys as they left the gym, she didn't see Flash run a finger over his neck and whisper "you're dead" to her friend.