FIVE.
Trust falls at Washington Monument!
MARIANNA seemed to be having rough starts to her day more often than she would like to admit.
Her hair was dry and knotted from the pool water she had neglected to wash out last night because her and MJ had tiredly stumbled into their hotel room, giggling before knocking out.
Which led to the next problem: MJ is not a courteous sleeper. At first the idea of snuggling with her best friend was delightful, but quickly Marianna was proven wrong when MJ fell asleep before her and quickly began kicking and rolling around.
So not only was her hair going to be a problem to her hectic morning, but her neck and legs were sore. Letting out a groan, Marianna rolled over to grab her phone from the nightstand, shocked to see it was only 4 am. She let out a sigh of relief, she had 4 more hours till they had to leave for the decathlon.
Before she got up from bed she scrolled through instagram, smiling to herself as she tapped through the decathlon team member's stories of last night. She giggled as a video of Flash being pushed into the pool by Abe played on Cindy's story.
There were lots of pictures on Liz's story of every team member. The girl had been respectful to ask if she could post them and Marianna began to feel softer towards Liz as she tapped through the photos. A photo of Cindy floating in the pool, Abe spreading out the stolen candy like it was money, Flash and Charles posing like the idiot boys they were, and a selfie of Liz and Ned, the boy wearing a ridiculous fedora that ended up soaked at the end of the night.
Despite being part of the team (and Liz asking if she could post her), she was shocked when the next picture was of her. She stood with a bright smile on her face as she looked down in the pool where Ned was, mid conversation. A ridiculous child sized floatie was on her head and her wet hair curled nicely. Marianna let out a low whistle as she took in her appearance.
"Damn, girl..." She whispered, smugly smirking to herself. Peter had not been wrong when he complimented her bathing suit. She tapped again and was met with a picture of her and MJ.
MJ was wearing a t-shirt and shorts as she clung to Marianna, who was giving her best friend a piggyback ride in the pool. A little bit of Marianna's mascara had dripped, but it added to the carefree look. MJ was shyly smiling at the camera, cheek pressed against Marianna's who was smiling softly.
Marianna felt her heart warm as she stared at the picture, grateful for Liz to have captured it. She swiped up and typed out a quick message to Liz, plz send the whole pic to me and then quickly added a thank u.
Marianna tapped again and was quickly on someone else's story. Marianna glimpsed over the person's handle.
LillyyyisQueeen, a sophomore on the cheer team if she wasn't mistaken. Marianna let out a noise of distaste at the username before glancing at the picture. Immediately, anger flared in her throat as she quickly sat up. A picture of at least 5 girls from the cheer team hanging out, alcohol clearly in the picture and Sally Avril dead center. The caption on the picture: the people's princess (and cheer captain LOL) <3
"What the hell." Marianna whispered, looking up from the phone to the hotel mirror in front of the bed, "No effing way." She threw the covers off of herself and quickly stood up, screenshotting the photo.
"Sally Avril, you will never be cheer captain." Marianna whispered to herself as heat rose in her. Anger began to prickle her body and she felt her heart speed up as she grew hotter before she took in a deep breath. Quickly, she messaged Betty Brant.
mariannaGthompson
u on sally's close friends?
or lilly's?
read 4:23 am
Marianna's eyebrows popped up in surprise as Betty read her message right away. "Jesus Christ, it's a Saturday, why is she up?" Marianna muttered to herself, phone screen illuminating her face as three bubbles popped up.
BettyBKnowsNews
omg cheer cap not on her squads close friends?
mariannaGthompson
js those two
betty do not give me a hard time i am not
playing w u
BettyBKnowsNews
im just joking
yes im on their close friends, what's up?
mariannaGthomspon
have they posted?
i need u to ss whats on there
BettyBKnowsNews
got it
can i finally interview u about delmar's tho?
mariannaGthompson
yes but u have to ss whenever sally or lilly
post shady stuff on their close friends
BettyBKnowsNews
roger that.
[4 attachments]
Marianna's chapped lips grew into a smirk as the photos loaded. Satisfaction grew as she saved each screenshot into her camera roll.
Part of joining any Midtown club or team meant representing the school at all times and being a 'good role model'. Athletes are subjected to drug testing and have to take an oath to be sober or else they'll be kicked from the team.
And right now, Marianna was staring at 4 pictures of Sally Avril that would destroy the Midtown Cheer reputation in the eyes of her coaches. A picture of her making out with a guy that's definitely not Jackson Anderson, the hunky boy who had been Sally's boyfriend of 2 years, another of her chugging cheap beer, one of her with a little white pill on her tongue, and another that was black screen with the a poll: should i run 4 captain against bitchy thompson.
That one was the nail in the coffin. Now, Marianna is not opposed to a good party and while she personally doesn't partake in recreational drug or alcohol use, she finds that it's a waste of time to meddle in other people's business because people are always gonna disappoint you. Unless you're Sally Avril because then, Marianna will meddle more than a mother in law who wants grandkids.
Weird comparison, yes, but to indirectly disrespect Marianna on your main story and then hide behind a close friends story to directly disrespect her? Of course she's gonna deal with these cowards.
Marianna went into the bathroom and turned on the shower, typing on her phone as she waited for the water to heat up.
It was easy to find Jackson's instagram, despite her not following him herself. The guy was a friend of Flash's and had a known presence for being a football senior with a heart of gold. Too bad that heart was gonna be crushed. Marianna hummed to herself as she pressed send and added a message with the screen shot.
I'm so sorry to be sending you this but you're a really great guy and don't deserve what Sally is doing to you. One of the girls on the team sent me these ss and I'm absolutely horrified, but you should know about these pictures. I'm free Friday night if you need someone to talk to <3
She let out a refreshed sigh as she stepped in the shower. She knew she'd have a date Friday night with Jackson Anderson and as a result, a pissed off, hopefully-kicked-off -the-team Sally.
When she stepped out of the shower, feeling much better about herself and her knotted hair, she let out a noise of excitement but confusion at the two new notifications on her phone. One from Jackson and another from Sally. It's almost 5 am on a Saturday, why are these weirdos up?
Just as she clicked on Jackson's notification a new one came in from Betty with a simple GIRL THAT WAS QUICK.
Marianna felt the ultimate success as Jackson's notification confirmed he was livid and very open to hanging out Friday night. Teen boys were so easy.
Sally's notification opened up to a thread of messages that Marianna hadn't seen. She was met with a slew of cusses and insults towards Marianna that had her shocked for a second before she remembered who she was dealing with.
Safe to say that Sally and Jackson broke up. With another screenshot added to her camera roll, Marianna set her phone down and began to brush her teeth.
MJ requested Marianna wake her up only 30 minutes before they had to leave. She wanted to sleep in and knew herself well enough that she was efficient and could get ready within that time frame.
However, Marianna woke her up an hour before they had to leave with a pillow hitting her.
"Girl, has Peter texted you?"
MJ let out a groggy noise as she opened her eyes slowly, eyebrows furrowed, "Why would Peter text me?" MJ rubbed sleep from her eyes and saw Marianna standing with a distraught Liz.
"I'm asking everyone if Peter's texted them because Ned won't answer me about where he is." Liz answered, chewing her lip.
"I'm about to go over there and talk to Ned's shifty ass." Marianna added, sitting on her bed and smirking as she typed. MJ knew her behavior would be a whole other thing for her to catch up on.
"No, Peter didn't text me, have you asked BB?" MJ groggily asked Liz, turning away and pulling her sheets up.
"Marianna knows I'm looking for him, she would have told me by now if Peter texted her." Silence filled the air as Liz grew uncertain, "He didn't text you, right?" She meekly asked Marianna.
Marianna looked at Liz deadpan, "I would have told you."
MJ let out a frustrated groan, shutting her eyes tight, "Who cares where Peter is?"
Liz scoffed, looking at the lump of blankets offended, "Do you know who Tony Stark is? Absolute genius? Well that genius chose Peter for his internship, meaning Peter is a genius and it absolutely would not hurt to have a genius on our team!" Marianna rolled her eyes and tossed her phone down.
"Everyone on the team is a genius. Peter's probably just a flake who can't be trusted and it's best we just forget about him and let him deal with the consequences." MJ rolled over at the sound of Marianna's voice and took in her appearance. Her best-friend was stunning, her hair falling in natural curls down her nice button up shirt. Her makeup was subtle yet glowy, accentuating her light freckles.
"Why do you look so hot?" MJ asked tiredly. Marianna gave her a quick smile before smoothing her hand on her skirt. The girl lifted her phone at an angle and she begin taking selfies.
"Am I not always?"
Liz let out a whine at the two girls who began to stray from the topic, "Guys, please text Peter." Leaving no room for rebuttals, the senior walked away, presumably to tell everyone else to text the missing boy.
MJ snickered as Marianna made a face towards Liz's back but noticed that the cheerleader quickly began typing on her phone again.
"Are you texting him?" Marianna let out a hum, tilting her head and squinting towards her phone. She lifted her head towards MJ and shrugged, "Should I?"
MJ shrugged back to her friend, gingerly pulling a thread on her sheets, "So is the reason why you look so hot related to why you keep texting?" MJ avoided eye contact as Marianna smirked. The bed headed girl watched as her friend checked to see if Liz fully left before smiling and climbing into bed with MJ, showing the girl her phone.
MJ let out a low whistle as she read the text messages between Marianna and Jackson Anderson, "Sally Avril's boyfriend?"
Marianna clicked her tongue and pulled her phone away, "Not anymore." MJ's eyes fell over the girl as she took in her relaxed, flirty smile as Marianna typed.
"So, you like him?" MJ felt her breath catch as she asked the question. Undeniably nervous for the answer, yet she had no idea why. Marianna rolled her eyes and tossed her phone, turning to face MJ.
"As long as Sally's pissed off, I like him."
Oh. Unsteadiness filled MJ the more she looked into Marianna's truthful, cunning eyes. He was just a pawn for Marianna's queen, a guarantee that people will take her seriously. MJ cleared her throat after looking at Marianna for too long.
"So what'd your evil nemesis do this time?"
Marianna shook her head, "Get ready first, I'm going to Peter's hotel room. I'll tell you on the bus."
Before MJ turned away to get ready she saw Marianna begin to type in Peter's name on the instagram search.
Peter Parker is easily the most unreliable person Marianna Thompson has had the displeasure of knowing. Her long hair was blowing in her face, her mouth was dry, her face felt oily, and Ned Leeds had yet to come out of his room. Marianna felt obnoxious as she pounded her open palm against the door.
"Ned, I swear to god, you and Peter better be in there!" Her palms were crashing against the door. Marianna's voice was taut, face tight when the door swung open. Ned tensed as he locked eyes with Marianna's venomous glare, "We're late." Marianna began to pivot her body when Ned began to stammer.
"You see, the- the thing is I'm ready, but Peter," Ned swallowed when Marianna's eyes darkened, "Peter's feeling really sick."
"Ese hijo de puta mentiroso. Is he in the bathroom?" Marianna glared up at Ned, unblinking. Ned broke eye contact as he tugged at his shirt, "Oh cool you speak Spanish. I've actually been trying to learn, what methods do you recommend?"
"I only know what my mom taught me before she died in prison." Ned's face dropped, the two teens staring at each other, Marianna practically daring him to say anything else.
"Again, is he in the bathroom?" Marianna broke the silence after 30 seconds of Ned staring at her wide eyed.
"No, he uh, he went to the front desk to get something." Ned observed the way Marianna's nostrils flared, her jaw clenching.
"Front desk?"
"Uh- yeah."
"Great, I'm going down to the front desk."
Ned acted quickly, grabbing hold of Marianna's wrist. The girl raised an eyebrow in disbelief at the boy, who quickly raised his hands to the side of his head.
"I'm so sorry, I will never ever touch you again without your consent," Marianna scoffed as Ned continued to stammer, "That was so rude of me, but actually Peter's looking a bit rough and he would kill me if I let you see how he looks right now, so we should just go to the bus."
"Right." Her voice was clipped, unbelieving of Ned's extensive lie. Marianna fully turned away from Ned, ignoring him as he kept trying to excuse Peter's absence. His words, however, didn't manage to break Marianna's stride towards the bus.
Marianna made eye contact with MJ first, eyes questioning her. Marianna shook her head, which made the curly haired teen turn to Mr. Harrington. Marianna watched as MJ broke the news to Liz and Harrington, their faces immediately crestfallen. Mr. Harrington's announcement of Peter's absence to the other students fell silent on Marianna's ears as she pushed her way onto the school bus.
Her mood had suddenly soured with the lack of Peter. Her hair was becoming frizzy from the heat, her skirt was a bit too tight, and Peter Parker did exactly what she advised him not to do. Her annoyance grew as everyone else began to trail onto the bus, Cindy and Liz loudly complaining about Flash having a spot on the team.
"He acts before he thinks, he's gonna screw us over." The Asian girl groaned. From Liz's peripheral she could see the Latina girl's face form a scowl. Liz placed a hesitant hand on Cindy's shoulder, "Hey, maybe you should-"
"Maybe you should shut the hell up, Cindy." Cindy flushed and quickly sat in her seat. Marianna felt slight pleasure run through her body when the girl listened to her. Despite her pleasure, she still felt annoyed feeling her thighs stick to the seat. She quickly glanced down to her phone to check for a response from Peter.
MJ slid into the seat next to her, causing Marianna's attention to shift.
"Whatever you said to Ned has him totally spooked."
Marianna let out a loud laugh and leaned her head on MJ's shoulder, suddenly feeling tired.
Midtown had been doing phenomenal in the eyes of Mr. Harrington. However, to Marianna, they were slacking off. She sat in multiple practices where every single person, besides Charles, would answer questions correctly, yet Cindy, Abe and even Liz have answered a question wrong, leading them to be tied with the other team. Marianna could tell Liz was shaken by the lack of Peter, which led everyone else to be nervous.
Standing next to Mr. Harrington, the cheerleader watched bored when she felt two buzzes from her pocket. She slid away the message of her mother asking where her and Flash were and felt her heart speed up as the other notification was from PeterbParking on instagram.
PeterbParking
i so srry ple se tell ed 2 answr
Marianna's eyebrows furrowed as she read his message 3 times over. Before she could begin to type back, Mr. Harrington let out a nervous gasp from beside her.
The bespeckled man turned to her with wide eyes, "They entered sudden death."
Marianna quickly pocketed her phone, watching with full attention as the moderator phrased the last question.
MJ swiftly hit the bell, face completely impassive. Despite MJ's bored face, nerves fluttered in Marianna's stomach, the girl holding her breath.
"Zero." MJ shrugged. Marianna had begun running on stage before the moderator had announced it was correct, full faith in her best friend. Marianna wrapped her arms around MJ tightly as the team cheered. Quickly, everyone joined the hug to pile onto MJ, who had a smile slowly grow on her face.
"My best friend is so smart!" Marianna shouted as the group walked to the Washington Monument.
"My best friend is a public disturbance!" MJ half heartedly shouted, stumbling with Marianna's arm wrapped around her shoulder. The two girls looked ridiculously, MJ bent down to match Marianna as the shorter girl shouted.
"We didn't even need Penis Parker!"
Flash's contribution to the celebration caused many to groan, Abe even rolling his eyes, "Did you even answer a single question?"
"Shut up Abe, at least I didn't answer a question wrong."
"Because you didn't answer any!" Cindy cut in. The team quickly dissolved into chaos as Marianna processed Peter's nickname, slowly smirking. She thought P.P. was great but now she was 100% using Penis Parker against him in the future.
Marianna let go of MJ and wrapped her arms around Flash's neck, "I know Flash is pathetic but not too much on my little brother." She gave the group a teasing smile, obvious that she was joking and open to hearing them make fun of Flash.
MJ smiled softly at her team before pulling out a book from her bag, alerting Mr. Harrington of her aloofness.
"Taking it all in, Michelle?"
"Oh, yeah, I just... um, I don't really want to celebrate something that was built by slaves."
"Oh, I'm sure the Washington Monument wasn't built by-"
"It 1000% is Mr. Harrington. You're a teacher, your lack of knowledge on the subject is alarming." Marianna reapproached MJ, arm linked with Flash (who she dragged away from his teasing peers).
Mr. Harrington pursed his lips together and promptly walked away from the teen girls.
"Enjoy the book, love you." Marianna offered her pinky to her curly haired friend.
MJ smiled as she booped pinkies with Marianna, "Have fun with the lackluster tour, BB."
Flash poked his sister's side, causing her to swat at his hands. Marianna's attention fully left MJ as she play fought her brother, the siblings falling behind the rest of the team.
MJ observed their antics, chuckling when Marianna swiftly kicked Flash's legs, causing his knees to buckle. A security guard nearby stood clearly perturbed by their roughhousing.
Marianna snorted as Flash fell over. Her brother grew embarrassed, his loss of balance causing him to hold up the security check line. In front of her was Ned, who was not so quietly whispering into his phone.
"Ned, is that Peter?" Marianna questioned the Filipino boy as she placed her bag on the conveyor belt.
"Oh yeah, he's still a bit si-"
"Peter?" Liz perked up from in front of Ned and quickly snatched the phone from the boy.
"Is Peter okay?" Marianna asked, Ned clearly panicked as he tried to focus on Liz and Marianna.
"Ned, literally answer me, is he okay?" The boy stammered as he tried to get his phone from Liz, who was promptly interrogating Peter on the phone.
"Is Penis Parker crying?" Flash piped up from behind Marianna, causing her to off handedly hit his arm.
"Where is Peter, Ned. Is he safe?" At this point the only thing coming from Ned was a bunch of panicked noises, "Ned literally shut up with your noises and answer me."
"Yeah, answer my sister man."
"Flash, shut the hell up," Marianna's eyebrows furrowed as the line continued to move, "Ned, just breathe okay, Liz obviously will give you your phone back."
"No, it's just I'm worried-" Ned finally feebly formed a sentence to Marianna.
"Worried?" Marianna's eyebrows shot up. She quickly leaned over Ned and shouted so Liz would hear, "Liz, tell Peter to be a good boy and he better be safe."
Liz gave her a thumbs up, "Marianna says be a good boy." The senior girl muttered into the phone, obviously still in captain mode and upset.
"Girl, you literally cut off half of my sentence."
Liz was next in line and so she was forced to place the phone in a tub on the conveyor belt, effectively ending the whole interaction. Ned still looked worried, causing Marianna to rub his back before he walked through the metal detector.
After everyone went through security, they met their guide and were gathered onto an elevator.
Flash was grasping onto the obnoxious trophy like it was his child, not letting anyone hold it, "Hey, Mr. Harrington, can I be the one to tell Peter he's expelled?"
Flash had managed to make everyone groan for the second time that day, including Marianna who pinched him in response.
Marianna leaned against the elevator wall as the tour guide droned on about the monument. She could feel herself die of boredom with every second the tour guide talked about how tall the monument they were in was.
Suddenly, a bright purple light blinded Marianna's field of vision, causing her to cover her face. Smoke slightly filled the elevator and no one was panicking yet as the team took time to process.
Ned had thrown his bag on the ground in shock, becoming increasingly distressed as the team began to panic.
Dread filled Marianna's stomach when an ember dropped and touched her skin, slightly burning her. The ceiling of the elevator was practically gone, now replaced by glowing red cracks.
Breathing became harder, almost like all the smoke in the small space decided to invade her lungs. It left a burning feeling in her body as more embers migrated towards her.
Flash grasped her hand tightly, his eyes wide as his breathing also began to quicken.
"Okay guys, I know that was scary, but our safety systems are working."
Marianna could hardly hear everyone around her, her hand falling limp in Flash's.
"Mom..." Marianna muttered, shutting her eyes tightly.
A beautiful Latina woman singing along to Amy Winehouse, the same woman cooking her mac and cheese. Her beautiful short brown hair and the butterfly tattoo on her chest. Her laying in bed with Marianna after a nightmare, her staying up late to help Marianna with a school project. She smells like a freshly burnt out candle and like the grass after its rained. She likes to make jewelry and she likes watching rom-coms with her daughter to teach her how she should expect love.
A beautiful Latina woman screaming for a man to stop.
Marianna let out a gasp as non smoke air suddenly filled her lungs, eyes shooting open.
The elevator is almost empty, park rangers helping the students climb from the elevator. Liz was being lifted up and Flash was looking at Marianna with expectant eyes.
"You next, BB."
Marianna shook her head, softly taking the trophy from her brothers hands, "You're younger, you go first."
Flash could hardly protest as Mr. Harrington grabbed the boy, hoisting him up into the hands of a worker. Marianna raised the trophy once her brother was out, knowing that despite the stressful situation, multiple people would be pissed to lose the trophy.
Mr. Harrington gestured to Marianna next, the girl slowly inching forward, too cautious to move. The elevator creaked at the slightest movement, causing Marianna to shake her head quickly and pull away from Mr. Harrington.
"I can't do it, I can't move," Ned and Mr. Harrington began to protest, "Ned, go first."
As Ned began to move, the roof of the elevator completely ripped, sending the remaining 3 plunging to darkness. Ned and Mr. Harrington let out loud screams, Marianna only letting out sharp sobs.
Please don't let this be the end.
Marianna let out a sharp exhale as the elevator suddenly jolted.
"Hey, how you doing? Don't worry about it. I got you."
Marianna's body shook with cries as she looked up to the face of Spider-Man. Her lips quivered as she tried to speak, relief slowly filling her body. Whoever this person was, he was becoming her favorite person ever.
Relief quickly left as Ned began to swing his fist in victory, causing the elevator to wobble. Marianna's mental capacity was reaching a breaking point, completely fear struck.
When she observed everyone else, they appeared way calmer than Marianna. There's only been one time she felt enough fear for her body to shake, but this instance seemed to be the way she died, falling to her death, Spider-Man there to save her or not. Something about this felt outer worldly, her actions not her own. If MJ were here, she would be confused by Marianna's cowardice.
The elevator shaft began moving upward as Spider-Man used all his strength to pull them to the top floor. Ned quickly exited the elevator with helping hands, as well as Mr. Harrington since he was closer to the entrance.
All that was left was Marianna.
Flash was a prominent distressed face among her peers trying to usher her to safety, and she desperately wanted to console her younger brother.
But, she had no idea what was happening to her. She couldn't move, too stunned with fear. No matter how hard she tried to move, something was holding her down, like she was meant to fall.
Marianna can only begin to slowly raise her hand towards the others before Spider-Man lost his grip. Air knocked from her lungs as the floor moved away from her feet, falling faster than her.
No scream left her as she began her descent, Spider-Man's web chasing after her wrist. He hooked himself on a remaining pipe and all that had to be done was his web needed to attach to her hand.
But it didn't.
Her hand grasped at the web in an attempt to stop falling, but it was just out of reach. Panic was obvious in Spider-Man's mask as he quickly let go of the pipe, descending towards Marianna as she fell faster and faster.
Hair began to cover her eyes, obstructing her view of the masked vigilante, and she thought for a split second that was better. That way, when she died, her terrified eyes wouldn't be what he saw.
Terror burned in her body, an exhale of air released as Marianna's last contribution to Earth.
Suddenly, her body jolted as a second web attached to her hand. A shriek of pain left her throat as her shoulder and arm burned in horrific pain.
The entirety of the 300+ foot monument was filled with her cries of pain as Spider-Man softly cooed to her, lifting her slowly. From her peripheral vision, she knew her arm as all kinds of majorly messed up.
"Marianna, you're okay. You're okay,"
Spider-Man wrapped his arms around the girl, holding her gingerly to his chest. Pain flared as he transferred her to Ned's arms, vision blurred with tears. She stared into his lenses, breathing slowing down.
"Thank you."
But somehow, it felt like she wasn't supposed to survive.