Dandelions - Ruth B.
I think that you are the one for me
'Cause it gets so hard to breathe
When you're looking at me, I've never felt so alive and free
When you're looking at me, I've never felt so happy
Gym class was already shaping up to be a terrible lesson, and it hadn't even officially started, yet.
Amara hadn't realised that she would have to change clothes, she hadn't brought any to change into, how could she? No one told her that she would have gym on her first day. And because she didn't have any clothes, she had to borrow a spare kit from the school. She walked out into the gym and headed straight over to Peter and Ned.
"Are you shitting me? this thing smells like it hasn't been washed in over a century! I've smelt literal shit that would smell better than this," Amara said, briefly forgetting that she wasn't talking to Pietro or Clint or Sam, who she often used this kind of humour around and who often used it back, she was talking to her new friends that she met today. Amara internally cringed and waited for them to say something, anything.
Then Peter and Ned laughed and Amara breathed a sigh of relief. Oh, thank god!
"Okay, everyone! Take a seat on the bleachers," Amara assumed that that was the teacher and she went to sit with her new friends as the teacher carried on, "Alright! Today we're gonna be playing a game of dodgeball and I'm gonna pick team captains in a second, but first, we have a new student," Oh shit! Amara thought to herself. "You've probably seen her around today anyway, but it's her first lesson in this class so I'm required to introduce her. This is Amara everyone, hello Amara, I'm Coach Wilson, nice to meet you," Coach Wilson smiled at Amara and she awkwardly smiled back as she felt everyone's eyes on her in an instant.
"Uh, coach, there's a problem with the equipment, we need you." A student had walked into the gym, seemingly looking for the coach to fix something, no, find...something - Amara wasn't always in control of her 'sense,' or being in control of when she can use it, it sort of just happens.
"Alright everyone, just talk amongst yourselves, I'll be back in five minutes, max," coach Wilson said before walking in the direction of the student.
As soon as coach Wilson left the room, all the students erupted into a loud conversation. Amara tried to make her way toward Peter or Ned, or even Michelle, but she was unable to find any of them.
Amara heard a boy trying to talk to her, so she turned around to not be rude, only to be faced by that kid, Flash. "Hey, you're the new girl, right? I don't believe we've officially met, I'm Flash."
He held out his hand for Amara to shake, but she refused to offer her hand to him. She instead met him by looking down at his hand and then back to him, an inquisitive look plastered on her face as she pondered what he could possibly have to say to her.
He retracted his hand, his smile still plastered proudly onto his face. "You're Amara," he finished for her, God, Amara hated when people spoke for her, but most of all, she hated the fact that he already knew who she was.
Before Amara had the chance to express her distaste, Flash continued, "So, how are you finding Midtown. It's pretty hard, right?" Amara was annoyed at the fact that he just assumed that she was having difficulty, but she covered it up well enough with a smile.
"No, actually, the classes seem pretty simple," Amara fired back, her smile challenging him to speak again.
"Really? Maybe you're doing something wrong," Flash's reply made Amara's blood boil, right because I couldn't just be smart I have to be doing it wrong! but he wasn't finished yet, "you know, if you ever need any help understanding some of the stuff, properly, then feel free to ask me, in fact, here, take my number, then you can call me any time you like."
Flash winked and held out his phone to Amara, inviting her to put her number in.
Amara smiled at him and said, "I should be fine, don't worry. If I were you I'd be more worried about myself," Flash's smile faltered.
Amara then turned her attention, after leaving Flash completely shocked, to look for her friends, once again. She spotted Peter and Ned looking in her direction and made her way towards them.
They were in hushed conversation when Amara approached and said, "What are you guys talking about?"
They stopped their conversation and Ned said, "Nothing! We were just wondering what you were talking about with Flash."
Peter spoke up too, "we saw you both smiling and we were just curious. If you want to be friends with him, that's fine. I mean, we wouldn't blame you, he's popular and I'm sure he'd be nice to you..."
"Hang on... do you guys actually think I want to be friends with that guy? Even after you told me how he treats you?" Amara saw the confused looks on Peter and Ned's faces and added, "No, of course, not! You guys, whether it was you, or even someone else that he's a dick to, I would still never be friends with a bully."
Peter and Ned looked at the floor, apologetic expressions passing over their faces.
Amara, no longer wanting to make them feel bad, said, "So, can one of you, please, explain the rules of dodgeball to me?"
"You don't know how to play dodgeball?" Ned looked up, surprised at this information - so did Peter.
"Um, hello? I was homeschooled my whole life, of course, I wouldn't know how to play a game that's played in a high school gym class!" This wasn't necessarily a lie, Amara had heard of dodgeball, but she had never actually played dodgeball - one of the many sacrifices an avenger trainee has to make, every spare second is dedicated to missions or training for missions, dodgeball was the last thing on Amara's mind, growing up, and now she regretted her every refusal for normal games.
"It's simple really," Peter said, starting to explain the rules of the game, even if Amara wasn't sure what the game was, exactly, she was certain that she was going to win. Peter continued, "there's two teams. At the start of the game, five balls are laid out in the middle, when coach Wilson blows the whistle, you go and grab as many balls as you can. Then you try and throw the balls at the other team, if it hits someone, they're out for the rest of the game, if they catch it, the person who threw it is out. And it keeps going like that until all people on one team are out; you'll catch on once we start playing."
Amara nodded as the coach made his way back into the gym.
Coach Wilson named two team captains, a girl named Betty and Flash. Amara was on Betty's team, thankfully, and so was Peter. Ned was unfortunately split from the group and was put on Flash's team, he stayed close to MJ, who seemed none the wiser, her nose still buried in her book.
By the time the game started, Amara had already gotten two people out. She found that she was actually enjoying herself, as she ducked when she sensed a ball flying towards her from the right and caught a ball coming from her left, catching a kid named Brad out.
Amara didn't linger long on her victory over Brad, instead, she hurled the ball in her hands towards another person, catching them off guard and out of the game.
It was hard to tell who was winning, although there were many people out on the opposing team, the same number seemed to be out on Amara's team too.
Amara saw Peter in her peripheral view; he was playing the game, but he looked slightly distant as if he was distracted by something else. When a ball came flying at his back, Amara saw him tense up almost as if he knew it was coming. The movement was minuscule, almost undetectable, but Amara saw it. She also saw that, even though Peter knew the ball was headed in his direction, he made no effort to move out of the way or to avoid the ball. The action was pretty similar to the way Spiderman tensed up when he sensed danger, yesterday. What if Peter was Spiderman?
It would make sense, he's quiet enough that no one would suspect him, but he also seems like the kind of person to try and help people regardless of whether he was a superhero or not, plus it would also explain why Amara found his voice so familiar.
Then again, she was basing her entire theory on Peter not dodging a dodgeball. Maybe he had just gotten tired of being in the game and he chose to be hit, Amara certainly wouldn't blame him. But this was the only lead she had, so as for right now, Peter Parker was suspect number 1.
But then Amara briefly thought again about how familiar Peter's voice sounded earlier, but she wasn't able to think for too long before she was met with a ball flying towards her. Amara caught the ball and threw it back towards the team. She needed to figure out where she knew Peter from, but not before she got Flash out and wiped that smug smile off his face. Then she would be ok with getting out.
Amara aimed the ball that she caught five seconds ago at Flash, only for him to dodge away at the last second. He winked at her, causing Amara to swiftly roll her eyes and flip him off. Unfortunately, this didn't give the intended effect and Flash laughed.
This angered Amara even more. So much that she picked up another ball near her and hurled it in his direction again, only for him to dodge it, again.
Okay, calm down. Use your Avengers level training. Amara analysed Flash's fighting pattern and noticed something instantly, He's too focused on his torso...he's not guarding anything against the waist down!
An evil smile spread across her face as she tilted her head to side and leaned down to pick up the nearest ball. She held it up and feigned a throw toward Flash's torso, distracting him, and then a split second later, she threw the ball, hard. Flash had looked up, just in time to see the ball flying toward him, but he still wasn't fast enough. Amara gave him an innocent smile just before it landed right between his legs.
As Flash fell to the floor, Amara knew that her mission was accomplished, albeit with a pang of sympathy as she barely even knew the guy, but she knew deep down that he deserved it. In all honesty, she would've done it just because of his insinuation that Amara was stupid, she didn't even have to know how horrible he was.
Amara was out of the game shortly afterwards, but she was satisfied knowing that she had managed to send Flash to the nurse's office for some ice.
She sat down next to Peter who looked as if he had been staring at something, or rather someone. He was too late in noticing Amara as she followed his eyes to where he was looking.
"Her name's Liz, right? She's a senior?" Amara asked.
Peter looked startled at Amara's sudden appearance. "Oh, yeah. Um, did you get out?"
Amara knew that he was avoiding the conversation, but decided not to pressure him, after all, he had turned a shade of bright pink. "Yeah. Dodgeball was a lot more bearable than I thought it'd be."
"I saw how you got Flash out. No one's ever gotten him out before. He plays basketball, so he's pretty good at this stuff."
"Really? It wasn't that hard, just gotta aim for his legs."
Peter looked like he didn't know what to say for a few moments, so they sat in silence, until finally, Peter spoke, "That wasn't what it looked like, by the way. I wasn't trying to be creepy or anything, I just..."
Peter trailed off, but Amara had an idea of what he was trying to say, "You like her."
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That's so embarrassing! I can't believe I got caught staring at Liz, by Amara, no less. She's gonna think I'm some sort of creep. Peter hadn't been staring at Liz, he had been staring at Amara, and when he saw her walk towards him after she got caught out, he didn't want her to think that he'd been staring at her all this time, so he looked at Liz - the girl he'd liked for months.
We've been silent for ages, I should probably say something, right?
Against his better judgement, Peter said, "That wasn't what it looked like, by the way. I wasn't trying to be creepy or anything, I just..."
Peter tried to think of something to say, anything to make him sound less weird, until Amara said, "You like her."
Peter didn't know what to say. She had assumed completely wrong. Maybe if she had asked him a few weeks ago, he would've said yes, but Peter had realised a month ago that he no longer liked her like that, and that she would never like him.
You like her, she hadn't asked a question, she said it as if she already knew. Peter most definitely didn't want to tell her the truth, especially when the truth was that he'd been staring like that at her, for even longer, so Peter said nothing.
And Amara seemed to take this as a confirmation, "She's pretty. Have you ever talked to her?"
Peter still didn't know what to say, so instead, he just shook his head.
"You know, I was talking to her earlier. She seemed really nice. I could probably talk you up to her. I could be your wing-woman!" Amara's eyes lit up, and Peter couldn't help but stare into them. Her smile made him feel like they were the only two people in the gym, but the fact that she was smiling at him, made his brain go all fuzzy.
Peter wanted nothing more than to shout No! I don't like her like that! but when he looked into Amara's eyes, which were filled with excitement, he couldn't stop himself before he said, "...okay."