The following week made June ease her nervous mind. She had at first avoided Simon, not feeling strong enough to deal with what he had brought into her life but, when she realized he was just as scared and shifty as she was, something in her head told her to go talk to him.
She attempted it during lunchtime. Simon was sitting on his own, just as always, and June didn't enjoy the idea of eating on her own as well, so she manned up and tightly gripped her food tray, making her way towards his table. He had his head low, not paying much attention to the food while his eyes were quickly scanning something on his phone.
"Is this place free?" she asked, trying not to scare him even if her attempt didn't work. Simon jumped on his seat and adjusted his glasses when he realized it was just June.
"You already know the answer," he replied with a chuckle, making June smile as well.
She sat down, gently placing the tray on the table, and folded her hands on her lap, looking around herself. She wanted to see if he had something to tell her and, if he didn't, she would have talked.
"I'm sorry for not talking to you this week," he mumbled, his eyes shifting between her and the phone.
"It's all right, really. I didn't either," she attempted a smile, even if the fact that the reasons and doubts that had brought her not to talk to Simon were still there and were still bothering her didn't make her feel too well.
"I can imagine what you're feeling. Meeting someone else with your same powers isn't something that happens every day. But... I don't know, maybe we can work on it together and, who knows, we might even decide to get something good out of them. Spiderman already does a good work but, you know, the more the merrier."
June froze when she heard Peter's superhero name, but relaxed when she noticed he was completely clueless.
"What do you think of him?" she asked, furrowing her eyebrows. Her hands moved on the table, where she moved her fingers as if she was playing the piano.
"He's the coolest. If I had his powers, instead of mine, I would have done the same exact thing, instead of hiding in the shadows."
June nodded. She attempted to say something, but got impolitely stopped by Gwen Stacy, who elegantly sat down between the two and looked at them with a disapproving stare.
"What are you doing here?" June asked her, trying not to sound too venomous.
"How are you doing, June?" she asked, placing her chin on her hand and looking at her with raised eyebrows.
"I'm...trying to eat?" June replied, even if her food was completely untouched and it was probably going to remain that way.
"Good, I'll keep you company," Gwen smiled, not paying any attention to Simon.
"I, um- I'm going to the bathroom for a second," he muttered, not waiting for any type of response as he stood up and quickly walked away from the two.
"What the hell are you doing?!" June whisper shouted to the blonde, slamming her hands on the table when she made sure Simon was far away.
"What are you doing?! You can't just start talking to every loser in this school just to try and replace Peter! He misses you, a lot, and being around him is enervating when all he does is complain about the things you two used to do together! I almost feel like the stupid friend who's helping him get over a breakup!"
June did her best not to scoff at the irony of the situation. Out of all the people who could have talked some sense into her to try and fix things with Peter, Gwen Stacy was the last person she would have expected. Considering the massive crush June had always had on Peter –which was incredibly obvious from her self-judging point of view-, none of that made any sense.
"Simon's not a loser! Besides, I'm allowed to have other friends apart from him, and if he doesn't want to fix the situation, then I'm not going to do that either," June pouted, wondering why she was opening up so much with one of the people she thought she loathed the most.
She also wondered what Peter had told Gwen about why they had fought. She knew Gwen wasn't aware of Peter's powers, unless he had told her during those three months.
"I swear to God, you two are such kids. And besides... Simon Fizz?! Of all people, he's the one you decided to become friends with?"
"Stop talking about him like this. I didn't choose him, we just found out we had a few things in common and decided to hang out like normal people do. He's a friend, and that's it. I don't see anything wrong with it." She didn't necessarily care about protecting Simon's integrity, but she hated when people judged without knowing, and there were a lot of things Gwen didn't know about them.
"I know, I know, but he's weird. He always gave me an odd vibe, I don't know. Whatever, he's not the problem. Just fix things with Peter, okay?" Gwen placed a hand on June's shoulder and gave it a tight squeeze.
"Why do you even care?"
Gwen seemed slightly offended by June's behavior, but quickly composed herself. "I like to think you're my friend, and that's what friends do."
Before June could say anything, Simon came back from the bathroom and Gwen stood up, sending Simon a quick firm stare before walking away, probably reaching Peter somewhere.
"What did she want?" Simon asked, sitting down while observing June.
"Nothing much," she said evasively, focusing on her food even if her stomach had completely shut down. She hoped she wouldn't vomit.
"Oh, by the way, I know that's not the proper way to say it but, considering we don't really seem to have anyone else, do you want to go to Danny's party with me?"
June almost choked on her food and had to take a long gulp of water to compose herself. She wasn't necessarily a party person, hell, she had never been to one, being ok with sticking to Peter's house being losers, but the idea of going to a party wasn't necessarily a bad idea.
"Sure, why not," she mumbled, flashing him a smile while trying not to cough anymore.
June spent the rest of the day wondering if going to a party with Simon, probably as a date, was really a good idea. He was a cool kid, he was the only one who could really understand what having the powers she had meant, but she didn't want him to have any wrong idea about them. She knew perfectly well what true attraction meant and, as much as he was a cool kid, she couldn't get herself to like him in that way.
She found herself in her bed that night, once again after an entire day of procrastination. As soon as her mother had stopped giving importance to her grades, June had lost every interest in them too. She didn't know whether something had happened to her, but not even her father knew anything about the situation. It was as if June's sudden rebellion had 'finally' started to hit her and make her realize that, maybe, what she had focused on since June had started her studies wasn't the right thing to focus on.
June was starting to fall asleep when her father appeared on her door, an apprehensive smile on his face.
"June, Peter's here. Want me to tell him to go away?" he asked. A small smile appeared on June's lips and she shook her head, standing up.
"No, don't worry."
She went to grab her coat while wondering why she wasn't freaking out. Maybe that was because after that day she was expecting him to, or because she had hoped for it for way too long. Or maybe both.
June's father walked away after nodding at her. June wore her boots and walked out of her room, not giving much thought to the fact that she was wearing horrible clothes she would only wear at home.
When she spotted Peter by the door, his hands stuffed in the pockets of his jacket and his cheeks slightly red from the cold weather, she couldn't help but smile. It was as if all those months had never happened, and he was there, like every day, to plan missions with her. She hoped he wouldn't mention them, since they were still a touchy subject, but she was more than glad he was there.
As if something suddenly snapped in her head, the smile disappeared from her lips and her expression turned into a frown. "Hey," she hissed, stopping herself from walking further towards him.
Peter, though, completely took her by surprise by rushing towards her and wrapping his arms around her waist with a quick movement, almost lifting her off the ground as he snuffed his cold nose in the crook of her neck.
The girl was completely shocked by his behavior and, as much as she tried to act cold and indifferent, she couldn't help but sigh at how familiar his hugs were.
They remained in that position for God knows how long, but it would have been not enough for June anyway. She would have remained like that forever, if she had a say in this. Well, actually she could do that, she could literally stop that moment for eternity, but the consequences would have been too catastrophic and she wouldn't have handled it for too long.
When Peter made a move to release the deathly grip he had on June's waist, she immediately moved backwards, crossing her arms on her chest and her eyes looking at anywhere apart from him.
Peter, just like her, remained serious. He looked at her as if it was one of the hardest things to do, but didn't seem to falter even if the girl was playing hard to get.
"Help me understand," he then mumbled, moving his hands as if he didn't know what to do with them. His voice came out almost as a whine, and it made June feel like crying.
The statement made butterflies fly in June's stomach. She didn't know if it was for the tone he used, or for the fact that, for once, he didn't know the answer to something, and was instead asking for her help that made her look at him with tears brimming in her eyes. After a while, when her mind didn't come up with any coherent reason not to, she nodded with a sad smile on her lips. It was so obvious that she missed him, that their fight was pointless and it could have been solved if only they had talked like normal people, that June felt like kicking them both in the face.
I was thinking about asking you all a couple of questions, just out of curiosity: what do you think about June? Do you like her character, the way she thinks and the way she acts? Do you think she's handling the situations she's put in well enough?
I've never asked this type of questions about my oc's, for no reason in particular, but I feel as if June's more of a controversial character, or maybe that on the opposite she completely lacks of characterization, so I want you guys to tell me what you think about her, and if you give me a little answer in the comments, you would make me really happy B)