"UM, HEY."
His voice surprised me, not in the case of a legitimate shock for I knew he had been standing there, but a confusion at his almost daring approach. Normally, I had to be the one to initiate conversation, not the Parker boy. It was odd, to see him stuff his hands in his jean pockets and tilt his head shyly, offer up a greeting with little hesitation for the syllables. Strange, but not at all unwelcome.
My smile grew naturally. I carefully placed down my pencil and folded my arms up to support my chin, fists holding my head up as I grinned up at him. "Hello, Peter."
The boy seemed uncomfortable approaching me, but that was not much of a surprise; he always seemed somewhat unsure of what he was doing. However, that did not stop him from hesitantly taking a seat across from me when it was offered. His movements were stilted, awkward but there was a security in the way he placed his bag down and looked back my way. Clearly, he was not just there to exchange pleasantries and leave. "What are you doing...um, sitting here alone...?"
"I was just catching up on homework; I had been...busy last night, so I didn't have the chance to finish it." Busy. That was a common excuse for high school students, and one I would employ readily, even if the work meant nothing to me and I did not care about the answers being scribbled down. "This room - the library, I mean - seemed like the best place to do it."
He nodded, eyes trained and focused on my messy scribbles all over the page. One side of his lips quirked up. "You, um, made a small mistake here, actually."
"What?"
"Uh, it should be a positive instead of a negative. You just forgot a step here."
I started at his words, glancing it over to realise that he was right; I had messed up my multiplication and ended up with the wrong number. A sloppy mistake, considering I had the answers displayed on the paper right underneath that one. Still, I continued to smile and quickly scribbled over it, scratching in the correct answer. "Thank you; I cannot believe I missed that!"
"S'nothing, I do it all the time." His fingers tapped against the table, drumming out a quiet beat as he considered his next words. Tap, tap, tap. He hesitated a moment longer, then licked his lips and leant forward a bit. "I heard about what happened yesterday? With Sally?"
"Well, I am pretty sure everyone heard about it," was all I muttered back. A bitter flare hit the charming smile and replaced it with a thinly pursed grimace. Discussing the events of the strange girl that was Sally was not something I had much interest in, and certainly not when there were much more important things at hand. Still, I had to be natural with my conversation as Inga had implored from me. Americans liked the small talk, and he seemed curious about something about it; he had a note of question in his tone and was seemingly waiting for some sort of leeway for his next request.
And so, I played along. "Why do you ask about it?"
He shrugged, only meeting my eyes for a second before focusing his attention back on the table. "I just wanted to see how you were after that."
So the Parker boy was worried about me. The warm feeling that flooded through my bones for a split second was far from welcome and caused me to startle, my heart beating a little bit faster and fingernails digging crescent moons into my palm.
However, the strange feeling was quickly replaced with a sly joy and satisfaction. I was beginning to intrigue him and appeal to his own morals and interests, even if it were not in the same way he might imagine it to be. That was something I sorely needed at this point. It meant progress, and that I could soon try to get answers about him and progress forward. It meant that Emily Newman meant something to him - if only a small concern in his life.
"I am okay, actually." I kept my voice quiet and soft, trying my hardest to sound sweet instead of too eager. "I mean, it was not exactly what I was expecting of this new school, but what can you do about it? Some people are just always angry."
Peter smiled at that, a brief grin that flickered on his face like a candle flame. It warmed his skin and made him looked more flushed and youthful than the worry lines of before. "Yeah, well, I guess. Unfortunately, it's how these things work though; there's always a group that's better and stronger...and then there's the rest of us."
"I do not understand; what are you meaning?"
Just like that, the flicker of humour had fled, leaving a grim frown. He didn't look particularly happy discussing the topic, and from what I had learned about him, that made sense. "Some people just think that they're better than others."
"I am assuming you do not like them?"
Peter let out a snort, sharp and bitter. "Yeah, sure, if that's what you want to call it. He and I don't see eye to eye all the time."
I was beginning to see a different side of Peter, one that was angry and grieving - the side that I had been sent to watch against. He was annoyed at Flash, there was a rivalry between them that had been made known, but not completely understood, just yet. The two boys seemed nothing alike and it made no sense to me that a boy like Eugene Thompson would hate Peter, but he did and the latter harboured much anger about it. If I knew enough about it, I could potentially use that pain, push his buttons hard enough to propel him to do my will.
Lowering my voice, so that it was hardly a warm whisper, I tried to reason. "Peter, it is not okay, what he does. What he makes you feel. Why do you not say or do something?"
"What? No, it's not a big deal, and I'm not-"
"-that is not exactly what I meant," I mumbled, leaning the tiniest bit closer, trying my hardest to read past the embarrassment flooding the small area from him. The nature of our nearly touching bodies made him uncomfortable, and it was curious to see the change in his composure. "Peter, do you not think if you can do something to stop a problem, you should? If you can change something or make a difference, don't you think it's important to do so? You are so much more than you think you could be."
His face immediately flushed red, and he ducked his head away so I couldn't read his expression. "Look, I don't know-"
Still, I continued, even through his meek protests and lame excuses. "Peter," I cooed, hoping that somehow my futile means of getting information was doing something more than straining our barely-there relationship, "it is okay. I get it, alright? It is scary to know that there are things that only you know about or can do, but you should not have to deal with that. I know it must make you angry, very angry, enough to want to do something back."
Before the poisonous words could slip into his mind and elicit any sort of response back, however, a new figure came into the picture, causing me to fall back into my chair. Ned grinned and slapped Peter's arm, plopping into the chair beside him with a thump. Did that boy ever lose his smile? "What are you doing, Pete?"
Just like that, the boy's attention was turned away from me and onto his friend, forgetting all about the question that could have given me answers I craved so dearly. "I was just talking to Emily about s-stuff, that's all, why?"
The boy's eyes snapped to mine. Curiosity spoke volumes even before a sound left his lips. "You're the new girl from uh...Canada, aren't you? The one in Peter's Science and English class?"
So he had mentioned me to his friend; I had made an impression. Sure, it was just that I was the 'new girl', but Peter had thought my presence notable enough to mention, and that meant at least something to me. "Yes, I am in those classes. I hadn't realised you knew that."
Ned moved to speak but was cut off by Peter, who was now turning slightly red and angry. "Yeah, well, he knows everything. Don't you, Ned?"
"Um, sure," he shrugged, pulling up a large sheet displaying curious drawings that I did not understand one bit. I leaned in just the littlest bit to study them. "So, I drew up this diagram of our new death star - you know, for when my parents buy me that really cool one I showed you? We wanna be prepared."
Death Star. That was a term I was not familiar with, and definitely not something covered in my training. I recognised the two words separately but did not know just what in the hell Peter and Ned could mean by such a peculiar drawing and discussion. Or, even that they were open to discussing them in front of me, if it truly led to a weapon as believed. "A Death Star?"
Peter glanced up at me from the wrinkled pages, a light blush covering his cheeks. "Uh, yeah - well, um - it's a model w-he created."
"We both made it," Ned corrected, snatching back the diagram and handing it to me. He was very excited about it, evidently, which only made me all the more nervous. "This time, however, we're going to properly form the ducts so that it looks better. I'm sort of happy that I dropped those hints to them because otherwise, we would have had to deal with-"
He babbled on about useless information, things about escape routes and control rooms, but I had managed to block out his voice and focus on the drawing in front of me, pouring over every detail in hopes of finding an answer to just what this was. It was a strangely shaped ball with intricate details 'carved' into it, a crater in the middle with a purpose I wasn't sure of. Halfway through was a shallow trench, with messy writing I couldn't make out scrawled beside it. I didn't know what any of it meant, but it was a weapon, surely, with the scribbled in artillery systems and promises of destruction written in the corner of the page.
"What is this?" I questioned, glancing up from the mysterious drawing placed in front of me. "Is this some sort of..." my voice dropped down, "...weapon?"
The shadow stared at me incredulously, like I had just asked the most ridiculous question possible. "What?"
"This," I replied again, gesturing to the messy diagram in entirety. "I do not get it."
"Don't you know what Star Wars is?"
Star Wars? The name rang no bells, and I was not even sure where to begin to analyse just what this war of stars was. "No."
Before the boy's eyes could pop out of his head and onto the table, Peter butted in, pushing back Ned lightly and flushing darker. "It's just a movie he likes a lot, that's all."
"That's all? That's not all; it's a treasure! I can't believe you have never heard of it! Do you not have a television?" He was getting worked up now, and I could tell I was making him agitated - not more so than I was in this conversation, however. Sure, his intentions were not bad and his words were still said nicely, but there was a genuine nature that made me feel stupid.
I hated to feel stupid.
I shot a glare at him and shoved his drawing back at him, standing up to gather up my work to leave. He hardly noticed my claws raking over one of the pages amongst my others, a relief as I still carried on with the anger assumably flooding my system. "Just because I do not know about your dumb 'movie' doesn't mean I don't know things."
Ned Leeds was an irritating boy, one that kept managing to interrupt my plans at all the right moments and ride me up the wrong way. I did not know what exactly his deal was, but I did not like it. I wanted to make sure he was out of the way, and fast. It would be too difficult to observe the Parker boy while he was around.
I huffed and whirled away, ignoring their words as my feet pounded against the carpeted floors. In my pocket, I clicked the tiny button to stop the recording and pressed the pile of papers to my chest to ensure none of them would be lost. Sure, it could just mean nothing, but the death star was still evidence of something.
"Emily? Wait!"
Oh, how I was beginning to despise that name. It was such a bland title, one that screamed fragility and weakness and everything I hated here. Promised a nature I hated most about myself. However, I still had to respond to it and turned, forcing a smile on my face for the Parker boy. "Yes?"
He halted as he reached me, breathing the tiniest bit heavier from rushing out of the library. "Sorry about him; he's not normally that bad. He just...really likes Star Wars a lot."
"It is fine," I gushed, even though it really was not okay. "I get it; everyone has their passions. You do not need to apologise for him or anything."
Peter kept up with my fast pace, hurrying alongside me as I headed down to the English classroom. "No, but I didn't mean for things to get so worked up in there. He's a nice guy, he just...really likes his Star Wars."
I glanced over at him, eyebrow raised in question. "What is this Star Wars, exactly, Peter?"
"Well, um...there's a lot to explain."
"Well, we have five minutes, do we not?" The smile plastered on my cheeks was beginning to hurt them, and it was getting harder to hold it there. I needed it to remain, though, in order to get the answers, I craved so dearly. "It's not like we really need to be anywhere else - right?"
Peter shrugged and shoved his hands in his pockets, thinking before he responded. "Okay, well, it's about two opposing sides, the light and the dark. The dark is prevailing in the original movies, and it's the light side's job to protect it. Along with that, they have the two embodiments of the sides, the Sith and the Jedi. The Sith are evil and have brought down the Jedi, believing that they are all gone. However, there are many still in hiding, and one of them, Luke Skywalker, is young and-"
"-tell us more, Peter Parker," mocked a snide voice, and I turned my attention to the group that hung behind him; Flash, a boy I recognised well now, followed by a group of boys and the two girls I had fought with just days ago. "Don't stop for us!"
His face immediately grew dark red from shame, and he had quickly lost his train of speech. "Leave me alone, Flash."
The boy rolled his eyes and laughed at Peter as he strode past. His swagger was exaggerated and irritating, promising a false sense of power that could be contributed to just about anyone I had ever met. I hardly knew Eugene Thompson or why he was called Flash, but I hated the way he tried to convince others he was better than they could ever be.
I bit my lip and clenched my fists. There was no point in initiating anything, not when that was Peter's own issue and not my own. "I'm sorry about him."
"It's fine," he mumbled, not meeting my eyes. "It's not like I'm not used to it."
He had lost his spark and fire from our conversation and now hung his head like a shamed dog standing in front of his disappointed master. The boy who had pushed past him had drained the life out of him with just a few words, and I could tell he felt nothing but hate and perhaps even fear towards the boy he called Flash. And for some strange reason, it made me upset, seeing him have that much power over a boy who just wanted to get through high school. Over someone who truly possessed more than he could ever dream of in his pinky finger, brought down to absolutely nothing in the other boy's gaze. Maybe it was because I could relate far too well, or maybe it was because of the face of giving up that Peter wore far too comfortably, but it made me uncomfortable to see him fall so quickly and so hard. For someone who could stop felons and save the day, he looked powerless.
"This Star Wars thing of yours...it sounds interesting, Peter. I would like to hear more of it sometime."
"What?"
I was already walking towards the classroom, turning slightly to shrug and shoot another smile. "Maybe we can watch it together sometime. If you would be interested, of course."
His face flushed a light pink once again, a colour he was beginning to wear far too often. "Um-uh-yeah, yeah that would be cool. If you would like that, yeah."
"Well, you were rather into it - and I'd rather not live under a rock anymore, you know?" I paused in the doorway, glancing down the hallway where numerous students rushed by, probably rushing off to classes or out the door. "See you in class, I'm just going to head to the bathroom for a moment."
As he walked in alone, I pulled my phone out carefully, leaning against a locker for a moment of breath. The screen took a moment to light up but soon turned a light green, with a singular flashing dot slightly to the right of the centre. So it had worked; the friendly hand against his shoulder had worked enough to attach a sensor to his pack, leaving me with a key tracking device as to where the boy was heading. While it wasn't exactly the best place, considering he probably didn't use it when fighting crime, at least it was something.
I sighed, wiping a hand across my face and leaning back against the cool metal of the locker. For some reason, the face of defeat that Peter had had when he was pushed to the ground still resonated with me, and it was beginning to leave an imprint on my thoughts. I couldn't drive the thought of discomfort towards him being hurt alone, and it was running through my mind over and over again - something I didn't like.
Still, it meant nothing, for I didn't care. He was my mission, and he was a hero that had the chance of losing control. My job was to observe him, not be his best friend and feel bad for the pitiful way he crumpled at a single touch. Really, it was disgusting how he didn't bother to fight back - he was a coward, surely. Cowards didn't deserve my pity, they deserved to fall and break like a tiny sailboat's mast in a big gust of wind. Just because he wore a mask and fought crime at night, that didn't change the fact that he was nothing more than a weakling during the day.
Just saying, Flash may be a tiny bit different from Homecoming because a, I have not seen the movie yet [don't judge me, I'm broke and waiting for my paycheck] and b, this was written before the movie even came out, so I was going off the Flash I knew of before. So don't come for me - I changed the casting to Tony so that it could flow nicely into Homecoming, but there will be many differences probably.
Also! Freya does not understand Ned the same way, so where she interprets it as insult, when he's asking about if she has a TV or that he's so shocked she hasn't seen it, he's being his same happy self and he's just genuinely surprised but still being friendly, she just does not know how to interpret emotions the same way.
That being said, here's another long-winded chapter! This was super long - even for me - but I think it was probably important because it showed Emily/Freya warming up to Peter just the littlest bit. I swear the next chapters will be a bit more interesting, though!
Thank you for reading!