"we rise by lifting others." -unknown♡
Michelle hated dresses. She hated that society felt that it was only acceptable for a woman to wear a dress to any formal event. It went against everything that she believed and if it wasn't for Ned being his annoying self she would have shown up to the dance in a suit.
"So Mj what are you going to wear to the dance?" Ned was currently pouring a bowl of cereal for himself, Peter had gone home with some excuse about needing his aunt to help him with something. Michelle figured it was either something about Spider-Man or he needed his aunt to help him with what he was going to say to Liz Allen. Since Spider-Man still hadn't shown up since the attack on the ferry, she figured the latter was true.
Whenever she thought about Peter talking to Liz it gave her a twist in her stomach, a twist of jealousy that she wholeheartedly decided to ignore, hoping that it would disappear along with this newfound feeling about Peter Parker.
"I don't know, probably a suit," she said with a shrug locking eyes with Ned who gave her a look of confusion.
"A suit?" His voice was higher now, "but don't you think a dress is more appropriate?"
A flash of annoyance went through her, of course he would believe that, "Why because that's what society wants? Because that's the only thing that's acceptable for a woman to wear? Or is it because by being able to see more of my skin men get off to it?" Her voice was uneven and she couldn't help but be angry. What gives Ned the right to judge what she was going to wear?
She knew she shouldn't be angry with him, he was trying to be friendly and had just let her stay at his house for the night, but she couldn't help it.
"Mj that's not what I meant and you know it," Ned's voice was almost defiant and that shocked her, "Look, I get it, you are a feminist, and believe it or not I would like to be too!" She scoffed at him but he shook his head, "It's true! But wearing a dress to a school dance isn't the end of the world, and if you want to wear a suit? Fine whatever, go for it! But I'm trying to be your friend here and I'm trying to help you not get your head shoved in a toilet." She was surprised to see tears in his eyes and she suddenly felt bad for getting angry at him, maybe he really was just trying to help.
"But why do you care?" Her voice was much quieter now and she was so glad that Peter wasn't here to see her going so soft.
"Because I care about you, Michelle," his voice had also gone quiet but the words came out with a force, he wanted her to believe him, "because you don't deserve to get shoved into a locker, and I know you put on this persona of uncaring, but the words that people would say, they get to you." Now she was sure there were tears in his eyes, and she didn't know what to do. She took his hand in hers, a gesture of comfort really, she had seen people do it in movies, but it seemed to work.
"Do you want to go dress shopping with me Ned?" It felt weird to be doing something completely for someone else. To go totally against everything she wanted to stand for, to do something because maybe she wanted to protect Ned Leeds.
But him calling her Michelle had jarred her, it had made a switch go off inside of her that maybe, just maybe, she wanted to be loved.
***
In the end, she had picked out a yellow dress, not too short, not too flashy, and she hated to admit it but she liked it. She would like to say that her favorite color was black, or gray, or something that wasn't so bright, but her favorite color just had to be yellow.
Yellow reminded her of the bug her father used to drive, it reminded her of how they would laugh when people would wave at them, thinking that it was a taxi. It reminded her of simpler times, when her mother was happy and when her father would take both of them to the park and they would pick small yellow daises from the ground. Her mother would braid them into her hair, her hands didn't shake as much back then. Yellow was the color of the blanket her brother had been wrapped in when he was born.
Yellow was her memory of better times.
They walked into the dance a little late, they had gone for dinner before since neither of them had a date to go with. Ned was wearing a fedora. A confidence booster, he had told her. She told him that she would believe him when he asked Betty Brant to dance. He just blushed and changed the topic.
She couldn't see Peter or Liz and wondered what they were doing. She tried not to think about what they could be doing. Tried to convince herself that Peter was too innocent to do anything with Liz, but Liz was a senior, and she couldn't be sure.
She watched as Ned watched Betty Brant with longing and groaned, why did she always have to be the one to nudge people in the right direction?
She snatched his phone out of his hands, "Mj what the- why?" he sputtered out and she pocketed the device. Yes her dress had pockets, she refused to get one without them.
"You can have that back when you go dance with Betty," She said crossing her arms and nodding in the blonde's direction. He muttered something about her being a mother hen, but he shuffled off in the girl's direction. And she did smile when Betty very enthusiastically accepted Ned's request, the two were so god damn cute together.
She saw Liz enter the dance and watched as she immediately made her way towards her friends. She looked for Peter, but he wasn't there. She felt a flash of panic and wondered if he had ditched the dance. She almost hoped he had, but no, Liz didn't deserve that.
And then she saw him, he looked great in a suit. Michelle quickly silenced that thought and noticed his expression. He looked utterly terrified. What had happened?
Then he made eye contact with her and she did the most Mj thing she could think of, she flipped him off. Usually he would have returned the gesture but he didn't even smile. Something was very wrong. He seemed to be frozen at the doorway for a few moments before entering. He walked, almost in a trace to where Liz stood, only a few feet from Michelle.
"What did he say to you?" Liz sounded like she was joking and Michelle wondered who was the he she was referencing.
"I have to go," he said and Liz's expression dropped, "I'm sorry," he said and nearly ran out of the gym. He didn't spare her a second glance but her eyes followed him out of the room. And only a few moments later her eyes followed Ned as he nearly sprinted away from Betty and out the door right after him.
Michelle wanted to follow them, god she wanted to. But something in her made her stop. This was because of something with Spider-Man and she knew it. And now, even though she didn't even hate Peter anymore, not even close, she still wanted to win the game. Maybe for a different reason now than before. Maybe it was because she wanted him to trust her enough to tell her, maybe she just wanted the moment she found out to be the two of them, without Ned. She didn't really know and decided not to dwell on the thought in the moment.
"May I have this dance?" she turned to the voice and saw none other than Harry Osborn with a dashing smile, his hand outstretched towards her. What the fuck was going on?
Just then the phone in her pocket began to ring, saved by the bell.
"I should take this," she said quickly, pulling the phone from her pocket, Harry retracted his hand slowly looking almost disappointed. She would deal with that mystery later.
She flipped the phone open and answered it.
"Hello, Ned? Hey, hey, can you hear me?" She recognized Peter's voice through the phone and wondered why he sounded so completely out of breath and panicked, he continued without her saying anything, "Ned I need you to track my phone." Track his phone? What the hell?
"Parker, why in hell do you need Ned to track your phone?" There was several beats of silence and she wondered if Peter had gone into shock by hearing her voice.
"Mj w-why do you have Ned's phone?" his voice sounded even more panicked if possible.
"You didn't answer my question," she stated and he was silent yet again, "and because he needed to get over himself and ask Betty to dance."
"How w-would taking his phone help with that?" he questioned and she shrugged before remembering that they were on the phone and he couldn't see her.
"Motivation," she said simply, "Now answer my question Parker." There was a screeching of tires and her heart jumped to her throat, was he driving?
"Mj this is really important! Tell Ned to track my phone, I'll explain later." She went to say something again but the line had gone dead.
What had Peter Parker gotten himself into?
well that's it for that chapter ahah. i hope you liked it;) be sure to comment anything and everything and click that little vote button! it really helps!! do you think peter is going to tell michelle the truth? or what excuse is he gonna give her this time? let me know!! love you all♡
p.s. THANKS SO MUCH FOR 1K+ READS WOW♡♡♡ you guys are amazing.