Ned and I were walking to class together, talking about the new Lego modular building that came out months ago. He finally convinced his parents to buy it and wanted me to come over to help him build it, but of course, I couldn't. I was far too busy with the internship, work, and being Spider-man. While he continued talking about it, I massaged my bruises, wincing slightly at the ache of them. May had really outdone herself last night. If I could only have one wish, I would want her to stop drinking. That's the only way she could recover and heal.
"Everything okay, Peter?" Ned asked, noticing the wince that escaped my mouth. I had to be more careful around people, especially my friends.
I bobbed my head up and down quickly. "Yeah, uh, of course. Why, what's up?"
He kept his gaze on me for a second as if it would make me reveal all my secrets, but after a moment, he looked away. "I don't know." Those were his last words before we had to go our separate ways to the next class.
Entering my classroom, I found my seat and sat down, leaning forward with my elbows on the table and cupping my cheeks with my hands. Sighing, I felt my spidey senses tickling right before someone grabbed the back of my seat and sharply moved it away, causing my body to fall on the ground.
"Ugh," I grunted when I landed on the floor roughly, banging my knees and elbows.
I heard a laugh that came from Flash. "Stupid people must be punished. And you're stupid, Penis Parker."
I rolled so that my back would lie on the ground, and I could get up to my feet.
Before I could, however, a strict voice entered the room. "What do you think you're doing on the floor, Peter?"
I pushed myself back to my seat and didn't say anything.
"Huh, Mr. Parker? Why were you on the floor?" Mr. Lesley was adamant about it, causing Flash and his friends to snicker at the back of the classroom. I shot a glare at Flash, annoyed with his bullying. Why did he have to prey on other people to bring him happiness?
Turning back to Mr. Lesley, I said, "I... fell."
An eyebrow rose up. "Well then I suppose try not to fall again."
"Will do, Mr. Lesley," I murmured, causing Flash and his friend's snickers to increase. Class went by as slow as waiting by the DMV for your turn, but it finally was over. Time for Gym. Yay.
During Gym, I kept my hand on my bruised arm, trying to cover it up. Luckily, the Gym teacher didn't see it, but I wasn't so sure it escaped Ned's notice. He kept shooting me worried looks, biting his lip and fiddling with his thumbs. He always fiddled with his thumbs when he was anxious.
After a couple of laps around the track, the Gym teacher dismissed us, calling it a day. Almost all of the kid's shirts were wet with sweat, except mine. A gift of being a superhuman, I supposed.
I waited for everyone to change in the locker room and leave while I sat on one of the benches, playing a game on my phone. Lunch was next with Ned, but I waved him ahead again. After a pause, he nodded and left.
I put off my t-shirt, stuffing it into my gym bag I would take home and taking out my shirt. Before I did, I looked down at my body. Before the bruises May caused would fade away, she already added new ones. I could see the old ones, much lighter than the news ones, among the new purples and blues.
"Peter?" I heard a voice behind me. I quickly shrugged on a shirt before turning and seeing Ned. Ned's eyes were wide. "What? Why...?"
"What did you see?" I asked him, walking towards him and placing my hands on his shoulders.
"The-the bruises. All over..." He looked up at me with an expression of, it was hard to place a finger on it, but I would say pain.
My jaw hardened. "You didn't see anything. Okay, Ned?" Ned stayed quiet with that look on his face. It seemed as if he felt guilt. "What is it?"
Ned turned his head from side to side. "All those years and all those excuses. How didn't I put the dots together? How did I not figure it out?"
"Ned, Ned?" I shook him. He seemed to be in a daze.
"You're being abused, Peter." Abused? Sure, May hurt me, but the word abuse was so... strong, it said so much. "Is it-? No, it can't be. Is it- is it May?"
My eyes widened. "You cannot tell this to anybody, Ned."
"You need to call CPS, Peter. This isn't right," Ned tried to reason, but I quickly cut him off before he said more.
"No, no CPS. They would take me away from here, everything I worked for. May... is May, but at least I have a home, and she's the only connection to my parents and Uncle Ben," I tried to reason with him.
Ned merely shook his head. "This is so wrong, Peter. No, you have to call CPS. If you don't do it, I will."
"You don't understand, Ned," I sobbed but tried my hardest not to cry. That would show just how weak I was to Ned. "They would take me away from you, too. I can't. I can't." I shook my head side-to-side, stepping back and walking backwards away from him. "I don't think I can survive that."
Ned saw me freaking out, about to have an anxiety attack. He put his hands up as if he were surrendering. "Okay, okay. Fine. No CPS. I won't call them." I started breathing normally again, so he slowly lowered his hands.
Someone stepped into the room. Our heads swiveled around to see who it was. I sighed when I realized it was just the Gym teacher wearing his normal t-shirt that widely declared our school name and mascot.
"What are you two doing in here?" He asked, "Aren't you supposed to be in lunch or something?"
"Yeah, but I forgot my phone here, so we came to get it back," Ned supplied without missing a beat. Finally a good excuse as well. Something believable and not something that would force us to do more homework.
The Gym teacher's eyes narrowed. "Your phone? Why? Did you take your phone with you during Gym? You know we do not permit that." What is it with dumb school rules?
"What? No, he just left it here, in the locker room. It fell out of his pocket," I fabricated.
"Oh, okay. Stay out of trouble, kids." He turned back and exited the room but not before yelling out, "And don't do drugs!"
My eyes connected with Ned's, and I shrugged off our Gym teacher's weird behavior.
After the bell rang, signaling we were supposed to already be at lunch, Ned said, "We should probably go to lunch." We quietly made our way to the cafeteria, Ned most likely thinking about what just happened. Since everyone was already at the place they had to be, Ned and I were the only ones in the hallway. Our sneakers were the sole sound, a light thump, thump, thump.
"Peter?" He asked.
"Hm?"
"Can we talk about this after school?" He asked, "I'll walk with you to Stark Tower."
"Okay. Sure," I said, and Ned's shoulders lost their tension, obviously relieved. After Ned got his food, we sat down at a lunch table, MJ always nearby with her nose pressed into a book.
"Food?" Ned offered, pushing his tray to me.
I smiled at his kindness, picking up one of his french fries. "Thanks."
"You know you can eat more than one french fry, right?"
"I know."
But I won't.