Peter's POV
"Oh, h-hey Mr Stark," I stammered.
"Where have you been? I haven't seen you in months!" he exclaimed paying no attention to my class that was goggling at the two of us.
"Uh, I've just been busy," I lied turning red.
"C 'mon tell me the truth, I won't be mad if you have a new mentor. Unless you were working for Oscorp, then I'd be furious," he said.
"Mr Stark, Peter is with the overnight field trip group," Hailey pointed out awkwardly.
Tony looked at the other students and realisation well onto his face.
"Right, okay guys take a seat and I'll explain everything to you guys," Tony said before walking to the front of the room.
I sat at the back with MJ and Ned was practically standing on his seat to get a good view of Tony, the door to Tony's left opened up and Nat, Steve, Bucky, Sam, Clint, Bruce and Wanda walked out. The class immediately jumped up and started shouting in excitement, MJ rolled her eyes and turned her eyes back to the book.
"Alright everyone, calm down and let Tony talk," Steve announced.
Everyone immediately sat down and fell silent.
"Alright, thanks Capsicle, as I was saying before. I will tell you the plan for the rest of your time here and then send you off to your first activity," Tony continued, "You'll all do a session with each Avenger and learn something from them, the session will go for three hours. There are risks with each station so please be careful,"
"Do we have a session today?" Zach asked.
"Yes, you'll have a session with Bruce this afternoon so you better get to it," he replied gesturing to Bruce who stepped forward.
Everyone else talked excitedly as they ran down the hallway after Bruce to start asking questions, we arrived in a lab and Bruce explained what we were doing. We were supposed to design a robot that had something to do with chemicals, everyone immediately started and MJ, Ned and I shared a workspace.
I knew where everything was in the lab and after I quickly brainstormed an idea I grabbed everything I would need and set to work. People were running around desperately trying to find the things they needed and trying to get Bruce over to their work station.
After 2 hours of working, I had my robot built but I didn't know what chemicals I was going to use. I sat on the bench stool and tapped my pencil against the desk trying to think of anything, I couldn't do anything too dangerous and I doubted that the chemicals I would need to make the thing I wanted wouldn't be in here.
"Please let me go,"
I opened my eyes pushing the memory out of my brain, I couldn't think about that right now. Before I knew what I was doing I was walking around the room collecting chemicals that I needed, I mixed, stirred and compressed the chemicals into a bottle and wired it up to my robot. Other students were running around and adding finishing touches to their robots while I cleaned up my workspace.
I zoned out while the others cleared up and flicked my pencil between my fingers while staring out the window.
"Impressive,"
I snapped my head to see Bruce looking at my robot with a smile on his face.
"I know it's basic but I couldn't think of anything. That was the first thing that came to my mind..." I trailed off.
Bruce frowned but luckily before he could ask any more questions Ned butted in with a squeak of excitement. Ned apologised for interrupting but I used that opportunity to sneak away and help MJ clean up at the sinks.
"This is his tower you know, he will find a way to talk to you eventually," MJ stated.
"I-wha? H-He doesn't need to talk to me about anything," I replied.
"Look loser, I know something happened with Hallie, it doesn't take a genius to figure it out. So, if you need to talk to me then I'm always available, I promise I won't judge," she explained.
I raised an eyebrow at her and she rolled her eyes.
"I just hate seeing you so depressed and down, this is a rare opportunity to let anyone talk to me so you better take it," she replied.
I sighed and debated whether I should tell her about what happened, I shook my head. No, I couldn't do that, she'd hate me. Hallie was her best friend and it was my fault she died.
"Everythings fine," I lied.
I went back over to the bench and Ned rambled on about how Bruce was impressed with his robot and the compliments Bruce gave him. I was happy for him but I wish my smile was real, I wanted to talk to someone about it but they'd all hate me if I told them what happened. I was Spider-Man, a superhero but I couldn't even save my girlfriend, she had to give up her own life to save me.
"Alright everyone, I'll have a look at your robots and at the end of this trip and give you some feedback," Bruce said.
Hailey arrived and led us down to the dining area, we were having pasta for dinner and everyone was talking happily while eating. I played with my food and ate it so no one would ask any questions, Hailey took us back upstairs and said we had free time until 10:00. Most people watching a movie but some people went and played on the Xbox which was in the gaming room down the hallway.
I went into an empty room and pulled out my broken phone, I was climbing out my bedroom window ages ago to visit Hallie and it fell out of my pocket and shattered and the screen popped off.
I fiddled with the wires and programming and as I connected two wires together it sparked, I jumped away holding my finger and swore. I inspected my finger and nothing had happened, it was just the jolt that made it sore. I moved back and finished fixing my phone and turned it on, everything was good as new and May didn't have to pay for a new phone after all.
"You know I'm a billionaire kid, I could've easily bought you a new phone," Mr Stark said from the door.
My head snapped up at his voice and internally I was screaming at myself and telling myself to get out of the room before he realised something was wrong.
"I know, but I didn't want to bother you and I need to call May," I lied standing up.
I went to walk past him to get to the door but he grabbed my arm and I looked directly into his eyes. He studied me and I looked down at the ground before taking a step back from him.
"What's wrong Peter? What happened?" Tony asked.
"Nothing, everything's fine," I lied.
"I haven't seen any articles on Spider-Man in the last few months and I haven't seen you in ages and now when I have seen you, you're avoiding me. I know somethings wrong Peter, I can see it on your face," he pointed out.
Shit, of course as soon as I looked at Tony he'd realise something was wrong.
"Everything's fine, I'm just taking a break, focus on studying. You're overlooking things," I replied.
Tony raised an eyebrow and I could tell he didn't believe me.
"Look I gotta go, May will kill me if I don't ring her on time," I lied.
I slipped out the door before he could say anything and ran down the hallway and into the reading room that MJ was in. She smiled when she saw me and went back to reading her book, I sat down next to her and went through everything on my phone and I actually did text May to ask her if everything was okay.
"So, are you going to tell me what's going on?" MJ asked casually not looking up from her book.
I gave her a sharp look and sighed.
"Everything's fine, I've got it under control," I said.
"What do you mean by under control?" she asked.
"I'm handling everything, I'm just adjusting to what happened," I explained.
"Are you going to tell me what happened or are you going to continue to beat around the bush?"
"I'm not going to tell you, it's something I need to deal with," I replied digging my nails into my palm.
"But you don't have to deal with it alone. Hallie was my best friend and she would've wanted you to open up to people," MJ said, "Hallie's death was unexpected but I know you know how she died, I won't be mad at you Peter. Please talk to me about it,"
I sighed and shook my head still looking down at the ground.
"I-I can't, maybe another day," I mumbled.
She sighed and nodded before looking back at her book, there was a knock on the door and Hailey peered around the door smiling.
"Hey, it's 10:00, you guys need to get back to the room," she said.
We both got up and followed her down the hallway and into the room, everyone else was already in their bunks and a few were already asleep. I thanked Hailey and went over to my bunk, I did my handshake with Ned and jumped up onto my the top bunk. I stared at the ceiling as darkness enveloped the room and closed my eyes...
"Let me go, it's okay," she said in a small, scared voice.
"No, I can't, I won't," I replied holding onto her hand tighter.
"Please, it'll be okay," she cried, "The world needs you, not me,"
"I don't care, please, I need you I don't care what happens to anyone else," I sobbed.
"What do you think happens when a star falls from the sky?" she asked.
"May told me that whenever you see a falling star it's a sign that someone in heaven is watching over you," I replied holding her hand and we laid down on the top of the Empire State building looking up at the stars.
"I like that," she replied moving closer to me.
We stayed silent for a little bit and Hallie sighed with a smile on her face.
"I love this view, you can see all the stars in the sky and you can see over all of New York. It makes everything seem so small, even my problems," she said.
"I promise I'll take you up here another day," I said.
She kissed me on the cheek before looking back up at the stars, another one fell and an even bigger smile spread across her face.
"Every Falling Star..."
"I love you, we'll both be okay..."
I woke up with a start and it took a while to realise where I was, I looked around the room and everyone seemed to be sleeping. I took a deep breath and focussed on my hearing, everyone's heartbeat and breathing was slow which indicated that they were sleeping. I stuck to the ceiling and quietly dropped to the ground and walked over to the window, I slid it open and climbed out sticking on the outside of the building. I closed it again and scrambled up the building, the cool night air was refreshing and I sadly smiled wishing I could jump off the building and swing through New York again.
But I couldn't, every time I did I saw her face, the fire and her last words...