A'ight, listen up folks. I have never been to public high school- I was homeschooled, so everything is a total guess as far as that goes. I just tried to think about what I've seen in movies, read in books, and heard from pals. If anything is suuuuper unrealistic about how high school has been portrayed here, just let me know as kindly as ye possibly can- Thanks!
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Peter Parker rolled his eyes at his best friend in the whole word. The guy couldn't stop giggling. It was a little annoying, but Peter couldn't get too irritated. He sort of felt a little giggly himself today. Because today- today was revenge. Sweet, sweet revenge.
"I can't wait to see his stupid face." Ned said, and then giggled, again.
"You're gonna give it away as soon as we walk through the doors if you keep giggling like that, Ned." Peter chastised. "Seriously, get a grip. We've got to act like we're at the bottom of the food chain."
Ned tried to school his expression but he still looked giddy, face flushed twitching with the effort it took for him not to grin ear to ear. Peter facepalmed.
He and Ned had been neighbors- and friends- since second grade. Peter loved his friend, and he wouldn't change him- but sometimes he did wonder if he would've had a chance at popularity if they'd never met. Not in any sort of bitter way, he was just curious. As it was, he was happy to be friends with Ned, even if it meant being bullied. Everyone likes a good underdog story anyway.
So what sort of revenge was due today? Well, today was the day they woud finally be pranking Flash Thompson.
Peter had been working on a solution for the past couple weeks in the physics lab during class- it was sort of like superglue, but it would dissolve after a few hours. He had managed to sneak some into his backpack and now... the possibilities were endless. He'd given a container of it to Ned as well, and they'd been talking about all the ways they would be able to use it.
Glue him to his seat.
Glue his packpack to the floor.
Glue his locker door shut.
Glue his car doors shut.
Just thinking about it made Peter feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Today could very well end up being one of the best days of his life.
The hallways smelled of dirty laundry and disinfectant. Peter and Ned walked through more silently than usual. On most days they'd be joking about something stupid, or talking about a project, or planning the next time they were going to hang out. But they couldn't think of anything but pranking Flash Thompson, and they couldn't very well talk about their evil plans right in the hallways.
When the first bell rang, Peter grabbed Ned's arm and looked at him. "Remember." He said. "Don't get caught."
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It was the middle of English class. Peter bounced his leg and pursed his lips to one side, trying to look uncomfortable. It was all part of the plan, but so far, no one was noticing. Or they were and were ignoring it. He shifted in his seat a few times, furrowed his eyebrows, tapped his fingers, shifted again. Finally, Mrs. Kim stopped midsentence and looked at him with her eyebrows raised and said, "Mr. Parker. Is there something wrong?"
Peter's shook his head emphatically as he answered. "Oh, I'm fine, Mrs. K, really. I just- I just need to use the bathroom- I know Jim already went and only one person is supposed to go each class... but I really need to."
Mrs. Kim sighed, hands on her hips and stared him down with narrow eyes. It felt like she was trying to stare through him, or activate her laser eyes, which Peter was pretty sure she had. But she finally broke her gaze. "Peter." She said with a sigh. "You may go. But don't think this means this is going to happen all the time. But it's clear you're having trouble paying attention, not to mention distracting the whole class with your fidgeting."
"Thank you!" Peter sprang up and walked from the classroom as quickly as he could. As soon as he was out he went around the corner and took the super dissolving glue out of the pocket of his hoodie and stared at it, heart racing.
"You got this, Peter... just a little rebellion, it's cool... it's healthy, even. You got this, you got this." He whispered a pep talk to himself. Then, he got moving.
He went to Flash's locker. With a makeup brush he'd stolen from his Aunt May, he slathered the solution all around the edges and then stood back to admire his work. Then, as a final touch, he poured just a little on the floor in front of the locker. Maybe, just maybe, Flash would stand there and get stuck to the ground. Peter chuckled to himself- that would be amazing.
He was just about to go back to class when he heard someone clearing their throat behind him.
"Peter Parker. What do you think you're doing?"
Peter slowly turned around, eyes wide. Standing there, arms crossed, was a teacher, Mr. James.
"Nothing, sir! I was just- uh-"
"What's this?" The teacher asked, gesturing to the sticky solution and the makeup brush. "Some kind of practical joke?"
"Uhh-"
"Who's locker is this?"
"It's mine!"
"It's your locker?" Mr. James raised one eyebrow and crossed his arms. "Open it, then."
Peter turned to the locker and stared it down, but after just a few seconds he turned back around again. "It's not my locker..." He admitted. "It's Flash Thompson's. I was trying to play a prank on him."
"I see."
They stood in silence for a moment as Mr. James stared down at him though his thin, wire frame glasses.
"That'll be detention for you, Peter."
"Yeah... I kind of figured."
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Detention was him, Ned (who also got caught), a couple kids in black hoodies and ripped jeans, and MJ, a girl who really didn't say much but managed to pop up just about everywhere. Ned thought she was cool, but he would never say that, because he also thought she was scary. And honestly, Peter thought so too. But then, almost everyone did.
She wore the same worn out leather jacket every day, combat books, dark makeup, and fishnet tights under her ripped to shreds jeans. It seemed like she had a new piece of metal in her ears every week, and she had an eyebrow bar. It looked cool, but it also looked like she would murder anyone who glanced at her wrong.
"You know, we might've gotten caught, but at least we still got the glue down." Peter whispered to Ned. The teacher was up at the front of the class going over paperwork with earplugs in, so he probably wouldn't hear them.
"Yeah, but man, I wanted to see him freak out." Ned whined.
"I know, dude, but we can picture it at least."
Ned looked over at MJ. She had a sketchbook and was making short pencil strokes on it, every once in a while looking up to glance around the room. After a moment, she noticed the two of them staring and narrowed her eyes.
"What are you looking at?" She asked.
Ned paled and stuttered. "I- I don't know- I was- was I looking at something? I was looking at Peter. Right Peter? I was looking at you, right?"
"Yeah, yes, that is completely correct. We were looking at each other." He nodded once to puntuate the statement and smiled.
"Right..." MJ slowly looked back down at her sketchbook and both boys sighed in relief.
Ned stared wide eyed and Peter. "We almost just died." He whispered.
Peter got out his own notebook and started doodling. He drew a little cactus, and then a butterfly, and then he started drawing the avengers. He drew a little doodle of Iron Man punching Captain America, and then he drew the Hulk. And he put an apron on him and had him holding a batch of cupcakes.
"Hey Parker." MJ said from across the classroom.
He froze right in the middle of adding cherries on top of the cupcakes.
"Uh... yeah?"
"Whatcha sketching?"
Peter's face flushed.
"Uhh... just some little doodles. You know..." She stood up, walked over, and sat in the chair right beside him, and held out her hand for the notebook.
Peter held the notebook close to his chest.
"Let me see." She said.
"What? No. No!"
MJ rolled her eyes. "I'll show you mine."
Ned sat up straighter in his chair where he had been slouched over trying to look inconspicuous and unassuming. "Show her, Peter. Don't you wanna be able to say that MJ showed us her sketchbook? Cool points for sure, dude."
Peter hesitated, but finally, he slapped his notebook down on the desk in front of him, and MJ picked it up. He expected her to laugh at it and make fun, but instead she just stared. The corner of her mouth lifted in what could have been a smile, but Peter couldn't tell. Then she handed him her sketchbook.
It was a sketch of him and Ned in conversation, and it was actually pretty good.
"Whoa, this is cool." Peter said.
"Yeah, whoa, it actually is."
"Surprised?"
"What? No. Of course not."
"So what are you nerds doing here anyway?" MJ asked.
"Played a prank on Flash Thompson." Ned said smugly.
"Yeah? What kind of prank?"
Ned told her about it, and made it sound way cooler than it actually was. He used gestures, and told it as cinematically as he possibly could. Peter rolled his eyes as he listened. MJ nodded along, probably regretting having asked.
"You know..." She said, when Ned was finally done. "This sticky dissolving super glue stuff that Peter made... it could be really useful for a lot of things."
"What kind of things?" Peter asked.
"Well, I mean, I don't know. You tell me."
"You're the one who brought it up."
"No, I didn't." She lifted her chin.
"Okay..."
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Before Peter and Ned left that day, Peter turned to MJ. "We're going to a movie tomorrow." He said. "The cinema on Twelfth Street, at 7:30, if you wanna come."
"Nah, you two are losers."
"Okay...."
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WHOA okay, so this is unedited and honestly not too good, but it's something and hopefully it'll get better as I get into the flow of things! Thanks for reading, leave a little star thingy if you wanna.