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THE SWEET SMELL OF MAPLE BACON DRIFTED INTO ALISSA'S ROOM. Her door was wide open, the familiar smell waking her from a slumber that had dreams of nagging thoughts that she constantly pushed to the back of her mind only to be reminded of while she slept. They often came to her later in the days, trying to tell her what she was feeling exactly, but she ignored it each and every time, opting to forget it happened at all. Some days they even stuck with her when her entire dream was about Peter; not that she would admit that out loud, though—she didn't need her friends to tease her more than they already did.
Her brown eyes fluttered open at the smell that swirled into her nose, blinking a few times to adjust to the streams of the sunny light that came into her room from the window as wind gently swept in, blowing the white curtains back lightly. Melodic music played from her flat screen TV that was strung up on the wall across from her bed, a music video playing across the screen of a recent hit single that was soon to be playing on every radio station in New York.
Slowly, Alissa sat up, glancing around her
bedroom, yawning tiredly while rubbing her eyes. She puffed out her cheeks, feeling tired despite the fact that she'd went to bed around 9:15 P.M. She rolled her shoulders, shaking her head and blinking several times to try and wake herself before trudging her legs out of bed to begin getting ready. It never mattered how much sleep she got each night. She was always feeling tired or drowsy the next morning, even if she had slept for more than ten hours with little to no disturbances throughout the night.
With one final yawn, Alissa leaned her legs over the edge of the bed and planted her feet on the wooden floor that sent chills up her spine, standing and shuffling her way over to her closet across the room to begin getting dressed for school. But, before she could change out of her pajamas, she heard a voice echo up the staircase, bouncing off of the walls loudly.
"Eggs or french toast?" A voice called out, waiting for a reply from both Alissa and Brian, or just one of the two.
"French toast!"
"Both!"
Alissa raised a questionable brow, her and Brian turning to peer at each other when they poked their heads out of their doors at the sound of the other's answer. Brian made a sour face at Alissa's choice, her face rising in slight amusement at his wacky facial expression the tiny eighth grader had. "Why would you only have french toast when you could have that and eggs?"
"We only have enough eggs for one of those options," Carter replied, having descended up the stairs to find Brian and Alissa with their heads sticking out of their doors, glowering at one another. Carter's hands were stuffed in the pocket of his jeans, his hair already styled back like he had spent hours working on his look when in reality it was nearly four minutes. A nice, green button up rested on his shoulders, some designers name printed around the hem for everyone to see. Carter playfully pouted, more at Brian rather than Alissa. "You gotta pick one or the other. Sorry, B."
Brian huffed in exasperation, crossing his arms over his chest, clearly unimpressed, but he did his best to hold a blank glare. "French toast, I guess," he grumbled out, clearly upset he wasn't going to be eating eggs and french toast.
Brian had tried not to show his sadness, but both of his siblings had noticed his expression falter and his shoulders slump forward just ever so slightly, his lower lip sticking out more than normal. Alissa and Carter glanced at each other when seeing the chance, both shaking their heads at their little brother.
Brian—who was like a smaller, more unique version of his brother and sister—had a tendency to be very transparent about his emotions, even when he didn't think he was. While Carter could hide how he was feeling quite well, Alissa found it rather difficult at times. Though, Brian was like both of his siblings in more ways than he would've liked to admit. His most notable similarity was his way of showing emotions in some of the same ways as Alissa.
"I'm just kiddin'," Carter suddenly said, laughing before Brian closed his door to get dressed before going to eat breakfast. The young boy took a step back, glancing towards his brother suspiciously. "I already made the eggs and french toast, and even some bacon and hash browns—with onions—by the way. Aaaand it's all done, too."
"Then why did you ask us what we wanted?" Brian wondered, trailing behind Carter and Alissa who decided to change after eating breakfast to prevent ruining her outfit from any of the greasy food they were about to eat.
Carter lowly chuckled, nonchalantly shrugging. "I just wanted to see what you'd say when you only had one option to pick from," he honestly answered, still laughing, but more quiet than before.
Alissa playfully rolled her eyes at his antics, lightly bumping shoulders with Carter as they entered the kitchen. He beamed, his white teeth showing in a cheeky manner; his default grin, as per usual.
The deliciously smelling food was already placed ok the table for them to grab from their seats, steam radiating off of the food. Alissa's eyes widened at the sight of the amount, glancing around with her mouth suddenly feeling wet, her stomach let out a low rumble when all of the delicious smells blended together.
"What's all this for?" Alissa wondered as she sank into a chair, waiting for Carter to join them before grabbing her own plate of food. Carter shrugged as he sat across from his sister, eyes flickering to Brian as he piled food onto his plate without waiting.
Alissa leaned back in the wooden seat, a sudden thought popping in her head. She caught Carter's eye, quickly flicking her gaze back to Brian and then to Carter in one swift movement. Carter nodded, beginning to grab food for himself. Alissa smiled, only earning an eye roll from Carter. However, that didn't make her remove her grin.
"Very sweet," Alissa said, hoping Brian would ignore it.
Brian lifted his head, syrup dribbling down his chin, cheeks puffed out from the food he'd shoveled in his mouth. "Hmm?" He wondered. Alissa scrunched her face in disgust. "Wot's swet?"
Carter cocked a brown with slight disgust on his face. "What's sweet?" He suggested, seeing Brian nod.
"Just. . .Carter making breakfast," Alissa replied, shrugging along with her answer as if it was nothing. Brian didn't think on it and continued eating, trying to have it all in his belly by the time they had to leave. Alissa and Carter took it slow, neither of them wanting to get sick at school from eating too much beforehand. "B, slow it down. You're gonna choke."
"No I'm not," Brian snapped. "I could do this all day."
"Bet you could," Carter slyly interjected. Brian stared at in him confusion.
Alissa's eyes enlarged at his jab, and to keep anything else from being said, she stood up, wiping her mouth. "Okay, I think it's time to go." When neither of her brothers moved, she clapped her hands together, beginning to head towards the hall. "Get moving, now!"
° ° °
Alissa softly groaned, entering her first class of the day. Mr. Harrington kindly smiled at the girl, quietly greeting her as she past by him on the way to her seat. Peter sent her a warm smile as she sat down behind him, doing the same with a warm feeling beginning to burn in her stomach at the sight of his lips curled upwards in her direction. There was no longer a frown on her face, but a content smile.
"Hey, Pete," Alissa kindly greeted, pulling out her notebook; the one he returned to her. "How's May and Ben?" She noticed his face brightened slightly at the mention of his family—the only ones he had left.
"They're great. They've been asking about you, actually," Peter told her, a look of surprise coming to her face.
"Really?" Her eyebrows shot up.
Peter nodded. "Y-Yeah. May said she wants you and your family to come over for dinner one night." Alissa grinned.
"I'll tell my parents," Alissa said, eyes sparkling joyously. Peter nodded, a small smile coming to his thin lips.
Before Peter could finally ask her the question that was raking his mind, the school bell rang, commencing the start of class.
Flash Thompson and Carter suddenly came hurtling into the room so that they weren't counted as absent. Other students raised their brows at them being together when they'd been in the middle of a feud, but said nothing about it. Mr. Harrington just shook his head, not wanting to know if there was another reason they were late to class. He had seen a few strange things during his teaching days, and he learned to just let certain things go and not ask. Alissa duster in confusion, wondering why they were together when they weren't on speaking terms.
"I thought—" Harry's voice whispered, but was cut off by Alissa who couldn't tear her gaze away from her brother and best friend, the two chatting away as if nothing ever happened between them.
"I thought so too," Alissa replied.
When Flash and Carter were finally settled in their assigned seats and silent, Mr. Harrington shifted to sit on the edge of his desk at the front of the classroom.
"Good morning class," Mr. Harrington greeted all of the students kindly, smiling brightly through his beard.
Most students responded in murmurs while some were still eyeing the boys who simply chose to ignore it. Carter gingerly wiped his forehead with the sleeve of his hood, having become all sweaty from running around the school in search of his uniform he thought he'd lost. It turned out he'd left it in Flash's car which was why they happened to be late.
"As you all know, New York Hall of Science has been doing tests' regarding the proper and safe disposal of nuclear waste," Mr. Harrington began, allowing the words to sink into his students' heads before he continued. "And on the 29th, they're allowing our school to come on down and see their first ever demonstration of handling the waste that's going to be sponsored by General Techtronics Laboratories. So, I would like these form back by next Thursday, at the latest. No exceptions will be made."
He then stood up, picking up a stack of yellow forms to pass down each table. They were passed back by rows, Alissa graciously taking the one handed to her by Peter. She beamed, her eyes thanking the adorable boy she liked so much. He nodded quickly, and then turned around to face their teacher.
Alissa glanced back behind her when she felt someone staring at the back of her head, seeing the blonde haired Gwen smirking while Mary Jane wiggled her dark eyebrows at Alissa. Alissa instantly turned away from their stares, lips pursed together. She wasn't in the mood for their teasing, especially with Peter seated right in front of her. At the thought, she shook her head and placed her sheet in front of her. She tried reading it, but her mind was too clouded with thoughts of Peter, trying to forget about him for the moment.
It was just a crush. A small, tiny, crush that she'd had on him since preschool. It really didn't mean that much—not even after she'd been harboring the crush for nearly 11 years, and counting.
'It's just a silly crush,' Alissa thought to herself, shaking her head to make herself focus her attention back on Mr. Harrington. She made a face, rolling her eyes when the thought didn't seem to want to go away as much as she was hoping for. 'It'll go away soon, right?'
° ° °
So, this was a lot shorter than I wanted, but I kind of liked it. There wasn't too much in this, but there was the mention of the demonstration that'll be happening before too long! I'm really pumped for it because that'll really get things going which I hope everyone will enjoy! I'm currently watching Homecoming, and it just made me love this story even more??
Anyways, let me know what you thought by leaving some feedback in the comments and I hope you enjoyed!