Part 3 - Hey Parker...
“Peter?”
He looked puzzled, slowly answering, “Yeah?”
“Peter Parker?”
“Yeah, have we met?”
“It’s me. Y/N Y/L/N!” I said softly.
His eyes widened, and he took a step back. “Y/N?”
I couldn’t believe what was happening. I hadn’t expected to see Peter again, and yet here I was, standing in front of him for the first time in four years.
“Hey, Parker. I can’t believe I’m actually seeing you again,” I said, trying to contain my excitement.
Peter didn’t speak for a minute. I decided to look away to avoid seeming overly eager. He slowly opened his mouth, then closed it again.
He looked down for a moment, then softly said, “Why are you here?”
‘Why is he acting so weird?’ I thought to myself.
“My mom was transferred back to Queens, and I enrolled here,” I explained, stepping back from him slightly. “I can’t believe I’m seeing you again.”
Peter looked up at me and gave a weak smile. “I haven’t seen you in four years,” he said.
“Yeah,” I looked down at my feet. “It’s sad that we lost touch. I remember us promising to keep in touch.”
“Yeah, I remember waiting in my room one night for your phone call,” he said, looking me in the eyes then down at his feet. “It never came.” I could tell he was trying to force a sincere smile.
‘When did that happen?’ A knot formed in my stomach.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know,” I felt my cheeks getting hot.
I studied Peter for a minute. He looked different than when we were kids, yet still familiar. His clothing style hadn’t changed much, dark brown hair with little curls pushed to the side. He wasn’t as skinny as he had been in sixth grade. He’d gotten muscular since then, which was odd because Peter had never struck me as the athletic type.
The silence was broken. Peter looked up at me and said, “We should probably head to your first class. What is it?”
He reached for my schedule, and I handed it over.
“Algebra!” He looked up at me and gave a big, toothy smile. “Awesome! I have that class too.”
“Great!” I started to walk towards the door, but didn’t hear Peter behind me. I turned around to see him standing in the same spot where he was before, looking at me.
“You coming?” I asked.
Peter’s POV:
I can’t believe she’s here. It’s been four years since I last saw her.
She looks a lot like she used to. I can faintly see her little heart-shaped birthmark on the side of her cheek. She’s wearing light makeup, not as dark as she usually does. She starts to walk toward the door when I notice she still has the small robin keychain we bought together at the zoo hanging from her backpack.
“You coming?”
I snapped out of my thoughts, realizing Y/N had been staring at me waiting to leave.
“Yeah, sorry, I got distracted.” I walked toward her, and we walked out of the office together.
Y/N’s POV:
Peter led me through the halls filled with hundreds of kids. He easily navigated the crowd while I struggled to find my way. I caught up to Peter and walked next to him.
“So,” I studied his face for a minute and then continued, “it’s great to see you again.”
“Yeah! I’m glad to know you’re okay,” Peter said. He seemed to be holding something back.
“Listen, I’m sorry we lost touch. I never knew it would hurt you so much,” I felt my cheeks burning up for the second time today.
“No, it’s fine. I think it hurt me a lot because I kind of, um, had a tiny crush on you,” Peter looked down while walking.
“You had a crush on me?” I started laughing, feeling foolish. I looked up at Peter and saw he looked confused.
“Sorry,” I forced myself to stop laughing and continued, “It’s just, I had a crush on you too.”
Peter smiled and looked down again. “Well, it’s unfortunate you moved away.”
We arrived at a classroom that I assumed was ours, and Peter motioned for me to go inside first.
“You can sit next to me. I mean, if you want to,” he said, his cheeks flushing red and looking very nervous.
“Sure!” I sat down and waited for the lesson to start.
Peter and I walked to Chemistry together, and I sat next to him again since I didn’t know anyone else.
The teacher started to lecture, and during the lesson, I saw Peter open a drawer on the side of our table and pour a liquid into it. He mixed it quickly, then shut the drawer. I was curious about what he was doing, but didn’t dwell on it.
Slowly, lunchtime arrived. I followed Peter into the cafeteria and watched him sit down at a table with only one other kid. He motioned me to come sit with him, and I saw the other boy quickly lean over and whisper to Peter.
I made my way to their table and sat down. “Ned, this is Y/N. Y/N, this is Ned, my best friend,” Peter said.
“Hi, I used to be best friends with Peter, but then I moved away in sixth grade,” I quickly explained to Ned.
“Oh, just friends?” Ned asked Peter with a little smile.
“Just friends, Ned,” Peter confirmed.
We talked about Star Wars for the rest of lunch until the bell rang. Ned, Peter, and I walked out of the cafeteria to our next class.
“So, Y/N, I was wondering if you would maybe like to come to my house after school?” He looked at me with a nervous smile. “You know, because Aunt May would love to see you again.”
“Of course! I would love to see Aunt May again!” I gave him a warm smile, and he looked relieved.
“Great! I’ll see you after school!”
I gave Peter a little wave, and we parted ways to our next classes.