She made her way down the high school hallway after shutting her locker door, playing with her blonde hair that was put up into a french braid with one hand and holding her gray lunchbox in the other. She sighed to herself as she heard all sorts of noises around her such as gossiping, chanting up and down the corridors, other students running around and horse-playing, etc. She chose to ignore the antics surrounding her, even though her shyness led her to cringe at all of it.

She made her way to the restroom as she yawned, still sleepy from waking up at six o'clock that morning. She had barely gotten any sleep the night before and she just managed to stay awake during Sociology, her eyes only shutting twice. Luckily for her, the teacher never noticed, since she sat in the back of every classroom she stayed in. She would fall asleep anytime she wanted and nobody would bat an eye.

But she rarely fell asleep in class to begin with, so she never had a problem with getting in trouble for that reason.

Christina Connors was a timid young woman of eighteen, making her one of the oldest students of her junior class. She was one of the tallest as well, being above average in height compared to the other girls (5'9"). She always came to school with a book under her right arm, her hair in some sort of crazy or lazy style, and wearing either threadbare sweaters and leggings or band t-shirts with a leather jacket and ripped jeans. She honestly never cared about her sense of style, and she certainly didn't give a shit about others' style. She really only worried about what she chose to wear to school everyday.

She splashed her face with ice cold water from the bathroom sink before lifting her head up to look at her reflection in the mirror, thanking the Lord she was alone.

She often stared at her reflection and pondered over whether or not it was worth it to be attending Midtown High School. She could have easily told her parents that she wanted to go to a private school in the middle of nowhere and they would have abided by her wishes and sent her away. But that was because they cared about her, not because they wanted to get rid of her.

But, instead, Christina chose to attend a public school where almost everyone she encountered either stared at her in the hallways, asked her questions about her father, or they were just complete assholes that picked on her because 'science was only for losers.' And, while she agreed with that statement, the teasing often annoyed her but she chose not to let it get under her skin. Besides, it was when others were getting bullied or taunted that she would decide to step in, despite her shyness.

She grabbed some of the paper towels from the dispenser and wiped her face free of the dripping water, and she suddenly felt more awake than ever. She figured that she would have a little time to go eat lunch, hang out with a few of her close friends, and then go to her next class, English 11 (which was her favorite). She quickly checked her backpack and made sure she had everything with her and, once she reassured herself, she exited the bathroom.

Walking down the hallway, Christina noticed some people entering their classrooms or making out in front of lockers. But, surprisingly, nobody was staring at her. Well, that's good, she thought. They finally pay attention to each other for once. Good fucking riddance. She nervously bit her thumbnail because of how many people were gathered in the small corridor, having slight claustrophobia but nothing severe. She was lucky that anyone would part ways whenever she came walking. That was the one good part of her family's fame.

As she made her way towards the side doors that led to the courtyard, Christina began to hear chanting coming from outside and she rolled her eyes. Yet another group of dickheads acting immature. At least, that's what she thought. She couldn't comprehend what the chanting words were, but she was confident in the idea that she was about to find out.

And she did.

The moment she pushed the right side door open, she heard the chanting suddenly grow much louder and she resisted the urge to cover her ears. She saw at least two dozen of her classmates gathered around one of the lunch tables in the courtyard screaming, "EAT IT! EAT IT!" over and over again. She had no clue why they were either yelling these words, laughing hysterically, or taking pictures. Because of this, she walked closer to the pandemonium, gently pushing through the crowd and sheepishly muttering, "Excuse me," once or twice.

Once she got to the front of the crowd, however, she wished she had not stumbled upon the scene she was witnessing.

The infamous school bully, Flash Thompson, was holding a younger looking kid by his legs in the air and was shoving his face into his school lunch, which consisted of spaghetti and salad. Once Christina heard him yell, "Eat your vegetables, Gordon! Come on!" she sighed inwardly, preparing herself to intervene once again and have a private talk with him, because that's how all of these confrontations with her and Flash went: Witness bullying. Put a stop to it. Drag Flash away to have a conversation with him. Tell him to stop. Do it all over again the next day. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. 24/7.

Just another day at the damn office, Christina sarcastically thought to herself.

But, before she could march up to the man who only stood taller than her by three inches, she saw someone else pushing himself through the crowd, a frown on his young face. And she knew right then and there that Peter Parker was about to get his ass kicked for stepping in.

She could hear the chanting decrease by a single decibel and, right as she saw Peter, she knew that Flash saw him as well.

"Hey, Parker, come on!" Flash called out to the other boy in a fake-friendly tone. "Get a picture of this! Come on..." He then lifted up the poor Gordon boy and everyone could see that he was dazed and tired of this mess, and Christina could sense that.

"No, I'm not gonna take a picture of it," Peter replied in a deadpanned voice, ignoring the classmates in the crowd booing him for not joining in. "Put him down, man." He then gestured for Gordon not to eat whatever his face was being forced into, feeling sympathy for the sophomore that was three years younger than him.

Although Christina smiled at how brave her best friend of thirteen years was, she just knew that this whole altercation wasn't going to end well. And she just wanted all of this to stop this very second. Because this was how every single day of high school had gone for the past three and a half years, so she was beyond used to it at this point. It didn't help that she had become acquaintances with Flash over the past year and had been helping him with his anger issues.

"Take the picture, Parker," Flash warned, glaring in Peter's direction, disappointed that his main target wasn't listening to him once more.

"Put him down, Flash," Peter backfired, growing even more annoyed but he decided not to show it, his friendlier side showing off.

"Take the picture!" Flash repeated, starting to grow really angry.

"Put him down, Eugene!" Peter shouted, throwing his arms up in the air and sighing audibly to show that he was fed up with all of this bullshit.

Christina's hands clenched into fists as she nervously prepared herself for what was to come in the next three seconds. She knew how it was all going to happen since she had been a part of this one too many times.

Flash tossed Gordon to the ground, and Christina could hear the crowd yelling out of disappointment. Three, she whispered in her mind. Peter then began walking over to the younger kid, ready to comfort him and verbally put Flash in his place. Two. Christina then started taking a few steps towards Flash's direction, making sure he didn't see her. Her blue eyes then locked with Peter's brown ones.

One.

Right on cue, as expected, Flash grabbed the collar of Peter's dark green jacket and slammed his fist right into the physically weaker boy's face. He fell right to the ground, groaning from the burst of pain that had formed from the contact. "Come on! Get up, Parker!" Flash shouted, trying to make himself seem as intimidating as possible.

Christina reached Flash and tapped him on the shoulder aggressively, trying her hardest to get his attention. "Flash," she spoke up from behind him, tapping his shoulder so excessively that it would annoy anyone. Her voice came out in a thick, British accent... something she inherited from her parents, she guessed.

"Get back!" Flash yelled at her briefly before returning his attention to the dorky Parker kid. The moment Peter got back up, the bully grabbed his shoulder and brutally punched his stomach a few times until he was back on the concrete ground again, clutching where he had been hit and moaning in agony. "Get up!" Flash continued, very furious now. "Come on! Come on!"

"Flash!" Christina warned him, raising her voice a little bit as she was now lightly punching his shoulder. "Stop and leave Peter alone!"

Flash whipped his head around to face Christina and sighed. "I said get back, Connors!" he screamed in her face before turning back to Peter. "Get up!" he yelled again, this time kicking the smaller boy where his ribs were, causing a few students to hiss out of sympathy for Peter, no longer chanting.

"EUGENE!" Christina screeched, drawing attention to herself for the first time in a few months.

"WHAT?!" Flash replied in a bellow, finally looking at Christina dead in the eyes.

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Christina continued, the rageful and confident side of her tearing itself apart from her reserved and shy side. "I don't want to have to cause a scene here! Just leave him alone and come with me!"

"I'm still not taking the picture..." Peter spoke up, his voice raspy and full of pain.

"Peter—" Christina attempted to cut him off, trying to keep him safe.

"STAY DOWN, PARKER!" Flash ordered Peter, now completely pissed off. "WHO WANTS ONE MORE?!" He gently shoved Christina out of the way, ready to challenge whichever punk decided to get in his path and the blonde was ready to pull him away from the area yet again.

"Flash!"

The familiar female voice echoed from the left of Christina and she lifted her head up to look in the direction of Gwen Stacy, her best friend of ten years, clad in a black long-sleeved shirt, white jacket, print skirt, and brown boots. Her bright blonde hair was tied back in a simple ponytail.

Flash also turned his head at the voice, his yelling halting once he saw who was standing in front of him. He suddenly looked as though he shit his pants, since Gwen Stacy intimidated him a little bit.

"Flash..." Gwen continued in a much softer, more casual tone. "We still on for after school today? My house, 3:30? I hope you've been doing your homework. Last time, I was... very disappointed with you.

"Okay, move," Flash interrupted the blonde, attempting to get to Peter again but Gwen put a stop to that right away.

"No, Flash, how about we go to class?" she demanded in response, her bright blue eyes staring daggers into the bully's soul. "Hm? How about it?"

And, just like that, the school bell for the next class began ringing, hurting Christina's ears a little bit from how loud it was. She could just barely hear Flash mumbling, "Whatever," under his breath. That was her cue to softly grab him by the arm to stop him in his place. "Eugene..." she said in a gentle, but commanding voice.

"Christina..." Flash replied with a heavy sigh but she didn't miss the red tint on his face because she was holding his arm. She had known for a long time that he had a huge crush on her.

Let's just say that she didn't return those feelings.

"Meet me in the Science hallway after class," she informed him. "We need to have a word."

Flash gestured to the school behind him, sheepishly grinning and feeling awkward. "I actually have basketball practice afterwards, so..." he began, trying to form a lie in order to get out of yet another scolding conversation with his crush.

"I wasn't asking," the blonde stated pointedly, giving Flash a knowing look that let him remember that he was a horrible liar.

Flash then sighed and nodded. "Yes, ma'am," he said before walking off in the other direction, leaving the shorter girl standing there and feeling mentally exhausted as she fiddled with her hands.

Noticing Peter still writhing on the ground in utter pain, she stepped over to her friend and extended her hand. "Get on up, Pete," she mumbled as he took her hand and pulled himself up to his feet, still impressed with Christina's surprising strength despite how small she was compared to his height. Well, Peter was aware of how tall she really was but he still loved to tease her over her being shorter than him. It was one of the many benefits that had been gained from their tight friendship over the years.

"Are you alright?" Christina frantically asked Peter, checking over him to see if there was any permanent damage done to his face. The taller boy rolled his eyes playfully as he scoffed to himself.

"I'm fine, Chris," he replied as he sighed a bit to himself.

"You're not fine, Peter," she replied, her accent much thicker when she was irritated. "Flash nearly killed you over there, so don't say you're fine. Are your ribs and jaw okay?" she continued, making sure that neither were broken by Flash's powerful punches.

"They're okay now," he answered as he relented, knowing he wouldn't win against Christina. He ignored the fact that he would definitely attain a bruise on his left cheek from the first punch Flash had thrown at him. "I don't get why you still try to convince him to stop doing this shit..."

"I do it because I have faith in the guy," Christina said as she shrugged her shoulders, relieved when she realized that her best friend would be okay after all. Just like always. "I have faith that he'll improve his ways, you know?"

Peter shook his head in mock dismay as he chuckled at what Chris said. "I don't think Flash will ever change his antics. I mean, how many times have I nearly died from a single punch from him? Like, thirty-seven?"

"Thirty-six," Christina corrected him as she smiled humorlessly.

"Right," Peter murmured under his breath as he nodded, smiling lightly. "I bet you must be angry and upset at him again..."

"I am very angry and upset at him," Christina said sarcastically and dramatically, holding her arms out for more outrageous effect. "Now, come on, we're gonna be late for English."

"Ah, yes, the class you practically worship," Peter said smugly as he crossed his arms.

"Shut up."

Peter laughed before starting to follow the blonde girl to her favorite class... probably ever. His face and ribs felt a little sore from the beating he had taken but he felt relief that Christina had stuck by him to comfort him afterwards, even if he didn't really need it. It had become a regular routine everyday, so much so to the point that he was considering asking her to be his own therapist. But he knew she would say no and remind him that he sort of brought it upon himself like she was Hermione Granger.

A/N: here we go! after almost a year of putting off this first chapter, it's finally here! unlike some of my stories, i already have a plan of the direction this story will go in!

if you guys are huge TLOU fans, there is a tiny easter egg to the second game in this chapter down to two lines. be prepared for a lot of easter eggs to both games in this story!

what are your predictions for this book? where do you think it will go? how different do you think it will be since christina is curt connors's daughter? let me know!

i hope you guys enjoyed this first chapter and be looking forward to the next one!

-denbroughswife