Sry for the long wait...

Eddie POV:

Ten minutes into English I felt sick. Sick to my stomach. And I couldn't pinpoint exactly why, because it could have been a number of different things. How I acted towards Peter last period. When Flash and his gang attacked me. W-Why they attacked me- I-I think...

"I think I'm gonna be sick-" I mumble before I throw up all over my desk. People turn to look at me, their faces seeming disgusted. Most everybody got up and either left the classroom, or just stood away from me. I shift to a part of my desk, not contaminated with my lunch from yesterday, and put my head in my arms. 

-time skip-

"Eddiebear!" I hear, before my mom comes barreling into the nurses office. I gulp. "Eddiebear! What happened to you!" She wrapped me in a suffocating hug before turning towards the school nurse. "How dare you allow this to happen to my Eddie!" She says, before hauling my to my feet and dragging me out of the office, the out of school, and into her car.

She puts me in the back seat, as to not cause further damage to her 'Eddiebear'. But that's fine by me, because frankly, anyplace away from her is a good place. Even if it's only a few feet.

I set my backpack down next to me, and all the drive back home, I think about Peter. And Flash's little goon squad, a-and... him.

-time skip to lunch, Peter POV-

"Okay so... well I don't know about you but I brought my lunch today. If you're buying, I can help you out with-" I start explaining lunch to Richie on the way to, well, lunch. We'd walked back from class together, and we stopped at my locker first.

"Oh..." Richie goes quiet for a second, and I shut my locker after putting everything away and grabbing my lunch. "I'm an idiot." I hear him whisper. "Stupid."

"Are you buying or bringing?" I ask, and he gulps. Not that visible, but enough to tell me that something was wrong.

"I, am an idiot. I forgot a lunch." He laughs a little, but it's half-hearted.

"Oh, that's okay. You can have some of mine if you want. Me and Eddie usually share but... it's fine." I say, and Richie turns away from me. He starts walking down the hall towards the lunch room, and I follow.

"No... that's okay. I'll just eat when I get home." Richie tries to cover up, but I've heard that before. Heck, I've said that before.

"Are you sure?" I ask as we turn the corner, with the entrance to the lunch room being at the end of the hallway.

"Ye... yeah." Richie says, but I can tell he's not. After entering the lunch room, and then walking over to the table me and Eddie usually sit at, - the one in the corner that no one ever sits at because it's deemed the 'broken table', - I wait for Eddie. But... he doesn't come. After 10 minutes I close my eyes. He probably got sent home, meaning Sonia came to pick him up. But... why? Well- I know it probably has something to do with how he was acting earlier, but I... Hm, I guess I'll just talk to him about it later.

"Hey uh, Richie?" I ask, after watching him pick at something underneath his fingernails for the past 10 minutes.

"Oh? Hmm?" He looks up and I push my lunch towards him a little.

"Eddies a no-show, so do you wanna split our lunch?" I ask and he hesitates before nodding.

"Sure..." He says and I smile a little.

"Cool."

-time skip-

After school, me and Richie met up at the front doors. Well, more like outside and around the corner. Because after school is the perfect time for bullies to... y'know do their thing and bully.

"Hey," I say as Richie walks over to me.

"Hello señor," He greets me, giving a little bow, and I roll my eyes. I've only known him for a day, (technically less than a day,) and I'm already used to his humor. "You wanted to meet up?" He asks, and pushes his glasses further up his nose. They were always falling down, as I had discovered.

"Oh, uh, yeah." I say. "Well, considering you're new and all, I was wondering if you wanted me to help you with anything? Like catchup work, or homework? Like if there's anything you don't understand-" I get cut off my Richie holding up one finger.

"Gonna stop you right there." He says, and then pretends to ponder what I was just asking, before responding. "I do deduce that you are trying to ask me to hang out without formally asking me to." He says, and I blush.

"Well, you don't really know anyone is all." I say.

"Now well that may be true-" He starts, but just gives up after a second. "Yes, I'm friendless." He declares, and I dramatically gasp and place my handover my chest.

"Well what am I then?!" I say, and then we both laugh.

"Oh, wait, now that you've said it, I actually do have some work I need to catch up on." Richie says, but then looks back at the school. "Though I think I left it in my locker." He says and we start walking back into the building. We successfully make it to Riches locker with no casualties, via running into someone from Flash's gang, and he opens it up to grab his math stuff. But no sooner had he put his stuff into his backpack, then did his locker door slam shut, and he gets pinned against it. By Henry. Oh great.

"Hey new kid," He sneers in Richie's face. "Let's have some fun." Then Henry grabs Richie's shirt by the collar and drags him down the hall.

"Richie!" I call out to him, but a punch to the gut silences me. It was Flash.

"Hey, don't work Parker. There's plenty of pain to go around." He rubs his hands together and smirks, before grabbing my wrists and pulling me with him. He follows Henry down the hallway, around the corner, and then into the boys bathroom. Oh god, not this again.

-timeskip-

"Plegh," Richie says as we start the walk to my house, which involved picking up my siblings from a meeting spot along the way. "That's disgusting." He says, and then proceeds to shake his head like a wet dog, getting all the toilet water droplets left in his hair all over me.

"Ugh! Dude!" I complain, but he just laughs. "That's disgusting." I remark, but Richie just smirks.

"What? Too wet for y-" He starts, but I slap a hand over his mouth as fast as I can, because we were nearing the park where I meet Lucy, Jake, and Amy. They were just within earshot by now, and I'd rather that they get spared from Richie's humor for as long as possible. Preferably for their whole life. Especially Amy.

"Hey, guys!" I say, running over to them.

"Peter!" Amy says and runs over into my arms. I pick her up in a hug, and tickle her. She laughs and squirms in my arms. "N-No!" She squeals, making me laugh. Soon enough though, I let her down, and she grabs one of Lucy's hands, and one of mine.

"Let's go!" She says, and starts leading the way towards the nearest subway stop. The one we always go to.

"Wait- wha... Peter!" Richie calls, and somehow I'd completely forgotten about him. See, this is why you have no friends. My brain chides, but I just roll my eyes mentally at myself.

"Oh- right um," I turned around to face my new friend. "Guys, this is Richie; he's new." I explain, and he gives a small wave. My siblings wave back, but I don't need my spidey sense to detect the amount of awkwardness in the air.

Suddenly though, I feel Amy let go of my hand, and run over to Richie. She raises her arms up, meaning for Richie to pick her up, and I'm worried as to how Richie will react. But... surprisingly, he reaches down and picks Amy up like he's picked up little kids thousands of times- no, okay no. That came out wrong. But, you get the idea.

"Well hello there," Richie says, holding Amy in place on his hip. She giggles.

"I like your hair." She says, reaching up to touch it. At this, Richie bends his head over so she can reach his black curls, because he's tall. Amy smiles, while playing with his curls.

Me, Lucy, and Jake just stand there, shocked. That is until Lucy's watch beeps, letting us know that the next train home leaves in 15 minutes, and we still have to buy tickets. We all start walking again, but this time Amy stays with Richie. He lets her down after a few minutes, but she stays by his side, holding his hand the whole time.

Huh, who woulda thought that Amy of all people would have taken such a liking, to Richie of all people.

Eddie POV:

Once I get home, my mom sends me to my room to rest, but it's not like I could. I-I can't shake this feeling- but it makes me feel even worse because I don't even know what the heck this feeling is. I-It's all too confusing- I-I just... Goddamnit. What the fuck is wrong with me.

I need to clear my head. Yeah, that sounds nice. I'm gonna go ask my mom.

-timeskip-

After I ask my mom, she says that I can take a quick walk around the block, but I have to bring my inhaler, plus all my medication in my fanny pack. And that I have to be back in 15 minutes. I agree, of course. Because she's only looking out f-for me...

Once I reach the end of our street, I wait at the crosswalk for a second. D-Do I cross? O-Or just walk around the block like I said I would- No. Stop it Eddie. S-Stop living by your mom's rules. J-Just... Just cross the fucking street

Taking a deep breath, I press the walk button. It makes an annoying 'wait' sound, but after a few moments the walk sign on the other side of the street turns to the outline of the person walking, and I cross the street.

But as I do, I feel this like, rebellious feeling? Like I'm... I've finally done something for myself, for once. And it... it feels good. Really good. And yeah, all I did was cross the street. But I didn't have to ask for my mothers permission, or have to hold her hand, or have to listen to her nagging about being careful because New York drivers are crazy. Am I going into my rebellious phase? Am I gonna go emo!?

I mean I respect the trend, and emo people- but I'm sorry cause, the fashion is just not it. Like yeah, it works, and it's cool and all. But me? I just can't picture myself looking all emo... I mean- like maybe a simple choker I could handle, but never the boots. Or the haircuts. God. I need to put this in my will, that my corpse won't be decorated emo-

OH SHIT-

Harley POV:

Oh, sweet freedom! I've been cooped up in the tower for way too long, - metaphorically and physically, because we just had to go down on lockdown for the last 36 hours because of a bombing threat on the Avengers, aka my family, - and now I finally get to get out of that suffocation hole. And down to my favorite restaurant- er. I guess sandwich shop, Delmars.The best sandwiches in Queens if I do say so myself. And I do.

But I decided to walk- well. I mean it a long walk from the tower; a few hours. So Dad had to drop me off, but a good 20 minutes away from the place. So I still got my steps in, because you gotta get your steps in. But then again, I'm going to eat very carby sandwiches, so... Nah, it's fine.

-timeskip-

Just one or two more blocks until I reach Delmar's, and then I'm sandwich bound. Huh, I wonder if that cute waiter is gonna be there. He was working a few weeks ago, and just, awugh. Is there something, like- can there be something hot about the way someone uses a deli meat slicer? Or how they butter bread? Fuck. Yes, I know I have problems. But trust me, this is just the bare tip of the iceberg.

I turn the corner, now being able to see the small sandwich shop across the street. But as I'm making my way over towards it, someone grabs my arm and pulls me into a side ally. I whip around, and come face to face with a boy. He looks around my age, but definitely not my height. Was he the one who grabbed me?

N-No, he couldn't have been, because I can still feel the grip on my arm. And I can clearly see this boy's arms shaking slightly at his sides.

"Here's how this is going to go," A voice says, sounding like it's coming from behind me. It must be the guy holding onto me. I turn around to face him, now standing next to the frightened boy, and the ally-guy lets go of my arm.

"Oh? You're letting us go? Thanks!" I say, having watched enough tv to know exactly what he was talking about. I start to walk away, but he gets in front of me.

"Try again, wise guy." The man says, taking out a pocket knife from the inside of his coat. I gulp. "Now, as I said, here... is how this, is going to go."