Peter was waiting in the cafeteria line for his lunch. He didn't mind the food, the school was well funded, so they were able to get well prepared meals. Today's special was mostaccioli with zesty tomato sauce and Italian meatballs, which was a popular dish among the students. The last day of school also meant that there would be special dessert options as well, and the staff had prepared a build-your-own ice cream sundae station, which Peter thought was hilarious given the previous night's events.

He received his meal and proceeded to look for a place to sit. He and Ned's usual spot was already vacated by a group of delinquents. Peter had no desire to sit near them, so he continued to find a different spot. Across the room, he noticed his decathlon team sitting together. Knowing that sitting at any other table would be awkward, he decided to sit with next to them, at least it would be less awkward with them. As he made his approach, he felt an imaginary force pushing him from going forward. He knew that the worst thing that would happen would be that they wouldn't let him sit with them, or he would be made fun of or be reminded of how much of a disappointment he was to the team.

He came up behind the team and awkwardly smiled, observing the seating arrangement they had placed themselves in. At the end of the table sat Charlie, on Peter's side, and Sally sat across from him. Coming down the table, Cindy sat next to Charlie, and Flash was sitting across from her. Across the table from Peter's position sat Abraham, and across from him, was Michelle, who sitting in front of Peter as he stood. Everyone, but Michelle, looked up at Peter as he entered their space.

"What do you want Parker" Flash retorted, and Peter felt his heart sink as he explained his predicament to his teammates. While some of them understood his story, some found it like a stretch for him. Parker knew that it would come to something like this. He wasn't really friends with any of them to begin with, and even if they had been more inviting, he wouldn't know what to talk about other than decathlon. He understood that he wasn't exactly welcome, and being considerate of their feelings toward him, he caved in.

"You know what, I can see that I'm not making this easy for you guys, so I'll find another place to sit" he said sincerely and walked around the group of friends to find a new seat.

All the while, Michelle overheard the discussion as she indulged herself in her book. She mostly agreed with most of the them that he isn't exactly a team player, but she didn't want to see him more humiliated than he was when Ned was around. And as Peter walked away, she coyly watched him search for a seat. She was almost annoyed at the fact that he looked like a lost puppy trying to find its owner. Then, he just gave up and placed his bag against the wall. She peeked her head up higher to get a better view of what he was doing. He sat on to the floor next to one of the windows across the room, and she huffed in disbelief at how pathetic his decision was and quickly pulled a pencil out.

Peter rested his head against the wall he was sitting on, and couldn't believe that this was how far he had fallen in just one day. Could this day get any worse, he thought as he reached for his bowl of mostaccioli. He proceeded to eat his lunch whilst observing the other students. He noticed some of them giggling, pointing out how ridiculous he was for sitting on the wall. Through it all, Peter stayed silent and continued to eat. He had finished his pasta dish, and was planning to indulge in his ice cream dessert. As he stared at it, he couldn't help but think about the kids he had encountered as Spider-Man. This made him think about how being Spider-Man was the only good thing going for him. He sighed in despair, and took in a spoonful of his dessert.

As he pulled the spoon out of his mouth, he felt a vibration against his thigh. He reached into his pocket to find his phone, which displayed a new message on his lock screen, from Michelle. Peter was slightly confused with this, like why would she send a text to him when they weren't even more than 100 feet from each other. Heck, why would she text him at all, she didn't even address him when he came up to her table. With his head facing the phone in his hand, he glanced up to where Michelle was sitting with the decathlon team. She kept her face hidden by her book, but he quickly noted that she had a piece of paper and pencil out as well. Peter had a feeling what she had sent him, and he opened his phone to reveal the message she had sent. Sure enough, Peter saw exactly what he imagined, a sketch of him against the wall holding out his pasta bowl like a beggar. At first, Peter was annoyed by the drawing, but soon saw its simplicity and comedic styling behind it. He could help but chuckle after the thought. Then, a message popped up underneath the picture that read, "Cheer up a little, you look more pathetic than when Ned is here."

Peter was disturbed by the comment and thought that she was just taking her shot of making him feel bad. He looked up again to see her peeking over at him as her face stayed in her book. The bangs on the side of her face draped over one of her eyes, like a jungle cat watching her prey from the tall grass. Peter stared back with a face of confusion, trying to make sense of her intentions, but after her intimidating gaze, he realized she was right and began to type up a responding message. He hit send, and continued to eat his dessert.

Michelle picked her phone up, expecting that he used his phone to send a message back to her. She was eager to read what it would say. She expected something snarky, but also dumb and unoriginal, since he never was one to argue with. Her phone buzzed and she unlocked her phone, and her eagerness turned to interest as she read his message: "Thanks for the reminder," followed by a pensive face emoji.

She took sudden interest in his response, wondering why he would respond this way. Was he that upset about not sitting with them? To her, Peter was always conflicted with everything he involved himself in, but he never let on how stressful those commitments were, and that they made him miserable. She thought that maybe she pushed him to admit it, and that made her feel responsible for his moment of self-doubt. Her intention wasn't to cause anyone to feel badly about their lives, she just wanted to be helpful and funny at the same time. She quickly went to her phone to send another message, "Dude, you OK?"

Peter read the message, but didn't feel like answering it. He had been considering Ned's advice to pursue a job at Del Mar's, plus he was thinking about other jobs that applied to his interests. He liked to be a part of band, but there weren't many opportunities for high school band members in the summer, unless you go to band camp if they still even exist. He had been in robotics club before, but knew that he wouldn't have many chances to be involved in anything robotics related in the workforce until he was 18. The only thing that was left was his interest in filming, but what could he do with that and make ends meet with it. The thought of a YouTuber came to his head, but he dropped it due to his busy schedule. All these thoughts, plus Michelle's pestering messages really put him out of the mood.

He crossed his legs on the floor and rested on the side of the wall, closing his eyes. Michelle saw this and, somehow, felt sympathetic for the boy she called her friend. She then took a moment to think about her next action. She thought about sending another text to get more answers, but another one of them was so out of the ordinary, she would have shot it down if it was suggested by someone else. However, the fact that she was considering it seemed to over-rule all her options. All she wanted was to get some answers from Peter, and it seemed like any idea would be rewarded with one of some kind, so she got up out of her seat, packed up her things. Without saying where she was going to her decathlon teammates, she walked to the end of the table and down the aisle toward the wall Peter was on.

Walking up on his left side, she dropped her bag next to his knee. The thudding sound of the impact took Peter by surprise, aand he quickly snapped his neck in the direction of the sound. He looked up to see Michelle lowering herself down to join him. "What are you doing here," he asked in confusion.

"Hello to you too, loser," she replied, searching through her bag for her book.

Peter shook his head in defeat, thinking that he could not catch a break with her. "Michelle, if you're just here to ridicule me with your miserable drawings and insulting comments, feel free. I don't care anymore."

Michelle turned her head at his statement, flabbergasted by his acceptance of humiliation and how negative he was feeling. "Having rough day, are we," she asked softly. Peter said nothing, he just laid his head back on the wall and let the pressures of his life weigh his thoughts down. "Parker..." she said, trying to regain his attention. "Parker... ugh, you're so stubborn."

She leaned against their wall and flipped her book to the bookmarked page she had left-off on. She started to read, but shifted her attention to Peter from time to time, hoping he would snap out of this dismissive attitude. More minutes went by, and Michelle figured that he wasn't going to give in, so she gave up and continued reading.

As soon as she resumed, Peter peeked his eye open to see if she had left. He only saw a pair of legs covered in jeans criss-crossed on the floor next to him, to which he rolled his eyes underneath his eyelids. He knew she wouldn't leave unless she got what she wanted, which could've been anything at this point. He hesitated, thinking about how he should execute this exchange. "Yea... it hasn't been one of my best days. Why even bother?"

Michelle lifted her head from her book and stared at Peter, who now had his arms rested on his propped legs and was looking down at his lap. She saw that he was thinking hard about his situation, so she decided to take her sass level down a couple levels. "It's the last day of school, thought you'd be the most excited about it."

"Why would you think that" he said, turning his head in her direction.

"You're constantly ditching class and decathlon, kinda seems like you don't want to be here."

"Trust me, I would like to be here, it's just my responsibilities keep getting in the way," he stressed.

"You mean the ridiculous Stark Internship."

"Not exactly," he sighed with despair, "it's the commitments to my aunt, and..." He paused for a moment, realizing that he wasn't swamped by just his responsibilities to May and being Spider-Man, but was being brought down by the thought of doing it all alone that made him feel isolated from everyone else. The feeling resonated throughout his body, and he reflected upon this feeling that had plagued him the entire day. From his less-than-interested behavior in his first couple of classes, to accepting the decathlon's desire to not sit with him, and his feeling about the whole yearbook situation that he tried to deny to himself. The only thing that kept his mind off it all was Ned, because he was the person that was supposed to make this summer fun for him. Now, Ned couldn't be there when Peter needed him to.

"And..." Michelle blurted, bringing Peter back from his thought.

Peter shifted his gaze back toward his lap defensively, trying to hide his emotions. "Eh, I don't want to lay my problems on you, you wouldn't understand anyway."

Michelle sighed impatiently, "Not understand what Peter, besides you you've already laid some of your problems on me." She was starting to think this was becoming pointless, and that she should never have come over to him. She was only trying to help, and he wasn't letting her. "If you're going to just waste my time Parker, then keep being so pathetically quiet."

"Then why did you come over here, Michelle. Huh, just to boast about how pathetic I look, cause it's working."

Michelle now felt shameful, like she had done something unspeakable. "I... I didn't come over here to joke," she stressed, "I just want to know what's up."

"Well in that case, let me spill all my problems since you're so interested," Peter retorted. "I'm stressed that my aunt worries about me so much when she shouldn't. I'm supposed to find a job this summer so I don't disappoint her and meet her expectations, but I don't know where I'm going to get a job, or at least where to start looking. And on top of all that, Ned's not going to be around for most of the summer, so being alone for vacation isn't exactly very exciting." Peter took a deep breath and huffed in his released frustration. "Have I wasted your time now?"

Michelle didn't say anything at first, she was too busy absorbing what he had said. She knew Peter and Ned were always a combo package, wherever one was, the other wasn't far behind. And she admired both of them a lot. They were the only ones she truly considered friends, even if she did deny to herself that she felt something else for Peter.

"No," she replied softly under her breath, "no you haven't."

Peter remained silent once more, trying to recover from his blow-up.

Michelle started to pack her things and stood to her feet. "Listen, she continued, "if it makes you feel any better, I'm not going to be having the time of my life this summer either. And, I'm sorry if I made things worse for you." She clasped her lips in embarrassment, thinking she must have been foolish to think she could help. She gave a small nod of her head in goodbye, and walked down the hall in silence.

Peter didn't know what to think of what had just happened. Why would Michelle Jones, of all people, come up to him to see what was the matter with him. She had never shown any form of kindness to him, so why would she now. He leaned his body back against the wall once more, but heard a crumpling sound as he rested upon it.

He reached back to find a piece of paper all crumpled up in a ball. He opened it up, and was astounded to see it was the sketch of him she had sent him. He huffed at the sight of it, and began to ball it up once more. As he curved one end, he noticed some writing on the other side. He opened it back up to read the note that she had left behind for him. As he read, he felt his breath being taken away, and a small fire of hope sparking inside.

"Whatever you're going through, don't make it worse for yourself by being a downer. If you need help or just someone to talk to, you can come to me. I know I wouldn't be your first choice, but it sounds like I'm the only one who cares enough to help. Just think about it."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A/N-  I'm a day behind, but its here. Hope you all enjoy, cause I feel like I'm just rushing everything. I criticize my writing a lot, cause I don't know whether I'm going to like it later. Either way, I like where it is now and I hope you will vote and comment on this chapter.

New chapter coming next week! I have a few ideas on where I want to go with it, but we'll see where it goes from here.

Until next time, BYE!