▷second chapter: first days!◁

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"I LOOK LIKE A GOSSIP GIRL CHARACTER," Beatrix said looking at herself in the living room mirror, dressed in the Upstate Prep uniform.

"You look fine," her father said from the sofa.

"I don't see what's wrong with looking like a Gossip Girl character anyway," Beverly added, sitting beside him. "I'd sell my soul to Satan for one ounce of Blair Waldorf's style and grace."

Raymond, who, like most Argentinians, had been raised Catholic, grimaced. "Don't say that."

"It's true though."

Beatrix just tugged at her box pleated skirt, not paying attention to them. The skirt had a matching black jacket, white buttoned blouse, and black duffle school bag, all of which had the Upstate crest sewed onto it (a white shield with a black stallion that had its legs lifted imposingly mid-gallop on top of it, which Beatrix thought looked stupid as hell).

She hated the uniform.

For one, it was ugly and just looking at it made her want to barf, but to add upon that, the fabric was itchy and it was much too tight compared to the pajamas and baggy clothing she wore throughout the seven years of virtual school.

"I'm radiating in some weird, pompous garbage energy," Beatrix stated.

"Well, all the students wear the same exact thing so everyone will radiate pompous garbage energy," Raymond said, "Whatever that means."

This was a plethora of first days for their family. It was the first day in eight years that Beatrix would spend at school, it was Beverly's first day back after the winter break and it was Raymond's first day back as a coach at Empire State University he'd taken some time off shortly after the death of his wife.

"We ready to head out?" Raymond asked. "Or should we keep going at the uniform-complaining for another fifteen minutes?"

"Meh..." both twins let out simultaneously.

"Come on, let's get pumped!" he encouraged like the dork dad he was. "First day of school for you guys, first day back at work for me, this is exciting!"

"We appreciate the effort dad but there is nothing exciting about those two things," Bev said.

"Fine, be like that." Raymond stood up and crossed his arms. "I, on the other hand, am staring today with a positive outlook. What about you Bea?"

Beatrix shrugged. "What are we having for breakfast?"

"I'm gonna say it right now," Beverly started, "I'm not eating a casserole for breakfast on the first day of school. I'd rather starve."

"We'll stop for food on the way then," Raymond said. He walked over to the coat hanger in the corner of the room throwing Bev her black prep school jacket and taking his trench coat. "This is going to be an amazingly perfect day."

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          Nope. It was not going to be an amazingly perfect day. Beatrix knew it from the moment she stepped into the small sandwich shop near the subway station.

Her uniform was getting more uncomfortable by the minute. The room was lit up by bright lights which was not at all pleasant considering she'd been more or less of a vampire for the past homeschooled eight years. The place itself, Delmar's Deli & Grill, was full, mostly because three different schools were opening that day and students tended to gravitate there because of it's proximity to the subway station.

Speaking of the subway, it made a loud rumbling sound that sounded vaguely similar to trucks coming and going, every few minutes. It seemed pretty inconsequential to everyone else but Beatrix could hear it every single time.

She felt like she was going to melt just being there.

"You alright?" Raymond asked her noticing her slight distress.

"I'm okay," she mumbled back, though the only thing rummaging through her head were thoughts on how terrible the day ahead of her was going to be and how Delmar's Deli & Grill, that early in the morning, felt like a sensory hell. "It's just really loud."

"We could leave?"

"No te preocupes por eso." [Don't worry about it.] Beatrix shook her head. She unzipped one of the smaller side pockets of the duffle school bag slung over her shoulder, pulling out her noise-canceling earbuds and pegging it onto her head before starting her playlist. (Well, technically, it was Beverly's playlist but they all used it considering she'd almost always had the best music taste between the family of them.)

They eventually got to the front of the line and ordered breakfast sandwiches because it was the only food Beatrix or Beverly could eat in the morning without feeling like she was going to vomit. (Beverly found food rough against her recently-brushed tongue in the morning and Beatrix hated almost every non-potato related food virtually all the time—especially ones that made that god awful crunch sound when you chewed.)

"Breakfast sandwiches all around," Raymond announced, setting the food on one of the few tables in Delmar's Deli and Grill while he positioned himself on a chair.

"Now that we're all settled," Raymond said only a moment later, motioning to Beatrix to take off her earbuds. "I have gifts."

Beatrix and Beverly both let out synchronized groans (with Bev adding a "do we really have to do this, this year?"). The thing with their father's 'first day of school gifts' was they weren't really gifts as much as they were elaborate dad jokes that he spent months preparing every single semester since they'd been in preschool. Like that one year, in middle school, when Beverly had gotten her first period before the first day of seventh grade and he'd gotten her a personalized talking card that said, 'It's double shark week, sucker!'

Bad first day of school gifts were a sacred family tradition, though, one of the few that would survive after the death of their mother so Raymond insisted he give them. "These are good! I promise, trust me!"

"In celebration of Bea's first day back at school, and considering freshman year is a lot quicker than what Bev's used to," Raymond spoke, two small envelopes out of his pocket and sliding it across the table to his daughters. "I realized you guys might need to manage a couple of your own school expenses so I—"

"You got us credit cards!" Beverly interrupted him excitedly, the flat, blue, American Express card in her hand and the ripped opened envelopes now on the table.

"Well, yeah—" Her father chuckled. "That's what I was getting at. I told you these were good."

"If you're responsible enough to go to school with kids you hate every day, then you're responsible enough to have a credit card," Raymond said, shrugging. "Also: I don't want to have to buy Bev hair dye every two seconds."

"Maintaining my aesthetic takes effort, dad."

"Well, you should cut the nose ring from your artsy aesthetic for the first day back," Raymond said, taking a bite from his breakfast sandwich. "Save dress code violations for two weeks into the school schedule, when teachers are too dead inside to care."

"The dress code sucks," Beverly said, touching the tacky nose ring she'd begged their mother to get for her birthday. "If I need to wear their trashy uniform then the least they can do is let me express my individuality."

"And the least you can do is not force your dear old dad, who you adore so much and who got you a credit card out of the kindness of his heart, to leave work early and pick you up after you get suspended," Raymond replied, reaching his hand over to ruffle her hair to her dismay. "Lose the nose ring, kid."

"Fine." Beverly got up from her seat, gulping down one last bite of her sandwich and asking, "Beatrix, can you go get me a muffin?"

"Why do I have to do it?"

"'Cause you've got a credit card now, socialite," Bev said, then tapped at her nose, adding, "And I have to go to the bathroom to take this nose ring off."

"Alright," Beatrix yielded, getting up as well. "But you owe me."

The two twins went separate ways, Beverly headed for the bathroom and Beatrix moved her way back into the line she'd been in moments prior. It had gotten remarkably less crowded and the noise wasn't half as unbearable, most of the students had left to catch an early subway.

There were only two people gathered in front of the cashier counter where she was, really: the cashier, herself, who's employee name tag said Isabella Delmar, and a curly-haired brunette boy stood slumped over the counter, a couple of feet away from Beatrix, wearing a bright yellow Midtown jacket over a green sweatshirt.

"Uh, apple juice and coffee for Peter and May?" the cashier, Isabella, called out to the short line.

He nudged at his glasses forward before reaching over to grab what he'd ordered. "Thanks."

"Ah, ah, ah—" Then the Delmar girl, who was at least two inches taller than the brunette, Peter, held the drinks away from him just as he tried to get them, making Beatrix figure they already knew each other, if only passingly. "Not so fast, Parker."

"Really, Delmar?"

"Really, Parker. You get free food because of me, the least you can do is tell me who this May is," she said, leaning forward from her side of the counter. "Spill. Is it a lady love of yours who you met in some thrilling Christmas affair, perhaps?"

"More like an aunt of mine," Peter, the boy, flared his nostrils with disgust. "But I'm happy hopeless romance makes you think I'm cool enough to have a girlfriend."

"Pshh, of course, you are!" She grabbed his cheeks, squeezing them like an overexcited grandmother who was surprised at how big you'd gotten. "Look at that face, you're adorable."

"Very few girls share your opinion but go off, I guess."

"I'm sure a bunch of girls do," she assured; then to Beatrix's horror, her attention shifted to her, who was standing patiently in the line, eavesdropping on them. "Hey, you, do you think Peter over here merits a lady friend? You don't know anything about him so restrict this to superficial qualities only."

Beatrix just stared. How is one supposed to respond when a stranger asks whether or not you find another stranger good looking? This is not a situation she had a script for. "Um..."

"She's asking if you find him hot," one of the other cashiers, older, male and very tired-looking, asked.

"I mean—yeah, I guess, yeah," Beatrix said awkwardly because it was an awkward question and what the hell else was she supposed to say?

Peter quickly turned back to Isabella, partly to get his order, partly to avoid Beatrix seeing his bright red cheeks. "Do you make it your job to put me in as many stressful situations as possible?" he told Isabella Delmar, whispering as if that would prevent Beatrix from hearing him. "Do you like to see me panic at your place?"

"Oh, don't be dramatic, Parker, that's my thing. You know we love you around here." The teenage girl laughed, ruffling his hair with her hand. "Even though, you did abandon your public school comrades for some fancy scholarship."

"I'm transferring to Midtown not deserting you at war." Peter tsked. "I feel like what you did is worse."

"Incorrect. You realize you're one disgusting uniform and pretentious personality away from being an Upstate kid?" she joked, making him let out a laugh. "Who am I supposed to copy off now, Peter?"

"Oh, now you'll have to do your own homework, how tragic," Peter noted, his expression loosening with mock sympathy. "At least public schools have another week before school starts back up."

Isabella just shrugged. "Well, I have I have to spend that week behind the counter of my dad's sandwich shop so who's really the lucky one here?"

"Still you," Peter said. "Can I have my drinks now or are you gonna hold them hostage, longer?"

"It's on the house, Parker." She set the coffee and the apple juice in front of him. "Thank you for indulging me."

"It's not like I had a choice," he replied, grabbing them. "See you around, Delmar."

Then with one swift motion, Peter started turning around to walk away, just as Beatrix started walking forward to order Beverly's muffin—both of their starts crashed into each other resulting in Beatrice's shirt being covered in the hot coffee he'd had in his left hand.

          BEATRIX'S HYPOTHESIS: You don't know how hot coffee can actually be until someone spills it on you in all it's boiling magnificence.

"I'm so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going and I'm clumsy when I'm stressed and today's the first day at a new school which is stressful so I—" Peter rambled on as he slipped his backpack off his shoulders, pulling a Midtown High hooded sweater from the back pocket. "Do you want my hoodie?"

"Peter!" A woman, who Beatrix assumed was the aunt he'd been talking about, called out from the front door. "You coming?"

"I spilled the coffee May!" he called back, not taking his off the girl he soaked in coffee.

"Forget about the coffee, you're going to be late!"

"I have to head out but I'll just give the hoodie to you anyway, just in case you want it."

Then Peter Parker ran outside the cafe to his aunt, cursing himself under his breath and leaving Beatrice in a wet shirt with his Midtown High sweater in her hands.

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JUNE'S CHAPTER NOTES:

[i really made the entire second half of this chapter, beatrix eavesdropping on peter's conversation lmao 🤡

literally every teenager in mcu new york city hates the upstate prep kids, and i love that for them. like, every school has basically come to the conclusion 'they're trash' and regularly talk shit about them being the most pretentious people in the world *chef's kiss* (tbh pretty sure this is how the other schools felt about the people at my old school but wHAt yA gONNa dO)]