( CHAPTER FIVE! )

( NEW WEEK RESOLUTIONS AND POOR ATTEMPTS AT SOCIALIZING )

•

"What do you think you are doing?"

"What does it look like from where you're standing? I'm havin' fun!"

Colin gritted his teeth and grabbed Peter by his wrist to drag him out of the crowded living room. He was met with little to no resistance so he started walking away with his grip loose around Peter's wrist. Trying to be gentle. Jesus, Parker was trying his limits.

Once they were in the yard where they could get a little privacy, Colin let go of his wrist with a frown on his face. He shook his head in disbelief, and he was trying to think straight as if shaking his head would clear his mind from the smoking and alcohol. "You don't even smoke, why do you have this? Is that weed? Who gave it to you?"

Colin snatched the unlit joint from Peter's hand. It was only when he dared to look Peter in the eye and almost shuddered with the stubbornness he saw in them. "I do now. So do you! C'mon, Archer, don't be a hypocrite."

Colin was getting a headache from all of this. One night, he had given himself to relax. Just one simple night to let himself be a reckless teenager and instead, he was getting worried over why Peter Parker was acting this way, totally intoxicated and out of character.

Wait, now. This had a backstory, and it started a week ago when he decided to change things up, and everything from that moment had led them to that particular moment.

Take a deep breath. Rewind. It is a long ride, the type of long that had two parts, probably.

•

It all started with the 'new week resolutions' type of decision.

Colin Archer had to make peace with the fact that Midtown Highschool would not be like the others. Because he had a history with the place, he had a history in Queens, his childhood was spent here, he had seen his mother last time in these streets, he had seen his sister for the last time in this neighborhood. His childhood was behind him and Colin had changed but somethings- he couldn't ignore.

He started off by accepting the fact that Sam and Flash would be a part of his journey in this school. Whatever root their friendship might take, it was certain that those two pains in the ass would be around.

The first thing he did with his resolution was to willingly sit with Sam, Flash and their group of friends. Successfully ignoring the tiny bit of surprise in their eyes as he forced himself to relax around them.

The second was to find Gwen.

Ignoring her was one of the biggest douche moves he had pulled, ever, and he didn't know how to fix it. (He didn't know how to fix most things, to be fair.) So like he always did, he dived head first into the situation and hoped for the best when one day he offered to walk her home.

Not picking Cory up from school every day had been another one of his resolutions. Thus he had not taken his bike for the day and he had gathered up the courage to talk to his old friend for the duration of time that would take them to reach Stacy household.

She was surprised in a pleasant way (at least, the bashful smile on her face told him so.) As always, it was easy to talk to Gwen because she didn't push much, asked lots of questions but didn't make it awkward when he didn't give answers with depth.

But there was this question that he couldn't easily dodge.

"Not that I mind but what do I owe the pleasure of this... friendliness? You had been walking around like Edward Cullen, mysterious in a mood-killing way."

Colin glared at Gwen with a clenched jaw which made her chuckle because, with his fair skin and dark circles underneath his eyes, he belonged to the Cullen family alright.

Rolling his eyes and trying not to glare that much he tried to explain. "I'm used to changing schools and leaving people behind sucks. So I figured a while back that if I don't have any friends..." His voice trailed off since he didn't feel the need to complete the sentence. He automatically knew that Gwen understood, she had this understanding compassionate smile on her face already.

"What made you change your mind?"

It had down on him with Cory's 'I don't need you 24/7' speech or maybe he had started to think when Peter had stormed off like that. He wasn't sure. Either way, here he was ready to accept his fate in Midtown because clearly around here it was impossible to run away from people when some of them he ready knew. (And some of them had soft brown eyes that he didn't like seeing sadness in them.)

"I don't know," he said instead of letting Gwen in on his internal monologue. "I upset some people that didn't deserve. Even Sam and Flash had been kind to me and I kept trying to ditch them."

"Is this have anything to do with Peter?"

At those words, those words that belonged to a very calm and steady voice almost made Colin choke on his own spit. Simultaneously he tripped on nothing and barely caught his balance, he was blushing. A rosy color was tainting his cheeks now which the realization of that fact was making him blush harder.

"What Peter?" Was his intelligent response.

Gwen's small smile turned into a knowing smirk, give this friendship a week and Colin knew she would gather up courage enough to tease him about this moment. For that moment, perhaps not to damage their newly repaired friendship, she let the blushing slide. "I heard you guys arguing in the library. You were rude, sounded like Sam when he pretended to be an asshole jock."

That sentence stuck inside his head and despite continuing to have a light-hearted conversation with Gwen, he kept comparing himself to a bully and he knew his next step must be Peter Parker.

•

Trying to act kindly to the Parker boy was hard.

Colin had tried to wave a couple of times when they crossed paths but the boy always kept his head down and/or avoided looking at Colin's direction.

He had even tried to smile, like genuinely smile on command to Peter. He might have looked like he was in pain since Peter hadn't returned it or acknowledged it in the first place.

He wasn't ready to just confront Peter so it was a shock when Peter was the one to approach him.

"Colin," a gentle tap on his shoulder startled him and he snapped his head up in shock because Peter Parker was standing before him with a nervous expression on his face. "I had been looking for you."

The boy damped his bottom lip with his tongue and bit the inner side of his lip as a sign of his nervousness. "Were you really?"

Peter sighed, taking Colin's words as an act of displeasure to be having this conversation, probably thinking he was being sarcastic.

In reality, after being an asshole to Peter several times, he was just surprised that Peter was still talking to him. He couldn't stop thinking about how unfair he had been to Peter after the talk with Gwen. Mixed signals had never been his thing, he was just openly cold and uncaring to most of the people or he showed kindness in his own way to the ones he loved. With Peter, he had been doing a bit of both, sometimes he just forgot about everything and laughed softly at some ridiculous things Peter said or they fell into a playful banter on fictional characters.

Those moments made him feel terrible because Peter looked upset when he returned to his cold state when almost for everyone else it was his usual self.

"Look I wanted to apologize for lashing out like that the other day," Peter started but the words didn't get through Colin's head immediately. Peter had nothing to apologize for. "What you do after school is not my business and you can manage on your own, too, you wouldn't fail every class without me. I didn't mean that you couldn't-"

"Parker, stop blabbering for a moment," Colin cut him off with a flick of his hand meanwhile Peter gaped at him with surprise, not knowing what to expect, "I should be the on to do that speech but I won't cause I am a jerk."

"I figured that out by myself," Peter mumbled but clearly he was amused with the fact that Colin was admitting his fault.

"If you'll excuse me, trying to be slightly decent here," Colin glared at him and Peter looked somewhere in between punching him or laughing at this situation. "I shouldn't cut you off like that and I... regret saying that- fuck. We are friends, kind of, okay? You're a friend to me, not just an obligatory tutor."

Peter smiled brightly at that almost flıstered by Colin's words, which made Colin flush a bit under his gaze.

"You suck at apologizing," Peter chuckled.

"At least I don't start ranting forever and I'm not apologizing I'm just-"

"I'll accept your apology. Try to be less of an asshole, maybe?"

Colin rolled his eyes and they made small talk on school work. While parting ways, Peter gave a reassuring smile and a gentle squeeze on the arm which was nice. He felt like that all day, like he was having a walk on a summer day with a bit of wind, like he had no care in the world.

•

Liz was nice.

Colin liked her because she was kind, effortlessly, and she was fun to be around. Beauty and grace defined her completely. Most of the time, he found himself being glad that she was in Sam's little group.

Honestly, she was her own person, was bold enough to stand up to the jerks she called friends, didn't talk much or made everything about herself (she could've since half of the school was under her charm.)

Despite these facts, he declined immediately when she invited him to her party. The party that would change everything, the party that he would've never agreed to go if it wasn't for his decision to be nice to Peter Parker.

He was informed about the tradition of a party before the exam week, and first, he was repulsed by the idea. He didn't like being inside that much of a crowd, didn't like it when the music got too loud. However, at the same time, a part inside him was craving for a night off (and a full night sleep).

"Don't brush it off! You look tired and mopey all the time, you could use it."

"'Am not? What?" Colin said in a flat tone that implied he was aware of the situation.

She smiled, then chuckled. "Just sayin'."

Thinking about turning her down, his eyes caught a glimpse of messy brown hair and a lean figure. Peter was walking towards him and his expression was thoughtful, Colin's observation was quickly confirmed when Peter panicked and blushed as his eyes landed on Liz.

"Hi, Liz. Hello," Peter almost squealed and Colin pressed his lips into a thin line as he watched the exchange.

It was no surprise that Peter Parker was on the list of people who were head over heels for Liz Allen, apparently. Colin looked away for a moment because the two of them was just so... bright. They both had this vibe around them that made you want to get closer, they were warm and it was as if they promised happiness.

Well, Peter was painfully awkward and Liz was looking at him as if he was a little puppy. Colin could still see why the two would be good for each other.

"You wanna come to my party? It will be cool."

"Me? Yeah. Yes, I can come."

"Great! Talk some sense into Colin by the way. He is being mopey again."

Colin rolled his eyes, Peter giggled and Liz smiled at them before turning on her heels, swinging her long locks around and walking away gracefully.

"I get why you ditch me all the time," Peter spoke once she was out of earshot. "But why ditch her? I mean, I hate parties but even I wanna be there."

Choosing not respond, he starting walking, knowing (hoping) Peter would follow him. He did, and Colin rubbed his temples with thoughts lingering in his head and a shot of pain that was upcoming news of a real bad headache.

In any other circumstance, he would never leave Cory alone at home, especially when it's been only two weeks since they had moved to this town. However this time, he wasn't able to hide behind the idea of 'i need to protect my brother' since his class was going on a trip for the weekend.

Colin was still iffy about parties and mindless teenagers but mindless teenagers meant alcohol and all, that meant losing himself for a while. Just for a night. Hopefully, maybe, he would sleep properly, too.

And fuck it. This was the week where he would try to be decent to the people in his life. He was not going to resist Peter's pleading eyes anyways.

Next day, Colin let Liz know through Flash that he would come and so would Peter. He made a promise to Sam and Flash before he could talk himself out of it, before his fears and worries could take a hold of him. It was going to be a casual eventless night.

It wasn't but this was the story of how he accepted to go to that party. The story of what went down is just a whole another chapter.

•

( AUTHOR'S NOTE )

edited. not really but still.

anyways. vote/comment to let me know what you think, bye!