"Kansas?" Lucy repeats, pulling a face. "Why the hell were you in Kansas?"

Eloise shuts her locker and turns to Elena and Lucy, both of whom are watching her with incredulous expressions.

"Family," Eloise replies simply as she starts to walk down the hall with her friends. Elena and Lucy share a look before following Eloise.

Elena bumps shoulders with Eloise, her brow furrowed. "I didn't know you had family in Kansas."

"Really? I never mentioned it?"

Lucy rolls her eyes and and adjusts the folder and book in her arms. "Anyways, have you guys heard about that new super hero? They're calling her the Shadow or some shit."

Eloise holds back a smile and just shakes her head, pretending like she has no idea what Lucy is talking about. Elena's eyes light up and she asks, "Is she the one that brought down that gang?"

"Supposedly," Lucy corrects Elena, and Eloise's forehead creases. What does she mean supposedly? Lucy doesn't notice Eloise's expression and continues on, "I mean, everyone's calling her a super hero when she obviously isn't one. That crazy lady on the news said that she was wearing a hoodie and got knocked over by a dog. I guess the media's crowning everyone an Avenger these days."

"Why are you being so rude, what did she ever do to you?" Eloise asks sharply. She's usually really good at keeping her temper, but she can't help herself. She didn't do anything wrong, all she did was return a stolen purse and get a violent gang off the streets. Lucy should at least be grateful for what the new hero did, especially since she lives in the area the gang hung out around.

Lucy and Elena are shocked by Eloise's uncharacteristic attitude. Lucy laughs awkwardly and says, "Um, nothing, but all she's trying to do is steal Spider-Man's thunder. He's doing a good job keeping Queens safe, we don't need another freak on the streets."

Eloise stops in the middle of the hallway and both her friends halt as well, causing the few students that were walking behind them to step around the three. Eloise's fists clench at her sides as she tries to keep her cool.

Elena gives her a once-over. "What's wrong?" She questions with sincerity.

"Nothing, I'll talk to you guys later." Eloise avoids her friends' eyes and turns around, walking the opposite direction they were headed. She hears Elena call after her about her next class being the other way, but she shuts her voice out as she walks against the current of the sea of students.

Eloise is so caught up in her anger and frustration that she accidentally runs into a tall student. The impact sends a sharp pain through the healing wound in her abdomen and she winces.

"Hey, sorry about that."

Eloise looks up at the familiar voice and hides her pain with a smile as Cliff looks down at her with concern. "No, I'm sorry, I should have been paying better attention."

"You alright?" Cliff asks suspiciously, eyes narrowed slightly.

Eloise nods and tries to sell the smile by widening it, but it probably looks even more fake than before. "Oh yeah, never better." Cliff crosses his arms and goes to talk again, but she cuts him off. "I've got to get to class, see you later Clifford!"

She speed-walks as fast as she can out of there without collapsing from pain, one hand over the bandages under her sweatshirt. She turns a corner and lets out a sigh of relief when she sees that it's completely empty. Class begins in a minute, so most students are already at their classes. Eloise looks down at herself as she lifts the sweatshirt, her attention on the bandages over the gunshot wound. She groans when she sees the fresh blood soaking the bandage.

The clicking of heels against the tiled floors sends a panic through Eloise as she drops the bottom of her sweatshirt back over her stomach. Just as the wound is concealed, a teacher rounds the corner and nearly runs straight into her.

Eloise recognizes the man as Mr. Glover, her old finite teacher. All she took from that class was to never cross Mr. Glover because he is one scary guy.

Mr. Glover looks down at Eloise and glares at her. "Cutting class?"

"Well, I was actually—"

"I don't want to hear it," he snaps, cutting her off. "Come with me to the office, I'm all out of detention slips."

Eloise sighs and begrudgingly follows the teacher.

🕸

As Eloise rides the city bus home after detention, she receives an earful from her father over the phone. She only half-listens as he lectures her for skipping class and then goes off on a tangent about her dropping grades. To be fair Eloise has been doing her homework, but it has been hard to keep up the past few days considering she was shot and hospitalized.

Her dad ends the call because he is needed in a meeting and says a quick bye. Eloise sighs and looks down at her phone with disappointment.

When she arrives at the building, she gets into the empty elevator and waits impatiently for the lift to reach her floor. While she's waiting, she checks on her stitches and frowns at the dried blood on the bandage, making a mental note to see if she tore her stitches when she gets home. There's a ding, then the doors open. She exits the elevator and heads over to her apartment door with her keys in hand. She goes straight to her bedroom, not even fazed when she sees Peter sitting on her bed.

"Hey Petey," Eloise greets light heartedly as she sets her backpack on her desk and unzips it. Preoccupied, she doesn't notice how Peter's head is in his hands or how he's trembling slightly until she turns when he doesn't respond. She frowns and steps over to the bed, slowly sitting down next to him. "Hey, what's wrong?"

Still hiding his face, he stammers, "Everything's just a lot right now." Eloise reaches out and sets her hand on his knee comfortingly. He takes in a shaky breath. "You know how all my senses are heightened? Sometimes it gets too much and I can't focus on anything and the lights are too bright and everything is too loud, even my my own thoughts, and. . ." He trials off without finishing.

Eloise stands and turns the lights off. Peter peers up from his hands and watches as she sits back down next to him. "Does that help at all?"

"A little." He rubs his eyes and squints to keep them open.

Eloise's brows draw together. "You can close your eyes and relax if you want, I have some homework to make up."

He smiles softly. "Thanks."

Eloise moves and sits at her desk. She pulls out her homework, trying to be as quiet as she can. Her pencil slips from between her fingers and falls onto the table. She glances over her shoulder at Peter lying down in her bed and whispers, "Sorry."

His back facing her, Peter mockingly whispers back, "It's okay."

Eloise's eyes linger on the boy in her bed as worry creeps up on her. She starts to wonder how often this sensory overload occurs, and wonders why he has never told her about it before. She turns back to her homework but her mind isn't on the equations on the paper. She doesn't know how long Peter has been keeping this information from her, but she's glad he came to her this time.

Time fades as Eloise loses herself in her homework. Peter's breaths even and every once in a while he'll shift in his sleep. Some of the shifts are sudden movements that catch Eloise's attention, and she wonders if he's dreaming.

The pain in her abdomen shoots through her middle when she turns to grab her notebook. She silently winces and looks down as she lifts her shirt. The blood on the bandage from earlier is now dried, but Eloise still fears the stitches ripped and an infection. She peels the bandage from her skin and frowns at the wound. Crusty blood coats her pale skin under the bandage, and she can't tell if she needs to get help since she doesn't know a lot about medical things.

Eloise's phone pings. She jumps, and hears Peter awaken from behind her. She tosses the crusted bandage into the trash can by her desk and lets her shirt fall back in place before checking the screen. The screen is illuminated by a text from Lucy.

Eloise sighs and texts back, saying she's available tonight.

Peter sits up in bed and blinks a few times. He notices Eloise on her phone with a frown on her face. "Your parents?" He asks with a groggy voice.

Eloise turns the phone off and sets it aside. "No, it's just a friend. My parents and I aren't really on speaking terms right now."

Peter yawns. "Why not?"

Eloise waves it off and turns in her chair to face Peter. "Not important. How're you feeling?"

"A lot better, actually," he admits. "Thanks for letting me crash in your room."

"Thanks for the company," Eloise replies with a smile as she gets up from the desk and sits next to Peter again. Almost instinctively the two connect hands and interlock their fingers.

Peter runs his thumb over her knuckles. "What time is it?"

"Good question." She reaches out for her phone on the desk, wincing at the pain in her abdomen, and looks down at the screen. "It's six forty-five, are you hungry? I think I'm going to go make myself a sandwich, I can make you one too if you want."

"I should be making you the sandwich, you're supposed to be taking it easy," Peter complains.

Eloise laughs. "I don't think making a sandwich will tear my stitches."

"You never know."

She smiles down at their interlocked hands contently. "So, do you want a sandwich?"

"No thanks, you don't have to, I'm not that hungry anyways," Peter assures her.

Eloise frowns. "Are you sure?" Being Spider-Man means he has a high metabolism, and if he doesn't eat more than a normal person would then he'll get drained and possibly sick. He has to be hungry, hours have passed since he fell asleep and she's not sure when he last ate.

"Yeah, when my senses are crazy I get nauseous around food." Peter shrugs like it's no big deal.

Eloise doesn't like it, but she understands. If he can't eat then she won't make him.

Peter adds, "You can go fix yourself dinner if you're hungry, don't let me stop you."

"I can make my sandwich later, I just feel like sitting with you," she confesses as she leans her head against his shoulder. He leans his head on hers.

"So how was your first day back?" Peter asks quietly.

Eloise's happiness falters. "It was okay."

"Just okay?"

"I don't know," she sighs. "I was mad all day over something small Lucy said."

Peter hums. "What'd she say?"

Eloise focuses on their hands and tries not to get upset about it again. It's not like Lucy knows she was talking about Eloise right in front of her, so she needs to get over it.

"She was just talking about me, like, the me that was on the news," Eloise explains. "She was talking about how I'm just trying to steal Spider-Man's spotlight and she thinks I'm super lame."

Peter lifts his head from Eloise's and looks down at her. "She doesn't think you're lame, just your alter ego. Although, even that you isn't lame at all—you took down an entire gang in a few minutes without any armor or help or anything."

"I still got shot," Eloise reminds him.

"I've gotten shot before, but do you think I'm a lame?" Peter asks pointedly. When Eloise says a small no, Peter lifts his hands in the air as if he solved a puzzle. "See? If Lucy doesn't think what you did was awesome, then she's delusional."

Eloise shakes her head, but a smile tugs at her lips. "Whatever you say."

The sound of a door slamming shut echoes throughout the apartment, signaling that someone is home. Eloise rolls her eyes and turns to Peter, who startled at the sound. "Well, that's your cue to leave, Peterman."

Peter pulls a face. "Peterman?"

"Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?" Eloise teases.

The bedroom door swings open. Eloise whips around as her mother stands in the doorway, her business formal attire on from work and her face hard. Her eyes land on Peter and she crosses her arms, eyes narrowing on him sitting on the bed next to her daughter. Peter immediately jumps to his feet, but Eloise rolls her eyes because of course her mother didn't bother to knock before entering.

"And what's going on here?" Mrs. Jones asks, motioning towards a nervous Peter. Eloise gets to her feet and lightly pushes him towards the window.

"He was just leaving." Eloise shoots Peter a look, and he gives her a sorry one in return as he opens the window and ducks outside.

"It was nice seeing you again, Mrs. Jones," Peter politely adds from the fire escape. When the woman only sends him a cold glare, he coughs awkwardly and says, "I'm just gonna go now."

Peter disappears and Eloise faces her mother. She expects a lecture about having a boy in her room, or about the detention she received, but instead Mrs. Jones says, "Your principal emailed us about your attendance." Eloise sighs and flops back on her bed as her mother continues. "He said that you have two unexcused absences, one last Friday and one yesterday on Monday."

Eloise searches for a believable excuse since she can't pull the Kansas card. A lightbulb goes off in her mind and she says, "I got sick on Thursday night, and I had it all weekend and it didn't go away until last night."

Mrs. Jones doesn't buy it. She purses her lips and shifts her weight to one leg as she starts to say something, but Eloise focuses on her and the words that come out of her mother's mouth aren't hers.

"It's fine, I believe you." The woman's eyes go round and she looks at Eloise in alarm. "No I don't, I don't believe you!" She exclaims, her words genuine this time as Eloise gives her back control.

She hides a mischievous smirk and looks up at her mother with big, innocent eyes. Guilt rises in her for messing with her twice now, and she makes a mental note to stop using her newfound powers for little things from now on.

Mrs. Jones runs a hand down her face, sighing. "What has gotten into me?" She mutters and turns. "I'm going to go get some sleep, your father should be home soon." She leaves without another word.

Eloise runs a hand through her hair and frowns at her actions. She wants to use her powers for good, and this just seems like manipulation. There, in her room, Eloise makes herself promise to only use her powers when necessary. There's a thin line between the hero and the villain, and she doesn't want to cross it again.

_____
So I recently filled my library with more Spider-Man fics and I wanted to share some that are really worth reading.

First, I Am Karen by lover_of_historias
(Super original and super awesome)

Next, Tangled by tinkertaydust  (A cool modern twist on a Disney princess we all love)

Mercy by peggyscarter (only a few chapters in but I'm hooked)

Lastly, Ugh by Spider-bih (really creative soulmate au . . . thanks uHidkmanlol for the recommendation!)

Chapter Song:
Painkiller | Ruel