As the days pass, everything on Eloise's plate starts to stack up. Her daily routine is to wake up, do as much homework as she can that she didn't do the night before, go to school, train with Bucky, patrol the city with Peter, study with her friends, take shower, and sleep. Sometimes the order is mixed, and sometimes something else is added. She is as exhausted as she has ever been from this rigorous routine, but at the same time she feels more alive than ever. When she's patrolling the city with Peter, she can feel her stress about school and everything else melt away. Plus, when she uses her powers for good, the guilt that has been weighing her down feels significantly lighter.

Mason tries to talk to Eloise again, but she acts like she doesn't see him when he shows up outside her school and doesn't answer any of his texts or calls. She brings it up to Peter, and Peter mentions that Mason asked about her. Eloise comes to the conclusion to block Mason so she stops getting spammed by his messages.

Tonight, Eloise and Peter are looking for anyone who may need help as they usually do. Peter patrols the city right after school some days, and today is one of those, so he has a few stories to share as he swings the two of them around to different parts of Queens.

Eloise notices a guy on the street below them looking down at their phone as they start to cross a street. He is oblivious to the crosswalk's light turning red and the cars that approach his path. Mid-swing, Eloise focuses on his feet and makes the person stop walking before he can get another foot onto the road. The man looks up, startled when a car zooms right in front of him.

Peter and Eloise land on the roof of a building. They only stay there for roughly two minutes before Peter's spider-senses go off and he locates a group of people vandalizing a house.

"Teenagers," Eloise scoffs sarcastically and wraps her arms around Peter's neck. "Always causing trouble."

"I know, right?" Peter plays along, shooting a web and hopping off the roof.

He makes a sudden turn to reach the troublemakers, and the jolt causes Eloise's grip to loosen. She slips right through Peter's arm and falls to the ground hard.

"Shit!"

Eloise groans and pushes herself off the ground, her body aching from the sudden impact. She hears the sound of shoes running against loose gravel and looks up to see the young vandals sprinting away.

Spider-Man swings over to her. Holding her side, she waves him forward. "I'm good, they're getting away," She grunts.

"I'll be right back!" Peter promises, hesitating slightly before turning and chasing the group of teenagers.

Alone in the space between two houses, Eloise pushes herself up to her knees and cranes her neck to look to the sky. Thankfully she wasn't too high up when she fell, or else that could have been a lot worse.

Wincing, she scoots over so she can sit against the vandalized house and leans her head back against the white paneling. There's a dull pain in her ribs and a ringing in her ears, but other than that, she feels fine.

Eloise hears the twips of the webs before she hears Peter's voice call out, "Okay, I'm back!"

She turns her head to the side and sees two Spider-Man's jumping onto the ground and swiftly making their way over to her. The ground tilts under the two heroes and she closes her eyes, blinking a few times until her vision returns to normal.

A hand rests on her shoulder. "Are you okay? Hey, look at me." His hand stays on her shoulder, but his other comes to the side of her face and tilts it so she is facing him.

Under her mask, Eloise squints her eyes and tries to focus on one of Peter's masked faces. "I think I'm okay . . ." Her eyes dart between the two Spider-Man's.

Peter notices her unfocused gaze even with her mask on and furrows his brow. "Karen, run a quick scan on Eloise please."

"She seems to have multiple contusions and a mild concussion."

"Great," he breathes, frowning. "And she takes her first final tomorrow, too."

Slowly, the two faces morph into one and Eloise registers what Peter said. His words trigger her memory and she suddenly remembers that she still has to go study with her friends at the library. She starts to sit forward to stand, but a pounding pain shoots through her head and Peter stops her.

"Hey hey hey, slow down, you've got a concussion."

She groans and lets out a deep breath. "I'm so sick of getting hurt."

"Welcome to the club," Peter says lightly. "I guess I have it better, though, since I heal faster and I have a higher pain tolerance."

Eloise scoffs. "No need to shove it in my face, Peterman."

Peter immediately frowns at the nickname. "I thought you were done calling me that," he whines.

"I never said that." Eloise smiles and says, "I'm going to stand now, can you make sure I don't face-plant?"

"Yeah, sure," he assures her and nods, "just take it slow."

He holds his hands out like he's ready to catch her any second as she stands. Eloise keeps one of her gloved hands on the side of the house and holds her head with her other as it spins.

"Did you stop those guys?" She asks and stretches her back, wincing.

Peter watches her closely and nods. "Yeah, they're going to have to wash all the spray-paint off."

Eloise glances back at the graffiti on the house she was just leaning on. They are obviously amateur graffiti artists, so their tags are very simple and illegible. They also apparently decided to spray-paint a few choice words on the white panels.

Turning back to Peter, Eloise asks, "What time is it?"

Peter asks Karen, and then answers, "Just after eleven o'clock."

Well, shoot, Eloise thinks. She was supposed to meet with Alev, Lucy, and Elena at the library to study for their first round of finals tomorrow. With her headache and her aching muscles, she really doesn't feel like sitting in a wooden chair for an hour or so to study scribbles in her notebook. Sighing, Eloise asks, "Do you think you could swing me to the library real quick?"

"Are you being serious?" Peter questions incredulously. "You should probably go home, not study."

"But I told them—"

"Eloise, come on," Peter cuts her off, his tone stern yet caring. Even though she can't see under his mask, she knows what look he's giving her—his brow raised, his eyes concerned and begging her to give in.

And she does.

"Okay, fine," she surrenders. "I'll text Elena and tell her I can't come." Again. Eloise frowns at herself, knowing the response she will receive from her friends. She has missed yesterday's study session as well, so now she's going to have to make up for that somehow.

Peter holds out his hand. Eloise takes it, and together they walk to the alleyway where their backpacks holding their regular clothes are. On the way, Peter talks Eloise's ears off about Zagan again. He hasn't found anything, not a single thing, about the man. Peter couldn't find a surname, a location, motive for his chaos, or proof he even exists outside of the destruction he has made. It's like he just appears to make a mess and scare the living hell out of people, then disappears off the face of the earth. It still baffles Peter how Zagan got away when he was up against him and Captain America.

Eloise smiles, amused as she thinks about their situation. They are two teens, dressed head to toe in skin tight spandex-like suits, one limping slightly, complaining about a bad guy, holding hands, walking down a vacant sidewalk in the middle of the night. It's a sight to see, that's for sure.

🕸

Eloise spends lunch in the library again. As soon as she stepped foot into the school Lucy gave her the cold shoulder, which she expected, but what got her the most was when Elena seemed to avoid her as well. Eloise apologized at their lockers to the three girls she stood up the night prior, but Alev was the only one who seemed to forgive her. Elena gave Eloise a tight-lipped smile and Lucy just rolled her eyes.

That's why she's spending her another lunch in the library, although this time she doesn't have a book in her hands due to her concussion. With her head down and her eyes shut, she sleeps the lunch period away until the bell rings.

Eloise trudges to her next class with her eyes heavy and her head pounding. As much as she wants to take another nap, she has a final to take in this class. She can hardly focus enough to walk in a proper line through the halls, How is she supposed to take a lengthy test over everything she has learned in the whole semester?

Slumping in her seat, she winces at how bright the classroom is. Cliff walks in with his folders in one arm. His eyes go straight to Eloise and he makes a bee-like towards her.

She groans quietly and slips down in her seat, her hands covering her face. She really does not want to talk about ditching the group at lunch again, and surprisingly, Cliff doesn't ask about that.

He sits in the empty seat in front of hers and narrows his eyes at her. "Why are you covering your eyes?"

"No reason," she squeaks.

Cliff frowns. "Are you high?"

Her hands drop to the desk in front of her and she gives Cliff a quizzical expression while he maintains a straight face. Realizing he's serious, she sighs, "No, I'm not high."

His dark eyes shift to her left cheek and his brow is pulled forward. "Where'd you get that bruise from?"

"I fell and hit my head," Eloise answers truthfully. It isn't a dark bruise, but it is still very visible. Under it is a slight abrasion where her skin got caught on the pavement when she fell from Peter's grip mid-swing. "I have a concussion and my head hurts, so that's why I was covering my eyes, not because I'm on drugs."

"How are you going to take this final?" He asks.

Eloise shrugs, defeated. "I'm just going to do my best, I guess."

"Can't you postpone it or something?"

"It'll be fine," she assures him with a strained smile. "I have a ninety-two in the class, it's not like I'm going to have to retake the course if I get a bad score."

His gaze softens and he seems to give in. Beside him, a student walks up and gives Cliff an impatient look. Cliff rolls his eyes and stands. Flashing Eloise a small smile, he goes back to his assigned seat as the other student sits in front of Eloise.

It's a miracle Eloise doesn't fall asleep during the hour-long final. She is unintentionally the last one to turn her test packet in, and once she gives up and just marks the last questions randomly before turning it in, the class immediately starts buzzing about their answers. Usually Eloise would happily engage in conversation with her classmates about the test they just took, but instead she just lies her head on her desk in defeat. Cliff looks over at her and frowns.

The bell rings a few minutes later and makes Eloise jump in her seat at the loud noise. She sits up, alert, but when she sees everyone getting up from their desks and heading towards the door, she relaxes and follows suit.

Eloise walks to her locker with heavy feet. The students around her pass by in a blur as she exchanges her folders and books for the ones she needs for her next class. When she quietly shuts her locker, she senses the presence behind her and turns. She isn't sure what she expects when she turns—maybe an angry Lucy or upset Elena—but it definitely isn't Alev with silent tears running down her face.

Immediately, Eloise reaches for her and wraps her arms around the short girl in a tight hug. Alev doesn't hesitate to hug her back as her shoulder shake.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Eloise asks, her brow furrowed in concern. When Alev only sniffles, Eloise looks around and spots the curious eyes of Park East students watching their embrace. She leans back from the hug and says, "Let's go somewhere more private."

Alev nods and wipes the tears off her face with her sleeves. Eloise leads the way to the women's bathroom where there are two girls fixing their makeup in the mirrors above the sinks. When they notice Alev's tears, they give the pair small smiles and pack up, leaving the two alone in the bathroom.

Eloise turns to Alev and studies her crumbling expression. From how torn she looks, Eloise automatically knows what has her so upset before Alev can say anything.

"They said Mom only has a week left without treatment," she whispers, her voice pinched. Her chin quivers and she presses her sleeve pulled over her hand against her wet cheeks.

"I'm so sorry," Eloise breathes, not knowing the pain Alev is going through but understanding that it's not something she can just take away. Feeling close to tears herself, Eloise steps forward and wraps her up in another hug. "I'm so sorry, A, I can't even imagine what you and your mom going through."

"I do not know what I am going to do," she murmurs, her voice breaking. "She is all I have."

Eloise tightens her hold on the girl. She wants to take all the pain, all the worry, and all the financial stress from Alev's shoulders. But she can't. The best Eloise can do is hold her and make sure she knows that she's not alone, so that's what she does.

_____

YOU GUYS ARE LITERALLY SO NICE I LOVE ALL OF YOU ABUNDANTLY.

Also Harry Styles trying to make a sandwich is an accurate representation of me trying to plot the rest of this story

Chapter Song:
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