EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS SITUATION WAS WRONG - Freya Knight was not meant to be in a mall, surrounded by fluorescent lights, children with severe cases of body odour and dripping noses, teenage girls who bitched far too loudly about bad relationships, and the stench of cheap, greasy food that smelled more like rotting flesh then anything else - a smell I, unfortunately, knew too well. The idea of shopping with friends was foreign and uncomfortable for me, and it was especially difficult, considering it was being referred to as 'bonding time' with two girls I could barely stand. I was not even sure how I had got there.

However, here I stood, lost in racks and aisles of clothing that served no real purpose - the trend of ripping jeans and calling it fashion seemed ridiculous, as did all the others - while Gwen and MJ rushed around me, gushing about something or other, probably something that paid no interest in me. While it was better than accompanying Inga to wherever foul place she took me to before, it wasn't by much.

"So," Gwen began, chirpy voice carrying even from several feet away, "are you staying for next year, Em?"

I moved to decline, but bit back my words; no one really knew of my real reason to stay, and it wouldn't do any good to say I was leaving right after the year finished. If anything, it would just arise suspicion, and that was something I didn't need to add to my pile of problems. "Yeah, maybe. Midtown is a good school, I like it here."

MJ grinned at my words. She held two tops in her hand, both strangely patterned and coloured and almost repulsive to stare at. She seemed to be enjoying this, at least much more than I was - though that wasn't hard considering the thoughts of disgust racing through my mind. "That's good because honestly, we'd miss you to death if you left! I mean, you've become part of Midtown. It just wouldn't be the same without you, honestly."

"Yeah, we'd all miss you. Especially Peter." The girl turned back to me, her thick hair swinging as she spun around. "Speaking of, how are you two? Anything...well...you know."

"Nothing's happened," I interjected, eager to drop the topic before it got too forward or too intrusive. I was not eager to have a repeat of the other day. "We're just friends."

"For right now." 

I turned my attention away from the duo and focused on a shelf of what was referred to as 'skater skirts', lifting one up with a disgusted curl of my upper lip. "No, we're just...we're just friends. We kissed but that doesn't change anything, right?"

The 'right' on the end of my sentence wasn't meant to sound so sceptical, but to the girls, it must have been an invitation to swoop in and offer their two cents apiece, even when it wasn't wanted. Gwen patted my shoulder as she joined my side, dark eyes full of sympathy. "Look, if you like him, you should make that known - Peter isn't going to pick up on your signals, no matter how many you put down. I mean, I'm still blown away that you kissed him - props to you - but you gotta push harder than that if you want something outta it."

"Yeah, Peter's...he's a gem of a guy, but he's lacking in the confidence category - not that that's a bad thing, but, well, means you gotta step up." MJ chuckled to herself. "There was this one time when I really liked the boy, and I tried to be really subtle and just drop hints - don't recommend."

Gwen snorted, "you didn't drop hints, you would just stare at him and math like a doofus. And when you finally figured out that didn't work, you joined the decathlon team and proceeded to almost make them lose - that's not subtle, Janey, that's just a really bad move. You hate math, and you almost made them lose because of it!"

"First off, shut up, I didn't really like him that much - if I had, well, it would have been much different. And, second," she said, turning her attention back to me, "he does really like you. You should know that by now. Honestly, take one look at him and you'd know he's hopelessly infatuated with you."

I did know that. It was obvious in the boy's actions and words and how he took extra careful precautions around me, and how he would be caught staring anytime I turned my head to look at him, and everything in between the obvious signs. That was not why I hesitated, despite the girls' beliefs. Of course, I couldn't blurt out any reasoning for why I held back, not without getting barraged with confused questions, so I just forced a thin, strained smile and nodded, "thanks, guys. Um, should you try those on?"

Mary Jane shook her head, "I'm not buying anything, I'm just here with Gwen to look around."

"Oh."

"Such is the case when your family is nearly broke, right?" She flashed another smile. "Besides, who can truly afford anything from these ritzy department stores - a shirt for a hundred bucks? I don't think so."

She swept away, brightly coloured hair as she bounced away, but there was an air that hadn't been seen before, showing she was feeling hurt about something. I assumed it was the money issue; it seemed to be something that affected people in New York, and something everyone was extremely sensitive about. I did not know much about Mary Jane, aside from preliminary information required of me to find out, but I did know that the income her family had was not a whole lot. With her father out of the picture and the rest of her torn-apart family struggling to get by, it wasn't hard to know I had hit a sore point.

"She'll be okay."

I glanced back over my shoulder to look at Gwen, who continued her spiel as she drew closer. "Money...it's a sensitive topic for her, is all. But MJ doesn't really care - else she wouldn't come with me, you know?"

"I didn't mean to offend her-"

"-you didn't, don't worry. She's not upset, you'd know if she was." In a quick flash of movement, she held tight to my arm and pulled me forward as we followed the girl out of the store. "Let's get out of here, shall we?"

...

"It's not like that, May. Not at all."

The two sat in a small diner - another favourite of Americans, recognisable from the stench of grease burning in the back - and I sat close enough to catch their conversation, hidden by the booth, a menu, a hood and several other idiots that somehow wished to come here too. It wasn't really the best of times to gather information, but it was better than nothing - and after what I had been told by MJ and Gwen, this could be good.

His aunt, who could be easily labelled a beauty even in her older age, rolled her eyes. She didn't seem too impressed with the boy at the moment and wagged a ringless finger at him. "You can lie, but I know you, kid - something's going on, isn't it?"

"No, nothing! She's just a friend!"

"Do you kiss all your friends, then? Should I be worried when you and Ned have the doors closed?"

I choked on the glass of water raised to my lips, and from the sounds of it, Peter wasn't too blase over her words, either. "W-what? No, wait, what-"

"-I heard you two talking," she admitted, "not that that was hard to pick up on. Is it true? You kissed her?"

The boy, still stuttering and hesitant, said that yes, he did kiss 'Emily' and I almost flung my glass at his head. While I wasn't at all happy it happened, it still made me pissed that he would take credit for such a thing, childish as it was. However, I stayed silent and kept my head down. Tt didn't really matter who did what, it just counted that it shouldn't have happened at all and that it could very well be considered as the worst decision of my life.

May shrugged as he gave her a lame excuse, "I don't know, you two are good for each other, I have to admit - she's cute. Why don't you say something?"

The boy didn't speak for a second, and I almost worried I wasn't in range for half a second, and almost moved before he spoke again. "I dunno, May - she's not...we're just friends."

"Right. Back to the original argument, do you kiss all your friends?"

"I-"

"-Look, Peter," she replied, "I want you to be happy. After...everything that happened, you deserve that. And I know you might not think that she could possibly be into you, I beg to differ. I mean, she's always over, and she seems happy to do so."

"But the project-"

"-the projects been done for weeks, and yet she still stays with you. And if she kissed you, well, it probably means she does care about you, right?"

He raised his eyes from the plate, and though I couldn't see his face, I could tell it was full of curiosity and a little bit of flushed humiliation. "How did you - I-"

"-don't give me that, I know you, and I know it's sort of obvious what happened between you two. And I think that it's perfect..."

The conversation went on, but I had left, uneager to listen to anymore. Just after slapping a stolen bill on the table for food I hadn't even touched, I fled through the employee's door to stay hidden and burst into the cool, night air, desperate for a breath of fresh air that didn't reek of sweat and bacon and for a glimpse at a world without Peter Parker everywhere I looked.

Like I ended up doing most days, I began my slow, dreary walk home, not bothering to rush. If she so cared, Inga could tell me to hurry, but she could see me, and it wasn't like I was going anywhere anyways - there was nowhere for me to go. My slow plods remained consistent and I didn't bother to hurry, for whatever punishment I could possibly get from being slow was nothing compared to what I had to do.

In the dim light, I could make out a pair of girls wandering down the street in the opposite direction; as they grew closer, I could see their hands tightly clasped together and hear the laughter bubbling between them. Despite the lack of knowledge of either girl or their relationship status, it wasn't hard to see that they were together - and, despite my own self, I felt a twinge deep within when my eyes took in the one leaning in to plant a soft kiss on the other. The normal teenager in America could have such a relationship and they wouldn't think twice of survival when pursuing one. They could kiss whoever they felt and hold hands with others and no one would leave them to bleed if they mentioned it. They had a happiness taken for granted, and I envied that.

I wanted that.

It was all almost done with. That was the one thing I had left to hold onto. Soon, it would all be over and done with, and Peter could go back to his wonderful, normal world and live a happy life - the life he deserved. He could be the friendly neighbourhood Spiderman again, not some plaything in an evil plan that would rip him apart limb from limb, and he could have his friends and family and maybe a loving girlfriend who would be happy and supportive and love him for who he was. Soon, it would all be done with and he could go back to his normal life. Without me, but without the poisonous drama that followed me wherever I went, and that was the important thing.

That was the only thing that was really truly keeping me going.

Not gonna lie, this chapter made me cringe a little bit, especially the first part; honestly, I'm not sure why I wrote that in, but hey it happened. However, it does give a chance for the three girls to bond, which is important for their relationship and it will come into play in the final chapters. Apologies for the big jolt in the mood at the end, though; I'm not really sorry, but it is a jump from a happy-go-lucky mall time [on some of their parts at least] to poor girl Freya struggling to be happy. I hope you enjoyed, all the same; there are only ten more chapters now, so they're gonna be chock full of some juicy details that'll take us right down to the finish line. I hope you guys are as excited as I am [jeez that sounded lame].

Thank you @serendipiting for the beautiful moodboard [also featured in my meet my oc's book]; it's stunning and perfectly sums up Freya! Also, I recommend listening to the song linked at the top, Chaos and Piss [I hope you did before reading through this but I didn't leave a note so tis all okay]. It really sums up Freya in these few chapters, I feel like, and honestly I'm so in love with P!nk and this song that I couldn't resist putting it there. She's an icon and this song makes me cry in the best way possible.

Thank you for reading!