WHEN DIANA STARTED HIGH SCHOOL, SHE QUICKLY LEARNED THAT, INSTEAD OF COUNTING DAYS IN A SUCCESSION, FOOTBALL PLAYERS TOLD THEIR TIME BY COUNTING DOWN THE DAYS UNTIL "THE BIG GAME." She rolled her eyes as she walked down the hall with Flash, dodging the arms of football players who were high-fiving him, shouting and cheering about the football game that Friday, something they had been shouting about for nearly two weeks.

"What is the big deal with this game? It seems like you guys are more excited than usual," she sighed as she squeezed through the crowd of people all trying to get to lunch.

"We're going against Standard High," he explained, "Only one of the best schools in the area. We're gonna crush 'em!" He shouted the last part to one of his teammates who cheered and whooped, running down the halls.

"Isn't that where Gwen and Harry were supposed to go?" she asked as they walked into the cafeteria, "Before Gwen decided she wanted a more focused STEM education and Harry got kicked out because he snuck in without registering?"

"Yeah," Flash said, "I heard their friends are killing them with texts, asking for our plays and stuff. It's really stupid."

Diana hummed. "I dunno, there's no harm in trying. But considering everything, I doubt they'll do it."

Flash nodded. "Yup. Tell them that I can't sit with you guys today for lunch. Or the rest of the week."

"Why?" she asked, grabbing a tray and sliding it across the counter.

"The others want me to sit with them, you know, before the big game. We might do some lifting, you know?" He slid his tray as well, fist bumping someone as they passed by.

She rolled her eyes. "Okay. Have fun, I guess."

He hummed and followed her to the lunch lady up front, handing her money for the both of them. With a pat on her back, he walked off towards a group of boys calling his name out loudly.

"Freshmen," a voice behind her sighed. She turned to see Betty Brant, a sophomore, shake her head. When she caught sight of Diana looking, she smiled apologetically. "Sorry. That's your boyfriend, right?"

Diana shook her head furiously. "No. No, I live with him."

"Oh," Betty said, eyes widening, "Oh, so you're—Gosh, I'm sorry. That makes sense, um, I'm Betty."

"Diana," she replied, stepping to the side to let more people walk. She noticed the flash went across the girl's eyes and instantly longed for the conversation to end; she didn't need more pointless apologies.

"Nice to meet you, Diana," she chirped, pausing before saying, "You know, you should join leadership next year. We could really use more people. We organize the dances and pep rallies and stuff. It's fun."

"Ah," Diana said, nodding, "Okay. Uh, I will think about it. Thanks." She would not think about it. She could tell a pity offer when she saw one.

"Yeah," Betty said, walking off, "Bye."

Diana nodded her goodbye and walked over to her usual table, confused by her little encounter with the older girl, but not necessarily surprised.

"Hey," she greeted softly, sitting down across the two other sophomores, "Flash isn't sitting with us this week, he's busy getting ready for 'The Big Game'."

Gwen rolled her eyes. "Remember how they said high school wasn't like the movies? Yeah, those people were wrong."

Harry laughed, part distracted by his phone. "Did you hear that they're going against Standard? I swear, everyone I know from there's been texting me to get their plays or something."

Gwen's eyes widened. "Are you gonna?"

Harry scoffed. "Of course not. I don't want Flash pissed at me. God, Diana, is he gonna work on that?" He looked over at the girl, his eyebrows raised.

She sighed and played with her food. "He said he would, but we'd have to wait a while for him to get better which makes sense, but..."

Harry pursed his lips and nodded. "Yeah. Thanks for trying, though, we appreciate it. Gwen, are any of your friends from Standard freaking out yet?"

Gwen smirked. "What friends?" At Harry's look she sighed. "I turned off my phone. Some of them are still upset about choosing Midtown over Standard and I don't want the backlash."

Diana hummed. "That's smart. Are you guys gonna go watch the game on Friday?" She took a sip of her drink, watching as Harry started checking his phone calendar while Gwen pulled out her planner.

"No," Gwen said, barely glancing at it, "That's a Blue day so we have A through D period." Diana and Harry glanced at each other, unsure what their block schedule had to do with her inability to go to a football game. "Also," she added, "My father, our dear Captain Stacy of the NYPD, has put me on a curfew for the next few weeks."

"What?" Harry asked, shocked, "Why? You're the literal golden child of any police officer. You don't get in trouble or do anything stupid."

"I know," Gwen said, "But he said that he has his reasons, but he can't tell me them. Point is, I'm not allowed to go out anywhere after dark and the game is after dark, so...you guys wanna come over and watch a movie?"

Harry pursed his lips and shook his head, motioning to his phone. "Your favorite Osborn Industries heir has to attend another one of his dad's dinner parties."

The two girls, glanced at each other, then at Harry, knowing fully well how he felt about having to go. Gwen reached over and squeezed his shoulder. Diana, who was sitting on the other side, offered him a sympathetic look.

Harry and his father didn't have the best relationship. When his mother died when he was seven, Harry's father had retreated into his work, neglecting to care for his son with the sort of love that couldn't be bought. Despite being set for life, Harry wasn't completely happy.

Over the course of his life, Harry had battled with a constant state of highs and lows. There had been a particularly low time over the summer. It had concerned not only his father, but his ex-girlfriend, MJ.

Despite being in middle school, Harry had been in a fairly serious relationship with a girl he would only refer to as MJ. No last name, no description. Just MJ. There had been an altercation after she had broken up with him over the summer, something that always set nerves on edge, no one wanting to breach the sensitive topic.

Highs and lows were a topic that Diana could understand. Ever since The Incident, she herself had been battling with the same highs and lows that Harry was, albeit under different circumstances. They both understood it well.

A week after they had become friends, Diana had explained the true story of what happened to her parents, not the rumors that had been spread. A few days after, Harry had noticed her lack of amusement for basically everything and her occasional highs as well as her near constant lows, quickly pulling her aside to talk.

Instead of demanding what her problem was, like most people, he handed her a card for a psychologist, explaining that if she ever felt that she needed to see someone, all she had to do was call and say that Harry Osborn sent her. All expenses would be paid.

She hadn't used the card, but it still sat in the bottom drawer of her desk, reminding her that there was someone who, while not under the same circumstances, felt how she felt. Probably still does, just as she does.

It was the first time that she felt as though she was truly his friend. Not the girl that hung around Flash, meaning that they would have to spend time with her if they were to spend time with him. No, she was a friend. Just as Flash was.

Sometimes, it seemed as though they liked her more, if their group chat excluding the boy was anything to go by. No one could blame them, though, considering the boy's personality and tendencies.

As if reading her mind, Harry asked, "So, did you talk to Flash over the weekend? You know, about his..." he trailed off, unsure of what word he could use to describe what they all wanted Flash to stop doing.

Diana pursed her lips and nodded. "Yes...he said he's trying to work on it, but, he doesn't really know how. He's aware of himself, but something's so ingrained in him that he'll need a lot of time. He needs help."

Gwen looked at her sadly. "I want to help him. I mean, I just want him to be a kind person, you know?"

Diana nodded. "I know. We're just going to have to wait, I guess. There's really not much we can do."

The three sighed, their hearts heavy. Despite his less than savory actions, the three did care for Flash. With their bleeding hearts and desperate need to find the good in people, if for their sakes more than the other persons', the trio were willing to hold on to their friend for as long as it took for him to get better.

Diana had an obligation to. She owed it to him.

When the bell rang, the three stood up slowly, throwing away their trash with the slow movements of people who just wanted an out. Gwen quickly changed the subject, asking Diana if she wanted to watch the movie, to which the other girl replied that she would ask her godmother.

Harry and Diana walked up the stairs, waving a goodbye to Gwen who had to go down the hallway.

"I have faith in him," Harry said as they neared Diana's classroom.

She looked up at him and smiled. "Me too."

He winked, walking backwards down the hall. "Have fun in English. Today's class sucks." Then he turned around and promptly ran into an open locker.

º º º º º

Flash had football practice, so Diana was riding the train with Harry who was going to kill as much time as he could before he had to go back home.

She walked towards his locker that was usually swarmed by a large group of people, either loitering or trying to talk to him, only to find that he wasn't there. Confused, she continued making her way down the hall, resisting the urge to start calling his name and whistling, the way Gwen sometimes did when he was nowhere to be found.

Finally, she found him standing by another locker, talking to someone who was blocked out of view. As she neared, she caught sight of the lithe frame standing on his tiptoes to reach his top locker.

"Hey," she greeted, walking over to the two boys, "Harry, Peter, what's up?"

Peter Parker turned to look at her, pushing up his glasses. He smiled politely and turned back to his locker, replying in a soft voice, "Uh, Harry and I were just talking about our project in English together. Did you get it already?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I got it last period. But I'm working by myself." She winced, hoping she didn't sound as stuck up as she thought she had.

Peter only nodded. "Makes sense, you're pretty good at English. At least, from what I've heard..." he glanced over at Harry who winked at the both of them.

Diana looked back towards Peter, feeling a wave of guilt wash over her. She and Peter had been going to the same school since first grade and had witnessed every time he had broken down into tears in class because his mom and dad weren't around anymore and six year old Peter just didn't understand why they didn't come back.

She had seen what Flash had done to Peter. She hated herself for it.

"Hey, Peter," she said softly, "How's it going, anything exciting happening?"

He glanced at her, trying to pry a notebook from the bottom of a stack. "It's going pretty okay. I'm really excited to go on the field trip next week, if you can count that."

Diana wracked her brain, trying to remember what field trip he was talking about. When she came up empty, she just smiled. "Me too, it'll be fun." She heard Harry snort softly next to her, but paid him no mind. "Hey, I'm sorry about—"

"It's fine," Peter interrupted, balancing his books in his arms, trying to put them in his bag, "You don't have to apologize every time you see me, Diana. You didn't do anything."

She reached out and took some of his books, despite his protests. "That's why I'm apologizing."

He knelt down and put his books in his bag, pushing up his glasses as he looked up at her, holding out his arms for the rest. "Huh. Yeah, I can understand that. I don't hate you, if that's what you're thinking."

"You should," she said, without missing a beat, "I'd hate me."

He hummed, standing, pulling on his backpack. "Maybe you should work on that. You can't hate everyone, it's not healthy."

She nodded. "Believe me. I know." She thought about the man that had attacked New York all those years ago. She never thought about him much, contrary to popular belief.

Peter nodded in return. "That's good. I'm glad." Then he jerked his thumb down the hallway, "I gotta go. But I'll text you, Harry, about the project."

"Cool," Harry replied, looking up from where he was staring at his phone, pretending not to eavesdrop, waving, "See you, Peter."

The boy smiled before turning away and making his way down the hall, disappearing into the sea of people.

Diana looked up at Harry who pocketed his phone, looking down at her. "You're not that subtle, you know?"

He sighed, throwing an arm around her shoulder. "I know. C'mon, I have to get you back home before Daddy Flash gets on me for returning his daughter past curfew."

Diana blinked. "I never want to hear any part of that sentence ever again."

º º º º º

As the two rode the train back home, Harry talked about idle things, mentioning his dad's job and that there was an open internship in the event she wanted to get some experience.

"I can get you through the door," he said, "Because this internship is for older students and people in college, but..."

Diana smiled, but shook her head. "Thanks, Harry, but I'm alright. I'm not really planning on going in the scientific field. Well, I guess medicine is science, but—"

"Oh yeah," he said, "You wanna be a nurse. We have a genetics program, but I don't think that's what you'd be into. Well, it's always open if you change your mind, my dad can't really say no if I bring education into it."

Diana smiled. "Thanks, Harry. You're a really nice guy, you know that?" After a beat, she added, "Your mom would be proud."

He smiled. "Thank you. I'm glad some part of my mom still stuck with me. You're really sweet, too, Diana." Then, also pausing, he added, "Your parents would be proud too. Believe me."

They rode the rest of the way in silence. On the outside, they looked like two normal kids, just spacing out, waiting to get home. On the inside, they were little kids again, the wounds still fresh, wishing for the mothers who used to give hugs and fathers who used to care.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

REWRITTEN: MAY 28, 2017/REPUBLISHED: MAY 29, 2017

Dedicated to peggyscarter [peggyscarter, in case the tag doesn't work] because they're literally such a pal and are like a really awesome person, check out their stories because they're all amazing. Their Peter Parker and Tom Holland stories are great, you should go check them out rn.

So! This was chapter two and we meet Gwen and Harry. I had initially written this to be lighthearted and to have Diana laugh and be happy. But I didn't like the way I wrote it, so I made it shorter and just let it be sad. Yay, pain.

Harry and Gwen did go to Standard High School in the comics, so I wanted to just incorporate that somehow. A STEM school focuses more on sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics and the environment is more hands on so if Gwen wanted a more focused education she'd choose Midtown. Also, Harry's dad as an engineer (and businessman) would push for Harry to follow in his footsteps to readily take on the business later down the road. Also, the bit about Harry getting kicked out actually happened to my friend who did the exact same thing (though I don't think her parents knew)

I recently found out that Liz Allan is a senior during Homecoming (thanks to peggyscarter [peggyscarter, in case the tag doesn't work] ) so I just assumed that Betty would be either in the same grade or a year younger, so I put her at a year younger.

Also, I put the school in a block schedule because I figured they'd want more time for the kids to immerse themselves. Basically block scheduling has one half of the classes on one day, then the other half on the other and sometimes the schools have a flexible period and I let them have one. I based the days off the color scheme of the school which are Yellow and Blue (from what I've gathered)

Harry did date MJ at one point and he had a brief problem concerning drugs due to his instability considering his father and, from what I've gathered, when MJ broke up with him because of his instability, he nearly overdosed.

Also, Harry's mother died shortly after he was born, but I changed that so that she died when he was young, but could still remember her so he could still remember his dad withdrawing from his life.