Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Zero. Maybe if I spent more time studying and less time sitting alone on a soggy roof for six hours I would be able to come up with a more articulate way to say that "Spider-man was a no show all damn night, which is a shame because there was definitely a cat stuck in a tree that I saw, and if Spider-man is good for something, it's helping out little old ladies instead of busting actual criminals".

I lie on my bed at the crack of dawn, climbing in through a window. My Papa snores like a train, so I've been easily sneaking in and out of the house like nobody's business.

I hear the front door slam right when I enter my bedroom. No sleep for me. I reach carefully into my open desk drawer, pulling out my switchblade. Flicking it open, I make my way to my open bedroom door. Someone is making their way down the hall. I get behind the door, tucking myself in carefully against the wall.

The intruder pauses, stepping into my room. I grab the door and slam it into him as hard as possible.

The guy stumbles back into the ground in the hallway. "Gilipollas!"

Fuck. "Dantae?"

My brother gets up from the ground, holding a hand to his head. He grimaces, checking his fingers for blood. Thankfully, there isn't any or I'd never hear the end of it. "Why do you have a switchblade?" His voice is a harsh whisper, what we in the business call whisper-yelling.

"Why are you getting back at 3:00 am?" I ask. I try my best to blow off the situation, in case our parents wake up. However, I still whisper-yell back. "You're still on probation!"

He only glares at me.

Ridiculous. "I take it Liz Allen was a good time?"

"Was," he repeats. His face crinkles at the word, sour so potent that even I can taste it. Before I can say anything else, he walks off to bed.

So, they broke up tonight, which is why he's so upset. I sigh, finally resigning myself to a late night. Forcing myself out of bed is hard; walking down the stairs is harder. By the time I've mixed in the ingredients and thrown them in the oven, I am in serious danger of falling asleep and burning the house down.

Luckily, I pull the cookies out of the oven before they burn. I can't cook, like at all, but I can steal my mother's recipes super easily and recreate them. This one is my brother's favourite.

I put half the tray onto a plate and walk up the stairs.

When I knock on his door, he doesn't answer me. Slowly, I creak the door open. Dantae is passed out, still in his clothes. Typical Delmar behaviour.

I drop the cookies on his messy nightstand, turning out of the door and heading back into my room. Still fully dressed, I crash into bed. I fall asleep instantaneously.

I wake up and check my phone. It's fucking noon. Luckily, Mama hasn't come to get me. Before forcing myself into clothes, I leave my room and shower the stench of two days off. Maybe Barty was right, dumb prick. Time to do normal teenage things, like shower daily and see my family.

Once the smell of rain is finally washed down the drain, I turn the water off. Quickly, I get dressed. I barely pay attention to what I throw on, since today is laundry day.

"Darcy," Mama calls upstairs.

Fuck.

I dart downstairs, well aware of exactly why she is grumbling. The longer I take, the more likely it is that she is going to chew me out in Portuguese. Before she can even warn me, I go to scrub clean the baking sheet.

Only it's already in the dry rack. I look over to Mama, waiting for her response.

"Why do you look at me like I'm about to interrogate you, queridinha?" Mama snaps at me. "Can't I just ask how your date went?"

"Still not dating Anthony," I tell her, pulling myself on to the counter. The other half of the cookies is sitting next to me. I take one, biting down into it. Damn, I outdid myself this time. "Although-"

"Don't chew with your mouth full," she corrects my behaviour.

I swallow quickly. "Although, if I were to date Anthony, you would be the first to know. I can promise you that."

"It's alright if you're a lesbian," Mama adds without looking at me. Instead, she's staring at the contents of the fridge.

"Mama," I groan loudly. "Sometimes girls and boys can be friends without either of them being lesbians."

I choose not to add in the fact that Anthony is the most asexual man I have ever met. Either that, or he has a lot of repressed homosexual tendencies filling his body to the brim, and one day he's going to snap and screw the closest man possible. Since he spends nearly every waking hour with me or with robotics club, it would have to be Peter Parker.

If that Peter guy wasn't gay, I'd be surprised.

"I know gatinha, but a girl cannot be a friend of a boy who looks like Anthony," She raises an eyebrow.

I can't help but roll my eyes. I would be lying if I said Anthony wasn't handsome. Like, could drop out of school tomorrow and become a model kind of hot. Maybe that's just because he is a teenage boy and is aware of showers, which is a rare breed indeed.

"Can you go ask Papa for some food?" Mama finally closes the fridge. "We'll just have that for lunch."

I nod, jumping at an excuse to leave the house. I give Mama a quick peck goodbye, before running out the door. One of these days, I'm going to bound down the stairs so quickly that I'll give myself a concussion. Not today, but someday. After sleeping for ten hours, you feel well-rested. Even if you slept into the middle of the day.

Papa's shop is only a block down the road from where we live because he loves it so much that he can't stand the idea of leaving it for more than a few hours. Thankfully, two of our cousins moved into town from upstate and have been able to take shifts at the restaurant so he doesn't overwork himself and drop dead.

"Hey Papa," I walk into the shop, smiling up at him.

"Darcita," he grins when he sees me, quickly wiping his hands on his apron. "I'm going to take a lunch break to bring Mama the food. She didn't need to send you all the way down here."

It's literally only a block, but I accept his coddling of me. He darts out from behind the counter, the bag already in his hand ready to go.

"Dantae will watch the shop," he tells me quickly, darting out the door.

I stick my tongue out at Dantae. He returns the gesture, before winking at me. With that, he moves back to scrubbing the grill.

I walk down the aisle, beginning to rub Murph's ears. The damn cat only glares at me, which is entirely unsurprising. That cat has never liked me. We tolerate each other. The general rule is that he stays in the store and I stay at home. Unfortunately, our paths cross on occasion.

The bell rings, but I pay the customer no mind. Although, I can feel him staring at me from behind. I guess, maybe a she, but I doubt it. I try my best to ignore him as he calls out three orders to my brother. Instead, I focus on Murph's ragged breathing. He spots me and hisses. That cat is going to kill me, I swear to God. If I'm ever dead at any point in the near future, this is my note. Murph did it.

"Yo Darcita," I roll my eyes as my brother calls out to me. "We're out of napkins."

I groan out loud, going around the corner into our storage room. I take my sweet ass time grabbing a new package and ripping the plastic open, before heading out to the main room.

I hand my brother the napkins, passing one to the customer.

It's Peter. No wonder he felt so familiar earlier. That's probably why he was staring too. His eyes rake me. Something he recognizes that he can't put a finger on. I don't know how to bring it up casually without seeming like a psycho.

After all, Tony is right. So, I dial back the whole, analyzing-strangers-thing. At least for now.

"You ready for the chemistry test tomorrow?" I ask, watching him stare at me. Maybe reminding him we go to school together will jog his memory.

He nods slowly, tentatively. It's not from school. Maybe he's just put off because he never made the connection himself between me and the Delmar's.

Okay, so I can't resist. Sue me.

"I'm actually just heading back to the study group," he tells me. "We're over at Anthony's. You know Anthony, right?"

"Quit stammering kid," my brother leans over the counter, dissecting Peter so easily I'm surprised he failed biology. "Her and Tony are practically engaged, have been since they were babies when our moms went to nursing school together, and no, not the breast kind of nursing."

Sometimes I wonder if my brother and I share the same secrets. If we did, one of us would've noticed by now. Still, sometimes he says things that I can't quite explain.

"I know what nursing school is," Peter assures him. He takes one long look between me and my brother, before beginning to walk backwards out of the door. "I'll see you tomorrow, Darcy."

Once he leaves, my brother turns to me with a stupid grin on his face. He shakes his head back and forth, turning his attention back to the grill. Dantae is always doing stupid crap like that. At least he's not a little shit like Damien.

"What?" I ask. He obviously wants me to ask him, which is why he is barely cleaning. His reaction to every kid from Midtown is the same. According to Dantae, everyone I know is such a nerd, and I'm a loser.

"That kid is such a nerd," Dantae remarks. "I mean, I expected as much since he's friends with a loser like you. I can't tell if he thinks you are going to eat him alive or if he is so gay that the very sight of women scares him."

"Gay isn't an insult," I remind Dantae, turning away so I don't have to look at his smug face. Although, it feels a little to familiar considering that Mama and I were just talking about it a few minutes ago. "If you had any friends, they'd tell you that."

"I'll have you know I am very popular with the gay crowd," Dantae turns back to the grill. "All the hot genes went to me, so I'm popular with every crowd. Also, your best friend is the gayest man I've-"

"Asexual," I correct. "Probably."

Dantae pauses. He stares at me. "Like there is any difference. Anyway, if I had a problem with that Peter kid, you would know it by now."

Just because he isn't wrong that doesn't make him any less of a jerk. Not about the asexuality thing; he's definitely wrong about that.

"Besides, it's way more likely that little Pete thinks you're going to murder him," Dantae tells me.

I scrunch my nose. "Actually, I think he thinks that you're going to murder him."

"Actually, I think he's cute," Dantae answers. For once, I'm shocked. "You know, as an older brother, I'd love to see you with him. However, he's too innocent for your taste. You scare off every guy I've ever thought was decent enough for you. You wear too much leather and sneak out too often for me to approve of any guy who you like."

I would bring up my thoughts on Liz Allen but hold my tongue when I remember that they just broke up. Dantae drops the conversation quickly too, probably knowing that Liz is always my go-to ammunition. At least the people I'm friends with are the scholarship kids. He always dates the rich girls.

"I'm not scary; I just know what I want," I tell him. "And you can't call me bad. You're on probation."

Right now, there are like, two things I want.

First on the agenda is new shoes. However, I don't really have the funds quite yet, so I guess that's second. First, research on Spider-man. Wait, actually, first on the agenda is brunch with Anthony. It's 12:30 PM, but brunch is more of a feeling than a time.

Maybe I'll add to that list trying to figure out where Peter knows me from. Unfortunately, I probably won't have any success in that arena until he figures it out for himself.