Anthony was right; movie night sucks. Claire keeps making out with her weird Swedish boyfriend. I can hear Anthony's mother moaning above us. Consequently, Anthony keeps running to the bathroom, either to throw up or to run the water and drown out his parents.

Movie night, it is worth noting, is actually documentary night. I would kill for an action flic right now, to try and cancel out all the actions that are happening around me.

When the show finally ends, Claire and Olof are making out on the coach directly above us, the bedframe above us is shaking, and Anthony is flushing the toilet for the tenth time in five minutes.

I check my watch, thankful that it is only 8:00. It's still early enough to catch Spider-man in-action. Maybe I will get my exciting, running-through-the-streets-in the-dead-of-night chase sequence that I so desperately wanted. I already had one of those, but this time with him on the line, and with his secret-identity between my teeth.

"Wasn't it good?" Claire giggles, asking the pair of us. I like to imagine, even though I know it's not the case, that she is asking us what the movie was about. It's either that, or the quality of their makeout session.

"It was... eventful," Peter shrugs his shoulders, adjusting the collar of his button-up underneath his blue sweater. He glances over at me. I wonder if this is the closest thing to a party that he has ever attended.

Eventful. You could say that again.

I get up off the ground, leaving the room to go check on Anthony. He is in the bathtub, head between his knees. There is an empty packages of cigarettes on the ground, and he is clutching a new one between his hands.

"The movie's over," I rest my fingers delicately on his shoulder. I've never been good at the comforting thing, and so I only half-ass it this time.

"Thank God!" Anthony looks up at the ceiling. "As soon as y'all are out of here I'm going to take a long walk off a short pier."

"Do you want me to stay?" I ask, standing up.

He shakes his head. "I'm going to go through another package of cigarettes, maybe two bottles of vodka. You don't want to see me like that. Then, the wedding will be off."

The smile on my face drops. I can't believe Peter told him that too. I'm literally going to strangle Dantae. "Please. Could you picture me in a wedding dress? I'd rip the bottom off to move easily."

"Are all wedding dresses long?" he asks, looking up at me. When he meets my eyes, he sighs. "Stay on stand by. I'm going to tell my Mom I'm moving out if he's around. I don't know how well she will take it."

I nod, waiting in the doorway. When he doesn't say anything else, I head back into the living room.

"Alright, Anthony is still vomiting because his lactose intolerant ass can't even handle smelling chocolate let alone eating it," I gesture to the snacks that Olof brought, just to make Claire feel like crap for bringing along a date to the robotics club meeting. "He told me to just leave this mess and get out before he pukes all over us all."

"Sounds good," Claire smiles. Within half a second, she is out the door with her Swedish boyfriend.

When the door shuts, I turn to Peter. "Honestly, I don't even know why she bothered to come."

Then I make my way to the door. Before putting on my jacket, I chuck Peter his. I'm surprised he is able to catch it. He struck me as a clumsy guy.

"She's good with robots," Peter smiles. "It's kind of, like, all you need in robotics club."

Once I have my jacket on, I nod at him, gesturing for him to join me. I open the door, and he motions for me to walk through it. With a smile on my face, I go first, with him trailing behind me.

"Anthony told me his parents were divorced," Peter begins, looking over at me. He raises his hands in defence. "I'm not like, being nosey or anything. At least, not intentionally," he smiles a bit, pausing. "But, you know, if Tony doesn't want to talk about it, you don't have to tell me."

I press the elevator button, listening to its hum as it rises. "Long story short, one you figured out on your own, Tony's parents are divorced. Mostly on paper, actually."

It's not like I'm violating Anthony's privacy. Anthony looks just like a younger version of his Dad. I can guarantee that Peter has met Anthony's mom before. You'd have to be an idiot to miss it, actually. There are few things I know about Peter Parker, and the biggest thing I know is that he is anything but dumb.

Peter is another scholarship kid with his fair share of baggage. I've only ever heard whispers and rumours about him. Super good grades, dead parents, dead uncle. That and the little tidbits Anthony has provided me over the last couple months. He's never seen without a button-up, never says a bad word about anybody except for Flash Thompson, and he tends to ramble.

Peter sighs. He doesn't make eye-contact with me, instead staring forward.

I really want to know why he was staring at me. It's nagging at the back of my mind. Maybe I read him wrong, and he actually just thought that I was pretty. I mean, I doubt it. After all, Dantae got all the hot genes, according to no one but him. Still, I can't help but think about how Anthony said I was kind of creepy.

The elevator door dings into the lobby.

"Tony's Dad is just suddenly back from deployment too," I tell Peter, because again, none of this is private information.

We head in the same direction out of the building.

"How do you think you did in chemistry?" Peter asks. He doesn't bring up the fact that I was late, nor the face I made at the teacher. It's kind of nice that he isn't throwing some pity party for me or for Anthony.

"I think I did okay," I tell him, even though I'm sure I did great. "You?"

Peter nods. "I probably did alright."

For him, 100% is probably alright. I can't blame him for that though; that's Midtown in a nutshell. I'm the exact same way.

"I mean, you had the chemistry whiz helping you out last night, right?" I elbow him gently as we walk. I wonder where he lives, since he's been following me deeper into Queen's. Probably close if he knows about Delmar's.

Yes, Anthony is actually the chemistry whiz. He's good with computers, but compared to me, babies are good with computers. It's nothing special.

"Mostly we spent the whole night calming him down," Peter jokes, a light smile on his face. "Anthony's hands kept twitching. Like, they wouldn't stop. It was kind of freaky, actually."

I don't reveal Tony's smoking habit to Peter, not because it's embarrassing but because it embarrasses Tony immensely.

"Do you have a curfew?" I ask him. I'm supposed to be waiting for Spider-man, but I'm not going to be able to if I'm on Tony stand-by. My night has suddenly gotten freer than I was expecting.

"Sort of," Peter lowers his eyes, looking down at the ground.

I cock an eyebrow at him, and he rolls his eyes. His smile is contagious though. His brown hair looks soft.

Darcy Delmar is not falling for another Basic White Boy. I've been there, I've done that, Anthony has reminded me about it. Right now, is strictly time for teens to break curfew and cause havoc on the streets.

"You can't 'sort of' have a curfew," I tell him, crossing my arms over my chest. "Either you've got to be home or you don't."

"Let's just say that I have a fire escape." He tells me.

"Peter Parker, are you a bad boy?" I shake my head back and forth in mock surprise.

Take that, Dantae. Not only is he a bad boy, but Peter Parker isn't afraid of me. As long as Peter isn't gay, I've one this battle. He won Harry, but I won Liz.

Not that I'm saying I want to date Peter. Beating Dantae, however, is one of the few things that brings me joy. I correctly predicted this year's FIFA, so that's a point. Normally, Dantae wins the weather forecast. I'm just saying we debate about things other than Potential Love Interests™. When it comes to people, I'm generally right though, so I'm holding out.

Peter only stifles a nervous laugh, not answering the question. I take it that means he has had his streak of fun and wild behaviours. I wonder what other secrets he is hiding behind his collared shirts. Mostly, but not entirely, figuratively.

"I'm... I'm n-not a bad boy," he stutters every possible word he could. "Are- are you telling me that you've honestly never snuck out before?"

"I've never," I tell him, mostly because I just stay out late and sneak in. My parents assume that if I'm not at home, I'm with Anthony. Since, other than the smoking, Anthony has never done anything even morally ambiguous in his lifetime, I've got free roam of the streets.

"Why do you ask?" Peter stops walking, if only for a second, to look at me. I ignore his eyes. Deciphering other people's emotions is not easy for me, even if I have a knack for everything else.

Still, I shrug my shoulders, not wanting to admit that my (only) friend might actually move out of his house and leave me. Also, not wanting to admit that the thought of being alone when Anthony calls telling me he's homeless now, and I have to sneak him into my house until my Mama can talk some sense into his.

"I just was hungry," I offer.

Dinner was only like, three hours ago, but I didn't eat breakfast or lunch. Since Anthony might not call me until 3:00 AM, I am going to need to eat eventually.

Peter smiles at me, before biting his tongue. "Um, ah, I've got a project due in the morning. You know, calculus, how it gets. Busy me, all the time. Maybe we could, uh, get together some other time?"

I nod carefully, trying to hide my grimace. No problem. Either he is repulsed by me or he is entirely oblivious. No, I force myself not to look for the answer between the wrinkles on his forehead.

"I'll text you?" he offers.

Damn it. Just like that, he slips away. He's halfway down the block before I shout after him. "You don't even have my number!"

He doesn't hear me though, continuing his jog down the street. I can't help but smile though.

He's jogging back towards Anthony's house, which means he lives in the opposite direction that I do.