"Peter Parker," I hear a voice yell, waking me up and I look over to see that my roommate is already gone. "Get down here, now!" The headmistress calls again from downstairs and I force myself out of bed. I make my way over to the small closet that I share with Jason, my roommate, and pull on a shirt before making my way down the stairs into the lovely group home's lobby.

Note the sarcasm.

I wonder what I could have possibly done this time to anger her as I turn the corner. I turn to see her watching my every mood like a hawk. She doesn't yell, as usual, but as usual her face shows strictness. I feel a ping of guilt for whatever she is about lecture me about even though there is a huge chance I haven't done it. I glance at the floor and try to stay awake.

"Yes?" I ask, trying to wake up still. I have lived here for the last year and I hear her sigh. She may not be yelling at us but the way she can change the way I think, twist my mind, it's like taking hits emotionally. She has never physically hurt any of us though which I guess is good.

It hurts my throat slightly to speak. I have learned not to argue with her because it will only make me feel even worse so I just stay quiet. It's not worth the extra guilt plus whatever punishment she is about to give me.

"Peter," She says my name and I look up at her. "Please explains why you did this." I look over at the broken vase that sits on her desk. The desk itself isn't in the best shape. The desk is covered in papers, none of them sorted and there is ink spilled along with different confiscated trinkets.

I rack my brain trying to remember if I have even seen this vas's before but come up empty. Maybe I have broken it by accident. I shrug, keeping my voice quiet still and try to think of an answer.

"I don't think I didn't it ma'am." I mumble and look at my feet respectively. The shards of glass are spread across the ground, some shards probably invisible to my eyes at the moment. I silently am thankful that I am wearing shoes.

"Do you know who it could've been Peter?" She asks with what sounds like confusion in her voice. "This vase really meant a lot to me Pete, it's really sad that it has been broken." She adds and I shuffle back a couple inches, not knowing how to respond.

I secretly know that she doesn't believe me. She likes the other kids more then me and doesn't believe that they would do something else. It's not fair but I don't mind it at all, it keeps the other kids away from the mind tricks she is known for in this building. Still it's hard to try and know the truth when someone is telling you it's wrong.

"I'm sorry, I don't know." I say and glance up at her. I never know what is going on behind her almost red colored eyes but I know that she understands people more then she lets on. "I was upstairs all day and I wasn't down here at all." I start to go on but her silent stare is terrifying. I know she doesn't believe me, no one ever believes me so I have decided it's just easier to stay quiet. Only speak when spoken too.

"Are you sure Peter?" She asks and I rub my arm before looking back down. Did I break it? "Well, it's ok. I forgive who ever made the mess but can you clean it up Peter?" She asks but doesn't give me a chance to respond. "Thank you, can you also meet me in my office when you are done?" But before I can even respond again she is out of the room, leaving me and a mess which I have to clean up.

I open the closet door where we keep all of the cleaning supplies and find the dustpan in the back of it. I pick it up and walk back to the mess, quickly cleaning it up just in case any of the other kids decide to come down early.

Once I am sure I have gotten all of the larger pieces of glass off the ground of which used to be a vase, I start picking up the smaller ones. I clean quietly and think about who could've made it. Probably one of the younger kids, probably one of the boys, who were playing in the lobby and weren't paying attention.

It doesn't matter me that I'm cleaning it up though. As one of the oldest kids in the community home I have to make sure the others are ok, even if that means taking the blame for their actions. I have to do it because the other three oldest kids, Jason, Olivia, and Sam won't take the blame.

The headmistress also loves them more then everything in this house so she wouldn't exactly believe them if they said they did it.

I finish sweeping up the colorful glass shards that shine when the sun hits them and avoid cutting myself before I walk over to the trash bin to dispose of the glass. As I quietly move around the room, putting the cleaning supplies away I hear another person shuffling behind me and I look over my shoulder to see who it is.

It's one of the youngest kids in the orphanage and little does she know that she will be getting adopted today. I has read over one of the headmistress's papers in which she had set up an appointment for a set of parents to come in. She was what fit their description of what kind of child they wanted and if they didn't pick her I would be completely as utterly shocked.

Lily is also one of my favorite kids that live here. She is happy go lucky and is great with people. She kind of reminds me of how I used to be before everything happened.

I shake the thought from my head, trying not to think of that right now because it is definitely not the right time, and I crouch down to make eye contact with the bright eyed girl.

"Hey Lils." I smile lightly and she grins as well. "It's early, what are you doing down here?" I ask and look around for the headmistress, maybe she called Lily downstairs. Or maybe the parents came, no. It's too early for that.

"Are you taking the blame again?" Lily asks. She's smarter for her age and understands things most kids would often just blink confusedly at. She's mature even if her actions don't show it. She gives me a slightly disappointed look while sticking her bottom lip out when I nod a little.

"Yeah but I will be okay," I hug her and she sighs. "Remember, one day we are all going to get out of here." I remind her and she nods. "I have to go though Lily." I say and pull away from her and she is smiling.

Get out of here one day. We are going to get out of this home one day. That's what we all believe. It doesn't matter if it's because of us turning eighteen and being thrown out of the house or because we get adopted, we are all going to get out of this underfunded home.

"Yeah," She nods agreeing with my statement before looking to the stairs. Some of the other kids must be looking for her by now. "Bye Pete." She waves and makes her way upstairs to the second floor again.

I shake my head, laughing lightly at the girl as she almost trips but redeems herself before I focus on my task at hand. I walk down a hall that leads to the headmistresses office, my eyes tracing the cracks in the ceiling.

I wish we had more money. We barely have enough to have all of us eat, usually I end up giving my food to the other kids.

I knock on the door and look down at the ground respectfully, waiting for her to allow me in. "Come in Peter," She says and I hesitate for a minute, taking a deep breath before turning the knob.

I open the door slowly and take a careful step inside. The headmistress has her head in her hands and I make my way over to the chair. I have been here before, she's going to give me a lid of work to finish alongside my homework which is going to be hard to do but not impossible.

"I really need help with all of this, can you please do it for me?" She asks pushing the stack towards me. "It would be amazing for you to help Peter. I really need it done by Monday, thank you so much." She says and looks at the top page of the papers. "Just remember your new curfew is six which includes after school activities after that you'll be able to help I believe." She explains and I nod even though I'm being overloaded with information.

Within seconds I am picking the paper packets and leaving the room before going upstairs. I make my way upstairs and drop all of the papers on the desk that sits in our room.

I guess it's a good chance to gather my thoughts at night and do something productive. I stare at the television that Jason has turned on and I wonder to myself how I am going to get all of this work done and do my patrols.

I look up to see that Spiderman, aka me, is on the news and whoever the reporter is talking about how the Avengers are trying to hunt down me.

Of course the Avengers are only telling the public that they are trying to 'get to know Spiderman' but I know it's probably so they could figure out who I am and figure out what else I am able to do. I dwell on my thoughts as Jason walks into the room and hands me a sandwich. I shoot him a thankful look but push it back to him because he looks hungry.

I shift to my bed and bury myself under my blankets, knowing that I should take a nap, before I have to do so much tomorrow.

~~~

Originally Written: 11/02/19
Republished / Rewritten: 10/10/20
Proofread By: Caitlin A.