11 years later

I got up this morning and went to school, just like any other day. 17 year's old, a junior in high school at Midtown High. I walked to my locker and put my bag and thing's I didn't need at the moment inside it. The one thing I was excited for? To find my best friend. Peter Parker.

I walked through the hall's on my way to find him. I was positive he was going to be by the photo board. Peter was quite the photographer, a similarity that we share. A basketball was thrown at him as I approached. It hit him in the side of the head. When I looked up to see where it came from. I could see Flash Thompson and his friend's snickering near by.

"Sorry." He said unapologetically, still snickering.
"Morning, Flash." Peter said kindly.
"Good morning, Parker." He laughed walking by him.

Flash noticed me and walked by with a wink. I shook my head and rolled my eyes. And I snuck up behind Peter as he shut the glass door to the photo bulletin board. I jumped onto his back and wrapped my arm's around his neck. He jumped in surprise.

"Hiya, Peter." I giggled.
"Geez, Cate. You scared me." He huffed and then let out a small snicker.
"Sorry." I laughed getting off his back.

We began walking down the hallway together toward's our classes.

"Oh, hey. Peter, right?" Missy called out to him as we walked by.
"Mhm." He nodded awkwardly. There's not a lot of people who usually talk to us.
"I really like your photo's." She looked between us both.
"Oh, thank's. Thank's." Peter said.  
"Uh, listen, are you busy Friday night?"
"Uhm," Peter shook his head and I scoffed under my breath.
"Cool. Uh, can you take pictures of my boyfriend's car? I just- - You know, I want to frame a good one for his birthday." Missy said and I could have started laughing.
"Wow that's really nice of you." I said nodding my head.
"That's such a nice thought. Uhm, yeah. I'll have to look at the old, uh, schedule." Peter told her politely.
"Okay." She smiled and walked back to her locker.

"Wow." I said with a snicker and he lightly shoved my shoulder.
"Oh, shut up." He laughed.
"Well, you can always tell her you are busy on Friday night." I suggested.
"Yeah, doing what?"
"What else?" I chuckled. "Making pizza at my house."
"That certainly sounds a lot better than taking pictures of a car." He nodded slowly and I shook my head. I noticed the skateboard in his hand's and I took it from him, putting it on the floor and gliding forward. He followed after me with a shake of his own head.

"Barrett." A teacher said and I quickly got off the board.
"Yes, sir?"
"You wanna keep that skateboard?"
"Uh, yeah?" I said with an awkward smile.
"Keep it off the ground."
"Yep, no problem." I handed the board back to Peter.
"Wheel's up!" He called out to us and Peter lifted it above his head.

We walked around the corner and Peter put it down on the floor and began to skate on it, on his own.

"You almost got my board confiscated." Peter looked at me with a pretend angry expression and I laughed.
"Say's the boy now skating on it. And I wouldn't have to steal your's if I had my own." I stuck my tongue out at him.
"Hey, I apologized for breaking your's." He pointed out and I shook my head.
"Still owe me a new board!" I called over my shoulder as I headed into my class.

Classes went by as normal and at lunch I decided to sit with Gwen Stacey. The only other friend I really had in the entire school.
    "Hey, Cate." Gwen said as I approached her table.
    "Hi, Gwen. How's it going?"
    "Oh, good. Good. I was just about to pull out my book and start reading." She nodded as she spoke with a smile.
    "Yeah? A good one, I assume. Better to read then to eat this garbage anyway's." I chuckled and took out my own sandwich from my lunchbox.
She laughed and pushed away her tray in agreement and I handed her a sandwich I had brought from home. We hated the school food. We began eating when we could hear the commotion going on next to us.

    "Eat it! Eat it! Eat it!" The small crowd chanted.
    "Eat your vegetables, Gordon. Come on!" Flash said as he held a kid upside down, pushing his face into his tray of food.
    "Hey, Parker! Come get a picture of this!" Flash called out to him as Peter made his way through the crowd.
    "I'm not gonna take a picture. Put him down, man." Peter told him quietly.
    "Come on." Flash groaned at him.
    "Gordon, don't eat it. Don't eat it." Peter told the kid shaking his head.

    "Take the picture, Parker."
    "Put him down, Flash."
    "Take the picture." He demanded.
    "Put him down, Eugene!" Peter said loudly, which I heard.

    "Oh, no." I quickly wiped my mouth. Running over to the crowd of people and pushing my way through.

Flash had thrown Gordon to the ground and when Peter tried to check on him. Flash punched Peter in the face.
    "Come on! Get up, Parker." He yelled at him.

Peter tried to get up and come at Flash, but he was met with a punch to the stomach and ended up back on the ground.
    "Get up! Come on!" He kicked him in the stomach.
    "I'm still not taking the picture." Peter groaned. Rolling on the ground in pain.
    "Stay down, Parker!"
    "That's enough, Flash!" I yelled walking into the small clearing in the circle where Peter was. Flash turned around and looked at me. His shouting immediately ceased. "Flash, how's that part of our science project coming? Hmm?" He didn't answer me. "Yeah, I didn't think so. If you expect me to tutor you on this or even get the rest of the project done alone. I would suggest you leave now."
    "But..."
    "No, I'll take an F and be fine. But, then if you fail, you don't pass, right? You don't pass, you don't play basketball." I said quietly and he gulped. He slowly nodded his head. "Then just go to class and leave Peter alone. Hmm? How about it?"
    "Whatever." He huffed quietly and walked away as the bell rang.

The crowd of student's began to clear away and I walked over to Peter as he struggled to get up. I helped him stand and I put my hand on his face gently and inspected it.
    "That's gonna leave a bruise." I told him softly.
    "Yeah, well. Just part of getting punched in the face." He said quietly.
    "Well, I think it was great what you did out there. I mean, it was stupid to, but great." I chuckled and we began walking to class.

We sat down and he laid his head in his arm's.
    "Do you want me to help you to the nurse?" I asked him as we sat in the back on the class. He shook his head in his arm's. "You might have a concussion." I pointed out.
    "I'm fine." He said.
    "Fine. Tell me your name." I said with a smile.
    "What?" He looked up at me confused.
    "I'll stop caring, if you can tell me your name."

He looked at me with a curiously and a soft smile came across his face.
    "I think it's Rodrigo?" He said with a smirk and he slightly bit his lip.
    "Oh, well Rodrigo. I think you have a concussion. Because, I know your name and that's not it." I chuckled quietly. "You just don't want me to stop caring do you?"
    "Nah, I could never let you stop caring and worrying about me. That's what makes life with you fun. Making you worry about me." He spoke softly and my cheeks lit up pink.
    "You're alway's keeping me on my toes, Parker. But, seriously. You should go to the nurse. Aunt May's gonna have a field day if she see's that bruise up." I whispered as the teacher turned around and glanced around the room.
    "I'll be fine." He reached out and touched my hand.

School ended and we walked home together. May and Ben were out tonight so, Peter decided to come home with me.
    "Aunt Mary? I'm home. Peter came with me." I called out as I hung up my jacket on the rack.
    "Oh, well, that's fine, dear. I'm making spaghetti and meatballs tonight. So there's plenty of dinner." She called back out to us from the kitchen.

We walked around the corner and into the kitchen. My aunt was a small woman, with long dark brown hair. Always had a bright smile on her face. I walked to the freezer and grabbed a bag of frozen peas and pushed the bag into Peter's hand's.

    "Oh, my. What happened to your face?" Aunt Mary walked over and fussed over Peter.
    "Oh, I'm all right. I fell, skating." He lied and I shook my head with a smile. She looked at him suspiciously and then at me and I shrugged. If he didn't want to tell I wasn't going to make him.
    "Oh, Robert, don't you dare put that filthy box on my clean kitchen table!" Aunt Mary scolded her husband as he came up the stairs from the basement and tried to put a box on her table.
    "But, these are my bowling trophies." He gave her a pout and she shook her head. "Hi, sweetheart." Uncle Bob kissed my forehead and then reached out a hand to shake Peter's. "Hey, Peter. Good to see ya. What happened to you?"
    "He fell." Aunt Mary said sarcastically and Peter shrugged.
    "Whoa, where's the flood?" I asked as I noticed the box was all wet.
    "Follow me, and I'll show you."

We followed Uncle Bob into the basement.
    "I think it's the condenser tray." He told us as we looked at the machine causing the flooding.
    "Hmm, I don't think so. There's to much water for the condenser tray or the heat exchange tubing." I shook my head.
    "It's got to be the fill line." Peter said from next to me.

    "Well, I suppose that's the only thing that makes sense. Think you two can fix it?" He asked.
    "I can run by the hardware tomorrow and I can do it then." I offered to him and he smiled.
    "What would I do without you?" He chuckled and gave me a small side hug. He looked at Peter and smiled. "So, how's the other guy look?" Peter looked at him a bit shocked. "Oh, come on. I know a right hook when I see one. Was this person picking on Cate? Is that why you go into a fight?"

    "What? No, Uncle Bob. I can take care of myself." I scoffed.
    "No, sir. But, she did step in for me. Kept him from beating me up more. Suppose I should be lucky all I got was this black eye." He nudged my shoulder and I scoffed again playfully.
    "Oh, you were doing just fine. I'm sure if I stayed out of it for another minute you would have gotten back up and beat his as... butt." I corrected myself when Uncle Bob glared at me.

    "You better not be getting into fight's at school, missy." He gave me a pointed look and pursed his lips.
    "No, no. I'm not I promise. I only stepped in and talked to the kid. That's all. I didn't lay a finger on anyone." I put my hand's up in defense.
    "Okay, good. Now, if you both don't mind before you come up, see if there's anything worth saving. But, no funny business." He aid looking between us and I nearly choked on the air.
    "Uncle Bob!" I squeaked and my face flushed red. Peter's did to, unnoticed by me.
He chuckled and walked back up the stairs.