A few days later, after the weekend let up, Violet was back in school, the dark circles under her eyes lazily covered up by a thin layer of concealer that just barely hid them. She gave short, mumbled greetings to the kids around her that said 'hello,' opening her locker and leaning her head against the one beside it for just a moment.

The night before she hadn't gotten much sleep, her midnight escapade a bit longer than normal due to being chased by a not-so-happy vendor for a couple of blocks, rendering her exhausted by the time she made it home alone. It had made her be out later than she usually was, and even after, she had a project to catch up on for biochemistry, keeping her up until the early hours of the morning. Now, she felt like hell, her head heavy and her body sluggish.

With a loud sigh, she moved to pull a book out of her locker, only for it to slip out of her tired fingers and make it's way towards the ground. Before she could even think about reaching out for it, a hand came out of nowhere, catching the book by the spine before holding it out towards her. When she glanced up, she caught the eyes of Peter, laughing tiredly. "Good reflexes there, ninja," she joked, grabbing the textbook daintily and holding it to her chest to make sure it didn't fall.

"Why, thank you," he replied, giving her a mocking bow before opening his own locker. "You look like hell." The comment was brisk, followed up by a glance her way with a small eyebrow raise.

Violet scoffed, shutting her locker and leaning against it. "Thank you. You really know how to get the ladies, huh?" She gave him a playful look, watching as he briskly and yet accurately pulled out his own supplies. "I was up late working on that biochem project that's due today. Way too late. School shouldn't be allowed to keep me up until the morning and then force me to come in a few hours later, really."

Peter laughed quietly, shutting his own locker and adjusting his backpack strap on his shoulder before joining her on a walk towards their next class. "You don't have to get your assignments done. I mean, third in your class is a bit of an overachiever's thing, huh?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Says you, Number Two. A bit mad that your girlfriend is one step ahead of you?" She questioned, alluding to his quite obvious infatuation with Gwen. Her eyes stayed on him, causing her to completely miss the fact that a person was blocking the hallway in front of her. Quickly, he grabbed her jacket to pull her out of the way without even a stumble, before continuing their steady pace like nothing had happened.

His face turned bashful as her mind reeled from the sudden moment, his cheeks darkening the smallest bit as he held out a hand in surrender at her comment. "First of all, I don't care that Gwen's set for valedictorian. I think that women are the smartest people alive, and deserve all the achievements that they work hard for, thank you very much."

She snorted. "Spoken like a true feminist."

The boy ignored her sarcastic comment, continuing. "Two, she's not my girlfriend. We barely even know each other, c'mon." He brushed it off, stepping into the doorway of his classroom.

Violet rolled her eyes, calling over her shoulder as she continued her walk. "Whatever you say, big guy!"

It was a bit before she made her way into her own class, sitting down in her seat and getting out everything she needed for notes and assignments. Violet was the type to make completely elaborate notes in her journal in a very excessive way, mostly because, in a sense, she was a perfectionist. She also shared the notes with the kids she tutored, making sure that they got everything important when they took their own notes so that they could look over them confidently when she wasn't there.

The lesson dragged on in a bore, the bright-haired girl's eyes drooping shut multiple times due to her lack of sleep the previous night and the monotone drawl of the teacher, and she was quick to get up and leave when the bell rang. She shook her head to try and shake out some of the tiredness, sighing heavily.

God, she wished this day would be over already.

Thankfully, her next period was a free period, one that she luckily shared with Peter, which she had figured out a couple days into their friendship. She made her way into the gym, where multiple groups of people hung out in little clusters, including Flash playing basketball with his collection of big-headed jocks. As she walked in, the tall behemoth of a boy blocked his opposer's attempted dunk, yelling in his face as the ball bounced across the court, knocking directly into a large bucket of blue paint. Sadly, Missy Kallenback's poster was in the way of the warpath, paint spilling all over the decorative letters beyond repair.

"You did that on purpose, Flash," Missy snapped, reeling around to glare at him.

The boy scoffed. "No, but I should've. Better watch your back," he threatened, reaching out to grab the basketball that his friend had retrieved and passed back to him. As Flash returned to his game, Violet rolled her eyes with a disgusted look, starting to make her way over to Missy, who stared sadly down at her poster, which still had blue creeping across the page.

She got there the same time Peter did, giving him a short smile before looking at Missy. "Hey, sorry about that. If anyone could make that look good, though, it's gonna be you," she complimented, giving her a genuine grin. Missy's face lit up before a dark blush covered her cheeks, eyes flickering to Peter, who slowly lifted the bucket so it didn't spill further.

"Watch out!" A voice called, and Violet spun around only to see the same orange culprit hurtling straight towards her nose. She closed her eyes to brace herself for impact, only for it to never come. Her eyes opened when she recognized the sound of rubber against skin, her eyebrows raising in curiosity when she noticed that Peter now had the ball in his hands, face just as surprised as hers. The fact that he had managed to catch it when it was moving so quickly was impressive, and she dipped her head at him in thanks.

"Give it up, Parker," barked an all-too-familiar voice to break up the moment, and she groaned loudly as she turned around.

"I'm getting really sick and tired of hearing your voice, Flash." Violet yelled, way too tired to be dealing with any of this mess. The boy gave her a bittersweet smile before holding out his hands, bending his fingers to pressure Peter to give it back.

Peter seemed to have a lightbulb go off in his head, the ghost of a mischievous smile flickering on his lips as he mumbled a quick 'one sec.' With a nod, he handed his camera to Violet, sending her a quick wink before turning and walking towards Flash, messing with the ball in his hands. "Why don't you take it from me?" He challenged, meeting the taller jock in the middle of the court.

Confusion immediately made Violet furrow her brows. Peter was scrawny and lanky, not the type to play any sports, and she had never seen him show even the smallest bit of interest or knowledge into the rules of sports. He was practically setting himself up for failure, challenging a basketball player to something having to do with basketball. "Stick to taking pictures, Peter," she mumbled beneath her breath.

Her friend held out the basketball slightly to the side, the corners of his lips turned up in mischief as Flash got noticeably cocky. "Come on, take it," he murmured, waiting for the jock to reach for the ball before passing it behind his back to his other hand, eyebrows raising innocently as he looked back up at Flash. When the boy reached for it again, he slid it behind his back again before holding it high in the air, all while keeping an innocent look on his face.

Too stupid to not take the bait again, Flash jumped for the ball in Peter's hand, only for the latter to push down his head with his free hand and twirl the ball around it. He brought it to his chest so that when the former was turned completely the other way, Peter pushed the basketball towards him, hitting Flash right between his shoulder blades as the ball flew effortlessly back into his hands.

Violet raised her eyebrows, chuckling beneath her breath. She caught Peter's eye quickly when he glanced at her, a gleeful smile pulling at his lips as Flash just grew more and more pissed off at losing. The burly jock moved to grab the ball again, only for Peter to feign to throw it at his face, causing him to flinch and try to cover his face from the hit that never happened.

Finally, at what seemed to be the end, Peter held out the ball. "Just take it," he spoke softly. When Flash seemed hesitant, he glanced to the side before raising his eyebrows. "Alright, how about this?" He raised his free hand before covering his eyes, peeking through two fingers before completely turning around. "Alright? How about that?"

Thinking it was over, Flash grabbed the ball, turning to return to his game but was unable to get it to even roll on Peter's hand. Feigning confusion, the latter turned to see what was going on, still holding it with one hand as Flash tried to use two hands to tug it off. By now, his buddies had gotten impatient, calling towards him to just hurry up. "C'mon, Flash, just take it," Peter taunted.

Flash stepped back until he was closer to the backboard than Peter, and the fluffy-haired boy started to slowly dribble the ball, the sound of rubber hitting the floor echoing across the silent gym. Everyone was watching the spectacle, and Violet shoved her thumb in her mouth, chewing on her cuticles.

With a quick glance at Missy, she saw that the girl was adoringly watching Peter, and she snorted softly. A real charmer, he was.

"All right, bring it! C'mon, Parker! C'mon!" Flash yelled, red in the face with how angry the whole charade made him. Not even sparing a moment, Peter rushed at him, ruthlessly shoving him to the side before jumping into the air, practically soaring through it before slamming the ball through the hoop, taking the entire goal down with him.

Glass rained around him as he somehow elegantly landed on the gym floor, catching the hoop as it fell and letting the ball roll pitifully across the floor. The entire gym flinched in surprise, some even going as far as screaming, and even Peter himself seemed extremely concerned by the entire spectacle. Not even taking time to process what the hell had just happened, Violet rushed towards her friend, crunching glass beneath her feet as she held out her hand.

With a snort, she wiggled her fingers. "We will talk about whatever the hell just happened later, but for now, let's get you out of there before you get in so much trouble and fined for destruction, yeah?" She offered, raising her eyebrows. The boy was obviously shaken, but he nodded anyway, grabbing her hand and pulling himself gingerly away from the piles of glass.

"Are you okay?" Violet mumbled, glancing over his jacket. When he nodded, she grabbed the fabric gingerly with two pieces before shaking it, knocking off any loose shards that may have clung to him for dear life. "Lean your head down and shake out your hair in case any glass got there," she advised, raising an eyebrow.

He chuckled softly, turning and shaking his head side to side like a dog before lifting his head and running his fingers through the messy locks, giving Violet a smile. "Did I do it, Mom? Did I do good?" He teased, wrapping an arm around her neck and pulling her closer with a squeeze against her shoulder.

Her face twisted into one of distaste as she pushed against his chest and side, pulling herself out of the hug. "You did great, dear, but don't touch me, Superman," she scoffed, referring to the sudden play he had put on. "Yeah, because what the hell was that? Since when can you play basketball? And can shatter an entire fucking hoop?" Her hands gesture wildly at the destruction behind them.

Peter reached up to scratch the back of his neck nervously before shrugging. "Lucky shot?"

"And lucky fucking basketball tricks? Kiss my ass -"

Before she could finish her sentence, a voice rang out across the gym. "Peter Parker!"

"Uh, oh," she mumbled, turning and walking away from the boy just as a teacher angrily stomped towards him, leaving him baffled and incredibly flabbergasted.

After he was dragged away and locked within the confines of the principal's office, Violet made her way down the hallway and leaned against the lockers, pulling out a book and acting like she was reading it as she waited for her friend to emerge. In the empty hallways, she could hear the faint discussion of the principal, Peter, and the newly-arrived old man that she assumed was his uncle.

It took a little bit, but soon, the pair emerged from the office, immediately storming their way down the hall. She tucked herself around the corner, glancing around at them before simply just listening.

"... they won't make us pay for the backboard," was the first thing Violet could hear, followed by his uncle snapping that he didn't care about it, and her brows furrowed.

The good guys never won, did they?

"Was that true?" The older man questioned, and she could hear the squeaking of their shoes as both stopped in the hallway. At Peter's confusion, he sighed before rephrasing the question. "What I heard just now. Did you humiliate that boy?" The way he asked it made her realize that Peter was in trouble by more than just the school, and she gritted her teeth.

Flash was an asshole, and Peter had just been defending Missy. It was nothing bad.

Her friend obviously had the same feelings she did, as he simply scoffed before fessing up. "Yeah, I did. But -"

He was unable to finish his sentence before he was interrupted. "But what?"

"This guy deserved it!" Well said.

"Did he?""

"Yeah."

"Is he the kid that hit you?" His uncle immediately combated Peter's defensive approach. "Is he?"

"Yeah, yeah, but -" Ah, interrupted again. Sad times.

"So this is about getting even?" Wow, Uncle Parker was good at this. All she could think about was what possible reason this fatherly man wasn't an actual father to his own kid. Was that harsh to say? "If so, I guess you must feel pretty good about yourself right about now, right? Am I right or wrong?

She peered around the corner, watching Peter mess with his jacket and kick his feet as he stared at the ground. Getting scolded was never nice, but especially not for a kid like him, who never got in trouble and stayed out of the way of it, as well.

His uncle sighed. "Yeah, I thought so. Well, thanks to this little escapade of yours, I had to change shifts at work, so you have to pick up Aunt May tonight at nine. Understood?" He had eased up on the disapproving tone, but he was still quite obviously playing hardball. "Am I understood?"

Peter met his eyes for only a second before rolling his lips together, nodding. "Yeah."

Violet turned so her belly was against the wall, holding the corner as she looked to see what his uncle's eyes had drifted to. Her eyebrows raised when she caught a glimpse of Gwen, her lips pulling up at the corners when his uncle called to her, stating something about her being on his computer and him being his probation officer. Uncle had jokes lined up the wazoo.

Wanting to finally appreciate Peter's privacy, she pulled out her phone to scroll aimlessly through it while he approached Gwen, pushing out their conversation. It was only when he skipped around the corner that she raised her head, stepping beside him. "What was that?" She chirped, grinning when he jumped, his happy skip coming to an end.

"Why are you so damn good at that?" He snapped playfully, shoving her shoulder and shaking his head. "And nothing. Just me, ya know, scoring a date with Gwen Stacy. No biggie," he scoffed, his lips unable to keep from smiling.

"That's my boy!" Violet cheered, placing her hands on his arm and shaking him as they stopped in the middle of the hallway and he laughed, his face lit up like a kid on Christmas. "First, you come out of your shell and absolutely embarrass the fuck of Eugene, and now you're brave enough to ask out Gwen? God, I am such a good influence. I am so good. Look at me."

Peter rolled his dark, doe-y eyes. "You just have to make everything about you, don't you?" It was teasing, and she simply grinned up at him and nodded cheekily. He smiled down at her sweetly before wrapping his arm around her shoulders, walking her out the building.