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"HOW COULD YOU BE FAILING?"

Alissa's eyes sharply snapped towards Carter, smacking him in side of head as he headed down the stairs right behind her. After the long and playful yet dangerous snowball fight, Alissa invited all of her friends inside to warm up with some hot chocolate and one or two Christmas movies. With blue lips and wet clothes, it wasn't hard for them to accept the offer, nearly racing each other inside to get into the warmth that was just waiting to embrace them.

"Would you shut up?" Alissa seethed, eyes burning into her brother. He defensively held his hands up, tucking up the sleeves of his navy blue sweater he threw on. His hair was still a little damp, but so was everyone else's from the snow that had been showered upon them like an intense rainstorm. "I don't need—"

"Woah, failing?" Gwen repeated in bewilderment, concern laced within her usually cheerful voice. Harry was no longer smile, and neither were Mary Jane and Peter. They looked confused and worried, Peter most of all. "Who's failing?"

"Not me," Carter smugly said. His smile was wiped away when Alissa jammed her elbow into his stomach, making him groan in pain. "O-Or Alissa," He breathlessly wheezed.

Alissa rolled her eyes, shooting him one last nasty glare while she plopped down on the couch beside Peter. Then, she let her attention return her friends, ignoring the incomprehensible grumbles and curses that were thrown at her by Carter. "I'm not failing," Alissa assured her friends, notching the looks of relief that flashed over her friends faces, sighs of relief being heard, "Not yet, at least."

"Alissa," Mary Jane gaped, "You can't fail, not with only two weeks left."

"I'm not gonna fail," Alissa responded, giving her friend a look in hopes that the subject would be dropped. She already knew her grades were steadily decreasing, but she didn't need to be reminded of it. "I can manage."

"You sure?" Gwen asked, eyes kind and soft as they met Alissa's.

Alissa sighed, dropping her head into her hands. "Honestly, no, I'm not. Geometry is kicking my ass," she admitted, knowing it was better to just talk about it. That way, they wouldn't keep pestering her about it until she finally confessed.

"Geometry?" Peter repeated. Alissa nodded, scooting on the couch so she was facing him a little more. "I-I'm pretty good at geometry. Maybe I could help?" Alissa's head perked up. "O-Only if you want. I'm sure there's someone—"

"No, no," Harry objected, "You help her."
Alissa gave Harry a discreet look. "It's not like she has anyone else in mind, right, Al?"

Peter turned to Alissa, doing a double take when he saw a dark expression on her face. When she looked back to him, an innocent smile replaced it, a nervous laugh spilling off her tongue. "Uh, not really, no," she answered, fiddling with her hands. While she did like Peter, and she liked when he gave her attention, she wasn't liking it in that moment. She felt exposed, helpless, having to ask for help with something such as geometry.

"Okay, uh, well, I could do every other day, if you'd want, or maybe everyday. I-I don't really mind," Peter stated, clearing his throat. "Whatever works for you. . ."

Alissa grinned, finally looking up to Peter. His head was slightly titled, his hair messy after having taken off his beanie. His curls were more noticeable, and his eyes stared at her in a way she'd never seen before. A weird feeling came to her stomach, wondering why it seemed so familiar to her.

° ° °

"We gotta stop running into each other like this."

"You're following me, aren't you?" Alissa didn't need to look back as she continued to walk along the sidewalk. Her and Peter had decided to meet every other day at the library, and with it being their second day back at school, she had come to find she needed all the help she could get after her teacher brought her to the hall when she failed to turn in another assignment. She made sure to inform him that she was getting help from Peter which put a smile on the teachers face. And while they had every intention of meeting in the library, they were unable to, but Peter told her that they could do it at the apartment. So, that's where she was headed. "Don't you have something better to do than stalk teenage girls?"

Spider-Man dropped down from the roof he'd been walking along, making Alissa momentarily stop, but then smile when he realized she was waiting for him to catch up to her so she could continue. "I'm not stalking you, but I don't have anything better to do than talk to pretty girls."

Alissa made an awing sound. "You're getting bolder," she commented, earning a light chuckle from him. "We're gonna have to stop talking, or else you might even ask me out." Spider-Man was silent for a second. "Oh no, I—"

"I'm kidding!" He snickered, taking a few steps to be ahead of her. "Totally kidding, Miss."

Alissa scrunched up her nose. "Please don't call me that."

"Well, you've never told me your name so. . ." He slowly dragged off, pretending like he didn't already know her name was Alissa Lilly Caverly.

"Alissa," she introduced, softly smiling.

"Ah, Alissa," he repeated. "That's nice, it suits you, Ali."

"Hey now," she shook her finger, "Only my friends and family get to call me by nicknames, and you are not my friend."

Spider-Man made an offensive sound. "We're not? Even after all the times I've saved you and brought you home?" He tried, only earning a sly smirk from the girl.

She glanced to the building beside her, carelessly shrugging. "Nope," she smugly said. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have plans."

Spider-Man turned his attention to the building, a quiet gasp coming from his lips. It was his apartment building.

Alissa turned, but she was forced to stop when Spider-Man's webbing snatched up her wrist. She only rolled her eyes, spinning to fade him with an annoyed expression on her face. "Really? Again? How many times are you gonna web me up?"

"I'm not sure yet," Spider-Man said, but Alissa didn't laugh. He cleared his throat and rushed over, quickly yanking at the webbing, ignoring the looks an older couple sent him as they walked past. "W-What are you doing here?"

"Why do you care?" She replied with a question, watching him tangle with the webbing.

"I'm just making sure you're not going to rob some innocent old lady," he looked up at her. "You aren't, right? 'Cause if you are, that might ruin our chances of ever being friends."

Alissa smirked, letting her hand fall to her side when he freed her. "When did I say you had a chance?"

"You're breaking my heart here," he faked sadness, even holding his hands over his heart.

Alissa let out a giggle, playfully rolling her eyes. "Okay, maybe we can be friends," she said. "And no, I'm not going to rob someone. I have to get help with some homework."

Spider-Man folded his arms over his chest, "Oh really? A-And is it a boy who's helping you?" He asked, trying to act like a little protective.

Alissa winked. "Maybe." With that, she turned and headed toward the entrance, ignoring his shouts at trying to get some information on the boy despite already knowing the answers to his questions. She stole a glance at him, flashing him a toothy smile before she disappeared.

He let out a sigh, eyes trialing up to his bedroom window.

"Man, if that's you trying to flirt, you're gonna have to do better than that," an older man with sunglasses on said as he passed by Spider-Man, not even fazed by the superhero; he had already met a few of them.

He took a deep breath and ran forward, shooting out a web and swinging towards the fire escape he was so used to climbing up.

He hoped he would beat Alissa.

° ° °

"Alissa, hi, sweetie! Come in, come in," Aunt May gushed, pulling the girl in for a hug once she was safe and sound inside the small apartment. Alissa let out a faint laugh, happily hugging the older woman back. "How are you? Peter hasn't stopped talking about you."

Alissa faintly blushed as she shrugged off her coat. "Really?"

May nodded, taking the coat and hanging it up on the coat rack. "Oh yeah," May continued, "He's helping you with math, isn't he?"

Alissa nodded, adjusting her book bag. "Yeah, I've been having some trouble with the equations and he's really good at them, so," she said, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

May beamed, glancing down the hall towards her nephews bedroom. "Well, Peter's in his room if you'd like to go on in, though, his room is a bit messy, and a little smelly. He's got all this old tech stuff thrown around, but, maybe he's cleaned it up for you." Alissa chuckled, pushing her shoes towards the pile that was placed by the door. May took a few steps into the kitchen, sidedly glancing to Alissa. "I've got a sausage pizza cooking in the oven, so, I hope you're hungry."

Alissa smiled, patting her stomach. "Very."

May sent Alissa one last smile and went back into the kitchen. Alissa headed down the hall. She winced when she heard something crash into the floor, followed by Peter letting out a string of grumbles. Alissa bit her lip, hesitantly lifting her hand to knock on the door. The sound of scrimmaging stopped, and then it continued. The only difference was that it got closer to the door, making Alissa take a cautious step back.

The door swung opened, Peter coughing out a breath before he plastered a smile on his face. "Uh, hey, Alissa," he greeted her, opening the door. She thanked him with a nod and stepped in, eyes skimming over his room. May had been right: it was a mess, but not as much as Alissa had been expecting. "S-Sorry about the mess. I tried cleaning, but—"

"You've seen Carter's room, right?" Alissa snickered, standing in the middle of the room. Peter's nerves diminished some more, hearing her response. "Yours is nothin' compared to his."

"Yeah, um,"—he grabbed some clothes from his bed and desk chair, perfectly tossing them into his hamper by his door—"Uh, you can sit wherever. . ."

Alissa kindly smiled, sitting on the edge of the bed, her book bag slipping from her shoulder and landing at her feet with a light thud. "Nice arm by the way," she noted, having seen how easily he managed to throw his clothes across the room without so much of a bat of his eye.

Peter moved towards his desk, grabbing his own homework. "Thanks, I've uh, been practicing lately," he easily lied.

"Have you been practicing your photography, too?" She curiously asked, her gaze falling on his camera on his desk. More pictures were added to the bulletin board above his desk since the last time she had stepped foot into his room.

"A little. The yearbooks used a few of my photos," he informed her. "They used the one of you, Gwen and MJ for that spread about the demonstration."

"Really?" Alissa couldn't help but smile. "That's great. MJ will love to hear that, Gwen too."

Peter laughed. "Yeah, I'm sure. . ." He sighed, hitting his pencil against his page. "The pictures. . .I've been practicing and everything. . .and I've been taking pictures of Spider-Man for the Daily Bugle."

Alissa gasped, her folder slipping from her hands. She bent down, her hand brushing against Peter's as they both reached for it. She blushed, eyes drifting to his arm. On his wrist was the colors black and purple, meshing together to create for one nasty looking bruise. Alissa's head popped up, mind forgetting all about her folder.

"Peter, oh my god," she gingerly grabbed his wrist, examining the bruise. He internally groaned at his mistake for not hiding it as well as he thought he did. "What—What happened?"

"It's nothing," Peter snatched his wrist, trying to brush the whole thing off as if it was nothing. "I-I fell at school. It's fine, really, I'm okay."

Alissa hesitated, glancing to the bruise again. He slid his sleeve down, hiding it once more. "Are you sure? You can tell me—was it Flash?" Peter ignored her gaze, keeping his eyes locked on the finished geometry homework that was staring back up at him. When he didn't answer, Alissa sighed, slouching. "I'm sorry, if you don't wanna tell me, that's fine. I just wanna make sure you're okay."

"I'm fine, I promise," he assured her, offering her a smile when he looked back to her. Alissa nodded, puffing out her cheeks. "So, about the homework. . ."