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ALISSA PURSED HER LIPS INTO A FINE LINE. Her face was completely stoic, her thin yet slightly chubby arms lazily folded over her chest as she stood on the cracked sidewalk, leaning to one side with her weight shifting from one foot to the other every few minutes as she waited. Wind gently swept against her cheeks every few seconds, blowing her hair back behind her shoulders. She lifted her hand up to her face, swiftly tucking the hair behind her ears before returning to her previous stance in front of Middletown Middle School.

Carter sighed out in annoyance, puffing out his cheeks, shifting in his seat as he watched her from down the street in his running car, waiting for Alissa to find Brian so that they could head home and just relax before starting their numerous homework assignments.

It was already 3:20 P.M. and Brian had gotten out of school almost half an hour ago, but he was nowhere to be seen.

He should've been outside with all of his things by now, anxiously watching for Carter and Alissa so he could leave as soon as humanly possible, but there was no sign of the boy, or any of his few friends, and it was an unusual sight.

Alissa stuffed her hand into the pockets of her jean jacket, fiddling with her phone and pulling it out to check to see if she had any missed texts' from Brian, or any of his friends that said where they might have went. She bit her lip, glancing at the double doors leading into the school. She quickly unlocked her phone, tapping on her messages to send one to her youngest brother, demanding to know where he was. She still didn't have any recent ones from him telling her if he was staying after school for hockey or any of his extra curricular activities, and she sighed, quickly sending her text.

TO: B 💩🧡
FROM: ALI(EN) 👽

Where the hell are you? I've been waiting outside of the school for almost an hour now!! 🙄

FROM: B 💩🧡
TO: ALI(EN) 👽

Can u PLEASE PLEASE come in? Go to the right and then like the 5th door on the left.

You'll know it when you see it.

Alissa frowned as she read the message she received moments later, wondering why on earth he would need her to go in to get him instead of waiting for him to walk out, but she didn't reply. She simply entered her old school to find out what was going. Carter watched from the car in confusion, turning off the ignition to see what she was doing when he spotted her heading inside. He clambered out, waiting a few seconds before following after his little sister to find out what was going on.

Alissa swung open the double doors, following the instructions from Brian to turn right after entering. She let out a heavy sigh to herself, stuffing her hands in the pocket of her jacket again, holding onto her phone incase Brian texted her again. The school was colder than she expected, but it was nice compared to the heat she was normally bombarded by when she first walked into the high school during the winter months. Alissa's eyes glanced into the office to the side, seeing all of the posters and banners strung up on the bright colored walls.

Memories of Alissa's previous years at the middle school flashed in her mind in quick blurs of her past as she walked down the vacant halls. A grin casted upon her lips at the smiles that passed on the faces of her friends, all grinning and laughing together alongside her. She had so many amazing and wonderful memories from the school during the dances that she had attended with her close friends, in class when they goofed off and made a complete fools of themselves, and when they simply enjoyed the times when they were just together.

Alissa didn't even notice that Peter was in most of the memories that she cherished so deeply in her heart; more than the rest.

As she relished in her past memories with eyes shining at the mere thought of them, she let her tired gaze wander on the wooden doors on the left of her, counting to five inside her head. That was when she halted in the middle of the hallway, echoes squeaking from her worn down sneakers and brown eyes nearly tripling in size at the sign plastered on the wooden door. The door where Brian told her to go was labeled as the boys restroom. She didn't have a problem with going in there, but that was just her. She wasn't sure about others who might of seen her enter the bathroom, but she needed to find her brother, and so she hesitantly lingered in front of the door, running an unsure hand through her hair, exhausted and skeptic.

She still didn't understand why Brian wanted her to go to boys restroom of all places. Why not a classroom, or even to the track outside where he sometimes ran laps to keep in shape for hockey?

Alissa removed her phone from her pocket and peered down at the bright screen, seeing no further message from Brian. She shook her head and then she entered the bathroom. In an instant, a foul odor wafted into her face when she stepped inside, causing her to gag and clench her eyes shut at the horrid smell. She hesitantly continued further into the poor smelling room, face scrunched together in disgust at the trash that littered the floor by the trash cans that were clearly ignored. Bold and sloppy written curse words, explicitly drawn images, phone numbers, and names of all genders were written on the brown stalls in a wide range of colors, and it made Alissa roll her eyes at the obvious immaturity of middle schoolers as she rounded the corner.

"B, please tell me you're in here. If this is some sort of joke made by Xavier, I swear—"

Alissa halted in the middle of the dimly lit room, finding Brian huddled under a sink, holes torn into his Avengers shirt he wore under a jean jacket that had wet splotches splattered on the arms and backside. Alissa's eyes softened at the sight of her younger brother, slowly and carefully approaching him with caution as she took in more of his distraught and shaken appearance.

His dark brown hair was a ruffled mess rather than swept to the side with gel and had water sliding down the sides of his face like sweat. Wet streaks stained his chubby cheeks from where he had been crying recently. His scraped up knees were tightly pulled into his chest, head resting upon them tiredly and sadly. His face was clearly visible in the light that landed on his face in an angle, but that also meant Alissa saw the forming bruise surrounding his right eye that would surely become black within a few hours. She also noticed the faint marks lining his forehead as well as small cuts decorating both of his cheeks and lower lip.

Alissa's lips curled downward as she stared at his beaten body, gently sinking to her knees to be beside him. He shifted to have his back pressed against the blue painted wall, eyes looking everywhere but at his sister. Brian didn't want her to see him so broken and fragile only to give him a pair of pitiful puppy dog eyes she always sent when she found him crying. He didn't want her to see him weak.

Brian was a strong boy who didn't want others trying to be strong for him if they believed he couldn't do it. He could do it himself, but in that weak moment, maybe he could've used some support from someone else.

Soft sniffles racked from his small body, and Alissa's heart dropped at the sound, noticing something broken in pieces in front of them near one of the stalls.

Dark, brown pieces of clay were smashed to tiny bits, some with jagged edges. Thinly painted white lines were well done straight and narrow, Alissa finding it quite easy to realize it was designed to be a football despite it being broken. Some words were visible on the larger pieces that weren't as chipped or completely broken, but the most prominent word was the one that ripped Alissa's heart even more when her eyes caught sight of it.

On one lopsided piece was a well written name—Carter's name.

"B. . ." Alissa's voice was faint and gentle, sounding almost nurturing as she tore her gaze from the pieces and back to the boy who seemed more small than normal. "What. . .What happened in here?"

Brian sniffled again, wiping at his eyes and nose. He stretched his legs out, his feet pushing the broken ceramics project away almost as if he was ashamed. He slid down against the wall some more, head leaning to the side while his eyes stared at the stall in front of them. "I made Car a present for his birthday so I had it done and ready. . .and it was broken. . .by Grant."

Alissa sighed, her heart cracking ever so slightly.

She had heard of a bully in Brian's grade by the name of Grant from Xavier. He was notorious for bullying and belittling the younger kids that he didn't like, but lately, his targets had become the boys in his own grade that he thought were too weak. Brian hadn't done anything to the boy, and apparently, being a player on the hockey team wasn't enough to prove that he was anything but weak when Grant took notice of the dark haired boy carrying a project that had another boys name painted on it almost too perfectly to him.

"Oh, B. . .Why? I thought you were making sure to stay away from him," Alissa curiously wondered, shifting to sit next to him rather than in front. He scooted closer to his sister despite not wanting to, and she instantly lifted her arm up and wrapped it around his shoulders to pull him into a side hug. He easily leaned into his sisters embrace, letting his head rest against her shoulder as she held him tightly and comfortably.

"I thought I was too," Brian whispered out meakly, "But. . .He found out. . ."

"About—?" Brian nodded at what she was going to say. She shook her head in anger, then rested it a top of his own. "How'd he find out?"

"He heard me talking to V during Ceramics," Brian replied glumly. "He saw Carter's name painted on it, and h-he just assumed. . .he grabbed me after art class and dragged me here with his stupid friends." With every word he spoke, Alissa's heart tore and tears began to brew in her eyes. "They beat me up, called me names. And. . .they tossed me on the ground. Grant took my project and smashed it with a smile. . .told me that I deserved it. . ." Brian broke off, lifting his gaze to meet his sisters glossy one.

Alissa saw the pain swimming in his normally vibrant eyes, sadness evident on his facial features. She wanted to speak, to comfort him, but she knew he had more to say.

Glumly, Brian continued. "What's wrong with me, Al? Am I really that much of a freak? Do I deserv—"

"The only thing that's wrong is with Grant,  and that's for hurting you on his misguided beliefs," Alissa firmly stated, seeing Brian peering up at her questionably. "Okay?"

"But maybe I really am some kind of a freak," Brian tried to reason. "There's something wrong with me. I shouldn't like another boy. It's wrong."

Alissa tightened her grip around him and gently pecked the side of his forehead. A second later she moved, sitting in front of him and grabbing one of his hands and held it tightly in her own as if she held him any looser then he would slip from her grasp. Her eyes looked into his for a few seconds as if silently speaking to him, seeing fresh tears brewing in his eyes while she blinked back her own.

"You are anything but a freak," Alissa began, faintly smiling towards her little brother. "Are you annoying? Of course you are. Are you a pain in the ass? Always, but what else are brothers for? We might all be adopted, but we're still family, and we love and protect each other. But. . .are you a freak? No. You're not even close to being one. The only freak is the one who thinks that trying to make you feel any different for being yourself and awful for only liking someone is the freak, and a downright asshole."

"But maybe he—"

"No, listen to me, B. You be who you're meant to be. Don't be the person that everyone else wants you to be, including that little shit. He, or anyone else for that matter, have no right to dictate who you can like nor can they harm you into being the way they believe you should be. Be the person you wanna be. And in the end, you're gonna be the one who has to spend the rest of your life with yourself. Don't you wanna be who you are instead of who others want you to be? 'Cause, If I were you, I'd want to be happy being who I'm meant to be."

Brian only nodded. "I-I never saw it as a problem. . ."

"And it's not."

Brian lips curled into a tiny smile, sighing when his eyes landed on the broken project. "I guess I'll have to make another one and hope I finish it in time."

Alissa scooter over to it, biting her lip as she thought for a moment about how they could possibly fix the project. She gasped suddenly, grinning to Brian as she yanked off her jacket when an idea flickered on inside of her creative head.

Brian moved over to stand next to her, "What are you doing?" He questioned, brows knitted together. "It can't be fixed. Let's just throw it away. I️ can just buy him one or something. I have time to save money to get him something cool, I guess."

Alissa paused her movements, resting her jacket on the ground to peer at Brian with a blank expression. "Of course it can fixed, B. It might take some time, but we can put it all back together. We can begin fixing it tonight, and then, by the time we're done, it'll already be his birthday."

And in that moment, Brian beamed back at Alissa for the first time that afternoon. It was genuine, one that diminished the darkness that had been looming in his heart and his eyes. Alissa brightly grinned back, helping him sweep the pieces onto her jacket to carry it out to the car. They moved together in silence, but it was a comfortable one that settled between brother and sister.

It didn't make the situation any better due to the circumstances, but it was a sweet and tender moment between Brian and Alissa that they both would always remember.

Unknown to the siblings, Carter had been standing in the doorway of the restroom, listening to their conversation. He heard every word, finding it powerful, not just to Brian, but to himself as well. Carter let out a sigh and pulled out his phone, quickly dialing a number as he shuffled away from the door. He pressed the phone to his ear, closing his eyes in relief when he heard the other person voice.

"Hey, Jesse. Can I talk to Flash?"

"All right, now, if Carter asks what this is, we'll just say it's your gym clothes and you dropped them in the sink, or something like that," Alissa hummed after they managed to secure all of the ceramic pieces into her jacket.

Brian blinked. "That's a horrible excuse. Will he even believe that?"

"Well, let's just hope he won't ask what it is and then we won't even have to lie to him."

Alissa and Brian began making their way toward the exit, Carter quickly hurrying off in a jog so that he wasn't seen by either of his siblings as he returned to car after the call had ended well. He hastily slid through the double doors, making a quick dash to his car and slid into his seat just as Alissa and Brian passed through the doors, both laughing. They headed towards the car and climbed in, both glancing at each other and then to Carter once they were finally settled. 

Carter simply smiled, driving without uttering a single word to either of them for taking so long. He even drove through the drive-thru at Brian's favorite ice cream shop and bought them all some ice cream while ignoring their questions about why he was taking them there. Alissa eyed her elder brother suspiciously at his surprisingly kind and caring actions, but all he did was wink at her.

° ° °

"What are you doing here? Are you stalking my sister, or my brother, huh? 'Cause if you are, I'll have you know that I know a very scary place where kids go missing and-and there's an evil clown down there who likes to sink his—"

"God, would you stop threatening everyone with that stupid ass clown?" Carter's deep voice sounded, laced with annoyance. "You read one Stephen King book and suddenly you think you're a total badass," Carter scoffed, rolling his eyes and leaning against the doorway as he appeared in the foyer of their house. Brian glared up at his brother before he turned back to the boy who was stood on their front porch, bouncing on the balls of his feet awkwardly.

Carter followed Brian's gaze, smirking widely at the sight of Peter standing there, a blue, sparkly notebook loosely clutched in his hands as he stared back at the Caverly boys. "Oh, hey, Parker. Thinking of borrowing Alissa's matching folder to go with that?" Carter motioned to the bold notebook with a playful tease dancing on his thin lips.

Peter nervously laughed. "Ha, right 'cause it's—uh, actually, I found this in Mr. Harrington's room, a-and since your house is on my way home, I-I thought I'd bring it by," Peter replied quickly. Carter and Brian glanced at each other without uttering a word. "I mean, I-I can hold on to it for her, I just thought you could give it to her. .or something."

"Actually, she's here. I'll just go get her."

"Oh, that's okay. I really need to—"

"Hey, Alissa! Parker's here to see you!"

The sound of something suddenly breaking and a string of curse words could be heard coming from the second floor where Alissa's room was located. Peter winced at the intense crashing sound that occurred seconds later. Then he heard the sudden sound of feet pounding against the ground in an angry manner. Carter and Brian snickered amusedly, twisting their bodies around to see Alissa begin her descend down the staircase.

The freshman girl had her dark hair thrown up in a lopsided bun, wearing a black top and fuzzy Black Widow pajama shorts to match. Her face was fresh faced, no make up; her acne was still present, but as she was at home, she saw no point in trying to cover it up for any reason. Alissa sharply glared at her brothers as she came closer, failing to notice Peter.

"You guys are assholes, you know that? It's not funny. It wasn't even funny the first time. Now it's just—" Alissa's foot hovered over the last step of the staircase, eyes finally locking with Peter's.

He timidly smiled in her direction, awkwardly shifting his book bag on his shoulders to make it seem like it was less heavy than it was with four textbooks piled inside. Alissa blinked slowly, attention focusing on her brothers.

They hadn't been lying; that was a first.

Carter slyly slid his hand in Brian's in a sneaky handshake, both proudly smirking.

Carter folded his arms over his chest, clearing his throat as he did so. "You were saying?" The cocky smirk was evident in his voice, but luckily, Peter didn't pick up on it, or what Carter and Brian were trying to insinuate to their sister by Peter's presence.

Alissa pursed her lips together, leaning against the railing of the stairs, biting her lower lip as comebacks ran through her mind. "Peter, would you like to come inside for little bit? I think Carter actually has a book bag that matches that notebook of mine. Would you like to see it?"

And just like that, Carter's smirk fell from his curled lips at the mention of the book bag he had to use in first grade when he had to use Alissa's old one when he lost his and needed a spare for a few days. Now, It was Alissa's turn to smirk. Of course, she felt awful for bringing it up, but she thought maybe Peter would just take her offer to come inside and then they could hangout, which was a win-win situation in Alissa's eyes. However, Peter cleared his throat with a slight frown.

"Actually," he began, seemingly saddened by what he was about to say next, "May's making dinner tonight a-and I still have to pick up the groceries. This was just on my way, s-so, I thought I'd give this back, just incase you needed it." Alissa's lips curled downward, but then she quickly plastered a smile upon her lips and gently took the notebook from his surprisingly warm yet soft hands. "Maybe another time, yeah?" Peter hopefully suggested, bouncing on his feet with his hands tucked away in the pockets of his baggy jeans.

Alissa's smile became genuine as she eagerly nodded her head, roughly shoving the notebook into Brian's hands. He let out a grunt at the brute force, but didn't say anything at the fact his sister was seeming to be in a world of her own with Peter standing there.

"Yeah, another time," Alissa smoothly repeated Peter's words. "I'd like that."

"Me too." Peter glanced to Carter and Brian slowly, "Uh, it was nice talking to all of you. . .and I'll be sure to look out for, uh, any clowns. . .and the sewers. See ya, guys."

With that, Peter left the Caverly home, stealing a glance at the three siblings before continuing to walk, cursing himself for not sticking around just a few minutes longer. Alissa sighed as she gently closed the door once he was out of sight, resting her back against the door. Carter and Brian stared at her to study her emotions, Carter firmly shaking his head from side to side.

"What?" Alissa demanded to know, not liking the fact she wasn't able to read his eyes. Brian made a face, walking off into the kitchen with Alissa's notebook still clutched in his glue covered hands.

Carter stepped to the side, walking toward the kitchen backwards and arms folded over his chest as he stared ahead at his little sister. "I'll let you have that one," he said. "Touché, Al. Touché."

° ° °

I think this is one of the longest chapter's I've written for this book and I'm really happy. I know the ending was kind of weird and I'm still not sure about it tbh :/ But hey, we some brother/sister bonding between Alissa and Brian which I think is very important! Though, they're all close, Alissa is going to have a different kind of connection with each brother.

And I know this a Peter based story, but I want to add more background to the main oc's to let you all know who they are and see that they're not just in here for me to have extra characters. They all have a purpose and I'm really exited to show that! Plus, once they go on the field trip, Peter will become more important to the storyline, as well as Spider-Man! And maybe a connection between Alissa and Spider-Man might just make hers and Peter's relationship grow, or fall, depending on where I go with it ;)

Let me know what you thought of this and I hope you enjoyed!