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RAIN AND SNOW THREATENED NEW YORK CITY. Snow from the previous day had already melted away and the sun peaked over tall skyscrapers that were spread throughout the expansive city. Not too many people still walked through the cold and windy streets, but there were a few more than unusual, Alissa being one of them.

Carter had to pick up Flash that morning, saying they had to do something with Liz and the Decathlon team. She didn't know why Carter had to be there, but she went with it, not questioning it any further. Brian was walking with her, a white polo on and a blue sweater thrown over it.

Alissa nor Carter had questioned Brian about the other day with Nate due to the fact he hadn't said anything, and if it didn't go too well, they didn't want to remind him of it. He seemed to be okay for the most part, cracking jokes and doing what middle school boys did with a big grin on his face; it was the complete opposite of Alissa. Much like the sky that was becoming more gray as the early hours of the morning passed and the sunshine disappeared more and more, so did her smile.

Finding out the truth of Peter was still fresh in her mind as it had happened the night before. She'd barely slept, thoughts plagued with Peter and Spider-Man throughout the entirety of the night. It took her almost an hour just to pluck herself from the kitchen counter and bring herself back to her bedroom. She half-assed the last sentence of her English essay that she'd been working on, not even sure if it made sense. Quite frankly, she didn't care.

She could only think about Peter being Spider-Man.

"Did you hear about the internship?" Alissa snapped out of her thoughts and looked to Brian, confusion written on her pale features. He took that as a no. "For Peter. He got an internship with Iron Man. Isn't that great?"

Alissa faced the sidewalk, not looking as enthusiastic as Brian expected. "Good for him."

"Woah, what happened?" Brian immediately asked. Typically, she was ecstatic so long as the topic was Peter. She could go one for hours about him, but she could gave cared less to talk about him, and that was worrisome to her little brother. "Did he hurt you or something? Did he—"

"Nothing, B, he didn't do anything," Alissa hastily answered, her lips downturned and arms folded over her chest, partially from the cold that sent chills down her arms. Brian only raised a brow. Something happened between her and Peter, and he was going to figure it out.

"Okay, well, since Peter's clearly a sour subject for you today"—Alissa sent him a nasty glare that had him raising his hands in surrender—"I, uh, I asked out Nate."

Alissa halted, a smile coming to her lips. She may not have been in a good mood, but she would be for her brother.

"And?" She asked, zipping up her coat some more when she felt the wind bite at her exposed neck. She tightened her scarf around her neck, offering a soft smile to Brian. "How'd it go?"

Brian couldn't hold back his grin, the light of his grin going to his eyes, too. "We're dating."

Alissa gasped, playfully smacking his shoulder. Brian chuckled, the sound only becoming louder as Alissa grabbed him by the shoulders and hugged him, slightly lifting him off his feet, her embrace tight but very loving. Brian continued to smile, his eyes momentarily closing; even he had a hard time still believe that Nate was his boyfriend.

For a while, he thought that Nate didn't even know who he was, but he did, and when Brian asked him out, he was shocked to find that Nate planned on asking him out, too. Alissa had yet to meet the boy her brother seemed to like, but she knew he was a good kid if Brian liked him, seeing as Brian didn't really like that many people besides his family and Xavier.

"That's amazing, B. I'm really happy for you," she said, setting him back down with a grin. Brian thanked her, glancing at the people who were walking by with kind smiles. A small part of Alissa was a little jealous, but she would never show it. It wouldn't be fair to Brian. "So, when will we get to meet this boyfriend of yours?"

"Seriously? Boyfriends? That's disgusting!" Alissa and Brian stopped dead in their tracks, Hearts stopping and faces falling.

Brian nervously gulped, very slowly turning his head to look at his sister. The girl balled her hands into fist at her sides, eyes narrowed when she faced Brian. Anger was fuming inside of her, so many unsavory words coming to mind that she wanted let slip, but she couldn't. That would just make things worse.

"Grant?" Alissa mouthed Brian, the boy hesitantly nodding. The girl rolled her eyes, but sent her brother a wink that had him giving her an unusual look, following her lead by turning around to face the bully.

Alissa was met with a boy who was slightly taller than Brian but shorter than her. He had black hair that was ruffled like a birds nest and chunky cheeks. His blue coat made him look like an enlarged blueberry with stubby legs holding him up. Gloves covered his hands, a beanie tucked in his pockets. His gray eyes were hooded and slender-like, a round and hooked nose taking up most of his face.
And on his lips was a proud smirk, making Alissa suck in an angry breath to keep herself calm and collected.

The boy wasn't alone either, three other boys standing tall behind him. All of their features looked about the same, making Alissa steal a glance at Brian. The boy fidgeted under her gaze, not liking the situation one bit. Alissa didn't either, but the only thing they could do was run, and that wasn't something she wanted for Brian. He needed to stand up to them.

"What? Can't speak?" Grant snidely snickered. The boys behind him laughed like it was the funniest thing they'd ever heard. Alissa raised a brow with a grimace. The boys eyes flicked to Alissa, glancing at Brian and then back to her. "This is your sister, right? The one who told you that you being gay is okay? That you're not an abomination? That—"

"Hey, listen here you annoying little prick," Alissa began, no kindness or friendless in her voice of anywhere on her face. The boys face fell, as did the boys' behind him. Brian smirked, a small laugh coming from his lips as he turned to face the bullies. "You really need to—"

Brian urgently tapped on her arm, making her stop mid scold, finger still pointed at the middle schoolers boys, "You think I can do it?" He lowly asked so only Alissa would hear him.

The girl shifted in her feet, lowering her hand. "You really wanna do it?" Brian nodded, ignoring the thumping in his ears. "I'm all for you doing it, but, are you sure?"

Brian nodded again, his curls faintly bouncing with his movements. Alissa glanced over at the bullies, nodding and patting Brian's shoulder. She took a step back, nudging him forward.

Grant scoffed. "Really? You're pathetic—"

"Shut up, Grant. For once in your life, shut up," Brian firmly snapped, rolling his eyes. Alissa bit back a proud smile, amusement on the verge of showing on her face. Grant was taken aback by Brian's words, his face contorting into pure anger. The boys behind him straightened up, but they slouched a little with the look they received from Brian's older sister who didn't look to be in a gaming mood. Grant, however, didn't let Alissa's presence deter him in any way.

"You're a disgrace, Brian. There's no place for people like you in the world—"

"No, I'm not," Brian interrupted again, hands balled into fists with a snarl.

All of the times Grant had bullied him came back to his mind like a fresh wound, the degrading words and jabs echoing loudly in his ears. He could feel the fist clenched punches and shoe covered kicks imbedding back into his soft skin like they were yelling and beating him up all over again, but rather than letting the words and hits sink into him and make him shy away from being brave, he used them to be better himself, to be the bigger person and rise above the people who couldn't accept people for who they were.

He was brave, and he was no longer get pushed around and be judged and humiliated for being who he was. If they didn't like him, then that was their problem, not his; it was finally time that he realized that.

"There's nothing wrong with me. I am who I am, and that's not wrong, and no one can make me think differently," Brian said, daring to take a step forward. Alissa watched as Grant took a small step back, his face still firm.

Alissa felt someone behind her, and she turned, finding Flash and Carter, both looking proud. A younger boy with dirty blond hair was standing next to a girl with dark black hair, a smile continuously growing on his face. Alissa stole a glance at Carter and Flash, noticing Carter had his phone out and pointed at Brian.

Brian then continued. "Everyone has a purpose, and while you may take your anger out on people who don't deserve it, I won't because I know I have a bigger purpose than being a bully,"—the boy briefly paused to catch his breath, making sure to keep his voice calm but also firm so each word would register in the heads of Grant and his friends. A few people were watching, most seemingly proud and intrigued—"Everyone belongs, even if they're not the way you want them to be. And you know what, that's your problem, not theirs. People are who they are and they're not gonna change just because you want them to. The world doesn't revolve around you, and it's time you realized that."

Alissa didn't realize she'd been holding her breath until she heard clapping. Her eyes snapped to the side, finding the crowd that had stopped to watch Brian stand up, clapping and applauding for the young boy. Grants face was priceless, embarrassment the most present on his features. The boys behind him glanced at one another, awkwardly rubbing the back of their necks. Brian triumphantly smiled, his cheeks turning pink with all of the attention now on him.

"Whatever," Grant finally said when the applause died down, rolling his eyes. He turned the opposite way, expecting his friends to follow, but instead, they stayed, causing Grant to turn around, frowning. "Aren't you guys coming?"

One boy with black hair shook his head, faintly smiling as he looked to Brian. "No, we don't want to be miserable the rest of our lives, and we're gonna right our wrong, starting by not being your friends until you learn how to treat people right."

Grant huffed, shaking his head and turning on his heel. Alissa smiled, arms wrapping around Brian when he faced her.

"I'm so proud of you, B," she whispered, grinning from ear to ear.

Brian laughed, nonchalantly shrugging. "It was about time."

"You did great, B," Carter said, Brian doing a double take to see Carter and Flash. Carter patted Brian's shoulders, the proudness he felt shining in his eyes and wide grin. "You really showed him who's the man."

"Who knew you had that in you?" Flash teased, chuckling and stuffing his hands in his pockets. "You guys want a ride to school? The meeting finished sooner than we thought and we got some donuts."

"Do you have room for one more?" A timid voice asked, capturing the group of fours attention. Alissa noticed the boy who'd been off to the side, a sky smile on his face. Alissa raised a brow, glancing at her brothers only to go to Brian and see the brightest grin she'd ever seen on his face.

Alissa and Carter shared a look. "Nate," Carter mouthed, making Alissa gasp. Her attention was back on him, smiling in awe as Brian and Nate hugged, Alissa ignoring the pain in her cheeks from having smiled so much.

She almost forgot about the pang in her heart when she thought of Peter when seeing Brian so happy.

"Excuse me?" Another voice came, Brian and Nate breaking the hug to see Grants former friends standing before them with apologetic looks on their faces. Brian and Nate shifted, Nate instinctively taking Brian's hand in his own. The dark skinned boy was the first one to speak. "We just wanna say we're really sorry, Brian."

"We never took your feelings into consideration, and we're really sorry. You didn't deserve it," the one with black hair said next.

"We know you have every right to hate us and never forgive us, but we just wanted to say we're sorry and hope that we can, maybe, one day be friends," a blond boy finished, the three nodding in agreement.

"I forgive you," Brian said, shocking the boy beside him. "I-I'm trying to be better person, and I can't do that when I'm busy hating people."

° ° °

With a stomach full of strawberry and chocolate flavored donuts, Alissa made it to school with five minutes to spare. Carter was with Liz at her locker, talking with soft smiles. Flash had disappeared somewhere Alissa wasn't too sure. Mary Jane was in the gym, doing some last minute preparations for the play that was taking place that Saturday. They'd spent almost the entire semester planning for Shrek: The Musical, and it was finally going to pay off. Alissa was excited to see how it would pan out, having read some of the lines in a script Mary Jane left at her house after a sleep over between them and Gwen. As for Gwen and Harry, they were talking to Peter at the opposite end of the hall.

Here and there they'd texted Alissa about her confession to Peter, having seen that they were both smiling the entire day afterwards. Though, they don't want to overdo anything and annoy Alissa or Peter. They still texted them, mentioning how they were happy about what they figured was coming. But just last night, when they mentioned it to Alissa and Peter once again, they were all met with similar responses from the two: I DON'T WANNA TALK ABOUT IT.

That was when they knew something serious happened. They were all a little fearful to ask, never having seen a day where Alissa couldn't speak about Peter or even bare to look at him. From the minute she stepped into school, she walked right past him and Harry, facing straight ahead with a blank expression, not needing to look in order to know they were already staring at her.

Harry tried to get Peter to tell him why she was mad at him, but he just shook his head, saying he didn't want to talk about it, either. Peter only said that Alissa was upset with him, but wouldn't dive into the reasoning. Then Harry continued to pry a little more in hopes of getting through to his best friend completely, but the boy was adamant on not talking about it. Harry let it go, asking Gwen and Mary Jane to try and see if they could get Alissa to talk about it. Sadly for Mary Jane, she was too busy with the play to try and find her heartbroken friend, but Gwen promised she would talk to Alissa and try.

"Hey, Al," Gwen said in greeting to Alissa. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a braid that met the middle of her shoulders. She wore a blue sweater with Santa Clause flying through the sky in the middle of it, Rudolph shining by her neck. Alissa still had her bulky coat on and scarf secured around her neck, not caring enough to talk it off at the moment. "How're you?" Gwen carefully asked, shifting her books from one arm to the other.

Alissa shut her locker, looking to Gwen with a tired look. "Please, don't," Alissa shook her head, sticking some loose paper into the elastic cup holder in her book bag; she'd clean it out later. "I don't wanna talk about it."

"Come on, you know you can tell me anything," Gwen pleaded, giving Alissa a look she didn't like.

Alissa rolled her eyes, shaking her head. Her mouth opened, ready to respond, but her eyes landed on Peter. Harry and Ned were with him, most likely trying to cheer him up since the boy wouldn't tell them what was going with him and the girl he liked. Alissa's breath hitched in her throat, Peter's eyes catching her own.

It was as if the world stopped, the two of them being the only people left in the world. Her heart ached from his lies, but it also yearned for him to be close, to touch her skin and make her feel whole again. Peter felt his heart slightly flutter, lips frowning at the blank and emotionless look in Alissa's eyes, knowing it was all his fault that she felt so betrayed and upset. But he couldn't let her get closer, even if she knew he was Spider-Man.

She would be in imminent danger all of the time if she were to be with him, and that was something he couldn't risk no matter how much he wished he could hold her in his arms and call her his.

° ° °

I can't even begin to say how much I feel like such a proud mom to Brian! He's struggled so much throughout the book and he's finally stood up to himself and I can't be more proud of my son 🥺

There was also a bit more development for Peter and Alissa's nonexistent relationship (ouch, that hurt to type) even though nothing really happened between them. However, there's still a few more chapters left! And as for the villain, I decided not to mention him in here, but he'll be mentioned in the next chapter! There's still a lot to come before this book ends, but it's getting closer! Yay y'all!

As always, don't forget to leave your feedback in the comments! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!