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ALISSA WAS STARING AT PETER WHEN HER NAME WAS SAID. Her head jerked towards the front of the classroom, eyes wide and lips parted in surprise. There hadn't been any doubt in her mind that she wasn't paying any attention to the Physics lesson that Ms. Warren was trying to teach the class. She knew she what she was doing by dozing off and allowing her mind to wonder, but Alissa didn't care. She didn't think it would really matter all that much as they were mostly just reviewing the lesson from the week before. What she didn't think was that Ms. Warren would call her out her lack of paying attention.

Alissa hardly ever did it in any of her classes, only doing it every so often when she was just readjusting to the school hours after a break, or if she was too tired to properly function. Alissa was someone that was hardly ever called upon, but there she was, and it wasn't looking good for her at all as she fumbled with words, trying to read the problem on the board and figure it out without turning towards anyone for help, or admitting that she hadn't been paying the slightest bit of attention.

"I-It's a linear equation, Ms. Warren," Peter Parker's voice broke through the tense air that had filled the room, a smile already appearing on Alissa's lips at the sound of his voice. However, a frown had formed on Ms. Warrens' face and her brows knitted together. "You can tell by the first—"

"I'm sorry, but is your name Alissa, Peter?"

Alissa timidly bit her lip, sinking down in her seat nervously and fiddling with her fingernails. She glanced to the side at the lab table just across the aisles from hers, noticing how the boy seemed to be at a loss for words just as she had been before he saved her from the embarrassment of not knowing the answer.

Ms. Warren nodded firmly when Peter didn't respond. "Thank you, Peter, you are correct. But next time, I'd like the person I call on to be the one to answer my question."

"Yes, o-of course," Peter nodded firmly, his head dipping down to lay on his arm that rested onto of the desk. Then Ms. Warren turned to face the white board, writing another linear equation for the class to solve along with her.

With the teacher not paying attention to them, Alissa quickly took a piece of paper from her notebook and crinkled it into a ball, slyly tossing it at Peter to capture his attention. He jumped as it hit him, his eyes flickering down to the balled up paper. His brows furrowed, peering around to see who had thrown it. His lips were curled down in a frown until his eyes fell on Alissa as her eyes were already on him. Relief clearly washing over his features when he realized it was her.

Alissa felt a pang in her heart, knowing he was expecting it to be Flash to have thrown it with an insult or a snide slur scribbled on the insides of it. Alissa thankfully smiled, mouthing a grateful thank you to him. He returned the gesture and mouthed you're welcome, his face looking absolutely adorable as he did so. Alissa's cheeks reddened slightly, and she turned her face to the front of the class again, brushing her hair behind her shoulders when it tickled her neck. A smile was permanent on her face afterwards, and all due to the kind act of Peter Parker.

"You know, you guys would probably be dating by now if you just told him that you like him."

Alissa pursed her lips into a fine line and roughly jabbed her finger into Harry Osborn's ribs, hoping to quiet him as Ms. Warren continued speaking, facing the class once again. Harry let out a pained yelp at the sudden pain, gazing down at the desk when the entire class turned to him, slightly annoyed but curious.

One to be rather familiar with the spotlight, Harry just plastered his famous Osborn smile on his surprisingly chiseled face, letting out a sigh once class resumed again and no questions were asked. Then his eyes narrowed at Alissa who was rather amused. "Or, you know, you can just keep on staring from afar. . .like some kind of stalker."

Alissa lifted her finger tauntingly, eyes dangerously narrowed. "Don't make me jab you again," she cautiously warned, her face remaining stoic the entire time. Harry's face faltered, realizing she was completely serious and would do it again if need be. Harry cleared his throat and silently nodded. Alissa hummed in approval. "Good, Harry."

Harry rolled his eyes, but beamed down at the dark haired girl nonetheless. She softly grinned, turning her attention back to Ms. Warren who had her dark brown eyes pinned to the two teenagers, her arms folded over her chest as she waited for them to stop talking during her lesson that was nearly finished.

Alissa nervously laughed, shifting in her seat under the daunting gaze of her teacher. "Sorry, Ms. Warren. We'll stop. I promise," Alissa quietly apologized, hoping a toothy grin would make her teachers anger seep away.

Ms. Warren shook her head in annoyance at the girl and her partner, but Alissa noticed the way Ms. Warren's lips were trying not to curl up as she took a step back towards the whiteboard, resuming her lesson for what she hoped would be the last time with no more interruptions from anyone else.

Alissa and Harry glanced at each other a moment later, quietly giggling. Alissa adjusted her arm, allowing her head to rest on her right hand as she lazily jotted down the notes along with the rest of the class once their laughter died down. Her dark hair fell around the sides of her face when she shifted in her seat, but it didn't bother her any when some slid into her sight. From her seat, she could still see the board clearly, and Peter, which made the class all the much better.

Her hand slowly slid to the side margins of her notebook every few seconds, small and large doodles being drawn when her mind drifted to another topic. She knew it was wrong and she should've been paying attention so she wasn't confused later on, but she couldn't help it. Doodling didn't make her feel so tired and made her feel more relaxed and focused; not to mention most of the doodles contained Peter, and of course, her other friends and famous people she liked to look at to keep herself from falling asleep in class, but most were Peter, if she was being honest. Though, he was never allowed to know about it.

If he ever saw the doodles, she could never show her face around him due to all of the embarrassment it would cause her. Just thinking about it made her cheeks redden and her heart slightly quicken at the mere thought of it. Swiftly, she turned to a blank page, quickly scribbling down the last few equations she'd forgotten to write as she was too caught up in trying to perfect Peter's baby curls that bounced against his forehead. She let out a soft sight, seeing the equation she wrote down now all smudged together; some of it on the side of her hand.

She wiped her hand on her pant leg, a weak attempt to get rid of the staining. "Maybe you should try some germ-x," Harry suggested in a hushed tone, leaning over to her. "It might actually come off then."

Alissa huffed. "I don't really care at this point. It's just gonna keep happening, so, I might as well just leave it be," she replied, dropping her hand on her lap in defeat.

"A perk of being left-handed, I guess," Harry murmured, grinning mischievously. Alissa snorted out a laugh, eyes flickering from him and to Ms. Warren who was writing down their homework assignment for that night, beginning to speak as she did so.

"Don't forget to complete questions 1-30 using the periodic table on page 113. I'll be here after school until 4:00 to finish the lesson plan for next week, and you're all more than welcome to come in for extra help if you need it," Ms. Warren said, clasping her hands together in front of her, eyes briefly flicking to Alissa.

"Or you can just come to me," Flash Thompson proudly stated, the class' last bit of attention turning to the boy. "I have excellent grades, and I'm on the Decathlon Team."

"Or you can go to Flash," Ms. Warren agreed, but Alissa knew that the teacher had some kind of trick up her sleeve. That was one of the reasons she was Alissa's second favorite teacher. "I guess that means you'll be staying after school here with me then to help?"

Flash's amused expression fell and his eyes enlarged. "Oh, wait, no, I-I can't. I just remembered I have football practice after school. Sorry, Ms. Warren," Flash said quickly, hoping the lie would be believable enough to suffice. "Maybe another time."

However, Alissa didn't realize he was lying. "What? No you d—" Alissa's mouth snapped shut at the nasty glare Flash shot her over his shoulder. She fearfully sank in her seat, mumbling a sorry towards the boy even though he couldn't hear her from where she was seated. He turned back around, smiling at Ms. Warren as her arms were folded over her blue blazer and face blank. Alissa made a face to herself, looking to Harry who shook his head.

"I didn't mean to make him angry," Alissa said quietly, glancing to the dark haired boy once again.

Harry patted her shoulder. "You didn't. He's just been stressed lately and since he hasn't been playing football much, he hasn't found an outlet for his anger," he said, trying to make her feel less upset about making Flash angry or guilty if he got in trouble for lying.

"That doesn't mean he has to take it out other people," Alissa noted truthfully.

Harry nodded in agreement. "I know. I'm not defending him, but he does have got a lot going on. Maybe a certain someone could cheer him up and make him a little less. . .irritable?"

The hint of hope shining in Harry's eyes told her what he was getting at when his words couldn't. He didn't want to say it out loud and run the risk of Flash possibly overhearing him.

Alissa immediately shook her head from side to side, using her hands to emphasize her disagreement. "No, no freaking way, Harry. Whatever weird thing is suddenly going on between him and Carter right now—they can work it out themselves. They don't need me in the middle of it," she stated firmly, her expression serious and mind already made up.

Harry sighed in annoyance, rubbing a hand along his face in exasperation as he stared back at Alissa. "C'mon, Al. I know Flash can be a bit of a jerk sometimes, but he's been even more awful since him and Carter had their falling out." Still, Alissa remained defiant with her choice.

She didn't want to put herself in the middle of the sudden and surprisingly feud that was going on between her older brother, Carter, and his best friend—which had happened sometime last night. But Alissa didn't care what happened nor did she want to pry why the best friends weren't on good terms when they were perfectly fine yesterday morning.

That was Flash's and Carter's problem to solve, not Alissa's.

Flash already spat at her once that day, anyways. She really didn't need, or want, the boy to completely go off on her for gettin involved in his business.

"Maybe he'd leave Peter alone."

That was enough to wipe the annoyance from Alissa's face and make her begin to actually wonder if Harry had stumbled onto something. Harry noticed the change of expression, his mind trying to word it so that she wouldn't just help Carter and Flash, but also Peter. He knew Peter was her weakness, and maybe using him against her wasn't the best way to go about it, but it was going to be the best for everyone else that was being affected by Flash's increase in cruelty and bullying since he didn't have his best friend at his side anymore.

Alissa gnawed on her bottom lip as she thought, her heart booming in her chest. She had already tried talking to her brother about Flash that morning when she first heard about the fight. As a result, he pushed her out of his bedroom before she could finish her question, demanding her to let it go and stay out of it.

That had been the only time she had tried to help either of the boys, but that made her realize that would be for the best for them she didn't interfere with it again. Except, Flash had started being less verbal with his insults and more physical, and it was on Peter more than anyone else.

Alissa's eyes questionably flickered to Peter, seeing him wince when a wadded up piece of paper was thrown at his face. It him in the nose, landing on his paper. He shoved it away, frowning and shaking his head as he went back to working on his homework. Ned Leeds, who was sat next to Peter as his lab partner, whispered something to Peter before he stood up from his seat and threw the wadded up away.

Alissa heavily sighed, following the sound of laughter the emitted from the mouth of Flash and his fellow friends. She angrily clenched her fist, listening to Flash start to taunt Peter and Ned. Harry stood up, but he was suddenly pulled down into his seat by Alissa. He turned to her, lips parted, but then they smacked closed as she stood without uttering a word. Silently, Alissa unscrewed the cap off of her water bottle before setting it on Harry's notebook. She went around their shared desk, pausing in front of Harry for a moment.

The boy tried hiding his joy as Alissa spoke, hearing her agree to fix Flash's friendship with her brother. "Don't lose that." Harry nodded, eyes fixated on her as she shuffled through the seats.

Ms. Warren had already given the class their assignment, most of the students working on the questions with just a few minutes left of the period. Flash stopped his verbal assault on Peter, but that didn't mean he stopped tossing wadded up balls of paper at the innocent boy.

Alissa's grip tightened around the bottle, the water slowly rising towards the top as she got closer.

"Hey, Pete," Alissa kindly greeted the boy, moving to stand in front of his table while Flash was now behind her, turning when he heard her speaking to Peter. "Hey, Ned." Peter weakly lifted his head, giving her a small smile along with Ned.

Her heart instantly ached for the boys, and she was filled with anger, knowing that Flash had hurt Ned and Peter. Alissa cleared her throat and slightly tilted the bottle forward as she finally stood in front of him. Flash spun around in his seat, rolling his eyes when seeing her still talking to Peter and Ned, but mostly to Peter.

"Why do you even talk to him?" Flash wanted to know. "He's a—"

Alissa squeezed the bottle, the water splashing out and landing on Flash's lap, soaking his pants. She faked a surprised gasp, covering her mouth with her hand as the bottle fell from her grasp. Peter's head shot up, an amused smile making its way to his face that had been stricken with sadness only moments ago. Flash shot out of his seat, spilling curse words out of his mouth one after the other.

"What the hell, Alissa?" Flash harshly snarled, the rage burning in his dark brown eyes as her gaped at the girl.

"I-I didn't mean to! It was an accident!" Alissa exclaimed defensively, backing into Peter's table, eyes gripping the ledge. "I'm so sorry, Flash!"

Ned shared an unsure look with Peter, wondering if it really had been an accident despite the good acting coming from Alissa as she pretended that it had been an accident. Well, it kind of was as too much water had come out, but it was still a part of her mischievous plan. The only thing she wished was different was that she didn't drop her bottle.

Flash rolled his eyes, not believing her. "Oh, sure. Carter probably told you to—"

"It was an accident," Alissa repeated, her tone calm yet firm. Flash just shook his head and snatched his things from the table and stormed out of class, ignoring the protests of Ms. Warren as she demanded for him return to his seat before she wrote him up. Alissa watched, shakily breathing out once Flash was gone.

A tense and unsure silence filled the class, most of the students reveling in what had just happened. It wasn't until the bell rang that anyone began to move again, chatter filling the room as students packed up before their next class or lunch. Alissa stole a glance at Peter, a small grin playing on her pink lips. Without another word, she turned on her heel and headed neck to her desk and gathered her own belongings. Peter and Ned watched her a few seconds longer, wondering if it really was an accident after all.

Ned spun around to the side, clutching his textbook as he looked at Peter.

"You know, I don't think that was an accident," he noted skeptically. Peter didn't respond. His curious gaze remained on Alissa, watching her head towards the door with her back pack slung around her shoulders and Harry right beside her with a proud grin on his lips.

Feeling the stare, Alissa peered over her shoulder, noticing Peter. She blushed, hiding it with her hair as she brushed it forward to keep her tinted cheeks hidden from his sight. She sent him a faint nod, but not before he was able to see the glint of mischief shimmering in her eyes that he had seen in the eyes of her older brother himself many times before.

Peter lightly chuckled, shaking his head with a warm feeling spreading throughout his entire body. "I don't think it was either."

° ° °

It's literally midnight and my last night before going back to school. However, I owed this book an update over my break and I wasn't going to allow myself to wait until after school to finally publish it.

I can't even explain how many times I wrote this and then deleted it because it wasn't good enough or lacked certain things. I'm still not too thrilled about it, but I am happy about the ending.

Other than that I hope you enjoyed and have a good day/night! Don't forget to leave some feedback in the comments, please!