( CHAPTER 2 )
❛ burrito disputes ❜

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   Leyna was somebody Arlyn could turn to for anything. She was the only one besides Kai who knew she was Cosmo, and the only one that actually had good feedback. Kai was always the first person she would turn to, but sometimes she felt more comfortable talking with Leyna. But when Leyna says something Arlyn doesn't agree with, the two sisters never end a fight owning up to their wrongs; the Knox girls will go down fighting for their opinion.

"Oh God, not you too Leyna," Arlyn whined as she lowered her burrito in shock.

Leyna shook her head. "God Arlyn, I'm not taking Momma's side. She just told me that you were leaving the house a lot again, and...crime's been going up a lot..."

Leyna had come down to go out to dinner with Arlyn that night, seeing as she was back in Queens for a day. It was unusual for Leyna to pay them a visit that wasn't on a weekend, but now Arlyn knew why.

"Well if you're not on Momma's side, you gotta be on mine! This is how this thing works," Arlyn grumbled in between chews.

Leyna rolled her eyes at her younger sister's arguments. "According to you."

"According to me is the only 'according to' that matters," Arlyn stated matter-of-factly. Leyna scoffed at that.

Arlyn always seemed to be the outspoken one of the family. Witty, but stubborn. Also had no filter. She just said what was on her mind, and sometimes it came out obnoxious when she never intended it to be.

Okay, maybe a little bit.

"Look, I know you're tryna' look out for me, but I'm fine. I've been doing this for three years and the worst I've gotten was a twisted ankle and a broken rib. I know what I'm doing, and I know how to protect myself with my powers."

She took another bite after lowering her voice to make sure no one heard her that last part. "And besides, it's my life and I'll do whatever I want, same goes for you."

"Yeah yeah, whatever..." Leyna mumbled while continuing her meal. She knew she still didn't side with her, and she knew Leyna would never admit it.

"Fine, don't believe me. I know I'm right anyway."

Arlyn could tell her words got under Leyna's skin. It was quite amusing watching the older brunette shift angrily in her seat.

Leyna didn't seem to press on the subject.

After their dinner, the two girls began walking back to their apartment. Arlyn's ears perked up when the sound of sirens filled her ears.

"Do you smell that?" Leyna asked, the two turning a corner to stand paralyzed on the sidewalk.

It was the smell of burning fire.

Ahead of them, a sandwich shop that Arlyn went to a few times was in flames. the whole front of the shop had been cut open, along with the bank across from it. Firetrucks and police cars surrounded the area, as everyone worked on trying to diminish the flames.

An officer lead them across the street safely, along with other wide eyed viewers, but Arlyn wasn't scared. She was angry. She was angry at herself for not stopping this before it started. Maybe if she never went out for dinner she could've done something. Anything.

Something went down here that wasn't just two random fires, and she had a feeling Spider-Man had something to do with it.

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Arlyn let out forceful breaths as she sat up, then down. Then up, then down. Gym class was repetitive and boring as always, but it helped Arlyn get in shape. About a year ago she came to the conclusion that if she was going to continue being a vigilante, she needed to be strong; not just with her magic. She began spending more time at the gym, and working harder in PE.

Arlyn fell back in exaustion, glancing up to see a book in her friend's face. She was supposed to be focusing on keeping her feet down as she did sit ups, but Michelle seemed to be focused on her book.

That was until she peeked up from it. "You going to Liz's party?" Michelle suddenly asked, Arlyn taking another deep breath before slamming her head back onto the mat.

"I-I don't know...I was invited, but...why are you even asking me that?"

Michelle shrugged, speaking and reading at the same time. "I thought if we engaged in small talk it would make gym go by faster.

Arlyn could agree that would work.

"Isn't it your turn to do sit ups now?" Arlyn asked, pushing herself off the ground and blowing a small curl off her face.

"I guess so..." she sighed deeply, as the two girl switched positions. It seemed as though Arlyn, neither Michelle, had to do much work, since all she was doing was lifting her arms up and down and she continued to read her book.

"Whatcha' reading?" Arlyn questioned, already figuring it out by checking the cover.

"The Perks Of Being A Wallflower, it's alright, I enjoy longer books though." Michelle answered without breaking her concentration on the words in front of her.

"Harry Potter fan?"

"Who isn't?"

Arlyn hummed in agreement.

"What about-"

"Peter knows Spider-Man!" A shrill voice interrupted the whole gym class. Arlyn tilted her head, seeing the source of the voice to be Ned Leeds, Peter Parker's right hand man and a devoted member of the Decathlon team.

Yeah, sure he did.

Peter immediately got up, assumingely responding to Liz Allen on the bench. "Uh, no, no I don't."

"They're friends," Ned lead on.

Flash jumped down from his climbing rope. "Yeah, like Coach Wilson and Captain America are friends."

Arlyn was glad he didn't use her name again.

"I-I've met him, yeah, a couple of times. But, it's um...through the uh, Stark Internship." Peter continued. God, he was a stuttering mess.

"Yeah, I'm not really supposed to talk about it," he seethed through gritted teeth, facing towards Ned, who undoubtably blew his cool facade.

Flash began sauntering towards Peter. "That's cool. Hey, you know what? Maybe you should invite him to Liz's party!"

"Yeah, um...I'm having people over tonight, you're welcome to come," Liz piped up.

"You're having a party?" Peter breathed out.

Arlyn smirked to herself. Peter had a crush and Liz was blind to it.

"Yeah, it's gonna be dope, you should totally invite your personal friend Spider-Man." Flash seemed to love to pester him about his connections to the Avengers.

But Peter wasn't sure how to respond.

"It's okay, I know Peter's way to busy for parties anyways." Liz added on.

"Oh c'mon, you'll be there, right Parker?" Flash asked; more like demanded.

By the starstruck look on his face, Arlyn knew Peter wouldn't miss Liz Allen's party for the world.

The fact was that Liz Allen was popular. And most of the people on the Decathlon team were not. So it was interesting when Arlyn finally got to meet her, since she was always the talk of the school. She expected her to be like any spoiled rich popular girl, but Arlyn was wrong. Liz was intelligent, and actually had interesting things to say. The senior liked a few of the same things Arlyn did, and they shared a few nice conversations, so Arlyn had expected to soon receive an invitation to one of Liz Allen's infamous parties.

As the bell rang, signalling the end of the period, there was a huge part of Arlyn that knew Peter could not have known or even talked to any superhero. But a small part of her knew he could possibly be telling the truth. If that was the case, and he did in fact invite Spider-Man, chances were Arlyn would love to talk to him face to face.

And maybe yell at him a bit.

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"I'm home!" Arlyn called out to no one in particular as she set down her school bag by the front door. Her mom hated when she did that, but she was way too lazy to walk all the way to her bedroom.

She entered the kitchen to see her younger sister mixing a bowl of her favourite type of cookies. Gisa was somebody who always loved to do stuff on her own. Their momma showed her how to bake cookies once, and from then on she'd rather make them on her own. She was independent like that, and a quick learner too.

"What's up, tiny human?" Arlyn asked, sitting at the kitchen counter as she watched Gisa mix in the chocolate chips with the dough. Seeing as Arlyn stayed after school for band practice, she got home late often to find that she missed something. This time it was Gisa's Great Baking Show, as the younger sister liked to call it.

"Just cookies," she answered, beginning to ball up chunks of dough and place them on the baking pan.

After a few minutes of pain-stakingly watching her sister perfect the size of each cookie, Arlyn decided to break the silence. "So, what did you get on that math quiz?"

Gisa scrunched her nose slightly, which was something she did when she wasn't happy about something. "A B."

Arlyn shrugged her shoulders. "At least it's not a C."

"I guess so," Gisa replied while taking the pan and bringing it to the already preheated oven. Gisa was always interested in facts and words. Solving mathematical equations just wasn't her thing. Even if it was elementary level stuff, she excelled more in science and english class.

As Gisa was focused on the oven, Arlyn swiftly reached over the counter and grabbed the bowl, eating some of the remnants from her cookie batch.

Gisa turned around with an annoyed look on her face. "Hey, stop eating my cookie dough!" The little brunette jumped on her stool and snatched the bowl from her arms, keeping it out of reach from the hungry teen.

Arlyn rolled her eyes and whined. "Why? It's too good not to eat."

"Because...can't you get like, salemena?"

Arlyn snorted. "Okay, first of all, it's salmonella. And second of all, I'm like 95% sure that's not even a real thing that can happen."

Gisa huffed while putting some of her baking supplies in the sink.

"And besides, it doesn't matter. I could risk my health any day. I go outside everyday and I could totally get hit by a bus..."

"Don't say that."

Arlyn's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Say what?"

Gisa lowered her head. "That you're gonna get hit by a bus. Don't talk about that stuff."

A knot formed in Arlyn's stomach. She never knew how much her life meant to her younger sister. She had no clue how terrified she would feel if she ever found out she was Cosmo, risking her life every single night.

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a/n: in the next chapter its gonna get a lil more hectic with cosmo and spider-man :)))