Chapter Six
Gwen Stacy arrived at the Parker residence an hour early. The door was open as always, and the smell of char was present as always.
May, Peter’s aunt noticed her come in and smiled at her. “Hello Gwen sweetie, you’re a bit early. Peter’s in his bedroom. I’m making dinner… oh,” her eyes widened, “dinner!”
She hid her amusement at this, looks like they would be having takeout for dinner again.
She knocked on Peter’s door, knowing exactly where to go.
She heard a few things being thrown across the room before a shout, “come in.”
“Hi, Peter.” She set her bag down on the floor.
“Gwen!” He leaped up and immediately rushed to give her a hug.
“I’ve missed you, it’s been a while.”
“I missed you too. You were too busy seeing the world this summer for your best friend.” She teased.
“Gwen…” he pouted.
She giggled, ruffling his hair. They had been friends since the first day of freshman year. And she remained his only friend.
For reasons she could only describe as jealousy, Peter had been heavily bullied at the school. He was the smartest boy the school had probably ever seen, he was sweet, funny, and considerate. But for some reason, she was the only one that appreciated him. She did the best she could to help him.
Standing up for him whenever she could. Patching his injuries up after a particularly bad beating. She constantly reported what was happening to him but nothing came out of it.
She was so glad when he met Tony Stark and all his nerdy tech dreams started to come true. But then he was labeled as a liar and he refused to let the man know. It took all her self-control to not steal his phone and do it herself.
“How are you doing? How is the new school? You look happy.”
“It’s great Gwen. The people are really nice. You’re going to meet MJ and Ned tonight, they’re my closest friends at the school. Ned’s great, I finally have someone to listen to me talk about Star Wars-”
“I talk to you about Star Wars!”
“Begrudgingly. But he’s also really smart, he’s a genius with a computer. And MJ is just good at everything. She’s the decathlon captain. The team is great by the way, even if Flash is on it, you remember me telling you about him?”
“Ready to kick my school’s ass?”
“Well, I’m sure it will be a good competition.”
Gwen chuckled, “they’re hopeless without you. Along with any other clubs you were in. You were nationally recognized in many things that the school seemed to proudly display but somehow refused to stand behind you.”
He sighed, “let’s not talk about that tonight. Tell me what’s going on with you. Have you started college applications?”
Gwen launched into a recount of the past few months and her college plans, which she had been planning for years. During their conversation, May popped in to tell them she would order pizza and they shared a knowing look of amusement.
MJ arrived first, walking through the now propped door and looking around. She nodded at Peter, “nice bedroom nerd.”
Her eyes then turned to Gwen who froze up as her blue eyes met the most beautiful deep brown eyes she had ever seen.
Peter rescued her by speaking, she forced her head back to look at Peter.
“MJ, this is Gwen Stacy. Gwen, this is Michelle Jones.”
“Michelle,” she repeated, “it’s nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you too, Peter speaks a lot about you.” Michelle held her hand out for Gwen to shake, Michelle’s hand lingering before it pulled away.
As they waited for Ned, Peter was excitability chatting about a new technological innovation. Gwen kept up the best she could, she wasn’t as technology orientated as Peter, she preferred pure science. Michelle, she noticed, had no issue keeping up. Gwen snuck glances at the girl every now and then when she could get away with it.
She didn’t know what it was about the girl, but she was captivated.
When Ned finally arrived, about ten minutes late, they went out to the living room. Gwen grabbed some pizza while she waited for Peter to set up the movie. This was a familiar scene. They had movie nights about every month.
Even though they had not seen each other in person, they were always texted. Gwen expressed wanting to meet Peter’s new friends that he mentioned briefly. So he asked if she didn’t mind sharing movie night.
She had been looking forward to this all week.
“I’m Ned, by the way.” The boy introduced himself as Peter was occupied.
“Gwen,” she greeted with a smile.
“Peter tells me that you game.”
Gwen lit up, “have you seen Peter’s collection?”
“No…”
“Peter, we’ll be back. Make popcorn!”
She was eternally grateful that Peter did not inherit May’s cooking skills. She loved May but she could even burn popcorn. Peter was actually a good cook for not having the best role model in that aspect. But she supposed he did what he had to for them to survive.
She dragged Ned back to Peter’s room to show him Peter’s vast video game collection. It was something his uncle had started and shared his love with Peter, who continued it to keep that connection after his uncle’s tragic death.
He was incredibly proud of the collection and Gwen knew he wouldn’t mind her showing Ned.
They geeked out over different games until Peter called them back.
Peter and Michelle were already sitting on the couch, Gwen plopped down to the side of Michelle and Ned took the armchair.
They decided on Back to the Future, a happy medium. Comedic and sci-fi.
By the third movie, Michelle had casually leaned against Gwen’s shoulder. They had been sharing snacks throughout the movies. She was in the prime spot to listen to her jokes that she muttered under her breath.
Gwen liked Peter’s new friends a lot, she saw them being her friends as well. They would have to do this again.
After the last movie, Ned dragged her into playing Mortal Kombat.
“Don’t bet against Gwen,” she heard Peter whisper.
“I wouldn’t.” Michelle responded. Gwen bit her cheek to not burst into a wide grin.
Ned was good, but not good enough. He won the second game but never again.
She ended up teaching MJ how to play against Peter, Peter was just as good as Gwen, but he was much more patient when it came to learners.
As Gwen fell asleep surrounded by old and new friends, she again noted how glad she was to have met Peter.