You Again?
2020
“The blonde was cute,” Harry smirked as he lay down on his bed scrolling through his phone. It was Sunday and Peter and Harry had just woken up.
“You know she has a name?” Peter questioned as he sat down on his bed facing Harry. “Or have you forgotten it already?” Peter joked.
“Gwen…” Harry spoke as he folded his arms behind his head, a dreamy look in his eyes. “Gwen…it has a nice ring to it.”
“Better than Michelle,” Peter mimicked her name, making Harry laugh.
“Dude she was hot,” Harry sat up and swung his legs over the side of his bed.
“Dude she was a bitch,” Peter reminded Harry of the conversation from the coffee shop.
“Yeah…but hot,” Harry stood up and made his way to the shower as Peter shook his head.
The sound of the water hitting the floor in the shower was muffled as Harry closed the bathroom door. Peter took his phone from his pocket and hit the call button next to Ned’s name. The phone didn’t even ring twice before Peter heard the familiar voice on the other line.
“Yooo Peter?” Ned chimed.
“Dude I’m in love,” Peter said as he flopped on his back and faced the ceiling.
“Already?” Ned asked. “Who is she?”
“Wait no…Ned… I meant with college,” Peter laughed as he fiddled with a loose thread on his shirt.
“Ohhhhh,” Ned replied. “Have you started classes yet?”
“Not yet, but I met my roommate today he’s super chill,” Peter replied. “How’s Georgia Tech?”
“It’s insane,” Ned explained. “Everyone here seems so nerdy.”
“So you fit right in,” Peter joked to his best friend as he tried pulling the thread off his shirt.
“Very funny ha ha,” Ned mimicked Peter’s laugh. “But there is one girl-”
“Already?” Peter cut off Ned. “Dude how do you have more game than me? What’s her name?”
“It comes naturally,” Ned replied. “And her name is Betty,” Ned gushed as he told Peter.
“You sound like you’re in love already,” Peter paid out his friend.
“I could be…” Ned suggested.
“I wouldn’t put it past you,” Peter said, teasing Ned.
“I gotta go,” Ned told Peter. “Not to sound corny but…I miss you man.”
“I miss you too loser,” Peter replied as he finally snapped the thread from his shirt.
After exchanging quick goodbyes, Peter hung up just as Harry came out of the bathroom.
“Talking to yourself Parker?” Harry joked as he pulled a shirt over his damp body.
“A friend from school,” Peter corrected him as he stood up from his bed and sat at his desk. Peter began to sort through his textbooks and notebooks, getting them ready for his classes tomorrow.
“You going to the freshman bonfire tonight?” Harry asked, breaking through the silence in the room.
“I didn’t even know that was a thing,” Peter replied looking up from what he was doing.
“Yeah…it’s this bonfire that the freshmen do in the main parking lot,” Harry explained as he continued to get dressed. “Pretty much everyone goes.”
“What do you do there?” Peter questioned Harry.
“The usual…drink, talk, smoke maybe take a girl back to your dorm,” Harry joked.
“Sounds like fun,” Peter said. “But parties aren’t really my scene, too many…people.”
“Dude you have to come, it’s tradition,” Harry pleaded. “Besides I don’t really know many people here.”
“I’ll think about it,” Peter remarked.
2018
“Just do one session and if you feel really uncomfortable, we can go to someone new,” Aunt May told Peter as they sat in the waiting room. The white walls felt like they were closing in on Peter, everything was too bright, too…clinical.
The accident took a big toll on Peter’s life, everything was different now. Peter had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and had been told by multiple doctors that he should start seeing a psychiatrist to treat his mental illness. Peter hated those words. Mental. Illness. He wasn’t sick and he wasn’t dying. But his Aunt May had noticed his panic attacks and sleeping patterns were getting worse, no matter how hard Peter tried to hide it from her, so she eventually booked the appointment.
“Peter Parker?” Peter looked up as his name was called by the receptionist. She was an older lady with dark brown hair, grey streaks were visible throughout her bob. May unfolded her legs and returned her magazine to the front desk as she and Peter walked through to Dr Barry’s office.
The room was much more comforting than the waiting area, the walls were a creamy beige colour and fresh plants of all shapes and sizes had been placed in pots around the room. A bookshelf sat behind Dr Barry’s desk and in the middle of the room was a sandstone coloured couch with a glass coffee table in front of it. The table had two books on top that looked like they were just for decoration, as well as two succulents that sat to the left of the books.
“Take a seat Peter,” the woman who Peter assumed was Dr Barry said to him.
“I’ll be just outside okay?” Aunt May said to Peter as she walked back towards the door, Peter nodded in reply.
As Aunt May closed the door, Dr Barry spoke, “I’m Dr Barry, but you can call me Celia,” Peter shook her hand as she offered it to him.
“I’m Peter,” Peter muttered to Celia as he took up her offer and sat on the couch closest to the door.
“So, Peter, I’ve heard a little bit about you and what you’ve been through,” Celia spoke to him in a calm and endearing voice. “Before we start, I want to make it clear that anything you say in this room stays in this room. This is a safe space where you can open up and share okay?” Celia stated as she took a seat on the couch across from Peter.
“T-thanks I guess?” Peter swallowed a lump in his throat and tried to shake the nervous feeling in the pit of his stomach. Why was he feeling so scared? Celia was here to help him and guide him through whatever it was that he was going through.
“So…let’s go back to the 3rd of December 2017.”
2020
Peter rolled his eyes as Harry guided him to the main parking lot where the bonfire was already burning. There were freshmen everywhere, some clung in groups close to the fire and drank, some hung around the outskirts and talked amongst each other, while others sat on top of dumpsters and smoked whatever it was they were smoking. Peter looked around in disgust at the red cups that already littered the floor and thought about how much he didn’t want to be there, he didn’t know anyone (besides Harry) and didn’t care if it stayed that way.
“This is awesome,” Harry jumped on the balls on his feet as he searched the parking lot, the music from the speakers caused Peter’s ears to ring.
“This is literally the opposite of awesome,” Peter folded his arms and shuddered as a gust of wind lifted up his shirt. “I can’t believe you dragged me out here.”
“Cmon’, stop being so negative,” Harry pleaded. “Let’s just at least try to have a good time,” Harry playfully punched Peter’s arm causing a small smile to form on his lips.
“Fiiiiineee,” Peter gave in to his roommate. “But in an hour if I’m still hating it…I’m going back to our room.” Peter bargained.
“Whatever you say dude,” Harry coolly said. “Let’s go get a drink,” Harry pushed Peter towards a group of people who were crowded around keg’s and boxes filled with ice and beer. Harry pulled out two beers from the boxes and opened them both with his teeth.
“Impressive,” Peter raised his eyebrows and took the beer as Harry handed it to him.
“One of my many many skills,” Harry joked as he held his bottle upwards. “Cheers.”
“Here’s to college,” Peter responded and clinked his beer against Harry’s, simultaneously they put their bottles to their lips.
After about 7 drinks in Peter was starting to feel them all at once. But he felt good. Everything felt perfect actually. The wind wasn’t so cold anymore, the bonfire was still burning high, the music was at the perfect volume and the crowds around him didn’t seem to be bothering him. He had lost Harry a little while ago, but he didn’t mind wandering around on his own. Even though he had only moved in yesterday, Peter felt like he needed the time to himself. As he walked away from the main parking lot to an area away from the fire where there weren’t as many people, he let his lungs fill with fresh air. The slight breeze felt cool against his face as he closed his eyes and tilted his head towards the sky. The chatter and music behind him was still prominent so Peter kept walking until he could only hear muffled lyrics and everything else around him was still. As he stumbled along the side of Columbia’s main driveway, he finished what was left of his beer and tossed the bottle to the side and listened to it clatter and roll against the road. As he focused on the sound of the bottle, Peter didn’t even have time to react as the car came around the bend. The headlights blinded Peter as he put his arm out to stop the car from hitting him. The driver of the white ford swerved around Peter and held down on the horn, the prolonged sound snapped Peter out of whatever daze he was in. As the car sped off and out of sight, Peter remained stunned on the side of the road, unable to move from the shock of the near miss.
Peter stared ahead of himself and blinked a few times to try and get the white spots from the headlights out of his vision. He decided it would be a good idea to walk back towards where everyone was. Peter could hear the vibrations of the music growing louder as he carefully walked back to the main parking lot. As he replayed the sound of the horn in his head his breathing started to quicken. Peter could feel his heart pounding in his chest at an alarming rate, he stopped walking and tried to regain control of his breath but felt it slowly slipping away from him. Peter kept stumbling forwards until the bonfire was back in sight, but he didn’t want anyone to see him, so he sat on the cold asphalt and leant his back against one of the parked cars. Peter tilted his head backwards as his heart continued to beat rapidly in his chest, it was so fast he could feel it all through his body. Peter’s hands began to shake, and he clasped them together to stop them, but he had no luck. He placed his hands on his knees and tried to take deep breathes of the cold air in and remember what his psychiatrist had taught him. In for 4, hold for 7, release for 8. Peter continued going through this process and slowly his regained control of his breathing, the pain in his chest started to dissolve and the ringing in his ears was almost silent. As he sat with his knees close to his chest, Peter placed his arms on top and rested his head on his knees. He didn’t even notice the figure standing to his left.
“Are you okay?” The girl asked breaking the silence and causing Peter to jump upwards.
“I-I’m fine,” Peter replied swallowing a lump in his throat, slightly embarrassed that someone may have seen him having a panic attack. Peter strained his eyes in the dark and stood up as he tried to make out whoever was standing in front of him.
“You didn’t look fine,” the girl stated as she took one step towards Peter. It was then that she was close enough for Peter to see who it was.
“MJ?” Peter’s eyes widened as MJ stood in front of him and crossed her arms. Great, Peter thought.
“Parker,” MJ nodded in acknowledgment to Peter as he stood in front of her. “What was all that about?” MJ did a waving motion with her hands.
“None of your business,” Peter snapped as he brushed passed her and began to walk back to the bonfire.
“Were you crying?” MJ grabbed Peter’s arm and turned him around, stopping him from walking.
“W-what? No,” Peter stuttered as he ripped his arm out of MJ’s grip, annoyed that she was trying to make him look stupid and weak. “Just leave me alone.”
“I’m just trying to hel-“
“Well stop trying,” Peter spat as he turned on his heels and stormed off, leaving MJ to stand alone in the parking lot.
Peter slowly opened his eyes so the light didn’t flood in all at once, he could feel a slight throbbing in the back of his head. After eventually opening his eyes fully, his headache became more prominent and the familiar sensation of a hangover overwhelmed him. Peter noticed he was staring up at the ceiling of his dorm, yet he was unsure as to how he got there. Must of last night was a blur, but Peter didn’t mind if it stayed that way…he didn’t even want to remember. The ringing of Harry’s alarm snapped him out of his thoughts. Shit, classes start to today, Peter thought to himself.
“First day today,” Harry said in a raspy voice, it was almost as if he read Peter’s mind.
“Can’t wait!” Peter replied sarcastically as he pulled back his covers and sat up, rubbing his eyes with the back of his fist.
“Where did you even go last night?” Harry asked as he got up from bed and started to get dressed into a navy polo shirt and some black shorts.
“I don’t even know,” Peter told his roommate as he grabbed his towel and staggered towards the bathroom. “After about the fourth beer I lost you and forgot pretty much everything.”
Harry chuckled as he hopped on one foot pulling his socks up. Peter closed the bathroom door behind him and switched on the shower as cold as it goes; he thought that the best way to cure a hangover was a freezing cold shower. Stepping inside, Peter shuddered as the icy water spurted onto him from the showerhead, the water pressure constantly changing. The shower might not have cured his hangover, but it certainly woke him up, and as he dried himself off and got changed, Peter started to feel more excited for his classes to begin.
Good luck today Ned!
All the best buddy…
Alsooooo
You drunk texted me last night but let’s not talk about that
Oh my god…
I didn’t even notice
I’m deleting it before I read it
Oh crap I read it
I’m such a loser
I thought it was nice that you thought of me…
Really touching
Shut up Ned
Love you too Parker
Peter was so immersed in his phone that he didn’t even notice when Harry said goodbye and left for his first class. Peter grabbed his backpack from next to his desk and decided to head out a bit early to make sure he new where he was going for his first class. As he walked down the hall and onto the main campus he searched for his classroom. Introduction to Journalism in room 131, where the hell would that be? Peter thought as he scanned the classrooms that he could see, none of them looked as if they were where he was meant to be. His headache grew worse as time passed and Peter realised that if he didn’t find the classroom soon he would be late, and he really didn’t feel like walking into class halfway through and having everyone stare at him as he took his seat at the front.
“Peter?” A voice behind him called out, Peter was too afraid to turn, please don’t be MJ.
Peter turned to the direction he heard his name, “Gwen!”
“Hey, good to see you again,” Gwen half skipped over to where Peter was standing and gave him an overexcited hug.
“Good to see you too,” Peter smiled at her.
“You seem lost,” Gwen pointed out and giggled as Peter nodded. “Where you headed?”
“Uhhh I have Introduction to Journalism,” Peter handed Gwen his timetable so she could see what room he was supposed to be in.
“Hey, me too!” Gwen said excitedly. “I know where it is, follow me.”
Peter followed Gwen past the courtyard where the coffee shop was and through to the building where most of the classrooms seemed to be.
After coming to a stop in front of pale blue double doors Gwen said, “I’m just waiting for another friend in this class, you can go find a seat if you want.”
“It’s okay I’ll wait with you,” Peter offered as he smiled at Gwen causing her to blush a little.
As they waited Peter’s phone chimed with a text from his Aunt May.
Good luck today Peter
Your Uncle Ben would be so proud
Your parents too…
“Oh here she is!” Gwen exclaimed as Peter looked up from his phone before he could reply, to his delight he saw MJ walking towards them. She wore black ripped jeans with a plain white shirt that had the word ‘feminist’ on the front in bold block letters. He took one look at her and his memories from the night before came flooding back. He remembered his near miss with the car, the panic attack, and his half conversation half argument he had with MJ. His headache got worse.
“Are you following me Parker?” MJ teased as she approached him and Gwen.
“Don’t flatter yourself Michelle,” Peter smiled sarcastically and clenched his jaw. He could see that she hated being called Michelle, something that Peter took a mental note of so he could annoy her in the future.
“It’s MJ,” she said through clenched teeth as she tried to keep her cool.
“Uhhh should we go inside?” Gwen interrupted as she tried to break the awkwardness of the conversation.
“Great idea,” MJ replied.
“After you Michelle,” Peter teased MJ, causing her to ‘accidentally’ step on his foot as she walked passed him.
The lecture theatre had rows of chairs that were on a slant and faced the double whiteboard towards the front of the room. There was also a desk at the front which was completely empty and seemed to be there for no reason at all. Most of the rows seemed to be filling up so Gwen insisted that they sit somewhere near the front, however both Peter and MJ politely declined and made it clear that they preferred to sit towards the back; this was probably the only thing they’d ever agree on. However the back rows were all full so the three ended up sitting somewhere in the middle, Gwen placed herself between Peter and MJ to avoid any arguments or disagreements that may cause heads to turn in the middle of the lecture. Peter, MJ and Gwen took their seats and took out their notebooks and laptops as their professor came through the doors and hurried down the stairs towards the front. He was an older looking man with brown hair that was silver on the sides. He wore a mushroom brown suit and blue shirt and his striped tie was clasped to his shirt with a silver tie pin.
“Good morning everyone and welcome to Introduction to Journalism,” the professor’s voice boomed throughout the lecture theatre despite his lack of a microphone.
“He seems like a bit of a dick,” Peter whispered to Gwen as she tried to muffle her laugh with her hands.
“That’s weird,” MJ started. “Because that’s exactly what I think of you.”
Gwen couldn’t contain her laughter as she let it slip out, causing a few people in the rows in front to turn backwards and see what the fuss was about. A girl sitting four seats down in the same row shushed the three of them, MJ flipped her off causing the girl to scowl. Peter tried not to laugh at MJ’s gesture, it annoyed him that he found it funny but she didn’t notice.
“I will be your professor, lecturer, teacher, mentor - whatever you wanna call it – for this class,” their professor continued as he picked up the black whiteboard marker and began to spell out his name on the board.
“I’ve heard this guy is one of the best journalism professors,” Gwen whispered to both Peter and MJ, although she didn’t seem convinced by the words coming out of her mouth. Peter turned towards the front again and saw that their professor had scribbled his name on the whiteboard.
Professor J. Jonah Jameson