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Peter and Ned were pulled to the side of the road by a loving aunt who was about to give the boys a little chat.
Across the street was a giant glass house bordered by which seemed like hundreds of teenagers, many being seniors, holding those red solo cups you’d imagine would be at a high school party. Peter now knew the house belonged to the one and only Liz Allan.
“Woah woah,” Peter panicked, after being told this was Liz’s party out of all people. Ned never told him. “Why wouldn’t you tell me about this? Now I really am having second thoughts about this, I already hate parties-”
“Relaaaaax, bro,” Ned explained in his calmest voice, “It’s only one party. Could one party ruin your chances with her? I don’t think so. So calm down a bit and you’ll have a lot of fun I promise.” Ned reassured Peter by giving him a light pat on his shoulder.
“Ned is right. This is your first high school party! There’s no time in thinking something will go wrong! Also you should totally talk to her, I promise you that you won’t regret it, I’m sure she likes you!” May smiles at him, “And besides, if you really don’t like it all it takes is a few taps on your phone and I’m right here to get you! But you’re going, honey. Ned, do your thing.”
Ned, listening to Aunt May, proceeded to gently shove Peter out of the front seat and onto the smooth concrete road that led to the front of Liz’s house.
Peter took a deep breath, and as much as he didn’t want to be here, he knew they were right. Regardless, Peter would’ve regretted not going, especially with his knowledge of Liz having been there.
As Peter and Ned stepped into the house, it didn’t feel as spacious as it looked from the outside. People were crammed in corners, other large groups were hogging the middle of each room, and only a few outliers remained near the kitchen. One of those outliers was a wavy-haired girl in a brown dress who Peter never knew was coming. He never met her until this point.
Ned was saying something to Peter but his voice was overpowered by the blurring noise of Flash’s horrible DJing.
“P-p-p-Penis Parker! You’ve made it outside of daycare! I’m proud of you, dude. You’ve made us all proud.” Flash being his usual unbearable self. Poor Peter.
Peter now was contemplating whether to leave or not. But he really didn’t want Flash having that kind of power over him. So he tried his best to ignore it.
“Um, dude, please don’t hate me. But Betty is over there and I really wanna ask her about her summer, so do you mind if I go briefly talk to her for a minute?” Ned anticipated Peter’s response.
He really didn’t want to be left alone at a party where he knew but didn’t really know anyone. He felt trapped in a big room full of strangers. He knew his friend supported all his choices though, and he figured it would be unfair to Ned if Peter made Ned watch over him like a babysitter all night. So he let him go.
Now he was all alone.
Being alone made Peter anxious. It reminded him of those days where he felt like he had no one genuine to talk to, no one to listen to, nothing at all. Peter observed the area around him and decided that he felt more comfortable standing by the other outliers, realizing they may be just like him as well.
“What are you doing here at this lame party?” The girl in the brown dress had suddenly left the corner and approached him at the kitchen counter, ripping apart a slice a toast with her filled mouth.
Peter was terrible at talking to people, even worse to people he had never met.
“There’s just someone I came for. I probably wouldn’t be here otherwise, you know?” Peter shrugged, not making eye contact with the toast-girl.
“I get it.” Michelle nodded in a sort of way you nod when you understood what the person meant on a personal level.
“Um- why are you here? I don’t believe we’ve met before?” Peter tried to start a conversation with the possible new girl.
“It was by a school’s recommendation. I’m joining decathalon and I had a meeting with Liz and she suggested I come to her annual start of the school year parties to meet everyone,” There was a bit of a mysterious vibe she had. Peter kind of liked it about her. “As you can probably tell I’m not really the meeting type at all, though.” She points out that she’s been standing in the corner for the past half hour trying to pass time before her mom would pick her up.
“I get that as well. My only friend at this party left me; he wanted to talk to a girl he’s liked since the 6th grade. Can’t blame the guy if you think about it. So I’m just kind of standing here waiting for someone to say something to me. So thanks for that.” He chuckles to himself silently, awkwardly.
“I’m Michelle. But you can call me MJ.” She kept a straight face when Peter introduced himself after.
“You’re new here or have we somehow we not crossed paths in the hallway?” Peter inquired.
“New. Transferred from another school nearby. Apparently I’m too “smart” for a normal public school. I think it’s total bs and my parents just wanted to make sure I was challenged more, I really don’t know. But Midtown is alright, I guess.”
MJ topped her halfway eaten toast with a little strawberry jam, Nutella, and then shoved it back in her mouth, not seeming to care about the massive red stain on the sides of her Nutella covered mouth.
Peter laughed nervously at her. He knew it wasn’t a smart thing to do, considering how she felt a bit too intimidating to laugh at. Also, he hadn’t exactly figured her out yet, being he met her just a few minutes ago.
They stood there in uncomfortable silence for what felt like hours until Flash saved the day for the first time in history.
“Everyone gather up around your DJ! We’re gonna have a great night alright!!!” Everyone cheered around him, expecting him to announce something worth being excited about.
Peter joined behind Michelle, standing a few feet apart from the rest of the building crowd. Peter was a little nervous about what Flash was going to do, but whatever it was, he had hoped it wouldn’t relate to somehow making his night more embarassing.
“This guy already gets on my nerves.” Michelle laughs. It’s the first time he’s seen her smile.
“Listen up! Who wants a little old fashioned round of 7 minutes in Heaven?”
Half the crowd cheers in approval and the other half boos.
“Everyone gather up!”
Peter looked nervously at Michelle, not entirely sure what she would want to do.
“I’m up for it. What about you?” Michelle looks at him, waiting for his answer.
“Uh, sure. If you’re up for it, then why not. It’s not like he’s going to pick me or anything.”
So they both gather in a circle with the remaining few, well 15 or so people who decided to agree with Flash’s extravagant prepositions. Ned is outside of the circle, getting Peter’s attention, then noticing the girl next to him who is foreign to him.
“You’re really doing this? Agreeing with Flash’s stupid games?” Ned looked at Peter like he was solving a confusing math problem.
“You’re the one who said I should enjoy this experience. I’m taking risks! We will see what happens.” Peter said with a sudden newly found confidence.
Ned got in the circle when he saw Betty across from them, participating along with everyone else.
Peter looked for Liz, secretly hoping the bottle would land on her when or if he got his chance to spin it. He needed to tell her how he felt.
The bottle was handed to Liz; since she was the host, she got first spin.
It felt like the emptied root beer bottle was spinning for hours, days, years, in fact, centuries, before it slowed down on a senior guy whom Peter had no idea who he was. He immediately resented him, though. It was supposed to be his moment.
Now when was he ever going to get his moment?
Michelle glanced at Peter for a quick two seconds, noticing his dissatisfaction with the spin’s decision.
“It’s her, isn’t it?” She was a genius, of course she figured out by his facial expressions alone.
“Uh, yeah. Yeah, it is.” Peter shrugged it off, knowing the seven minutes probably wouldn’t mean anything after all. They were all just clueless teenagers with no intention of serious inquiries.
Peter spent those seven minutes wondering what it would be like if that bottle had landed a few people over. Maybe it would be the best moment of his life. He already knew the best thing to happen to him was becoming Spider-Man, so he knew that was not true. He tried to get his mind off of it by turning over to talk to MJ for a bit.
“Do you really want to do this?” Peter asked her desperately.
“You don’t? What are you afraid of, Peter?” You don’t have to be here.” She reassured him she didn’t mean to force him into an uncomfortable spot.
“No, I don’t mean that. I mean, I was just making sure you wanted to, that’s all.” Peter knew his response wasn’t reliable but he didn’t care at this point. All he was thinking about was that disgusting kiss some senior was having with the “love” of his life.
Soon they returned to the circle, the guy smirking at his friends knowing he got what he wanted. Everyone wanted to kiss her. It just wasn’t going to be Peter this time.
“It’s okay. Nothing probably happened. You know how guys are.” Michelle was trying to make him feel better. It did help a bit, he had to admit.
“You’re right. I need to relax and just wait for my turn.”
After a few couples went, Flash finally handed the bottle to Peter.
“This will be exciting. I feel embarrassed for whoever hasn’t to kiss this little shit. Good luck, ladies!” Annoying little dickhead, Peter wished he said that out loud.
Peter closed his eyes, spinning the bottle a bit too hard, making it spin for over 20 seconds until he opened his eyes and realized it had landed on the new girl. Michelle Jones. He didn’t know what to think about it. But it could’ve been worse for sure.
She glanced at him and then grabbed his hand and they stepped into the medium-sized closet. Peter was definitely gonna make a mess of himself.
“Hey...”
“Sup, Parker..”
They stood there for a couple seconds, none of them knowing what to do in these situations.
“So uh, do you- do you miss your old school?” Peter questioned, not knowing how else to start a conversation in a closet.
“It’s been a week or so, but, yeah. There are some parts of my school I miss. Mostly art class, but that’s pretty much it.” Michelle shrugged, avoiding eye contact with the nervous boy.
“Cool, cool. So, it’s your turn to ask me a deep question I guess.” They laughed.
“Yeah. Okay. So about Liz, how long have you liked her?”
“Maybe around a year. Ever since I started decathalon really. She’s great. Everything about her is great.”
“You guys talk a lot?”
“Not really, only at decathalon. I’m terrible at talking to girls.”
“You’re not doing so bad with me, Peter.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
Peter was happy Michelle couldn’t really see him right now, since his face was covered in pink. He finally succeeded at talking to a girl. Or she was being nice.
“So is there anything going on?”
“No. I don’t think there ever will be,” He frowned. “Okay, my turn. Did you date anyone at your old school?”
Michelle laughed at his “deep” question. “No, I haven’t. I thought you would assume that talking to me. It’s pretty obvious I’m not quite the object of a man’s desire.” She moved a curled strand behind her ear.
“I don’t agree. But moving on.”
“Do you ever think she might like you back?”
She obviously was only curious about Liz.
“I don’t think so. I don’t know if she would willingly date a sophomore even. One that looks like a 12 year old.”
They both laughed, because as much as they didn’t want to admit it, it was kind of true. His nervous high voice didn’t help him talk to an older girl either, combined with the factor of him looking younger than average 16 year olds.
“Do you like anyone?” Peter inquired.
“I don’t know yet. It’s my first week. But there is someone I have in mind.”
“Really? And who is th-”
Before he knew it, Michelle had stepped forward and made the first move. She was tired of waiting for Peter to do something, and judging by his lack of social skills, she knew he was afraid of doing anything. Peter took a moment to take it in and before they knew it the time had ran out and the door was kicked open by Flash, leaving everyone seeing the new girl with the dorky boy, squinting as the adjustment to the light was overwhelming. The two stepped apart, ending the kiss, the jam stain from Michelle’s sandwich now all over his mouth. They slowly stepped outside of the dark closet, being greeted by laughter and mocking smiles.
Well this is great, Peter thought.