Chapter Text
I jolted awake from a nightmare. It was the first nightmare I’d had in awhile, and it was about Uncle Ben. I woke up crying. The only thing I noticed for a while was sadness. Then, a few more sensations hit me. My head was pounding. I also felt very nauseous. And my muscles felt like mush. I wanted to fall back asleep, but the lingering picture of that night kept coming back to me, making me unwilling to close my eyes. I stared at the ceiling until my alarm went off. My first thought was that I should tell Mr. Stark I didn’t feel well, but I pushed that away quickly. He was a busy man and didn’t need to take care of a fifteen year old boy. Also, all I had to do was make it through the day. After all, it was only Monday. And then Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and Friday…. I guess that didn’t really make sense. Oh well. One day at a time.
I slowly sat up. I didn’t think the world was supposed to spin like that… When the spinning stopped, I stood up and walked to the bathroom. I brushed my teeth and splashed water on my face. Then I looked in the mirror. “Sh…oot.” (Didn’t cuss there, Mr. Stark) I looked terrible. My face was dangerously pale and my cheeks were bright red. I had dark circles under my eyes as well. And I looked like I was about to pass out. That was just great… but I looked almost exactly how I looked. Maybe I felt a tad worse.
I walked back to my closet and proceeded to put on clothes. Jeans like I normally wore, but I didn’t feel like putting anything nice on. I grabbed a t-shirt that said 'I make horrible science puns but only periodically'. Then, since I was cold, I put a jacket over that. But then I got hot. I sighed in frustration but decided to keep the jacket on. After walking back to my room, I stuffed my suit into my backpack, and then my books on top of that. I swung it on my back, and almost fell over. I did not need the extra weight, but I was going to have to get through it.
I walked out of my room and into the elevator. I usually take the stairs, but I didn’t feel like it today. the dropping motion of the elevator brought back vertigo, but I suppose it was better than walking. When it came to the first floor, I walked down the hall, hoping to avoid everyone. I wasn’t so lucky.
“Peter?”
I spun around. Pepper was standing behind me. She insisted that I call her Pepper, not Ms. Potts because it made her sound old. Everyone insisted that I call them by their first name or a nickname. They said I was basically family now. Except Mr. Stark. I think he likes me calling him that.
“Did you eat? Because I don’t recall seeing you come by the kitchen,” she said.
“Um… well…” I did not want to eat. At all. I knew I would throw up. “You see, I’m going to eat at school because there’s a cafeteria and then it’s open for breakfast and lunch and I’m going to meet Ned there and…” I trailed off. I talked too much when I was nervous.
Pepper nodded, giving me a suspicious look. “Do you-“
I cut her off. “See you after school!” I knew she was going to ask if I felt okay. I didn’t want to answer that.
I walked to the train station. I’m sorta surprised I made it without falling down. On the train I took the last spot available… leaving an old lady to stand. I felt bad, but it allowed me some time so relax- or try to. Every bump made me cringe. When the train ride was finally over, I had to walk again. That was terrible, too. At one point, I had to bend down and pretend to tie my shoe so I didn’t completely lose it.
When I finally got to school, I leaned heavily against my locker to catch my breath. A wave of exhaustion washed over me and I almost passed out.
“Hi, Peter! So I’m not doing anything after school and I was wondering if you wanted to come over and play video games or if you want I can just drop my LEGO Death Star again.” Ned laughed at his own joke. “Oh after the ‘Stark Internship’ of course but,” he paused. “Are you even listening to me?”
I blinked and turned around, still leaning against my locker. “Yeah that sounds-"
Ned cut me off, “Peter, you look terrible!”
“Gee thanks.”
“No that’s not what I mean-"
“Yes it is.”
“Yeah okay, but are you feeling okay?”
“Yes, Ned, I feel just fine.” I turned back around to take my books out of my backpack. I could barely hold them. What happened to super strength?
“Peter…”
I looked at him.
“You should go home.”
“Ned I’m fine, just leave me alone.” I pushed past him to go to my first class, Spanish. I think he yelled something after me, but I couldn’t hear him over the pounding of my head.
In class, since I was in the back, I put my head down on the desk. I had no intention of going to sleep, but I didn’t feel like paying attention either. I’m not sure how long I stared at my desk hoping the pounding of my head would go away and hoping my stomach would stop lurching.
“Parker. Hey, Parker! Is he asleep? Penis Parker, I’m gonna tell on you if you don’t wake up!”
My head shot up. I was looking into the face of Flash Thompson. “There he is!” I heard laughter from my peers.
“Shut up, Flash,” I mumbled.
He gasped loudly. “Did you just tell me to shut up? I was nice enough to wake you up!”
I didn’t answer.
“Ooh, Parker, not looking too good. Are you sick?” He asked with fake sympathy.
I looked around the room for basically the first time this class. Senior Torres was nowhere to be seen. That’s why Flash hadn’t been yelled at. I glared at him half heartedly.
“Parker, Parker, Parker. You should go home, no one wants you here.”
“Eugene Thompson! Sit down!” Senior Torres yelled, walking back into the classroom.
Flash’s face turned bright red and he shot me an angry glare before turning around. “Well, Senior Torres, I was just doing the class a service by telling everyone’s least favorite classmate to go home.”
“That is not your job. Go sit down in your seat or you will be staying after school.”
Flash sat down to a chorus of Oooooh’s.
“Okay class, sorry for the… bla bla bla” I didn’t hear the rest of it. I was just waiting for the block to be over. As I waited, my eyes wandered to Liz’s old seat. No one had taken her place. I felt bad for her. Her life was perfect and then Boom everything was a mess. Her father turned out to be a criminal and she was forced to move away from her school, friends, and overall life. And it was all my fault.
Finally, the bell rang. I stood up unsteadily and walked to my next block, algebra. I had this block with Ned. He was already sitting down when I walked in.
“Peter? I thought you went home.”
I shook my head. “I’m fine. Just leave me alone.”
“Peter, please just listen to me.”
I ignored him as Mr. Engel started writing on the board. I copied everything he wrote, but everything he said went in one ear and out the next. I think it was kinda funny that Engel sounds like angle, which isn’t exactly algebra, but it’s still math.
After suffering through a block full of note taking, the bell rang again. Just two more blocks to go.
Ned dragged me off to the side of the hallway. “Peter… What are you looking at… Omigosh are you going to fall over?”
I stumbled and Ned caught me. Apparently I had blanked out, or something.
“Okay, we're going to the nurse.”
“No.” I tore away from him and hurried to my next class, physics. Not the most fun but I managed.
Michelle, or MJ as her friends call her, so apparently me, kept shooting me looks. The first one was “Are you okay”. That was pretty typical. I was getting that look from a lot of people. Then came “Do you need anything”. And then “You look like you’re going to pass out” “Are you going to throw up”. And finally “You look funny, can I draw you”.
And then, like my two previous blocks, Physics was finally over. I usually walk to lunch with either Ned or MJ, or both, but I didn’t feel like it today. I walked to the cafeteria, but as soon as I stepped inside, a wave of nausea washed over me. There were too many noises and too many smells. I turned around and walked to the bathroom. I didn’t throw up, but I didn’t leave until lunch was over.
As the last block of the day, I had science again, but it was a workshop this time. There were many different things to work with. Me and Ned had experimented with the ‘glowy thing’ in this block. I walked over to my seat. Ned came in a few minutes after me and looked pretty mad.
“Peter! Where were you at lunch?!”
“I was at lunch,” I mumbled.
“No you weren’t. You should go home.”
“This is the last block, I'll be fine.”
“But… don’t you have something after school?”
Science Decathlon practice… Maybe I’ll just act like I forgot and then Ned won’t remind me? “Uh, other than Spider-Man stuff? No.”
“You’re not going to do that.”
“Yes I am.”
Ned rolled his eyes and left me alone for the rest of class. I put my head on the table and tried to block out all the hammering and talking.
When the last bell finally rang, I stood up and went to my locker to collect my stuff like usual. Then instead of jumping over the fence like I usually do, I actually walked out the way everyone else did. I ducked behind the dumpster to change. Suddenly, I was overwhelmed by the scent of the dumpster. It usually didn’t bother me- I had gotten used to it- but now, it was too much. Foul scents rushed into my nose, sending an ocean of nausea over me. I started involuntarily throwing up. I felt terrible and all I wanted to do was crawl into my bed and sleep and just wake up better, but at the same time, I still didn't want to sleep.