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When MJ walked into gym class on Monday, everyone was staring at her. It was strange. She was used to being invisible to most of her peers. Now they were looking at her like she was the most important person in the room, the look in each of their eyes different and unsettling.
“What?” MJ asked as she walked over to sit down on the bleachers with everyone else. She knew why they were staring; she just wanted to make them say it.
“Is he okay?” Abe asked, rushing to MJ’s side with the rest of the Academic Decathlon team, everyone else in the gym glaring.
“I don’t-”
“Obviously not!” Flash exclaimed. “He’s at the E.P.F!”
“That doesn’t mean he isn’t okay,” Betty corrected. “MJ saw the kind of things they do. So what’s probably going on now?”
MJ winced at the visions of needles and electricity that filled her head. “Uh-”
“They’re probably dissecting him,” Seymore called from where he sat with his friends.
“Are you kidding!?” Cindy yelled back. “That is such a messed up thing to say!”
“Yeah!” Ned agreed. “They aren’t doing that!” Then, Ned turned to MJ and whispered, “They aren’t doing that, right?”
When MJ didn’t answer right away, she saw her teammates slowly start to panic. “He’s not- they aren’t going to kill him.”
“That’s not exactly reassuring,” Charlie complained.
“I don’t know what to tell you,” MJ said.
“Tell us he’s okay!” Ned pleaded.
MJ didn’t have the heart to lie just yet. “We’ll talk about it at the meeting later.”
Before anyone could disagree, Coach Wilson blew his whistle. “Get into pairs! We’re going to the tennis courts.”
MJ made eye contact with Ned, who nodded, then grabbed them two rackets and a ball before following the coach outside.
“So…” Ned started as he caught up and MJ handed him a racket.
“He’s not okay,” MJ muttered. “He’s not okay in there, and I don’t know what to do.”
Ned looked at her with wide eyes. “What do you mean, ‘He’s not okay’?”
“I mean he’s not okay! I mean they’re sticking needles in him and treating him like a psychiatric patient from the 1950s!”
“What!?” Ned yelled, and MJ hit him with her racket.
“Shut up and act like everything is normal!”
“I can’t!” Ned whisper-yelled. “None of this is normal! Dude, my best friend is being dissected!”
“He’s not being dissected!” MJ insisted as she held the gate to the tennis courts open for Ned.
“He might as well be!”
“Shut up! He’s going to be fine, you’ve met Peter he’s-” MJ couldn’t find the right word. She didn’t know what he was. She didn’t even know if he was going to be fine, but she needed him to be.
“He’s Spider-Man,” Ned finished for her.
“Exactly.”
Ned nodded and took a deep breath, slowly coming to terms with what he had learned as they made their way to the court in the back. “So what are you going to tell everyone at the meeting later?”
“I don’t know yet. I’ll figure it out. Something… less terrifying, hopefully.”
“Right.” Ned looked at MJ for a moment, concern covering his features, before asking, “Are YOU okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“Stop that,” Ned insisted.
“Stop what?”
“Dude, you were just in the same situation as Peter less than a week ago!” Ned put his hand on MJ’s shoulder, and she shoved it off.
“I told you, I’m FINE. I’m not the one-”
“‘Stop worrying about other heroes for once.’”
MJ stared at Ned, confused. “What?”
“That’s what you told Peter. After the dodgeball game. He was worrying about other enhanced heroes, and you told him to stop because he was being ‘an idiot who doesn’t know how to put himself first.’” Ned sighed. “Try taking your own advice. You can’t help Peter if you’re breaking down, you know.”
Just when MJ opened her mouth to respond, the gym teacher blew his whistle. “Leeds! Jones! If I don’t see someone serve that ball in the next ten seconds you’re both getting detention!”
Ned looked back at MJ, his eyes filled with sympathy. MJ hated seeing him like this. Ever since that day the amendment was passed, it was all she could do not to cry when Ned looked at her or Peter. He was scared for his friends. She knew how that felt.
“I know,” she said, before walking off towards the far end of the court, bouncing the tennis ball in her hand. With each bounce of the ball, her chest seemed to tighten. “We’ll talk-”
“Later?” Ned asked. He clearly didn’t believe her.
MJ rolled her eyes. “I promise.”
MJ watched from the floor next to Mr. Harrington as each Academic Decathlon member filtered into the room after school. She picked nervously at her fingernails. She still wasn’t entirely sure what she was going to tell them.
Ned sat down and put a hand on MJ’s shoulder, his smile reassuring. MJ really did try to smile back, but even she could tell it was wobbly at best.
“Explain,” Flash demanded the second he sat down in the circle.
“Hello to you too, Flash,” MJ said sarcastically.”
“Whatever,” Flash said, rolling his eyes. “We’ve been waiting all week to hear about what the hell is ACTUALLY going on in there.”
Despite how annoying Flash was, MJ understood. She couldn’t imagine having been left back at the school with no information to go off of besides the vague news reports. Still, at least Ned had thought to ask her how she was doing. “What do you want to know?”
“Everything,” Betty said. “What are the conditions like? Did you see Peter? Is he able to speak with us? Can we-”
“Too many questions at once,” MJ told them. “Start with ONE.”
Everyone thought for a moment, before Mr. Harrington finally spoke up. “When will Peter come home?”
MJ sighed. “I don’t know.”
Flash groaned. “What’s the POINT of having you back if you can’t even answer one simple question!?”
“Hey!” Ned yelled, standing up. “MJ is safe and you’re acting like you don’t even care! She’s our friend, too!”
“She wouldn’t be safe if it wasn’t for Spider-Man!” Flash argued as he stood and shoved Ned. “It’s her fault he’s even in there!”
“Do you even care about Peter!?” Ned asked. “Or is that the only reason you’re here!? Because of Spider-Man!”
“I-”
“Will you shut up!?” MJ asked as she walked over to Ned and Flash and pushed them apart. She took a deep breath. “Flash, you can leave now.”
Flash looked at her with a pained expression. “What? No, I-”
“This is an Academic Decathlon meeting. We’re here to talk about our teammate. Not Spider-Man.” MJ crossed her arms. “Get a drink of water and come back when you’re ready for that.”
Flash’s eyes narrowed and he grumbled, “Fine.”
The room was quiet as the doors shut behind Flash. Ned sat down, and everyone in the circle looked up at MJ, their eyes fearful, but with the smallest glint of hope. She couldn’t take that away from them.
“It’s honestly not great,” MJ admitted. “I won’t go into detail, though. He’s going to make it out, and we’re going to be there for him when he does. That’s all you need to know. What’s important is that we do everything we can to make sure he comes home as soon as possible. I know there were some things we started working on, and now is the time to finish those up. Peter wouldn’t want us worrying about him. He would- he DOES want us to fight for everyone in the Enhancement Processing Facility. So… let’s get to work.” She looked at everyone one last time and took a deep breath before adding, “Peter is okay.” Hopefully it wasn’t a lie.