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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
exchange
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"OKAY SO WAIT, what?" Betty asked and Kendra leaned up close to the blonde, explaining the theory in better detail, glancing up to see Peter writing something down quickly, she couldn't help the small smile in her face as she looked back to Betty's paper, pointing it out on her screen.

It turns out that besides MJ, Kendra was the only one that thought to bring a laptop, so people were scrambling to all be on the same page when it came to the study guide. She wasn't sure why Mr. Harrington with think to make his final so hard, even Kendra knew that it would be a bit of a struggle.

"How are you not in college like your dad was?" Ned asked and Kendra shrugged. She noticed that she had everyone's attention this time, making her neck and cheeks burn.

"He said something about maturing too fast being one of his problems when he was our age so he wants me to live as normal as possible," Kendra shrugged, going back to the problem on the guide.

"Is that why Steve Rogers dropped you off?" MJ asked and Kendra looked up and pointed her pencil at the girl. MJ smiled as she knew Kendra would make a joke.

"He didn't say it would be like Florida," Kendra spoke, cracking a smile as Betty giggled.

"What is Florida like?" Ned asked, making her tilt her head, "like, is it really that muggy down there all the time?"

"Dude, I could go to the beach over Christmas break," Kendra answered and Neds jaw dropped, making Kendra laugh.

"I'm joking, we have two seasons down there, they're called August and April," Kendra explained, "it can get cold in Florida, but the coldest I've seen in my lifetime was maybe, thirty-two degrees, and it didn't even snow, so that was disappointing."

"Wait so you've never seen snow?" Betty asked, making Kendra shake her head.

"Only on the hallmark channel," Kendra joked and Betty shook her head.

"Get ready, you'll love it," Ned spoke and Kendra smiled.

"I hope so, I've always wanted to make a Snowman," She smiled and looked back at the worksheet, frowning at how the question was worded, "Mr. Harrington is cool and all, but he has to be doing something illegal when he makes these questions because number thirty seven doesn't make sense."

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THAT NEXT WEEK, Peter and Kendra never got a chance to speak alone. And it made Kendra wonder if Peter had anything to do with it. She eventually let it go. Accepting that the friendship they had was over, and Kendra couldn't do anything about it. It was Friday morning, the last day of finals and she was pleasantly surprised to see the snow was finally falling. She gasped and looked to Zeus who was watching her stare out the window. She was fully dressed and about to leave, but the window took priority over her mind.

"Zeus!" She spoke, looking to the window once more. She sped walked out, her smiling beaming on her face as she was excited to get to the school, wanting to get out as soon as possible and do what she's been longing to do ever since she learned what snow was. She gathered the Christmas gifts she had gotten for her friends, smiling as she walked out to see Happy waiting for her, Vision next to him with the usual breakfast sandwich he had made for her.

The drive to school was a long winded lecture from Happy about how she needed to mend things with Peter, because apparently he was tired of her moping. But Kendra couldn't do much to help that, especially considering how she left things. She smiled when he pulled up to the school, she could already see MJ and Betty at the front door, a bright smile on Betty's face as MJ had her usual bored stare.

"See you, Happy!" Kendra chirped, quickly getting out, grabbing the bags and boxes she had prepared. Kendra really thanked her knowing of these people for these presents.

Kendra really struggled when it came to getting a present for Ned, the two only really shared memes, it took forever for her to finally come up with something that she knew would mean something to him. She smiled brightly at MJ and Betty, tucking Peter and Ned's gifts under her arms as the snow fell in her hair.

"Snow!" Kendra all but yelled excitedly as she handed the two girls their gifts.

Betty squealed as MJ and her handed Kendra the presents they got for her. She knew that if she didn't open them, they would probably yell at her. Kendra opened up the first one, it was long and thin and said "From MJ" in beautiful writing, she opened it up and gasped, seeing the beautiful portrait of herself, smiling brightly. Her heart melted as she stared at it.

"MJ, this," Kendra looked up to see the girl smiling, and it was a genuine one, one that Kendra admitted she liked to see on the girls face, "This is beautiful, now I feel so, I'm just at a loss for words."

MJ waved her off and Kendra playfully rolled her eyes and opened up the bag Betty gave her to see the pretty top, she looked up in shock as she held it up, a hand over her heart.

"I saw it a while ago and immediately thought if you, So I got it!" She chirped. Making Kendra hold the two gifts to her chest.

"I don't think I've ever had friends like you two," Kendra smiled wide, making Betty flip her hair past her shoulder as Mj smiled once more, "now open yours before my fingers fall off."

The two laughed as Betty went first. She had gotten Betty new sets of headbands and bracelets, and a locket, empty and ready for her to fill with whatever she wanted. Betty threw her arms around Kendra, making Kendra hug her just as tightly, watching MJ pull out canvas' and brushes, at the bottom was paints. The girl looked up at Kendra and she swore she saw MJ smile.

"Just incase you wanted to paint me like one of your French girls in crisis," Kendra winked, making MJ roll her eyes as Betty pulled away, allowing Kendra to hug MJ as well.

"Are you going to go make snowmen today after school?" Betty asked and Kendra nodded, a bright smile on her face.

"Did you actually have to ask that question?" She asked, wiping her red nose, "I think my toes are going to fall off next."

"Well let's get inside so we don't have to carry you around, drama queen," MJ joked and Kendra laughed, walking in to see more students doing exchanges similar to what the three girls did outside.

"I'm going to go find Peter and Ned," Kendra told the two girls, leaving them to nod as she jogged off, relieved to see them at her locker. She headed up the stairs, skidding past people while holding the gifts close to her chest.

"Guys!" She called our, catching Neds attention first, the snow still in her hair and she knew her eyes were still just as bright. Kendra approached the two, not allowing them to say anything before pushing her gifts for them into their chests.

Her heart raced as she watched them, Peter glanced up at her as he gently held it like he just received a gift from a goddess. Ned didn't hold back on opening his gift, she watched his face soften as he held up a leather-string bracelet that held together an engraved piece of metal.

"Road work ahead," Ned read out, looking up to see her holding up her own wrist adorning a matching bracelet.

"Uh, yeah, I sure hope it does," Kendra finished, making Ned smile bright and wide as he slipped it on, the two hugging.

"Friends that meme at three a m are friends that are there till the end," Kendra smiled, glancing at Peter to find that he was staring, she felt her cheeks instantly heat up as her hair began to stick to her head, the snow was melting. She watched expectantly as he looked back to his gift, carefully unwrapping the box to not ruin the paper.

She watched his face as he opened it, seeing his face turn bright red as he looked at the Spider-Man pajamas, Neds face contorted in worry and Kendra chuckled.

"I spoke with Spider-Man and he talked about the internship you used to have with my Dad so I thought it'd be funny, I have a better present coming but I didn't want you to think I didn't get you anything," Kendra explained and Peter looked up, the look she gave him told him everything, he only nodded and smiled, putting the lid back on the back.

"Thank you, this is very nice, how did you know my size?" He asked and Kendra laughed.

"I didn't, I guessed and put the receipt in the box if they didn't or if you wanted to return it and get something else," Kendra started to ramble on, clenching the gifts she received from Betty and Mj and Ned gasped, reaching into his bag and pulled out his own small box, handing it to her.

"I almost forgot," he spoke and Kendra chuckled, gently taking it and going to opened it to see a locket, which, Kendra laughed at the irony, opening it to see a small photo of the first meme he sent her and the first meme she sent him.

"Oh, Ned," Kendra pulled him in for a tight hug, almost tearing up at the gesture, "This is so cute!"
Ned hugged just as tight, patting her back as they soon pulled away.

"I'm glad we have such similar minds," Ned joked and Kendra quickly latched it on, adjusting it to fall over the turtle neck sweater she wore.

"I uh, got you something too," Peter spoke, going into his locker and Kendra watched attentively as he pulled out a flower she immediately recognized and an orange blossom scented candle.

"I don't know if all of Florida smells like this but," Peter stopped nervously and swallowed, "I thought you'd like something to remind you of it."

Kendra reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck, his arms instinctively going around her torso. His hug wasn't as tight as Neds, but she knows that Ned has the tight hugs trademarked or something. Kendra quickly pulled away, looking down at the orange blossom, her whole face was sure to be bright red.

"Peter this is so sweet," Kendra finally spoke as she gently took the orange blossom and the cute white candle that was wrapped in an orange lace bow. She brought the candle up to her nose and smelled it, orange blossom filling her senses.

"How did you know I love candles?" Kendra asked and Peters eyes widened in shock, glancing to Ned.

"I uh didn't know, but I guess this works perfectly, huh?" He asked and Kendra smiled.

"I guess it did."