P E T E R

        Peter impatiently taps his pencil on the empty desk next to his the next day as he waits for his chemistry teacher to walk in and start the class. Chemistry is Peter's favorite class and it's before his history class so if chemistry goes by quickly, so will history and lunch will arrive. Peter has been waiting since the day before to talk to Zoee again. Most people would get weirded out if they met someone that is mute, but in Peter's case, that didn't happen. Knowing that Zoee is mute intrigued Peter and attracted him more to Zoee; he still wanted to talk to her.

        The chemistry teacher, Mr. Jenkins, walks through the classroom door, catching most of his students' attention. He clears his throat for the rest of the teens who didn't notice his presence in the room. Those teens still don't pay attention so Mr. Jenkins announces, "Class, may I have your attention please."

        Finally, everyone was listening so Mr. Jenkins continued. "As you all may know, there have been some changes to some students' schedule in the school. Because of those changes, we are receiving a new student today."

        Peter perks up a bit and sits straighter in his seat, interested in who the new student is. Mr. Jenkins looks out the door and motions for someone to walk in with his hand. In walked the one and only Zoee Atkins. Peter perks up even more as his eyes widen and his jaw drops.

        "This is Zoee Atkins." says the dark skinned chemistry teacher. Mr. Jenkins looks around the room until his eyes land on Peter. Mr. Jenkins looks back at Zoee and points at Peter as Peter thinks about where Zoey is going to sit. He hopes it's close to his seat. "You can go on and sit next to Mr. Peter Parker." continues Mr. Jenkins.

        Peter's excitement dies down, his body slumping against his seat. He stays that way for a few moments until he realizes that he is Peter Parker. Peter sits straight up again as he raises his hand, locating where his is so that Zoee can find him. Mr. Jenkins nods at Zoee without saying anything before Zoee starts walking down to Peter, going through the rows of students. Zoee arrives at the empty seat next to Peter and places her bag on the desk before sitting down.

        Mr. Jenkins starts the class, talking about atoms, molecules, and ions, but his talking is a background sound as Peter stares at Zoee. He can't help himself and wonders how Zoee can distract him from his favorite class. Is it how she looks today? She is wearing a college sweatshirt that is a couple sizes too big on her with some blue jeans and black vans. Or is it the fact that Peter has chemistry with her and that might mean that he's going to share the rest of his classes with her? Peter doesn't know; maybe it's a combination of both or something totally different.

        Zoee feels something burning into the side of her face and looks to her left, finding Peter staring at her. She raises her eyebrows at him and Peter quickly snaps out of his trance when he notices and turns his head to look back at Mr. Jenkins.

        "So, since we're on this topic, I've decided to assign you a project." says Mr. Jenkins as half the class groans as the other half starts to look around the room to find the partner they want. Chatter fills the room's silence and Peter takes the opportunity to rip out a piece of his notebook paper and write down, partners? He folds the paper into a tiny square before laying it on his desk and flicking it over to Zoee with his fingers. The paper lands on Zoee's bag and Zoee doesn't hesitate to pick the piece of paper up and open it.

        Her eyes scan the paper before she takes out a number two pencil and scribbles down something else. She know Peter gave her the note so she taps his shoulder softly to get his attention. Peter turns to her and sees that she is holding out the note back to him. He accepts it, opens it, and reads it.

        Okay. Reads Zoee's small, neat handwriting under Peter's slightly messy one.

        Peter slightly smiles as Mr. Jenkins calls out to quiet the class. The students simmer down and has the teacher's attention again. "I'm going to assign partners." Now the whole class groans. Peter sighs out deeply.

        "Okay now," He continues. "Since you're new here Zoee, I'm going to make this easy for you and assign you to work with Peter since you sit right next to each other."

        Zoee nods while Peter lets out a small, quiet "yes!" while closing his eyes, slightly lifting a fist into the air. Zoee sees this and shakes her head, pursing her lips.

Z O E E

        At lunch time, Zoee is at her usual spot; a lone bench with thick, green bushes at each end of the seat. Zoee chose this spot because no one was using it but mostly because it's kind of hard to find. For anyone to find the bench, they have to look real hard. Because of this fact, Zoee knows that Peter did look hard to find her. Nobody talks to Zoee — no one dares to. Nobody, besides Peter, knows that she's mute, so Zoee doesn't know why nobody talks to her — she doesn't want to find out anyways. She is always alone, not being bothered at school so she wants to keep it that way but now that Peter came around, Zoee is afraid that more people will go to her. She doesn't want her peace of being left alone be ruined.

        Since Zoee is now partnered with Peter for the chemistry project, she knows Peter is definitely going to approach her now. Zoee takes advantage of Peter not being there with her that moment and takes out her tan book titled Eleanor and Park. She flips through the pages until she finds the spot where she left off at. She reads and reads until she feels a familiar tap on her shoulder. She closes her book, remembering where she stopped reading before carefully slipping it into her bag.

        Zoee looks up and sees Peter looking down at her. She picks up her messenger bag and places it on her lap, giving Peter space to sit next to her as she takes out her index cards. Zoee hopes she doesn't need to use her notebook to write down what she wants to say. She has never used it since she doesn't get spoken to besides teachers giving her instructions. Peter was the first person she has ever used her notebook on to communicate and that worried her a little; she's doing too much for a person she just met.

        Peter offers her a closed mouth smile as he sits down next to her. A silence wafts through the air between them as they stare at each other. Zoee breaks their staring contest by looking down at her cards and flipping through them.

        Peter clears his throat. "So, we're partners now huh?"

        Zoee nods, her gaze still fixed on her cards. She then looks back up at him, trying not to seem rude.

        Peter scratches the back of his head as he continues. "So, I was wondering, would you like to work at my house? I don't know if you have a computer but I have one, and I have a bunch of books on chemistry and science so that can really help us. I also rather work there since I feel more comfortable there...but if you don't feel comfortable we can work somewhere else! I-I care about you more that I care about me. I mean, I'd rather have you feel comfortable." Peter rambles, taking a deep breath when he's done before closing his eyes and placing his hand over them.

        Zoee had her eyes squinted and her head tilted to the side as she stared at him while he was talking. She doesn't know why she was staring at him. Yes, since she is mute, she listens and watches intently, but Zoee knows that wasn't the reason. Don't get Zoee wrong, Peter is attractive with his messy, soft looking hair and his chocolate brown eyes but she can't think of Peter that way, she just can't. She can't get feelings for him, she can't get attached.

        Zoee slips out an index card out of her card holder before patting Peter's knee softly. Peter drops his hand and looks down at the index card being offered to him. He carefully grabs it and scans the card with his eyes, reading it.

        Okay.

        "Okay? Okay, we'll work on the project at my house?" Peter questions, raising his eyebrows in surprise. Zoee nods her head up and down.

        "You're comfortable with it?" Zoee nods again before taking the index card from him. She looks down at she puts away the card, making her hair cover her face slightly. Zoee doesn't move her hair back, she rather hide her face.

        As Zoee mover her arms and hands to put away her card holder, she suddenly feels a hand going through her hair and pushing some strands behind her ear. Zoee snaps her head up quickly as she sees Peter leaning closer to her with his arm outstretched to her, his hand behind her ear. Peter notices that Zoee knows that he pushed her hair back. His face glows red in embarrassment as he dropped his hand. Zoee deep deep down awe's at how adorable Peter looks while blushing. Zoee then shakes her head roughly as if to make the thought disappear like a message on an etch-a-sketch.

        "What's wrong?" Peter asks, a worried expression etched on his face. "Did that bother you? I'm sorry, God I shouldn't have done that."

        Zoee scrunches her eyebrows together and shakes her head again but lightly as if to say, "No, it's not that, don't worry about it." She hops Peter gets the message and by the relieved look on his face, he did. Zoee huffed out a breath in relief.

        Peter opens his mouth as if to say something but he couldn't say a word because the school bell rang loudly. Peter frowns at Zoee, sighing as he stands up and fixed the backpack strap on his shoulder. "So I'll see you after school at around...four? At my house?"

        Zoee nods, looking down to put her cards in her bag. Her hair falls out from behind her ear and hangs around her face. Zoee expects Peter to push it back again but when he doesn't, Zoee looks up and sees that Peter isn't there anymore. She sighs once again and stands up, grabbing her bag that holds her schoolbooks and belongings. While Zoey walks to leave the outside lunch area and enter the school, she starts to think about how her meetup with Peter is going to go and if they were going to keep talking and meeting up.

        Zoee hopes not, she didn't like interacting with anyone in general, so Peter wasn't any different. But deep, deep down, a part of her wants to keep seeing Peter after they finished with their project.