LILLIAN was with her friends beside the bus as they were getting ready to go to nationals. Lillian pouted as she looked at Jade and Michelle, "I'm gonna miss you guys." She said softly.

"We're gonna not be gone for that long." Michelle reminded.

"Am I not able to miss my friends, MJ?" Lillian asked wiping away her fake tears.

Michelle rolled her eyes playfully, "Of course you can, just don't get too mushy on me."

"Hey, it's Peter!" Abraham shouted, pointing over at running Peter.

"Guys-"

"Peter?" Jade asked crossing her arms in confusion.

"Yeah, I was hoping maybe I could rejoin the team." He asked hopeful that the team would welcome him back.

Liz smiled, speaking up but was soon interrupted by Flash who pushed his way past her. "No." he said sternly. "No way. You can't quit on us and stroll up thinking you're gonna be welcomed back by everyone." He retorted which cause Peter to step back a little like a scared puppy.

Lillian rolled her eyes toward Flash as Mr. Harrington walked out of the bus seeing Peter.

"Hey welcome back, Peter." Mr. Harrington smiled, looking back at his clipboard in his hands.

"This going to be good." Jade mumbled as Lillian looked at her with uncertainty.

"Flash, you're back to first-"

"What?" Flash asked taken aback.

"That means he's taking your place, sis." Jade teased as Flash turned to face her with exasperation written all over his face.

"Looks like you woke up the beast." Abraham mumbled toward Jade as they both laughed.

Lillian stood there with her arms crossed as she sighed along with Michelle as she stood up from leaning on the bus, "Uh, excuse me?" Michelle called out catching Mr. Harrington's attention. "Can we go already? 'Cause I was hoping on getting some light protesting in front of one of those embassies before we go to dinner." She stated crossing her arms.

Mr. Harrington purses his lips in thought as he nodded, "Protesting is patriotic. Alright, let's get on the bus." He says as Flash throws the blazer at Peter.

As the kids got on the bus, Lillian gave Michelle and Jade one last hug goodbye. "Please, don't have too much fun with me. I love you guys, good luck." Lillian smiled.

"When did you become a mom?" Michelle joked.

"Right?" Jade chuckled as she shook her head. "Love you Lilly, I'll text you."

"Same here, Flower." Michelle smiled as they made their way on the bus waving goodbye to their best friend as the bus started driving off.

...

ONCE Lillian made it back to her apartment, she went to her room closing the door after her as her phone dinged. She threw herself on the bed as pulled out her phone seeing Michelle and Jade had texted her.

-

[ group message ]
mj as mIchELle obAmA 🖤
jade as sLiM jaYdEe 💍
lillian as lEEDle LeE 🌫

mIchELle obAmA 🖤
we are bored

i finished my book
on the bus n i am
bored

sLiM jaYdEe 💍
we're not even
halfway there yet n
i swear we're
surrounded by
idiots

dont get me wrong
they're smart

but for sum reason
they're actin like
idiots

lEEDle LeE 🌫
mj, don't u have
an extra book
with u??

ur always
prepared w ur
books

n jade,, exPLAIN
SIS

mIchELle obAmA 🖤
yea i do its just not
on me atm which
sucks cuz now i got
nothin to do

sLiM jaYdEe 💍
we're doing study
rounds n cindy is
overstressing
herself and its
psyching every1 out 🤦‍♀️

n then u got this kid
not even listening to
the actual question n
getting the answers
wrong like,, frank
sinatra?? 🙄

n then u got flash
yknow
being flash 😒

n omgg i love
abraham he's so
funny whenever
flash gets an answer
wrong abraham is
quick to remind him
that he got it wrong
sksjssj if that aint me

n then ofc u have peter
who's the only one who
gets the answers correct

liz is getting stressed cuz
everyone is doing their
own thing n i dont
blame them cuz
ur sIS wANts to TAke
a NAP 🗣🗣

lEEDle LeE 🌫
who answered frank
sinatra?? and sis,, yoU
NEED TO CHILL

sLiM jaYdEe 💍
i wiLL NOT CHILL
I WILL HEAT SIS

lEEDle LeE 🌫
EYE-

mIchELle obAmA 🖤
don't forget how peter
got a call from his
internship and now
him and ned have
been actin weirder
than normal but what
else is new??

lEEDle LeE 🌫
what is up w them??

sLiM jaYdEe 💍
fr tho but its kind of
funny tbh

mIchELle obAmA 🖤
true

btw we made it to the
hotel ttyl

lEEDle LeE 🌫
noooo u guys should
rest text me after
decathlon xx

sLiM jaYdEe 💍
you sure?

mIchELle obAmA 🖤
ima still text u updates

u need to stop worrying
too much flower

lEEDle LeE 🌫
yes im sure,, its alright

n thank u mj

n i do not worry too
much i just care a lot
about u guys u guys r
like my family

i gtg my mom is calling
me,, ily guys byeee xx

mIchELle obAmA 🖤
ilyt flower

sLiM jaYdEe 💍
ilyyyy lills

-

Lillian smiled to herself as she left her phone on her bed, leaving her room to the living room where her mother was sitting on the couch. "You summoned me?" Lillian said dramatically in a british voice as she did a curtsey.

Leila rolled her eyes playfully as smiled motioning her daughter to come sit next to her, Lillian doing as told.

"What's up, mom?" Lillian asked, her eyebrows furrowing as she noticed her mother's stressed state.

"My boss wants to arrest Spider-Man." Leila sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"What? Why?"

"He thinks that bank robbery was all Spider-Man or that it was his fault." Leila shrugged, "But the evidence clearly shows that it wasn't him." She shook her head.

Lillian nodded, "Well, mom if you know he didn't do it and there's physical evidence, then that should help with your case." She shrugged.

"It does, but we still don't know who was actually behind the robbery." Leila sighed, "Sorry, that's not why I called you. I already talked to your brother and he said he's gonna be busy, but May Parker invited us for dinner tonight." Leila stated.

Lillian's lips pursed to the side as she hummed in thought, "Sure, why not?" She shrugged.

"Alright." Leila nodded, "It'll be in a few hours. So, be ready."

"Will do." Lillian nodded, smiling as she started making her way toward her room before stopping in her tracks, pivoting to face her mother. "Don't take this the wrong way or anything, but uh... why did she invite us?"

Leila shrugged, "I'm not sure." She smiled lightly at her daughter.

Lillian nodded hesitantly, "Uh-huh. Yeah, I'm not believing that." She shook her head deciding against to question any further, going back to her room. She threw herself on the bed, picking up her phone to see she had a text message.

-

[ private message ]
unknown as unknown
lillian as lilly 🌙

unknown
hey its elijah/eli

... garrick

the guy who asked u
out for hoco

this is lilly right?

lilly 🌙
hey, sorry i was with
my mom for a bit

sooo are u going to
tell me how u got my
number?

eli g. 💌
it was jade

i totally thought u
were gonna figure
that out yourself haha

anyway, i was sort of
hoping that maybe i
could take you out on

a date?? like tonight??

-

"Shit." Lillian mumbled to herself, her thumb going straight to Jade's contact and calling her. "Please pick up." She mumbled as she nervously chewed on her lip.

"Hey, what's up? Is everything okay?" Jade asked worriedly.

"No." Lillian breathed out as she slightly panicked.

"Okay, breathe and then tell me whenever you're ready." Jade said softly.

"Okay," Lillian took a deep breathe, letting it out as she closed her eyes for a bit, nodding to herself. "Um, Eli asked me out on a date..."

Jade gasped, "What? No way!" She said happily, "What's wrong with that?" She asked.

"I have dinner with my mom and May Parker?" Lillian added more as a question. "I don't know what to do." She mumbled, covering her face with her hand in desperation.

"Tell him yes, but ask for a raincheck. If he asks- wait no. Tell him that you would love to go on a date with him, but you're out with your family at the moment and then ask for a raincheck. Don't mention anything about Peter's aunt. He's gonna get the wrong message." Jade said in a hurry.

Lillian's eyebrows furrowed, "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, it's just Liz is having a secret meeting right now without Mr. Harrington and I'm not supposed to be on my phone." Jade mumbled quickly, "Oh crap. She's looking at me. Okay, I gotta go." She said hanging up before Lillian could muster a word.

Lillian scoffed as she shook her head, groaning as she threw a pillow on her face in frustration.

"Hey, no need to be sad sis," Her brother said crossing his arms, "because 'sad' backwards is 'das'..." He sighed shaking his head in disappointment. "And das not good." He joked.

Taking the pillow off of her face, she sat up in annoyance looking at her brother with a deadpanned expression. "That was the most corny thing I have ever heard in my life."

He shrugged, "What's up with you?" He asked changing the subject.

"Um, this guy asked me out tonight for dinner, but-"

"You got dinner with mom and May tonight." He nodded in understanding. "Yeah," He sighed, "do you want me to see if he's Mr. Right?" He smiled playfully.

Lillian smiled as she shook her head, "No. Thank you though." She said softly. "I think I'm just gonna raincheck on him."

"Alright, what's his name?" He asked, "Y'know just in case he does something." He smiled as he shrugged.

She chuckled, "Eli," She sighed as her brother gave her a look as if he was telling her to give him the boy's full name, "Elijah Garrick." She rolled her eyes playfully, "You better not do anything stupid, Nate."

"I won't, but you should probably text him before he thinks you stood him up over text." Nathan reminded as he left her door frame.

"Oh, right." She mumbled, pulling out her phone once again.

-

[ private message ]
elijah as eli g. 💌
lillian as lilly 🌙

lilly 🌙
hey sorry, raincheck?

eli g. 💌
yeah sure

can i ask u something?

lilly 🌙
whats up?

eli g. 💌
am i doing something
wrong??

cuz u seem to run away
from me a lot haha

lilly 🌙
omgg noooo

no no no

of course not,, its just
i'm going out for
dinner in a bit with
my mom

eli g. 💌
ohhh ok

yeah that makes sense

well i'll let you go (:

-

Lillian sighed deeply as she got up to fix herself for dinner. She figured it was a casual dinner so she kept on her black and white stripped shirt, changing her ripped denim shorts for a pair of black skinny jeans. She was already wearing socks so she put on her white slip on vans. "Lilly, are you ready?" Leila called out from the living room.

Lillian looked over her outfit, throwing her hair up in a messy bun as she made her way to get her phone once she was done. Placing her phone in the back pocket of her jeans, she left her room as she met up with her mother in the living room. "I'm ready." Lillian sighed, convincing herself that everything is going to be okay.

Leila nodded as they both left the apartment, knocking on the door across their's. A few seconds later, the door opened revealing a woman you used to know very well.

"Leila, Lillian, come on in." May smiled, giving each of them a hug individually.

"Hi, May," Leila smiled as she walked in, "How's life?" She asked as Lillian also walked in.

As May and Leila caught up with each other, Lillian's phone vibrated.

-

[ private message ]
mj as my-shell 🐚🖤
lillian as flower 🌻

my-shell 🐚🖤
liz is having us go
swimming...

i could be sleeping rn
but no she insisted i
tag along n she let
peter go off to
wherever he's going

jade is having a lil
too much fun with
liz and cindy but hey
at least she's having
fun and not stressing
about tomorrow

ned seems like he's
freaking out but won't
say why

i'm reading my
second book that i got
with me,, oh and i got
to do some light
protesting

flower 🌻
that explains why
jade was in a rush

try to sneak back to
your room mj if you're
getting tired

n ofc liz did...

wdym 'a lil too much
fun'?

my-shell 🐚🖤
yeah, she almost got in
'trouble' for being on her
phone during our secret
meeting

n i mean fun like how
someone would act if
they found out their
crush secretly liked them
back?? idk

if that's her preference
i'm here for it

anyway, whats up w
my flower?

flower 🌻
wait wait wait-

r u saying that u think
jade likes cindy or liz?

i mean yeah she's bi,,
but i thought u knew
that already

but she doesn't like
cindy or liz...

she's crushin on someone
thats for sure, but thats
her place to tell u who
it is

n i'm at peter's
apartment, having
dinner with may n
my mom

also eli asked me out
on a date n i told him
raincheck aksksj i gtg-

my-shell 🐚🖤
lillian! you can't drop
news like that and just
leave me like that!! we're
talking about this later

-

"Lillian, are you texting Peter?" May asked with a hopeful smile as Lillian put her phone back in her jean pocket.

Lillian cleared her throat as she sat next to her mother at the dinner table, "Uh, no. Actually, I was texting Michelle." She smiled softly.

May's smile faltered as Leila looked at her daughter taken aback. "Oh, did something happened between you two?" May asked curiously as she served both Leila and Lillian the lasagna she had made.

"No, not really." Lillian looked up at May, "School happened and we both grew up." She shrugged.

"I thought you and Peter were still friends." May thought as her eyebrows furrowed as she sat down after serving herself some lasagna.

Lillian shook her head, "We became very distant once high school started."

"Sweetie, you didn't tell me this." Leila said as she pushed Lillian's hair behind her ear gently.

Lillian shrugged, "I didn't want to put too much on your plate."She stated softly as she began eating, Leila and May doing the same.

"Well, I miss having you around Lillian." May said giving her soft smile as Lillian nodded, giving her a smile back.

Leila's phone beeped, "I gotta go, its work. I'm sorry, May. The dinner was lovely." She rushed.

"I'm gonna stay with May, mom." Lillian said as her mother nodded.

Leila gave her daughter a kiss on her head, "Alright behave. Is it okay if she sleeps over?" She asked.

May nodded, "Yes, of course. I could use the company." She smiled as Leila whispered a 'thank you' and rushed off to work.

...

ONCE they were done with dinner, Lillian helped May out with the dishes. "Any crushes?" May asked smiling as she nudged Lillian playfully.

Lillian smiled as she put the dishes away, "Um, there's this guy, Eli. He's really sweet and understanding."

"Is he cute?" May questioned as looked at Lillian, waiting for her response.

"Y-Yeah, he's really cute." Lillian gushed as her cheeks grew a light shade of pink.

May forced a smile as she remembered something, "I hope you don't mind me asking, but what happened between you and Peter? Every time I ask him, he just brushes the subject off."

Lillian's lips slightly pouted knowing the reason why and it was because of Liz. As much as both Peter and Lillian hate to admit it, but it was true and they're the only ones who know why they drifted apart as if they were never friends. "I don't know." She lied as she shrugged giving May an apologetic smile.