𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐍𝐄
𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐍 𝐀 𝐁𝐀𝐃 𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐆𝐎𝐎𝐃
𖥔 ݁ ˖.☀︎ ݁˖.𖥔

Frank Ocean flowed through Ella's ears as she hopped off the city bus, beginning her short trek to school. The day ahead of her was a long one; three tests in total and an essay due in 5th period. Including the presentation she had in robotics club that afternoon. And she forgot to make coffee before she left the house because she woke up late.

The makings of an absolutely awesome day.

"Ella!"

She could hear the faint callings of her name as she walked, the school now completely in view. She furrowed her eyebrows and stopped walking, turning to look behind her for the source of the shouts.

Bounding towards her with a tray of coffee, brown hair flopping around and a cute smile on his face was Harry Osborn himself. Son of Norman Osborn, New York's second richest scientist next to Tony Stark. Despite almost 6 years of friendship with Harry, Ella had only ever met his father on two occasions; the first time was in 7th grade, when the reclusive billionaire had come home early from a business trip while she, Harry, Peter, and Ned had all crowded into the game room to play video games—the group promptly left after an awkward introduction. And the second time was last year, when Ella didn't know he was home and she casually strolled into their mansion looking for Harry, and there he was in the living room, nursing a cup of coffee in a robe and glaring at her.

Not a very pleasant man.

Ella smiled at her friend, plucking an earbud out by its wire and watching as Harry came to a stop beside her. "Hey, El. I picked you up a coffee. Got your favorite." Harry grinned down at her, making the girl chuckle and shake her head, accepting the large paper cup from him. "How do you always manage to save the day, Osborn?"

Harry shrugged smugly, tossing the tray in a nearby trashcan as the two began walking up the path to their school. "You do the AP English homework last night?" Harry asked, reaching out past Ella to grasp the door handle she was reaching out for, quickly opening it for her. Ella groaned as she remembered the homework she didn't do. Bringing her coffee to her lips, she hummed as she realized he did get her favorite; black hazelnut coffee with caramel.

"No, I freaking forgot...did you?" She smiled up at him expectantly, Harry chuckling and rolling his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Hold this." Ella took his coffee happily, eyes eager as she watched him rummage through his backpack before pulling out a packet and flinging his backpack back over his shoulder.

Harry grabbed his coffee from her and passed her the pristine packet, the front page completely filled with his neat handwriting.

"Yo, Harry! Hey, bro."

Ella looked over her shoulder at Flash Thompson, the boy smiling like an idiot at Harry. Ella chuckled, looking back at Harry who shook his head, " 'M not your friend, Flash." Flash clamped his mouth closed and nodded, walking off in the opposite direction.

"Thank you, Haz. I appreciate you and your perfect homework abilities." Harry nodded and gestured to the packet, "I need it back by 3rd though." He pointed at her as he began walking away backward, "No later!"

Ella giggled and nodded, waving the packet in the air, "Understood!"

☀︎

Lunch came around quickly for Ella, getting through two tests during the first half of the day was easier than expected and she's sure she'll be bringing home good marks to her father.

The lunch line was long but moved quickly, and Ella enjoyed the small conversation she was having with her friend, Gwen.

"And I totally understand Kits hesitation to help me, but it's not like I'm asking him to create a rocket that works or anything. I just need his engineer brain to help me build a realistic model." Ella chuckled as the blonde ranted, holding her tray out to the lunch lady and watching as she slapped down a large spoonful of breaded chicken bites.

Glancing up over Gwen's shoulder, she watched as Harry walked into the lunchroom, backpack flung over one of his shoulders while the other arm reached down to give a fist bump to a few friends. As she watched the boy talk to his friends, Gwen's voice slowly drowned out.

Everyone in the school knew Harry was cute. Curly brown hair, pretty hazel eyes, good bone structure, friendly, tall, rich. And despite him never actually having a relationship that lasted longer than a week, the girls at school flung themselves at him.

But they didn't know him like Ella knew him. They didn't know that he hated normal hotdogs but loved the chili street dogs from the vendor downtown. They didn't know his favorite color was Oxford blue or that he loved cats. They definitely didn't know about his internal thoughts and how abandoned he felt by his father. But she did. She knew everything about the boy.

"Ella."

She turned her gaze towards Gwen with raised eyebrows, her blonde friend staring down at her with an amused grin. "Were you listening to me or were you daydreaming about Harry?"

Ella cleared her throat and shook her head, scoffing at the girl, "I'm not daydreaming about Harry. I'm..." Ella took one more glance over Gwen's shoulder at Harry before looking back to her, "Thinking about my robotics presentation."

Gwen nodded, pressing her lips together and humming, "Mhm. Are you sitting with me and Felicia today or are you slumming it with Peter and Ned?" Ella sighed and looked across the lunchroom, where Peter and Ned sat together, "I'm gonna sit with Peter and Ned. I'll see you in 6th!"

Gwen smiled and waved, "See 'ya!"

Ella quickly made her way over to their table, smiling at Ned as she sat down across from the boys. "Hey, Ella." Ned smiled, placing a piece of chicken in his mouth. "Hey, Ned." She turned her attention to Peter, who was staring past her.

"Hey, Pete. Did you hear what Miss Benson said during chemistry today? She really knows how to spin you in her learning web, huh " That caught his attention, him looking over at his friend with a small smile, before realization dawned on him. She saw him making his web fluid in class. "Uh-" He chuckled, glancing over at an oblivious Ned and scratching his neck, "Yeah, yeah. I didn't catch that, I should probably pay better attention."

"Mhm." She winked at him playfully.

"Ella, boys." Harry quipped as he plopped his backpack down on the lunch table and sat beside Ella, sending the girl a smile. "Hey, Harry." Ned grinned at the boy as Harry and Peter did a small handshake. "So, homecoming is coming up soon—"

Ned cut Harry off, "It's in 2 months." Harry sighed and shook a finger at Ned, "Soon, Ned. And I want to throw an after-party."

Ella nodded unsurprised, expecting this conversation at some point, "Obviously." Harry nodded at her, "Dad'll still be gone, and I'm thinking...pool party." Harry exaggerated his idea, moving his hands out in front of him for the boys' opinions. Ned frowned, "In October?"

Ella shrugged and finished swallowing her chicken bite, "Harry's pool is heated, remember?" "Exactly!" Harry chuckled, patting Ella's wrist, "Heated pool, homecoming after party, everyone's invited. Think about it! Everyone is still pumped after the dance, what better way to end the night than with a warm pool and cold beer? Huh?"

Peter shrugged, "Whatever you wanna do, man. I might not even go to Homecoming." Ella and Harry both gasped in sync, "What? You have to go!" Ella whined, kicking Peter's leg under the table. Peter rolled his eyes, "I might have the Stark Internship—"

"I have the Stark Internship and I'm still going!" Ella glared at the boy, making him sigh as the end of lunch bell rang and students began packing up their things, "I'll think about it!"

"You better! And we gotta find you a date, man." Harry chuckled, flinging his backpack over his shoulder and standing along with the others. Ella peered up at Peter as she put her backpack on, watching as he longingly looked over at Liz at the mention of a date.

Then Ella frowned, looking over at Harry as she grabbed her tray to put away, "Have you got a date already, Harry?"

Ella waved at Ned as the boy walked away to class, Peter appearing next to Ella as the three friends walked towards the trashcan. Harry shook his head, "Not yet, but I've got a pretty good idea of who I'm gonna ask. I'll see you guys later!" Harry waved at Ella and Peter as she placed her now empty tray in its slot above the trashcan.

Peter smirked over at Ella as the girl sighed and looked down at her shoes. She didn't have a date to Homecoming, and Harry already had his eye on another girl.

"Dude, just ask him." Peter chuckled as the two friends began their walk to their shared Advanced English class. Ella's eyes went wide and she looked up at him, caught off guard by the boys' comment. "What? Ask who? Where? What?"

He breathily laughed at her, "Harry. Ask him to homecoming." Ella nervously laughed and shook her head, "I don't want to go to homecoming with Harry, Pete. I'll go solo! Lots of people don't have dates."

"Dude, you've liked Harry since like, 8th grade. I think it's time to make a move."

She shook her head and pursed her lips, "No. Nope. Not happening, that's terrifying to even think about." "Come on," Pete quipped as they stepped into their class, "You're freaking Solar Flare." He whispered, sitting down in the seat behind her, "You fought the Winter Soldier, and asking out a guy is scarier than that?"

Ella groaned lowly, turning in her seat and sending a glare at Peter, "That's different, alright? Without the mask, I'm me, just me. Not...her. And he's Harry. Maybe Solar Flare would have a trying chance, but not me."

Peter's face softened, and the boy softly shook his head, "Ella-"

"Okay, class! Good afternoon!"

He was cut off by their teacher walking in, Ella turning forward in her seat to end the conversation.

She was not risking their friendship to ask him to homecoming. She was perfectly content staying friends with the boy.

𖥔 ݁ ˖.☀︎ ݁˖.𖥔

"Patrol tonight?"

Ella looked over at Peter and huffed, "I've got Robotics club right now, and then I've got to check in with Dad. I should be free to meet at around 6. Buy me a sandwich!" Ella smiled at the boy, watching as he sent her a thumbs-up and went in the opposite direction of her.

Ella loved the Robotics club, she did. But it was almost entirely filled with guys, and she was only 1 of the 3 girls out of the 18-person club. It made it a little difficult, especially because the boys in the club constantly undermined the girls in the club despite them all getting into the same advanced high school. I mean, the school was literally for kids with advanced abilities in STEM.

So obviously, her presentation went flawlessly and her cute little orange obstacle course robot worked perfectly. A+ for her and a big FU to her male counterparts.

Now, Ella was helping out a freshman with his grabbing hand robot, "If you adjust where you put the magnetic clasp, move it up maybe an inch, you'll have a bit more room for its spins-"

"Ella," The girl stood straight and looked behind her at Lily, one of the other girls in the club, who pointed her thumb in the direction of the door, "Someone's asking for you."

Ella frowned and glanced up at the clock, realizing the club was over in 5 minutes anyway and she might as well grab her backpack. "Okay, I'll see you guys next week." She waved at Lily and tossed her backpack over her shoulder, tucking her robot away in its cubby and locking it before heading over to the door.

When she stepped out, she assumed it'd be a teacher, or maybe even Gwen, but Harry was standing there, staring down at his phone. Ella furrowed her brows and chuckled in confusion, "Uh, hey, Harry." She watched as he looked up from his phone and smiled, tucking the device in his jeans pocket and approaching her, "Hey, El. I had to retake a history test after school, and I know you have robotics club on Thursdays so I figured we could walk together."

Ella swallowed thickly and nodded, grip on the straps of her backpack tightening as she smiled, "Yeah, of course."

The two walked side by side towards the double doors of the school, Ella smiling appreciatively at Harry as she reached out and opened the door for her.

Outside offered Ella a breath of fresh air, the girl taking in the smell of the freshly mowed grass and city smell, relieving her of the suddenly stuffy school air. They walked for a moment, passing their usual bus stop. Normally, she'd get on that specific city bus, but it was 4:30 and that bus wouldn't be restarting the route for another hour, so on days when she stayed late, she would either walk all the way home or go to the closest stop that would be back around by 4:45.

"Hungry?"

Ella glanced up at Harry, debating the question in her head. She knew Peter would have a sandwich for her like she asked, but that was 2 hours away and she was pretty hungry now. She shrugged and nodded, looking down at her Converse, "Yeah, I could eat." Harry smiled at that, "Does sushi sound good? I've been craving it all week." Her stomach grumbled at that, imagining a big plate of various sushi rolls. Damn near drooling, she nodded eagerly, "Sushi sounds phenomenal."

Harry nodded, whipping his phone out, "I'm gonna call my car, the sushi place by my place is to die for." Ella nodded, pulling her own phone out to text her dad and let him know what she was doing.

I'm gonna be home a bit late, I'm grabbing a bite with Harry

papa 🔍❤️
Be safe and be home by 8, Hoarders is on tonight <3

And tell Harry I said hello and to get my daughter home safely.

Ella chuckled, nudging Harry's arm with her elbow and tilting her phone screen towards the boy. Harry smiled, bending his neck down to read the text with a smile, a breathy chuckle escaping him as he stood straight. Harry nodded, "Noted."

he says hello and yes sir

papa 🔍❤️
That's what I thought. I love you, flower.

"Car's here." Ella looked up as a sleek black car pulled up next to the curb, tucking her phone away in her pocket and pulling her backpack off her shoulders. She noticed the driver get out of the car, but Harry waved his hand with a smile and he got back in the drivers seat, Ella watched with a raised brow as Harry stepped forward and opened the door for her.