CHAPTER SIX;
big books, shy looks

"TELL ME YOU'RE LYING!"

"I wish I was, Aki." Amala mumbled as she brought her drink to her mouth.

"He was actually in your house? No- in your room?" Akira says in a shocked whisper, her eyes wide.

Amala does nothing but nod.

It has been thirteen days since she was face-to-face with the city's blazing hero and she was just finally telling her best friend.

Initially, Amala debated even telling her at all. Why did she need to? Yes, the Spider-man was inches away from her and yes, she actually spoke to him but it's not that serious... right? To be frank, Amala didn't want to out him, in favor of respecting his privacy. Yet she also didn't want to keep things from her best friend. It's not like Akira wasn't trustworthy. Hell, her best friend was the most trusting person she knew. Through their three year friendship, (and counting) Akira had not once betrayed Amala or fished out her secrets. 

Yet she hesitated. Just a bit.

Eventually though, Amala settled on telling her about the encounter. No harm was going to come out of it, that she was sure of. Plus, she had been desperate to tell someone. It would only make sense if it was her best friend, right?

"There's just no way. The Spider-man almost broke into your room? And you took care of him?" Akira says dumbfounded. "When did this happen, again?"

"Two friday's ago." Amala says. Akira gives her a look of betrayal. "I know, I know. I'm sorry I didn't tell you but I just didn't know how!"

"What do you mean 'you didn't know how'?" Akira replies. "All you had to do was say: hey, Akira! Guess what? Spider-man almost smashed my balcony door and I let him in and helped him because he was hurt. I don't know, just thought I'd tell you since you're my best friend!"

"Akira! Please keep it down." Amala chastises. "I'm sorry! I really am." She adds apologetically.

Akira pulls her lips in a pout, swirling her drink together. "It's whatever," she shrugs. "I mean, I'm still kinda pissed at you but I get why you didn't tell me at first." She says, meeting Amala's eyes and smiling. "I'll let it slide just this once because I'm dying to know more details."

"Thank you, Aki."

"But," she adds. "Next time this happens, you tell me as soon as he leaves. Got it?"

"Of course," Amala says honestly. "I promise."

Akita's smile brightens. "Good. Now tell me everything."

ෆ

REAL LIFE
HIGH SCHOOL
2 DAYS LATER 
9:05 a.m.

There are two types of people in AP Biology: those who take it just for extra credit and those who take it because they're actually good at it.

Amala falls into the latter category.

When it comes to general sciences, Amala finds that she doesn't really care for them. However, Biology is an exception. Ever since middle school, the raven genuinely enjoyed the class. Maybe it was because of the teachers, or even the subject itself, but Amala looked forward to it every week. She had the grades to prove it, too.

When she finally got to highschool, Amala knew that she wanted to take it as an AP class. So, the second they were given the option, she signed up for it as well as three other AP classes: English, Psychology and Physics.

Walking into class today, Amala took a seat in her usual spot; second row, middle table, behind Joanna-Lee (who gives her a wave as she walks in). Behind her, Marissa Hansen drums her hands against her desk as Ashley Bennett types away on her phone.

Beyond that, Amala isn't really friends with anyone in class (Akira doesn't take AP Biology, she prefers Chemistry, instead).

Before the teacher walks in, the raven busies herself with her books, opening her notes and taking out her pencil case, deciding what colored pens to use for this particular chapter and so on. Several minutes pass and by that point, everyone had settled down. The teacher, Mr. Davis, walks in and starts his lesson.

"What does Mendel's first concept state?" Mr. Davis asks at some point during the class. "Yes, Amala?"

"It states that alternative versions of genes are the cause for variation in inherited traits or characters." Amala says, putting her hand down.

"Very good."

Amala smiles softly, happy to have gotten the answer correct. She looks back down at her notes, but not before she catches the eyes of Peter Parker. For a short second, they make eye-contact, before he quickly darts his eyes elsewhere.

Amala's eyebrows furrow in confusion but she brushes it off and focuses on what her teacher is saying.

Several minutes pass and Amala feels as though she's being watched. She turns to her right and is met with Peter's stares, again. She looks at him once but this time, she smiles at him.

Peter's cheeks darken, embarrassed to have been caught, and returns the smile shyly before gazing elsewhere.

For the next twenty minutes, Amala and Peter are in a constant dance of eye-contact. Every couple of minutes, Amala would feel a searing force hit her side and she'd turn around. Every single time, Peter would be staring at her until he knew he got caught. Then, his eyes would widen and he would look away.

By the final minutes of the class, Amala was beyond confused. Why did he keep looking at her? She tried fishing for an answer in her head but came clean each time. There was no clear reason why he kept staring at her. Amala figured things might still be a little weird after their awkward encounter yesterday but assumed it was just a first time thing.

"Alright, before I let you all go, I'm going to assign a project due for two weeks." Mr. Davis says, snapping her out of her thoughts. "You'll be working in pairs — and no, you cannot choose those pairs."

Several students visibly sighed in disagreement.

"What if I don't like my partner?" Asks Kaylee Bryant from the back of class.

Mr. Davis was quick to reply, "Well, you're just going to have to try to like them or deal with it until you're done."

Snickers broke out but were deafened by the teacher's show of hands.

Shortly after, he began reading the pairs from a list. Down the list went; friends coincidentally being paired up with friends and others with strangers.

Her name finally came towards the bottom of the list.

"Amala and Peter, you two are together."

Peter's head perked up and he shot her a glance.

Amala returned it and smiled kindly.

She nodded at Mr. Davis and that was it.

He went over some final points, explaining the goal of the project and what medium it would be on, as well as making sure to answer any questions.

Class ended and everyone was dismissed by the bell.

Amala packed her things into her school bag and slung it over her shoulder. She decided to wait by the door so she could talk to Peter about the project.

As he walked out, Amala quickly jogged behind him.

"Hey, Peter." She said.

Peter quickly turned around. "Oh - uhm - hey," he said shyly, hands joining and fiddling together.

"So..." she began. "We're paired up for the Bio project."

"We are," he replied

They were silent for a couple seconds and it was probably the most painful five seconds of both of their lives.

She nodded awkwardly. "Right, well, we should probably get started on it soon, if that's okay with you?"

"Y-yeah? Yeah, sure." Peter stuttered, rolling his heels into the floor.

"I know we have time and stuff but I'd rather get it out of the way." Amala supplied.

"No, yeah. I get that. Me too."

"Alright, great. So - uhm - I'll text you, okay?" Amala asked.

Peter inhaled sharply. "Yep, sounds good."

"Okay, great."

"Okay."

The pair exchanged a glance in unfiltered silence as people around them walked to their classes or spoke to friends.

"Right, well-"

"I should-"

Amala laughed. "Oh sorry! You go first."

"No, it's alright. Go ahead." Peter insisted, his hand coming to rub the back of his neck.

"I just said I should start going to class." Amala replied quietly.

"Oh. Well, yeah. Me too." Peter mumbled.

"Okay." Amala said with a nervous smile.

Peter mirrored her. "Okay."

"I'll - uh - I'll text you, yeah?" Amala repeated.

"Okay, sounds good." Was all Peter said.

"Alright, bye Peter. See you around."

"Bye, Amala." He mumbled before walking to class.

Amala turned around and began walking to Math class.

Holy shit, that was so awkward, she thought to herself.

Her mind was a jumble of thoughts as she walked through the halls. That was excruciating. What even happened? Amala took pride in being confident and easy-to-talk to. Yet, standing in front of Peter, she allowed their atmosphere to get tense.

It's not like Peter made it better, her mind supplied.

While that was true, he wasn't the confident one out of the two of them. So, if anything, it was her job to make the conversation flow smoothly. Not his.

Shaking her head slightly, she cleared her mind up as she saw Akira walking towards her.

They gave each other an excited wave as they met in the middle.

"Mala!" Akira said excitedly.

"Aki!" She replied back with the same energy.

"Hi, how was Bio?" Her best friend asked her.

"Fine. How was Chem?" She asked back.

"Pretty alright. Ned sat next to me today and he's actually really cool." Her best friend told her as they walked.

"Oh?" Amala asked, surprised. "Really? That's nice."

"Yeah," Akira told her. "Who would've thought, huh?"

Amala just laughed at that.

"Speaking of Ned," she quickly remembered. "Guess who I'm paired up with for my Bio project."

Akira looked at her, motioning for her to continue.

"Peter."

"Oh." Akira said, furrowing her brows. "That's new."

"I know."

"Well, are you excited?" Her best friend asked.

"I mean, I'm not dying to be paired up with him, you know?" She began saying. "But I'm also not sad." She continued as she adjusted her bag on her shoulder. "He's smart and he's nice so this shouldn't be bad."

Akira thought her words over. "Yeah, that's fair."

"Yep," Amala said, popping the 'p'. "Anyways, are you ready to melt your brains out of your ears during Math?"

"Fuck, please don't remind me." Akira groaned. "I've been dreading it all day."

"Me too," Amala whines. "I don't even remember what we did yesterday.

"Me neither. I just remember sitting in class and wishing I was dead."

They reach their class, at the end of the hall (unfortunately), and still at the door.

"Fifty minutes," Amala says in reassurance (or is it dread?).

"Fifty minutes," Akira breaths back.

They share a look of pure misery before walking in and taking their seats.

ෆ

iMESSAGE
PETER & AMALA
5:02 p.m.

AMALA
hey :)

PETER
hiii

AMALA
what's up?

PETER
nm lol

just chilling wbu

AMALA
same lol

just reading

PETER
oh that's cool

AMALA
haha yep

anyways

for the bio project

do you wanna meet up
somewhere tomorrow to
get started on it ?

PETER
tomorrow?

AMALA
yeah if you're free

ik it's kinda early but i think
it'd be good if we got a head
start

that way we can have a lot of
time to get it perfect

PETER
uh yea sure

that works for me

where do you want to go?

AMALA
starbucks ?

we can get coffee and sit down
and stuff

PETER
starbucks?

AMALA
yes ?

do you wanna go somewhere
else bc idrm

PETER
no i don't mind it's just idk

starbucks kinda sucks

AMALA
WHAT

why 🤔

PETER
idk

starbucks is for basic 12 year
olds who just started getting an
allowanfc

** allowance

AMALA
😵‍💫😵‍💫

ngl that hurt me deep in
my heart

PETER
sorry

just speaking my
truth

AMALA
cna you not speak it next time

also since when did you have a
sense of humor lmfao

PETER
idk

depends on the day lol

AMALA
ah

so today is a humor day?

PETER
yup

AMALA
awesome

sooo

starbucks? 😊

PETER
fine

AMALA
yay :)

is 5pm good for you?

PETER
lemme check

yea it's okay

AMALA
great!

see you then?

PETER
yup

see ya

AMALA
bye :)

PETER
byeee
read

— END OF CHAPTER 6 —

[ NOTE ]
thank you for reading !!

finally starting to build
peter and amala's friendship.

excited to see how it'll progress :)

as always, like / comment / lmk
ab any typos .. etc! support motivates
me loads :)

have an awesome day!

pearl <3