Call Out My Name ? Peter Parker

i.

Ella pushed up onto her knees so she could fully assess the damage done to her hands. Softly she pressed on a shallow cut, letting out a string of curses. As she peeled her eyes away from her now ruined hands, Ella spotted her laptop in the hands of a figure sitting next to her.

A gasp rushed out of her mouth as she grabbed for her laptop back. The guy next to her gave Ella a once over before handing the laptop back. She quickly searched it for any major damages and only found a few dings.

Good. So it wasn't broken.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to run into you-" a voice rushed from beside her.

Ella looked up from her laptop to glare at the person that had knocked her over. Peter gave Ella an impish smile, his curls thoroughly messed up leaving a little cowlick at the top of his head. His smile made it seem like he wasn't bothered by the fact that he had just bowled her, but his eyes shined with concern.

Ella scoffed. "You couldn't have stopped sooner?"

"It wasn't me who was standing in the middle of the sidewalk just waiting to get mowed over," Peter retorted.

"Ah, yes, because that's my goal in life: to get knocked down by skateboarders."

Peter muttered another 'sorry' as he scrambled up off of the ground. He grabbed his bag, shouldering it before offering her a hand to get up. Ella quickly gathered her things, not caring that they were a jumbled mess; it was mostly just unfinished math homework and partially written articles for journalism class.

She stood on wobbly legs as Peter dragged her upright. He gave her another smile as he made sure she had all her papers before running over to his discarded skateboard that lay upside down a few feet away. She gave him an unimpressed look as he turned back around with a goofy smile on his face.

"Everything's alright, right?" Peter asked, coming to stand by her side again. Ella ignored the stinging in her hands and knees as she nodded a confirmation. "You want to go to the nurses office or anything?"

Ella shifted her backpack as she avoided Peter's gaze. "Just have a few scratches from you but other than that I don't think I need to go. I'll be okay."

She gestured to her beaten up knees and the palms of her hands which seemed to have the skin scraped off of them. Peter gave her a worried look, and Ella merely rolled her eyes.

"Sorry, Carson. Let's definitely go to the nurses office."

With a small nod the two took off towards the office, pushing their way through the large front doors, ignoring the way that the halls had seemed to empty with the ominous second bell threatening to ring at any second. They'd both be late to class but right now Ella didn't care.

As they walked, Ella took in Peter's appearance noting the rumpled clothing and flushed face. It was obvious he hadn't gotten out of bed on time which, sadly, was a normal occurence. However there was something that stood out from his features that definitely wasn't normal. Around his right eye was a circle of deep purple, almost black, like he had been punched by someone.

"You okay, Peter? That black eye looks pretty nasty and you did seem a bit off last night when you called Gwen and I." Peter kept in stride with her as they walked, his attention now fully on her, eyes as wide as plate. With the confused look of a baby deer, Peter reached up to touch his swollen eye, wincing at the pressure.

He must've forgotten about it during their little fall.

"I just fell and I hit my eye on the corner of the table," Peter said calmly, letting his hand fall limp at is side. It sounded like he was trying to convince her and himself that it was the truth.

Ella pursed her lips and nodded a little unsatisfied. To be honest a little bit of her was laughing on the inside because even if it wasn't true, he was a clumsy person and she'd witnessed it before. "Okay, fine."

"Okay?"

"I don't believe you, but if that's what you're going with then fine." Peter stepped in front of Ella, opening the door to the nurses office. She didn't even realize they had walked that far.

Peter sighed. "It's the truth."

Ella gave a small, breathy laugh at the defeated look on his face. She guessed this whole fiasco just added to the stressful morning he was having. Before she could speak again, the trill of the class bell rang throughout the halls signifying that they were both officially late to class.

"Don't you have a class that you're going to be late for, you dummy?" Ella questioned, breaking him out of his stupor.

"Are you always gonna call me that?" Peter sighed and adjusted his grip on his skateboard.

Ella gave him a smile. "As long as I'm alive. Besides, I could always call you something else. I've always taken a liking to 'jackass' instead. What do you think?"

Peter let out a sarcastic laugh. "Ha, because that's better."

They were friends; it was okay for her to say it. In fact, Gwen would probably applaud her for the effort if she were there with them. But she was probably at home room already waiting for Ella to walk in.

"That it is. I guess we gotta split now, but I'll see you at lunch, yeah?" Ella fiddled with the papers she gingerly held in her hands. Some bandages and ice and she'd be fine. It wasn't anything fatal, but she was still surprised he hadn't managed to break any of her bones.

"Yeah," he replied. "You aren't mad I ran you over?"

"No, I promise. Besides, I can always bet you back for it some day; you'll never see it coming," Ella teased.

"I said I was sorry!" Peter exclaimed, waving his board just for emphasis.

Ella backed up slowly, not daring to turn away from their little conversation. "I know, but next time, just try not to hit me. I may be a redhead but I wouldn't call myself a target."

Peter hummed in confirmation. She leaned more on the door to the nurses office, not daring to go inside. They just stared at each  other, not knowing what to say to the other. He stood there patiently waiting for her, skateboard and helmet hanging limply from his hand.

Ella cleared her throat. "Peter, you're going to get a tardy, you know that?"

"It's already past the bell," he said, and gave her a soft, guilty smile. "What's a few more minutes?"

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it's been a long time and this has changed a lot. not that you really remember. it's been so long this story hasn't been posted in forever. feel free to tell me what you think about the changes. I'm hoping it's going to be better over all, but who knows. There are still some direct lines from the first version of this story just to let you know.