A year to Remember. Part 2, the Internship

Peter POV:

"Duuudddeeee!", Ned calls from the hallway, seeing me in my hoodie walking towards my locker. "Haven't seen you since MJ's last weekend", he looks so worried, I'm lucky. "Are you ok from... you know", he whispers the last part, my anxiety still spiking from it.

"I'm fine Ned, but please let's not talk about this, not here", I plead. He looks at me with saddened worry, "ok, but, is 'you know who' ok?".

I sigh, a cold shiver running down my spine. "I can't even look at my suit Ned. He's gone, at least for now". I close my eyes to hide a tear, digging my nails into their opposite arm as they're crossed on my chest. "Can we talk about something else, like a new LEGO set, or Star Wars, or-", I try and list some distractions, MJ sneaking up behind us creating an even bigger one. "Or the last minute assembly planned for later today".

Ned and I both jumped, startled by MJ's sudden presence. My spidey sense has been getting number ever since Friday. Ned was too surprised to notice, but MJ gave me a narrowed look before moving on. "Mr Harrison mentioned it at our decathlon debrief meeting this morning, teachers only found out about it last night".

"What do you think that's about?", Ned asks, solidifying the change in topic much to my relief. MJ shrugs, "All Harrison knows is that it's just before Lunch with some guest speaker".

Ned rubs his chin pensively, exaggerating. "What kind of guest speaker could it be? Maybe a College recruiter?", he suggests. "Could be loser", MJ concurs, explaining her reasoning, "it's very last minute, so it's definitely important, could be a college scout, but I'd guess it's someone bigger".

Any further theorising is cut short by the bell. *Ring*. "Well, we'll find out by lunch. Meet outside my locker before the assembly?", I ask, it's gonna be a long day and the more I spend with Ned and MJ the less draining it, and Trash, will be. "Sure, loser", "See you there Pete", are their replies as we all head to our own classes.

By the time of the assembly, Trash was a pain in physics, and our English teacher thought it a great idea to do a deep dive of heroism in fiction and reality. Full class discussion on the comparable heroism of the Avengers vs fairytales and that was a delightful reminder of the last week. But finally I got peace, gonna a chill assembly chatting with Ned and MJ at the back of the bleachers — or so I thought.

"You ready Loser?", MJ asks as she walks up to my locker, "yeah, gonna be fun having a class all 3 of us of you today, and the speaker could be cool". I barely finish my sentence before a panting Ned zooms to us. "They're here, Abe saw this huge Limo outside". Gossiping engulfs the hallways, people clearing the way as our principal guides- oh, oh no.

"Oh my god, is that Tony Stark?", Ned gasps next to my frozen self, my blood pressure rising and chest closing as MJ jabs Ned's side adding, "And Pepper Potts". Unbeknownst to me, she also nods down towards me, as she and Ned both come to my sides trying to protect me. 

Mr Stark and Ms Potts walk through our school and towards the gym, a path right by my locker. As they do, Tony Stark turns to me; a narrow gaze and questioning eyes I feel burrow into my soul, all of the memories I tried to forget flooding back. His stare lasts a second before he moves on, however it paralyses me non the less.

"Peter?", MJ asks a minute later, my breath hitched in my throat. She notices my panic because she grabs my hand and guides me to an empty classroom. "You're ok Peter, breathe", she sits me down and presses my chest, pushing and releasing to time my breaths. "Wha- What if they're here for Spider-Man".

MJ directs Ned to be our lookout as she talks me through it. "Peter, if they knew or were after spider-man, they wouldn't be doing it at school. If they knew who you were they wouldn't come here at all. You're safe Pete, I promise". I nod, my breathing calmer. "We can always sit at the back of the bleachers if you want, you'd be too far to see".