A Tale of Two Spiders [BEING REWRITTEN ELSEWHERE]

Part 23

Miles's POV

Outside the classroom

These last two weeks haven't been easy.

I've had to deal with school, homework, and taking care of my dad after the funeral, not to mention my daily patrols with Spider-Woman - all while trying to console myself and grieve.

My friends have been there for me, but this stuff is getting hard - like, really hard.

I'm not sure how much longer I can keep up this act of being okay when I am not alright - not in the slightest. 

And it is getting exhausting...

So exhausting to the point where I almost fell asleep in class - thank goodness that it was Mr. Bich's class and not anyone else's, because at least his classes are boring, and I had an excuse to be drowsy.

But, the truth is that I haven't been sleeping well either. 

I try to sleep at night - I really do. But it's so much easier to sleep in the daytime, with people all around me and noise in the background than at night...

When it's quiet.

And I'm on my own.

And the intrusive thoughts start spilling in.

And no matter how hard I try to ignore them, it's like they are a voice that won't go away wherever I go.

Even now-

"Miles!"

I looked into the cornflower-blue eyes of Gwen Stacy as she caught up to me. I felt a stupid grin forming on my face, even though I was trying to force it down.

"Hey," I said weakly.

"You alright? You spaced out over there for a second," She said, sounding worried. 

"Yeah, I'm fine." I smiled at her, trying to hide the obvious lie that just came out of my mouth.

"You sure? You've been taking care of yourself, and...sleeping, right?"

Gwen was probably the only one who knew that I wasn't sleeping okay, apart from my parents - it was pretty obvious to them because they knew me so well. With everyone else, well, repeat it enough times and they'll eventually believe you.

My parents and Gwen just didn't know the whole reason why. 

And I couldn't tell them - not yet, not now.

"...I have."

Gwen frowned and turned away to face the corridor we were walking through.

We continued to walk in silence. This gave me time to think, and my thoughts drifted back to the class we were just in. From what I had seen, Gwen seemed to have been doodling Spider-Man in her book.

Why, though?

"Yo, Miles, Gwen!" Ganke approached us, waving to catch our attention.

"Oh, hey, Ganke," I said, dapping him up.

"Hey," He said back, then greeted Gwen.

"Can I borrow Miles for a bit?" He asked her.

"Uh, sure, I guess."

"Okay, thanks!" He practically dragged me to his locker, his face beaming.

"Dude, you good?" I asked him.

"Good? I'm great because you will not believe what I just found."

He didn't let me interject and continued.