Chapter 7: Dazed and Confusing

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I went to lunch and nearly the entire cafeteria was quiet when I entered it. I saw the tall dark-skinned girl wave to me and I walked over to her table. "Where are the rest of your devoted followers?"

Liz chuckled as I sat across from her. "Betty and Cindy are sophomores and are on the broadcast today, Michelle is busy with whatever she's protesting this week, and Sarah and Kelly are freshmen and usually meet with their music club during lunch."

I laughed and took out my lunch bag. "I was joking about it and you really have an entourage!"

Liz grinned at me. "Being a senior, I am pretty popular."

"Ooo, really? If I rub you all over myself, can I siphon some of it off and onto myself?"

Liz's grin froze on her face. "Excuse me?"

"You know, like static electricity! I rub you on me like a balloon and you give me some of your popularity."

Liz looked both relieved and a little perturbed. "You have a really weird way of saying things."

I paused opening my container of chicken stir-fry. "I'm not against actually doing it, you know."

"Excuse me?" Liz asked.

"I can pick you up and rub you across my head and we can see if it actually works." I said and wagged my eyebrows at her.

Liz looked too stunned to respond.

"I'll take that as a maybe?" I said with a laugh and opened my food. "You're used to having people have crushes on you, aren't you?"

Liz blinked her eyes several times. "Are you saying you have a crush on me?"

"I'm pretty sure Peter did. He wrote a lot about a gorgeous tall girl he liked, only he didn't mention a name. It was almost like he was scared to admit it, even if he was writing it down."

Liz looked thoughtful. "You wouldn't be scared to, would you?"

"Nope! There's no point in hiding how you feel about someone. If you like them, tell them. The worst that can happen is they say they don't like you back. Or curse at you. That could be worse." I said and started eating.

Liz gave me an odd look, then she started eating again. "I heard about what you said in class."

"What did you think about it?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"Is it true? Do you really think... is Peter..." Liz hesitated to keep speaking.

"Dead, yeah. There's nothing I can do about that, not that I would if I could. I'm here now and I have just as much right to exist as he did." I said with a shrug. "Who can say if it was me the whole time and I just woke up when Peter passed away?"

Liz looked a little lost for words.

I reached across the table and took one of her hands. "Don't worry about it, okay? It's not really something that should be thought about too much."

Liz gave me that same odd look. "Peter and I weren't friends. I'm the lead on the academic decathlon team and he was... kind of... avoiding me."

"That means he did have a huge crush on you." I said and she looked surprised. "Peter was an introvert. He was bullied at his old school and retreated socially. Once he saw you, well... it's understandable. You probably pushed all of his nervous buttons. Smart, socially popular, and gorgeous." I chuckled. "You're like nerd kryptonite."

"What?" Liz asked.

"When you come near them, they get physically weaker, probably feel sick to their stomach, and feel a need to get away from you. You're just too powerful for them to overcome." I said and gave her hand a squeeze before I let it go.

"N-not you?"

"Honestly? I'm not immune to beautiful women and their charms. I just don't see the point in being all awkward about it." I said and finished the chicken and took out the rice. "I mean, all that time wasted catching glances, trying to cause a chance meeting to say hi, or worse... falling into you to apologize and get the chance to talk to you."

Liz opened her mouth to say something, then she looked thoughtful.

I ate the rice quickly and drank the orange juice from a recycled bottle. "Anyways, I have to go. I need to talk to my history teacher and see if he's going to be okay with me being in his class. I studied hard during the period before lunch and he should be happy about that."

Liz looked up at me as I stood. "Ben..."

I packed the remains of my lunch away. "No need to be awkward about things, remember?"

Liz took a breath and let it out. "You said Peter had a crush on me." She said and I nodded. "Do you?"

"What do you want my answer to be?" I asked her.

Liz didn't hesitate. "Yes. I think I'm really starting to like you and I want the feelings to be mutual."

I smiled at her. "I have no problems telling you that I think you're sexy and that the confidence you have in yourself is a huge turn-on for me."

Liz smiled back. "I'm going to be a model and I'm the tallest girl in school. I have to be confident."

"That makes sense." I said and put on my backpack. "I can't wait to start making friends so I can brag about that."

Liz's face went sad. "Ben, you... you might have problems with that."

"Only with the guys." I said with a huge smile. "How jealous of me are they going to be when we start hanging out together outside of school? A freshman and a senior! What a scandal!"

Liz's sad face disappeared and she smiled. "Outside of school? Really?"

"Sure! Once I've settled down here in a week or so and gotten my life back in order, my studying craze isn't going to taper off. I'm going to need a study buddy." I said and started to walk backwards. "How about it? Can your intelligence handle the competition?"

"I think I can handle... Ben! Watch out!" Liz shouted.

I stopped walking as a group of guys walked behind me. The brown-skinned boy tried to kick my knee from behind, probably in an attempt to make me trip like I did to him in class. I sidestepped his attack and he overcompensated with his balance for his foot not connecting. I used it as a perfect opportunity and grabbed his shoulder, spun him around, and pushed hard on his chest.

"AHH!" The boy yelled as he flew backwards about six feet, right into the group of guys he had arranged to be his cover. They all tumbled to the floor in a heap and multiple yells and shouts came from them.

I walked over to them and gave them my best 'I'm going to kill you smile'. "You really need to watch where you're walking. Heaven knows what could happen to you if you were near the stairs or something."

The guys around the brown-skinned boy got it right away and scrambled to their feet to get away.

"You PUSHED me, PARKER!" He yelled.

"I tried to grab you when you were going to fall and I missed." I said and lowered my voice. "Do you want me to not miss next time?"

He got to his feet and glared at me. "Just you wait! One of these days, you're going to regret embarrassing me!"

"Why would I regret it? You're the one causing it. Shouldn't you be the one that regrets it?" I asked and that just made him angrier. "If you're done embarrassing yourself, I need to go."

"We're not done here." He whispered and tried to grab my arm as I started to walk around him.

I jerked it out of his reach and then swung back and slapped him right across the face. The echo of the crack was really loud in the completely silent cafeteria, because we had gathered everyone's attention, apparently.

The brown-skinned boy looked completely shocked and put a hand on his red cheek.

"Don't you ever try to sexually proposition me again! I'm not gay and I'm never sucking your cock, no matter how many times you beg me to do it!" I shouted. "I've got nothing against that lifestyle; but, I love women and you'll never convince me that being with a guy can be just as good! I don't even know your name!"

The shocked looks on everyone's faces matched his, so I knew my work was done there.

"I'll be getting a restraining order against you, whoever you are! Stay away from me!" I said loudly and walked out of the cafeteria with my head held high and a stern look on my face.

I made it to the hallway with history class before I burst out laughing at the scene I just caused. It took me a minute to calm down enough before I entered the right classroom. Mr. Jensen was a good sport about my predicament and I told him how much I studied to catch up and that I had Gladys help me. He looked happy about that and gave me an impromptu oral exam.

I successfully answered about eight of the twelve questions and he looked even happier. I didn't ask why and he didn't offer to explain.

"Go ahead and take a seat, Ben." He said and pointed to the normally available empty seats.

"Where is the biggest concentration of girls?" I asked him and he chuckled.

"Any preferences?" He asked with a knowing smile.

"Liz Allan has a crush on me." I said, proudly.

"Ha!" The teacher said and pointed to the middle of the class. "Try to ignore the death glares when everyone comes in and sees you've changed seats to be near her friends. Sarah and Kelly are pretty popular."

"Liz successfully rubbed off on them, did she?" I asked as I went to the indicated seat.

"It's the first multi-year group of popular girls I've ever encountered." Mr. Jensen said. "Should I warn you that if you wrong one of them, you wrong all of them?"

I gave him my biggest grin so far. "It's too bad it doesn't work the other way."

Mr. Jensen's face was blank for several seconds, then he got it and laughed. "You are definitely not Peter Parker."

"No, sir." I said and took out my book for the class and the scribbler. It was half-filled with the facts and figures that Gladys had helped me locate and make notes from. I would have to do something nice for her to thank her for getting me on Mr. Jensen's good side.

The bell rang and the classroom quickly filled up over the next couple of minutes and the teacher had been right. A few of the guys gave me squinted looks when they saw where my new seat was.

I completely ignored them, because two very pretty girls entered the classroom. When they approached, I stood and gave them a little bow. "Sarah, Kelly. Liz sends her regards."

The two girls exchanged looks and sat down at their seats, one beside me and the other in front of her.

"Did Liz really send you?" The blonde on my right asked.

"Technically." I said and they gave me pointed looks. "I ate lunch with her yesterday and today, I asked her who her friends were, and she mentioned you two by name. When I asked Mr. Jensen to sit me near the most popular girls in freshman year, he pointed right to this seat."

Both girls looked surprised by that.

"Before you ask, my name is Ben and Liz and I have admitted crushes to each other."

Both of them caught their breaths and their eyes almost lit up with questions and amusement.

"After class." I whispered and they nodded.

The teacher took that moment to speak. "Now that I've got you all here, I'll inform you that I've grilled Ben about his place in this class and I was happy to learn he isn't slacking in his studying since his accident."

"I don't plan to stop, either. Gladys put together a study guide for me." I added, which earned me another smile from him.

"That's good. I like seeing real go-getters actually using their brains for something other than playing video games and chasing girls." Mr. Jensen said and his smile grew wider.

"I don't own a game console or a computer, sir." I said and glanced at Sarah and Kelly. They giggled.

"Then open your books to chapter six while I give you all a rundown on the independent nation called Latveria. The ruling family have been in control of their nation for hundreds of years and..."

My hand almost blurred as I wrote down everything the teacher said. This class is going to be extremely useful to me!

*

After Sarah, Kelly and I had a long chatting session about Liz between classes, we went to chemistry lab. I was really grateful for my excessive studying, because the teacher was nice about it and only asked me a few oddly specific questions. I answered them and she directed me to my assigned work station.

Class was a blast, almost literally. I had stopped my lab partner, an overweight classmate named Ned, from blowing his hand off and hurting me, thanks to my spider-sense. He tried to thank me and I waved him off.

"Anyone not paying attention, or cared about their lives, would make the same mistake." I said and he looked surprised. "Do you think you could still have a normal life with only one hand?"

Ned gave me an odd look. "You and I were starting to become friends."

"Why?" I asked.

"What?"

"Why were we becoming friends?" I asked.

"I... uh... well..."

"Let me guess. You were both social outcasts? Both nerds and geeks, which is a deadly combination? You both were bullied by that brown-skinned boy?"

Ned looked surprised. "His name's Flash."

"Ha! I doubt that. His mother would never name him after a crime."

"Huh?"

"You know." I said and pretended I wore a trench coat and then hopped a bit and opened it. "Flashing his dangling bits at women. It's what perverts do at parks and back alleys to get an erection."

The obese boy just stared at me.

"Anyways, I'm sorry you lost your potential friend. Peter was a nice guy."

"But, you're Peter." The boy said.

"Nope! I haven't been Peter since I woke up." I said and leaned in close to whisper. "In case you hadn't heard, Peter's dead."

"No, he's just trapped inside an asshole." Ned whispered back and turned away slightly as he bent down to pick something up.

I felt the back of my skull scream at me and I immediately dropped to the floor and rolled off to the right.

The metal stool slammed into the table with a clang and I stood up to stare at the obese boy.

"YOU JUST TRIED TO KILL ME!" I yelled and everyone in the class, especially the teacher, ran over to me.

They took in the scene of me with dishevelled clothing and messy hair and the other boy with a death grip on his stool that had actually dented the metal tabletop. He was also breathing heavily, like he had never done any exercise in his life. He probably hadn't.

"Mr. Leeds, what are you doing?" Mrs. Leyva asked him.

"N-n-nothing." Ned said and let the stool go. It fell to the floor with another clang and he winced.

"Ben?" Mrs. Leyva asked me.

"He was telling me how he lost his potential friend after I got hurt, then he tried to recreate the accident by swinging a metal stool at the other side of my head." I said and glared at the boy. "As if having one bald patch and a concussion wasn't bad enough! I could have died!"

"I didn't want to kill you! I just wanted to knock you back into being Peter! That's all!"

Once again, complete silence fell and no one moved or said anything, until the teacher sighed.

"I want you all to clean up your stations and you can leave." Mrs. Leyva said and reached out for the obese boy's arm. "Mr. Leeds, you are coming with me to the vice-principal's office. I believe we are going to have a nice long talk about your actions today."

Ned looked like he was about to cry as she took his arm, then he dropped his head to stare at the floor and waddled along with the teacher out of the room.

"Ben? Are you okay?" Sarah asked as she came over to me with concern on her face.

"I... I think so." I said and gave her a sad look before I put my arms around her and hugged her tenderly. Surprisingly, she didn't stiffen up or tried to push me away.

"It's going to be all right." Sarah said as she hugged me back.

Kelly came over and her hand rubbed one of my shoulders. "There's lots of time left until school ends. We might catch Liz before she heads to decathlon practice."

"Yeah, that's a good idea." I said and slightly eased my hold on the blonde in my arms as I leaned back to look at her face. "Thanks for letting me hug you, Sarah."

Sarah blushed a little and then smiled. "You still are."

I looked down at her chest pressed to mine and looked back at her face. "Then I really need to thank you."

Sarah blushed a lot and her smile didn't fade as she let me go. I grinned at her and let her go as well.

We went back to our stations to clean up the mostly finished experiment. Of course, I quickly did the last three steps and cleaned up Ned's area while I waited for the results. I achieved what the lab was supposed to produce and smiled as I recorded it and then cleaned up my own station.

"You are letting me borrow your notes." Sarah whispered as she and Kelly stopped beside my table.

"I'm paying you back for the hug so soon?" I asked and she nodded. "That's seems fair."

Sarah smiled warmly and took my hand as we left the lab classroom.

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