young, but I'm not that bold.

[swing]

Peter probably could have tested out of high school when he first arrived in Darrow. If he wanted to, he could already be attending college full time, instead of taking advanced courses at the community college during his senior year at Darrow High. But he thought that skipping high school would feel wrong somehow. Everyone talked up the high school experience, and given all that he had already lost, he didn't want to miss out on yet another rite of passage. He wanted something in his life that felt normal, and continuing his high school education seemed, at the time, like the right answer. Within the walls of Darrow High, he could pretend that he was just another regular teenager. For a few hours out of the day, his only responsibility was to listen and learn. His only concern was which atrocity would be served up on the day's lunch menu. There was no villain greater than the school principal, and the scariest thing that could happen to him was being stuffed in a locker or getting detention. It was his way of reclaiming his childhood, at least for a little while.

Boy, was I an idiot. I can't believe I actually, voluntarily, of my very own accord, signed up for more years of high school.

Almost two months into senior year and Peter is regretting his decision like never before. But not because of homework, or bullies, or unfair administrators. He would almost rather be swamped with homework, or get the geek treatment from the resident mean kid, or be called into the principal's office for some asinine reason. Those problems all have easy solutions, relative to his current dilemma. Because right now, the biggest problem in Peter Parker's life is girls.

Or, well, a girl. A girl and a dance. Specifically, the fast-approaching Homecoming dance. One of those rites of passage that he was so eager to experience for himself. It seemed exciting back then, when senior year was still in the distant future. Now that the time has come, he's conveniently forgotten everything he ever knew — or thought he knew — about dealing with girls. Not that it would help, when the girl he wants to ask to the dance is so unlike any other person he's ever known. He wishes he knew more about the customs of her world. Is he supposed to present her with livestock? Agree to a duel? Slay a dragon?

He doesn't have the first idea. And he is running out of time. When the final bell rings, he drags himself to his locker to collect his things. Then he heads out the main entrance and plants himself on a bench where he'll have a decent view of everyone leaving the school. He waits, and waits, and waits, until finally he sees her.

Deep breath, deep gulp. He stands up and waves for her attention. "Sansa! Hey!"

Comments

[onlyabird]

So far, her second year of high school had been easier than her first. The work was still almost impossibly hard, and frustration was difficult to fend off when she was sure she was never going to need to know any of this, but it was an atmosphere that Sansa had a better idea of how to handle. She no longer stood out quite so much; maybe she would never adapt fully, didn't even necessarily want to, but she could fit in. As it turned out, it was the lessons she'd learned in King's Landing that proved to be far more valuable than those any of these teachers could give her, as applicable here as they were back there. They kept her afloat, and surely this was less of a hell than that had been, anyway.

Hearing Peter call to her as she left the building, absently adjusting her hair, she smiled a little, heading in his direction. He'd been the first friend she had here, someone whose help had been invaluable to her, and that was something she still appreciated more than she could say. "Hello," she said warmly when she reached the bench he was standing in front of. "Were you waiting for me?"

[swing]

"I was," Peter said, trying to keep the heat from rising to his cheeks. There was probably a better and cooler way to play this, and it surely did not involve openly admitting that he had indeed been waiting for her. Girls wanted wild and spontaneous, not carefully calculated and meticulously planned. But there was no taking it back now. The best he could do was work the false confidence angle; make sure that she didn't notice how nervous he truly was.

God, she was beautiful. Easily the prettiest girl in her class, if not all of Darrow High. What was he thinking, trying to ask her out? She was so very, very far out of his league. He'd known that before, of course, but standing in front of her now, with the afternoon sun in her hair and that slight smile on her lips, it became all the more obvious. It took serious effort not to visibly deflate. "I thought maybe I could walk you home," he said in a low voice, as if he were admitting an embarrassing secret.

[onlyabird]

"Did you?" Sansa asked, admittedly a little surprised by that, though not unpleasantly so. It wasn't as if she needed escorting from one place to another, not here, even if walking around the city on her own was, after over a year, still not something she was especially comfortable with. It struck her as thoughtful, though, that he would think to, that he would sit around waiting for her. If nothing else, it might afford her some good company. Peter had been kind to her in the time she'd known him, was one of the few people here she considered a friend. There was no reason to turn that down, even if something about his demeanor struck her as inexplicably nervous. "I would like that."

[swing]

"You would?" Peter gave her a strange look, like she might have lost her mind all of a sudden. Which, as it happened, was exactly what he was quietly wondering to himself. But he hadn't heard her wrong, of that he was sure. It wasn't a total victory — he knew that more than likely, she was just humoring him, as friends sometimes did. It probably hadn't even crossed her mind, the idea that he might be interested in a more-than-friends kind of way. But it was still a step in the right direction. She'd said yes once, maybe she would say it again. "Okay, great," he said when he had overcome his shock. "But, uh, I don't know where you live, so you'll have to lead the way."

[onlyabird]

"I think I can do that," Sansa replied, just a hint of something teasing in her voice. All of this seemed a bit ridiculous, left her a little puzzled, and were this anyone else, her reaction might not have been so kind. Peter was someone who had done a great deal for her, though, and to whom she owed a great deal in turn. She wasn't about to jeopardize that by making fun when she didn't yet know what he was getting at. Besides, it seemed almost sweet, his offering to walk her home despite not knowing where she lived. At least, she could see how it was well-intentioned, and couldn't imagine anyone she'd known in King's Landing doing the same. If she was escorted anywhere, it was by guards, and it was more to keep an eye on her than for company or to make sure she was alright. Maybe this was awkward, but at least it was kind. "I think I have some idea of how to get there by now. Are you ready to go, or do we need to wait for anything?"

[swing]

"No, no," Peter shook his head perhaps too enthusiastically. "I'm ready to go." The last thing he wanted was to hang around outside of the high school, where at any second one of the other kids might realize what he was up to and come up to tease him for it. He reached up to grasp the strap of his backpack and pull it tighter around his shoulder. Then he gestured with one hand for her to lead the way.

[onlyabird]

"Alright," Sansa said. "Come on, then." She glanced over at Peter as she headed away from the school, making sure he was following along with her. Though she may not have needed an escort to get back to the building from which she went to and from school nearly every day, having agreed, she wasn't going to just wander off. The company alone would be nice, anyway. She wasn't half as uncomfortable on these streets as she had once been, but she wasn't a particular fan of walking around the city alone. "So I have to ask, what brought this about?"