𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘴 , peter parker

024.

GLISTENING DIAMONDS.
024. ❛ tug of war. ❜

"OKAY CLASS, LISTEN UP!" Coach Wilson yelled to his p.e. class that all stood together. In front of them were a mat and a rope. "We'll be doing tug of war today. First up will be Flash and Mj."

Diana cheered for her friend and clapped, a smile on her face. "Let's go, Mj!"

The curly-haired girl just flipped her off and grabbed the rope. Flash gave Mj a smirk and also held the rope. The coach pointed at a cone that lay in the middle, "Whoever pulls the other person across the cone first wins."

Everyone nodded and watched as the coach blew the whistle. Flash pulled the rope hard, which yanked Mj forward, but she found her footing and pulled it back, creating tension in the string. It took a while until Flash lost his balance and moved forward a bit.

"Come on, Mj!" Diana cheered again over the other kids cheering for the person they were rooting for. After some time, Mj yanked the rope over her shoulder and walked backward, which made Flash slip and cross the cone.

"Yes!" Diana smiled and clapped happily as her friend walked over to her, out of breath. "Good job, M."

Mj smiled lazily and nodded, fixing her hair so it wasn't so wild, "Thanks, D."

After some time had passed and several of kids had gone, it was Diana's turn. "Okay, Diana, come up here."

The girl nodded and tied up her blonde hair in a ponytail, walking up to the mat and waiting for her opponent to be announced.

"And..." The coach searched around the room until his eyes caught bright brown ones, "Parker."

Ned and Mj cheered loudly but never once spoke either of their names, both of them rooting for Diana and Peter.

Peter tried to back out, but several kids pushed him forward. Sighing, he walked up to the mat slowly. He mouthed a 'sorry' to Diana before picking up his side of the rope.

Diana raised a perfect eyebrow and picked up her side of the rope, getting a good grip. She separated her feet and took a deep breath.

Several kids made bets on the two, but Diana had a slight smirk and glint in her eye that Peter recognized. The boy had no idea she was just as strong as him, and she was going to use that to her advantage.

Coach Wilson blew his whistle and raised his eyebrows as Diana immediately tugged on her end forcefully, but Peter quickly found his footing and used his strength to level the rope back to the middle.

His hands started to sweat as he looked up at Diana, who also looked up at him. They were both using their enhanced strength, which no one could notice since they were a match, but they definitely did. Occasionally, someone would slip up, and the other would gain an advantage, but it was still so level.

Ned furrowed his eyebrows at his friend, wondering why he wasn't using his full 'spidey' strength when unbeknownst to him, Peter definitely was.

Peter pulled harder, which made Diana stumble forward a little, but not so much. Everyone was cheering for the two, and even the coach was in shock, wondering how they kept it even for over a minute and a half.

This time, Diana leveled the rope, and both were getting tired; their hands were sweating, and their feet and knees were aching from trying to keep their footing.

Having enough, Diana scoffed and pulled her end harder, but so did Peter, which caused the rope to snap. Both Peter and Diana fell back from the force, and everyone went silent when they saw the event and watched as Diana and Peter stood up sheepishly.

"Uh," Peter started and scratched the back of his neck.

"Sorry." Diana finished for him and grabbed his hand, pulling him away from the audience they created. "You idiot!"

"You started it." Peter whispered back to her, "If you hadn't done that and let me win, then we wouldn't be in this situation."

Diana scoffed and shook her head, "Uh, yeah, no thanks, I wanted to win too."

Mj hit Ned's shoulder to get his attention, "Hey, grab Peter's camera and film them."

"What? Why?" Ned asked but still grabbed the camera.

"They're literally going to burst into laughter in like five seconds. I know it." Mj stated and ripped the camera from Ned's hands and turned it on, and faced it towards the pair right at the moment Diana burst into laughter, followed by Peter.

"You should've seen your face, schatzi. You were like freaking out." Diana laughed and leaned on his shoulder for support as he laughed along with her.

Before anything more could be said, the bell rang and released the students to prepare for their homecoming dance later that day.

DIANA REMOVED THE CIGARETTE delicately from her lips and let the smoke go. She stood in front of her mirror, looking at her reflection with no emotion on her face.

First, she looked at her hair; it was styled in a low bun, pulled to the left with little loose strands of blonde hair. Then, her face, she had set subtle brown tones of eyeshadow on her eyes and soft pink lip gloss. And finally, her outfit: her dress was periwinkle blue with see-through sleeves, loose fabric gathered at the hip, and she had a pair of periwinkle high-heeled lace-up heels that were detailed by beaded and crystal-embellished butterflies throughout. The strappy square-toe design was crafted from metallic leather.

Diana swallowed the lump in her throat as her eyes raked over her body. She looked beautiful but so much like her mother. She turned away from her reflection, blinking harshly, and took another puff of the cigarette.

She grabbed a small gold bag and placed a knife, mints, a hair tie, and two cigarettes with a lighter. She wasn't planning on the dance going off the rails, so she took the only things she'd need.

Hearing her doorbell ring, Diana immediately set the cigarette out and smoothed her dress down. She tried not to look nervous, but it was obvious that she was.

Mj, who was already dressed up and in the kitchen, searching for food, turned when Diana walked into the open space. "Wow, wow, wow. You look amazing, D!"

"Thank you." Diana blushed softly and looked over Mj's outfit, a smile playing on her lips, "You look so pretty, too! Juliana is going to flip when she sees you!"

"Shush!" Mj rolled her eyes, trying to play the compliment off, but her lips were upturned.

"Just speaking the truth." Diana put her hands up in surrender with a chuckle before nervously walking towards the door to open it.

"Please don't scare him away," Mj spoke up after grabbing a cupcake, watching her best friend mentally prepare herself, "I actually like him, and you can tell he's really trying. Love like that is hard to find."

Diana snorted and turned her head to Mj, "It's not love."

"Whatever." Mj rolled her eyes and let her brown eyes follow after Diana's nervous movements, "I think you might need glasses."