Chapter Text
It was two months into freshman year that I decided Peter Parker had to go.
Coming into high school, I had the rest of my life planned out. I would get top marks in all my classes, win some scholarships with those marks, get a full ride into MIT, get a job at Stark Industries, and eventually become the head engineer in the R&D department. I knew what I wanted, and was well on my way to go through with it until the first chemistry test marks came back October 3rd.
I knew I did expectantly good. A solid 98%. But then I glanced over to the kid beside me–I hadn't really known his name at the time–to see he had a perfect score. No one got 100% in something like chemistry unless they cheated, so for the next month I kept an eye on him.
Every day right after lunch I watched him move from the cafeteria to the chemistry classroom. I watched as the kid got pushed around and made fun of.
But I didn't care, I needed to catch him in the act of cheating. Kids, don't be like me. Stand up to bullying or you're not any better than the guy, Flash I think people called him. He wasn't too fond of me either, appearantly he got top marks at whatever middle school he came from and was now below me and Parker. Peter was a little more easy to bully, as the kid wasn't exactly the fighting type.
Anyways, I watched as he made it to his locker, and stood on the other side of the hallway to scan what he was pulling out. It was hard with kids walking by, but there were enough gaps that I could see. I took note of the binder he grabbed. It was was a simple black one that most likely held his chem notes. Considering it was still October, there didn't appear to be much in it. When he left, I followed him to class.
He already sat at the table beside mine. The tables in this class held two people each, the girl beside me was an acquaintance from middle school who really had no opinion of me, and I knew she was decent at the class so she wouldn't get in my way if we had to partner up for a project. I think her name was Lisa? Alissa? Couldn't be bothered. But I sat to her left, and Parker sat to the right of his one friend. I think his name was Ted?
I tried not to make it obvious as I watched Parker unpack his stuff. Unfortunately, he was smart enough to not have any obvious incriminating evidence.
It ended up going on like that for the rest of the year, with a little less stalking on my end come November, but I had my eye out.
I had the top marks of our year in English, history, and math. Parker was right at my tail in that last subject, but it was a small victory. He was always a point ahead of me in classes like chemistry and engineering, which where the classes I needed top marks in if I wanted to stand out to MIT. I was sort of low in marks at gym class, but I made sure to be better than Parker at least.
Until he suddenly got fit near the end of the year.
It was sometime after our Oscorp field trip. I noticed when we would do that stupid Captain America training test thing that he wasn't struggling as much with the sit-ups. In fact, he wasn't even winded by the end of class. This was something not even Flash noticed. But I did.
That was my sole motivation for working out after school. I researched the best methods for a balanced workout. It paid off when suddenly I went from average to top 5 in the class. One time I was picked first for dodge ball and I nearly smiled. Parker was almost always near the last pick, but mostly because Flash was always at least one of the captains and had a rule against picking him.
With final exams around the corner, I spent every waking second studying. I just had to get ahead of Parker, even if freshman year grades didn't really get looked at. It was good practice to beat him when it really counted.
The school councilor heard from me when the marks came back and I tied with the guy. Normally it would be great, but if students tied their names where listed alphabetically by last name.
And Peter Parker came before Claire Robinson.
I had to make sure that if people looked, they knew I was at the top as well. The councillor began to explain to me that as long as my average was above 95%, which it was, than that alone meant I basically had my pick of schools and all I had to worry about was what they looked for in an applicant. This was when he brought up that he had inside knowledge that Stark Industries was about to open up applications for internship to high schoolers. But only one.
My application was sent in 5 minutes after it was formally announced near the end of that summer. I knew that if I got in, it practically guaranteed a spot at MIT and a proper job at SI later down the road.
The only time I was absent from school was when I got an email saying I didn't get the position. Well, that itself wasn't enough for me to miss school. It was when I found out Peter Fucking Parker got the position.
I knew from then on he didn't just had to go. I had to take him down myself.
The first time I made Parker spill his food at the cafeteria was an accident. I wasn't looking at where I was going. I turned too sharply and my tray ran into his. I was apologizing before I even noticed who it was, too busy staring at the glob of watery cream corn on his shirt. I was used to Parker being a couple inches shorter than me, so I was surprised to glance up to see the kid I hated most was at eye level.
"It's okay," he had responded, "I wasn't paying attention either." The kid had the audacity to smile at me. "Claire, right?" I just nodded and walked away, leaving him frowning and confused.
The table I usually sat down at was half empty. There where a group if kids who normally sat closer to the wall, but there was a nice clear spot at the end towards the center of the room. I sat down with my tray and pulled out my notes, using every opportunity I had to study.
"Aw, the little bird is separated from the flock."
That was another thing that happened start of sophomore year. Flash suddenly took an interest in me. Probably just figured out the face to the name, was my guess. I didn't exactly have friends, there just wasn't time to make them. Flash was weird. He only sort of bullied me. Never anything physical, but he kept calling me these random nicknames that were Robin themed. Because you know, Robinson, Robin son. It was easy to ignore him, which bugged the crap out of the guy. I also noticed that he only ever bothered me when he was alone. His group antics were saved for Parker, I guess.
"You never stop studying. Almost like you're afraid I'll get a better mark than you one of these days." Flash went to grab my notebook when I slapped his hand.
"You do better in gym class." Was my only answer. I felt a little pride in knowing Flash hated me for the same reason I hated Parker. It was like I was reassured that I was justified. "Anyways, don't you have anyone else to bother?" I finally looked up at him, brows furrowed in annoyance. Flash just shrugged, but did begin to walk away. I didn't care where he went, just that he left me alone so I could go back to studying.
After that day, I would do little things to get in Parker's way. I couldn't run into him at lunch all the time, so I would do things like "accidentally" step on a shoelace that "just so happened to be undone" in the hallway, making him trip. Each time something similar to that happened I would apologize, and each time he said it was okay. It was like our weekly conversation at this point. And I do mean weekly. If it happened more than once a week, he would get suspicious.
Something that pissed me off was that the kid started to not pay attention in class, focusing on whatever side project he had going on, but STILL got better marks than me. One time I tried to call him out on it in chemistry. I leaned over slightly and asked, maybe a little too loud, if he should be doing that during class and not after hours. He was making some kind of white liquid. Parker jumped, beginning to hide some of it. Unfortunately no one paid attention to my little jab, but I still considered it a win.
Peter Parker was definitely hiding something, and I finally had something to go on.