It was the 14th of December, the last day of their last week for the year. The students of Midtown High School were excited to have their holiday break. Today was their end-of-the-year party that was held in each and every homeroom classroom. Their teacher had a lot of activities planned for today, most of which was eating and playing games, which included Spin The Bottle, Never Have I Ever, and 7 Minutes in Heaven. (Yes, they indeed had a cool teacher.) But, despite the games, she was strictly observing their behavior throughout the entire day and sent the ones who were behaving quite inappropriately straight to the principal's office.

And, for the finale, this is where Peter Parker decided to confess to his crush, Alice Lancaster. He thought this was the perfect place for his confession, because Keane Crosby was nowhere to be found in sight. He was in the other homeroom class, just a classroom away. With the help of his friends from band class, they helped him serenade her. Of course, the ever-so-supportive Michelle Jones was a part of this whole shebang too. He had sung:

because Michelle had told him that growing up, this song meant a lot to Alice. He even wrote a poem for her and read it aloud for the whole class to hear. Throughout the entire production, both the two best friends forced a smile on their faces. For the finale, Peter gave Alice a gift.

"Merry Christmas." He had told her. And all of a sudden, the room was filled with 'aww's upon 'aww's.

"Thanks, Pete. Merry Christmas to you too."

"And with that, class dismissed! The cleaners I appointed a few days beforehand are responsible in cleaning up this mess. Chop chop!" Their teacher said, and the students concerned were up and at 'em. Everyone cleaned up their respective areas and organized their things. All of them headed out the door, clustered like a bunch of ants. Peter and Alice went to one corner of the classroom. Michelle stood by.

"Listen, Peter, the gesture was sweet and all but, you already know that I'm seeing someone... right?"

"Yeah... KC's lucky, just so you know."

"And I'm lucky to have him." She placed her hand on his arm. "You're gonna find someone too. Someone so much better than me, someone who deserves the love you're willing to give."

"Heh... Thanks."

"No problem."

"I hope it doesn't become awkward between us..."

"Trust me, that won't happen. Merry Christmas, Pete."

"Merry Christmas to you too, Alice." And with that, she walked away and headed for the door. She gave Michelle a small wink. MJ started walking towards Peter's direction.

"Soooo.... How'd it go?"

"Got rejected but, I'm not surprised." He heaved an exhausted smile. "But thanks so much for your help, MJ."

"O-Of course. Anytime, Pete." He grabbed his bag and was headed for the door. "Wait-" She said, making him stop in his tracks.

"Yeah?"

"I... I need to tell you something."

"What is it?"

"Four months ago, I was a completely different person. As time went on, it was only then that I realized that I... that I like you. More than a friend. And, I gotta be honest... The past four months made me the happiest I've ever been in a really long time. And it was all because of you, Peter. You make my heart want to leap out of my chest for feeling so many emotions, all at once. You make me feel as though I could do anything. You make my heart feel like a bunch of flowers blooming in Spring. You are the sun that shines ever so brightly in my darkest of days. You bring out the absolute best in me. Your smile, your presence and soul, mesmerize and entangle me completely. And I have no idea what kind of life I'd be living without you. So, Peter Parker, all I'm trying to say is... I think... I'm falling for you. And... I just wanted to let you know." She gave a casual shrug.

"I... I don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything."

"I- MJ, I'm sorry."

"There's nothing to be sorry about."

"There is. I'm sorry I asked for your help on... all of that." He gestured towards the middle of the classroom, where his confession occurred.

"No, it was my pleasure."

"Must have been a tough four months for you."

"Knowing my crush liked my best friend? Yeah. It was pretty painful. But, like what you said that one night, what's love without a dose of pain that comes along with it, right?"

"But... still. I- MJ..."

"No, it's fine. I didn't expect anything to come out of it anyway."

"I hope I didn't lead you on or something. I really don't wanna hurt your feelings."

"Misinterpreted signals. It's fine, happens all the time." There was an awkward long pause. "So anyways... yeah..... There's that. Now you know. Oh and uhmm," She grabbed a folded paper from her pocket. "Merry Christmas. Have a good vacation. I'll see you next month, I guess. Goodbye, Peter." And with that, she turned to the opposite direction and headed out the door, with her backpack slung on her shoulders. To Peter, her words felt as though they were final. The last farewell. He couldn't help but stare at the piece of paper. He could not entirely fathom every single bit of what Michelle had told him. It was just a lot for him to handle.

Later that night, Peter called Michelle. She hesitantly picked up after three rings.

"Hello?" She said.

"Hey so, I just read your letter and uhmm--"

"Is that why you called?"

"I-- what?"

"Is that why you're calling me right now? You got weirded out, didn't you?"

"Well, no not really... It's just..."

"It was so unlike me, yeah?"

"Uhh... Yeah. It was unlike you."

"Yeah well, I didn't even know there was a cliche, mushy side of me. Until, I started writing that letter."

"Well thank you though, MJ."

"Rate it."

"8 stars out of 10." She scoffed at this.

"Oh, just 8 then, huh?"

"You're gonna have to do better than that next time, I guess." He played around her joke.

"Oh so you're telling me you want a next time?"

"Why not, right?" She chuckled at this. "I'm glad you told me though, MJ."

"Oh. Well, you're welcome, I guess?" Peter gave a soft chuckle.

"Good night, Michelle. Don't stay up too late, okay?"

"Oookay...? Good night to you too, Peter."

***1 month later***

The students of Midtown High School were back from their Christmas Break. During their entire short vacation though, Michelle and Peter have gotten really close. The same closeness that Peter and Alice developed throughout the span of 4 months. The two looked after each other, constantly asked each other how they were feeling, if they ate well, if they had plans later that day and if they didn't, they'd make plans for themselves--just the two of them. They even went to each other's houses a lot. Peter was the one who mostly went to the other's house though. And throughout the entire 4 weeks, Michelle was given more and more reasons to fall farther and farther for him. She loved who she was whenever they were together. And Peter loved who he was whenever he was with her.

He walked Michelle to her locker.

"So what are we doing later today?" He asked her. "I doubt we're gonna be given any homework to do. It's the first day back and... I don't think our teachers are that cruel."

"I don't know, Pete. Mr. Hendricks is an unpredictable man."

"Heh, you're right about that." Michelle closes the locker door with a pretty loud bang. She looked to her right, where she saw someone waving in the corner of her eye. It was Alice, holding hands with KC. She ran over to her and gave her a hug. It's been a while since they talked. Alice spent her entire Christmas Break with Keane.

Peter looked at the three from a distance and stayed right where he was. Ned walked over to him.

"Hey, dude!" They did their classic handshake. Ned was out of town during the span of 4 weeks of no school.

"How was your vacation, dude?" Peter asked him.

"Aw it was so cool skiing with my cousins. I hung out with them most of the time and I didn't know I have so much in common with them!" Ned smiled brightly.

"That's nice, man."

"How 'bout you? How'd you spend your break?"

"I hung out with MJ for the entire thing."

"Glad nothing's awkward with you guys after her whole confession."

"Yeah, I'm glad too." Peter glanced over at her direction once more and let out a small smile.

"Peter.... Oh my god, Peter..." said Ned in a shocked tone.

"What? What?!" He snapped out of his gaze.

"Last time you had those kind of eyes for a girl, it was for Alice. And dude, you are not looking at Alice right now, lemme tell ya that." Peter looked at Michelle once more but this time, he looked at her differently. He noticed the tiny little details of her face from afar, how beautiful every single bit of her was. How-- wait.

"Dude," He turned to Ned. "I think I'm falling for Michelle."