Chapter Text
The room is filled with chatter as everyone gathered up their books and discussed the upcoming field trip to Stark Tower in two weeks. As they file out of the room, they each picked up a packet containing their permission slip and NDAs for their parents to fill out.
"Mr. Parker, I'll need for you to stay behind a moment," Mrs. Elliot says glancing up from her planning book.
Peter steps to the side and puts the paperwork in his backpack. He checks his phone and lets Happy know that he was being held back a few minutes by a teacher. He could practically hear the grumbling from the man from here.
"Yes, ma'am, was there a problem with my assignment?" he asks, looking up from his phone when Mrs. Elliott clears her throat to get his attention. She doesn't appear to notice him clicking one of the apps on his phone before the screen goes dark.
Folding her hands on the desk, she gives her head a subtle shake. "No, I wanted to speak to you about the upcoming field trip. For quite some time you have been talking about interning at Stark Industries and the administration of the school feels that this deception has gone on long enough. You will be recanting your lie to the class tomorrow, and it will not be mentioned when we arrive on the company's property. If you speak of this while we are there, you will face serious consequences for embarrassing this school.
We understand that children will often feel, after a tragedy such as with the loss of your uncle, that they need to find a way to cope and -"
"Excuse me, ma'am, but have you ever actually heard me talk about interning at Stark Industries?"
She looks at him in surprise that he would interrupt her. Which to be honest he normally wouldn't do that but he is just so frustrated with not only how they never do anything about Flash's bullying but now apparently buying into what he always says about Peter - again.
Just when it appears as if Mrs. Elliott is about to get onto him, her expression changes and she answers, "Well, no. But it has been a standing rumor around the school for a while now, and we know that there has to be a source to the rumor and that it would naturally be yourself."
Peter looks at her in disappointment that she would say something like that especially after admitting she had never heard him speak about the internship. He knows that most of the teachers don't do anything to stop the spreading of rumors. In fact, they make them worse at times. This wasn't the first time that Flash had spread something about him and he ended up suffering for it with the school admins.
"Mrs. Elliott, I'm feeling uncomfortable with this conversation at the moment and I would like to continue it with Principal Morita present."
She stands up, looking angry. "There is no need to bother Principal Morita with something that is easily resolved by you admitting to the fact you lied. Be aware that due to your disruptive behavior and dishonesty, you will be attending multiple detentions, even if you recant. These will be going on your records that will be viewed by any potential colleges you apply to.
Peter takes a step back from his teacher, worried that standing up for himself was going to mess up everything that he's worked so hard for. Taking a deep breath, Peter shook his head lightly. "Mrs. Elliott, it is within the school charter that I am allowed to request a meeting with the Principal regarding an issue like this. He has always said that he has open office hours immediately after school and that we can go to him about anything - and you are threatening me with detention and accusing me of spreading rumors - to what, make myself seem more important or something? I just want to make sure this is all cleared up and go home."
"Very well, but we will also be discussing your disrespectful behavior today." Now that made Peter confused at first then angry. As she started putting things away, Peter told her, "I'll wait for you in the hall, Mrs. Elliott."
Once in the hallway, he stands by the door before looking down at the phone in his hand. "Karen, please alert May and Mr. Stark about what's going on. I want you to keep recording everything for me."
"Alerting them now. Peter, I think you're doing the right thing."
"Thanks, Karen."
He tucks his hand out of the way when Mrs. Elliott joins him. Neither says a word as they walk to the office.
Entering the outer office, the secretary, Ms. Kilpatrick smiles at them both and asks if she could help them. Mrs. Elliott tells her that they need to see Mr. Morita. After being informed that he's available, Mrs. Elliott knocks on the door.
"Come in," is the response. Mr. Morita looks away from his computer screen and faces them both. "Mrs. Elliott, Mr. Parker, have a seat."
Peter sits down in one of the chairs available while Mrs. Elliott continues to stand over him. He knows it's a power play because Mr. Stark and Ms. Potts have been teaching him about stuff like that so he's not as intimidated as she wants him to be. He lays his phone down on the corner of the desk.
"Thank you for seeing us, sir."
The Principal looks from Peter to Mrs. Elliot. "How can I help you both this afternoon?"
"Well, sir, Mrs. Elliot announced our field trip to Stark Industries this afternoon and-"
"And I informed Peter after class that his lies about having an internship will not be tolerated. He will have to recant what he's been spreading around and he will face punishment for these lies. He responded by being disrespectful to me and insisting that we meet with you and waste your time," she interrupted angrily.
Mr. Morita frowned and looked toward Peter. "Mr. Parker, is this true?"
Peter shakes his head. "Not entirely, sir. Mrs. Elliot stated that I had been spreading rumors that I have an internship at SI. I asked her if she had heard me speaking about an internship and Mrs. Elliot stated she had not but I would still have to admit to doing so and apologize to the class. I asked her if we could finish the conversation with you as I no longer felt comfortable discussing how I was going to be punished for something I had not done."
The man folded his hands over each other and looked toward Mrs. Elliot as if waiting to see if she wanted to add something further. "I see. Well, Mr. Parker - Peter, there have been rumors since last year of you supposedly having an internship with Stark Industries."
Peter sighs heavily. "Rumors I did not start. Flash overheard me speaking with Ned outside after school last year and the next thing we know we started hearing about it in the halls. Flash is the only one that ever brings it up and that is to make fun of me."
"So you admit you lied to your friend," Mrs. Elliot demanded.
"No, I didn't lie. In fact, I've turned in the paperwork regarding my internship. I gave them to Ms. Jessup after Mr. Harrington signed off on them."
Peter looks between his teacher and Principal and something in their expressions made his stomach flip a little. Mr. Morita cleared his throat. "Peter, with the rumors going around we knew that the paperwork you brought in was fake but we understand that you've been having a hard time dealing with the trauma you've faced."
He just stares at his principal in shock. "Other than when I've had health issues, and when my uncle died I have never missed a day of school. Even with those missed days, I have consistently held a 4.7 GPA. I have been on the honor roll every semester and you think I couldn't get an internship, that I lied to you all and somehow faked the paperwork sent in with the official Stark Industries watermark."
Mrs. Elliott huffed and moved in front of Peter. "You've been known to lie when it comes to the school activities. Last year as a matter of fact, during the Decathlon National competition. You didn't even bother to show up and were given detention for disappearing in the middle of the trip, which you then left before completing."
Peter did admit to himself that was a lie but he was trying to save people, had saved members of his team. "I left that detention because I did not earn the punishment. Mr. Harrington saw for himself that I was sick, when they came back from the meet I was still in the bathroom of my hotel room throwing up." Okay, so he was throwing up because the magnitude of everything he did that day caught up with him. The thought that he almost caused the deaths of his best friend, teacher, and classmates; not to mention numerous strangers because he had Ned hold onto that power source still makes him sick to his stomach. "Where's Mr. Harrington? He's spoken with Mr. Stark because sometimes my schedules clash."
Mr. Morita looked at Peter as if he was delusional. "He's currently off-campus.
No, this cannot be happening again. "This is just like freshman year. You believed the rumors Flash spread that I was in juvie for drug dealing, ignoring the letter from my aunt that I was in the hospital with pneumonia again. You embarrassed me when I came back to school with a letter from the doctor and searched my bag and locker in front of everyone over a rumor. You humiliated my aunt and uncle by having CPS visit our house. At least they checked things out with the hospital and didn't ignore my medical records. All because of a rumor spread by someone who doesn't like me because I have better grades than him.
Mrs. Elliot glares at him. "You have no proof that Mr. Thompson did either of these." Peter bites the side of his mouth to keep himself from screaming at the woman's hypocrisy.
"Actually, I do have proof because he's bragged about it on his Instagram account," was heard over the speaker of Peter's phone.
Both adults jump in surprise. "What is going on, Mr. Parker," the Principal demands looking from Peter to the phone.
"When I have to be alone with people of authority I don't trust, I record the conversation for my protection."
Mrs. Elliot shouts, "That is completely illegal."
Peter stands up and picks up his phone to keep them from turning it off. "It's not. In regards to recording conversations, New York has a one-party consent law. And I, as one of the parties in the conversation, consented - so this is a legal action." He will always be grateful to Mr. Potts for providing him with that tidbit of information. "But I also asked my aunt and Mr. Stark to listen in this afternoon as well.
"I have a question for you, Principal Morita," Aunt May's voice says over the phone. "The monthly intern progress reports that Stark Industries send to me and the school, do you think those are faked as well?"
"Well, yes. Some of our students can be pretty elaborate with their embellishments, and Peter has shown that he is rather creative in..."
Suddenly they hear Mr. Stark cussing lowly over the phone before almost shouting, "Are you telling me that all of the credits he earned... Okay, that is it. May, Peter, are you going to let this keep on? Because what they've done to the kid is actionable."
Peter had sat back down in shock. While the internship had been a cover story the first two months once they had sent in the paperwork last year it was completely real. He had worked hard for those credits. He looked up at the man sitting behind the desk and asked, "What did you do with the reports that were sent in?"
"I ordered the secretary to discard them when they come in. At first, we were going to use them as evidence of fraud against you but I thought your family had been through enough and didn't want to cause you both further damage," Morita answers quietly.
"Why couldn't you just believe I was good enough to earn something like this happening to me. Or did you think that some scholarship kid couldn't possibly be smart enough to work at SI but was smart to be a criminal?"
"Peter," May's voice called to him. "Time to go, sweetie. Happy is waiting for you in the hallway. He's going to pick me up and take us over to Mr. Stark's so we can figure out how we're going to proceed but I think this is going to be your last day at Midtown so grab your things from your locker."
His hand tightens on the strap of his backpack as Peter stands and turns away from the two adults. Before he gets to the door, Peter hears Mr. Stark, "Hold up a second, Pete. Point the phone at them." Peter does as he's asked. Suddenly a holographic screen pops up showing a split view of Mr. Stark and Aunt May. "As for the field trip to SI, I'm going to allow it since those kids earned it, but Mrs. Elliott is banned from stepping foot on my property. I suggest sending that Mr. Harrington with them because he actually cares about the kids and listens to them. That's all. Pete, I'll see you and your aunt here in a little while."
Peter leaves the room without speaking and looks sadly at Happy. "Come on, kid. You didn't deserve all of that crap. Let's get your stuff."