It was the crack of dawn on June 12th of 2008. The warm glow of the orange sunshine bathed the log cabins on the beach, and the deep blue sea that had waves crashing against the gritty sand on the sea shore. A few people had already awaken from their slumber, including two best friends, Michelle Jones and Alice Lancaster.

They had both stayed in the same log cabin, accompanied by their respective mothers, of course. But because the two were very excited in fulfilling their planned activities for the day, they were up and at 'em. They hurriedly wore their beach shoes, grabbed their mini shovels and mini buckets for building sand castles, and off they went.

"Hurry! Hurry, Shelley!" said Alice, who was way ahead of Michelle. She wasn't much of a runner anyway, and both of them knew that very well.

"Hang on! At least let me catch up!" She said falling back behind her, breathless.

Once they reached the seashore, Alice left her toys there and ran off to the side.

"What are you doing???" asked Michelle. Alice picked up a medium-sized, pearly-white shell. It had a bit of sand on it so she brushed it off gently. She turned around and held Michelle's hand with her free one.

"Here, Shelley. Heh, get it??" She said, handing her over the shell. Michelle giggled.

"Yeah, I do."

"Keep it safe, okay? It'll be a symbol of our friendship." Michelle nodded at this. "Best friends forever?" Alice asked.

"Best friends forever."

The morning of yet another school day, Michelle Jones was the polar opposite of enthusiastic. She still couldn't get over whatever she had heard a full month ago. Sure, she knew he wouldn't like her back. Hell, why would he? But, goddammit, something inside of her thought otherwise. A small part of her had hoped it would go somewhere. But no matter how tiny that part of her was, it occupied the majority of her thoughts. But she would never ever let a boy get between her friendship for over a decade with Alice, whoever that boy may be. Even if it is Peter fucking Parker.

For the past few months, she had been talking to Alice a whole lot more. They had revived the bond that they lost, all those years ago. She admits it though, she missed hanging out with her. She gets it though. She gets why he likes her. Who wouldn't? She was basically every boy's dream girl. She was pretty, she was intelligent, she had that smile that every guy would fall for. She had everything. And, to put it simply:

Michelle was not her.

And she knew that very damn well.

As she walked through the tall glass doors of the school's entrance, she felt the agonizing pain that her classes were going to bring to her, along with her fellow classmates, today. As she was finishing up on organizing the contents of her locker, Peter Parker on the other side of the flap made Michelle jump in shock.

"Jesus, you scared me, loser." She said, putting a hand on her chest.

"I'm sorry but, I just need to ask you a very important favor."

"Oh god, what kind of trouble did you get into now?" She asked, referring to his 'missions' as Spider-Man.

"What? No, no! Not about that!"

"Then, what is it?" Internally, she's predicting him to say the answer she's dreading to hear.

"I need you to help me on how I can confess to Alice." And there it is, she thought. She knew this day would come. She merely looked at Peter with a glimmer of hope in his eyes.

"Let me ask you something first though..."

"Yeah, what is it?"

"Do you think she likes you back?" She lowered her head.

"I'd hope so, but, I'm pretty sure she doesn't."

"Why'd you say so?"

"I know who her crush is and it is definitely not me."

"Oh." Michelle didn't know that. All different kinds of thoughts entered her mind. Alice was the type of person to tell her everything. Every secret that she had up her sleeve, Michelle would be the only person she'd tell it to. So why wasn't she informed of this one? Maybe she does like him back, but she didn't want to hurt my feelings so she didn't tell it to me, she thought. And maybe this was the case, but she needed to make sure. Or else, it would just keep her up every night. "I'll talk to you later, Peter." And with that, she ran off the opposite direction.

"But... will you still help me?" No answer.

***After school***

Michelle and Alice were riding their bicycles home together, and that's when she decided to discuss and address her about it.

"Hey, so uhmm... You already know that, uhh, if you ever want to tell me something, you can just come to me and be straight up about it, right?" She told her.

"Yes, of course."

"So, when were you going to tell me about it?" Michelle stopped dead in her tracks. She was standing on the pavement with her one foot, the other was still on the bike's pedal.

"Tell you about what, exactly?" Alice had the exact same posture as her best friend as she faced her. The tone of her voice had changed. It was the kind of tone wherein she was nervous, and was definitely hiding something.

"You like him, don't you?"

"W-Who?" She was shaken.

"Peter."

"Wait, what?! Peter?! Your Peter?" Clearly, she expected that Michelle was going to say a different name.

"Well, yeah. The two of you have been spending a lot of time, don't you think?"

"Oh. Oh no. Michelle..." She had a small smile as she pinched the bridge of her nose and started chuckling.

"What? What's so funny? I'm asking a serious question here."

"Sweetie, you misunderstood. I don't like Peter in that way. He's much more like a brother to me." A weight was lifted from Michelle's shoulders. She heaved a non-audible sigh. "Plus," Alice continued on. "I know about your little crush on him."

"I... Wha... I don't know what you mean." Her voice went all high-pitched.

"As if it isn't so obvious?"

"Alright, fine. I like him, okay? But what about you? A little birdie told me you've been crushing on someone too."

"Yeah... I was meaning to tell you but, I just didn't have the time to."

"You know what, let's go to my place. Tell me all about him."

***At Michelle's house***

The two plopped themselves on the couch and sat on their most comfortable positions. They had left their bikes on the porch.

"So? Who's the lucky guy?" MJ asked.

"Keane Crosby. But he goes by KC."

"When did it start? Y'know... you liking him?"

"Honestly, I don't even know. He's just really nice and sweet... and.... Gosh, I don't know but there's just something about him that I can't describe. You know, I wasn't even sure that I liked him. It just sorta... happened, y'know?"

"Yeah, I get that." She twiddled with her thumbs. Alice gave her a little nudge.

"Lemme fling the question right back at ya. When did you start liking Peter?"

"Probably just a month ago. Or at least, that's when I realized that I did like him, much more than just a friend. But, looking back at it now, if I wasn't just so closed off of the idea of having crushes and the like, I probably would have started crushing on him since last year. And maybe, things would have been different. Or... Yeah, I don't know what I'm talking about anymore. I'm rambling."

"Aww, Shelley." She held her hand.

"You know what, I'll let this one slide. But I go by MJ now, just so you know."

"Yeah okay, Shelley... Whatever you say..." She said in a mocking tone to which the two of them started giggling. A little while later, Alice noticed a pearly-white shell displayed atop one of the shelves in Michelle's living room. "Is that... the shell?" She pointed straight at it, catching MJ's attention.

"Yeah. The one that you gave me from that one beach we went to 11 years ago."

"It's been 11 years? Really?" She asked.

"Yeah... I wish I could go back. To the simple life, you know?"

"Amen, sister."

***The night of...***

Michelle had just finished doing her homework, and it was a bit earlier than she had anticipated. She had some time to kill, so she grabbed her phone. She suddenly remembered what Peter had asked of her earlier. She called him.

"Hello?" His tone was rather exhausted. He probably just came back from fighting crime tonight, she thought.

"Hey, so uhh... Sorry I took off without a word, or a response, earlier. I just... had to think about some things."

"Oh, things like what?"

"Nothing. Forget I said anything."

"Listen, MJ, if something's bothering you or if you're ever having trouble with anything, don't hesitate to tell me, alright? You know I'm always here for you." She felt her heart go all warm and fuzzy. This was one of the simple reasons why she fell for him. For her, he was a shoulder she could lean on. Someone she could trust with all of her secrets, her doubts, her internal conflicts, literally everything. All of the deep, dark shit that she doesn't have the courage to tell anyone else but him.

"Yeah," She suddenly got choked up. "I know. I know. Thanks, Peter."

"And, listen, it's okay if you can't help me with... you know. You probably have your hands full right now."

"No, it's fine. I'll help you."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. But, are you sure you're still willing to confess to her, despite knowing she doesn't like you back?" On the other end of the call, he heaved a sigh.

"Well... yeah. She deserves to know how much I like her, y'know? Even though she and KC are basically dating."

"Wait, they are?"

"Well, sort of. Lowkey. They like each other so, who can stop 'em?"

"Doesn't that... I don't know... Doesn't that hurt you?"

"Yeah. Yeah it does. But, it's the type of pain that I'm willing to experience all over again. Besides, what's love without a dose of pain that comes with it, right?" Michelle got threw off with the use of the l-word. She knew he liked Alice. Like, a lot-a lot. But, she didn't know he loved her. And sure, it hurt her. Hell, she couldn't even begin to describe how much it hurt hearing all of that first-hand. But here she was.

"You're right. You're absolutely right." I would know.