The Spectacular Spider-Men: The Great Web

CHAPTER-9: Where Crawls The Lizard?

THIRD-PERSON POV:

M3 FALL FORMAL...

"Thanks for the ride, Harry." Gloria says, as she arrives to the dance with Harry, Liz, Flash, Rand, and Sally.

"No prob." Harry replies smugly. "My chauffeur's at our beck and call." They enter the gymnasium and spot the booths for the Fall Formal King & Queen.

"Don't forget to vote for King and Queen of the ball!" a girl says excitedly, and the group starts filling the forms.

"Who are you voting for, Glory?" Harry asks.

"Pfft. Me and Liz, of course!" Flash snorts. "Who else is worthy?"

"I think we know the answer to that, don't we, Rand?" Sally asks Rand, as she puts a hand on his arm.

"As far as I'm concerned, Osborn can have the crown. His limo, his afterparty - dude rules..." Sally glares at Rand, but Harry quickly interjects.

"We're going to Manhattan West; the best restaurant in town. My treat."

Sally's anger immediately disappears, and she grabs Rand's hands excitedly.

"Osborn, you're the man!" Flash says excitedly.

"You know it." Harry high-fives Flash and puts an arm around his shoulder, walking off.

"Hi, Harry." Gwen greets him, but gets ignored completely.

Zain's message reached Gwen after she had already left for the ball.

Eddie, who happened to bump into Gwen at the bus station, decided to tag along. He glares at Harry because of his rude behaviour.

"Guess that bow-tie stops the blood from reaching his ears... or brain."

"And the chocolate souffle is a must- they top it with powdered sugar and gold dust-" Harry's group gets a photo together, and the flash of the camera blinds Harry momentarily.

"I don't believe it." Flash says.

"No, I'm serious, it's real gold dust- uh, guys?" Harry shifts his gaze to where the others are looking and his jaw drops like the rest when he sees Ritvik, with none other than Betty Brant.

...

After a nap on his couch, Zain's wounds have almost completely healed. He wakes up with a jolt and a sense of urgency. He sees the time, the ball's already started, but he's not too late.

He bolts to his room and wears his suit, before picking up his phone and tries to dial Gwen's number, who doesn't pick up because of the noise at the gym.

"Come on, pick up..." Zain mumbles, as he swings towards Gwen's house.

A few minutes later, he reaches his destination, and rings the bell, which is answered by none other than George Stacy.

"Son? What are you doing here?"

"Good evening, Captain Stacy - I uh - I'm here to take Gwen to the dance."

"To the dance? But she's not here, she left around half an hour ago."

"What?" Zain asks, confused. "Did she tell you where she was going?"

"Yeah. To the dance."

"What?! With who?"

"With you. That's why I asked you what you were doing here."

"Okay, thanks a lot, Cap! I'll see you around!" Zain says as he bolts off.

Back at Midtown High...