Spider verse: The Twist

Chapter 7: First Encounter

Gwen's POV

I swung through this new New York trying to gather my thoughts. My mind was racing and I'd usually calm it down by going for a swing, but this time it just made me more frantic and anxious as I saw various billboards of weird versions of the companies I knew, ads for movies I've never heard of, oh and let's not forget the photos of a hero called Spider-Man! On top of that the sky is blue! How can the sky be blue?! It's just doesn't look natural!

"I must be dreaming! Yeah, pretty soon I'm gonna wake up in my bed and everything will be fine."

In my delirious haze I managed to swing through one of said billboards and land face first on a rooftop.

"Okay, so not dreaming," I groaned as I sat up and rubbed my temples."Alright, so I must be in some sort of crazy parallel universe," I groaned, "I sound crazy. I just want to sleep." I grumbled to myself.

As soon as I finished that last sentence my spider-sense went haywire. The familiar buzz felt as if it were guiding me, like a beacon to the source of my troubles. I turned my head in the direction it lead me and saw a rather large school with huge letters above the entrance that read 'Brooklyn Visions Academy'.

"Oh great, I'm going to school." I thought as I stood up. I sighed, "This is gonna be a long day."

*******

Somehow I was able to sneak in, grab a uniform, and impersonate a student here without any teachers noticing. I mean, I guess this school for geniuses didn't have very smart or attentive teachers. No, offense to them or anything, because the seem very... robotic.

I finally entered my last class, physics and let me tell you these classes were stressful. There's no way on earth I'd be able to do this everyday. I just sat at my desk resting my head in my left hand and twirling my pencil between my fingers. Luckily, I didn't have to pay much attention since I don't have to care about my grades in another dimension. That sadly could not be said for the last kid that rushed into class. He had coffee brown skin, dark curly hair, and his face had "stressed" written all over it. He tried to sneak past the class as he carried all of his books.

I rose a brow.

"Do you seriously think that nobody can see you?"

The documentary on the screen paused as the boy shut his eyes tightly preparing for the inevitable lecture the teacher was sure to give him. I almost felt bad for him.

"Mister Morales, moving around in the dark. You're late," the teacher announced, causing all eyes to fall on him.

"Teachers are the worst."

The boy turned around, a smile of faux confidence was plastered on his face, "Well, Einstein said time was relative, right?Maybe I'm not late. Maybe you guys are early," he said smugly as he looked toward the class who bore deadpan expressions. I tried to hold it in but couldn't help but let out a small laugh.

"That has got to be one of the corniest jokes I've ever heard."
This guy's adorable.
...Did I really just think that?"

My face blanked.

I looked up to see that all eyes were on me which was not good considering I don't actually go to school here. "Sorry, it was just so quiet," I shrugged, trying to brush it off as well as the heat creeping up my neck.

The teacher turned her unimpressed stare back to the boy in front of me. "Are you gonna just stand there or are you gonna sit down?" she asked rhetorically as she pressed a button on the remote, which resumed the video.

The boy took the empty seat next to me as he set his books on his desk and placed his bag on the floor beneath it. My eyes were drawn to him and I couldn't help but lean over and whisper, "I liked your joke."

"Really!" He whispered back, sounding like a little kid on Christmas Day.

"It wasn't funny, that's why I laughed, but it was smart so I liked it," I said with a nonchalant shrug. It was funny in the most non-funny way if that made sense.

He turned himself to face me better, "I don't think I've seen you before-" he was interrupted by the teacher sternly shushing him, which made us both immediately shoot upright and pretend as if nothing happened. I tried not to snort at how the words coming out of his mouth, we're on the verge of sounding like some lame pickup line.

I stole one last glance at him and when I did my spider-sense sent tingles throughout my body.

"No way!
He's like me?!
Could he be the Spider-Man of this dimension? No, he can't be. The guy in the picture seemed to have a stronger build, definitely an adult. I should keep an eye on him. Maybe Spider-Man is his... father? I need to be sure."

I spent the entire physics class thinking of how to talk to him. I was not good at talking to people, especially people I don't know. Me not having any friends makes it kinda hard to socialize.

"Whatever, I'll just bump into him and pretend it was an accident."

My thoughts were interrupted by the bell ringing. Everyone rushed out the door and I did the same, scanning the halls for the boy's dark, curly hair. I finally locked my eyes on him and saw him peering down at his phone as he walked down the hallway. I made my way towards him and casually bumped into him.

Step one, start a conversation: Success.

"Oh s-sorry," he stuttered as he quickly shoved his phone in his pocket.

"Oh it's fine," I said. He fidgeted with his hands nervously.

"I'm Miles," he finally greeted as he placed both of his hands on his bag straps.

"I'm Gweaaaaa-"

"Crap! Crap! Think of something!"

"-aaaanda," I finished.

"Wait, your name is Gwanda?" he asked skeptically as he raised an eyebrow.

"Yes." I responded with an awkward, forced smile, "It's African- South African. I from South Africa. No accent though 'cuz I was raised here."

"I'm such an idiot."

Step two, saying your own freaking name!: Huge, colosal, bigger-than-Beyoncé's-fandom fail!

"Well then, nice to meet you, Gwanda," he said as he nervously ran a hand through his curly hair.

"Yeah, same here," I replied as I gave him a small smile. He looked like he was about to say something before his phone chimed. He took it out of his pocket and looked at the screen for a second.

I saw his eyes fill with panic before he turned hastily to me. "I gotta go. My mom wants me home for uh... dinner. Nice meeting you," he said before bolting out the front door.

"Don't the students have dorms here?
I should follow him. He might lead me to Spider-Man."