unmasked / peter parker

one;

It's been 15 minutes and our mathematics teacher has failed to show up to class.

The room is silent with people on their phones, the occasional whisper or tapping of nails on the glass screens can be heard every couple of seconds — up until the scraping of a chair against the vinyl flooring makes everyone look up.

"So who would win in a fight — Shadow or Spider-Man?" I suddenly perk up at the mention of the local legend of Melbourne, Australia — Shadow. My alter-ego.

"And before you finalise your answer, don't abandon your roots," Mitch chuckles, grabbing a whiteboard marker from the teacher's desk and ruling up two columns. One labelled Shadow and the other labelled Spider-Man.

"I vote Shadow. Take the marker, place your vote and then we argue," Mitch sends me a wink as I get up out of my chair before handing the marker to the next person.

By the time I make it to the front of the class, 15 votes have been scribbled on the board — all to Shadow. Smirking slightly at how the people I spent most of my time with think so highly of my alter-ego, I know for a fact that Spider-Man could destroy me, easy.

The marker is practically shoved into my hand by my grinning best friend, Rose, who had just marked her vote to Shadow.

Taking a deep breath and preparing myself for a large amount of shouting directed towards me, I put the first mark under Spider-Man's name.

"Lo, what the hell?" Andrew crosses his hands over his chest, and I see Rose raise an eyebrow and smirk slightly in my direction.

"No fighting!" Mitch glances over at Andrew, who is glaring at me.

"Yet," Mitch adds. Rolling my eyes, I go to sit down in my seat.

Rubbing my eyes, I look up at the board to realise that I was the only one to vote Spider-man.

"The votes are in!" Mitch shouts, spreading his arms out before pointing at me dramatically. "You! Traitor!" Mitch beckons me to walk over to him and I sigh deeply before pushing myself out of my chair and next to Mitch, who towers over my small frame.

"Isn't this a bit over-dramatic-" I begin before his hand clasps over my mouth.

"You are not permitted to speak," Mitch shakes his head before holding the marker uncomfortably close to my mouth as if it were a microphone.

"Why did you vote Spider-man?" Mitch announces as if he were a TV show host. I sigh deeply, tapping on the microphone before saying my answer.

"Shadow doesn't stand a chance against Spider-Man, while she is fast-"

"Isn't Shadow a dude?"

"Mate, have you seen the tits on her? Definitely a chick,"

Clearing my throat rather loudly, the two who interrupted me quickly turn their heads to face me once more.

"As I was saying — while Shadow is fast, she doesn't stand a chance against Spider-Man," I point at a photo projected up of both Shadow and Spider-Man up on the board and direct the attention to Spider-Man's goggles.

"You see that? That's to focus his eyesight, Spider-Man can catch her in a second, no matter how fast she is,"

"Lo, she can teleport," someone at the back of the room deadpans.

"From what I've seen, only within 50 or so or metres of her current location, are you seeing her in France every other day? Didn't think so."

"Maybe she has school," Rose leans over and whispers to me, chuckling. Shoving her away with a playful laugh, I nod over to someone with their hand up.