Walking the Wire | PETER PARKER [1]

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Eloise thought the day couldn't get any worse, but then it started raining on the way home. Peter and Ned are speed-walking by her side, all three of them shielding themselves with their backpacks over their heads. They probably look weird, but who cares. If Eloise's hair gets wet, it poofs up and makes her look like she has an afro. And she can't pull that off.

Despite her efforts to block her hair from the warm rain, Eloise's hair still dampens and expands. The strands sticking to her temples and the sides of her face curl in a Shirley Temple style and won't stay tucked behind her ears.

Peter and Ned, on the other hand, seem to be having a bit of fun. Eloise is happy that they don't mind the rain too much, but when they jump into puddles in attempt to splash the other one, they end up getting her feet wet, too. Within five minutes of walking together, they all have damp socks and shoes and the bottoms of their jeans are wet. 

"Don't some African people carry buckets of water on top of their heads like this?" Ned asks thoughtfully.

Peter shrugs. "We're kind of doing it for the opposite reason, though. They carry the water, we're blocking the water ..." He trails off and gives another shrug.

Ned glances at Eloise sideways. "You look stressed."

She sighs. "Finals started today." She steps over a puddle, but Ned steps in it and splashes the back of her calf. "I feel and look like trash."

Peter purses his lips and quickly scans the overwhelmed girl from her flooded sneakers to her frizzy hair matted under her backpack. "I think you look cute."

Eloise disregards his statement—because she obviously does not look cute—and says, "I can't wait for school to be out for fall break soon."

"When do you guys get out?" Ned asks

"Finals end on Wednesday," Eloise recalls. "And then we have a day for final make-ups, so Thursday's our last day."

Ned nods. "We get out on Friday. We also start finals tomorrow."

"Good luck, guys," Eloise says, but then wonders if they need it. They're basically geniuses, but they go to a school that's hard to get into, so she doesn't know how they feel about finals. Do they just breeze through them, or are they stacked with studying?

Pushing the stressful thoughts of finals away, Eloise asks Peter, "So, is Spider-Man out on the town again?"

Peter smiles. "Yeah, and it's about time. I helped stop a car crash and saved a little kid from getting hit by a biker."

Worry fills her chest. "Just don't over exert yourself." The last thing Eloise wants is to have to re-bandage and clean Peter's side wound and see him in pain again.

"I'm, like, 80% healed," Peter says. "See?" He drops his bag and does an adroit flip. He sticks the landing perfectly before he bows.

Under his breath, Ned mutters teasingly, "Show off."

Peter laughs at Ned's remark and holds his bag over his head again. "I was proving my point."

"Still," Ned says. "Show off."

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"There were four more break-ins and two more robberies reported since the robbery on First Avenue. The NYPD are trying their best to catch the felons, but as more break-ins and robberies ensue, police officials are starting to wonder if these crimes are all connected."