Look 'bad luck' up in the dictionary. Go on. We'll wait. See there? That picture of an awkward college student tripping over his own feet? That's Peter Parker. He's majoring in chemical engineering, and by some stroke of (you guessed it) bad luck, t...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Peter's college day ended just like any other; with him sitting in the men's bathroom and staring at the graffiti that coated the stall. It was pretty decent reading material in Peter's very experienced opinion. There were a few swear words sprawled in capitals across the door, initials etched into the corner, and little snippets of song lyrics scribbled onto the sides by people equally as bored as Peter was at that very moment. Granted, Peter didn't recognise any of these lyrics, but they provided him with a momentary distraction from Harry's constant text messages.
Yes. He was ghosting Harry Osbourne, his best friend since 3rd grade and now the owner of one of the most influential companies of the last few decades. That might sound like a really terrible idea, and it absolutely was, but Peter had his reasons...namely that Harry kept bothering him about asking Annabelle out. He had even threatened to do it himself if Peter continued refusing. Honestly, he regretted ever mentioning her to his overzealous friend.
Perhaps if he asked her out, purely as classmates, then Harry would be forced to stop for at least a week or two... Yeah. That didn't sound so bad. Nothing had to happen. No obligatory endangerment necessary. All he had to do was fabricate a plan - one that included an outing that wasn't too obvious and that couldn't be misconstrued for a date. Because it definitely wasn't a date. Nope. Not at all...not even a little bit.
The first place that came to mind was the New York Hall Of Science, and the second was Rose Center For Earth And Space. These were two of his ideal hang-out spots...and by 'hang-out' he meant going alone because no one wanted to go to a science museum on the weekend. Johnny actually laughed at him once for even suggesting it. I mean, that's a little uncalled for, right? Anyway, he quickly discarded this idea because it was still too much like a 'date' and not 'a friendly outing between classmates that was totally not a date in any way, shape, or form'.
As if by the miracle of some kind of toilet wizard, Peter let his eyes linger away from the graffiti and towards an advertisement taped to the back of the door. Peter never understood why people found it appropriate to stick messages in the bathrooms...but it was probably one of the most brilliant ideas of the century - with nothing else to do except sit there and wait for their body to do its thing, almost everyone was going to read it out of sheer boredom.
Intelligent marketing ploys aside, Peter skimmed the page and discovered that it was an announcement about their college football team, The Red Rangers, playing against the Railsplitter's that Friday night. Now, this typically wouldn't have grabbed Peter's attention. He hated football. He hated sport. He hated team activities of any kind in college. He especially hated to sit down and watch these things, pretending to be interested when he'd much rather be at home power napping. There was something on the page, though, in big and unmissable letters - like a beacon of light during a worldwide blackout, or a roll-up in your lunchbox as a kid. It read; 'FREE FOOD'.
Peter's heart fluttered in his chest. Truly, there was nothing more glorious than the promise of an unpaid meal...and he certainly couldn't afford to take her anywhere else. Peter's heart stopped fluttering. God, he was such a loser. No. He was a broke, disorganised loser that was going to take a girl to a football game (that he wasn't even interested in) just so he didn't have to find money to buy her food. Peter's good mood immediately soured. He certainly hadn't needed his own mind to ruin that small moment of joy...but it always did. It was like having his own personal bully, but instead of tripping him in the hallways, it gave his brain a swirly.
