Got a Secret?

You can tell me anything

I'm not an ordinary girl. My name is Ashleigh and I was adopted from an orphanage in Russia when I was really little. My adopted parents are Bruce Banner and Natasha Romanoff. Yep, I'm part of the famous Smirnoff-Banner-Romanoff family. You might know them better by the names of The Incredible Hulk and Black Widow. When I was adopted I didn't just get new parents, I got a whole extended family too. My Uncle Tony always has a cool gadget for me, Uncle Steve helps me ace US history, Uncle Thor once got his brother Loki to do a magic show for my birthday party, and Uncle Hawkeye always picks up Pret a Manger when I want it. But lately something has been bothering me. One of my good friends, if not best friend, Peter Parker has been hiding something. I've been trying to put the clues together just like Agent Gibbs in my favorite show, NCIS. And today I'm finally ready to confront him.

I walked up to Peter after AP Computer Science with Mr. Grayson (I really love coding). I confidently demanded, "Hey Peter! Can I... discuss something with you?"

He nervously ran his fingers through the front of his hair, "Uh, yeah, sure, I guess."

"So, I've been noticing some strange things lately: You hang around at Stark Tower a lot for someone who's just a science intern. Especially since you're in the personal quarters that are just for Avengers, family, and really close friends. And my special probiotic yogurt supply is always depleted after you've been there, but that's weird because it's physically impossible for one normal teenage boy to eat that much yogurt. Oh, and once I heard you call Uncle Tony "Dad" which I guess would be an easy mistake to make since both of your father figures are dead, but still, not typical of a mentor-mentee relationship. And that one time we were watching The Phantom Menace at your house, your watch buzzed even though it's a normal Casio watch and then you got really flustered and left. Your aunt was really nice about it, but it was weird. And you dropped out of APO, the service club at Midtown School of Science and Tech, even though I know you love it because you were 'really busy' with your internship, but I overheard Ned asking you that day what your patrol area was for the night. First I was worried you had joined a gang, but then I saw you messing around with something white and stringy in your desk in chemistry that reminded me of something I've seen before, but I couldn't remember what. But then just the other day you gave me a hug and you were... sticky. And then I remembered. It was the same consistency as that time Spider-Man rescued me after I fell through the ice on one of the ponds in Central Park while I was practicing my ice dancing. So, I guess what I'm trying to say is- you are Spider-Man."

Peter started to turn bright red throughout my soliloquy. "No, no, I- I'm not Spider-Man." He desperately tried to think of an excuse.

"Well, you're definitely hiding something from me. What is it then?" I replied.

"I'm, uh, I'm not supposed to tell anyone this, but I, uh," he paused, "I'm helping Mr. Stark prepare to be a contestant on the upcoming season of Dancing With the Stars."

"Shut the FRONT door! That's. SO. COOL! I LOVE Dancing With the Stars. I need to text Uncle Tony right now and ask who his partner is. Ooh, I hope it's Sharna Burgess- she's my favorite! I'll have to get a training regimen for him, text me the next time you're practicing with him and I'll join - I've been taking Zumba! so I'm really good at dancing now. With your dancing skills and my encyclopaedic knowledge of Dancing with the Stars, he's sure to win!"

Peter's face was now so red he resembled a beet. He couldn't lie to me about something that was obviously so important to me. "Ummmmmmmmmmm, so I was lying. He's not on Dancing with the Stars." He couldn't think of what else to say, "The truth is................ I am Spider-man."

"Oh." I paused. "Well that's cool too I guess." I started to sniffle a little bit. "I was just... really excited *sniffle* about getting to watch Dancing with the Stars live."