Hang In There// P.P.

Chapter 52: Water.

We had reached the airport in Venice when Peter ran off to catch up with Ned.

"Hey, man. Did you see Brad and MJ on the plane? They were watching movies and laughing the entire time."

"Dude, don't worry, okay? Im sure its nothing."

Betty then walked up to Ned.

"Hey, babe, can you hold this for me, please?"

"Yeah, of course."

Peter looked beyond confused and quite frankly I was pretty sure I did too.

"Thanks."

She walked off when Peter turned back to Ned.

"What was that?" I asked, catching up to the two.

"Well, we actually got to talking on the plane, and it turns out we have a lot in common. So, uh, were boyfriend-girlfriend now." Ned explained.

"Whatever happened to being an American bachelor in Europe?"

I raised a brow at him.

"Dude, you literally had no interest in that idea up until a minute ago."

"Peter... those were the words of a boy. That boy met a woman. A very strong and powerful woman. And now, that boy's a man."

"Babe?" Betty called.

"Coming, babe."

Ned walked off, leaving Peter and I walking through customs. Peter was taken away from the group into a private searching area. A stern-looking woman placed the case on a table, and unzipped it.

"There's nothing in there, I swear." He reassured.

The case was opened and revealed Peter's Spider-Man suit. There was a yellow sticky-note taped to it saying 'You almost forgot this -May xx'. The woman picked up the banana placed next to it.

"This, no."

She held up the banana. Peter muttered a 'sorry' before rushing back to the school group.

"I'm here! Mr. Harrington! I'm here, I'm here!"

"Wait, wait, wait, Peters here. Thank goodness."

I nudged his arm as he fell into step with me.

"That was a close one, Parker."

I gave him a smirk before walking ahead to walk with MJ.

___________________________________________

The school group took a boat through the Grand Canal in Venice. We were touristy, taking photos and videos of the city. Our boat pulled up to the most dingy-looking hotel in the area. With scaffolding covering the front, the hotel sign was hanging by a thread.

"Looks like we're here. They're doing some renovations to the place. Getting some upgrades." Mr. Harrington stated.

"This place is trash." Zach stated.

"That must be the concierge."

We walked inside the hotel to see it wasn't any better than the outside.

"Everyone, here we are!"

Mr. Harrington took in the desolate insides of the hotel, it definitely was just as bad as the outside, maybe even worse. A cat that stood on a table meowed. Mr. Harrington stepped into a puddle of water.

"Tell me were not staying here." MJ hoped.

"This place is sinking." Flash commented.

"I think you mean charming!" Mr. Harrison said with feigned enthusiasm.

"Okay everybody. Drop your bags off and were gonna meet at the Da Vinci museum at three. Let's go!" Mr. Dell ordered.

"Vamanos!" Mr. Harrison cheered.

"Its andiamo." MJ corrected.

"Andiamo!"

Mr Dell turned to the students.

"When in Rome, you do as Romans do. When you're in Venice, your socks get wet!"

We were grumbling as we marched up the stairs of the worn hotel.

____________________________________

We were then at the Saint Marco Polos Square.

"What's up, Flash Mob, how are you guys doing? Im in Saint Marco Polos-"

Flash began vlogging as someone, probably a student, ran past and hit him in the groin. Flash doubled over.

"-Oh!"

Ned and Betty were getting a caricature drawing done of them.

"This is so much fun!"

"Yeah?" Ned chuckled awkwardly.

Mr. Harrison was trying to take a photo of himself in front of the scenery. He set his camera on the railing and posed awkwardly. The camera beeped and took the picture. Grabbing the camera, Mr. Harrison nearly dropped it. He looked at the picture and the camera slipped from his hands, falling into the water.
Students were taking a photo in front of a touristy thing.

"Three, two, one, say pizza!"

"Pizza!"

MJ was standing with her arms out, pigeons perched on her arm and shoulder while Brad took her picture. Away from the crowd I saw Peter standing there, watching the two interact. I made my way over to him, watching the same thing he was.

"You know, I saw a small shop just down there. They might have that Black Dahlia you were on about."

"Thanks."

He walked further away from the crowd and into the small shop. About fifteen minutes later, Peter exited the shop and joined the fray of tourists and locals in Venice. He was smiling to himself as he held the bag. He met me on the bridge.

"So? Did you get it?" I asked him excitedly.

"Yeah I did. Wanna see it?"

I nodded, a smile on my face as he lifted it out of the bag, dropping it in my hand carefully.

"It's beautiful! She's gonna love it."

I handed it back to him.

"You think so?"

Before I could answer MJ came up unexpectedly behind him.

"Boh!"

"What?" He flinched.

"Boh. Its the most perfect word in the world. Italians created it, and I just discovered it."

"What does it mean?" I asked.

"That's the thing, it can mean a million things. It can mean I don't know, get out of my face, I don't know and get out of my face. Its the best thing Italy ever created, except for maybe espresso."

"Oh, so you've been drinking espresso."

Peter joked as an Italian man came up to them, holding a rose, gesturing between the pair. I took that as my queue to leave, not wanting to impose on their moment any more than I already had been. I finished walking over the bridge, standing to watch the many people out on the water. MJ noticed the many crabs escaping the water by drawing up the pillars at one of the many docks. She pulled out her phone to take a picture.

"Whoa, cool."

Peter watched her amused and mesmerised. I took notice of the water being sucked into a grate beside me, my eyebrows furrowed as I watched it act in an abnormal way.

"Peter?"

He tore his gaze off of the curly headed girl and followed the direction my finger was pointing in, his eyes too landing on the grate. Waves rocked the boat where Ned and Betty were comparing hands and smiling at each other. The waves continued before the water became still for a split second. Water then erupted from the canal and people started screaming.
Ned and Betty screamed as their boat was pushed towards shore by the waves.