Now that Peter and I were broken up, things had changed. We did sit next to each other in class but neither of us spoke a word. When Ned was there, he sat between us to break the tension. It was hard for him, but I didn't know what else to do.
I had also noticed Peter and Ned were whispering a lot behind my back. Were they gossiping about me? When I asked Ned, he told me that it was nothing to worry about, just school stuff. Although I wanted to believe him, I wasn't a 100% sure.
So, when I sat behind them in class, I put in my earphones and asked Friday if she could activate Enhanced Reconnaissance Mode on Peter and Ned so I could hear their conversation.
"Can you spit venom?" I heard Ned ask.
"No," Peter answered.
"Can you summon an army of spiders?"
"No, Ned."
"How far can you shoot your webs?"
"It's unknown, shut up."
"If I were you, I would stand on the edge of a building and shoot it as far as I could."
"Shut up, Ned," Peter whispered.
I shut off Friday. So, Ned knew. Did Peter tell him? Why did Peter tell him and not me? I felt betrayed and wanted to go home.
Later in gym class, the teacher showed us a video from Captain America where he presented a Fitness challenge for pairs. Ned and Peter formed a pair immediately, which left me awkwardly alone.
"Hey, Natalie! Come sit with us."
I looked around to see who called me. It was Liz, team captain of the academic decathlon. She sat with Betty and Charles, who were also on the decathlon, on the bleachers. I hesitantly walked towards them and sat down next to Liz.
"Don't we have to join the others?" I asked, looking at the rest of the class doing sit-ups.
"No," Liz chuckled. "Coach Wilson never checks on us."
I nodded and smiled, glad I could skip gym class this easily.
"We're playing Fuck Marry Kill, you're next to come up with three people," Liz spoke.
"Okay," I said, thinking about a strategic move. "How about: Johnny Depp, Will Smith and KJ Apa?"
The girls giggled.
"I would F Johnny, kill Will and marry KJ," Betty said.
"Kill Will?" Charles sounded outraged, it made me laugh. "I would definitely fuck him and kill Johnny."
"Okay, I have another one," Liz interrupted. "How about some of the avengers?"
"Here we go again..." Charles mumbled. I wondered what that meant.
Liz ignored him. "Iron Man, Hulk and Thor."
"For me," Betty started. "It would be F Thor, Marry Iron Man and kill Hulk." She looked at me. "What about you, Natalie?"
I got distracted when I saw Peter turning his head into our direction, he was listening. And it was hard since my uncle got involved in the game. "I would..." I spoke. "I would fuck the Hulk, marry Thor and kill Iron Man."
I saw the others nodding.
"But what about the Spider-Man, though?" I spoke. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Peter and Ned stop doing their sit-ups to listen.
"It's just Spider-Man," Betty gave me a judging look.
I saw I got Liz's attention. "Did you guys see the bank security cam on YouTube? He fought of four guys!" she said enthusiastically.
Betty rolled her eyes at her. "Oh my God, she's crushing on Spider-Man."
"Kind off," Liz bit on her nails.
"Ugh, gross," Betty said. "He's probably like, thirty."
"Do you even know what he looks like?" Charles added. "What if he is like seriously burned?"
"I wouldn't care, I would still love him for the person he is on the inside," Liz said. It made me a tiny bit jealous.
We were interrupted by Ned, who shouted out of nowhere: "Peter knows Spider-Man!"
The whole class was looking at them, and I had to hide my laughter when I saw Peter's face go into panic-mode.
He hurriedly got up and walked towards us, stuttering: "No... I... I don't... I mean..."
"They're friends," Ned said, while walking behind him.
"I have met him, yeah..." Peter continued stuttering. "But it's through the... Stark-internship."
Great safe, Peter. I was almost going to applaud.
Flash entered the conversation. "Well, that's awesome. You know what? You should invite him to Liz's party."
"Party?" Peter asked.
"Yeah, I'm having people over tonight," Liz said. "You and..." She pointed at me. "your girlfriend are more than welcome to come."
"We're not..." Peter and I said at the same time.
I looked at my palms and continued the sentence. "We're not dating anymore."
"Really?" Liz raised her eyebrows.
"But I'm busy tonight so I wouldn't be able to make it anyways," I added.
"Bummer," Liz said, and she turned to Peter. "Peter, you should come."
"Yeah, it's gonna be dope," Flash said. "You should totally invite your personal friend Spider-Man."
I saw Peter struggling. I felt sorry for him, Ned got him into a really difficult situation. I was wondering what Peter's next move was going to be, and what kind of consequences it would have.
That night I was reading a book in the corner of the couch, Tony's usual spot. Tony wouldn't mind, because he was on a business trip in India. Happy was guarding me, meaning he was watching a movie in the kitchen and if I happen to die or get kidnapped, I promised him to scream very loudly.
It was around midnight when my phone rang.
"Hey there, beloved uncle. What's up?" I said cheerful as I answered.
"Thank God, you're not asleep yet, I need you to do something for me," Tony sounded irritated. "I need you to stop Spider-boy from doing things he's not supposed to do."
I was confused. "What happened?"
"I just had to safe him from a lake, the boy had nearly drowned himself."
"Oh, my God, is he okay?" I stood up from the couch.
"Yes, he is," Tony said. "Don't be so dramatic, I just need you to help him stay out of trouble and make him stop thinking he's a superhero."
I sat back down. "Can't you do that yourself? I'm not supposed to know he's Spider-Man, right?"
I heard Tony sigh on the other side of the phone. "Don't be a smartass, but I guess you're right."
"I'm always right."
"Get lost of that attitude, young lady. And get out of my spot!"
"I'm not sitting in your spot." I tried to sound as innocent as possible.
"Did you forget I have security cameras?"
I looked up, spotted the camera and raised my middle finger to it while daringly smiling.
I could almost hear Tony rolling his eyes at me. "Just go to bed, it is a school night," Tony spoke.
"It is a Friday night," I frowned.
"Right..." Tony said. "Bye bye!"
I looked at my phone screen which said: 'Call ended' and turned back to my book.