The bell rings throughout the school. Everyone gets up, collects their bags and walks out of the classroom. Peter is here today but he wasn't in class just now because he smashed he backboard of the basketball hoop in the gym. As I walk down the corridors to my locker, I hear rumours that he got expelled or suspended. I wonder what the really happened to him. I shove my textbooks into my locker, but keep my writing books in hand, and lock the door. I start for the exit and see Peter and an older man talking just down the hall. I lean against the wall, waiting for an opportunity to talk to him. I can't hear what they're saying but it looks serious. The man looks upset with Peter, as would any parent. He sees me watching and catches my gaze. He talks again to Peter, who looks behind him to see me. I quickly look away, pretending not to be staring at him.
"He's got you on his computer!" The old man shouts to me. "I'm his probation officer." He laughs. He says something to Peter before whisking away. Peter laughs.
"Okay!" He turns around to face me, looking worried about what the man said to me. Now Peter and I are the only ones in the corridor. "He's a character. He's my, my uncle," He says, nervously. "He's a pathological liar and he thought you were someone else."
"Oh man, you don't have me on your computer?" I smile.
"I took a photo of the debate team so..."
"Right."
"So, he must have seen it. I was touching up stuff."
"You were 'touching up stuff'?" I ask.
"I'm not gonna answer that." He laughs.
"Did you get expelled?" I ask him the question of the day.
"No, I didn't get expelled. I got community service. So, you want to... I don't know..." He staggers on his words. I'm confused about what he's trying to ask me.
"Want to what?" I ask. He gives me that adorable look with those big brown doe eyes of his as he struggles to find the right words.
"I don't know, just... I don't know, we could... Or we could do something else, or we could... If you don't... We could..." I finally get what he's trying to say. It's kind of adorable.
"Yeah."
"Yeah?" He asks, not sure what my answer is.
"Yeah, either one."
"Really?" He looks surprised and happy at my answer.
"Sure."
"Alright, good, sounds good. Okay." We stand in silence for a while. "No, I can't right now. I can't right now, I'm so busy right now." He says, awkwardly.
"Yeah, me too." We laugh again.
"But, uh. Maybe, uh..." Peter stumbles again. We start to back away from each other.
"Yeah, you know."
"Some other..."
"Time." I finish his sentence for him, spinning around awkwardly with my writing book.
"Ok. Alright." Peter laughs. I walk away from him, smiling. I look back at him and he is still standing there, looking at me. I take small steps as I walk out of school. I run towards the road as I see a taxi slowly drive passed. I wave my hand in the air and the driver slows the vehicle to a stop. I climb into the car and sit on the back seat, resting my bag on the other seat and my book on my lap.
"Oscorp, please." I tell the driver, who starts the car right away. I wait patiently to get there, I am in no hurry. I remembered earlier today that I left my blazer there last night and so I have to drop in quickly and get it. I can easily walk home from there, it's not as far as it is from school. There is hardly any traffic today, which is odd. The streets are usually packed, considering that is it New York City. I pay the driver when we get to Oscorp and collect all my stuff as I get out of the car. I push passed the spinning door and head on upstairs, not bothering to sign in. There is still a lot of people here, as there should be, it is only 3:30. I find my blazer easily. I pick it up and as I go to leave, I see a new list on my desk. It is a list of all the new interns whose internship has been accepted. I'm impressed that it is nearly everyone who was there yesterday. It is my job to put all the names and their details in the Oscorp system. I smile when I see Emily on the top of the list. I found last year's debate team in the 2010 year book. Once I saw the picture I remembered straight away that she was the one who inspired me to enter into the debate team. She had been in it every year since freshman year and was the best spokesperson on her team. She also became team captain the last two years of high school. I'm not as good as her though, I wish I was. I'm pretty good but not brilliant.
I drop the list back on my desk so I can read through it thoroughly next time. As I walk out of the building, Peter walks into Oscorp, with his glasses. We walk around the door, trying to get to each other. I decide that I will step out first into the lobby. Peter follows.
"Hey." I chirp, smiling.
"Hi." He smiles back, looking nerdy with his glasses.
"What are you doing here?"
"Uh, Dr Connors asked me to drop by this afternoon." He says.
"Oh. Does he know your real name?"
"Huh, oh yeah." We laugh and it suddenly becomes a little awkward, again.
"Well, uh, I was wondering if I could get your number? You know, since you wanted to catch up." I ask, hoping it's okay.
"Oh, yeah. Sure. Here." We swap phone and right down each other's number, then hand them back.
"Well, uh, see you later." I depart the building, smiling. I start to walk home on my own, but I usually do.
When I get home, my parents are in the kitchen, getting dinner.
"How was school, sweetie?" Dad asks as I walk through the door.
"Normal." I say. I walk into my room, drop my bag on the floor, place my book on my desk, and sling my blazer over my chair. I flop onto my bed, exhausted. My dad walks in.
"I heard about that kid who broke the backboard at school. Peter Parker? Did he get expelled?" Of course Dad would want to know. My Dad, George Stacy, is the NYPD captain.
"He got community service." I say, my face is half buried in my pillow.
"You okay sweetheart?" He says, concerned.
"Yeah. I'm just tired."
"Ok." He walks out, closing the door behind him.
҉
This morning, everyone in school had heard about the devastation. Last night, Peter's uncle was murdered by a thief. The news spread quickly through emails, texts, almost everything on social media. The whole school was mostly quiet today and everyone often stared at Peter when they saw him. I wish they would just leave him alone.
As I make my way down the corridors, I see Peter going through his locker, trying to ignore everyone and everything around him.
"Hey, Parker." Flash calls from down the hall.
"Not today, Flash."
"Come on, man, I just want to talk." Flash is thrown against the wall and Peter lifts him up by the collar of his hoodie. There are loud gasps from the students and everyone stops dead in their tracks to watch. "Feels better, right? Your uncle died, I'm sorry. I get it, I'm sorry." Flash really does mean it for once. Peter puts Flash down, picks up his bag, and walks away, tears in his eyes. He wipes his eyes and starts walking away, towards me.
"Peter..." I whisper to him. I wrap my arms around him as he almost bursts out in tears. I hate to see him like this. He pulls away and without looking at me, keeps walking down the hall.
I don't see him for the rest of the day and it worries me. I feels weird now, having an empty seat at the back of the class room. I just hope he's alright. I mean given the state he's in, of course he isn't, but I just hope he won't do anything stupid.
I try texting him but he never answers.
҉
The next day, he comes back to class but he doesn't talk to anyone, he just avoids everything. Throughout the whole lesson, he kept his head down, drawing. I can't figure out what it was because his hand is in the way. I weird, it seem that everyday Peter Parker becomes a more stranger and mysterious person.
Saturday night, my Dad gets a call from work saying he has to go. He puts on his badge and straps a gun to his hip. He kisses Mum goodbye and walks out the door and down the stairs, where his team is already waiting for him. I walk outside onto our balcony, twenty stories up. I gaze at the bright lights of New York. I can see my tiny, little Dad crawl into his car way down below and flash his lights as he drives off. I can hear the sirens as they race away, following a helicopter. I could have sworn I saw something small swinging between the buildings, but it is too quick for me to make out what it is.
"It seems as though there is a masked vigilante roaming the streets of New York." Dad tells us.
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"There is some new guy out there disrupting our jobs. He swings about on the buildings and drops off thieves at the front door with his... I don't know what it is. It's like rope but it's not. It's like a web."
"A web?"
"Gwen, I know as much as you do, Honey."
When I go back to school, on Monday, it seems like everyone has heard about the masked guy. The whole school is talking about him.
I read the list of new interns on my desk, at Oscorp, left there from Wednesday afternoon. I begin to work on Emily's profile for her Oscorp membership. I have to do a whole background research on every single person on the list. This has to be the biggest list of new interns yet. It will take me at least three days to finalise and submit all profiles. I get an email on my computer from Dr Connors. I open it immediately when I read the subject 'Success in cross-species division'. The email says that the one of our projects at Oscorp on cross-species genetic for lizards has been a success. The test on our three-legged mouse, Fred, has gone to plan and Fred now has four legs. The email also says that Peter Parker was the one who made all this possible when he helped out at Oscorp last Wednesday. So that's why he was here. Damn, this kid really does know a lot. It takes a lot of brain juice to think up something that no scientist has ever worked out.