(Annabelle's POV)
I slowly opened my eyes to the sun shining in my face. I squinted at the light letting my eyes adjust and then rolled over to glance at my clock. It was only nine in the morning which meant I have two hours until I have to be at work. I got out of bed and went downstairs to get some breakfast. I had skipped out on dinner last night so I was really hungry at this point. Imy mom wasn't home so I don't have to worry about speaking with her. I poured myself some Cheerios and sat down at the island. Before I had gone to bed last night, I had checked my phone for any missed calls or texts, I had two texts and one missed call. The texts were both from Gwen. One read, 'Your mother is getting extremely worried.' The other read, 'I'm heading home, you should too. See you in school.' The missed call was from Peter. He didn't leave a message, so I don't know what he wanted to talk about. Although I'm pretty sure it had to do with last nights events. I debated on calling him back, maybe this was a chance to talk things over, put all this behind us. But on the other hand maybe it wasn't. I was still angry at him, but he did apologize. I guess I'll decide on this matter later.
I put my bowl in the sink and went back up to my room. When I was back in my room I threw on some music. I took a quick shower and threw on a nice outfit, well nice enough for Oscorp. I was brushing out my hair in front of my mirror when someone appeared at my window. I smiled and opened the window.
"Good morning, Belle." Spider-Man greeted as he hopped in through the window. "Nice music, by the way."
"Good morning." I replied and went back to brushing my hair.
"What are you getting ready for?" He asked as he sat down on my desk chair.
"I have work in and hour and twenty-five minutes." I responded as I pulled my hair into a ponytail.
"Fun."
"So what can I do for the city vigilante today?" I asked.
"Actually I have a question." He started. I nodded for him to continue with the question. "How do you know you're in love?" He asked. I was sure my cheeks had just gone red, because my thoughts instantly went to Peter.
"Well you know you're in love when all you can think about is that one person. You'll notice their flaws but you won't mind them. You'll find yourself getting lost in their eyes. Well at least that's what I think." I explained as best as I could. "Are you in love with someone?"
"Yeah, I think I am." He mumbled. "Are you?"I walked over and hugged him and he hugged back.
"I don't know anymore." I answered. "So who's this person you think you're in love with?"
"She's a smart, beautiful girl. But she likes to pretend I don't even exist." He responded. I sat down on my bed.
"That's tough, I'm sorry." I said. I had forgotten my music was playing until 'When We Were Young' by Adele came on shuffle. I stood up and turned the volume up. "I love this song." Spider-Man walked over to me.
"Would you care to dance with me?" He asked as he held out his hand. I smiled and took his hand and placed my other on his shoulder as he placed his other on my waist. We swayed back and forth slowly and I leaned my head onhis shoulder. As the song was coming to an end, Spider-Man dipped me. Once I was brought back up we continued to stand there even as the next song came on. I didn't want this moment to end, I was enjoying it way too much. But we both jumped apart when I received a reminder from my phone about work.
"I guess I should probably go." I sighed as I grabbed my phone and bag. "Thanks for the dance Spidey. That girl who is ignoring you, doesn't deserve a gentlemen like you." I advised. I couldn't see Spider-Man's reaction to what I said but I only hoped that he understood.
"You're welcome Belle and I'll keep that in mind." He replied. "Have fun." And with that he hoppedout the window, that I then shut after he was gone.
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I walked through the entrance of Oscorp and saw an all too familiar face.
"Peter." I acknowledged his presence and walked over to him. He looked over at the sound of my voice. "What are you doing here?" I knew he was probably here to see Dr. Connors but it doesn't hurt to ask.
"I'm visiting Dr. Connors, I needed to talk to him." He answered.
"Oh I see, well you might as well follow me, because I'm heading to his office." I motioned for him to follow. He nodded in response and walked behind me to the elevator. We stood in silence, not having much to say to one another. I know I should probably strike up a conversation but what could I say? Before I could even speak the doors opened so I stepped out of the elevator first with Peter close behind. We walked into Dr. Connors office, only to find he wasn't here. In fact no one was here. This was very strange and unnerving.
"Hello!" Peter called out, but didn't get a response. I placed my bag down and looked around, Peter doing the same. I watched as he picked up an injector for the reptilian serum. I was going to tell him what it was but I had a feeling he already knew, since he helped Dr. Connors with it. I walked over to look at it too, because it suddenly struck me that I didn't remember Dr. Connors saying he was doing anymore testing and this injector was empty. The evidence behind that was that there were a few drops left. Peter passed it to me and I started to examine it. This had to have been recently used.
"It's not nice to snoop." A voice accused harshly. I jumped at the sound of the new voice and turned around just as Peter did. It was only Dr. Connors.
"Wher-" I started to ask but was interrupted.
"I gave everyone the week off. I guess the message didn't get to you, but you can go home Annabelle. In fact shouldn't you both be in school?" He questioned as he walked over to his desk to grab some papers I assumed.
"We don't have school today, that's why you had asked me to come in today." I reminded him. Dr. Connors nodded.
"Sorry about the change of plans." He said. "But now you can go enjoy the day." Peter stepped forward as I made my way for the door.
"I wanted to ask you a question. How would a predator track a reptile?" Peter asked. I stayed, I wanted to hear the answer to the question and why Peter wanted to know. Dr. Connors looked surprised at this but answered.
"Oh they don't. Most reptiles are at the top, of their respective food chain. Kings of their domain." He said.
"They gotta have vulnerabilities, right?" Peter questioned. Dr. Connors turned to look at him.
"Why the sudden interest in the cold-blooded?" He asked. I noticed Peter hesitated for a moment. I knew that look, he was going to lie.
"Just asking a question. I got school stuff. Biology profiles to do." He responded. Ha! I knew he was going to lie. I'm in his biology class, we don't have that assignment. He knows something but what is it he knows and about what. Did he know something about the giant lizard attack. "So because of the cold blood would they react to changes in temperatures?" Peter continued to ask questions. Dr. Connors was quick with his answer.
"Well, you'd have to catch one first." I was a little surprised at how quickly he'd answered. "Did you know there's a rumor of a new species in New York? Beautiful and quite large." Dr. Connors said.
"What do you know about it? You seen it?" I asked. Dr. Connors shook his head.
"No, it's not yet classified. But it can be aggressive if threatened." Dr. Connors cautioned and then proceeded to pick up his bag.
"Doc, you all right?" Peter asked. Dr. Connors smiled.
"Never been better, Peter. Never been better." He assured us. "Now if you'll excuse me. I'm afraid I have to ask the two you to leave. I have a new project I'm working on. I need to be alone." He continued and ushered us both out the door of his office. As he walked over to another set of doors, he called back to us. "Don't worry, I'll be back. Wonderful things are coming. Wonderful things." He declared and then stepped out through the door. We were slowly following behind when Peter stopped and looked to his left.
"What?" I asked.
"Shush." I then realized why he stopped. I could hear it now too. A strange growling sound, one you would hear from a reptile. Peter walked in the direction of the sound and I followed close behind. I gasped at the sight in front of us and almost screamed. The mouse we had tested on had turned into a monster and ate the other mouse. "Fred?" Peter questioned. We both turned our heads towards the door Dr. Conors had gone out. I'm positive we both had the same idea.
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I sighed and looked at my watch. I was currently standing outside the police station waiting for Peter. We both decided to go to the police about Dr. Connors. I had told him I refused to go in there and that I was just going to head home, but he made me wait because he wanted to talk. Surprisingly enough, I agreed to this. Peter had been in there for awhile and I was getting tired of waiting. Only a few minutes later, Peter emerged from the building.
"So what did they say?" I asked as he walked over to me. But he was already shaking his head.
"They didn't believe me, thought I was crazy." He answered. I sighed, well I suppose I could always talk to Spider-Man about this. He might be able to do something.
"I see, well I would have thought you were crazy too, to be honest. What is it you wanted to talk about anyways?" I asked.
"Could we talk about it back at my house? Aunt May wanted to see you anyways." He said. I nodded in response and we both went in the direction of his house and mine.
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"Aunt May! I'm home and Belle is with me." Peter said as we walked through the front door.
"I'm coming!" I heard May shout back. "Anna it's so nice to see you." She greeted and gave me a hug, which I gladly returned.
"Aunt May, Belle and I are going up to my room, ok?" Peter said.
"Ok sweetie, oh Anna would you like to stay for lunch?" May asked me. I could never say no to her, or her cooking.
"Sure, if you don't mind." I responded. May's smile was big at my answer.
"Not at all." She assured me. Peter and I went up to his room. I sat down at his desk chair and he sat on his bed.
"So what is it?" I asked.
"I wanted to apologize for kissing you so suddenly the other day." He began. Well it's start, maybe we can fix this.
"Apology accepted, but why did you kiss me?" I asked.
"I kissed you because I love you. I've never been able to tell you this, I'd rather be your friend than lose you forever." He admitted and it was like he took the words out my mouth when I would think of him. "Is there a possibility you love me?"
"I don't know, I need some time Peter, after everything that's happened. Maybe we can try and fix what was already ruined and go from there." I answered. "Is there anything else you wanted to talk about?" I asked changing the subject. He nodded.
"I have a secret I've been keeping from you."
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I am so damn slow with updates. I had some time on my hands today and decided to write and thus this chapter was born. I hope this long chapter made up for the long wait.
Do you think Peter is going to tell Annabelle he's Spider-Man or will he chicken out?
I have this strange feeling that there won't be many more chapters to this book but we'll see. I'm hoping it will be 20 or more chapters long with no epilogue. The epilogue will be in the sequel.
Ok that's it for now. Adios! Ciao! Freilos! Sayōnara! (I totally didn't use google translate.)
Bye!
~Kai