Peter
A lot had gone down during Peter's sophomore year. First, during the football Homecoming dance, his date's father had attempted to steal Tony Stark's—just, stuff. All of his stuff. Then, a few months later, a whole new problem had presented itself when his best friend, Alexandra Wallace had discovered his secret identity as Spider-Man and a crazy new villain that Ned called 'Doc Ock' had emerged. And sophomore year wasn't even over yet!
Not only that, but Peter had learned that, even though he was under the impression that his Aunt May knew his Spider-Man secret, Mr. Stark had apparently used some sort of crazy alien magic or whatever to wipe her memory—he claimed it was to protect her, and to make sure Peter would be allowed to continue being Spider-Man—but Peter was still pretty upset with him.
After Peter had discovered what his mentor had done to May's memory, he had to convince her to let him continue being Spider-Man. She had been hesitant at first, but with a bit of convincing (and tears, Peter wasn't afraid to admit) May had agreed to let him continue his web slinging ways—but she had a few conditions, and rules.
Rule #1: Peter's curfew on weekdays was no later than 11 o'clock, and on weekends it was 1 o'clock. If Peter was ever late, or kept May up worrying, he was grounded from patrols for a week.
Rule #2: When he was out on patrol, Peter had to check in with May every hour. Whether it be a text or a phone call, if May didn't hear from him each hour, there would be consequences.
The last rule was the most important to May.
Rule #3: Let May deal with Tony Stark.
May was very pissed at the billionaire, and she didn't want Peter speaking to him. Peter was a bit conflicted at times—on the one hand, he was really mad at Mr. Stark for what he had done to May (without even consulting him about it!), but on the other hand—Mr. Stark was still someone he wanted to be able to look up to. It was a lot easier to be Spider-Man when he knew he had someone like Iron Man in his corner.
Not only that, but Peter had been looking up to Iron Man since he was a little kid. It was a tough habit to break—no matter how mad he was at Mr. Stark.
Other than that, Peter's life hadn't changed much. He was still Spider-Man, he was still in school, and his life was still crazy.
When his friends, Ned and Alexandra, had heard about what happened between him and Tony Stark, they were also angry. But they didn't stay that way for long.—once May had agreed to let Peter continue to be Spider-Man, Ned wondered when Peter would forgive Mr. Stark.
"Are you being serious right now, Ned?" Peter demanded as he shut his locker and turned to his friend. "I'm not going to talk to him! I'm not even supposed to, dude."
Ned sighed and pulled his backpack over his shoulders as he followed Peter down the hallway. "Yeah, but c'mon, Peter! I mean, Mr. Stark's the whole reason you got your suit in the first place—he's had your back the longest!"
The teen hero sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He knew Ned was right, but he still couldn't help but feel betrayed. "I'll put it like this," Peter turned to Ned. "Let's say you trusted someone—you gave them everything to prove yourself to them, to make them proud of you—and then let's say you find out they wiped your mom's memory just to avoid a hard talk. Would you be super keen to forgive them?"
Ned thought this through for a moment before shaking his head. "No." He agreed. "But this someone is Tony Stark!"
Peter sighed and shook his head, but laughed slightly. Ned was still Ned. "I know," Peter replied softly. "Look—I don't—I don't want to be mad at him, Ned, it's just—" He sighed again. "He really messed up this time. Even if his intentions were good, he really messed up. Even when I really messed up—I didn't mess up like this."
Ned tilted his head sympathetically. "Yeah. Yeah, I know."
The two continued their route down the hallway, heading to their first class of the day. They turned a corner and bumped, quite literally, into Kai Hale.
She yelped and dropped her books on the floor. Kai sighed exasperatedly. "Dang it!" She exclaimed, looking to the boys, looking ready to hit them, before she realized who it was and smiled widely. "Oh, hey, Ned! Hey, Peter!"
"Hey, Kai." Ned waved. "Sorry—here." He bent down to help her pick her books up. He handed her the chemistry textbook that had fallen on the ground.
"Thanks." She nodded, taking her book. "Hey, Peter, I think Alex is looking for you. Something about your Spanish project?"
Peter suddenly smacked himself on the forehead. "Oh no!" He groaned. He couldn't believe it, he had completely forgotten!
"Dude, you haven't done that yet?" Ned asked. "It's due in two days!"
"Yeah, thanks for the reminder, Ned!" Peter replied, suddenly sprinting down the hallway towards Alexandra's locker. "I'll see you guys at lunch!" He wasted no more time as he dashed down the hallway, avoiding other students the best he could.
He rounded the corner and spotted Alexandra at her locker. "Alex!" He came skidding to a halt next to her. "I'm so sorry, I completely forgot about the project, don't worry, I'm gonna pull an all nighter to make sure I get my half of it finished—"
Alexandra closed her locker and Peter suddenly noticed a younger kid standing next to her. He had dark skin and a wide smile on his face. He was wearing a Spider-Man t-shirt—Peter grinned the way he always did when he saw someone with Spidey merchandise. He had become quite the New York icon.
"Peter," Alexandra said, turning to her boyfriend. "This is Miles Morales, he's a new student. He just transferred here from Brooklyn Technical High School. Miles, this is Peter Parker—"
Miles' face lit up excitedly. "You're the kid with the Stark internship, right?" He asked excitedly.
"Oh, uh, well—" Peter began to explain, but then the bell to go to class rang sharply across the hall.
"Oh, that's our cue." Alexandra turned to Miles. "Your first class is this way, and I can meet you outside of your fourth period to take you to the cafeteria, okay?"
Miles smiled widely and nodded. "Yeah, sounds good. Thanks, Alex!" He exclaimed before turning to Peter and waving. "See you later, Peter!"
With that, Alexandra and Miles headed down the hallway and Peter sighed. He would have to talk to her later during their history class. He checked his watch before realizing he was about to be late to his first period class. "Crap." Peter turned on his heel and sprinted down the hallway towards his first class, hoping he wouldn't be late.
***
When their fourth period history class finally rolled around, Peter was relieved. He walked into the class to find that Alexandra and MJ (whom they also shared the class with) were already there. They were sitting in their usual spots in the back, whispering back and fourth to each other. They stopped when Peter sat next to them.
"Hey, Alex, about the Spanish project—"
She held her hand up to silence him, which he did without any hesitation. "Don't worry, Peter, I know you've been swamped with some other—stuff," Alexandra replied, and MJ snorted. Peter glanced at her—he was still unsure if she knew his secret or not. "I'll come over to your place tonight and we can work on it together, okay?"
Peter smiled at her, his chest immediately feeling a warmth feeling spreading through his chest. What would he do without her? "Okay. Thanks, Alex. You're the best."
"Yeah, I know."
"Okay, class has started, let's all quiet down—let's get our homework from last night out. I'm going to come around and take it up." Their teacher began walking up and down the aisles, taking up the homework.
Peter groaned and hit his head against his desk. Of course he had forgotten the homework, when didn't he?
***
When the lunch bell rang, Peter gathered up his things and followed MJ and Alexandra out of the class. "I'll meet you guys at our usual spot in the cafeteria," Alexandra said to them. "I've got to go get Miles from his fourth period, I hope no one minds that he's eating with us?"
MJ shrugged indifferently, as usual. "I'm cool with it."
Peter nodded in agreement.
"Okay, cool, see you guys there!"
After Alexandra went on her way, Peter and MJ headed towards the cafeteria. MJ was reading her book as she walked down the hallway, but she didn't run into anyone as she did so. Peter examined her expressions carefully. She was hard to get a read on, and even though they had been friends for a while now, she was probably the only friend that Peter didn't really know anything about.
They sat down at their lunch table, Kai and Ned soon joined them. Kai sat next to MJ and the two began to quietly converse—but thanks to Peter's super hearing, he could hear everything they were saying. It wasn't eavesdropping, he couldn't help it!
He turned to Ned and began to talk to him in an attempt to quit listening in on his friend's apparently private conversation. "So, Alex wasn't mad at you for the Spanish project?" Ned asked.
Peter shook his head. "No, the exact opposite, actually," He replied. "She even offered to come over later tonight and help me finish it."
Ned shook his head with a small sigh. "Man, you better not screw that up, she's too good for you."
"Dude, don't you think I know that already?"
"Hey, sorry we're late." Alexandra sat down at their table, Miles sat next to her. "Miles couldn't remember what his locker number was and we had to go ask."
Miles blushed slightly beside her. "Sorry..."
"Please, we all do stupid stuff like that," MJ replied. "Don't sweat it."
The rest of lunch progressed as usual, Flash came over to bug them for a bit, but MJ and Kai were quick to tell him to go bother someone else, "or better yet, do everyone a favor and just shut up," Kai snapped before turning back to MJ and continuing their conversation.
Flash didn't bother them after that.
Peter's day wasn't so bad after all.
***
EY, chapter 1 is complete! Finally, I'm getting around to this sequel. I figured I better do it now before Far From Home screws up my entire plot line. Basically, regardless of what happens in Far From Home, THIS CAME FIRST YOU CAN'T BLAME ME.
As in, if somehow, for some reason, Miles Morales is introduced in Far From Home, I'M NOT CHANGING WHAT HAPPENS IN THIS BOOK. Okay enjoy! :D