Chase and Hailey got back to the hotel.
"Where the hell were you two?" Maddie demanded from Chase and Hailey when they got back.
"And what happened?" Justin asked.
"A lot happened," Hailey said.
"Shit went down at the carnival of lights," Chase said. "And we saw Mysterio!"
"What?" Justin said, a smile appearing instantly on his face. "You saw him.
"Yeah," Hailey said as they went up. "Something similar appeared there, but instead of water, fire."
"What?" Elizabeth said, shocked. "Something like that thing showed up?"
"Yup," Hailey said.
"And it was firey instead?" Justin said. "Cool. I mean, thank God you guys made it out alive, but -"
"Cool," Chase said.
Chase couldn't help but smile.
"What's this?" Elizabeth asked, noticing what Hailey was holding.
"Oh, it's nothing," Chase quickly said.
Elizabeth looked at them, suspiciously.
"Well, um, I'm gonna go to my room," Hailey said, "I'll see you guys in a bit."
"Wait," Maddie said, "I just remembered."
"What is it?" Chase asked.
"The trip is over," Maddie said.
"What?" Chase and Hailey said in unison.
"But - but -" Chase stuttered.
"The trip just started," Hailey said.
"We know," Elizabeth said. "But with those things coming out of the ground..."
"Parents are worried," Justin said.
"Oh, come on," Chase said. "Sure, there was a bit of danger, but the trip just started. We can't go home yet."
Hailey sighed. "When are we leaving?"
"The morning," Elizabeth said.
"The morning?" Chase repeated. "But - but - but -"
"We know, Chase," Justin said.
Hailey shook her head.
"I'll - I'll see you guys in a bit," she said.
She headed over to her room and closed the door behind her before any of her friends could protest.
She set the thing that she got from the carnival on her bed and stared at it for a moment.
Hailey began to hear voices outside of her room. She recognized Peter and Ned's voices.
She waited until it was all quiet before she opened her bedroom door. Peter was still standing outside.
"Hey," she said.
"Hey," he said, smiling.
"Where were you?" Hailey asked.
"Um, I got lost," he lied.
"We were worried about you."
"Oh."
"Good that you're back," Hailey smiled.
"Yeah," Peter agreed.
"So much for Paris, right?" she said.
"It would've been fun," Peter said.
"Yeah, it would've," Hailey agreed. "Um, goodnight, then."
"Night," he said as Hailey turned around.
She began to close the door.
"You look ni -" Peter began but Hailey didn't hear him.
Hailey stood by the door for a moment. She opened it just as Peter was about to knock on the door.
"Oh!"
"Hey."
"Hey."
"Uh, look, um..." Peter said, nervously, "I'm not ready for this trip to be over yet, and I kind of want to do something fun that's not on the itinerary or planned or with Mr. Harrington."
"Yes," Hailey said, knowing what Peter was going to ask.
"'Yes' like you wanna go?" Peter asked.
"Yes," she confirmed.
"Okay, awesome," Peter said, slightly taken aback, but was happy. "I'll see you outside in ten minutes."
"Meet me outside in five," she said.
"Five," Peter repeated. "Five is good."
"Okay," Hailey smiled, nervously.
"Okay," he smiled. "Bye.
"Bye."
Peter began to walk away and Hailey slowly closed the door.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Elizabeth and Chase came rushing into her room.
"What?" Hailey asked as she closed the door behind them.
"We heard your conversation," Chase said.
"What? You eavesdropped?"
"Oh, trust us, we didn't want to," Elizabeth said.
"But we did it anyways," Chase smiled.
"What are you and Peter going to do?"
"You heard everything," Hailey said. "And I have an idea of what he is going to tell me, but I'm not sure."
"Oh, don't tell me about that theory," Chase said.
"Hey, you're beginning to believe it," Hailey said.
"Believe what?" Elizabeth said, looking between the two siblings. "What theory?"
"We'll explain it later," Hailey said. "But I..." she picked up her hoodie, "I am meeting Peter in five minutes outside. And don't tell Mr. Harrington where we went."
"Oh, don't worry, we won't," Elizabeth assured her.
Hailey put in what she and Chase picked up from the carnival into her backpack and put her backpack on.
"See you guys in a bit," Hailey said.
"Good luck," Elizabeth called to Hailey as they headed out of the room, "on whatever it is."
"Yeah," Chase agreed. "See you in a bit."
"Bye."
Hailey met Peter at the lobby. He was leaning against a pillar when she came down.
"Hey," Peter said, smiling as he approached her.
"Hey," she said.
"So, um, where do you want to go?"
"Who cares?" Hailey said. "Let's go anywhere."
"Awesome," Peter smiled.
"Let's - let's go," Peter said.
"Okay," Hailey said.
The two left the hotel. Both of them couldn't help but smile as they walked on the bridge.
"I'm glad we're doing this," Peter said once outside.
"Me too," Hailey said.
"To see the city a bit," Peter said.
"Yeah, without the teachers," Hailey added. "And we can go wherever we want."
Peter smiled.
"I did a bit of reading about this place," Hailey said.
"Really? What did you find out?"
"They used to execute people on this bridge," she said. "They would put them in a basket and they would drown in the water. Sorry."
"It's okay," Peter assured her.
Hailey was tempted to hold Peter's hand but she moved her hand out of the way at the same time Peter did.
"Uh..." Peter said, "there's this thing I've been wanting to talk to you about for a while."
Peter stoped walking. Hailey took a few steps forward and turned to face Peter.
"Yeah?" she said, casually.
"It's our last night in Europe," Peter said, "and I had this plan that I wanted to tell you."
Hailey's heart began to race.
"I'm just gonna tell you," Peter stammered.
He took something out of his back pocket.
"Hailey, I -" Peter began.
Before Hailey could stop herself, she said, "'I am Spider - Man.'"
"What?" he said.
"That's what you were gonna say," Hailey said, "that your Spider - Man."
"No," Peter lied. "I'm not Spider-Man."
"I mean, I've been watching you for a while," Hailey said. "It's kind of obvious."
"I am not Spider-Man," Peter insisted. "What would make you think that was Spider-Man?"
"Chase and MJ told me about what happened in Washington," Hailey said. "The fact that you disappear out of nowhere for no reason."
"No, I was sick," Peter lied. "Remember? I had my - the tummy?"
"You know, Susan Yang thinks you're a male escort."
"What? Of course I'm not a male escort!"
"Then you're Spider-Man," Hailey said.
"No, I'm not Spider-Man at all," Peter denied.
"What about tonight?" Hailey asked.
"You snuck off and fought that thing," Hailey said. "Chase and I saw you."
"You can't have seen me," Peter said, "because I'm not Spider-Man. Also, on the news, it was the Night Monkey."
"The Night Monkey?" Hailey repeated, a small smile appeared on her face.
"Yeah," he nodded. "That's what it said on the news and the news never lies."
Hailey shook her head as she took off her backpack.
"Night Monkey, okay," she said.
"What are you doing?" Peter asked.
"Well, do the Night Monkey and Spider-Man use the same webs?" Hailey asked, taking what she picked up from the carnival. It had spiderwebs on it.
"I mean, maybe," Peter shrugged. "Maybe he's a Spider-Monkey, who knows?"
Peter stared at the ground for a few moments then looked back at Hailey.
"Were you only watching me because you thought I was Spider-Man?" Peter asked.
The tone in his voice completely hanged.
"Yeah," she shook her head slightly. "Why else?"
She wished she was able to take back her words. She wished she said no. She was watching him not only because she thought he was Spider-Man but she liked him a lot.
Hailey often found herself trying to find an excuse to talk to Peter during the school year. She would do anything to just talk to Peter or find a way to hang out with him whenever they could.
"Doesn't matter," he said. "Just thought that maybe-"
Blue lights suddenly appeared on the object causing Hailey to drop it on the ground and the two backed away from it.
Blue light emitted grey clouds for a moment but stopped.
"What the hell was that?" Peter asked, looking around him.
"I don't know," Hailey said.
The device began to light up again, but nothing happened. Blue lights just appeared.
Peter picked it up and began to examine it.
"What is it?" Hailey asked. "Some kind of projector or something?"
"Yeah, but it's really advanced," Peter said.
"It - it looks so real. It..."
"Yeah, really real," Peter agreed.
"Wait, does that mean that -?" Hailey began.
"The Elementals are fake?" Peter finished the question. "That doesn't make sense, because we were there, right? There was fire and destruction, and... who would do something like that?"
The device began to play something. Peter turned around and pointed away from him. It showed them an Elemental fighting...
"Mysterio," Hailey said.
The playing ended.
Peter turned back to her, eyes widened.
"I am Spider-Man," Peter said, "and I really messed up."
"Wait, you're serious?" Hailey said.
"Mm-hm," Peter nodded his head in confirmation.
"You're a hundred percent serious? Because it's not funny."
"No, I'm not joking," Peter said.
"Oh, wow," Hailey said. "I was only like, 75% sure."
"Hailey -" Peter said.
"So, why are you here?" Hailey asked. "Why re you on this school trip?"
"Hailey, look I know you have a lot of questions," Peter said, urgently, "but we have to get out of here, okay?"
"Okay," Hailey nodded. "Okay. I can't believe I figured it out!"
Hailey and Peter began to run back to the hotel.