"Oh, the Daily Bugle's HR department gets up early."
As he stepped onto the school grounds, with the morning sun cutting across the asphalt, Peter Parker pulled out his phone and checked the internship application he had sent in earlier, along with the unexpectedly blunt rejection message.
"Uh... they said they don't need anyone for the position anymore. Maybe I applied too late and they already found somebody. I was actually planning to use the paycheck to buy a costume for Spirit Week before Homecoming."
"Even if you got the job, you wouldn't be getting paid this month anyway."
"I was planning to ask for an advance."
Gwen couldn't help rolling her eyes at him, her blonde hair flashing in the sun as she turned.
"So your plan was to ask for an advance on day one just to buy a superhero costume? Good thing they rejected you. Otherwise the interviewer would've asked, 'And what exactly inspires your passion for journalism?' and you'd have had to answer, 'Discounted Spider-Man merch.'"
"Why Spider-Man?"
"Because everybody knows Jameson loves Spider-Man. He just shows it by screaming about him on TV every day."
Peter wasn't especially interested in the whole Jameson-and-Spider-Man situation. He just sighed and said, "That means I probably can't do the Spirit Week thing this year."
"You can still do something for Homecoming itself. I'm guessing you probably don't have a date anyway..."
"Hey! Gwen!"
A red-haired girl slammed into Gwen's back like a burst of fire and greeted her cheerfully. It was only then that Mary Jane noticed Peter too.
"Hey, Peter. Feels like this is the first time I've seen you and Gwen come to school together."
"I usually get here earlier, so..." Peter shifted topics almost instantly. "How did the Daily Bugle internship go? Any news?"
"Pretty good." Mary Jane let go of Gwen. "They gave me an interview. I might actually get to be a Daily Bugle intern reporter."
"I'm sure you'll ace it. Good luck, Mary Jane."
After Peter smiled and said goodbye, Gwen lightly jabbed Mary Jane with her elbow. Mary Jane looked confused at first, but after Gwen whispered something in her ear, she suddenly understood.
"I didn't mean anything by it. Should I apologize?"
"No, it's fine. He brought it up himself. Just... be careful."
Peter paid none of that any mind. He headed toward his locker while the giant screens nearby kept playing Midtown High's school news as usual.
"Recently, political unrest has broken out in Wakanda. Following the death of former King T'Chaka, a minority faction within Wakanda, the White Gorilla faction, has launched multiple armed attacks, plunging the country into instability. Wakanda's new king, T'Challa, stated that the White Gorilla attacks were supported and influenced by outside forces, and that large-scale illegal Vibranium extraction has also been taking place..."
Peter listened to the international news with half an ear while putting his backpack into his locker. He only had two Spider-Man suits. One of them had been badly damaged in the fight with the Shocker and while holding up the bridge, and he still hadn't had time to repair it. The other was the one he currently had with him.
He had just shut the locker door when he heard Harry's ridiculous voice.
"Exterminate!"
"I'm not the Doctor, Harry."
Peter turned and found Harry holding a toy robot that looked like a pepper shaker with an eggbeater and a plunger stuck to it.
"What do you think?" Harry asked. "For the first Spirit Week day, I dress up as a Dalek and go around the school yelling exterminate?"
"Does Doctor Who even count as a superhero?"
"What could be more superhero than the Doctor? He saves the universe over and over again with science and compassion instead of superpowers. Again, and again, and again!"
Watching his friend transform into Mister Again, Peter lifted his books and asked, "Then why don't you go as the Doctor?"
"I think you or Amadeus would fit that better. You're both smarter than I am."
"You could still go as the Master."
"If I go as the Master, then it just looks like two guys in suits instead of the Doctor and his alien enemy." Harry pulled out an old sonic screwdriver replica as he said it. "No major costume budget needed either. Just find an old suit jacket at home and make it work. So? Doctor Peter?"
Seeing his friend quietly solve the problem of Peter not being able to afford a costume for Spirit Week, Peter smiled awkwardly.
"Harry, I... thanks."
"Don't thank me yet. I'm still looking forward to seeing you wave a sonic screwdriver around and interact with a Dalek. Hey, Amadeus, are you doing Spirit Week too? You and Peter could be different Doctors."
"I've got my own plan already."
Talking about superhero costumes had Amadeus more excited than Peter had ever seen him.
"I'm going to wear an oversized lab coat, put on glasses, change my hairstyle a little, and that'll do it."
Harry looked at him in complete confusion.
"What is that supposed to be? Rick?"
"Bruce Banner, man. Hulk."
It was the first time either Peter or Harry had seen Amadeus this animated. Peter knew that in Earth-616, Amadeus had actually been Hulk for a while. He just hadn't expected the kid to already be this obsessed with Hulk at this age.
"...So what about Doctor Who?"
"You guys can handle that. The show's too niche anyway. People would just think you're giant nerds."
With that, Amadeus happily walked off. Harry stared after him for a few seconds before muttering, "Does he realize he's the biggest nerd out of the three of us?"
"Yeah. Kind of like Bruce before he turns green."
After collecting themselves, Peter and Harry headed off to class together. But apparently all the bad luck in the world had decided to bunch up on the same morning. They hadn't gone very far before Peter heard a familiar, awful laugh, followed by a girl's scream.
He looked over.
A terrified girl was crouched on the floor crying, and the one responsible was Carl King, whom Peter knew all too well. Carl was laughing his head off as he stuffed the prop he'd used to scare her back into his pocket. Then he turned, saw Peter, and frowned.
"This has nothing to do with you, Parker. Get lost."
"So now you've dropped all the way down to picking on girls? I thought you'd be saving your energy for Homecoming football and trying to prove yourself against the actual big guys on campus."
Carl grinned at that and stepped in close, challenging him.
"And what about you, skinny Parker? You got the guts to play football at Homecoming and go head-to-head with me?"
It was obvious that even after Peter had beaten him up, Carl still didn't think Peter was actually stronger than him. He just assumed Peter knew how to fight, while football was still his territory. On that field, Carl had all the confidence in the world.
"Nope. I don't even know the rules. See you around, Carl. And try not to let me catch you bothering other students again."
Peter said see you around while standing completely still, making it very obvious Carl was the one supposed to leave.
Carl clicked his tongue and stalked off. But not before tossing one last threat over his shoulder.
"Remember this, Parker. You're just the guy who's too scared to face me on the field!"
Harry looked at Peter in surprise.
"I thought you'd actually take the challenge."
"I kind of wanted to, but I genuinely don't understand football. I don't even know the rules, so how am I supposed to play? Honestly, not just football. Soccer, basketball, badminton... I don't even know the rules to table tennis. I'm going to go check on that girl."
That left Harry standing there in total confusion.
"Why was table tennis the last straw? Is that supposed to be the one everybody knows how to play?"
By the time Harry was still trying to work out what table tennis had to do with anything, Peter had already comforted the girl and come back.
"Nice. Hero saves the girl. Shame she probably won't appreciate it that much."
"I wasn't thinking about that. I just thought I should check on her. Just in case..."
In case of what?
Peter himself didn't know.
Meanwhile, after walking away, Carl finally pulled the thing he'd used to scare the girl out of his pocket.
It was a spider.
More precisely, a preserved spider specimen.
Six months earlier, right before middle school graduation, at the Oscorp science expo, when that irradiated spider escaped its display case, Carl had been the one who spotted it and slapped it onto Peter Parker's neck.
He had personally watched Peter Parker yelp and flail around after being bitten. Carl had originally wanted to take the spider home and keep it around so he could use it to bite people whenever he felt like it. But after Peter knocked it away, someone had accidentally stepped on it and killed it. So instead, Carl had preserved it and started using it to scare people.
If Carl had known what that spider really was, he never would have thrown it on somebody so casually.
And if Peter had spent less time focusing only on the classic villains he expected might show up, and more time learning about the obscure ones, he would have realized just how much trouble Carl King could still bring him.
(End of Chapter)
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