Hey guys! I'm super excited to be writing this story again. I rushed into it too fast the last time and got burnt out with the story very quickly, but with the help of bookwriter123456 (check her out!), we came up with more structure for this story. And along with that, comes re-writing each chapter.

I hope you guys enjoy!

The voices coming from the TV hummed in the background as I sat on the couch in the living room, my sock-covered feet resting up on the coffee table in front of me. This movie had been on for about an hour, but I couldn't tell you what was even going on in it. I kept checking my phone every few minutes, finally deciding to set it down on my stomach with a small huff.

He wasn't about to answer me anytime soon.

I didn't want to be annoying, but, I mean, would it kill Peter to let me talk to Tony Stark just once? He'd been gone on that retreat with him for like a week now, and every time I'd asked he said he was busy. And I guess I could understand that. I mean, he is Tony Stark, after all. But, I knew Pete was in the car with him right now. He told me so just over an hour ago after they got off the plane.

How busy could he be?

"Who wants popcorn?" My mom called from the kitchen. I looked back over my shoulder, seeing her moving to grab the box of popcorn before anyone could answer, placing a bag in the microwave.

"I'd love some," Aunt May called from beside me. I'd nearly forgotten she was sitting there until then.

I looked up at her. "Aren't you on that low carb diet?"

"Yup," She nodded. "When I feel low, I eat carbs." May smiled, nudging my shoulder with hers. I smiled back at her, letting out a small laugh as I shook my head.

That's why I love her.

"Hey, Peter can't have all the fun on that Stark retreat," My mom said, walking behind the couch with a bottle of wine, offering to refill May's glass. She accepted, adding her thanks as she took a sip.

I couldn't help but notice the way Mom's tone changed when she mentioned Tony Stark. I never understood, but whenever I asked, she never told me.

"I just hope that Tony Stark does right by Peter," May admitted, taking another small sip of her wine.

I glanced behind us to see a grimace on my Mom's face before she changed her expression to a more hopeful one and replied. "I hope so, too."

May continued, "He's always looked up to him you know, more so when he became Iron Man, and now with this internship..."

"He sure is a genius, isn't he?" Mom mumbled bitterly, catching May's nervous eyes. Just then, I felt my phone vibrate and picked it up faster than I think I ever have before. It was a text from Pete. I barely even read it before standing up quickly.

"He's here," I announced, looking between Mom and May. "How does my hair look?"

The two of them shared a small grin, Mom being the one to speak, chuckling as she did so. "Honey, Peter's seen your hair in all different stages of crazy, I don't think he'll mind."

"What? No, I don't care about him, I'm worried about Tony Stark. I don't want him to see me with my hair frizzy and all over the place," I said, smoothing my hair back into it's usual ponytail. "I want to look my best-"

"Is that why you never put on your PJ's?"

I glanced down to my blue jeans and dark pink sweater that I'd worn to school with a shrug, "Yeah, maybe."

"Sarah, by the time you get down there, he'll be gone-"

"Not if I hurry," I said, turning to May. "How do I look?"

"Beautiful," May smiled brightly. I nodded, making my way to the door. I opened it, barely even registering that someone was standing there until I slammed right into Peter.

"Hey, Sarah!" Peter smiled brightly, his backpack over one shoulder and a bag in his hand. I stared, my mouth hanging open. He waved a hand in front of my face. "Sarah?"

"Is he gone?" I demanded angrily, trying to lean around his body, to peer into the hallway.

"Who?" Peter asked innocently.

"Tony Stark!"

"Oh him," Peter said, his mouth beginning to turn into a teasing smile. "Yeah, he just left. Like, you just missed him!"

"I hate you," I huffed, turning back into the apartment, leaning against the couch, folding my arms.

"Peter!" May exclaimed, rushing over to pull him into a tight hug.

"Hey, May," Peter smiled into her shoulder.

"How was the retreat?" She asked, pulling away. "Learn anything new?"

"Oh, uh, yeah," Peter mumbled, scratching the back of his head. "A- a lot."

"Hopefully not too much," Mom chimed in as she pulled him into a one-armed hug. "We don't need that brain of yours getting any bigger. Missed you, kiddo."

"Thanks, Miss C. I missed you too."

Mom glanced over at me, sharing a look with May. "Hey, I think that popcorn is done, wanna help me?"

May looked between Peter and I, smiling over at my Mom. "Know what? I was thinking the same thing. We should get it."

"Smooth exit, guys," I mumbled as the two of them headed into the kitchen, leaving Peter and I alone. Mom glanced back, shooting me a smile.

"Hey, I'm sorry I couldn't get Mr. Stark to stay," Peter said, kicking the toe of his sneaker onto the floor.

"It's okay. I guess it's not your fault," I shrugged, pulling in a deep breath as I pushed off the back of the couch.

Peter glanced up, his expression looking sheepish. "Are you really mad at me?"

I rolled my eyes. "No, Pete. I'm not mad at you."

He smiled. "Good."

I smiled. "So, did you have a good time?"

"Yeah, it was- it was great,"

"What did you do?"

"Uh, nothing much," Peter shrugged. "Just some...sciencey stuff."

"Sciencey stuff?" I snorted, a thought popping into my mind. "Hey, did you hear what happened to the Avengers?"

Peter paused, looking over at me with a strange look in his eyes. "Wh- what about- no. what- what happened with- ah- the- them."

"Wait a minute, so you were in Germany with Tony Stark and had no idea about what was going on with the Avengers? Spider-Man was even there, and you love him!"

"I don't-" He chuckled nervously. "I don't love him."

"The Avengers split up. This whole legal thing. Captain America's team, Iron Man's team. They duked it out in an airport, it's all really big in the news. You know, since like, Captain America is a fugitive now and stuff."

"Oh, yeah...that." Peter chuckled nervously. "No, I- I didn't have anything to do with that. Obviously. I mean, Mr. Stark had me in a hotel room the whole time working on a...project. It was just...bad timing."

"Oh?" I raised an eyebrow, interested in what he had to say. "What sort of project?"

"That- that's classified."

"Classified? Come on Pete! I won't tell," I smiled, bumping my shoulder into his. Peter shook his head.

"Sorry," he mumbled. "I don't think Mr. Stark would like that very much."

"I don't know how'd he'd find out." I laughed.

Peter looked up, sadness in his eyes."I can't tell you."

"Okay," I nodded, a little taken aback. "That's okay, Pete."

"Who wants slightly singed popcorn!" Mom shouted, coming out with a bowl full of dark brown popcorn, save for a few normal colored pieces.

"You know what, I'll pass," I said at the same time Peter mumbled. "I'm getting tired. I should go to bed."

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Mom sighed, stepping on the small pedal, opening the garbage can lid, dumping the entire bowl of popcorn into the trash.

"Well, I think that's a signal that we should head home," May muttered. "It is a school night after all."

"School. Right," Peter muttered under his breath, bending down to pick up his bag as Aunt May made her way over to him.

"Night Cath, night Sarah," May smiled, her hand on the doorknob as she held her hand out, resting it on Peter's shoulder when he stood by her.

"Night," Mom smiled. "Good to have you back, Peter."

"Yeah," Peter smiled. "Good to be back."

"Night guys," I called to them as Aunt May stepped out into the hallway.

"Meet you tomorrow?" Peter asked, referring to our daily ritual of walking to school together.

"Of course," I nodded, waiting until they left before I turned back to my Mom. "Need help cleaning anything up?"

"No, I got it," Mom smiled, pulling me in for a hug. "Sorry you didn't get to meet Tony Stark."

"It's okay," I sighed.

"It'll happen someday," She said,something in her eyes telling me she hoped otherwise. "Maybe Peter can make it happen."

I nodded, pulling out of her arms before she could say anything else. It really bummed me out. "NIght."

"Night, honey. Love you."

"Love you, too." I muttered with a smile.

With that, I made my way down the hall until I got to my room, closing the door behind me as I entered. I put plugged my phone in beside my bed before quickly changing clothes, finally climbing into bed. I fully expected to be up for awhile, but surprisingly I went to sleep not long after I closed my eyes, falling into a dreamless sleep.

The next morning, I headed out into the kitchen to find that Mom had already left for work, but she made me some eggs and toast, which were sitting on the stove. After breakfast, I took a quick shower, changing into a pair of light blue jeans, a white t-shirt and blue hoodie and brushed my teeth.

On my way out of the bathroom, I threw my still damp blonde hair into a tight high-ponytail, pushing my glasses up on my nose, popping my earbuds in as I headed to the door, grabbing my backpack along the way. I scrolled down one of my many playlists until I found the song I was looking for, playing Take A Chance On Me by ABBA as I stepped out into the hallway, shutting the door behind me with a click, locking it.

Hiking my backpack up onto my shoulder when it started to slide off, I made my way down the hall, bobbing my head to the beat of the music.

Before I even got to the door leading to the stairs, my headphones were suddenly yanked from my ears. I let out a startled yelp, turning around quickly to see Peter standing there, a small grin on his face.

"Why?" I demanded with a huff.

"Why not?" Peter shrugged, putting the headphones to his ears. "What're you listening to?" He grimaced, pulling them away. "Wha-"

"It's ABBA, and I love them, so shut up," I demanded, snatching my phone back, stuffing the device into my pocket. "You know, those five days walking to school alone were so nice," I teased. "So peaceful."

"You missed me, don't even try to lie about it."

I rolled my eyes, chuckling. "I'll never understand how the hell you can just creep up on me like that."

"I told you, I'm a ninja," Peter insisted as we headed to the stairwell.

"You sure Stark hasn't done any experiments on you?"

"I told you, I barely even talk to the guy."

"You talked to him long enough. Longer than I ever will, that's for sure. I mean, he's got you doing projects-" I paused, seeing the look on his face. I laughed. "And I know, you can't tell me what they are. But it's not about that. You've- you've...met him."

"Yeah."

"So, tell me...what he was like again?"

"You know, that obsession you have is kinda creepy," Peter mumbled, stepping in front of me to open the door, the smell of exhaust from passing cars filling my lungs.

"I'm not obsessed." I protested. "The dude is a genius. I respect that."

"Yeah it's totally not because you think he's...hot." He teased, cringing.

I huffed. "It's not!"

"Sure, yeah."

"Okay, I'm ditching you and going to school myself," I said, about to turn when he gently grabbed the back of my hoodie to stop me, a smile on his face.

"Oh, come on," He laughed.

"Fine. But, try not to be annoying, okay?"

Peter shrugged. "I can't make any promises."

"How's your studying for that algebra test coming along?" I asked, looking over my shoulder to see Peter staring down at his phone as he walked, clearly not paying attention to what I was saying. "Hey, Pete? Pete?"

"What?" He asked, looking up at me with wide eyes. "Huh?"

"I asked you something," I laughed it off, shaking my head.

"Oh. Uh. What?"

"What's so important on that phone?" I asked, leaning over to peer at his screen. His text app was open, and he'd sent quite a few texts to someone who hadn't replied, but that's about all I saw before he hurriedly stuffed the phone into his back pocket.

"Nothing. Just looking up some stuff."

"Uh-huh."

"Come on, we're gonna miss the train," Peter said, moving ahead a little faster.

The rest of our walk was mostly filled with comfortable silence, every so often either one of us would bring up little things to talk about. I didn't ask him about the retreat anymore, or about his phone, or the bizzare way he was acting...even though I wanted to. It clearly made him uncomfortable and though I really, really wanted to know why, I didn't want to push it. I mean, he'd tell me if something was up, wouldn't he?

Once we arrived at the train station, I pulled my phone out of my pocket, scrolling through my news app while we waited for our train. An article about how Spider-Man went to Germany to help Iron Man fight Captain America, and that he was quote, a sellout. Everything wrong with this world. I rolled my eyes, scrolling down to the bottom to see that someone named J. Jonah Jameson wrote it. I don't think I've ever heard that name before. I was about to ask Peter if he had, when I noticed him staring at the screen over my shoulder.

"Personal space is a thing, you know," I mumbled, glancing up at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Huh?" He asked, his eyes blinking rapidly as he looked up at me. "What?"

"I can't look at your phone, but you can creep over my shoulder and look at mine?"

"What? No-"

"Do you want to read this?" I laughed, gesturing to the article.

"Oh, uh, n- no. What is it...exactly?"

I shrugged. "Just some dude being a jerk about Spider-Man."

Peter furrowed his brow, grabbing my phone to read the article. Once he finished it, his face fell. "Wow that- a sellout? That's...harsh."

"I mean, it's bound to happen. Not everyone is going to think the things he's doing are good. Plus, I think that Jameson guy is just looking for attention and, right now, talking about Spider-Man is the way to get it."

Peter looked troubled. "Well, what do you think?"

"About what?"

"Spider-Man. Do you think he's...good?"

I shrugged. "I mean, eah. He helps people, that's really all you can ask for, right?"

Peter nodded, a small smile on his lips. "Right."

"But I mean, if you really think about it, he's kinda...freaky. A dude that's like, half human, half spider wandering around Queens? You don't think that's weird?"

The grin fell from Peter's face as he stared at me, looking a little offended. "I mean he- he's not really half-spider…"

I rose an eyebrow in question. "Obsessed much?"

"Uh, no- no," Peter chuckled, standing up quickly. "Train's here."

"...okay," I nodded, standing up slowly to follow him.

The two of us headed onto the packed train, and as always, once the doors shut, I realized just how many people were in here, all squished together. My heart began beating loudly in my ears, but I pulled in a deep breath, letting it out slowly and shut my eyes, clutching onto the pole in the middle of the train that Peter and I were standing near.

"You okay?" Peter asked, looking at me with concern as he pushed his phone into his back pocket.

"Yeah," I nodded, shooting him a tiny smile.

"We won't be long," Peter reassured me .

Once we arrived at school, we made our way across the football field where a couple kids were mulling around, waiting for first period. Just as we began to cross the street, Flash Thompson drove right up behind us in his, well, his dad's, convertible, a grin on his lips. In the blink of an eye, Peter pulled me out of the way of the bumper and onto the sidewalk as the side of the hood skimmed the back of his legs.

"What's up, Penis Parker!?" Flash shouted at Peter from behind the steering wheel, winking at me. "Hey there, Blondie."

"What the hell's the matter with you?" I all but growled at Flash, throwing my arms out to the side. Flash grinned, honking his horn before speeding away.

Peter snorted out a laugh behind me, quickly pushing my arms down. "Come on, we gotta get inside."

"Yeah, yeah. I know," I mumbled, waving him off as we headed inside, the school announcements playing over the speakers in the background.

As usual, the hallway was full with students, all of them making small talk with each other by their lockers. Peter and I walked by them in silence until we reached our own lockers, which happened to be right next to each other. I opened mine up, going through my usual routine of switching a couple books out of my backpack for my first class.

"Flash is such a dick," I commented, with a huff.

Peter shrugged, going through his own routine. "If that's what he needs to go to get himself through the day."

"Yeah, well, we could've gotten hurt."

"He wasn't going that fast."

"I don't care. I'm telling Principle Morita."

"Sarah-"

"It's either that, or I punch him," I said flatly.

Peter thought about it for a moment, a small smile slinking onto his lips. "I wouldn't mind seeing that."

I laughed, shaking my head at him, placing one more book in my back, bending down to zip it up. Just then, a pair of familiar sneakers stepped over to us.

"Join me, and together we'll build my new lego Death Star." The voice spoke from above me. I looked up, seeing Ned standing there, holding up a small lego figure. I stood up, hiking my backpack up onto my shoulder.

"You finally got it?" Peter asked as a small group of cheerleaders next to us mumbled so lame.

"Yup," Ned nodded with a smile. "Express shipping."

"How many pieces?" I asked excitedly, ignoring the girls.

"Three-thousand, eight-hundred and three."

"Whoa," I smiled, shutting my locker behind me. "That's insane."

"I know." Ned exclaimed, the three of us beginning to head down the hallway. "Wanna build it tonight?"

Peter shook his head. "No, I can't tonight. I've got the Stark-"

"Stark internship," Ned nodded.

"Wait, already?" I asked. "You just got back!"

"Hey, I can't help it. When he needs me there, I've gotta go," Peter insisted. "I mean, hopefully soon it'll lead to a real job with them."

"That would be so sweet. He'd be all Good job on those spreadsheets, Peter. Here's a gold coin," Ned said, attempting to imitate Tony Stark. He looked over at us with a grin. "I don't know how jobs work."

"That's exactly how they work," Peter laughed.

"Then I guess me and Sarah can start knocking out the bones of the Death Star," Ned said, looking to me in question.

"Sure," I nodded. "We can do it at my place."

"Then we can head over to Peter's and finish it up. For the most part the difficult thing is the base of it. The top half we can knock out in two hours, tops."

"Yeah, sounds great," Peter mumbled.

I noticed by the look on his face, that he had stopped listening to us altogether, staring over at Liz Toomes, a senior and the captain of our decathlon team as she passed by with a group of her friends, glancing over at Peter sheepishly as she went. Peter has had a crush on her since the first time he laid eyes on her. And I couldn't blame him...she was beautiful.

Just then, the bell rang, startling me. I grabbed Peter's sleeve. "Hey, we're gonna be late to class,"

"Oh, uh, right," He blinked a few times, glancing over at me. "Yeah, we should go."

"I mean, like, now," I said, pushing Peter in the direction of our classroom, which was the opposite way from where Liz was going.

Jealous. Ned mouthed at me, a small smile on his face. I grimaced, flipping him off before walking away, hearing him laughing behind me.