'Uncle Ben always used to say that I should seize every opportunity that came along, no matter how challenging it might be or how hard it might appear. So, here I go. I never thought I'd leave New York to be honest, well, not permanently at least, and this isn't permanent.'
A young man stood outside the door that read 'Principal's Office'. He pulled the blue hoodie off his head, revealing disheveled brown hair, he ran his hand through it a couple of times before adjusting the straps of his backpack, he then knocked on the door.
"Come in!" said a woman from the other side, he opened the door and stepped in.
"Peter Parker here to see Principal Morton."
The young lady smiled at him "Ah, yes, the transfer, I'll let him know that you're here!" she got up from her desk in her neat deep red dress and knocked on the Principal's door before opening it "Principal Morton, Mr. Parker has arrived, should I show him in?"
"Oh, yes, yes!"
She turned and smiled "Go right in!"
"Thank you." he said and his voice cracked a bit.
"Ah, you must be Mr. Parker! Come in, come in!"
"Thank you, Principal Morton."
"Please, have a seat."
The shy teenager in question did as he was told and sunk into the offered seat. He looked around nervously the office he was in, this was his first day at Ewen High School.
"Transfer from New York City, oh my, you're pretty far from home, Mr. Parker."
"Please, sir, I'm not even old enough to drink, Peter is fine."
The kind Principal smiled "Very well then, Peter. I have your file here, Peter Benjamin Parker, Midtown High, A+ student with a bright future in science I see. Tell me, Peter, what brings you to our humble town?"
"Oh, I've been offered an assistant's position... junior assistant" the young man corrected while he smiled sheepishly "at Oscorp's research facility that's located here in Chamberlain." 'I so don't wanna be away from New York, who knows what'll happen while I'm gone, at least Jameson will have a field day...'
"Oh my, well congratulations, young man! And allow me to be the first one to welcome you to Chamberlain, and of course to here at Ewen."
"Thank you, sir." the young man beamed.
"And your parents? Were they fine letting you spend your final semester of high school so far away from home?"
At that the boy's cheery demeanor seemed to lessen a bit, he shifted in his seat slightly "My aunt wasn't too happy about it, I live with her, she and my uncle raised me."
Realization dawned on the Principal "Oh, how insensitive of me, I am so sorry, Peter." he said with honesty and sympathy, he then smiled in an effort to lift the young man's spirits "Well, I see you already have your week's schedule, do you need someone to help you get oriented and find your classes?"
"Oh, that's fine, I get around just fine." he smiled awkwardly at his strange sentence. 'Fine, I get around just fine? You, sir, are a moron.'
"All right then" the Principal stood and extended his hand, Peter jumped to his feet and shook it awkwardly, shaking too hard for too long "you best get going, classes start in 10 minutes." he smiled.
"Y-yes, sir." the young man said as he grabbed his bag and adjusted the old looking camera around his neck, he smiled, then as he headed for the door slightly tripped and as he opened the door slammed his face into it.
"Oh! Are you all right?"
"Fine, happens all the time." he grinned then practically fell out the door, the Principal smiled as he sat down again.
'And the Oscar goes to...' the young man smiled to himself as he stepped out into the hall. It was filled with teenagers, the noises and odors that accompanied large groups of them were just as present as they were at Midtown, with the added bonus that no one knew who he was. He estimated that bullies would only catch his scent in a week or so.
'Ahh... sweet anonymity!' he thought as he practically hopped down the hall, his skateboard strapped to his backpack.
'Now, okaaay, let's see... locker number twenty- what the-' The young man stopped dead in his tracks as he saw 'CARRIE EATS SHIT' written across at least a dozen lockers. He frowned deeply. 'That's a bit much.' Then he heard a girl whisper not too quietly "Look, it's Carrie White!" and with a reply from a guy "Yeah, what a freak!"
Peter's interest was peaked as he turned to see who this 'freak' might be, what he saw next caught him completely off guard. A lovely girl, dressed very modestly, her head down, clutching to the straps of her backpack as if she was hanging on for dear life. She didn't look up, she didn't dare to look at anybody. The way everybody looked at her, the way they were all laughing at her, it made Peter sick to his stomach. He knew first hand what it was like to be bullied, yeah, by a couple of jerks, but everybody in an entire school? He could feel his muscles tensing, his nose flared slightly, if looks could kill...
He then looked at the girl, he didn't have to think a lot to see that she was pretty, shy and lonely, and as life would surprise us, probably kind as hell.
He was looking at her so intensely that before he realized it she was standing right in front of him.
"Uhm, c-could you p-please..."
"Oh! Sorry!" Peter jumped immediately, realizing he was standing right in front of her locker, the one next to his. He smiled and moved to his own. Everyone was looking at her with disgust, all thinking that they were better than her, a look Peter was very familiar with. But, it didn't matter, they didn't matter. So he did what came naturally to him.
"Hi, I'm Peter." he smiled and held out his hand "I'm new here, just transferred in." The girl looked at him timidly, then at his hand, hesitation and nervousness were written across her face. He slowly lowered his hand "I really don't know which way Mr. Emmerson's history class is, could you point me in the right direction?" he waited, she didn't answer, so he turned his attention back to his locker, putting away the new course books he got at the school library. Every now and then he glanced at her and caught her glancing back. He even held her gaze for a moment.
When he finished he turned to her again, but before he could say anything...
"Hey, look! Carrie's got a boyfriend!" everyone laughed, Peter turned to confront them but the girl just slammed her locker shut and took off down the hallway.
"Hey, wait!" he yelled after her.
"Go save her, Romeo!" added another loser while making suggestive hand signs.
Carrie ran down the hallway, she was in tears, she turned for a second to glance behind her but as she rounded a corner she ran into one of the jocks, knocking his drink out of his hand and all over him. He wasn't alone.
"Look what you did, ya little freak!" he shoved her so hard she slammed into the lockers. She cried out in pain, she barely got back on her feet "I'm s-sorry, I didn't mean to-"
"SHUT UP!"
She was crying now and tried to move around the 6 lumbering football players.
"Where do ya think you're going?" he shoved her again against the lockers.
By now a small crowd had gathered, they were all laughing at her, some were even filming it.
He grabbed her by the arm and before he could-
"Let. Her. Go."
They all turned to see the transfer standing in the middle of the crowd, hands bowled into fists. His expression was livid.
Everyone just laughed, including the jock.
"Piss off, hero!" he then turned his attention back to Carrie and he pinned her against the lockers, one hand squeezing her arm. Before Carrie could cry out in pain the jock went flying into his friends, knocking all of them over. She looked up to see the new boy from earlier, Peter standing in front of her in a defensive pose, he stood there for a couple of moments while the jocks got to their feet, they all took off running. When no one made a move he slowly turned, his angry expression turned to one of concern as he knelt down next to her. Everyone was just staring at them with shock.
"Are you all right?" he asked softly as he held out his hand, she slowly took it and they both stood up "I should take you to the school nurse."
'Animals... I should've-' he didn't finish that sentence, lucky for them.
"N-no! It's okay, I'm fine." then in a softer tone "That happens all the time." her voice slightly broke as she said that. She looked at him and could see the muscles in his jaw clench in anger.
She wiped the tears from her cheeks and looked at the boy, he was different. No one else has ever stood up for her, defend her, let alone try to be her friend.
He closed his eyes and sighed loudly "Is there somewhere we could go and sit in peace around here?"
She nodded "The park, it's not far." and she smiled.
"Come on, let's get out of here." he said as he looked at the people still standing there, gawking at them like idiots.
"O-okay."
He picked up her bag from the floor and hoisted it over his shoulder. He then smiled at her "Pay no attention to the idiots around." he said in a goofy voice. She actually laughed.
As they made their way towards the doors, she stopped and slowly held out her hand "Carrie."
He grinned and shook it gently "Peter... but you already know that..."
They laughed again.