Hey there, my fellow readers and writers. Here's a new oneshot I cooked up one day. Basically, it's inspired by the 2002 Spider-Man film (also known as Spider-Man 1). I made it so that Peter is sick with the flu, and my OC is the one bitten by the spider instead.
I can imagine Joe Manganiello's character Flash Thompson listening to Joe's story and looking all shocked upon hearing that Joe was bullied by older kids just because he knew that using his size physically against other kids was wrong, and also telling Joe things like, "I wish someone had told me that before I started high school" and "You were picked on as a kid by older kids because of your size, and next thing I hear, you're bringing me, a bully, to life on the big screen". :)
I can also see Flash wondering if maybe Joe's tormentors had something to do with how Joe became one of the talented actors that he is today… I hope that Joe's tormentors are not only really jealous of him now, but also surprised when they see him playing a bully in Spider-Man 1 as well. :)
Disclaimer: The geniuses at Marvel and Stan Lee (also a genius) own Spider-Man, and Columbia Pictures owns the film. I own the fanfics I cook up from time to time.
The Bully Vs the New Kid
Eugene "Flash" Thompson didn't know what hit him at first. One minute he was sitting at the table commonly known as the Jocks table, eating lunch. The next, he found himself standing up from the table, covered in food, as he watched the girl leave.
Flash was impulsive and rash, but he really wasn't a bad kid like some people thought. Often his personality would change —sometimes he was oafish or vindictive and unsympathetic. Other times, however, he was quick to anger or ready to blow his top in a volcano-like fashion.
And the hard part was, he just couldn't understand why he was the way he was, no matter how hard he tried.
Her name was Annabelle Jackson. She was fifteen, and she was the new kid who had come to the school only three months ago. At first, Flash thought she had a way of being cool in her own unique way.
But then one day, when he listened in on a conversation between her and two other guys (although whether they were jocks or not, he couldn't tell), he learned she had a hidden side to herself that not even his friends got to see — and also learned that it was not a good idea to mess with someone who had anger issues but preferred to let their anger out verbally, which usually helped a lot.
As Flash listened, a puzzled look came over his face. He had no idea of the kind of personality Annabelle had. Of course, he was quite shocked to hear her say in an angry tone of voice, "I'm a brainiac. I don't date jocks. Apart from these bullies that that bully Flash Thompson told me about, they're the most stupid creatures on this planet! You know what I'd like to do to them?"
One guy asked, "No. What would you do?"
"I would like to teach them a lesson. When that Flash Thompson sees me in a rodeo someday, I'll show him when I win a blue ribbon. Someday, when I throw him around like he does Peter Parker — and I dislike that along with other kinds of bullying with a passion, by the way — Flash will regret picking on Peter and messing with him in the first place and wish he could drive me, a rebel cowgirl, crazy for a change," she had replied.
With those very words, she picked up her black cowboy hat, put it on her head, and strode away from the two stunned guys like a cowgirl walking away from a gunfight she had just won. Except she preferred to fight with words rather than guns.
But when she was forced to fight with her fists — well, that was a different tale altogether.
As a matter of fact, the mean girls of the school had told a shocked Flash once, "We don't want to mess with her. Compared to her, we look like pussycats."
The spurs on her black cowboy boots clinked as they shone in the morning sun. The sheriff's badge gleamed on the right breast of her green turtleneck. Her pants were blue Levis.
Flash remembered pulling himself away from her line of vision as she walked right past him without even making eye contact with him. He blinked, still remembering those words, as he yanked himself quite painfully out of the flashback.
"Jackson?" he asked. His voice had a little tone of confusion in it.
He thought she was a quiet, self-controlled type of kid. But now he knew the truth. Apparently she had a mean temper, was kind of a rebel except to the teachers, who she liked for some mysterious reason, and she was kind of, well, not very nice sometimes.
Now, for the first time, he wished Peter Parker hadn't caught the flu bug like everybody else he knew. He wished he had chosen to become one of those guys that would share something like this with Parker, and then laugh about it along with him, too.
His rational side pleaded with him to just forget about her and shake off being hit with a tray of food as though it never happened.
Then his anger splashed over him like an ocean wave. He tried to stop it, but it yelled at him, "Teach her a lesson, you so-called bully! Show her who's the boss around here!"
And, groaning while wishing he was a nice guy who stood up for Peter Parker and that he didn't have a "devil side", he strode from the cafeteria after her.
Annabelle walked through the hallway, looking down at her hands, a puzzled expression on her face. How did that webbing come from her wrist like that?
In her view, stuff like that was the type that only happened in books and movies, not in real life. But this was different. Ever since that day at the lab when she had been bitten by that radioactive spider, things had changed for her — a lot.
For one thing, on the bus this morning, there was her first bully of the day. He had green eyes and black hair, and wore a black leather jacket and blue jeans. As usual, he would stick his foot out and try to trip her up, thus making her land on her face, like he did almost every weekday morning when she got on the bus. Of course, he would usually succeed, but that was before it — as Annabelle would call the miracle — had happened.
Today was no exception. Only this time, however, Annabelle's tormentor experienced irony at its finest. She reached out and grabbed him by the wrist. Then, after stepping over his foot as nimble as you please, she hissed in a tone of voice that almost didn't sound like her, "Don't even think about it, you Flash Thompson wanna-be."
And the weirdest thing was, Flash had looked up upon hearing his name and narrowed his eyes in puzzlement, which turned to shock when he saw her yank on the guy's wrist, causing its owner to yelp in pain. She then let go and walked to her seat, which happened to be the one right behind him, and sat down.
So what was the big deal anyway?
It was then that she stopped at her locker. She felt as though she had to go somewhere, but not knowing where.
Then she sensed it. Something was about to happen, only she wasn't sure what. She remembered the movie The Matrix, and the thing they called "the bullet time effect". It was where everything slowed down and one could observe things more closely. Well, she felt just like that now herself.
Then she turned and saw, as if in slow motion, Flash's fist about to slam into her face.
With quick, catlike reflexes she slipped out of there and a little to the side, just as his fist made contact with her locker instead.
"Think you're pretty funny, don't you, freak?" he snarled.
Freak…freak…freak…. She had heard that tone one too many times.
That was all it took to send Annabelle Marie Jackson over the edge.
With that, she finally snapped. She looked up at Flash, her blue eyes blazing as though red and orange flames could be seen behind them, and her teeth bared in a vicious snarl.
Then, she snapped at him in an angry cowboy tone, "OH, YEAH, EUGENE? THINK YOU'RE PRETTY FUNNY, DON'T YOU, YOU CURLY WOLF!"
Her words caused Flash's eyes to widen in surprise as he, his friend Thad and the rest of his friends backed away a bit. The kids around them looked at each other, surprised. This scene was definitely not playing out the way they thought it was supposed to go.
"I DON'T KNOW HOW YOU DO IT, BUT YOU ARE GOIN' TO BE IN BIG TROUBLE SOME DAY IF YOU KEEP YOUR ACTS OF BULLYIN' UP LIKE THIS, YOU PSYCHOPATH!" Annabelle added in a hiss.
Then she charged and punched Flash right in the face, causing him to stagger back a few steps.
He blinked for a bit, a little shocked. She had called him a curly wolf — was that supposed to be cowboy talk for a bully? — and a psychopath. He had never been called that before. He looked at Annabelle, wondering if he could ask her what the phrase "curly wolf" meant.
Thad, who was right next to Flash, said, "She's all yours, man."
Flash's eyes narrowed, and he turned to Thad and pushed him aside. Ignoring Thad's angry yell of "Hey, thanks a lot there, Flash!", he then charged at Annabelle, his puzzled look now replaced by one of anger.
She waited until he got close enough, lifted him up and over her head (causing him to land against the lockers), bent down and dug her nails into his short, black hair, causing him to wince in pain. Finally, she hissed into his ear, "Now, you beat it before your alcoholic, abusive Daddy Dearest finds out about this, Flash. If you want my opinion, I don't think he would be proud of you. You dig me?"
Those were her last words to him before she let go of his hair, turned on her heel and stalked down the hall. Some of Flash's friends immediately stepped aside, not wanting to end up against the lockers themselves. Flash groaned in pain as he managed to get up.
"Flash, dude, you all right?" asked one of his friends.
Another friend said, "We'll show her, Flash. Nobody ever messes with you, Flash, my man, and gets away with-"
However, he was interrupted by Flash, who said, "No, you will not. Someone already has. She has the right to get away with it," he said. "I — well, she's right about one thing. My father is the reason I'm the messed up, stereotypical jock-slash-bully in the first place."
Then he stood and managed to walk away, leaving his friends to stare in wonder and bewilderment. Since when did Eugene "Flash" Thompson give up and walk away from a fight?
Flash sighed as he stepped outside and leaned against the green chain-link fence. He looked up at the big, blue sky. He ached all over. That girl really gave him a beating he would remember her by for the rest of his life. He shook his head as he remembered her reference to his father, and knew she was right — especially about the "alcoholic" and "abusive" parts.
His father, Harrison Thompson, had light brown hair and light green eyes. He was also an alcoholic and physically abusive toward Flash.
Flash winced, remembering the bruises he had gotten, and wished he had called her a better name rather than "freak" — as he often called Parker that — and that he wasn't so violent or abusive.
"Oh my gosh, I'm starting to become like my dad," he groaned to himself. "I've got to stop myself from taking the same path he did."
Meanwhile, Flash's girlfriend, Mary Jane ‛MJ' Watson, who had red hair and green eyes, walked up to Annabelle, smiling, and accompanied her down the hallway.
Annabelle turned to her and returned the smile. "Hey there, MJ. Do I rock and roll, or what?" she said confidently.
"You do indeed, Annabelle. I heard about what had happened, and I'm surprised, but not at all shocked," replied MJ. "You did the right thing there. And I have to tell you, that was quite a speech you made there too. I think Flash got what he deserved; he's been a bully for as long as I've known him — always pushing other people around, and not only just to make himself feel better, but also to get over his insecurities."
Annabelle nodded, and then smiled. "But I sure showed him. After all, I am a rebel."
"Yeah," said MJ, and they beamed at each other as they headed off to class.
This really was one strange, but cool day.
Both Flash and Annabelle didn't know it, but they would never forget what had transpired between them in the hallway.
And, as Flash later put it, "People will be talking about this for years — I hope."
Well, I hope you like it; I worked really hard on it, of course.
