"Felicia, honey, it's time for school." her mother, Lydia, called out into her bedroom. When she heard no response, she said "Felicia? You better get up. You don't want to be late for your first day of Kindergarten."

"Hmm?" Felicia, barely awake, groaned.

"Come on, time to get up now." Mrs. Hardy said.

"Okay." Felicia reluctantly accepted. Sitting up on her bed, she brushed her long, golden-blonde hair out of her emerald-green eyes and saw her cat, Onyx, lying across the bed. He had slept here the previous night with her, and she enjoyed his company. Though the myth was that a black cat crossing your path was bad luck, it seemed to have an opposite effect on her. Petting him, Felicia got out of bed and looked at the clothes hanging in her open closet, deciding on what to wear. When she reached a decision, she pulled out a blue, plaid skirt and a white polo and put them on. Afterwards, she put on a black sweater over her shirt and put on a pair of white socks and black shoes. When she was finished putting on her clothes, she went into the bathroom and brushed her teeth and hair, making sure she was all ready for the day ahead. Backtracking to her room for her backpack, she saw Onyx roaming around the room, chasing his tail. After she grabbed her Batman-themed backpack, Felicia gave him one last petting before she closed her bedroom door.

"Good morning, Mommy!" Felicia exclaimed as she walked downstairs into the kitchen for breakfast. "How are you?"

"Hi, honey!" Mrs. Hardy said, greeting her daughter. "I'm fine. How are you? Did you sleep well?"

"Yes." Felicia said, but that wasn't necessarily true. She stayed up until 10:30 reading the latest issue of Batman, and she was so caught up in it that she lost track of the time.

"Well, that's good to hear." Mrs. Hardy said. "I have your breakfast ready on the table, and Dad is sitting there already."

"Okay, thank you!" she said as she went to go join her father. When she got to the table, her dad, Walter, was taking a sip from his cup of coffee while reading today's copy of The Daily Bugle. Sitting down next to him, Felicia said "Good morning, Daddy!"

Looking away from his paper, he turned to her and said "Good morning, kitten! You all ready for your first day of school?"

Felicia liked it when he called her "kitten." It was the nickname he had for her due to her gentle nature and her caring for Onyx.

"You bet I am!" she said, very cheery. She then picked up the spoon that sat upon the table and started to eat the bowl of Cheerios that her mother had made for her.

"Listen, I want to give you some advice for your first day." Walter said, putting down his cup and his newspaper. "First, I want you to meet some new friends this year. Starting friendships early on in life can go a long way. Just look at me and your mother. We both met in Kindergarten, and we didn't know how far we would actually go. So just keep your eyes peeled, okay?"

"Okay." Felicia said.

"Second, if anyone teases or bullies you, don't try to handle it yourself, okay? You go straight to a teacher, the principal, or another responsible adult if there's any trouble. The same thing goes if you see anyone else being bullied." Walter said.

"Alright." Felicia accepted.

"Third, and this is probably the most important, if you want to achieve something, if you really want to accomplish a goal, if it's truly your desire and you devote your heart, mind, and soul to it, go get it. No matter how much other people may want what you desire, don't ever hold back for them. Don't ever settle for second best." Walter said, somewhat fierce and passionate about what he was saying.

"Okay." Felicia said, understanding only a little bit of what he was saying. After she finished eating her cereal, she caught a glimpse of the Bugle's headline, which read "Crime-Rate Up 45%." Then, she understood what he was getting at. She wanted to become a superhero and bring about justice in New York, and she wasn't going to let anything hold her back from doing so.

Checking his watch, Walter said "Oh Lord, your bus will be here any minute! Come on, let's go!"

"Alright. Bye, Mom!" Felicia called back to her mother.

"Bye, sweetheart!" she said as her husband and daughter left through the front door. After they closed the door behind them, Felicia and Walter stood outside for a few minutes, waiting for the school bus to arrive. While waiting, Felicia couldn't help but think that she and her father were almost exactly alike. They had the same attitudes, same interests, and same emotions among various things. The only real difference was that her eyes were the same shade of green as her mother's, while her father's were piercing-blue. Another major difference was that, unlike her father's greying, black hair and her mother's auburn hair, Felicia's hair was purely blonde.

When the bus finally arrived, Walter gave Felicia a hug and said "Have a good day, kitten."

"I will. Thanks, Dad." she said, and she waved goodbye as she got on the bus. Once inside, she saw that most of the seats were filled already, except for an empty seat on the right-hand side towards the back. After she sat down and the bus started to pull away, she heard a voice from behind yell "Hey! Stop the bus!"

Looking out of her window, Felicia saw a boy wearing a red T-shirt, blue jeans, white sneakers, and large glasses running down the sidewalk, followed closely by a man who looked to be in his late forties. When the driver heard the boy's voice he pulled the bus over and opened the door, and he stood in the opening saying "Oh, thank you. I'm sorry I'm late." Turning around to face the older man, he said "Bye, Uncle Ben."

The man responded by saying "Bye, buddy. I'll see you after school."

After the boy boarded the bus and the doors shut, the driver pulled away and continued to head towards Midtown Elementary. The boy tried to find a place to sit, but every seat he passed by had people in them and they said things like "Seat's taken, Parker." Some of them could've made room for him, but most of them chose to be selfish and forced him to keep heading towards the back. At one point, the boy was tripped by a larger, meaner looking boy, and he fell towards the floor. His glasses fell off his face and his neatly-combed brown hair became messy, and almost everybody laughed. When the driver asked if he was alright, he responded by saying that he was fine and that he just tripped.

Felicia felt extremely bad for him because he was getting bullied and no one had said anything about it. She wanted to tell the driver what had happened, but she didn't know this kid or the jerk who tripped him. Instead, the kindest gesture that she could make was to say to him "You can sit here if you want."

The boy, after getting up off the floor and putting his glasses back on his face, turned his head to face Felicia and their eyes met. She could see that his eyes were a dark brown color, and there was something about them that made her feel warm and fuzzy inside. The boy then said "Thank you very much." and he took his place next to her.

"You know," Felicia said. "you really don't have to put up with those guys. Just tell a teacher and they'll stop."

"Yeah, but then they'll just do it again, even outside of school." he said.

"Well, you can't just sit back and take it." Felicia said. "Sometimes, you got to stand up for yourself."

"I'll try to keep that in mind." the boy said. He then outstretched his hand to her and said. "I'm Peter, by the way. Peter Parker."

Taking Peter's hand, she said "Nice to met you, Peter. I'm Felicia. Felicia Hardy."

"Nice to meet you, too." Peter said. Then, he noticed the backpack she was wearing, and he asked "Hey, is that a limited-edition Bat-Pack?"

Felicia, surprised that he took notice, said "Why, yes it is. Do you like it?"

"Like it?" Peter asked. "I've always wanted one of those! I'm really into Batman comics."

"Really?" Felicia asked. "Me too! That's awesome!"

Along the way to school, the only thing the two kids mainly talked about was Batman, from his exploits to his triumphs to his losses, and how they both looked up to him as a fictional inspiration to do the right thing.

Little did they know that they would eventually be following by his example together.