In the morning, I never feel too well. I usually stay up late on my nightly runs of the city and those take up most of my sleep time. But last night got a little out of hand. I had a pounding headache and a lot of bruises from my fight with Kraven. I woke up at six to get ready for school which started in two hours and I could just tell this day wasn't going to be an easy day. Then again, it never is.

I had forgotten to do my homework last night so I had to rush to get it done today. I quickly jumped into the shower, trying to wash away the pains of last night. I checked the cut on my thigh. It was coming along but it still hurt a bit.

I quickly dried off and pulled a T-shirt over my head and pulled my jeans onto my legs. I picked up my bag and looked inside for my suit. I checked where Kraven's blade slashed my thigh. There was a huge gash in it, but I would have to stitch it together later; right now I needed to get to school.

I ran down the stairs and opened the refrigerator. I grabbed the milk and found some cereal in the cupboard. I wolfed down my breakfast, hoping for Aunt May to still be in bed. I didn't want her to see my bruises. She had enough worries and I didn't want to be one of them.

I slung my backpack over my shoulder and started on my way to school. I was dead tired and felt like falling down on the sidewalk right then and there. But that doesn't get me a passing grade in my classes, so I had to keep going.

I didn't dare try to swing to school. I was pretty sure Kraven was still on the lookout for me and I didn't think I could take another beating like that.

I finally made it to school. I wasn't late, fortunately. In fact, I had fifteen minutes before I had to get to class. And there was just one special person I wanted to spend that time with. I walked to her locker and found her standing there, fiddling to open her lock.

"Let me help you with that, Miss." I said, mimicking a cliché superhero tone.

I saw her turn around and look at me. She was the most stunning girl I had ever seen in my entire life. Her blonde hair was tucked behind her ears which for some reason just looked exceptionally amazing today. Her hazel eyes stared up into mine and I nearly melted away. In front of me stood Gwen Stacy, the most beautiful girl this world has ever seen.

I smiled at her and opened her lock for her. She smiled back and giggled.

"What? Do I have something on my face?" I joked.

"Yeah, right here." She said. I didn't know what meant until she wrapped her arms around my neck and pressed her lips against mine. Her lips were so soft I didn't ever want the kiss to end. But unfortunately it did.

All I could do was smile. It was impossible for me not to when I'm with her. When she's happy, I'm happy. When she's sad, I'm sad. Suddenly I saw the smile fade away from her face. A million things went through my mind before I realized what was actually going on. I consciously became aware of the bruises on my face.

"Peter, what happened?" She said as she took my hand and sat me down on a bench.

"I'm fine; I just got into it with some whacko last night." I said, trying to make it sound like it wasn't that big of a deal.

"These are really bad Peter. What really happened?" she inquired.

I couldn't lie to her. It was almost impossible for me to. "Okay…promise not to freak out?" I asked.

"I promise." She said replied.

"Scouts honor?" I said. I was trying to avoid the question for as long as I could. I didn't want her worrying about me.

"Just tell me, Peter!" She demanded.

I sighed. I took her hands in both of mine and looked her in the eyes.

"Yesterday, I was at the Bugle trying to sell some photos. Then some guy who calls himself Kraven came in and said he was willing to hunt down Spider-Man for a reward." I spewed out.

"What! Peter why didn't you call to tell me about this earlier?" Gwen asked.

"I didn't want to worry you. Plus, I knew you would freak out." I said, shying away a little.

"Well, of course I would freak out to something like that! He's the one who did this to you isn't he?" She said, holding my chin and inspecting my bruises.

I pulled her hand down and nodded my head slightly. "How many people did he have with him to be able to do this to you?" She asked.

"Umm…it was just him." I said quietly. Her eyes grew wide.

"He did this to you by himself?" She asked.

"In my defense, he's got a pretty mean right hook." I said.

Gwen just rolled her eyes at me.

"Gwen. Please don't worry about this too much. I'll be fine. I'll be careful." I said, trying to reassure her that I would be fine. She wasn't having any of it.

"Peter, I don't want you to get hurt. I don't want someone else I love die." She said, starting to choke up.

I knew exactly what she was talking about. Not so long ago her father, Captain George Stacy, was killed by the Lizard. With his last dying breath he said that he didn't want me to see Gwen anymore as it could put her in danger. I still wonder if I made the right choice in ignoring his wishes.

She turned her head away from me trying to hide her inevitable tears. I wrapped my arms around her, doing my best to comfort her.

Then the bell rang. I took her by her hand and led her to our first hour biology class. I sat her down and seated myself next to her. She wiped away some of her tears and looked at me, and put on a brave smile. She does so much to stay strong, yet all I can do is hug her and tell her it's going to be alright when I know it won't be.

I couldn't focus on what the teacher was saying at all the entire class hour. I just remembered that night on top of OsCorp Tower. Captain Stacy was bleeding horribly bad. He was going to die and I knew he was. I didn't want to believe it, but I knew it was happening. The amount of anger I felt. Another person had died on my account. I could have saved him had I been faster, but I wasn't. From that night on, I promised myself that no one else would die. Not while I was around, and I planned for it to stay that way.

Before I knew it, first period was over. All of what we had covered was on the board and I completely missed it. I scrambled to write down the notes before the biology teacher, Ms. Ritter, erased them all for the next class.

"Maybe you should pay attention next time, Parker." She said, as she was erasing the notes. I was only half way finished.

I just nodded my head. I didn't want to get in trouble for a snarky comment to the teacher.

Gwen nudged me with her elbow and offered to allow me to copy her notes. I kissed her on the cheek and thanked her.

I took her hand and we rose to get out of class together but Ms. Ritter stopped us.

"Gwen you can go. I need to talk to Peter for a quick second." She said.

I let go of Gwen's hand flashed a smile at her and walked over to Ms. Ritter's desk.

She waited a minute and started to speak. "Peter, you're a smart kid. Why are you failing my class?"

I shrugged my shoulders, "I've got a lot of my mind right now." I said simply.

"You need to get biology on your mind. I don't want to see you fail, Peter. I see you come in here, looking tired and worn out. What do you do that keeps you away from your homework?"

She was asking too many questions that I didn't think I could answer. I wanted so bad to just be able to get good grades and not have to be in this conversation right now.

"I'm trying. I don't want to fail. I just have been." I said. That was probably the weakest excuse I've ever come up with and I knew Ms. Ritter knew it too.

"I don't want to see you fail, Peter. I'm going to give you some extra credit and I want it done by Thursday. Otherwise they will not show up on your report card." She said as she looked through her cabinets for the extra credit papers.

She handed them to me and I gratefully took them. "Thank you." I said.

I thought for a quick second I saw just a flash of a smile flicker across her face. I could tell she didn't want me to fail, and I didn't want to let her down.

"Alright let me write you a pass and I'll send you on your way."

. . .

I made it to gym and into my gym uniform just in time to get into the lineup to be picked for basket ball. I stood next to the other guys who were at least a good six inches taller than I was. The gym teacher was picking the teams today and I got teamed up with some of the more, how should I say, unathletic students. There were a few members of the basket ball team but not enough to keep up with the other team.

All in all we didn't do too well. I could have easily won it all by myself, but like I said I can't go showing off otherwise people might get suspicious.

After getting back into the locker room I sat down on the bench only to have my hair tussled by someone much taller than me. I turned around to see Flash Thompson standing behind me with a big grin on his face.

Flash used to bully me a lot. I was his main target because I was really quiet and stayed away from most of the other students so no one would care if he messed around with me. But lately he's been nicer and not so rough anymore. Not to me, not to anyone actually. Although he still calls me Parker instead of Peter.

"Hey Parker," he said.

See?

"What's going on, Flash?" I said.

"Nothing too important, bro." he said leaning up against the locker. I nodded my head and turned to look at the clock to see how much more time we had until we had to go.

"Parker, what happened to your face, dude? It looks like someone was beating you up or something. Don't worry man, if you need help I've got your back." He said.

I was proud to hear that Flash was there to help me if I needed help. But I'm pretty sure even the captain of the basket ball team couldn't help me fight off a crazed hunter.

"Thanks Flash, but I'm okay." I said with a smile.

"You sure?" he replied.

I put on a cocky grin and said, "Please, I'm Peter Parker. Anybody who tussles with me is in a world of hurt."

Flash laughed a bit. I could tell he thought I was still same old Peter Parker but he was willing to help me if I needed it.

The bell rang and I picked up my bag and slung it over my shoulder. I stepped out of the locker room and went to go find Gwen. I walked her over to her third hour class and then went to mine. I was able to focus a lot better during class this time around. I don't know what it was, but it certainly made the rest of my day.

. . .

Luckily I didn't have to skip lunch this time. I was able to sit down and actually eat. Gwen sat down next to me and smiled.

"We still on for that date?" she asked me.

I had completely forgotten about it! I had so many other things on my mind it completely slipped right by me. I didn't want to tell her about not being able to take her somewhere because she seemed so excited about it when I told her, but I couldn't lie to her.

"Gwen, I've gotta be honest. I had the money but I gave it to Aunt May to help with the bills." I said.

Gwen smiled and kissed my check. "You're so sweet Peter Parker. It's okay. Maybe another time?" She said.

I nodded and agreed. I need to make it up to her somehow, though. 'I'll figure it out later' I thought.

The rest of the day went by swimmingly. I didn't have to skip any classes; I got all my assignments written down; I got all my notes. Everything seemed fine. Nothing would knock me out of the sky today. I even had a few Spider-Man photos for Jameson from the night before I fought Kraven. I decided I would go there after school let out.

. . .

After the final bell rang I walked Gwen home. We didn't have much to talk about so it was a very silent walk home. I kissed her good bye and told her I would call her later. I then made my way to the Daily Bugle. Luckily I didn't have to stop any crimes as there was none.

I walked in to the building and made my way to the top floor. I made my way towards Jameson's office until I heard someone, "Hey Pete."

I looked over my shoulder and saw Betty. I smiled and replied back. "Hey Betty." I didn't know when we became so friendly but it was nice, though.

"You might want to get in there quick. Jameson's about to blow a fuse and it usually lasts for about a good hour before he calms down." She warned.

"Or at least as calm as he can get, right?" I joked.

She laughed and I nodded my thanks to her. I opened the door cautiously and stepped inside. A tall, husky dark skinned man was arguing with Jameson about Spider-Man.

"You can't put that as the headline, Jonah! He's not a bad guy!" the other man said.

"I'll do whatever I damn well please. I'm the chief editor and I can say what I want! Now get outta here Robbie!" Jameson screamed.

Robbie threw his hands up in the air and shook his head in disapproval. "It's wrong and you know it Jonah." He said. Well at least I have another person on my side.

"What's-your-face, get in here now!" he said to me.

"It's Peter, sir. Peter Parker." I said.

"You could be Humpty Dumpty for all I care, just get in here!" He yelled at me.

I walked in slowly and sat down. I placed down the photos from last night on his table and he looked at them. I was worried as to what he was going to offer. I really needed this money for Aunt May and I'm not sure as to what he thought these were worth.

"I'll pay you sixty bucks for them." He said simply and laid them down on his desk.

My eyes widened in surprise. I got extremely excited; this seemed almost too good to believe. "Are you serious?" I asked.

"I didn't stutter did I? Just take your money and get out of here, Peeker!" Jameson shouted.

I was so excited I didn't even care he got my name wrong. I collected the money and happily walked out.

Betty saw me smiling and asked me, "You look happy." She said.

"I'm as happy as I can be." I said with a smile. So far everything has been going right for me today.

I was so excited I didn't even care about Kraven anymore. I changed into my suit in the broom closet I found in the hall and made my way out onto the roof. I leaped from the rooftop and started to swing. I let out a big "WOO" and swung to home.

I changed back in an alley and walked the rest of the way home. I looked around the neighborhood. Everything seemed to be so brighter now. This is the exact same way I felt when Gwen agreed to go out with me. I walked inside and found Aunt May cooking something in the pot. I smiled at her as she turned around to look at me. I pulled out the sixty dollars and showed it to her. She came over to me and did something I fully didn't expect. She took my hand and folded it over the money.

"Go have fun." She said. I hugged her tightly. This woman does so much for me. I was proud to have her in my life and even prouder to have her as an Aunt.

I hurried up stairs and pulled my phone out of pocket. I dialed Gwen's number and waited for her to pick up.

"Hello?" she said on the other end.

I was smiling so much I almost forgot to say anything until I remembered what I was doing. "Miss Gwen Stacy. How would you like to go on a date with Mister Peter Parker?"