Nobody at the party wanted to call the police. We were almost all underaged and a good portion of the people were drinking beer or smoking weed. I was still in shock from how hard I punched Flash. I looked at my hand as if it was a monstrous creature. No, as if I was a monstrous person. I had always fantasized about getting back at Flash but when I actually did it was like nothing I had ever felt before. I felt... bad. For Flash Thompson.
Harry was the first one to grab his phone. He called the cops. Everyone noticed and started to run away. I decided to stay next to Flash. There was no point running, Harry or any other witness would've surely said something and I would've been caught either way.
Soon, the police arrived. The officer that arrested me was understanding. I started tearing up.
"I was just mad, I didn't mean to hurt him like that! I didn't know I could hurt him like that!"
"I know, son. Just work with me and we can figure this out." The officer said as he handcuffed me.
He made me take a sobriety test and found out I didn't do anything.
As I got into the police car I looked back at Harry. He looked as upset as I was. Probably because I had just punched his new best buddy.
So there I was, in the back of a police car on a Friday night. My best friend sold me out and told me I didn't matter, my Aunt and Uncle thought I had gone missing, I had gotten back at Flash and felt bad.
The handcuffs were chaffing me, leaving marks on my wrists. I had gotten so worn out from crying. I tried to be strong, I tried to stay strong but I couldn't help but panic. Just a few weeks ago I finally started getting along with my Uncle, I finally got the job I wanted, I was doing well in school. Now I was an irredeemable criminal that the whole world would look down on.
I pressed my head against the window. I just wanted to sleep. The more I stayed up the more I hated myself. Wherever I sad or hopeless before I could always be comforted by the thought of Harry or my parents. Now, all of those were gone. Now I just wanted to avoid everything. I just wanted to run away.
"Officer?" I said in a teary voice.
"Yeah, son?" He looked back slightly.
"How long am I going away for?"
"That's out of my jurisdiction. I'd guess a few months if his parents don't press charges. You'll probably get bail though." He looked back to the road.
"Thanks." I went back to skulking. I wish I could've gone back and just left the party. I wish I didn't go to the stupid party.
I wish I hadn't signed up for the stupid football team. I wish I never had to deal with any of this. The officer drove me up to an office building. I didn't know where we were and I didn't care. He let me out of the car and we went into an empty board room. He sat me down on one side of the room and he sat down at the other. He started doing some paperwork.
"Um." I said, nervously.
"Need to let them know you're coming. Also, they're locked down at night."
"So I'm not getting a trial or anything?"
"Yeah you will. They're held up though. You'll have to wait in juvie for the team being. Or before you get bailed out."
"Thanks, sir." I tried to support myself or sit comfortably while waiting but the handcuffs really limited my movement. I started to tug and even try to pull them off to make myself more comfortable. I used all my strength, just like I did when I punched Flash. I didn't want to be forceful ever again but I had never punched that hard before. I had never felt that powerful before. My powers were the only thing making me feel worth something. The handcuffs broke apart and my arms were free. There was a long snapping sound followed by metal falling on the ground.
The officer stood up and pointed his gun at me. I immediately put my arms up and widened my eyes. I never had a gun pointed at me before. I didn't know if my weird bullet-time ringing senses could help me or not.
"Uh, sir. I think I need new handcuffs." He put his gun down and looked shocked.
"That's never happened before." He said, optimistically.
I started closing my hands and opening them again. It was definitely no coincidence. The spider seemed to also make me stronger. I remembered reading something about how spiders could lift one hundred times their own weight. I wondered if the spider also gave me the proportional strength of the spider. That would've explained how I knocked Flash out in one punch.
The officer put new handcuffs on me and went back to his work. Eventually after sitting there for around thirty minutes, watching the clock and trying my hardest not to think, I fell asleep.
The officer woke me up what felt like minutes later. My neck was aching from how I fell asleep. He brought me downstairs to take my mug shots. The lady taking the pictures was pretty nice. She and the officer got along fairly well. They talked about celebrities with each other while I sat there waiting for them to remember I was there.
Eventually they showed me my mug shots and I looked like a depressed homeless man, which was ironically how I felt. I had bags under my eyes, my hair was all over the place, and I was pale.
After that, they left me to sleep on a loveseat. It was hard at first since they couldn't stop talking, but eventually I fell asleep.
I was woken up around five am, my eyes were heavy but I had no excuse to go back to bed. I sluggishly followed the cop to his car.
"We're finally heading to juvie."
"Yay..." I reluctantly said. I was trying to be funny, hoping it would make me feel better. It didn't, but the officer laughed. "What's your name, officer?"
"George Stacey."
"Oh. I know your daughter, she's nice."
"She's told me things about you, Peter."
"Good things?"
"Ehh."
"You win some you lose some." I sighed.
"I'm kidding, she said you were a good kid, and that you were getting harassed by some kid named Flash. Didn't figure it was a coincidence that the kid you punched last night had the same name."
"Yeah, it was the same kid."
"So you finally got fed up with his bullshit and decided to show him a little of his own medicine?"
"I guess so."
"I get why you did it, kid. Just don't stoop to their level. You consider yourself better than him, right?"
"Of course."
"Then don't fight to hurt people. If you have to fight, make sure it's to protect somebody."
We both sat there in silence for a minute thinking about what he said. It lasted until we arrived at the juvenile detention center, he let me out of the car and walked me in.
"I'll stay with you for a few but I've got to get home soon. If I don't the wife will kill me." I smirked and then finished signing in and getting searched. Eventually officer Stacey left and I was escorted in. He helped me feel more comfortable with my situation but I was still worried.
Eventually they let me into my cell block and a receptionist walked up to me.
"If you want to call somebody lemme know." She had a light Irish accent that made me wonder what someone from Ireland had to go through to end up working as an American prison guard.
"Alright, I need to call someone then." I looked down at her, she was short, even compared to me. She was about four feet and nine inches tall, meanwhile I was five feet and four inches.
"Do it then, you prick." The lady handed me the key to the phone room and walked off. She acted very bitter, as if something terrible had happened or life. Or maybe it was just the fact that she had to look over no-good kids like me.
I walked into the phone room, which was more like a closet with an old phone planted to the wall.
I typed in a number and waited for it to ring. Uncle Ben answered.
"Hello. This Ben Parker."
"Hey, Uncle Ben."
"You're okay?"
"I'm... In juvie." I heard a loud sigh on the other end.
"What did you do?"
"... This kid named Flash has been bullying me for years. Today I was tired of it so I punched him."
"He didn't fight back?"
"He couldn't. I knocked him out in one punch."
"Peter..."
"I know."
"You shouldn't have done that."
"I know."
"Is he okay?"
"I think so. He was still breathing and I don't think I broke any bones."
"May is going to have a heart attack.
"Can you pay my bail?"
"You could've killed that kid."
"He's an asshole!"
"You're the one that broke his jaw."
"You're kidding me."
"His parents are suing us."
"Screw him."
"You're just lucky he's not pressing charges."
