Shout Outs: Thanks to Dulcecitath for reviewing the story.

Chapter 11: Silver and Opals

It was incredible.

The amount of homework they were given was high. It felt as though it was almost nearly impossible to keep up in the classes' lectures. Yet again, midterms were slowly coming up but was it necessary for the professors to have a never-ending pile of homework? The students have lives too…

The air was filled with different kinds of chemicals in the chemistry class. The colored liquids were shown through the clear beakers as the students were trying to create the given chemicals.

"Man...how's this supposed to prepare you for the midterms?" Luke muttered as he was almost being careless with pouring a liquid into the beaker.

Seeing this, Peter snatched the small tube away from him.

"Give me that! Don't just randomly pour it into the beaker if you don't know how much you need to have," Peter said, frustrated.

Luke rolled his eyes. "Sheesh. What got you in the knot?"

"Gee, I wonder..." Peter muttered.

"Just because the midterms are coming up, it doesn't mean you should snap at your fellow partner."

Luke's eyes sparkled from agreement. "Exactly! Thank you, Gwen."

The blonde rolled her eyes. "But that shouldn't mean you should be so careless, Luke!"

"Aww, come on," Luke complained.

Peter paused what he was doing. "Why are you complaining? You're practically not doing anything."

"Tell me about it," Gwen said irritably as she erased the note in her notepad while scrunching up her eyes to see the liquid transforming into a new color.

Luke chuckled. "I have you two," he said cheerfully.

Peter and Gwen grunted, unimpressed.

"Well, I hope you realize that you're gonna have to write your own hypothesis as to what had happened. It will be terrible if we decided to dispose of the chemical now," Gwen grinned slyly.

Luke opened his mouth and grumbled as he grumpily took out his notepad.

As the class came to an end, the Chemistry instructor assigned homework before they were dismissed.

With heavy books in his hands (and some in his bag), Peter managed to make it to the library where he met with Michelle, Gwen and Harry.

"Made it," Peter announced as he accidentally slammed the boons on the table which made a loud noise.

The three jumped with startle as the librarian gave him a nasty look which he ignored.

"Glad you could join us," Harry muttered as he flipped through the pages with a bored look on his face. The side of his head was rested on his hand and he tried not to fall asleep.

"Wake up," Gwen snapped, pulling Harry's arm so that he lost balance and as a result, Harry bumped his face on the book.

"Ow," Harry hissed, having Peter snigger.

"You guys are so immature," Michelle finally spoke.

She hadn't spoken since she had gotten here. She was too busy color-coding and taking notes from her books and not once had she lift her head until now.

"I think the library is beginning to be our hang out," Peter said.

"It's what you do when you have your midterms coming up. You know...the thing that's called 'group studies'," Michelle responded.

Peter glanced around as though he was searching for someone. He vaguely remembered back at the party where Gwen had introduced him to a new friend of hers. Noticing this, Gwen raised an eyebrow at Peter's casual look but she knew better.

"Who are you looking for, Pete?" Gwen asked.

Blinking, Peter pulled himself away and shook his head.

"No one. Something caught my eye but I guess I missed it."

"Uh huh," Gwen replied slyly as she twirled her pen around in her fingers. "You weren't looking for my friend, were you? You know...the redhead...Mary Jane..."

Peter slightly tensed at the name which made Gwen chuckle.

"No," Peter insisted.

Michelle frowned as she wondered who Mary Jane was until it sparked into her mind. "Mary Jane? As in Watson? She's in my class. She's pretty nice from what I could tell—I don't really talk to her though...why?"

"Oh you know...I think Peter has a slight crush on her," Gwen grinned widely.

"No, I don't. Honestly," Peter gave her an annoyed look. Michelle slightly frowned before going back to work.

"Ooo Peter likes a girl. That's...something actually," Harry grinned.

"Shut up, you two," Peter muttered angrily as he pulled his textbook upwards so that it covered him though that only made the two snigger.

Noticing Michelle went back to work, Gwen slightly nudged het.

"How come you're not teasing him?"

Michelle shrugged. "I simply have no interest in this matter."

Gwen and Harry gaped at her before raising a suspicious look.

The group eventually exited the library when it was near closing time. When they had to leave, Peter went to the opposite way since he had that club he had joined to go to.

He was slightly getting used to the weird boys who held the club.

Just as before, the room was filled with all kinds of objects that were flying around which made it hard to miss even if Peter ducked down.

Nevertheless, Peter wasn't in the mood for joining the group since he mainly isolated himself from them. They meant well but Peter needed some time to think. So far, he had to psychos going after him despite the fact they both had the same weaknesses but both of them are stronger. Peter realized that he couldn't take both of them by himself and that's the cold hard truth.

He nearly died by fighting one of them.

A sudden dark thought came to his mind which he didn't like it. If he had to, then he may have to go to one of them for help. And that thought scared him.

And as if that wasn't bad enough to think about, he still had that deal he had made with Mysterio. In all honesty, Peter doubted that Mysterio would keep his. He was a villain and he always had been. Peter couldn't change that no matter what he does.

Peter narrowed his eyes as his stare deepened, having another thought came to mind. It could work…

Peter got up, grabbing his things though as he walked out, it raised questioning looks from the rest of the group.

"Hey, where you're going? It's not over yet," Michael exclaimed.

He ignored him as he exited out of the room. A few minutes later, Peter was zipping through the city, landing on a closest rooftop. He then released his webs in intricate patterns until it was done.

And now he waited.

Mysterio frowned as he stared at his device with an object in his hand. The sound of the TV drowned out since Mysterio wasn't paying attention to it.

"We'll be in touch…"

Mysterio scoffed. Yeah sure…he only said that to scare him off which proved fruitless. If he wanted to, he could've destroyed Spider Man and he had been so close as to doing that but Mysterio dropped his guard and lost.

"…It is unknown as to who Spider Man is reaching out for but the signal, shaped in a Spider, had clearly been imprinted on the rooftop…"

Mysterio stopped what he was doing and looked up at the TV to see a small figure on the rooftop that has been outmatched by the large Spider pattern. He narrowed his eyes, glaring at the screen.

"We'll be in touch…"

The same words repeated into his mind. Spider Man was waiting for him.

Peter paced around as he was impatiently waiting for the enemy to come.

All of a sudden, in a gust of wind, a figure appeared from it though Peter already knew who it was. He came after all.

Once the gust of wind disappeared, it revealed Mysterio with an emotionless face. The two stared at each other for a few minutes, allowing the disturbing silence to settle in though Peter broke it after a while.

"You came."

"You called."

Peter narrowed his eyes, glaring at the man who killed his friend. The image still haunted his mind no matter how many times Peter tried to forget about it. It would always be in his mind.

"What is it that you want?" Mysterio sounded pissed.

"That deal we made…" Peter answered.

Mysterio was about to speak until he looked up. He then walked towards Spider Man and grabbed his wrist which made Peter move his hand.

"Stop struggling. We're not going to talk here out in the open," Mysterio hissed.

"I'm not going anywhere with you," Peter said, glaring.

Mysterio laughed. "You really don't have much of a choice."

And then, in a flash, the two disappeared in the same manner as how Mysterio had appeared. They then reappeared in a different place, away from the listening ears and away from the curious eyes. Peter shuddered, immediately snatching his wrist away and stared at his new surroundings.

"Wow…a deserted alleyway…so secretive," Peter sneered.

"Fine then. I guess we could go back and have everyone see you, labelling you as a bad guy once more. I have no problem with that," Mysterio smirked. "It worked so well last time…"

"Alright. Alright," Peter responded, annoyed.

"I still think this idea of yours is preposterous. It's reckless and foolhardy," Mysterio spoke. "But in all honesty, if you think about it, you're doing us a favor. Going back in time, you're kinda killing yourself," he replied cheerfully in the most disturbing way that made Peter tense.

"The deal," Peter repeated, clenching his hands.

Mysterio glared at him. "I'm working on it. But it's going to take some time. So until then, I suggest you clean up your mess. I mean, with things going on—the murder and the new creature that just recently showed up—your hands are full."

Peter knew he couldn't threaten him and actually mean it. His threats and warnings would be empty.

"Either way, I still want to get this done," Spider Man spoke sharply. He then started to walk away though Mysterio called out.

"You might want to consider your choices carefully, Spider Man or otherwise, you'll see yourself become a villain!"

And then, Spider Man exited out of the alleyway, leaving Mysterio to his thoughts.

Peter returned in the night to see his dorm. As he was crawling up the wall, he could see a semi-faint light that is slightly illuminating the dark room.

Harry is working himself wee into the hours of studying.

Peter got in though, naturally, he went unnoticed.

"Night-Patrolling?"

Peter turned to the side and saw Harry who had an irritated look, glaring at the textbook.

"Um...yea..." Peter said casually.

Harry snorted. "Then what's with the Spider signal? Who'd you meet up with?"

Peter sighed. "No one, Harry. Really, it's fine."

Harry shrugged. "Sure..."

Peter walked towards his desk and saw his notebook underneath the stack of his other things. He removed the pile and picked up the book. He flipped through the pages, going to the one where it would contained his drawings of the new suit; they were rough sketches though Peter still had a block.

Sighing, Peter closed the book and placed the other pile on top of it.

"I'm going to bed," Peter announced.

"Alright."

Plopping himself on the bed, Peter glanced at Harry before rolling to the other side; his face facing the wall.

"Night," Peter muttered.

Author's Note: Oohhh, Peter you're thinking dark thoughts, my friend. Don't let it get to you. But the plan is still in action. What happens next? Find out! Toodles!