The life of Spider-Man is a never ending one and that's what's going on right now. Paul was in the middle of stopping a few criminals from robbing a bank. They were trying their best to fight him, but he was too fast for them. He pounded one across the face and kicked one back to web him to the wall.

"I'm in a hurry here. Who robs banks in broad daylight when it isn't even noon?" Paul said. One more crook tried to attack him. Paul flipped back to avoid him, but he accidently cut his arm against a broken window that was smashed during the fight. "I said I'm in a hurry." He webbed the crooks legs and pulled to cause him to trip. Paul jumped and crushed down on the crook and knocked the wind right out of him. "Glad that's over with." He swung off and left the police to handle the crooks. However, Paul missed that Brutal was stalking him.

"Run all you want. It will be payback time." Brutal said. He walked over to the broken window and it had a piece of his clothing and a bit of his blood.

…..

Midtown High

Paul was going to be late for school, but that's part of Spider-Man's life. Another is appearing to be left out of all the gossip that's going on in the school's halls. Paul walked over to Harris who seemed out of it as well.

"Hey, Harris. What's everyone talking about?" Paul asked.

"Didn't you hear? Thomas' birthday party is coming." Harris said.

"Seriously? It's not that big of a deal." Paul said.

"It is in high school for one of the most popular guys at school. Anyone who was invited is looking forward to it." Harris said.

"Um….hi, Pauli." Both of saw Jean behind him, but she seemed nervous about something.

"Hey, Jean. Is something wrong?" Paul asked.

"Well….I got an invite to Thomas' party." Jean said as she held up a football invitation. "I managed to pull some strings and got an invite despite I'm his ex. I know you and Thomas aren't really friends, but I'm wondering if you like to go."

"Actually…." Paul said as he pulled something out of his jacket. "….I got an invite." That was surprising to both of them.

"You got an invitation? How? He hates you." Harris said.

"That's why I'm going. I'm going to find out why." Paul said. "Feel like being a party crasher, Harris?"

"Are you kidding? Yeah." Harris said.

"So I guess we'll see you there, Jean." Paul said.

"Great!" Jean said as she seemed really happy about that and left the two. Harris noticed something a little strange with Jean and he thinks he figured it out.

"Paul, call me crazy, but I think Jean might actually be into you." Harris said.

"You're right. You're crazy." Paul said as he didn't really believe that.

…..

Brutal

Brutal never forgot what Spider-Man did to him. It was really the only defeat anyone ever handed him and he wants payback for it. That's why he was working on a new device.

"You can run and hide behind a mask all you want. It's not going to make any difference." Brutal said. "Once I'm done with this, there's nowhere you can hide from me. Thanks to that piece of clothing and your blood, I'll track you wherever you go." He held up his nearly finished tracker and is going to take great pride at the thought of bringing Spider-Man down.

Paul

Paul decided to head to the party with Harris. He waited for him at the front of his house. He saw a car pull up and saw Harris with his mother.

"Hey, Paul! You ready to go." Harris said as Paul walked up to them.

"You really want to drive up there with your mother behind the wheel?" Paul questioned. "It's not really that far. We can just walk."

"Really? Ok." Harris said as he got out. "Thanks for the ride, Mom. I'll call you if I need a ride home."

"You boys have a good time." His mother said and drove off.

"So where does Thomas live?" Harris asked.

"This way." Paul said as he led the way. They only walked little ways down the road until they came across an intersection and it could be seen.

"Whoa. When you told me Thomas lives just around the corner, you meant it." Harris said. Inside Thomas' house, everyone was having a great time and it looked like almost everyone from their class was there. Ray was chugging down some soda with some of the guys chanting his name. When he was done, he let out a massive belch that caused the guys to cheer.

"Nice, dude." Thomas said.

"Who invited the dweebs?" Amanda asked. Some of the people turned to the door and saw Paul and Harris walked in through the door.

"Pauli!" Jean said as she ran over to him. "You made it! I'm glad you're here!" Amanda saw a look in Jean's eyes and was not liking it.

"What's Porter and Harper doing crashing my party?" Thomas said.

"You sent me an invite in the mail." Paul said as he held up the invitation.

"No I didn't. Handing invites was done by my…." Thomas said, but saw what the problem was. "Mom?!" Everyone turned to Thomas' mother for answers.

"Well of course I invited Paul. After all, you two are best friends." Paul and Thomas were once friends? That would be considered the biggest school surprise of the year.

"That was in elementary school!" Thomas said.

"Porter and Thomas were actually friends? Not possible." Amanda said.

"But Thomas, you and he always had such fun together. Just look at the picture over the fireplace." His mother said. Everyone looked and saw a picture of the two as kids and they looked like they had fun together.

"So it's true? You and Thomas were actually friends?" Harris said.

"Yeah, but that was before he discovered sports. Isn't that right….Timothy?" Paul asked with a smug look on his face.

"No one calls me by that name anymore!" Thomas said as he was getting embarrassed at his own party.

"His real name is Timothy?" Harris said with a chuckle. Hardly anyone knew Thomas' real name these days.

"I…I don't like it so I go by my middle name." Thomas said. Thomas was so frustrated in embarrassed that he decided to just get out of there.

"Regardless of that, I'm really am glad you're here." Jean said. Amanda saw what was going on with her and wasn't having any of it.

"You and I need to talk." Amanda said as she grabbed Jean's arm and dragged her off.

"Okay. I'll see you around Pauli." Jean said.

"Dude, I'm telling you. Jean's into you." Harris said.

"Harris, Jean might have gone through some changes, but I highly doubt that she would like me that way." Paul said. Despite that little incident, the party went on and everyone was having a great time. Paul went up to a balcony to clear his head and saw the party continued outside.

"That was quite the case of show and tell." Paul looked behind him and saw Monica walking up to him and stood next to him.

"Hey, Monica. You got invited to?" Paul said.

"Yeah, but Thomas has been trying to hit on me. I'm no one's rebound." Monica said. "Everyone can't believe that you two were actually friends."

"Yeah, but he grew more and more arrogant and too fixated on sports." Paul said. "I didn't want anything to do with that until the point came where we just weren't friends anymore."

"And you never really told anyone?" Monica asked.

"He would have just denied it." Paul said. "Harris also has this crazy idea that Jean Gosmin has a crush on me."

"Are you kidding me, Jean?" Amanda said. The two of them were in the backyard and Amanda was talking to her about a matter she felt was serious. "It was one thing when you broke up with Thomas. It was another when you revealed you're actually a science nerd. However, you're crushing…on Porter?! That's where I draw the line."

"Amanda, you just don't get it." Jean said. "Paul's actually a great guy. My relationship with Thomas was based on peer pressure from you and others saying we should be together, but my feelings for Pauli are real."

"But why him?" Amanda said.

"You just don't see what I see." Jean said. "He convinced me I shouldn't be a shamed of my scientific brain and you should have seen him with that lizard monster. He was so brave." Amanda still did not approve.

"Well if you like him so much, why don't you go and tell him?" Amanda said.

"I think I might have some competition." Jean said as she looked to the balcony where Monica and Paul were and saw how close those two were getting.

"So what other secrets do you have?" Monica asked.

"Wouldn't you like to know." Paul said.

"Hey, I plan on being on television whether it be acting or a reporter and I'm going to need to know how to learn people's secrets." Monica said as she slid a little closer to him. "Besides, I like a little mystery." Paul felt some extra weight on him and he looked to see the problem.

"Uh….Monica, our hands." Paul said. Monica looked down and saw their hands were touching.

"Oh! Sorry!" Monica said as she pulled away, but she felt her heart beating and her face got a bit warm which she found a little strange. Paul just stood there until he felt his spider-sense go off. He looked over and saw a missile was heading their way.

"Get down!" Paul shouted as he pulled her down with him as the missile flew over everyone and it sounded like it exploded somewhere across the street.

"What was that?" Monica said. Everyone looked across the backyard and saw the fence get smashed down by Brutal entering the area.

"Brutal? What's he doing here?" Paul questioned.

"Spider-Man! I know you're here!" Brutal called out and Paul was afraid he discovered his secret and now everyone is in danger because of it.

"Hey!" Thomas called out. "This is my party you're ruining. What makes you think Spider-Man is here?"

"My tracker." Brutal said as he held it out. "I got a sample of his DNA and it says he's here."

"Monica, you help everyone get out. I'm going for….the police." Paul said and got out of there before she could even argue about it.

"Listen, this is my party and I don't like your crashing it. Porter is already doing that." Thomas said. "If you won't leave, I'll make you!" He charged in and was about to attack Brutal, but he felt something pulled him back.

"Easy, birthday boy." Paul said as he was able to change in his Spider-Man outfit. "You might be tough, but he's brutal. Get it? That's his name as well."

"Spidey! You're really here! Awesome!" Thomas said.

"You cracked your last joke." Brutal said as he was going to fire at him again.

"I'm the one you want. Let's take this somewhere else." Paul said and started to get out of there as fast as he could with Brutal getting after him. Paul was trying his best to lure Brutal out of the neighborhood, but there was a lot of ground to cover to find some place that had no people around.

"You're not going anywhere." Brutal said as he shot another missile at him. Paul saw it coming and used his webbing to redirect it as he pulled and steered it away from all the houses and it exploded in the air.

"Are you "that" demented? This is a good neighborhood with so many people. You're going to hurt someone." Paul said.

"I know. You." Brutal said as he was going to fire at him again.

"No you don't." Paul said as he leaped at Paul and drove his knee under his chin to keep him from firing it. "I thought my point would have gotten through to you after the last time we fought."

"Not even in the slightest and don't pull anything out about my family." Brutal said. "You don't know anything about them."

"I get it. You do this because of them." Paul said.

"Exactly. I have everything to gain and nothing to lose." Brutal said as he switched his launcher to its blade mode and tried to cut him down, but jumped out of the way.

"Except for all the innocent lives you could kill. Hilbert, I can tell you're a good guy." Paul said. "Don't do something so crazy."

"Just shut your mouth." Brutal said and was going to attack him again. Paul webbed a trash can and tossed it at Hilbert, but he just sliced it in half. "Is that the best you got?" He looked around, but saw he was gone. "It's no use in hiding." He pulled out his tracker, but it said he was still in the area.

"Here I am!" Paul said as he came down from above and tried placing him in a headlock.

"Get off me." Brutal said as he tried to shake him off. Paul used his strength in his legs and slammed it against his side to have him drop his weapon and he used his webs to stick to the ground. Brutal grabbed a hold of him and slammed Paul against the ground. He tried to stomp down on him, but Paul rolled out of the way. Brutal tried to hit him, but Paul jumped away. "You're not getting away." He pulled out a grenade and pulled the pin out with him tossing it.

"Oh shoot!" Paul said as he looked around for something. He webbed and open trash can and caught the grenade in it. He turned it upside down and webbed it down to contain the explosion. Brutal tried grabbing him, but Paul jumped out of the way just before the trash can exploded and knocked Brutal off his feet. Paul used this opportunity to web him down before he could get back up. Paul dug around for something and pulled it out of Brutal. "So this is how he tracked me down." He dropped the tracker and stomped down on it so he can't track him down anymore. "I'm sure this is one party Thomas is never going to forget."

…..

Thomas' Party

Everyone was still recuperating from that attack. Paul arrived back at the party and it looked like no one was hurt with his friends in the front yard.

"Pauli, there you are. What happened? Monica said you were getting the police." Jean said.

"Did you get scared and run to Mommy?" Thomas taunted.

"No. Unlike you, I have a job and I needed to get my camera." Paul said.

"Fine. Now get out of my house, Porter. You weren't suppose to be here anyway." Thomas said. Paul was getting annoyed already and didn't want to stay long anyway.

"Wait. Pauli, you…you don't really have to go."

"Fine. I just wanted to see why I was invited anyway." Paul said. "Let's go, Harris." Harris agreed since he wasn't going to last long by himself. Some seemed relieved that they were going, but Jean wasn't and decided to go for something because she was afraid of how Paul was feeling.

"Pauli, wait." Jean said and got them to stop.

"What is it?" Paul asked. Jean went for it as she ran over to Paul, grabbed him by the face, and kissed him. That was as big of a surprise as finding out Thomas and Paul were friends. Jean backed away and she didn't regret what she did.

"See you around." Jean asked with a blush face and proudly went back to the party.

"I told you so." Harris said.

"Shut up." Paul said. Certainly a birthday party no one will forget. Struggling with a normal life, fighting crazy criminals, and attracting the attention of girls you never thought would like you. That's the life of Spider-Man.