Peter Parker did not want to go back to school.

How would the people react? Would they be afraid of him? Would they treat him better and pretend to be his friend? Would they treat him like a zombie, coming back from the "dead"?

He would rather leave these questions unanswered, but he couldn't. He'd have to face this.

But at least he wouldn't have to face it alone. At least Ned would be there with him, and MJ.

Peter got out of bed and opened his drawer. He had never put much thought into his clothes - he had always just put on the first thing he saw - but today was different. He pulled out shirt after shirt - why were all of his clothes blue?! Finally he found one that was dark green. He didn't want to emphasize his other identity too much if he could avoid it. Sure, it was cool that he was Spider-Man, but people would already know about it and react likewise, and he didn't want to draw any additional attention to what he wished was still a secret. Pulling on jeans and his green shirt, grabbing his phone and keys and leaving, he tried to be as quiet as possible so as to not wake up his aunt. May had looked really tired, and Peter guessed that she hadn't slept much since his disappearance.

Peter stepped onto the bus and glanced around, sighing with relief when he saw that Ned was already there. He quickly walked over to where his friend was sitting and joined him, trying to ignore the fact that everyone on the bus was staring at him.

"Hey, man," Peter said. Ned said "Hey" back. Peter put his earbuds in and tuned out the world, pretending everything was normal.

Peter walked into school with the crowd of students from the bus, but it was different this time. He remembered the last time he'd been to school, about a week. People had bumped into him, pushing him aside so they could get in first, as if it mattered that much. Peter honestly didn't care enough to do anything about it, and he wanted to juxtapose between his two identities as much as possible, so he didn't push back. But today, no one bumped into him. At least several students stared at him when they thought he wasn't looking and then looked away quickly when he turned his head.

Peter stopped at his locker, trying to remember what books he needed that day, trying not to concentrate on the fact that his spider senses were telling him that he was being watched. Watched by a hundred eyes. Watched from every direction. Watched everywhere. His every movement was being scrutinized. Peter clenched his teeth and ignored it. He picked up his bags and turned around, jumping slightly at the sight of a tall, scrawny kid standing right behind him. He had been concentrating so hard on drowning out his spider senses that he didn't allow them to warn him that someone was standing right behind him.

After a second he recognized the student. Rory Alden. They had Algebra together. He was really quiet in class. Like Peter.

"Hey, uh..." Rory began. "I just wanted to say thanks..."

"What for?" Peter asked, confused.

"Uh... yeah of course you don't remember..." he shook his head, blushing slightly, absentmindedly pulling a string from his maroon sweater. "It was about two months ago—"

Then the memory came rushing back to him. "Oh right," Peter said suddenly, "the bridge."

Rory nodded, looking up at Peter with hope in his eyes. About two months prior, Spider-Man had saved Rory from an accident in which his car had been knocked off of a bridge. Spider-Man hadn't been able to save the car, just the guy in it. "Sorry about your car," Peter said.

Rory laughed and shook his head. "You saved my life," he said, emotionally. "'Thank you' doesn't really cover that, but, uh..." He finally ripped the string out of his sweater sleeve. "I've kinda been hoping that i would be able to know who Spider-Man was, or at least see him again, so i could thank him. Uh, you. Thank you. But seriously, thank you."

Peter smiled. "You're welcome." He turned back to his locker and locked it, the trace of a smile still on his face.

The bell rang. He followed Ned to physics class, thankful that he wouldn't have to go it alone.

Peter was the last one out of the classroom. Right as he was about to leave, his teacher, Mr. Brandet, stopped him. "Peter," he called, "Can I talk to you for a second?"

Peter turned around and walked back to his teacher's desk.

"Are you OK?" Mr. Brandet asked. "I can tell you've been through a lot in the past few days." Peter nodded.

"Ok good. If you need anything, let me know."

Peter nodded again. "Thank you." He stood there for a second. "Is there something you wanted to-"

"Yes, sorry," the teacher interrupted, smiling nervously. "I, uh, just wanted to say thank you. A while ago, you saved my daughter... I can't tell you how much that means to me. You probably get this a lot, but you really are a hero. She's 5, and she's been talking about you ever since. And i just wanted to say thank you, for saving Dalilah, and by extension, me."

Peter smiled. He didn't really know what to say. "You're welcome, of course. Uh-"

Then the bell rang. "Oh gosh," John Brandet said, "You should get to class. I'm so sorry for holding you up. Here's a pass," he said, handing Peter a slip of paper, "so you won't get in trouble for being late to your next class. I'll see you around, Peter." Peter nodded and smiled as he left the room.

After Spanish, Peter had a free period. He walked out of the classroom into the hall, where Flash stopped him. Oh great, he thought. What now? Peter had had many experiences with Flash, and not one of them had left a good impression.

"Hey Peter," Flash said, lacking his usual pompous, haughty confidence.

Peter turned to Flash and was surprised to see emotion and legitimate remorse in his eyes. "I just wanted to apologize to you."

"Because you regret being a jerk just because I'm Spider-Man?" It came out a little harsher than Peter had intended.

Flash winced. "That does seem like something i would do, doesn't it?" He sighed. "It's just... finding out your identity, hearing that you'd "died"? It made me realize how awful I'd been. Cause you were always such a good person. And here I was, treating you like garbage, too stupid to see that you're so much better than me." He swallowed. Peter didn't know how to react, so he just stood there, speechless. Flash continued carefully, "I know I don't deserve your forgiveness, but i just wanted to say that i'm sorry, and —"

"I forgive you."

"—what?" Flash looked up at Peter, not sure he'd heard right.

"I forgive you."

Flash tried to smile. "Thank you," he said quietly.

And in spite of it all, Flash was still embarrassed that he had just humbled himself, to a nerd no less. But he also realized that Peter had saved his life, and the lives of many others, and that he was lucky to know him. And somehow, that made it all worth it.

Through the rest of the day, most people treated him differently than before in one way or another. Some were afraid of him. Some suddenly wanted to be friends with him. Some treated him the same but gave him weird looks. Some thanked him or apologized, or both. Some asked to take a picture with him.

A lot of people stared at him, and to be honest, Peter couldn't blame them. It was kind of insane... he was alive, then he was dead, then he was alive again and surprise, he was Spider-Man the whole time! Who wouldn't be shocked and confused?

And this is how things went for a few days. Weeks, even. Maybe even months. But in spite of it all, Peter remained true to himself. The reputation of Spider-Man was a great thing, and Peter could so easily misuse it to gain popularity or "friends" or a number of other things, but he was better than that. He remembered a thing his Uncle Ben had told him before he died: "With great power comes great responsibility."