Perenna once might not have minded having Eddie dancing with her, but she couldn't deny that this felt too personal. The kiss had changed things; here she thought Eddie had gotten over her. Or was she just being paranoid? Either way, she took the chance too leave when she saw Ben, Gwen and Mary Jane coming up the steps. "Sorry, but I really wanna show Mary Jane around."

The blond raised a brow, a strained smile on his face. "Did she know you were a girl?"

Perenna frowned. "Yes." she then added something more teasing. "You jealous?"

Eddie frowned. "Kinda hard not to be. First Harry likes you, then this Ben guy follows you around, there was a crush you had on Max, and now this new girl."

Perenna sighed heavily. She glanced over and saw people had noticed that the trio arrived, and frowned up at Eddie. "We'll talk after, okay?" she patted his arm reassuringly. "You're still one of my best friends."

She turned away, but cringed when he muttered, "I used to be your only friend" though kept going. Perenna forced a smile onto her lips as she met up with Mary Jane. "So, how 'bout I show you around?"

Mary Jane smiled and linked arms with Perenna again. "Lets make the most of the time then before you ditch me then."

Perenna flushed. "Sorry, but sometimes I get called away by...work."

The redhead hummed. "Sure, whatever you say."

Perenna's smile became more real, and went about introducing Mary Jane to the faculty. She spied Ben sullenly milling about while Gwen tried to talk to Eddie, who also looked ticked off. A twinge of guilt gnawed at Perenna, but she was torn away by another group approaching.

Stealing herself, Perenna held back another sigh. "Mary Jane," she drawled and gestured to the group, "this is Flash, Liz, Randy, Sally, Kenny, Glory, and," here a fonder tone laced her words, "my one of my best friends, Harry. Everyone, this is Mary Jane Watson."

Mary Jane looked between Perenna and the group, amusement in her voice. "Ah, the cool crowd."

"Exactly." Sally said, crossing her arms in exasperation.

Harry's eyes finally looked up from Mary Jane's arm slipped through Perenna's, and glanced up at the brunnette's face. "So she's your date?" There was an odd crack in his voice, and it worried her.

At that, Flash began chuckling almost nervously and went around Perenna and Mary Jane before sliding his arms over their shoulder. Perenna scowled. "No hard feelings, right Parker? You're not gonna tell Benny about this, are you?"

Perenna snorted and shrugged his arm off. "Sorry," she said sarcastically, "but 'Benny' came here with us." she saw the redhead raising a brow, and explained, "Ben and Flash bet that I couldn't get a date to the fall formal, loser goes as a cheerleader for Halloween."

Mary Jane grinned as she also shrugged Flash's arm off. "Hope you got the legs for a skirt," she teased, and then grabbed Perenna's hand, "let's dance, Tigress!"

Perenna let out a surprised gasp as she was pulled onto the gym floor, and was glad she hadn't worn heels. It felt awkward dancing next to Mary Jane, who moved so much more gracefully than her awkward motions.

For once, Perenna was almost glad her cell phone rang. "Hello?" Once the words, 'pictures' and 'masked-wearing maniac' hit her, she heaved a sigh. "Got it." she put away her phone, and looked apologetically at Mary Jane. "Sorry, looks like Ben was right."

"Don't worry, I'm sure I can find someone to dance with." The redhead said.

Perenna smiled and made for the exit, but didn't notice Ben hadn't followed her.

'Can't follow, got to do something else.' Ben repeated that to himself as he saw Perenna dash out the door, and narrowed his eyes when he saw Gwen head for the punch bowl. Now was the time. "Brock, we need to talk."

The blond scowled and crossed his arms. "I got nothing to say to you."

"Wrong, we both know you got plently to say to me, so why don't you stop your emo mooping and spit it out?" Ben snapped.

Brock finally let his lips curl back into a snarl. "You want the truth? Ever since you came around, Perry's been leaving me hanging. At least with Harry I knew he'd never have the guts to spit anything out."

Ben sneered. "You are seriously messed up if you think I like Perenna more than a friend. She's just that, and guess what-that's all you are to her too!" He tensed when Brock stepped forward, and forcibly kept Toxin in check.

"What are you two doing?"

Ben breathed in deep when Gwen interrupted, and Brock backed off. He still glared at Ben, but smiled at the other blond. "Nothing, just having a friendly chat."

"Are you sure? It didn't look all that friendly." Gwen said dubiously.

Ben smiled forcefully. "He's right, just having chat." he held out his hand. "Wanna dance?"

"You gonna run off like Perry did?" Gwen asked dryly.

Ben chuckled as she grabbed his hand. "Not tonight."

"There," Spider-Woman grinned as the Green Goblin was webbed in a net that was now attached to a wall, "that ought to hold you."

The crook began laughing, fingers gripping the holes in the net. "You may have caught me, Arachne, but whose going to disable the special surprise I left for the esteem elite?"

Spider-Woman's blood ran cold. All the stupid spider puns didn't change the fact this guy was a psycho. "A bomb? You left a bomb at the gala?!"

Green Gobling only cackled again. "Any minute now the creme-de-la-creme of New York are going to paint the town red-well, the ballroom anyway!"

Spider-Woman's fists shook. "You-you!" she snarled and swung off, hoping she could make it back to the gala. She'd have to circle back, and knew there was only a slim chance that Goblin would still be there. It would be just her luck. 'Please, let that be the only bad luck I'll have tonight.'

Making her way into the gala, she dodged the laser fire. "Seriously? Your boss left a bomb in here! You all have to leave!"

"Don't think so, webhead!"

Spider-Woman gritted her teeth. "This place will blow, up to every blasted fragment of you!"

From the crowd, Lincoln stepped up, his face composed as he adjusted his tie. "And do you want to add another mistake? When you've already made so many?"

The thugs looked at each other through their pumpkin masks. "Let's cut and run!"

Spider-Woman sighed in relief, and helped escort people out before she began looking through the room. "Come on, where is it!" she heard a crash, and found Lincoin searching through a potted plant. "Never took you for the type to stick around."

"My party, my mess." Lincoln retorted.

Spider-Woman frowned, but kept on looking. "Where-"

"Spider-Woman!" The woman looked to the entrance where Jameson's son was standing. "The chandelier!"

Looking up briefly, the woman glanced down at the man. "Great, now you'd better get out of here." The man nodded, and Spider-Woman jumped onto the ceiling above the chandelier. It was a pumpkin-because of course it was-that was blinking rapidly.

Spider-Woman webbed the bomb and hurled it through the broken window. She jumped to the ground after it exploded mid-air, and dusted her hands off. "Score another win."

Slow clapping rang behind her, and she glared at Lincoln. "You know applause from you...makes me wanna take a shower."

"Perhaps, but someone should point out I offered you a handsome salary to do just the sort of thing you did tonight. And instead, you've done the Big Man's business for free. That, my heroic friend, is what grown-ups call irony." Lincoln replied and Spider-Woman gritted her teeth.

She didn't reply as footsteps rushed up, and when she saw it was Jameson, there was no way she was sticking around to be called a menace. Spider-Woman snagged her camera, and made her way back to where she left the Goblin hanging.

With little surprise, all she found was a net slashed through. 'Don't worry, I'll get you next time-that's a promise.'