Chapter 4: New School, Same old Spider!

September 15th 20XX, First Day of M.A

Narrator's POV

"Are you sure you got everything?"

"Yeah, I triple checked."

"Web-shooters? Phone? Toothbrush?"

"May, I got everything!" He laughed

"Oh I know, it's just that... I'll miss you."

May Parker walked towards her nephew and pulled him into a hug, with tears in her eyes.

"Yeah, I'll miss you too. I'll call any time I can, alright?"

She let go of him after a minute and let him start to walk out the door.

"You better! And Peter?" She said in a soft voice.

Peter turned around with an eyebrow raised, "Yeah, May?"

She looked him up and down in his new uniform, a white, short-sleeved dress shirt with a red tie and blue dress pants, he also had red sneakers and a black undershirt, its sleeves covered up to his elbows.

"You look great, we're both proud of you," She said with a small smile as tears welled up in her eyes.

Peter's throat closed up as he hugged his aunt one last time before heading to school.

"Thanks, May." He said quietly as they both let go.

"Now get outta here! You have a school to excel at!" She said as she chuckled lightly.

"Alright! Bye May!" Peter jogged down the hall of his apartment building, waving goodbye to his aunt until he turned the corner.

He felt grateful that May had been there to see him off today, she had to go back to California for her job tomorrow so he felt guilty he might not be able to return the favor and see her off at the airport.

He sighed as he walked down the stairs towards the first floor, pulling out his phone to check the time the boy see that it was 6:00 AM.

He woke up at around 5:00 AM, he only needed to get his backpack since he had already moved into his dorm on campus.

He found it dumb that he couldn't just, you know, stay at his dorm the day before school starts? now he had to go all the way from the edge of Queens to a school off the coast of manhattan.

He needed to be there and in his class, which apparently was called class 1-A or something, in 2 hours. The train ride will probably take about an hour to get him there so he didn't worry.

As he walked to the station, he noticed a couple of kids his age looking at him with jealousy, he even noticed the deer headed guy he saved at the exam from the corner of his eye. And to be honest? he didn't blame them.

The first-year hero course at M.A only had 30 seats, if you didn't make the cut you'd be put into general education, which was a regular school course that gave you a chance to transfer to the hero course later.

M.A was probably the most highly acclaimed hero school on the east coast outside of the Xavier's academy east coast division in Bayville.

For those who didn't make the cut at all? that was it, no second chances. Some didnt even get the chance to apply to other schools so they had to leave the hero career behind. Peter felt a little bad about it, but he knew he shouldn't since he worked hard to get where he was.

As he stepped into his train car, he felt himself relax a bit. A couple young kids came up to him and asked him about M.A and his quirk, then got pulled away by who he assumed was their mom, he found the interaction adorable.

He felt someone take a seat next to him, he decided to not focus on it since it was probably some random person that didn't want conversation. Last time he tried to talk to someone on the train he nearly got punched, which was not cool if you asked him.

"Parker" A stoic voice spoke, making him jump.

"Oh shit! huh?" He calmed himself and turned to see that the one sitting next to him was none other than Laura, also known as wolverette and the second-best at what she does, and what she does isn't very nice.

She was wearing a similar uniform to him, the tie was more proper and she wore a blue skirt and black tights instead of pants. She still had the same emotionless look from the exam.

"Laura? what are you doing out here in queens?" He asked, confusion in his voice.

"I had business to attend to with Logan, he offered to give me a ride to M.A but I decided to take the train, and coincidentally found you." She said.

"Oh, cool. Wait, did you say Logan? as in Wolverine? Are you his secret love child or something?" He chuckled, making a joke.

A small smile appeared on her face a she looked out the window. "It's... complicated. He does train me, isn't that the same thing you do with Stark?" She said.

"He just gave me a small compound with stuff to train myself with, also how'd you know that?"

"He has mentioned that he took on an apprentice with spider powers, I am guessing that's you." She said as she tilted her head.

Peter didn't know why, but he felt like he was being interrogated. There was something about her way of speaking so proper and analytical that made him sit up straighter, as if he needed to make a good impression.

"I, uh, yeah! Yeah, that's me. After I got my powers and became a small-time vigilante he kinda showed up after..." He trailed off as he remembered that day, it amazed him that he even showed up to that rooftop with the emotional state he was at.

He felt a firm hand on his shoulder and turned to see Laura looking at him. Her cold, intimidating gaze had softened and she offered him a small smile to try and comfort him.

She looked good when she smiled.

'Where'd that come from?' He thought.

"You suffered a personal loss around that time and you feel you're at fault for it, right?" She said, her tone changed to a slightly warmer one.

Pete what taken aback, that was out of nowhere. He might as well get it over with, huh?

"Didn't know you could read minds, wolverette. What gave me away?" Peter said as he chuckled dryly. He didn't know why but every time he thought about how he was guilty about Ben's death, someone would show up and talk to him about it. Crazy how the world works, huh?

"I know that look, the one you had before you stopped talking. It was one filled with guilt and regret, I've had it before." She said as she looked at him, never taking her hand off his shoulder.

"I'm... sorry to hear that, guess we aren't so different, huh?" He said as he laughed slightly, Laura only hummed in response as she took her hand off his shoulder.

For reasons he didn't understand, Peter was sad at the loss of contact between the two teens.

They sat in peaceful silence for about 2 minutes before Peter started to wonder if he should try to make conversation. He felt bad that they just sat in silence after an emotional moment like the one they just had.

"Hey, Laura." He started.

Laura hummed in response and turned to look at him.

"You're in class 1-A, right? that's the class I got and it'd be nice to know if a friend was there, you know?" He asked with a smile.

Laura raised an eyebrow, her expression changing into one of slight surprise. Peter was sure it was the first time she showed emotion for more than a second.

She took a second before answering, her face developing a small smile.

"Yes, I'm glad we'll be classmates, Parker." She said.

"Dude, you don't gotta be so formal! Call me Peter." He said as he chuckled.

"Alright, Peter." She said, taking a second to take the sound of the name in.

She only referred to others as their last name. It was a habit she picked up from the facility during her training.

She was slightly confused by Peter. He seemed to be a bit of an idiot that had a carefree attitude, but she felt he had things he didn't like to talk about. She never really had any major interactions with people her age until about a month, so talking to him was a foreign feeling to her.

"Man, I gotta get you to be more casual this year, huh?" He said while he looked out the window.

"yeah..." She said mostly do herself.

'Friends, huh?' She thought.

She never really had 'friends' per se, mostly because she didn't see them as necessary since she spent her energy in training.

At first, it was weird when Pietro, Clayton, and Peter just randomly started to talk to her for reasons she didn't understand. While they could be annoying, and outright stupid at times, she realized it wasn't so bad having them around every now and then.

The train ride continued like this, with Peter initiating conversation with her and her doing her best to be social. He asked about things to get to know her better and said things about himself as well.

She felt slightly bad that she wasn't participating as much as she thought would be normal in a conversation, but Peter didn't seem to mind.

So they talked, or more like Peter talked and she sometimes responded with short sentences. Peter made jokes, talked about nearly anything that came into his mind at that moment, be it, heroes, why she wanted to go to M.A, what she likes, movies, music, anything.

As Laura was telling him what type of coffee she liked, the train came to their stop, which promoted both of them to get off and start walking towards M.A.

"Hey, sorry if I talked too much, it's a bad habit, you know? I hope it didn't annoy you or anything, man" Peter said sincerely as they crossed the street in front of the school's main gate.

"It's fine, I like people who talk a lot, my childhood was a bit of a quiet one." She said as they passed the school gate.

"Oh, you're in luck! Talking is my secondary quirk!" The boy laughed at his own joke.

She smiled at this, she never liked silence so It'd be nice to be around people who could fill it.

The campus could mostly be described as that of a college, but way bigger. It had pathways surrounded by trees and grass that connected the main buildings, Peter wouldn't be surprised if it had its own ecosystem.

Peter could see the main school building in the distance as they walked, and he started to get more and more nervous as time passed by, this was gonna be the next big step in his life, after all.

"You're nervous, aren't you?" Laura said as they continued walking.

"I mean, aren't you?"

"Not really, I am confident in my abilities. You got the top score on the exam, correct? what is there to be nervous about?" She asked

Peter didn't know that other people knew how he did in the exam. He thought that he was only told cause he got the spot, but maybe being close to wolverine got you information.

He decided he'd not even question how she knew that, he started to feel like he had a SHIELD file out there somewhere, which would be both cool and creepy.

"I guess, I just can't help it, you know?" He said as he chuckled dryly. She really did have a way with words, huh?

"I think you'll be fine, Peter." She said in a soft tone while showing him a small smile.

*BA-DUMP!*

Peter felt his heart skip a beat, and his face heat up slightly.

'Oh, man! Not even a foot inside my new school and already started blushing cause of a girl, this isn't good!' He thought as he looked away so Laura didn't notice his blush.

"Are you alright, Peter? You seem a little red." She asked with slight concern in her voice.

"Me? Uh, yeah! I'm fine, just great!" He said with a smile, Laura only hummed and nodded in response.

After about 2 minutes of walking, they reached the main school building. Its halls were white and proper, it didn't have lockers like his middle school or any type of trash lying around. Maybe this was what 'excelsior' meant.

As Peter and Laura walked, Peter noticed something that for some reason stuck out to him.

When they were going up to the second floor, Peter saw a picture of an old man with white hair and aviator glasses along with the biggest and friendliest smile he'd ever seen.

The words: 'Excelsior!- Stanley Martin Lieber. Beloved janitor, founder, and friend.' were inscribed into the plaque in golden letters. Peter felt a sense of sadness that he couldn't explain when he looked at it.

"Peter, is something wrong?" Laura asked when she noticed that Peter had stopped walking.

"huh? No... Just got a sense of deja vu, sorry." He said as he caught up with her.

Peter could have sworn he knew that man from somewhere, but he couldn't remember where.

"Peter! Laura! Wait up!" A voice called out to the pair, making them turn around only to see a silver-haired boy running towards them, a blonde boy following closely behind.

Both boys were wearing the same uniform as Peter, but Pietro's tie seemed messy and rushed

"Pietro! Clayton! What's up?" Peter asked as he fist-bumped the two boys when they finally caught up to them.

"Eh, nothing much. I ran into Clayton on my way here, and with you guys here the gang's back together!" Pietro said with a grin.

"It is nice to see both of you again, we were headed towards class 1-A," Laura said.

"Cool, we are too," Clayton said with a smile.

"Sick! Let's go there together!" Pietro said as he put his arm around Peter's shoulder.

The group walked down the hallway, talking and catching up. They were about 20 feet away from a doorway with '1-A' paints on it before a voice called out to them, one of them in particular, to be exact.

"Pietro!" A girl who had a Romanian accent called out.

Peter turned to see a girl with Auburn hair and green eyes, she was seemed to be about 5'3 in height.

Peter looked at the girl for a second longer and noticed the state she was in, she seemed fine but when he looked closer he could see heavy bags under her eyes, as if she hadn't slept in days.

She also seemed a bit... rattled in his opinion, she looked around with a sense of caution as if she expected someone to attack her right there

"Oh, Wanda! Hey! Guys, this is Wanda Maximoff, my twin sister."

The group waved towards the girl as she approached, they noticed that she narrowed her eyes at them slightly.

She looked the three teens up and down, she turned to Pietro and said "Frate, cine sunt acești oameni? Sunt prietenii tăi?" In a language they assumed to be Romanian.

"Hm? Yeah! We met at the exam, they're in class in 1-A with me. These are Peter, Clayton, and Laura." Pietro quickly introduced the group in a friendly manner.

Peter extended out a hand towards the girl and said "Hey! It's cool to meet you, Pietro told us a lot about you." In a friendly tone as he offered the girl a smile.

The girl looked at his hand with caution in her eyes and completely ignored the gesture. She simply turned to Pietro as if they weren't even there and said "Eu ... trebuie să plec, nu vreau să întârziez în prima mea zi, noroc frate."

She turned to the group one last time and walked off towards what they assumed was the 1-B classroom, leaving everyone outside of Pietro with a look of confusion.

"I- I'm sorry about her, she's not a social person. Sorry if she came off as rude." He apologized as he chuckled awkwardly.

"Hey, it's cool. We don't wanna make her uncomfortable or anything." Clayton said as he patted Pietro on the back reassuringly.

They decided not to comment on the bags under her eyes since they didn't wanna come off as rude.

They took a few more steps towards the 1-A door, Peter felt his heart rate increasing the closer he got to the classroom, he felt as if he'd die the second he stepped foot through that door.

Taking a deep breath, he opened the incredibly large door for his group only to see...

A completely normal classroom.

It had students sitting around in desks and talking, that was it.

No supervillains or robots, no men in armor or gods with magic hammers.

Just a regular classroom, with regular students sitting in regular desks.

"Dude, Peter!" A familiar voice called out to the boy.

Flash Thompson stood from his desk and approached him with a smile, he was glad that his friend had made it in.

"Flash! Hey man! How have you been?" Peter asked as the two teens fist-bumped

"I'm great, a little bummed out that Liz got into 1-B, to be honest, but I'm not too mad about it," He said as the two boys walked into the room.

Kamala, who was talking to 2 boys he didn't recognize and a girl that seemed familiar, gave a quick wave before she returned to her conversation.

Flash gave Peter one last smile and a pat on the shoulder before he headed towards the other end of the classroom and joined a group of 2 boys and a girl,

Peter and his group took seats around the back of the classroom and dropped their backpacks.

Peter took his seat in the middle of his friends and noticed a Hispanic boy with a white streak on his hair typing on his phone, he focused his eyes and saw that he was talking to someone named 'Gabe'.

'That guy gives me a vibe that I can explain... I gotta stop analyzing people that I barely know' Peter thought to himself, he decided to text May that he made it to school safely so she wouldn't worry.

5 minutes passed as the kids talked and got to know each other, the sound of the classroom door opening snapped everyone out of their conversations.

In walked a man dressed in a red and black suit that resembled that of a ninja's with horns on his helmet and red eyes.

"Good morning class, my name is Matthew Murdock, but you may refer to me as Daredevil for the time being." The man spoke in a calm and collected voice.

"I shall be the homeroom teacher for your class for the next 4 years, I am looking forward to seeing your abilities and helping you become pro heroes. We have exactly 1 hour and 30 minutes before we go to orientation in the auditorium, so meet me out in the track field in 10 minutes after you put on the PE uniforms in the locker room." And with that statement, the man walked back out of the room.

The class sat in silence for a couple seconds until someone decided to say what they were all thinking.

"huh?"

(Hey! sorry for the wait, but im excited to say that we have now started what I call the "First Week" arc! It'll be about the quirk test to show off everyone's abilities and then a breather chapter at the dorms. After this arc, we'll go to the battle training arc, in which will be teams of five students consisting of class A and B students going against each other! See ya next time!)