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It is not right to judge a man
By hasty glance or passing whim,
Or think that first impressions can
Tell all there is to know of him
- Alfred Grant Walton
So, where to start with Peter? I guess the first thing worth noting about him is that he wasn't the kind of guy who would walk into a room full of people in the middle of something and grab their attention just by being there. No, he was very much the 'dissolve into the back of the class' or 'become one with the crowd' kind of person, which I suppose could be said about most people I know but with Peter that only told half the story. At a glance, he was someone who hardly caught anybody's eye and even I made the mistake in those first few months of relegating him to that boy in school who every girl somewhat knew because of his ability to get homework done on time and some even thought was kind of cute but would never actually go out with him if the opportunity arose, because lo and behold, he was a loser who got the shit kicked out of him by bigger kids than him, and the word was, he had weird uninteresting hobbies. In a nutshell, we all thought he was a nice, decent guy from afar but no one actually thought he was nice enough to become friends with, and like everyone else I ran afoul of those same rumors amongst the groups I hung out with and unjustly so, that became my impression of him as well.
Then, the odd thing happened where Gwen Stacy, the prettiest, smartest, and cleverest girl in our grade started going out with him, and none of us could make sense of how that came about. It became a serious topic of conversation amongst the school circles when people saw the pair of them hanging around the empty locker room or up in the bleachers during cheerleading practice or in the diner across the street where they would get a coffee and you could see them in there through the frosted glass panes of the shop after school was over for the day and again, those same whispers would fill the air around me – "How the hell did this happen?" and no one would have an answer. I have to admit that people grew incredibly nosey around the fact that Peter and Gwen were supposedly a so-called 'thing', an item per se, and it would be unfair to say the reasons for it were all down to Peter and how unpopular he was amidst certain sections of people.
I remember one day during recess while I happened to be standing in the long queue in the cafeteria, Liz Allan, who was the person ahead of me, turned to me all of a sudden with her empty tray and said, "So, who the hell is this Peter Parker guy?" and I nearly choked on my drink before looking over my shoulder at the jam-packed hall and then turning back to her and saying, "Jesus, don't be such a dick. He could be listening!" and she just fixed me with an innocent stare – "No, I'm being serious. I really don't know who he is," and for a second I wasn't sure whether to believe her. Eventually, I did because later that day, she would be shocked to learn that she had been attending classes with Peter for the best part of two years without ever knowing that the boy in the spectacles, and the turtleneck sweaters, carrying the heavy books from classroom to classroom, had been him all along. "That guy?" she asked, mouth hanging open in surprise as I pointed him out to her from a distance - "Yep," I said, "That's the guy."
I guess that just goes to show how much of a non-entity he was back then. I think it also goes to show why the inane clamoring around the newfound relationship that Peter had found himself in with Gwen had built up such steam because everyone was thinking the same thing around that time – "Who would go out with Peter Parker in their right mind?" Well that, and the fact that he was dating Gwen Stacy – the school starlet, had made this a sensational piece of news in the Midtown High gossip columns because no matter how you looked at it, Gwen wasn't the type of person you'd envision going out with someone like Peter. It was more a matter of comparing public profiles and relative status in our little gossip chambers than a real inability on their part.
She was, after all, one of those drop-dead gorgeous beauties, who I'd pegged down as the dumb blonde type gal you see in all those Miss Universe adverts on TV. But a pretty face wasn't all she was. I would find out much later from word of mouth around camp that she was top brass ivy-league material. Her test grades were always full of straight A's, and she could quite easily get into whatever university she wanted to because of that stellar academic record she'd maintained for years. She was brilliant in every possible way, so naturally, we all thought that Peter had landed someone who was, on the surface, way out of his league. In fact, even her last boyfriend was one of those typical All-American jocks who ran as the high school quarterback in the football team, a jerk named Flash Thompson who regularly beat up Peter in the locker room or in the gym class or in the corridors outside the toilet when the teachers weren't looking. With such an endless list of odds stacked against him, it really looked like he had accomplished an impossible mission by becoming Gwen Stacy's boyfriend and that's why everyone kept talking about it in hushed undertones whenever they were close.
The novelty wore off pretty soon though. Because like it happens with most of these things the smoke cleared away after the first few weeks, and inevitably, once the initial hullaballoo was gone, all of a sudden, it looked like everyone had other things on their mind than Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy. Well, everyone except me, because one fine afternoon while I was returning a book I'd borrowed from the library, I ran into the pair of them unabashedly making out in between the aisles of two stocked shelves where the librarian had no easy view into. I say I ran into them but it was more like catching two perps red-handed in the middle of a first-degree felony because the moment I stumbled onto the scene, they instantly separated themselves from each other whilst blushing head to toe, their clothes creased and crumpled like a tremendous gale had blown them sideways.
"Hey, MJ," Peter said once he'd composed himself into shape.
"Hey," I said before sliding the book in my hand onto the shelf behind him nearly cornering him in the process. Then, with a wink towards the flustered Gwen by his side, I turned and walked away quite pleased with myself.
On my way back though, a different kind of question slowly entered my mind. One that I'd never thought of before and it was built more out of the look I'd seen on Gwen's face just a moment ago than anything else. It went something like, "What did Gwen Stacy see in Peter Parker that wasn't obvious to the rest of us?" and it was that subtle shift in perspective that suddenly threw new light on the topic that had fascinated us for nearly half a month. Not that I obsessed over it or anything like that but it was a different take worth thinking about and I did. Because while I was lying in bed that evening trying to get some sleep but failing miserably to do so, it occurred to me that either Gwen Stacy was an idiot and we were right about Peter Parker being a nobody, or, there must be far more to him than meets the eye and we just couldn't see it and Gwen could. And I don't know why but the second line of reasoning seemed more plausible to me.
Though that did make me wonder, once again, what she saw in him, as I lay in my bed looking at the shutter-light across my ceiling, because I couldn't see it at all.
At least, not yet.