Chapter 3
Peter was riding the roof of a city bus in his Spider-Man costume. In this part of the neighborhood, there was no tall buildings with ledges that he could shoot a web line on to allow him to swing. Finally, the bus turned the corner and began driving down the street where Aunt May lived. Peter stood up and flipped off the bus to land on his feet. Spider-Man ran to the side of the first house of the corner and leaped up onto the roof.
From there, Peter ran to the other end of the roof and leaped across to land on the next roof. He jumped over to three more buildings before landing on the roof that belonged to Aunt May's house. Peter jumped off the roof, landing in the small back yard. There, he opened the window to his room where he was sleeping and crawled in.
Once he was in, he closed the window behind him. He reached for the lamp on the dresser across from the bed and turned it on. His room was dimly lit, just enough for him to get out of his costume.
Before he could take his mask off, the door silently opened and in walked Aunt May. "Peter, are you…Ahhh!" She screamed in horrer. Peter had no time to react, all he could do was stand there in shock. "What have you done with Peter, you monster!"
"Aunt May, it's me! I am Peter!" Peter took a step closer to Aunt May.
"Stay away from me!" she screamed in horror, taking a step back.
"Aunt May, don't you recognize my voice?" Peter took his right hand and grabbed his mask from his neck and pulled it over his face and off his head. "See, it's me, Aunt May."
Her face showed even more horror than before. "No, it can't be! I refuse to believe it! I will not believe it!" She closed her eyes and shook her head franticly. Suddenly she gasped and she reached for her heart. Breathing became nearly impossible for her as she collapsed to the ground.
"Aunt May, No!"
~ ~ ~ ~
"Aunt May, No!" Peter scream shooting up from leaning over the desk. His face was drenched in cold sweat. His heart raced a mile a minute in her chest. It had been another nightmare. Nightmares for Peter had been becoming more frequent these past months. He didn't know why these nightmares were becoming more frequent.
Peter at that moment, realized that daylight was filling his apartment. He looked over to the digital clock on the desk that he sat at to see the clock read seven in the morning. He looked down at the essay that he had been writing to see that he was only half way done. He had fallen asleep in the middle of writing his essay, and now he had to rush off to school, with his assignment incomplete. He did not the time to even eat breakfast; if he left right now, he would just make to his first class. The essay was due three hours from now.
He had no time to feel upset about failing another homework assignment. Peter jumped to his feet and grabbed all his books on his desk and threw them into his backpack on the table. He zipped it closed and ran out of the apartment.
* * * *
His first class of the day was now over as the bell rang. The professor had announced that the midterm grades were now posted up on the chalk board. As soon as the bell had rang, he was the first to jump out of his seat and race to the chalkboard. Peter looked for his school ID number and when he found it, he looked all the way to the right to see his score of 85/128.
Peter's heart sank as he stared at his low score. He found himself being pushed out of the way by other students who wanted to see their score. "An eighty-five?" Peter said in shock. "That's a D!"
Granted, he did not have a lot of time to study, but he thought he did better than that just going by his own knowledge. This grade showed him that he was in far more serious danger of flunking than he thought. This brought his grade to 400/650. That was barley a D-! It would take 4 perfect tests to get his grade back up to a C-. There were only four more exams before the final exam, and Peter was yet to get a perfect score on a test.
Peter walked out of the classroom, dazed and confused. Under great distress, Peter was at a loss at what to do to save this semester for himself. This class was not the only one he was in danger of failing. Out of the five classes this semester, three of them were in danger. It was enough to have him tossed out of college for good. What could he do to turn things around?
* * * *
It was three in the afternoon after he finished his last class for the day. He headed straight for the Dailey Bugle. As soon as Peter got there, he was called in by his boss, J. Jonah Jameson. Peter sat in the seat across from his boss who sat behind his desk smoking his cigar. He stared down at Peter, making Peter feel a little nervous.
"I hired you full time because you have a way with a camera, especially when it comes to that masked freak, Spider-Man. Now, you better have a good reason why I haven't received one front page photo from you in over a month."
"Things have been relatively quiet around here recently," Peter said calmly.
J. Jameson nodded. "I would tend to agree with you to a point, but the main reason is that you are beginning to slack off. There is a story here in the Daily Bugle of a fight between that Spider-Man and a loony old man who calls himself the Vulture. It's in page 2 of the Daily Bugle. It would have been number one if you had delivered a picture like you usually do."
Peters eyes widen. Oh, God! It totally slipped his mind to bring his camera and take pictures of his fight with the Vulture. His boss was right, there was no excuse for making this bad of a mistake.
"I dunno what's going on with you, kid, and frankly, I don't care. I gave you a full time job to take top quality pictures, and you have failed to do so for that past month."
"Sir, I apologize. I will work harder to get you top quality photos. I promise you that. I've just been going through a hard time this past month, that's all."
"Don't give me you sob stories, Parker!" J. Jameson snapped putting his cigarette on the ash tray. "All day today, I was looking forward to saying to you that you are fired, but against my better judgment, I allowed Robbie to talk me to an alternative decision."
Peter looked out the glass wall to see Robbie glancing in at them. He showed great concern about their conversation. Robbie and Peter had become good friends since he came to work full time at the Daily Bugle. Peter had a feeling, that he was going to owe Robbie big time for this.
"Against my better judgment, I giving you two weeks off to get your life straightened out. By then, I expect you to be taking top quality photos once again. If you don't, not even Robbie will be able to save your job. Get out of here Parker, before I change my mind."
Peter was riding the roof of a city bus in his Spider-Man costume. In this part of the neighborhood, there was no tall buildings with ledges that he could shoot a web line on to allow him to swing. Finally, the bus turned the corner and began driving down the street where Aunt May lived. Peter stood up and flipped off the bus to land on his feet. Spider-Man ran to the side of the first house of the corner and leaped up onto the roof.
From there, Peter ran to the other end of the roof and leaped across to land on the next roof. He jumped over to three more buildings before landing on the roof that belonged to Aunt May's house. Peter jumped off the roof, landing in the small back yard. There, he opened the window to his room where he was sleeping and crawled in.
Once he was in, he closed the window behind him. He reached for the lamp on the dresser across from the bed and turned it on. His room was dimly lit, just enough for him to get out of his costume.
Before he could take his mask off, the door silently opened and in walked Aunt May. "Peter, are you…Ahhh!" She screamed in horrer. Peter had no time to react, all he could do was stand there in shock. "What have you done with Peter, you monster!"
"Aunt May, it's me! I am Peter!" Peter took a step closer to Aunt May.
"Stay away from me!" she screamed in horror, taking a step back.
"Aunt May, don't you recognize my voice?" Peter took his right hand and grabbed his mask from his neck and pulled it over his face and off his head. "See, it's me, Aunt May."
Her face showed even more horror than before. "No, it can't be! I refuse to believe it! I will not believe it!" She closed her eyes and shook her head franticly. Suddenly she gasped and she reached for her heart. Breathing became nearly impossible for her as she collapsed to the ground.
"Aunt May, No!"
~ ~ ~ ~
"Aunt May, No!" Peter scream shooting up from leaning over the desk. His face was drenched in cold sweat. His heart raced a mile a minute in her chest. It had been another nightmare. Nightmares for Peter had been becoming more frequent these past months. He didn't know why these nightmares were becoming more frequent.
Peter at that moment, realized that daylight was filling his apartment. He looked over to the digital clock on the desk that he sat at to see the clock read seven in the morning. He looked down at the essay that he had been writing to see that he was only half way done. He had fallen asleep in the middle of writing his essay, and now he had to rush off to school, with his assignment incomplete. He did not the time to even eat breakfast; if he left right now, he would just make to his first class. The essay was due three hours from now.
He had no time to feel upset about failing another homework assignment. Peter jumped to his feet and grabbed all his books on his desk and threw them into his backpack on the table. He zipped it closed and ran out of the apartment.
* * * *
His first class of the day was now over as the bell rang. The professor had announced that the midterm grades were now posted up on the chalk board. As soon as the bell had rang, he was the first to jump out of his seat and race to the chalkboard. Peter looked for his school ID number and when he found it, he looked all the way to the right to see his score of 85/128.
Peter's heart sank as he stared at his low score. He found himself being pushed out of the way by other students who wanted to see their score. "An eighty-five?" Peter said in shock. "That's a D!"
Granted, he did not have a lot of time to study, but he thought he did better than that just going by his own knowledge. This grade showed him that he was in far more serious danger of flunking than he thought. This brought his grade to 400/650. That was barley a D-! It would take 4 perfect tests to get his grade back up to a C-. There were only four more exams before the final exam, and Peter was yet to get a perfect score on a test.
Peter walked out of the classroom, dazed and confused. Under great distress, Peter was at a loss at what to do to save this semester for himself. This class was not the only one he was in danger of failing. Out of the five classes this semester, three of them were in danger. It was enough to have him tossed out of college for good. What could he do to turn things around?
* * * *
It was three in the afternoon after he finished his last class for the day. He headed straight for the Dailey Bugle. As soon as Peter got there, he was called in by his boss, J. Jonah Jameson. Peter sat in the seat across from his boss who sat behind his desk smoking his cigar. He stared down at Peter, making Peter feel a little nervous.
"I hired you full time because you have a way with a camera, especially when it comes to that masked freak, Spider-Man. Now, you better have a good reason why I haven't received one front page photo from you in over a month."
"Things have been relatively quiet around here recently," Peter said calmly.
J. Jameson nodded. "I would tend to agree with you to a point, but the main reason is that you are beginning to slack off. There is a story here in the Daily Bugle of a fight between that Spider-Man and a loony old man who calls himself the Vulture. It's in page 2 of the Daily Bugle. It would have been number one if you had delivered a picture like you usually do."
Peters eyes widen. Oh, God! It totally slipped his mind to bring his camera and take pictures of his fight with the Vulture. His boss was right, there was no excuse for making this bad of a mistake.
"I dunno what's going on with you, kid, and frankly, I don't care. I gave you a full time job to take top quality pictures, and you have failed to do so for that past month."
"Sir, I apologize. I will work harder to get you top quality photos. I promise you that. I've just been going through a hard time this past month, that's all."
"Don't give me you sob stories, Parker!" J. Jameson snapped putting his cigarette on the ash tray. "All day today, I was looking forward to saying to you that you are fired, but against my better judgment, I allowed Robbie to talk me to an alternative decision."
Peter looked out the glass wall to see Robbie glancing in at them. He showed great concern about their conversation. Robbie and Peter had become good friends since he came to work full time at the Daily Bugle. Peter had a feeling, that he was going to owe Robbie big time for this.
"Against my better judgment, I giving you two weeks off to get your life straightened out. By then, I expect you to be taking top quality photos once again. If you don't, not even Robbie will be able to save your job. Get out of here Parker, before I change my mind."