Part Two

Nearly a week had passed without further incident. Peter kept away from MJ for the most part. When he saw her in the hallways all he able to manage was a polite nod before going on his way.

It was on a Friday morning something happened. As he walked the long road to school much as he did every day an impressively beautiful car drove up alongside him. The window suddenly lowered revealing the face of Harry Osborn behind the glass, "Going to school?"

Peter was slightly surprised to see his friend this morning and smiled, "Yeah." He meekly responded.

"Get in." Harry suggested indicating that they were both heading in the same direction. He opened the door revealing the interior of the car.

Peter noticed a larger older man inside the car but entered anyway. He sat beside Harry and found himself facing the man. He turned an inquisitive glance towards Harry. The car began to move again and soon was traversing the streets of Queens.

"Dad, this is a friend from school, Peter Parker." Harry informed his father before turning his attention to Peter, "My dad."

"Oh." Peter responded with a nod, "Good to meet you, sir." Peter extended his hand towards the father.

He didn't return the gesture, "Norman Osborn." He said dryly. "Harry's mentioned you before, he say's you're his friend. Is that correct?"

Peter raised both his eyes and nodded after a moment, "Yeah, I'd say so."

Norman seemed to be studying Peter since the moment he entered the car, "I see." An awkward moment swept over the car until Norman broke the silence, "What do you do?"

"Sir?"

"What are you good at?" Norman said with some annoyance in his tone.

Peter nodded suddenly and somewhat nervously, "Well, I've been granted a scholarship to the New York University for science when I get to college."

Norman smiled, "Oh really, I went to NYU. That's impressive, which scholarship?"

"The Einstein Achievement Award." Peter responded.

Norman's smile became a grin and he leaned in suddenly interested in Harry's friend, "I received that very scholarship after high school."

"You did?" Peter asked.

"Yes." Norman turned an eye towards Harry, "Your friend seems to be a scholar."

Peter chuckled, "I don't know if I'd say that."

Norman shook his head, "Don't be ashamed of your achievements, boy. When you have a gift you must use it to seize the moment or otherwise it'll go to waste."

"I'll do that."

The car suddenly came to a stop and Norman gazed out the window realizing they were at the school. He opened the door and leaned back giving the students enough room to leave, "Nice to meet you, Mr. Parker."

Peter smiled, "It was good meeting you two sir." He exited the car.

Harry left the car and turned around to face his father, "I'll see you later, dad."

Without responding Norman slammed the door shut and ordered the driver to head for the office without so much as another word.

"Hey, Peter." Michael Hen called to the student just as he reached his locker, "I need you to do some math work for me pronto, I didn't know we had homework and I can't figure this crap out."

Peter turned around faced Hen directly, "Then you should have been paying attention in class."

Hen frowned but shrugged at the comment and persisted, "I really need your help on this one, man. If I don't get it done then I'll get detention and be forced to miss a friend's sweet sixteen."

"That's a shame." Peter responded.

"What?" Michael grabbed Peter's arm forcefully, "Come on, man. I need your help."

Peter easily brushed Michael's arm off and faced down the pothead, "I have things of my own to do."

"You can't just leave me like this!" He declared suddenly afraid that his afternoon would be ruined.

Peter raised an eye and shrugged, "Watch me."

"What's up with your arm?" Harry asked as he sat opposite from Peter at their table in the lunchroom.

He raised an eye in response as he sipped milk through a straw that had been inserted through a whole in the small carton.

"Your arm, its like twisted around." Harry pointed out gazing at his friend's arm bent in a way that seemed painful.

Peter put his arm back down on the end of the table and shrugged, "I-I guess I'm double jointed." He responded nervously.

"You must be." Harry replied as he took a bite out of his sandwich, "What're you doing this Saturday?"

"Not much." Peter answered, "Why?"

Harry tugged at his earlobe, "Me and a couple of the guys are heading to the wrestling ring down by Ren Street."

"The one for amateurs?" Peter inquired.

"Yeah." Harry leaned forward, "A couple of other people are going and I got invited. Want to tag along?"

Peter smiled, "Sure." He fixed some of the dangling strands of hair that made up the brown curly mess on the top of his head. "You've ever been to one of these before?"

Harry nodded, "A couple, they're real, not like the stuff on television so its much more fun. The games are for money, so once in awhile you get some pretty desperate fights."

"Money?" Peter raised an eye, "How much money?"

"Depends on the match." Harry answered, "It could be as low as one hundred or as high as five thousand."

Peter's eyes widened slowly, "Really? Listen, I don't think I'll be able to make it on second thought. I just remembered I need to get some work for math class done."

"You have the entire weekend." Harry protested.

He shrugged lightly, "You know me. I like to do things in advanced. I'm sure there's somebody you could bring in my place." His watch suddenly beeped, "I need to go to the library before lunch ends, print out some stuff. You'll be fine?"

"Yeah, I guess." Harry replied obviously disappointed. "I'll think of something."

Peter gazed at the bright computer screen in the library and looked over his shoulder for just a moment. He typed in the Internet address and looked at the website for the wrestling ring on Ren Street.

"What do we have here?" He inquired. He moved the cursor over the schedule and clicked the mouse. A new browser quickly came up with the time for all the matches. Next to each match was a number indicating how much money was being put up for the fight.

Peter looked at the time-slot set aside for the amateurs and saw the highest number making it into the two thousand dollar range. The money would be awarded if the newcomer could pin some wrestler named Crusher.

He saw some fine print on the bottom of the page that read: Wrestlers may remain anonymous but alias required for records. Peter moved the cursor again and printed out the page.

Peter turned the computer off and moved the main printer where the page was being relayed too. Already the printer was beginning to spit out the page with the schedule and information on it.

"Are you going to be much longer?" A voice asked from behind Peter.

He turned around, "Not much longer." He answered and realized it was the extremely beautiful Gwen Stacy, "I-I won't be in your way too long."

She nodded and waited silently for a moment, "You're Peter Parker, right?"

"Yeah." He replied, "We have history class together."

"Oh." Gwen watched as the paper slipped out of the printer and into Peter's hands, she began to notice his muscular physique and a new confidence in his eyes, "Are you doing anything this Saturday?"

"I might." He responded humbly, "The printers all yours."

Gwen nodded and brushed away her blond hair gently, "Thanks." She pressed several buttons the computer giving it an order to print out several new documents, "I only ask because I was going with some friends to see a wrestling match. Maybe you could come."

Peter smiled, "Maybe."

"Good." Gwen calmly answered back, "We should try to get together some time."

"I'd like that." Peter responded, "I'll see you around some time." He turned away and began to head for the exit out of the school library.

Gwen gave a glance towards Peter as he left and then back to the printer. It was then she noticed the insect walking across the surface of the printer. "Don't tell me we have another infestation problem." She slapped the bug away and continued to set up the printer, "Damn spiders!" She exclaimed.

"Spiders." Peter whispered and gazed down at his hand with a wide face, "It was the spider bite." He said in awe, the realization hit him hard and fast. He suddenly noticed the spider that had freaked out Gwen crawling along the wall with amazing ease. He raised an eye and looked at his own hand, "I think I may have overlooked something."

Peter had just cut school despite his better judgment and was heading towards a nearby construction site a few blocks down. There wouldn't be workers there for at least two hours until they came in at four like they always did.

It was a simple matter to leap over the fence and making his way past the dirt pits and tractors before reaching the empty metal frame for the huge tower of steel that was being built. Already it scaled twenty stories into the air.

Peter put down his bag and placed his hand against the metal beam at the base of the frame. "Here we go." Peter placed his other hand on the beam and began to climb. At first it was awkward and the sensation was bizarre as what felt like magnetism helped cling his hands to the metal beams.

At first it was slow but then he placed his feet on the beam and began to crawl along the length of the beam. His face was full of excitement and total fear as he ascended.

"Time to push the envelope!" Peter pushed off the beam and leaped upward for at least a dozen feet. He managed to slam both his hands on a beam a story above him and used his momentum to flip around and land vertically on another beam not too far away. "God, this is Peter, thanks."

He began to bounce around the frame like a pinball. Every beam he connected with only increased his speed and his excitement. He performed a series of dazzling maneuvers twisting and turning his body in every direction. After a moment he reached the summit at the top of the metal frame and gazed down at the city below him. "Hello, New York!" He screamed out loudly and taking in the scenes with a great deal of pleasure. He gazed back down the frame and at the street far below him, "I think that's enough for today."

Peter dived back down for the frame. What most men would consider suicide seemed practically simple for him. He adjusted his fall to avoid beams and other obstructions. Moments before he hit the floor he reached out with his hands and clung to a metal beam no less than six feet from the floor.

"Yes!" He cried out and landed gracefully on the floor. He picked up his bag and began to make his way back towards the fence. He couldn't help but whistle and leaped over the fence and walked down the expansive streets of the city whistling a tune all the way.

Peter stepped in through the front door of his home and tried to enter as quietly as possible. "Maybe they're out." He commented to himself and at the same time questioning his decision to return home thirty minutes than he usually did.

"Peter." Uncle Ben suddenly called out from the recesses of the kitchen his voice solemn and grave. "We need to speak, pronto."

He clenched his teeth and slowly entered with a measure of nervousness. Inside he found Ben and Aunt May both seated at the table. Their eyes were trained on him as he slowly entered and took a seat. "What's this about?"

Ben lowered his eyes for a moment and then raised them again, "Peter, did you skip school today?"

"No." He immediately responded.

"You're lying." Ben commented angrily, "The principle called and told us you had ditched after lunch." He rubbed his hands together with a great degree of shakiness, "He said this wasn't the first time but they had decided to cut you some slack." May grabbed Ben's shoulder and squeezed expressing her concern, "What the hell is going on, Pete?"

He sighed and placed both of his hands on separate ends of the table, "I don't know. Things have been changing, I just need time to adjust."

"Is this about Mary Jane?" May asked.

Peter shook his head from side-to-side immediately, "No, its not her. At the field trip…" He raised his head and gazed into each of their faces, "Things are complicated right now."

Ben nodded and leaned forward trying to appeal to Peter's better sense, "I understand, Pete, but you can't shrug your studies. You worked hard for that scholarship to NYU and you can't start screwing up now."

"I know that." Peter answered back.

"You have an entire future ahead of you. We promised your parents that if anything ever happened we'd make sure you would have a future at your fingertips." Ben shrugged and laughed obviously in an agitated state-of-mind. "Now I know that we mess up some times, but we try to Pete. All you have to do is seize the day."

"I know." Peter answered again lifelessly.

Ben sighed, "I don't mean to lecture you, but this is important. You've never had trouble at school, you're a good kid, smart, lots of friends."

"No." Peter responded angrily.

Aunt May frowned, "What do you mean, Peter?"

Peter shook his head angrily, "I don't have lots of friends." He gave each of them a resentful look, "You guys just don't know what its like! I have to go through torment every day! I've been robbed so many times, I lost count!" He stood up from the seat slowly and looked down at them, "Imagine going through life every day hoping that if you keep your head low enough people won't notice you!"

"Image that." He said again. Peter shrugged his shoulders as if forced to only one alternative, "For the first time in years, I feel powerful!"

Ben was speechless for a moment. He looked at his old hands without a clue of what to do. Then he raised his wrinkled eyelids and stared at Peter. "Listen, because this might be the most important thing I ever tell you, kiddo. You might feel like you can take on the world, you might want to knock out everybody that's ever hurt you but you can't. There has to be a line, don't turn into those monsters that made you afraid. Remember, with great power comes great responsibility. They seem nothing more than words that sound nice, but they're a philosophy. You have to always remember that you're Peter Parker. Don't lose sight of that."

Peter was silent for a moment and then turned his eyes towards May who was sitting there quietly studying both of them. A glimmer of hope was in her face waiting for what her nephew was going to do next. "Its not that easy, you just don't understand, you can't." Peter realized he sounded just like Mary Jane. Ben's shoulders lowered in defeat, "I want to get some sleep. I'm tired."

Ben nodded grimly, "Fine. We'll talk later." They both watched Peter leave the kitchen and ascend the stairs leading up to his room.

"What are you going to do?" Asked a worried May.

"I don't know."