Chap10
Sorry it took so damn long. I had homework so I was very lost ion the story.
"My great-aunt owns this place. Isn't it great? I love it here. Plus, I have a discount." Nalla handed the bills to the waiter.
"Thanks...I hope that wasn't too pricey. I just stuffed myself there." Mary Jane sipped her coffee.
"It was pricey for two people. But I get seventy-five percent off." MJ's new friend got out her cell phone in a dainty manner. "Finish up your coffee while I make a quick call."
MJ nodded slightly and brought the mug to her lips, sipping up the bitter coffee. Nalla dialed the number, and babbled.
"Hi, it's me...It's Nal! ... My God, you sound cheerful! ...I'm coming over to your place to drop off the Mp3, ok? ...Yes, I fixed it... Of course..."
Typical girl chit-chat, thought MJ. Her great-aunt must be rich. The restaurant was fairly large, with two floors in total. The VIP rooms were upstairs and the normal tables were ground floor. The music was jazzy and relaxing. MJ tapped her feet to the rhythm. This restaurant was very populated with a lot of fancy customers. Funny how she had never heard of it before.
Nalla finally ended her conversation and motioned for MJ to leave.
"So, um, are you going home, or what?" Nalla asked MJ once they were outside.
"Sure. I'm taking the subway." It was humidly wet like the sky was going to burst if it didn't rain soon. MJ ripped off her coat hotly and pulled her hair back.
They went separate ways after a little hug.
Tack-tack-tack. The rain milled on her roof and on her windows, aside from these noises, the loud furnace could be heard propelling. There was also light shuffling, and then some tapping outside their door.
"I'll get it." Ursula perked up before anyone else got up from the dinner table. She didn't expect anyone else to get up, really.
She rushed out to open the door. By the time she got there, the person outside was repeatedly pounding their fists on the door, shouting for Ursula. She opened the door, and apologized to Nalla.
"I couldn't find your doorbell!" Nal screamed. Her gelled hair drooped and her jacket wet and sticking close to her body, revealing her chic outfit inside.
Ursula shrugged and replied nonchalantly, "We needed a new one."
Nalla groaned and asked for a towel to dry her "delicate hair". "I tell you, it was so darn hot out there, and all of a sudden rain comes down! It's was like living hell out there!" She groaned again, "Here's your Mp3."
Ursula looked over it and pocketed it. She stared at Nalla, who was standing in front of her grinning. Ursula couldn't help but ask, "What do you want...?"
"Can't you see it's raining?" Nal walked past Ursula towards her room. She waved a hello to Mr. Ditkovich as she proceeded upstairs. Ursula followed.
Nalla opened the door to Peter's door casually, and gaped at all the guy stuff.
"That's someone else's room!" Ursula shut it close quickly, "I switched rooms two years ago! Didn't you read my e-mails in England?"
"I didn't have time to read stupid e-mails about having your room switched with a guy. Who lives here? And I wasn't in England. It was France," Nalla went to the former empty room that was up for rent. Ursula's stuff, all right. Purple, pink, and purple.
"I want to finish my supper." Ursula said.
Nal grinned smugly, "Ok...I'll bet it's him. Him."
"Give it a rest, Nal." Ursula thumped down the stairs.
Nalla mischievously walked back to Peter's room, and turned on the knob. The door clicked open.
She looked around Ursula's old room. The big balcony was still there, and the pretty colorful panes, yes...Pretty! On the clothes racks, there was a suit. Just hanging there, boyishly and with a sense of lone. Oh, if something would accompany it, something colorful.
Other than the panes that Nal had always adored, the room only gave her a deal of untidiness and simplicity. There wasn't much at all.
Man, you're so darn poor, Parker. My friend will never survive married to someone like you.
She noticed on the dresser were photos of a familiar face—Mary Jane Watson, whom she'd met earlier.
Girlfriend, Watson. MJ's his girlfriend? Nal smirked at Ursula's girly envy. She looked past the simple bed with a yellow sweater and jeans laid on top of it, and faced photos of people. The photo was consisted of an old woman, an equally old man, and bespectacled geek. It was an ordinary happy family photo.
"Mrs. Parker." Nal whispered aloud. And her husband?
"...her niece is my friend."
More 'I sees' came to Nal's mind, as she observed the picture. She felt sort of sad looking at it. Her attention turned to the last person in the picture. The nerd looked strange, but familiar. Nalla leaned in for a closer look.
"Nal."
The blonde guiltily turned around with a light laugh.
Ursula frowned disapprovingly, "Let's go, he comes back any minute."
Spider-man landed with a loud thud two minutes after the girls went back to Ursula's room. Stupid bomb made him lose the ride back home, and had him swing in the pouring rain with stiff legs. If only he could go back and ask for the ride all over again. But that would seem impolite and odd. The police weren't entirely stupid.
"What's going on up there!?" A voiced boomed from downstairs.
Spider-man crawled back out after he snatched his clothes. He slipped them on and came in the front door as Peter Parker.
"Rent!" Mr. Ditkovich leered at Peter, who evaded him as fast as he could into the bathroom to take off the wet suit.
"Is that him?" Nal looked up from what she was doing on Ursula's laptop.
Ursula grunted, "It's none of your business, Nal."
"Do you mind if I ask you if I ask you what his full name is?"
She grunted again, "Peter Parker. Now get back to the virus thing you were working on."
"Peter Parker?" Nalla abandoned the laptop and peered outside to make sure.
Surely, the Peter Parker she knew came out of the bathroom in a yellow shirt and jeans. He carried a bulgy plastic bag.
"Hey, Pete." Ursula greeted Peter shyly.
"Hiya," That was all he said. Peter went back to his room to finally relax.
"Funny, you were never shy with us." Nalla smirked and nudged Ursula who chose to ignore the comment. To Ursula's surprise, Nal changed the topic really quickly, instead of her usual nagging, "Did he just wear the yellow shirt?"
"It's no big deal," her friend wondered why she was making such a big commotion out of a little shirt, "Yellow's nice, I like it. What's the supposed to mean?"
Nalla was sure it was the exact the same outfit she saw on Peter's bed. She scratched her elbow idly, "I saw it before, I mean right before he came back. It was on his bed."
"It's just a dumb coincidence, Nal." Ursula twiddled with her braids then said, "What are you trying to prove, anyways? He's supernatural? People can have two of the same shirts, you know."
"I wasn't trying to prove anything. I just thought it was weird and wanted to share this little unimportant incident with my best friend, that's all."
The girls went back to Ursula's bedroom. Nalla cleared Ursula's laptop of virus. Peter never came back out, which Ursula was glad. She was almost afraid her friend would bother him. The two blondes chit-chatted girlishly until the rain stopped and Nal left.
The next few days went by very normally. Spider-man went on crime-fighting. Peter Parker went on crime-fighting and attending college. Mary Jane went to her new play's rehearsals; little did she know that the directors were about to cut her because she was way too forgettable. She'd forget her lines, her script, and sometimes even rehearsals. Anyway, their excuse was that she was too young for the character.
Nalla took a nice vacation from the Bugle to work on her very important project. Harry was so quiet, it scared Nal.
Sometimes she thought of having the police arrest him. On second thought, the rest of her money would go with him. Nal got depressed. She was desperate and frustrated.
She had the chance to get every news article about Spider-man, but there were more than half a thousand pieces. She took out the ones about the Green Goblin and Doc Ock. She needed a lot of facts about Spider-man.
What for? She'd ask herself.
Just in case. Yup. She needed inspiration. What were his weaknesses? His strengths? Who was he?
She barely knew the five W's and the How.
What? To kill Spider-man. Who? Spider-man. Why? For the money. Where? I don't know. When? I don't know. How? I don't know.
Three out of six. That was fifty percent! That was failing grade! Never in Nal's life has she achieved a grade as pathetic as that.
She kept twirling her pen on her fingers and slammed it on her notes the exact second the phone rang. Her hands found the phone behind her college binders.
"Hello?"
"It's Harry...Osborn." He didn't want to sound too friendly or too formal, either.
She hadn't heard his voice for so long-it was an unfamiliar voice. She didn't respond and waited for him to continue.
"You better hurry up, or your money's staying with me." Nalla had a feeling he was going to hang up, so she quipped in, assuring him she's trying her best.
"Mr. Osborn, please don't give up on me. See, I wouldn't give in as long as you don't." There was a pause to listen to his reaction. She could barely hear him breath, as if he was using hand-free, which he probably was. She continued quickly, "Look, can you supply me with a bit of information of Spider-man? It'd make my job easier, you know."
Nalla heard a drawer open and she wondered vaguely if he was aiming a dart at a picture of Spider-man. She was over-imaginative, seriously.
"What do you want to know?" Harry breathed.
Nal fumbled with an answer this question. What did she want to know?
"Why are you so desperate to kill Spider-man?" There, she had a question-answer to the question that Harry had asked. But she quickly realized she'd said the wrong thing.
"That's none of your business." He almost yelled.
Nalla apologized and asked another question: Do you know Spider-man?
"Well, I mean." She added.
"Well?" Harry snorted. He repeated the word with disgust, "Well? Of course I knew him well. But I'm not going to tell you who he is if that's what you're going to ask."
Nalla was baffled, "Why not?"
"If I'm going to tell you everything, I wouldn't have to hire you, right, Ms Zil? Anyone who tends to think that way is not worthy of my money. If you're so smart, you should figure it all out yourself."
He was right... but he had to give at least a clue.
Harry spoke again, "In case you're lost, I suggest you consult Mr. Peter Parker." She could almost feel a smirk in his voice.
Then a little beep went cut through their conversation, supposedly, the problem was of Harry's phone. She swore she heard a menacing cackle right before the line was cut.
