Interlude Part 1 - Tutor
I let my body stretch itself as I swung through the air. I had just got done putting away some guy who called himself 'Doctor Octopus', taking a real beating in the process.
I hope I never run into him again…
Then I sighed. I just knew that this was going to be the start of something bad. The end of bad one thing is always the beginning of another for me.
I just hope I get a few days to recover this time…
I headed home, praying that my recuperative powers would help me recover enough that Aunt May wouldn't worry. I sighed.
No fourteen-year-old should have to deal with powers like these.
But have them I did, and I had a responsibility to use them to help others. I couldn't fail in this. Whenever I failed, the people closest to me always paid the price.
I shook off my train of thought as I closed on Forest Hills. Those kind of thoughts wouldn't help me right now. I chose a different route into the Forest Hills area as I did every time, even circling it once or twice before my Spider-Sense gave me an all clear. With no one watching, I dropped off the web-line onto a neighborhood roof.
Old Mrs. McLellan's place if I remember correctly. Rumor has it that her cats will inherit the house if she dies.
I grinned under my mask as I jumped to the next roof. I tried to never use webbing in my home area, jumping from roof to roof when no one was watching. It was a bit of a pain, but it kept my identity safe.
When I finally reached my room, I got out of the suit and collapsed on the bed, going unconscious with a few final thoughts.
School is not going to go well tomorrow. At least tomorrow's Friday.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Mr. Parker, I know you have an A in this class, and could probably teach it, but please at least attempt to stay conscious during my lecture if you wouldn't mind."
I blushed as all of the other kids laughed at me, and I straightened up. I hadn't gotten nearly enough sleep last night after Ock's rampage, so I was running on a couple of cups of coffee, but I'm pretty sure that Aunt May's been substituting with decaf lately. In any event I managed to remain conscious enough to answer Mr. Slemmings questions, even if I did manage to yawn in the middle of every one of them. When the bell rang I left to go change my books from my locker. I had the door open and was reaching in when someone called my name.
"Parker, wait up!"
I couldn't quite place the voice. It was female, that much I could tell, but no one really associated with me, especially girls. The only person who usually did was Harry, the shy and introverted son on multi-billionaire Norman Osborn.
Unless there's a prank or a bet going on that is…
Turning around, my eyes bugged out at the person hailing me.
"F-Felicia?"
Felicia Hardy was perhaps the most famous and popular girl in our year, and possibly the school.
Which means she has absolutely no logical reason to be hanging out with geeky Peter Parker, dork wonder of the universe.
She walked forward and leaned against the locker next to mine. She continued as if I hadn't spoken.
"Listen Parker, a couple of the girls and I aren't exactly as good as you are in biology, so I was wondering…"
I narrowed my eyes in suspicion.
"I won't cheat for you."
She looked shocked at the suggestion.
"Are you kidding? Daddy would kill me if he found out I did something like that! No, we just wanted a little help… studying, that's all."
"Oh. Well, I still don't think I can. I have a busier schedule than most people would believe."
She put a coy smile on her face and stepped a little closer, her mouth parting into a pout.
"Please…?"
Her voice had a slight catch to it, and my mouth suddenly went dry.
"Um, okay…"
She smiled.
"Great. Six o'clock tonight, my place. Don't be late, okay?"
Then, after handing me a slip of paper with her address on it, she left. I just stood there for a while, looking in the direction she had gone. Harry came and clapped me on the shoulder.
"Come on Pete! We're going to be late!"
I finished the task of getting my books for English and followed after him as he hurried down the hall.
And why, Peter Parker, can't you say no to a pretty girl?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I stood outside Felicia's home with something akin to awe. It was smaller than I'd expected, but living space in New York was horrendously expensive.
But it's still the penthouse suite of one of the most luxurious places in Manhattan…
Wonder why she goes to our school?
I had honestly expected trouble with the doorman, but apparently he was told to expect me, so I was able to get in without resorting to breaking and entering, always a bad way to start a tutoring session. The elevator made a 'bing' sound as the door opened and I got in. Several thoughts came to me as I rode upwards.
Why do all elevators make 'bing' noises?
Why am I doing this?
…And why in all of creation are the lyrics to 'Uptown Girl' running through my head?
The elevator made another 'bing' to signify that I had reached the penthouse.
"Hello, Peter."
A slight frown creased my face. Why did this guy know my name? That's right. I said 'guy'. Obviously not Felicia or friends. He was an older gentleman, about Aunt May's age, but looked like a tough old coot.
"I'm sorry, I don't think we've met, mister…?"
"Hardy. Jack Hardy."
Oh. Her father then.
He smiled a little, and pointed to the far corner.
"Felicia's in her room, it's right over there."
Then he shook the finger at me warningly, but there was an amused twinkle in his eyes.
"And no funny business, young man!"
I fidgeted nervously a little, then nodded a little unsurely as I headed for the door. Felicia opened it as I approached and let me in. She grimaced.
"Sorry about my father. He's a real bear sometimes. He's like that with every boy I've ever invited up here since hitting puberty."
"Really? He seemed nice enough to me."
She blinked, then muttered under her breath. I was pretty sure it went something like 'It figures that you're the only one he ever liked…'.
I glanced around; we were the only ones here.
"Um, aren't there supposed to be more people here?"
She growled a little under her breath.
"There were. The moment they knew it was going to be you here, they all cancelled."
Oh, that's a great way to make a guy who didn't actually want to come feel welcome…
Something must have shown on my face.
"Oh no. You're not going anywhere. I'm going to pass that class if it kills me, and you're going to help. Now sit."
I sat. When a gorgeous platinum blonde with serious cash tells you to do something, you do it. No questions asked.
Burning similarities to how I ended up here in the first place…
Attempting to teach something that came naturally to me was something of an issue, as at first I apparently glossed over several details that I should have started with, and that made it a little frustrating. Still, it wasn't all bad. I even got her to laugh at a few of my corny jokes. We broke it up at about eight, and she walked with me to the door. Just as I was leaving, she stopped me.
"Tonight wasn't half-bad Parker. What do you say we do this again next week, same time?"
While I was pretty sure that someone like Felicia Hardy could find better things to do with a Friday evening, who was I to look a gift horse in the mouth?
"Sure."
It came out of my mouth almost before I could stop it. Not that I really wanted to now anyways.
I let my body stretch itself as I swung through the air. I had just got done putting away some guy who called himself 'Doctor Octopus', taking a real beating in the process.
I hope I never run into him again…
Then I sighed. I just knew that this was going to be the start of something bad. The end of bad one thing is always the beginning of another for me.
I just hope I get a few days to recover this time…
I headed home, praying that my recuperative powers would help me recover enough that Aunt May wouldn't worry. I sighed.
No fourteen-year-old should have to deal with powers like these.
But have them I did, and I had a responsibility to use them to help others. I couldn't fail in this. Whenever I failed, the people closest to me always paid the price.
I shook off my train of thought as I closed on Forest Hills. Those kind of thoughts wouldn't help me right now. I chose a different route into the Forest Hills area as I did every time, even circling it once or twice before my Spider-Sense gave me an all clear. With no one watching, I dropped off the web-line onto a neighborhood roof.
Old Mrs. McLellan's place if I remember correctly. Rumor has it that her cats will inherit the house if she dies.
I grinned under my mask as I jumped to the next roof. I tried to never use webbing in my home area, jumping from roof to roof when no one was watching. It was a bit of a pain, but it kept my identity safe.
When I finally reached my room, I got out of the suit and collapsed on the bed, going unconscious with a few final thoughts.
School is not going to go well tomorrow. At least tomorrow's Friday.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Mr. Parker, I know you have an A in this class, and could probably teach it, but please at least attempt to stay conscious during my lecture if you wouldn't mind."
I blushed as all of the other kids laughed at me, and I straightened up. I hadn't gotten nearly enough sleep last night after Ock's rampage, so I was running on a couple of cups of coffee, but I'm pretty sure that Aunt May's been substituting with decaf lately. In any event I managed to remain conscious enough to answer Mr. Slemmings questions, even if I did manage to yawn in the middle of every one of them. When the bell rang I left to go change my books from my locker. I had the door open and was reaching in when someone called my name.
"Parker, wait up!"
I couldn't quite place the voice. It was female, that much I could tell, but no one really associated with me, especially girls. The only person who usually did was Harry, the shy and introverted son on multi-billionaire Norman Osborn.
Unless there's a prank or a bet going on that is…
Turning around, my eyes bugged out at the person hailing me.
"F-Felicia?"
Felicia Hardy was perhaps the most famous and popular girl in our year, and possibly the school.
Which means she has absolutely no logical reason to be hanging out with geeky Peter Parker, dork wonder of the universe.
She walked forward and leaned against the locker next to mine. She continued as if I hadn't spoken.
"Listen Parker, a couple of the girls and I aren't exactly as good as you are in biology, so I was wondering…"
I narrowed my eyes in suspicion.
"I won't cheat for you."
She looked shocked at the suggestion.
"Are you kidding? Daddy would kill me if he found out I did something like that! No, we just wanted a little help… studying, that's all."
"Oh. Well, I still don't think I can. I have a busier schedule than most people would believe."
She put a coy smile on her face and stepped a little closer, her mouth parting into a pout.
"Please…?"
Her voice had a slight catch to it, and my mouth suddenly went dry.
"Um, okay…"
She smiled.
"Great. Six o'clock tonight, my place. Don't be late, okay?"
Then, after handing me a slip of paper with her address on it, she left. I just stood there for a while, looking in the direction she had gone. Harry came and clapped me on the shoulder.
"Come on Pete! We're going to be late!"
I finished the task of getting my books for English and followed after him as he hurried down the hall.
And why, Peter Parker, can't you say no to a pretty girl?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I stood outside Felicia's home with something akin to awe. It was smaller than I'd expected, but living space in New York was horrendously expensive.
But it's still the penthouse suite of one of the most luxurious places in Manhattan…
Wonder why she goes to our school?
I had honestly expected trouble with the doorman, but apparently he was told to expect me, so I was able to get in without resorting to breaking and entering, always a bad way to start a tutoring session. The elevator made a 'bing' sound as the door opened and I got in. Several thoughts came to me as I rode upwards.
Why do all elevators make 'bing' noises?
Why am I doing this?
…And why in all of creation are the lyrics to 'Uptown Girl' running through my head?
The elevator made another 'bing' to signify that I had reached the penthouse.
"Hello, Peter."
A slight frown creased my face. Why did this guy know my name? That's right. I said 'guy'. Obviously not Felicia or friends. He was an older gentleman, about Aunt May's age, but looked like a tough old coot.
"I'm sorry, I don't think we've met, mister…?"
"Hardy. Jack Hardy."
Oh. Her father then.
He smiled a little, and pointed to the far corner.
"Felicia's in her room, it's right over there."
Then he shook the finger at me warningly, but there was an amused twinkle in his eyes.
"And no funny business, young man!"
I fidgeted nervously a little, then nodded a little unsurely as I headed for the door. Felicia opened it as I approached and let me in. She grimaced.
"Sorry about my father. He's a real bear sometimes. He's like that with every boy I've ever invited up here since hitting puberty."
"Really? He seemed nice enough to me."
She blinked, then muttered under her breath. I was pretty sure it went something like 'It figures that you're the only one he ever liked…'.
I glanced around; we were the only ones here.
"Um, aren't there supposed to be more people here?"
She growled a little under her breath.
"There were. The moment they knew it was going to be you here, they all cancelled."
Oh, that's a great way to make a guy who didn't actually want to come feel welcome…
Something must have shown on my face.
"Oh no. You're not going anywhere. I'm going to pass that class if it kills me, and you're going to help. Now sit."
I sat. When a gorgeous platinum blonde with serious cash tells you to do something, you do it. No questions asked.
Burning similarities to how I ended up here in the first place…
Attempting to teach something that came naturally to me was something of an issue, as at first I apparently glossed over several details that I should have started with, and that made it a little frustrating. Still, it wasn't all bad. I even got her to laugh at a few of my corny jokes. We broke it up at about eight, and she walked with me to the door. Just as I was leaving, she stopped me.
"Tonight wasn't half-bad Parker. What do you say we do this again next week, same time?"
While I was pretty sure that someone like Felicia Hardy could find better things to do with a Friday evening, who was I to look a gift horse in the mouth?
"Sure."
It came out of my mouth almost before I could stop it. Not that I really wanted to now anyways.