Chapter 2: The Miracle.

Dad and Mom were talking when I came down the next morning. The smell of breakfast wafting through the air as I sit down. Mom watches closely.

"Uh… morning?" I ask. Mom and Dad move in closer to look at my hands.

She still stares at my hands, "Where's the holes?" she asks.

"Holes? What holes?" I answer, "I don't… I only have like… two?"

Mom sighs, "No, your father told me about what happened yesterday."

"Dad!" I gasp, "You promised not to tell!"

"Listen! I can't just not tell her!" Dad starts with his hands raised. He backs up like he just saw something really weird.

"What?" Mom chimes in. Her eyes on my father as I just sigh and lay my head on the table with an even heavier one.

"Look, just…" I aim my hand, feeling the hole open back up and shoot out a gob of webbing at the wall, Mom and Dad both seeing it. It sticks off target but I know Mom's worried expression when I see it.

Her eyebrows furrow, her lips purse as she's registering everything in the area right now, "What else can you do?" she asks.

"I can't really fall, I just flip right back on my feet." I say, standing up and facing Dad, "Okay, Dad, do the honors."

Dad shoves me and my body acts, flipping over and landing on my feet, the heavy clack of my braces is the only sound other than my shoes thudding on the floor. Mom gawks at it and I check my braces to make sure the hinges are okay.

They're good, thank god.

"Whoa…" Mom says, "Just… what else?"

"I dunno, but uh… I'm sticky." I say, "Y'know…" I go over to the wall and touch it. My hand sticks and I put the other hand on the wall too and end up slowly ambling my way up, but my legs hang down because my braces make them heavier.

Not only that, but my braces won't allow for ease of movement between braces and feet. Mostly because they provide support only for walking and not crawling like I need to. Otherwise my legs will be an enormous risk. Mom grabs me as I wind up on the ceiling, gently trying to pluck me from my spot but I still stick. She grunts, groans, tries to pry me from there but I still stick well to it. Then I let go, and she almost falls over if not for Dad catching us.

"See?" he asks, "Our son's got powers."

"Still, Ben…" she sighs, "Just… let's sit down and talk this through, okay?"

We all sit down and Mom leans on her hands, "Jack, you remember history class, right?"

"Yeah?" I ask, "What about it?"

"There have been guys like you," she continues, "Guys wearing suits. Going out and fighting the bad guys. Not only that, but they've been in history."

Dad and I listen as Mom gets up and kneels to look me in the eye, gently touching my cheek with her hand, "Promise me, baby. Promise me you'll be responsible with these."

"… I will." I say, "I hope I will." I continue eating my breakfast, Mom and Dad both watching me eat with a mix of sadness and nostalgia on their faces. They're scared, I know they are. I grab my backpack and hop to my feet, going over to my parents and hugging them.

I don't squeeze hard, but I linger a little.

"Have a good day, Jack." Dad says.

"Yeah. Have a good day, Jacky." Mom pipes up. I pop in my earphones and suddenly web up my lunch, a line coming out instead of a gob and it reels in, landing right in my hand, the web line snapping and fading away once it reeled in.

I smile and head out the door, my earphones playing Alive as I jive and dance along to the music, moving towards the bus stop, and just thinking about how light my body feels. How everything feels so nice. I still feel like something's off. Like I shouldn't be waiting for the bus. Midtown High is kinda far, but… there's an itch. I look up at the nearest skyscraper, and High is due east so if I just follow the bus route…

I flip up my hood on my hoodie and bound towards it. My braces clacking from me running, almost perfectly taking them off in one go with my quick movements. I sling my bag off and toss them in there, putting my shoes in there too. I tie my hoodie strings as I hear the bus's airbrake and clamber up the building as fast as I can. All I want is to web sling, and if I beat the bus? That means it'd be really cool bragging rights! I face the nearest building and aim my hand, index and pinky flicking out and… out goes a line! It goes taut as it sticks, and I gulp hard, edging to the end of the roof.

I look over the edge and see the moving cars and all that, but all I want to do is run back down and get back on the bus. What if someone sees me doing this? What if I can't do it? I gulp back more fear, my fist aimed with fingers pointing.

"Woooff… Okay… Okay, you got this…" I coach myself, "Just… just a leap of faith!"

I close my eyes, the rush of wind blowing through my tightened hood and the weightlessness hitting me like a truck. I open them and see myself swinging towards the next few buildings.

"AAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" I scream, the line snapping off and my other arm shooting out another one to pull me forward more, "AHAHA! YEAHHHHHHH!" I keep going with that rhythm. My body seems to know what to do.

I swing through the air; the rush making my heart pound and my clambering goes faster, arms and legs working together to scuttle me over the rooftops. Clamber, Web, swing. Clamber, Web, swing. My sides don't hurt! My legs aren't cramping! I… I… It's a miracle! The rushing air, my body doing as graceful turns as it can. I wonder if anyone can see me? I don't think so but I almost lose focus and crash, but I dive between the buildings and slingshot myself through the gaps.

I sling and swing, my smile wide and watching my bus go into the lot just as I clear the main gate. It beat me though. I almost don't notice someone in front of me until something goes off in my head and I stop myself just before plowing into them.

"WHOA!" I yell, "Sorry about that!" I pop up right in front of someone I really didn't want to run into. A big kid, another footballer. This time it was… Jacob. Jacob Lawrence. He glares down at me. His red hair and harsh blue eyes set in a 6 foot frame made my little 5'2" self look like a gazelle staring down a lion.

"Well, if it isn't Jack Parker! Whaddya doin', J?" he asks.

"Just uh… heading to class, Jacob." I answer as he grabs me by the strings of my hoodie, dragging me forward.

"Don't think I've seen your creepy cripple ass talking to Hardy." he snarls, "I wanna make it dead clear that she's my girl, got it?"

"Oh wow, Misogyny. Just what I wanted!" I exclaim. He stops.

"The fuck you say to me?"

"Oh, come on, that was just a little silly joke to hurt your pride!" I scoff. "Let's run through this-" he shotguns a punch right for my face but I weave through it and he looks at me confused.

"What the-" he starts.

"Believe me, Jacob. I have NO idea." I say, "Literally just found out I can… well," he comes after me and I weave through more of those punches.

"Stay! Still! You!" he yells, catching me on the cheek and almost launching me into the fence if not for my anti-falling to kick in. The weird ringing comes back every time I do something like dodge or almost fall.

Steadily a crowd forms to watch me weave and duck through his punches and even kicks. At this point there's some heckling or cheering. Calls of 'Kick his ass, Jacob!' or 'Dodge, Parker! Dodge!' ring through the air. I get hit again and go flying. I land right back on my feet again. Just in time for Eddie to block the next punch. His dark eyes full of anger as he looms over Jacob like a monster. I see Jacob shirk back.

"Jacob, what the hell did I tell you?" Eddie snarls, "Jack Parker is off limits!"

"He was…"

"He was what, Lawrence? Existing? Seriously, what the hell is your problem?" he looks back over his shoulder at me, "You're lucky you didn't bring down the force of nature his Mom is!"

I smile as he looks at my feet, "Dude. Your braces." he says.

"Huh? Oh! Right, right." I sit down and take them back out of my bag, my face aches a little from the punches but that's par for the course with Jacob. There's also… him. But I pushed him out of my mind. He's only in Gym class and well, today was back to normal schedule.

I just think about Science class, and seeing Felicia again. I'm sure she'd be thrilled to hear I'm doing okay. Eddie puts on my shoes and ties them for me after I pull out my braces and put them on.

"Let's go, Jack." he says, "You look all windblown."

"Well yeah!" I exclaim with my fists pumping, "I just webslinged! For the first time! My body… oh my god I…" tears sting my eyes and I smile.

"I… I can't believe I could do that." I dry my tears as Eddie pulls me into a hug and squeezes gently.

"Come on ya dork, of course you could. I mean, the whole Spider thing?" he asks, "You… you're so much more capable of so many things, buddy."

"Eddie?" I ask.

"Yeah?" he answers.

"Why're you hugging me?" I look up at him with a small laugh at what I see, he's crying too.

"Just… buddy, I'm so… hhh… happy for ya!" he exclaims, "Just the fact you're okay, too!"

I grin and we leave for our first class, which is History. I get in there and I just know what the lesson is. There's two pictures of our Spider Man with bigger lenses and a more silvery design to his webbing, and the more warlike gear to it. Then across from it is Japan's with the black webbing and the red and blue, with the bracelet and standing in his iconic pose.

Text was between the two pictures: Spider Man and Tsuchigumo, a History. Our history teacher, Mr. Lieber, peers over his glasses at all of us. He's older than Mr. Warren, his hair a grayish white and slicked back. He grins as we all sit down, and once we all do he begins the lecture.

"Today we'll be going over the two Spider Men in our global history." he says, "Can anyone tell-"

Eddie's hand shoots up, "Other than Mr. Brock."

Mr. Lieber's eyes lock on me with a smile, "Mr. Parker? You wanna take a stab at who these men are?"

I clear my throat and smile, "Takuya Yamashiro, the hero known as Tsuchigumo, who executed G-Day. And Ezekiel Sims, the Spider Man that fought in Vietnam, who was declared Missing in Action?"

"Good job, now the reason there are two Spider Men is?"

He looks around the room and Eddie's hand shoots up, "Except for Brock."

Another hand goes up, belonging to Gwen, who also shares Science with us, "It's because of Project Spider's Web and an irradiated Spider, right?"

"Right. So let's start with Japan's Spider Man first…"

As the lecture goes on, I draw something special. Using my favorite hoodie as a base. It's not perfect but I continue to draw, chiming in where I want to. Eddie gets to chime and Gwen too. But the thing is… I think I got something good here. I sketch out the mask and the spider design on the front and back, listening to the lectures and calmly going about it in style. Soon enough I had it. The design of my suit.

I smile and hide it in my notebook, my jitteriness from the swinging and the whole lesson about the Spiders just has my mind gassed up with all kinds of fun things I could do with this thing. Swinging through the city, helping people, stopping bad guys, maybe getting a little cash…

Or maybe?

I could change the scenario. No one would hurt me anymore or hurl sports balls at my head at all or anything like that. All I can do is think about what I could do. Lawrence wouldn't be able to hurt me anymore, Felicia and I…

Okay, too much in the future, dial it back, Jack…

I can't wait!

Gym comes after Math, which comes after history. Now the most dreaded section. The one that made me want to die every single day. The one class with the most jackass of jackasses that would constantly try to get under my skin. Harry Osborn is the only guy in Eddie and I's grade I wanted to punch. That's saying a lot considering how I can barely gather strength enough to do pushups.

He swaggers into the gym. His blue eyes narrow as he sees me "Well! If it isn't Jack Parker…" he greets.

I grit my teeth and Eddie looks over at me. "Calm down man…" he cautions.

I look down at the line of dodgeballs as I answer, "The one and only."

Harry laughs as he runs his hand through his brown hair. "Right, and you're going to beat me this time?" he asks.

"I'll try to." I growl, taking a rubber ball from the floor with murder in my eyes.

He was just a sheltered rich kid. Something about him just made me so angry. He had money. Automatic status. Everything he could ever want. While I just barely inch by with what I have. Mom works long hours, Dad even more so. What right does he have?! I hate bullies. I hate them with every bit of me. Mostly because this snooty ass is throwing his weight around. I bounce the ball and Eddie tries to toss his at Harry and hit him before I could wallop him with mine.

'Showy bastard…' I think. Eddie's ball whistled by me and got dodged by Harry. He counters with his own ball aimed right for his chest and it hits… My own. The two balls slam together with a satisfying thwack! They fall to the gymnasium floor with them bouncing uselessly. We snatch up new ones and duck and dodge through the hail of them from the newly gathered team he's got from the locker room. Eddie gets out most of Harry's teammates before getting hammered in the face by one.

He goes down and it's just me and Harry. We glare at each other. Our dodgeballs in our hands. Almost like a Western we stare each other down. I could almost hear the Ecstasy of Gold playing in my ears. I hover my hand into a throwing stance and the weird ringing goes off, time slows and I see the other balls coming at me. Moving through the hailstorm. Harry's ball comes careening at me and I see it coming. Vaulting over the ball and slamming mine into Harry's shoulder on the comedown. He gets knocked back and I run over to help him up.

"Next time, try to be a little faster." I say, breathing a little heavier. I hold out my hand and Harry smacks it away.

"Tch. You got lucky." he scoffs as he gets to his feet. That's when I get hit with a heavy feeling. Tired and slogging back to the bleachers, I sit down and Eddie joins me and rubs his nose a little.

"Goddamn… hell of an attack…" he sighs.

"Well, I think you did well, lineman training an' all…" I huff softly, sweat rolling down my face. Eddie passes a towel from his bag to me, I dry my face off and undo the tops of my braces, letting them air out.

Eddie whips out his phone and opens up the news, scrolling through it because sometimes he wanted to. Our gym teacher doesn't mind me sitting out with Eddie cause I'm sure if he wouldn't let me it'd not end well.

"Jack, hey! Check it," he says, holding up his phone, I lean forward to look. There's a picture of the MOMA in town with the headline:

Mysterious Cat Burglar Strikes! Leaves New York's Finest Fumbling!

The image is of one sculpture missing; I think it was Methane Sea? Of course it's weird because I'm not exactly sure of which one. But whoever did it, the article says this was the first theft, and they didn't even catch the guy. I sigh and look back down at my drawing pad.

Eddie peeks at the drawing pad in my lap with the rough sketch of my Spider Man suit, grinning widely and getting that starry-eyed expression. He nudges me.

"Dude. You should track him down! First outing as Spider-" Eddie starts before I cut him off.

"No,"

"No, what?"

"I won't call myself Spider Man." I hold up a rough sketch of my first suit, "I'll call myself the Scarlet Spider." Eddie immediately takes it and looks at me and then back at it.

"So. Cool." he says, "Listen, just say the word and I'll be there to help no matter what! You can count on me, buddy!"

I smile, "Well, okay. Just…" I think of Felicia and what she would think. Would she like it or not? Still, Lunch is next and I end up standing in the middle of the entrance. Eddie and I had different lunch blocks, and I had the first one.

I walk through the lunchroom with my head held high and holding my lunch tray. My steps are more careful than usual of course because of the uncertainty of trying to find a spot somewhere to eat. Of course there're cliques and all that just because there is. I try to sit with the normal, non clique crowd as best as I can, but even then they take one look at me and move. Muttering something about Lawrence. I sit alone, eating my food quietly. I don't notice the shadow falling over me until I feel a tap on my shoulder.

I look up and there's Felicia with rounded dark sunglasses on and her hair down. She smiles and peeks over the lenses, "Is this seat taken, Jack?" she asks.

"Oh, uh… no." I stammer.

"Where's Brock?" she asks, sitting down a little closer than I thought she would. She takes out her lunch and looks at me, leaning on her hand. The heat on my cheeks grows and I look down at my lunch, avoiding her gaze.

"Uhm… He eats at a different time than me. Normally after Gym he has a long class." I say, "So I sit wherever, really."

Felicia nods, "Well, I heard about what you did to Jay Lawrence." she smiles and reaches out, patting my head, "Good job. He's a dick."

"Wait… you aren't-" I start.

"Him? God no." she scoffs, "Seriously he's a tool."

I feel her hand leave my head, "So you aren't dating anyone?" I ask.

"Nope. Why? You wanna take a crack at it?" she looks at me with a wink and I smile a bit.

"Maybe, I don't know. Later? Right now? I don't know." I mumble, rubbing the back of my neck. Felicia grins and wiggles a little closer.

"Aww, you have a crush on me!" she coos, "That's adorable."

"I mean… yeah, you are the only girl I've ever really talked to…" I admit, "I mean, other than my mom but I don't think she counts because she's my mom, y'know?" I see Felicia think about what to say next.

Then she sees it. My drawing, "You draw?" she asks.

"Well, not often, it took me years to get right. Especially with these babies." I clack the backs of my braces together for emphasis. Felicia takes my drawing and looks at it closer, seeing the roughness of it but she's more focused on something about the colors.

"This is really good, Jack." she says, "I think you got a talent."

"Oh… daaah… r-really?" I say, "I think it's not bad, but it's not my best."

Felicia just hands it back, "Well, yeah. But it's still a fun hobby to have." She says, "I play in a band myself. Lead and Bass guitar,"

I get excited, "Really?! I mean, if you guys are doing a show sometime… can I come?" I clench my hands into fists and Felicia laughs.

"Of course! If you got ten bucks!"

I sigh, "Aww, really?"

"Nah, just a joke, Jacky." she giggles a little at my face but I kind of find it silly myself. At the same time I get the ringing and time slows down, quickly flicking up my tray and blocking some mashed potatoes.

"What'd I say, Parker?" Lawrence looms over one of the other tables, "You don't have Brock around to protect you!"

Felicia stands up, "Hey! Jay Lawrence, that's my friend you're hurling potatoes at!" she exclaims, stalking over to him, "If you wanna cause an issue, it's on sight!"

Lawrence looks at Felicia with contempt in his eyes and shoves past her, "A freak like him? Did you see him this morning? Parker was swinging here! He lurches around like a zombie and then does weird shit!"

"Yeah!" Harry pipes up, showing up near him and closing in, "What's your deal, Parker? You don't normally dodge all those balls in dodgeball!"

I hunch down, get small, looking down at my feet, I promised Mom I'd be responsible with my powers. I promised her I'd be good with them. If I beat them up, I'll be no better than them. I gather up my courage.

"Leave me alone, okay?" I squeak.

"Or what? You're gonna dodge us again?" Lawrence guffaws.

"Yeah, are you?" Harry echoes, "That's stupid."

I tense, "I'm telling you, leave me alone." I say, a little more urgently, "I promised my parents I'd be responsible with them."

Before they can answer, Felicia pipes up, "Yeah, Harold. Do you REALLY want the beatdown? Sounds lame that a disabled kid would beat the shit out of the heir to Oscorp."

Harry whirls, "Back off, Hardy!" he snaps, "Just… let me handle this."

I stand up and walk towards the entrance, I don't want to do anything. I don't want to hurt anyone or anything with my powers. That is until Lawrence shoves me back. I bound out of the way, skidding on my feet and standing tall.

"Come ON, man…" I huff, "You really wanna make a scene?" He raises his fists and I leap over him, running for the doors and clearing them, with the door slamming aside like I was a raging bull, shoulder ramming the exit door and my hand shooting out a webline to get me onto the flagpole.

I slam into the poletop, my body bunching as I look out at my pursuers. Shaking and squatting so my knees really hurt.

"GET DOWN HERE, PARKER!" Lawrence yells as Felicia and Harry follow him out.

"Seriously you guys! What's your damage?!" Felicia exclaims, "Just because he embarrassed you both doesn't mean you beat the shit out of him!" she gets between them and the flagpole.

"Hardy, you don't understand. He's not NORMAL." Harry says.

"Oh right, like you are?" she looks back up at me, "I've seen him in my Science class, he's only got Brock. He's terrified of you guys."

I don't wanna move. Not at all. Because I want them to go away. At least Lawrence and Osborn. She tosses her hair over her shoulder, "Listen, if you wanna beat someone up, beat up a punching bag…"

Lawrence and Osborn both turn around, walking back into the school. With Felicia still standing there, "Hey! It's alright now!" she calls up to me. I hesitate and gently edge off, falling to the ground and landing on my feet, stumbling on the landing a little.

She catches me with her hand grabbing my own, pulling me up.

"Whoa! I got you." she says.

"Why'd you do that?" I ask.

Felicia shrugs, "Why not?" she reasons, "You're just scared." she smiles and looks at me a little closer.

"You have pretty eyes." she says, still holding my hand, whirling me around and going towards the exit.

"Wait! Wait! What about-?"

"School? Come on, you need to relax, Parker. You just have Study Hall, right? I'll have you back here in no time!" she exclaims, "Let's go have fun!" she takes me to the parking lot and gets into a silver car.

"Whoa! You can drive?!" I gasp.

"Learned early, Jacky." she twirls the keys and starts it, pulling out and getting on the road. We drive to a nice side of town, music pumping through the speakers and actually going the speed limit. I was half expecting Felicia to burn rubber but that's a little too cliche.

She just drives, looking at me every now and then, "Jacky…" she sighs, "What's up?"

"I mean, you're driving. We just ditched school. You're DRIVING." I list.

"Uh huh? What's wrong with that?" she asks.

"I mean aren't we both sixteen?" I ask.

"Yeah? I learned early, remember?" she reasons, "Anyway… where to?"

I look out at the city whizzing by, "Maybe… ice cream?" I ask.

"Alright. Ice cream it is." she agrees.

I got myself a nice cone of chocolate and Felicia licks at a strawberry one. We're sitting on the hood of her car, overlooking the city from a park not too far from the ice cream place. It's peaceful and I think the guys behind the counter thought we were a couple.

Felicia sits, looking at me, "So… Million Dollar Question." she says.

"Shoot." I answer.

"How'd your legs get that way?" she asks.

"Oh uh… I was born with it. My Uncle Richard screamed that I was turning blue and they rushed me into the NICU." I say, "I… I hope that doesn't mess things up."

"Why would it?" she asks, "I'm sure you've heard all kinds of things."

"Yeah, like how I'm broken." I say, "Or I'm a creep, or a cripple. Just… shitty people being shitty."

Felicia's leather jacketed arm loops around my shoulders, bringing me in, "Hey. You're not creepy, Jack Parker."

"Oh really? Why is that?" I ask.

"Because I just saw you not even an hour ago top a flagpole in a web jump, and that stuff comes out of you! You're literally cooler than any of those other guys, because you…" she sees me wilt.

"Oh no… I'm sorry!" she lets go and backs up as I start to cry.

"Nah, nah… it's… hhh… It's alright. Just un… hfff… expected." I huff, trying to keep it in but Felicia settles back down.

"Jack, it's okay to cry. To be honest…" she looks down at herself, "I mean… you actually were really cool." she fiddles with her zipper, her cone long gone. I eat mine slowly next to her.

"I gotta go home," I say.

"Hey, I'll drive you." she answers, sliding off the hood and getting into the car. I get in with her and we pull back out and into the city again. Silently sitting next to each other. She looks at me again and says.

"Jack, if you want, you can come to my concert next week." she smiles at my starry eyed expression.

"Then it's a date!" I exclaim, "Well, well no. It's not a DATE per se… just… just uh…" I hear her laugh and I heat up, looking out the window, "Just drive."

"Awww! What, Jacky's shy?" she teases, "Come on, Jack, I was teasing!" The rest of the drive goes by without much incident. Just talking about small things. Nothing too deep about it at all. I finally answered about a block away from my apartment building.

"I… I know…" I stammer when she pulls up next to my apartment building and hands me my bag.

"Listen…" she starts, "Don't let them get you down," she touches my shoulder, "You got something really cool."

"Thanks." I say, putting on my bag and opening the door, getting out and going towards the door, seeing Dad waiting for me in the lobby.

"Jack." he says, his dark eyes twinkling, "You sly dog!" he chides, tackling me in a hug and lifting me.

"Whoa! Dad, it's not what you think! Felicia's just-"

"Oh! So her name's Felicia!" he laughs, carrying me up the steps to our apartment, "May, sweetheart! You won't believe who I found with Jack today!" he opens the door and Mom jumps a little as Dad plops me down and scuttles me forwards.

"Who?" she asks.

"Uh… her name's Felicia…" I admit, rubbing the back of my neck. Mom and Dad both gasp and I blush, trying to keep things in control but of course I can't. They both sit down in the living room and I join them.

"Well, I webslinged to school, got into a scuffle with my bullies, Felicia and Eddie saved me both times and then in Gym we took out Osborn." I explain with both my parents listening with almost rapt attention.

Mom was the first to speak, "So you weren't too willy nilly about your powers?" she asks.

"A little. But that's because… well… the ringing thing." I say, "It's not much but it's something that helps me dodge things and land correctly." I explain.

"So, you and Felicia had a nice afternoon?" Dad asks, "I mean… you ditched."

"Eddie's got my back with notes and all." I reason, "Don't worry, it won't become a trend, I promise!"

Mom sighs, "Honey, just don't do it often," she smiles though, "Sounds like you had fun though, so I guess Felicia's an 'okay' influence."

"Yeah, just keep an eye on her." Dad says.

"You guys keep on thinking she's a bad person." I look at them and they seem a little guilty about it.

"Well, it IS the first time you had a girl as a friend." Dad says, "It's not BAD, but we just want you to be careful."

I stand up, "I will be, guys. Don't worry! I got this!" I assure them and get a cup of water, drinking it not from the tap but from the fridge. Of course it tastes weird but I choke it down, water is water.

"Oh! And she's in a band!" I exclaim, "She plays both Lead and Base, probably switching."

Mom and Dad both stand up and rush over, "Wait wait wait." Mom says, "You're going to her concert?" she asks.

"Yeah? Why?" I wonder.

"Ben. The vest." Mom orders. Dad nods and goes into their room, coming out with a well cared for denim vest with spikes on the shoulders and a Mothman on the back surrounded by red and yellow with black pine trees reaching around it. There're patches for System of a Down, ACDC, Metallica, and the Grateful Dead on it.

"This belongs to me." Dad states, kneeling and almost handing it over ceremoniously, "Now I want you to have it. It's been through a lot. But there's a lot of good memories with it."

"I met your father in that vest." Mom says, "Long brown hair, handsome as can be… and high as a kite."

"Maybelle!" Dad hisses, "Please don't tell Jack that!"

"What? He already knows!" she scoffs, "Besides… you're still handsome."

"Psh…" Dad scoffs, rubbing the back of his neck with a dopey grin, "What can I say?" He starts humming a song and almost slow dancing with Mom. She giggles as I slide on the vest and it fits like a glove.

"Now…" Dad says, moving away from Mom and plunking his hand on my head, "I want you to be a straight edge. No drinking, and be back before Midnight."

"Got it!" I salute and he ruffles my hair, "Haha…" I laugh a little.

Mom gets out her phone, "I am sending this to Mary and Richard. Our son is SO cool!" she exclaims as I smile and she snaps the photo, "There we go! First Parker boy to don the Battle Vest other than Benjamin Franklin Parker."

I grin and hug them gently so I don't squeeze them too hard.

"You're ready." Dad says, kissing my forehead with Mom bringing me back in for more hugging. I just hope that this miracle just keeps on giving.