Thank you very much for the nice comments, and I hope that you will all like this new chapter :)

Moving into a flat with 'Aunt May', as she instructed him to call her, was a surreal experience. She had always been a strict woman, who had never directed a smile at him. But as soon as they walked into the apartment building, she suddenly morphed into an overly sweet lady requiring help to carry a slightly decrepit couch up three floors to her newly-leased flat. He nearly snorted when he heard her fake high-pitch voice, but she glared at him and he didn't make a sound. After all, she reminded him later on in the evening with a stern tone, she was only doing this for the mission, because they were supposed to be undercover.

Peter had been provided with colourful furniture, clothes, and posters – what on earth are "star wars"? he could vaguely remember his mum mentioning that she had to introduce him to the star wars universe, and it sounded vaguely ominous to him now. He even had a bunk bed. He had read about them in some novels, but had never thought he would ever sleep on a top bunk, ever. The mattress was slightly harder than his own worn one back at the base, but he adored the bed anyway. It was as if Hydra had been withholding on his birthday and Christmas gifts for all these years for one big surprise. His 'Aunt May' – he was still half-expecting her to whack his head for such familiarity – even took him out for Chinese food to keep up appearances (anyone can eat with chopsticks nowadays, and you cannot stand out, Peter). She even – gag – flirted with the waiter. If she hadn't sneered at him when he spent too long in the shower that evening, he would have thought that the world had turned on its head.

He woke up at 6am sharp, got up, and bounced a few times on his bed before trying different ways of climbing on it and jumping off of it. He had always been very good at gymnastics, and loved hanging upside down for some reason. A bird on a branch outside of his flat was looking at him, and he laughed to himself, embarrassed that he had been seen by a life form while having childish fun. He sobered up as he looked at the his alarm clock. May didn't tolerate tardiness. He got dressed, putting on a red t-shirt with jeans and white sneakers, then quickly had breakfast - three slices to bread with some jam left by May before she left for her work at SHIELD a few minutes before. Looking at the time again, he quickly left the flat, jumping down the stairs a few steps at a time.

Peter speed-walked to the subway station, and down into the earth. It was overwhelming, and he winced, forcing himself to keep walking. Sensory signals enveloped him - lights, sounds, smells that he hadn't experienced in many years were everywhere. The world span for a bit, and he braced himself against a wall. A few people looked at him, and it took all of his willpower to push himself off the wall and start walking again. After a few minutes, the ringing in his ears faded. He reached his train's platform and let himself relax.

Looking around, he took a train ticket out his bag. May had left a couple of tickets on the shelf near the door, and he was under strict instructions to only use two a day, to go and come back from school. He had never been on the subway, but he knew enough to go on the correct platform and take the train going in the correct direction, even while having a sensory overload. On his right, excited children were shouting 'long time no see', 'summer holidays were the best thing ever' and other school-related stuff. The young teenager smiled to himself. He would do this for them, for the future that Hydra would give them. He could take the hard training and the sacrifices if it meant providing millions with a better life.

The train rapidly arrived, and there was no seating space left. If not for his training, he would have stumbled into many commuters. The train movements were foreign to him, and he jumped the first few times that a speeding train went past his wagon, in the other direction.

People were starting to pile up in his train even more, some of them of high school age. He was starting to feel anxious, and felt like someone was watching the back of his neck. One quick look told him that a Hydra operative that he had seen a few times around the base was sitting in the corner of the wagon, watching him over a magazine. He was probably here to make sure that Peter didn't get lost on his first day. The soon-to-be high schooler got off the train at the same time as a group of students, and he slowed down his pace, walking a few meters behind them to Midtown School of Science and Technology.

After a long-winded affair of queueing, finding his locker, and orientating himself, he forced his way through hordes of students, to get to the second floor.

His first period was Physics. He was the first one in the classroom. He went to sit in the middle rows, not wishing to stand out by going to the front or the back – he remembered that much teacher-student psychology from his one year in primary school, before Hydra. Other students rapidly arrived in the classroom, and one of them chose to sit next to him.

"Hi, I'm Ned", he said, grinning, "I don't recognise you from last year, what's your name?"

Peter smiled at him, and spoke to another person of his age for the first time in years.

"Peter Parker. It's nice to meet you." Leaning in, Peter stage-whispered to Ned, thinking back to his 'teenage behaviour' class that his sociology tutor had made him go through at the base, "So, what is the physics teacher like?"

Ned looked about to answer when said teacher walked into the classroom. He sat down at the front desk, pulled up the class register, and quickly went through the list of names. As expected, Peter didn't recognise any of his classmates' names. He did learn that Ned's last name was 'Leeds'. Some students turned towards him when his name was called, and he shrugged and smiled at them. The class started with an introduction to particles and waves. Peter knew the material because of his training, and let himself relax slightly. He was sitting next to the window, and a few birds were chirping on a nearby tree. The school's gym was a few meters away from the main building. He was really looking forward to trying out the school's climbing wall. After some time, the bell rang, and everyone rapidly packed their bags and walked to their next period.

Just before lunch break, Peter went to his locker to get his Spanish book for the afternoon class. Ned had walked with him to the lockers, and they were in a deep conversation about their favourite type of pasta. "Bolognese," he said. "Never, Carbonara is the absolute best, which planet are you from?" answered Ned.

Stuffing his Spanish textbook into his bag, Peter quickly locked his locker, when he felt someone approaching him from behind. He turned around, and recognising the kid from his Physics class, casually asked, leaning back against the lockers,

"What's up, Eugene?"

Ned had made a quick run-down of the kids in their Physics class, and had winced slightly when he had mentioned Eugene 'Flash' Thompson's name.

The kid in question's eyes turned dark. Two older, bulky students were flanking him left and right.

"It's Flash, midget." 'Flash' sneered at Ned, who was standing still behind Peter. "Quick advice, don't stick to losers or you'll become one too."

Peter couldn't help himself, and smiled sweetly, "You would know a lot about that, wouldn't you?"

Flash snarled, and went to punch him straight in the face. Moving in a blur, Peter stepped to the side and proceeded to grab Flash's wrist in one swift movement. He could feel Ned's eyes going wide, and he internally winced. Hopefully Ned would just shrug his action off and forget about it. Keeping a calm composure, Peter looked up at his attacker.

"Look, Eugene. You might have superiority issues, but that doesn't mean you are entitled to take your frustration out on people." Peter let go of his wrist. Flash looked too surprised to say anything. Next to him, Ned pointed to Peter, and then to the cafeteria, and mouthed 'Go, go, go."

Peter looked back at Flash, eyes darkening, "Don't bother Ned or me again."

The two bulky kids accompanying Flash looked about to jump on him, but Flash, sensing many students' eyes trained on him, gestured at them to stay still before turning and walking off, pretending that nothing had happened.

Ned blurted out as soon as Flash was out of hearing distance, "Woah, nice reflexes. And do you think that you could teach me how to do that death glare?"

Peter was walking home, smiling to himself. Putting the incident with Eugene Thompson aside, it had been very easy to act like a normal high school student. His classmates had been a bit surprised at his slightly young age, but his extensive knowledge of all things science-related had rapidly justified his place among them.

Ned had nearly spat out his spaghetti at lunch when he had asked Peter which Star Wars movie was his favourite, and Peter had said that he hadn't seen any of them. A few students sitting behind them and not-so-discreetly eavesdropping had chocked slightly. Apparently, Star Wars is a big thing, Peter reflected.

The teen's back story was that he had lived a very isolated life in Canada with his Aunt, who had sorely missed New York hustle-and-bustle. In August, she had spontaneously decided to move back, taking her nephew with her. No one doubted that his life had been very sheltered up to now, as he had missed a few references and puns, making Ned shake his head in mock-despair, throughout the day.

All in all, Peter was thinking that he could get used to this undercover mission.

Bouncing up the stairs to his flat, he forced himself to adopt neutral features before knocking at his door and entering the flat. He wasn't surprised to find May deep in discussion with the white-haired woman from the day before. They both stood up and came towards him.

"Project, please report on your day."

He looked down, and said, with trepidation:

"I successfully infiltrated the school. Waiting for further instructions."