Third period did not come soon enough for Peter, who had spent his previous two class periods in math and in English, both of which were not fun subjects at all.

His third class of the day was science, which was actually tolerable, considering he usually spent most of the hour making his own spider web fluid when his teacher wasn't looking. Like last year, he and Ned were in the same science class again, which made it even better.

At the start of every class period, Mr. Braun would stand in front of the classroom with a clipboard and take attendance.

"Leeds?"

Ned sat boredly with his fist propped up under his chin, looking extremely unenthusiastic with the usual routine.

"Here."

"Parker?"

"Here."

"Thompson?"

Flash glanced back at the young hero and smirked before responding to the teacher's call.

"Here."

"Briggman?"

Peter frowned, puzzled by the unfamiliar-sounding name. Even more noticeable, it was not in alphabetical order.

Like him, many of the standards glanced curiously around the room, trying to identify the source of the name.

"Here."

Peter and Ned turned around to see the same girl they had seen earlier sitting the back of the classroom, looking slightly uncomfortable as thirty pairs of eyes rested on her.

"Oh, I forgot to mention that we have a new student," Mr. Braun said, motioning towards the girl. "Everyone, say hello to Sarah Briggman."

"Dude, that's the girl we saw earlier," Ned whispered to Peter.

The brown-haired boy nodded before he turned around to face the front of the classroom, staring down at their lab table in thought.

"Tell us a little about yourself, Sarah," Mr. Braun encouraged, politely lowering his clipboard to give the female student his undivided attention. "Where are you from?"

"Uh, I'm from Oregon," the girl answered.

Immediately, Peter's ears perked up. Oregon was where Liz and her mom had moved.

"And what brings you to Queens?" the teacher asked.

The girl glanced around at the other students who continued to eye her curiously. "My dad just got a job here," she explained. "He works at Oscorp now."

Mr. Braun nodded, clearly intrigued by this new piece of information.

"Well, it is a pleasure to have you here, Sarah."

Meanwhile, Ned shared a look with Peter, who had also found the girl's story interesting as well. If he worked for Oscorp, then maybe he knew something about the weird break-in that had happened last night.

Needless to say, both Ned and Peter wanted to know more about this Sarah character.


"Oh my gosh, can you believe this?" Ned asked.

As soon as third period was over, he and Peter had quickly rushed out of the classroom, only to pull the smaller teen aside and freak out over their latest discovery.

"Dude, I know. It's crazy," Peter answered, politely backing away from his overexcited friend.

"Can you imagine? Sarah's dad works at Oscorp."

Peter rolled eyes. "Ned, a lot of people work at Oscorp."

"Yeah, but this is the new girl's dad," Ned pressed, not understanding why Peter wasn't sharing the same level of enthusiasm. "And, plus, she's cute."

Peter sighed.

"Dude, why aren't you over-the-moon about this?"

"Because…" Peter paused, taking a deep breath before continuing. "…I-I don't know, Ned, it's just…I feel like the universe is trying to get back at me."

"What do you mean?" Ned asked, frowning.

"It's just, you know, Liz moved to Oregon."

"Yeah?"

"And Sarah's from Oregon."

"So?"

"So, I don't think that's a sign that I should get to know her."

"Dude…" Ned pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "I get it. Liz was great. But you gotta move on, bro. What if Sarah's The One?"

Still, Peter looked skeptical.

"I'll think about it," he declared half-heartedly, shrugging.

Ned shook his head in disbelief.

"Hey, if you're not gonna make a move, I will."

"You guys talkin' about Sarah?"

The boys whirled around to see Michelle standing behind them.

"Pssh, no. Who's Sarah?" Ned said quickly, folding his arms in a not-so-casual manner.

Michelle raised an eyebrow, yet she continued.

'The new girl that just moved here. She's really nice. You should meet her."

Ned exchanged uncertain glances with Peter before answering.

"Uh, we'd love to," the larger teen said, earning a nudge in the ribs from his friend.

The curly-haired girl smirked.

"Well, you guys are in luck, because I'm showing her around today," she said.

Ned and Peter glanced behind her, expecting to see the blonde-haired beauty herself, however, there was no one following their brunette friend.

"Where is she then?" Ned asked, frowning.

"She's getting her schedule changed. I'm supposed to meet her after next period to pick her up," Michelle explained. "She said she's looking for some nice people to hang out with."

"We're nice. We're very nice-" Ned started, however, Peter shot a glare in his direction, silencing him.

"Awesome," Michelle answered, "So, do you guys wanna sit together at lunch?"

"Uh, yeah," Ned said, as if it was the silliest question he had ever heard.

"Peter?"

The young man lifted his head to meet her gaze. "Uh, yeah," he said, nodding quickly. Truth was, he had been spacing out.

"Great, see you guys at lunch then."

Ned watched as she turned to leave, dumbstruck as he tried to process what had just occurred.

"Dude, what just happened?" he asked, turning to his friend.

Peter, who had recovered more quickly from their conversation with Michelle, put a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder.

"I think we're meeting Sarah."


"So you think there was someone watching you?" Ned asked.

Peter agitatedly ran hand through his hair.

"I-I don't know. I thought I heard something, but when I looked, nothing was there."

It was lunchtime, meaning that Ned and Peter (mostly Ned) were waiting anxiously for Michelle and Sarah to arrive.

Peter had started to explain last period during their gym class about the strange rooftop experience he had yesterday during his patrol. However, since gym was usually an active class and there was not a whole lot of time to carry a long conversation, he had waited until the beginning of lunch to relay the story to Ned, who could only shake his head in amazement.

"Peter, either you're tripping really bad, or there's something extremely weird going on."

"I know, man," Peter answered. "I just think it can't be a coincidence, you know?"

A moment of silence passed before spotted Michelle and a light-haired female making their way across the lunchroom.

"Look, there's MJ."

"And Sarah," Peter added, giving Ned a knowing smirk, which he chose to ignore.

"Hey guys," Michelle said as they approached the table.

"Hey, Michelle," Peter said, flashing her a friendly grin.

Pursing her lips in disapproval, Michelle placed a hand on her hips. "How many times do I have to tell you, Peter?"

Realizing his mistake, Peter quickly shook his head. "Sorry. MJ."

"So, who's you're friend?" Ned asked, lifting his chin as he struggled to peer over the brunette's shoulder at the girl of interest.

Michelle gracefully took a step aside to reveal the new girl. Ned's jaw practically dropped to the floor as he saw her for the first time up close. While she wasn't a supermodel, she was undeniably pretty. Her blonde braids were quite noticeable against a dark blue sweatshirt, which was topped off with a grey baseball cap, partially concealing two vibrant blue eyes.

Even Peter found himself admiring her as she shyly gave the boys a slight nod, acknowledging their presence.

"Guys, this is Sarah."

"Hi," she said, giving the two a warm smile. It must've been his imagination, but Peter swore he could feel his face growing warm, as though he were…blushing.

"And Sarah, these are my friends," she said, motioning towards the boys. "Peter and Ned."

"Well, It's very nice to meet you, Sarah," Ned said, politely outstretching a hand, which the girl graciously took.

"It's nice to meet you, too."

After she shook Ned's hand, she reached out to shake Peter's hand.

With some hesitancy, Peter relented and shook the girl's hand. As soon as their hands touched, Sarah immediately noticed the strong grip the thinner teen had. It was almost abnormal for a boy his size to have such a firm handshake.

"It's nice to meet you, Peter."

She instantly locked eyes with the young man, whose chocolate-brown eyes shone with kindness and humility. They were almost doe-like—wide-eyed and innocent.

She realized she had been holding her breath for a good ten seconds before she let out a soft exhale, and reluctantly let go of the boy's hand before sitting down at the table alongside Michelle.

"So, what's the special for today?" Michelle asked, glancing at the two boys. "Meatloaf? Hot dog?"

"It's, uh, beef stroganoff, I think," Peter answered.

Michelle crinkled her nose. "Stroganoff—that's a funny name. Stroganoff…"

To Peter and Ned's confusion, Michelle began repeating the name to herself, trying to decide if the lunchroom was special sounded appetizing or not.

"So, Sarah," Ned began, as the boys ignored their female friend's quirky antics, "how are you liking Midtown so far?"

Sarah considered the boy's question for a moment before answering. "I like it," she said. "Before I came here, I used to go to a public school in Oregon."

Once again, the mention of Oregon made Peter's ears involuntarily perk up again.

"And do you like it there?" Ned asked.

Sarah shrugged. "Yeah. It's okay, I guess. It's pretty much the same as here, though. Although the weather there is a little too gloomy for me sometimes."

"I feel that," Ned said, nodding. "It can get that way around here too. But I guess, overall, it's the people that provide the sunshine, right?"

Sarah smiled, giving the larger boy a warm, fuzzy feeling in his chest.

"I think I'll try the stroganoff," Michelle finally declared, standing up abruptly from her seat. "You wanna come with?" she asked,

Sarah glanced at the two boys and shook her head. "I think I'll pass." To be honest, she wasn't that hungry anyways.

Michelle shrugged. "Suit yourself," she said. "I'll be back."

After Michelle had disappeared into the lunch line, Ned took the opportunity to confront her about the interesting piece of information she had relayed to Mr. Braun earlier that morning.

"So your dad works at Oscorp?" Ned asked. "Peter and I—we're in your chemistry class, and we remembered you telling Mr. Braun that."

Sarah's eyes widened, realizing that she had seen the two boys in her third period class. "Oh, yeah, I remember seeing you guys," she said. "And yeah, he used to be an editor back at home, but then he got promoted to project manager in the actual facility, which is why we moved."

She wasn't sure why Oscorp was such a relevant topic of discussion, at least to her peers. However, they were in a science school, so she guessed she shouldn't have been surprised that her fellow students would take an interest in science-related subjects.

"Did you hear about the break-in last night?" Ned asked, lowering his voice slightly.

Sarah frowned, trying to recall when she heard about a supposed 'break-in' at the company.

"My dad said something about a breach in security to my mom when he left for this morning. He seemed kind of grumpy, so maybe that's why he was like that."

"So you don't know anything about who it was, or what it was that was stolen? Anything?" Peter interjected.

Sarah shook her head. "I doubt I'll hear much about it, since those things are top secret."

"What's top secret?" Michelle asked as she plopped down next to Sarah, with beef stroganoff prominently displayed on her lunch tray.

Sarah exchanged uncertain glances with the boys, who shrugged. It couldn't hurt to tell Michelle, right?

"The thing at Oscorp that was on the news this morning."

"Oh, yeah, I heard about that," Michelle said, taking a bite of her lunch. "They said it would cost the company millions of dollars if they couldn't recover what was stolen.

"Which could cost my dad his job," Sarah muttered under her breath. Just the possibility of having to move again made her stomach drop. She had just started her first day, had already made some friends, and yet there was a chance she would have to leave them if her dad got fired. What a great house-warming gift.

"I'm sure it'll all work out," Michelle said, giving her friend a comforting pat on the shoulder. "Many companies have problems like this from time to time, yet employees manage to stay there for years and years and years."

Ned nodded in agreement. "And if there's anyone who can solve the crime, it's Spider-Man."

The name of the infamous superhero caught the blonde by surprise. "What?"

Ned opened his mouth to correct his mistake, however, Peter jumped in before his friend could blurt out any more confidential information.

"He means, we'll look into it," Peter finished.

"Ha, what could you guys possibly do about it?" Michelle interjected, folding her arms in a skeptical manner.

Peter shifted his gaze towards his friend, who tried to play it off casually. "I mean, we're not the best detectives, but we can try to figure it out."

"That's cool of you guys," Sarah said, earning a look of surprise from her brunette friend. "It's great that you wanna try and help. If I tried to do that, I doubt I'd get anywhere."

"Maybe you're just not looking in the right place. Peter and I have been doing this detective thing for years," he said, putting an arm around the smaller boy's shoulders. "Right, Peter?"

Peter rolled his eyes, clearly unimpressed with his friend's theatrics.

"Since the day I was born."