At last, school finally ended. I raced towards the exit, shoving and dodging my way through the crowd.
I was a foot away from the door, maybe even closer, when a large figure stepped in front of me. I didn't have any time to brake. I ran into the solid person and bounced off, stumbling slightly as I ricocheted backwards.
After I had regained my senses and footing, I saw that it was just my best friend, Ned. Probably my only friend, mind you, unless you counted MJ - I don't know what's up with her, to be honest; but that's besides the point.
"Uh, hey, Ned. What's up? You know, I kinda have to be going somewhere, so -"
"Wait, what? What about our plans?" Ned interjected, looking slightly hurt.
Plans? What plans? I thought, my mind racing as I rattled it for any recollection. We already finished the LEGO Death Star, Decathlon doesn't have a meeting any time soon…
"You know, going to the museum and getting ice cream. And then heading over to your house and…" His face fell before turning into stone. "You forgot, didn't you."
That was more of a statement than a question. I couldn't help feeling guilty, but my excitement was over-ruling all other emotions.
"What? Forgot? Pffft, no, of course not!" My mind scrambled for an excuse or lie to tell Ned. "I just…I have plans with Mr. Stark this afternoon. I tried texting you during P.E., but we don't really have good service down there, you know?"
"You do realize that we have that class together, right?"
Oh. Right. Well, crap.
"Oh, yeah. Look, Ned, I'm sorry, it's just -"
"Yeah, I know, it's Tony Stark. I mean, you can't actually say no to the guy. It's fine, Peter."
"Really? We still cool?" I asked him, searching his face for any tell-tale signs of rejection and/or utter friendship-divorce.
"Yeah, man. We're still cool."
Relieved, I held up my hand, and we did our signature best-friend handshake. Afterwards, I said goodbye and rushed past him and out the door. By now, most students had gotten onto buses, been picked up, or had driven home, so the crowds weren't as big. However, all of New York could have been packed into the parking lot, and I still would have seen the sleek black limo sitting next to the curb.
Grinning from ear-to-ear, I jogged over to flashy vehicle. I heard the lock click, and I opened the door to slide in.
As I unslung my backpack from off my shoulders, I noticed that there was another person in the car other than the driver, Happy.
"Woah! Mr. Stark! You're here!" I barely stopped myself in time from tossing my overstuffed backpack over to where the billionaire was seated.
"Dang right I'm here. What'd you expect?" He retorted, still not looking at me as he was busy typing on his phone. "And next time, watch where you go to throw that thing."
My face heated with embarrassment and rubbed the back of my neck, but I tried to shrug it off. I couldn't believe that Tony Stark had actually come with to meet me! I mean, sure, he's done it before; but that didn't make the encounter any less awesome.
"Uhh, so, um, what's up?" I flinched as my voice cracked. "Happy said that -"
"That I had urgent business to discuss with you, yadda yadda yadda." Tony looked up from his phone and up at the driver. "Happy, get us out of here and onto the road. I'm sick of weird teenagers taking my picture and gawking at my overly-handsome face."
The car started up and pulled smoothly away from the curb, out the parking lot, and onto the road. Butterflies made of pure excitement and giddy erupted in my chest as dark sunglasses turned their attention to stare at me.
"Parker, we need to talk about something; besides your declining grades and attractive aunt. There's been-" He stopped and looked condescendingly down at me over his shaded glasses. "Okay, kid, listen. You need to stop grinning like a maniac and settle down. Got it? It's very distracting when to talk someone when they've got that stupid look on their face."
"Yes, sir. S-sorry, Mr. Stark," I replied, unsuccessfully attempting to contain my grin.
"Okay, where were we?" He paused for a second before continuing. "Oh, right. Down to business. There's…been some bad news."
I nodded eagerly, my eyes wide and imploring.
"The Manhattan Detention Complex had some problems with security, and, to put things nicely, inmates escaped."
"Oh, really?! Sweet! Uh, I-I mean, oh, no, that's awful! Don't worry Mr. Stark, I'll round up those suckers faster than you can say, 'the amazing Spider-Man!'"
"Peter, it's not just your average assaulters and bank robbers. You remember all those guys you put in prison? The ones that were Toomes' accomplices and minions?"
"Uh…yeah? So what? I beat them once; why can't I beat them again? Those guys are weak-sauce."
"Maybe last time. But then, it was just to save them some easy dollars and jail time. Now, they're out for revenge. And trust me, kid, revenge is the worst motive possible. It makes people dangerous, makes them something almost beyond human." He paused, his eyes glazing over slightly. When he spoke, it was slightly quieter, more hushed, more reverent. "Trust me, I know."
Of course I knew he knew. I had helped him out with the first deadly encounter with Captain America (I stole his shield, by the way - how cool is that?! But, then he beat me up, but that's besides the point).
"So…is that all that you had to tell me?" I realized that we were nearing my apartment, and disappointment was beginning to gnaw its way through my gut. No way did I want to sit at home and do homework when I could be hanging out with Tony Stark!
"Not quite. I also came to tell you to stay away from them. Davis, Gargon, Schultz, all of them. Don't you dare even think of going near any of them without backup. Do you hear me?"
We had parked in front of my apartment, so I already had the door open and was shrugging my backpack onto my shoulders. I wasn't really listening to him, as his lecture had bored me from the beginning. And not to mention the fact that I was definitely not going to be listening to that advice.
"Yeah, sure, got it. Bye, Iron Man!"
"No, Pete, I'm seriou-"
I slammed the door shut and jogged towards the door. I made my way up and into my apartment, where Aunt May was sitting on the couch reading a magazine.
"Hey, Peter. How was your meeting with Mr. Stark?" She asked.
I was still high off giddiness and euphoria as I made my way past her and towards my room. "Fine. Awesome." I replied breathlessly before opening my door and flopping right onto my bed.
Little did I know that things were only going to go downhill from there.