CHAPTER FIVE: Confessions and Costumes



Imagine, if you will, the aromas of your favorite foods. Imagine all of those aromas, in one place, and all occurring at the same time. It's like it's Christmas day, and your parents just started preparing dinner, and you've been sitting there all day just smelling it. Well, that's the way it was in my house.

Tiffany and I were sitting at the top of the stairs in my house. Downstairs, my father was busy cooking up a feast. Melinda, her mother, couldn't just stand around while he cooked, though, and insisted that she help him with the meal. So our parents were down there, cooking and talking, while we sat up there listening.

"I'm sorry," I said to her.

"For what?" asked Tiffany.

"My dad. You didn't have to laugh when he was making those dumb jokes in the car..."

"It's okay. Your dad's not so bad."

"Says you, woman. You don't have to live with him."

Tiffany punched me in my arm playfully. Obviously, it did not hurt, but I pretended that it did. Tiffany started rubbing my arm where she hit me, then she kissed me on the cheek.

"Hey, show me your room," said Tiffany.

"I don't wanna," I replied.

"Why not?"

"It's messy."

"So?"

"There's dirty underwear all over the place."

"So?"

"It's wired to explode in two minutes."

"So?"

I sighed, lowered my head, and rose. Then I scooped up Tiffany's small frame in my arms and proceeded to my room. Once we were in my room, I lowered her onto my bed. She glanced around my room for a second, and then she reached for me. Grabbing my arms, she pulled me down so that I was positioned on my hands and knees above her. Our lips met instantly. I took in her smell, breathing inward as often as I could. Her arms circled around my neck, and my hands caressed her thighs. How long we kissed, I'm not entirely sure. But I can say this: I was having a very good time. Wouldn't you?

I'm not sure why, but I was having a very odd feeling. There was something about Tiffany that I could really relate to. I couldn't really place my finger on it, but there was something about her that made me want to really open up to her. I felt like I could tell her anything. I wanted to be able to tell her everything.

"Tiffany..."

"Yeah...?"

"I want to tell you...everything..."

"Like what?"

"I want to tell you...about me..."

"Tell me."

I repositioned myself so that I was sitting upright in my bed. Tiffany sat up and looked me in the eyes.

"What's wrong, Rob?"

"I want to tell you something...but I'm afraid of what it could mean if I told you..."

"Is it that bad?"

"Potentially..."

"Rob...you're the one who saved my mom from Rhino, aren't you?"

Well, that was...unexpected.

"Uh...what?" I was thrown off by that one.

"It was you, wasn't it? You were in the alley when I walked past. It was you who beat Rhino, wasn't it?" asked Tiffany.

"How...how did you know?"

"You really want to know? My mom recognized you. She mentioned it to me when you and your dad weren't paying attention."

It had never occurred to me that her mother might have recognized me from the day that I fought the Rhino. I felt like kicking myself in the ass, if only I were that flexible. But then, maybe I was with my new powers. It was a question for another day.

"And, if nothing else, I spoke both to you and to Spider-Man, and trust me, you and Spider-Man have very similar voices," said Tiffany.

"Spider-Who?" I asked. I had actually forgotten about that name.

"My mom said that you called yourself Spider-Man when you were fighting Rhino. Did you?"

"Oh yeah..."

"She told me something else that I think was a little weird. She said that you shot some...thing out of your arms at Rhino. Naturally, I thought she was seeing things, but I do remember seeing some mysterious gray stuff on the wall in my house. Care to explain?"

"Um...how am I supposed to explain that?"

"Just start talking. How did this happen to you?"

I gotta admit, Tiffany was acting exceptionally calm in regards to the whole "Finding Out Rob Is A Freak Of Nature" thing. I searched for the right words, and eventually, they just seemed to flow out.

"Alright, look. There was this guy...name was Norman Osborn. He did something to me...injected me with this drug..."

"What kind of drug?" asked Tiffany.

"I don't know. He said it had these chemicals in it, and it had spider's venom and DNA mixed into it. I thought it would have killed me, but I survived."

"Why didn't you call the cops on him?"

"And then what would I have done? They would have checked my blood, gotten a sample of my DNA, and then they would want to do all sorts of experiments on me just to see what I can do."

"I...I don't know what to say...just what can you do, Rob?"

"Promise not to scream?"

"Yeah..."

Rising off of my bed, I leapt upwards, flipped, and perched myself upon my ceiling. Tiffany was still sitting on my bed, staring up at me. I could see her jaw beginning to open as if she were about to scream, so I placed my finger against my lips. Tiffany caught herself, but she still looked very shocked.

"How...how are you doing that?" she asked.

"This is one of the side effects," I said. "So is this."

I lowered myself down on a webline from the ceiling. Once I was about two feet off of the ground, I flipped to my feet and stood upright.

"My God...why didn't you tell me about this?" she asked.

"I didn't want to tell anybody. I still don't have a grip on all this."

"Brian and Angel don't know?"

"No, I don't know if I'm going to tell them."

"So why were you going to tell me?"

"I don't know..."

"Rob, you're like...a superhero or something..."

"I am not," I said with a smirk on my face.

"Well why not? I mean, you got the power, right?"

I thought for a moment, back to when I was fighting the Shocker. There was a reason why I did what I did. I wanted to rid the world of his kind, of those who would hurt others just for their own personal gain. There was nothing Robert Jordan could do to stop them. But Spider-Man...he could make a difference.

"You have a point..." I said.

"Of course, you'd need a costume," said Tiffany.

"I ain't wearin' no costume!" I exclaimed. "You must be outside your mind!"

"Come on, let me make you a costume!"

"No."

"I'll be your friend..."

"You're already my friend."

"The point, Mr. Jordan, is that I really could make you a cool costume to wear. In fact, I already have an idea. It could look cool in the daytime, yet scary in the nighttime."

"You're serious about this?"

"Yes! Stand up for a second. Let me get a good look at you."

I reluctantly stood up for her to examine me. She observed me for a moment.

"Hit a spin," she said with a smile.

"No," I replied.

"Do it!"

I sighed and turned around for her to observe my whole body, although she was most likely just staring at my ass. When I turned back, she smiled.

"Okay, I think I can do this," said Tiffany.

"Are you out of your mind?" I asked her.

"Probably. This is gonna be fun..."

Okay, time to fast forward again. Dinner was uneventful, as was sleep, so don't ask. Time to skip to the next day at school. Don't like it? Then go read something else. Go ahead. I dare you. Wait, come back...

Anyway, here I was in school the next day. Mr. Harris had decided that he wanted to be lazy this day and had us watching And One streetball tapes instead of actually engaging in physical activity. Some of us were watching the tape, but I was at the back of the room keeping to myself. As for Brian, he was busy doing what he did best. In case you didn't know, And One mixtapes have a different soundtrack for every tape that they release. Whenever a new song comes out for them, one would be able to download it rather easily off of their computer. You see where I'm going with this?

"C'mon, I know you love the songs on this tape. For just five dollars, I could get you any song off of the tape and put it on a CD..." This was the sales pitch that Brian had used upon just about everybody in the room.

It was only about three minutes before everybody started screaming, "Sit down, Brian!"

About ten minutes into the class, the door to the classroom opened. In came Tiffany, who was panting as if she had just run to the classroom. She handed a note to Mr. Harris.

"Sorry, Mr. Harris, I just got to school," Tiffany said.

"That's alright, Tiffany. Have a seat, and beware of Brian," said Mr. Harris.

Tiffany spotted me at the back of the room and sat beside me.

"How come you're so late?" I asked her.

"Nevermind that. I have something to give you after school," she replied.

"You got me something? If it's food, I'll except."

"It's not food."

"Then what is it?"

"It's a surprise," she said with a smirk.

Just then, out of seemingly nowhere, Brian popped up. I jumped. Even my sense of danger couldn't tell me when Superhustler was gonna pop up.

"No surprise in the world could be as good as a CD from me. What do you say, man?" asked Brian.

"How do you do that?" I asked him.

"Do what?"

"How do you just pop up like that?"

"I dunno, I got superpowers, I guess," said Brian.

I could hear Tiffany snickering beside me, but I didn't say a word. Right at that moment, the bell rang. We all got up for the next class, and as we filed out, I saw somebody familiar walking into the room. It was Angel, but she wasn't alone. There was some guy with her, a tall guy, with an authentic Allen Iverson jersey, new Jordans on his feet, and a gold chain hanging around his neck. The guy had his arm around Angel. She hugged him and planted a kiss on his cheek.

"I'll see you at lunch, okay?" said Angel.

"Yeah, I'll see you there," the guy replied.

They separated then, with Angel entering the room and the mystery asshole walking away. Brian saw me watching Angel enter the room and approached me.

"You alright, dog?" he asked me.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just fine..."

I must point out to you that I was extremely disappointed at the way things were going as of late. Case in point: lunchtime, my favorite time of the day, had now become a drab, dismal black hole of boredom from which no molecule, carbon-based or otherwise, could possibly have any hope of escaping from. I could see Angel in the corner of the lunchroom, sitting with that new guy, whoever he was. Brian and I were sitting there, with nary a word being uttered between the two of us. That's when I broke the silence.

"Who is he?" I asked.

"Who?" asked Brian.

"That guy that Angel's with."

Brian glanced toward Angel's direction.

"Oh, that's Andre," he informed me.

"And who the hell is Andre?"

"How do you expect me to answer that question? He's the first nuclear physicist to attend our school, happy?"

"I mean, where did he come from? I ain't never seen him a day in my life, and all of a sudden he comes up in here puttin' his hands all over my woman."

"....Say that again, Rob?"

"I said, I've never seen him before, but then he just shows up and starts puttin' his hands all over my best friend."

"That's not what you said, Rob."

"Yes, it is."

"You did not say 'best friend'."

"What did I say?"

"You said 'my woman'."

"You're out of your mind. Angel is not my woman."

"Your exact words: 'I ain't never seen him a day in my life, and all of a sudden he comes up in here puttin' his hands all over my woman'. No joke, man."

Did I really say that? I wouldn't normally say that. After all, Angel wasn't my woman. My closest friend, yes, but not my woman. Maybe that injection of spider DNA did something else, beside just giving me powers. I was beginning to think things that I didn't mean to think, and it was scary.

The rest of the day was uneventful, as always. After school, Brian and I walked past Angel's locker to find her so we could catch the bus home, but instead I saw her walking with Andre and his friends. Andre had taken off his jersey and was letting Angel wear it, along with a matching NBA cap.

"You're gonna be alright, man," Brian said, as if I needed reassuring. Just then, I remembered that Tiffany said she had something to give me.

"Yeah, sure. Listen, you may as well go ahead. I just remembered something," I said before walking back to where Tiffany's locker was.

Tiffany was there, of course, leaning against her locker with her arms crossed. There was this look on her face, like she was aware of the secret to end all secrets, but it would cost me to get her to divulge the information. Her smile only got wider once she saw me coming.

"Took you long enough," she commented.

"I know. What you got to give me?" I asked.

"Oh, so it's like that? Fine, sucka, I don't have to give you a thing."

"Alright, I'm sorry. Could you please tell me what it is that you're giving me?"

Tiffany turned around and opened her locker. Inside of it was a black leather bookbag.

"Ooh, a bookbag. Now I can do even more schoolwork," I said sarcastically.

"Shut up, Rob! The surprise is inside of the bag. Take the bag in the bathroom and check it out."

"Why do I have to take it into the bathroom? What, is it gonna explode?"

"Just do it!"

My danger sense wasn't beating me over the head, so everything seemed to be alright. I picked up the bag and took it into the bathroom. After looking at the contents of the bag, I stepped back out.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" I asked her.

"Put it on, silly," she replied.

"I refuse to wear this."

"Why?"

"Didn't we have this conversation yesterday?"

"Please, Rob?" She leaned over and kissed me on the cheek.

".....No."

"Please, Rob?" She leaned over and kissed me on the lips.

"................No."

Tiffany then proceeded to punch me in the stomach.

"Please, Rob?"

"Okay, just don't hurt me..."

I went back into the bathroom and entered a stall. Once there, I began to undress. After that, I removed the contents of the bag and started putting them on. After putting on the shirt, pants, gloves, and boots, I poked my head out of the door.

"Anybody around?" I asked to Tiffany.

"It's safe. Come on out," she replied.

Slowly, I placed one foot out of the door. After that, my other foot followed suit. About three hours later, I assume, my whole body had managed to make it out of the bathroom.

"You look...cute," said Tiffany.

"That's it, I'm taking this off," I said as I made my way back to the bathroom.

"Wait, you're not done yet!"

"How do you figure?"

"Put on the mask."

In my hand, I held a mask. It was red, with the design of a spider web running across it. There were two large glass lenses staring at me. Slowly I placed the mask over my head and pulled it down. I stood there completely dressed in a costume that Tiffany had made for me. The suit was...well, I really don't feel like describing it. I'm sure you've seen it before. Red, blue, webs, a couple of spiders, you know what I mean.

"This isn't so bad, actually..." I noted as I admired myself.

"And I bet you can see pretty clearly through those lenses, can't you?" asked Tiffany.

"Actually, I can. What is this, anyway?"

"Mirrored glass. You can see through it, but anybody whose looking at you won't be able to see your eyes."

"Damn...this is alright, Tiffany. This is why you were late coming to school today?"

"Damn right! I stayed up all night making this costume for you!"

I couldn't believe it. I was actually standing there in a costume that Tiffany had made for me. I pulled the mask up until it was just over my nose, but still covering my eyes. Then I wrapped my arms around Tiffany and pulled her close to me.

"Thank you, Tiffany. Thank you for everything," I said.

"It's alright, Rob. You're welcome," she said back.

"One thing, though." I pressed my lips against hers for a couple of seconds, just for dramatic effect. Then, I pulled my mask back down to cover my whole face. "Call me Spider-Man."

With that, I leapt out of the nearby window, again just for dramatic effect because, let's face it, I'm a showoff. The only problem was, as I watched her playful expression on the way out of the window, I suddenly remembered that I had left my clothes in the school. I reached out and managed to grab back onto the wall, then I climbed back up to the window. Once I got there, Tiffany was standing there smiling and holding my clothes. I took them graciously. She didn't say a word; she just stood there smirking at me.

"Gimme a break, I'm new at this," I said before jumping away from the wall.



END OF CHAPTER FIVE