BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BE- Peter slammed his hand on the snooze button, stopping the horrid beeping of his alarm and snuggling up more into his blankets. He was just falling back into a slumber when the lights blared on and his aunt peaked into the room.

"Peter, you have to get up. I have told you a thousand times that the snooze button does you no good, it just makes you late. Now, snap snap!" Aunt May clapped her hands twice and when Peter just groaned she came into his room and tore the blankets off of his bed. Peter curled up, hissing like a vampire when put in the sun. He covered his eyes with his hands. "Peter, you are overreacting. Get up and get ready. I know you are still used to the luxury of sleeping in from the summer, but you *grunt* have to take some responsibility." She was now trying to pull Peter from his bed. Peter was feeling as uncomfortable as ever, he was cold, drowsy, and being bullied by his own aunt. Aunt May finally gave up.

"If I don't see you down stairs in thirty minutes, well, you better get ready fast. I want to get you used to the new schedule." With that Aunt May left Peter's room. Peter groaned and sat up on his bed. Funny, she didn't do this last year. Maybe she is tired of getting calls from the school saying that he's tardy. That's still no excuse to wake him up at six a.m. School starts at eight. He doesn't even usually take a half hour to get ready. Finally standing up and stretching, Peter headed out of his room, across the hall, and into the bathroom. Peter didn't bother rushing on his shower, for his aunt (at least in his terms) had gotten him up at unearthly hours. Finally getting out, he dried off and dressed in the black jeans and red t-shirt he had picked out. Looking in the partially fogged up mirror, he already knew that his dark brown hair was untamable so Peter didn't bother brushing it. He had slept in his contacts so there was no use in putting in corrective lenses for the day. Besides, he probably wouldn't have been able to get to the bathroom without them in. Peter brushed his teeth and exited the bathroom.

"You're six minutes late." Aunt May said when Peter came into the kitchen.

"Since when have you been so cruel in the mornings?"

"Since I decided to do something about all of the calls and notes I'm getting about your attendance." Aunt May said as she set down eggs and toast. Peter started to munch on his breakfast. He decided to ignore his Aunt's routine for he knew she would be snapped out of this when he got home. He knew she was affected by mornings too. She just refused to admit it. Just then Uncle Ben walked into the room.

"I'm leaving now. Have a good day at school Peter." Uncle ben waved from the living room where he was putting on his jacket.

"Ok. Have a good day Honey." Aunt May said while going over to give him a goodbye kiss on the cheek.

"Bye Uncle Ben." Peter said, his mouth full of eggs.

"Peter, aren't you up a little early? "I'm not saying it's a bad thing, just unusual…" Peter then immediately pointed to Aunt May. Uncle Ben chuckled and left the house. Peter then noticed the time. Seven. How had an hour already passed? Oh well. Peter spent about eight minutes gathering his school stuff together before he finally decided that he might as well head to school early. He could always hang out in the library. Or talk to Gwen if she was there. That thought made him smile. It was 7:10 when Peter finally left. He tossed on his dark blue jacket and grabbed his backpack and camera. Bidding goodbye to his Aunt, he closed the door. The air was crisp and had a slight chill to it, but the sun still shone. There was condensation on the grass. This is going to be a good day, Peter decided.

/

Peter walked into the school library, planning on finishing the book he had checked out yesterday and turning it in before school actually started.

"Hi, Mr. Lee." Peter greeted the librarian, who was an eighty something year old man and rumor says that he's worked there since anyone could remember.

"Hello Peter, nice to see you back again." He said while putting books away on the shelves. Peter had always been on pretty good terms with Mr. Lee, saying that he came here at least three times a week. Peter started looking for a seat when he spotted a familiar face. Gwen was sitting at the opposite end of the library reading a book. Peter walked over to her and tapped her shoulder. Gwen looked startled for half a second, but then she looked up and smiled when she saw who it was.

"Hi Peter, you surprised me."

"Well, you must have been really into that book."

"I am. It's really interesting. Do you want to borrow it after I'm done?" She asked, eyebrows raised and showing Peter the cover of the book.

"Really? Can I?" Peter asked, sitting across from Gwen.

"Yeah. What are you reading?" She asked and Gwen saw Peter pulling a book out of his backpack. Peter showed her the cover.

"Oh! I've always wanted to read that book. Is it interesting?" She asked.

"Yeah, I still have to finish it, but I'm almost finished. I've really enjoyed it so far." He said, passing it to Gwen so that she could read the summary. Gwen passed her book to Peter so that he could do the same. Gwen then opened her mouth to speak.

"Hey, I have an idea. How about we do a sort of book-swap thing, where every week or so, we each read a book, and then the following week, we trade books. I don't know just an idea." Gwen shrugged her shoulders. Peter looked up from reading the summery.

"Yeah," He said, smiling, "That sounds like a good idea. We can start this week." Gwen nodded and affirmative yes. "But, for that book," Peter motioned to his book that was in Gwen's hands, "You are going to need to not take too long on, because it's from my account. Not that I doubt the fact that you would get it in on time, just a warning." Gwen nodded again.

"Yeah, and same with you, for the books that are from my account. However, that book is right from my shelf, so keep it as long as you want. Well, I mean, not as long as you want. I don't want you keeping it for eighty years. But, the point is," Gwen held up one finger to symbolize the point, "Don't steal it. It's my book. Not that I would think you would do that, you know, just-"

"Ok Gwen, I think I get the idea" Peter said while lightly laughing. "I won't steal it or keep it for eighty years or throw it into a portal to another dimension or anything." Gwen started giggling and they got looks from nearby readers signaling to be quiet. It is a library after all. Peter and Gwen got guilty looks on their faces and sunk back into their chairs and their books.

/

The bell rang. Peter and Gwen looked up from their books and stored them away within their backpacks. They stepped out of the library and into the crowded halls.

"Hey Peter, before we head to class I need to, um," She then gestured to the girl's bathroom that was right across the hall. Peter nodded. "Yeah, uh, can you wait right here? Thanks." She then set off, leaving Peter against the lockers. Suddenly, Peter had the air knocked out of him.

"Hey Parker? Long time, no see." Flash then pushed Peter against the locker, holding his beefy fist right up against Peter's cheek. "I believe we have unfinished business, Parker. Give me your lunch money." Peter smirked.

"Now look at you, using grown-up words like unfinished and business. No, Flash, too bad for you but I brought a packed lunch today." Peter immediately got socked in the jaw. And the ribs. And the arm.

"Well give me that!" Flash demanded, holding up his fist again.

"I'm sorry, I thought you were allergic to anything that wasn't covered in grease." Peter quipped, only to be punched again. Peter really didn't know why he joked in serious manners, when he knew that he would get hurt. Maybe to make himself think of them as less of a threat. Flash kept on punching him, and Peter was in incredible pain and could feel a bloody nose coming.

"Where's your little girlfriend to protect you now? Huh Parker?" Right before Peter was about to be punched in the face one more time, Flash got spun around.

"Right here." Gwen then punched Flash in the face as hard as she could. Flash yelped and looked up at Gwen. He looked like he was going to explode, or rip her head off. Suddenly,

"Hey Flash!" MJ yelled from behind Flash, and he spun around, only to be kicked in the groin. He cringed in pain, and bent down, grabbing his crotch. Gwen and MJ looked at each other and high fived. Then they looked at Peter.

"Oh my gosh, Peter are you okay? Your nose is bleeding, I think I have some tissues in my backpack." MJ said, and started to dig though her backpack. Peter held his sleeve up to his nose.

"Yeah Peter, you should really go to the nurse. It looks bad, and you're covered in bruises." Gwen started looking at Peter's face for all of the bruises.

"No really, guys, I'm fine, it's just a bloody nose." Peter tried to say. MJ then handed Peter a tissue and he gratefully took it.

"And a cut lip, and a bruised jaw, and a probably bruised rib. Stop being so stubborn Peter and go to the nurse." Gwen said, finishing her diagnosis.

"Yeah Peter." MJ backed up Gwen.

"Fine, fine, ok, I'll go." Peter gave up his fight, apparent that he wasn't going to win against these two ladies. He limped through the halls, to the nurse's office. He sighed.

It was the middle of the school day the next day and Peter and Gwen were walking to science. On their way they were arguing who had read more books in their lifetime. They had to drop the subject however when they took their seats in science. Once everyone had arrived, Ms. Robinson quieted the class and started on the lecture, and began to ask some review questions of what they covered yesterday. Suddenly, Gwen raised her hand. Like she always does.

"Yes, Ms. Stacy?"

"Um, I was just curious to how we would transplant the genes into the host subject. We certainly don't have the technology or skill to actually specifically pick out genes from the specimen and transplant it into the host subject, do we?" She asked. Ms. Robinson was about to answer the question when she saw Peter raise his hand.

"Yes, Mr. Parker, why don't you explain?" She pointed to Peter, who cleared his throat.

"Well, it depends on the type of spider we are using, but most likely the spider would inject a sort of venom into its victim. Usually, this wouldn't do anything, except if the venom contained a retrovirus. The retrovirus would contain its DNA, and could replace certain functions of the body with that of its own. So, if we wanted to transplant genes into the mouse, we would need to get the spider to bite the mouse." Peter finished, and Ms. Robinson again looked impressed.

"Well, there you have it. And, some of you may be wondering how we are going to proceed with most of this experiment without the proper equipment. Well, for things such as microscopes, Oscorp has so nicely provided us with the funding to purchase these and carry out these procedures. We will also be receiving the spiders and the mice from them, along with other needed equipment." Ms. Robinson continued about how great Oscorp was for helping them, while Peter just sat in the back of the class, staring into space. He looked at the clock. Only twenty minutes had passed. Ugh. It's not that Peter disliked his science class, so far he found it very interesting and was very intrigued by the spider experiment, but Ms. Robinson seemed rather inexperienced and got off topic a lot. He just wanted class to end so that he could talk to Gwen more… she was so fun to talk to…

"Ok class, you should all pay attention to this next part because it is very important." She stared at a few people (We all know those people) who were not playing attention. "Ok, so for some of the experiment, you will be taking the spiders home. This is because you are going to need to make observations on the spiders from home, because we won't have time in class every day to make observations. Also, there isn't enough space in the classroom for all thirty or so different spider specimens. Don't worry, it won't be dangerous. They will be in safe compartments." She finished and started putting up information on the board to take notes of. Peter spent the rest of the class period staring at the ceiling and admiring the unique black and white patterns on the tiles.