AN: So it's been a while and I have a long chapter for you. If you read any of my other stories I apologize for not posting anything new lately. I've been busy and this is the only story that I time for (And well one that muses me more). So here's the new chapter. Hope it was worth the wait. Apologies for bad Grammar ahead of time.

Chapter 13: the Face of Your Fail

I finally attached a zipper to the back of my costume as well as finding the perfect lens to put over the eyes on my mask. I found a pair of white lensed sunglasses, so I just popped them off and added it to my mask. It looked perfect now. This is what I want to those criminals to remember me by when they are rotting in prison. I also went to a shoe store to find these yellow boots. I was surprised to see them there, but good for me. My costume was complete and I was ready to go out.

I stood on top of a poor jewelry store roof that should have no one inside since it's closed. But I there were people inside rummaging about. I opened up the vent to go inside. Inside the vent I saw men wearing black clothes covering them from head to toe.

They were waving around flashlights and breaking open display cases. I climbed out and stuck to the ceiling, crawling along to follow a man that used the butt of his gun to break some more glass. I let myself drop down on him. The men looked around, hearing noise, "Jimmy? Where'd you go?" one said. Another man elbowed him in the stomach, "We use codenames, moron!" he hissed, "Monkey Licker, where are you?"

I rolled my eyes at the dumb name. "Monkey Licker" was passed out from my landing. I stuck to the ground until I got behind them. When I was safe enough away, I stood, "Monkey Licker won't be making it out."

Both men turned to look at me with surprised faces. One of them pointed their guns at me, "Who the hell are you?" I picked up a long, broken piece of glass, "Who am I?" I threw it at the man, cutting open his arm. His gun went off as I jumped in the air. I clung to the ceiling and hurled down on him again. The other guy was fumbling with his gun to shoot it. I lunged toward him with my fist out. Grabbing him by his shirt, I began to punch him in the face repeatedly.

I stopped for a moment and brought him to close, "I'm the face of your fail."

"Please!" he begged. I then tossed him on the floor, I walked up to the fire alarm and pulled it down, "Have fun in prison gentlemen."

This night and many after felt amazing to do, I was stopping criminals left and right. From more robbers to muggers and even car thieves. I would jump in the middle of it and give them everything I had. Other times I would actually use stealth to catch them in the act. Police would come after the criminals were knocked unconscious and be so confused. They scratched their heads wondering what just happened while I'm already stopping another person.

There was one group of five that I stopped from robbing a gas station. I walked in like I was a costumer and they all looked at me, "I just wanted soda," I said as I lifted my hands in the air.

"Get the freak!" the ring leader, with long blonde hair said as another one was approaching me. My face became angry, "That's my trigger word, pea-brain!"

I grabbed the guy's gun with one hand and with the other I used to break his arm. Gun shots were being fired. I threw the gun at one man, grabbed his shoulders to do a flip over him. I put all my weight in my foot to kick the next man in his stomach.

After he hunched over, the ring leader ran outside with the money while the last guy standing was pointing his gun at my head. He was shaking. "You gonna pull the trigger or not?" I threatened. He was looking pretty scared of me, "I—Uh!"

Darkness grew around me to clutch him, "If you want to shoot, shoot. Don't just stand there!" He dropped the gun and fell to the floor, curling up in a ball crying, "I'm so—sorry. I-," I smirked until I realized I had to catch the leader.

I ran out the door looking all over the street. I saw the getaway car run over a parking meter. I climbed up a roof to run along them. Jumping over each one to catch up, I heard a, "Whooo!" Something swung passed me, it was fast too. It was a red and blue suited person. He jumped on the roof of the car and the men inside shot upwards to get him.

He dodged all of the bullets, which was impressive. He jumped off as soon as the car was about to crash into a news stand. I leaped off the roof to go see what was going on.

"And that is how you do it!" the red and blue man asked. As I approached him, I saw a red spider on his back. He turned around letting me see his mask had big, gold eyes. Not one bit of skin was showing on his costume, he was covered from head to toe with red and blue spandex.

"Don't worry, miss. I got them."

Irritated, I told him, "I had it under control, Bug boy!" He stood up straight; "Under control, is that's why they were getting away?" his voice was sarcastic.

I crossed my arms, "I'm sorry, who are you, again?"

"I'm the guy saving the day," he pointed to himself. I suddenly realized who he was, "Wait, you're the 'Masked Menace', right?" that annoyed him.

"I'm not a menace," he said.

"Tell that to the Bugle, buggy. They say you're a menace," I smirked at him; feeling satisfied that I got him pissed off.

He shot a thin, grey sting from his wrist. That was actually kind of cool. It attached to a nearby building, "Yeah, well believe what you want, you…" he stopped, trying to think of an insult to call me, but I don't think he came up with anything, "You red and yellow…lady!"

He swung off. I stood there hearing the police sirens coming. I decided it was best that I leave too.

The next day at school I was pretty tired, scratch that. Exhausted. All of my late night crime fighting was starting to catch up with me. My mom almost caught me coming in last night, but luckily I was quick enough to get to my bed.

I slammed my locker and Gwen was there, "Hey," she said. I looked at her somewhat confused, "Hey?"

I started to walk off to class with her following after me, "Is everything okay? You haven't really been talking to me lately… or anyone for that matter," I heard her mumble the last part.

I turned to her, "Everything's fine," Everything was actually great. I finally felt useful for once in my life. I tried to down play my emotions to not raise any suspicion.

"Are you mad at me?" she flat out asked. I shook my head, "No, why would I be mad?"

"You've been really distant and we haven't hung out in weeks. My family was actually worried too," I realized I was hurting Gwen's feeling from always spending time on my "other life".

I combed a strand of my hair back, "I've just been busy with school," okay that was a terrible lie. She looked at me confused, "School? But you never put school as a priority."

I slowly nodded once, "Well, I finally grew up. I need a diploma to work in this country, so I think it's time I buckled down."

"I can help you if you want-."

"No!" I blurted out a little too quickly. She looked at me strangely. I let out a laugh, "This is something I have to do on my own. Thank you though, Gwen."

She was hugging her books and looked down at the linoleum floor, "Well, if you're not doing anything tonight, think you could come have dinner?"

I stood there trying to decide if I wanted to go. I had a new responsibility to do now. Do I get nights off to spend time with my best friend or do I no longer have a social life? I'm sure one night wouldn't do any harm, but then again what if this is the night someone dies? And I wasn't there because I wanted to have a dinner at my friend's?

Jessica, calm down. There's another person out there doing the same thing as you. Bug boy probably has no life if he is that annoying. I smiled at her, "I would love to. What are we having?"

Gwen smiled at me with light in her eyes, "Branzino," my face dropped, "What the hell is that?" I asked not having a clue what it could be. Gwen started to giggle softly, "It's a fish."

"It sounds like a weird game show," I told her, "It's a fish, Jessica. I'd warn you if we were going on a game show."

"Sorry, if I don't know the names of expensive, fancy fish, Eliza Doolittle," I teased her. She rolled her eyes, "Eliza Doolittle was a poor flower girl that learned to be a high class lady. Do you not remember this from English last year?"

I looked at her with wide eyes, "No, I copied off you for the test." She nodded, "Right, how could I forget."

We walked passed Peter who had his head down. I glanced at him for a moment, remembering what happened to him. I haven't talked to him since the library. I hope he's okay, well, I know he's not actually okay, but surviving.

"Have you talked to Peter lately?" Gwen asked noticing how I was staring. I shrugged, "No. Not lately. Have you?" She nodded, "Yeah, I have. I think he's doing okay since, you know."

"Good. I'm glad he's fine."

"You should go talk to him," she suggested.

I shook my head, "I would, but what do I say? What do I talk about? I don't want things to be awkward."

Gwen smiled a little, "Well, I hope you come up with something to talk about soon," I looked at her when we got to class, "What is that supposed to mean?" She shook her head, "Nothing. Dress nice when you come over. Mother's demands," she went to sit down.

I walked over to mine in the back and laid my head down on the table. Maybe I should just nap here while we do notes today. I was surprisingly comfortable in this position. Can I just stay here, like this for the rest of forever?

In my dazed state I started to picture an old house. It was like I was running through the halls with such life. This was a memory of mine from the past. I've done this times before, but have not bothered returning to it recently.

"Miss Drew!" I shot my head up, "Yeah?" My teacher looked irritated, "Head up while I'm teaching."

Are you fucking serious? I slouched in my seat, "Yes sir," I mumbled. I looked over at Peter and he was starting to fall asleep too. What has him tired? Mr. Cranston pointed at him, "Wake him up, Jessica." I turned to see his eyes were fully shut.

I gently tapped him on the shoulder, "Peter wake up. We got busted for snoozing," I whispered. His eyes slowly opened up, "Hmm?"

"Wake up, man," he looked at me and then at the teacher, "Sorry. Long night."

"Why can't you kids get to bed on time?"

Flash snorted, "They probably spent the night together." I quickly whipped my head at him, "No we didn't. I was out-," I stopped myself from actually telling the truth; "I was out at the library doing homework. Where were you Flash? At home watching videos on that masked vigilante?"

Flash turned to me, "Yeah, actually. Have you seen the newest video on the girl version of him?"

"Girl version?" I really hope he isn't talking about me. I'd rather not be associated at all with the annoying Bug Boy.

"Yeah, she's wearing red and yellow—," Flash was interrupted by Mr. Cranston, "How is any of this relevant to my lesson? Talk about your masked criminals on your own time!"

I'm not a criminal I thought to myself. I'm out there night after night protecting people like him that can't do it themselves. Mr. Cranston went back to writing on his board. I didn't take notes. I just doodled spider patterns on my notebook the entire time.

"What was that about?" Gwen asked me on the way to Biology. I glanced at he, "What?"

"You and Flash talking and it not ending in you throwing something at him," I just shrugged, "You got me."

"You know my dad is working on that case about the vigilantes," I stared at her, "What do you mean 'working on the case'?"

"He plans on arresting them. He thinks they are a duo working together," my mouth dropped, "The woman is not working with the man."

"That's just his theory. What's yours 'miss future Private I'?" she chuckled. I didn't find this funny, "I think they're just trying to help."

My best friend's dad is hunting me down while I'm stopping crime on the streets. Perfect. This is typical me. This is my stroke of crappy luck that is getting me here. I kept thinking about getting caught by George and him unmasking me in front of the public. He would be so disappointed in me for doing these "crimes". But it's not at all like that. I'm just basically being an unofficial police officer, that doesn't have a set of rules, and doesn't get paid. I can't be that bad, can I?

At least I'm not irritating every time I talk unlike Bug Boy. I can see why the cops dislike him. I feel so insulted by being thrown in the same category as him. But, he does help the city in his way. He did inspire me to go out there. It would only be fair that I warn him about George's plan to capture us. Maybe after Gwen's I could go find him as "my other self".

At home I was reading the Norse Mythology book while snacking on a cookie. There was only a few days left to get this project done so I had to use my time wisely.

According to the book it says that Loki has four children. One was a horse with seven legs, another was a giant snake, then a giant wolf, and my favorite was a zombie girl. He gave birth to horse himself after turning into a horse to mate. This is weird and crazy for Nordic people to believe in.

Then again Greeks thought someone rode a chariot across the sky to make it night and day or Zeus ate his first daughter and she split his head in half when coming out of him. My phone vibrated. I set down the book and placed the cookie next to it so I could look at the text message. It was from Harry.

"Hey, Project Pal,"What? I typed, "Hey, buddy that is just as bad at Biology."

"Would you mind hanging out...Sometime?" How random that was. I texted back, "Sure, is something wrong?" A second later, "No. Why would there be? I just want to hang. It was refreshing last time."

"Okay. Just tell me when and where and I'll be there."

"Alright. Thanks :)" I put my phone down and actually smiled to myself. Harry wants to hang out sometime. I guess he doesn't hate me after all. I went to get my cookie, but when I reached for it, it was gone.

I looked around the table to see where it went, but I couldn't find it. When I grabbed my book, crumbs were on the drawing of Loki. I wiped them off quickly. The smile that picture gave me was pretty guilty, like he took the cookie.

But that's a little silly to think, Jessica. Books don't eat cookies. I probably did and wasn't paying attention. I shut the book and got up to go to Gwen's.

Flop!

I turned around to see where that noise came from. The book was on the floor, "What?" I said to myself. That book was nowhere near the edge and now it just decided to drop itself on the floor. I picked it back up, placing it on the table, "Don't move!" as if that would help.

When I started to go through my closet, I didn't have anything formal. Most of my clothes were tees, tank tops, and jeans. I went to my mom's closet instead. She always has to wear formal attire. I found a red, button-up blouse in the back with a black, pencil skirt going to my knees. They fit a little lose, but it will work. I also saw some black flats on the floor, so I took those to wear with my thin, white knee high socks.

After I applied some make-up, I grabbed my hoodie, backpack and left to Gwen's. I did throw in some books, but that was so they could cover my suit. I might make Gwen happy if she sees the books in there. She is normally supportive of what I do, no matter what; which is also making "my other life" secret a little hard to keep. I really do want to tell her, but I know that is a terrible idea, despite how much she is my best friend. She was my only true friend. Telling her would make her worry a lot and she'd stress even more about me living until tomorrow.

I'm protecting her by not telling her this, no matter how supportive she can be. This isn't like when I found out how Jonathan wasn't my real father where I needed to talk to someone. Ow! I haven't thought of that for a while now. I shook my head of the thought.

This is not her problem, it's mine. I have to do this myself. When I got to her building, the door man smiled at me. I've been here so many times throughout the years. I knocked on the door once I was there. Helen answered and gasped when she saw me, "Jessica, you look so pretty!"

In all of my time being friends with Gwen, none of them has seen me dressed-up like this before. I smiled at her, "Well, you said dress nice, so I did."

She looked a little confused, "I did?" I walked in and she shut the door, "Yeah, Gwen said so," Helen smiled, "Right, I did. Well, she's in her room with your friend."

"Our friend?" Wait, what? I set down my bag and took off my hoodie. Helen pointed over in the direction of Gwen's room, "Yeah, Peter? That was his name, right?"

WHAT! Peter is here and Gwen invited him. She tricked me into coming to dinner, dressed nice, so Peter could see me here. I knew something was up, her mom never asked me to dress up nice for dinner. Well played, but that didn't stop me from wanting to pull the hair from my head. Eating dinner with her family and my crush; I'm not ready to talk to Peter in a romantic way, much less dress up like this. I may have been yelling all of this in my head, but on the outside I just stayed calm.

I started to head toward her room when I passed by her brother's watching TV. The oldest, Howard, let out a chuckle, "Look who's a pretty lady for her boyfriend."

Growing up with Gwen, I had to grow up with her brothers and Howard also liked to give me a hard time. I gave him a death look, "I might look like 'pretty lady' right now, but I'm still the same girl that can kick your butt. Remember that."

When I got to her room I knocked on the door. She opened it up, "Hey, Jessica. You look nice. Guess who's here?" she opened the door up wider. Peter was standing there with a brown, long sleeve shirt and jeans. I saw his jacket and backpack to the side. He looked great, casual. While I looked ridiculous and over-dressed.

"Hey," he said. I almost melted. What is wrong with you? You've talked to him like a normal person before. But that was at school where I knew how to act. Am I having a mental freak out because he asked me out?

That was a few weeks ago, Jessica. He probably realized how much of a weirdo you are that likes to be alone. When I was distant from Gwen, I was also distant from Peter. He probably thinks I don't like him anymore.

Okay, you haven't said anything for a long moment so say something normal before things get more awkward, "Yeah," he looked confused.

Shit! He said "Hey" you idiot! "I mean, Hi!" did you say that louder than it needed to be?

He held his hand out toward me, "You look great. Is that a new outfit?"

"Oh, this old thing?" Seriously? Did you just say that? Gwen giggled while covering her mouth. She was enjoying this way too much! Okay, calm down. Relax. Take it easy, just start talking normal.

"Gwen didn't say you were stopping by," that sounded a little rude. Peter didn't seem offended by it though, "Yeah, it was last minute when she asked me at school today."

Gwen shrugged her shoulders, "I figured, 'Hey, why not we all hang out today'. I was thinking maybe later we could go see a movie or whatever. I heard there was poetry reading at the coffee shop around here. We could go there."

"Yeah, sounds-," Peter was starting to say. "I don't know," I blurted. They both looked at me. Gwen said, "What's wrong? It's the weekend. I'm sure your mom won't mind."

"Yeah, but I have to go…to…a job interview tomorrow?" I lied. I hate lying to her.

Gwen smiled, "You got an interview? Where at?"

I thought for a second. Why did you say a job interview? Just make something up quickly, "A book store. Yeah, it's nothing big, but you know. It's something."

"Good for you," Peter said, "Well maybe we can all hang out another time."

"Yeah, definitely," I smiled.

At dinner, Captain Stacy came home and we were eating the 'branzino' Helen made. The fish was laying there looking at me with his dead eye. I took my knife and poked at it to see if it would start flapping. Gwen nudged my side and smiled. She gently pointed with her fork over at Peter across from us. He was doing the same thing I was.

"You're having trouble there aren't you?" Helen asked him, "The head goes on the other—Simon help Gwen's friend with the fish."

"Oh—uhh—I have no idea," he chuckled. I smirked at that. I watched Simon get up and start cutting it, "First time?" the little boy nodded. I just copied what he did so I could eat this fish.

"George, tell us about your day?" she asked him. Phillip, the second oldest son got excited, "Oh yeah, did you catch those spider people yet?"

"Spider People?" I stopped cutting. I looked over at Captain Stacy, "No, we haven't, but we will," he turned toward me like he would whenever he'd talk about his cases. He knew I loved hearing about every detail.

Only now this was different. He was chasing me. I felt my stomach knot up, "They're armatures. They are assaulting citizens in the dead of night. The man is clumsy and leave clues, but they are still dangerous, especially the woman."

He was expecting me to start acting "gung-ho" about it like I always do, but I didn't. I think he could see I wasn't happy about this case, but scared. Peter started talking before he could read through me.

"He's assaulting people?" he stumbled.

George was looking a little annoyed, "I'm not sure. I mean I saw that video. Him and the car thief. I think most people would say they were providing a public service."

"Most people would be wrong," George said, "If I wanted the car thief off the street, he'd already be off the street."

"So why wasn't he then?" Peter pressed. Why was he talking about this? I really just wanted them to stop discussing this because neither of them have a clue on what's happening.

"Let me illuminate you, see the car thief was leading us to the people who run the entire operation," George explained, "It's been a six month long stinger, this is called strategy, I'm sure you're aware of the term strategy, you've probably heard about that in school."

"Obviously he didn't know you had a plan," Peter defended.

"You seem to know an awful lot about this case, you know something that we don't know?" George accused. Wait a second, it had me think for a moment. Peter knowing something about the case as if he was a part of it? He couldn't be who I think he was could he? That jump he made in the gym was very unnatural, especially from him.

"I mean, whose side are you on here?" George yelled as if he was talking to one of his deputies.

"I'm not on anyone's side. I saw the video on the Internet-," George interrupted, "Oh, you saw the video on the Internet. Well, then case is closed," he mocked.

"No, I'm just saying if you watched the video, maybe he'd send you a link, it looks like he's really trying to help."

"Sure, on the Internet he's been made out to look like some kind of masked hero."

"No, I'm not saying they're a hero, I don't think he's a hero at all-". George finally got fed up with hearing Peter, "What are you trying to say?"

"I'm saying he's trying to help, but it looks like he's trying to do something maybe the police can't."

Oh no, "Something the police can't?"

Peter shrugged his shoulders "I don't know."

"What do you think we do all day? Just sit around, eating donuts with our thumbs planted firmly up our asses?"

"George."

"Daddy," Gwen and Helen said at the same time.

"Think we do that down there?" He continued to rant.

"Up your what dad?" I heard Phillip ask trying to lighten the mood. I rested on my elbow being bored from this discussion, "I think he stands for what you stand for, sir. Protecting innocent people from bad guys," I glanced at Peter and him to me. He was keeping something hidden away.

"I stand for law and order son, that's what I stand for. I wear a badge. This guy wears a mask, like an outlaw. He's hunting down a bunch of criminals that all look the same, like he's got some sort of personal vendetta. But he's not protecting innocent people, Mr. Parker."

I could feel Peter getting smashed by his own thoughts. He was really defending Bug Boy and me to an extent. I sighed and rubbed my face.

"You know what I can stand for?" Everyone at the table was looking at me, "Some nice fresh air. You want some air Peter?" I looked at him like this was his only chance to escape. He nodded quickly.

We stood, "Let's get some air," before we left he turned around, "Thank you for having me, I'm sorry if I insulted you, it was not my intention."

"You're welcome," George said irritated. I grabbed my hoodie and backpack.

"Branzino was really good. Mrs. Stacey, thank you," Peter finished before getting his things.

"You're welcome," I looked back at the family I forget that I'm not really a part of, "See you guys later," I smirked before walking outside. I heard Gwen and George say before shutting the door, "Dad, we need to talk."

"Yes we do."

I looked at Peter and shrugged, "That could have gone better."

"I think that was an understatement."

"Want to go to the roof? It really is a nice view up there," I remember from playing dolls with her, "Sure."

When we were standing there looking at the city I pointed in the far distance, "And over there you can see where all of my care disappeared," that got a chuckle from him. "You don't believe what the news says about the vigilantes do you?" He shyly asked. No of course I don't, "I think they want to help, but just have lousy luck." He nodded, "Why haven't you talked to me?"

"What?" Here we go.

"I mean we haven't spoken in a few weeks and then all of sudden," he shrugged, "You're here."

"I've been busy, Pete. Sorry if my social skills aren't well kept," hopefully he'll buy that answer.

"You keep to yourself a lot more than usual. I normally hear something from you in class, but lately you've been quiet."

"What are you my therapist? That's just how I am," I snapped at him, "Could say the same to you. Maybe the reason you don't hear from me is because you're too busy sleeping. What do you do all day? Are you secretly going to the gym at night?" He gave me a confused look, "What's that supposed to me."

"You tell me, Michael Jordan. You're the one making professional basketball dunks all of a sudden." I offended him. Well, serves him right trying to pry into my life. I'm doing him a favor for not getting a deeper look into my mind.

"Why are you acting hostile again? I didn't do anything wrong. I'm just trying to get a better understanding of you."

"Why?" I blurted out. He started to stumble, "Because you're so smart and interesting."

"Interesting? If you find me interesting like a painting, you can observe from behind the guard ropes."

He was about to say something, but stopped. He looked like a kicked puppy with the face he made. Peter just slightly nodded at me, "Okay then. If that's what you want."

I really fucked up now. Why do I always do this to him? One minute we are having such a calm conversation and the next I am exploding rage all over him. I get so mad at him, but I don't want to be. I really do care about him and I don't want to be so distant from him. I want him in my life and in my mind. I want to tell him everything about me everything I am and how offended I was at dinner by George. Right now more than anything I want to be close to him. But I won't be because I ruin everything. I ruin all relationships with the people I love. I ruined my mom's because I got so stubborn and cold. I'm in the process of ruining Gwen's with how distant I've been and now I have ruined Peter's. I should be given a gold star for this many ruined relationships.

I heard sirens go off in the distance. My fingers curled up because, right now, I really want to pummel someone with my fists.

"I have to go. Nice talk," I said before walking to the door. I passed Gwen on the way down.

"What happened?" She quickly asked.

"Me," I said without stopping.

AN: Jeez Jessica, so mind conflicting, but that's what I love about her. So that's the chapter, thoughts are welcomed. What did you think about her "other self" or dinner. So see you guys next chapter. Thank you so much!