Along Came a Spider Part 2

Peter sat bored as all hell in his desk, doing anything he could to keep himself distracted until the bell rang. He tried paying attention on multiple occasions, but he was already proficient at everything being taught, so he ended up being even more bored when he payed attention.

Oy vey.

He tried throwing his pencil up in the air and catching it, forgetting that he was not proficient at anything involving hand-eye coordination, and he realized that he should stop as soon as he dropped it on the first throw. It didn't help that he flinched as it fell back to him.

Can we leave, please?

Finally, he just started drawing. He drew his favorite comic book character, Ricochet. He scribbled and made random designs composed of only lines. It was as he drew a tangled web of lines that he noticed the spider descending from the ceiling. Intrigued at the site of the small arachnid, Peter started drawing spiders all over the place. Soon enough, the bell rang. Looking back at his page, it was covered in scribbles and Ricochet and spiders.

I should be an artist.

As he gathered his belongings and haphazardly shoved them into his backpack, Peter continued to study the sight of the spider as it created a beautiful web with ease. Every webline's placement had purpose and provided more variation to the fascinating structure. Peter eventually looked away and walked out of the classroom, only to immediately be confronted by Flash and his gang.

"Hey, boys, look who it is. Penis Parker."

"Hiya, Flash." Peter said submissively.

"Hey! Don't turn your back on me!" Flash grabbed Peter's backpack, unzipped it, and poured all of the contents onto the floor. Peter was then shoved against a locker, and really hard.

"OW!" he cried out. "Flash, please! Cut it out!"

Flash didn't cut it out, though. He just raised his fist, preparing to punch Peter for the second time today. Just as Flash went into the windup for the hit, one of their science teachers, Mr. Greg Warren, came to Peter's aid.

"Mr. Thompson! If you hit Mr. Parker, I will have you suspended effective immediately!"

Flash stared at Mr. Warren, then at Peter, before he eventually just sighed and put Peter down. "Yeah, whatever."

"Don't 'whatever' me, Eugene. This is your second infraction this year! If you get one more, you will be expelled from Midtown High! Oh, and let's not forget about your grades, either. They're atrocious!"

Flash looked down in shame. "I'm sorry." was all he could say. He then walked away.

Mr. Warren sighed, shook his head, and walked over to Peter in order to help him pick up his belongings. "Are you OK, Peter?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Peter lied.

"Why do you allow Flash to do that to y—"

"Listen, I'd love to sit here and self-loathe all day, Mr. Warren, but I have to go. The field trip bus is about to leave. See ya later, sir."

"Hello everyone. My name is Dr. Otto Octavius, and I'll be taking you all on an in-depth tour of the Genetic Modification & Alteration Division of Oscorp. Please, don't go anywhere or touch anything unless I give you the OK to do so, got it? Excellent. Let's get started."

Freakin' Otto Octavius! He's, like, the smartest guy ever!

Peter was walking between MJ and Harry, staring in awe at the very sterile, high-tech laboratory located within Oscorp Industries. Everything, from the design of the ceiling tiles to the pens being used by all of the scientists, looked sleek, modern, and probably expensive. He glanced around from machine to machine, and his brain filled itself with questions that he didn't dare ask, in fear of being made fun of. He turned his head towards Mary Jane and whispered, "MJ, look at this place! It's incredible!"

"Yeah, Tiger. Whatever you say." she whispered back with a chuckle.

"Pete," Harry began to say, "you're a total dork." He lightly punched Peter in the arm, letting him know that he was just kidding around. Peter smirked and rolled his eyes.

"Excuse me, Mr. Osborn," Otto Octavius began to announce, "was I interrupting your conversation?"

"Oh, no, sir." Harry said in a respectful tone, which was very out of character for the rebellious personna Harry had adopted in high school. "Keep going with the tour."

Peter was confused. "Harry, how did he know your name?"

"My dad and him are partners and have been friends for years. Otto is like an uncle to me. Wanna meet him?"

Peter's jaw dropped. Harry just chuckled and repeated, "Peter, do you want to meet him?"

Peter almost fainted. "Do I? Is that a real question? That'd be great, Harry!"

"I'll introduce you two brainiacs after the tour."

Peter was grinning. He grinned for so long that his cheeks started to hurt. He looked like a total dork, like Harry said, but he didn't care. He was surrounded by a wonderful place of science, a place that he would kill for a chance to work at. Maybe Otto would be his chance to get his name out there.

"...and here are our genetically engineered spiders." Otto continued. "They are a combination of three spiders, making them considerably more advanced than any other spiders on the planet. We have created three so far. We have Alex here, Morris here, and... oh. One's missing. I suppose they took it out for more study."

Peter leaned his hand against a table to rest. The group been walking for well over an hour already, and his leg hurt from his earlier confrontation with Flash. He felt something prickly against his hand, and looked down to see a small, red and blue spider resting on his hand.

His eyes went wide. Ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod.

He flicked his wrist to get it off, and it flew across the lab.

Whew, that was close.

Seconds later, however, his hand started throbbing. "Ow! OW!" The burning sensation that was slowly engulfing his hand was getting more and more intense, and it was so painful that Peter couldn't see straight. He stared at MJ and Harry, who both shook their heads as if to say, "What's wrong with you?" Peter, with all of his strength, started running through the building to find a way outside.

"Peter!" MJ shouted after him.

"What the hell is he doing?" Harry asked out loud. He started to chase after his friend but decided not to at the last second, and watched as Peter ran through the doorway and disappeared.

Peter, finally outside, started panicking.

Am I dying? Is my hand going to fall off? Why am I running so fast?

As he continued to ponder these questions, Peter's vision started turning blurry, and after a few moments, Peter blacked out.