Chapter 11

Thanks to Exile037 for reviewing. Yeah, I know that's something I've kinda neglected to do, which is something I always said I wouldn't neglect to do. The one thing that always annoyed me about the Miles Morales series, is that you never really see his school life. They made a big deal out of him getting into this charter school, only for it to not really be shown. But I digress.

I feel like there was something else I wanted to put here, but I forget.

Oh, and check out the fan-film Peter's Web by Roger King on YouTube. Seriously awesome. I saw it a while ago, but it is still incredible. (That's not what I was trying to remember.)

"Particles," the man said with obvious emotion. "Are everything."

Said man was the new teacher who had replaced Mr. Dent after his tragic death. His name was Mr. Parker, and Marshall was kinda wishing that someone would shoot him.

Okay, he thought. Maybe that was a little harsh.

But the guy was kinda annoying. He was tall, around 5 foot ten, had brown hair, and had hazel eyes, which Marshall didn't know if it was caused by the contacts he confessed to the class he was wearing. He went on about a lot of stuff: particles this, science is that, my uncle taught me this. It was enough to drive a guy crazy. That guy was Marshall.

Marshall looked to his left, seeing the empty seat that normally held Kendrick Durham. Kendrick said he was coming back to school today, so where was he? Maybe he got caught up at his "extracurricular activities." That was the only thing that made sense, really.

The man woke up in pain.

His entire body was coated with it. He had no real memory of what was going on, other than he was driving...something.

Seeing his surroundings, the man remembered what had happened. He was driving a pick up truck, carrying things for Farroway Enterprises, which he remembered was ordered by Dr. Curtis Lance himself. He wasn't allowed to know what was in it, he was only told how much he would be paid, which was more than enough to silence his curiosity. Money talks, after all.

While he was driving across the Brooklyn Bridge, he suddenly lost control of the car and flew off the bridge. He had no idea how he wasn't dead. He unbuckled his seat-belt, and looked out the window. I appeared that most of the pick up had flown off the bridge and was now hanging off, but was hanging on by the very edge of the trailer on the back. He could see police officers and fire department vehicles on the bridge, trying to figure out how to save him. But he knew that was impossible. He was too far down.

It was at times like these, when he wished he listened to his wife a out going to church. He could use a little divine intervention right now.

"Hey God," he said. "If you're there, could you help me out here? It would really come in handy."

No answer.

Figures, he thought.

Then, he saw a flash of red and blue appear, and saw a man in what appeared to be spandex land on the door of his truck.

"Hey!" the man said. "Are you okay in there? Is anyone in there with you?"

"No, it's just me!" he yelled in return. "Please help me!"

The man in red and blue reached his arm inside, his arm outstretched.

"Take my hand!" he said. "I'll save you!"

He took the masked man's hand and felt himself hoisted out of the truck. Next thing he knew, he was on the bridge, safe and sound. News cameras and police officers flooded around him and the masked man, asking how he was feeling and what happened. He faded it all out though. He turned to the red and blue man and shook his hand.

"Thank you," he said gratefully. "Thank you for saving my life."

"You don't have to thank me," the man said. "It's my job. Just tell the press you were saved by Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man!"

And with that, Spider-Man swung off on a long white strand, before he could say another word.

Kendrick Durham burst into the classroom covered in sweat.

"I...I'm so sorry I'm late, sir." he said as he looked around the classroom. It was then he realized he was in the Home Ec. room.

"Oh," he said. "Uh, sorry."

He turned away from the curios glances from the students and teachers of the class and looked towards the board, seeing something that would haunt him for three lifetimes.

"I...," he said mid-gag. "I didn't even know vaginas could do that."

"I'm so sorry I'm late sir," Ken said as he ran into his classroom, making sure it was the right one this time.

"You...," the new teacher said. "Must be Kendrick Durham."

Ken winced at the face of the teacher.

Well, he thought. I was only a matter of time before I saw him in my own dimension. But like this?

"Nice to meet you young man," the teacher said shaking Kendrick's hand. "My name is Peter Parker."

"Kendrick," Ken replied. "You, uh, already knew that."

"Kinda," the teacher said. "Why were you late to class today."

"Traffic."

"You see I would believe that," Mr. Parker said obviously disappointed. "If I didn't know that you live in this building. The dorm rooms are right upstairs, remember?"

Ken heard someone say something that sounded like "freakin' idiot." He ignored it.

"See," Ken said. "I didn't sleep in the dorms last night. My mom is pregnant, and I just found out yesterday, so I stayed over there last night."

"Ah," Mr. Parker said. "And if I call your parents to confirm that, they will?"

"Absolutely."

"Then you may take your seat Mr. Durham."

Kendrick took his seat next to Marshall, relieved the new teacher was so cool about this.

"Aw what," he heard some guy say behind him. "When I was tardy, you gave me detention!"

"That's just because he's scared Durham's gonna shoot him if he pisses him off," Kendrick heard another voice behind him say. "Just like his crazy ass brother."

Kendrick turned to face his accuser. He wasn't too surprised to see who it was. Obie Rogers. To put it simply, the guy was a dick. He once snuck inside the girls locker room, and stole all their panties. He spray painted the back of the school with the words Cancer Rules on the back. Kendrick heard he even took a piss on Mr. Dent's grave because he gave him detention before. Of course, none of this had been proven, Obie was too clever for that. He could cover up his tracks.

But that couldn't stop me from beating the living shit out of him, Ken thought to himself. But that wouldn't be the responsible thing to do. And With Great Power...ugh. Sometimes it sucks being the good guy.

And with those pleasant thoughts, Ken turned back to Mr. Parker who was standing, looking at him. He gave Ken a look, something that said something like: You okay? Ken motioned for him to keep teaching.

"Okay what was I saying?" he thought out loud. "Oh right, particles..."

The entire class groaned. Ken took the high road and decided to take down some notes. With his activities as Spider-Man, he might not have all he time in the world for school, so he needed to make sure he learned as much as he could to keep his grades up. Just then, as he started righting, he felt his spider-sense tingle. It was a minor tingle, nothing life threatening. Ken knew what that meant.

A wad of paper hit Ken on the back of the head.

It bounced off his head and landed on his desk. Ken unwrapped it and read what it said: Don't worry, it's only paper. Not bullets. I'm not your brother. Or you.

It took all of Kendrick's responsibility and restraint not to lunge at Obie and ran his bone claws into his neck.

"Ken, what is that?" Kendrick heard Mr. Parker say.

Shit.

"It was, uh," Ken tried to come up with an excuse.

Mr. Parker picked it up and read it. After a moment, a look of pure white hot anger appeared on his face.

"Mr. Rogers," he said, fist trembling. "Please report to the principal's office. Immediately."

Obie stood up, his face expression saying he was indifferent.

"Yeah," he said casually. "Whatever."

Obie walked over to the door and looked back at Mr. Parker and Kendrick.

"You shouldn't be scared of Durham shooting you Mr. Parker," he said. "His brother might've been crazy as hell, but at least he had balls."

"Out!"

Obie obliged him, leaving the classroom behind. Mr. Parker walked back towards the front of the class, a look of pure contempt on his face. He turned towards the class, leaving everyone silent.

"Class, first off, I am going to state this now: I will not tolerate bullying in this class. Never. When I was in high school, I was bullied by a kid named Eugene Thompson. We later on in life became good friends. But even now, when I consider him like a brother to me, I cant stop looking at him and remembering all the times he made jokes about me, made fun of me, or hit me..."

He stopped and closed his eyes momentarily, composing himself.

"No matter how old you become, no matter what you go through, bullying stays with you. Always. The memory of being so far beneath another human being...it's terrible."

He held up the note written by Obie.

"Another thing," he said. "I don't want to hear another word about the shooting. At least not in this class. I know that might be a lot to ask from some of you. I know a lot of you lost people close to you..."

Many of the students in the class hung their heads in respect for the dead.

"...but it happened. Nothing can change that. The only thing to do know is get stronger. Rebuild. Make something new. My Uncle Ben always told me, before he...he said, 'Tough Times Don't Last. Tough People Do.' I want all of you to take that. I want you to take that and let it grow inside of you, so that we know that we will make it through all the crap that life always throws our way."

The bell rung. Nobody moved. They wanted him to keep talking. To inspire them.

"Class dismissed," Peter Parker said finally, causing everyone to stand up and start to walk out of the class.

"Ken," he said, causing Kendrick to stay behind. "If that ever happens again...I want you to know that you can talk to me about anything. I can understand more than you might think."

"I...I have no doubt about that Mr. Parker," Kendrick said, remembering that in numerous other worlds, Peter Parker was Spider-Man, and Kendrick was...

I don't even want to think about that, Kendrick thought, remembering what the other spiders told him about his "other selves."

"I, uh, appreciate that Mr. Parker," Kendrick said, genuinely meaning it.

"That's what I became a teacher for," Mr. Parker said smiling. "And seriously, call me Peter. Mr. Parker was my father."

"Got it, Pete."

"Peter."

"Right."

Jen Farrell sat on the phone in her bed.

"So, then we had to pick it all up." she said to the phone on her ear.

"Damn, that's rough babe," Earl Wilson said from his dorm room.

Jen felt the necklace she wore around her neck that Earl had bought for her. It was a small sculpture on an angel that he got because apparently, "she was his angel." And the angel? It had her name engraved on it. She had asked him how much it had cost, and he chose not to answer. She didn't deserve him.

"Uh babe," she heard him say. "Are you still there?"

"Y...yeah," she said quickly so he wouldn't hang up. "I'm here. Um, we should talk..."

"Are you breaking up with me?"

Why did he say that like he's expecting it?

"N...no!" she said.

"Is this about Kendrick?" he asked.

"Well, uh, it kinda is..."

"Okay."

"I just...," she stammered out. "I just want to apologize for what happened the other night. That was so uncool of me..."

"It was nothing," he said. "Ken's your best friend. He came back. That...that was a completely understandable reaction."

"I hate that you're so cool about this."

"Well, I guess you should just accept that I am incredibly awesome." he said. "That's why you like me, right?"

"Right," she said. "That's why I like you."

There was a knock on her door. Instinctively, she got up to answer it. Standing there, was Kendrick Durham.

And there goes my emotions again.

"Uh, Earl can I call you back?" she asked.

"Ken's there, isn't he?"

"It's not like that, I just..."

"S'cool. Talk to you later."

Next thing Jen heard was the dial tone. He had hung up.

"Uh," Ken asked. "Did I come at a bad time?"

She wanted to say: you think?

But instead she replied, "No it's fine. Come on in."

She walked in, followed by Kendrick, who closed the door behind him. She sat on the bed and looked at him take in her room, like he was looking for something.

"What, you forget what it looks like or something?" she said, annoyed at him.

"Okay, I guess I had that coming," he said.

"You did."

"But I came to clear the air. I want us to move past this."

"'Move past this? Ken, you disappeared on us for three weeks. You didn't call, text, or tell us where you went."

"Was it really three weeks?" he asked, not meeting her eye.

"Where were you?"

"Around."

"Where were you?"

"I'll..I'm sure I'll tell you some day."

"Does Marshall know?"

He was silent for a few moments, which pretty much gave her her answer.

"Awesome," she said angry. "Nice to know you value my friendship."

"I..I hey, I do," he said. "I do value our friendship. It's just, I just don't wanna get into all that right now. If you were my friend, you would..."

"If I was your friend!" Jen said as she stood angrily.

"That's...that's not what I meant..."

"Then what did you mean?"

"I meant, I wanted to say I'm sorry..."

"Yeah, well you royally suck at it!"

"I royally suck?! You royally suck!"

"Nice come back jackass!"

"Screw you Jen!" he said storming towards the door. "I try to come in here and talk it out, but you just can't live with that can you? That's just so...so...you!"

He slammed the door behind him. Jen fell to her bed and screamed into her pillow for the second time that week. She took out her phone and dialed Earl's phone.

"Hey," she said when she heard him answer. "Am I a bad person?"

"Oh royally."

"Not helping."

Kendrick walked down the hallway in anger. What the hell was her problem?

That's what I get for trying to be nice, he said.

He stopped and looked in the reflection of a glass case holding a fire hydrant, and looked at himself in it. Was it his fault? Did he just repel people without giving them a chance? He pushed his parents away. He's pushing Jen away. Who's next? Tyler? Kim? Marshall?

He noticed in the reflection that a group of girls were looking at him and pointing. And it wasn't the way they looked at him when his spider pheromones was making them attracted to him. No, they were looking at him like they feared him.

Guess that's what happens when your brother is a murderer.

Don't take him the wrong way, he loved Drake. He still did, and hoped that wherever he was, he was finally at peace. But he didn't forgive him. Now everyone thought he was a murderer, or, at least, was going to become one. Whenever he tried to get a job, that was what was going to come up. Brother of a murderer.

He turned around, causing the girls to look away in fear. He walked down the hallway, thinking about recent events. He wondered what happened to the Scorpion guy. Or, what was the scorpion guy. Where did he come from? Where did he go? Did he really need Kendrick's help, or was he just using that to get his guard down? And, if he did need help, with what, and why did he try to kill him?

And he was going to be an older brother. Would it be a boy or a girl? What would that he/she be named? Would Kendrick have to babysit? Would his parents treat the newborn like they did Drake, or like how they treated Kendrick? And would either way really be a good thing?

He had so many questions, but he had no idea how to get answers. He really wanted to go swinging right now. That always helped to clear his head.

He turned to his left, and saw a poster. The poster read: SEMESTER DANCE. $3 PER PERSON, $5 PER COUPLE.

Oh man, is that coming up already?

He really hated dances. But, it was required for all students to go. They claimed it was so students could "bond and interact." The real reason was, they wanted to get the three bucks per person. Money was everything after all.

For the second time that day, Kendrick's spider-sense rang out, causing him to stop. On instinct, he grabbed the arm reaching out for him and slammed his attacker into the lockers with a BANG! Not surprisingly, Obie was the one attacking him. Kendrick had him pinned to the wall, and Obie spit in his face.

"What? You gonna kill me too asshole?" he said angrily.

"You attacked me Obie!"

"How the hell did you know I was coming anyway? I made sure you didn't see me."

"I heard your footsteps."

"No you didn't," he said. "You mutant freak!"

"I'm not a..."

"Mutant! He's a freakin' mutant!"

Obie was causing a scene. People were forming a circle around them. He didn't know how the student body would react around mutants, or people with powers, but he really didn't want to find out. He let go of Obie and walked away.

Marshall was looking through his stuff.

He had to dig around through Kendrick's stuff that was lying around the place. He had to go through Fairy Tail DVDs, UQ Holder volumes, MisterWives CDs.

God, Kendrick is such a nerd, he thought to himself.

Speaking of the spider-powered devil, Kendrick ran into the room, looking royally pissed.

"Obie?" Marshall asked.

"Obie."

"Hey, have you noticed that everyone we know has a name that's a rap reference?" Marshall asked. "Obie, Kendrick, Marshall, Kim, Tyler..."

"Except Jen."

"Yeah, Jen's the lame one here."

Marshall looked towards Ken.

"You know what else was lame? That excuse you gave Mr. Parker this morning."

"What?"

"Your mom's apparently pregnant? You know he could easily call her and unprove that."

"That wasn't a lie Marshall," Ken said slightly smiling. "I'm gonna be a big brother."

"Wait really?" he asked. "Dude, that's awesome!"

Marshall got up and pat Kendrick on the back.

"Hey, can I be the unofficial uncle?" he asked.

"It's not my kid, Marsh." he said. "I can't make you an unofficial anything."

"Well, can I be the nonofficial uncle of your kid?"

"Hell, you can be the godfather if you want."

"Wait, really?"

"Yeah," Ken said leaning against the wall. "I've actually given it a lot of thought, surprisingly. I mean, with my whole Spider-Man thing, who knows if I ever get killed, or if I'll even have kids. And...with Drake gone, you're the only brother I got."

Marshall didn't know what to say.

"Brother?"

"Yeah man," Ken said like it was obvious. "You haven't realized that? Marsh, we've been best friends for years. Nobody has had my back like you have. When that scorpion stabbed me, you probably saved my life. Even if you hadn't found out about my powers the way you did, I would've told you eventually. You're my family, Marsh. The only real family I got right now. And, since it would be really lame to say you were my cousin...you're my brother."

Marshall hugged Kendrick without thinking about it.

"Aw dude," Kendrick said. "Don't be weird."

Marshall stopped hugging him and went back to looking for what he was looking for.

"Heh. Weirdo," Kendrick said as he walked to the closet.

Kendrick took out a box from the top of the closet and took it down. He opened it up and took out a ring.

"Dude," Marshall said. "I know I hugged you, but that doesn't mean I want you to propose."

"Shut up," Kendrick said smiling at the ring. "Drake got this for me for my birthday last year."

"Oh yeah." Marshall said. "Oh yeah, I remember now."

"And you made the same joke back then."

"If it ain't broke don't fix it."

"I think it was broke a looooong time ago."

"You're just peanut butter and jealous."

"Don't start." Ken said as he put the ring around his neck with a string that was running through it.

"Is that writing on the inside?" Marshall said noticing the writing inside the band.

"It says: Ash nazg durbatul没k, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatul没k, agh burzum-ishi krimpatul."

"That...is so fucking awesome," Marshall said, a fellow Lord Of The Rings fan.

"Yeah, it actually cost him a lot of money," he said. "That's why I never wore it, so, y'know, I wouldn't lose it. But, I figured this would be a way to honor Drake."

"Cool." Marshall said. "Ha! I found it!"

"I give up, what did you find?"

Marshall stood up, holding his prize for all the heavens to see.

"The remote!" he proclaimed.

Marshall clapped is hands sarcastically. "Congratulations, Lion-O."

"Thunder Cats, Ho," he said as he turned the news on.

On the TV was an image of Spider-Man saving a man from a truck that was hanging off the Brooklyn Bridge.

"Looks had you had a busy morning," Marshall said.

"What?'

"Look," Marshall said.

Kendrick looked towards the TV.

"So is that the reason you were late this morning?" Marshall asked. "You were being a hero?"

"No, Marsh, I was telling the truth." he said. "I spent the night at my parent's house. I was planning to swing to school but my mom insisted she wanted to drive me. We were stuck in traffic."

"But...then..."

"Marshall," Ken said looking at the TV. "That's not me."

This chapter didn't go how I planned it to. I was really trying to keep up with that once chapter a week thing, so this chapter ended up rushed.

So, yeah, I kinda consider this chapter the first chapter of our first real arc. Everything before this was like the origin arc. Now we're getting real.

Also, tell me if you want Peter Parker to stay in the story as Kendrick's teacher. If not, I have a plan to get rid of him at the end of this arc. (Don't worry, he won't die for all you Peter Parker fans out there. That includes me.) Just let me know in reviews or PMs. If I don't get a response, I'll just go with my gut.

-Brad