Chapter 1
'Beep beep beep, beep beep beep'
"Uhh," a lazy hand slowly reached out, groping aimlessly for the alarm. She groggily sat up & blinked the sleep away from her eyes.
She took a quick glance at the alarm clock, and let out a deep sigh before getting up slowly. "Ughh…," she pulled a face as she felt the stickiness of dried sweat on her t-shirt & pants. "Great," she groaned to herself before throwing her clothes into the laundry pile, and then heading towards the bathroom.
After taking a brisk shower, she stood in front of the bathroom mirror, staring into it as her own reflection stared back at her. She frowns at seeing the gaunt, tired eyes in the mirror, before applying her contacts and blinking it into position.
She quickly put on a fresh pair of T-Shirt & pants before grabbing her bag as she headed out. "I'm heading out," she remarked, to no one in particular, before closing the door behind her.
As she was flicking through her phone while waiting for the bus, she kept glancing through the corner of her eye if he'd be here today.
As the bus slowly comes, he didn't show up, probably late, as usual. She shrugged it off mentally, before heading into the bus.
"Miss Stacy," remarked the conductor chirpily.
"Hi Charles," Gwen smiled back at the man.
"Wild night?" he grinned, noting the tired look on her face.
"Tiring night," Gwen corrected him, before sitting at her usual seat by the window.
"Have a good day then Miss Stacy," remarked the conductor.
"Yeah, thanks Charles," Gwen replied as he stepped down from the bus. "You too,"
"Say hello to your dad for me then eh?" Charles beamed whilst the door was closing.
Gwen smiled weakly at him before walking away.
It wasn't long before another girl came by & started walking next to her. "Hey Gwen,"
"Morning Liz," Gwen smiled at her friend.
"So… Did you catch the Stark Expo last night?!" Liz questioned her excitedly.
Gwen gasped in surprise. "Oh no, was that last night?"
"Missed it?" Liz said, smirking at her friend. "Don't worry, I took enough notes for the both of us,"
"Thanks. MJ kinda forced an all-nighter on us last night," Gwen groaned in mild frustration. "So… Uh… Did we get in?" Gwen said nervously.
Liz's smile growing bigger & bigger as she listened to her friend. "Both of you got in!" Liz screeched in excitement.
"Really?" Gwen gasped in amazement "NO WAY!"
"Way!" Liz beamed excitedly. "Here, I got the whole thing recorded on my phone,"
Liz started showing the clip of the expo on her phone. "Yours is in the middle," Liz skipped to the part she wanted to show. "You got put into "The leaders of tomorrow" section,"
Gwen watched with a mix of nervousness & excitement as she listened to the Stark Industries staff present her invention to the interviewer.
'…as you can see, this allows the device to absorb moisture from the surrounding, and it is then excreted as a solid thin strand…' the presenter explained as he held the device up, Gwen's & Midtown's name clearly emblazoned across the screen. "The molecular transformation applied here is simply outstanding, coming from a High School Senior…"
"Woah," Gwen gaped in pure amazement.
Liz continued to beam at her friend. "And Peter's bit is a bit further down at the end," Liz skipped again until right at the very end. "His didn't make it into the official expo presentation actually but…, they did manage to catch Tony near the end,"
Gwen continued watching the video as Liz explained.
"So, Mr. Stark, amongst all these inventions & innovations from the new Generation, which one does Mr. 'Iron Man' considers the best & brightest?"
Tony Stark looked up in thought for a moment. "I.. uh.. well I did go through them all.. but..," Tony grinned sheepishly. "I think they're all good, I cant pick," Tony laughed the question away.
"But I do like this goo," Stark nonchalantly took out a cartridge out of his pocket. "Stuffs like super glue. Cracked one open accidentally in my suit, couldn't open my palms for hours," Stark remarked off-handedly.
"Guess we know where to go to the next time we want to stick stuff on a board," the presenter joked. "Too bad it didn't make into the expo eh?" he continued, laughing away at the situation.
"Ye-Wait what?," Tony's face changed from amusement to mild annoyance. "Pepper, call Arthur in, and ask him about this,"
"There's no need for that, I told him to take this out of the feature," replied a voice from behind the cameraman.
Stark's gaped in shock at the camera. "I want this in the feature," Stark replied
"Tony, it's glue,"
"It's not- Woman, this is not just glue, It's 'super glue'," Stark retorted, emphasizing on the last two words. "In fact, its 'super duper glue',"
"It's glue,"
"It is n-I want this in the expo,"
"No,"
"Yes,"
"NO,"
"100% yes,"
"You really want to do this here?" Pepper replied back.
Tony mulled it over comically "Last I checked, its called the Stark Expo, not the Potts expo. So…,"
Pepper then came into view of the camera & started shooing them away. "I'm sorry, can you excuse us," she smiled warmly, while firmly gesturing them to leave. "Happy, please take our guests to the refreshments,"
"Oh, uhh okay," the presenter clearly surprised by the turn of events.
"All right then, this way, expo's over," a large man came over & shoved them away from the pair.
"…thousands of others…" Pepper can be heard from the background. "…are you serious right now?"
"… glued the suit…" can be heard as the cameras were pushed further away. "…strong enough… …used for?"
Gwen stood there awkwardly, after Liz took her phone away.
"Yeah, that part was a bit awkward," Liz grimaced slightly. "But I'm pretty sure that's Peter's project. I think," Liz said, slightly unsure of herself. "Maybe they'll put him in? Honorable mentions?"
As they entered the school, a commotion near one of the hallways quickly got Gwen's attention.
Catching her attention as well, Liz took a quick glance at it. "10 bucks that its one of Flash's,"
Just then a clear voice rang out from the center of the commotion. "Legos? Come on man," the voice chuckled. "As a fellow senior, I'm almost ashamed for you. Almost,"
"Woah woah WAIT! CAREFUL WITH THAT!" a second voice yelled in exasperation. "That's 3803 pieces of my-our life's work!"
Gwen started towards the commotion. "15. It's Flash himself," she quipped towards Liz.
"No fair, you heard his voice," Liz frowned, while joining her towards the group of people.
"Oh god, this shit writes itself man," the bigger guy laughed with his friends before throwing the (ball?) around. "Its like you're trying to be a loser,"
"Come on Flash, leave him alone," another guy came in and quickly helped the former to his feet. "You okay Ned?"
"Fuck off Osborn," Flash retorted mockingly. "Me & Fat boy here's just chilling. It's called bonding,"
"Fuck off," Harry flipped him off. "Give him back the Death Star man,"
"Woah, is that what this is?" Flash said in mock horror. " 'Death' Star? Does that mean I'm gonna die coz I touched it?" he continued as more of his friends joined in with his mocking.
"What? That doesn't even make sense," Harry rolled his eyes at Flash. "You don't even know about Star Wars, just leave it alone man. You know how long it took us to build that?"
Flash grinned as he eyed the pair. "I don't know. Show me," he said before taking the sculpture from one of his friends and dropping it to the floor.
The Death Star crashed into pieces as it slammed into the ground. "Oops, sorry man, must've slip-,"
Flash wasn't able to finish his sentence before Harry punched him square in the face. Flash held his jaw while eyeing Harry. "Almost felt that Osborn," he spat before punching Harry in the gut. "Shouldn't have done that 'Rich Kid',"
Seeing things already went too far, Gwen quickly jumped right next to Flash & Harry. "Flash! Enough!"
"Gwen?" Flash stopped before he managed to punch Harry in the face.
Then from behind the commotion, a voice quickly rose up. "Alright, what's the commotion here?" a small lady slowly pushed herself in through the crowd.
Flash quickly dropped Harry, and shoved him away.
"Harry, Fla-What is this mess?!" the petite lady continued before realizing the pieces of Lego scattered on the floor.
"Osborn tripped and dropped his toy Ms. Marconi," one of Flash's friend quipped in. "We're just helping him up,"
She pursed her lips at them. "Do I look like an idiot?" she glared at Flash & his friends. "I want this cleared in 5 mins, by all of you,"
Harry snickered as he saw Flash getting scolded by Anna-Maria.
"I said all of you Mr. Osborn," Anna-Maria added as she glared at Harry. "You too Mr. Leeds. All of the others, unless you want to start cleaning up with them, get to class," she continued, before looking around at the slowly-moving crowd. "NOW!"
Gwen slowly shuffled along with the rest of the crowd as the boys went about picking up the pieces scattered on the floor.
"Come on Gwen, we're gonna be late for class," Liz said as she pulled Gwen by the arm with her towards their class.
As she settles into her seat (by the window), the Homeroom teacher entered the class after a few minutes.
"Right then, seems like theres a few missing seats," Mr. Dell quipped while glancing at the register. A few moments later, Flash & Ned shuffled into the classroom. "Right, the usual suspects, Leeds, Thompson," Mr. Dell remarked off-handedly. "Marconi's in a bad mood this morning. You boys did that I assume?"
"Sorry sir," Ned nodded meekly while Flash looked away in disinterest.
"Take your seats then," Mr. Dell pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.
Gwen took out her notes from yesterday & began drumming her pencils slowly as Mr. Dell went on with the morning announcements
"And that should be about it," Mr. Dell said as he closed his notebook. "Oh, and Ms. Stacy,"
"Yes?" Gwen perked up at the mention of her name.
"You & Mr. Parker are required to go to the Science Lab before you head back home later," Mr. Dell smiled warmly at her.
"O-Oh, uh, yeah sure,"
"I suppose a congratulations is in order, for you," Mr. Dell beamed warmly at her before turning to a frown as he continued. "And Mr. Parker, I suppose, once he deigns its suitable to grace us with his presence," he continued annoyingly.
Just then the classroom door slid open as a young boy with unkempt hair bumbled his way in through the door.
"M-Mr. Dell, sir. I'm here!"
Mr. Dell glared at Peter from the bridge of his glasses. "Yes, I can see that. How wonderful of you to grace us with your… benevolence,"
"Sorry I'm late!" Peter bowed multiple times in apology. "I uh… Overslept again sir," Peter continued weakly.
Mr. Dell continued to glare at him for a few moments, mulling over his next action before letting out a heavy sigh. "Sit down Peter, its fine,"
Peter quickly beamed in amazement "Thank you thank you thank you Mr. Dell sir, wont happen again, I promise," Peter continued as he shook Mr. Dell's hand vigorously.
"Don't make promises you can't keep Mr. Parker," Mr. Dell scoffed at Peter as he goes to take his seat. "Also, look into 'Deodorants' young man," he remarked as he wiped Peter's sweats off his hand.
Peter smiled back at him sheepishly.
Gwen followed him with the corner of her eyes. Even though he's been coming late nearly every day for the last month, she's still glad that he's (at least) coming back to school. After missing school for two months straight, just seeing him in his oversized sweater is already a massive relief for her.
As Peter took his seat next to her, he gave her a quick glance. "H-hey Gwen," he smiled sheepishly.
Gwen buried her face deeper into her books, pretending not to hear.
