From the back seat of the car, where she was seated alongside Marry, Nova watched her adopted father, Ben, gripped the steering wheel tightly, as his eyes were trained on a group of teenagers loitering on the sidewalk. The house they surrounded, a modest two story, seemed much more inviting and interesting to the young crowd then it did to him. Both her and Mary leaned over in their seats towards the window on Nova's side, shocked yet not as well to see so many people there.

At first, Nova hoped to find her cousin among the crowd surrounding the house. So far, Peter was nowhere to be spotted but she did recognize a few of the faces of her classmates. Though, the majority faces she could see were unfamiliar, as if they do not seem like they go to Midtown. Possibly from other districts? Either way, some did not look even remotely to be teenagers themselves. Also, this event was unclear why a group was assembled in the first place.

"Unbelievable!" Ben let out a quiet, frustrated sigh, as he tried parking his old, somehow reliable car in the narrow spot he could find. "Of all the places, Peter had to pick this place?" Somehow, Ben was able to successfully squeeze his car into the spot.

"Knowing Peter," Nova started, as her eyes shifted to every face in the crowd to find him, "I don't think this was his plan in the first place."

Mary sighed behind Nova as she leaned back into her seat, "The way he has been acting recently, I doubt that," she shook her head before unfastening her seat belt.

"Whoa!" Ben stopped Mary, "Where do you think you are going? You both are going to stay in this car, and that is final," he said sternly to the both of them.

"Ben, we need to go in there!" Nova protested. But Ben waved his finger at her face.

"No ma'am, not under my watch," he implied before pointing at the throng outside of the car. "I can clearly see that some of them are not exactly teenagers and am I expected to let two young girls, like yourself, wander in those kinds of sharks in those waters?"

Both girls groaned as they sank in their seats. But Mary Jane lifted up first, for she had an idea. "Mr. Parker," Mary started, grabbing the man's attention, "I think it's wise you do send us inside and you stay in the car." Ben raised an eyebrow at MJ and so did Nova beside her. But the redhead continued speaking, "You see, if you barge in, more likely, you are highly going to gain a lot of attention," her green eyes drifted up and down where they sat apart in the car before continuing. "Especially at this kind of gathering."

"What are you even going on about?" Ben asked her, with a questionably look on his face. But Nova on the other hand, lifted up her head as if she knew what MJ was doing.

Mary just smiled, cunningly, "What I am saying is, your presence would create a scene and Peter would get word you are there and looking for him. If we are not careful, he might run away once again."

There was a pause of silence in the car and only the vibration of the booming stereo noise coming from inside the house crossed the yard of yapping party goers.

Ben tapped his fingers on the steering wheel as the two girls in the backseat awaited for their answer until he finally gave a defeated sigh. "Fine," he said, "You may both go."

The girls were about to burst into a victorious 'Yes!' Until Ben quickly turned his head towards them and said, "But! I would need your phone first, Nova." With his hand held out to his adopted daughter.

Nova deflated imeitaly before sheepishly laughed, "Yeah…. About that…." She rubbed the back and looked down at the floorboard, "I seem to have…. Lost it…"

There was a pause of dead silence before a loud burst of, "You WHAT?!"

Nova flinched. For she never heard Ben raise his voice that loud, except for the time he received a written law suit from the Thompson's lawyer a few years back for their son having a broken nose by her. Even though it was not actually broken but did bleed from the impact of the door that Nova used as a shield back in middle school. Still, this was scary and unusual from a very calm, collected old man.

Nova gulped and looked back up at Ben as he glared at her with disappointment on his face. It was clear, she was definitely in trouble as well.

Eventually, Ben turned around, with his ears burning red as he slowly, yet aggressively spoke, "When you get back, we are going to have a very long discussion for the both of you."

Without another word, Nova jolted out of the car as quickly as possible. She did not want to be in that car another second before wedging herself through the crowd before her. Mary quickly followed behind and went around the car just to get to Nova.

"Nova!" Mary called for her over the chattering and booming surrounding before catching up to her friend.

Nova turned to Mary as her eyes were swelling up from holding back her own tears. "Why can't I do anything right," Nova's voice shakes as she tries not to crumble at this moment. Possibly grab attention from the people next to them and they shuffled away or were considered to give Nova room to be able to breath.

Mary reached out and took Nova by the hand as she lightly tugged her friend closer to her and looked gently with her green eyes. "Oh Nova, don't say that. Things happened."

"Why can't things go back to how they were before!" Nova yelled out. Unaware more people were giving them two more spaces, for they were feeling uneasy to be even near what was going on and did not want their vibes to be ruined.

Mary sighed before pulling Nova into a hug, which was unexpected from the rattled teenager. "Shit just happens," MJ whispered over her shoulder before pulling away, "Whatever is happening, you need to stop bottling up your feelings. You used to be vocal about how you feel but recently, I can tell you have been keeping yourself distance a lot." Nova's eyes drifted away to the lawn grass beside them but Mary continued speaking to her, her green eyes still gentle and concerned. "Look, I do not know what's going on with you and Peter, but you both are acting strange through the weeks as if you are both hiding something."

Nova did not dare to look back at her friend to show she was hitting the mark as they both stood there in silence. How can she explain things to her friend about what's been going on? Especially with all these people around, possibly listening in to their conversation.

Nova's brown eyes eventually shifted to Mary's face, who was patient this whole time with her. Nova was about to speak but MJ stopped her.

"Save it," Mary smiled, "This is not a good place to express that, and we really need to find Peter before Mr. Parker changed his mind to get him himself. You both can explain tomorrow when you are both together."

Nova nodded with agreement, looking a bit relieved and calmer than before. "Yeah, right. Let's head inside. I really want to be home as soon as possible."

With that said, both girls head to the front door that was left open for people to come in and out constantly without a chance to shut. The music here was a lot louder inside then out. They both peaked in and were heavily aware that there were a lot more people inside then out in the front lawn. This was going to be a lot harder than they thought.