I could crush him. Flash Thompson is underneath my foot. His hand broken, his eyes filled with tears, his so called friends stunned in silence. I know I could do it right here, he does too, our audience can probably tell. I asked for a chance to make him pay but now that I'm here why am I hesitating? If Flash were me, here and now, would he show any mercy? No. I have the strength to kill him and get away with it. Why should I stop. I raise my leg to stomp it back down, but before I do a hand reaches for my shoulder. I turn and grab the hand before it reaches me, I'm face to face with Gwen. "Peter don't you see Flash?" She's going to try and change my mind, I don't need her opinion, she wasn't there every other day the last two years when it was Flash standing over me. "I'm not going to say that he didn't deserve it, he did. And that fact that you were the one to put him in his place, well that's justice as far as I'm concerned. But don't you think that this is enough?"

Enough? I look from her back to flash. "Flash wouldn't stop."

She seems surprised that I would acknowledge her. "He did." As the person on the other side of the punches I'm pretty sure he didn't hold anything back. "Look at him, he's beaten you up pretty badly but never as far as this. Flash was a jerk but he could stop before he went over board. From the way his fingers are bent I doubt his hand will ever heal correctly. Has he ever given you a lasting injury?"

No. He hasn't. Am I actually worse than Flash? The bell rings and people start slowly clearing out of the cafeteria. I lift my foot off of Flash's chest and grab my bag off of the table. "Fine. But don't expect me to be sorry. He deserved what he got. Probably more."

She smiles as I walk past her towards my class. "I don't think anyone expects you to." The crowd parts around me as I head to class.

I get to health class a little late and am forced to sit in the back again. Our teacher talks a little, before putting on a movie. I'm thinking more about what happened at lunch to really be paying any attention. "Didn't know you had it in you." I look to my right and see the girl from the other day that I now recognize as Mary Jane. She got a rise out of me last time because of how crappy my day was going, this time I'm just going to ignore her. I turn to the T.V. and pretend to be paying attention. "Although I don't get why you got so mad the other day. Because after what happened at lunch no one is going to believe you weren't letting him beat you up." I notice that the people around us have stopped their conversations and are now listening to us. Just great. "But I guess everybody has a fuse. Yours is just longer than most. I have to wonder though, now that you're the big dog, what are you going to do with all that strength? Are you going to be just like Flash?"

I turn back to her glaring into her grin, "I won't." I guess satisfied with my answer she turns to the television still grinning, and I return to thinking about lunch.

Finally at the end of the day is Chemistry, my least hated class. I say that because although I've mostly mastered the material I can at least have some fun with it. In this class at least no one takes my seat there are an odd number of people so that means I get to do every experiment by myself, it's honestly the best part of my day. But as soon as I see Katherine walk through the door I know any chance of peace and quiet is pretty much shot. She smiles when she sees me and despite the otherwise empty class room she takes the chair at my table and sits right next to me. "Hey Peter! I'm so glad that you're in this class with me! I had to miss my first day because of like this really bad headache and now we're going straight into a lab. Think you could help me out?" I'm pretty sure asking is just a formality because no matter what I'm going to end up her lab partner. I just sigh and rest my head on my arms. "Hey why do you look so down? Does it have to do with why you left the trip early?" God not this again, I'm pretty sure my groan is audible around the whole room. "Listen, I realize that I was a bit pushy in math so I guess if you really don't want to talk about it, I promise I won't ask again."

Damn, now that she says that I realize that I'm actually dying to tell someone about this. I need another mind to help me make sense of all the changes I've gone through in the past couple of hours. She claims to be my friend, that's the kind of thing friends are for right? "I'll tell you." She smiles looking at me expectantly. "Not here, are you busy after school?"

Now she looks even more curious, "No, where did you want to go?"

"Just away from the school, too many people listening here." After what happened with Flash people are starting to pay attention to me, which couldn't be more inconvenient. "Meet me in front of the school after we get out."

Class after that was actually fun. I'm used to doing the labs by my self but with Katherine there she managed to make it entertaining as opposed to just interesting. I was reminded again that she wasn't quite as dumb as the rest of our class. Her previous school was a few chapters behind but after I gave a very abridged summary of the material she could probably score about as well as anyone else if given a pop quiz. We finished early so the teacher let us out before everyone else. We split up in the empty hallways to go to our lockers before meeting in front of the school.

I'm sitting on the edge of the school fountain waiting for Katherine it had been about twenty minutes and other students were starting to walk out. When I spot her she walks up to me apologetically. "Sorry I took so long, I was on my way but I got this awful headache and had to stop until it went away."

"Didn't you have one earlier today too?" I surprised myself by feeling actual concern. "Does this kind of thing happen often?"

She shrugs me off, "For the past month or so they've been coming and going. Some worse than others, but that's not what were here to talk about is it?" I guess I can't delay this much longer. I stand and begin walking towards a place where I knew no one would eavesdrop.

There's and old junkyard that was not far from the Crab's house. The first time after I got beaten I tried to run away. I ran as far as I could go, away from them, away from my life. I ended up in an abandoned machine yard about thirty minutes away from the bad part of town. It was completely empty, in the almost twelve hours I was there I didn't see another human being. I eventually had to return, as even the bare minimum care they were giving me was better than starving to death in a junkyard. But on occasion I would still go there when 'home' life got too much for me.

As Katherine and I approach the dump, the noisy din of the city becomes more and more distant replaced by comfortable silence. I take a seat on the hood of a rusted car and Katherine sits down next to me. I can see the question in her eyes. "Ok no one will overhear us here. Now please tell me what happened! I swear if it's just that you shit your pants or something I'm gonna be pissed at having to walk all the way out here." Her smile makes it clear that she is joking and I crack a similar smile.

"Well when I was at Oscorp I panicked because I got bit by a spider." Her jaw almost drops, I can see her about to yell at me for all the drama fro that delivery so I quickly follow up on my statement. "It was one of the genetically modified ones. When I got bit it felt like I was on fire and I blacked out."

Her mouth closes, she instead now looks at me with concern. "Did you go to a doctor?"

I hop off the car and gesture for her to follow. "When I woke up, well. I'll just show you." I lean down to brace my hands underneath the car. Time to find out how strong I really am. I lift with my legs and the car doesn't move much. I grunt applying more force and the whole vehicle lifts almost an inch of the ground. I hear Katherine gasp behind me in amazement. But I'm not done yet. Straining myself I stand to my full height and hold the rusted sedan over my head, arms fully extended. I turn my head to smile at Katherine and see her jaw still agate. I toss the car I few meters away a cloud of dust rises when it lands. Strangely I barely feel tired.

Still looking shocked, Katherine sits down on a dirty looking couch. It takes a second but she finally puts her thoughts into words. "That was AWESOME! What else can you do?"

I told her about my weird danger sense and how I was faster as well telling her about dodge ball earlier today, I decided to leave out my fight with Flash seeing as she had been too busy dealing with a headache to have heard about it although I'm sure she would understand. Then came the questions. She walks around me observing me like a hawk as she ponders my strange condition. "So you only have two arms still right?" I lift my arms not even sure where I would hide an extra set of arms if I had them. "Can you shoot webs from your ass?"

"Katherine, that's gross." I really hope I can't.

She looks bothered by something stopping for a second before resuming her circling. "It's Kitty. Katherine is for strangers and acquaintances, my friends call me Kitty."

It's a little strange to hear someone my age going by such a childish nickname, but it is easier than saying Katherine. "Alright, Kitty. But no I haven't made any webs."

She smiles when I say her nickname before muttering mostly to herself. "Well since you don't have any of the other physical characteristics I suppose you probably don't have Urticating hairs either."

The microscopic hairs that spiders use to climb! My mind immediately goes back to the paper sticking to my hand from this morning. "Actually…"

And that's how we ended up in front of a brick wall in the middle of the junkyard. When I say wall I mean that's all it was just one like two and a half-story wall. I think a school might have been here before. Kitty was behind me observing. Well no time like the present. I press my hand up to the wall and give it a tug feeling my hand try and stick to the wall. Okay maybe this will work. I jump off the ground a bit and let my left hand stick to the wall to catch me, my feet up against the wall as well to try and give me some more leverage. I lift my right hand and push up with my legs settling my hand further up the wall. I hear Kitty call to me from below. "You can do it Peter." I can do this. I lift my left hand and suddenly realize that I don't' feel the wall with my other hand. It takes a second before I realize that I'm falling. By the time I do my body is already reacting on it's own, I'm halfway through a backflip, arcing gracefully from the ground and land next to Kitty in a crouch. "Well you almost did it."

I'm about to retaliate when I see Kitty suddenly grab her head. "Kitty, you okay?"

She waves me off, "I'm fine just another head-" half way through brushing me off she passes out. I notice and am fast enough to catch her before she falls. Except that she passes right through my hands. I don't mean that as in I missed; I mean that I felt a cool sensation in my hands and she went through me. What the hell? She lands on her side with a thump. I reach out to turn her over to examine her but again my hands go right through her.

Fuck. I have no idea what is going on and I have no idea how to deal with it. I want to take her to a hospital seeing as how she passed out seemingly out of nowhere, but that would require moving her. I can't touch her and I can't leave her here to go and try to get help, I doubt anyone else could help anyway. It's getting dark; I can't just leave her here. I sigh, there's not really any other choice. So I sit down and prepare to spend the night watching over her. Is this what it's like to have friends?

I stayed awake the whole night. Sure I had survived here alone when I was thirteen for a night. But that was years ago, I needed to be sure that no bums or thugs chose this spot to occupy late at night. Luckily we remained alone. Several times during the night I tried to move Kitty but all attempts resulted in failure. I was completely stumped regarding her condition. She seems to be completely intangible and unconscious. Judging by her facial expression she isn't in any pain so perhaps the headache brought this on and then disappeared. Also seeing as her clothes didn't fall off her body her intangibility seems to have spread to everything she was touching when she passed out. But for some reason she didn't fall through the ground. I'm also not entirely sure that she's breathing.

I sighed for what must have been the millionth time that night, I was hungry and tired with bags under my eyes. Hours ago I gave up on trying to figure out what was going on, maybe when she wakes up I can get some answers.

I see Kitty roll over and jump from my perch down to her side, I place a hand on her shoulder and am relieved to see that she's finally tangible. She blinks her eyes before focusing on me. "Oh hi Peter."

That was anticlimactic, not really sure what to say I answer with a simple. "Hey."

I help her sit up and she looks around seeing the morning sun and the machine yard around us. "D-did I pass out?"

Logical assumption. "Yeah."

She stands up to brush her self off, "And you were here with me the whole night?" I nod. "If you were here why the hell did you let me sleep on the ground? There's a couch right there you know?"

She sounds more annoyed than mad, She's now stretching trying to work the kinks out from sleeping on the ground. "I tried but I couldn't move you."

Now she looks mad, "What do you mean you couldn't move me? You trying to say I'm fat! I saw you lift a car yesterday!"

I back up defensively while she advances on me, "No, no of course your not fat! I mean I couldn't even touch you. You were completely intangible! If you weren't I would have brought you to a hospital or something."

She stops and looks at me. "Seriously?" I nod. "Like for real? I was intangible?" Another nod. "That's fucking rad! Help me figure out how to do it again!"

So we spent the next hour trying all sorts of things to try and invoke her condition, although she kept referring to it as a super power and I as a failure to maintain density. She started by looking it up on her phone, it turned up nothing to no ones surprise. After that we tried interpretive dance, physical exertion, even her pretending to pass out, which was rather funny to watch. I found myself having fun watching her, especially the interpretive dance part. But unfortunately all good things must end.

We're on the couch trying to brainstorm ideas when my stomach grumbles loudly reminding me of my hunger. Kitty rubs her own stomach in response. "Let's get something to eat." I'm too hungry to even pretend to argue with her. Unfortunately I don't have any cash, guess I'll just have to make a withdrawal.

I try to be discrete as we head to a pizza place she says is 'the bomb' I could probably get more if I was alone but I was being extra discrete with my 'withdrawals' so as to not alert Kitty. There were a few times I thought she saw me but she didn't say anything so I guess I'm in the clear. When we get there I've got more than enough money for a pizza, which is good because I might eat more than one. We order and sit down to wait for our food, when I remember something important. "So I just realized, it's almost one o'clock on a Thursday and we have, well really had school today."

She looks surprised opening her phone to check the time and date. "Holy crap didn't we have a math quiz today?" I realize the same thing. "Oh well I guess. I mean it's too late to go back now right? By the time we got there last period would only have like twenty minutes left. So are your parents going to be pissed? I mean you ditch school and didn't even go home yesterday?"

Oh shit, I forgot all about Carl. When I go home it's going to suck. "When I left the house yesterday Carl was already pissed. I can't really imagine him being any more angry, he's an asshole."

She nods in sympathy, "I know what you mean Jake and Bonnie don't really care about me either. They're not mean I guess, but they never pay as much attention to me as they do their real son." I look at her for a second and perhaps she can see the question in my eyes. "My dad died when I was still too little to remember him. My mom died three months, two weeks, and eleven days ago. Mom and I were close. I mean we only had each other. She worked hard to support the two of us, but I guess all that hard work finally got to her." She casts her eyes down and I can tell that she's reliving some less than pleasant memories, I've been there before. I've never had anyone to try and comfort so I copy what I see in movies and reach my hand across the table to grasp her free hand, squeezing it reassuringly. Kitty smiles back at me removing her hand to wipe a tear from her eye. "Thanks Peter, I think I'm okay. About six months ago she came down with a really bad cold and a crazy fever. I always thought she was going to get better but… Jake and Bonnie are my aunt and uncle on my dad's side. They have their other son and I can tell that they never wanted more. They put up with me and give me an allowance though. Probably just out of respect for my dad or something." She chuckles a bit, "I can't believe I'm actually telling you this. It may be surprising but on the day of the field trip I dragged my self out of bed and told myself 'I'm going to go make friends. I'm going to move on.' I've spent the last couple months closing in on myself, but I'm finally starting to get back to my old self. Thank you."

Wow, I don't know how to respond to that. She just opened up to me in a major way and I've only known her for like two days. She told me everything about her while knowing so little about me, if she trusts me this much; I'm just going to have to return the favor. So I told her everything, well almost everything, I left out the Peachtree's punishments mostly because I didn't want to talk about it, but everything else.

When I'm done she's staring at me. "Oh god, Peter."

I wave her off, "I've learned how to deal with it. For a long time I thought that I would just have to live like this. But now." I hold my clenched fist in front of me, "Now I don't have to put up with anything." With this strength, I'd like to see Carl try and hit me.

Kitty seems concerned when she looks at me, "Look Peter, I know you've had it-"

"Well look who it is." We both turn to see Mary Jane with another boy standing on the edge of our booth. "When you didn't show up to school today people started guessing that Flash went over to your place and trashed you for beating him. Turns out you were just playing hooky with the new girl." She smirks and takes a seat in the table closest to ours. The boy she's with looks at us apologetically and sits down.

I'm about to tell her to fuck off again but Kitty talks before I get the chance, "Wait you mean Flash wasn't at school either?"

The boy sneers at me, I recognize him now. He's Harry Osborn son of Norman Osborn and heir to Oscorp. Last I heard he was going out with Mary Jane although I hardly try to keep up with social crap. "After what your boyfriend did to him I'm pretty sure he's in the hospital." Crap, Kitty turns back to me wide eyed, "Hospital! Peter what did you do? You could have killed him!"

I raise my hands in defense annoyed that I even have to defend myself. "He could have killed me! He's been beating the crap out of me for years! Besides at worst I broke his hand." She lets out a sigh, but I give her a dark look as I stand from the booth, I was dumb to think she was on my side. Doesn't she realize that I'm the victim here? "But believe me the next time he tries it I'll break everything else."

As I walk out I can hear Mary Jane from the restaurant. "See Harry, Now that's a man!"

After I left Kitty at the restaurant, I wandered around New York for an hour angry and frustrated. Angry about the whole situation, frustrated because I probably could have handled it better, and then angry again because I'm actually upset with myself for yelling at Kitty. I need to vent.

So now I'm in front of the Belladonna's prepared for the worst. When I walk in Carl and Lauren are both sitting at the kitchen table looking over some papers, Carl has his reading glasses on and I can see bandages wrapped around his head, probably from yesterday. Needless to say as soon I walk in they both stop what they were doing. It takes Carl about three seconds to go from surprise to rage. His chair falls over as he all but jumps out of it, footsteps hammering on the dirty tile, "You've got a lot of nerve coming back here worm!" I watch passively as he comes closer, his fists already clenched. I feel my own anger, still charged with rage from my toes to my fingertips. I'm gong to enjoy this.

His heavy fist comes in to try and punch me in the gut, I side step and push him from behind and he goes right past me stumbling out the front door. There are no people around but Carl looks taken aback that this beating is about to be public. He doesn't realize that it's his beating though. "What's wrong Carl? Afraid to beat a kid in broad daylight?"

He looks nervous eyes darting around, "What are you talking about Peter? Let's get back inside before you mother get's worried." He walks closer to me and I let him grab my arm.

When he tries to drag me back to the house I simply stand strong and he stumbles not expecting me to be so sturdy. "My mother is dead Carl." I use my free arm to grab the back of Carl's shirt and toss him overhead; I slam him down hard on the ground. "So I'm stuck here, with you." Before he can get up I plant a firm punch into his gut, I make sure to hold back enough not to rupture anything. "But now things are going to work differently. He tries to roll to the side but I punch my as hard as I can at the ground next to his head, the asphalt cracks and Carl freezes in place, eyes locked on my fist. "Nod if you understand me Carl." He shakes his head rapidly sweat beading on his greasy forehead. "I'm moving out today. Today the mail came and your going to give me the foster care check for five hundred and twenty dollars." He nods again, attempting to roll the other way so I smash my fist into the asphalt on the other side of him. "And your going to give me every other check you get from foster care is that understood?" He nods frantically. I lean in close to him, close enough that that I can smell his putrid breath. "Because if you don't I will destroy EVERYTHING that you are. Do you understand Carl?" He looks about ready to piss himself. I get up and watch him scramble to his feet before running to the house. He comes out thirty seconds later holing an envelope. He stops about ten feet in front of me unsure of himself. "You have to hand it to me Carl." He takes another few steps tentatively. When he's within arms reach, I step forward suddenly and almost laugh when he falls backwards in surprise. I grab the check from his hands and turn away from him.

I'm never going to live at the Belladonna's again. Unfortunately my options are fairly limited. No one in New York will rent an apartment to a fifteen year old. After it got dark I went to a hotel but with the current rate of eighty dollars a night I can only afford to stay here for so long.

I sigh and lean back on the bed. The nicest bed I've laid on my entire life. "I can't afford to say here though. I need cash." Good thing I know where to find it. Tomorrows Friday so after school tomorrow, that's when, the rest of my life begins.

I get very mixed reactions when I show up for school the next morning. Most give me wide berth but I notice a few looking at me and giggling, no doubt Mary Jane's doing.

When I get to English class I take a seat in the middle and put my head down waiting for class to start. After not too long I feel a tap on my shoulder and look up to see some one I had never seen before. A guy around my age and build, blue eyes and blond hair spiked up, wearing a blue t-shirt and some jeans. "Hey there." He smiles at me warmly, "I'm starting here today names Robert Drake but everyone calls me Bobby!" I look at him for a sec before putting my head back on my desk. I don't need to make friends with every new kid that starts here. I can hear him lean back into his chair, he whispers under his breath, but my keen senses pick up on his words, "-know, I know. But he doesn't seem very friendly….Ugh, fine I'll try and make contact with the other one." Great the new kid talks to him self, as if I didn't have enough problems without sitting next to the wack job.

Next is P.E. In the locker room I notice Flash isn't in here, fine by me. Today's exercise is a one and a half mile jog. The goal is to be done in twenty minutes. I normally hover at around eighteen to nineteen minutes, today I finish in six barely winded.

After class I go straight to Math to take my seat. Not long after I arrive Kitty takes her seat beside mine. I want to apologize, I didn't actually do anything wrong but apparently she thinks I did; but I also can't bring myself to do it. I've spent most of my life not caring about the people around me and I don't see any reason to stop now. I glance at her from my peripheral vision; she's chewing on her pencil eraser glancing at me every so often. I can tell that she wants to talk to me. I hear a clatter and look over to see that she dropped her pencil, she stares at he fingers for a few seconds before picking it up again. Maybe she didn't drop it.

Ultimately class ended without the two of us saying a word to each other so I went alone to lunch. I use some of the cash from the check to pay for food and take a seat by myself. Everyone gives me plenty of space. Except for one girl. Gwen Stacey sits down in front of me with her bagged lunch, like that's normal. I remember telling my self to acknowledge her so I clear my throat of food and say, "Hey."

She smiles at me in response, "Hello." Then she goes back to eating her sandwich. What the hell? Fine then if she wants to play it that way I'm the master of aloofness. I use my spork to eat my mac and cheese. "You never say hi. Did you need to beat up Flash to get your confidence back?"

I almost scoff, "I never lost my confidence. I never say hi be cause hi is a greeting. The dictionary definition for greeting is to 'show people that you are happy to meet or see them' or 'express good wishes for someone.' I rarely have a reason to greet anyone." I notice another blond figure walk in our direction clearly intent on sitting at our table after a second I realize who it is. Godamn it.

"Hey guys!" Bobby says as he sits down next to Gwen.

Gwen gestures to him, "Peter this is-"

Bobby waves her off, "We know each other already, Peter and I sit next to each other in first period." He gives a smile and goes back to eating his mashed potatoes. I didn't say a word to him all class! For a year and a half no one but Flash bothered me, now I have Kitty, Gwen, Mary Jane, and I guess Bobby all annoying me. Maybe I'm losing my touch.

Gwen turns back to me, as Bobby seems intent on cleaning his plate. "But you said hi to me. That must mean you're happy to se me right? Well that's good, I know that you've had It rough and I realize I probably could have tried to help you. Er, what I'm trying to say is that I'm sorry. I realize this is weird coming from somebody you don't know but if you ever need a friend or just someone to talk to, you can ask me."

Wow, that was, odd. She is right, I do barely know her why would she all of a sudden decide to be so friendly? Whatever It's not like I'm planning to take her up on her offer, and she doesn't look like she's looking for a response so I eat the rest of my meal in silence and head off to health.

When I get to class I notice Bobby has gotten here before me and is sitting in the front of the class, so I naturally take the farthest seat in the back. Unfortunately that puts me right next to Mary Jane. "Hey tiger."

I turn my head to glare at her, because of her gossiping I've had to deal with an absurd amount of stares and giggling throughout my day. "Kitty and I aren't dating."

She lets out a small laugh, "I know."

She knows! "Then why did you spread those rumors?"

"Some times," she's looking at me with her legs crossed and her chin resting in her hand. "You just want to know how people will react, it's a good way to get to know someone." I don't like the sound of that at all. What is it with people trying to get to know me lately? "I can see why your upset though." At least she's not completely stupid. "I've been learning about you but you still don't know much about me." Scratch that. "So to be fair ask me anything you want. What about me are you curios about?"

That's easy, "Nothing. Leave me alone." I turn to the front of the class as the teacher walks in.

Mary Jane chuckles next to me, "Exactly what I thought you would say." God she's annoying. The teacher tells us to open up our books so I reach into my bag to get mine, I hear a shuffling and when I look up I see Mary Jane has scooted her desk to mine. I look at her, annoyed. "Mind sharing your book with me? I forgot mine."

I've read that it's important to be very direct and clear when dealing with women. "Yes, leave me alone."

She makes no action to move, "Relax you don't need to pretend around me." Pretend? She pulls my book so that it's on the crack between our desks and begins flipping to the needed page. "You aren't as bad as you think you are. I'm training to be an actress, I can tell when someone is pretending to be someone their not." Obviously she's not a good one because I'm not pretending about anything. I don't want her here, she annoys me, and I really wish to never have to deal with her again. However that doesn't seem likely so I just deal with it and try my best to ignore her for the rest of class.

After what must have been the longest health class ever I finally escape Mary Jane to the comforts of chemistry. When I get there Kitty is already sitting at our table. I take the seat next to her, the air feeling awkward between us. "Hey Peter." I turn my head to acknowledge her. "Listen I just want to say that I'm sorry okay? I talked to some people in my other classes and I didn't realize how bad things were for you. I know you don't want any pity so all I'm saying is that I understand what happened between you and Flash. I was wrong to judge without all the facts. But can you please not kill anybody?"

I guess I can forgive her, it's not like she's the only one in the wrong. "I didn't have to be so brutal about it. You were right, I lost control, I wouldn't actually kill Flash. So fine, I promise to show restraint." But only because after Wednesday I would be the prime suspect.

She holds out her hand, "Friends?"

I reach forward with my own surprisingly happy with how this went, "Friends." Maybe it's okay to care for a few people.

To prepare for the test on Monday our teacher decided it would be beneficial to have an extra credit competition. She passed out a piece of paper to everyone and the four people that answered the best would compete for five extra points. It's a negligible amount, enough to cover for one incorrect answer, I probably don't even need the points, but this kind of thing brings out my competitive side. After the initial round it's Me, Kitty, Gwen Stacy, and another girl by the name of Jessica Jones competing for the prize. The teacher would call out a question and we had thirty seconds to write it on our mini white boards and show it to her, one wrong answer and your out. After three rounds Jessica is eliminated and Ms. Z started ramping up the difficulty. After two more Kitty takes a seat and it's just Gwen and I. I'm actually impressed, Ms. Z is definitely not holding back now, I'm pretty sure she never expected anyone to get this far as she's now asking questions from chapters we haven't covered yet. We're almost out of class time and I can tell that this has to be the last question.

"Ok if you both get this one right then I guess you'll both get the extra points, if you both get it wrong I'll give you both one point. Final question: glycolysis breaks down one molecule of glucose into two molecules of what?" I grab my marker and put it to the white board only to realize that I don't know the answer! I glance at Gwen across the room and see that she's already written hers down. Crap I know this one too, peryite? That sounds familiar. I write it down. When we both show our boards the teacher smiles, "An excellent job from the two of you, simply superb, however Mr. Parker what I was looking for was pyruvate, the points go to Ms. Stacy!"

Pyruvate! Of course, I can't bring myself to be mad over my loss though. Gwen was certainly the one who could have pushed me so far, although I never realized exactly how good she was until today.

As I'm leaving school Gwen walks up to me, "Wow that competition was really fun! I got lucky with that last question, you really know your stuff though."

I grin, it's nice to be acknowledged, "Thanks, I'm impressed with how much you know."

She smiles back, "Thanks I'll need it if I'm going to be a bio chem major. You busy now? Maybe we could get something to eat?"

I'm tempted to go; I may have finally found some one smart enough to bounce some of my ideas off of. Heck with her bio chem knowledge maybe she knows what's going on with my body. "I'm busy today, maybe another time." But I need to prepare for tonight.

After I leave I head to a hobby shop. Having a disguise would be nice. I pick up a red morph suit and head to the hotel. After it's dark, I'm on the roof wearing the morph suit, black jeans with my grey hoody, hood pulled up over my head. I take a deep breath, and then I run. When I reach the edge of the roof I jump with no hesitation and land on another roof, I continue roof-hopping feeling like I'm flying through the air. It's so easy! I'm actually enjoying myself. Enjoying myself so much that I almost miss my destination. Then I hear a gunshot; unlike before when I would ignore it I change course to find the source.

I end up crouched over an alley. A man who is obviously bad news is rifling through the pockets of a prone figure on the street. I wait until he finally finds a wallet and pockets the cash before I drop down. He turns suddenly when I land crouched behind him, gun out in a second. "Who the hell are you?" I say nothing but lift my head so he sees the featureless red face of my suit. "Don't want to talk ey? Well I'll make sure you never speak again!"

Now I'm fast, really fast, but not faster than a bullet. Fortunately I don't have to be. My sense alerts me right before he fires, before his finger can fully pull the trigger I'm already out of the line of fire. The bullet hits the ground where I used to be and the thugs face, well it makes me smile. Before he can re aim I'm on top of him barely holding back I slam my fist into the side of his face and he hits the brick wall hard. I wait for a second before searching him to make sure that he's out. I open his backpack and find almost four hundred dollars, no doubt from his other victims tonight. Now I really smile.

I had thought about being this guy, mugging random civilians. It's not like I care what happens to them. However the problem is how inefficient it is. No one carries large amounts of cash, in order to make it worth the risk I would have to rob a large number of people. But then I thought; if that's what these guys do they must have a large amount on them right? If I mug the muggers It's like stealing from a ten people at once, much more efficient.

I swing his bag over my shoulder after putting the gun in it; you never know when it might come in handy. As soon as I start to leave I hear another gun shot and I'm already running.

I spent the whole night running after muggers. Because I was waiting for the sound of a gunshot to pick my destination I didn't actually save anyone. Four people died last night, but I made almost two grand and they would have died no matter what I did so I just shrug it off. I ended up keeping my promise to Kitty and the first guy I found got it the worst, with a concussion and probably a fractured skull, he was breathing when I left at least.

After a long night I sleep in till around one pm. When I do wake up I pay for the next week of rent before going out to shop. I don't care much for fashion however I would like clothes that fit naturally that maybe I haven't had since the seventh grade. I spend about two hundred dollars buying new jeans, t-shirts, and jackets. Now I'm at least not obviously poor. By the time I'm done it's almost dark so I head back to the hotel. When I leave again it's dressed in red with my old clothes on, no need to rough up the new ones.

I make about half as much as I did the night before, I guess people tend to go out more on Friday nights. The next morning I'm able to wake up earlier, my body and sleep cycle adjust extraordinarily fast, yesterday I slept in till one, today I woke up at eleven. I spend the day walking around the city, I didn't go out to shop but I still end up coming home with a few pairs of shoes and a couple of beanies, it's starting to get cold. I have time to finish all of my homework before I'm on the roof again.

"What the hell?" It's been almost an hour past when I normally hear my first gunshot. Maybe I scared off the usual gang that hangs around here. 'BANG' guess not. It's close so I'm there in under a minute. I know I can handle any thug so I jump down as soon as I get there. My danger sense goes off but I ignore it landing gracefully on the ground. I look up expecting to see a thug and a dead body. Instead I see four guys, crap. I turn to jump up the wall when my sense goes off and I have to take a step back to dodge a bullet. None of the guys in front of me shot it though. I scan the alley and realize that there are guys in every window pointing guns at me. I can dodge one guy with a gun; I don't want to try it with twenty. I slowly raise my hands to avoid getting shot and the lead guy steps aside and with his gun, points to a truck that's parked in front of the alleyway. Man I really do not want to go with these guys! I look left for any sort of opening but as soon as I look I have to take a step to avoid another shot. With no other choice I slowly walk into the middle isle of the large suv with two guys beside me and one in the front and back, not including the driver. The windows are covered from the inside so I have no idea where we're going. We drive for about twenty minutes, me at gunpoint the whole time. I try several times to ask where they're taking me, each attempt met with silence. I can see bruises on a couple of their faces and I can tell that I've 'met' some of these guys over the last two days.

When the car finally comes to a stop I'm ushered out the same way they got me in, when I step out we are behind what must be a large business building in an alley way surrounded by even more guys with guns. What is going on here? I'm sure I didn't beat up all of them. They open a loading bay garage and we go through into a large service elevator. When we exit it's to a surprisingly nice hallway, shiny wooden floors, lush carpet down the middle, they even have paintings every ten feet. Where the hell am I? We come to a stop in front of an elaborate oak door, two armed guards standing in front of it. "Any chance you'll tell me who's inside?" They don't even acknowledge me.

Finally the doors open and I'm surprised to actually recognize the figure that steps out. Towering over me at about six foot seven feet tall. A massive figure dressed in a fine suit. I know where I am now. The light glints off of his bald head into my eyes. He's on multiple magazine covers, one of New York's big players. Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin.

Ooh things are ramping up now! I probably won't make chapters this long again, I'm just trying to get out of this school phase of the origin and get to spider part! Luckily soon I'll be able to over look it. Peter is about to have problems worse than getting to class on time. Review if you like it!