Iron Lightning; Valuable [ II ] P. PARKER

XXXVII. STEP ONE

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
"step one"

Happy drove the two to the airport and they barely made it on time, bumping into the new kid, Brad Davis. They quickly put their bags through the scanner and got onto the plane.

Brad wasn't really a new student, he was just new to the "blipped" kids of Midtown High. Brad was one of the kids who stayed back and grew five years older. The two girls didn't exactly consider Brad as their friend, more like acquaintances who had classes together. But it was no secret Brad had a thing for Michelle everyone knew— but everyone else also knew Michelle had eyes on one of the biggest Star Wars nerds in the school.

They all boarded the plane together, shuffling through the isles to find their assigned seats. While waiting in line, Jade's eyes instantly landed on Peter and Ned sitting together. Peter looked up a few seconds later and his eyes landed on hers, the two making direct eye contact. Jade quickly lowered her eyes to her feet, the embarrassing memory flooding her mind again.

"Hey, Parker!" The familiar voice of Flash Thompson called.

Jade looked over to see Flash holding a glass of what looked like champagne. "This is called an airplane. It's like the buses you're used to, except it flies over the poor neighborhoods instead of driving through them."

Jade rolled her eyes, frowning slightly towards Peter. Why did Peter put up with him? He could knock all his teeth out in one punch, Jade thought to herself. She turned to Michelle nodded to Jade reassuringly.

"Ma'am!" Michelle called the flight attendant beside Flash. "He blipped, so technically, he's sixteen, not twenty-one."

The flight attendant took the drink away from Flash and started walking away with it, "She's lying! I don't even know this girl!"

Jade giggled quietly at Michelle and found her seat. She opened one of the bag compartments, putting her stuff in— well, trying to.

"Here. I got it,"

Jade looked to see Harry grabbing her bag and putting it in the compartment for her.

"Thanks," She smiled, her cheeks turning pink.

"No problem," he smiled back, shrugging his shoulders.

Jade's seat was in the middle of Michelle and one of the school's morning news reporters, Betty Brant. The two weren't the best of friends, but that didn't matter because Jade wasn't planning on staying in the seat for long. She looked over to see Michelle laughing with Brad Davis— who was helping her with her bags— and rolled her eyes before looking over to where Peter and Ned were sitting.

"You ready for nine hours of boredom?" Harry asked suddenly.

"I have plenty of things to do," Jade said.