Of Sorcerors and Spiderwebs: A Peter Parker Series

Chapter Three: Midtown

First day in a new school. What could possibly go wrong?

You're still surprised that Stephen ended up letting you go- your regular, non-magic school was probably the least of his worries during the aftermath of Thanos' snap. Yet he had already signed all the forms and allowed you to go. Besides, your grades were already more than high enough to grant you a place in Midtown's classes.

As you walk through the doors that first morning, you can't help but look around you in awe. This school clearly has more funding than your old public high school- the building is newer and in a better condition, each of the rooms has top-of-the-line equipment, and all of the students seem experts on every topic in the world.

As you open your locker and start to stow your books away, a boy walks up to you, casually leaning against the wall of lockers next to you. "The name's Flash Thompson. You must be the new girl- can I walk you to class?" You raise an eyebrow at the boy's cocky confidence. "Actually, Peter already promised to help me out."

You're grateful to see Peter walking down the hall towards you. "Look, there he is. I better get going." Flash stands up straight, staring at Peter in a mixture of jealousy and awe. "Parker is walking with you?" Peter nods, grinning despite himself. "Parker. Let's go, Y/N?" You wave goodbye to a still baffled Flash, and continue walking down the hall.

You turn to Peter, who's trying not to laugh. "You know, I think you're enjoying this more than you should. I have no idea why Flash would be remotely concerned with me- I just got here and I'm not all that interesting." Peter makes a face. "You're literally a sorcerer who can open portals and conjure up magic. That isn't interesting?" You roll your eyes. "Yeah, maybe, but he doesn't know that."

You talk with Peter until you reach your first class, history. There, you're able to pick up where the class left off pretty easily, which is nice. It's also nice that the teacher doesn't do that thing from the movies where you have to stand up in front of the class and list facts about yourself. All you had to do was give a quick wave from your newly assigned seat. No humiliation there.

It takes you a little while to find the cafeteria, but when you walk in, you quickly find Peter sitting at a table with his friends. You're introduced to MJ and Ned, and the three of you hit it off immediately. It's nice to have some more friends.

Ned glances around over his shoulder to make sure nobody's watching, then leans over to you and speaks in a whisper. "Is it true that you're, you know, a wizard?" You look over at Peter, surprised, but he just spreads his hands. "They know that I'm Spider-Man and they wanted to know why you were transferring. I figured it wouldn't hurt if they found out."

You nod at that, then turn back to Ned. "Technically, I'm a sorcerer, not a wizard. It's cooler that way." Ned looks fascinated by this, and MJ furrows her eyebrows. "What can you do as a not-wizard?" You laugh. "This." You take one last peek around the room to make sure that nobody's looking at you, then put your hands on top of the table. You slowly move them apart from each other, generating a flurry of golden sparks.

Ned gasps quietly. "That's so cool. That's so cool." You grin. "Thanks." Overhead, the lunch bell rings, and everyone starts to stand up to leave. You turn to the group. "Does anyone here have Ms. Dale for English next? I don't entirely know where her room is."

Peter steps forward, starting to say something about how he doesn't have Ms. Dale but he can walk you there anyway, but is interrupted by Betty, who stops as she's passing by. "Oh, I have Ms. Dale. Want me to go with you?" You grin at her. "Yes, please. That would be amazing."

As the two of you walk away, you glance over your shoulder one last time at the lunch table. MJ says something under her breath to Peter, who looks indignant and swats her shoulder as Ned laughs. You can see Peter start to look back at you, so you hurriedly turn to Betty so he can't tell that you were looking at him first.