fearless || peter parker

seventeen || security threats, and alien immune systems

I woke up to a flash of light.

"Hnngh," I mumbled, blinking several times before seeing the picture in front of me. Nitara was at the end of my bed, pointing my Canon directly at my face. "Hey!"

Nitara laughed as I jumped up and scrambled across the sheets to grab my camera from her. "I knew that would get you up."

I didn't laugh as I recovered my camera, carefully shutting it off and wiping the sides on my shirt. "What time is it?"

"Eight-thirty," Nitara told me, and this time, I was fully awake. "Bus leaves in ten. I would get moving, if I were you."

I swore and jumped off my bed, putting the camera around my neck and grabbing today's clothes from my backpack. I chose a layered shirt, which was the closest thing I had to a jacket to protect me from Maryland's mid-October chill, seeing as Flash had made sure my regular one was still heavily damp, hanging from the bathroom hook with the rest of my clothes from last night.

We hadn't even stayed out that late, and I had slept in until eight-thirty. I never did set my alarm last night- I just trusted Nitara to, which was clearly something I should never do again. I couldn't remember the last time that I hadn't woken up to an alarm or had a full eight hours of sleep. Not at all a time this month, what with me running around as Nightmare, staying up to speed with school, yearbook, and working at the diner.

Lately, I had been too busy to even be exhausted. But this morning, it seemed to hit me like a truck.

I made sure to again grab the room key before heading out with Nitara on my heels. I took the stairs two, three at a time, until reaching the ground floor and hearing the voices of the Decathlon team being carried through the air from beyond the glass hotel doors. Beyond their small figures from down the corridor was a yellow bus on the pavement, awaiting us to board.

"Sorry, we're nearly late," I panted, running up with Nitara by my side, who was doubled over and breathing erratically. I thought about how I made her run across rooftops to the school with me, or to meet me on my own roof from Starbucks. This girl had serious problems with running.

Mr. Harrington waved his hand holding the attendance sheet in dismissal. "You two are fine. We're still waiting on Ned and Peter."

I looked around the group, and was surprised that Peter's absence wasn't the first thing I had noticed since arriving. All other signs pointed to that. Liz continually checked her watch while looking at the corridor doors in the lobby that Nitara and I had just run through, and Flash had a look of hope on his face. He looked hopeful to throw away his first alternate position.

Eight o'clock approached slow as molasses as we waited for Ned and Peter to show up. Five to eight, Mr. Harrington sent up a reluctant Flash to retrieve the two, but just as we were outside boarding the bus, Flash came outside with a disgruntled looking Ned and no sight of Peter. Flash, though, looked incredibly pleased with himself.

"Mr. Harrington! Ned here has been covering for Parker. Who, by the way, is nowhere to be found. He's skipping out, again."

A look of disappointment crossed the already sunken face of the Decathlon teacher. "Well. Flash, for now, you're taking his place on the team. Everybody board the bus."

As I stepped up the stairs of the bus, I heard Mr. Harrington pull out his phone and sigh, not again as he dialed a number.

Nitara waved me over from the back of the bus, and a moment later, Mr. Harrington got on, causing the doors to close, and the engine to start.

"Unbelievable," Nitara said, loud but inaudible to the people at the front due to the engine now running. The world outside started to move, and the hotel was soon out of sight as we cascaded onto the highway.