Ultimate Spider-Woman: Change With the Light

Chapter 88: Sting Of Rejection

"Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty!" Helen Stacy said, shaking her sleeping daughter's shoulder.

Gwen Stacy merely yawned out loud and turned over, her long blonde hair seeming to cover her completely, before Helen shook her again.

"Come on, it's time to get up," Helen continued insistently.

Mumbling under her breath, Gwen finally sat up, rubbing her eyes with one hand as she used her other hand to brush her hair back.

"Maybe you should be calling me Rapunzel," Gwen mumbled with a half-smile. "But why are you bugging me to get up, especially this early?"

"Because it's not early," Helen pointed out to her, picking up Gwen's clock radio. "It's just after 10:30," she continued, as Gwen turned to look at the radio.

"Oh, no!" Gwen groaned, falling back onto her bed. "I'm going to miss at least two classes today, and-"

"It's Saturday, remember?" Helen reminded Gwen. "You don't have any classes today."

Gwen gave a sigh of relief as she got out of bed.

I don't believe it, she thought to herself. The old Stacy luck actually went easy on me for once!

SPIDER-WOMAN #88

STING OF REJECTION

It didn't take Gwen long to shower or get dressed, and before long she was in the kitchen of the Stacy home to get a late breakfast.

"Thanks for saving some of this for me," Gwen said to Helen, before taking another bite of ham.

"It's no problem, sweetie," Helen assured her. "But are you sure you're all right? Did you hurt yourself at all?" she continued, concern in her voice. Helen had good reason to be worried, given how Gwen risked her life in her superhero identity as the spectacular Spider-Woman.

Helen's fears were confirmed when she saw Gwen's shoulders slump.

"…What happened?" Helen asked with concern.

Gwen explained about her recent battle with her old enemy Polestar, the magnetic supervillain obsessed with humiliating and killing his family. As Spider-Woman, Gwen had managed to defeat Polestar, but she hadn't been able to stop Polestar from killing his brother.

"So that's the problem?" Helen asked gently. "You feel guilty about not being able to stop this Polestar guy from killing his brother?"

"…That's partly it," Gwen nodded. "But I've been thinking about how I let my grades at school fall off because I was too stupid to listen to what everyone's been telling me about not pushing myself so hard. You, Aunt Nancy, my girlfriends, other people I know…and did I ever listen to any of you? No, I didn't!" Gwen continued, her voice becoming more pained as she spoke.

Helen only reached out and grasped her daughter's hands.

"And you still haven't fully recovered from everything you've tried to do, which is why you slept so late this morning," Helen sighed. "But you're going to try to take it easier?"

"Yeah, and focus on my schoolwork," Gwen said after taking a deep breath. "I'm sorry, but I don't know if I'll be able to help out much with the bills-"

"Don't worry about that," Helen interrupted her. "Nancy and I will take care of that. All you need to do is take care of yourself."

"Thanks, Mom," Gwen smiled. "I'm sorry about all this, it's just…"

"I know," Helen assured her. "Just take care of yourself for now."

This is just what I needed, Gwen thought to herself that evening, as she lit the last candle. Everyone was so right…Mom…Aunt Nancy…Liz…Randy…Uncle Ben…