Ultimate Spider-Woman: Change With the Light

Chapter 92: Wheel Of Misfortune

Gwen Stacy felt a wonderful, soothing feeling pass through her as she opened her eyes. She felt a wonderful sensation pass through her as she regained awareness of her surroundings, a serene calmness that caressed her heart and left her mind at peace.

Glancing to either side, Gwen was happy to see that her friends Kitty Pryde and Liz Allan had also enjoyed the experience. The girls slowly got to their feet, stretching their limbs before moving to the side of the room where they had left their shoes and bags.

"This was a great idea, Gwen," Liz sighed in relief as she zipped up her boots. "I really wish I'd known about this sooner."

"I can't take credit for it," Gwen shook her head, as they began to leave the studio. "Dr. Temple was the one who suggested I try this meditation stuff."

"How long have you been needing to see her, Gwen?" Kitty asked in concern. Dr. Claire Temple was one of the counsellors Empire State University employed to help students cope with stress. Gwen had been seeing Dr. Temple in an attempt to try and deal with the pressure she was facing in trying to balance her schoolwork with her attempts to find work, her relationship with her boyfriend Randy Robertson, her superhero identity as the spectacular Spider-Woman, and everything in between.

Things had been especially stressful for Gwen over the last month. She had been forced to fight several of her old enemies as Spider-Woman, in between trying to somehow keep up with her studies. On top of that, Gwen had been preoccupied with the conflict between Randy and his parents over their dislike of her, and even moreso the injuries her cousin Jill Stacy had suffered in a grisly subway accident. The fact that midterm exams were just around the corner didn't help much either, and neither did the fact that Gwen had been putting in long hours with her study groups to try and prepare.

"For a while now," Gwen admitted with a sad smile. "How about you, though? How have you guys been coping with it all?"

"Game nights have been helping," Kitty replied, referring to the board game nights Gwen had been organizing with their circle of friends to try and help deal with the pressure.

"That's good," Gwen smiled. "How about you, Liz?"

To her surprise, Liz looked slightly guilty.

"It's been going pretty well," she admitted, somewhat embarrassed.

"Come on, it's fine," Gwen assured her. "Seeing you doing alright helps us too, you know?"

The girls giggled as they stepped out into Empire State University's quad.

ULTIMATE SPIDER-WOMAN #92

WHEEL OF MISFORTUNE

Later that afternoon…

"I really appreciate your helping me with that last minute review," Gwen said to Tanis Johnson as they walked towards the lecture theatre.

"Don't worry about it, Gwen," Tanis assured her. "You weren't the only one to miss a couple of days," Tanis reminded her.

Gwen frowned at that, recalling how she had to take a couple of days off school after getting caught in a subway train accident that had left her cousin Jill Stacy seriously injured. She had later discovered that the accident had been caused by the supervillain Will O' the Wisp, who she'd fought several times in her superhero identity as the spectacular Spider-Woman. As Spider-Woman, Gwen had managed to defeat the Wisp, but his interference had led to several people being seriously hurt and killed, in addition to Jill's injuries.

The pain and suffering the Wisp had inflicted on his victims was the worst part of his crimes, of course. However, Gwen had also suffered academically from them. She had been struggling to improve her university grades, and had joined the study groups several of her classmates had been organizing for their courses. Unfortunately, tracking down the Wisp and missing school had forced Gwen to miss more than one study session, giving her one more reason to worry about her grades.