Ava's POV
"You're lying." I said simply, once Peter and I were on the subway.
"About what?" He asked.
"You're not buying me a new phone. I don't care how much movie money you have, you'd never buy me a new phone."
"You just got the shit beat out of you and I wasn't there to protect you. Me, your superhero best friend."
"You're lying." I sang.
"Okay, I'm lying." He admitted. "I need help with something and you need a distraction, so here we are."
"Do I need a distraction?"
"Have you ever dealt with anything any other way than by distracting yourself?"
"Good point, okay, continue. What do you need my help with?" I wondered.
"Stella and I got these packages from Norman Osborne and I opened mine up and it was a book."
"Riveting, you want me to help you read." I said sarcastically. Peter pushed my head a little and took off his backpack. He pulled out an Encyclopedia and handed it to me and I pretended it weighed a thousand pounds, dramatically drooping under its weight.
"Big kid books." He said, handing me a wrapped package that felt like another book, though not as big.
"Peter, I don't know if you know this but the only reason I passed English class is because I used to make Stella do all my work for me."
"Yeah, trust me, I'm aware." He said, putting his backpack back on and taking the books from me. I thought back to what we were talking about in the backyard, how I fixed Peter and Stella. How he seemed pretty upset by me seeing that. Neither of them had ever seemed like they minded me bossing them around, but it was beginning to seem like Peter actually did mind. He put the wrapped book down on the subway bench and opened up the Encyclopedia. Inside was a note, written in a messy cursive font.
"I can't read cursive." I said when he showed it to me. He rolled his eyes, like it was my fault whoever wrote that note had even worse handwriting than he did.
"Peter, as a thanks for your father's work at Oscorp, and you and your friend's insistence on using my library to its full capacity, a feat my own offspring failed to do..."
"I understood not a single one of those words."
"I'm sure if this were English class you'd have Stella translate but..."
"Peter!" I complained. I don't know what his all of a sudden beef with me was but it was a really shitty time for it. But Peter kind of was always that way. He wasn't in social skills class for no reason, I'll tell you that. Brother could not fucking read a room. For example, I really wanted to settle this beef between him and I, but he just kept reading the fucking note.
"I am awarding you and your friend with a piece of the Osborne inheritance my own son has no idea about. However, I know personally how the death of someone very wealthy can attract vultures so I've chosen to hide this fortune for you and your friend to find. Only the two of you will be able to unlock the fortune and you must not let anyone take it away from you. I owe a great debt to your father and this is how I intend on repaying him. Reunite these books to their rightful places, and you'll find the next step to your inheritance." Peter read.
"My brain hurts." I complained.
"Rich guy left money for me and Stella and now we have to find it."
"Like a fucking scavenger hunt? Peter, this is what we're doing? I am really not in the mood for your bullshit right now."
