Into the Spider-verse (Gwen Stacy)

The roof

♫ Gwen Stacy ♫

I had never been the type of person to have a bunch of friends. And I was also the type of person who didn't care. I never cared to have a big social group, to listen to adolescent high school drama. If anything, high school just wasn't for me. I was ready to get out, to let go of everything and work on my dreams. Until I met my best friend, Peter Parker.

After that, things were...different.

Things almost seemed better, if I were to say things were worse before him. Peter encouraged me to get out there. I joined a band, The Mary Janes. And for a while, things were good, great actually.

It was a friday night, and the band was set up against the railing on the stop of a roof, the city plastered out behind us. Our lead singer was doing a mic check while the hosts for the party were setting up. Peter sat at one of the tables, pouring over his notebooks, scratching the tip of his nose every so often. I smiled at him from behind my drumset, tapping my foot against the floor as I waited for the party to start. My body always got super excited before performances, excited to the point where my body would shake if I had no way of letting it out.

My fingers played with the drumsticks, lightly tapping them against the rim of the drum. I turned my head away from the party scene and out of the city. The sun was setting, and the lights of my home town were starting to flicker on like fireflies. Soon, the entire city would be covered with twinkling lights.

"Hey Gwen,"

I turned to see the lead singer staring at me. Her red hair was styled in a half up half down, curled in perfect ringlets. I set down my drumsticks on the thigh and looked at her.

"What's up MJ?" I asked.

"You gonna be here tonight?" she asked, resting the mic on her hip.

Beside her, Glory, Betty and Jen stared at me. I swallowed nervously from all of the attention. Normally the group just put up with my flakiness without a question, complaining behind my back. I tapped my drumstick on my leg, and nodded.

I really hoped that nothing came up.

Most of the time, halfway through our performances, the city was in trouble. I usually had ten seconds to make up a believable excuse before making it to the scene on time, and lately it seemed like every other night, something was happening.

"Yeah," I replied, giving them a reassuring smile.

The three girls turned back to their instruments, except for MJ. she stared, unsure if she should believe me. It seemed like for a moment she was weighing her options, kicking me out to get a replacement or keeping me. I knew I was a good drummer, but there was definitely better. She turned back after a moment.

"Y'know gwen," MJ said as she put her mic up on the stand. "I think we could all be friends if you just talked to us."

"MJ!" hissed glory "I told you she might be shy."

"And i'm just saying it outright," MJ snapped at her friend. She turned back to me "look, I'm just saying. I think if could be really fun if we all hung out. I've got my cousin coming tonight and i think it would be great if we all hung out together."

I nervously shot a look to Peter who was now looking in my direction. He gave me a slight nod, assuring me to go along with it. I fought the urge to roll my eyes at him and nodded.

"Yeah, that sounds like it would be fun,"

Beside her, Betty clapped her hands "yay!"

"Oh, speaking of-" MJ hopped off the stage to go greet a girl lingering at one of the tables in the back. I squinted to get a better look at her. MJ's cousin wore a simple dress paired with boots, a small crossbody bag hung on one shoulder. Her h/c hair was let down, ending an inch below her shoulder. MJ led her over to the group.

"Guys, this is my cousin, y/n," she stated, gesturing to the girl.

y/n waved at us"hey! I hope y'all have a great show tonight! I'll be watching from over there."

She pointed to the same table Peter was at. I gave her a small smile, unsure of what to say. MJ quickly introduced every one of us, and gave her a short overview of what tonight's schedule looked like. During their conversation, y/n's eyes drifted over to me, forcing me to look down at my drumset. I leaned closer to the snare as if I spotted a stain on the brass. She quickly looked back at her cousin, and when MJ was done talking, y/n left us to go sit with Peter, striking up a conversation with him. She seemed nice. I blew out a breath of air from my mouth, once more trying to get my excitement under control.

After a while, the people began to file in through the roof access door and soon, the music began to play.