Space Girl [P.Parker]

chapter 39

"I really don't understand why you're so obsessed with finding Spider-Man all of a sudden. I mean, you never even believed that this thing works, Luna." Ned rambled as the door of the coffee shop chimed. The siblings, coffee in hand, began their trajectory back home. 

Luna, a little beaten up, kept to herself that morning, unable to escape her thoughts. She had spoken nothing to Ned or MJ about where she was the night prior and blamed the large bruise on her leg on the party. With her eyes fixated on Ned's tablet open to the Spidey Tracker app, she remained unaware of her surroundings, relying on her brother for direction.

"Like, your exact words when I was developing this app were, if I recall, 'Ned, I don't wanna hear about your dumb app, I'm doing my homework.'" Ned mimicked her in his high-pitched voice.

"Well, I feel like the reason I was so uninterested is right in that sentence, Ned," Luna chuckled inattentively. She continued to stare down as she walked, every step a passive thought until suddenly, she was abruptly held back. 

Ned reached for her arm, pulling her quickly towards him. Startled, she finally looked up, realizing she was about to cross the busy intersection on a red light. Cars sped past her faster than her eyes could perceive. 

"You gotta look away from that thing every once in a while. I promise, if he turns up anywhere, you'll know. I set up a notification system." Ned explained obnoxiously.

Luna, still struck from the past minute, stared blankly at him. "Right..." For a moment, her eyes fluttered to the bus stopping behind him just around the corner. Her eyes scanned the passengers exiting and entering the bus until she began to scan through the windows.

She caught a glimpse of a familiar face, a man whom she only knew personally by the name of 'Maynerd,' the strange man from the party who inevitably turned out to be her old superhero friend.

Her eyes widened almost instantly, causing Ned to furrow his eyebrows and turn around to inspect what she was so taken by. When he perceived nothing out of the ordinary, he turned back. "What?"

Luna watched, frozen, as the bus departed from its stop, pulling up to the red light a few miles away. "I gotta catch that bus." 

"What- that bus? Why? Where are we going?" Ned questioned, turning back once again, though by the time he turned back to Luna, she had already tossed her coffee in the trash and was running towards the next stop.

Extremely determined, she sprinted as fast as she could along the bus's route a few blocks down. She simply couldn't leave last night unfinished. Luna was never one to ignore a quest for answers. 

Ned attempted to chase after her, growing exhausted and trailing farther behind, but continued out of pure curiosity. To his dismay, the bus arrived at the stop a block away just as Luna did. As she boarded the bus, he bent down, resting his body weight on his knees and breathing heavily. "She's...crazy." He sighed. "Haven't seen her work out in the last 4 years, yet I hit the gym every day." He rolled his eyes. 

"She's crazy." He repeated, throwing up his arms in frustration. He stood far behind, watching as Luna boarded the bus. He shook his head and crossed his arms.

She boarded discreetly, keeping her eyes fixed on the young man, though making sure she remained unnoticed by him. He wore an ESU hoodie and a backpack, as if he were headed to class, so it only made sense that when the bus reached Empire State University, he and other students aboard exited the bus.

Keeping a safe distance and a watchful eye, Luna followed him through the campus, though he didn't seem as if he knew much about where he was going himself.