Three months had past since Paige's first day of school. Paige had formed a great friendship with Peter, Liz, and Michelle. She had become pretty use to seeing Spider-Man swung over head now. It was just after school, and Paige took the long way home this time. Her parents had been fighting because of her. Jeff said she shouldn't be allowed to run off whenever she wants to, but Stephanie disagreed. It only got worse from there. They were always mad at each other and sometimes would even throw punches at each other. Every time thine would happen, Paige would run off again.
She was walking home instead of taking the bus. She walked down a quiet alley that she had figured out by now was the way to her house. She was about halfway through when she heard footsteps coming up and someone pushed her against the side of the alley.
"Now what's a pretty thing like you doing walking down here all alone?" he snarled.
Paige gulped.
"Give me the bag," he ordered her.
She shook her head. He raised his hand and punched her in the face. She felt her nose start to bleed. He reached and ripped her bag away from her. The next moment, he was sent flying up into the air, but at the time she was just glad he was off of her. She saw a figure swing down. Spider-Man. He stood in front of her
"You know someone really shouldn't be in these alleys all alone? It can get pretty rough," he joked.
"Yeah, I know," she laughed.
"Woah, you got pretty banged up," he remarked.
"Yeah, it's no big deal though," Paige tried to convince.
"Your nose is bleeding all over your face!" he exclaimed. "Hold on."
He grabbed Paige by the waist and swing up onto the building next to them. He fiddled with his utility best until he got an alcohol wipe out.
"This'll sting for a second," he warned as he leaned forward and started to clean up the blood off of her face.
She flinched as the wipe made contact with her skin. It stung really bad.
"You okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, it just stings," she replied.
"You should see how it feels with bullet wounds," he laughed.
"Do you get shot at a lot?" Paige asked.
"Well, yeah. But it doesn't really bother me. I mean I am Spider-Man," he responded.
He finished cleaning the blood off of her face and then taped on a small gauze to keep the blood in.
"Wait a few hours, probably tomorrow morning, and take the bandages off," he suggested. "You need a way home?"
"I'm in no rush. My adoptive parents have been fighting a lot lately and it's getting really bad," Paige sighed.
"I'm so sorry," Spider-Man apologized.
"It's okay. I think I might ask my neighbors if I can stay with them a while," she sighed.
"Who're your neighbors?" he asked.
"The Parkers. Peter Parker and his Aunt May," she stated.
"Let me get you to their house then," he suggested.
"Okay, well it's more of an apartment, but it's pretty spacious," she said as Spider-Man picked her up by the waist and started to swing off.
Paige smiled as she swung through the air. Maybe she should return to being Spider-Girl. Her parents never noticed her anymore so she highly doubted that they would notice. She loved the wind as it blew through her hair and as she fell a little and then was cast back up again. Soon, they were at the apartment building.
"Thanks," she told Spider-Man as she walked towards the building.
"Your welcome," he smiled under Gus mask as he swung off.
Paige walked into the building and took the elevator up. She walked towards her door, but automatically heard screaming. She moved back and walked towards Peter's apartment. She knocked on the door. Aunt May came and answered the door.
"Hey, Paige, come on in," she greeted as she opened the door for Paige to come in.
"Is Peter home?" Paige asked as she sat down on the couch.
"No. Now what brings you here?" Aunt May asked.
"My parents are fighting again."
"Oh I'm so sorry. Do you need to stay here a while?"
Paige nodded in response. Aunt May went over and grabbed a duffel bag out of a closet and brought it to her. This wasn't the first time she had done this. She had arranged for her to stay there until it cooled off. Paige would most often sleep on the couch and stay there for a week at most.
"What happened to your nose?" Aunt May asked as she just now noticed the bandaged up nose and ran to the kitchen to come back with an ice pack that she handed to Paige.
"Oh, I, um, got jumped on the way home," Paige replied as she took the ice pack. "Then Spider-Man came, and he saved me."
"Well I'm glad you're alright," Aunt May sighed.
Just then Peter walked in. He set his backpack down and proceeded to walk towards his room.
"Peter aren't you going to say hi to Paige?" Aunt May asked.
Peter headed back towards the living room and stood behind the couch.
"Parents fighting again?" Peter asked.
"Yeah," Paige sighed.
"You can stay as long as you like, Paige," Aunt May smiled.
"Thanks," Paige slightly smiled.
Paige noticed a small spot of blood was showing through Peter's shirt. She looked questionably at it. Why would he have blood there? She didn't think too much about it then. She looked in her bag and saw the extra Spider-Girl suit she had put in there. Her adoptive parents didn't know about Spider-Girl, and she figured now they wouldn't even notice. Aunt May and Peter had left her alone and she figured now was a good of a time as ever. She walked out of the apartment with her duffel bag. She darted into the nearest alley and changed as quickly as possible. She crawled up the side of the wall and used her webs to web her bag to the building. She just needed some fresh air
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Picture at top is of her costume.
