Hanging by a Thread 🕷 Peter Parker

six

Peter

Peter made sure to walk to and from school with Alexandra the next day and the day after that. When Friday finally rolled around, the day of their dinner with their guardians, Peter walked Alexandra to school that morning, too. She was always pretty quiet on their walks, like she was deep in though. Peter just assumed that she was worried about something happening again. Never in a million years did he think that Alexandra was starting to grow suspicious.

One day, at school, while Peter was walking toward his locker right before lunch, he was approached by Ned. His eyes were wide and he stared at Peter like he'd seen a ghost. Peter furrowed his eyebrows and closed his locker. "Ned, you good?" He asked his friend.

Ned shook his head and ushered Peter into the bathroom on that floor, which was empty. Everyone was going to lunch, so no one was in the bathroom at that moment. "Dude, you said you weren't gonna tell Alex, right?" He asked.

"Yeah... I didn't tell her, why?" Peter asked.

"Dude, she came up to me this morning in Pre-Calculus and asked me something really... weird," Ned said.

"Weird?" Peter questioned. "What kind of weird?"

Ned took a deep breath and looked at Peter. "She asked me if I thought that you were Spider-Man!" He exclaimed. Peter opened his mouth to say something, but Ned continued. "She was all like, 'Maybe he's always disappearing because he's out swinging and stopping crime,' and all of that! She also said that Spider-Man saved her from an attacker the other day after school when she ditched you at the subway!"

"Ned!" Peter shushed his friend, looking around before dragging Ned to the bathroom so they had a place to talk without being overheard. "Yeah, I had to save her from this guy that was trying... anyway, she really thinks that I might be Spider-Man?" He asked, his eyes wide. Ned nodded in response, and Peter ran a hand through his hair with a sigh. "Well that's just fantastic!" He said.

"I told you that you need to use a voice disguise thingy when you're out as Spidey!" Ned said. "She probably recognized your voice!"

Peter cursed under his breath and then looked back up at Ned. "Okay, Ned, here's what we're going to do." He grabbed his friend's shoulder and looked him dead in the eyes. "Anytime Alex asks, we lie. She can't know that I'm Spider-Man, okay? We've gotta act normal, we can't give anything away. Got it?"

Ned nodded. "Got it," He replied. The two boys left the bathroom and headed for the cafeteria. When they got there, Alexandra, Kai, and MJ were already sitting at their regular table. The boys sat down in their regular spots at the table and Peter pulled out his lunch. Ned went to get himself a cafeteria lunch.

"What took you guys so long?" MJ asked, glancing up from her book. Peter looked over at her and shrugged.

"Nothing, we were just a couple minutes behind," He replied. Peter could see Alexandra looking at him out of the corner of his eye. He pretended not to see, but he could tell that she was trying to figure out where he and Ned had been. Alexandra wasn't stupid, if he and Ned weren't careful, then sooner or later she would find out.

Ned sat back down at the table once he had gotten his lunch and Alexandra smiled at him. "Hey, Ned," She greeted.

Ned looked over at her nervously. "H-hey, Alex!" He replied. Peter internally groaned. Ned could do better than that, couldn't he? Jeez...

She raised an eyebrow at him and tilted her head. "Why're you so nervous?" She asked him.

Ned laughed. "Nervous? I'm not nervous," He replied. Peter nudged Ned in the arm and glared at him. Ned coughed and looked at Peter apologetically. "So... what have you guys been up to? Kai, any new songs lately?"