Peter's Journal

I Wore the Mask Too Long

**This is kinda a focus on Peter's struggle to be both Spider-Man and himself.

Ever since I was bitten by that spider, things started to change... Too much and too fast for my liking. I still remember all my friends' personalities before we entered highschool. We were always joking around, hanging out together, participating in events, and always helped one another when someone was in trouble. My best friend and I hung out together a lot more than with our group of friends.

Her and I had a sort of brother and sister relationship since 5th grade. We tease each other, crack smart ass jokes, sketch a lot of comic characters, be that one friend who cheers for you while you're presenting a project in class, push ourselves to ask out that person we like, encourage ourselves to try out new things, and act stupid together in public. My aunt and her mom would sometimes get together while we hung out, and they would see the way we acted. "Now I see why he's best friends with her..." I once heard Aunt May realize.

I wish I still had that...

After the spider bite, I had become Spider-Man and protected the city from criminals, living beaches, a goblin, a huge Lizard, wannabe wizards, a guy fused to a rhino suit, ninjas (I ain't going back to Hell's Kitchen), a cat burglar, and an old fat scientist with a bad bowl cut who has four extra metal arms to carry himself around. Along with that, I started falling behind school work. I rarely went with my friends anywhere. I'd disappear when they needed me and helped the city instead. I didn't mean to overlook them, but I did. I realized I was so caught up with my own stuff that I just blocked them out completely.

I drew a line and promised myself to stop being Spider-Man for a week so I could try and spend some time with them. I remove my mask and get ready to go to school. "Today I just going to be like the good ol days."

I get to school, and I spot the group chatting at the front of the entrance doors. They're laughing and smiling. "Just walk over and talk to them," I thought to myself. "Hey guys! Sorry I haven't been around much, but I'm here now. What are guys doing?" I ask. They stare at me with a confused look. "What's up, man...?" "Hey..." "We have to go." "We'll um...see you around?" They turn away and walk into the school. As they enter I hear one of them say, "I thought he forgot about us. I honestly forgot about him."

Later, I find my best friend at the cafeteria and sit with her. "Hey!" I greeted. She looks at me and kinda smiles at me. "What's up, mate?" She questions. I feel some relief and answer, "Nothing much. Just wanted to hang out with you that's all." I pull out my sketchbook full of comic character illustrations and show her it to her proudly. "Eh? What do you think?" She examines it and chuckles, "You still draw grown adults in onesies?" "I- What? Yeah I do. You also do, too." "Not anymore." She presented her sketchbook to me, and I flipped through it. It was full of beautiful portraits of my friends with her own refined half cartoon, half realism art style. I was astonished. "These are great..." I complimented. She replied, "Thanks." It got quiet for a while until she spoke again. "Where have you been?" The question caught me off guard and surprised me. "What do you mean?" I asked. "We came into Highschool together. We did everything together. Then you just disappeared all of the sudden. We'd see you in the hallways, but you were in your own little world. Something happened, and you weren't there to help out. You just went solo and neglected us. What bothers me more is that you always told me everything and never kept secrets from me.  Here you are two years later, trying to rekindle our friendship after just disappearing from us. I don't know what's happened to you much less think I want to hear it, but I hope you figure it out." She picked up her plate and backpack and left.

Under my breath, I whisper, "I wore the mask too long."