There's a moment, in some peoples' lives, when you realize you weren't destined for anything normal. Sometimes, if you're lucky enough, you get two.
Discovering my powers was the first.
And Peter Parker was the second.
And everything that followe...
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• • • "But wouldn't it be so cool if there were just like, hybrids between a lion, a shark, and a falcon? Like that would just create one super organism equipped for everything!"
I laugh lightly and forcefully twist the stubborn combination lock open. "I don't think that's how biology works, Ned," I reply while laying books in my locker with metal clangs.
Ned shrugs his wide shoulders and adds, "Whatever. Hypothetically, it'd still be cool."
"True. It would be totally awesome."
A sudden gust of wind brushes past us and I can see a blur of blue cashmere and whipping brown locks moving down the hall.
"Right, Peter?" Ned shouts at him as he weaves through an flowing river of people. Peter stops, still eager to run off somewhere, but turns to face us.
"What?" he questions.
"Lion-shark-falcon hybrid. Cool, right? I mean, like, hypothetically if it could be done," Ned tries to persuade him.
A wide grin falls on Peter's face and he answers without question, "Definitely."
"Where are you off to in such a hurry?" I ask while slinging my backpack onto my shoulder and slamming the rusted metal door shut with an ear- piercing screech.
His eyes wander off onto the black and white tile, then flash back up to mine, "Uh, Stark Internship. Can't be late. He's, uh, you know, all about punctuality...and stuff." He turns back around and starts off running again, shouting back to us as he grows further and further away, "See you guys later!"
Ned swiftly shouts to Peter before he turns the corner, "Don't forget the Deathstar!"
"And the chemistry project!" I yell as Peter nods to us and disappears out the door.
Ned turns his head back to face me and states, "Tony Stark has really been working him."
We begin to walk to the auditorium to practice for the academic decathlon and I reply, "I know, it's like he's always running off somewhere now."
Before Peter's internship, the three of us would hang out almost every day after school. We had this perfect little club between the three of us where we would build things and watch old movies and tease Peter about how good-looking his aunt was. (That last part was mostly only done by Ned.) But now I only catch glimpses of Peter in the hallway and during chemistry experiments. The truth is, I miss the three of us. I miss him.
But I would never tell him that.
Ned chuckles a bit and remarks, "His loss. We're way more awesome than Tony Stark."
I laugh along with him and agree before walking through the doors,
"Yep. His loss. We're even more awesome than a lion-shark-falcon hybrid."
