poisoned 🕷️ peter parker [1]

12

The morning after, Jessica woke up early and left the apartment with all her things. She was actually excited to go on this trip. It was nice to do something different and to distract herself from the craziness being around Peter Parker had brought into her life. She arrived at school and before the entrance was a school bus and all the members of the decathlon team standing besides it. With a wide smile, she greeted Liz and Michelle, who were chatting. They looked at Jessica in a strange way. Jessica looked different, she looked radiant. 

"Hello Jess, you look happy."

"I'm just... excited." Jessica replied to Liz comment, not expecting MJ to compliment her next. 

"It suits you." It took Jess by surprise and she didn't know what to answer, so she decided to change the subject.

"So, when do we leave?"

Suddenly she heard someone say something she wasn't hoping to hear.

"Hey, it's Peter."

She turned and, indeed, there was Peter, running towards them. Behind him followed Ned, a few steps behind him, but still running. Peter made it first. 

"Guys!" He said out of breath.

"Peter?"

"I was hoping I could rejoin the team." Jessica couldn't believe what was happening. Just when she thought she would have some days off to relax. But even more outraged was Flash.  

"No, no way. You can't quit on us stroll up and be welcomed back by everyone."

"Hey, welcome back!" Mr. Harrington, our team coach, greeted Peter with a smile, before turning to Flash. "Flash, you're back to first alternate."

Flash's face reflected how his hopes and dreams had just been shattered. "What?"

"He's taking your place."

Before he could even think of a something to say in return, MJ hurried everybody to leave, which Jessica appreciated. "Excuse me, can we go already? I was hoping to get in some protesting in front of an embassy before dinner."

"Protesting is patriotic." Mr. Harrington stared at Michelle for an awkwardly extended period of time. Once he realised the scene had become so uncomfortable, he encouraged everybody to move. "Let's get on the bus."

And so they did. Inside the bus, Liz decided to seat in the first row, as she was preparing some practice questions for the trip. Jessica saw an empty seat next to Michelle, but before she took the seat next to the girl, she decided to have some words with the crime fighting spider. She grabbed Peter, who had just left his bag on his seat, and pulled him to the end of the bus.

"What are you doing here?"

His voice pitched and he shrugged his shoulders. "I'm just going to take part in the academic decathlon."

"I thought you had left the academic decathlon."

"Yeah, but I thought about what you said last night." That took the girl by surprise. She had believed that talking to him was like talking to a wall, since he would end up doing the exact opposite thing she'd asked him. She felt good when knowing he'd actually been listening to her. "I should participate in more normal activities. I thought starting with this trip would be a good idea. Besides I know this is important to you-"

"It's not really." She cut him off. "I think the one who cares the most is Liz. She's prepared some questions to practice on the road-trip."

"Well, then I'm doing it for her." He said and Jessica felt something sinking in her chest. For some reason she remembered how Liz had said she thought Peter was cute. She supposed it had showed on her face when Peter made an effort to explain himself, blushing. "Because she cares about this, and not just her, I'm doing it for anyone who cares. I'm doing it for you too, even if you don't care."

"Looks like I'm not going to get a break from you anytime soon."

"Okay guys, gather up!" They heard Liz calling them from the other extreme of the bus. "I have some questions to practice." 

They were about to go back to their seats when Peter's phone rang. 

 "Can I take this real quick?"

"Yeah, fine." Liz answered unbothered.

Peter answered the call. "Hello?"

"Where's the girl?" He recognised the man calling. It was Happy, to whom he had been 'speaking'.

"Jessica?" Peter asked. The girl, who was just about to seat down, turned around when she heard her name. Peter made a gesture to indicate her to take the call, but before he did he told her who it was.

"Got a blip on my screen here. You left New York?" Jessica's eyes opened wide, she covered the phone's microphone and leaned over Peter. 

"They're tracking us." It didn't take her long to figure out where the tracker would be. She looked at her gloves, pure Stark technology, and sighed. Then she replied to Happy. "Yeah, it's just a school trip. It's nothing."

"Happy, I gotta say, tracking me without permission is a complete violation of privacy." Peter said with a loud voice so Happy could hear him on the other side of the phone. Jessica placed her hand on his mouth to shut him up.

"What did he say?"

Jessica brushed off Happy's question. "Nothing. Look, it's just the Academic Decathlon. It's no big deal."

"Hey, hey. I'll decide if it's no big deal." The man said before actually acknowledging she was right. "Sounds like no big deal, but remember, I'm watching you."

He hung up and right after Jessica moved the phone away from her face, Peter licked her hand, which was still on his mouth. She withdraw it with a disgusted face.

"You're worse than a kid."

__

"Are you sure you don't want to come to the pool?" Liz asked Jessica as she picked up a towel. She already had her swimsuit on, ready to go to the pool, where everyone would hang out for the night. 

Once they stepped into the --- facility, sadness had taken over Jessica. She kept remembering how her father'd always wanted her to do something like this, and she'd always been reluctant. Now there she was and she couldn't share it with him.

"No, I'm not feeling well. I think I'll just sleep and get energy for tomorrow."

"Alright then..." Liz looked at her heartbroken, she could feel pain in her roommate's room. "I'll try not to wake you up when I come back."

When Liz left, Jessica pulled out her phone.  She still knew her father's cell phone by heart. Slowly, she typed the ten digits on her mind. With still a bit of doubt, she brought her phone to her ear and waited as it communicated.

The number you've tried to reach does not longer exist.

The response she got was what she'd expected, but still it hurt her. Suddenly, her melancholy turned into grief, and her grief turned into rage.

Peter, on his side, was packing up everything he needed for his plan. He was going to follow the vulture and the other bad guys with the tracker he had put in one of their shoes. He left his room quietly as his friend Ned told him to be careful. Before he took off, an instinct inside him pulled him to walk by Jessica's room. Through the window, not blocked by the blinds, Peter was able to see the inside of the room.

To his surprise, everything was a mess. The bed had been turned over, there were holes in the walls, as if they'd been punched and there were even some pieces of broken glass on the flour. He found her seated on the floor, leaning against the wall and looking up. Her eyes had a blank expression, but her cheeks were wet with tears. He noticed something unusual, though. She wasn't wearing her gloves and moreover, she had a black mark with the shape of a hand on her left forearm.

He was going to go inside the room and comfort her, he really was, but then the tracker on his suit beeped, indicating that the bad guys were moving, and he had to leave her in order to save the rest of the world.