The Spider of Oz

~1~

Dorothy lived in the center of New York City along with her Uncle Henry, who was a construction worker, and Aunt Em, who usually spent her time out with her friends at local restaurants. Their apartment was small, with only two bedrooms, sliding doors that lead to a little balcony, and a combined kitchen and living room. Home sweet home.

Sometimes, once the sun had set, Dorothy would stand out on the balcony, where she had a clear view of the Avengers tower, illuminated by the surrounding buildings. Whenever she was out there, Dorothy would sigh, lean her head against her hands, and dream about one day meeting a superhero.

Of course, there was a very rare chance of meeting one, so Dorothy would always shake those thoughts from her head and go spend time away from her imaginary world.

Dorothy didn't have many friends, just a few from school because they sat at the same lunch table, so she would usually spend her time playing with her dog, Toto.

Toto was a little, black dog with sparkling eyes the same color as his fur, which was long and silky. He never seemed to tire from the long amounts of time he spent jumping, barking and running around with Dorothy.

And that's how life was for Dorothy, going to school, playing with Toto, and dreaming about the Avengers. That is, until one particular day.

Dorothy had slept through her alarm clock, was forced to skip breakfast, and had to run down the street to her school. But it was no use trying to fastwalk down the school's corridors to get to her first class- she was too slow.

Refusing to be late, Dorothy decided to screw the school rules. She started to run, and skirted around a corner. She had begun to believe she would make it to class in time before turning down a different hallway and slamming into a another body.

Both Dorothy and the other person crashed to the floor in a heap.

"Oh my goodness," Dorothey said, then hissed in pain as she stood up, clutching her arm where a floorburn had started to form.

"I- I'm so sorry! Are you okay?"

Dorothy looked up to see one of the people who sat at the same table as her during lunch.

"Oh, no, you don't need to apologise. I was the one that ran into you."

"Oh, w- well I wasn't looking where I was going, so it's not entirely your fault."

Dorothy tilted her head slightly, "You're Peter, right?"

The boy nodded, "Y- yeah, that's me. Parker. P- Peter Parker." He looked down and rubbed the back of his neck before glancing shyly up again and said, "Dorothy, yeah?"

"Yeah. Dorothy Gale."

Dorothy scratched her arm and looked around, trying to find a way out of the awkward situation she was in. She saw a book on the floor and bent to pick it up.

"Is this yours?"

Peter nodded and held out his hand. Dorothy handed it to him with a forced smile.

"Well, I'd better be go-"

Dorothy was interupted by the bell and sighed.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to make you late." Peter said quickly.

"It's fine." Dorothy muttered. She walked past him and said over her shoulder, just a little bitterly, "See you at lunch, Peter."

"Y- yeah. See you then."

Dorothy finally made it to class and walked in, trying to ignore the fact that the whole class was watching her as she got to her seat.

"Hey," someone tapped her on the back as the teacher resumed class. "Why were you late?"

Dorothy turned around to see Ned Leeds, who, as she remembered, was Peter's best friend.

"Slept in." Dorothy said shortly before turning her attention back to the teacher.

"Oh." They were both silent for a few moments.

"Were you hoping for something more exciting?" Dorothy muttered under her breath.

"Well, yeah." Ned whispered back. "Like maybe you were stopping bad guys because you're secretly an Avenger, like Peter." There was a small pause before Ned cursed himself.

Dorothy's heart missed a beat. She barely regained her voice when she said, 'What?!' slightly too loud. The teacher shushed her.

Dorothy looked down at her desk and waited a couple of seconds before risking it again.

"Ned, what?" She hissed quietly at him.

Dorothy could barely hear Ned muttering, "Forget I said anything!"

There was a loud slapping sound which made both Ned and Dorothy jump. The teacher had hit a ruler on her desk.

"Quiet!"

Dorothy nodded then pulled a sticky note and pen out of her backpack. She wrote, We are going to talk about this later, Ned. And slipped it to him. She heard him sigh.

For the rest of class, Dorothy struggled to take notes for the essay she would have to write for the next day. It was about fairy tales and how they influenced modern day people.

She just wrote down a few words:

Evil
                                            Magic
                          Power
                                                       Witches
   Curses
                             Wizards
                                                                     Hero
              Peter