mended 🕷️ peter parker [3]

1

"Betty, we've done this already." Jessica tried to talk her out of it but it seemed impossible. She dragged her inside the audiovisuals classroom, where the Midtown News was about to be broadcasted. "Everyone has seen the video tribute and my speech stopped being emotional after the third time."

"Please, Jess!" She pleaded putting her hands together as a begging sign. "Do this one last time. Do it as a favor to a friend."

Jessica thought about it. She really didn't want to do that again. "But it's the last day of school..."

"This is very important to me." 

Jessica didn't respond and Betty knew she had won. She ran to get the cameras and computer ready for the program before starting. As she did that, Jessica sat next to Jason, the other host of the high school news. She turned around for a short second to observe the green screen behind them. She had to admit that they did put a lot of effort into this project. Taking her by surprise, Whitney Houston's angelic voice started resounding in the room and Betty ran to sit in Jessica's left. She checked in with one of the kids taking care of the cameras to make sure everything was going okay. 

The song I will always love you was coming to an end, which meant that the video tribute was about to end as well. The video was just a bunch of stock images of the fallen Avengers as the soundtrack of The Bodyguard played in the background. It wasn't a super production, but it was warming for Jessica to see what people were willing to put together in memoriam to the heroes. Especially Tony.

"Gone, but not forgotten." Betty spoke into the camera as the broadcast started.

"Thank you to the creators for their help with that touching video tribute."

"This year has been-"

"Shit is crazy." Jason interrupted Betty and a smile escaped from Jessica's lips. "Insane. What?"

"Jason." The blonde host called him out as Jessica watched in amusement. "No swearing."

Jason threw himself back, oblivious. "It's the last day of school."

"historic." She continued with what she was saying before Jason had intervened. "Over five years ago, half of all life in the universe including our own high school was wiped out of existence. But then, 8 months ago, a band of brave heroes brought us back. They called it the blip." 

"It was more of a snap." Jessica added making Betty to aggressively turn to her. "That would make more sense." Her friend's glare gave away how pissed she was for being interrupted.

She continued when Jessica agreed to shut up. "Those of us who blipped away came back the same age. But our classmates that didn't blip have grown five years older."

"Yeah, like, my little brother is now older than me."

"Yeah! It's math." Betty replied to Jason's comment. "And even if we blipped away halfway through the school year and had already taken our midterms, the school made us start our whole year over from the beginning."

"Totally unfair!" Jason exclaimed. "It's not right."

"Tigers, it's been a long traumatic, somewhat confusing road." The girl kept going. "But here is Jessica Lewis-Stark, Tony Stark's daughter. She fought next to the Earth's mightiest heroes to bring us back and she's now here to share a few inspirational worlds with all of us to help us move on from this experience." Betty looked at her with a smile, waiting for Jessica to start talking. 

After clearing her throat, Jessica began reciting her speech. "My adoptive father gave his life to save us all, and it's comforting to see that his actions won't be forgotten. We might have lost a hero, but the important thing is that we still have each other. To work together is the least we can do. Help him change the world for a better future is the least we can do."