Saving Grace

Fifty Five

Peter called Grace that night, and — after she told him about Harley, easing his worries immensely — casually mentioned that he changed his mind about going to D.C. with the Decathlon team.

"Oh, that's awesome," she said. "When's the trip?"

"Tomorrow," Peter said.

She chuckled a little at that. "Well, take a lot of pictures for me — if you can."

Peter smiled. "Of course I can." If they let me go with them, he silently added.

Now, he's sprinting towards the bus, a bag on his back and his heart racing. He overslept, and he's lucky Ned called him and woke him up.

He's also lucky he has super powers, otherwise he wouldn't have made it in time.

"Hey, it's Peter," he hears Abe say as he comes to a stop in front of the bus. All of his teammates are standing outside of it, bags in hand and yellow jackets on.

"Peter?" Liz asks.

"Yeah, I was hoping maybe I could rejoin the team," Peter says sheepishly, worry filling him.

Flash steps forward from the back of the group, pushing past people to stand in front of Peter. "No. No way. You can't just quit on us, stroll up, and be welcomed back by everyone."

Then, Mr. Harrington steps out of the bus. He sees Peter and smiles. "Hey, welcome back, Peter. Flash, you're back to first alternate."

"What?" Flash says, shocked. Peter actually feels a little guilty.

"He's taking your place," Abe says.

MJ walks over, looking at Mr. Harrington. "Excuse me, can we go already? 'Cause I was hoping to get in some light protesting in front of one of the embassies before dinner, so..."

Mr. Harrington nods positively. "Protesting is patriotic. Let's get on the bus."

Flash takes his jacket off and shoves it at Peter, who takes it apologetically. But he's got a job to do, so there's no way around this.

Peter puts the jacket on and sits next to Ned, then takes out his phone, going to take a picture. He takes one of him and Ned, who doesn't notice until after the picture is taken.

Ned gives him a weird look. "Dude, what are you doing?"

Peter clicks on his and Grace's messages. "Grace told me to take pictures."

Ned just laughs in response while Peter sends the picture — Ned, looking to the side with a tired expression, while Peter has a cheesy smile plastered on his face. 'Ned and I are on our way! I'll be sure to get more pictures of other things besides me when we get there.'

And then Ned looks over at Peter, whispering, "Give me the web shooter, and I'll sit in the back and track the bad guys. Make sure they stay where they are."

Peter nods and hands Ned the web shooter discreetly, and Ned moves to the back. Peter can hear him talking briefly with a few others as he walks down the aisle.

Then, Peter's phone vibrates — a text from Grace. 'Honestly, I wouldn't mind just pictures of you. I think I'll have to draw that one, to be honest.'

'Well, it'll be easier when I'm not moving so much,' Peter jokes as he blushes lightly.

'Oh, definitely,' Grace jokes. 'I'll have to start on it soon.'

Then, Liz stands at the front of the bus, bells in hand. She starts passing them around. "Focus up, everyone. Our first topic is the moons of Saturn..."