MAGIC TRICKS [PETER PARKER]

FORTY-THREE

"ARE YOU EVER ON TIME?"

A sarcastic laugh forced its way from Stephen Strange's lips as Nadia shoved her suitcase in the back seat. "You have a Sling Ring for a reason. Why couldn't you have portaled?"

"Oh yeah, and have my entire class see me open a gateway through dimensions?" Nadia huffed, plopping down in the passenger seat and closing the door. "Drive."

With a playful glance in her direction, Stephen switched gears and off they went. Traffic was awful for 6 AM, but soon enough, Nadia was giving him a quick side hug and barreling through the airport to find her class, late as always. She sped through security and reached Mr. Harrington just before their flight boarded.

The teacher's eyebrows shot up when he spotted her, crying out, "Ah! Nadia! Thank God, you're here!" He returned to his usual slouch, handing the hostess their tickets. "All right kids! Onward!" Nadia stood on her toes, peering over the heads of the other students on the trip to find her friends. She spotted MJ's curly head towards the front, smiling bashfully at something Gwen had said. Peter and Ned trucked along behind them. Nadia sighed and relaxed; they would save her a seat on the plane, surely—

"Oh dang!" Mr. Dell, the less responsible of the teacher chaperones, cursed as his iced coffee tumbled from his hand and down the shoulder of Nadia's white t-shirt. Her mouth dropped open as the ice trickled down her front, creating a large brown stain. Sighing, her jaw clenched in irritation. Just one more bad thing to top off an already bad morning.

"My bad, my bad," Mr. Dell apologized, chuckling haphazardly. "Took that Ambien a little early, ha." Nadia sighed again, but said nothing as her class continued to the plane.

Nadia struggled to put her carryon in the overhead compartment, scowling heavily, trying to ignore Flash Thompson's annoying jeer in her direction. "This," he said, gesturing around, "Is an airplane. It's like the buses you're used to, but it flies over the poor neighborhoods instead of driving through them."

MJ came to her rescue, shoving the bag into the compartment and turning over her shoulder to speak to the flight attendant. "Ma'am," she smiled half heartedly, pointing to Flash, "He blipped. So technically he's 16, not 21." Flash blinked as the woman chastised him, swiping the champagne glass from his hand.

Nadia snorted, giving MJ a grateful smile as the girl sat in between Betty and Gwen . "She's lying!" Flash cried, "I don't even know this girl!" Nadia chose to ignore him once again, scanning through the seats until she found Peter and Ned— and an old lady, dead asleep.  Nadia's smile dropped, her shoulders drooping with it. So they didn't save her a seat, whatever, but she couldn't deny that it hurt a little— he hadn't even texted her to see why she was late. Even though she tried not to, she still caught eyes with Peter, who offered the cutest smile on the planet. Nadia flashed a little grin in response, trying to not fall prey to his puppy dog eyes.