A New Hero - Peter Parker (BOOK 1) | Spider-Man: Far From Home

Chapter Three - The Airport

They arrived at Venice, Italy, the passengers around them yawning and stretching. The Captain used the Tannoy system to alert the passengers they would begin the descent soon. "What time is it?" Peter yawned, trying to read the watch on Clara's wrist as she adjusted it.

"Just past eight." Clara told him, now fidgeting in her seat to try an ease the ache in her neck and back. Peter looked towards the window across the row of unfamiliar faces, seeing the clouds below the plane begin to approach.

"Peter? Where's Peter?" A voice called out behind them, Mr Harrington standing and looking over their heads with panic filling his eyes. "Oh, God! I lost Peter!"

Peter twisted in his chair, giving a little wave to get the teachers attention. "I'm here, Mr Harrington."

"Oh." Mr Harrington cleared his throat, rubbing his sweaty palms over his jacket as if to wipe of the embarrassment. "Well, er. You shouldn't move unless either Mr Dell or I have been told." He nodded to himself, proud of himself for taking charge.

"Sorry, Mr Harrington. It won't happen again." Clara apologised, giving a mock-salute.

"Who are you?" Peter looked from Mr Harrington to the new girl, a worried look in his eyes as he wondered if he had actually spent the last eight hours with someone from his class, or if he had blindly trusted a random stranger.

"Clara..." She said slowly, trying to jog his memory. "Clara Wilson..."

"Oh! Of course, right, yes." The teacher realised, Peter letting out a sigh of relief. "You're the new student, aren't you?"

"Yep." She confirmed. "I was sat behind you on the coach for an hour yesterday."

"Sir, you need to sit down during the descent." An air hostess told the teacher. "Make sure your seatbelt is fastened securely. Thank you."

"How come you came on this trip? Actually, how come you only came in for, like, one day of school?" Peter raised an eyebrow at Clara who, in response, gave him an expression that told him what he wanted to know. "It wasn't your choice?"

"Nope." Clare grimaced, her features morphing soon after to show a small smile. "I don't mind, though; I've never been to Venice before."

A few minutes later and the plane reached the tarmac, the wheels bouncing gently on the solid ground. Both Clara and Peter flinched as a whooping sounded behind them, Peter's hands shooting up to cover his ears at the sudden sound. Clapping soon followed, Mr Harrington's palms producing the sound that reverberated off of the walls of the compartment as every other passenger stayed silent, staring at the strange man.

The passengers began lifting from their seats, each moving to the plane's exits in a not-so-orderly fashion, pushing past others still trying to reach their bags in the overhead compartments. Once the initial rush had passed, Peter rose and manoeuvred himself to reach his bag. Clara grumbled something incoherently as she stretched for hers, the backpack, having slid to the back of the small space, was just out of reach.

Seeing her struggle, Peter reached up. Slightly taller than her, his fingertips touched the closest edge of the bag and he slid it closer, knowing Clara nor anyone else would be able to see him use his ability to stick to anything. "Thanks." Clara said gratefully, taking her backpack from Peter and slinking it over her shoulder.

They worked their way off of the plane, waiting with the rest of the class at the terminal before heading deeper in the airport. "Hey, man." Peter approached Ned, Clara walking alongside him. "Did you see Brad and MJ on the plane? They were watching movies and laughing the entire time."

Ned looked between Peter and Clara, a look of bewilderment on his face at the sight of the new addition to Peter's list of friends and the sudden conversation he was thrown into. "I'm Clara. I'm in your class." She informed him before he had a chance to ask. The questioning look remained on his face though, as if his question hadn't been answered. "I started on the last day of school."

"That's... Weird... Anyway, don't worry, Dude. I'm sure that's nothing." Ned reassured him, a blonde girl approaching him as he spoke.

"Hey, Babe." Betty Brant spoke. "Can you hold this for me, please?"

"Yeah, of course." Ned grinned, his smile wide and beaming.

"Thanks." She said, lingering on the spot. Ned looked across at her, happiness covering every inch of his being. He reached out, bopping her on the nose. She giggled, turned on her heels, and walked away with a little extra pep in her step.

Ned turned back to Peter, the boy having watched the interaction from the side-lines with disbelief written across his face. "What was that?" He asked, Clara listening in, just as curious at the sight of the American bachelor being a little more than friendly with his classmate.

"Well, we actually got to talking on the plane, and it turns out, we have a lot in common." He watched Betty chatting to a group of people a few metres away. "So, uh, we're boyfriend-girlfriend now."

"Whatever happened to being an American bachelor in Europe?" Peter asked, voicing Clara's own question.

"Peter... Those were the words of a boy." He began, Clara's eyebrows rising higher and higher as he continued his speech. "That boy, met a woman. A very strong and powerful woman. And now... That boy's a man."

"Babe?" Betty called from the small group.

"Coming, Babe!" He called after her, rushing to her side in an instant.

"That's not normal for him, right?" Clara turned to Peter; her head tilted to the side as she asked the question.

"Well, it's not, not normal." Peter answered, watching his best friend walking away with Betty beside him. They followed behind, Peter carrying his luggage and Clara rolling her's behind her. Just as they were about to leave the customs area, a German Shephard began sniffing at Peter's case, whining as it caught the scent of something inside.

Peter was pulled to the side, Clara hanging back to make sure he wouldn't get left behind as the rest of the oblivious class continued through the airport. "There's nothing in there, I swear."

"That's not suspicious at all..." Clara commented, Peter glancing at her with worry. She smiled awkwardly before looking down at her phone, sending her parents a message saying they had landed as she waited for the officer to finish her inspection.

The customs officer span the case around on the table to face her, giving a look over the now open case and spotting what she was trying to find. "This – No." She said bluntly. Clara looked up, seeing the woman gripping a now very bruised banana in her hand as she lowered the lid of the case. Peter zipped it back up, thankful Clara had been distracted for a long enough time to miss what his Aunt May had lovingly left laid out across the top of his luggage.

"Sorry." He said timidly, lifting the case from the tabletop and walking hurriedly away, knowing Clara was following. Clara grinned in amusement as they rushed through crowds towards the place that they assumed the class was headed.

"Peter's here!" Someone called out from within the crowd. "And he's found a girl!"

"Peter's here and he's found a girl." Clara mimicked, rolling her eyes.

"Oh, thank God." Mr Harrington sighed with relief; thankful he hadn't actually lost the boy this time. "Everyone listen up! This is Cara-"

"Clara." She corrected.

"She's new to the school and she's joining us on the trip." He finished, ignoring her correction. A student whistled, the same boy that had been drinking the champagne on the flight was looking directly at her. Obviously, she stuck her middle finger up at him, earning a bout of laughter from the class and she saw MJ sending an approving nod her way.

"Nice." She said when Clara and Peter joined the group. She held up a fist. "I'm Michelle. You can call me MJ."

Clara raised her own fist, bumping it against MJ's. Considering it was technically her first day getting to know the class, and she was only really an hour in, Clara thought she wasn't doing too badly.