Spider-Man and The Renegade

Chapter Four: The Dropped Vial and Its Hot Gossip

A fierce burn fired through Calliope's body as she awoke, stretching her body fully, and hearing the sound of her morning alarm. She raised her hand and wiped her eyes as she turned off the intolerable beeping. She glanced at the time and sighed at the sight of the numbers lit up in red. Too early... She inwardly groaned sitting up and glancing at the calendar she pinned up on the wall. Friday. She looked at the alarm clock seeing the time glaring its red numbers, 6:00 am.

Calliope stood and turned off the alarm laying back down in her bed and staring at the nothingness of her white ceiling. She breathed in and out and sat up once more, taking a black hair tie off her wrist and haphazardly taking her light pink hair into a high ponytail. She stood and quickly changed into a school outfit, a pair of jeans and a grey hoodie. She glanced at herself in her vanity mirror and saw her own tired eyes, the slight bloodshot making them appear a bit bluer than they normally did. "I look high." She stated to herself, "Great."

She leaned down and grabbed her backpack, tugging it over her shoulders and walking out of her room to the kitchen. The room was filled with gentle light from the streetlamp outside. She found the lightswitch, quickly hitting the switch and squinting at the added fluorescent light. She stepped forward opening her pantry and grabbing a bag of crackers to eat. She took her backpack off and shoved the cracker bag into it. She put her backpack back on, feeling a simultaneous buzz in her back pocket.

She reached to her pocket and pulled out the phone, revealing a text from Dylan. "i am outside, join me" the message read. Calliope put her phone back into her pocket and turned on her heel to put her shoes on.

She was met with a crazy mess of curled black hair as she exited her apartment. He grinned at her entrance, his smile making even his all-black outfit appear cheerful. "Good morning, Cal."

Calliope smiled back at him, and his radiant amount of happy. "Why are you so happy? It's 6:30," Despite her teen angst, her lips kept the smile. Dylan laughed and shoved his hands into the pockets of his black denim jacket. The pair turned from the apartment complex and began to make their way down the street and towards Midtown High.

"Homecoming is tomorrow, and I," He paused, sucking in a bit of air, most likely for dramatic detailing in what he was about to say, "have a date."

Calliope gasped, her smile stayed. A warm feeling filled her gut and she looked at him fully. "No way," Dylan nodded, "You're pulling my leg."

"No, I am not!" Dylan near squealed.

"So, who asked?" Calliope asked, she herself getting a bit giddy at Dylan having a date.

"Michael."

"No fucking way," her jaw dropped in shock. Dylan had gawked over this tall, brown-haired, brown-eyed boy for the past month. "I thought you said he didn't know you even existed?"

"Well, apparently I was wrong!" He sounded exasperated, "My creepy staring may have paid off after all, though I didn't actually think he was gay at first." The pair laughed. He looked up quickly as if he had forgotten to say something. "Did that tinfoil thing ever work?"

Calliope's eyes grew in size and she looked at the boy confused. "What?"

"With your headaches? You spent a ton of mornings complaining about them, but as it turns out— after yours truly suggested a min-control blocker of tin— you haven't complained about them." He stated.

Calliope stumbled for words but came up with a small, "I figured something out," Dylan smiled at the response Calliope gave, "And there isn't tinfoil in what I figured out."

"Damn, win some you lose some."

The pair came up upon the school and barely had a chance to breathe in before they were interrupted by a teenager huffing for breath as he turned towards Calliope. "I need to ask you, like, a weird favor." Calliope looked him up and down, it was Peter, his hair appeared mussed and his face was red.