Spider Girl: Origin Story (Cimorelli)

Aunt May

"Chris, your students are so boring!" You groan, dropping the stack of essays you're supposed to be helping grade.

Christina doesn't look up from the math quizzes. "They're nine, Y/N."

"Well, I was way more interesting than this when I was nine."

"Mmmhmm."

You huff and start reading another essay. You don't think kids that young should be allowed to write essays because they don't make any sense.

It only takes another hour to finish grading everything, and Christina starts putting it into folders.

"Are you hungry?" She asks, putting the folders in her work bag.

"A little."

"I'll make lunch. Dani should be coming down any second complaining about how starved she is."

You stay at the table while Christina grabs a frozen pizza from the freezer. "Um, can I ask you something?"

Christina glances over her shoulder at you while she puts the pizza on a pan. "Sure."

"Did you like Spider Man?"

"Yeah. Everyone liked Spider Man."

"I know, but do you think he was really a hero or just some guy in a suit?"

She puts the pizza in the oven and sits back at the table. "I don't know. I guess he was a guy in a suit that was also a hero? I think he made New York a better place though."

You let yourself think about that night, when Spider Man ran into the burning building. You don't know if you can be Spider Man without him there to help you. He was going to teach you how to be like him. Then you remember when he grabbed your sketchbook. He wrote down an address.

You stand up so fast that you hit your knee on the bottom of the table.

"Y/N, are you okay?" Christina asks.

"Yeah. I'm fine." You nearly trip trying to step away from your chair. "I just remembered something that I was supposed to tell Dani."

You jog up the stairs before she can say anything else. You stumble into your bedroom and go straight to your backpack.

"Dani. Dani. Dani."

The girl who was just laying on her bed sits up. "What? Why are you freaking out?"

You grab your sketchbook and start looking for the page. "I just remembered something. Peter.. I mean, Spider Man wrote down an address."

Dani slides to the ground beside you, looking over your shoulder as you land on the address. "Is that where he lived or something?"

"I don't know. Before he ran off that night, he said if I wanted him to help me that I could go there."

"Yeah, but," Dani places a hand on your shoulder, "he's gone."

"But maybe I can find something here? Something that can help me be Spider Man."

Dani takes out her phone and snaps a picture of the address. "You have to go there."

"Dude, I am so grounded right now. Chris won't even let me walk down the street."

"Don't tell her." Dani goes to her dresser and starts searching for something in the drawers. "You can sneak out after she goes to bed. I'll cover for you."

"I don't know, Dan. What happens if she finds out?"

Dani turns to face you, holding her phone in one hand and some little Bluetooth device in the other. She raises one shoulder in a shrug. "I mean, could you really get in any more trouble than you're in now?"