New York
August 20, 13:50 EDT
His unconscious mind had come through for him, and he had dreamed of an idea of how to track her. Whether it would work was another thing, but he felt confident about it.
'Thermal vision isn't anything revolutionary, but the idea is solid.' Peter thought, staring at his desk and balancing a spinning pencil on his finger as he was deep in thought. 'I'm glad I noticed the frosty footprints on the ground in the pictures of the bodies. The footprints, along with the fact that she uses heat for sustenance, might mean that her body is passively draining heat from her surroundings, though it's probably not enough to survive. If I'm right, that means she'll leave behind sub-zero footprints wherever she goes, and with a little tinkering, I can add a high-tech/custom thermal vision upgrade to my lenses that should let me track her. Of course, that means I'll have to find her first, but it's definitely better than nothing.'
"Psst." he heard Ronnie say as he got poked in the back, snapping him out of his thoughts.
"Mr. Parker." said a shrill, old voice.
Hearing that voice, he quickly understood why Ronnie had poked him, so he looked up. Looking at him with a stare so intense it felt like she was boring holes right into him was their Science teacher, Mrs. Starkey, an old, grey-haired woman dressed in an outfit plucked right out of The Golden Girls, her wrinkly, sourpuss face framed by gold horn-rimmed glasses.
"Yes, Mrs. Starkey?" he asked, noticing Clifford looking back at him and snickering.
"Mr. Parker, I asked you a question." she said, adjusting her glasses. "Would you care to answer it?"
"Uhh..." said Peter, glancing at the board to see if the question was written there, only for it to be completely blank.
"I can answer it, Mrs. Starkey." said Clifford, raising his hand, smugly.
"Mr. Carmichael. Do refrain from speaking unless spoken to." she said, causing Clifford to abashedly lower his hand, her gaze not leaving Peter for even a moment. "Mr. Parker?"
"What experiment confirmed the physical nature of an atom?" whispered Ronnie, throwing Peter a life jacket.
"Rutherford's gold foil experiment. It showed that atoms are mostly empty space, with the positive charge concentrated in a nucleus." quickly answered Peter now that he knew what the question was.
"Hmm..." she said, glancing at Ronnie before looking back at Peter. "Correct, but do remember to have your eyes forward at all times, Mr. Parker."
"Yes, ma'am."
~
"Thanks for the save." said Peter, patting Ronnie on the back as they walked to the cafeteria for lunch. "I swear that woman's stare could make Batman feel scared."
"Don't sweat it." Ronnie said, chuckling. "I tried to warn you after she first called you, but you were spaced out."
"Appreciate it. I was thinking about some stuff, and I got wrapped up in it."
"The heavy kind?"
"Nothing like that. Just ideas bouncing around in my head."
"Alright."
They continued talking as they entered the cafeteria, which was a typical school cafeteria with a serving area manned by nice lunch ladies taking up the far side of the room. Long tables with multiple seats occupied the rest of the space, interspersed with circular tables that served as the exclusive seating area for the jocks and in-crowd, while other cliques claimed the few booths lining the walls.
They lined up, getting a tray and their drink, which was a choice between milk, orange juice, apple juice, and water; Peter chose milk as he actually enjoyed it, something Teresa had poked fun at for as long as he could remember. After the drink was the rest of the food, which differed every day, but happened to be a cheeseburger with tater tots and a fruit medley for sides.
"There you go." said the smiling lunch lady, scooping an extra big helping of tater tots on Peter's tray. "A little extra for you."
"Thanks." he said, smiling since he liked tater tots before getting out of line and waiting for Ronnie to get his food.
"Dude, I think the lunch lady has a crush on you." said Ronnie as they walked over to an empty long table, choosing to sit on the end. "Look how many tater tots you got."
"Ew, she's like 60. I probably remind her of her grandson or something." said Peter.
"I wish I reminded her of her grandson then. You got like two servings of tater tots. I barely got one." he said, pointing at his meager pile of tater tots.
"Fine, I'll split them with you." said Peter, scooping some of the tater tots onto Ronnie's plate. "There, now all's right with the world."
"Sweet." said Ronnie, happily eating his tater tots.
"You sure you shouldn't be sitting with the rest of the team now that you're on it?" Peter said, motioning over to the circular tables where the football team and cheerleaders sat.
"Nah, we see each other after school, and also they're a little too ... jocky. Besides, who would you sit with if not me?" said Ronnie, jokingly.
"Haha, thanks."
"What are friends for?" he said, taking a big bite of his burger before a girl walked up to the table.
"Hi, Ronnie." said the smiling, tall blonde, blue-eyed girl carrying her tray as she tucked her hair behind her ear.
"Doreen." Ronnie said, realizing his mouth was full, he forcefully swallowed his food, looking like he was about to choke for a second before successfully passing it. "Hi."
"Hi." repeated Doreen, before looking over at Peter. "Oh, sorry, didn't see you there. Hi, I'm Doreen Day."
"Peter Parker, nice to meet you." said Peter, noticing she quickly went back to looking at Ronnie, who had similarly not stopped smiling as he looked at her.
"Do you want to sit down? Peter doesn't mind, do you, Peter? See, he doesn't mind." said Ronnie, causing Doreen to laugh.
"I'm going to sit with my friends, but I just wanted to say hi." she said, pointing over at a booth of girls all looking their way, giggling.
"Oh, okay." said Ronnie, looking like a wounded puppy.
"But I'll see you later in class. Okay?"
"Cool, cool. Sounds good." he responded, springing to life.
"See you." she said, waving bye at both of them as she walked away.
"Someone has a crush." said Peter in a sing-songy voice.
"Who wouldn't? She's the best." said Ronnie, still looking at her leave.
"You have art class together?"
"Yeah, our seats are right next to each other, and when I walked in on the first day and saw her sitting there, it was like love at first sight, or something, you know? But it's not just her looks, it's her brains and personality. She cares about stuff, about causes. She's the whole package." explained Ronnie, his gaze finally moving off her and back to Peter.
"I'm no expert on romance, but I think the feeling is mutual." said Peter as he ate his food. "You should ask her out on a date."
"You think so?" he asked, smiling wider than Peter had ever seen. "You really think she likes me?"
"You're surprised about that?" asked Peter.
"Well, to be honest, I've, uh, I've never had a girlfriend or whatever." he said, looking down and blushing a little.
"Seriously?" said Peter, surprised. "How? You're a football player, and I mean, I'm not into dudes, but look at you. You're practically a Greek sculpture come to life, you're a handsome guy, my friend."
"Can you keep a secret?" he said.
"Your secret's safe with me." said Peter, smiling.
"Okay." he said, his expression turning a little downcast as he got in close, which Peter reciprocated, getting closer. "I haven't always looked like this. I ... used to be fat. Like, 'Hey, look at Porky Pig wanting to play football. Let's make fun of him.' fat."
'Kids can be so cruel.' thought Peter, internally shaking his head. 'His attitude about Doreen liking him makes sense now, though.'
"I wasn't that fat, it's just that I was the fattest kid in school, so they all made fun of me about it. But over the summer, my dad helped me lose all the weight, and suddenly it felt like I was a new person. I felt good about looking at myself, but sometimes, I still feel like the fat kid. My dad said it might help if we had a change of scenery, but everyone goes to the same school since it's the only one." explained Ronnie. "So, my dad decided we should move. I wanted a fresh start, and my dad was getting tired of Montana, so it was two birds with one stone."
"And that's why you've never had a girlfriend and why you're so surprised about Doreen liking you." said Peter, drinking his milk.
"Yeah. It's all new to me, looking like this and having girls be attracted to me. I just don't know about this stuff." he said, moving back to sit normally. "Do you really think she likes me?"
"Well, let's review the footage." said Peter, putting down the milk carton. "Her eyes were on you the entire time, so much so that she didn't even realize I was here at first, and when she did look at me, her smile wilted a little before coming back full force when she looked back at you. Like I said, I'm no expert in romance, but I'd say your chances of success are pretty good."
"Pretty good." said Ronnie, smiling at Peter's review. "Okay then. I'll ask her during art."
"Very nice. I doubt you'll need it, but good luck."
"Thanks." said Ronnie.
The table fell into a comfortable silence as they ate until Ronnie, looking a little hesitant, spoke.
"You said you're not a romance expert, so that means you've never had a girlfriend, right?"
"Right."
"Why?" he asked, looking confused. "I mean, you're like freaky smart, in better shape than me, easy to talk to, and not bad looking either."
"Am I blushing?" said Peter, jokingly.
"I won't ask if you don't want me to. I'm just curious is all."
"No, it's fine." said Peter. "It's not that I'm not interested in romance or girls, because I am, but it was recently brought to my attention that I've been too focused on what I like that I forgot about everything else. I even forgot about making friends."
"Seriously?" asked Ronnie, surprised.
"Yeah. It's a little embarrassing, but you're my first ... real friend."
"Wow. That's kind of ..."
"Weird?"
"I was trying to use a word that sounded less mean, but yeah, weird." said Ronnie, the two chuckling at that. "Okay, so now that you know that about yourself, are you looking for a girlfriend?"
'With my life as busy and complicated as it is, a girlfriend would only complicate that even more.' thought Peter.
"I'm not actively looking, but I think if the right person appeared, then I might go for it." explained Peter. "Especially if they're a redhead."
"You're into redheads. I would have thought you liked blondes." said Ronnie.
"Well, I'm not just into redheads, I think any color hair is fine. Besides, I think personality is more important. Though I do like redheads. A lot." said Peter. 'Can't really tell him it all stems from a character from a comic series that doesn't even exist in this world.'
"If I meet any redheads with a good personality, you'll be the first one I call." said Ronnie.
"My man." said Peter, shaking his head amusedly.
"So, have you thought back on your past and realized there was a girl who liked you, but you were too caught up in your stuff to tell? Maybe there's a girl close to you who likes you, but you just haven't noticed." said Ronnie as he ate his fruit medley.
"Hmm..." said Peter, thinking back on all the girls he's known over the years and analyzing their behavior toward him. "Nah. I'm pretty observant. I think I would be able to tell when a girl likes me."
"Yeah, you'd probably have to be stupid to not see the signs."
"Totally."
~
With the school day over, Peter was at his locker putting away what he didn't need and making sure he had what he did, which was mostly homework. As he closed his locker, his spider-senses tingled very faintly, which he had deduced meant someone was about to surprise him, but not in a dangerous way.
'Probably an excited Ronnie with good news.' thought Peter, overriding his automatic reflexes.
"You son of a bitch, you were right!" shouted Ronnie, putting his hands on Peter's shoulders and shaking him. "She said yes!"
"Congratulations, buddy." said Peter, smiling at his enthusiasm.
"We're going out to eat after school tomorrow. Maybe catch a movie." said Ronnie, taking his hands off Peter and running them through his hair. "I can't believe a girl like that said yes to me. I'm walking on cloud nine."
"Confidence goes a long way." advised Peter as he shut his locker.
"Confidence. I can do that." said Ronnie, opening his locker.
"I'll see you tomorrow." said Peter.
"Wait." said Ronnie, stopping Peter from leaving. "I know we're still new friends and all, but I wanted to ask a favor."
"What's up?"
"You know how we have that math test tomorrow?"
"Yeah. Also, who gives a test in the first week of school?"
"You're preaching to the choir." said Ronnie. "Anyway, I was wondering if you could help me out by tutoring me. I know it's last minute and all, so it's cool if you can't. I don't want to put you out or anything."
Just as Ronnie said that, Clifford happened to be passing by with his usual look of arrogance on his face, and stopped in front of the duo.
"Did I hear that correctly? You need tutoring for tomorrow's test? In a level of math they teach preschoolers?" he said, mockingly. "I guess the saying about God not giving with both hands is true, but in your case, he might have given way more with one than the other. Not that a man of science like myself believes in God, of course, but for my mocking, it suffices."
"Looking at you, I would have to agree, Cliff." Peter rebutted, causing Clifford to blush in embarrassment. "Hey, you already have the name, and now with a face that red, all you need is to turn into a giant dog, and the ensemble is complete."
"Whatever, Parker." he said, quickly walking away.
"Don't let that sanctimonious dick get to you." said Peter.
"I have thick skin. It's fine." said Ronnie, shrugging. "Besides, I could always snap him like a twig."
"Haha, true." chuckled Peter. "Anyway, about the tutoring, it's no problem, but I have to swing by my uncle's first to pick up a few things. Should be free after 6:30ish if that works."
"You're a lifesaver, bro. I appreciate it." said Ronnie, looking relieved as he fist bumped Peter.
"Like I said, no problem. Where do you want to meet?"
"You can swing by my place. It's not far from here."
"Sounds good. Just text me the address and I'll swing by after I'm done." said Peter, smiling as he walked away. "See you."
"Lifesaver." shouted Ronnie as Peter left.
~~
AN
Not any action, but I think it's good to see Peter Parker as much as Spider-Man. Though the next chapter should be more Spider-Man.
I saw some people comment on whether he will kill, and I have no clue how anything has alluded to that possibility. I mean, there is even a heroic tag—no purposeful killing.
As for the LI, I'm considering Barbara Gordon/Batgirl, she will be aged up one or two years in my AU if I go that way, or Starfire, whose origin would be more in line with the Teen Titans cartoon than the comics. I'm also considering other people, but those two are at the front of the pack. If you have suggestions, let me know; there might be a character or two I'm not considering that might be good.