HER HANDS GRIPPED the wheel as tightly as they could, since she was afraid that she would lose control of the car any second. But, then again, this was New York City, so the odds of getting into a car accident every day were pretty high. Oh well... At least it was better than taking the school bus to the museum that her senior class was currently on.

Christina Johnson couldn't wait to graduate and get out of the tortuous prison people called school. She was looking to get a career in social work so she could help children that went through bad home lives but, until then, she was stuck with an office job at the Daily Bugle.

God, she hated her job there. Sure, some of the people there were nice, but she practically despised her boss, J. Jonah Jameson. He was just a self-centered, money grubbing prick that made up stories to get money. He treated her like garbage because she apparently couldn't work fast enough. But she couldn't blame herself for that; she was only nineteen, after all.

But that was okay. And that was because, once she got out of there, she wouldn't have to worry about it anymore.

Christina shook her head to herself, trying to focus her attention on the crowded streets in front of her. She didn't want to get into a car accident like a lot of New Yorkers did 24/7; that would be bad news to her mother, Margaret, who had just barely saved all of the money she could to buy the young girl a car. And Christina didn't need her mother's help for money to go to the gas station or for insurance. The money from her job was good enough for now.

A small smile touched her full lips as she saw the museum come into view. She slowly pulled into the parking lot and glanced at her rear view mirror just in time to see the large yellow bus behind her Volkswagen stop directly in front of the building. She grinned as she took her keys out of the ignition and stepped out of the car.

Locking the door behind her, she ran her slender fingers through her silky blond hair that went just past her shoulders while walking over to the group of young adults that had just gotten off the school bus. She sent a friendly smile in Mary Jane's direction, which the redhead returned immediately with a wave. Christina waved back as she walked over to a certain person standing a good distance away from the group.

"Hey, Chris!" said the boy she went to stand by. He had the most welcoming and charming smile on his face when he saw her.

"Hey, Pete!" Christina replied happily, gently throwing her arms around him and pulling him to her in a hug. They both laughed as they embraced, feeling just like little kids again.

Peter Parker was Christina's best friend of almost twelve years and they were like two peas in a pod; you could never separate them, even if you tried. The girl may have had a serious side to her, but that was always extinguished whenever she was in Peter's presence. He always made her happy because he constantly had a positive attitude about life no matter how much he got bullied everyday.

Yeah, that was the problem: while Christina wasn't popular in the slightest, she was still friends with people in a higher level than she was. Peter was one-hundred percent an outcast. He was on the lowest level of students whenever it came to popularity, and nearly everyone called him a sore loser. He got bullied constantly, especially by Flash Thompson and his group of minions, but he never cared about how many bruises he got.

Christina never understood why Peter got bullied all the time. She always found him to be a sweet young man that treated everyone equally and with respect, and that was the part of him that she loved the most. She also found him to be pretty cute, so she didn't even know why he was a loser to begin with. Sure, he was a science nerd, but she always thought that lots of those people existed in her school. Science might not have been her best subject, but that didn't matter to her.

"Take the car again?" asked Peter after they pulled apart. Christina nodded with a slight roll of her eyes.

"Yeah, it beats riding that bus every single time we have a field trip. Have to deal with Flash again?" she replied, giving him a sympathetic glance.

"Yeah, well.... Here's the thing—" Peter began, sheepishly scratching his neck as his cheeks tinted pink out of slight embarrassment.

"You were late for the bus again, weren't you?" the blonde finished for him, giving him a pointed glare.

Peter was about to shake his head, but he nodded instead. He looked down in slight shame.

"Oh, Pete! You know you can always hitch a ride with me in my car. Plus, riding the bus means suffering from Flash's horrendous jokes and taunts. Seriously, how do people take him seriously?!" said Christina with a scoff.

Peter shrugged, before getting distracted for a second as he looked away from her. Christina followed his gaze, a smirk forming on her face when her eyes met Mary Jane's. The redhead smiled at her briefly and she thought she was waving towards her and Peter. But when she heard a voice from behind them, she realized that Mary Jane was only trying to get the attention of her best friends.

Christina patted Peter on the back out of sympathy. "It's okay, Pete," she assured him. "Maybe next time."

Peter nodded as he sighed; he then began walking beside her as they approached the front doors of the building.

"Let's not have a repeat of our trip to the planetarium," their science teacher ordered the group. "Come on, people! Stay together! Proceed up the stairs and into the building!"

"Pete! Chris!"

The blonde turned around, a little surprised at the sudden voice. But she grinned as she saw who was walking towards her. "Hey, Harry Potter!" she greeted jokingly as she hugged him.

"Hi, Harry!" Peter said as well after Christina and Harry pulled apart.

"You do know that I don't own a magic wand, right, Chris?" teased Harry with a smirk. This made the trio of friends laugh, since this was a running joke between the two.

"Harry! Won't you be needing this?!"

Christina looked around the boy in front of her to see what looked like Harry's father approaching the three with a brown backpack in his right hand. The girl giggled at the boy's stupidity, causing him to glare at her playfully before taking the bag and thanking his dad.

"Um, Peter, Christina, may I introduce my father, Norman Osborn?" said Harry afterwards, gesturing to the man in his early fifties standing in front of them. The blonde girl was the first to extend her hand.

"Christina Johnson, sir," she introduced herself politely. The man gently took her hand and shook it firmly before doing the same with Peter after he introduced himself.

"I've heard so much about you two," Norman replied with a small smile on his face. Christina smiled a little bashfully, shaking her head at Harry. But, when Peter started talking, she took a small step back to let him.

"It's a great honor to meet you, sir," said Peter in a kind manner, a shy smile on his face. He was like this every time he met someone new, so this wasn't anything unusual.

"Harry tells me you're quite the science whiz," complimented Norman with a bigger smile this time. "Y'know, I'm something of a scientist myself."

Christina couldn't help but smile at this; she was pretty sure a friendship was going to instantly form out of this. She just barely held back her quiet giggle, especially when she saw Harry roll his eyes in a joking manner.

"I read all your research on nanotechnology. Really brilliant," said Peter to admit to Norman how proud he was.

"You understood it?" asked Norman, his eyebrows raised in slight shock.

"Yes, I-I wrote a paper on it," Peter replied.

"Impressive," Norman said. "Your parents must be very proud."

"I live with my aunt and uncle. They are proud."

Christina's heart sank slightly, and she was about to say something, but the teacher's voice booming behind her kept her from doing so.

"Hey, you three! Let's move!"

The girl sighed as she, once more, shook Norman's hand. They exchanged smiles as they said that they hoped to see each other again before Christina turned to walk away with her friends.

"He doesn't seem so bad," Peter said casually as they approached the front doors of the museum.

"Not if you're a genius," deadpanned Harry. "I think he wants to adopt you..."

Christina lightly smacked the back of Harry's head. "Oh, shush, Harry! He seems very nice. I don't know how you don't see it," she replied with a smile.

The three laughed together as they finally reached the doors, not knowing that their lives would soon change.

( NOTE )
i'm very excited to write this story! i'm a huge fan of the raimi trilogy, so this will be fun to work on! hope you guys enjoyed this first chapter! be looking forward to the next one!

-denbroughswife