Felicia

"That's $5.13, sir" the convenience store clerk said. His customer reached into his pockets, scrambling for any change that he could. When he laid it out on the counter, he was short eight cents. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a small charity jar filled with loose change and reaches in, grabbing the first dime that he can find to pay off the transaction. He puts the dime on the counter, only for the clerk to put it back in the jar. "I'm sorry sir, but we aren't allowed to use that jar for payments. It's store policy."

"Are you serious," the young man complained, "c'mon man, my mother's sick. I need these lottery tickets to have a chance to make her better."

"As long as you can provide the eight cents you owe, we're good" the clerk replied in an authoritative tone. The young man rolled his eyes, folded his pockets out, and scoffed at the difficult clerk. "Man, I don't have anymore!"

"Then step aside and let the young lady behind you pay" the clerk instructed, frustrating the boy.

The girl behind him stepped forward and flicked a dime into the air, landing in the surprised clerk's hand. "I can cover those eight cents," she said, earning gazes from both men. She smirked at the clerk before shifting her attention to the boy. "Only for a few minutes of your time" she said to him. The boy smiled at the girl he hadn't seen in some time.

** ** **

"I'm looking for J-Mac," Felica explained to the boy outside the convenience at the entrance of an alley, "I want to make things better between us."

"Can't you call him for that?"

"Nah," she said, "I'd prefer if I spoke to him in person."

"Well," he pondered, "I don't know where he is now, but I know where he will be." Felicia's face perked up, preparing to hear what he was going to say. "He, the Lincoln boy and his crew are hosting a party Tuesday night."

Felica was a bit confused, J-Mac was always one to go crash at a house party, but he never threw one himself. Not to mention, Lonnie and his crew were in on this, what would they have to gain from having a party. Maybe a little celebration for their little victory at the tech shop. "A party, huh. Anything I should know about it? Any theme? Do I need to bring anything?"

"It's in Jackson Heights and come dressed for the holiday. Oh... bring your phone too," the boy explained, "they want to make sure it's trending til the next night."

"Alright, thanks" she said with a smile and walked away. "That's it, that's all you needed?" the boy called to her. She didn't turn back and just kept walking down the street. "Well, thanks for the help" he called out again and went about his business as well.

J-Mac/Lonnie

The same day across town in Jackson Heights, about a dozen young men are busily carrying boxes, bags, and supplies into a neighborhood house. Several kegs of beer, hot dogs, burgers, and chips are also carried into the house and set down in the kitchen. The boxes and bags all contain plastic cups and plates, utensils, and falsely labeled bags to transport drugs. Amongst all the boxes and supplies are the stolen phones and tablets from the tech heist from a few days ago. They stocked them in a special storage unit in the basement, so no one will accidentally come across it during the party.

Once everything is settled and stocked, all the boys gather in the main room. They fill up the couches and chairs, some sitting on the staircase in view of the open area. Lonnie and J-Mac soon enter the house with Kevin in tail with another box in his arms. The two boys stand in front of everyone, like captains of a sports team about to give a halftime speech to get the juices pumping. The silence in the room was obvious, they could almost hear each other's heartbeats. Lonnie stood forward, and finally broke the intense silence.

"You all know the plan," he preached, "all of you will be given an individual task before we go into action. If you're unsure, please ask me, Mac, or Kev." He turns his head to Kevin on the side and gives a glare. Kevin nods at his cue, and approaches each of the boys with his box. He opens it up to reveal the high-tech watches from the heist. J-Mac makes his contribution to the speech here.

"These watches are all synchronized and have a countdown setup for when everything happens" he explains as the boys strap on their new toys. They can't help but fiddle with the interactive screens, looking for the access button to the countdown.

"One last thing" Lonnie grimly states, snatching everybody's attention from the tech. "If anybody sees somebody that shouldn't be here, let me know. Especially if it's that wimp in red and blue spandex, Spider-Man. We don't need any big brawls happening at this house. I will take care of it." His dozen followers all nodded in agreement, understanding their leader's intentions.

"And those of you tasked with me," J-Mac added, "I only ask one for one thing." He let his hesitation take hold of the room, everyone's eyes watching him in anticipation. "Be as loud and noticeable as you can" he finished boastfully.

"EVERYONE CLEAR?" the pair of them asked in unison.

Michelle

"He stood alone like a star in the heavens...That was the last shudder of his awakening, the last pains of birth. Immediately he moved on again and began to walk quickly and impatiently, no longer homewards, no longer to his father, no longer looking backwards."                              -Siddhartha; Chapter 4, pg. 34

Such words have strong meaning after you have let your friend and crush know that you know about their activities as a web-slinging hero in spandex. Michelle thought she was being fun and clever in the moment, but the more she thought about it, the more she thought about how it could back fire. In her perfect world, she would've liked to hear him tell her himself, but this isn't a perfect world. And throughout her Saturday, she would go back and forth on whether letting Peter know was a smart move. Would it make their friendship closer now that there were no big secrets between them? Would her knowing scare him away? What does Peter think of her knowing? If not for the books and her weekend chores, Michelle probably would have gotten a migraine from overthinking all of it.

To her, Peter's secret was something to be kept, and through this thinking process, she wondered if it would have been best to never find out this secret. But that would have been impossible, given her interest in her loser of a friend. Furthermore, Peter could have revealed his secret to her if he truly felt enough trust with her, but his secret had a fair share of burdens. Having a secret life probably meant putting his life in danger every time he put on the mask, and with every victory, he would gain a new foe. A foe that may come after those close to him.

Is it worth it, she thought often about it.

** ** **

The weekend continued, and Michelle's dad was rummaging around the apartment for paper work. Since we last saw him, he was getting used to walking on his own again. He had been given a leg brace to assist in his movement for another two weeks or so.

"Lose your glasses again, pal" she said jokingly when she noticed how unorganized he was being.

"No, actually," he assured, "I misplaced the inventory list for Tuesday."

"Did you check the counter?" "Yes"

"The living room table?" "Yes"

"Your pockets" she said keeping focus on her book while comedically pointing at her father.

"Ye...," reaches for his pockets and feels a folded piece of paper inside. His face slumps into a frown and all his energy turns into embarrassment "got it."

"Such a goof" she snickered as she turned the page of her book.

"I'm off to the store to get the food, any suggestions?"

"Nope"

"You're still coming to the picnic, right?" Michelle liked the 4th of July picnic the first couple of times, before her parents divorced. It was always exciting seeing the amazing food and spectacular games and fireworks, but especially the excitement of seeing everyone in a good mood.

Fast-forward a couple years, her interest in the picnic was becoming less and less positive. She still went to keep her dad happy, but it was almost insufferable to deal with everyone's questions about her life.

"Maybe," she said not completely paying attention, "only to make sure you don't have too much fun with that busted leg."

"Alright baby, I'll be back in an hour or so" he replied as he opened the door. As soon as he left, Michelle continued to read her book until she fell asleep on the couch. It took her slow and easy, like the way the sun sets on the horizon.

By the time she woke up, her dad was once again keeping himself busy. Putting the food he had gotten at the store away in the appropriate spaces. She rubbed her eyes free of the stress, and lazily rolled off the bed to her feet. She gave a deep yawn while stretching her arms in the air, which caught her father's attention.

"Hey, look who's up" he said.

"How long have I been asleep?" she asked in a sleepy tone. Her head felt so light, yet heavy at the same time. "You were asleep when I got home 45 minutes ago, so longer than that I reckon" was her father's answer.

"Great" she groaned, slumping into the kitchen to grab a snack. She noticed an apple on the counter next to a pack of Oreos and decided that would be her snack.

"W-w-w-whoa, hold it," her father halted her, "those Oreos are for the picnic. I literally grabbed the last pack. You would not believe how packed it was today."

"Ok, I'll just have the apple then" his daughter replied. He took a quick look at her and the apple in her hand and chuckled, thinking about an interaction he had at the store. Michelle became confused at his sudden display laughter. "What?"

"Oh..., it's nothing" he replied. "It's just that um...," he chuckled again, "you won't believe who I ran into today."

Michelle gave a stern yet interested look to her father as he played the pronoun game. "Who?"

Peter

SHIT-SHIT-SHIT-SHIT-SHIT! How is it she knows? Well she's smart Parker, she's bound to find out at some point. But why did she have to find out now? Especially when you're already dealing with two misfit anarchists, an attractive cat burglar, and coming up with photos for the Bugle. It doesn't help that you're starting to like her, either. Uuugghhh, why can't I ever have control of who finds out my secret. First Mr. Stark, then Ned, then Vulture and May, now her. I wish I could talk to her about it, but what if she's upset that I was watching her. Life officially sucks.

Peter thought continuously about his encounter as Spider-Man with Michelle the rest of the night and into the next morning. Heck, it almost made him lose sleep over night. He would pace around his room and on the ceiling trying to wrap his head around the whole thing. He tried to call Ned, but the signal was too low on his end to make any connection. This really bummed him out even more. He really needed someone to talk to, just to vent his thoughts about the whole thing. He thought about calling up Tony but figured that it would be too embarrassing to ask him about teen problems.

Throughout the rest of his Saturday, he swung around looking for things to keep his mind off of Michelle. He stopped a couple purse snatchers, helped a couple of house movers carry a large couch into an apartment, and scared off suspicious characters away from children. He helped people until nightfall, returning home exhausted. He pulled his mask off and just collapsed on his bed without second thought, resulting in him sleeping through the night wearing his suit.

He woke the next morning with a desire not to leave his bed. The comforters were so warm he felt he couldn't part from them, otherwise he would feel more naked than he already was in his tight spider-suit. However, the smell of bacon and pancakes was calling him from the kitchen, and he couldn't help himself from a hot breakfast made by his aunt.

"Morning May" he greeted her. She smiled at the sight of her nephew, her eyes widened a little to see him walking around in the suit. Peter sat down and began eating his breakfast. He moaned and hummed at every delicious taste that filled his mouth, and May couldn't help but snicker at how much of a kid he was being.

"Listen Peter," she suddenly spoke, "I have to run to the store today, and I have a lot of things on my list." Peter could tell in the tone of her voice that there was a favor coming his way. "Would you be able to hold off the Spidey thing a little bit to help carry it around?" she asked continuing her proposal. Peter didn't hesitate, "Sure May, anything you need."

** ** **

May and Peter are now in the store looking through the fresh vegetables. Peter is kind of just meandering along, not really interested in anything around him. He wanted something to do, and May asked him to grab a few apples. He did what he was told and made his way over to the apple section not too far away.

He stepped up to the stand, staying out of the way of the tall man who was trying to make up his mind. Peter kept his eyes focused on the apples that looked good and started stashing them in a plastic bag.

"Hey son," the man said as Peter started to depart from the stand, "could you hand me a bag?"

Peter nodded, and swiftly ripped a bag off the roll and handed to the man. When their eyes met, a smile fell across their faces, with Peter's flushing into a blush quickly after recognizing the kind man in front of him.

"Well," the man delightfully chuckled, "Peter Parker."

"Mr. Jones," Peter relied nervously, "nice to see you again." He didn't know what he should do. The worst thought he had was that Michelle ratted his secret out to him, and he was going to question him about it while spending time with his daughter.

"Good to see you too, and please, call me Frank" he responded. His charming smile continued to shine as he engaged with the boy his daughter had been thinking about in recent days.

"Ok..., Frank" Peter laughed awkwardly. His eyes soon met his braced leg and he couldn't avoid asking about his condition. "Oh, your leg," he pointed out, "how are you doing?"

"Oh, I'm doing fine now, thanks for asking" Frank said kindly. "It was kinda hard at first with my sprained back, but now I'm just trying to get my leg back to normal."

"Well, I hope it heals fast sir." Seeing his injuries brought a familiar lump to Peter's throat. Making him feel responsible for what happened.

"Well thank you, Peter. I appreciate it." Soon as Peter was about to join back up with May, she walked up to the two with an inquiring face.

"You got the apples bud?" she asked coming from behind Frank, shifting her gaze between the two.

"Uh, yeah" Peter stuttered. May took the bag of apples from Peter's hand and placed them into their push-cart. Her eyes returned to Frank. "Who's this Peter?"

"Oh sorry, I'm Frank Jones, Mrs. Parker" he answered before Peter could even come up with a thought. "My daughter, Michelle, and Peter are friends at school." May smiled at the connection and extending her hand. "Oh hi, I'm May."

"It's nice to meet you May," he accepted her greeting, "you all getting ready for the 4th?"

"Uh yeah, I have an office party the day before that I need to make a few things for" May explained.

"Sounds fun," Frank enthusiastically said, "how bout' you Pete, any plans?"

Peter hesitated for a moment, knowing exactly what he was doing, but he wondered if he was asking for a reason. "Um, not really, no" he answered.

Frank smiled, "Well, I'm hosting a picnic for our neighbors in Flushing Meadows Park after the parade. If you two want to come, you're more than welcome?"

"Well that would be nice," May said with a smile. Peter took the invitation rather nervously, knowing that Michelle would probably be in attendance, and he would eventually have to face her. May and Frank exchanged phone numbers to communicate the exact location of the picnic, and they all said their goodbyes as Frank finally picked out his apples.

"You think Michelle will be there" May snickered.

"Maaayyy!!!"

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A/N- A week late, and honestly with good reason. The holiday season meant working overtime at the Movie Theater, so not a lot of free time. Plus, I wanted to experiment with one-shots while kind of using them as filler stories. Nevertheless, I had a lot to plan out in this chapter and it feels good to be finally done with it.

I'm leading up to events that will be happening on probably the most exciting day of the summer in my country. Let's just say that these events on one day will probably take up the next few chapters. SO GET READY!!

Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. Leave a vote if you did, and don't forget to express your thoughts in the comments. Feedback (positive or negative) is always appreciated.

Until next time, BYE!!!