The next day Jessica woke up on time and left for school. Peter, on his part, overslept as always and had to run to make it on time. They didn't see each other until they attended the only class Sophomore and Senior students shared: P.E.. 

Jessica had found friendship in Liz and her group of friends. Thanks to them, she hadn't felt excluded at all. They had been really nice to her since the beginning. Liz had finally convinced her to join the Decathlon team and even invited her to a party at her house. 

At the moment, they were just sitting on the gym benches, playing 'F - Marry - Kill' with the Avengers. With the girls were also the two news hosts, Betty and Jason. 

"Now, see, for me, it would be F Thor marry Iron Man and kill Hulk." Betty laid out what she would do with the options she had been given. Jessica just laughed. He might have been rich, but after meeting Tony Stark she was positive she wouldn't marry him.

"Well, what about the Spider-Man?" Jason asked and Jessica raised her eyebrows. She hadn't heard of the hero before she had met him, so she was surprised that he was actually popular.

"It's just Spider-Man." She corrected him, although she had never called him by that specific name. 

"Did you see the bank security cam on YouTube? He fought off four guys."

"Oh my God, she's crushing on Spider-Man." Betty 

Jessica turned to her with her eyes wide opened. "What?"

"Kind of..." She said looking at her feet. 

Jessica looked at her incredulously. "You know, he's probably 30. And you don't know what he looks like. Like, what if he's seriously burned?" 

"I wouldn't care. I'd love him for the person he is inside."

"But you don't know how he is inside, maybe he's just a hyperactive mess with self destructive tendencies." The words slipped out of Jessica's mouth, remembering her first encounter with the boy dressed as a spider.

"Are you sure you're not the one with the crush?"

"Peter knows Spider-Man."

Right after hearing  Ned, Jessica looked up to meet the eyes of the hero they were talking about. She felt her cheeks heating up and she hoped he hadn't heard her talking about him. Then she realised that if Ned had said that was because they had been listening all along. 

"No, I don't. No. I-- I mean--" Peter was trying to deny what his friend had just said, but was interrupted.

"They're friends." Ned said with a smile.

"Yeah, like Coach Wilson and Captain America are friends." Flash Thompson suddenly said, receiving some laughter from his friends.

She looked again at Peter, hoping he would play along that stupid game. She just got disappointment from the boy's part.

"I've met him, yeah. A couple times." He said replying to Flash, then he turned to face Liz and the rest of the group. "But it's... through the Stark internship. Yeah, well, I'm not really supposed to talk about it."

"Hey, you're in the internship too, right?" Liz quietly asked Jessica, to what she didn't really respond.

"Well, that's awesome." Flash caught their attention, to Jessica's relief. "Hey, you know what? Maybe you should invite him to Liz's party. Right?"

"Yeah, I'm having people over tonight. You're more than welcome to come." She kindly said to Peter.

"Having a party?" Peter turned to his friend, astonished. But then again, Flash added his contribution.

"Yeah, it's gonna be dope. You should totally invite your personal friend Spider-Man."

"It's okay." As Peter didn't reply to her invitation, Liz took it as a rejection. "I know Peter's way too busy for parties anyway, so..."

"Come on. He'll be there. Right, Parker?" Flash kept insisting and Jessica prayed for the jerk to stop influencing Peter.

Unfortunately, Peter surrendered to the petition of his classmates, promising to bring Spider-Man to Liz's party. Jessica decided to talk to him after P.E., to see what the heck was he thinking.

"What are you doing?" She pulled him aside on the school hall, away from the crowd. "You're not supposed to tell anybody."

"I didn't do anything, it was Ned!"

"Why can't you just keep it low-key? You're not good at keeping secrets, okay? Don't jump into this kind of situations."

Peter nodded, actually listening to the slightly older girl. Maybe it was better that he didn't show up as Spider-Man. He watched how she walked towards her next class, but he stopped her before she was too far away.

"Hey! You're going to Liz's party, right?" He asked, kind of nervous. "I'll see you there?"

"Peter," She had turned to look at him smiling and shake her head. "you'll see me at home."

...

"House party in the suburbs." May had pulled out right at the entrance of Liz's house. "Oh, I remember these. Kind of jealous."

"It'll be a night to remember." Ned said from the backseat, right next to Jessica, who had just taken out her phone to send a message to Liz and tell her she had arrived.

She was one of the few people to whom she had given her phone number, along with May, for obvious reasons, and Peter.

"Ned, some hats wear men." May turned to compliment the teen on his new accessory. "You wear that hat."

"Yeah, it gives me confidence."

From the co-pilot seat, Peter let out a big breath, rethinking his choices. "This is a mistake. Hey, let's just go home."

"Oh, Peter." His aunt placed her hand on his shoulder. "I know. I know it's really hard trying to fit in with all the changes your body's going through. It's flowering now."

Jessica was reading Liz's reply on her phone when May had said that. She looked up, amused at what she had just heard. She met Peter's embarrassed eyes on the rear-view mirror.

"He's so stressed out lately."

"What helps with stress is a party." Ned let out, what encouraged Peter.

"We should go to the party." He said, finally unbuckling his seatbelt and opening the door. "Yeah, let's do it. I'm gonna go." 

"Peter. Have fun, okay?" 

"Okay. I will." He said already out of the car. Then his aunt turned back to Jessica.

"Take care of them."

The girl nodded, giving her a comforting smile before getting out of the car as well. "Bye, May."

The three of them stood admiring the outside of the house before they started walking to the entrance. A few steps away from the door, Jessica turned to the couple. 

"Don't do anything stupid." 

The boys looked at her confused. "You're not staying with us?" 

"I'll be around." She simply said. Even though he cared for the boys, she was taking a night off. It had been a long time since the last time she had gone to a party and she was very excited for this one. She wasn't babysitting tonight. "Just for emergencies."