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THE SMALL EARTHQUAKE THAT FRIDAY NIGHT WAS JUST A SMALL PART OF THE GOSSIP THAT OVERTOOK QUEENS. The very next day, and from then on, Alissa heard murmurs of a man swinging from building to building using what looked like ropes, or spider webs, as some people had been so brave to claim. Of course, she didn't believe it, trying to stay focused on her schoolwork, and forget about the way she felt so safe and comfortable in the arms of Peter after he had saved her life.

The second term was vastly approaching the students and she still had three books she had to read and write essays for. Peter was seemingly stressed as well, having to ditch some plans that Sunday night as he already had other arrangements he'd forgotten about. Alissa and her friends didn't really think much on it, knowing that they were all unsteady with their exams drawing closer, Alissa especially.

Carter was even on edge, wondering if he should ask Liz to be his girlfriend, or if he should talk to Flash about it first, having seen the boy frowning that night. He wasn't sure if it was because he still had feelings for him, or if there was something going on that he wasn't telling him.

Well, at least Scott and Kelli were making it home for dinner at least three times a week, and with that, came new limits for their three children that they definitely weren't expecting.

"A curfew?" Alissa grimaced, repeating her mother word. "No offense, but you won't even be here to know when we're home."

Kelli pursed her lips, her wet hair dripping over her bare shoulders. She wore a black and white tank top and fuzzy pajama pants, having taken a shower before joining her kids in the living room with Scott after they all ate dinner together, as a family. They believed that it would have been the best time to tell their children they now had a curfew after feeding them their favorite food, Chinese.

"We're working on that, you know that, too. We just. . .it's not forever. It's just—"

"So you can control our lives even though you're not gonna be here," Carter sharply replied, head lifting from his algebra homework to face his parents. "Should've seen this coming." Alissa and Brian glanced to each other; they were thinking the same thing, they just didn't want to say. "Yeah, makes sense. You're not even going to be here to know if we're out past curfew, so, why not give us a curfew? Not like we'll follow it."

Scott shifted, his eyes swiveling from the TV that was showing blurred images of a man in a red and blue pajamas, claiming to be the man that was swinging from the rooftops. "You're right, there will be nights when we won't be home to know if you were out later, but we're trusting you to be home on time. Besides, we're still gonna let you go out and be with your friends. Asking you to be home really isn't asking much, mainly when your curfew is midnight. So, it shouldn't be that hard to follow, Carter."

"Midnight?" Brian repeated, that really being the only thing he picked out of what Scott has said. A wide smile broke out on his pale and chubby face, his toes wiggling in his three day old socks that he was still wearing. "I can s—"

"Not you," Kelli quickly interrupted. "Your curfew is 10."

Brian frowned, and Alissa and Carter began to laugh snicker, high fiving each other with widespread grins on their lips and their eyes clenched shut. Kelli and Scott had to stifle their laughs at the pure look of offense that was evident on Brian's face. Kelli pulled her hand away, still smiling while Brian glowered at the coffee table, not wanting to look at any of them.

"Sorry, B. Once you're in high school, it'll move up to midnight."

Alissa leaned towards Carter as she was seated next to him. "See? It's not so bad. We're usually asleep by midnight, anyways."

Carter's eyes flickered to hers, and then to his parents before going back to Alissa. A small smile appeared on his lips and he lightly shrugged, going back to his math homework, still grinning. "Yeah, I guess it's not so bad after all," he whispered. Alissa hid her smile behind her hair, sighing out contently.

He was making progress, and so were their parents.

And so was Queens very own spider-ling.

° ° °

"We should try to meet him," Gwen gushed, talking about the web slinger.

Her and Mary Jane had been quick to scoop Alissa to their rightful lunch table, barely giving the girl time to pull her lunch out of her beg before they were shoving a phone into her hands. Harry and Peter were sitting across from them, watching two of the girls squeal while one just watched with a blank expression, barely batting an eye.

"Why? It's not real," was the first thing Alissa said when the low quality video that Gwen had found and showed her ended. "It's just some hoax," Alissa continued, taking a bit of her PB&J sandwich with a careless shrug. Peter faintly frowned, but pretended as if he was just a little offended at her words.

Mary Jane scoffed, motioning to the video of the man flinging over the heads of many one early morning in Queens. It was glitchy and choppy, not to mention the person who was recording it seemed to of been shaking the whole time, and so it barely showed the web slinger at all. So, it wasn't easy to make Alissa believe it was real when she had so many reason not to.

"It's real," Gwen said, popping a grape in her mouth with a defiant look on her face. "How could anyone fake that?"

Alissa titled her head. "There's a lot of ways. Peter's taking those digital classes. Maybe he knows," she suggested, raising her eyebrows when Peter leaned back, his eyes wider than normal.

"O-Oh, uh, t-there's a bunch of programs that someone could've used," he stated.

Alissa proudly grinned, motioning to the boy while looking at her female friends. "See? Even Peter thinks—"

"It's real," Peter interjected, making Alissa snap her head to face him. He nervously gulped, but didn't back down despite her shocked and slightly saddened expression. "I-I saw him, he went past my window last night."

"Dude, and you didn't say anything?" Harry demanded to know. "Did you see him when I was there?"

Peter shook his head, taking a few of his gummy worms out of the packet he had bought from Mr. Delmar's store in the early hours of the morning before school began. "I-I was going to bed when I saw it," he said, nodding as if to assure him.
Harry nodded at Peter's answer, making the boy faintly smile; even though Alissa was a little disappointed in that moment, she still felt a smile grow when seeing Peter's.

Mary Jane noticed, playfully nudging Alissa's arm, eyes flicking to Peter quickly before going back to Alissa. The girl just rolled her eyes, frowning when Gwen and Mary Jane pushed Gwen's phone forward to show Harry and Peter the video that was traveling from phone to phone that day. Even Carter had got dragged in to the mess by Flash, having no chance to ask the boy if he was okay with him asking Liz out before Flash was shouting about the man, almost squealing until he put his hand over his mouth, forcing him to be less exited.

Not to mention Grant the Bully, as Brian and Alissa came to nickname him, took it upon himself to bash anyone who said the video was real and that there was a new superhero sweeping the cities.

Alissa tore her gaze from her lunch and quickly answered Brian's text, sighing when he said that Grant was looking at him a lot more that particular day after he heard Brian talking about the man in a positive manner. Alissa told him to keep his distance from the boy, and if he needed to, then to pull out his handy dandy can of pepper spray. She advised him not to actually use it, but if he really needed, then she wouldn't really blame him if he did.

"How's Brian?" Harry suddenly asked Alissa, eating a cracker offered by Peter. He had seen the boy on Friday when Kelli came to pick Alissa up from Liz's party, Brian having ran out of the backseat just to hug Harry and to get a small whiff of peppermint that the boy constantly smelt of. "I kinda miss him, ya know?"

Alissa faintly smiled, letting out a little giggle that made Peter's heart suddenly flutter at the sound.

He made a face at the unfamiliar feeling that fluttered around in his stomach in an unusual manner, deciding to continue eating in hopes of forgetting all about it.

"There's this kid at Brian's school and he kind of bullies the smaller kids—" she noticed her friends' faces fall at the mention, fearing what she would say next. "He hurt Brian a while back. . .and now B thinks he might try to do it again."

"Why would anyone wanna hurt him in the first place?" Gwen wondered. She liked Brian, even thinking of him like her own, annoying little brother who she still adored even if he constantly annoyed her and Alissa. "He's a sweetheart." Alissa raised a brow at her comment, but didn't say anything about it.

"Apparently the kid doesn't think this web kid, thingy, is real, and anyone who says he is, this kid bullies them," Alissa explained, sighing and resting her face in the palm of her hand. Mary Jane gently rested her hand on Alissa back, rubbing small circles to comfort her friend. Gwen, Harry, and Peter sadly smiled, Peter's a little more sadder with his heart weighing down.

He didn't want anyone getting hurt because someone couldn't accept that there was a new hero in town. It was his duty to protect those who couldn't protect themselves, and now, people were getting hurt because of him, and there was no way he could allow that.

"And he's scared that he's gonna get hurt again," Alissa finished off. "He just. . .I even gave him some pepper spray, but I don't think he could use it, even if he really wanted to," she said, shaking her head. Her hair fell over her shoulders, moving with every movement of her head. Mary Jane continued to rub the small of Alissa's back, sharing a worried look with their closest friends.

"Hey, I'm sure he'll be okay," Harry softly assured her, kindly smiling when Alissa looked at him, still looking a little unsure. "He's a tough kid. He can handle—"

Someone whizzed passed Alissa, his hand running through her hair. She dropped her hands in front of her, spinning in her seat to see who it was. She was shocked to see Carter, Flash, and Liz, standing behind her, all slightly panicked and already staring at her.

"We have to go," Carter briskly rushed out, shaking his hand for Alissa to move. The girl just stared, looking confused.

"What? No. We have school," Alissa said, rolling her eyes. She made a move to turn around again, but his next sentence made her rethink.

"It's B. He got in a fight," Carter told her. Alissa's eyes widened, glancing to her friends, seeing if they heard the same thing she had.

"What?" Harry asked, shocked and still trying to process the idea of Brian getting into a fight. "What happened? How do you know?"

Carter rolled his eyes. "I put mine and Alissa's information down instead of our parents—that's beside the point. I just got a call and he's in the principals office. He's suspended, we gotta pick him up."

"They know what we look like," Alissa stated, standing and mindlessly pushing her food towards Mary Jane and Gwen. She began pushing her book bag on her shoulders, ignoring the worried looks of her closest friends.

"Al, just trust me," Carter begged, reaching forward to tug on her sleeve. "But we have to go, now."

Alissa didn't have anymore time to protest as she followed after her brother, only having enough time to spare Peter a glance that showed how worried she was. Flash went with them, offering to drive as he finally got his license while Liz said she would cover for them as best she could; she wouldn't lie, but she would do her best to try and distract whoever wondered why three students were no longer seen at the school.

It was going to be a close one, but they figured they would manage.

° ° °

I know I say this like every chapter, but I'm sorry about the length, y'all! I wasn't sure if I wanted to add the scene with them going to the middle school, and so I decided to do it in the next chapter to add some more drama to it since I didn't have anything planned for that chapter just yet, oops!

Anyways, let me know what it thought of this by leaving some feedback in the comments!

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!