Third person's POV

The Los Angeles streets were practically empty and inactive even by the hour of three am. The sun refuses to rise up that early of the day, street lights were still lit among the pitch black city and not a single human was in sight. There was no traffic and no working vehicles on the road. However just because a city is lifeless, doesn't mean all its inhabitants are.

Thump.

Thump.

THUMP.

"What's with all that racket!?" Mr. Anderson grunted, let out a large yawn and gave a glance at his digital clock. It glowed in the lifeless room, the numbers of a quarter past four.

Sheesh. What could Mike be doing at this hour?

Reluctantly, he got off from his bed and stumbled his way to his teenage son's room.

He knocked on the door, hoping he did his minimum to not wake his wife up. A light-sleeper, she was.

"Gimme a minute!" After a few moments of silence, the door opened, revealing his son. Mr. Anderson knows his son has been top in his school for three consecutive years, and he had never been more proud of him. Yet, Mr. Anderson couldn't help but stay worried about how overly passionate his son is with his work. Or more specifically, his inventions.

Michael Anderson stood by his door, face covered with... dust? Mr. Anderson wasn't sure. What he was sure of, was his glum and tired look compared to his son's energetic aura. Did he put an all-nighter?

"I'm soooo sorry, Dad. Did I wake Mom up too?"

"Not... yet. Or you wouldn't have seen the end of her."

 Michael sighed in relief. "Thank Goodness. I was just working on my latest invention that I created..."

"Whoa... whoa. Slow down there, Mike... it's four in the morning. Can't you... do this when you wake up before school or even after school? Don't forget you actually have school today. And kid, did you even had any sleep?"

"Of course, Dad! I would never miss school. Don't worry, I had three hours of sleep before I started working on my inventions."

Mr. Anderson glared at him. "You don't want me to repeat what I said again. Off to bed you go now, young man."

"But Da—"

"Or else I'm banning you from your room."

Mike sighed and muttered "Okay, you win this time" before closing his door on Mr. Anderson.

He shook his head and headed back into the master bedroom for that three more hours of sleep. Sometimes raising an intelligent kid like him is both a blessing and a curse.

Life of an Anderson is fun and somewhat entertaining, but it wasn't at all a surprise with the same as Mike's best buddy, Peter Parker.

"Peter Parker!"

Grumbling Peter rolled over his side on his top bunk not carrying for his younger sister's voice disturbing his sleep.

"You have five seconds before I bring out a glass of water!"

At that, Peter decided it was best he get it. So giving a yawn large enough to fit a double Decker bus he stumbled to his door, opening the door and stepping over the door frame and out into the hallway, thankfully catching himself and realising he was walking on the ceiling before he reached the kitchen. Completely a lazy flip he was standing back on the floor as he finally made it to the kitchen table.

"Oh, so you are alive!" Mrs. Parker exclaimed sarcastically. Naturally she was up and dressed already.

"Barely," Peter yawned.

"You seem tired," Paisley Parker ran down from her room and place a plate of toast for herself and didn't help her brother with any.

"Thanks a lot, Paise." Peter clicked his tongue before getting up and coming back to the dinning table with his own toast.

"Yeah, sweetheart. What time did you get to sleep last night? In fact, you don't seem to be getting much sleep lately."

"I'm not sure. I was just... thinking. About things, I guess."

"Do you mean Elsa?" Paisley smirked.

Elsa Tilden is one of Peter's best friend, and also happens to be the Parker's babysitter.

"Yeah." Peter grasped the handed excuse.

As he ran to the bus station, he put in his headphones, letting the music calm his nerves.

He get to the station just as the station pulls up. Once he was in, he noticed there is no more seats. Grabbing hold of a pole, he saw Elsa. She's sitting down, her legs crossed, her mind focused. Peter saw a white earbud trickling down her neck, leading to her phone. She was completely indulged in her music. He love the way she can totally lose herself in the music. It's like she's in her own little world when she's plugged into the earphones.

Elsa. She looked so pretty today. Her dirty blonde hair let down as usual, her blue eyes seeming to pop with her light freckles and subtle makeup. Simply yet gorgeous. Peter wished he could tell her that, and have her believe him.

Today's news of the day was the first ever announcement of a school dance happening at the end of the year. Everybody has been talking about it the minute he set foot onto campus today.

Peter was able to walk pass all that crowd to get to the front of the notice board. The only piece of notice was a poster that read:

Winter Ball 2020

November 19. 7.30p.m -11p.m.

Come at your best dresses or suits. Don't miss it! A night to remember!

"Dude!" Peter whirled around to see his best friend Mike calling out for him. "Are you going?"

"On what? The school dance? Please, you and I both know that we are not cut out for preppy dances..."

"What? You've got to be kidding me," snickered Mike. "Peter Parker. School team basket-baller. Rejecting on parties?"

"I thought you said parties were boring." Peter was clearly getting annoyed at the topic as he shoved Mike in hoping of an escape to his first class of the day.

~~~

"Alright class. We're starting our studying of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. We'll start off by reading the first chapter during this lesson and do essay practice in the next." The English teacher handed out a copy of the book to class.

Various groans were mumbled throughout the classroom at the thought of having to write an essay, several students already resigning themselves to spending the lesson napping. When Peter had received his copy, he was already thinking of how he could get Catherine to read him the audio book while he goes on his nightly rounds.

That day after school, Peter swung from building to building and kept a keen eye for any petty crimes going on. No one knew he was the city's famous neighborhood Red Phoenix. Out of his three best friends, only Mike knew. Which happened by a whole accident of its own.

As usual, as he swung about he struck up a conversation with Catherine, his artificial intelligence user interface.

"Good evening, Catherine. How are you?"

"I am very well, Peter. How was school?"

"The same old. Although, there's news that there will be a Winter Ball at the end of the year."

"What is a Winter Ball?"

"It's like a school dance. People ask their significant other to the dance and have a great time together. Stuff like that."

"Who are you going to bring to the dance?"

"I... don't know yet," he admitted.

"If you like I could run a scan on your brain and tell you on potential candidates."

"What!? No! Don't you run a scan on me, Catherine!"

"Very well. I will not conduct a search."

"Thank you."

"To verify which type are you looking for?"

"No way am I telling you, Catherine." If he had known any better, Catherine would be running down a list of possible students in his school right this second. "On another note, do you have access to eBooks, Catherine?"

"Of course I do. Do you wish to listen to an eBook?"

"Yes. 'To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee'. I'm currently studying it in class."

"Very well. I am now playing the eBook of 'To Kill A Mockingbird' by Harper Lee."