ENGLISH WAS MAKING Christina become bored out of her mind. Her eyes were half-open as she stared at the chalkboard, listening to the teacher drone on and on. Every now and then, she would look down and doodle in her notebook, clearly not showing interest in whatever the English teacher had to say to the class.

She would sometimes stare out the window and daydream what it would be like once she graduated, which would happen within the following month. She would obviously have to move out of her house, unfortunately leaving her mother to be alone, and move into an apartment in the city. Then, she would have to continue her job at the Daily Bugle while she attended college at NYU, which would be torture for her. Then, if she were lucky, she would get a job as a social worker within a few years.

Christina had worked since kindergarten to get to this point, and now wasn't the time to give that up. She was finally nineteen, as well as Peter and Harry, and graduation was right around the corner and would arrive in a month. The girl had to prepare herself for the inevitable future, even if she wasn't completely ready for it. Sure, she had applied for NYU and was accepted, but she wasn't ready to be an adult just yet. She wanted to live freely just a little longer, but her life wouldn't allow that, much to her dismay.

The young woman snapped herself out of her thoughts, deciding to pay attention to the boring lesson about romanticism. She had to keep fighting the urge to doze off right there, but it never really mattered anyway, since her English teacher, Mrs. Miller, didn't really care if her students fell asleep while she was teaching. It was their loss if they missed out on education, so she wasn't going to scold them. But Christina kept herself awake, sighing softly as she glanced down at the notes she was taking.

But a silent chuckle left her lips when she saw that the notes she had written down on the notebook paper looked like complete gibberish, and she turned the page to a new blank one. She was ready to take more notes, and inevitably take much much more when she got to college within the next year. She took a deep breath and brushed off her fears of the future and focused on today, which was something she rarely did, but she forced herself to.

A whole hour and a half passed before the bell rang for class. She got up and put her notebooks into her backpack, which she almost never put in her locker. You never knew if your locker would get broken into and if your supplies would get stolen or not, so she always made sure to be careful about that. She stepped out of the classroom and began to walk down the hallway, slinging her bag over her shoulder. The object weighed her down to the point that it could have easily pinned her to the ground, but she didn't allow it to.

She strolled along the epoxy floor, looking around to see other classmates chatting obnoxiously, couples making out in front of other lockers, and people tossing paper airplanes across the area (she had to dodge them a few times). She was relieved that she would only have to deal with this shit for a few more weeks; graduation was right around the corner, Christina had already gone to prom (Harry had decided to take her out of the kindness of his heart), and she was ready to get her diploma and leave Queens forever. She was ready to pursue her dreams and get the career she always wanted to have. The years of college would pay off in the end, she knew it would.

Sure, she always had internal battles where she believed that she wouldn't be able to succeed, but Peter had once told her to focus on the positives. If she did, those positive thoughts would become her reality.

Christina finally made it to her locker to get another textbook out, glancing around again and making sure that no paper airplanes would come diving for her face. Once she assured herself that it wouldn't happen, she turned back around and put the combination into the lock that held the metal door shut. The beige color was rather bland to her, and it always made her sick that the school wasn't more lively and colorful.

Why the fuck would you care about something like that? she thought to herself, and she even laughed a little. It's not like the staff going to listen to you! They never listen to anyone. They probably just want their money because they're here practically 24/7!

Christina then jumped about two feet in the air when she heard a roar and a loud banging sound against metal and, putting a hand to her heart, she spun around to see a sight that she would see every other day.

Peter Parker was going against Flash Thompson once again, just like always, and what seemed to be the entire school had gathered around to see the commotion. Based on the dent in Peter's locker, Christina could rule out that the bully had tried to punch him but he had moved out of the way just in time. Now, the taller and much more intimidating boy was circling him, a look of fury on his face.

That was when Christina noticed that part of the back of Flash's shirt was covered with food, from what seemed to be lunch.

Was he blaming Peter for that?

"You think you're pretty funny, don't you, freak?!" Flash yelled sarcastically, scoffing a little bit, ignoring the look of terror with a mixture of slight annoyance in Peter's eyes.

"Flash, it was just an accident!"

Mary Jane was speed walking down the hallway, clad in pink floral shirt, a jean skirt, and fashionable boots that Christina only dreamed of owning. To see the redhead defending the boy that was always deemed a dork and freak show by the entire school made the blonde admire her just a little bit. But, since she had been friends with M.J. for about a year now (they weren't the closest, though), she had come to see that she did have a good heart, which was a relief for her.

"My fist breaking his teeth is the accident!" Mary Jane's boyfriend retorted angrily, briefly glaring in her direction before focusing back on the nerd standing in front of him.

"Flash, I wouldn't touch him if I were you!" Christina barked towards him, finally stepping into the semicircle that had been formed by her other classmates. "Remember what I did to you in third grade?!"

"I'd back off if I were you, Johnson," Flash warned her because, even though he hated her as well (mostly because she was best friends with that freak, Parker), he knew to never hit a girl. "Those days are over!"

Christina burst out laughing at those words, rolling her eyes. "We'll see about that," she replied. "You touch Peter, and I'll drop kick your ass like I did on the playground back then!"

"Chris, stay out of this, please," Peter begged her gently before turning to his enemy once more. "I don't wanna fight you, Flash!"

"I wouldn't wanna fight me neither," Flash responded jokingly, sneering at Peter before he raised his fists up again, prepared to swing.

Same old fucking shit, Christina said to herself, sighing a little. She would have to stand up for Peter once again and be the one to help him with the bruises that he would receive. She honestly didn't mind helping the poor boy through times like these, but she just wished that Flash would grow the hell up and realize that just because her best friend was an intelligent student, that didn't give him a right to torment him and bully him nonstop.

But, just as Flash drove his left fist towards Peter, the slightly shorter boy made a shocking move. He swung out of the way, dodging the left hook just as it was inches from his nose. Christina stared on in shock, her mouth dropping open as her eyes widened. He did not just do that, that wasn't possible.

All she knew was that Flash was a little caught off guard as well, but he swung again. Peter dodged once more, baffling Christina even more that he knew how to stay away from punches from his own bully. He kept on dodging, much to everyone's amazement and surprise, and the blonde could even see that Peter himself was also in shock. Christina attempted to step in and help numerous times but she didn't want to risk being hit as well.

Flash then swung his right fist to maybe make contact with Peter's face for good, but the boy ducked under his arm as if he were doing the limbo, making the bully do a 360 spin-around. Peter, surprisingly, stayed still for longer than he was supposed to, and Christina thought that the boy would break his back by accident. But he gracefully went back to a straight posture in the blink of an eye and stared Flash down, preparing to dodge yet another hit.

"Help him, Harry!" Mary Jane shouted, looking towards Christina's friend that had just joined the semicircle.

That was when the girl saw one of Flash's minions sneak up behind Peter, planning to do a surprise attack on him. But, just as Christina opened her mouth to warn him, she saw Peter's eyes widen before he jumped up and did two flips in a row as the second bully ran right through thin air and back to where Flash was standing. Peter then landed back on both feet, shocked at what he just did, and then he saw two of his bullies standing in front of him; he raised his fists, ready to take on both of them at once.

"Which one?" Harry asked himself out loud, wondering which boy Peter would defend himself against first, and Christina shook her head in reply, to which he saw as her saying that she didn't know the answer.

"He's all yours, man," Flash's friend mumbled, more out of terror because of Parker's new abilities. Flash shoved him aside, growing even angrier, and began swinging at the little punk repeatedly. His disbelief at seeing Parker continuously dodging each swing when he was never able to do this just yesterday just made more rage bubble up inside of him. But he kept on throwing swings, just praying to the heavens above that at least one punch would hit the dork square in the face.

Christina watched in utter surprise and slight awe when Peter ducked under each attempted punch and, when Flash was probably about to try to hit him in the throat, he gripped his arm and slowly twisted it around. The girl thought she could hear the bones in Flash's arm cracking a little bit, hence why he yelled out in agony, his mouth open in utter puzzlement as to how this freak had so much strength.

Then Peter threw a single punch to Flash's chest.

The bully went flying down the hallway, and the entire crowd gasped and covered their mouths when he finally toppled to the floor, sliding over to hit Principal Collins's feet. The older man accidentally spilled his food all over the boy, making all of the other students cheer and holler with joy and amusement, relieved that the idiot was finally defeated by one of his victims.

Christina, however, wasn't cheering at all. All of the shock and fear for her best friend had drained and was replaced with simple confusion. She glanced over at Peter, who still had his fist raised, and she noticed the look of relief and pride on his face; that only puzzled her more. Where had he suddenly learned to fight? How did he get this strong out of nowhere?! Sure, it was cool and all, but it just didn't make any sense. And Peter Parker probably just became an even bigger enemy of Flash Thompson, so that was worse than anything.

Has Peter been lying to me about these skills the entire time? Christina thought.

But no, he couldn't have been! There was no possible way for him to lie about that.

But was there?

"Jesus, Parker," Flash's friend muttered with disgust. "You are a freak!"

Peter's grin faded and was replaced with a horrified frown, and he finally reflected on what he had just done. While Harry was looking at him as if he were proud of him, Christina, possibly his closest friend was staring at him out of what seemed to be... disappointment? Anger? And Mary Jane... well, she looked as though she just got slapped, and that was the worst of all.

"Peter, that was..." Harry said with a big smile on his face. "That was amazing!"

Christina then saw Peter turn and run down the other hallway and, as Harry called out for him to come back, all that went through her mind was how much trouble the boy would be in with the principal soon after this.

A/N: okay, i have some explaining to do. i know i haven't updated this book in over a year. i just completely abandoned it, and i shouldn't have done that, and i'm sorry. it's just... my depression just got so much worse after my dad died from cancer last year, and i just didn't have any more motivation to write this book and countless others. but that's going to change! in honor of the new movie coming out, i will try to update this book as much as i can because i really want to write it! i'm sure you guys will love this book and the twists and turns it takes with the storyline of the trilogy! and now, to end the chapter with a brand new photo edit for this story as i sign off until the next chapter!

-denbroughswife