Welcome to New York

Chapter 38

Now that Peter and I were broken up, things had changed. We did sit next to each other in class but neither of us spoke a word. When Ned was there, he sat between us to break the tension. It was hard for him, but I didn't know what else to do.

I had also noticed Peter and Ned were whispering a lot behind my back. Were they gossiping about me? When I asked Ned, he told me that it was nothing to worry about, just school stuff. Although I wanted to believe him, I wasn't a 100% sure.

So, when I sat behind them in class, I put in my earphones and asked Friday if she could activate Enhanced Reconnaissance Mode on Peter and Ned so I could hear their conversation.

"Can you spit venom?" I heard Ned ask.

"No," Peter answered.

"Can you summon an army of spiders?"

"No, Ned."

"How far can you shoot your webs?"

"It's unknown, shut up."

"If I were you, I would stand on the edge of a building and shoot it as far as I could."

"Shut up, Ned," Peter whispered.

I shut off Friday. So, Ned knew. Did Peter tell him? Why did Peter tell him and not me? I felt betrayed and wanted to go home.

Later in gym class, the teacher showed us a video from Captain America where he presented a Fitness challenge for pairs. Ned and Peter formed a pair immediately, which left me awkwardly alone.

"Hey, Natalie! Come sit with us."

I looked around to see who called me. It was Liz, team captain of the academic decathlon. She sat with Betty and Charles, who were also on the decathlon, on the bleachers. I hesitantly walked towards them and sat down next to Liz.

"Don't we have to join the others?" I asked, looking at the rest of the class doing sit-ups.

"No," Liz chuckled. "Coach Wilson never checks on us."

I nodded and smiled, glad I could skip gym class this easily.

"We're playing Fuck Marry Kill, you're next to come up with three people," Liz spoke.

"Okay," I said, thinking about a strategic move. "How about: Johnny Depp, Will Smith and KJ Apa?"

The girls giggled.

"I would F Johnny, kill Will and marry KJ," Betty said.

"Kill Will?" Charles sounded outraged, it made me laugh. "I would definitely fuck him and kill Johnny."

"Okay, I have another one," Liz interrupted. "How about some of the avengers?"

"Here we go again..." Charles mumbled. I wondered what that meant.

Liz ignored him. "Iron Man, Hulk and Thor."

"For me," Betty started. "It would be F Thor, Marry Iron Man and kill Hulk." She looked at me. "What about you, Natalie?"

I got distracted when I saw Peter turning his head into our direction, he was listening. And it was hard since my uncle got involved in the game. "I would..." I spoke. "I would fuck the Hulk, marry Thor and kill Iron Man."

I saw the others nodding.

"But what about the Spider-Man, though?" I spoke. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Peter and Ned stop doing their sit-ups to listen.

"It's just Spider-Man," Betty gave me a judging look.

I saw I got Liz's attention. "Did you guys see the bank security cam on YouTube? He fought of four guys!" she said enthusiastically.