𝐝𝐞𝐣𝐚 𝐯𝐮, peter parker

xxix. in memoriam

chapter twenty-nine
in memoriam 

     THE BUS WAS slow.

     Achingly slow.

     The traffic was heavy, making it painful to travel across the bridge. Nina set her head against the back of the seat, huffing up at the ceiling. She had already counted the stains in the seats, dared Ned to count the gum underneath them (to which he was so bored he actually did), went through her study notes to prepare for this new term, set MJ plenty of Snapchats to try and keep her busy━but it was true, Nina was doomed to boredom this entire trip to the New York Hall of Science. 

     Let's sign up for this excursion, she had said, It will be fun, she had said. Obviously, Nina later figured out she had been lying to herself. 

     But so far, her junior year had been crazy. First, they tracked down the last of Vulture's crew: including the Tinkerer and his crazy technological schemes. Peter Parker, her best friend, who Nina figured out to be Spider-Man halfway through Sophomore Year, took him down in a workshop, battling his lasers and left-over equipment to leave him webbed up for the authorities. Then, it was the high-speed chase across Manhattan after the Shocker decided to steal from the National Bank. He didn't take the fall out well: he had received this awesome shocker gauntlet, and barely had any time to use it! Obviously, as most super villains believe, the best option afterwards was to cause as much havoc as he possibly could. And, of course, there was the mediocre encounter with the villain who deemed himself the Human Fly━so small that Peter simply swatted him their first fight during lunch. Not to mention that day they spent trying to catch runaway pigeons and children's balloons. But then emerged the world of organised crime. Nina had started to hear rumours of gang fights between notorious leaders Hammerhead and Tombstone, and how arguments have turned into deadly fights in the streets over stolen artwork and black market goods. Naturally, one blamed the other, and it was more than once that Peter showed up at Nina's window bruised from breaking up fights━and the worst of all, a bullet wound to his leg. Nina forced him into her father's car, and somehow she managed to both steal her father's car and illegally drive Peter to the hospital without getting caught. 

     There was that time they thought Peter somehow got cloned at reports of another Spider-Man running through the street but nope, just an impersonator trying to be just like his favourite superhero until he got caught in an armed robbery and Peter had to swing in to save him. Nina couldn't forget when some D-list villain tried to get revenge for his embarrassing take down by trying to break into Nina's apartment, somehow finding out she knew Spider-Man, only to arrive at the same time as Peter outside her window. Nina wasn't sure whether to be horrified or amused at the sight that occurred. "Hey, do I know you?" Peter had held out his hand to shake the villain's hand before webbing him straight to the next fire escape. "Oh, that's right! How's your head? Is it out of the gutter, yet? You know, because you tripped over the gutter━"

     Needless to say, Nina was hoping that this small trip could be a break from the none-stop Spider-Man adventures. Would be a break from constantly lying to MJ about what she was doing instead of school and work━especially when she always seemed to be suspicious, like she secretly knew all along (and that was stressful!). Would be a break from the broken friendship that had become of Nina and Felicia━constant missed calls, constant short, tense conversations and pull-outs to hanging out. Since her father died, all Felicia seemed to be doing was gymnastics, and her new hobby: martial arts. It was great to see her so driven by something, but Nina rarely saw her anymore; rarely talked to her. She was scared she was losing her best friend.