CEO??

Chapter 32

I met Harley just outside the building and we hopped on the back of his motorcycle. While he drove, I let my thoughts wander.

When we arrived, I was shocked to realize that I recognized where we were. It was where we had our first date. Candles were lit and a picnic blanket had been set out. Soft music played in the background.

I turned to find Harley on one knee, holding a small box. I started to tear up as I realized what was going on.

"Pyotr Romanov, six years ago, to this date, I met you. You lit up my world from the very moment when we bumped into each other in the halls on our way to see my dad. Your smile captivated me and I knew, from then on, that all I wanted was to be the reason you smiled. I was lucky enough to get my wish, and even more, I was lucky enough to have you. I was head over heels for you way before we started dating, and every moment I only fall more and more in love with you. So, I'm asking you now. Will you marry me?"

"Yes, yes, yes!!" I nodded frantically and let him slide the ring onto my finger.

He stood up and I pulled him into a long kiss. When we pulled apart, we had our picnic and talked.

After the picnic, we drove back to the tower, where I immediately dragged him to my lab, where my interns were, with Wade, Ren, and Loki. Since Wade never went into the lab, I assumed Harley had told them, which was proved correct when the doors opened and they crowded around me, asking to see the ring.

I smiled brightly and held up my hand, showing off the black and gold band that wrapped around my ring finger.

After that, I left Harley to go find Gwen. I assumed she'd be in her room, and I was right.

I knocked on her door and received a quiet, "Come in," from her.

I opened the door and looked in to see her curled up on her bed, tears running down her face as she stared at the blank walls. "You ready to tell me why you're here?" I asked, sitting down beside her.

She turned to look at me. "My dad tried to arrest me for being Spider-Woman."

I blinked in shock. My shock quickly turned to anger at her father. I hid it well and placed a comforting hand on her arm. "You are welcome to stay with me for as long as you want."

"Thank you, Peter," she said before falling asleep. All the crying must have made her very tired.

I sighed and left the room, quietly shutting the door behind me.

Ren stood there, waiting for me. "We're behind schedule," he muttered as he ushered me towards the place where tryouts were taking place in fifteen minutes.

"She's going through a rough time, Ren," I countered. "Tryouts can wait."

He sighed but agreed.

We got to the building I had rented for tryouts a minute late and I smiled apologetically at the kids. There were at least a hundred. "Welcome!" I began. "Sorry we're late. My name is Peter Parker and I will be your coach if you make the team. This is Darren Brady; he is the team leader. Now, let's get started. Everyone, please put your phones in the bins up here and find a seat."

The building was actually two stories and was really just two large rooms, meant for this type of thing. Everyone deposited their phones before heading to a seat. I passed out the test and Darren went up to the second floor to supervise while I stayed on the first. Other supervisors walked up and down the rows to ensure that no one cheated, while I oversaw everything.

Only an hour into the test, a freshman girl walked up and handed me the test. I smiled, a bit surprised that it had taken her such a short amount of time. The test was meant to take two hours at least but they were given three. I sent her back to her seat with permission to read a book.

I began to grade her test and was surprised to find that most of the answers for the multiple choice were right. I moved on to her short answer questions and smiled slightly at the correct answers. Then I began to read her essay. Halfway through the essay, she cracked a joke that made me chuckle.

I wrote her time and a red 96 beside her name on my sheet with a note about her sense of humor. She got a star beside her name, meaning she was one of the top competitors. I also wrote a 96 on the test, which I set beside me.

At an hour and a half, another student came up to me. This time, it was a boy who seemed to be a junior. His answers on the multiple choice were impressive, as well as his short answers, but his essay was lacking. I gave him a 87 and wrote a note on the test as to why. He also got a star.

No one else came up until two hours and forty-five minutes had passed. That was when I got the majority of the tests.

I sighed and began to grade while they chatted, getting to know each other. "There are some snacks upstairs," I said. "Feel free to grab something to eat and drink. We'll finish grading these and you will know whether you got into the next stage or not in a couple hours."

Darren came down with his stack of papers and we got to work. I took the essays and he took the multiple choice. Since the multiple choice was first, he would grade that before setting it in the finished pile, where I would take from to read the essays.

We narrowed the pool down to twenty. There were five open spots on the team.

We called them all downstairs and began to read the names of those who passed.

The first one I called was the girl who had finished in only an hour. She skipped up and took her test, smiling widely when she saw her score.

The last name called was the boy who finished quickly as well. He read the note and chuckled. He probably expected that.

The rest were given their tests, which held constructive criticism, and were dismissed.

----------------------------

Thoughts?