STING [peter parker & betty cooper]

Chapter Seven: Somethin' Stupid

"A little to the left, Betty!" Veronica chimed from behind me.

I cursed under my breath as I stretched my hand over, trying to hang this damn light on the basketball net in the gym. The Halloween dance was tomorrow and those helping with the decorating were in the various rooms putting everything Midge, the president of the Students Association, bought together. Mainly us, seniors, and some teachers who volunteered to help.

Veronica and I were currently in the gym, the event area, while I balanced on a rickety ladder with her behind me barking orders. I had almost broken my neck several times though that never seemed to deter her. When I asked why she didn't just do it she claimed she was too small and unfortunately she was right.

"I can't put it any further left!" I said, annoyed. If I knew I would be taking orders all morning I would have joined the military. My arm was beginning to burn a little from holding it outstretched and above me.

"That's perfect, right there!" Veronica sang. I sighed in relief as I secured it before slowly stepping down from the ladder. I surveyed the room and I admit I was quite proud of what we had accomplished.

"We're almost done, Midge?" I asked as Veronica flitted around the room, adjusting things as she went.

"Yup, we just need to put a few things in Veronica's car that were extras. The boxes are a little heavy so I called for some assistance." Midge said.

Veronica shoved a smaller box into my hands. "This one's light. Go put it in my car, please. I'll join you in a minute. I just need to fix a few things." Veronica said not looking directly at me and skipped across to the other side of the gym.

I left the school as per Veronica's orders, walked out to her car, and deposited the box into her backseat before hopping onto its hood to wait for her.

The wind was blowing the tight strands of hair my ponytail secured but I enjoyed it. After being cooped up in that school for the last hour the cold air felt good. A minute to Veronica was probably closer to thirty minutes in reality. Unlike the rest of us, she ran on Veronica time. After a few minutes of me looking blankly into the sky, hoping the sun would make an appearance, I grabbed my backpack and took out my diary.

I did my usual ritual of turning to the front page and running my fingers over the silky written pages before finding a blank page to write on.

Lately, I've been filling my diary with unanswered questions and possible theories about the Roof Crawler. It's not fair to call it a diary anymore since I haven't been using it to vent about my mental and emotional state. The more accurate description would be to call it an investigation notebook filled with notes and relevant information that only make sense in my head. Used by an extremely amateur yet dedicated detective.

A cruiser was kept hanging around Mugg's neighborhood for the next few nights after the occurrence and then they quickly moved on. The police made no advances and it seemed like every day I was waiting for something out of the ordinary to happen again.

I was probably the only person who was still fixated on this. The logical part of my brain told me to drop it and move on, however, as much as I wanted, I couldn't get this mystery figure out of my head. Who has he? Was he still in Riverdale? Why was he here in the first place? What was his connection to Spider-Man? Was there even a connection?

I was so wrapped up in my thoughts, my eyes never leaving the page, that I didn't hear anyone approach me. It wasn't until I felt a hot breath on my cheek and a familiar voice that I was jerked out of my world.

"What are you writing?" Peter asked out of nowhere and I jumped in shock, partly because he scared me and the other part because he was willingly so close to me, filling my nose with his scent.