By Sunlight (P.P + M.J)

28. With Friends Like These

*MJ's pov*

PE was probably MJ's favorite class, even on Mondays when nobody wanted to do anything. She could easily read her book as long as she pretended to exercise, but even Coach Wilson didn't care that much if she did or not. He hardly cared himself anyway. Besides, from her spot on the bleachers next to the rope climb, she had a perfect view of her small white bean as he pretended to be the weak noodle everyone thought him to be.

Plus, she easily could hear the conversation he was having with Harry.

"So how was your weekend?" Harry was asking as the two boys stood waiting in line for the rope climb, "do anything... fun?"

MJ almost snickered. Peter had nothing but fun. He had battled a giant robot and somewhat befriended a possibly super-powered girl. Sure, it wasn't something he could just blurt out to anyone, but he seemed to be struggling to come up with any other suitable reply. She inwardly hoped he would remember the convention he attended with Ned, because that seemed like the most obvious answer to her.

"I went to a video game convention with Ned," Peter answered, shuffling his feet. MJ sighed in audible relief. Sometimes her boyfriend made her so anxious, and it wasn't even about any of his superhero stuff.

She looked away from him and focused on Gwen Stacy. Face half-hidden by her book, she only pretended to read as she watched Gwen, who was easily doing pull-ups to outshine some of the other guys in their grade. Peter and herself had spent a long time going over about what could be up with Gwen, and had decided that she must have some sort of powers, like strength or something. MJ then offered to "observe" the blonde, in case she showed any signs of above-average physical capabilities.

"Oh, cool," she heard Harry say, "did your other friend go with you? The tall one?"

"You're gonna have to be more specific," Peter laughed. MJ herself smiled a little.

"The guy. Jack Something," Harry clarified with a chuckle. He looked around himself and MJ saw him find her redheaded friend in the small crowd that was now gathering to watch Gwen beat a football player in a push-up contest. He stood a head taller then everyone next to him.

"He... showed up for a few minutes," Peter replied. It wasn't entirely a lie, she noticed. Jack had called her after their fight with Rhino and told her everything, especially how popular he was with the furries at the convention. So yes, he had shown up to visit him and Ned, albeit he wasn't very human at the time.

"Did he dress up as anyone? Did you?"

"I went as Spider-Man." MJ noticed that Peter purposefully didn't answer his first question, but thankfully Harry didn't seem to notice.

"Don't you work with him?"

"Y-Yeah," the other boy stammered, "he thought it was, um, funny."

"I've always been kind of curious, but have you ever seen him outside his mask? I always thought he must be scarred or something. What about Werewolf? Is he a wolf all the time or can he become human too?"

MJ knew those questions as relatively the same ones he had asked her during their photography session. She couldn't understand his intense curiosity over the two superheroes, especially his obsession of wanting to learn who they were. What was he planning on doing with that information, if he ever learned it? Sell it to a news site for a quick buck? He was a millionaire, for crying out loud!