I Am Karen - Spider-Man / Peter Parker [1]

Chapter Eight - Catch The Falling Spider

With Spider-Man swinging off, Maria knew she had to get her watch computer open so that she could follow his actions – if this had something to do with the alien tech she had to find out now not later. However, just as Maria went to leave the garage rooftop, she noticed Peter's clothes littered all around her. Well, she couldn't exactly leave those lying around. With a sigh, Maria began to gather the clothing up in her arms. Once she had them all Maria thought it was best to get off the garage roof of some random stranger's house - it wasn't exactly something she could easily explain. As Maria wandered back over to Liz's house and made a beeline for the kitchen where she assumed a bag of some sort could be found, she noticed all of the curious looks she was getting due to the pile of clothing she had in her hands. It wasn't every day someone (seemingly) brought a pile of clothes to a house party.

Thankfully, it didn't take long for Maria to find a carrier bag hidden away in one of the many kitchen cupboards. With Peter's clothes neatly folded in the bag, Maria got to her next issue at hand: Peter himself. He had gone off to chase down whatever had caused that explosion and Maria had to imagine he had gotten to the site or was close by. Knowing she needed a quiet place, Maria began to make her way through the house towards the bedrooms – considering her searching before Maria vaguely could recall which rooms were empty. As she passed the dance floor Maria was completely surprised to find Michelle dancing. Michelle didn't dance. Maria froze in her footsteps, blinking rapidly as she then spotted Ned dancing with Michelle – the pair looked like they were having fun. Grabbing her phone, Maria lifted the device up and selected the camera, she took a quick photo and short video of the pair. Later when she questioned Michelle on it, she would need proof. Maria was Michelle's only really close friend but it looked like the girl was opening up to someone else for a change.

"Hey Maria! You came!" a chirpy voice said. Maria jumped at the voice and snapped around to see who had spoken to her. The person chuckled at her reaction. "Sorry I didn't mean to scare you." It was Liz.

"Hey!" Maria replied with a smile. "Great party." Maria didn't speak with Liz all that often so she was definitely finding the situation strange to say the least.

"Thanks" Liz said as she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. Maria noticed that Liz was scanning the area around her as if she was searching for something ... or someone. "Have you seen Peter?"

"Are you needing something?" Maria asked just as Liz asked her question. The two girls laughed at the mistake. At Liz's question, Maria knew for certain that she liked Peter – it wasn't like Peter and Liz hung out so the fact she was asking after him was significant. "I was just speaking to him ... he's gone to the bathroom." Maria lied through gritted teeth – she wasn't sure why she lied but she did lie and now had to stick with it.

"Oh ok" Liz replied. The pair fell into a weird silence causing Maria to look down at her hands which were holding her bag and Peter's clothing – Maria prayed to God that Liz wouldn't recognise Peter's outfit as she had no way of explaining why she had his clothes at all. There was also the issue that Maria needed to see where Spider-Man was at but she needed privacy.

"Is there a place I could make a phone call?" Maria suddenly asked. Liz quickly gave a smile and nodded before she directed Maria upstairs and into her room. Maria followed Liz's directions and quickly found herself in a large bedroom that just screamed Liz. Academic books lined her bookcase – after all she was the president of the Decathlon Team (it was expected) – photos of her and her friends and family decorated her room that was spotless. The girl even had her own en-suite. Sighing, Maria moved over to Liz's modern double bed and dropped the carrier bag of Peter's clothes on the bed before she sat down herself. Double checking the door was shut, Maria removed her watch and placed it on the bed beside her before she activated her watch computer. Whilst her computer was loading, Maria started to take her hair down – it was beginning to hurt and she wanted the pressure to ease. Once her hair was free Maria ran her fingers through the silky locks a couple of times before she focused solely on her holographic screen that had appeared in all its blue glory.