Hunted [1]

~ Twelve ~

"Hey, Ned!" Peter called as he saw his friend outside the school, looking at his phone. "Ned, quit looking at your phone, I'm here!"

Ned looked up, probably wondering who was calling him when he saw Peter. A grin lit up his face.

"Pete!" he yelled, making the people around him give him disgruntled looks, not unlike the ones Peter had gained. "Hey, how are you doing?"

"I'm - I'm good, yeah," Peter nodded, smiling happily at the boy in front of him. "I'm - yeah. I'm sorry I didn't tell you anything before I left - for, how long was it -"

"A month, two weeks, one day, three hours, fifty six minutes and five - six - seven - eight seconds. Nine," Ned filled in.

"You've seriously been keeping track of how long I've been gone?" Peter asked, stifling a giggle. "Dedication, dude, dedication."

"I've missed you, Pete," Ned said quietly. "It's been different without you. Strange. Flash hasn't let up any since you've been gone - actually, I'm pretty sure he's angry that you haven't been in so he can take his frustrations out on you."

"Sorry, buddy," Peter said sympathetically. "I honestly would've come in if I could, but there was an," he lowered his voice slightly, "Avengers mission. I needed to go on it."

"Woah, seriously?" Ned gasped. "That's awesome! Tell me everything -"

~~~

"You know," Ned brought up at lunch, "that Green Goblin dude, the one that Spidey put in prison?"

Normally Ned would've said Peter had put him in prison, but Michelle was sitting at the table and despite the fact that she probably already had worked out Peter's identity, they could never be too careful.

Peter gulped at Ned's question; for some reason thinking about the Green Goblin gave him chills.

"Yeah?" Peter replied, tilting his head slightly. "Why?"

"You know he got out, maybe one and a half months ago, right?" Ned continued. Peter nodded, allowing the boy to go on without anymore interruptions. "I feel bad for Harry. You... remember him?"

"Remember Harry?" Peter laughed. "Of course I remember him, Ned, we were best friends in first grade."

"Isn't it horrible for him though?" Ned whispered, keeping in mind the tables nearest to them. You never knew when people were listening. "His dad got turned into this massive monster who's terrorising people."

"Yeah, I guess," Peter said slowly. "Although I personally believe that old Gobby was always evil. Just because you got turned into something doesn't mean you change the way you are, right? I mean, look at me!"

Apparently he said the last part a bit too loudly, because Flash walked past and snorted.

"I think you're still a massive nerd, Parker," Flash taunted. "You been ditching school? Bit of a rebel, aren't you, Parker? Well, we'll have to sort that out, won't we?"

Him and his friends cracked their knuckles.

Peter felt his eyes grow wide at that word.

Parker.

He slowly backed away, sliding on the bench to the other side of the table, where Michelle was.

"Hey, loser, you okay?" she asked in her usual tone - as though she didn't care.

Peter quickly turned his head to her, panicking.

"W-who are you?" he stuttered. "Please, please don't hurt me! I promise I'll be good! I swear!"