Spider-man: Alone in New York

~ Chapter 2 ~

Slinging my backpack over my shoulders, I decided to exit the apartment through the window rather than take the door. This way, I could avoid May, even though it meant that I wouldn't have food. My stomach was growling on the way to school, but I dutifully ignored it. At least the bruises were healing, now a green instead of a dark blue.

Ned Leeds, my friend, was standing outside next to the railings, waiting for me. "Hey, Peter!" He greeted me, always optimistic. His smile quickly vanished when I came closer to him. "What happened to your head?"

My eyes widened. I had forgotten to check my head wound, and apparently it hadn't healed yet. "Uh... it bled."

Ned snorted. "No kidding, but why did it bleed in the first place?" I grabbed my phone and changed the camera, so it would be in selfie-mode. I moved it around until I got a good look at it. It was much smaller than yesterday but still noticeable. A thin red line was right above my right brow.

"You know, I just... tripped... down the...stairs..." I looked at his face, trying to see if he bought my lie or not.

Ned just looked worried. "Oh okay. At least it doesn't seem too bad. Did it bleed a lot?"

"A little bit." I shrugged, and we started making our way towards the school. Trying to change the subject, I asked, "Anything happen over the weekend?"

"Nah, not much. You?"

I gave him a smile. "I got the Stark Internship."

His eyes widened. "Oh my god, no way! That's awesome! When are you starting?"

I reread the email this morning and apparently I would be starting on Monday, which was today. Why they would send an email so early in the morning on the day of was beyond me, but I didn't dwell on it too long. I got accepted, and that's what mattered. "Today, after school."

"That's so cool! I'm so proud of you." He clapped me on the back, and he gushed on our way to our first period class of what the chances were of me seeing the avengers.

"I'll be working in a different area, so I'm sure the chances aren't high. I'll tell you if I do see one anyways," I assured him, rolling my eyes at his excitement. Maybe one day I could sneak him in with me.

"Penis Parker!" I heard a voice shout, and frustration as well as annoyance took over my emotions. Looking up, I could see Flash making his way towards me, shoving aside any students who were in his path.

I cursed under my breath. I did not want to deal with him. "Come on." I motioned to Ned, grabbing his elbow and leading him through the crowd of students.

"We're running? We never run." A crease formed along Ned's forehead as I dragged him to our class. There, we would temporarily be safe. Key word on temporarily.

"First time for everything, right?" I pushed him into the classroom and then entered it as well. "Good morning, Mrs. Lester." I greeted my teacher who was arranging some of the papers on her desk.

She greeted me with a hello and a smile. "What are you doing here," She glanced at the clock. "Five minutes early?"

"Uh, um, we wanted to..." I trailed off, not knowing what to say.

"Go over our homework with each other," Ned supplied, and I sent him a dark look. Now we would actually have to do that. Mrs. Lester rose a brow at us.

"If that's okay with you?" I added.

"Sure. Tell me if you need any help."

I took my seat in the back, and Ned sat to the right of me. I stuck my hand into my backpack and ruffled around until I found my Precalculus notebook, pulling it out. He did the same, and then we compared our answers. We got them all the same, so we assumed we got everything right.

Ned whispered after we were done, "Why did we run? You know that's going to make everything worse."

I shrugged. "I just didn't have the effort to deal with him." Before I could say anything else, the bell rung, signaling all students to get to class. Flash soon strode into the room and sat down in the front. Ned, Flash, and I all had the same class for Precalc and Gym. I had Ned for two other classes: Robotics and English, and Flash for Physics as well.

Flash turned back to look at me, brought his index finger to one side of his neck and dragged it to the other side and then pointed at me. My eyes widened causing his mouth's sides to quirk up at my reaction.

Ned saw the action and said, "You're so dead." I couldn't help but agree.

The day went by quickly without another encounter with Flash. I knew I was just lucky today, but tomorrow was a different day. Avoidance would be the main method of getting not beat up, but I couldn't avoid him forever. At least I had survived today's school day. One day at a time.

My backpack was heavy on my shoulders, but I needed all of the books for studying and homework. There was not enough time to go to May's apartment, drop off my stuff, and then go to the Stark Tower, so I just went straight there. I used the subway to get to the tower, taking me only ten minutes before I arrived.

Straightening out my shirt and my black jacket, I took a deep breath and entered through the rotating doors. I stuffed my hands into my jacket pockets and approached the front desk. A woman was typing feverishly away on her computer, not even glancing up at me despite the fact that I had cleared my throat twice.

"Hello, I'm here for the Stark Internship," I spoke up hesitantly. Finally, she dragged away her eyes from the computer screen and to me.

She nodded. "One second." Sifting through a bunch of papers, she took out one. "You're Peter Parker, I assume?"

"Yes, that's me."

"Could you show me the email you received?" She asked.

I started getting nervous but pulled out my phone and showed her. She took it and skimmed through it. Was there something wrong with the application? Maybe they sent the email by accident. I knew it. There was no way they would offer me an internship position. I was a fool to believe so.

"Here's your card." She handed me a yellow card with a lanyard attached to it. "Yellow shows others that you are an intern. It will let you in wherever you are permitted to go to. I believe the others are on the sixth floor, so just take the elevator over there. Other than that, you're all set. I hope you have a great start as an intern."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you. Have a good day." I clicked the button for the elevator, waiting for it to arrive, and entered it with two other businessmen. I hit the number 6 while the other two chose 13 and 15. Once the elevator opened at floor 6, I stepped out and took a look around the room. It looked similar to a workshop with a whole lot of electronics. People were talking to each other, huddled over different prototypes. One woman perked up when she saw my entrance and immediately scurried to me.

She shook my hand. "I'm Shawna, and you must be Peter." I bobbed my head up and down mutely. "Here, follow me. I'll show you where you'll be working." She motioned her hand and before taking another glance at all of the hand work tools, I followed her.

She talked while we were walking, "This place is amazing. We all love it here. Since you're a little bit younger than usual, we can't let you work in the workshop."

My brows raised. "Oh...." It looked so... fun. I was excited to work there, but apparently I wouldn't be able to?

"Don't worry. You also have an important job. You'll order any materials once they run out, write a brief summary regarding what each device we built does, and answer any request for a new tool or material." She opened a door once we reached the end of the hallway and pushed it open. Inside was a simple office room with a desk, computer, and a chair. "Log on using this username and password and just follow the instructions." She handed me a paper.

"Thanks," I muttered, disappointed.

"You're part of the team now! Congrats!" She smiled at me before leaving the room, closing the door on her way out. Sighing, I dropped my backpack on the floor under the desk. I sat in the chair and discovered it had wheels. At least it was a wheely chair, but that didn't really help my deflated mood much. Turning on the computer, I began my work. Part of the team, what a joke.