7

Peter and Ned made a plan to meet up later that night so May could drive them to Liz’s house. Ned leaned up from the backseat and whispered so May wouldn’t hear. “Just make an appearance, slip out, and come back in as you-know-who.”

Peter was wearing the Spider-Man suit under his clothes, and thinking about the plan made him tug at his sleeve again to make sure his shirt fully covered the bright red costume.

“What are you whispering about?” May wanted to know. “A girl?”

“No, it’s not—it’s nothing,” Peter said.

May looked into the backseat, taking in Ned’s outfit and his fedora. “Ned, some hats wear men. You wear that hat.”

Ned beamed. “Yeah. It gives me confidence.”

Liz’s house was in a ritzy part of Forest Hills. As they pulled up, they could hear music from the party. “Aw, I miss these,” May said.

Ned clapped Peter on the shoulder. “It’s gonna be a night to remember.”

Peter wasn’t feeling nearly as excited. “This was a mistake,” he said. “Let’s go home.”

“Are you kidding? Go have fun.” May made a shooing gesture. When he still didn’t move, she got a mischievous expression and said, “Look, I know it isn’t easy. Trying to fit in ... while your body is changing ... flowering.” May grinned.

Peter rolled his eyes. She was teasing him to get him out of the car. “The urges you feel are totally natural,” she added.

“Okay, all right,” Peter said, getting out of the car before she could really embarrass him.

“Peter,” she called after him. He stuck his head back in. “Seriously. Try to have fun, okay?”

He nodded and they shared a smile. Then Peter and Ned walked up to the house and inside, feeling the thump of the bass. A DJ was somewhere inside the house, and every room was crowded with cool, older kids. Peter and Ned stayed close to the wall, not sure where to go. “Okay,” Ned said. “Just have Spider-Man swing in and say you guys are tight. And he can give me a fist bump or one of those bro half hugs.”

“This is crazy.” Peter shook his head. They were out of their league and he wanted to go home. But instead, they kept going deeper into the party until they nearly ran smack into Michelle.

“I can’t believe you guys are at this lame party,” she said.

“You are, too,” Peter pointed out.

“Am I?” she responded. Then she wandered off. Peter and Ned exchanged a look. Michelle was pretty weird sometimes.

Peter turned to see that Liz had walked up. “Hey, guys,” she said with a bright smile.

“Oh, hey, Liz,” Peter said. He was trying to act cool, but he was flustered, so he wasn’t really pulling it off. “Grice party—I mean, great party, very nice.”

“Thanks. I thought you’d be studying.”

Ah. She was still mad at him about the Academic Decathlon team. Peter didn’t know what to say, but thankfully Ned jumped in to save him. “Sick house! I can’t believe your parents let you have a party here!”

“Well, they feel guilty for working all the time,” she said. “So I get to throw a party, and they get an excuse to work late again.”

“That’s cool. I mean, not that they’re always working, just the ... party portion ...” Peter forced out another sentence.

Again, Ned came to the rescue. “Peter’s aunt works a lot, too. So you have that in common.”

“Yeah,” Peter said. “That is a common ... ality.”

Liz glanced over at her friends, then back at Peter. “Cool,” she said, clearly feeling the awkwardness of the situation. “Well, have fun.”

She headed off to rejoin her friends. “Dude, what are you waiting for?” Ned asked. “She’s right there! Spider it up!”

“No way,” Peter said. “Spider-Man isn’t some party trick. I’m not doing it.”

“Hey, Parker!” Flash Thompson’s voice boomed through the DJ microphone. “Where’s your buddy, Spider-Man? Let me guess, fighting crime in the Niagara Falls area?”

All the cool kids laughed at Peter. He looked over at Liz, who avoided eye contact. Clearly, she was embarrassed. Peter was definitely embarrassed, too. And angry. Mostly angry. Maybe Spider-Man would put in an appearance after all, just so Peter could watch Flash Thompson shut up for once.

He left the room where Flash’s DJ equipment was set up and found his way through Liz’s house to the backyard. After checking to make sure nobody was looking, he climbed up onto the roof and stripped off his outer layer of clothes, muttering to himself. What would he say as Spider-Man? That he was just swinging by? No, that was stupid. The whole plan was stupid.

He started putting his clothes back on. Then he heard a boom in the distance. He saw a burst of purple energy. Just like the blast at the ATM booth.

Peter put on his Spider-Man mask. The suit activated, and the lens display pinpointed the location of the energy blast. It was near an old bridge about a mile away.

He could get there in no time at all. uZBVzsivlRbl2spYpb/cocu9tvg6ynt8a1gi2eXmruoaYdt5sAAFBcGILhSe65hC