5

The flight had only been about nine hours, but Peter was sure it was at least double that. The entire time, he was unable to stop thinking about MJ sitting next to Brad, Brad sitting next to MJ, and them watching movies together through a dual headphone adapter and laughing.

And then there was Mr. Harrington.

At least he had slept through most of the flight, but still. Peter’s idea of a good trip did not include having Mr. Harrington’s head on his shoulder while listening to the teacher snore in his left ear.

By the time they landed at the Venice Marco Polo Airport, Peter was ready to leap right off the plane. When he exited the stuffy metal tube, he swore that things would be different on the return flight.

As he entered the terminal, Peter saw Ned, and hurried over to his best friend.

“Hey, man. Did you see Brad and MJ on the plane?” Peter asked. “They were watching movies and laughing the entire time.”

Ned gave Peter a reassuring look. “Dude, don’t worry, okay? I’m sure that’s nothing,” he said, sounding nonchalant.

Peter wondered how Ned could be so sure that it was nothing, as Betty walked up to them. Actually, it was more like she walked up to Ned.

“Hey, babe,” she greeted him.

“Huh?” Ned replied, casually, as if having one of the prettiest girls in school approaching him was commonplace.

“Can you hold this for me, please?” Betty requested, handing Ned her purse.

Peter watched as Ned responded, “Yeah, of course.” Then Betty thanked him, gave Ned a kiss, and walked away.

“What was that?” Peter questioned, completely confused by the exchange.

Ned looked at his best friend, and explained. “Uh, well, we actually got to talking on the plane, and it turns out, we have a lot in common. So, uh, we’re boyfriend and girlfriend now.”

JUST LIKE THAT?! Peter thought. His head hurt. WHAT ALTERNATE UNIVERSE IS THIS?

“Whatever happened to being an American bachelor in Europe?” Peter challenged, throwing Ned’s words back at him.

Suddenly, Ned puffed up a little. “Peter, those were the words of a boy,” he lectured his friend. “And that boy met a woman. A very strong and powerful woman. And now, that boy’s a man.”

“Babe?” Betty called out.

“Coming, babe!” Ned answered, and hurried away to join his new girlfriend.

Peter wondered if maybe the plane hadn’t been pressurized properly.

The other students had already moved through customs, and were gathering for the boat ride to Venice. Peter waited patiently for his turn. When the time came, he set his suitcase down on a table, and opened it up.

The customs agent looked at the open suitcase, and then glared at Peter.

“There’s nothing in there. I swear,” Peter promised, seriously hoping there was nothing in there.

That’s when he saw the note:

YOU ALMOST FORGOT THIS!♥MAY

The note was right on top of his Spider-Man costume.

His Spider-Man costume.

The one he wasn’t going to take. The one he didn’t pack.

The one May had packed for him anyway.

It was precisely this kind of moment that Peter had always feared. Blowing his secret identity in the most public way possible. His heart sped up.

How was he going to explain this? What, they’re just pajamas？！

That was when the customs officer reached into the suitcase, and pulled out a banana.

“This, no,” she declared in English, confiscating the banana. Then she pushed the suitcase toward Peter.

He thanked her profusely, and closed the suitcase. He couldn’t believe his good luck. Apparently the customs officer didn’t want to know—or didn’t care—why a teenager would be traveling around the world with a Spider-Man costume.

Either way, Peter closed the suitcase, and hurried on his way to join the others.

As he walked, he thought about the banana and wondered if it was the same one that May had thrown at him earlier, and he had just forgotten to take it out of the suitcase? Or was it an entirely different banana that May had put in there as a joke? Either way, she was driving his bananas.

Peter moved past the other travelers, and soon caught up with the rest of his class. “Sorry! I’m here! Mr. Harrington! Here, here!” he told his teacher.

Mr. Harrington turned around, and a look of relief washed over his face. “Where? Wai—Wai—What? Oh. Thank goodness,” Mr. Harrington said. It was never good to start a class trip with a student disappearing in a foreign country.

“There we go!” Mr. Dell affirmed. With their missing member’s return, the group hustled out of the airport.

The water taxi ride from the airport docks to the Venice city center was actually pleasant, and Peter probably would have enjoyed it more if Brad hadn’t been on the boat.

But Brad WAS on the boat.

He was going to be there for the entire trip.

How was Peter going to follow through with his plan for MJ with Brad around the whole time?

“Looks like we’re here!” Mr. Harrington announced as they arrived at their hotel. “And they’re doing some renovations to the place. Gettin’ some upgrades.”

This was probably a good thing. From the outside, the place looked like a wreck. There was scaffolding in front of the building, and it looked like nothing had been repaired in a hundred years. At least. Peter hoped against hope that things might look a little different on the inside.

He took one step through the doorway and realized it did look different.

It looked worse.

“This is trash,” proclaimed one student.

“That must be the concierge,” Mr. Harrington said, ignoring the student. “Everyone, here we are!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Mr.Dell protested as he entered and saw where they were supposed to stay. There were boards on the floor, indicating a rough path where people could walk. Below that was water. It looked like the entire lobby was slowly flooding with several inches of water.

“Whoa!” Mr.Harrington echoed.

“Tell me we’re not staying here,” Betty complained as she looked around, surveying the damage.

“This place is sinking,” Flash pointed out.

“I think you mean ‘charming,’” Mr. Harrington corrected, trying to turn public opinion around.

Betty wrinkled her nose. “Ugh, it stinks. Do you smell that?”

Mr.Dell tried to rally the troops. “Okay, everybody, drop your bags off. We’re gonna meet at the Da Vinci Museum at three. Let’s go!” Anything to get their minds off this dump.

“Oh, what’s that smell?” Betty repeated.

“Vamanos!” Mr. Harrington encouraged.

MJ looked at Mr. Harrington. “It’s ‘Andiamo,’” she scolded, knowing the proper Italian phrase for Let’s go.

Mr. Harrington said nothing.

As the students splashed their way across the boards to the stairs and headed toward their rooms, Mr. Dell resignedly accepted their situation. “When in Rome, you do as the Romans do. When you’re in Venice, your socks get wet.”

A bunch of wet socks.

Peter thought that summed up the trip pretty well.