"Oh it's you. I barely even recognize you." I stare at Thompson, who's sitting on a different table. Overall he looks about the same as the movies but just younger. Like puberty is still working it's way through him. "I could say the same about you, Leed. Out of our whole middle school class, you've grown the most over the summer. Just what the hell did you eat?" He couldn't help but be amazed at my growth. For a long time he's always picked on Peter. Even when I became friends with Peter, the jokes never stopped.
Maybe it was because I was a fat kid, he didn't feel intimidated. "You should ask your Mom. She's the one that's been feeding me every time I come over to see her." A grin grew on my face while Peter's eyes beings to widen in panick. "What did you say?" Thompson got up from his table to try an sound intimidating but everyone in the vicinity had already began laughing. "Woah chill dawg. It's was joke." I put up my hands while trying to 'defuse' the situation. "Just like that shirt of yours. What even is that? Don't tell me you actually spent $100 for white Tshirt with a horse on it." His eyes says they want to come over here and land a punch on me but his actions says otherwise. He swings his backpack over his shoulders and picked up his lunch tray before walking away. "This isn't over Leed!" He mutter belore his breath while walking towards the garbage cans. "That's what your mom said last night!" The roar of laughter from the students near by only made Thompson redder than he already is.
"Ned! What are you doing? That's flash you just made fun of!" Peter finally spoke up after hiding in his shell for the last couple of minutes. "Did you forget what he did to a kid last year?" He grips on to my shoulder with a look of concern in his eyes. He may be Spider-Man once school is over but from 8:30 to 3:30 he's just a regular kid that's always been the outcast.
"H-hey chill Peter. We're in highschool now. Flash can't pick on us anymore. And besides you've always let him roll over you again and again. Maybe he'll stop if he can't get the reactions that he wants anymore." I rest my hand on his shoulder to try and reassure him. "We gotta grow up Peter. The world is changing and so are the people around us. Let this weird summer be the new beginning that you need for our adult life." I gave him a bright smile before picking up my lunch tray to throw away the garbage. Peter could only nod his head before doing the same thing as we both get ready to continue the rest of our school day
BING! On my way to my next class I hear my phone go off. I pull it out and read the notification on my lock screen. A smile grew from my lips as I see Wanda's name. "Hey I just got my license. Want me to come pick you up?" I open up the message to respond back. "I'm in midtown. Are you sure you're ready for NYC traffic?" I walk into my English class and look for a spot at the very back before hearing another notification go off.
"Of course not. That's why I'm using Tony's self driving car when I'm down there. I only want to drive in the country side." A scoff escape from my nostrils as I send her the address for my school. "Just don't crash on your first day baby." I turn my phone on silent just as class was about to start. Honestly the class wouldn't had been so boring if all the students weren't so shy and self-conscious. The lesson was pretty simple. Just a quick two page essay on what we did over the summer and how we feel about transitioning from middle school into highschool.
I was probably one of the first students to turn in their papers. Basically all I did was told a 'normal' version of what happened to me. How I spent the summer at a camp to learn how to tie knots, made my own clothes from scratch, took out some older kids in a game, and jumping off a really really tall cliff into a lake. What I didn't expect was presenting the essay.
As class was coming to an end, the teacher informed us that we are to read and share our essay by the end of the week. Seeing how I want to get this done as over with, I volunteered to go first with my half faked story. Once the bell rung, everyone got up to start heading towards their next class including me. Honestly I've been waiting to start highschool for years now but after what I did this summer, this is all so boring and lackluster. But it's all for Pete's sake because if I'm not there for him, no one will. SIGH. I walk into my last class of the day and my heart nearly skipped a beat. NO FUCKING WAY!
During my last two weeks of the summer I had BMO helped me look for a few certain individuals. POI 002 and 003 we're on the top of my priority list but the real Ned Leed is also on my list. Although he wasn't a priority I still had an itch that he might be real in this world too. So I had BMO look him up for me. They searched through the school district records, US birth records and even internet foot prints for Ned Leeds, Edward Leed or anyone remotely close to his name or psychological profile. I had a lot of results but none of the Edward Leeds that I want. Finding that he doesn't exist within New York was a relief but just who the fuck is sitting in front of me now?
He looks exactly like me-or I guess exactly like Ned. Except he's fit and well built like an athlete. No where as big as me but definitely more built and active than Ned Leeds from the Earth-199999 or was it Earth-616? Fuck this is too confusing for my brain. Anyways I'm now sitting at the back of the class with Peter we both had a fright when we entered the class. He thought they were me so he tried to be casual and do our handshake but he was just left hanging with no response. Peter trying to break out of his shell because of what I said earlier became embarrassed and went to sit at the next last row. You never see the nerds sit at the last row. Ever.
It was only when I came in that Peter got even more confused instead of both confused and embarrassed. I walked over to him with my eyes gesturing towards the sus in sitting in front of us. Somehow, all that the two of us missed him. It was only until now at our very last class of the day, that all three of us are forced to encounter each other. Once the teacher starts to call out the names on the sheet to see who's here I try to perk my ears to listen very carefully. Eventually the call sheet came down to me and then Peter because it always about last names in alphabetical orders. "Shaun?" The teacher calls out without looking up from her list of names.
"Here." The imposter raise his hand before placing it back down. OH FUCK ME.