SPIDER-MAN A NEW WEB CHAPTER 4
by Josie Hook

May

 

Peter's first day of senior year. Wow. Hard to believe it's already here. I still remember the little two-year-old that clung to Ben and myself the first month after the unfortunate death of Richard and Mary. And now here we are, almost 16 years later. I know Chicago's not that much safer than New York but, at least Hellageddon didn't make its way over here. I knew the only way that I could have kept Peter safe in New York was if he gave up Spider-Man and I knew that he wouldn't do it and I wouldn't have made him do it. I had already lost Ben almost a year ago at that point, I wasn't ready to lose Peter. 
 

"Aunt May? Aunt May!" I blink a few times and see my nephew on the ceiling, trying to put his shoes on. 

"You know it might be easier to put your shoes while on the ground, Peter." 
 

"Right!" Peter hops down from ceiling onto the ground. His shoes falling down next to him. Not sure how that worked. Peter puts his shoes on without falling flat on his face. I grab the bag I packed for Peter's lunch. Due to the fact my nephew can produce webs organically which still freaks me out, he needs all the food he can get. I hand Peter the bag as he puts his backpack on. 
 

"Your lunch, Peter."
 

"Thanks Aunt May." Peter takes the bag from me, and I give him a kiss on the cheek. 
 

"Do you have all you need for your first day?"
 

"Yes, Aunt May."
 

"Are you sure?" 
 

"I'm sure." 
 

"Alright then." I give Peter a hug. I really hope he'll adjust okay to going to school in Chicago. 
 

"Be careful. And no Spider-Man outings unless it's an emergency. Got it?"
 

"Yes, Aunt May." I remove my arms from around Peter.
 

"Have a good day. I love you."
 

"Love you too, Aunt May." And Peter's heading to the window.
 

"Peter." I give Peter a look. 
 

"Right!" Peter moves away from the window and goes out the door like a human being. Hopefully, nothing chaotic happens today for Peter. 

 

Chris
 

"Auntie Christy!" Why am I being poked? 
 

"AUNTIE CHRISTY!" My eyes open pop after someone yelling in my ear. I sit straight up and see two of my nephews and one of my nieces in my bed, the 3-years-old troop. 
 

"Good morning, Auntie Christy!" They're lucky that they're cute.
 

"Too early." I mutter. 
 

"Nate, Nel, Aria, off!" All three of them get off of me and I get up. I catch the two 1-year-olds in my doorway. 
 

"Dax, Danica." I manage to walk out of my room with kids on my heels without falling face first onto the floor. 
 

"How about you guys go wake up Uncle Max and Uncle Ferg?" They scamper off into my younger twin brothers bedrooms. One of the benefits of Darren and Blake moving out when they could, the boys get to have their own rooms. I slowly walk to the kitchen to make myself breakfast when I see both Darren and Blake in the kitchen.
 

"Morning." 
 

"Morning to you too, Sasquatch." I turn my head and give Blake a look. 
 

"Funny." I pull out the a bowl and spoon.
 

"Where are your wives?"
 

"At work." I grab out the cereal box and milk. 
 

"Where's mom and dad?" 
 

"At the shop already." I make myself a bowl of cereal and eat it before I go get dressed. 
 

"Ready for first day of senior year, Chris?"
 

"Ready as I'll ever be." By the time I finish my breakfast and go to get ready for school, the munchkins have already woken up the boys. I put my shoes on as the boys, with the kids behind them, drag their asses to the kitchen. I stand up, check to make I have every for my first day including my id, and put my jacket on. 
 

"Uh, Chris. It's still August." I grab my backpack.
 

"I'm aware." Before I even turn around to hug my brothers, the older one's kids are already over me. 
 

"Why do you have to leave, Christy?!?!" All 5 of them manage to say in unison. 
 

"I have to go to school."
 

"Take us with you!" 
 

"Sorry, but you're too young." I bend down to their eye level.
 

"I'll see you after school, alright?" 
 

"Alright." I hug all of them in a group hug. After they disburse, I stand up and hug my brothers. 
 

"Have a good first day of 6th grade." I mess up Max and Ferg's bed heads before I head out the door. I walk down the stairs that leads into the restaurant. 
 

"Bye mom! Bye dad!" I head for the door of the restaurant. 
 

"Be good! And don't get into trouble, Christiana!" 
 

"I won't!" I open the door and hear Chicago. No place like the Windy City. I turn and begin my trek to both Gwen's house and school. Luckily, she doesn't live that far from school. 

 

I stand right outside of her apartment while waiting for her to come out. I look around and don't see Captain Stacy's car. Must have left already. I look around for a while longer before Gwen comes busting out of the door with her stuff. 
 

"Hey, Chris." 
 

"Hey. Ready for our last first day of high school?" Gwen adjusts her bag, music sheets falling out of her bag. I bend down and pick up the music sheets. I stand back up and hand them back to her. 
 

"Here." 
 

"Thanks." Gwen takes them from me and stuffs them into her bag. She closes her bag.
 

"Ready?" 
 

"Yes." We head off. 
 

"So, your dad left early?" 
 

"Well, he is the captain of the Chicago PD." 
 

"Right. Has your dad heard from the New York PD about who killed Batman and Bruce Wayne?" Weird to think that they're both gone even though they died a month ago. 
 

"Nothing that he has told me yet. It was probably a nobody that killed both of them." Hm. 
 

"Oh, Spider-Man's in Chicago now!" 
 

"I know." 
 

"How?"
 

"He came into the pizza shop earlier this month." 
 

"Ah. Did your brothers..."
 

"Oh yea." My brothers, the Spider-Man fans. Curious to see what they would say or do if there was a Spider-Man outing during the school day. Especially on the first day of the new school year. 

 

Richard J. Daley High, home of the Daley leopards. Don't ask. Just entered the school and have already lost Gwen to her band friends. I really should make more friends. Moving on. I head to my locker to put some of my stuff away. I get to my locker, enter my combo, and open it when I hear a voice in a distance coming towards me?
 

"Hey! Look out!" Look out for what? I turn and see a guy running in my direction. Something comes out of his wrist and he falls flat on his face. 
 

"Hi!" The guy moves his hand into more where I'm standing. 
 

"I'm Peter Parker!" I adjust my bag and reach my hand out to shake his.
 

"Christiana Riley. Call me Chris." 
 

"Hey, while you're shaking my hand. Can you help me up?" I adjust my bag one more time before grabbing with my other hand and pulling him up. Peter stands up and why is his hand so sticky? 
 

"Thanks. You're really strong." 
 

"I have brothers." I try to get my hand out of his grip. The hell?
 

"You have a really strong grip...Can I have my hand back?"
 

"Right! Sorry." Peter lets go of my hand and why did it sting that much? I shake out my hand, put the stuff I needed to put in there, and close the door. 
 

"So, Chris..."
 

"Yea?"
 

"You don't happen to work at Riley's, do you?" 
 

"That's my parents shop." I start to head off to class with Peter trailing behind me.
 

"That's cool." Peter keeps trying to make small talk with me until Gwen comes up to us. 
 

"Hey Gwen." Peter and I in unison. He knows Gwen? We look at each other in confusion. 
 

"I see you two have met each other." 
 

"We have." Once again in unison.
 

"How do you know Gwen?" We need to stop talking in unison. Gwen gets in between Peter and I. She turns to Peter first.
 

"I've known Chris since when I moved here before we started 6th grade." She turns to me.
 

"Peter is my friend from New York before he moved here a few weeks ago."

Why does Peter moving here match up with Spider-Man moving here? I look at Peter's face and notice that the lower half of his face matches with Spider-Man's. The sticky hands. I look in the direction we came from and see a web on a box. From the angle, it matches with Peter falling flatly on his face. Webs? I’m really now wondering. Could Peter be Spider-Man?