Peter Parker used to be really excited about school. He was a bookworm, and always looked forward to learning something new. However, during this summer, something changed. He changed.
Now, he felt more like a regular student. Learning wasn't as important as the actual high school experience. Before, he would always have his nose in a book, always trying to get the right answer. Now, he didn't mind going to school, but now Peter was hoping to socialize more, and show off his new physique, courtesy of his spider-enhanced strength. He also felt like he would be accepted more, especially since he had Jimmy as a friend.
My strength and powers have been growing over the past year, Peter thought as he got dressed. But with the extra action this summer as Spider-Man, I think I buffed up a little more. Plus, I don't have to wear glasses any more!
Earlier that summer, Peter had surmised that his glasses were no longer necessary, since his eye muscles had also improved. A visit to the eye doctor confirmed this (although the doctor knew nothing of the spider powers).
Another thing that Peter had to look forward to was his senior year. Only one more year left until he started college. However, that did not bother him, because he was thinking about all of the privileges he would know receive as a senior.
However, this happiness was also matched with some sadness. Because of his inaction, his Uncle Ben was dead, and now would be unable to see him graduate. Peter sighed, and continued getting ready.
Meanwhile, not too far away, in a classy penthouse, Victor Cranston was getting ready for school, same as Peter. He was also thinking of the changes this year would bring. Unlike Peter, he had always been popular, and had many friends. However, this year would be different because over the summer, he had adopted the mantle of the Shadow, handed down from his grandfather, to his father, and then to him.
Now, he would have extra responsibility, but that didn't scare him a bit. Sure, it might cut into some of his free time, but it was all for good.
Victor walked into the kitchen and grabbed a box of cereal out of the cabinet. He poured a bowl and sat down to eat. His grandfather, Lamont, was already sitting at the other end of the table, reading the newspaper.
"So, Victor," he said. "School's back in session. A lot of interesting things are coming up."
"Yes, sir."
"I hope you don't have too many extracurricular activities going on."
"I don't think that the Shadow will be cutting into my life too much."
Lamont leaned in. "About that. I want you to be careful with your duel identity. Don't get careless at school. That is the last place you want to blow it, okay?"
"Yes, grandfather."
Lamont smiled. "Have fun today."
Victor finished his cereal, put his bowl in the sink and walked out of the kitchen. "Bye, Mom! Bye, grandpa!" He put on his coat, grabbed his backpack, and walked out the door.
Ten minutes before eight AM, Peter Parker walked into Midtown High for the first time since June. Almost instantly he was greeted by someone with whom he had spent most of the summer.
"Peter!"
"Jimmy!" Peter replied, turning to face his co-worker. "How have things been the past few days?"
"Good, good," Jimmy answered. "Come one, I gotta introduce you to my friends."
Jimmy and Peter started walking to a group of people standing together beside a wall. Before they could get there, a large boy stepped in front of Peter and Jimmy.
"Well, well," he said. "If it ain't puny Parker."
Peter gritted his teeth. "Davis, leave me alone. Just leave me alone this year."
Davis leaned down and got into Peter's face. "Oooh! Did puny Parker get a backbone this summer?"
"I'm just tired of the crap that you and others like you have given me."
Davis stood straight up again. "But, it's so fun!" he exclaimed, pushing Peter, causing him to fall to the floor.
As Peter stood up, Davis taunted him more. "Oh, you're getting up for more!"
Time to shut this idiot up, Peter thought.
Davis kept laughing, and prepared to push Peter down again. However, before he could touch Peter, he had been punched in the jaw, and found himself on the floor.
Everyone stared at awe at Peter. No one expected him to have that kind of strength or backbone.
"Peter!" Jimmy exclaimed. "What did you do?"
Peter looked down. "Took the hot air out of him."
Davis stood up, barely. He pointed at Peter. "This isn't over, Parker. Not by a long shot!"
As Davis walked off, Peter picked up his backpack. He and Jimmy continued to walk over to the group.
"Hey, nice over there," one of the guys said. "I don't think anyone has stood up to Davis like that!"
"Well, someone had to take him down a notch. Hopefully, he'll leave me alone for a while," Peter said, he held out his hand. "Peter Parker."
The guy shook Peter's hand. "Jason Todd."
"Nice to meet you."
Jimmy spoke up. "And these are the rest of my friends." He pointed to a girl with long blonde hair. She seemed somewhat familiar to Peter, almost as if she had some sort of danger about her. "This is Liz Allen." Peter nodded.
"This is Harry Osborn," Jimmy continued. "His dad's owns Oscorp. And, you've already met Jason. Everyone, this is Peter Parker." Peter felt another stab of unreality. He sensed some sort of danger with Harry, but not like his spider-sense was going off. No, more of deja vu. Again, he snapped out of it fairly quickly.
"It's nice to meet all of you," Peter said. "I'm sure we'll see quite a bit of each other this year."
"So, you work with Jimmy?" Harry asked.
"Since June," Peter replied.
"You're a photographer, too?" Liz asked.
"Yes."
Just then, the bell rang, and everyone looked at their schedules to find out where their homeroom was. Peter saw 'Room 135' written on the schedule. He knew where that was.
"I'll catch you later," he said, walking off.
Only a few yards away, Victor Cranston was talking to his girlfriend Natalie Casswell.
"Senior year," he said. "Are you ready for the challenge?"
"As long as you're beside me," Natalie replied. "Of course, silly. Now stop with the cliches."
Vic smiled. "Okay. Let me see your schedule."
Natalie gave Vic her schedule card. Vic held it beside his own. "Looks like we have three classes together."
"So we do," Natalie replied. "Wish we had more."
"So do I. But, we don't."
"I guess I'll see you third period, then."
"It's a date," Victor said. He leaned over and kissed her. "See you later," he added, walking off.
Peter walked into the computer lab, not expecting much to have changed since his junior year. Sure enough, most of the same people were in there, as well as the teacher. Of course, the class size had been reduced considerably.
Peter slid into a computer station in the middle of the room. He looked around. No one had really changed much over the summer, except him.
Sitting in front of him was a packet. Peter looked at the title: "ADVANCED COMPUTER PROGRAMMING." Hmm, he thought with a smile. Maybe we'll find out how far past 100 the grades go this year.
Meanwhile, at the Daily Planet, Jonah Jameson was standing in Perry White's office, filling the editor-in-chief in on current events.
"I don't believe it!" Jameson exclaimed. "Somehow that jackal has weaseled his way into the ad revenue. He's cutting it!"
"Now, Jonah," Perry said.
"How are we going to keep publishing?!?" Jameson interrupted.
"Well," Perry said, "who's to say it is him? Maybe it just happens to be a bad time for advertisers."
"But did you notice the first set of ads that were stopped? Most of them were connected to him in some way!"
Perry sighed. "Look, it's only a minor decrease. We'll be able to come back from it. I wouldn't start worrying until the ad revenue drops drastically. Now, just head back upstairs, and get back to work, so we can get the next edition out. Otherwise, we definitely will be in trouble."
Jameson walked to the door. "It's not going well, White. Some of the board members want to give in."
"Jonah . . . " Perry warned.
"Okay, okay. I'll find something to do."
It was twelve minutes after nine in the morning. Peter thought he never would get through the class. At least he only had a couple of minutes left.
Normally, he would enjoy a programming class, but the first day is always filled with the usual "rules and consequences." Each year they seemed to get longer and more boring, until finally, when you were a senior, you couldn't help but be on the verge of sleep.
Mr. Visey was in the middle of a sentence when the bell rang. Yes! Peter thought. "Now, students," Mr. Visey said. "Remember to review the packet that was at your station this morning. Provided we get through the rules, we should start using the machines tomorrow."
Peter was out of the room before the last words left the teacher's lips. He has already memorized his schedule, and knew that his next class, physics, was in fourth hall, room 405.
As he was walking through the halls, he saw Flash Thompson.
"Parker!" Flash said, walking over. "Heard about what you did to Davis this morning."
"It was nothing," Peter said, trying to brush Flash off.
"Come, on! Here you are, Mr. Brain, and you knock a guy to the ground. I gotta give you points for that."
"Look, Flash, I gotta get to class."
Flash backed up. "Okay, okay. See ya 'round, Parker."
"Same to you," Peter said.
Peter reached the next class with a fair amount of ease. The teacher had made a seating chart (which most everyone found ridiculous, since they were seniors), and several people were standing at the board trying to figure out where they were supposed to sit.
Peter found his seat. The seat beside his had already been filled.
"Hello," the person said.
"Hi," Peter replied as he sat down. "I take it we'll probably be working together a lot this year. I'm Peter Parker."
"Victor Cranston. You can call me Vic."
"Well, Vic, do you like science?"
"It's okay. Sometimes it gives me a pain. You?"
"If science didn't exist, I probably don't know how I would have spent my life."
"Really?"
"Oh, yeah. Did you hear about the big explosion last year at Doctor Octavius's experiment?"
Victor thought for a while. "I think so."
"I was the kid that got hurt."
"That was you? Now I remember reading it in the paper! I thought I recognized your name," Vic said.
"You might have recognized it from the Daily Planet over the summer."
"Photographer?"
"Yup," Peter replied. "Got most of the Spider-Man exclusives. Me and Jimmy Olsen."
"You like working at the paper?"
"It's cool. But, enough about me. You have a job?"
"Not really," Vic said. "However, my family is fairly wealthy. Fortunately, I haven't really been sheltered or spoiled."
"Wait a minute. Your last name is Cranston, right?" Peter asked.
"Yes."
"Are you related to Lamont Cranston?"
"He's my grandfather. How did you know about him?"
"I saw an old news article about him this summer, or something like that."
"Really? What was it about?"
Peter shrugged. "I can't really remember. I just remember the name."
Vic shook his head. He looked down at his notebook. A few seconds later, he looked back up.
"Say, Peter, what lunch shift do you have?"
"I think I have it first."
"So do I! Maybe we could sit together. I can introduce you to my girlfriend."
"That sounds cool."
Before Peter or Victor could say anymore, the bell had rung again, and the teacher began to talk.
The phone rang at Lois Lane's desk. She picked it up and answered, "Hello?"
"Hello, Ms. Lane?" a male voice asked on the other end of the line.
"Yes, this is she."
"Hi. My name is Barry Slow, and I am running for President."
"Ah, the 'Armed Gorilla' candidate," Lois said, rolling her eyes.
"Yes! So you have heard of me!"
"I'm afraid I have," Lois replied.
"I was wondering . . . if it wouldn't be too much . . . if I could speak with you. Kinda do an interview, maybe help get my campaign some publicity."
Lois stalled. "Well, I don't know . . . . I have to check. My schedule is pretty tight for a while. Plus, I have to check to see there's anything that I may not know about. How about I'll call you when I'm ready. What's your number?"
Slow gave her a phone number, which she wrote down.
"Thanks for calling, Mr. Slow. I'll be in touch."
"Thank you, Ms. Lane," Mr. Slow said.
Lois hung up the phone and sighed. She really didn't like to get involved in third party politics. However, she couldn't just blow this guy off, could she?
It was nearing the end of the period. Peter and Victor didn't really care. The class was the usual first day procedure. The teacher tells you what not to do, and what happens when you do it. No time for real work. At least he had given out the books, and did a couple of demonstrations.
Finally the bell rang. Victor turned to Peter. "What class do you have next?"
"Photojournalism," Peter replied. "And you?"
"Government. It's near your class."
"Yes, it is."
The two left the class and headed upstairs. As they neared first hall, they heard two guys shouting.
"What's that?" Victor asked.
"Sounds like a fight," Peter responded.
As they came closer, they saw a crowd coming up, and the two guys were facing off.
"Look, man!" one of them said. "I've had it with this crap! I'm ending it now!"
Suddenly he pulled out a pistol from his jacket and pointed it at the other guy. Everyone else gasped, and the guy jumped back.
The same thought ran through Peter and Vic's heads. How can I ditch him now to change?
Several administrators came through at that point, and they shoved Vic aside. He used that opportunity to turn invisible. Since Peter was now unable to see his new friend, he ran off to activate his spider-suit.
As he ran back, he saw the gunman raise the gun. Everyone else screamed and ducked. Some brave soul grabbed the gunman's arm. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. Then, Spider-Man heard a gunshot, and the school fell quiet.
Spidey ran faster. Everything in the school was silent. Then, another shot was fired, breaking the silence.
To be continued in Detective Comics #7!