bookbashuk Chapter 3 The Unsettling Journey to School
Chapter 3 The Unsettling Journey to School
Chapter 3 The Unsettling Journey to School
At six o'clock in the morning, the alarm clock rang precisely on time, shattering Peter Parker's sweet dream. He raised his hand and gently pressed the alarm clock down, not smashing it to pieces again.
"Day 22 of overcoming morning grumpiness, great!" Peter patted his face, excitedly got up, got dressed, washed up, and went downstairs.
He saw Aunt May clearing the table in the dining room and asked, puzzled, "Did Uncle Ben oversleep today?"
"Perhaps it wasn't that Ben overslept," Aunt May said, a little younger than Uncle Ben, not yet forty. She rolled her eyes at Peter as she cleared the table. "It's just that someone forgot what day it is."
"Oh! I forgot it's the first day of school." Peter suddenly realized why Uncle Ben hadn't gone running with him. "Is Uncle Ben in the garage?"
"Yes, could you go next door and call Gwen?"
Peter nodded, rubbed his hair, and walked next door. Gwen Stacy was his childhood sweetheart. Because her father, George Stacy, was a single father and a sheriff, he was very busy, so Gwen was mostly taken care of by the Parkers.
However, during the months Peter became Spider-Man, Gwen went on a London trip organized by her middle school for graduates and spent the entire summer vacation in London, only returning yesterday. Peter, on the other hand, couldn't go because he had to undergo Uncle Ben's training and prepare to become Spider-Man, so she was quite unhappy before he left.
Hopefully, the trip to London will lift Gwen's spirits.
"Hey, Peter." Before Peter could even knock, Gwen poked her head out from the second floor. With her messy blonde hair, she asked, "What time is it?"
"It's only six o'clock. This is the first time I've seen you up so early. Looks like you didn't sleep well last night?"
"This is terrible, I'm still jet-lagged, I barely slept all night." Gwen rubbed her messy blonde hair. "Just a moment, I'll be right there."
Peter waited patiently for about five minutes before Gwen opened the door and came out. Her previously messy blonde hair had been combed and secured with a black headband, hanging naturally down to her shoulder blades.
"A turtleneck long-sleeved shirt and jeans, hmm, it seems like London is much hotter than New York."
"Ah... never mind, I don't feel hot anyway. High school doesn't have uniform requirements, right?" Gwen looked at her outfit and then tossed something over: "Here you go, smart kid, this is a gift I brought for you."
"Wow, a deerstalker hat just like Sherlock Holmes's. Did you buy it at the Baker Street souvenir shop?"
"No, I just bought it from a random stall," Gwen joked as she closed the door.
Peter glanced at Stacy's living room: "Where's Uncle George? Has he already gone to work?"
"No, he was busy until the early hours of the morning. I guess he won't have time to drive us to school today, let him sleep a little longer. I'll come to your house for breakfast."
"Perfect timing, Aunt May has made breakfast, Uncle Ben just went to the garage."
Gwen smiled helplessly: "It seems Uncle Ben and Aunt May also know that he should sleep a little longer, or go to bed earlier."
The Parker family's breakfast was simple: a few slices of toasted bread with lettuce and jam, and a fried egg. Uncle Ben washed his hands and went into the dining room only after breakfast was laid out.
"Alright, young people. I'm taking you to Midtown High School today; it's the first day of high school." Uncle Ben sat down and said with a hint of helplessness, "I have to go to work, so I won't be able to attend your opening ceremony. I left a message for George; if he wakes up early, he might be able to make it."
"It's alright, let him sleep a little longer. Let him take care of his own breakfast too." Gwen took a vicious bite of her fried egg, while Aunt May and Uncle Ben exchanged a smile.
Peter didn't say much, quickly finished his breakfast, and then sat down. Gwen ate while glancing at the clock in the dining room.
"Less than two minutes? When did you start eating so fast?"
"It's been like this since summer vacation. Peter has been eating faster and faster. I thought he had suddenly become a glutton," Aunt May said, making the sign of the cross. "Thank God, he just eats faster."
"I need to set aside time to train with Uncle Ben in combat..."
"Wait a minute." Gwen stopped. "You've been training in martial arts this summer?"
Peter paused for a moment, then nodded and gave his prepared excuse: "Yeah, I have to prevent another bully like Culkin from appearing in high school... The worst thing is that Culkin also got into Midtown High School."
Culkin, Peter Parker's greatest enemy since his rebirth, is a tall, white, muscular man who was over 1.8 meters tall in middle school. He is a typical American school bully who plays football and enjoys bullying his classmates, regardless of their background, not just nerds.
To be honest, Peter thought he would only be bullied when he met Flash Thompson, but he met Carl in middle school.
Peter, who hadn't awakened his spider abilities, was naturally bullied several times. Of course, Peter played pranks on them several times with his inventions, and even with Calkin's clever mind, he couldn't figure out who was playing tricks on him.
Even Peter's becoming Spider-Man has a significant connection to Culkin. At the Osborn Technology Show, when the radiation device exploded and chaos ensued, it was this guy who still managed to grab the radioactive spider and place it around Peter's neck.
He was still debating whether or not to become Spider-Man, carefully observing the possibility of the spider appearing on his hand, when Culkin simply placed it on his neck, forcing him to make a choice.
"You'd better be careful. I don't think you can beat Karkin after only two months of fighting training."
Peter laughed dismissively.
"Ha, I'll beat him to a pulp."
"Remember, learning martial arts isn't about causing trouble, it's about protecting yourself," Uncle Ben added instinctively, then realized that was probably the last thing he needed to worry about. He smiled, picked up a napkin, and wiped his mouth. "Alright, kids, get ready to go."
The Parker family's car is a Toyota that's about fifteen or sixteen years old, and the engine is starting to rev a bit slowly. Fortunately, Midtown High School isn't far away, and it only takes about ten minutes to get there in the morning.
In the car, the two were still chatting about Gwen's trip to London, where she had been, and what photos she had taken. Uncle Ben didn't put on any music in the car; he just drove along, listening to the two young people's conversation, and couldn't help but laugh.
It seems like just another ordinary day.
"Uncle Ben! Watch out!" Peter Parker's sharp shout made Ben Parker slam on the brakes. Then, the wall of the building next to them collapsed, and the broken pieces of cement hit the front of the car, missing it by only three or four meters.
Uncle Ben, who had barely escaped death, breathed a sigh of relief and was about to turn around and take another route when he was quickly blocked by a collapsed wall. A huge piece of reinforced concrete smashed the engine of the car behind him, and the driver was so frightened that he opened the door and ran away.
"Get off the bus!" Uncle Ben reacted immediately, shooing the two children off the bus. Seeing a nearby subway station, he shouted, "Get inside the subway station!"
Peter glanced at the building around him; the walls were cracking rapidly. He looked at Uncle Ben and Gwen, then abandoned them and ran as fast as he could.
"Uncle Ben, Gwen, you two hide! I'll go see if there's a safe way out!"
"Watch out!" Uncle Ben warned, then grabbed Gwen's hand and pulled her towards the subway station for safety. Gwen watched Peter running away with his backpack, and was about to say something when she was interrupted.
Why is he running with his schoolbag in his arms?
"I knew becoming Spider-Man meant I'd encounter something like this sooner or later, but the first day of high school? Please!"
He ran quickly through the surrounding alleys with his backpack, and after confirming that there were no cameras or passersby, he took out a web launcher and a mask from his backpack. He then threw the backpack dozens of meters high, jumped onto the wall, and ran upwards while putting on the launcher and mask.
The backpack, thrown to its highest point, began to fall, then was caught on a spider web and pulled in front of its owner. Peter stuffed his T-shirt and sweatpants inside, then took out his gloves, which came with long sleeves, and put them on, pulling them over his shoulders.
The uniform underneath the T-shirt only has short sleeves, which can be zipped up to these gloves. This design was originally made for easy costume changes in the summer and autumn, and I didn't expect it to be used so soon.
First, he put on a glove with one hand, then switched hands to put the backpack on with the other. Finally, he took out the spider belt containing spare spider web solution and other small tools, first holding the belt in his mouth. He then zipped up the backpack, tossed it upwards again, fastened the belt, pulled down the mask, and leaped.
Facing the rising sun, the red and blue hero leaped high from the edge of the tall building, a spider web stuck his schoolbag to the exterior wall of the building, and then ran to the other side and jumped down from the sky.
The whole process happened faster than Peter had expected. He even had time to check the digital watch on his left wrist.
"If I can resolve this within half an hour, Uncle Ben won't be late for work!"
Uncle Ben and Gwen realized something was wrong as soon as they arrived at the subway entrance, because they found that they were not the only ones at this shelter; a large number of people were crowding towards them, and the entrance was already congested.
The surrounding building was in very bad shape; the sound of cracking could be clearly heard.
Amidst screams from some people, Uncle Ben and Gwen saw concrete raining down from the sky—but the screams didn't stop.
Because the falling debris did not hit anyone, they were caught in the net.
Then, a small, rapidly moving shadow enveloped the crowd, and people looked up curiously.
"Is it a bird? Or an airplane?"
"No! Haha, it's Spider-Man!"
Spider-Man, answering his own question, shot countless webs between the two buildings, weaving a vast web in the sky above the street that caught all the falling boulders. Having accomplished this, Peter finally had time to land on the opposite building to observe the situation.
"Alright, let me see what happened?"
His gaze swept across the building that had suffered serious damage, and finally, accompanied by an explosion, Spider-Man saw thick smoke billowing from a certain spot.
That was a bank.
(End of this chapter)