Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Today is unfortunately not a good day. The skies are dim and there are puddles on the road, the subway stairs are slippery, the coffee shops are all occupied, and the taxis are stuck in the traffic. The rain is pouring really hard in the city, and it is currently giving Spider-Man a hard time to deal with the robbery on this bank across the street. If you are actually at the location where the fight is happening, you can hear the soles of their suit’s shoes squeak whenever they leap over the group of men holding the civilians hostage as they run towards Spider-Man’s figure with a crowbar raised to the ceiling. Due to the fact that the burglars charging forward are visibly pissed at this web head for ruining another heist that they probably tried to come up with for weeks, their failed momentum gave Spider-Man the chance to slide in between their legs, throw a web grenade in their position, and kick them against the wall.

“Thor, Hulk! Good to finally meet you, guys!” Spider-Man exclaimed with so much enthusiasm as they effortlessly grabbed the fist of the agitated robber who seems to be wearing a cheap plastic mask of the blond god’s features, supposedly rushing to strike the web head straight in their face. “I read a new published volume of your comic the other day and I honestly thought you guys would be more nice in person,” the web head added as they pushed the man’s arm backwards, making the “Hulk” guy behind him hold their nose and groan in pain before executing a solid strike themselves in “Thor’s” face.

Spider-Man’s eyes through the mask widened at the sight of their mentor appearing in the scene with a shotgun in his hands, pointing its muzzle towards their figure as they hang upside down from the bank’s beam. “Wait, Iron Man? What are you doing robbing a bank? You’re a billionaire, right?”

Spider-Man tilts their head to the side as soon as this masked individual pulled his weapon’s forearm, causing the muzzle to blast against the wall instead. Both “Iron Man” and Spider-Man turned their head towards the damage they both caused for aiming and dodging at the wrong area for a moment, with Spider-Man giving him a light shrug before they used their web to grab the comb of the shotgun and hit the ‘famous superhero’ by the butt of the weapon against his head at the end.

“Come on, you know this isn’t nice! Stealing from other people, we were already taught not to do this when we were kids!” Spider-Man responded with a muffled sigh before ducking instantly, mouthing a soft ‘oh no!’ when another guy tries to hit their head from the back in hopes of catching the web head off guard.

Spider-Man drops their frame to the floor, their clothed fingertips precisely touching the cold tiles as they try to get a better perspective of the scene, and when they did, they started to web both of his wrists before performing another somersault to wrap the connected web around the aggressor’s neck and gave all their strength to pull its body backwards to incapacitate him for a couple of minutes.

“Honestly, I should be upset with you guys for trying to gang up on me and these innocent people, but I– Hey, hey, no, you won’t!” Spider-Man whinged in pain as they struggle to pull the desk away that was pushed towards the civilians’ direction, making them all cry in unison.

“As I was saying, I get where you’re all coming from but come on, I know that we can all do something better than this! How about I write your names down for the next National Meat Association gathering? Heard they need a lot of men with good hands there! They definitely need your help!”

You could tell that the web head clearly looked uncomfortable in their current situation, their suit was drenched in rain water this morning after swinging all the way here from uh, who knows where they actually came from? The web head currently smells like rotten roof, wet soil, and a rubber soaked in moss water for weeks, and they are aware of it. Every time Spider-Man locked their eyes with this pretty banker who’s currently looking at them with so much hope to end this crime without any harm; their head bobbles as their cheeks starts to heat up, taking five steps away from her area immediately to avoid bad impressions. Although we are all aware that Spider-Man rarely gets sick with the help of their quick healing factor, the air conditioner inside the bank is definitely going to give them the most horrible cold to deal with once they wrap this whole mess up. Spider-Man keeps pulling their spandex away from their bare skin in between the punches they receive and they also successfully dodge, hoping that it’ll help them and their suit to dry off faster.

“Guys, I am so sorry but as much as I want to keep you company, I have to dry off, pick up a lunch delivery and go to school so let’s wrap this up! You should go home and maybe do the same thing! Maybe not the school part, unless you all still go to school? That’s good, I guess?” Spider-Man performed another flip when a huge arm tries to grab them to tackle them down, sticking to the wall as a reflex while shaking their head in pure disbelief. The web head started planting trip webs in every pillar that helps the bank hold itself together and shouted for the last time. “I can’t really do anything to change your mind, huh? Alright then, I guess you can have it your way.”

The faces of the worn out burglars from all the beating they received from Spider-Man could barely keep their eyes open and keep themselves on guard, but all of their eyes widened at once when they noticed the blinking devices stuck in the corners. “I forgot to mention that this thing is gonna dissolve in a couple of hours or probably more than that, so try to hold yourself up in the air for as long as you can until our friends shows up, okay? I am so sorry, and take care when you get bailed!” Spider-Man said with a cheeky tone before they waved at everyone and zipped out of the scene. Next thing you know, the burglars are all stuck to the wall like what Spider-Man did, except they are all stuck onto the wall against their will while the sirens starts ringing, closer and closer towards the crime scene.

“Shit, shit! What time is it?”

A mysterious red figure slid themselves successfully on someone’s house through their window, immediately throwing their mask across the room before they started hopping all around the area while struggling to pull their boots off from their feet. The squelch noise as soon as the wet spandex drops on to the floor gave them a sour face, revealing a young woman in her sports bra and wet boxers approaching what appears to be her mother’s minimalist cupboard in the kitchen, pulling out a pack of instant noodles from the shelf and switching their electronic kettle on before she started skipping her way to their bathroom.

Few strands of her damped and ruffled bangs were poking her in her eyes, but it is the least of her many concerns at this moment. She couldn’t help but grumble while brushing her teeth. She just lost her new backpack, she’s probably late to her physics class by now, she also promised her mother that she would pick up her favourite Thai food this morning and she doesn’t even know how she would hide the bruise sitting on her cheekbone once they meet. She got hit by a bike? Does that sound really believable? Fell from the bike? Okay, but her mother will start asking who is she hanging out with and she doesn’t have the heart to continue lying to her anymore; secretly being the city’s masked hero already holds a heavy space in her chest.

The young woman, now wearing a red sleeved with cream based cardigan, a thin striped white polo shirt, wide black pants, and white converse starts descending from the overpass stairs and continues to jog her way towards the field of Rockbridge Falls, a part of her shaggy wolf cut perfectly covering the gash in her cheek. She carried on coming up with excuses for the time being, like did she hit herself by the flag pole while walking? That sounds like she is being way too careless with herself. Fell from her bed? A book fell on her way and it perfectly sliced her face? How about something serious, like what about juvie? God, no. That would put her in so much trouble.

Her cloud of thoughts dispersed when a loud thud was heard in the hallway caused by the school’s famous football team when they started running inside, shoving these two girls aside as it appears that they both blocked their way to the entrance of the classroom while the young woman enters the main gate. In case you didn’t know, Rockbridge Falls is literally the varsity’s empire. No one knows the reason why either, but everyone in the area would wish that they actually hit themselves at the flag pole at this point if they were on these girls’ shoes, but the girls couldn’t care less. It’s not like anyone around them would care about what just happened to them either, except for this young woman.

When the scene ended, she carefully placed her textbooks in the nearest vacant seat that she could find and tried to settle in comfortably, but her feet stood herself up quickly when the same girls who got shoved earlier finally entered the room after everyone else did, causing the stack to collapse again on the back of her hands. “Holy shit, are you guys okay?”

“What? Yes, Hazel, Why wouldn’t we be okay?” The girl with her high ponytail shot right back with a hint of annoyance in her tone. Hazel’s frame slowly sunk back to the seat, but her eyes never left the girl’s figure as she watches her take the chair in front of her.

“Hey, the prep club worked really hard on those flyers, PJ! That belongs to the school.” The other girl right next to Hazel retorted as they both watch PJ crumple the paper sitting on her desk with a mantra that says ‘Go, Jeff! Go!’ before throwing it back to the table, responding back with, “That’s really cool, Annie. I guess so does your vagina.” as she pulls her notebook binder out from her backpack.

To this, Annie let out a scoff before she proudly implied what seems to be her truth as she faced forward and started clicking the button of her pen. “Nice try, PJ, but my vagina actually belongs to the government.”

“Alright kiddos, welcome back to class! Today, I got a special lesson for all of you. Check this out.” Mr. G announced as he sat in front of his own table to face his students, rubbing his palms together before placing it on his lap and started looking around the room.

“During summer, we volunteered on workshops. Looked for summer jobs. Babysat someone else’s child that must’ve been really annoying. Went through puberty. All that I mentioned were one step closer to adulthood—you, you are all one step closer to adulthood, and this, this is your last stage... Senior year. To get back into the school spirit, why don’t you tell the rest of the class how things went for you during summer?”

It didn’t take too long before the PA speaker inside the classroom started to chime, followed with a static feedback that went on for a minute. Everyone in the class, including Mr. G, looked up as they all anticipated for the following statement when they heard the principal clear his throat.

“Hello, this is Principal Meyers with an important Huntington update. I advise you to pay attention and continue listening to this girl.”

“Last night, outside the fair, a Huntington player followed me home.”

Everyone started looking and murmuring at each other. Many students were confused, there were also students who looked frustrated. There were students who still couldn’t wrap their heads around what they just heard, and the rest were genuinely scared, including your friend.

“They pinned me against my car and punched me in my face... and now my face is totally fucked.”

“They’re gonna pork us!” Sylvie cried out as she grabs the back of her cap and fell back into her chair dramatically, the emotions in her eyes looking visibly stressed before shutting it closed. “We’re fucked!” She added.

“No, we’re not, Sylvie.” You whispered as you turned your frame to her direction and reached your hand out to hold her arm firmly, looking at her with conviction. “They’re not gonna get to us, the school will definitely do something about it to keep others safe.” You stretched your neck out in the open to look at Mr. G’s direction, hoping you wouldn’t find yourselves being scolded in front of everyone in a minute before looking back at her. “Can you calm down?”

“Hey, hey, calm down just a little bit,” Mr. G says with his hands raised to settle down the rest of the students who are starting to panic, his head jerking twice towards the doorway before his eyebrows furrowed in confusion and worry. “Hey, you good, man?”

The whole class fell in silence when Mr. G spoke once again, finding themselves looking at the sight of Rockbridge’s famous quarterback player, Jeff, struggling to enter the class in a crutch.

“We haven’t faced the violence of Huntington for twenty years. They think they can get our heads by picking on our weak and defenseless.”

Everyone sat still. PJ and the girl sitting beside her who appears to be Josie looked at him, petrified. Annie looked disgusted when Jeff’s ass almost got in her face in the skimpy space between the seating arrangement, Hazel was speechless, and you were still holding on Sylvie’s arm as you both watch him struggle to proceed walking further in horror. You can also hear the whispers of the students on your left, asking what might’ve happened to him and if he’s doing alright.

This situation has started to make you wonder now. If a jock like Jeff with big arms, trained strength, basically a huge guy who is much more capable of defending himself from any possible assault similar to this shocking news compared to you who has no athletic abilities at all; still got attacked and paid so much price to make it through, then how bad is it going to be for the rest of the Rockbridge students, especially you? Chills started to run down into your spine.

Tim rolled his eyes before he leaned forward on his desk, his gaze were locked in Josie’s direction. “Great, more violence. Just what this school needs.”

“Hey, hey! Hey, you! Overall bitch.” Jeff furiously whispered to catch Josie’s attention as he carefully sat on the stool in the last row. No one really knows what happened between the three of them that creates this massive tension surrounding the classroom, but hoping that this whole interaction comes to an end sooner than she wished for, Josie finally turned her head around to look at the both of them with dead eyes.

“This is you.” Jeff pulled a conical flask from an open storage behind him and slammed it against the corner of the desk he shares along with his teammates, causing a loud disturbance in the room that made everyone gasp, startled Josie, and Mr. G sigh in defeat. “Goddamnit, Jeff! What the fuck?”

“Well, we can’t let them break our spirit, folks! Keep your heads in the game.”

The school bell starts ringing. What remains of the flask was used to present as a weapon by Jeff who is metaphorically slicing his own throat as we speak, signifying that Josie is dead to him while Mr. G continues to complain in the background. PJ on the other hand, completely oblivious of the following action, was in complete disbelief as she watches all the students pack up and leave. “Seriously, that’s it? That’s the whole class?”

Hazel’s eyes travelled across the room to look at your remaining classmates before her gaze finally met Sylvie’s, who is still holding onto her cap as she looks back at Hazel, looking more terrified than earlier. You took a deep breath as you release Sylvie’s arm from your grip, you straightened your back and pulled your bag that is hanging at your seat’s backrest, while Hazel at the front let out a soft sigh to herself as she starts to stack her books once again. “Oh, man, we’re screwed.” she grumbled under her breath.

Jeff ordered Tim to pick up his cold coffee cup just right in front of him after grabbing his crutch leaning against the wall, turning towards his teammate sitting on his left before he speaks again with an authoritative tone. “And you? Get my shit.”

Just when Hazel was about to leave, she was the one who got shoved this time as the varsity exits the room. “Move, nerd.” Jeff grumbled, causing an uproaring reaction to the rest of the boys following him and made them laugh. Hazel groaned at the sudden contact but she gathers herself right away as she stood up from the desk she was shoved into and quietly followed the players to the door, hugging her textbooks closer to her chest as she slowly and completely disappeared in the scene.

“I take it back. You can freak out again because so will I.”

Your sudden actions snapped Sylvie back to reality. Her eyes blinked a few times, making sure that what she is currently seeing and what is currently happening really is true. You didn’t even need to hear an actual question from her, you just pressed your lips together as you shook your head before slinging the strap of your backpack to your shoulder, waiting for Sylvie to do the same thing. You are serious about this.

“Yeah, forget everything I have said. I don’t think the school is planning to combat the hunt of Huntington—as corny as it sounds—but to just face them with the so called ‘viking’ spirit, have you seen what just happened? Three students were shoved for no reason and one of them were even threatened, we are not making out of this school alive. Rockbridge can barely keep all of their students in the same room.” You continued.

“Wait, really? I mean don’t get me wrong dude, I’ve seen it all and I am not against this decision, at all, but I already miss the moments where you were so positive about being safe in Rockbridge. It sounds like we really are getting porked tomorrow...” Sylvie says as she starts skipping few of her steps to keep up with your pace as you both rush to leave the room, with the both of you being really eager to leave the institution as soon as possible and you also wanted to leave some privacy for PJ and Josie who are currently being confronted by the cheerleaders.

You rubbed the pads of your fingers against your temple before you turned your head to look back at Sylvie’s direction, chuckling as you shrugged. “But I am being positive! This is me being positive. I still have so much to live for so I’d rather stay out of trouble. Dude, remember when our homecoming was announced and was also cancelled three times in a row because of the same threat? We are already in our senior year, I need to make sure I’ll actually make it this time!” You exclaimed, the excitement can almost fill you up. “That is, if we are still alive.”

“And even if we are still alive, who are you going with anyway?” Sylvie asked. Your chuckle became dry and your expression immediately fell.

You haven’t gone that far with the idea yet, you just always wanted to go. To you, it wouldn’t make things any less fun if you went with any guy; you never even thought about any guy catering your happiness on that special night, you just wanted to keep a memorable experience before highschool is over. We are talking about Homecoming! ‘Who are you going with, anyway?’ You tried to come up with all the boys you have talked to for the past three years, none of them comes into your mind but Sylvie.

You wanted to throw something at Sylvie, like a pillow, a crumpled paper straight at her forehead, or the Empire State Building that can make her groan to give you the satisfaction, but all you can give to her right now is a glare. “Great, thanks for reminding me that no one likes me.”

“Come on, we were never worried about homecoming so this was just a surprise. Does anyone still care about homecoming at this point?” Sylvie asked once again.

“Highschool is not highschool if you never experienced homecoming!” You whined in frustration. “I don’t know... whatever.”

“Actually, do you want to go together? My stepfather has this suit that he continues to pester my brother about, maybe he will finally shut up if I use it instead.” Sylvie continues to ask before finishing her sentence with a proud laugh and an awkward thumbs up. “Looks pretty cool to ignore it too! Oh, wait...”

You turned back around to face Sylvie and cut her rambling off as you both make it past the exit door and walk towards the field, a shimmer of hope now glowing beneath your eyes. “I am already planning to cut some of my classes next week, do you want to join me?”

“Josie, did you see the way Isabel and Brittany were looking at us? Also, you heard the students, you heard the announcements! Girls are terrified, it’s perfect! They need this!” PJ exclaimed as she walks back and forth at the second level of the bleachers in the field, with Josie shaking her head numerous times as she tries to read her opened textbook in her lap. “Okay, no. They need, like, a mace, maybe. We can’t do that, okay?”

“I can’t believe they’re really letting you guys start a fight club.” Hazel said as she wiggles her shoes while poking the pineapples in the corner of her lunch box, her clothed legs were sitting apart on the fifth level while she plopped herself in the concrete attached to the stairs, smiling warmly as she watches PJ and Josie.

“No, they’re not...” Josie says as she shook her head while looking at Hazel. “They’re not, we’re not—we are not doing that, at all. We’d be misleading them!” She clarifies as she turns to PJ’s direction with her arms constantly making an X sign.

“Why not? Guys do that all the time! That’s the whole point of feminism.” PJ argued, and to this, Josie has her hands in her face now. “What? That’s not the point of feminism! You also don’t care about feminism, your favorite show is Entourage!”

“You’re missing the point!” PJ blurted out before she started to throw her fists in the air. “Listen, self-defense is instinctual common sense! You try to punch me in the face, I stop it from happening. Easy! Whatever! That’s just how it’s gonna go.”

Hazel proceeds to nod as she carefully pulls her notepad in between the books she stacked beside her frame, clicking her pen and starts scribbling in silence while Josie continues to disagree with the idea. “No, I don’t think I am. We don’t really know how to fight.” She added as she shook her head with a defeated smile.

“Crashing a car against Jeff was a really good start on fighting back.” PJ countered as her hands moved forward to present nothing but her point towards Josie’s direction. This has caused Hazel to stop what she’s writing and let out a loud gasp on what she just heard. “Oh my god, you guys hit him with your car?”

“Okay, I didn’t hit him, I was trying to ‘move’ my car from the parking lot! He was in the ‘way’ and he wouldn’t move!” Josie replied as her hands moved forward and presented nothing but her point this time towards the both of them, the tone of her voice was visibly mixed with guilt. “I was also being peer pressured!”

“Didn’t you also have a broken arm the other day?” Hazel asked, hoping she could gain some information for her own excuses. Her eyes lit up when she was given the floor to continue asking, given by the way the other two fell silent. “Was it spy camp? Or was it something different?” She continued, not wasting any moment. “Did you get jumped? Something like juvie?”

“Maybe it really was from Juvie, genius.” PJ agreed with a mocking tone.

Hazel gasped once again, her heart is also content from the fact that PJ called her a genius. “Oh my god, you went to Juvie?”

“Josie... Listen to me.” PJ placed her leg on the third level of the bleachers and leaned towards Josie’s direction, Josie sighed at the situation she’s currently in. She closes her textbook and placed it a few meters away from where she is currently sitting before laying her whole frame down against the metallic level. Josie fell silent, hoping she would get to hear an actual reason from her best friend this time as she squints her eyes.

“We will teach a bunch of girls how to defend themselves against the evil, Huntington killers. They are grateful to us. We will bond, we will share, we will connect, we’re punching each other, the adrenaline is flowing—and the next thing you know, Isabel and Brittany are kissing us on our mouths!”

Hazel, on the other hand, took this silence as an opportunity to speak once again in hopes of getting Josie to finally side with PJ. “Listen, I think this is a good idea, okay? There’s also a serious lack of female solidarity in this school. So, uh, we start with Taekwondo—which I have got covered, and then you guys can move on to air punches...?”

“Hub-bub-bub-bub! That is not the point.” PJ cuts her off immediately. “To make this convincing, who do we bring, who do we know?”

Hazel immediately raised her arm that is also holding a pen as she tries to catch PJ’s attention once again. “I’ll bring Stella-Rebecca.”

“Wait, you know Stella-Rebecca?” PJ and Josie both exclaimed in surprise. “Stella-Rebecca who models at car conventions in Chicago on the weekends?”

Hazel smiled softly before she squints her eyes as she struggles look at the both of them now due to the sunlight shining down on them and towards the field. “Yeah! We are family friends.”

“Once we start cutting classes, should we go to your place or my place?” Sylvie asked, making the three of them turn their heads towards you and your friend’s direction as you both pass the bleachers on your way to the other exit of Rockbridge, afraid of what might surprise you at the main gate. “My place? Your place? Honestly, anywhere at this point. Anywhere but this school.” You briefly replied.

“And I guess... those two as well.” Josie exhaled after she finally broke her silence, sitting back on her bottom before raising her head to look back at PJ. “If we do this—a very big if, PJ. We just run the risk of becoming bigger losers than we already are; which I also hate to break it to you right now, but we are pretty big losers.”

PJ smiles at Hazel as she hums in victory and successful persuasion, patting Josie on the shoulder before she nods. “And that is the beauty of this, because we are literally at the bottom! The lowest of the low, there is nowhere to go but up!”

On another hand that we’ve mentioned quite a lot in this chapter, you noticed all along that PJ, Josie, and Hazel were sitting altogether at the bleachers. You catch a glimpse of Hazel rushing to keep up with PJ and Josie after leaving the building from the Principal’s office, all of them were headed towards the field while you were putting your books back in your locker, so you proposed to Sylvie to leave the school through the other gate instead just to see how Hazel was doing after she got shoved—and yes, because ‘Huntington might be camping at the main gate; take you all out one by one, and you would be the first victim.’ It is silly and might be a little weird to hear this reasoning from the perspective of other people, but you always thought that Hazel must be way too cool to talk to you. You always liked Hazel Callahan, a human burst of energy but just the way you’ll like. You only talked to her once when you were grouped together but she seemed so genuine and sweet with the way she talked to you. She excels in her studies and always seemed to be occupied. She looks pretty busy all the time, so she might not have the time for anyone else but her friends. Don’t even think about giving it a shot.

Sure, you might be having a little bit of a ‘girl-crush,’ but that’s about it. You turned your head around and smiled at their direction before Sylvie catches your attention. Your face looked horrified when she playfully teased you about looking back at the varsity players on the field, immediately trying to excuse your situation by looking at the bright weather instead and why it is the time perfect to walk on the way back home.

Chapter Text

A new beginning for Rockbridge Falls lies ahead.

As soon as the locker door gets shut, PJ appears in the corner holding the strap of her backpack, giving this girl who just pulled out her book a convincing look. “We always thought that there is a serious lack of female solidarity in this school, and it is alarming. In fact, you should be alarmed.” PJ takes a step forward, still wearing her blank face that makes the girl take her own step back down. The girl looks around to sees if other people can see that this is truly happening. “Anyway, you should definitely come and stop by if you feel like doing so! No pressure, sort of, because this can actually save your life but then again, take your time! The name is PJ! Look for me if you’re interested.”

As the girls nodded in fear, some with excitement, and some who just wanted to get out of the situation, a smiling PJ approaches an agitated Josie in her locker. Josie takes a moment to inhale for as long as she could, the lock in her respective door continues to tick as she spins the numbers for the unique combination it always registers.

“Okay, so what’s your plan here?” She says as she takes a glance on her best friend who leaned on someone else’s door to her right while Josie has successfully opened her locker. “If people actually showed up, what would we be doing inside the club?”

“Duh, I don’t need a plan.” PJ assures Josie as she brings her arms to fold it on her chest while she rolled her eyes and continued to scan the hallway, looking for more girls to talk to and fancy at the same time. “See, my mom has a business and all we have to do is yell—”

“You and your mom’s business....?” Josie asked almost immediately as she stuffed her baseball cap inside her bag, interrupting PJ. To this, she gave Josie a look of disappointment before she responds. “Uh, haven’t you been paying attention with all the stories I’ve been telling you these past few months? Were you in a coma or something?”

“You bullshit me every single time, I seriously can’t tell which one is real and which one isn’t.” Josie replied. PJ starts dusting the ends of her mustard crop top paired with her faded mom jeans, adjusting her large plaid shirt with brown to yellow palette as she pushed her frame off from the locker and started walking away. “Just follow my lead.” was all PJ said before her whole presence in that area trails off completely, leaving lost Josie with furrowed eyebrows as she rushes to zip her backpack as soon as possible to she could keep up with PJ’s pace.

PJ is hyped, Josie is nervous, and comfort lies somewhere beneath Hazel’s chest that things will surely work out because she can keep an eye out for everyone in this way, with or without the mask. Hitting two birds with one stone, right?

But everyone in hallway seemed to be in a rush and were already occupied with someone else’s company, her options towards her different approaches were starting to run out, and so is her firm hope with the whole idea she proposed to PJ and Josie, afraid that it might not happen at all anymore.

“Please,” Hazel thought to herself.

Just one girl is already enough to help Josie with the foundation, and you know.... maybe it might impress PJ as well. She needs to talk to anybody right now and she believes she can do it with such ease, but the pessimistic energy is starting to yield in her core, she ruffles the back of her hair and huffs in frustration.

Her mind was fully convinced to make her way and leave, she almost didn’t notice you passing by towards the opposite direction with Sylvie tailing you at the back. Hazel stopped for a second to think about the faces she just saw as if she has already seen it before, and you were already at the end of the hallway when Hazel’s eyes lit up and ran as quickly as she could to catch up with the both of you. She needs you and Sylvie to say yes, it is now or never.

“Hey, guys!”

Hazel was clearly out of breath, but she made sure her lungs wouldn't collapse in the middle of her entrance.

“Hello.” You greeted her absent-mindedly. You looked so busy emptying your locker with all the crumpled yellow post-it notes laying in every corner of the space it was supposed to provide for your textbooks, carefully flicking them down to the tiled floor to pick up later, not even giving the person who just spoke a quick glance.

You noticed Sylvie’s blurry face in your peripheral vision lightening up before she smiled at the person standing beside you. You thought to yourself, how could Sylvie know so many people in this school? But you felt extremely grateful that she’s here with you today so you wouldn’t have to deal with all the socialization.

“Oh, hey there, Hazel!” Sylvie says as she nodded her head forward with Hazel smiling back at her before reciprocating the same action.

Wait, Hazel?

Your eyes widened and you didn’t hesitate to snap your head back towards the direction where Sylvie called out her name. To your surprise, a figure is blocking your perspective to look for her. There’s a woman wearing a black vest on top of her white polo shirt with black and white patterns, paired with a good pair of blue jeans, concluding her look with her white converse standing right in front of you. Simple style, but you thought that she wore it so well. Chain on the neck, sharp jaw, pointy nose, pretty pink lips, blue eyes, shaggy wolf cut. She does look like Hazel.

Wait, it is Hazel.

The space between the both of you wasn’t that close, but it wasn’t that far either. Your lower lip trembled for a moment, not knowing if you should say her name to let you know that you are aware of her existence the whole time or greet her first to recognize her presence today, so you unconsciously did both.

“Hazel... hi.” You mumbled, eyes glued on her beaming face. She looked as cheerful as ever.

To this, Hazel’s smile grew wider as she looked at you who started smiling shyly. “Hi there.”

You swear that you can feel your heart jumping, but you don’t understand why. The whole world is literally slowing down around the both of you.

“So, how are you guys doing?” Hazel asked blissfully.

“Oh, well, you know...” Sylvie shrugged, the corners of her lips were curved downwards as she tried to find the right words to describe what she’s feeling while you’re just standing in the middle of them in silence, a smiling mess who continued to fix the space inside her locker. An awkward chuckle escapes Sylvie’s lips, hoping she would be able to uplift the mood, but she figured that it was impossible due to the things she’s about to say. “I’m honestly terrified to go outside after what we heard yesterday... I am starting to think about switching back to homeschooling.”

Your eyebrows furrowed and looked back at Sylvie in confusion. “Don’t look at me like that, my mom suggested it! And for the first time in my life, I feel like this is the first decision she had done right since dating my stepfather.” She added.

Hazel said nothing and just nodded her head sympathetically on Sylvie’s response.

“I know, it’s— it really is terrible, what happened to Shelly.” Hazel spoke these words softly, you could feel how sorry she was for not knowing sooner and for not being able to do something about what happened.

Her blue orbs looked like a porcelain glass that you want to hold with so much care when her gaze met yours, your eyes softened at the sight.

“I haven’t received any news about her recently, but I heard that her enthusiasm to talk through the principal’s microphone yesterday is helping her recover faster, which is nice.” Hazel spoke again, breaking the silence.

You and Sylvie ended up laughing as she chortled in her own response. This look of hers is so much better than what you just witnessed earlier, don’t you think?

“Guys, have you ever wondered if Spider-Man knows what’s going on in Rockbridge?” Sylvie asked genuinely.

After picking all the papers up from the floor and shutting the door of your locker closed, you looked back at her and smiled mischievously. You don’t remember your friend being a fanatic about anything she sees on the news or anything that involves the greater good of the city; let alone a masked hero that swings around buildings to his own content, so this was a surprise.

“That genuinely never crossed my mind. What’s the deal with him, anyway? Are you a fan or something?” You say as your squint your eyes at her.

Hazel at the back, on the other hand, has her eyes widened as Sylvie continues.

“Because he’s the friendly neighborhood hero, every single person on the street knows him, you’ll see him appearing immediately in the crime scenes the moment you need him, so yes! I can say that I’m a fan, he’s doing all of us a huge favor! And just, maybe... maybe he’s actually aware of what’s happening here? Maybe he can kick Huntington’s ass!”

You couldn’t help but laugh at Sylvie’s certainty. The cheerleaders on the other side of the locker looked at your way with the most judgmental eyes, their noses scrunched as they left the hallway to the three of you in silence. Your best friend almost sounded like a geek.

Hazel tries to clear her throat as quiet as she could, but you both looked at her immediately that made her cheeks slightly flushed, hoping her reaction didn’t come off as something too obvious if she had anything to hide.

“Oh!” Hazel jumped in her position as she looks around the area before she skims her notepad that she pulled from the bottom of the textbooks she’s been holding for a while now. “Yes, uh, speaking of which— I was thinking of asking you guys earlier about this club that PJ and Josie were planning to form,” Hazel smiles shyly as she tries to continue her speech without messing it up. “I-It’s a self-defense club that teaches everyone how to defend themselves once it is necessary, and I think... it would benefit everyone and... it might come in handy, especially to the female students of Rockbridge because you’ll never know when you’ll need it, so... uh, do you want to join?”

To Hazel, it felt like she was the one who got hit by the stone she was hoping to throw to anyone she can recruit. To you, this is the greatest opportunity that life has thrown you, greater than any rock or boulders that you have witnessed and you’re pocketing every single one you stumble upon. If that analogy made any sense.

“Yes!” You exclaimed.

Sylvie blinks her eyes a few times as she points a finger at you before tilting her head to the side in genuine confusion. “You said we were going to skip our classes next week—”

“No! No, this is a great idea and it would definitely help a lot of us— I mean... personally, I can’t throw a solid punch! It is somewhat terrifying to think about not having the ability to defend yourself from danger once you really need it so yes, we would love to join!” You added.

“Wait, really?” Hazel asked with a chuckle beneath and you swear it’s the sweetest thing that you’ve ever heard. You nod your head with a bigger smile before leaning on your locker as you look at Sylvie. “Yeah, of course! Even Sylvie thinks it’s cool.”

Your best friend behind you looks dumbfounded at this point. “I didn’t say that, but the idea’s not so bad—”

“She always tells me about how she’s been waiting for this moment, she’s a fighter underneath her whole ‘swag.’ Come on, buddy! We’ve been waiting for this our whole lives, right?” You threw your thumbs up to Sylvie and her lips pursed, eventually shrugging her shoulders in content as she nods with a sincere smile on her face. “Shucks, man. I mean, if you put it that way...”

“Wow!” Hazel exclaimed as she wrote your names down in her notepad with a smile on her face and a relieved chuckle escaping her lips. “This is great news, really, thank you guys so much! I really can’t wait to tell PJ and Josie about this! So uh, I’ll see you guys later?” She says as she slowly backs up after clicking the tip of her pen, her textbooks were now hanging securely in her hips as she lowered her upper body to slouch, hoping she could throw some finger guns towards you and Sylvie but she’s currently not capable of doing so.

“You will definitely see us later!” You added as you and Sylvie immediately nodded your head for confirmation before you headed to your first class and bid your goodbyes.

Hazel turns her whole frame with her heels before executing a small hop as she squeals in victory, a sudden discomfort appears in her face when she realized that she’s still holding her a pretty good weight in her hands.

Sylvie looked at you with worry as you both walked in the opposite direction of the silent hallway, you furrowed your eyebrows with her sudden change of emotion.

“What’s the matter?” You asked.

Hazel’s phone vibrates on the back pocket of her pants and she picks it up immediately as she shifts all the weight to her unoccupied hand with ease. She’s hoping it’s PJ asking her where she is, she almost didn’t believe the impeccable timing life was giving her and she was so excited to tell her that their minimum target of recruit is almost complete, but as it turns out, it was Happy Hogan with one missed call and five unread messages.

Her feet immediately stopped working and froze her to her position at the sight, Hazel’s cheerful face now looks defeated and about to panic at the same time.

“If it’s about the time where your step father made you sleep in your garage for coming home late from my place once, I’ll shoot a message to your mom the moment we’re dismissed at the class.” You added to your response as you assured Sylvie with a pat on her shoulder.

“I’m not worried about that.” Sylvie replied shortly. “You didn’t even ask her where the club is going to take place, where are we supposed to find them later?”

“So much for the impeccable timing,” Hazel whispers to herself before letting out a soft grunt with her whole face scrunching in frustration before she rushed to the exit.

“Oh my god, you’re right!” You say as your hand meets your temples. “How could I forget? Wait, we—”

You turned your head in hopes of finding Hazel still walking on her way towards the laboratory, but you were taken aback by the quick disappearance as if no one was there a few seconds ago. You wanted to be scared, but you’re fully aware that the whole conversation with Hazel was real and you didn’t dream of it. What are you even thinking?

“I guess that means we’re already late to our first class now because we’re still walking here and she’s already inside the room.” Sylvie professed as she pats your shoulder this time. “Let’s go, man.”

Hazel made a dash to the door, carefully tucking her textbooks underneath the bush next to the staircase before she executes a huge leap across the gate, pointing her wrist towards the building that is standing just right next to the institution and flew away.

“Alright, be honest with me.” Sylvie says this as she shuts the door behind her closed, the both of you walked towards these two remaining seats just right next to the entrance, the other students continues to fill the rest of the room. You raised an eyebrow as you placed your shoulder bag underneath your chair, kicking it lightly on the back due to its strap constantly tangling on the tip of your shoes while waiting for Sylvie’s following question.

“Do you like Hazel?” Sylvie asked straight on ahead. You almost choked at what you heard.

“What?” You snort. “Of course, not!”

To this, Sylvie raised an eyebrow, like ‘Are you being serious right now? Me, out of all the people you could’ve lied to, you’re lying to me?’ You couldn’t help but laugh at the sight. Sylvie knows you so well, her expressions always spoke louder than her words.

When both of your chuckles died down, you tried your best to explain your side, but nothing comes out of your mouth but pure blabber. “I mean, she’s....” You paused, leaving Sylvie anticipating for more.

“She’s just— she’s— you know—”

How can you tell someone that you just like the person for the way they are? You like them because it’s just them, the way you might like Hazel because it’s just Hazel.

You like Hazel because aside from the fact that she’s already incredibly smart and she seems nice; you like the fact that the way her hair falls on her face suits her frame pretty well. You like the fact that the way she dresses herself always fits her perfectly fine, the combinations of her casual clothing looks so good on her well-built body—which you realized you haven’t really thought about that much, but now you do. You like the way her eyes wrinkle in its corners when she gets excited hearing about the girls she asks to join their club, you like the way those same blue eyes can immediately tell you what she’s feeling; you like the way it looks at you. You like the tone of her voice, you like the color of her veins popping in her pretty hands whenever it was flexed to keep all her textbooks together. You like her.

But you could never tell anyone that, you feel like such a freak for noticing every single detail that she has, would anyone really understand that type of liking to a deeper level? And by now, you’re already admitting to yourself that you do not like Hazel just because she’s Hazel. You like Hazel because she’s the prettiest girl you’ve ever seen; you swear you could always feel sparks flying over the corners of your insides whenever she’s near, whenever she meets your eyes, or whenever she passes you by. It is certain that if this was another person, let alone a man, it wouldn’t be the same. So how can you tell someone that you like Hazel because it’s... Hazel?

Sylvie decided to speak again that immediately brought you out of your focus. “You know, as surprising as it sounds, that already says a lot.” She said with another chuckle. You blushed, already knowing what she meant.

“You’ve never been this giddy over the boys we used to talk about, so I think I get it.” Sylvie added. “And like, I also get it— who wouldn’t like Hazel?”

“Do you?” You immediately asked.

“No, but I’m sure everybody else does. She sounds really nice.” Sylvie replied while your heart slowly started to sink. Sylvie never really knows when to stop talking so she doesn’t accidentally jab your heart with a knife, doesn’t she?

“Yeah,” You responded shortly as you shook your head twice, extending your legs beneath your desk as you leaned back in your seat. Not only you, but also Sylvie knows how far gone you are at this point, there’s no point of denying it. You smiled weakly before you took a deep breath and spoke again. “She really is.”

“You’re finally here, come this way.” Happy said as he puts his cellphone down. He looked back at Hazel twice before he held her by the shoulder, giving her a little push forward to walk faster. “What are you even wearing? You look like a budget Audrey Hepburn hiding in disguise.”

Hazel smiles softly as she starts walking beside Happy, her fingers in her one hand unknotting the tie underneath her chin with such ease. “I am hiding in disguise! It’s uh, it’s my own stuff, and clothes... from school.” Happy looks at him, perplexed. “From school? You wore these clothes to school?”

Her eyes laid off the multiple cardboard and loot boxes all over the floor with several men dressed in white cap and jumpsuits sealing them as they all head out, with Dum-E also holding a porcelain vase up in the air that almost gave Happy a heart attack. “Has anyone seen you going all the way here—no, no! Put that thing down, that’s worth more than you or me!”

Hazel looked around the area in astonishment. She has never been in this room of the tower before. Multiple replacements of Iron Man’s parts of his armor newly coated in paint just in case it breaks in the middle of a fight, a silver replica of Captain America’s shield, A loot of different arc reactors—this amount would’ve given her a laptop, more stationary for the club, and two Iron Man figurines.

“What’s going on?” She asks.

Happy responds as he flips through the pages. “Don’t you watch the news? Tony sold the Avengers Tower, we’re relocating to a new facility upstate where hopefully, the cell service is much worse.”

Hazel’s face dropped. This can’t be happening. “Wait, what? What about me?”

Happy stops on his tracks to face Hazel, now visibly irritated as he was trying to take notes of the things left behind. “What about you? Look, just stay away from anything dangerous. I am responsible for making sure you are responsible, okay? He’ll call you.”

“Oh, does he have my numbers?” Hazel asks again. Her question met nothing but silence, she decided to ask again. “Can I please just talk to Mr. Stark?”

This cannot be happening. Without the Stark Industries— without their ‘internship’, Hazel’s cover as the friendly neighborhood web head will be blown. See, in case we haven’t clarified it throughly in the previous chapter; Hazel really is Spider-Man.

Hazel is not the Spider-Woman. Hazel is not the Spider-Lady, Lady-Spider? Hazel is not the Silk Spider although she genuinely thinks the concept of her character is cool. Hazel is Spider-Man.

When Hazel was accidentally bitten by a radioactive spider inside a chemical manufacturing firm she wasn’t supposed to sneak in during their science fair when she was a freshman student, Hazel gained super strength that not any veteran bodybuilder can achieve in the span of two days. Due to her undying interest in making dynamites from scratch, Hazel ended up being bedridden for the rest of that night and started sticking in the corners of her bedroom afterwards.

It obviously freaked Hazel out, who wouldn’t be? But as the time passed by—with Hazel using this power to save an orange cat from the top of a tall sycamore tree and stopping a car from crashing against the bus once—the people immediately referred to her as a teenage boy who is skillful and energetic underneath her mask. She decided to keep that image, not because she finds enjoyment in deceiving people; but to simply keep her whole identity as a secret while she continues to help the neighborhood. Sounds pretty sick and clever, if you ask me.

“Here, Tony made sure to give this to you when you least expect it to.” Happy pulls out a silver colored case from the floor next to a big crate labeled as Stark Industries, its clean shine shows a flabbergasted Hazel on the reflection as she brings it closer to her arms after pulling the yellow card on the top. On the card, it reads:

A MINOR UPGRADE

— T.S

“A minor upgrade?” Hazel mumbled as she looked at Happy twice with his blank facial expression that didn’t even bother to change, leading her to an empty table and allowing Hazel to use the space.

As soon as Hazel unlocked the case, an advanced tech jumped in front of her with multiple informations about her webshooters, about how her suit was made and what it was made with, all the programs installed in the system for Spider-Man’s advantage, and a new suit folded nicely in the middle of the holograms.

“Oh my god!” Hazel cheers. “This is for me?”

She couldn’t believe what she is currently seeing, the suit looked amazing. Its eyes on the mask shines like glass, the chest down to its gloves had an intricate detail of webs that just fits Hazel’s style, it doesn’t stand out way too much; just the way she likes. Beautiful shades of red and blue were perfectly picked for the suit, with a black streak running across the whole body balancing the bright colors.

Happy turns around and starts ticking things off from his paper board again, leaving Hazel behind.

“Happy! Happy, wait!”

Hazel’s phone chimes once again. As she watched Happy’s figure completely trail off from her side, she lowers her head down to look on her phone and swiped the notification to the side of the screen.

Right, the fight club. Wait, the fight club! She could use the fight club as an alibi!

Before you know it, Spider-Man swings around the suburbs again with glee. There is so much to see with those glistening lenses covering their eyes that lies more emotions underneath, the word delight doesn’t even compare to what they’re feeling right now.

They dove into the high pressure and squealed before they pointed their wrist towards the edge of an apartment building, a thick web substance comes out of her new cartridges right after they performed a pinwheel up in the air, diving back down against the gravity with open arms and started swinging again.

“Mom, look! It’s Spider-Man!” a little boy exclaimed in another building, his head stuck out of their apartment window near the escape route as he continues to wave in hopes of gaining Spider-Man’s attention. To this, Hazel slowly killed her pace up in the air to bring her momentum towards the direction of the kid.

Just one more swing, and bam! Spider-Man gives the little guy a high five with his mother rushing behind him to cheer him on, the both of them were now waving enthusiastically as they continue to swing forward. Hazel chuckles to herself, feeling very proud and satisfied with the action she just made.

“Hello, Hazel.”

Hazel froze in the air for a second that she almost forgot to attach herself to another building and commit to her supposed free fall, thanks to the automated voice that rang in her ears.

“H–hello?” She replied with a shaky tone. “Hello? What’s going on?”

Her eyes lit up with more information, codes, and a huge booting bar in the middle. The mask underwent a quick scan of Hazel’s face, confirming that she has the capability to access all the data stored inside the system before it continued to load. Once the process was complete, she now has a variety of options—from various web attacks, the easiest routes to swing around, and quick access to emergency numbers—it can all be seen in the corner of her eye despite being on patrol.

“Seems like you’re in a hurry. Would you like to me to access the global positioning system and see what’s the closest street for you to get to Rockbridge High?”

“Oh my god,” Hazel replied, still completely bewildered yet amazed at the conversation she’s currently having with herself. “Not only you can respond back, but you can also read my mind! Let me know if you can find one, ma’am!”

“Understood. This route right here will take you back to your campus in three minutes.”

“Wow, Mr. Stark really outdid himself with this piece.” Hazel exclaimed underneath the mask. “I have so many questions but I have to go back to school as soon as I can!”

“What the fuck?”

PJ’s eyebrows were furrowed in complete disappointment the further steps into the court and finds herself in a room full of girls she doesn’t like. Don’t get PJ wrong, she doesn’t really care if these girls like her back or not. She believes she is already known in this institution for constantly waging war against the administration, but the problem here is that not a single girl sitting in the floor is attractive in her opinion. Forming this club for that specific reason is truly that serious for PJ.

As Josie enters the frame and stands beside PJ after closing the door, she finally took her own time to simmer the situation. She knows that this must’ve been done by Hazel, she saw how forming this club is truly that serious for the shaggy haired. Whether PJ and Josie would ever admit it or not, Josie knows that they wouldn’t be able to reach these people if it weren’t for Hazel sticking to their plan on advertising to many students as much as they can today. Would anyone actually try to join the club because of her or PJ? How much effort did Hazel put in to convince these girls to tag along?

“These girls are ugly!” PJ complained once more as she turned her head towards Josie, her whisper was heard loud enough by the next person who just entered the court.

A loud creak from the metal door was heard, and a shaggy haired with a big smile greets the both of them from behind before she waved her arm towards the crowd as they all did. Hazel initiated the conversation with, “What’s up, lads?” her eyebrows were raised as she stands on her heels before biting her lower lip, attempting to stabilize her breath after swinging through the buildings relentlessly. Of course, no one is supposed to know that.

PJ, displeased, approaches Hazel and whispers, “Who are these people, Hazel? Where is Stella?”

To this, Hazel sighed before she answers again, bringing her notepad close to her chest. “She’s currently modeling for a car convention.”

PJ couldn’t believe what she just heard, her eyes were open wide before she squinted again as she responds. “What? But it’s Monday!”

“That’s a great point, actually!” Josie exclaimed as she took one step backwards, her thumbs were hanging on the strap of her backpack as she shrugs with a nervous smile. “Let’s all call it off before someone cool shows up—”

“Hey, Hazel!” Another familiar voice who turns out to be Sylvie greets the shaggy haired with a smile from behind as she bumped her fist against her chest, pointing her index finger towards Hazel afterwards. “Thanks for inviting us, I really love David Fincher!”

Crystal follows right behind Sylvie with a supportive nod. You, on the other hand, was completely enthralled to enter Rockbridge’s court for the first time. This place was always ‘off limits’ for the varsity players to play with, and it’s not like the court was anything special to soothe your curiosity but by the looks of it, it doesn’t look bad at all for a small highschool institution to have. When you turned your head back, you waved your hand towards Hazel and smiled softly; making her smile proudly before she points back at Sylvie.

PJ truly couldn’t believe what she’s seeing. Her face scrunched as she watches the three of you proceed towards the stairwell bleachers while Hazel tries to snap her out from her senses by asking where the lessons should start. How did the nerd manage to pull more chicks today than she ever did? Hazel was taken aback when PJ’s backpack just flew right in front of her face, causing her to catch it without any question as the latter marched forward.

“Listen up, you cunt-sucking pieces of shit! Welcome to the fucking fight club!”