Chapter 5: Hanging Out (R)

After the field trip we decided to go to the coffee shop in our area. The one called Excelsior. We always hang out there although our group gradually grew bigger from just Harry, Peter, and I to our current much larger one.

So, after going home, changing and putting the spiders in the habitats I had for previous pets I left. Yeah, I kept pets, some goldfish a hamster used to have a lizard as well as a couple spiders and a snake. That was before we started moving a lot.

"You guys taking the usual," the shops owner, Stan asks us when we enter. We smile and walk to our spot in the corner. When we're about to take a seat Ava and Sam walk in, they notice us and walk in our direction.

"You guys played hooky today, didn't you," Peter asks with a small smile some of that heavy air leaving him. Sam shrugs returning the smile while Ava replied, "We really aren't science people like you guys, we like to have fun once in a while."

We laughed at that while Luke said, "So do I but I was there." Sam looks at him pointedly while saying "That's because of Jess over there and we all know it." "Not my fault you're all-single dogs," was the reply given as the teasing continued.

We take our seats while MJ, Lyn, Cindy and Elle sort of gravitate towards Peter. This went unnoticed since it was pretty common although I noticed it seemed to be somehow more serious than before. I ignored that wanting to avoid too much thinking and we kept on talking.

While they were teasing each other I looked back to the counter and froze. I realized that the owner Stan wasn't just anyone after I took a closer look at him. It was the Stan, the number one inspiration behind a majority of my favourite comic book characters Stan motherfucking Lee.

He smiled at me and walked towards us. When he reaches, he looks at me and starts to talk to us. "You know this world isn't exactly like I thought it would be, but it isn't that bad, at least my symbiotes are the same. Be careful of robots with a stick up their ass though and the spiders, their sex drive's been dialed up to eleven."

I immediately felt relieved hearing this. 'So, the Scope-verse influenced this world but not as much as I was worried about,' I think. <Meanwhile in the authors universe 'Should I add some more things from the Scope-verse?'.> I instinctively shiver for some reason.

After hanging out at the shop we walk to the park nearby so we can chill more. "Hey Jake, isn't your birthday tomorrow?" Peter asks me. "Yeah, it is," I pause for a moment, "I'm really turning eighteen huh," I continue.

As if sensing my mellow mood Danny patted my shoulder, "Age is but a number that marks wisdom," he tells me. I give a wry smile and say, "It's not that, it's just that I haven't seen my dad since the day I first left this town, I miss our little events."

Peter nods in understanding while the atmosphere becomes a little depressing. "Enough about that lets go to the bridge, last one there is an uncultured swine," I say breaking into a sprint through the park. Noticing this everyone starts running.

When we reach the beach by the bridge, we start to laugh with each other and start fooling around, shoving each other, talking, playing tag. Just enjoying our time before university. We stayed there until it was way into the night, beer bottles and junk food wrappers on the ground.

"Tiger, are you feeling ok?" I hear coming from MJ. "You're burning up," Lyn says. "So's Cindy," Elle adds her usually impassive face flashing with worry. "Is it just me or does Jake look a little red," Jessica says.

I immediately notice the sweat on my body that was way more than usual. My eyes started to become sort of blurry and I rubbed my hand through my hair messing it up more than usual drawing attention to it as well. "Damn I never noticed that he had silver hair, I always thought it was a pale blonde," Luke says. "I think that's a bluish platinum instead of silver," Sam says.

"Peter!!" a shout could be heard coming from Peters direction. I look over and see him on the floor out cold while Cindy seemed to be half awake. My body started going haywire and I start hyperventilating. 'Is this what an Asthma attack feels like,' I think as I quickly pull out my phone and open it with my fingerprint. I fall down before I could speed dial my mother. "I got this," I hear Harry say, the last thing I see is him hitting the number labeled mom on my phone while also looking a little pale. I smile 'I really do have good friends despite how much trouble they are,' I think.