3 First Day of Highschool

Working out the tension in the back of my neck with a hand, I used the other to steady myself as I stepped off the school bus.

Another year in the MCU...but this year I've started highschool. Oh joy.

Had anything happened in the past three years? Not really, no. I still didn't know exactly what the hell I was. I mean, I knew I wasn't a Mutant because no bald men had come to recruit me into their child soldier army--I mean, institute of 'learning'.

Stifling a disdainful smirk, I really hoped the Charles Xavier of this universe was the McAvoy version. He still made the mistake of suppressing Jean and led to the Dark Phoenix being created but he had the right intentions at heart. At the very least he's still hundreds of times better than Comic Book Xavier. That dude was sus as hell.

I wasn't an Inhuman either. How could I know? Well, the chances were just very low. I also hadn't undergone Terrigenesis to gain my powers. I'd always had them. Neither did I get sick easily, which is something that happens to Inhumans because they've been cooped up on an island and haven't had their immune systems challenged as much as the rest of Humanity. A common cold could probably put me on my ass if I was an Inhuman.

As it is, however, I'd never been ill. Not once.

At this point I was pretty sure I was an alien. Especially ever since puberty started. Why would I think that? Instincts. Weird, weird instincts. The kind of instincts that reminded me of the kid from 'Brightburn'. God, I hope I'm not like that kid. What I mean by they remind me of that is that my instincts are...kinda violent.

I've found myself having to really hold back when people people speak up against me or insult me. Even if people insult Pete I nearly go up the wall. So, uh, kinda like super puberty, I guess. Alien super puberty.

My heritage aside, I'd been doing more productive things with my time. Mainly learning and studying stuff. What's the use of a super brain if I'm not gonna make use of it, right?

I'd also taken my time to learn some martial arts. I was oddly talented at it as well, apparently. Put that together with my violent mood swings and, by god, I was fairly sure whatever Alien race I came from was warlike in nature. I can say that with 100% certainty.

Which is weird, because I can't really remember any outright warrior races from the marvel universe that would be as strong as me. The Kree and Skrull are both war-obsessed races but even then, they aren't strong enough to pick up a school bus. They can't fly either. Nor can they see the world moving in slow motion and move so fast you can run a kilometer and back and no one would notice you'd left.

It's entirely possible the race I'm from is either one that didn't exist in the original MCU/Marvel universe...or it's an obscure one I hadn't seen. Which is entirely possible because I haven't read absolutely everything about Marvel. I'm not a living databank of Marvel information.

Plus, however I got here to this universe fried my mind. My memories from my previous life are kinda patchy. Some days it's better than others and I can remember more and some days it's like I never even lived another life because I can't remember anything. Luckily, most of my personality is still intact, as far as I can tell. Which is good.

Personal introspection aside, I picked up the pace as I felt the stares from the people around me.

It's arrogant of me to say, but it's probably a combination of two things: My face and my body. Messy black hair, olive tan skin and icy blue eyes, alongside a defined jaw, straight nose, noble and masculine features...I was really goddamn handsome. I also didn't have the same problem as most guys my age: I didn't have an acne covered face and my skin wasn't oily either.

...Puberty just wasn't the same for me as it was for others, it would seem.

The other thing was my body. I mean, I'm not the tallest 14-year-old out there - there's definitely basketball players who can tower over me in terms of height - but it was just that I was a 6 foot tall 14-year-old. No. It was the fact that even under the somewhat baggy wool sweatshirt I was wearing, it was painfully obvious how muscular I was. It was even easier to see the developed and defined forearms I had because my sleeves were rolled up.

My face plus my body, and I was the typical teenage girl's dream. I didn't mind the attention, but I'd rather not having kids staring at me like hungry predators, honestly.

But alas, I had to push through and I didn't have Pete to talk to while I was here.

Can you imagine it? On the first day of highschool, Pete was as violently ill as someone who'd eaten literal trash for lunch. The dude was throwing up at like four in the morning, so he was taking the day off. Well, more like May forced him to stay at home because he wanted to come to school.

...The only kid I know that would willingly want to go to school when he gets a free 'skip school' card in the form of illness. And May says I'm an odd kid.

Shaking my head with a small smile while I thought about my aunt and cousin and their odd quirks, I pivoted around someone who'd just rudely stepped in front of me. But upon taking a second look, he wasn't being rude per se. Just wasn't paying attention to where he was going.

"Hey, eyes up and forward, man. You're gonna cause an accident or something," I gave him a warning and he looked up from the piece of paper he was holding with confusion before he realized what was happening.

His dark brown eyes widened a little before he apologized, "Ah, sorry--I was just looking at my timetable and dreading gym class, y-you know?" he nervously got out, looking me up and down and probably mistaking me for some sort of jock-type bully. The kid wasn't as short as Pete but he was kinda on the short side at 5'7" - or would that be perfectly average? I'm not sure, honestly - but he looked much more athletic than Pete did.

His black hair was kept short. Very short. Practically all but a layer of hair was shaved, leaving him a bit away from being bald. Unlike the other people I could see around us, his brown skin was healthy and clear, without any blemishes, and his dark brown eyes were bright and full of intelligence.

...I think I just found another somewhat important person, haven't I?

"Yeah...well, good luck with gym class, I guess. Just look where you're going, okay?" I made sure to warn him so as to not doom some other unlucky individual who didn't have my reaction time.

Turning away from him, I walked off and brought out my piece of paper before checking my timetable. The first two periods today would only have freshman students at school to allow them to get used to the school and their classes without any distractions in the way. Which meant I had about two hours before MJ got here.

Thinking about the redhead who was in her Junior year now, I shook my head to keep it out of the gutter and moved toward my first class.

Science. Then I had Gym Class...so maybe I'd be seeing that guy from earlier again. You know what they say, birds of a feather flock together. And I'm pretty sure he's someone of importance so I'll probably see him again knowing my luck.

Realizing I'd rather not think too much about that stupid theory I made up - that better looking people, or people with unusual features, are important characters or even heroes - I put away my timetable, tucking it into the back pocket of my jeans before picking up the pace a little more as I made my way to science class.

. . .

Science was boring. On one note, I ran into that kid from earlier. On another, I saw a blonde bombshell in the class as well - funnily enough, she was the only girl who didn't stare at me with dreamy eyes. Figures, I guess.

Turns out I was right about good-looking people as well.

The kid from earlier? Miles Morales. The blonde bombshell? Gwen Stacy. Honestly, I wanna be wrong sometimes but the universe keeps saying no.

Sighing, I pulled off my sweater before I flicked some stray hair out of my eyes and put my gym clothes on. A few of the guys looked at me with envious gazes, while others seemed to admire the nonexistent work I'd put into achieving my brawny physique. I was naturally this big and besides going to the nearest mountain range to see what the biggest rock I could lift was, I hadn't worked out a single day in my life. Why? Because it didn't do anything. The weight I needed to lift to even strain my muscles was absolutely insane.

I mean, when I was 12 I flew off to the nearest mountain, right? You wanna know how big the rock I lifted was? Easily bigger than a house - let's try and ignore the physic-defying event of the rock not falling apart under it's own weight once lifted and focus on the fact I lifted a rock that must've weighed hundreds of tonnes when I was 12, okay? And that wasn't anywhere near my limit. It was just when my muscles felt the strain of what I was lifting.

What made working out even harder was the fact that as my body grew and went through puberty, therefore putting on muscle mass, my strength exploded upward even more.

Whatever species I belonged to, their biology was horrifyingly strong.

Anyway, as I was thinking and taking my time getting changed, I realize there were much less people in here than a few seconds ago and that my over-thinking about certain things was making me slower at getting changed. I was about to speed up when I caught the kid from earlier - Miles - rushing into the changing room, nearly tripping over his own feet as he half-jogged, half-ran into the room.

Being near the door, I was where Miles decided to put his stuff down as he rapidly began flinging his clothes off and throwing them into the locker in front of him.

Seeing his...odd and anxious behavior, I gave him a raised eyebrow, "...For a guy who was worrying about gym class earlier, you're not exactly trying to delay getting to it, you know? You're actually rushing to it as quickly as you can," I gave him a joking verbal jab as he glanced at me, recognition flashing in his eyes as he continued with his rapid changing.

"Well, uh, even if you don't wanna do something...you've still gotta do it," he said with a nervous laugh, actually seeming anxious about the coming gym class. Though before I could answer him, in his anxiety, he spoke again at a rapid pace that matched his physical actions, "And what about you? For a guy who looks like he's been working out since he was born and prepping for the Olympics...you're pretty lax about gym class, man," he said and in his anxious state of mind, he seemed to have dropped some social inhibitions, talking to me more directly than I assume he would have if he were more calm.

Hearing what he said, I let out a laugh before I shook my head with a smirk as I answered him, "Would you believe me if I said I'm not too bothered about gym class because it's too easy?" I joked, not wanting to point out the truth that I hadn't worked out properly in my life, like I thought about earlier.

"Definitely," he laughed though it still sounded somewhat stunted due to anxiety - I wonder why he's so anxious about gym class? I mean, it could be that he already has his spider powers and he's worried about hiding them but I don't think that's the case. Sure, he's not like Pete who's basically all skin and bones, but his body doesn't look like how it would if he were a superhuman and he'd been bitten by the spider from Oscorp.

I guess he's just one of those kids who cares how people view their physical prowess. Maybe he's just anxious about messing up in front of a whole classroom of teenagers.

...Thinking about it like that, I can't blame him. Teenagers are malicious little bastards.

Pulling up my shorts, I pressed out any creases on my gym uniform before reaching out a hand to Miles who's also finished getting dressed, "We have science together and you might've heard my name already but...I'm Alex Parker. You seem like a chill enough dude," I greeted Miles, knowing it wouldn't hurt to know a potential Spider-Man.

Though I wonder how that'll work? Multiple Spiders? If so, I should think about capturing one. I don't know how the venom would interact with my alien body...but it couldn't hurt to see if there's potential for enhancement, right?

Miles seemed surprised by the greeting but didn't reject it, taking my hand in a handshake before he introduced himself in return, "Miles Morales. You seem like a pretty chill dude yourself...for a guy who looks like a jock, anyway," he joked back, some of his anxiety dispersing and being replaced by actual humor.

Chuckling at his joke, I shook my head, "Yeah, yeah, nerd," I jokingly replied before locking my gym locker with everything inside before leaving, Miles not too far behind me.

I wonder if anything fun will happen in class...--That was a flag, wasn't it? Ah, fuck.