Arc One. Chapter Five. School Daze

It had been a great week as far as Peter was concerned. He had done nothing but test the limits of his new powers, and found not only was he strong but tough as well. He had slipped and fallen from one of the walkways and was surprised to find himself unhurt, taking a risk he then jumped and hit the concrete floor of the warehouse from ever-increasing heights until he threw himself off the roof. Sure it hurt but no more than a bruise formed and it was gone the next day.

He had even decided to purchase the warehouse and a steely-eyed realtor looked at him like he was joking. It took a call to his bank, from his phone, from her phone, and finally from her office phone for her to believe that he was actually being serious. As if someone would want to spend an afternoon listening to anyone droning on about warehouse insurance, life insurance, and then fill out several trees worth of forms, all just so they could prank a bored realtor.

They haggled on the price, the original asking was all of the $250,000 Peter had, including any taxes he would pay. Peter argued about the mess the warehouse was in, and with its current history, he got the price knocked down by $50,000. The paperwork would take 2 weeks to go through and he could collect the keys once it had.

The whole inside mess was his responsibility and any problems arising after the sale was complete had nothing to do with the realtor, he signed away most of his rights to complain by getting the price lowered. After he had left, the realtor secretly sipped a flask, not expecting a murder crack den to be anything other than be an eyesore on her books.

The only thing spoiling his good mood was a return to school. It was his final year and a big one too, graduating top of his classes in everything but the sports was a given. Even Gwen grudgingly admitted that she'd lost out on his smarts and hard work but even after all that, he still had one problem and he caught a whiff of his overpowering cologne before he came into view.

"Hey Puker," Flash yelled, his lack of wit coming across even more with his naming sense

"Oh, hey Flush"

Flash scowled, "what you call me?", he growled at Parker.

"Flash, you know, what everyone's called you since year one," Peter smirked, the overpowering stench of Flash's supposedly expensive cologne hid a few different chemical smells to Peter's enhanced senses. Maybe nothing as heavy as steroids but Flash was definitely doping on something.

"Yeah, you'd better remember that," Flash had already made sure none of the teachers was around and he strode towards Peter, ready to body check him into a locker when Parker moved suddenly. Flash felt his footing go and he rammed headfirst into the painted steel of the locker door. He was sure Parker hadn't done anything but it felt like someone tripped him so it didn't matter if he had or not, Parker would pay either way.

Feeling for a bump on his head he growled again and reached for Parker, only to find his wrist gripped in what felt like a vice. Parker pulled him close and Flash thought he had been slammed into the locker again as Parker body checked him, falling backwards Parker went skidding across the floor as everyone turned to see what looked like Flash hitting Peter hard enough to send him flying.

"That's enough Mr Thompson." Peter and Flash's homeroom teacher, Ms Munroe had seen the altercation, and while she was well aware of their history she couldn't interfere even though she wanted to. Flash's father made several large donations each year to the school and the football team, and she would be out the door if she gave Flash any trouble. Strangely enough, Flash looked confused at what transpired, he had hit Peter so why did he look like the injured party?

Even Ms Munroe raised an eyebrow at the pair. She had been witness to their altercations before and Peter always came out the loser, so what was different now? As she cast an eye over him he blushed. If he had one teacher he crushed on it was her. She was a tall African woman with a hint of an accent. Her dark chocolate skin and long white hair were always perfectly wrapped in a business suit and she was stern but understanding, offering Peter advice when she could. She radiated authority and even Flash knew not to argue too much with her, as if she was a force of nature rather than a simple guidance teacher.

Gwen appeared and helped Peter to his feet, "Geez Flash, give it a break yeah." Gwen was one of the only people Flash knew not to mess with. Even if his dad was a board member of Oscorp, even if they had more money than most of the school combined it didn't pay to get on the wrong side of the law, but still, his wrist was aching from where Parker had grabbed him and the body check left his chest hurting. Peter smiled at Gwen, he could smell the sweet perfume coming from her and as he tried his hardest to stop the blood from flowing downwards he still stared at her. Gwen was a little shorter than him, liked to wear her hair loose and in a bob cut and as it flowed around her neck the deep blonde colour, that Peter knew was natural, looked like spun hay even under the crappy school lighting. Peter had seen her in a summer dress and knew that while she was slender she ran and did ballet, toned legs and was small in the bust department, not that Peter was too obvious when he looked, but look he did.

It was as the trio stood in the school corridor he heard it

Leave Peter alone Flash, go to homeroom

Looking around the normal group of onlookers were there, Flash's cronies, who he never bothered to remember their names, and the school's golden couple. He had no idea what their names were either as they attended an outreach class.

There was some big program from a school in New York to see if kids with special needs could attend a normal school, at least part-time and the pair, a cute but kinda dorky redhead and a weird kid with strange red coloured glasses was staring at them, along with everyone else. Catching Ms Munroe's attention the redhead shook her head almost imperceptibly and Ms Munroe sighed.

"That is enough, the class bell will ring soon, you should all make your way there. Now!" she emphasised and the crowd dispersed.

"Phff, whatever, nice to hide behind a girl Puker," Flash had had enough and stormed off into the classroom.

"You, uh, don't mind I saved you huh?" Gwen asked Peter, it was a secret she liked him and wished they were dating but her presence shielded him from Flash.

"Why would it bother me that my friend is a badass?" Gwen grinned and Peter caught the whiff of a new perfume she must have been trying out, as she smelt great. "Come on, let's get to class before-" and with that, the bell for the start of school rang.

The last year of school was dragging on for Peter, his course work had all been completed ahead of schedule, his exam prep was all done, and application forms were being sent off to all the major colleges and universities he could think of, and now he was a property owner. The warehouse deal was done and signed, he just needed to wait for his cheque to clear and the paperwork to be official. Once that was done he could begin to clean the place up and had already been scouring the internet for designs based on scrap shipping containers and prefabbed offices.

That was the future though, right now he still wanted to get school finished and done with, get Flash out of his life, and start his own internship at Hammer. Gwen had done hers early as her birthday meant she was 18 at the start of the year and had gotten a head start. So much to do and it seemed like he was stretching himself, and more importantly his finances, thinner and thinner.

Peter was brought out of his musings by another of his classmates batting his arm. Felicia Hardy, his co-captain on the math team had sat next to him, "Look, Pete, I know you might be happy about finishing the year but some of us still have work to get done. We've got one more trimathlon event and I need to know if you're going to be puking your guts up before it. You missed practise last week." Felicia wasn't the most socially gracious person he knew and her bluntness grated against his own over-politeness. As Felicia leaned over him he caught the same scent that Gwen had been wearing, the slight sweetness of it tickling his nose and while he hadn't thought of Felicia that way before, as she leaned over him he had trouble concentrating.

Felicia had bloomed early and unlike a lot of the girls had a bountiful harvest. As she lectured him they bobbed up and down and Peter wished she would have a bit more perception on what effect she was having on him. Her long hair, cascading down her back was tied up, and while blonde it was almost silver in colour.

"Yeah Felicia, I'll be there, I promise. Wait, didn't you get sick at Oscorp too?"

Felicia pulled a face, "yeah but I didn't need to spend a week in bed like a little bitch."

Peter just shook his head, yup, as tactful as ever. As she leaned over the table to lecture him he tried not to stare right down her top, as this close, he saw exactly what colour, and how well-fitting her bra was, even if she seemed unaware.

"Look Pete, whatever happened at Oscorp wasn't serious enough for you to screw up my future. If you're still sick or climbing the walls or something, drop out of the club and let me get someone in who's more reliable."

Peter shook his head, "Felicia, I'm fine, so no wall climbing needed. Look just get off my case already, okay?" with more forcefulness than usual, Felicia leant back surprised,

"No need to be a dick about it, Pete."

"Oh, wait, what's the perfume you're wearing, cause uh, it's nice."

Felicia shook her head, "Lame Pete, lame." Standing up to leave Peter could only watch as she walked away.

"What did I say?" he mused to himself. Flipping his phone back over the plans he had for the warehouse was, for now, a secret. Not that he would have told someone like Felicia anyway, she was an acquaintance, not a friend.

He bookmarked several sites each one with instructions and floor plans of container homes, normally used in places suffering a disaster or with a large homeless population, but to Peter, these were gold waiting to be mined and would put money in the bank.

Closing the browser down he mused over the remains of his lunch. Felicia raised a good point though, with midterms coming up and the clubs seeing their final push for competition season, would he have time to get the warehouse cleaned and fixed up without help?

He didn't know anyone though. The only muscle he knew that could help to move and renovate would be Flash, and he would rather learn to sing and teach racoons to do housework than ask him for anything.

Even Harry was of no help, he'd hire contractors and Peter would be out hundreds of thousands of dollars just for them to look at the place. No, he needed to make time for this, he needed to get a grip on his life, once and for all.

With his new powers though the work should be manageable on his own. He would have to be careful not to attract too much attention to himself. A skinny kid lifting piles of lumber or sacks of concrete would look strange. He had amazing powers but he needed to be careful not to draw attention to himself.