Chapter 2: Great Responsibility:

I made my way out of the house and for some reason, everything seemed brighter today. It seemed like I went from seeing in 480p to 4K Ultra HD. A better analogy would be having terrible eyesight and suddenly putting on glasses one day.

Either way, it's a massive improvement to my old vision. I can feel a cheery tune come to my lips as I start humming, 'Mr. Blue Sky.' 

I know that I should be more gloomy because of becoming Spider-Man, but all I can really feel is happiness. I mean… I might be the universe's punching bag but holy shit I have fucking powers! And on top of that, I have Spider-Man's powers!

Every kid I knew wanted to shoot webs and swing like Spider-Man when we saw the artistic masterpiece of Sam Raimi. Tobey Maguire literally gave us so many iconic memes and now I could also be a part of the legend.

As I waited for the sidewalk crossing to turn green, I picked at my nails because they itched. No matter how deep under them I dug, I couldn't really abate the feeling. So I elected to ignore it and made my way forward. It was when I was around 10 minutes away that a maniac on a bicycle nearly hit me.

Luckily, at that exact moment, my spider-sense had kicked in and everything felt like it was happening at a rate where I could easily react to it. I didn't pinpoint the source of the danger until I looked behind me and spotted the bicycle rider who did not look to be stopping soon. Then with a move that would bedazzle all those around me, I stepped aside and let the dude pass me by.

Bet you thought I'd jump over him or something… but nah, I'm gonna do my own thing. As I headed into school, I felt the earlier itch in my fingers move to my feet as well and it got more annoying. It was even more annoying because I couldn't do anything about it cause I was a few feet away from the school entrance.

After thirty minutes of homeroom, I was in my biology class for the day. For some reason, my stupid spider-sense was conked out or something cause it was buzzing and making my head hurt even more. What was even worse was that my sticky powers had also kicked in and my pencil was stuck to my hand.

Now all of this was making me kind of nervous but I remembered something in Spider-Man in the Spider-Verse about relaxing, so I took one deep breath and tried to be as calm as possible. And guess what? It worked! With that immediate problem taken care of, I could focus on my spidey-sense and its annoying buzzing!

It was like a fly buzzing in your ears or something! It just constantly buzzed and buzzed and you couldn't even hit it! I wondered if it was because I knew Dr. Connors would eventually become the Lizard and it saw him as a threat already. Or maybe one of my classmates was already a supervillain?

My suspicions were on Connors or Harry Osborn, to be honest. I swear if I so much as catch a whiff of Goblin juice on him, I'm going to tear him a new asshole. I tried to focus on Dr. Connors's lecture but my spider-sense combined with the itching in my nails turning to pain had my mind blanking.

I'm lucky enough that class ends a few minutes later and I head to lunch, now I'm praying that I don't get stingers like Kaine did because that would out me to everyone. Plus it would be painful. I sit alone at a table close to the bathroom and dig into my meal hungrily. I can barely eat because now the pain in my nails has gone from slight annoyance to every time I so much as move my finger there is pain!

I literally cannot eat my food because of how bad this hurts. It's like having something under your nails dig into your fucking nerves! A few seconds later as I'm trying to force my fingers to grab the apple and pull it to my mouth I see a small amount of blood drop from my nails before dripping onto the floor.

My spider-sense is buzzing like crazy and I get up from my bench when my feet erupt into pain too! It takes every bit of willpower I have to take each step, and not react strongly like screaming, and I can barely limp because of how badly it hurts! I head into one of the stalls and lock it as all my limbs erupt in pain!

It feels like my nails are being fucking pushed off my hands! I pull my hands to me and wince in pain before watching in horror as my nail is barely hanging on as a large and sharp black blood-covered claw, which looks more like a talon, emerges from my finger before it pushes my nail out of its spot letting it clatter to the floor covered in blood.

The pain- it hurts, so much worse than when I got bitten by that spider... I can barely breathe and there's blood dripping from my claws to the floor. I'm hyperventilating and I can't think. My socks are stretching and there is something oily and slick touching my feet. I'm gonna fucking hurl. I hurl, luckily, into the toilet instead of on myself. 

I force myself up and reach out to unlock the stall door and thankfully while my fingers still hurt, I can move them properly now. Unfortunately, my new claws are extremely strong as shown by how they put a hole through the door as I fumble at the knob! I head to the sink and pour some water on my hands and face to wipe the blood off before I start limping out of the bathroom with my hands in my pants.

Sure I might be fast and might be able to heal fast but you try fucking walking with your torn-off nails grinding into your foot with every fucking step! No one notices anything, thankfully, and I'm glad I didn't try making friends right now. I don't want anyone trying to talk to me during this shitshow.

With a speed that would leave most sleight-of-hand magicians shocked, I grabbed my school bag and slung it around my shoulder before shoving my hand back into my pockets, and accidentally dug my nails into the side of my pants causing them to rip through them. It isn't loud thankfully and I limp-walk my way out of the cafeteria to the exit as fast as possible. I need to go somewhere secluded and nearby fast.

Wait. There's a park a block away from here. I could make it quick enough if I try. So with that plan in mind, I continue moving forward before a hand reaches out to grab my shoulder. I jolt away and continue moving before an infamous voice speaks to me- Flash Thompson.

"Hey Jameson, your ass got taller or something? Also, you look like shit right now man and you- Wait- Is that blood?! Shit man! Want me to get the nurse?" He says craning up to look at my face with a degree of worry that I did not expect.

Why does everyone need to try to be friendly today?! I force a pained smile to my face," Just fine Flash. I gotta jet bye!" And with that, I'm moving again when Flash grabs me again more forcefully.

"I'm being serious man. I think you should see the nurse right now." A surprisingly worried frown on his face. 

Now I just want to make it clear, what happened next was an accident, my brain was fried with pain, spider-sense headaches, tiredness, and adrenaline. So my fight or flight kicked in and I punched Flash right in the ribs sending him into a locker before he sank to the floor and then hobbled away as fast as I could.

The next fifteen minutes are a blur to me and the next thing I know I'm at the park lying next to a tree staring at my claws with my hoodie inside out and over my head. I can feel some sort of pressure building inside of my wrists when suddenly with a splurt!

A white sticky liquid fires out of my wrist and sticks to a tree. I just stare at the tree with my web stuck to the trunk before I sit down and stupidly smack my head against the tree groaning painfully. This is going to be a long, long day… I can feel it.