Chapter 20: Queen of Cups

The first week of October had arrived, and the temperature outside had begun to plummet as autumn approached its climax, with dried orange leaves beginning to fall from the trees.

As Duncan approached the school corridor, he saw a couple of decorations he hadn't seen last week. Colorful lettering was splattered across the wall, balloons were strewn about, and the word "homecoming" was evident in every decorating piece.

The students appeared to be in good spirits. People were speaking in high tones, with smiles on their faces, and everyone appeared to be excited. Duncan, on the other hand, simply strolled past them and stopped in front of his locker room, putting his bag inside and removing some biology textbooks.

He turned around after that. He could see someone he knew from a distance wearing a rather intricate dress that is frequently related to the marching band team's clothing. Duncan simply lifted his brow and approached that person.

He stood behind the boy he knew. He could tell he was worried since he seemed to be missing something.

"What are you doing?" Duncan questioned abruptly, making the boy in front of him jump in fright.

When Peter Parker realized he was Duncan, he swiftly turned around and exhaled in relief.

"Duncan, Jesus Christ!" exclaimed the boy.

"What? I thought with your—"

In a split second, Peter covered Duncan's mouth in fear.

"I warned you not to say anything about it!" He shrieked silently.

Duncan simply shrugged as Peter removed his hand from Duncan's face. "So? What are you doing? What are you even wearing?"

"You're on the football team; you should know this," Peter pointed out. "It's homecoming week, and we're getting ready for the pep rally on Friday. But I forgot to bring my hat!"

"Hat?" Duncan inquired.

"You know, those feathery hats." He let out a sigh. "Now I gotta call Uncle Ben..."

But before he could, a feminine voice from the corner interrupted him.

"Peter!" exclaimed the feminine voice.

Duncan noticed a redhead with a pleasant smile approaching towards the two of them as both boys turned to see who had called Peter. The girl was clutching a strange feathery hat, which she offered to Peter as she stood in front of him.

"Your aunt says you forgot this," she remarked nonchalantly. "She asked me to give you this."

"MJ…" Peter appears to have lost his ability to breathe. "T-Thanks."

"You're welcome. Good luck on your marching band practice," she said to Peter, smiling softly.

She then turned around and went away, but not before casting a peek towards Duncan, which he noticed.

"Didn't know you have a friend that is a girl." Duncan stated.

"She's just a neighbor." Peter whispered, his gaze fixed on the girl walking away.

"You should probably stop staring before it gets too creepy." Duncan continued, and Peter snapped out of it.

"W-What? No, I do not—"

"Sure, of course. It's definitely not obvious at all." Duncan rolled his eyes. "Anyway, I guess I'll see you later."

Peter grasped Duncan's shoulder as he tried to walk away from the conversation, causing Duncan to raise his eyebrow again as a sense of déjà vu invaded his head.

"What?" Duncan inquired.

"Can you help me?" he asked. "You know, about my thing? After school?"

"I thought you didn't want people to know?"

"I don't," he replied. "But you know, you already knew, so… I just need... someone to talk to about it all."

"You know I have football practice, right?" Duncan pointed out. "You didn't tell Ned at all?"

"No, no, he wouldn't stop talking about it if I told him..." Peter went on. "And besides, with these kinds of powers, it's definitely dangerous, maybe I'm being watched by the government or something, so..."

"You don't mind me knowing but not Ned because it's 'dangerous'? So you're okay with putting my life in danger?"

"You found out yourself; I didn't tell you." Peter relented by raising his hand. "So if anything, it's kind of your fault that—"

"What did you just say?" Duncan narrowed his eyes toward the boy.

"Hey, I'm joking, I'm joking," said Peter with a snarky smile. "Please? I'll buy you a sandwich."

Duncan only sighed in response to Peter's request. "Fine, I'll go."

"Great!" As he went away, Peter pointed his finger at Duncan. "I'll see you after school!"

Duncan merely remained there, shaking his head as Peter walked away from him, before following in his footsteps because they were in the same class.

—

Duncan was standing in front of the cafetaria, carrying his slightly disgusting-looking lunch. He looked around and noticed that neither Peter nor Ned, his usual lunch companions, were present. Seeing that, at first he wanted to just walk towards the usual spot and sit there alone, but someone suddenly tapped him from the back.

When the boy looked back, he saw Gwen Stacy with her lunch tray. Duncan raised an eyebrow because he rarely saw this girl in the school cafeteria.

"What?" Gwen inquired.

"So you do eat lunch," Duncan pointed out.

As she moved towards an unoccupied place near them, the girl simply rolled her eyes. "My mom forgot to make me lunch, so gotta fill my stomach somehow. And besides, the rest of the band seems to not want to practice this week."

"Why?" Duncan was intrigued.

"Homecoming dance this Saturday, duh," she said. "Everyone can't seem to stop talking about it. What dress are they going to wear? Who will take them to the dance? and so on and so forth."

"And you're not interested?" Duncan asked.

The girl simply sat in an open seat and placed her tray on the table. "I wouldn't say I'm uninterested. But we're still freshmen; we have three years before we can't attend the homecoming dance anymore."

"So? It's a good time to experience high school." Duncan shrugged.

"Oh, really?" Gwen asked, her eyebrows rising. "Will you come?"

"I mean, if Peter or Ned turn up, I'll go." Duncan responded while sipping his orange juice. "Otherwise, probably not. I have some books I need to finish before this Sunday."

"Wait, you're relying on Parker and Leeds to be your homecoming dance partners?" Gwen laughed. "You're a football player, Duncan; ask a cheerleader or something."

"What? No." Duncan made a shaky motion with his head. "I don't do that."

"I have a friend who's a cheerleader; do you want me to introduce her to you? She's a sophomore." Gwen went on.

"I don't think—"

"Speak of the devil." Gwen spoke abruptly as she turned her gaze on who's behind Duncan. When the boy looked back, he noticed the previous redhead, MJ, walking with two of her other companions. One was an African-American dressed in gothic style, while the other was a black-haired girl with glasses.

"Hey Gwen," MJ said, sitting next to the blonde. The African-American girl and the black-haired girl sat beside Duncan, seemingly sandwiching the boy. "Who's this?"

"My friend." Gwen casually said. "Duncan, this is Mary Jane; people usually call her MJ. The goth girl besides you is Gloria Grant, and the girl with the glasses is Betty Brant. Everyone, this is Duncan."

"Lemme guess, your band?" Duncan questioned the blonde girl, curious.

"So you do about us." Gloria said. "What are you to Gwen? Boyfriend?"

"He's not my boyfriend…" Gwen quickly said. "My lab partner."

"Well, that's boring." Gloria answered.

"Yeah, I know you. The senior girls were talking about you." MJ continued. "Their boyfriends are complaining about the "new freshmen" who take away their spotlight. You're the guy who is talking to Peter this morning.."

"Yep, that's me." Duncan hummed. "Anyway, since you're all here, I don't have to come to the music club anymore."

Gloria just raised her brow. "I'm not following what you're saying."

"Well, you're a band, right? When and where is your debut?"

"Gwen doesn't tell you anything?" Betty asked, turning to the blonde girl.

"Nope," he said.

"Don't tell him anything." Gwen said to the others.

"Why? The more the merrier." MJ said. "Check us out on November 28th, at Groove, a music bar near Washington Park."

"I'll be sure to remember that." Duncan smirked at Gwen, and the girl just sighed.

"You win, douchebag." Gwen murmured, but her eyes instantly lit up. "Oh yeah, MJ, this guy doesn't have a date for the homecoming dance. You wanna be his?"

"His date?" MJ seemed interested. "I'm down for that."

"Oh, no no no no." Duncan repeatedly said. "I don't want to betray my fellow brethren."

Gwen raised her brow. "What are you talking about?"

Duncan just sighed. "Let me deal with it, okay? I'll find my own if I want to come."

MJ chuckled. "Alright, it's your loss."

—

Monday, after school. Duncan was now walking through the corridor with his sports bag in his hand; following him was Gwen Stacy, who was holding a bunch of books.

"Hey, so I forgot to ask before." Duncan said. "What's your band's name?"

"Band name?" Gwen hummed. "It's 'The Mary Janes', why?"

"What? That's… a bit narcissistic, don't you think?" Duncan said, amused.

"Well, we didn't have a name when we signed for the gig, so MJ just put her name on the paper, and we're stuck with that." she answered. "Anyway, what are we going to do about this?"

Duncan turned to see Gwen pointing at the books in her hand. It was for the biology assignment that was given today. All of those books were about evolution, and they were supposed to write a paper about the theory of evolution, complete with citations and everything.

"What? You want to do it tonight?" Duncan was irritated because he had already guessed where she was going with this.

"Well yes."

"Gwen, it's homecoming week." Duncan pointed out. "Just enjoy this week, okay?"

"That's exactly why we should do it now." Gwen refuted. "When are we going to do it then? After the homecoming dance? On sunday? After your game?"

Duncan raised his sports bag, almost shoving it to the girl's face. "I have practice."

"Well, after practice. At my house?" she proposed.

Duncan frowned. "Come on, seriously?"

"You'll have to practice again tomorrow." Gwen shrugged. "And the day after tomorrow. It's probably going to get tougher as the game gets closer as well. so…"

Duncan just sighed. "I hate you."