"Haha, Peter Parker—the biggest nerd at Midtown High!"
The people around him displayed mocking smiles. Most of them weren’t very familiar with Peter, but were quite close to the muscular Flash.
So they laughed along, making Peter even more embarrassed—
"The biggest fool at Midtown High who never studies, I was wondering if you could even find your way here."
A slightly mature voice of a woman interrupted this Arican-style bullying. The speaker was a blonde girl holding a drumstick—
She didn’t exactly look dressed for a dance either; obviously, she was there to play the drums.
Seeing the girl, Flash didn’t say anything more; he just snorted and walked inside.
Peter looked at the girl, surprised, "Gwen, you’re going to be a drumr?"
Gwen tapped Peter’s head gently with the drumstick, "I’ve been practicing for a long ti—Peter, you need to toughen up. I’m heading inside, see you in a bit."
Peter scratched his head and still stood at the entrance, watching Gwen walk away, looking deep in thought, and seeming even more out of place compared to the others nearby.
It wasn’t until Harry arrived that his feeling of being an outsider was sowhat alleviated.
Harry was reluctant to flaunt his Osborne Group heir identity and was rather aloof with others, but given his last na was Osborne, people looked at him wherever he went.
Harry patted Peter on the shoulder and stepped up to him.
"Hey, genius, this is a dance. Are you sure you want to bring your genius vibe here?"
"I’d actually like to attend a genius’s dance, but I don’t have an invitation," shrugged Peter.
The two of them walked side by side into the school, where the venue, the gym, was filled with rows of lights.
Peter was like Granny Liu entering the Grand View Garden, his eyes taking in everything around, looking at his classmates dressed in their glittering best, feeling sowhat envious from the bottom of his heart.
Suddenly, Harry was whisked away by a group of girls—
leaving Peter to sit on the side and watch his classmates enjoying their youth, feeling sowhat lost and like a toy that was out of place.
A hard-to-describe feeling welled up inside him: He felt he was more at ease in the lab than here, even though he hadn’t actually started on any real experints.
But in this area, he was better than all his classmates. As he watched, he suddenly began to fantasize about how great it would be to really join a major project!
Like the Artificial Blood project.
If he was part of that project and it succeeded, he could beco a famous person, a scientist saving many lives...
As he spoke, the dance lights suddenly flashed, focusing all the light on the stage!
Clang!
Drumr Gwen struck the cymbals powerfully, the lights instantly focusing on the stage!
The hostess also turned on the screen behind her—
"Welco to the dance, I hope you all enjoy the event and have fun!
We’ve invited a special guest, now, let’s watch a video she has prepared for us!"
Peter was startled, raised his head, and like everyone else, looked towards the video—
The first-person view appeared on top of a tall building—not inside, but on the outer wall of the skyscraper!
The group of youngsters held their breath: that height was too high!
A pleasant female voice ca from the video:
"Hey, guys, I want to wish you all fun first, and then, happy graduation.
But talking isn’t enough, I guess you’d want to experience this—
Also, don’t call ’Spider—Man’ anymore."
The person filming suddenly leapt down between the tall buildings, her reflection glimpsed on a surface. As she fell, the sun behind her shifted from sunrise to sunset—
"Spider Woman!"
Cheers erupted.
Peter stared at the screen, looking at Spider Woman dressed in black, white, and pink, montarily stunned.
In the video, Spider Woman’s perspective swiftly moved between buildings, showing different streets at different tis, in angles a regular person couldn’t achieve, fild perfectly.
Accompanied by music, it was like a ballet several dozen ters high, and Spider Woman was the dancer.
Excited shouts ca from all around, only Peter remained silent, but there was an extra emotion in his eyes that fixed on the screen more than the others.
He wanted to be that person.
Not the current Peter Parker.
"Spellbound? Even our bookworm has soone he likes."
Harry appeared beside Peter, yet Peter didn’t even notice his close friend approaching.
"I..." Peter hesitated, rembering Gwen asking him to be tougher. He added, "Who doesn’t like her? She’s finally stepped up to admit she’s a girl."
"That’s true, no more argunts about that—what do you think she wants to do? This masked... stunt perforr?"
"I don’t know, Harry, I’m not a psychologist." Peter shook his head, "But she really is charismatic."
"Isn’t that the truth?" Harry shrugged, sitting down beside Peter.
The two of them enjoyed the video along with everyone else.
Snap!
Suddenly, Peter was startled by a noise close by. Turning, he saw that Harry had accidentally knocked over a cup!
Harry looked embarrassed: "Uh... it was an accident."
Then he reached for another blanket, his hand visibly trembling!
Harry clenched his forearm tightly, sweat breaking out on his forehead. He managed to grunt: "What’s... happening..."
Snap!
Another blanket fell, and Harry’s expression grew worse!
But this ugliness didn’t last long, as the situation quickly deteriorated!
His breathing beca rapid, evidently painful!
Peter’s mind buzzed with a loud noise, flashing back to what Norman had told him yesterday—
Hereditary genetic disease!
Harry’s commotion drew everyone’s attention, Peter rushed to support him and then shouted, "Call an ambulance! Call an ambulance!
Damn it, are all of you deaf!"
"What’s... happening to ?" Harry couldn’t control his hands, the sensation making him extrely nervous, and caused him to gasp for breath!
People were startled, taking a few steps back. Peter felt helpless. Just then, a white figure landed beside them!
Peter looked up—it was the very Spider Woman who had appeared in the video!
"I’ll take him to the hospital."
Spider Woman lifted Harry, and with just a light leap, she crossed the crowd and vanished into the night.
This superhuman ability baffled everyone online, but no one had an explanation.
Considering the occasional good deeds Spider Woman perford, they could only assu—perhaps this could be a superhero thing, the superhuman stuff, they didn’t need to delve too deeply.
People watched the hero save the patient, all clapping their hands, even Flash, who often bullied Peter, blushed red with excitent to cheer on the hero.
Only Peter, watching the figure disappear into the night, felt increasing despair.
The reality was: he could do nothing.
Any fantasy about joining major projects and becoming a hero was just that—a fantasy.
Peter sat down on a chair, gazing at the spilled beverage beside him. Suddenly, the image of that green pharmaceutical flashed through his mind—
Or... he could be the first human trial subject—
Voluntary, so no ethical issues.
The willing are... certainly part of the experint.
He wanted to be a hero, to be the first one to take the plunge—
Not this Peter Parker, the Outsider.
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