Chapter 282: Familiar Faces Fill the Classroom
Peter and Silas presented their acceptance letters, verified their identities as freshmen, and were led to a classroom to report in. Silas found a random pair of seats and sat down with Peter. Directly in front of them sat a blonde girl.
"Hey, Silas," Peter nudged him.
Silas looked up, confused. "What's up?"
"Look," Peter gestured toward the front.
Silas looked up and saw a very pretty blonde girl chatting with her seatmate. Peter quietly reached for his camera, fiddling with it. He wanted to take a picture of her; for some reason, he felt like he had just fallen in love at first sight.
Perhaps the blonde girl heard Peter's fidgeting, because she proactively turned around to introduce herself. "Hi! I'm Gwen Stacy. And you are?"
"I... I'm..." At the critical moment, Peter started stuttering again.
Silas stepped in smoothly. "I'm Silas Parker, and this is my brother, Peter Parker. He's a total straight-A student."
"Oh! Nice to meet you. You guys are brothers?" Gwen asked. Silas and Peter did look quite alike, and the shared surname made it obvious.
"Yeah, we're brothers," Silas smiled, while beneath the table, he repeatedly poked Peter—say something!
"Hi... I'm Peter Parker," Peter finally spoke, though his eyes were deliberately avoiding Gwen's gaze.
Gwen gave Peter a curious glance and simply replied, "Mm-hmm."
Then, Gwen's seatmate turned around with a smile. "Hi there, gentlemen. My name is Felicia Hardy."
"Hello. Let me re-introduce myself, I'm Peter Parker," Peter said, having finally regained his composure.
However, it was Silas's turn to lose his composure. He was already surprised that the girl in front was Gwen Stacy. He hadn't thought much of her seatmate's long, snow-white hair, but then the girl turned around and said her name was Felicia Hardy?! That was Black Cat!
"Hello?" Felicia called out, looking at Silas with confusion.
Silas snapped out of it quickly. "Hi! Nice to meet you. I'm Silas Parker."
"It seems you two brothers have a very good relationship," Felicia said with a charming smile.
"Yeah... very good," Silas replied, honestly at a loss for words.
Felicia and Gwen shared a look before turning back to continue whispering their "girl secrets."
"I think I'm in love, Silas," Peter whispered, taking a deep breath while staring at Gwen's back.
Silas knew Peter was smitten with Gwen, so he encouraged him. "Don't give up. Go for it."
"Definitely." Peter beamed. He felt as though he were back in high school, chasing after Liz again.
Soon, the other students began to trickle in. One figure in particular caught Silas's eye: Harry Osborn. Harry sat directly behind Peter. When Peter tried to greet him, he was met with a cold shoulder. Harry didn't even acknowledge Peter, let alone introduce himself. Silas only learned his name by overhearing him talk to someone else.
"That guy is so aloof," Peter whispered to Silas.
"Yeah," Silas nodded.
The surprises kept coming. Ned actually walked into the same classroom!
"Hey! Peter!" Ned came over immediately, greeting them enthusiastically.
"Oh my god! Ned! I can't believe you're in this class too!" Peter stood up and gave Ned an excited hug. Truly best friends.
"I'll sit here then," Ned said, taking the seat next to Peter. Now, Peter was flanked by his two best friends.
To Silas's disbelief, Flash Thompson walked into the room as well. Good grief—it was as if every one of Spider-Man's friends had been gathered into this one classroom. If Mary Jane walked in, it would be a total sweep.
"Silas, how was your summer?" Ned asked.
"It was okay. Same as usual," Silas said. To Ned, "usual" meant Silas stayed home the whole time.
"That sounds so boring," Ned said.
"Don't listen to him, Ned. We went on a road trip. It was actually really interesting," Peter interjected, starting to share their travel experiences with Ned.
Ned listened with wide eyes. "I heard a 'Cannibal' appeared out there. Is that true?"
"It's true," Peter confirmed. That "cannibal" was, of course, Venom.
"That's terrifying. I heard the police couldn't do anything about him," Ned said, secretly hoping that monster would never come to New York.
"Don't worry. You've got enough body fat that he'd probably skip over you," Peter joked.
"Fair point," Ned laughed, patting his stomach.
The teacher eventually entered and spent nearly the entire morning explaining the university's rules and regulations.
"Alright, students. Go ahead and grab some lunch at the cafeteria. Meet back here at 1:00 PM," the teacher said, checking his watch.
The students stood up and began leaving with their friends. Just as Peter stood up, Harry Osborn behind him walked straight into him. However, Harry was no match for Peter's physical density; instead of moving Peter, Harry was bounced back and fell to the floor.
Thud!
"Dammit!" Harry stood up, looking hostile. His lackeys immediately rushed over to brush the dust off his expensive clothes.
"Sorry, sorry!" Peter said quickly. Since he was technically the one who had stayed still while someone walked into him, he didn't want any unnecessary trouble or a fight.
"You think an apology is enough?" Harry looked at Peter with an air of arrogant superiority.
Peter didn't back down. He wasn't the timid high school kid who had just gotten his powers anymore; he was a seasoned superhero with significant experience. "I said I'm sorry. Unless there's something else I can do?" Peter said calmly.
The surrounding students stopped in their tracks. It looked like Peter and Harry were about to scrap, and they didn't want to miss the show.
"Gwen, look," Felicia nudged Gwen with her elbow.
Gwen stopped at the classroom door and turned back. She saw her "back-row neighbor" facing off against the wealthy young master, Harry Osborn. Harry was famous—the current Chairman of Oscorp after the second-largest shareholder had transferred all shares to him. He was the sole voice of power at Oscorp, and every move he made was in the news.
"What do you want?" Silas stepped forward. Peter was his brother, and even though Peter had super-strength, Silas wasn't going to let him stand alone. He wanted to bolster Peter's presence.
After all, Harry had five or six "dogs" standing behind him. Seeing Silas move, Ned also bravely stood behind Peter. Peter felt a surge of gratitude. To his even greater surprise, Flash Thompson stepped forward too.
"Bullying the weak isn't exactly what a real man does," Flash said, staring Harry down.
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