BEEP. BEEP. BEEEEEEP.
Jack slapped the alarm clock off the table.
He slowly opened one eye. "…Why does morning exist?"
The clock read 6:00 AM. His body felt like it had been filled with wet concrete overnight — the kind of heaviness that came from spending half the night running across rooftops and the other half pretending to sleep.
Right. Hero life.
He dragged himself out of bed and glanced at the system panel floating faintly in his vision.
[ Host: Jack Walker ]
[ Aliens: Walkatrout, XLR8 ]
[ Hero Points: 36 ]
[ Next Alien Unlock: 50 Hero Points ]
Jack rubbed his chin. Almost there. Just a few more heroic actions and another alien would unlock. But first he needed to survive school.
He stepped outside and ran a few blocks to shake the sleep from his body properly, letting the cold morning air do its work. After a quick shower and a breakfast that barely qualified as one, he took the bus toward Midtown High.
The large building stood solidly in the center of Queens, exactly as it always did — students gathered around the entrance with backpacks slung over their shoulders, some still visibly half-asleep, clusters of friends picking up conversations that had probably never stopped from the day before.
Jack stepped through the gates and looked up at the sign for a moment. Midtown High. The famous Spider-Man high school, right here in front of him every single morning. He still found it genuinely strange sometimes — the quiet, persistent strangeness of living inside a world he had once only seen on a screen. Peter Parker sat two desks away from him every day. Gwen Stacy was in his class. Mary Jane Watson complained about homework in the same hallway where he kept his locker.
Flash Thompson. Betty Brant. Liz Allan. All of them real, present, completely unaware that any of it was unusual.
He shook the thought off and walked into the classroom.
Students were already talking loudly over each other. "Did you see the news last night?" "Yeah, the bank robbery!" "They said it was stopped in one second!" "Some kind of speed monster!" Jack kept his face completely calm while the conversation washed over him. The news had already spread, which meant the video was probably everywhere online by now. He settled into his seat quietly. Low profile. Stay normal.
Then the classroom door opened.
A girl walked in carrying a guitar case — blonde hair, blue eyes, leather jacket worn with the casual ease of someone who had owned it for years. She dropped the guitar case beside her desk and sat down without making a show of it. Several students glanced her way anyway. Gwen Stacy had that kind of presence, the sort that filled a room without trying or even noticing that it did.
A few minutes later Peter Parker leaned over from the desk beside Jack. "Hey man, are you okay?"
Jack blinked. "Why?"
"You look like you didn't sleep at all."
Jack forced a small smile. "Nightmares."
Peter nodded with genuine sympathy. "Yeah… those suck." He really was a good guy. Even the small, throwaway moments of kindness came naturally to him, without any performance behind them.
A few minutes later Gwen stood up near the front of the class. The room quieted down around her without her asking it to. "Hey everyone. My band needs a guitarist. If anyone plays, come find me in the music room after school." She rested a hand on her guitar case and looked around once before sitting back down.
Most students returned to their conversations almost immediately. Final year was busy — clubs, applications, commitments already made. Not many people were in the market for something new to take on.
Jack watched her sit back down. Then he thought about it for a moment.
This was actually a good opportunity. In more ways than one.
He stood up and walked over to her desk. "Hey."
Gwen looked up. "Yes?"
"I can play guitar."
She raised one eyebrow. "You?"
"Yeah."
"I've been in this school for years and I've never seen you with a guitar."
Jack scratched the back of his head. "Well… I never had a reason to show it."
Gwen studied him for a moment with the particular look of someone deciding whether to take a chance on an unknown variable. Then she shrugged. "Fine. Music room after school."
Jack smiled. "Deal."
As he walked back to his desk he turned the thought over quietly. A band. Friends. A reason to be somewhere specific after school hours that wasn't a rooftop or a crime scene.
Maybe this new life was going to be interesting in more ways than one.