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Part 3

Nikki wasn’t surprised when there was a knock on the door. Even though she’d rehearsed what she’d do, suddenly this didn’t seem like such a good idea.

She slowly opened the door, pepper spray ready behind her back.

But instead of some threatening man standing there, it was the kid that’d challenged her in class. She opened the door further.

“What do you want?” She demanded.

He held her purse up. She gasped and snatched it.

“I, uh, found it lying in an alley.” She looked him up and down through narrowed eyes. He had his hands shoved in his pockets and his blue cardigan looked disheveled.

“How did you know that it was mine?” She asked.

The boy laughed and hugged his arms close. “It’s kind of a long story… can I come in?”

“No.” She stood her ground as he tried to press his way in.

“Ok. Fine. Spiderman told me it was yours, okay?”

“So you two are what? Buddies?”

“Yeah – I mean, no – um…”

Nikki leaned closer and lowered her voice. “Then you know that his real name is Peter Parker.” The boy’s face went pale and Nikki grinned. She stepped aside and let him come in.

* * *

Peter was panicking.

Of all the classmates to find out his identity, why’d it have to be this hero hating girl? She’d probably get on national television and proclaim his secret to the world.

He tried to appear calm. She didn’t know that he was Peter Parker. At least, he hoped. Unless this was a trap.

Not knowing what else to do, Peter followed her into the dark apartment. His senses were working overtime, probing every shadowed corner for threats. All he found was a bare kitchen and a bathrobed woman sitting still in an armchair.

Nikki led him to the kitchen table. His backpack was there, with all his belongings dug through. She picked up a chemistry book and pointed to a name written on the inside page. It was his name, and there was his suit.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“You stole these from him?” He tried his best to sound offended. He started gathering his up stuff.

“He left them in an alleyway. If you ask me, he’s pretty careless.”

Peter slung the bag on his shoulders and headed for the door. “I’m sure he’s got a lot going on.”

Nikki followed him. “He’s got the same textbooks as us, you know what that means, right?”

Peter rushed as fast as he dared out the door. He hoped she couldn’t see how much he was sweating.

“He’s in our grade!” The girl stood in the doorway with a triumphant grin, “and I’m going to find out who he is!”

Peter was about to take off down the hall, but he stopped short at that. He turned and looked at her. “Spiderman’s just trying to make the world a better place, is that so bad?”

“Superheroes do NOT make anything better!” Nikki stamped her foot, hands clenched. Peter was taken aback by her sudden outburst. “Because of them, my dad is dead. The world would’ve been fine without them. My life would’ve been normal!” She slammed the door in his face.

* * *

Nikki eyed all the students in school the next day. She was looking for all the tells of someone with a double life; shifty eyes, a general air of broodiness, and of course, he’d be unusually large and muscular.

In social sciences, she had a hard time splitting her attention between what her teacher was saying and this more important task.

Mr. Jennings was just calling for the first presentation of the day. “Peter Parker, come up here please.”

Nikki’s heart nearly stopped. Then it quickened to a jackhammer hum as she looked around. She zeroed in on the nerd who’d given her purse back yesterday. He slowly stood up and shuffled to the front of the class, gaze on the ground.

“Hey guys.” His voice cracked and he cleared his throat. Nikki almost felt disappointed. The vigil-anti was this kid? “Imagine, if you would, New York City if there hadn’t been any Avengers. There was so much we lost that we’re still mad about, and even more disastrous events involving superheroes since.”

Nikki knew he was purposely not looking at her.

“But that day when the aliens came would’ve been a whole lot worse if we’d not had anyone to fight for us. We’d probably be an alien ruled planet right now. If it hadn’t happened this decade, it would’ve happened the next, because now we know that we’re not the only ones in the universe. It’s easy to want someone to blame when we’re hurting, and superheroes have become our scapegoats.”

Peter hesitated and looked directly at her before continuing, “And I truly want to apologize to anyone in this room who’s lost someone because of their actions.”

She saw by his face that he meant it. She blinked and lowered her eyes. Somehow, just that apology, coming from someone whom she held partially responsible, made the knotted-up anger melt away inside. She felt like crying.

“But I want to remind you that they’re out there, fighting the battles that we can’t fight, to keep us safe. Sure, they make mistakes sometimes, we all do. That’s just… part of being human.”

Again Peter made eye contact with Nikki. This time she thought she saw a question in his eyes.

She had all the power over him, she knew his identity and could make his life a living nightmare in a heartbeat. But is that what she really wanted?

What she really wanted was to have her dad back.

But her dad was never coming back and blaming others wouldn’t change that. What she really needed was to find a way to move on with life without him, and help her mom do the same.

Maybe, in some small way, that made her a superhero too. She held his gaze, shooting him a quick, bright smile and a nod. His secret would be safe with her.

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