CHAPTER TWO.
SPIDER-MAN'S IDENTITY?

Josephine's gaze was set on the tv in her living room, a small, pondering frown taking over her defined features as she debated pursuing her idea to potentially discover Spider-Man's identity.

"You know, he's kinda hot." Celeste spoke up as she took a sip of her smoothie, a few clips of Spider-Man swinging around and saving people the previous day being shown on the tv as she spoke. "In a sexy, mysterious way."

Josephine's perplexed gaze reverted to Celeste as she sat up in her seat. "You haven't even seen his face, how would you know?"

"I can just tell." Celeste shrugged as she held her perfectly manicured nails up to the space just in front of her face, the girl tilting her head in admiration as she continued. "Besides, you know I'm never wrong when it comes to these things."

Josephine just raised her eyebrows as she shook her head at Celeste's words, the girl casting her gaze to the tv again as the camera panned to Spider-Man swinging from building-to-building once again.

She really wanted to know who he was.

Keeping her attention on the tv, Josephine didn't realise her phone pinging with various texts, as she gradually lost herself in her many thoughts.

"Peter wants you to check your phone." Celeste spoke up, her gaze flickering between her phone and Josephine, as she had just gotten a text from Peter asking her to tell Josephine to check her phone. "Josie?"

Josephine didn't respond, the girl still focused on the tv as her eyebrows slightly furrowed at the web-slinging vigilante.

Celeste clicked her fingers in front of Josephine's face as she spoke up. "Earth to Josephine McClain."

Snapping out of her thoughts, Josephine blinked, the girl's head snapping to look at Celeste. "Hm?"

"Good to know you're alive." Celeste exasperatedly dead-panned as she gestured to Josephine's phone. "Check your phone."

Josephine grabbed her phone from the table as she checked it, Peter's name popping up on her screen many times.

PETE :)

Today: 1:40 pm
hey josie.

heyyyy j.

josie?

Today: 1:43pm
jooooooo.

jo, answer your phone. i've given you three minutes, that's long enough.

i'm waiting for you to reply back so I can actually talk to you. LIKE A HUMAN.

Today: 1:45 pm
JOSEPHINE MCCLAIN.

WHY AREN'T YOU ANSWERING? I'VE TEXTED YOU A MILLION TIMES.

fine, whatever, I'll just tell you now. don't be disappointed when you see me next, okay?

Today: 1:47 pm
here goes.

i'm gonna tell you.

riiight now.

last chance.

last OFFICIAL chance.

okay fine, basically I can't hang out with you and celeste today because I'm kinda busy. i'll see you tomorrow, though!

sorry j.

Josephine slightly furrowed her eyebrows at the second last text. It was incredibly vague, which greatly confused Josephine.

Peter was never vague with her. If anything, he'd ramble and provide more details than necessary.

Peter rarely blew her off. And in the infrequent occasion in which he did, he always showed up in person with an actual reason.

"What did he say?" Celeste questioned as she began filing her nails.

Josephine, still frowning at her phone, let her voice trail off in confusion. "He can't come over today..."

Celeste paused her nail-filing as she slightly furrowed her eyebrows at Josephine. "Why?"

"He's 'kinda busy', apparently." Josephine glanced at Celeste, her frown deepening as she motioned air quotes around the words in Peter's text.

Celeste snorted in amusement at the words, soon continuing her nail-filing as she replied. "Since when is Peter Parker a 'kinda busy' guy?"

"Since now, apparently." Josephine blew out a breath as she crossed her arms over her chest and slumped down in her seat.

Noticing her best friend's change in attitude, Celeste sat up and furrowed her eyebrows, redirecting her attention towards her. "Don't be disappointed, J, it's just a few hours. You'll see him tomorrow, and plus, I'm sure he'll make up for it soon, anyway."

Josephine hesitated for a moment before reluctantly sighing in response. "Yeah. Soon."

•

Absentmindedly glancing at Josephine walking past the various lockers lined along the school's hallways—and not initially registering it was her—Peter then shifted his attention to his locker for a second before immediately turning back to Josephine's—now fading—figure in a double-take, the boy calling after her as his eyes lit up. "Hey, Jo!"

Josephine—not hearing him due to her headphones playing music in her ears—continued to walk down the hallway, holding her books to her chest and quietly humming the tune to her favourite song.

Slightly furrowing his eyebrows, Peter slammed his locker door shut and quickly took off in a semi-sprint, ignoring the complaints from the other students as he swiftly manoeuvred past them and soon caught up with Josephine.

He tapped her shoulder a few times, Josephine jumping back a little in surprise at the action as she took her headphones out of her ears and held a hand to her chest, her heart racing from the initial shock.

Realising Peter was the one who scared her, she visibly relaxed, the girl taking a deep breath as she felt her heart rate soon return to normal.

"Hey, Josie." Peter grinned at her as the girl took a minute to catch her breath. "You didn't hear me call your name back there?"

Josephine just blew out a breath as she met his gaze. "I can't say I did, Pete."

"Oh." Peter slightly furrowed his eyebrows at her words. He gently placed his hand on her forearm, giving it a small squeeze as he continued. "Sorry for scaring you."

Josephine just sent him a tight-lipped smile in response. "That's okay. We all need a little scare once in awhile anyway, right?"

Maybe he was being paranoid, or maybe it was just coincidental, but every time someone mentioned anything remotely related to being a superhero, Peter felt himself tense-up.

He just raised his eyebrows at the words, the boy hesitating for a second before nodding. "Yeah, right."

A momentary silence fell between the pair as they began to walk towards their next class together, Josephine slightly furrowing her eyebrows at his odd reaction as she then glanced ahead of her.

"Hey, so about yesterday..." Peter began, letting his voice trail off as he nervously scratched the back of his neck, his eyes quickly flickering between Josephine and the space in front of him as he spoke.

"Oh, don't even worry about it, you were busy." Josephine scoffed as she spoke quickly, Peter's eyebrows raising at the words as he felt a pang of guilt shoot through him.

Peter hesitated for a moment before clearing his throat, the boy nodding as he glanced at the ground. "Uh, yeah. Yeah, Aunt May just needed me to help her out with a few things, so..."

Josephine, not thinking too much of his sudden uncomfortable exterior, just nodded simply in response, the two beginning to approach their next classroom.

As they arrived at the room, they were met with Gwen Stacy standing in front of the doorway, an endearing smile taking over her features as she noticed Peter and Josephine. "Hey, guys. Just in time for the quiz."

"Hey, Gwen." Josephine sent her a friendly smile as the trio began to enter the classroom together.

"Hi." Peter smiled at Gwen, Gwen returning the gesture as she met his gaze, the two walking in next to each other.

As Josephine and Peter sat down in their usual seats, Gwen sat in the seat in front of Peter, Peter's gaze intently following her movements as she did so. He forced himself to say something, although it came out in a nervous stammer. "I- I haven't studied for this..."

Gwen turned to glance at Peter at the phrase, releasing a giggle as she replied. "That's why it's called a 'pop' quiz, Peter."

At her response, Peter raised his eyebrows and let out a small chuckle, the two sharing small smiles again as Gwen soon turned to face the front.

Josephine, in the seat next to Peter, slightly leaned closer to him as she joked. "Word of advice...girls like it when you can form a cohesive sentence."

Peter just widened his eyes slightly as his attention shifted to Josephine, who huffed a chuckle at his reaction and glanced down at her notebook. "I can form a cohesive sentence."

Raising her eyebrows at the words, Josephine sent him a faux-mocking look. "I bet you can."

"So, what would you call our deep and meaningful discussions, then?" Peter joked in response, a teasing smirk taking over his features as he raised his eyebrows too, playfully challenging her.

Josephine couldn't push back her smile as she sat up straighter in her seat, her voice slightly hushed. "Oh, you wanna go there?"

"Yeah, I wanna go there." Peter smirked as his voice went slightly lower, in order to not disturb the other students.

"Okay, you two." Gwen's voice interrupted their playful bickering as she whipped her head around to face them. "Class is going to start soon."

Peter's gaze immediately reverted to Gwen at her interjection, the boy just raising his eyebrows as he wordlessly nodded.

Marcus noticed the group from the opposite side of the classroom, the boy shifting his gaze between Josephine, Peter, and Gwen.

Noticing Peter's attention heavily set on Gwen, the boy knew it was his time to focus his on Josephine.

Quickly approaching her, Marcus played it cool by resting his palms on Josephine's desk and slightly leaned over, catching her attention as her eyes shifted to glance up at him.

"Hey, Marcus." A small smile appeared on Josie's face as she started, Peter and Gwen's attentions shifting to Marcus as she spoke.

"Hey. Looks like you guys are quite cozy, here." Marcus gestured to the small group with a nod of his head, briefly glancing between Peter and Gwen as he reverted his gaze back to Josie.

"Hi, Marcus." Gwen added politely.

Peter just nodded once. "Marcus."

Sending them small nods of acknowledgement, Marcus spoke to the group, although primarily directing his next words to Josephine. "Hey, so I'm having a party tonight because my parents are out of town, you should come."

"Oh." Josephine raised her eyebrows at the invite as she then nodded. "I'm sure I'll be free, that sounds fun."

Peter's gaze immediately shifted to face her in confusion at her reaction.

"Cool." A smirk appeared on Marcus' face at her confirmation, the boy soon glancing between Peter and Gwen as he added. "How about you guys?"

"Maybe." Gwen shrugged.

"Uh...yeah." Peter, still perplexed at Josephine's quick response, absentmindedly responded. "Yeah, sure, that sounds cool."

Marcus took his hands off Josie's desk as he began to walk back to his seat proudly. "Come over whenever."

Josephine just nodded at the words.

Peter frowned at Marcus as he walked off, the boy then gently patting Josephine's shoulder as he spoke quietly and caught her attention. "Hey, a party at Marcus'? Really?"

Josephine just frowned at his tone. "What's wrong with going to a party at Marcus'?"

Peter's frown deepened as he responded. "Nothing, I just thought we had plans tonight, that's all."

Raising her eyebrows in surprise at his words, Josie responded sarcastically. "Those 'plans' must've slipped my mind. Peter, you didn't tell me you wanted to do something tonight."

"Well, no, but that's one of our things, you know?" Peter furrowed his eyebrows. "It's kind of a given that we hang out..."

Gwen just widened her eyes as she could practically feel the awkwardness plaguing the conversation, the girl just staring at the board in front of her.

Josephine couldn't prevent the scoff that passed her lips at Peter's words as she replied in bewilderment. "It's a 'given'? Like how it was supposed to be a 'given' yesterday when you blew me off?"

Peter just stuttered at her reply as he didn't expect her to verbally challenge him. "I...I told you, May asked me t-"

"To help out, I know." Josephine cut him off mid-sentence, slight annoyance tinging her words as she just glanced ahead of her. "A call would've been nice."

As if on cue, the teacher walked in, catching the students' attention. "Alright class, it's time to take the weekly pop quiz."

Peter kept his eyes on Josie as he tried continuing their 'conversation', Josephine ignoring his gaze as she focused on her paper.