"This place is better then our old cafeteria, at least," Luke hummed as he stepped up to the line of waiting students.

Ava snorted. "I don't see how. It's practically the same except less organized and a lot louder."

Peter had to agree with Luke on this one. It was a lot brighter and more cheerful. People seemed to actually be enjoying themselves and their friends. The room may have been a mess and filled with annoying students, but he really didn't mind. He was one of the annoying students now. This is amazing.

They stepped up with their trays to a buffet with a few big ladies giving out food. Danny was the first one to get the goop slopped onto his hamburger bun. Sam made a face and cringed back.

"Is that even edible?" He wondered out loud. A few teens gave him wide eyed looks that told him they agreed.

"Yes!" One of the ladies snapped, causing Sam to flinch back. She slapped the brown lump of who-knows-what extra hard on his plate, splattering it on his pants.

Sam shrieked in horror and pulled his tray away quickly. Even Danny chuckled as he frantically tried to wipe it away.

"Yeah, yeah," he glared at them. "Laugh it up, chuckleheads. I'm bringing something to eat next time."

He dodged another shot from the woman and danced away to a table, the rest of the team following. Peter thought that it was about time Sam had gotten what he had been asking for. He also decided that lunch ladies were not people to mess with.

"Nice thinking, Peter. Try something new, Sam. Don't worry about it, Sam. It'll be great, Sam! Well guess what? School. Is. Horrible!"

"You're just being dramatic," Peter rolled his eyes as they claimed an empty table near the back. "It's actually kinda fun."

"Is your head full of cob webs?" Luke stared at him. "All they do here is work. That's it. This here, is the only break they get all day."

"More then we used to get," Danny pointed out and braved a bite of the sort-of sloppy joe.

"Maybe if you guys really tried to do things," Ava hissed. "You would enjoy it more–"

"Hey–um..." Peter snapped his head up to find the boy from earlier - Miles - standing behind them, shifting his weight from foot to foot nervously. "Sorry, but could I...would you mind if I sat with you guys? I don't really have any other frien...places to go."

Peter blinked, but quickly overcame his surprise. "Sure kid."

He shifted to the right so that the younger teen could sit next to him. Miles sighed in relief and thanked him. "But you do realize you're only like two years older then me."

"With age comes the right to call thy younger generation 'kid,'" Peter told him with a smirk.

Miles snorted a laugh as Danny, Sam and Luke looked on in confusion.

"Peter, are you going to introduce us?" Luke asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, right," Peter gestured toward the boy. "Guys, this is Miles. Miles, this is Danny, Luke and Sam."

He pointed to them in turn and Miles offered them all welcoming smiles. "What's up?"

"School sucks ass, that's what," Sam shot back. "I'm probably going to leave, get some training in or something."

"Oh, what are you training for?" Miles asked innocently as he took a bite of goop sandwich.

"Uh–"Ava elbowed Sam hard in the side. "Marathon!" He spat and massaged his side in pain.

"Oh, cool," Miles shrugged.

Ava growled at him. "And you are not ditching school on the first day."

"What about the second day?"

"No."

"Oh, come on! It's not like..."

Peter blocked their arguing out as a light tingling sensation danced up his spine. What the heck? Now? Seriously? He clenched his fork tighter, but otherwise seemed unaffected. He couldn't give away the fact that he was ready.

Hydra had taught him to tell the difference between the different alarms his spidey sense would give him. Immediate threat - like a punch swung at him. Possible threat - like if his food was poisoned or someone angry had a knife in their pocket. And distance threats - if someone was watching him or, more likely, stalking him.

His stalker bell was ringing pretty damn loudly right then.

"Code?" Danny mumbled out of the corner of his mouth, catching Peter's clenched fists and seemingly casual backward glances. The mystic warrior knew what that meant.

"Three," Peter muttered back, smiling easily at Miles as he chatted away with Luke and Sam, like everything was normal.

Code three told his team to watch for ease droppers or anyone who might be watching them subtly. Danny passed it onto Ava, who in turn whispered to Sam, who eventually let Luke know. Peter breathed a sigh of relief when Miles didn't eye them suspiciously.

Yet they didn't see anything. Even with the keen eyes of his trained team, they didn't find anyone or anything suspicious. It was frustrating Peter by the end of lunch. Especially since the feeling didn't stop.

He braced himself for the bell, but still winced when it blared through the already deafening cafeteria. Miles eyed him curiously, but didn't comment.

His sixth sense flicked him in the head again as if to say, hello? Are you paying attention? Something's stalking you!

"What is that?" Peter hissed under his breath as they left the lunch room together.

"What's what?" Miles asked him in confusion. Peter turned to see his teammates had already dispersed to their different classes. Miles had probably been about to do the same, but Peter's words stopped him.

Peter shrugged as they walked down the busy hallway together. "Just a...a bad feeling I guess. I've learned to trust my gut about them."

"Well, you're looking pretty anxious," Miles pointed out worriedly. "Maybe you should just take a break after school."

"A break from what? We don't have any homework yet," Peter breathed a sigh.

"I dunno. From life? Everyone needs a break from their lives. Do something cool."

Peter glanced over and raised an eyebrow at the shorter boy. "What would you suggest?"

He thought for a moment, stopping in front of his classroom. Peter waited with him as he cocked his head.

"When I'm bored I like to go to the skate park. Do you know how to skate?"

Peter squinted. "Skate what?"

"Um, a board," he laughed. "Skateboarding? You know what skateboarding is right?" He asked jokingly.

Peter stared blankly at him. "No."

Miles was silent for a few moments. Then he seemed to decide that his new friend was serious.

"Wait, really?" He choked in shock. "Have you been living under a rock?"

Something like that, Peter thought with a soured face. How was he supposed to be a normal teen when he had no idea what even skateboarding was? "I guess so. My guardians were really...uh...well they used to keep to themselves. I was homeschooled most of my life."

"So they don't anymore?"

"Oh, I'm sure they do," he chose his words carefully. "I'm not staying with them anymore."

"Oh," realization dawned on his face, a bit of pity leaking in. "So–"

The bell rang again, cutting whatever it was he had begun to say off. The arachnid let out an inward sigh of relief. He hadn't liked the way that conversation had been going. Now Miles probably thought he was a foster kid of some sort. Ugh.

"Sorry, dude, I gotta go," Peter waved backwards at Miles and started to jog down the hall.

"Ask your friends if they know how to skateboard too!" Miles shouted. Wow, he was really into riding wood with wheels down streets.

Peter salutes with a grin. "I got it, kid!"

He turned the hallway and his easy going mask immediately melted. His spidey sense was still thrumming lightly in the back of his skull. Someone had been watching him throughout the entire day and the arachnid wanted to know who.

————————

Peter Parker life? Check.

Spidey life? ...we're getting there.

Ideas for the plot keep exploding in my brain and I have to write it all, so more updates soon.

- Wanda