Chapter 15: Michelle Jones

"Where is he?"

It's a little past six-thirty in the morning. The entire academic decathlon team sat around one of the library tables. Abe and Cindy chatted quietly between themselves. Sally sat hunched over her physics book, her bushy hair falling all over her face. Charles was on his phone, checking his social media pages. Flash took up two seats, using one as a foot rest. Harry sat next to Michelle, phone in hand, but not using it. And at the head of the table was Mr. Harrington, who had his phone out, scrolling as he drank his morning coffee.

The only person missing was Ned Leeds.

Michelle checked the time again. "Did you text him?"

She directed the question to Harry, Ned's new best friend since the start of the school year. Harry Osborn was the opposite of Peter Parker. Fair, extrovert and stylish, Harry was not a person she thought Ned would befriend. Yet, she slowly found the pair walking the hallways together, becoming lab partners, sitting at the same lunch table and even visiting each other's apartments. Harry became Ned's new confidante.

Harry twirled his phone in his hand. "Yeah, I called and texted him," he answered. "No response."

"Call again," Michelle ordered and Harry dialed Ned again.

"He's probably sleeping in," Flash's tired voice moaned from the other end of the table. "Something I should have done then get up at this ridiculous hour. You're running us down, Michelle. We haven't had a single morning off."

"And we won't until I know for certain that we have a chance to keep our title this year," Michelle snapped back at Flash. "We lost some of our brightest players last year and we're not exactly a full team. That gives us a disadvantage."

Flash stretched his arms and yawned. "Well, we're at a disadvantage anyway for not getting enough sleep to fully function."

Harry closed his phone and shook his head to Michelle. "No answer, Princess."

"Stop calling me that," Michelle growled as she snatched up her phone to call Ned. It went directly to voicemail. "Ned—where the hell are you? We are all waiting her for you to show up. You better have a damn good excuse."

She hung up and put her phone on the table. She looked at it, half expecting it to ring with Ned's face flashing at her. It didn't.

"I'll text him again," Harry offered, already opening his contact page. He typed away.

Michelle knew it was pointless, but didn't stop him. "Did he tell you anything last night?"

Harry shook his head. "Nope," he said. "Just the normal 'see you tomorrow'."

Nothing made sense. Ned would never skip out of practices. That was more of Peter's forte than anything. However, Peter had a good reason considering he was Spider-man.

"Ms. Jones?" Mr. Harrington said, pushing his glasses up his nose. "Why don't we just start? If Mr. Leeds comes, he can just hop right in."

Michelle exhaled, aggravated. "Sure. Let's do that," she said, but thinking already how she was going to scold Ned for his tardiness. She addressed the team. "Let's start with the flash—"

The sound of a heavy door opening distracted her. Michelle looked up. Ned Leeds sauntered into the library, a giddy expression barely concealed on his face. Almost like he was bursting to tell some fantastic news to everyone.

Michelle didn't give a crap. "Where the hell have you been?"

"Someone is in trouble…" Flash cheekily intoned at Ned's expense.

Ned slowed to a stop, hoovering by the doors. "Sorry! Sorry! I know I'm late, I—"

"Late is five minutes after the start time," Michelle sternly cut him off. "We have our first competition in two weeks! And you being late isn't going to help us keep our national title. It's not fair for the rest of us to pick up your slack. We are a team! We all need to be in this together or not at all."

Ned stammered. "I—of course, Michelle," he said. "I didn't mean to be late. I was just… I was bringing a friend—"

A friend? What friend? Ned's only two friends were seated right next to each other at the table.

Ned backtracked to the door and swung it open, sticking his head between the doors. He called for someone. Everyone around the table craned their necks to see, curious as to who Ned brought to their small team.

Another person stepped across the threshold, joining Ned inside the library. "Hey guys…"

The friend was none other than Peter Parker.

Peter's unannounced arrival sent everyone into stunned silence. The famous student of Midtown stood in front of them, hands wrangled together as he took in his former teammates. He didn't say another word, only gazing at their faces to gauge their reactions. They had none. At least, Michelle didn't. Her heart leapt while her face fell. Mouth slacked as she gaped at Peter, noticing the subtle differences of him. He still had that thick, brown hair, gentle eyes, but he looked taller, muscular and a bit tanner to be honest. His style didn't change either. He wore another one of his classic, graphic T-shirts, paired with a navy jacket. It was almost as if nothing changed about him and yet, Michelle saw something in his eyes that told her differently.

Peter suddenly looked uncomfortable, his feet shifting backwards. Ned was bemused by their reaction. "Guys, it's Peter," Ned said to spark life back into them. "You know? Peter—"

"Parker!" It was Flash who shouted, surprising everyone as the guy leapt out of his chair.

Flash's shout jolted the rest of the team out of their stupor. They all rushed at Peter with huge grins. Everyone talked right away, asking question after question before Peter even answered the first one. They all huddled around him like crazed disciples, brightly looking at their returned hero.

"Where have you been?" asked Cindy Moon.

"Is it true that you can command an army of spiders?" questioned Charles.

Sally investigated Peter's wrists. "So do you produce the web from your body?"

Peter remained polite, although baffled by the attention. Michelle stood off to the side. She didn't ask any questions. She opted to only observe Peter's interaction with his old teammates. She watched Mr. Harrington stroll through the crowd to give a nice, welcoming pat on Peter's shoulder.

"It's good to see you, Mr. Parker," Mr. Harrington said to him. "I'm glad you're okay."

"I could say the same to you," Peter responded. "I'm sorry about what happened to you, Mr. Harrington. I… I didn't mean for you to get shot. I'm sorry—"

Mr. Harrington stopped him. "I will always take a bullet for my students, Mr. Parker. Enhanced or not," he said. "I have no regrets."

Peter thanked Mr. Harrington again and as Mr. Harrington moved aside, Peter spotted Michelle staring at him. "MJ."

Michelle's muscles tensed for a brief second. He called her MJ. No one had called her that. Not even when she told them too nearly a year ago. Peter broke away from the group, coming up to her. Michelle breathed in, trying to figure out what to say to him.

"Parker," she crossed her arms, speaking in that accusing tone of hers that made Peter hesitant. "You're late."

Peter snorted, realizing the joke. "Yeah, but I have a note," he teased in return. "Oh—I have to ask you something, did you really yell at Tony?"

Michelle scrunched up her face all innocently. "Yell? At Mr. Stark? That's not really my thing. Besides, how would I do that?"

Flash nudged himself back into the inner circle, squeezing himself next to Michelle. "Parker! Parker! Can you really stick to everything? Like the ceiling? And like, where have you been all this time? I read in a blog..."

Flash kept yapping away, excited to ask Peter a lot of random questions all at once. Michelle rolled her eyes at Flash's interrogation. "Will you, like, chill out?" Michelle cut in Flash's ramblings. "He's not going to give you an interview. Plus, I doubt he can tell you anything."

Based off Peter's reaction, she was right. There was a code silence and Peter had to keep it sealed behind his lips. "There's not much I can tell you," Peter said to the overall group. "Just that I was away and now I'm home."

"What can you tell us?" asked Charles, eagerly awaiting for an answer like the rest of them.

Peter hunched his shoulders and hands dug into the pockets of his jeans, before he shrugged his answer. He looked uncomfortable being the center of attention, looked upon like he was some kind of god. He casted a look over his team until he stopped on someone in the back. Michelle trailed his line of sight and spotted Harry.

Harry stood outside the circle of admirers. He was not smiling. He appeared relatively calm, but Michelle noticed the uncertainty brewing in Harry's blue eyes. Harry was no longer an insider amongst them. He was an outsider, looking in as his teammates gushed over another. Harry kept himself occupied, tugging on his shirt or playing with his phone as if he got an important message. Anything to hide his discomfort at not being able to join in on the welcoming party.

Seeing Harry's despondency, Michelle called out to him. "Hey, Harry."

Harry snapped his head up to her. Michelle stretched out her hand and grabbed his arm, pulling him through the crowd. Harry, at first, resisted, but eventually gave up when Michelle pulled him right beside her. Right in front of Peter.

"Peter, this is Harry," Michelle introduced. "Harry—Peter."

Harry extended his hand. "I, um, heard a lot of good things about you."

"Good to meet you too," Peter took his hand. "You must be new to Midtown"

"Yeah, Harry joined this year," Flash inserted himself into the conversation. "He replaced you."

Michelle wanted to slap Flash's mouth shut. Peter looked from Flash to Harry, who frowned in resentment at Flash's interjection. Harry turned back to Peter. "You can have it back," he offered, although there was not much conviction in his voice. Only obligation upon Peter's return. "I can be an alternate or something—"

"Oh, no, that's okay," Peter reassured Harry. "Have to be a student to be on the team anyway."

Harry looked relieved to still have his position, but then tightened when he comprehended Peter's words. So did everyone else. Michelle's heart fell as Ned faced Peter.

"Wait... you're not coming back?" Ned said, tone soft in disbelief.

Peter slowly—regretfully—shook his head. "I-I can't," he said, apologetic. "I talked to Tony about it and Aunt May too. They think it would be best if I was homeschooled instead."

"Homeschooled!" Ned said, outrageous over the very idea. "But—you have to come back! We all want you to come back!"

A chorus of 'yes' followed, the decathlon team all voicing their support in Peter to return. Michelle didn't say anything. She saw Ned dismantle, his smile slipping further down on his face. She examined Peter, noticing the way his nose twitched, lips thinning and the constant avoidance of everyone's gaze. He was happiness and hurt all bundled together in one unbreakable knot. She too was disheartened, but she understood the reason. Michelle imagined parents wouldn't be accepting of Peter's return to the school with all the risks he brought. He already caused a school shooting. Now that he was well-known as Spider-man, what other dangers might he bring?

Michelle knew it wasn't fair. But, when was life ever fair?

Peter spoke again, mostly addressing Ned. "I can't," he said. "It's too dangerous. For you guys. People may come after me and... I can't have another repeat."

The excitable mood turned to a more solemn as everyone realized that Peter Parker was not returning to school ever again. Michelle sighed and lifted her gaze up. Her eyes immediately met Peter's. He was looking at her with those puppy eyes—kind, but sad.

And in that one shared look, Michelle understood what Peter conveyed. She dipped her chin a bit, a tiny nod of compassion that only Peter would see before she clapped her hands loudly. "All right team," she said aloud, looking at all the gloomed faces of her teammates. "We have about an hour before school starts and as much as I am happy Peter is back, we have a competition coming up that we need to get ready for."

She return her focus on Peter. "If you want to, Parker, you can join us in practice," she offered, extending the invitation to still be a part of their group even if he no longer could. "That is… if you can keep up. You were out for an entire school year. Don't want you to get embarrassed."

Michelle's stomach nearly flipped at Peter's humored smile. "Yeah, all right," he accepted. "Don't see the harm."

They all gathered around the library table like normal. Peter pulled up a chair next to Ned, but everyone kind of squished together anyway to be close to Peter. Michelle started with a lightning round to warm everyone up. It was quickly followed by a face-off round, to which—no surprise here—Peter dominated, knocking off his opponents with ease. It was almost like the good, old days. Michelle tried very hard to stump him, but Peter parried off all her attempts to dethrone him. The only person to almost beat him was Harry. His knowledge on genetic mutation was surprisingly strong. But, that made sense considering his father's business. In the end, Peter still held the title of being the smartest one on the team—former team.

Michelle twisted her lips in deep thought. It was the last round of questions. She needed to find a subject Peter knew little. Then, genius hit her. She stood erect in her seat, pulling herself together as she drew up another pile of flash cards.

"Okay, our next subject is… literary," Michelle announced, knowing English was not Peter's strong suit. She drew the first card. "Okay, Parker, what was seen as the archetypal modern African novel in English?"

In the first time in the history of their decathlon team, Peter Parker froze. The muscles in his face went rigid, jaw hardening in frantic thought. Michelle coolly folded her arms in the table, a victorious, little grin spreading on her face as she watched Peter struggled for an answer. Everyone else around the table watched, eyes darting from Peter to Michelle, waiting with tensed anticipation to see whether Peter was the ultimate champion or not.

Ned, who sat next to Peter, gripped onto his seat like he was on a roller coaster. "You got this, Peter!"

"Shut it," came Flash's voice. "Don't disturb him."

Peter hadn't answered in twenty seconds. Michelle finally caught him in a bind. She smiled, ready to read the answer when she saw something flicker in Peter. Her friend relaxed, a slow, lopsided grin rising as he gazed directly at Michelle.

"Things Fall Apart," Peter answered as he reclined in his seat. "Final answer."

Michelle glanced down at her card. It was the correct answer. "Lucky guess," she scowled.

"Oh—I don't know about that. He's a smart ass."

The new voice shocked everyone, causing them to jump a little in their seats. Only Peter didn't react strongly to the surprise visitor. It appeared he recognized that voice as he snapped his neck in the direction of the library doors. Michelle looked to the doors as well, spotting a rather hefty guy with short, brown, wavy hair, and a square jaw that didn't form a smile at all.

Peter, however, burst into a smile. "Happy!"

He flipped over his chair with great flexibility that gymnasts envied, and rushed at the guy. He collided into the big man, crushing him in a hug. Michelle studied the man's face again. There was some familiarity there, but she couldn't quite pin why she recognized him. Or where.

The guy tottled backwards a bit from the force. "Jesus, kid! What are you trying to do? Knock me down?" he said and he clapped the back of Peter's back to signal the hug was over. "You look good? Got a bit of a tan there."

"Where were you? You weren't at the airport," asked Peter.

"You missed me that much, huh?" the guy—Happy, Michelle presumed—joked before he got serious. "I have other duties to attend to besides you now. I've moved up the ladder."

"Then what are you doing here?"

Happy deflated a bit. "Well, to pick you up and take you back to the compound," he answered, "but I volunteered. I wasn't told to do it."

"Hiya Happy!" Ned called, waving his hand at the guy with a stupid grin on his face.

Happy's eyes fell into slits. "Who's that guy?" he pointed to Ned's direction while speaking to Peter.

"Ned—my best friend," Peter answered. "Remember?"

"The 'Guy-in-the-Chair'," Ned tried to clarify, but it only left Happy even more puzzled. "I talked to you on the phone once."

"Yeah, er… okay, whatever… hey," Happy said, which dispirited Ned a little on the dismissal. But Happy's ultimate focus was on Peter. "So—you ready?"

Michelle scooted away from the table, watching the interaction with cold ice floating in her stomach. She remembered. He was the chauffer. The guy who picked Peter up from the school a few times for the fake Stark internship program. He worked for Tony Stark. That meant Happy was here to take Peter away again.

Michelle wasn't the only person sad about the prospect of leaving. "Do we have to leave now?" Peter whined. "It's still early. And we're almost done."

"I know you want to hang out with your friends," Happy acknowledged their table. "But, kid, you have places to be. And the school is about to open soon enough and Tony doesn't want you here when everyone starts coming in."

"Ten minutes."

"One minute."

"Five minutes."

"Thirty seconds."

Peter huffed. "Fine. Let me grab my stuff," he said, walking back to the table.

"What stuff?" Happy called out to him.

Peter paused. His eyes flickered back to the empty seat. "Oh. Right," he muttered. "Then let me say goodbye."

The big guy exaggeratedly threw his arms up, but gave a head nod as permission. Peter returned to the table. "I gotta go, guys," he said to everyone. "It was… really good to see everyone. You have no idea how much I missed this. So, um, thanks for letting me join in at practice. I'll be rooting for you at the meet next weekend."

Ned stood up and gave his friend a hug. "Will I see you later?" Ned asked.

"Um, yeah, not tonight though," Peter said to Ned. "Got a lot going on, but I will definitely text you. Promise!"

Peter stuck out his hand and Michelle knew what was going to happen next. Ned laughed and responded to Peter's initiation. They performed their not-so-secret handshake as if their separation never occurred at all.

He looked back at everyone on the team. "Sorry to leave like this again," he apologized again. "It was great to see you guys and that everyone is well," he said, looking at Mr. Harrington as he spoke. Peter looked across the table. "It was really nice to meet you, Harry."

Harry returned the polite platitude. "Nice to meet you too."

Peter then turned to Michelle. Her heart thumped hard against her chest as her stomach clenched in anticipation of what he was about to say. Peter breathed out. "You're doing a great job, MJ. I have no doubt you guys will win Nationals again this year."

It was a comment that threw Michelle off. She didn't know why she expected a different response. After all, she and Peter weren't great friends outside of school, or even outside the decathlon team. Then, he was gone for an entire school year, so they never got that chance to buddy up their friendship like the way she did with Ned. So, she shouldn't be surprised nor hurt that he only spoke about decathlon.

So, she responded in her typical, moody self as before he vanished. She raised her middle finger.

Rather than look rejected, Peter only laughed. "Thanks, MJ," he said and giving out final goodbye one more time before heading out of the library with the guy called Happy.

When the library door closed behind them, everyone chatted all at once. Mostly to Ned. They all wanted to know when Peter returned home and how long Ned knew Peter was in town. Ned did his best of fend himself off the questions, answering as truthfully as possible without betraying Peter's trust.

Michelle didn't bother asking Ned anything. She still looked at the door, somewhat hoping that Peter would come back through.

"Why does he call you MJ?"

Harry's question interrupted her dreams. "What?"

"Peter," Harry said again as everyone remained focus on Ned. Only he focused on her. "He called you MJ. I never heard anyone call you that."

The question threw Michelle off for a moment, baffled why Harry would be concerned over a nickname. "Oh, it's a nickname that I have. Only my friends call me that."

"But… no one calls you that," Harry pointed out. "Not even Ned."

"Yeah," Michelle murmured, not sure how to explain it. "I guess not everyone picked up on it except Peter."

Harry nodded. "So, um, does that mean I can call you MJ?"

"Does that mean you would stop calling me Princess?"

Harry's wicked smile returned. "Can't say that I will, Princess MJ."

Michelle bristled as Harry winked at her. "Oh, shut up," she grumbled, piling her flash cards together again. She looked back to her chattering clan of academic athletes. "Okay—everyone focus! We have less than fifteen minutes to finish up. We can do better, okay? Parker was gone for an entire school year and still whipped our asses ("Language, Miss Jones," warned Mr. Harrington). So, let's get busy."

"But that's Peter," Abe claimed. "He was always the smartest. He could miss another year and still get every answer correct."

Abe was probably right, but Michelle wasn't going to let that be an excuse. "Doesn't matter. He just proved to us that we need to work harder," she said. "Now… let's go back to literary because I don't think it's our best subject."

As Michelle read another question out-loud, Flash's voice erupted in agony. "Oh shit!" he smacked his forehead dramatically before looking at all of them. "Did any of you guys get a picture of Parker?"

A ruffled murmured went around the table as everyone turned to one another to ask the same question. Funny enough, no one took a single picture of Peter since he walked through the library doors. It turned out they all forgot to get a snap of the famous celebrity. All too busy to engage in their friend that they had completely forgotten he was Spider-man.

And for that, Michelle couldn't help the smile on her face. "Let's get back to practice," she said, turning to Cindy for her first round of questioning. "What was the original title for Fahrenheit 451?"

For those who were wondering, this fic is the second installment of a trilogy. Please see the order below:

1) A Hero's Run (completed)

2) A Hero's Perspective (completed)

3) A Hero's Return (WIP)