The Midtown Decathlon team had their first decathlon competition of the season. The team was pretty confident, they did well last season. Michelle was a great captain, she worked them hard but the results paid off. And Peter, their new member, was a genius. They knew his former team took him for granted by the way he was hesitant to show his full prowess when he first began practicing with them but he came out of his shell when he realized the team didn’t mind.
The individual portion he just finished and the team was recuperating in a free room. There was light chatting but the competition mood didn’t
Peter Parker was sitting off on his own, he appeared to be a mix of nerve and confidence. Peter was naturally a nervous person but he had an endearing confidence to him because he was so skilled at everything he did.
Michelle was watching him out of the corner of her eye. She was glad he came to Midtown. Their schools had competed against each other multiple times and Peter’s school always beat them. The team was talented but Peter was their trump card. He always got perfect scores on the individual events and had the answers to the toughest questions. She thought he would have been in the team captain position but he never was.
Michelle liked to observe people and she noticed that Peter looked out of place on his old team. He was a clear outsider. She thought maybe it was because he was a genius and the others just couldn’t relate to him. But after meeting him, she realized he was very easy to get along with. She wasn’t as interested in science as Ned was but she could still get along with them.
She had a bad feeling about his old team. She could remember thinking he looked sad at competitions. Her feelings were never off. So when he got up to go use the bathroom she followed and pulled Ned along with her.
“Where are we going?” Ned yelped.
“We’re following Peter.”
“Uh, why.”
She ignored him and sped and walked to catch up. Peter was a fast walker.
The bad feeling was right she noted as she turned the corner and saw Peter being cornered by three boys from his old team. One of them was the captain.
“-see you ran with your tail behind your legs to a new school.” She heard as they approached.
“Lay off, Johnny, I’m just trying to go to the bathroom.” Peter tried to slip in between them but they blocked him.
“What’s going on here?” She said loudly, crossing her arms. She could fight if she needed to, she didn’t know about Ned.
“MJ!” Peter looked at her in surprise.
“Don’t worry, we’re just talking to our old friend Pete.”
“Doesn’t look like you’re just talking. Get away from him.”
She heard Ned shout an encouraging, “yeah.”
“Are these your new friends from your nerd school Pete? Surprised you have any.” The captain said and extra numbers 1 and 2 laughed. “Is this your girlfriend? I’m sure blondie will be jealous.”
“If this is how people at that school act, no wonder you left. I knew they weren’t very smart but this is low for them, cornering a competitor in the corridors, lame.”
“How dare-” the captain turned and stepped in her direction but Peter grabbed him by the arm. MJ noted that the guy winced at Peter’s touch.
“You’re about to be an adult CJ, I would recommend you go to therapy for your temper before it gets you in trouble. We can’t all throw temper tantrums when things don’t go our way. I carried that team for three years and you were nothing but assholes to me. You're welcome for the awards that you’ll proudly put on your college apps as if your leadership caused them. Newsflash, it didn’t. Michelle is ten times the leader you are. And when we beat you, it wasn’t just me but the rest of the team because they actually carry weight. Good luck, you’ll need it.” Peter pushed past the other extras and started to walk off. Michelle shrugged and followed, grabbing Ned along with her. Glancing back she could see the three gaping at them and the main one rubbing his forearm.
“That was badass,” Ned whispered.
“Didn’t you have to go to the bathroom?”
“It’s okay, the team quiz is about to start. I’ll go later.”
When they got back to the room the team was ready to go. Michelle said nothing else about the situation. Peter could talk about it if he wished and it didn’t seem like he did. Even Ned, with his lack of social awareness, understood.
The rest of the competition went well. During the team quiz, they all did their part. Peter rescued them on a couple of particularly hard questions but they were still in a good spot regardless.
Peter’s old school barely made second place. It wasn’t surprising, it was a small local competition with the schools in their area. Five teams. And they were the top two around. At regionals later in the year, there would be a lot more competition.
Michelle had gone off to meet her mom who had been watching the competition when there was suddenly a loud noise. An explosion. It sounded like it came from a short distance away. The building was still intact.
Michelle was a New Yorker, she was used to supervillains, random alien invasions, murder bots, and more. It was never a dull week in New York. Calmly, unlike Ned who was freaking out next to her, she checked her phone she was not surprised to see on the news that Spider-Man and Ironman fighting a mutant on a rampage on the streets just a couple of miles from the school they were in (Ned was freaking out even more when she told him, but this time he was excited). She couldn’t help but notice that Peter was nowhere to be found. She hoped he had left before the fight had started and wasn’t caught in it. But she had to wonder, how did Ironman get here so fast? Unless he was here to watch Peter… She hadn’t seen Peter since the results were heard, about thirty minutes ago, so maybe they left and Ironman had to come back to deal with the situation.
She decided to text him. He responded almost immediately.
MJ: You good?
Peter: Yeah, just had to deal with something at home. I heard there was a fight nearby. Stay safe. I’m sure Spiderman and Ironman have it handled.
She was satisfied with the answer. The brief flash of conspiracy in her mind was squandered. But not forgotten.