The Web Heads

“These are my - uh - classmates. They are here to work on a project with me.” Flash explained to his Dad, gesturing to the small group of friends now huddled awkwardly by the vase table.

“Hello Mr. Thompson.” Liz tried to be polite but it apparently flew over Flash’s father head. 

“Since when were you friends with them?”

Flash ignored the question and waltzed over to his father confidently, until he was actually standing directly in front of him. Then his slumped shoulders, and hands in pockets said otherwise.

“Father?”

“Hmm?” The man was swiping through his phone now, not even bothering to look Flash in the eye. 

“What are you doing home? I thought you had a business meeting.”

“I did. I still do. We’re relocating here for the meeting which is why you need to leave.”

“But Dad -“

“No buts. Just go practice football or something.”

“Do you really need the whole house?” Flash asked. His tone was questioning; not defiant, but again, his father must not have noticed. 

“That’s enough. You do as I say.” He shoved a finger in Flash’s face. 

“I’m just saying the house is so huge. Why can’t my friends and I go to my room and you can work in the dining room, or your office, or out by the pool. We won’t bother you.”

“Oh sure, like Tiny didn’t bother me last night. It’s bad enough you brought him here, but now you’re bringing more people to a place where they don’t belong.”

Peter and Ned shifted uncomfortably at the implied comment. Or maybe it was the awkwardness of the situation. Flash certainly felt humiliated by the accusation in his father’s tone. He just wanted his father to be reasonable. 

“Go somewhere else, or I’ll take the car away from you, understand?”

Flash swallowed before answering, “Yes sir, I understand.”

Without another word to his son, Mr. Thompson put the cell phone to his ear and began talking to one of his business partners. 

“Hello. Yeah. I’m at the house right now.”

His father exited the room in a haste, and Cinzia followed behind, but not without giving Flash a sympathetic smile. 

“He busy man. No feel bad.” She said softly before closing one of the giant doors to the dining room. 

The Web Heads stood speechless with shock, nervously glancing at Flash as if he were a porcelain tea cup they didn’t want to break. 

Flash was too embarrassed to look at them for a brief moment. He needed to regain his charm, his Mr. Brightside persona, but he felt so ashamed that his Dad was kicking him out right in front of the people he had picked on for years. It was Karma, he supposed. That was what made him feel even worse. To know that he deserved a taste of his own medicine. And now Peter, Ned, and MJ would have something to laugh at him about for the rest of his life. 

“So,” Flash’s eyes snapped towards Peter, who spoke rather loudly, “Do you want to meet Mr. Delmar now?” 

                   ____________________

The door bell rang as Peter opened the Deli’s door for his Web Heads. The five teenagers quickly disbursed around the store, looking for candies and snacks. 

Flash rushed beside Peter who was snatching some gummy worms off a shelf. 

“I’m pretty sure we almost got ran over when we crossed the street.” Flash said, rather paranoid. He was not dealing well with the poor neighborhood. 

Peter chuckled lowly. “Nah, the car was a good few inches away.”

He laughed even harder at the look on Flash’s face. 

“Oh I’m glad you’re getting amusement out of this.” Flash snapped, “But your neighborhood is a death trap! Cars everywhere, creepy people walking down the street with like shady glasses and guitar cases which are probably stuffed with guns. One man looked like he hadn’t bathed in days. It’s filthy! This part of town is disgusting. I mean, just look at the unsanitary dirt in this place. This is a place of food for crying out loud. Oh my God, is that a cat?”

Peter chuckled, leaning against the counter to tickle the fat cat laying there. “This is Murph.”

Flash’s jaw dropped to the floor. “Don’t touch it!” He screamed, yanking Peter’s hand away, “You’ll get Rabies.” He screamed.

“Hey, Mr. Parker.” The man behind the counter greeted. He just returned from the back of the room carrying a rag in his hands. 

“Hi, Mr. Delmar.”

“Number 5?” He asked and Peter nodded. Flash looked between the two of them as if they were sharing secret codes. 

“Coming right up. Who’s your friend?”

“Uh, this is Flash. We’re working on a project together.”

“You’re the owner here?” Flash asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yup. You want a sandwich?”

“No thanks.”

“Okay then. Are you sure? Best sandwiches in Queens.”

“I’m sure. So you own this Deli, huh? Do you follow the federal guidelines for food and safety regulations?”

“Oh man. I’m so sorry.” Peter muttered, giving Mr. Delmar his best sympathies. 

“No seriously? I’m asking an important question here. Do you store Deli meat in the refrigerator’s at approximately 41 degrees or cooler? Do you use sanitizer solution for cleaning surfaces that contact food? And what’s with this cat? Do you know how many diseases cats carry?” 

“Peter, get him out of my face right now.”

“Got it.” Peter said, already tugging Flash’s arm.

“Wait! Hey!” Flash put up a struggle but Peter managed to get him far enough away from the counter before he released his iron grip.

“Damn, you grew some muscle.” Flash muttered, stretching out his sore arm.

Liz came over with a bag full of candies. “This place is great! I love how much stuff they have to offer.”

“Thanks. You can buy a sandwich if you want. Mr. Delmar has a wide variety.”

“Don’t subject yourself to cat litter sandwiches!” Flash yelled and Peter clamped a hand over his mouth. 

“Flash, chill.” His hand was slapped away viciously. 

“That hand touched a cat!”

“What do you have against cats?” 

MJ and Ned returned with their sandwiches and selections of chips. 

“Guys, I’ll pay for it all.” Liz said, whipping out her credit card. 

Mr. Delmar’s eyebrows skyrocketed, and he glanced at Peter. “So they aren’t from around here, are they?”

“Nope.” Peter grinned and thanked Liz for paying anyways even if everyone normally pays with cash.

As the Web Heads made their way down the street, Liz took Peter’s advice and stuck her wallet inside her jean pocket instead of her purse. The only thing calming Flash’s fears of being mugged was the thought of Spider-Man protecting Queens. Thank God for that wall-crawling hero. 

It was sort of unanimous that the Web Heads were going to go to Peter’s house. He was the only one left with a place to go. 

The walk to Peter’s took a million years, but Flash was enjoying listening to Ned sing. At one point, Ned stopped in the middle of the side walk and performed a rain dance because he wanted it to rain for his mother’s garden. He was such a dork, but Flash didn’t mind. 

When they finally did make it to Peter’s apartment, they were out of breath from belting out Journey songs - no shame - at the top of their lungs. Ned’s cheeks were red and his chest was heaving from the effort it took to hit the high notes. 

Flash had never seen Peter’s apartment before; why would he? But the outside was beautiful with shrubs trimmed and colorful flower beds lining the pathway. 

For someone who lived in a shitty neighborhood, Parker would be lucky enough to have a nice apartment in the middle of all the crappy ones. There was a bitter taste in Flash’s mouth again. It’s the same taste he got at school before he bullied Peter. 

The inside of Peter’s apartment was even nicer than the outside. Sure, it was small, but it was quaint. Unlike Flash’s house where a person could get lost, Peter’s actually felt like a home. There were family pictures and cozy furniture surrounding the well-painted walls. 

“Hey May,” Peter greeted to his aunt who was chopping something in the kitchen, with her back turned. And holy cow, she was young and sexy. Okay, maybe not that young, but she’s so thin, and curvy, and she had this long silky brown hair. Flash felt his stomach flip. Parker would have an extremely hot Aunt. Of course. Why wouldn’t he? 

“Hi hon.” May responded, rushing to the sink. “You’re home early. I thought you were going to work on a project with your friends.”

“I am but we need a place to work. Can my friends stay here?”

May turned around and when she saw the group standing being her Nephew she flinched hard, sending her chopped vegetables flying to the floor. 

“Oh hi!” She laughed nervously. 

“Sorry to spring this on you.” Peter winced. 

“Oh no, it’s okay. It’s okay. I’m happy you brought home some friends for once.”

“May!” Peter squawked. So little Parker was worried about being embarrassed? That seemed ridiculous especially after what happened to Flash. Nothing could top that humiliation with his father. 

“Sorry.” May said. “So what’s this project you’re working on.”

“Oh you know...Science stuff?” Peter said questioningly, looking at MJ and Ned for help. They were too busy checking out the baby pictures lining the mantel.

“Speaking of projects, what are you making?” Peter asked, moving closer to the kitchen now. 

“Oh, so I decided to take a sushi class -“

“Why?”

“ - and I am making a spicy dragon roll.”

“Yum.” Peter said sounding terrified. By the way the apartment smelled, Flash was terrified too.

Behind her, something started sizzling out of the pot on her stove, and May gasped. 

“Crap!” She screamed turning the burner off and quickly trying to catch the overflowing water.

“May? Do you want to just order Pizza instead?”

“Oh yeah.” May nodded quickly. “That would be great.” 

“Okay, I’ll go order it in my room once everyone figures out what they want.”

“Okay, thanks kiddo. I’ll be out here cleaning. Oh yeah, I’ll be doing lots of cleaning.” She mumbled looking at her disastrous kitchen. 

Peter led the Web Heads into his room like an excited dog. Flash shook his head fondly. 

“I miss your aunt’s terrible cooking.” Ned laughed as he sat on Peter’s twin sized bed. 

“Yeah. It’s getting a little better though. She made a mean spaghetti last night.” Peter said, “So what do you want on your pizza?”

MJ, Liz, and Flash were busy standing near the doorway, awkwardly shuffling into the extremely tiny room that felt more like a gerbils cage for Flash than a bedroom. 

Once they were all crammed inside, Liz sat on the floor and placed the paper down. “Um... I like pepperoni?”

“Yeah. Me too.” Ned said, “with black olives.”

“Half pepperoni, half pepperoni and black olives? Does that sound fair?” Peter asked.

The group agreed as they continued to unpack the items they brought with them. 

Peter’s room was as typical as Flash expected. A lot of his clothes were shoved under his bed, and on the floor, scattered everywhere. There were shelves covered with books. He had Star Wars action figures standing on display, and there was a little old T.V box in the corner of his room, some type of retro tech too. It looked straight from the 1980s. The only cool thing Parker actually had in his room was a New York Mets cap and some Mets merchandise.

Liz was scanning over the shelves, smiling at a picture of little Peter sitting in between his Aunt and Uncle. 

“This is cute.” She whispered.

“Oh.” Peter flushed a dark shade of red. “I - yeah - um.” Poor guy couldn’t even string his thoughts together. 

“I have a picture of the academic decathlon team in my room.” MJ blurted out, as if the situation couldn’t get any more awkward. Though, maybe she was trying to save Peter from embarrassing himself, Flash couldn’t tell. 

“That’s nice.” Peter stuttered, watching as MJ gave him a wink. 

“How long have you lived with your Aunt and Uncle?” Liz asked, continuing to look at a few of his photos. Her pink fingernails traced the outline of a picture frame with Peter in a pirate hat standing next to a tall man who Flash assumed to be his uncle. 

“Since - uh - since I was s-six.”

“Wow. That’s young. So did your parents die. I mean, I guess they did. I’m sorry.” Liz was thinking out loud as she spoke. “But your Aunt seems really cool. You’re lucky to have her.”

“I agree.” Peter said. 

“I’m sure you’re Uncle is cool too.”

Both Ned and Peter looked as though Liz shot them in the foot. Quickly, ducking his head down, Peter remained slouched over on his bed only the top of his head was visible.

“His Uncle was really cool.” Ned whispered. “But he’s not around anymore.”

“Is he away on business or something?” Flash asked.

“No, he’s dead.” Peter whispered, eyes glued to his feet. 

“Oh my God.” Liz said in a panic, “Oh I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.”

“It’s okay.” Peter tilting his chin up slightly, but keeping his eyes downcast. “It’s just hard to talk about cause it happened so recently, and - I don’t like talking about it.” 

“I completely understand.” Liz hurried to reassure him. “But your Aunt. She’s so sweet we should just talk about her.”

Smart move, Liz. Distract him with something else. 

Peter finally looked up at everyone again, “Yeah.” He smiled. “She’s the best.”

“My mom would never let me eat Pizza.” She commented casually. 

“Why not?” Ned asked. 

“Oh, Pizza is fattening. It would ruin my image.”

“Your homecoming queen image?” He asked for clarification, and she nodded.

“For as long as I can remember my parents wanted me to be homecoming queen.”

“Why?” MJ pressed.

“My mom was homecoming queen when she went to school. It’s what helped her get into a great college for very little money.”

“Wow. That’s cool. I didn’t know they offered scholarships for homecoming queens.”

“It’s all about the reputation. Homecoming queens do charity, and volunteer, and they are always positive and kind. The perfect stuff that colleges want on their applications. It’s been my plan ever since I was little.”

“Was it your plan, or your parents plan?” MJ asked bluntly. 

“I’m sorry, what?”

“To go to an amazing college? Has it always been your plan? Or did your parents tell you that’s what you need to do.”

Liz stood motionless. It was as if the impact of MJ’s words had knocked every wisp of air out of her lungs, and she stood there struggling to exhale, inhale or do anything.

“I think we should get to work.” Flash decided to say in an attempt to change the subject. Besides they really needed to get work done. 

Peter ordered a few pizzas, one with plain cheese, one with half pepperoni and black olives and one with pineapples and ham for Ned. 

Sitting on the edge of Peter’s plastic chair, MJ leaned over his desk and emptied her backpack full of pencils, erasers, and paint. She grabbed a sheet of paper and began designing. 

Peter handed her a sketch idea he had, and he let Liz look it over. 

“I like the Top Secret in big red letters, but I’m thinking it should be smaller than the ‘meet your secret homecoming queen.’“

“I think that’s too long. Try, ‘Secret Homecoming Queen revealed.’” Flash suggested. 

“Oh yeah, we can do a bullet list. We’ll say, secret location in the auditorium after school, free drinks and snack, watch the marching band perform, participate in a spirit competition, and see Liz Allan, homecoming queen.“ 

“So we want your name on the flyer?” 

“Are you kidding? Of course. I want everyone to know this rally is for people to vote for me. I want the name to stick.”

MJ quickly scribbled something down as a rough draft. When Liz gave her the okay, she went to work. 

As her hand moved almost automatically, elegantly, and perfectly, MJ created certain aesthetic qualities that were remarkable to capture in a two dimensional visual language. Flash watched in amazement as she used various elements: shapes, lines, and textures to create a realistic portrait. 

The bold, red stenciled letters were as accurate as font on a computer. She blended the words to make it look like it was on a sheet of paper that a woman was holding. This woman was shredding the paper, but before it could be completely shredded, there was a bullet list where she added the place, date, and time along with everything else her friends mentioned such as the free drinks and snacks. 

“Oh my gosh!” Liz squealed, jumping up and down. “I love it! I love it!” 

“Wow, you’re really talented, MJ.” As soon as he said it, Peter blushed and looked at his feet. 

“I’m what?” MJ asked, raising an eyebrow.

“He’s right. You’re amazing.” Ned said, glancing over her shoulder. “You should think about becoming an artist.”

MJ quickly shook her head, “No, I’m not talented.”

“Yeah, you are.”

“No, I’m not.” 

Flash clapped his hands together. “Okay children. Enough.”

“Shut up, Eugene.” MJ snapped.

“Hey! I’m just saying, I think you should take the compliment.” He said as he unwrapped his laptop charger and leaned over to plug it in. 

“No one ever compliments me.” Her eyes drifted to her drawing, blankly. 

“Well, people should. You deserve it.” Peter stated more confidently than Flash had ever heard him. 

As Flash was plugging in the laptop he noticed something red sticking out of the bottom of Peter’s closet. 

“What’s this?” He asked aloud, but before he could tug the fabric, Peter leaped over and slammed his body against the closet door. 

“Nothing!” He screeched, kicking the red fabric under his closet and panting like he ran a marathon. Slowly, Flash stood from his bent position. 

“Dude... what is your problem?” 

“Just don’t go through my stuff, okay?” Peter said firmly. 

“Why? What is that, some thong or something?” Flash laughed, but Peter remained firm against the closet door, refusing to budge. 

“Don’t go through my stuff.”

“All right, fine.” Flash threw up his hands and walked over to the bed where Ned was sitting. He handed Ned his laptop and opened a bag of pretzels. 

“Your friend’s got problems.” 

“Come on guys, we need to get this email out tonight.” Ned explained, “So MJ, get your digital pencil ready because we’re going to need your help.”

The Web Heads crowded around the tiny laptop and went to work.