The Original Spider-Man's Debut

Mrs. Snow.

Her full name was Selina Snow, and she was their eleventh-grade counselor.

From personal social and emotional support to individual development and college application guidance, that was all Mrs. Snow's responsibility.

Unlike public high school counselors who had to handle a hundred or even two hundred students.

But Midtown High School was a private school, so Mrs. Snow was only responsible for thirty-five students.

This allowed her to provide deeper, more personalized support to the students under her care.

Another coincidence.

He and Gwen happened to share the same counselor: Mrs. Snow.

But...

He'd originally wanted to take a quick shower and change into clean clothes, but that plan fell through when Gwen urged him to head to Mrs. Snow's office.

On the way, Hawk asked Gwen curiously.

"Did Mrs. Snow say what it's about?"

"No, she just asked if I knew where you were, and if I did, to find you and come to her office together."

"Really?"

Hawk thought for a moment, then looked at Gwen. "Could it be about college? Your early admission and scholarship from Berkeley came through?"

The only possibility he could think of for Mrs. Snow calling both him and Gwen to her office was that.

After all, once this month passed and September rolled around, they'd already be twelfth graders.

They'd graduate high school in June next year.

But before that, top students had already locked in their preferred universities early, and those universities had locked in the students early too.

For example, Gwen had her heart set on Berkeley.

Located in California, Berkeley was a public research university, known as a Public Ivy, and had produced over a hundred Nobel laureates, ranking third in the world.

Gwen shrugged and looked at Hawk. "What about you? Still set on New York University for law? Not considering Stanford?"

Sure, NYU's law program was pretty good.

But everything falls short in comparison.

Compared to Stanford, at least in law, Stanford absolutely crushed NYU.

So Gwen didn't quite get it.

"I heard from Mrs. Snow that she also recommended you prioritize Stanford."

"Because I definitely won't get a scholarship from Stanford."

Hawk shrugged too, walking alongside Gwen toward Mrs. Snow's office as he explained. "NYU's different. Even if I don't get the top-tier scholarship, I'm sure to get something. And if I have a scholarship, I can negotiate the interest rate when I take out a bank loan."

Yeah.

It was that simple.

He'd love to study law at Stanford too. Hell, he'd even love to go to Yale for law and see if he could join some mysterious organization.

But...

That wasn't just a matter of wanting it. Even if they wanted him, the tuition at Stanford and Yale would crush him.

Hawk was thinking realistically.

Either way, he'd have to take out loans for college. So why not pick a school that would probably give him a scholarship and let him borrow less?

He didn't want to be in his fifties or sixties and still paying off student loans every month.

Of course, that was the plan and mindset before awakening his Cosmo.

Now?

Hawk had even less desire to go to Stanford or Yale.

NYU was fine. And in this life, he was only really familiar with New York City anyway. He was doing this to live comfortably, so staying in his comfort zone was pretty good too.

Gwen listened to Hawk's almost joking reason and frowned slightly. She wanted to say something, but thinking about Hawk's current situation—seventeen years old, no car, no house, no phone—she ultimately dropped it.

Soon.

Hawk and Gwen arrived at Mrs. Snow's office.

"Knock, knock!"

"Come in."

Mrs. Snow's voice came from inside the room.

Gwen pushed the door open and looked toward Mrs. Snow, who was sitting behind her desk, wearing glasses, around forty years old, with a kind expression. She greeted her.

"Mrs. Snow."

"Gwen, have a seat."

"Hawk."

Mrs. Snow looked at Gwen as she entered, smiled, and pointed at the sofa. Then she sighed at Hawk, who followed close behind, and said, "Once again, Hawk, you really should get a phone."

Not having a phone these days was way too inconvenient.

When he first enrolled, after learning about Hawk's situation, Mrs. Snow had offered to give him a free phone, but Hawk had refused, saying he'd get one soon.

And then...

From the start of ninth grade to now, nearly the end of eleventh grade, every time Mrs. Snow asked about his phone, Hawk would always say "okay, okay, okay, soon."

Sure enough.

This time, Hawk's answer couldn't be called exactly the same as before—it was a copy-paste.

"I'll take care of it soon."

"You say that every time."

Mrs. Snow felt a bit drained hearing his reply and was about to say more when—

The office door knocked again.

The next second.

Another familiar face walked in from outside.

Hawk, who had just sat down on the sofa, raised an eyebrow as he watched the familiar person enter.

Peter Parker.

But for some reason, the Peter Parker standing before him now seemed different from the one he'd seen in the locker room last time.

How to put it.

This time, he saw the shadow of Bully Maguire on Peter Parker.

More precisely, if before he'd seen Peter Parker as just Peter Parker, now Peter Parker made Hawk feel like he was looking at that superhero Spider-Man.

The Maguire version of Spider-Man.

The original Spider-Man.

Yeah.

Even though this was the Marvel Universe, and logically Spider-Man should be the Little Spider from the Alliance version.

But the Peter Parker he saw was the Maguire version of Peter Parker.

Strange.

Couldn't figure it out.

"Mrs. Snow."

"Peter."

Mrs. Snow's eyes lit up as she looked at Peter Parker walking in. "Wow, Peter, I haven't seen you in a few days, but you look like you've bulked up."

Yeah.

If before Peter had been a beanpole, now he was a young bull.

Hearing this, Peter scratched his head sheepishly and gave a shy smile. Then his gaze landed on Hawk, who was sitting on the sofa, and he froze, as if stunned.

Hawk looked back at Peter.

Their eyes met.

Hawk saw it clearly.

The moment Peter Parker's eyes fell on him, Peter's pupils contracted and dilated at a frantic speed.

Sure enough.

No surprises.

Peter must have mutated.

The real original Spider-Man—the one who didn't rely on tech and shot webs from his wrists—had come online successfully.