On the school bus ride to Midtown High School, Hawk learned from Peter and Harry how the two had first met.
Though he had always known.
While Peter's parents were still alive, they had both been researchers at Osborn Bio-Industry.
Both of them.
Because of their research, Peter's parents often brought Peter with them to Osborn Bio-Industry when they went to work.
It was during that time that Peter and Harry met and became close friends.
Later, after Peter's parents died in a plane crash, Peter rarely went to Osborn Bio-Industry anymore. But Harry, who had already come to regard Peter as a friend, visited him whenever he had the time.
Their relationship had never been severed. Even after they started high school, when Harry went to study in the United Kingdom, they still kept in touch by phone.
Like today.
Today was Harry's first day transferring to Midtown High School, so early in the morning, he came to find his good friend Peter.
Harry was delighted to be reunited with his old friend and even happier that they could attend school together.
Peter was also happy to be reunited with his old friend, because it was the best thing he had heard in the two months since Uncle Ben's death.
Yes.
Ben Parker had still died. It happened only a few days after summer vacation began, and because of it, New York City had gained a crime-fighting Spider-Man.
When Hawk heard the news, he froze for a moment before offering his condolences.
"Sorry. My condolences."
"It's okay."
Peter smiled.
His Uncle Ben had taught him something with his life.
With great power came great responsibility.
So...
These days, whenever Peter fought for justice, he could always feel Uncle Ben by his side, and he was no longer quite as sad.
The school bus drove steadily onward.
About half an hour later, the bus, packed with students, smoothly pulled into Midtown High School's parking lot under Holt's bearded command.
Once the doors opened, the students began getting off one after another.
"Hey, good morning, Gwen."
"Good morning, L."
"Gwen, long time no see."
"Long time no see."
"Gwen, please tell me we have a back-to-school dance."
"We do. It's tradition, Mark."
At that moment, Gwen stood in the parking lot some distance away, smiling as she chatted with classmates getting out of their own cars or stepping off school buses that had arrived from all across New York City.
Just then.
Hawk followed behind Peter, who had gotten off first, and the new student Harry, stepping down from the school bus with his sling bag over one shoulder.
Gwen's eyes lit up.
Just as she was about to go over to him, her vision blurred, and someone suddenly appeared in front of Hawk.
A woman with thick, jet-black hair cascading down her back like a waterfall.
Jennifer Chuck! (Jennifer's body, played by Megan Fox)
Midtown High School's sexy, captivating, and widely admired cheerleading captain, with a pair of bewitching fox eyes.
Gwen instinctively stopped, her willow-like brows knitting together.
"Hey, Gwen." Mary Jane, who had just gotten out of her own car, walked over to Gwen's side and patted her shoulder. "What are you looking at?"
As Mary Jane spoke, she followed Gwen's gaze.
She also saw Jennifer, dressed in revealing clothes that showcased her perfect figure, blocking Hawk's path.
"Uh."
"Jennifer."
"Good grief, she still hasn't given up?"
Mary Jane looked away after a glance and shook her head speechlessly. "Is she really planning to unlock the achievement of asking Hawk to be her dance partner every semester for all four years of high school?"
Gwen's voice was cool beside her.
"Not every semester."
"Hm?"
Mary Jane paused slightly and instinctively looked at Gwen.
Gwen's tone was calm and distant.
"At the grade dance in June, Jennifer asked Hawk too. Hawk turned her down."
"You make it sound like Hawk would ever attend a dance."
Mary Jane replied, then suddenly froze, as if she had realized something. She turned to look at Gwen beside her.
Gwen said nothing. She only narrowed her eyes and watched Hawk, who had gotten off the school bus, from afar.
And...
Jennifer Chuck, the cheerleading captain who was happily greeting Hawk.
"Hey, Hawk. Happy new semester."
"Happy new semester, Jennifer."
Hawk looked at Jennifer, who had practically teleported in front of him the moment he stepped off the bus, smiling at him with those fox eyes, and returned her greeting with a smile.
He could roughly guess why Jennifer had come.
After all, at the beginning of the past several school years, Jennifer had always appeared before him at the first opportunity and asked him the same question.
But knowing was one thing. He had no intention of beating her to the punch.
One reason.
What if he answered first, only for Jennifer to have meant something else?
Jennifer hooked Hawk with her bewitching fox eyes. "Hawk, you turned me down in Ninth Grade, you turned me down in Tenth Grade, and you turned me down in eleventh grade too. Now we're in twelfth grade, our last year of high school. You can't turn me down again this time, can you?"
As the school's cheerleading captain, Jennifer had no shortage of admirers around her.
And she had never missed a single dance.
But none of those dates had been Hawk.
Perhaps in Ninth Grade, Jennifer had simply been drawn to Hawk's exceptional aura of independence, melancholy, and good looks, which was why she had wanted to invite him.
But after Hawk rejected her for the first time, it seemed to have become an obsession for her.
Even though she knew Hawk was unlikely to agree.
But what if he did? If Hawk agreed, it would only add to her allure.
After all, for the past three years, Hawk had been known as someone who never attended any social gathering.
Unfortunately, there were no what-ifs.
Hawk shook his head.
"Jennifer, you know I won't attend the dance."
"But if you did attend the dance, you'd invite me to be your partner, right?"
"Yes, if I attended. But I won't."
"That's all I wanted to hear, Hawk."
"See you."
That was the answer Jennifer wanted.
What she could not have, no one else would have either.
That was enough. This way, even if she had failed to invite him, she had lost nothing.
So after getting the answer she wanted, Jennifer beamed, leaned close to Hawk, and kissed his cheek, leaving a deeper impression on him before waving happily and leaving.
Hawk watched Jennifer, who had arrived like a gust of wind and left just as swiftly, shake his head helplessly, then headed toward Gwen, who stood not far away.
Gwen smiled at Hawk as he walked over.
"She invited you to the dance?"
"Yeah."
"You agreed?"
"No."
"Oh."
"..."
Before you continue