Early the next morning, the students in Peter's grade gathered outside the school gates, preparing to board the school bus for a visit to Osborn Industries.
The morning sunlight filtered through the treetops onto his face, making him feel a little better.
Jessica had practically become a collection of Negative Energy. He had spent half an hour with her in the hospital room last night, carrying on a one-sided conversation, and Peter had ended up feeling unbearably heavy-hearted instead.
She had not said a word. That sensation of being cut off from the world was truly painful to witness. As her classmate, he could not just watch her continue like that.
So despite sleeping badly again last night, Peter got up early today, dug out the camera Uncle Ben had once used from the basement, practiced using the film again, and wore it around his neck that morning.
Fortunately, he had reached an agreement with Thompson. Otherwise, bringing out an antique camera like this would probably have gotten him laughed to death.
But he had no choice. The camera on Peter's secondhand junk phone was broken, and he also had the tiniest bit of selfishness that made it inconvenient to borrow someone else's phone for pictures.
Yes, he planned to secretly take a few photos of Liz and keep them for himself.
"Morning, Peter."
"Morning, Ned."
After greeting Little Fatty, the two chatted about video games while waiting for the bus beneath a tree. Peter had gotten some arcade circuit boards from the junkyard, repaired them, and ported those games onto a computer. Whenever they had time, he and the fat kid would play online together.
The game they had been playing lately was Punisher, a side-scrolling beat-'em-up.
But the more they played, the more confused they became. The Punisher