Chapter 9: A Girl’s Burning Ambition

There were two types of people in this world, those that were born to rule and those that were born to serve. 

Truth be told, it was a very faulty concept.

Even those that were born as sheep could become wolves with enough experience. 

But the man in front of me was born a wolf, one whose claws and fangs were sharpened at birth. 

"I didn't expect my son to cause trouble for me… again." He sounded disappointed, a tiny scowl plastered across his face. 

And I will be honest, currently the only person that terrified me the most was none other than Norman Osborn. 

Why?

Because everything that I have been able to do so far has been because of this man. From sponsoring the Extremis project to getting Paladin on my side to getting VIP treatment everywhere I go, have all been thanks to the name of Osborn. 

Without the title of Osborn, I was nothing.

At least for the time being.

Till I am able to build my own fortune, which I have been trying to do, I needed Norman. 

It would take some time, at least a year but till then I needed him. 

Could I say the same for him?

Absolutely not. 

I might be his only child but if I were to interfere with his plans, I would be thrown away without him batting an eye.

That was the type of person Norman Osborn was. 

"I am sorry, dad." I apologised before giving any explanations. 

He stared at the road below the tower, it was bustling. 

"You know, if I want… I can prevent any cars from going through that road." He looked at me. "Do I own the road?" He asked. 

"You don't."

"Indeed I don't." He said. "Then do you know why I can do that?"

"Because you have the power." 

And I wasn't lying. He did hold extreme power. 

"Exactly and that power is money. Money buys you power, be it social power or economic. Once you have power, you can make the world revolve around your fingertips." He smirked. "Politics control the world and money controls politics."

He paused and turned around. He was a tad bit taller than me, but the years of experience that he had topped with the air of authority that surrounded him made him feel like a behemoth.

But in reality, it was not fear that I felt. 

Of course, I was scared of the things he was capable of. I was worried about him but it was not fear I felt. 

It was awe.

This was what I hoped to achieve… just on a much bigger scale. 

A much grander scale.

"Amanda filled me up on your recent behavioural changes." He said, pulling out a file from his stash of documents. "And she says… they are bizarre to say the least."

Of course, I knew that Amanda was a loyal dog to my father and every single one of my moves was being reported to him. 

But I didn't expect her to exaggerate so much. 

"Of course, they are exaggerated." He chuckled a little. "But I believe that to be a women's thing."

If he said that in public, stones would be thrown at him. But he knew when and where to say such things.

"I was quite surprised at your spending spree, at one point I was worried that you might have been getting blackmailed by someone, but when I looked into the matter." He smiled. "I was glad that I couldn't have been any further from the truth."

He pulled out a bunch of copies. 

"Apple, Sony, Benz, Samsung, Tesla… I don't know about this last one but all the others have been some great investments, son." He said. "I am glad that you are getting interested in business. And I see that you have also invested in Osborn and… Stark industries?" He chuckled. "Smart move."

I didn't say much, instead kept a smile on my face.

"But tell me, Harry… Why the sudden interest in business? One does not randomly get interested in it. Then what changed?"

"I faced reality." I said with a sour face. 

And in honesty, I did face reality. 

"If I don't change, Oscorp will be in a difficult position in the future."

Norman raised an eyebrow. 

"Explain."

I nodded. "You are a brilliant leader, thanks to whom Oscorp has reached such heights. And just like you, there are quite a lot of businessmen who are growing their business at a rapid pace." I sighed. "Not long ago, I met someone who was younger than me but was already running his business and being successful. This made me realise that while you can keep Oscorp at the top, can I say the same for myself? Can I say that I can keep Oscorp in the same position in the future?"

I paused and looked at him. 

"The answer is no." I clenched my fists. "I cannot. Not the way I am now."

I stood straight. "That's why I am trying to change, that's why I am trying to get better at these things. So that I can run Oscorp in the future."

I laughed. "Call it a realisation, a very late one. But yeah… still a realisation."

I stopped and looked down. Norman didn't say anything for a while.

"You have grown." He smiled. "And it's good that you have grown so much. You are still nowhere near capable of becoming a part of Oscorp but you are moving on the right track."

He sat down on the chair.

"But since you are trying to learn, I will give you a small amount of finances to distribute across various stocks and also provide you with enough material about the stock market to learn." His smile was calmer. "Good luck, son. I am glad that you are trying to change."

Harry would have fainted if he heard his father saying that he was proud of him. After all, the boy never realised that his father hated nothing more than losing and that applied to his son's life as well. 

Harry constantly falling short to Peter in academics and Flash in sports disappointed Norman. 

What he should have done was to find something that he could ace at or something that would help him in the long run.

Business was the answer.

"So… if you are free." I paused. "Can we go and have dinner together?"

I asked something that Norman would have rejected immediately.  

If it was some other time.

"I don't seem to have any meetings for the day. So, sure? Where do you want to go?"

I smiled. "Anywhere works, dad."

After all, I still needed to act like the boy that wanted nothing more than his father's recognition.

The boy that wanted nothing more than his father's love and care.

…

…

"Ahh… Will I ever get his love and care?"

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The girls giggled as they saw their friend staring at the boy sitting at the end of the cafeteria.

"It's been three months since I came back and he rarely talked to me." She puffed her cheeks. "No matter what I do, I cannot seem to get his attention."

"Give up, Liz." Said of the spectacled groupies. "Maybe he is into MJ."

"Yeah, I mean don't you see him sticking to her like… every day?"

Liz frowned at her friends. "He sticks to Peter just as much. That doesn't mean he is gay."

One of the girls shrugged at that. "Or maybe he is, who knows?"

But upon seeing Liz's scowl, she shut her mouth. 

"That means they are good friends." Liz said. "And we all know that Pete—"

She was about to blabber about Peter's crush on Mary Jane but since he did his best to not let others know about it, she didn't want to reveal it.

"Arrgh." She shook her head. "Forget it."

The girls were curious as to what she was going to say about Peter but before any one of them could ask, the spectacled girl sighed.

"Listen, Liz. Why don't you go and talk with Harry? I know you practically throw yourself at him but that is just our observation… women's observation, got it?" She said as she fixed her glasses. "Men are dumb, they are oh so dumb. Unless and until you say it to their face that you like them, they wouldn't believe it. So, I think you should talk to him."

"That I like him?" Liz wasn't sure if she had the confidence to do that.

"No, not that. Be with him, try to be part of his group?" The girl said. "You said that those three were a group, right? When you are close to someone for so long, you are bound to be attracted to them." She smiled. "I believe you know what I am getting at?"

Liz nodded.

"I guess that's a good idea." Said another one of the girls. "Why don't you go and try to talk to him?"

Liz was unsure but deep down, she wanted to talk to Harry. She knew she was pretty, maybe not on par with Mary Jane, Felicia or Gwen, but she was still a beauty. 

"Don't think and just go." This time it was a girl with short hair. "You look like a child if you act meek, no boy likes that."

Liz took a deep breath and nodded. 

"Alright. I will go."

"Atta girl!" Smirked the short-haired girl. "You can do it."

Embarrassed at the words, Liz made her way towards Harry.

In her memories it was just yesterday when she saw the brown-haired boy sitting just like today, near the window, looking out and daydreaming. 

Looking just as beautiful as today.

To her, he was a work of art. 

There were many good-looking boys out there but none seemed as interesting to her as Harry. For a very long time, she had liked the boy. And no matter how many times she tried to show it, the boy just never realised it. 

It broke her heart when she saw him dating other girls. But that was all in the past, he was single now. And she hoped that if he ever got into a relationship it would be her. 

It was a hope, her hope.

But her heart pained when she saw him staring at Mary Jane with a smile. She hoped that it was not what her friends told her. 

Doing her best to not show her emotions on her face, she called the boy.

"Hey, H-Harry." She stuttered and immediately felt shy, but it seemed like the boy didn't notice her little slip-up.

"Oh, hey Liz. Take a seat." He said pointing towards the empty chair. "Sup?"

The girl smiled. "Nothing just saw you sitting alone and thought of saying hi."

"Oh." He said, keeping the same smile. "Thank you for that."

Saying this he went back to stare at MJ. This made Liz sad.

But when she saw MJ talking to another guy, she was confused. 

"Is that MJ's boyfriend?" She intentionally called the guy MJ's boyfriend to see Harry's reaction.

But to her surprise, the boy didn't react at all.

"Nope." He said. "But I hope one of them makes a move on either."

"Huh?" This greatly confused Liz.

"Then… wouldn't that hurt Peter?"

This question made Harry's smile of happiness turn into a sad one. 

He sighed. "It will." He looked at Liz. "But I want them both to be happy. Peter is my best friend but I care about MJ just as much."

Whenever he talked about Mary Jane, Liz felt sad but she knew that they had been great friends for a very long time now.

"But the thing is… Peter has been weird lately."

She couldn't deny it. Peter seemed much more confident, more proud and a bit… unstable.

"I want nothing more than the two of them to end up together but as things are now, I don't think that it's a possibility." She sighed once again, which made her wonder if he had been worried about his friends. "So, at this point I just want them to be happy. No matter who ends up with whom, as long as they are happy. That's all I care about."

"I see." Liz smiled, awed at how much Harry cared about the two and relieved that he didn't have any feelings for Mary Jane, or at least he didn't show any.

This gave her an idea.

"What if I help MJ get together with someone." She said with a shine in her eyes, pointing at the guy next to Mary Jane. "Preferably him?"

Harry seemed curious. "You can do that?"

Liz nodded. "I can try."

Harry smiled but shook his head. "No, if they find out that I was involved, Peter might hate me and so might MJ."

Liz immediately shook her head in denial. "No, I mean they wouldn't know. Don't worry."

Harry laughed awkwardly. "I-I don't know about this, Liz."

But Liz was determined. It seemed like if she could hook Mary Jane up with a guy, she could make a good impression on Harry as well as get rid of one of her greatest worries.

"Trust me. I can do this."

Harry was still not convinced. "Am I making a mistake?"

He asked but Liz once again denied it. "No, you are just thinking about the well-being of your friends."

Harry went quiet for a while, contemplating in his head. Liz waited patiently for a minute or so before Harry made his decision.

"Then please help them, Liz." Harry looked at her warmly, making her heartbeat go crazy. "I hope I can trust you on this?"

Liz knew that she couldn't screw up this golden chance. 

"Of course, don't worry." She said. "Leave it all to me, Liz Allen."

Harry chuckled. "Thanks. I knew it was smart to be friends with you."

This made Liz realise that she had found the golden chance.

"Glad to be of help, Harry."

Now all she hoped for was a promotion from being a friend to a girlfriend.

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