Chapter 24: 24 Accelerated Plans Part Three

Thursday mornings always sucked, because of the weird geometry, statistics, and social science classes I had. It did not put me into a good mood at all for meeting with Liz. Betty and Cindy were working in the Journalism Club and wouldn't be there to add to the awkwardness. Then again, them being there might have spread it out a little and it wouldn't be all on Liz.

On the plus side, Mary and the office staff loved my breakfast bagel sandwiches.

I walked into the cafeteria just after lunch period started and I was actually surprised when I saw that Liz had Val, Max, Gina, and two other girls that I didn't know at her table, which meant they were skipping their normal lunch activities like clubs and things, to support Liz. I didn't let the fact that I was outnumbered deter me as I walked over to the table as if I deserved to be there.

“Hi, Liz, Gina, Val, Max, and two others I don't know.” I said and sat down, then pulled my lunch out of my backpack. I opened up two different containers and let the smells flow out. I saw a couple of the girls lick their lips at the great smells, which was why I had opened them right away instead of eating one and then the other. Having a thermal lunch bag really helped keep food warm.

“B-Ben, I... I wanted to say...” Liz started.

“Who did you choose to blame as the fall guy? It can't be Val, because she was the decoy.” I said, which interrupted her before she tried to apologize. I started eating some of my spaghetti bolognese and picked up a piece of strong smelling garlic bread with mozzarella cheese and dipped it into the spaghetti sauce.

“Ben, please.” Val said and I smiled at her.

“It's okay. I know I gave you all too much time to come up with good excuses. I just didn't want to have a confrontation yesterday and put it off until today.” I said and she didn't say anything in response. “How did your date go?”

Val clamped her mouth shut and shook her head.

“That well, huh?” I asked and kept eating. “I hope it wasn't because of me.”

“It was.” Val admitted and looked sad. “I couldn't get into the mood for the date like I had planned.”

I stopped eating and swallowed before I tried to reach for her hand. She pulled her hand out of the way and then blushed slightly before she glanced at Liz. I shrugged and went back to eating without saying anything, which made Gina and Max frown. The other two girls kept their faces neutral.

“You don't have to be a jerk about it.” Max said.

I stopped eating again and looked at her. “What am I being a jerk about?”

“This!” Max said and waved at the table of girls.

“I said hello to you all. It's not my fault that none of you responded or even acknowledged I existed, except for Liz. Although, she didn't say hello, either.” I said and they all looked embarrassed. “What was the question again?”

Max closed her mouth and gave me a bit of a glare.

“Ah, I remember. I'm a jerk.” I said and ate some more food. “I know I am, because that's how things like this always go. It doesn't matter if I'm right or if I'm the victim. I'm the jerk, because I didn't fall for your scheme, or trick, or test, or whatever you want to call what happened.”

“Ben, I... I can explain.” Liz said.

“It's okay, Liz. You don't have to.” I said and she looked sad. “I didn't mean it like I didn't want to hear about it.” I reassured her. “I'll even make this a lot easy for you. I completely understand where you're coming from. I do. You don't trust me enough and you wanted to see if I would betray you as soon as you let me get close to you. Your friends wanted to help protect you as well and came to your defense, both yesterday and now today. I get it. I really do.”

“Then... will you... can you forgive me?” Liz asked.

“I don't think that's what you actually want.” I said and Val and Gina caught their breath. “I think you want to justify it instead. You want me to prove that I'm not trustworthy, so you don't feel so guilty about not trusting me in the first place.”

“N-no, I... I don't... that's not...” Liz stammered.

I looked at her friends and they didn't try to hide the looks on their faces. “Your friends agree with me.”

Liz looked at them and saw what I did. She sighed and looked back at me. “Ben, don't.”

“I'm not saying no to this.” I said and motioned between us. “I thought we could make it work, even with our worlds being so different, or I wouldn't have tried to make the effort in the first place.”

“I heard a huge but there.” Max said.

“I don't think now is the right time for it. One of us needs to grow up a little and accept a few things before they are ready for a serious relationship.”

“Now you really are being a jerk about this.” Max said with a glare. “How can you say that about...”

“Me.” I interrupted and they all looked surprised, especially Liz, because they all thought I meant her. I quickly finished eating and started packing up my things. “I have some serious things to do before I can devote the time and effort I would need to give to the woman I intend to be with for a long time.” I said and put my lunch bag into my backpack. I did not miss the significant looks Liz got from her friends.

“B-Ben...” Liz whispered.

“I hope you'll forgive me if I try and find somewhere else to sit during lunch.” I said and stood as I put on my backpack. “I sincerely doubt your friends want to hang out with a freshman that none of them want around because it'll be awkward for you.”

Liz sighed. “Ben, I... I'm sorry.”

“You don't have to be, because the next guy will fall for it and they will prove that they'll jump at the chance to have another girl, even with a beautiful girl like you as a girlfriend.” I said and smiled at their shocked looks. “Believe me, it's true. They can be deeply in love with someone and if another person approaches them, most people will not give up the chance, because how often does it happen?”

They all exchanged looks and then they all looked at Val.

“A lot.” Val whispered.

I chuckled. “Date guy last night already has a girlfriend, doesn't he?”

Val blushed and didn't say anything.

“Like I said, most people won't pass it up. It takes a lot of moral fortitude to refuse a sincere offer, no matter who it's from.” I said and Val blushed harder, because I actually did refuse her that first time at the bus station. I turned and looked at Max. “You on the other hand...”

“What about me?” Max asked, completely on the defensive.

“Did Val tell you what I said yesterday?” I asked her and she glared at me. “I'll take that as a yes.”

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“I won't let you do that.” Max said and crossed her arms.

“You weren't there, so it doesn't count.” I said and smiled. “What would you say if I asked you out?”

“I'd tell you to fuck off.” Max said without hesitation.

My smile widened. “I'm glad you're Liz's friend. She needs you a lot more than she realizes.”

“What do you mean?” Max asked with a curious look.

“You keep people around her honest, especially guys trying to sniff around her.” I said, parroting what her father had said about me. “Please, keep doing that. I want you to keep her safe from people that actually want to use her for their own ends.”

“Are you saying you weren't going to?” Gina asked and looked curious.

“I would have spread her legs already if I was going to do that.” I said and they all looked shocked, especially Liz. “Did you forget that I went down on Isabelle right after our first kiss, just to see if she would let me?”

They all blushed and their eyes wouldn't meet mine, not even Max's.

“If all I wanted from a girl was sex, I have hundreds of them here to choose from.” I said a little loudly and waved around the cafeteria, which gained a lot of attention. “I'm sure there are a few of them that wouldn't mind...”

“Right here!” A dark haired young woman's voice rang out and she even raised her hand. “I can teach you a few things, too.”

I chuckled. “Betty and Cindy are already spreading things around?”

She pointed at the television in the corner. “Banner scroll along the bottom.”

“Prank gone wrong causes breakup of Midtown High's newest power couple, Ben Parker and Liz Allan.” I read out loud. “Ha ha! That's a nice spin on the story.”

“Ugh! I told them not to broadcast that!” Max spat.

I turned and smiled at her. “Thanks, Max.”

Max shook her head at me. “Don't thank me for something that didn't work.”

“I was thanking you for trying.” I said and stepped close and bent down to kiss her cheek before she could back away. I chuckled at the look on her face and walked away from the table.

“Hey! What about that offer?” The girl that had called out before asked.

“There's not enough time left for lunch. How about after school?” I asked and she shook her head.

I shrugged and left the cafeteria with a lot of mutterings and conversations about what just happened. I wasn't bothered by that and was glad that there wasn't an epic screaming fight or something even more newsworthy. Betty and Cindy had enough material already.

I went early to robotics class and the teacher was already there working on something.

“Ben! Wonderful work machining the new parts.” Mr. Kinneson said and waved me over. “Want to give me a hand test fitting them onto the base model design before class starts?”

“Yes, sir. I'll grab the double-sided tape and the sticky putty.” I said and he smiled. He really was a nice man, once he got over the fact that I really wasn't Peter anymore.

*

The rusted dumpster was located behind an old industrial warehouse. I used my spider-sense to make sure no one was around or a camera was near, and approached the blind drop carefully. I had seriously thought about paying a homeless man twenty bucks to do this for me, then realized he would probably tell me it wasn't there, keep the box, and sell the contents.

So, I dressed like a homeless man myself and went over to the dumpster and opened the top. Inside was a fairly large plain brown cardboard box that was taped shut and had no markings on it whatsoever. I immediately thought about what would happen if another agent also had a delivery to pick up and there were two identical boxes. How would they tell them apart?

I chuckled and carefully lifted out the box and closed the dumpster. The drop code probably had a time index attached so that no two agents would show up at the same time of day at the same location. It would be difficult to have a dozen secret agents waiting in line for their secret blind drop equipment boxes and also keep it a secret.

Of course, once I thought that, I immediately realized that whatever was in the box could have tracking items inside. I also thought it might not be SHIELD getting that information. My spider-sense wasn't going off, which meant it was safe to leave with the thing. Maybe they wouldn't activate until I opened the box, so I would have to be careful about it. That meant not opening it at home.

I left the area and no one saw me or followed. I ducked into an alley and changed my fake hobo outfit with my normal clothes and stared at the box. I really wanted to tear the tape off and look inside, because I had ordered some neat things. Well, neat for me. I was becoming quite the computer and science nerd with all of the studying I had been doing.

I also didn't want to draw too much attention to myself by carrying a large cardboard box around the city. Any secret agents around could see it and might easily identify it. With my decision made, I knelt and stuck a finger through the side of the box near the top corner instead of opening it the normal way.

I slowly worked my way around the side and down, then tore the side of the box off to reveal the contents. I had successfully opened the box without opening it, and my spider-sense didn't go off. I counted that as a huge win and reached inside and started to pull things out.

There were several small cases with replacement computer parts, electronic components for setting up a sensor network like in that agent's apartment, an actual agent handbook, two untraceable cell phones, two sets of steel handcuffs, four bundles of twist tie handcuffs, four canisters of industrial pepper spray, two collapsible batons, a set of micro-binoculars, two sets of earpieces, two canisters of tear gas, two handheld two-way radios, a tiny flashlight, an equipment belt, skintight black leather gloves, and an evidence gathering kit.

That was the small stuff.

I really had gone way overboard with the order form, because there was also a full basic night mission suit, a ballistic vest, a full head covering with pre-made eye holes for the night vision goggles that I didn't order, an actual baseball cap with the SHIELD logo on it (because why wouldn't I want one?), a full map of the city with available safe houses marked on it, and a standard cash package for basic expenses with four different currencies of a thousand dollars each. Dollars, Euros, Yen, and Roubles.

The best part was I also ordered a large collapsible unmarked gym bag to carry everything. I almost kicked myself for not remembering that in my excitement and quickly unfolded the thing and stuffed the items inside. My spider-sense still hadn't gone off, so none of it had anything currently active to set it off. I would have to pull a lot of it apart to check it, though. It was a spy agency, after all.

I checked the now empty box and there was noting visible, so I left it there in the alleyway next to a building. With luck something or someone will see it and take it. It really didn't matter, though. I was well away from the drop point and it was just a box.

I walked out of the alley with my new gym bag and went to the nearest bus stop to go home. Once again, I had a lot of work to do to get what I needed done, only now it was to get my suit ready.

My first Spider-Man suit.

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