I’m Not Becoming Spider-Man - Chapter 28: Sharing an Apartment (Patreon)

Cindy wasn't particularly interested in whatever the boys were making such a fuss about. Unfortunately, they were so loud that a teacher ended up scolding them.

Fortunately, teachers were still allowed to scold students in this day and age. Wait a little longer, and even a kid insisting that one plus one equaled three might be told he was right.

The commotion did make Cindy curious, but she was a model student. She couldn't bring herself to join a crowd of boys fighting over something. Besides, she still remembered how the school magazine had looked when she'd first enrolled. Its cover might as well have belonged to Playboy.

The moment classes ended, Cindy hurried away. She still had tutoring to attend, and she was determined to become the school's top student!

As luck would have it, Peter and Gwen were refilling the magazine rack beside the entrance. The previous batch had been cleaned out. Harley was putting up a sign reading, “One Copy Per Person.”

Who knew how many copies Thompson had taken all by himself?

“Oh, hey, Cindy!” Gwen greeted her fellow band member with a casual wave.

“Uh... hi.” Cindy dipped into a small bow, gave a timid wave, and tried to hurry past.

Only after she'd walked by did it occur to her that Gwen was the one handing out the school paper.

She turned back and found herself looking straight into Peter's eyes.

“...”

Peter blinked, then offered her the copy in his hands. “Uh, would you like one?”

“Yes! Yes, thank you! Thank you!” Cindy bowed hastily, snatched the magazine, and fled.

That had been painfully embarrassing!

“She's got some energy,” Peter remarked. “You know her, Gwen?”

“Sure. She's a friend from my band.”

“Seems nice.”

Cindy could still feel her heart pounding as she carried the paper away. Her thoughts were a complete jumble. When she finally looked at the cover, Thompson's photograph stared back at her.

“Oh no. Mom and Dad will definitely yell at me if they see this!” They hated finding anything unrelated to studying in her room.

She was about to throw the magazine away when she hesitated.

But Gwen had been distributing it. Did that mean Gwen worked on the school paper? And this issue didn't have any blonde women on the cover, either...

“Hmm. Maybe I could sneak a look at it later.”

She tucked it out of sight and went to tutoring. Cindy's family was comfortably enough off to keep food on the table, but they were only modestly middle-class, with almost no money left for luxuries after paying their regular expenses.

“Aish, what a day...”

Dinner was served at its usual time. Her family wasn't especially wealthy, but home life was generally pleasant, even if Cindy's parents were very strict about her academic performance.

“By the way, Cindy,” her mother said, sounding annoyed, “yesterday I heard you talking about a C in your room. Why wasn't it an A? Which subject did you get a C in?”

Homework and exams were usually scored out of a hundred, but final report cards used letter grades. No wonder Cindy's parents reacted so sharply to the letter C.

After all, she'd stopped being the top student when she entered high school! They found that unacceptable and had enrolled her in tutoring to help her reclaim first place.

“I was... talking about a C... a C-cup,” Cindy managed, turning crimson. “I was shopping for some new clothes...”

“...”

At last, dinner ended and Cindy could retreat to her room. She took out the school paper, sat on her bed with her legs folded to either side, and began flipping through it.

Nothing seemed particularly remarkable, but she stopped at a music column signed “Ghost.”

“Gwen must have written this.” Cindy looked it over, though she understood very little. Music wasn't one of her strengths. To be fair, nothing except studying really was.

Then she reached the Batman comic at the back.

“So this is what boys like?” Cindy read on. A masked man fighting a whole group of other masked men? It was actually rather interesting, if a little violent.

The drawings were good, too, and the pages were printed in color.

Once she finished, she stuffed the paper back into her schoolbag. She couldn't leave something like this at home. Her parents would scold her if they found it. She would bring it to school and dispose of it there.

...

“So you're really feeling all right?” Peter asked Harley.

“Oh, come on. How many days has it been? Of course I'm fine,” Harley replied.

“If you feel sick, go get checked out. It's not like you can't afford a doctor. Your health comes first, Harley.”

“Uh... thanks.” Harley scratched her head. She wasn't used to having someone worry about her like this. “Now, come on. Let me show you the place we're going to share. Although, strictly speaking, it isn't really a rental anymore.”

“Why not?”

Harley led Peter to an apartment building near the school. “Well... this whole building belongs to me now.”

“You bought the entire thing?”

“Technically, my family bought it.”

“Oh my God, are you Batman?” Gwen exclaimed, astonished.

“I don't think my family's technology is quite that advanced,” Harley said. “But, you know, New York's electrical grid, pharmaceuticals, that kind of thing...” She didn't really know the details of the family businesses herself. Buying one apartment building, though, was easy enough for them.

“It's four stories tall, and the rooms are huge.” Harley led Peter upstairs. “Come see. Which room do you want?”

“Uh, Harley, this building is yours, not mine.”

“Don't act like a stranger. You're my... personal chef! Exactly, my chef!”

“Right. Okay.”

“Gwen said she wanted to live away from home, too, didn't she? She's welcome! And what about Mary Jane? Is she coming?”

“If I move in, she'll definitely follow me.”

Peter followed Harley to the fourth floor, where an enormous single-level apartment had clearly been chosen for their use. It had a communal living room and kitchen, and each bedroom came with its own bathroom. By any standard, it was luxurious.

“Hmm. We shouldn't just leave the lower floors empty,” Harley mused. “We could rent those apartments out later.” She was already planning ahead.

“There are four bedrooms here.” Peter pulled back the curtains. The window overlooked the street, and the school was only two blocks away. “It might get noisy at night, but that shouldn't be a big problem. You've got good taste, Harley.”

In truth, Norma's secretary had selected the apartment for Harley. Since the secretary had handled it, Harley assumed her mother must know about the arrangement.

Harley scratched her head. “So, Peter? Do you think this will work?”

“How much would I pay in rent?” Peter liked the place. Assuming Aunt May agreed, moving here would make perfect sense.

“You don't have to pay me, Peter. Just cook for me,” Harley said. “I'm sick of those school sandwiches made with canned meat. From now on, you can make me fresh ones, okay?”

“No problem, Harley. You'll love them.”