Midtown High School.
The members of the Spring Prom decoration committee were busy painting a giant mural. The mural was scheduled to be hung inside the prom auditorium on Friday night. Its theme was Spring in Venice, and an artistically talented volunteer had already sketched a small chalk drawing. On a canal reflecting the setting sun, a graceful gondola floated, the gondolier leaning against the tiller beneath a wide straw hat, while the space between water and sky was dotted with various shades of pink and orange.
Gwen stood in the corridor in front of the mural, gazing at the artwork before her.
"This year's spring prom has got to be the prettiest one yet, right, Gwen?"
A familiar voice sounded from behind her. Gwen turned her head to see her good friend Harry.
"Maybe, depending on who you ask." Gwen said, somewhat glumly.
Her eyes were red-rimmed, a clear sign she hadn't rested well last night. And indeed, that was the case. Last night, after finally gathering the courage to invite Peter to be her prom date, the guy had actually hung up on her.
What was that supposed to mean? Had she just been rejected?
Call it what she liked, she was one of Midtown High's premier academic stars—was she really going to end up without a date? Feeling out of sorts, Gwen vented to Harry, "I've already been to one spring dance; I still don't get why these things even need a theme. As long as people are having fun dancing, isn't that enough?"
"Everything needs a bit of ritual. People like rituals," Harry said, shrugging.
"Fine, you might have a point there, but I've always felt that kind of ritual is probably only needed in your high society circles," Gwen said, stretching her arms out as she spoke.
"I'm certainly not high society," Harry denied the label Gwen was trying to pin on him.
"Oh, come on, Harry. There are plenty of rumors about you—like how you supposedly tried to burn down a prep school back in the day. Money to burn, high society... that's the impression people have. People used to call you the Green Goblin, after all!"
"The Green Goblin?" Harry looked somewhat startled at the name.
"Yeah, green looks like dollar bills, so isn't the name Green Goblin just fitting for you?" Gwen said matter-of-factly.
Harry: "..."
As they were talking, they were suddenly interrupted by a voice.
"Hey, Gwen."
Hearing someone call her name, Gwen turned around.
Carl King, short and stout, stood before Gwen with a somewhat nervous expression on his face. "Can I talk to you for a second? Alone?"
Carl King was a classmate of hers. Though Gwen hadn't spoken with him much, she knew his name.
"I don't think there's anything between us that requires guarding our privacy," Gwen said, taken aback that he would actively seek her out.
"Right." Carl glanced over at Harry standing nearby, then said, "Um... would you want to be my date for the spring prom?"
"Oh..."
Gwen hadn't expected him to proactively invite her to be his date. Taking less than a second to think, she turned him down.
"Sorry, I already have a date."
"Who?"
Seeing Gwen reject him, Carl King's face flushed red as he demanded excitedly.
This was a deeply impolite and utterly self-unaware behavior, and Harry, standing beside them, frowned.
"Sorry, I'd rather not say."
With that, Gwen turned to Harry and asked, "Harry, didn't you say you wanted to study together for the history exam? Want to head out?"
"Oh, right." Harry instinctively agreed, following Gwen as she walked away, leaving behind a crestfallen Carl.
"So who's your date?" Once they were safely away from Carl King, Harry asked Gwen with a curious look.
"Peter Parker."
On a sudden impulse, Gwen blurted out Peter's name.
Originally, she had been a bit angry that Peter hadn't given her a direct "yes," but when she thought of a date, the very first name that popped into her head was Peter. Anyway, he hadn't turned her down; maybe he was just considering it—what was wrong with saying that? She comforted herself inwardly.
Harry looked at Gwen in surprise. "Peter? I thought you guys were on the rocks lately? He's been flying solo all the time."
"No! It's not that we're fighting. Right now, he just has this 'stay away' look for everyone," Gwen said with annoyance. "Bottling everything up inside and trying to digest it all on his own—that's just the kind of guy he is."
Harry nodded. "Maybe this dance will cheer him up."
"Maybe. Sorry, I need to go practice the prom concert pieces with Betty and the others, so... excuse me!"
Gwen waved at Harry and scurried off in a flash.
Watching her slip away, Harry found himself starting to look forward to Friday's spring prom. "Fireworks, dancing, and the band playing 'The Stars and Stripes Forever'—not bad!" Shrugging, he cast a glance at the mural and headed toward his classroom.
***
At night, the Stacy home.
Gwen stared at the heavily damaged Spider-Man suit spread across the desk, pressing a hand to her forehead in resignation.
Giving her a bigger headache by the minute!
After finishing band practice tonight, she had run into a bunch of petty thugs on her way home. Intending to teach them a lesson, she had accidentally been ambushed when those guys pulled out firearms. Though she managed to leave them all dangling from streetlamps, her suit had ended up battle-scarred.
"Well, compared to the Spider-Man suit, maybe a prom gown suits me better," Gwen muttered, looking at the outfit.
"Gwen, your prom dress arrived."
Her father's voice suddenly came from the doorway. George appeared holding the package Gwen had ordered.
Panicking, she immediately spun around, using her body to block the Spider-Man suit on the desk. If her dad saw the suit, it would be game over for real.
"Um... thanks, Dad! Just leave the package... right there!"
As Gwen spoke to her father, she quietly reached her hand behind her back, trying to push the exposed sleeve of the Spider-Man suit further out of sight.
"Things are pretty busy down at the precinct. The number of missing persons cases in Hell's Kitchen has been climbing lately, and we're going to keep expanding our scope. If the killer really has ties to Spider-Woman... I might not be able to make it to your performance tomorrow... Wait!"
Mid-sentence, George suddenly caught sight of Gwen's furtive movements. He walked over, looking puzzled, and asked, "What are you up to?"
Gwen hurriedly shifted her body to block her father's line of sight, trying to keep him from seeing the clothes behind her.
"Just... just a hobby."
Gwen was sweating from nervousness now, her words coming out in stutters.
Realizing her Spider-Woman identity was about to be exposed right in front of her father, Gwen's brain raced frantically. What should she do? What on earth should she do? Should she just run away right now?!
Though she kept praying desperately, George finally saw the Spider-Man suit behind her.