“High school is about finding who you are, because that’s more important than trying to be someone else.”

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William's POV

A few years have passed since that day I called again and again, every single day then it turned to once a week then once a month until finally, I stopped calling.

I've only managed to talk to Uncle John since that day and it looks like he forgot everything that happened that day...

I think his memories have been altered so that the existence of mutants will be hidden.

He told me that day Anne and Jean were playing outside when suddenly there was a car that hit Anne and she. unfortunately, passed away. Then Jean wouldn't leave her room after the ambulance came and after that, a sudden earthquake occurred causing the whole neighborhood to be a mess.

Jean was taken to a psychiatrist for months and then she was offered a scholarship to a private school where she now studies and lives in the dorms.

He told me that Jean was fine and had calmed down considerably. She also has a lot more friends and is doing fine living in the school.

Jean is probably being trained to use her powers and as much as I wanted to be there and support her there is nothing that I could do to help...

Now that her powers manifested she'll probably use that power to help the other mutants. She will have friends that can actually help her better than I possibly can. Meanwhile, I'll be living my life as normal, she and I are from different worlds anyway this is probably for the best.

It is now 2002 and the internet is becoming more and more popular. There is also a google now but it isn't as popular yet because of a lot of other competition and it still isn't public yet so I can't tell my parents to invest in it.

I thought this year was going to be as normal as before but I was wrong...

In August just a month before I start Highschool, a strange earthquake occurred destroying various power plants and causing massive power outages. It was leaked that a crazy guy calling himself Mole Man attacked with strange monsters wanting to take over the surface world. He was stopped by the military and a strange group of four people with various powers.

Because of this incident, the whole world now knew of the subterranean and now a lot of people believe in the Hollow Earth theory. Then the media started calling the people that stopped them as Fantastic Four because their Identities are still unknown and were treated as heroes.

When I heard this on the news I was shocked because I didn't know that this was going to happen and I only managed to learn it after it was done just like everyone else. But... I guess it is fine because I am really not planning to get involved in this superhero business.

After that it was back to normal again, there is no grand reveal on who is the Fantastic Four nor an official statement. So I started attending high school as normal.

I am now a Highschool student at twelve years old, a bit young but I am taller than average at about 5'5. Whereas the average fourteen-year-old boys is at 5'3 which is the normal age for freshman high school students.

During middle school, I decided to try sports and since I am tall I tried basketball. In my past life, I have never tried to play basketball or any sports at all because of that I was so bad at it when I started. But with enough training and dedication I became kinda good at it, not the best but good enough. I am really not planning to be professional or anything so it was fine.

The school I am attending is called Midtown High, I decided to attend here because of the nice basketball that they have. The name sounded kinda familiar but it's probably just a coincidence.

Right now I am in the car because Dad decided to drive me to school on my first day. Which is weird because he never really approved of the choices that I made. He wanted me to go to college and get a degree or something but I wanted to enjoy my life and do the things that I've never experienced in my past life, like maybe have a girlfriend, go to a party, get stupidly drunk, and dance at prom. You know the normal stuff that everyone experienced.

It was a silent car drive to school. Then we reach our destination and as I was about to get off he suddenly asked me. "Are you happy with your decision?"

I turned my head to look at Dad but he isn't even looking in my direction. "...what do you mean?"

He pulled down the car window took a cigarette and lit it up. After he took a deep breath and blew the smoke he said, "This." he motions to me "... being mediocre."

I grabbed the handle of the door and opened it. "If that is all you're going to say, I'm going. I'm gonna be late."

He sighed then said in a firm tone of voice. "Stay."

I gritted my teeth then shut the door of the car aggressively and stay seated.

After a while, he finally spoke again. "When you were born I told myself 'I am going to give everything just so that you could be better than me'. So I worked my ass off saving up till we moved here and even now I'm working hard for your future..."

He then extinguished the cigarette and threw it out of the window. "I gave you a home to live in, a bed to sleep on, food to eat, and most of all I gave you the opportunity to learn at school. Then when you were given a chance to pursue higher education you threw it all away... and instead settled and  content at being... normal, like everybody else."

He finally turned and looked at me, "So are you happy now?"

I didn't answer and just got out of the car, I don't need a fucking lecture so early in the morning. Does he even know what he's talking about?

I am one of the top ten students when I was in middle school, I was a regular on the team, and I am also one of the popular guys at school. I have everything that I could ever wish for in my past life. This is not mediocrity I am living the best of my life, a lot of people are probably jealous of me as well.

Why am I so affected by what he said anyway? I should just calm down a bit and take a deep breath...

So I stopped walking and stood just outside of the school gate and closed my eyes and calmed myself down.

Then I opened my eyes and looked around, a lot of people are looking at me, I probably look stupid... So I continued walking but I noticed just ahead of me a girl with an unmistakable shade of red hair.

I immediately run to reach her causing me to bump into the other people around me but I don't care...

Then I finally reached her and then I pulled her to the side making her stop and look at me.

"Jean...!"

But when she fully turned around I realized that she is not Jean. She is beautiful with green eyes, the same shade of red hair as Jean, she is probably a ten out of ten but... Jean is much more beautiful.

"I'm sorry I think you got the wrong person..." She said while smiling at me.

Feeling embarrassed I quickly let go of her, "I'm so sorry about that... It's just that you look a lot like a person I used to know but... much less beautiful." I immediately put a hand on my mouth. 'Why the fuck did I say that? Shit...'

"Excuse me?" She said while crossing her arms and glaring at me.

"Ahem! I didn't mean that... uhm... It was just a joke ahahaha..." I laughed awkwardly while scratching the back of my head. 'Damn it... I was so shocked by her resemblance to Jean that I unconsciously said what I thought.'

Then she started laughing at me, "I'm sorry... I couldn't hold it any longer. It's fine... I was just kidding and seeing you fumble through your words is cute."

I just smiled at her, still feeling embarrassed about what I said.

She then brushed her hair with her fingers and said while looking at it, "I didn't know that I will be mistaken for someone else. People always told me that my hair color is unique..."

"Yeah... I'm sorry about that you both look really similar, you even have the same eye color."

"Really? Is she my long-lost sister or something?" She said while smiling.

"I doubt that... she is special."

"Wow... you must really like her for you to be this excited to meet her. Where is she anyway? Moved out of town?"

"What? I don't like her! We're just friends... it's just that I haven't seen her in a long time, that's all." I can feel my cheeks hitting up when I heard what she said. 'Fucking hormones... I don't like her. I just kinda miss her and want to see her again.'

"Right... If you say so. I'm Mary Jane Watson by the way but you can just call me MJ."

I looked at her carefully because that name is familiar, like I heard of it before... but I can't recall it.

"Uhm hello? You still there?" She said while waving in my face.

"It's nothing, I'm William Accardi but you can call me Will for short and your name is kinda familiar have we met before?"

She laughed at me, "That sounds like an opening line for a pickup line, If I didn't know any better I'd think you're trying to flirt with me."

"What? No, it is really familiar like your someone very important..." I said while thinking about where I'd heard her name before.

She raised an eyebrow at me while smiling a bit. "Are you trying to make me your rebound because I look like your ex?"

"What? no no no, she was not my ex-"

She laughed at me again, "I'm just kidding... I know that my name is not the most unique out there so it's fine."

I smiled and looked around us and noticed that we stopped just before going inside the building so I said, "Wanna head inside MJ? I think the assembly is about to start."

She looked at her watch, "Oh, you're right..."

Then we walked inside and into the hallway where it is so crowded and chaotic.

I sighed and said, "...high school."

MJ looked at me curiously and asked, "What? you nervous or something? I think you're going to be popular so it's fine."

"You're the one who is going to be the popular here... especially because you're beautiful and there are a lot of horny teenagers."

"... I don't if I should feel thankful for the compliment or disgusted."

I laughed, "What? It's true isn't it?"

Then while we are talking in front of us a tall guy with blonde hair bumped into a skinny guy with glasses making him trip to the group and causing his glasses to fall.

"Watch where you're going, nerd!" Then he walked away while laughing.

MJ immediately walked faster and picked up the glasses before it was stepped on by the others. Meanwhile, I helped him stand up.

"You okay man?"

"... I'm fine thanks"

"Here your glasses, good thing it didn't break or something. Some people just don't care about others..." MJ said while handing him his glasses back.

"T-thank you..."

MJ smiled and then introduced herself, "it's nothing, I'm Mary Jane Watson but you can just call me MJ."

He then froze and looked at MJ with dazed eyes so I helped him a bit.

"And I'm William Accardi just Will is fine, nice to meet you."

He then recovered and said with a bit of blush on his cheeks, "M-my name is... P-peter Parker."

When I heard his name everything started to click in my head. Midtown High, MJ, Peter Parker I am in the same high school as the Spiderman fuck...