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Mrs. Snow.
Full name: Selena Snow. She was the guidance counselor for the eleventh grade.
Her responsibilities ranged from providing personal, social, and emotional support to guiding students through their academic development and college applications.
Unlike counselors in public high schools, who were often responsible for hundreds of students, Midtown Tech was a private school. Mrs. Snow was in charge of only thirty-five students.
This allowed her to provide more in-depth, personalized support to each of them.
And in another coincidence...
She was the counselor for both Hawk and Gwen.
However—
Hawk, who had been hoping to grab a quick shower and change into some clean clothes, was now being hurried along by Gwen to Mrs. Snow's office.
On the way, he glanced at her curiously.
"Did Mrs. Snow say what it was about?"
"No, she just asked if I knew where you were. And if I did, to find you and bring you to her office."
"Really?"
Hawk thought for a moment, then looked at Gwen. "You think it's about college? Did your early acceptance and scholarship from Berkeley come through?"
It was the only reason he could think of for Mrs. Snow to want to see them both together.
After this month, when school started up again in September, they would be seniors.
They would graduate next June.
But the top students had usually already locked in their preferred universities long before then, and the universities had locked in their preferred students.
Like Gwen, who had her heart set on UC Berkeley.
Located in California, Berkeley was a public research university, often called a "Public Ivy." It had produced over a hundred Nobel laureates, the third most in the world.
Gwen shrugged, then looked at Hawk. "What about you? Still set on NYU for Law? You're not even considering Stanford?"
NYU's law program was good, no doubt.
But everything is relative.
Compared to Stanford, at least in the field of law, NYU was completely outclassed.
So Gwen didn't quite get it. "I heard Mrs. Snow say she recommended you prioritize Stanford."
"There's no way I'm getting a scholarship from Stanford." Hawk shrugged back. As they walked, he explained, "NYU is a different story. I might not get a full ride, but I'll definitely get some kind of scholarship. And if I have that, I can negotiate a better interest rate when I take out student loans."
Yep.
It was that simple.
He'd love to go to Stanford for law. He'd even love to go to Yale and see if he could get tapped for a certain secret society.
But—
It wasn't just a matter of wanting to go. Even if he got in, the tuition at Stanford or Yale would crush him.
Hawk was a realist.
He was going to have to take out loans for college no matter what. So why not choose a school that was more likely to give him a scholarship and reduce the total amount he'd have to borrow?
He had no desire to still be paying off student loans when he was fifty.
Of course, that was his plan from before he awakened his Cosmo.
And now?
He had even less desire to go to Stanford or Yale.
NYU was fine. And besides, he was familiar with New York City. His main goal was to live a comfortable life, so staying in his comfort zone seemed like a pretty good idea.
Gwen frowned slightly at Hawk's almost flippant explanation. She was about to say something, but then she thought about his situation—seventeen years old, no car, no house, no phone—and decided to let it go.
...
Soon.
They arrived at Mrs. Snow's office.
Knock, knock.
"Come in."
Mrs. Snow's voice came from inside.
Gwen pushed the door open and smiled at the woman sitting behind the desk—Mrs. Snow, a kind-looking woman in her forties with glasses perched on her nose.
"Mrs. Snow."
"Gwen, have a seat."
"Hawk."
Mrs. Snow smiled and gestured to the sofa, then her expression softened into a sigh as Hawk followed Gwen into the room. "Once again, Hawk, you really should get a cell phone."
It was just too inconvenient not to have one these days.
When he'd first started at Midtown, Mrs. Snow, knowing his situation, had even offered to give him a spare phone. But Hawk had refused, promising he would get one soon.
And then.
From his first day of ninth grade to now, the end of his junior year, every time Mrs. Snow asked about his phone, Hawk would give the same answer.
Sure enough.
This time was no different. His response wasn't just similar to his previous ones, it was a perfect copy-and-paste.
"I'll get on it as soon as I can."
"You always say that."
Mrs. Snow looked weary. She was about to press the issue when there was another knock on the door.
A moment later.
Another familiar face walked in.
Hawk, who had just sat down on the sofa, raised an eyebrow as he saw who it was.
Peter Parker.
But for some reason, the Peter Parker standing before him now looked different from the one he had seen in the locker room.
How to put it...
This time, Hawk saw a hint of "Bully Maguire" in him.
To be more precise, if the Peter he'd seen before was just Peter Parker, the one standing here now felt more like the superhero, Spider-Man.
The Tobey Maguire version.
The original Spider-Man.
Yes.
Even though this was the MCU, and technically Spider-Man should be the Tom Holland version, the Peter Parker he was looking at was a dead ringer for Maguire's.
It was strange.
He couldn't figure it out.
"Mrs. Snow."
"Peter."
Mrs. Snow's face lit up as Peter walked in. "Wow, Peter, it's only been a few days. You look like you've bulked up."
It was true.
If the old Peter was a beanpole, the new Peter was a young bull.
Peter just scratched the back of his head and gave a shy smile. Then, his eyes fell on Hawk, who was sitting on the sofa. He froze, as if he'd been struck by lightning.
Hawk was looking right back at him.
Their eyes met.
And Hawk saw it, clear as day.
The moment Peter's gaze landed on him, Peter's pupils rapidly contracted and then dilated at an insane speed.
Yep.
No doubt about it.
Peter had undergone the change.
The real one. The original Spider-Man, the one who didn't need tech to shoot webs from his wrists, had successfully come online.
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