Chapter 2 Alt Title: Mid Town High
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Alex picked up his phone from where it had fallen, hands still shaking from the aftermath of his panic attack. He needed information. Needed to figure out where he was, what year it was, anything that could help him make sense of this nightmare.
The screen flickered when he touched it. Cracks spiderwebbed across the glass—when had that happened? His fingers fumbled with the unlock pattern, muscle memory from this body guiding him.
'Okay. Browser. News. Something. Anything.'
But the phone had other ideas. The screen glitched, showing fragments of his call log before freezing completely. Alex tapped harder, desperation making him clumsy.
The phone slipped.
He watched it fall in what felt like slow motion, his new body too weak and uncoordinated to catch it. It hit the floor with a crack that made him wince.
"Shit!"
Alex dropped to his knees, scooping up the phone with trembling hands. The screen was worse now. Pure white, barely a shadow of content visible underneath. Dead. Completely dead except for the basic phone function—if he was lucky.
He pressed the power button. Held it. Nothing changed.
'Great. Perfect. Because things weren't bad enough already.'
His head spun. The room tilted sideways and Alex had to grab the edge of the bed to keep from falling over. His heart hammered too fast, too hard. Sweat broke out on his forehead despite the apartment's chill.
'What's wrong with me? Why do I feel like I'm about to pass out?'
The memories supplied the answer. This body was malnourished. Weak. The previous Alex had been skipping meals to save money, running on ramen and desperation. Two days in bed without food or water hadn't helped.
Alex forced himself to breathe slowly. In through the nose. Out through the mouth. The dizziness faded to a manageable level after a minute.
'Can't do anything if I pass out. Need to take it easy. Need to—'
Wednesday.
The thought hit him like cold water. It was Wednesday. He'd been absent for two days. Two days of missed classes that he definitely couldn't afford to miss.
School. He had to go to school.
More memories trickled in, clearer now. Midtown High. Second year. One more year after this until graduation. Teachers who barely noticed him. Grades that were decent but not spectacular. A life lived in the margins, invisible to everyone except—
'Peter.'
The name came with a rush of warmth. Peter Parker. His friend. One of the only people who'd bothered to talk to him, who'd sat with him at lunch when everyone else pretended he didn't exist.
They'd bonded over being outsiders. Over getting shoved into lockers and having their homework stolen. Over being the kids nobody wanted around.
Alex stood up carefully, testing his balance. The dizziness was still there but manageable. He couldn't miss another day. Couldn't give the school another reason to call social services, to question whether he was fit to live alone.
He found his backpack in the corner. Found clothes that were clean enough. The shower worked, thankfully, even if the water never got properly hot. Alex stood under the lukewarm spray and tried to organize his thoughts.
'I need to figure out what's going on. My grades are bad already. I can't afford to be a dropout now. Not especially with the Scholarship which is too helpful to me right now.'
'Most importantly, which world am I?'
'Is this still my earth or another world?'
But his memories of this world were still fragmented. Incomplete. Like trying to watch a movie with half the scenes missing.
He'd have to piece it together as he went.
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Midtown High looked exactly like the building from his memories—both sets of them. Brick facade. Chain-link fence. Students streaming through the front doors in clusters, laughing and shoving each other.
Alex walked slowly, his body protesting every step. Everything hurt. His legs. His back. Even his lungs seemed to struggle with the simple act of breathing.
'I'm a mess. This body is a complete disaster.'
He'd grabbed a granola bar from the back of his cupboard and forced it down on the walk over. It sat in his stomach like a rock, but at least it was something.
The hallways were chaos. Bodies everywhere, voices bouncing off lockers. Alex kept his head down and followed the path his memories suggested, heading toward his first class.
That's when he saw her.
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