Chapter Text
Prologue
The hall of the old school was crowded. Silver balloons, golden lights, and nostalgic music filled the space decorated for the Midtown School Class Reunion, one year after the students had said goodbye to the hallways and laboratories. Isabella Rowe stayed near the drinks table, holding an untouched cup of soda in her hands, her eyes wandering across the room.
It was strange to see so many familiar faces again. People she hadn’t seen since graduation, people she had barely spoken to, and others with whom she had once shared whispered confidences in stifling hallways. All of them were there, laughing, dancing, exchanging photos and “do you remember when…?” Older teachers walked among the alumni with wistful smiles, while a large screen displayed looping photos from high school. Bursts of laughter echoed from scattered groups, and friendships long thought forgotten seemed to briefly rekindle over drinks and toasts.
Everyone was there.
Except him.
Peter Parker.
The name came as a troubling whisper in Isabella’s mind. She searched for him with her eyes, circling the hall once more. He wasn’t there. No sign of him. And deep down, she already knew. She had noticed his absence the very moment she walked in. Even before she crossed the hall.
The memory of him seemed sharper here, in the place where everything began. Where he used to sit with his shoulders hunched, his gaze lost between class assignments and doodles scribbled in his notebook. She remembered watching him from the corner of her eye during lessons. She never really knew why.
His absent confused her. Until she spotted two people who might hold the answers. Ned Leeds and Michelle Jones-Watson — MJ, as she preferred — were the only ones in that room who should know where Peter was. At least, that’s what Isabella thought.
— MJ! Ned! Hi, how are you? It’s been so long! — she said, giving each of them a half-hug. MJ stood next to Ned, laughing at something on her phone. — Have you seen Peter?
MJ raised her eyebrows, while Ned stared at Isabella as if she had said something that made no sense at all.
— Peter… who?
Isabella blinked, confused.
— Peter Parker. Tall, skinny, brown hair. You two… were dating, weren’t you?
Ned and MJ exchanged quick glances.
— Sorry, I think you’re confusing us with someone else, — MJ replied with a polite smile.
— Yeah, — Ned agreed. — I don’t remember any Peter Parker.
— Oh… I guess I was mistaken then. It’s good to see you both. — Isabella said as she stepped away from the pair.
But she wasn’t confused. It couldn’t be. Isabella remembered.
She remembered the boy who shared a lab bench with her during their first year of chemistry. The way he always let her choose the experiment. The quiet smile when he explained the parts she didn’t understand. She remembered the band-aid he wore on his chin for almost the entire second year, after claiming he had fallen down the stairs. She remembered the way he shoved his hands in his pockets whenever he felt awkward. How he hated oral presentations, and how he always helped her clean the lab after class.
She remembered.
But apparently, no one else did. She even asked old teachers about Peter, but always got the same answer.
On her way home that night, confusion tangled with anxiety. They had all graduated. Every one of them. But he wasn’t there. No one knew who he was. As if he had been erased. As if he had never existed.
But she knew he had.
And that was enough to start looking for him.