Chapter Text
Beep! Beep! Beep!
Jackie groaned, rubbing her eyes as she opened them. The alarm clock she owned may have been helpful when it came to waking up on time, but the noise was super annoying to deal with.
She shut the alarm off and sat up in her soft, pink bed. She decided to check her phone, mindlessly scrolling through her morning notifications.
A “good morning beautiful” text from Jeff (ugh). A bunch of stoner gibberish from her group chat with Lottie and Natalie. Some memes from Misty. And…
Shauna: JACKIE! Are you ready for the trip to Oscorp today?
“Oh shit!” Jackie exclaimed out loud, jumping out of bed to put on her perfect “science museum” outfit. Oscorp was a local research center, and while she wasn’t that knowledgeable on science, she knew Shauna was excited. And she wanted to impress Shauna, even if she wasn’t that excited for the actual science part.
She threw on a pale pink blouse and her favorite pair of jeans (not too short or too long, not too light or dark blue). She did her makeup quickly, not wanting to show any evidence that she was up all night thinking about Shauna watching romance movies. Once she was all ready to go, she quickly took a picture of her outfit in the mirror, ready to text the picture to Shauna.
But she hesitated over the send button for a second too long, and decided that Shauna could see her outfit in person. She texted the picture to Jeff instead.
Jackie: Good morning
Jeff: Looking good this morning. Can’t wait to see you later ;)
Jackie rolled her eyes and switched back to her messages with Shauna.
Jackie: Yep! :-)
Shauna: I’ll be there in five
Jackie smiled a little to herself, then turned off her phone.
Exactly five minutes later, she heard a honk from outside her house. She quickly gathered her things and headed outside to Shauna’s car.
She saw a glimpse of Shauna on her phone in the driver’s seat, smiling to herself. She was wearing a thin pair of fake glasses alongside one of her signature flannels. She wasn’t making eye contact with Jackie, but Jackie could sense the warmth in her brown eyes of her excitement for the day.
She looked like herself. And for Jackie, that was enough to make her chest ache - in a good way. Even if she thought Shauna could do more with herself.
She knocked on the window to get Shauna’s attention, who looked up from her phone and smiled, unlocking the car doors.
“Hey,” said Shauna.
“Hey, you look happy,” Jackie replied, opening the door and sitting down in the passenger seat.
“Of course I am, we get to check out Oscorp!” Shauna exclaimed. “You know there’s rumors they’re trying to create superhumans?”
“Like…super strength and stuff?” Jackie asked. “No way. That’s impossible.”
Shauna giggled. “Only one way to find out.”
-
When they parked near the Oscorp building, Jackie was surprised to see the school bus from their high school already there.
Meaning when she got out of the car and walked to the building entrance…
“Jackie!”
Jackie put a smile on her face. “Hey, Jeff.”
Jeff kissed her cheek and put his arm around her. “You look beautiful today. Are you ready to spend the whole day together?”
Jackie tried to hide the dread she was feeling. “Yeah, totally. Can’t wait to see the rumored superhumans.”
Jeff chuckled and let go of her. “Let’s go inside.”
Jackie turned to follow him, but stopped when she saw a black car pull up in front of the building. She watched as Shauna went over to the car and opened the backseat door to let out a blonde girl with a baseball cap.
“I didn’t know Melissa was coming,” Jackie said out loud to Jeff, trying to ignore the bitter edge to her voice.
“I mean, why wouldn’t she? It’s her dad’s research lab, after all,” Jeff replied, stopping to stare where Jackie was looking.
Jackie pursed her lips together. “You’re right. Of course she’s here.”
Envy Anger flowed through her body as she watched Melissa hug Shauna and plant a kiss on her head. She knew Shauna liked Melissa, but she didn’t approve of her. Melissa wasn’t good enough for Shauna. No one was.
“Come on, we can meet them inside.” Jeff took her hand into his and started guiding her up the stairs. Jackie turned and followed him, not being able to stomach looking at the couple anymore.
-
“And here, we have some of our experimental spiders.”
The tour guide stopped the large group in front of a display case with fifteen individual enclosed areas inside it. Each case displayed a different spider, with a note listing their (original) species and the genetic enhancements done to their DNA.
Jeff continued to hold Jackie’s hand throughout the tour, and she was starting to get sick of it. What made her more sick, however, was watching Melissa do the same with Shauna. Seeing Shauna’s eyes sparkle as she looked around the Oscorp laboratory was awesome. Seeing Shauna’s eyes sparkle as she looked at Melissa was not.
“This spider in particular is a grass spider. It hunts using a set of reflexes with nerve-conduction velocity so fast that some researchers believe it almost borders on precognition,” The tour guide explained. Jackie looked at the brown spider she was referring to and watched as it spun an almost heart-shaped web. “Meaning an early awareness of danger. A spider-sense, if you will.”
A spider-sense? Jackie didn’t like the sound of that. She turned to see how Shauna felt about it but frowned when she saw Shauna smiling ear to ear with Melissa.
“Something is off about her,” Jackie whispered to Jeff.
“Who, Melissa?” Jeff turned to stare at the two girls. “Is that what your Jackie-sense is telling you?”
Jackie rolled her eyes in response.
Jeff sighed softly. “I think you might just be jealous that she isn’t spending as much time with you and I since they started dating.”
Jackie felt a slight ache in her chest. “Maybe.”
But there had to be more to it than that.
“And those are the fifteen main spiders that our researchers are currently studying,” said the tour guide. “Over here-”
“Fourteen,” said their classmate and Jackie’s soccer teammate, Van. “There’s only fourteen in the cases.”
The tour guide looked to see which empty case Van was referring to. “Ah, you’re right. I suppose they may be working more personally with that spider right now, then.”
The group started to walk away from the cases, Jeff included. Jackie went to follow suit when she was approached by a short girl with curly blonde hair.
“Jackie!” Misty beamed at her. “Can I take your photo for the school paper?”
Misty wasn’t her favorite person, but Jackie always felt bad for how she was treated by the others on the soccer team, so she felt obligated to be nice. “Yeah, sure.”
Jackie stood next to the spider cases and messed with her hair as Misty adjusted the lens on her camera.
“Alright, say cheese!” said Misty.
Jackie swapped between a few different poses as the camera flash went off repeatedly. Click. Click. Click.
“I think that should do it,” Misty exclaimed. “Thank you!”
She walked away with her camera at an eager pace.
Jackie decided to take a minute for herself, leaning against the table she was in front of. Seeing Shauna with Melissa for the whole day was starting to upset her. Why couldn’t Shauna spare a moment to spend with her? So that they could talk about genetically engineered spiders and rumored superhumans, too?
Suddenly, she felt a sharp, stinging pain on her hand.
“Ow!” Jackie shouted, swiftly bringing her hand to her chest so that she could look at it. She saw two small teeth-looking marks on her hand. She must’ve gotten bit by something.
But what?
She looked at her feet and saw a brown spider identical to the spider-sense speech one she saw previously.
“Ew,” she said out loud. She quickly walked away from the spider to catch up with Jeff and the rest of her class.
-
“So, did you have fun?” Shauna asked Jackie during their car ride home.
“Yeah,” Jackie replied, hoping that Shauna wouldn't notice her voice dripping with jealousy. “Misty took my picture for the yearbook.”
“Oh.” Shauna’s eyes darkened. “I’m sure everyone is excited to see their perfect princess out in the paper.”
Jackie narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “What is your problem? I didn't choose to have my picture taken.”
“Nothing's wrong, Jackie,” Shauna sighed. “Just…”
“What’s wrong, Shauna?”
“Why didn't you hang out with me?”
Jackie stayed silent for a moment, unsure of how to say what she was feeling. “Because-”
“It's because you don't like Melissa, is it?”
Jackie sighed. “My feelings regarding your girlfriend have nothing to do with this.”
Jackie saw Shauna’s brows furrow together in frustration in her back mirror. “You’re just jealous that someone was finally interested in me and not you.”
Jackie rolled her eyes. “No, I’m worried for you. I don't trust her or her stupid baseball cap. There's something off about her, Shauna.”
Suddenly, Shauna jerked the car towards the side of the road and slammed the brakes.
“Get out.”
Jackie’s chest ached as she scoffed. “Excuse me?”
“I said, get out.”
Jackie pushed open the car door and stumbled out of the car. But before she shut the car door, she turned and made direct eye contact with Shauna.
“Melissa has made you into a completely different person,” Jackie spat. “It’s like I don't know who you are anymore.”
Shauna stared at her with sad deep brown eyes. “Or maybe you never did.”
Jackie slammed the car door.
-
She started shivering on the walk home, especially when rain started pouring down out of nowhere. She was concerned she was going to freeze to death.
She looked at her hand, and the spider bite had begun to swell severely. She would need to schedule a doctor’s appointment once she got home.
She couldn't figure out what Shauna’s problem was.
-
Once she got home, however, she would not schedule a doctor’s appointment, or worry about Shauna’s problem. She began to change into pajamas in her bedroom as soon as she got inside. Halfway through putting her pants on, she collapsed.
When she woke up, her world was going to change forever.