[When they arrived inside the school building, students were gathered around television screens watching the ongoing news coverage.]
["Stay tuned to Midtown News! We'll continue providing you with exclusive up-close coverage of Peter's most important battle yet: College Admissions and Academic Survival!"]
[Spider-Man walked slowly up the main staircase. Mr. Harrington, Mr. Dell, and another teacher were already positioned there waiting for his arrival.]
["Peter! We are absolutely thrilled! Welcome back to Midtown High School! A place where genuine heroes are made!" Mr. Dell spoke first with obvious enthusiasm.]
["Absolutely!" Mr. Harrington raised his hand in enthusiastic agreement and gestured for Spider-Man to look at the commemorative photo hanging prominently on the wall.]
[Another Black teacher held a completely different opinion from his two colleagues, "Or it's a place where cold-blooded murderers are created and celebrated!"]
["Shut up immediately!" Mr. Dell shot him a withering cold look.]
[Mr. Harrington looked at Spider-Man with solemn respect and declared, "It is my greatest honor to serve you!" before giving him a formal salute.]
["No way! Mysterio was absolutely right about you!"]
[Harrington pointed directly at the dissenting teacher, "Shut up! Enough of your conspiracy theories!!!"]
[Although the Black teacher continued his criticisms, Harrington deliberately chose to ignore him completely.]
["The students prepared all of this specifically for you!"]
[Mr. Dell also pointed enthusiastically toward photos of Spider-Man displayed on the wall alongside various Spider-Man merchandise and memorabilia.]
["NO! You prepared everything yourself!" The skeptical teacher began systematically dismantling Harrington's claim.]
[Harrington responded with diplomatic calm: "I only helped organize it a little bit!"]
[The Black man scoffed dismissively at this explanation, "I tried to stop you multiple times, but you still went ahead with this hero worship! This is all his misguided fault!"]
[Mr. Dell praised Harrington's efforts: "You did an absolutely wonderful job!"]
["You can come visit the display whenever you have free time!"]
[Ms. Dell added with supportive enthusiasm: "You can walk normally! Or you can swing down the hallway or climb up to the ceiling to avoid everyone if you prefer!"]
[Harrington nodded with understanding, "We know you're capable of incredible things!"]
[Faced with the overwhelming enthusiasm of the two supportive teachers, Spider-Man felt genuinely uncomfortable. He opened his mouth and attempted to respond, "I just want to..."]
[The skeptical Black teacher interrupted him sarcastically before he could finish: "You know exactly what you did to that poor man!"]
["Shut up! Don't embarrass yourself and our school! He's a delusional conspiracy theorist!" Harrington explained desperately, hoping that Spider-Man wouldn't take the man's accusations to heart.]
[Spider-Man walked forward through the hallway in resigned silence. Ahead of him, numerous students were taking photographs of him with their cell phones. When they noticed him approaching, they all respectfully made way for him to pass.]
[He walked past the students who were watching him with intense curiosity and released a silent sigh of exhaustion.]
"What's wrong with that teacher? Is he seriously defaming students from his own school? So incredibly sarcastic and unprofessional! Fire him immediately!" The principal felt extremely annoyed. One or two faculty members were always making their school famous, and all of them had terrible reputations.
Now the entire world knew that Midtown High School employed an irresponsible teacher and a conspiracy theorist educator. How were they supposed to recruit quality students this academic year?
Fortunately, there was the dedicated Mr. Harrington serving as a positive role model for the institution. The principal immediately offered him triple his current salary, promoted him to department head, and arranged an independent office for him to occupy.
"3rd Gen Peter's future school life is going to be incredibly chaotic! Just like ours was!" 2nd Gen Spider-Man looked at the confused 3rd Gen Peter and couldn't help but feel slightly amused. He and Gwen had also experienced this particular distress when they first entered college.
Wherever they went, there would always be students watching them or requesting to take pictures with them, but the situation had improved significantly over time. Most students had adapted to their presence. Except for freshmen who occasionally asked them for photographs or autographs, everything else had become routine.
However, Spider-Man obviously still needed considerable time to adapt to this level of constant attention.
"His situation is dramatically worse than ours ever was. After all, he's trapped in the controversy of allegedly murdering Quentin Beck and cannot escape that narrative. The students are divided into two opposing factions, and the faction that believes he's guilty will be extremely unfriendly toward him!"
2nd Gen Gwen shook her head with obvious concern. She understood perfectly well what this level of negative public opinion pressure would bring to Spider-Man, and it might even negatively affect his college admission applications.
"But there are also people who genuinely believe in him, like Mr. Dell and Mr. Harrington, who are clearly on his side. He has people actively supporting him, which is definitely a positive thing for 3rd Gen Peter."
2nd Gen Spider-Man also understood this situation, but he had faith that 3rd Gen Peter could survive these challenges because he wasn't completely surrounded by enemies.
[On the school rooftop, Spider-Man and MJ lay peacefully together, using a textbook as a makeshift pillow, while MJ held a copy of that day's newspaper in her hands.]
["Can we just stay up here for the entire day? It's absolutely insane down there with all those people!"]
[MJ examined the newspaper and couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity: "Wait! This is actually interesting! Some people genuinely think that Parker possesses the biological ability of a male spider to hypnotize female spiders. They believe he used this supernatural ability to psychologically manipulate Jones-Watson into worshipping him!"]
[Spider-Man closed his eyes in complete despair, "Please stop! Don't read any more of that garbage!"]
["Yes! Mr. Spider!" MJ seized the opportunity to tease him playfully.]
[MJ set down the newspaper beside her, looked lovingly at Spider-Man, and felt an overwhelming desire to kiss him.]
[Just at that romantic moment, Ned appeared at the most inopportune time and complained loudly, "Finally, I can have some genuine private space! It's way too crazy down there with all those reporters!"]
[MJ looked at Ned who had suddenly appeared and pursed her lips with obvious resentment at the interruption.]
[Ned remained completely oblivious to the fact that he had disturbed their intimate moment. He set down his school backpack, crouched down beside them and said enthusiastically: "I was thinking... if we all get accepted into MIT! We can live together in the same dormitory!"]
[Both Spider-Man and MJ readily agreed despite their disappointment about the interrupted moment.]
["Of course that sounds perfect!"]
["Yeah! That's an excellent idea!"]
[Ned retrieved a college brochure with accompanying photographs from his school bag, "This is exactly what our amazing future will look like!"]
[MJ laughed with characteristic sarcasm and said, "Yes! Except for the frisbee games and the fake smiles!"]
["Getting into MIT would be absolutely the best outcome! But even if we have to attend an alternative school! We'll still live together in Boston! New school! New city! I can continue being Spider-Man! There are definitely plenty of criminals in Boston too! Right?"]
["Absolutely!"]
[Ned nodded with enthusiasm, "All kinds of dangerous evil criminals!"]
[Spider-Man painted an optimistic picture of their future for MJ: "We can start a completely fresh new life together!"]
[But MJ didn't appear particularly happy about this prospect.]
[Observing her subdued expression, Spider-Man felt confused and concerned, "What's wrong? Did I say something upsetting?"]
[MJ struggled to articulate her feelings, "I don't know exactly, I just think that if you don't have... if you have no hope, then you will never experience disappointment!"]
["Come on!" Spider-Man took her hand gently, "We can start over completely! We can face whatever comes together!" He glanced meaningfully at both Ned and MJ.]
["Yeah! You're absolutely right! Let's start over!" The two of them intertwined their fingers tightly together.]
[Ned witnessed this touching moment and approached to place his hands on top of theirs, "Starting over together!"]
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