Z O E E

        Fly me to the moon

        Let me play among the stars

        Let me see what spring is like on

        A-Jupiter and Mars

        In other words, hold my hand

        In other words, baby, kiss me

        These are the lyrics that Zoee mouths as she listens to the song on Youtube with her earbuds. She does this as she helps the school librarian stamp the back of the library books and put them on a cart to put back on their rightful places on the bookshelves. She has gotten into the habit of going to the library during her free track to help maintain the library, her favorite place in the whole school. 

        She would usually be reading out in the school courtyard during her free period but she has read her few books over and over again, so she wants to take a break from them so that she won't get sick of reading them. The elderly librarian hands her books that have been stamped as he listens to his own music with giant headphones. Zoee is listening to Fly Me To The Moon by Frank Sinatra, an artist she has gotten obsessed with lately.

        Zoee starts to sway from side to side to the music, making her cheap earbuds slip out and fall to the ground. She bends down to pick them up, unbeknownst to the fight happening behind her. As soon as she bends over, a table from behind her gets thrown to her direction, Spider-Man quickly flinging the table back to the Lizard who threw it. 

        A loud crash startles the Atkins girl, making her head quickly turn towards the noise. She gasps loudly at the scene before her; Spider-Man fighting the giant lizard monster. Zoee heard of the giant monster roaming around the city but she never saw it in person. She scrambles up from the position on the floor and rushes to the librarian. To avoid scaring the man, she leads him out of the library, making sure his headphones are still on. Another thundering sound frightens Zoee and she glances back to see Spider-Man on the floor surrounded by books, a large hole in the bookshelf where he was thrown into. 

        When Zoee and the librarian are far enough to be safe, the Atkins girl removes the headphones from his head. "Mr. Lieber," She whispers, grabbing his wrinkly hand and walking with him to get him out of the school as soon as possible. "The school is under attack, we need to get out fast!"

        "Thank you Zoee." He nods gratefully then speaks more to himself. "Such a sweet girl."

        Zoee smiles big at his comment, her cheeks growing red. They are about to cross another hallway to finally leave the school when Zoee hears footsteps. She stops Mr. Lieber to look around the corner to see if they're safe to cross. She finds Spider-Man walking away without his mask on. Zoee can only see the back of his head and very familiar strands of chocolate brown hair. As if Spider-Man senses her looking, he turns to look back at Zoee. Their eyes meet for a split second and she quickly moves to hide behind the corner with her hand tightly against her mouth to avoid making any sound of surprise. 

        Her suspicions were right; Peter Parker is Spider-Man. She pieces everything together, how he was avoiding her for a while and during that time, Spider-Man showed up. She realizes that he kept his distance to protect her from the Lizard that is terrorizing the city which is why he kept this big secret from her. She doesn't get how Gwen Stacy fit into everything but she doesn't care as she's trying to sneak past Peter, hoping that he didn't see her.

        She quickly rushes by with the school librarian and they finally get to leave out the double doors outside to their safety. They are met with some emergency responders who lead them away from the school to check them out for any injuries. Zoee looks around to see if Peter is back to his normal self, trying to blend in with the rest of the students to avoid any suspicions, but he is nowhere to be seen. She sees Gwen's head of blonde hair with her phone pressed to her ear, which Zoee concludes that she is trying to reach Peter. 

        Zoee thinks about doing the same but that might give away that she knows Peter's alter ego. Suddenly a lightbulb goes off in her head, her face lighting up. She thanks God that the Oscorp tower is close by the school while she ducks under the paramedic's arm and starts to run to the direction of the science building. Once away far away enough from the school, she slows down to a speed-walk, not wanting to waste her breath.

        The Atkins girl figures that Spider-Man or at least the Lizard will head off to the Oscorp tower. She remembers when Peter took her to the tower to accompany him and how weird he started acting towards her, especially after Uncle Ben died. 

        She believes something happened at the building where Dr. Curtis Conners works and she wants to help out or at least investigate. 

        The sun starts to go down and the bright sunny day turns into a dark night. Zoee scolds herself for thinking that the tower seemed close by when in reality it took her the rest of the afternoon to arrive. Once at the front of the building, she rushes in not even bothering to go up to the front desk to make up some sort of excuse to be let through. The same lady at the desk from when Peter pretended to be a Latino, calls out for her. "Excuse me, ma'am? Ma'am!"

        She doesn't even give the receptionist a look as she runs up the moving escalator, pushing past employees and guests. She hears shouts and heavy footsteps follow behind her, Zoee concluding that it's security trying to catch her. Her conclusion is right when she sees three of them try to catch up and get into the tower elevator with her. Zoee closes it just in time, pressing a random floor button to get the elevator started. 

        The lift smoothly goes up, the red numbers on the panel growing as it passes each floor. Zoee looks and it seems she pressed the button of the last floor. She doesn't press any other button to stop before because that's where she figures Doctor Curtis Conners' office is. Zoee leans her head against the elevator wall, waiting for the long ride to be over when out of nowhere, the elevator jerks to a stop. At the sudden movement, Zoee bumps her head on the metal wall, injuring the same spot she got hurt when Flash threw her on the ground at school. She hisses in pain, her eyes closing and her hand clutching the spot. 

        When she re-opens her eyes, the elevator is dark, only one light flickering on and off. The elevator sways slightly instead of going up and that's when she knows; she's stuck.

        Her first instinct is to bang at the doors as loud as she can, but that doesn't help when she hears the screams and shouts of people all around her. She knows the sounds of her hitting at the door will be drowned out by the commotion outside.

        She notices the panel buttons growing red and she's grateful for the emergency lights lighting up the numbers. She sees an alarm button and she hits it a couple of times, the shrill of the bell filling her ears. She flinches but keeps going, hoping someone will try to get her out. She doesn't care who does, she won't even mind if the security guards chasing her helps her out of the small space.

        Zoee waits a couple of minutes for any response and nothing happens, so she goes to her last resort. "HELP ME! I'M STUCK IN HERE, HELP!" She shouts, cupping her hands around her mouth to make her voice sound louder.

        She takes a deep breath in to shout out again when a giant, clawed hand breaks through the roof of the elevator. Zoee shrieks and backs up into the corner of the lift, wrapping her arms around herself. The lizard hand rips away at the metal, making more room to stick his arm in there. His scaly hand feels around for anyone and finally touches Zoee's body. The Lizard opens his hand, his fingers curling around Zoee before he lifts her out, standing on top of the lift in the elevator shaft.

        Zoee fights against his grasp, twisting and turning in his large hand as tears fall from her face. She opens her mouth to scream at him but he beats her to it.

        "Who are you!?" He growls out, a foul stench coming from his mouth, making Zoee's nose scrunch up. "What are you doing here!?"

        "Leave the city alone!" Her mouth starts to move on its own, her voice betraying her and her cheeks wet with warm tears. "Don't hurt Pe—Spider-Man!" Her eyes widen at her mistake, the Lizard's mouth growing into a smirk.

        "So you know Peter Parker, huh?" He taunts before going serious. "You'll be useful."

        The Lizard jumps up, grasping Zoee tighter in his hand before climbing up the shaft, heading towards the city's doom.