'With a record selection
and a mirror's reflection
I'm dancing with myself ' -
Billy Idol

GWEN STACY HATED parties. She hated the crowds, the music, and the fact everyone would exaggerate that they'd consumed alcohol. Liz's house would get destroyed, yet she held parties often. It was a miracle that her parents didn't mind. On the other hand, Gwen barely managed to get her parents to agree on letting her go.

The teen picked out her outfit after Gloria sent pictures of what she was wearing, the blonde needed some inspiration on what others were wearing. That way, she wouldn't stand out too much. After a brief outfit selection, Gwen chose to wear a tartan pleated skirt, a light grey vest and a black cardigan.

After applying some makeup and doing her hair, she walked into the living room. Helen Stacy instantly looked at her with suspicion. "Where do you think you're going?" She asked.

"Liz's house, she's having a party." Gwen informed.

"Will there be alcohol involved?" Helen pressed.

"Liz Allan? The most perfect person in school?" Gwen questioned. "I highly doubt she'd allow alcohol in her house." Gwen lied, there always was alcohol, Liz was often to blame.

"Okay then, I want you back by 10." Her mom instructed, she was much more lenient than her husband.

"Yeah, I promise." The teen said. "Thanks mom."

And with that, Gwen raced back into her room, grabbing a small handbag and stuffing her Ghost-Spider suit inside it. She knew it as a bad idea, she also knew it had risks. But she could never be too sure, especially with new weapons rolling around in the ball pit.

All of a sudden, Gwen felt her phone vibrate and depicted it to be Gloria, judging by the amount of notifications coming through.

Gloria -
Gwen
Gwen
Gwengwen
I'm outside
I'm driving hurry up.

Gwen smiled at her friends childishness and sprinted down the stairs of her building. Just as promised, Gloria was sat in her car, still cradling her phone and spamming the blonde in front of her. "Gwen, took you long enough." She exclaimed.

"I'm here, aren't I?" She replied as she took her seat.

For the most part of the car journey, they spoke about Peter's statement that both Ghost-Spider and Spider-Man would make an appearance at Liz's party. Gwen was dreading it, where as Gloria was all for it, she didn't want to miss the opportunity to get to meet a real superhero. Little did she know that the awkward, sleep deprived teen next to her, was just that.

"There's Peter." Gwen said to Gloria.

"Who's Peter?"

"The Spider-Man guy." She rephrased, receiving a hum of acknowledgment from Gloria.

"Doesn't look like the Spider's are with him, you think he did it for attention?" The braided haired girl asked on her way inside the house.

"No, Peter wouldn't do that. Plus, it was Ned who brought it up."

"Ok, you're saying names, but I have no idea who you're talking about." Gwen sighed, she'd only known the two boys because of classes and academic decathlon, it was optimistic to believe Gloria knew the schools nerds. "Is he wearing a fedora?"

Before Gwen could confirm Gloria's suspicion, a loud voice made itself known from the DJ booth, Gwen was living a nightmare. "Ddddddd-DJ Flash!"

"Gloria, when I said I'd make an appearance, I didn't know Flash was DJ-ing." Gwen scowled towards the boy.

"Cmon, don't be such a party pooper." Gwen rolled her eyes. "You know what you need? Some drinks." Gloria demanded as she walked away despite Gwen's protests. Leaving the hero alone.

"Oh, my gosh. Hey guys. Cool hat, Ned." Liz greeted the boys, and Gwen who happened to wander nearby.

"Hi Liz." Ned said, looking at Peter.

"Hi Liz." The other said with a higher pitch than usual.

"Hey." Gwen chimed in.

"Im so happy you guys came. There's pizza and drinks. Help yourself."

"What a great party." Peter complimented.

"Thanks."

"The only downside is your house is gonna get trashed." The blonde added. As if one cue, a glass smashing could be heard form another room.

"My parents will kill me if anything's broken, I gotta, um." Liz quickly excused herself. "Have fun." The conversation was above awkward, Peter didn't know how to talk to Liz, and Ned was being annoyingly obvious about Peter's crush.

"So, that went well." Gwen sarcastically commented. It was clear Liz wanted Spider-Man, and Peter had disappointed her with false hope.

"She'd be happier if Spider-Man was here." Ned nudged his friend.

"I'm sure he's busy." Peter scolded, placing his hand at the back of his neck.

"Well, what about Ghost-Spider? I'm sure she'd like parties." Ned added.

Gwen only scoffed, she'd rather be out patrolling New York for low level thugs than cooked up inside Liz's house. Plus, she had the weapons dealers to capture. Ghost-Spider was beyond busy, yet she somehow managed to get dragged here by Gloria. The scoff didn't go unnoticed by the two boys, but they didn't say anything about it. Speaking of the boys, Gwen still had no idea how they knew her alter-ego, she didn't remember even seeing them, let alone conversing.

"I'm sure she wouldn't want to waste her time at a dumb party." Peter answered, to which Gwen nodded along. He'd hit the bullseye with his assumption. "I think Liz is gonna hate me." Peter exclaimed, looking at his friends for advice.

"Probably because you gave her false hope about Spider-Man. Who, she has a huge crush on." Ned replied, causing the brunette to sigh.

"Gwen, you're friends with Liz, right?" He asked.

"Yeah." She answered.

"Is there any way I could make it up to her?"

"Well, you could rejoin Academic Decathlon. Flash isn't the best asset." She encouraged, to be brutally honest, Flash was a burden to the team. "I know you're busy with the Stark internship, but surly, Stark industries can survive one day without you?"

Gwen shared the mindset with herself, she was fine leaving queens for a day, besides, Spider-Man was always there to cover for her just in case. Although she sometimes found him immature, Gwen knew Spidey was trustworthy.

Just as Peter began to accept that he didn't need Spider-Man to impress Liz, his minute victory was ruined by Flash. "Penis Parker, what's up." He said through his microphone. "So, where's your buddy Spider-Man? Let me guess, in Canada with your imaginary girlfriend Ghost-Spider?" He joked, sounding a horn in the booth. "That's not Spider-Man, that's just Ned in a red shirt." He added, causing the crowd to laugh.

Now, Gwen wasn't Peter's girlfriend in any way, but the anger pouring into her aura couldn't be contained. She wanted to make Flash and everyone else who made fun of Peter apologise. Even if Gwen assumed he was also lying about Ghost-Spider, she would have never publicly humiliated him the way Flash had.

"Omg, that's just Ned in a red shirt." Gloria slurred in laughter as she found Gwen. "That was so funny." She said between her laughs.

"Dude." Gwen motioned her head towards Peter's direction.

"Sorry, I drank your drink on the way here." Gloria apologised, but Gwen wasn't too fussed, she wasn't allowed to drink alcohol at parties anyways.

"Listen, I think this music is giving me a migraine. I'm gonna go get some fresh air." The blonde informed her friend, who nodded and began to mingle with her classmates.