Chapter 10
第十章
Led by the Thing, the other heroes took the Chameleon to the authorities, and Flash Thompson back home. Spider-Man raced back to his own home in Queens.
在石头人的带领下，其他英雄一起把变色龙带到警局，然后把闪电·汤普森带回家。蜘蛛侠也迅速跑回到他在皇后区的自己家中。
After all, he had homework to finish up.
毕竟，他还有家庭作业要完成。
The next day Midtown High was abuzz with the news. As he walked down the hall, Peter caught bits of conversation. It was always strange for him to hear some of the things people had to say about Spider-Man's adventures.
第二天，整个中城高中都在纷纷议论这些传闻。彼得走在走廊上，听到了一些谈话的内容。每次听到人们谈论蜘蛛侠的冒险故事，他都会感觉很奇怪。
“Spider-Man was working with the crooks!”
“蜘蛛侠和恶棍勾搭在一起！”
“Flash is Spider-Man's backup now.”
“闪电现在是蜘蛛侠的替补了。”
“The X-Men were behind it all.”
“X战警是幕后黑手。”
By his locker, Peter noticed a group of kids gathered around. As he pushed through the mob, he saw Flash in the middle. He was smiling and laughing and talking to the group.
在他的储物柜旁彼得看到一群孩子围在那里。他挤过人群后，看到闪电在中间。他正笑嘻嘻地和大伙聊着天。
“Scared? No way, dude, I wasn't scared!” he was saying to a kid standing next to him. “I actually think the Chameleon was scared of me! Sure, I played it cool at first, but after he turned off that camera, I got tough. ‘Listen,’ I said, ‘I've got a lot of powerful friends. They'll be looking for me.’ And then, of course, Spidey—that's what I call him, ‘Spidey’—swooped in to help me out. And together we put the Chameleon away. You know I think Spider-Man is freaking amazing, but even he needs a hand sometimes. I was happy to lend him one.”
“害怕吗?不可能，伙计，我一点也不害怕!”他对站在他旁边的一个孩子说，“我倒觉得变色龙怕我!当然，一开始我表现得很酷，但他关掉摄影机后，我就强硬起来了。‘听着，’我说，‘我有很多厉害的朋友。他们会找我的。’然后，当然了，蜘蛛老弟——我叫他‘蜘蛛老弟’——飞过来帮我啦。我们一起收拾了变色龙。要知道，我觉得蜘蛛侠超级棒，但即使是他，有时也需要帮助。我倒很乐意帮他。”
Peter couldn't help laughing as he walked by, hearing all this. He glanced at Flash and caught his eye. The two of them looked at each other for a second. Then Peter pushed through the rest of the crowd and moved on to his locker.
听到这一切，彼得从旁边走过时忍不住大笑起来。他瞥了一眼闪电，两人的目光正好相接。他俩对视了一会儿。接着彼得挤过人群，来到他的储物柜前。
“I mean, that guy never stood a chance,” Flash said. “Between me and Spider-Man—man, he didn't know what he was getting himself into...”
“我是说，那家伙根本没有机会。”闪电说，“碰上了我和蜘蛛侠，他不知道自己惹上了什么……”
“Hey, Pete!”
“嘿,彼得！”
Peter turned around to find Gwen. “Crazy what's going on here, huh? I'm just glad Flash is okay. I mean, the guy can be a jerk, but still...”
彼得转身看见了格温。“这事真疯狂，哈？我很高兴闪电没事。我的意思是，这家伙可能是个混蛋，但仍然……”
Peter looked at her and smiled.
彼得看着她，笑了。
“Yeah, I guess I know what you mean,” he said.
“是的，我想我明白你的意思。”他说。
“So, you ready for the test?” Gwen asked, and Peter shrugged, not really sure. He had been studying late into the night.
“那么，你准备好考试了吗？”格温问。彼得耸了耸肩，不太确定。他一直学习到深夜。
The morning bell rang. Peter removed his books and closed his locker. Then he moved through the thinning crowd and walked with Gwen to their first class.
早晨的铃响了。彼得拿出了书，关上了他的储物柜，穿过稀疏的人群，和格温一起去上第一节课。
Peter looked back at Flash, who was high-fiving kids as they walked away.
彼得回头看了看闪电，他正和离开的孩子们一一击掌道别。
“You'd think he'd learn a thing or two. You know, after being kidnapped by a Super Villain and all,” Peter said.
“你可能会以为他在被一个超级恶棍绑架之后或多或少会吸取点教训吧。”彼得说道。
“What makes you so sure he hasn't?” Gwen asked.
“你怎么肯定他不会呢？”温格问道。
“I don't know. I just wouldn't count on it,” Peter said, remembering how different the scared and shaking Flash was from the one who was celebrating in the hallway.
“我不知道。我只是不指望他会。”彼得说。他想起了那个在走廊里庆祝的闪电和那个被吓得发抖的闪电是多么不同。
As they continued to walk to class, Peter heard someone call his name. Then the person called it again.
当他们继续走去上课时，彼得听到有人叫他的名字。然后那个人又叫了一遍。
“Hey, Parker!” Flash shouted out to him from down the hall.
“嗨,帕克！”闪电从楼下的大厅对着他大喊道。
Peter took a deep breath and turned around slowly.
彼得深吸了一口气，慢慢地转过身来。
Flash was running toward him. It looked like he had something in his hand. Peter braced himself to block whatever was about to be thrown at him.
闪电向他跑来。看起来他手里好像拿着什么东西。彼得稳住自己，准备好挡住任何可能向他扔过来的东西。
“You dropped this out of your locker, ” Flash said, holding out a crumpled piece of paper.
“你把这个掉在储物柜外面了。”闪电说着，拿出一张皱巴巴的纸。
Peter opened it and was surprised and confused by what he saw. He wasn't sure what to say. So he said the natural thing.
彼得打开它，对他所看到的东西感到既惊讶又困惑。他不确定该说什么好。因而他从容地回应了句。
“Thanks, Flash.”
“谢谢你，闪电。”
“Yep, you bet,” Flash said. Then he jogged back down the hall to catch up with his friends, who were moving on to whatever they had next on their schedules. Gwen shot Peter a smile.
“没错，没错。”闪电侠说。然后，他慢跑着回到大厅，赶上他的朋友们，他们正要去做他们日常安排的事。格温对彼得笑了笑。
“You were saying?” she asked.
“你们刚刚说了什么？”她问道。
Peter smiled back, happy that for once he wasn't the only one trying to hide a deep, dark secret. And that maybe, just maybe, Spider-Man had helped somebody change. Even if it was just a little bit.
彼得回笑了一下，他很高兴自己再也不是唯一一个想要隐藏秘密的人了。也许，只是也许，在蜘蛛侠的帮助下，某些人有了变化。即使只是一点点变化也好。
(The End)
（全书完）
