“Which one of you is Peter Parker?” Ethan asked suddenly, causing the entire room to become quiet all of a sudden. Harrington and the principal were surprised to see that Mr. Ethan even searched for a specific student, and it was Peter!
“I am Peter Parker, Mr. Ethan,” Peter said politely. Although he had no intention to partake in the program, he was as polite as ever.
“Peter here is our elite student. He was among the best of the best and also our Academic Decathlon ace player.” Harrington said enthusiastically. But Peter was a little bit embarrassed seeing that he just quit a moment ago, and now Mr. Harrington was praising him as one of the best.
But Ethan didn’t care about such a thing as he only wanted to complete the task that T’challa gave him. “No wonder he’s also an intern for Stark Industries! Such talent is what we need!” Ethan said with a smile on his face.
“Peter is indeed such a rare talent!” Harrington said excitedly. Everyone was obviously jealous of the attention that Peter got but didn’t voice it as it may sound rude to Mr. Ethan.
“Ummm, I don’t want to be rude, but I think I might pass on the Student Exchange Program, sir! But thank you for considering me.” Peter said politely. Everyone was surprised by Peter’s response as it might seem stupid to pass on such a big chance!
“Peter! Don’t make a fool of yourself! This is a one-time opportunity that everyone was dying to get! I don’t want to hear your nonsensical excuse anymore!” Mr. Harrington said annoyedly. Ethan even frowned as the situation became awkward.
Everyone was worried that Peter’s rejection had annoyed Mr. Ethan, but in reality, Ethan had known that Peter would reject the offer and thus push Peter to accept with certain words that T’challa has prepared. “I know that your internship was important, but I don’t think that you need to worry about it! Our Academic Exchange Program will be taking place here in New York. Besides, King T’challa and Mr. Tony Stark are both friends and partners! Stark Industries is one of the benefactors of this program, and Tony Stark was the one who recommended this school and you personally.” Ethan said convincingly.
“Really? Mr. Stark said that? Is he coming to the program himself?” Peter said excitedly.
“Well, as you are a talent that Mr. Stark recommended, then you should know that Mr. Stark does things in regard of his mood. No one can tell him what to do, so he might or might not be there!” Ethan said honestly.
But Peter already knew that, and because of that, Peter was convinced that Mr. Ethan was telling the truth. He was thrilled to have another chance to meet with Tony Stark once again.
“Thank you for the invitation, Mr. Ethan! I will participate in the program!” Peter said excitedly.
“No problem, well, Principal Morita will let you know all the details, and as your classmate, I will see you tomorrow,” Ethan said as he walks out.
“Did we have 4 more slots after that?” Harrington asked Ethan before he could leave the room.
“Oh, no! Peter here is an exception, so you still have 5 slots for the program. Tomorrow, a special car would pick up the students at 10 in the morning, and one teacher would also participate as their guardian.” Ethan said with a smile on his face. After that, Mr. Ethan walked out while Harrington and the principal was seeing him out.
The adults were gone, and the remaining student in the room was excited about the program. Furthermore, they were clearly jealous of the attention that Peter got. Peter had to say that he felt really cool right now, but he didn’t want to brag, for he was a humble person.
After a while, Harrington returned to the room to announce which students would join the program. “After discussing it with Principal Morita, it was decided that the 5 participants for tomorrow’s program would be Liz Allen, Ned Leeds, Michelle Jones, Abbigail Burks, and Flash Tompson! I hope that the selected students will discuss tomorrow’s event with their parents or their guardian as you will have to stay at a 5-stars hotel for the next week, and you will not be able to leave until the program is over.” Harrington said excitedly.
The chosen students were also excited as it would be awesome to stay at a 5-star hotel and meet famous people in various fields! It was equivalent to a one-week holiday!
The students who weren’t chosen sighed as they didn’t get the one-time opportunity, but they were still annoyed that Flash was selected! He was just a substitute player, so it was annoying to see someone that they thought was barely making it this far to be included on the program.
They even thought that it was because Flash’s father was the school’s number one donator! They thought that as long as the school has a quota of something important, Flash would always be included! Although they thought that the school selection wasn’t fair, there is nothing they can do about it.
“Mr. Harrington, what about the Academic Decathlon quiz?” Liz asked suddenly.
Harrington paused for a moment as he was too excited about the program that he forgot about the decathlon completely. But, it wasn’t a bad thing, and he already came up with a solution.
“The Decathlon would be held 10 days from now in Washington. It won’t overlap with the program since we will able to go after the program anyway, but I will make another team that will train here in school in preparation for the decathlon while the 6 of you, yes, that includes you too, Peter, will train in the hotel when we got the time later. The winner of the decathlon has to be our Central High School!” Harrington said enthusiastically.