AT FIRST GLANCE — 1.5
CHAPTER ONE | CHAPTER 2?
that night, your mind chooses to relive high school…
“hate to break it to ya, grizz, but staring at the problem isn’t gonna make it go away.”
you groan and look up from your ap calculus textbook in time to see harry osborne set his lunch tray down on the cafeteria table and take the seat next to you. he gives you a sympathetic grin before picking up his fork and taking up a mouthful of mac and cheese.
that’s fine, you think. there’s no one else you’d rather have take it.
you still roll your eyes.
“harry,” you say, straightening your back and turning to him. he looks up at you, still chewing on those noodles. “why do you get lunch from here when you probably have a chef back home?”
he looks like he’s about to laugh at your question, but holds it in to swallow his food. “have you never had the mac and cheese here? delicious. also— a chef? really?”
you grin and shrug, turning back to your textbook and picking up your pencil again. “yeah, really,” you say, flipping the pencil in your fingers before you begin to solve the integral. “are you trying to tell me you don’t have a chef?”
“well—”
“exactly.”
he laughs and lightly pushes your shoulder. “i think you’re just jealous that i don’t leave my homework until the last possible minute so i can eat lunch everyday.”
ok, there might be some truth to that.
you pencil in a 22 to mark the next math problem before you turn to your brunette friend, eyebrows raised as you try to fight back laughter. “sometimes you can be so sassy!”
he grins proudly and takes another bite of his mac and cheese as you continue.
“does peter know about this?” you ask, shaking your head in faux disapproval, as if peter were the mom in the sentence: does your mom know about this?
but maybe peter isn’t the best person to bring up right now.
harry smiles at your jest, but it doesn’t have the same lightheartedness as it did just seconds ago. you wish you hadn’t mentioned the name.
“sorry,” you say quietly.
“it’s okay,” he says. and he means it, you know. but guilt has sunk its claws into your heart and has no interest in letting go.
as you turn back in your seat to let harry eat in peace and continue finishing up your homework, your eyes catch the two empty chairs on the other side of the table. that’s where they sat.
you glance at harry— he’s looking at peter and mj’s chairs too.
you bite your lip and look down at your paper, the numbers starting to blur together as your thoughts race. they’re mostly about peter and mj and what they might be doing right now. but another thought also pushes its way past all of these, triumphant at last: you are not alone. harry osborne and his silly mac and cheese are still here.
“so… which one’s better? the cafeteria mac and cheese or your chef’s mac and cheese?” you looked at him, an eyebrow raised.
surprise flickers in his eyes for a moment before disappearing under the weight of consideration as he chews his mac and cheese thoughtfully. you’re pretty sure the lunch ladies just use velveeta anyway, but you don’t want to ruin the magic for him.
seeming to reach a decision, he swallows his mouthful and smiles. “well, i know what i think, but you’re not gonna like the answer, grizz.”
you roll your eyes playfully— did he really like the school’s that much?
“but how about you come over after class? try the one at my place for yourself?” he asks. you don’t pay too much attention to the way he quickly drums his plastic fork on the rim of his bowl.
“huh…” you consider, nodding to yourself as you finish your last homework problem. you slam the hefty textbook shut. “i will take you up on that offer, harold osborne.”
he nudges you. you laugh, pushing his arm away.
“my name’s not harold.”
“yeah, okay, okay.”
in those days, it felt like it was you and harry osborne against the world. two halves of a whole. you had your differences, sure, but ultimately it all culminated into a friendship you were convinced would last you your lifetime.
is that what makes it so hard for you now?
you’re starting to hate europe for swallowing up your best friend.
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neocities guide - why you should build your own html website
do you miss the charm of the 90s/00s web where sites had actual personality instead of the same minimalistic theme? are you feeling drained by social media and the constant corporate monopoly of your data and time? do you want to be excited about the internet again?
try neocities!!
what is neocities?
neocities is a free hosting website that lets you build your own html website from scratch, with total creative control. in their own words:
"we are tired of living in an online world where people are isolated from each other on boring, generic social networks that don't let us truly express ourselves. it's time we took back our personalities from these sterilized, lifeless, monetized, data mined, monitored addiction machines and let our creativity flourish again."
why should I make my own website?
web3 has been overtaken by capitalism & conformity. websites that once were meant to be fun online social spaces now exist solely to steal your data and sell you things. it sucks!!
building a personal site is a great way to express yourself and take control of your online experience.
what would I even put on a website?
the best part about making your own site is that you can do literally whatever the hell you want! focus on a specific subject or make it a wild collection of all your interests. share your art! make a shrine for one of your interests! post a picture of every bird you see when you step outside! make a collection of your favorite blinkies! the world is your oyster !!
here are some cool example sites to inspire you:
recently updated neocities sites | it can be fun to just look through these and browse people's content!
space bar | local interstellar dive bar
creature feature | halloween & monsters
big gulp supreme
peanutbuttaz | personal site
dragodiluna
linwood | personal site
patho grove | personal site
getting started: neocities/html guide
sound interesting? here are some guides to help you get started, especially if you aren't familiar with html/css
sadgrl.online webmastery | a fantastic resource for getting started with html & web revival. also has a layout builder that you can use to start with in case starting from scratch is too intimidating
web design in 4 minutes | good for learning coding basics
w3schools | html tutorials
templaterr | demo & html for basic web elements
eggramen test pages | css page templates to get started with
sadgrl background tiles | bg tiles
rivendell background tiles | more free bg tiles
fun stuff to add to your site
want your site to be cool? here's some fun stuff that i've found
blinkies-cafe | fantastic blinkie maker! (run by @transbro & @graphics-cafe)
gificities | internet archive of 90s/00s web gifs
internet bumper stickers | web bumper stickers
momg | gif gallery
99 gif shop | 3d gifs
123 guestbook | add a guestbook for people to leave messages
cbox | add a live chat box
moon phases | track the phases of the moon
gifypet | a little clickable page pet
adopt a shroom | mushroom page pet
tamaNOTchi | virtual pet
crossword puzzle | daily crossword
imood | track your mood
neko | cute cat that chases your mouse
pollcode | custom poll maker
website hit counter | track how many visitors you have
web revival manifestos & communities
also, there's actually a pretty cool community of people out there who want to bring joy back to the web!
melonland project | web project/community celebrating individual & joyful online experiences. Also has an online forum
melonland intro to web revival | what is web revival?
melonking manifesto |
status cafe | share your current status
nightfall city | online community
onio.cafe | leave a message and enjoy the ambiance
sadgrl internet manifesto |
yesterweb internet manifesto | sadly defunct, still a great resource
reclaiming online social spaces | great manifesto on cultivating your online experience
in conclusion
i want everyone to make a neocities site because it's fun af and i love seeing everyone's weird personal sites that they made outside of the control of capitalism :)
say hi to me on neocities
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