---

Chapter 9

Nieni: Yea, you learn a bit more about Rivet... thought he was normal, didn't you?

---

Now, even before he started his task, Winawen had watched Rivet for quite a while- how else could he havepicked two original candidates for each coupling? Not to mention, it was his knowledge of Rivet's actions that swayed him from complete panic upon finding the boy in his room- It's Rivet's nature to become attached to randomized people and Winawen accepted that after the shock wore off.

However, Winawen's observations upon entering school on Monday are far from desireable. Walking by his ex-subject, he immediately notices the boy's lack of interest- not a single glance. Following Rivet's gaze with his own, Winawen's eyes narrow at the curvy black-haired girl standing across the hall. He watches as Rivet moves forward subtly, as if in a trance, slipping unnoticeably into the crowd... All the while staring at that girl.

Winawen growls loudly, gathering a few odd looks from his peers ("Woa, who ticked off the nerd boy?"). Shrugging his backpack higher onto his shoulder, Win makes up his mind to follow.

-

Rivet stares in awe at the beautiful creature before him, making sure to stay a fair distance away so as not to arouse suspicion in the chattering ranks surrounding his new fantasy. He remembers Winawen briefly in the back of his mind, but the other boy's image almost immediately fades away into nothingness, joining the cheerleader and all those he had worshipped in the past.

You see, Rivet's mind works in an odd way... It could be an odd type of attention span deficiency, or short-term memory... or perhaps something that simply has no name in psychology books. Only one person can have his full attention for a certain amount of time. Oh, others can make themselves known and he can remember names and faces when nessary, but for any time between a day and a month, all focus is on one person or thing... until his mind latches onto something new. It's honestly not something he can control.

So, it's only natural, given the amount of stress his last obsession caused, for Rivet to reach out to another. Someone new and exciting... someone like... Marica Talire. Oh yes, Marica Talire. Nice, long, silky black hair and brown eyes- brown eyes that could almost match Winawen's hai-

Rivet snaps out of his daze and sweves to the right, bumping and knocking someone over as he shakes his mind clear. The person on the floor stands quickly, moving to grab Rivet's shirt.

"Watch where you're going, freak!" Rodger snarls, fisting the material in his hands until the green-haired boy grabs at his arms in an effort to get back some ability to breathe. "I'm not in the mood to have little shits like you get in my way-"

"Leave him alone!" A feminine voice calls out, sounding panicked. Marica laborously pushes her way out from her ring of friends to stand before the older boy. "Leave him alone, you jerk!"

"Wha... I was just..." Rodger rambles for a moment before composing himself. "This stupid fag-"

Marica tears Rivet from Rodger's hands, tossing the boy to the side like a pebble. Lunging forward, she delivers a resounding slap to the jock's cheek- but doesn't stop there. A large crowd quickly forms, cheering the girl on as she attacks in a whirl of female fury- all nails, knees, biting, and hair pulling.

"GET OFF ME YOU PSYCHO!"

Rivet scrambles away from the chaos, losing his hair tie at some point. Running blindly- green obscuring his vision- he somehow makes it to one of the many men's rooms and stumbles inside. 'Wonder what set that girl off?' He wonders idly, pushing his hair away from his eyes and brushing some from his neck to make sure it hadn't been bruised. Oddly enough, it doesn't cross his mind that, that girl was his universe just minutes ago... how quickly a distracted mind forgets. Obviously, Marica was one of his shorter passions.

After a brief, futile search through his pockets for another hair tie, Rivet ventures back into the halls. He finds them eerily silent and empty. 'The monitor must've just came through and herded everyone away...' Shrugging, he walks in the direction of the main office, curious to see if anyone from the small scuffle got caught. Passing the large wall window, he sees Rodger look up from slouching in a waiting chair. The jock jumps up, shaking a fist and yelling something Rivet can't hear from outside. Rivet smirks and waves, not really remembering what his part in the fight had been, but amused by the older boy's angry antics just the same.

- -

Winawen continues to let Rivet lead him around the halls, wandering aimlessly. He catches himself getting too close a few times, having to dodge to the side rather obviously when the other boy turns curious blue eyes in his direction. After the fifth time doing this, Winawen lifts himself from the floor and brushes his slacks off, making a face at the pink blob of chewed gum stuck to one leg... still wet and sticky too... 'Ugh. Why am I even doing this? I don't have to watch him anymore-' But the memory of the other boy getting lifted up by the collar of his shirt returns and Winawen sighs despairingly. 'Idiot can't even look after himself. Who else will if I don't?'

Rivet stops very suddenly, forcing Win to duck around a corner- just in case. Peeking out, Winawen frowns at the figure who managed to catch his boy's attention... AGAIN. Marica. Winawen lets out a hissing breath. 'What's she doing out of class?! Go to class! NOW! How dare she skip class while we're skipping class!'

All the same, he takes some comfort that Rivet makes no move closer and the pesky girl remains in the far distance. Not even a minute passes before Winawen and Rivet see a familiar pink head of hair bounce into view and collide with the girl.

"Chibi..." They growl in unison.

"Oh, Chibi! There you are!" Marica smiles prettily at the hopping girl clinging to her waist. "I thought you weren't coming for a second there-"

"Well, ya thought wrong, cuz I'm here indeedly-deed-y-doooo!" Chibi sings. "Thank-y for saving my friend todaaaaaaay!"

"Eh. I've been waiting for a reason to give that asshole what he deserves since i first met 'im."

"Mmhmmmm... anywayzzzzz... Da money I owe you for your services." Chibi finally releases the taller girl and pulls off her backpack so she can shuffle around in it's pink pockets. After a lengthy search, she straightens with a wrinkly ball of bills in her fist. She drops the green pile into Marica's hand. "We never have been able ta find Bevon-chan without you!"

"Yea... He's a sneaky guy. Still surprised, considering he's Tora's cousin 'n' all..."

The girls eventually walk off in diferent directions, assumedly returning to class. Rivet slowly turns his head to look back at Winawen, having heard the boy speak. They stare at eachother silently, neither quite knowing what to say to break the awkward moment.

"...Pretty, isn't she?" Winawen's surprised by his own casual tone, though it doesn't show on his face.

"Yea, I guess so." Rivet nods slowly. He looks in the direction Marica took, then back at Winawen again. His face seems to crumple with an expression of pitiful confusion.

- -

Tom yawns, grinning into his pillow sleepily. 'Mmmm... sleeping in late, calling in sick from work... doesn't get any better than this.' Tom arches his back and slowly slides up into a sitting position. Rolling his shoulders, he relieves his arms of the leaden feeling that comes from too much sleep.

Chelene pauses outside her son's room, hearing the movements. Glancing in the open door, she smiles warmly at the rumpled teenager. "Are you feeling better, sweetheart?"

'Oh, right, I'm supposed to have a killer headache.' Tom smiles back lopsidedly, still blinking blearily from the sleep still in his eyes. "Yea, a bit."

"Well, take it easy. I don't want you to miss school again tomorrow." Chelene says softly. "Would you like some chicken soup?"

"Nah. I don't have a cold, Ma."

"Oh... Alright then."

Tom sees the disappointed droop in his mother's shoulders as the young woman begins to turns away. "Hey, Ma?"

"Yes?"

"Maybe... a little later?"

Chelene's eyes crinkle. "Of course."

"Ok."

"Alright." She turns again.

"Ma?" Tom calls out hesitantly, feeling the need to say something more.

"Yes?"

"...Love you."

Half an hour later, Chelene opens up a can of soup and pours it into a small pot, humming quietly to herself in the relative silence of the kitchen. It comes as a complete surprise when a terrified screach tears through the house, making her ears ring. Chelene runs to the foot of the stairs. "Tom?! Tom, was that you?!"

The only answer is another, more baritone yell. 'Definitely Tom.' Holding onto the banister, Chelene rushes up the stairs. A quick look around reveals her son's whereabouts, a light and some steam showing from under the bathroom door. She presses her hands and an ear against the wood. "Tom? Honey, are you alright?"

"Uh... uh... n-no... there's a..."

"What is it?"

"It's a-URGH! GET AWAY FROM ME!" A loud thump and a rather girlish shriek. "Uh-Ma? Could you get a... a broom? Or a shotgun?"

"TOM! What's in there?!"

"It's a fucking spider from HELL!" Tom says, his voice cracking.

"I'm opening the door-"

"NO!" Another thump as Tom throws his body at the door to grab the handle while balancing on the toilet lid. "If you let it out and lose it in the house, I swear to god I'm bolting!"

"Tom, this is ridiculous! How big can it possibly be?... And watch your language, young man."

"It can almost reach the toilet without climbing. THAT's how b-HOLY SHIT!"

WHACK-THUMP-"AGH! AAAHHHH! AHHH!" THUMP-THUMP-WHACK-CRUNCH-THUMP! "CALL THE ANIMAL CONTROL! CALL THE POLICE! CALL THE FUCKING AMBULANCE, THIS THING'S GONNA TAKE MY LEG OFF!"

Chelene wrings her hands worriedly, her son's hysteria becoming contageous. "Well... I'll call 9-1-1 and see who they give me..."

Two minutes later...

"There wasn't much luck, but some firemen agreed to come over and check it out. They should be here soon... How are you doing in there?"

"It's on the toilet now. I should be safe on the curtain pole for a few minutes, if it doesn't collapse."

"Are you sure you're not exaggerating?"

"Hell yes."

-IN the bathroom-

Tom takes a deep shuddering breath, catching himself as his bare foot almost slips off the wall. On hand and one leg rest on the pole holding up the shower curtains, the others pressed against the tiled wall for balance. Every few seconds, the pole wobbles unsteadily and, occasionally, slides down half an inch. If he angles his chin up just right, Tom can see over the pole and spy on the large spider crouched on the toilet like some freakish feline about to attack.

The extremely large spider. Large enough to take over the entire surface of the toilet cover, legs long enough to hang all the way to the floor if they so pleased... and not even the cliche black hairy kind you expect. No, this spider has no hair at all. It's the clear kind, with a toxic yellowish tint, that are usually fairly small, as spiders go... This one, obviously, decided to break the laws of nature sometime down the road.

Sitting innocently in the middle of the bathroom rug is a little black dog plushy.

When Tom had gone into the bathroom and began his shower, the stuffed animal had quite simply fallen from the ceiling... or perhaps the curtain pole. Either way, it had fallen seemingly out of nowhere and bounced off Tom's head just as he was shampooing his hair. And what was clinging to the damp, fuzzy hide of that doggy? The spider. Somehow, Tom didn't and doesn't know how, it grew within a span of one minute into the raging monster that chased the blonde's naked behind literally up the wall.

"Maaaaaaaaaaaa..." Tom whines, "Where're the people you said were coming?"

"I don't know, they said they were coming- OH! Someone's at the door!" He hears the sound of his mother padding away and back down the stairs.

A moment later, she returns with a second set of heavier footsteps following. "Sorry, I really didn't mean for it to escape..."

Tom's eyes widen in horror. 'I know that voice.' He stares down at the stuffed animal.

"My... but you certain look different!" Chelene calls to her son while turning the doorknob, "Tom! You remember Bevon, right?"

"Don't let that freakshow in!" Tom panics, making a wild, exaggerated grab at his towel on the other side of the room. With a loud snap, the pole gives under his weight, sending Tom crashing into the bathtub painfully. He groans, dazed from his head hitting something hard on the way down... not sure what, but it damn well hurts. "Auuugh..."

"Graceful as you ever were, I see." Bevon comments dryly, casting a brief glance at Tom's undignified sprawl in the tub before leaning to pluck a fairly large, but not overly so, spider from the side of the toilet rim. Straightening, he holds up the squirming pest for Tom to see with a knowing smirk, then turns to Chelene innocently. "I honestly do not know what the big fuss is about... Aracnidia isn't such a big girl- are you Aracnidia, sweety?" He coos sweetly.

Tom glowers, pulling a piece of curtain over his lap. "That-That thing was bigger before and you know it!" Struggling to his feet on the slippery porceline surface, Tom steps from the tub. "I don't know how you did it, but I know you did!"

"Tom!" Chelene exclaims, shocked by her son's behavior.

Bevon smirks again, folding his arms against his casual blue shirt- a far cry from the outfit he wore to the mall... even his make-up is absent, save for the most subtle black outline around his eyes. Not exactly an incriminating look. "Now, now, Mrs. Gregory... We all know how worked up our little Tom can get over spiders." A fanged grin flashes when Tom's mother turns away.

"Still... Tom, I think you're going a little overboard with this phobia of yours." Chelene says doubtfully, starting down the stairs. "Bevon, would you like to stay for soup?"

"I am not especially hungry for soup, but I can stay a while longer."

Tom stands frozen outside the bathroom, hand loosely clutching the curtain around his waist. "Bastard..."

-

Nieni: Anyone care for some supernatural? I'm sure anyone can guess what Bevon is. -sighs- I don't feel good... Sorry for any mistakes. As I've said before, I have no spellcheck and i'm too tired to search through myself. G'night.