The Spider's Daughter

The Spider's Daughter chapter 20

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Chapter 20

"So I'll expect your papers on my desk in two weeks." Mr Barnes said. Nobody was really listening. When the bell rand, we'd be free for two weeks! Christmas was finally here, and I couldn't wait the two minutes till the bell rang.

Dad was loving his new job. His first project had been to try to make a super strong, super flexible material. He still wasn't completely finished with it, but he had gotten farther than anyone else ever had. He had a perfect source of spider silk, one of the strongest, most flexible materials in all creation, to model his material from. Unfortunately, creating a synthetic spider silk was virtually impossible. He was still working on it, among other crazy schemes that Reed came up with. And because Reed knew who he was, Dad was also able to swing during work.

Mom liked Dad's new job too. He got more money, and he loved the odd breaks, the super hero talk, and pretty much everything else. Which made him happy. Which made her happy.

The bell finally rang, after an endless two minutes, and we all rushed out the door. The stampeding teens thundered down the hall, shoving and pushing to their lockers, then out the doors.

I burst out the doors behind a group of jocks, and walked toward a dark street.

"May! Wait up!" someone called from the school entrance. I turned, and saw Cas coming toward me, waving. I waved back, and waited for her to reach me. I stepped out next to her, and we walked together along the street.

"So, where're you going?" Cas asked.

"Um... I was going to swing a bit, but actually, I think I'd like to spend a little time with you." I smiled at my friend, and she smiled back.

"Well then, why don't we head over to the coffee shop?"

I nodded, and we started walking. Along the way, we chatted about teachers, and supers, and possible designs for costumes. That is, once my mom let me out of the black one.

Once in the cafe, we got a table, and ordered. Cas got a cappachino, and I got a mocha shake. We sat for an hour or so, then left, pulling our scarves and coats close.

Halfway home, still among the tall buildings, I heard a fading scream. I looked back and forth between Cas and a dark alley. She gave a slight smile, and I took off.

As I ran, I couldn't help but think how horribly cliche it was, me running down a dark alley, stripping down to my Spidey suit, pulling on he mask. I laughed as I shot a web and swung into the air. It may be cliche, but I didn't care. I loved this.

The sounds of the busy city streets rose up to me as I followed he faint echoes of the scream. Of course, the source of the screams was a young girl, getting mugged.

Again, so cliche, I thought as I landed among her three attackers.

"Hey, boyos! Wow! It was a good thing I was here to stop you! You could have gone to jail for that! Oh, wait! Right!" I said, smacking my forehead the same time I ducked under a kick. "You are going to jail!" I threw another punch, and the guy flew backwards, landing in a pile of dirty snow.

"Rush her!" One of the two remaining guys shouted.

"Really, guys." I laughed as I easily sidestepped their charge. "Don't you think people've tried that before? You can't sneak up on a spider!" I jumped, kicked both of their butts, and landed lightly on my toes. They sat on the side of the road, hurried up to their shoulders in snow, butts in the air.

I tied the would-be muggers to a lamppost, tipped an imaginary hat at the girl, and took off. Once in the air, I smiled. Nothing like a little action to warm you up! The bitter cold cut through my suit, but as long as I kept myself moving, I was fine. Mostly. But it was starting got get cold.

I swung back to the original alley, found my clothes and pulled them on.

I hurried up the road, searching for Cas and doing my best to get home. Eventually, I gave up on Cas. The raw, penetrating wind sliced through even my thick coat. My red hair whipped around my equally red face, barely contained by my hood.

Twenty minutes later, I reached home. I walked in shivering, to find my mom pulling a glass of hot chocolate out of the microwave.

"Thanks, Mom. It's cold out there!"

Mom laughed. "Yeah, Cas called. She said you'd be cold. That suit just isn't meant for winter. You need something warmer!"

"Mom! It needs to be skintight. If it isn't, it could get me into serious trouble!"

She smiled, patted my shoulder, and left the kitchen. I sat and drank my hot chocolate. A thicker costume would be nice. But like I said to my mom, it could get in trouble. If I was sneaking up on someone, and oh no! My there's wind, clothes flap, BANG! Spidergirl's dead. Yeah, kinda unlikely, but Dad told me he had contemplated something like that once. Only with him it was pockets.

Obviously, with skintight clothes, it's pretty hard to get any pockets. And even if you did manage to fit some in, how would your stuff stay in when you crawled walls, or swing through the streets? So Dad considered zippers or Velcro. But decided against it. He told me a little story he came up with when he was contemplating zippers and velcro;

"What's that splotch, Mommy?"

"That was Spiderman. He was sneaking up on the Sandman, and he had to get something out of his pockets. The Sandman heard the zipper, and Spiderman got smashed."

"He must have been pretty stupid."

"He was, honey."

It didn't happen, obviously, but it was a funny thought. Not entirely impossible, though. So, no baggy clothes, and no zippers. I smiled. I wasn't sure if Dad ever told Mom that story.

I finished my chocolate, and went upstairs. Ugh. Homework. I laboriously got go work, math, science, and ELA. Then my mind-link with the professor.

<Well, how are you doing, May?>

<You tell me, Prof.>

He sighed. <No, no word on Kayla. Sorry, May. But how are you doing on that reading?>

The rest of the day passed in a blur. I finished my lesson, finished up my homework, ate dinner, cleaned up, sat listlessly in front of the tv for an hour, then went to bed.

The dark ceiling stared back at me, as the hours past. Why couldn't I sleep? I felt... Watched. I sat up.

"Okay, Shawnee. Enough."

A disconnected laugh floated through the air. "Aww! You're ruining my fun!"

I smiled. "Yeah, well, you're ruining my sleep. What's up?"

"Well, Jake totally misses you."

"Really?"

"Yeah. And I was wondering, what are you doing for Christmas?"

"Um, I'm staying here, with my family. Why?"

I heard Shawnee moving around, and she stepped into the faint light streaming through my window. "I was wondering if you wanted to come to the school. Jake would like it. And we miss you. Plus, I don't really have anywhere to go." I gave her a funny look. "My dad's Nightcrawler, remember? He stays at the school."

I laughed. "I was looking at you like that 'cause you could always come here. And we could invite Jake and his dad, too."

Shawnee grinned, and I smiled back. "Now get going! The professor will be mad at you if you stay out too late! And thanks, Shawnee."

"For what?"

"For being my friend."

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