Make Way for the Spiders

Twenty

-_-_-_-Rayne's POV-_-_-_-

School was going to be dreadful. Maybe I should've taken Gwen's advice, and called in sick. But I had to prove I was fine. I could hide the hallucinations for a little bit longer, and act like I'm feeling fine for as long as it takes. I had to keep up the charade until we figured out what to do about Kim. 

"What are you doing here?" Peter hissed, coming up behind me while I was at my locker. 

"Good to see you, too," I grumbled, and glared at my reflection in my mirror. 

A hand was pressed to my forehead, and Peter pulled me back. "Rayne, you still have a fever," he whispered. "Go home before you get even worse." 

"I'm not sick," I insisted. "I'll be fine by lunch." 

"Or you could just go home now, and get some rest." 

"Why are you here?" Gwen asked, walking up to us, and I groaned. 

"You guys are just overreacting," I snapped. "I'm fine, leave me alone." 

I started to walk away, but two sets of hands pulled me back. 

"The first bell hasn't even rung yet," Peter said, as he and Gwen cornered me. "Go home Rayne, please." His tone was softer, and the worried look in his eye made me almost reconsider. Almost. 

"Would you rather me be all alone at home, where Tempest could easily get me, or here, in this crowd of people?" I countered. 

He opened and closed his mouth like a fish before answering. "I want you to be safe. And right now, I think it's safer for you to be locked up in your apartment." 

Gwen nodded her head in agreement, and something caught my eye behind her. 

Ignoring the two people in front of me, I focused on the small cloud floating three feet away. It was soft and white, but started to rumble, and like ink bleeding through paper, the cloud began to quickly change into a yucky, grey-ish black color. Gwen stepped in front of my view, and I craned my neck to watch small bolts of lightning strike the ground. 

"Rayne!" Someone shook me, hard, and I was jolted from my trance. Focusing back on my friends, I could see the worry evident in their eyes. "Are you still hallucinating?" Gwen asked, lowering her hands from my shoulders. 

"Of course not," I lied, peeking back behind them, only to see the cloud had disappeared. "I just saw some kid walk by with a weird art project." 

Before they could say anything else, the bell rang, and I pushed past them to get to class. Peter was in my first hour, so it would difficult to avoid him, but not impossible. 

"Pop quiz," Ms. Greene announced as she walked through the door. I sighed, glad that it would be less of a chance for Peter to try to talk to me. 

The papers were handed out, and when I got mine, I had to blink a couple of times. The words scrambled themselves, moving around on the paper. It went from the test, to a creepy face, to three words. 

Watch your back. 

-_-_-_-_-_- 

When it was time for study hall, I dashed out of Chemistry, doing my best to get away from Gwen and Peter, who both called after me. 

I slipped down a deserted hallway, and leaned against a wall. I couldn't keep doing this. I had seen four more clouds, two more of my worksheets turned into creepy messages, and I'm pretty sure I saw Iron Man fighting a giant cotton candy monster outside the Spanish window.