Spider

Spider...Chapter Six

CHAPTER VI (song: Living Dead Girl or Schism)

Allowing herself to get accustomed to her job, Cameron spent a week learning how to 'tolerate' Jack. The best ways consisted of---consequently---agreeing with just about anything he said to avoid an argument, taking him up on occasional offers such as rides, food, and walks to the library. Cameron didn't, however, want Jack to get the assumption that they were friends. "Acquaintances, at the most," she had told him, and he laughed at her. "Whatever," was his humor-filled response. It had only been a total of no more than three weeks since Cameron had come, desperate for a better life, to Point Pleasant, West Virginia.

She closed her newest read, The Great Gatsby, once she had finished it, and stuffed it into her bookbag. She threw the bag over her shoulder and followed Jack out of the lunchroom. The sunlight from outside blinded Cameron, and she looked down. Jack's dirty, Converse-covered feet interrupted the view; Cameron shielded her eyes from the warm sun so she could glare at Jack.

"Those shoes are hideous," Cameron commented, and Jack laughed. They walked to biochemistry, then, and took their usual seats. As Jack blabbered on about useless things, Cameron thought about what she would do with the money she had saved up from two week's worth of work. It was a good amount, about three hundred eighty-six dollars total. She had put her collection in a small coin purse, which---for safety purposes---was buried deeply in her bookbag, under all of the school books and writing utensils.

"Hey," Jack waved his long hand in front of her face, "are you listening?"

"Do I look like I'm listening to you?" Cameron raised an eyebrow at Jack, who grinned in return.

"No," he chuckled, "will you listen now?" His deep blue eyes met Cameron's hazel ones. She averted her gaze to her worksheet before answering.

"I suppose. What do you want?"

Jack had grown accustomed to her hostile way of asking questions. "I wanted to see if you'd skip work today to come with me somewhere."

Cameron narrowed her eyes and tilted her head, "Where to?"

"Can't say. I can promise that you'll like it, though."

"That's totally reassuring," Cameron snapped, "Let me think about it...hmm....skip work and pay to go to an unknown location with Jack....or go to work like I'm supposed to and get paid...such a tough decision---"

"If you don't enjoy it, I'll pay you," Jack pleaded, his voice at a loud volume. Cameron's eyes widened as she realized that the entire class was staring wide-eyed at Jack as well, their eyes shifting from him to her. Spencer and Hayden were laughing, then, at Jack's comment. Cameron let her head fall onto the cold marble of the desk in front of her; the class certainly wouldn't let them live this one down. Jack realized the awkwardness of what he had said, but just snickered, unphased by it. The bell rang, and laughing preppy girls trotted past Cameron, and clearly they were talking about her. She let it slide, though her festering annoyance of Jack grew, as she gathered her things, exited the classroom and went through the double doors that led to the outside breezeway.

He followed her, then, "Come on, will you?"

"What exactly are you trying to achieve, Jack?"

He was silent, and then, "I don't know. Just being nice. If you don't wanna go....I guess I can just ask you another time," his faith in her giving in worked.

She huffed, "Fine. But if this is a prank or if you are talking me to a bar or something, so help me---"

"Chill! Just come on!" Before she could say anything, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her toward the parking lot of the school.