DARE ME →MIKE WHEELER← DISCONTINUED

→the polywog←3.1

The night after halloween left bella with mixed emotions. on one hand, she got to hang out with max and mike and all of her friends but on the other, she had a fight with mike, and will left early which set the whole mood off. nonetheless, she got up, got dressed, and went to school.

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she rounded the corner with max on her left and lucas on her right. "i still don't get why they call him zombie boy. i mean, i get it. he got lost in the woods for a week or something, but why is he a zombie? because everyone thought he was dead?" max says to them. "well yeah. we had a funeral for him and everything." bella says to her. "after a week?" max asked confused. "well, see, some other kid drowned at the quarry. we thought it was will because his body was super decomposed." lucas explains.

"what?" max says stopping at the classroom door. "okay, that's not funny". "max, we're not joking with you. everyone knows this. just ask anybody," bella says to her. max's face has disbelief all over it. "except will of course because he's really sensitive about it. all right?" lucas says. she nods "okay" and they go into class taking their seats.

"the case of phineas gage is one of the great medical curiosities of all time. phineas was a railroad worker in 1848 who had a nightmarish accident. a large iron rod was driven completely through his head." mr.clarke says drawing a line through a picture of a skull. "phineas miraculously survived. he seemed fine. and physically, yes, he was. but his injury resulted in a complete change to his personality. so much so that friends that knew him started referring to him as "No longer Gage."

"at the time, this was known as the American crowbar case. although it wasn't a- -" SLAM the door goes flying open making the whole class jump. dustin comes in panting and carrying something in his hands. "i am so sorry,mr clarke. i'm so sorry. please continue with the class." he says walking to his desk and sitting down "don't mind me".

"although it wasn't a crowbar, it was a rod, as i said," he says. dustin turns around and whispers "we have to meet. all of us. at lunch,a.v club". "why would we do that?" bella asks quietly. "i have something that you won't believe." he says. they all go back to paying attention while dustin turns around and whispers the same thing to max. "dustin!" mr. clarke calls out. "yes, my lord?" he says. bella cracks a small smile. "would you care to join the class now?" he asks. "please, yes." dustin says going into his bag. "the case of phineas gage." mr. Clarke says. "phineas gage," he says pulling out a book and opening it. the rest of the lesson went uninterrupted.

the bell rings signaling everyone to get up and leave. the party quickly grabs their bags and go to the av room. where dustin takes his prototype ghost trap and puts it on the table. he pulls the lever making the doors open and they leaned over to see what was in the box. an animal noise came from the box it had made a chittering sound. when they saw the green slimy worm thing all bella could do was shake her head. "oh no" she said under breath. it had a tail and yellowish spots on it.

"his name is d'artagnan." dustin said while going to pick it up. "you named it?" bella asked. he nodded "yeah he's like a pet. he's cute, right ?" he said looks at them with a smile. "d'-D'Artagnan?" mike questioned. "dart for short." dustin said playing with it. "and he was in your trash?" max asked. "foraging for goods. wanna hold him?" he asked her. "no, no." she said shaking her head. "he doesn't bite." dustin says as he hands over dart to a frantic max. "no. i don't want to—" she says. "oh god, he's slimy!" she says handing to lucas. the minute dart is placed in his hand his face reads disgust. "ugh, he's like a living booger."

lucas hands dart off to will "ugh, oh god!". will quickly hand it to bella who starts to freak out "no don't you dare hand it -" she tries to say but too late now dart was in her hand and she did not hesitate to give it to mike who didn't freak out or squirm he brought dart to his face and inspected it. "what is he?" he asked. "my question exactly." dustin says with a smile.

dustin turns around to grab his bag. mike took this time to place him back in the box. dustin slammed four books down on the table " at first, i thought it was some type of pollywog." he says. "pollywog?" max and bella say at the same time. "jinx you owe me a soda!" bella said to her which max responded with rolling her eyes. "a pollywog is another word for tadpole. a tadpole is the larval stage of a toad." dustin explains to the girls. "we know what a tadpole is,dustin" bella says.

"all right, then you know that most tadpoles are aquatic, right ?" he says opening a book to a bookmarked page. "well, dart, he isn't. he doesn't need water." he tells them. "yeah, but aren't there nonaquatic pollywogs?" lucas asked. "terrestrial pollywogs? yep. two to be exact." he says flipping to a different page. "Indiana semipalmate. and the adenoma andreae. ones from india, ones from south america. so how did it end up in my trash?" he says.

"maybe some scientists brought it here, and it escaped?" max suggested. "do you guys see that? looks like something is moving inside of it" he says. mike grabs the lamp and brings it over to dart who lets out a screech at the sudden light. the screech causes everyone to gasp and step back. dart then begins to crawl away towards the end of the desk but dustin catches him in time. "whoa" he says "it's okay. it's okay. i got you, little guy." dustin says to dart. everyone exchanges a look of confusion and looking weirded out. "and there's another thing. reptiles, they're cold-blooded. ectothermic, right. they love heat, the sun. dart hates it. it hurts him." dustin tells them.

"so if he's not a pollywog or a reptile..." lucas says trailing off. "then i've discovered a new species. dustin starts to pet it and talk to again. the bell rings again making them all jump and snap out of their trance. they all quickly get up and grab their stuff and leave the av room. "we should show to him to mr.clarke." lucas says. "no. what if he steals my discovery?" dustin argues. "he's not gonna steal your idea." bella says to him. "you know, i'm thinking about calling it dustonious pollywogus." dustin says. "what do you think? he asks max. "i think you're an idiot." she says laughing a little. "when i become rich and famous for this one day, don't come crawling back, saying, " oh, my god, dustin, i'm so sorry for being mean to you back in 8th grade. oh my god." he says in a girly voice.