The Taste of Venom

The next day I woke up to a strange tickling on my face. I smiled sleepily and rubbed at it, rolling over in my sleep.

"Hmm, stop it," I giggled sleepily.

"Dude, get up," A voice groaned from the room.

I sat up sleepily, yawning and opening my eyes. Blair was fixing his tie beside the mirror, his face serious. His hair was dishelved from sleep, but Harvey walked by and ran his comb through it. Blair spun around and slapped at his friend's arm, showing a small hint of a smile. It was quickly wiped away, however.

Harvey turned to me and chuckled, pointing at my face.

"Looks like your friend wouldn't leave you," he remarked.

Frowning, I stared at him with a confused expression. Blair rolled his eyes and pointed to the mirror. I turned my head and let out a small yelp. My small, blond spider was resting upon my face, it's beady eyes stuck on me. I shakily took him off and set him on the web.

"No, Boy, don't sleep on my face," I muttered, trying to calm myself down.

"Dude, it's a spider. Not your grandma's pet poodle," Blair shot, rolling his eyes.

Blair left the room after that, leaving Harvey and I in silence. Harvey shrugged at me and slid on his wide-framed glasses.

"Don't worry about him, just let him be," Harvey said, giving me a tiny smile.

After we all finished getting our uniforms on, we headed down to the dining room for breakfast with the rest of the students. Brendon hooted a loud "Hello" to me as we walked in. I smiled and waved at him before taking a seat next to Shay. She smiled at me and passed me an apple.

Across the table, Brendon was chatting animatedly with his other friend. Suddenly, his friend turned to me and bared his bright white teeth in a smile.

"So, you related to Marcus in any way? I mean, you two got the same last name, right?" His friend asked.

Suddenly, the room went rather quiet. I blushed deep crimson and cleared my throat. Brendon elbowed his friend in the side, giving him a small glare to warn him not to ask any more.

"Not now, Danny," Brendon muttered.

His friend nodded and went back to eating, sending me an apologetic smile. I shrugged at him and began eating my own meal in silence. Once it had finished, I was glad to see everyone leave without staring at me or talking about me to one another. However, Danny did approach me.

"Sorry, Man, didn't know it would make everyone shut up like that," Danny apologized to me.

"It's okay, and yeah, I'm related to him," I replied.

"Whoa, in what way?" He pressed on.

"I'm his great nephew," I said.

"Wow!" Danny exclaimed, his dark brown eyes widening.

I nodded and smiled at him. He gave me a small goodbye and clapped my should before hurrying off to his own clan and probably informing them of my relation to our leader. Shay smiled lightly at me and pulled me into the next hallway to our first class. I stared at her strangely.

"Listen," Shay said, leaning against the wall. "I don't know if you should be telling anyone of your relation to Marcus."

"Why not?" I asked her.

Shay bit her lower lip, her eyes looking down at the ground. Her thick lashes rested against her rosey cheeks, making me smile. She really was a gorgeous girl.

"Because I don't want you to get hurt. Some of the kids here will think you're just rubbing it in and - oh God, Venom, the ones that would think that are merciless. They are dangerous, and I don't want to see you get hurt - or worse," Shay said, her doe eyes facing back up at me.

I nodded at her and grabbed her hand. "I won't."

"You promise?" She asked me quietly.

"I pinky promise," I stated, hooking my pinky with hers.

Shay laughing softly at me and stood back up straight, brushing her bangs away from her eyes. "Come on, we should get to class."

I nodded at her and smiled. As we began walking towards our next class, I couldn't help but feel strange. It was almost as if something or someone was watching me. I turned around and glanced around the hall, my jaw set. Shay noticed my tense stance and stared up at me.

"What's up, Ven?" she asked me carefully.

"Nothing, just felt weird," I muttered, turning back around and heading down the long hall to Mr. Black's class with Shay.

"Well, if you're sure. . ." Shay muttered.

But that was the problem. I wasn't sure.