Amy climbed onto the large yellow bus that was parked just outside her school. She sat down in bus seat 13, her usual seat, and waited for her friend, Raven, to arrive. She glanced out the window to watch the numerous high school students bustle by. In the bus next to hers, a boy sat down next to his girlfriend and they started making out. Amy sighed sorrowfully as she watched them. Suddenly, Raven slid into the seat next to her.

“So, how’s it going?” She asked.

“Okay I guess,” Amy replied,” Mr. Boyar is making us take another one of those stupid vocab quizzes on Friday.”

“Oh yeah, you can thank Britney for that,” Raven said,” She misspelled ‘occasionally’ when Mr. Boyar made her go up to the board.”

“Dumb broad,” Amy sighed.

“I know, right? What are you doing this weekend?”

“Helping my sister pick out a dress for the winter dance.”

“But the dance is two months away!

“All the girls are getting their dresses now. The stores are practically empty by the time the month is done.”

The bus driver let the last few kids on the bus before driving out of the school parking lot with the rest of the buses.

“Are you going to the winter dance?” Amy asked.

“Maybe. Ben hasn’t asked me to go yet,” Raven said,” Are you?”

“I don’t think so,” Amy said,” I don’t have a date.”

“What about Griffin375? You could take him.”

“I’ve never met him! We’ve only ever talked online.”

“Well then, ask him out. He might live nearby.”

“I doubt it. He could be, like, five thousand miles away.”

“Well, you never know.”

The bus turned into Raven’s neighborhood and stopped.

“Let me know how it goes,” Raven said, getting out of the seat.

“Okay, see you tomorrow,” Amy said.

Raven got off the bus and walked to her house which was just across the street. When all the other kids for that stop had gotten off, he driver closed the doors and drove away. He drove around for three minutes before he reached Amy’s stop. Three other students got off with Amy and walked to their own houses. The neighborhood was chilly and quiet like it was every early winter afternoon. Amy walked five blocks to her gray house, which was the only house on the entire street with Christmas lights on it. She got the mail and when inside. After throwing the mail on the mail pile she when up to the home computer and logged on. When she was onto her user, she clicked on the internet tab which immediately opened up to her chat room as her home cite. The little envelope in the top left corner was orange with a red ‘1’ next to it. Amy clicked on it to reveal the message from Griffin375.

[Griffin375: Are you there yet?]

Amy smiled and typed her response.

[Historybuff228: I’m here now.]

It only took a few seconds for her to get a response.

[Griffin375: Awesome! I was looking forward to talking to you all day!]

[Historybuff228: Rough day?]

[Griffin375: Yeah. My dad won’t let me go anywhere because he thinks he’s dying. ?]

[Historybuff228: He thinks he’s dying?]

[Griffin375: Yes. He’s been calling me, like, every five seconds to go see him because of it. I haven’t been anywhere all day!]
[Historybuff228: Why does he think he’s dying?]
[Griffin375: I don’t know, but after the fifteenth false alarm I stopped listening. So how was your day?]
[Historybuff228: Fine here.]
[Griffin375: I wish I could go to your school.]
[Historybuff228: Why? It’s just like any other school.]
[Griffin375: True, but you’ll be there.]
Amy blushed pink.
[Historybuff228: Maybe we should go out sometime.]
[Giffin375: You mean like on a date?]
[Historybuff228: Yeah. We can finally meet and I can see who you are.]
[Griffin375: That’d be great.]
. . .
Atticus crawled as fast as his eight tiny legs could carry him without being stepped on by any humans. He climbed up the steps of the public library and crawled inside the building when a human opened the door. When he got under the safety of a book case he rested. Scanning the room, he quickly found the adolescent in the grey sweatshirt and shaggy hair he had been looking for on one of the library’s computers. He quickly crawled across the floor, climbed the chair the boy was sitting on and rested on his shoulder.
“Prince William,” Atticus panted,” You must return home immediately.”
The boy turned his head towards him.
“Not now Atticus, I’m busy,” William said.
“Your father is calling for you. You must return home. You shouldn’t even be here.”
“Can’t he wait five minutes? I’m in a chat room.”
“William! You know what the penalty is for disobeying your father!”
William sighed.
“Got to go,” he typed on the computer before logging out.
He got off the computer where another teenager quickly took having been waiting for that seat. William waited until he was out of the library and into the adjoining woods to finally talk to the spider on his shoulder.
“She asked me out you know,” he said.
“Who?” Atticus asked.
“ Historybuff228,” William replied,” She asked if we could meet sometime.”
“That is impossible,” Atticus told the boy,” You don’t even know where she is or if she is even a girl.”
“I know she’s a girl because I’ve seen pictures of her and she only lives in the next town. Why can’t I go see her?”
“Because you are suppose to stay at home. You know your father forbids you to interact with the humans.”
“But why?”
William reached a cave deep in the woods which many spiders were crawling out of. He went in, unfazed by the arachnids around him.
“You are supposed to be learning how to be king,” Atticus pointed out,” Your father will not live forever and you are next in line for the throne!”
“Why can’t cousin Arachnia become queen?” William asked,” She’s more like a spider than I am and she does have royal blood.”
“That makes no difference your highness. Your father was the oldest so you are next in line.”
“Like I want to be king of the spiders.”
“You curve that tongue of yours!”
William came across a five underground tunnels, each closed off with a cobweb curtain. William went up to the one right in front of him and pushed the cobwebs away.
“Father, I’m here!” He called.
“William!” His father boomed,” You’ve been out with the humans again, haven’t you?”
William motioned to Atticus to get out. Atticus crawled off the boy and made a hasty escape.
“I was father,” William said quietly.
“Haven’t I told you time and again that you are not to go outside of this land?” His father shouted.
“Yes father. You have,” William replied.
“Do not leave this castle ever again,” his father said.
“But father! A girl asked me out.”
There was silence. William trembled, knowing the response he would receive. There was a loud rustle coming from the darkness inside the chamber. William heard the clicking of large spider legs. The legs were the first to come into the light then the rest of the spider king’s form. His human torso and head sprouted out of the spider body like a flower out of cement.
“What?” His father hissed.
William cleared his throat.
“A human girl I’ve being talking to through a chat room says that she wants to see me,” he said.
“Tell her no,” his father said, turning back to the darkness.
“But why? She’s smart and sweet and has been asking to see me for a while now,” William defended.
“Once she realizes what you are she will turn away from you and our presence will be know,” his father replied,” The humans will then want to experiment on us then kill us.”
“But-.”
“No William!”
William fell to his knees in fear of his father’s raised voice. His father turned back to face him and the darkness. He studied the sweatshirt and jeans his son wore.
“Go change your clothes,” he ordered,” That outfit is horrid.”
With that the spider king crawled back into the darkness. Still trembling, William got out and slowly made it out of the chamber. Atticus and a few other spiders were waiting outside for him. William ignored them and went into his room. Atticus’s eyes followed him.
“Got get his supper,” he ordered to the rest of the spiders.
As the spiders scurried around, Atticus crawled into William’s room. William had removed his human clothes and was now putting on his robes made of spider webbing.
“You must not be too disappointed your highness,” Atticus said.
“I hate it here,” William hissed.
“Your father just wants you to be safe,” Atticus calmly said.
“It’s plenty safe out there! As long as no one sees my entire face, they will never guess who I am.”
“Yes, but you will start to change.”
“No I won’t. Arachnia changed when she was fourteen.”
“Women in your family tend to change a lot faster than the men.”
William remained silent as he finished adjusting his robe.
“Please leave me alone Atticus,” he finally said.
“Certainly your highness,” Atticus said, bowing,” Your supper will be here in a moment, please eat it.”
Atticus quietly crawled out of the chamber. William sighed and turned to the mirror in the corner of his room which he smuggled in without his father’s notice. Sitting down beside it, William pulled back his shaggy hair, revealing his six other eyes.