food > you

“Oh, I get it now. That’s how I feel about cockroaches, especially the ones that can fly. I just don’t understand why do they need wings, it’s so unnecessary and awful. I’m pretty sure if there’s any animal linked to Hell, it has to be cockroaches.” He couldn’t help but shiver slightly at the thought of the bug, but he pushed these thoughts away as quickly as they came and went back to his amiable expression. “I think I don’t mind them, as long as they’re not harmful I’d be fine with it. Maybe if they didn’t look so threatening or if they were more like Charlotte from Charlotte’s Web they’d be liked… Montressor? It’s my home, the planet I come from!”

“There are flying cockroaches?” Bryce asked his eyes widening. He’d been to many places around the world, but he’d never encountered flying cockroaches once. “I remember that there’s this show called Freak Factor or something and people had to lie in see-through coffin-like things and they had like worms and cockroaches and spiders all of them and I got scared for them.” Just the thought made Bryce want to curl up and cry a little. “Oh, you come from a whole different planet? What it, uh, like there?”

“I don’t see one, b-but if there is you might have hurt it.”

“I don’t mean to have hurt it,” Bryce said with a sigh, moving his hands away, “I don’t like spiders.”

“Because well they’re not totally apparent in the dark,you should be able to still see them and feel them. You must have this weird thing when you can’t. Maybe you should just not walk through the forest if you get so buggy. Park’s are easier.”

“They’re not apparent in the daylight either. I like the parks though, I also like being outside sometimes - so avoiding them is a lot harder than you’re making it out to be.”

“Why do you care?” Her voice came out more bitter than she intended, but she didn’t feel the need to apologize.

Confused by the question, Bryce raised a brow. “What do you mean? I care because we’re friends.”

“Well maybe you need to be more careful and not walk into them? Those things take a lot of work and energy to make just to get into your hair.”She said,hands on her hip.”You look okay though,no innocent spider riders.”

“Why does everyone assume that I walk into the webs on purpose. I can’t see the webs, I don’t feel the webs, not until they’re actually on me and I’m destroying them. It’s not like I deliberately walk through the forest in hopes of finding spiderwebs.”

“spiderwebs aren’t gross, they’re pieces of art that well, isn’t worth anything now that you walked through it. but no, there aren’t any spiders on you.”

“I know they’re art, each one constructed differently like a snowflake, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t be gross when you walk into them. I’m sorry that i want through there home but it’s not my fault they make their hopes so invisible.”

“Well that’s awfully interesting luck you have there… Maybe it’s because the school actually doesn’t exist without you so it’s like reverse Toy Story and it spiders just come in. Or it’s possible that you’re just highly attractive to them. Either way there doesn’t seem to be any?”

“That’s not luck right there, that’s me just being unlucky. Wait, unlucky? You wouldn’t happen to have any salt would you? I should probably toss a little over my shoulder to ward off all the bad luck. I don’t see why I would be attractive to spiders, but okay. Oh thank gods. I’m happy there’s no creepy crawlers.”

“Uhm yeah that’s probably worse, really unfortunate and kinda sad, to be honest. But you seem to be spider-free, at least from this distance… Are you afraid of spiders?” he tilted his head as he asked, genuinely curious. “I’ve seen some videos about them, there are a few that seem harmless and even cute! There are more species here on Earth, than in Montressor and the ones there aren’t really cute, you probably wouldn’t like them.” 

“Exactly what I’m saying. Er, I wouldn’t say that I’m scared, but I’m not the biggest fan of them. When they crawl over your skin the feeling is super unpleasant and I just want to scream and no way do I want that feeling on my neck.” Before he knew it Bryce was humming just the slightest bit, it was a habit of his to do when he was content with a conversation. “I agree with that, some spiders are really cute and I wouldn’t mind letting them be in my hair I suppose. But I know for a fact that I don’t like the bigger spiders, I’ve seen them but I usually run away cry. Wait, what’s Montressor exactly?”

Athena hardly glanced up to make sure the asker was fine– but as soon as she saw who it was, she did a double take. She sat a little bit tighter, her eyes shooting down to her hands. “Nope, you’re good.”

Just as quickly as Bryce had his hands in his hair, Bryce took them out, looking over the girl like he hadn’t seen her in years, when really it’d only been a few months. “Oh hi Athena,” he said flashing a smile, “How’ve you been?”

“Maybe they have a thing for you — you know, they could just want to live in your hair.”

“They might have a thing for me, but I definitely don’t have a thing for them. They’re scary and kind of gross and yeah, Bryce says ‘do not want’.”

“Oh, yes, you have like this… Giant tarantula right on your shoulder.” Carmen said not even bothering to look up from her book. 

“Why do you say that? Even I know that’s not true.”

Elsie shook her head as she look up. “No, there’s not a spider on you or anything.” She looked down, turning her magazine page. “There’s three.”

The girl’s words only made a giant chill go down Bryce’s back but instead of moving he stayed still. “A-Are you serious?”

“Looks can fool you sometimes.”

“True, but maybe I just like to assume the best in everyone.”

Savannah laughed, “Well that’s quite alright. I would scream like a little girl if there was a spider on me.”

“Really? But you look like your super strong and super emotionally stable. I thought you wouldn’t scream about a spider.”

Jaxon inspects thoroughly the boy in front of me before shaking his head in response. “There are no spiders, but you are tangling that spider web in your hair really bad. I’m pretty sure that if you keep doing that you won’t be able to tell which one is which, and you’ll be finding remains of that web for the next week or so. It isn’t the greatest thing, believe me, I’ve been there.”

 Bryce’s lips pressed into a small ‘o’ shape as he removed his hands from his, now, unkempt hair before a nervous smile forced itself on his lips. “The spider web I’m fine with, I can wash that out with shampoo but I don’t think I’m up for seeing a spider, dead or alive, on the ground in my shower.” Just the mere thought of finding a spider anywhere on him, or in his comfortable dorm, sent an icy cold shiver down his spine. “Nope. Can’t have that at all.”