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out copies of these enlarged color photos of her ankle showing the area where she got bit and, I mean, the size of the welt looked enormous. But, what was really gross about the photos is that they were so close up you could see the shaven nubs of her hair follicles, like little tiny black dots all over her moon white legs.
    Ew.
    She went on as she passed out the photos to each of us, “We’re going to determine which kind of insect has a bite that looks like this.” All I could think was probably a soon-to-be- dead -spider!
    I kind of thought the bite looked cool and giggled but Jamie and Ricki just made a yick noise when they got their photo copies.
    “ Sick!” Billy Walton screamed and made a gagging noise when he stuck his finger deep into his mouth like he was about to puke or something. Everybody laughed. “A brave spider, indeed.” He continued in his most swashbuckling kind of voice.
    “ Mr. Walton!” Morlson screamed. “This is a real assignment and accounts for twenty percent of your grade.” She started scribbling on the whiteboard but talked as she scribbled, like we couldn’t read. Jeez. She wrote so angrily, in fact, and fast that the flab on her upper arm waved at the class sitting behind her. No one uttered a word. It was that hypnotic.
    Ilooked over at Jamie who was looking over at Ricki who was looking over at Billy all googly-eyed. Then, Ricki looked at Jamie, who looked over at me. I shook my head and Jamie rolled her eyes and Ricki blushed. Things seemed to be changing, and fast.
    Crowing out the words, Morlson broke my concentration. “Due one week from today another 2000-,” ANOTHER ONE! “word essay based on research. Title your page: What kind of bite is it? Name and date.” She slammed the blue marker so hard onto the metal whiteboard shelf that the cap on its end popped off and bounced across the indoor-outdoor-commercial-grade composite tile floor like an ellipsis off the end of a straggling sentence.
    She turned around slowly. Her face had pinched into what Ricki and Jamie and I call a sphincter-face. And, when she talked, it felt as if she were peering directly at me and into my soul when she said the last words just seconds before the end-of-class-bell hummed.
    “ The doctors couldn’t figure out what might’ve bitten me, so, I doubt if you will either.” She sneered.
    It felt like the biggest challenge of my life.
     
    That night, after I snapped off a few close-up photos of my teeth, I went to sleep.
     
    Then, I showed her .
    Chomp! Chomp!
     
     
    NINE - My Brain on Spiders
    So, like. I never thought I would get such a dismal grade. I mean. I did , unerringly, what Morlson instructed. I researched spider bites and put it into a report. Just like she asked.
     
    WHAT KIND OF BITE IS IT?
    by Susie Speider
    November 1, 2010
     
    A spider bite happens when a spider, or other closely related arachnids, bites you.
     
    Spiders are very active hunters. Which makes them very scary to me. They rely strongly on biting to paralyze and kill their prey before consuming them. Yikes. Since spiders are aware of the effect caused by their bites, they also bite to fend off intruders who might be risking damage to their homes, like, their cobwebs.
     
    While many spiders never attack animals larger than themselves (preferring to run away or feign death), some will exhibit rather aggressive behavior and do so even if no real danger exists.
     
    Eek! A creepy trait, if ever.
     
    Only a minority of spider species possess chelicera--FANGS!-- strong enough to penetrate human skin, however due to their strong survival instincts, the ones with the strong fangs are the ones most frequently encountered by humans. Coincidence? I think not. And. Double EEK!
     
    However. About 98% of bites inflicted by these strong-toothed creatures are harmless, but some symptoms can include necrotic wounds (dead tissue... pee-U), systemic toxicity (swelling and itchiness) and, in some cases, death. And, you know