snippet from James & Allyn

A short little bit about why James hates spiders. Forgive any typos. I'm writing this on my phone.

"Come with me to the dance, James?" asked Allyn quietly one night at dinner.
James froze. He chuckled nervously before answering, "Oh. About that..."
Allyn looked put out and crossed her arms, "You already have a date to it, don't you?"
He ran a hand through his hair, "Well, Audrey asked me this morning and I couldn't really get out of saying yes."
She narrowed her eyes, "You will pay for this -- best friend or not -- James Anthony [insert last name here]."


...

A few weeks later at the dance...
James held his date's hand and willed his eyes to stay open despite the acute boredness was he was feeling. Audrey would not stop talking, at all. That's how he got sucked into going with her. He figured that once he said yes she would badger someone else -- but no such luck so far. Finally, after what felt like hours, it was time for the fancy dinner part of the night to begin.
James escorted Audrey to a seat and plunked down in the chair beside her which was, coincidentally, directly across from Allyn's.
She smirked at him evilly. He looked slightly scared.
Waiters began to bring out the individual meals on their covered silver plates. One by one the waiters set then down at each place setting. When all of them had been deposited at the correct place, Headmistress Gertrude clapped her hands and the lids were lifted with a flourish.
But when James looked down at his plate, fork and knife in hand, ready to cut into his chicken piccata, he turned positively pale.
There, on his plate, in the very spot that his favorite chicken should have been, was a mass of spiders, alive and crawling all over one another in a desperate attempt to escape.
So James did what any normal person on his position would do--
He fainted, much to Allyn's shocked amusement and the upset shrieks of his date.
Headmistress Gertrude was not pleased.