HEHE IT’S PART TWO. If you haven’t read part 1, here’s the link!

And here’s a quick refresher from part 1:

My spider bite keeps throbbing, and I force myself not to shed tears. I look down again and feel my eyes involuntarily widen.

An inflamed, red ring has formed around the bite. The blood drains from my face as cold fear settles in the pit of my stomach.

The spider was venomous.

The blood in my head pounds. Can venom kill a person? How poisonous was the spider, anyway? If I tell Cécile, not only am I going to look like an incapable weakling, she’ll be asking what I was doing with playing with a big spider Madison warned us to kill.

I shake my head. What’s the worst to happen, I have a headache? Probably wasn’t that much venom. The pain will go away soon.

I walk to the bedroom and try to get my mind off the bite. The pain only seems to be growing worse. Maybe I can get an ibuprofen out of Cécile and pass it off as a headache.

Ellie, my rival, is sitting on the floor, playing with Snowy. I like teasing her for still playing with stuffed animals, especially ones she claims are real. Now, though, she completely ignores me and I think I see her stuffed polar bear… blink.

Josefina is working on a rainbow loom bracelet, probably as a gift for whatever name she drew. K.C. has her eyes closed and earbuds in, probably listening to NF or Andy Mineo and trying to memorize the latest of Christian rap. Cécile is doing something on the computer, and my spider friend is crawling on Katy’s hand.

Wait, what?

“Katy!” I shriek, but it’s too late.

K.C.’s eyes flash open and she rips the earbuds out of her ears. She yells and brings her hand up to eye view as the spider jumps down and scurries across the floor. Josefina drops her project and gasps, and Cécile demands to know what’s going on.

“Ow! Something bit me!” Katy announces indignantly.

“That’s the culprit!” I shout, waving a finger at the spider.

Cécile screams and presses herself against the wall, about to stand up on her computer chair. Ellie pulls Snowy back and studies the scurrying spider with a serious eye.

Josefina is the brave one to dump out her box of rubber bands, dive across the carpet, and clamp the container on top of the spider. Katy begins to moan, and Cécile gasps in relief.

Josefina stands up and brushes her skirts, catching her breath. “Well!” She smiles, her voice calm. “Not everyday you actually see one of the spiders Mama talked about.”

Mama? Oh. Madison. I forgot Josefina is her daughter and I’m just under her authority.

Glancing at the spider, I step to Josie. “Let me kill it.”

“Go ahead,” Josefina sighs. “I wish we could let it go, but since it hurt Katy…”

“I have to avenge K.C. by raining down vengeance on its unregenerate head,” I announce the imprecatory. “It must die a death to pay for it.”

Ellie busts out laughing at me, but I silence her with a glare. I have to avenge my spider bite too.

I kneel down to the spider, and he turns his head and stares at me with all ten of his beady evil eyes.

I smirk. “Prepare to DIE.”

Josefina laughs a little. “Be sure not to step on it barefoot.”

Smiling to myself, I slip my foot in one of Ellie’s boots from her meet outfit.

“Hey!” She protests, but I quickly take care of business.

Ellie frowns. “Gross. Clean my shoe.”

“Nah.”

Josefina kneels down and scoops up the crushed remains, walking off to dispose of them. “It has a red belly. It was a black widow,” she sighs.

I don’t know what that means, nor do I exactly care. It’s deceased now. I glare it its dead head, satisfied in my revenge as my arm throbs more and makes me want to moan.

That’s when Katy gasps.

“Uh, guys?” Her voice trembles. “My bite is swelling. I’m pretty sure the bite was poisonous.”

Cécile snaps into action. “Black widow bites are nothing to mess around with! I’m taking you to Urgent Care right now.”

The blood drains from my face. The hospital?

Katy begins nervously whimpering as Cécile leads her out of the room, and my heart thuds in my chest. I’m going to get in so much trouble if they find out it was all my fault Katy got bitten for not killing the spider in the first place; and not killing it because I wanted to give it to Jasmine for Christmas.

I can’t speak up now.

What did I just do to my best friend?

A glance back down at my own spider bite makes my heart freeze in my chest. It looks even worse, and the pain is causing nausea.

“Whatcha lookin’ at?”

Ellie’s nosy voice shatters my thoughts, and I duck my arm behind my back. “The ugliest mask I’ve ever seen. Oh, wait, I’m sorry—that’s your actual face!”

Ellie flashes a grin. “I’m just copying what I see from yours.”

“Are you sure you’re not looking in a mirr—” A throb of pain makes me wince, and I can’t finish my sentence. I clench my jaw to keep from throwing up at a sudden wave of nausea.


LOOK HOW CUTE SNOWY IS!! THAT’S IT, I’M DOING ANOTHER PHOTOSTORY WITH HIM HE’S SO ADORABLE JUST LOOK AT THAT LITTLE WINK.

Ellie smirks as she stands up with Snowy under her arm, who I think I see… wink. “Cat got your tongue?

How about a spider? I glare at her. “Leave me alone, Smelly Ellie.”

“Sure thing, Delusional Del.”

I watch Ellie leave, and another wave of nausea makes me run to the trash can.

I throw up and start to cry because of the pain in my arm. I’m gonna die!

While I’m still getting sick, I feel fingers pulls my hair back out of my face.

“Oh my gosh! Delaney! Are you okay?” Jasmine holds my hair back as I finish.

I turn to her, and she gasps. I blush. I haven’t cried in months. Here comes the teasing.

But Jasmine furrows her eyebrows and pulls out a tissue. “Why don’t you tell me what’s wrong?”

To be continued… in The Secret Santa Disaster – Part 3!

Hey, what do you know? I was able to stretch it out into three parts after all. Heh heh.

I don’t really like this part. I’m not sure why! I’m usually proud of what I post and try to put out my best, but this one just didn’t cut it. I DUNNO WHY IT’S NOT WORKING FOR ME. Let me know what you think I could’ve done differently in the comments below BECAUSE I NEED HELP. XD

Check back on Friday for another Christmas Craft Collab post, and don’t forget to participate in the Christmas card exchange!

P.S. I’m so sorry I haven’t been commenting around on all your posts lately! I love reading your blogs—I’m so inspired by you guys—December is just CRAZY.

If you follow my personal blog, you might know I’m preparing to write my third novel in a few weeks, and I still have a lot to work to do for it. My parents don’t like me spending a lot of time on electronics, so they keep limiting my screen time. And on top of that, Christmas is in less than two weeks and I haven’t gotten a single gift ready for anybody! *freaks out* Working under pressure is just how I roll. XD I just wanted you to know that I promise the lack of me commenting on your posts is not because I’m not ignoring you, I’d comment on everything of yours if I could!