Going Through Changes

Time passed, and Spider did seem to be a changed person.

He was helpful and caring, as to what Magenta observed the whole month from mid-November until Christmas. During class, he spoke up and had a lot of interesting observations.

"I think Juliet says that because she was in the heat of the moment," Spider said.

"No, it was because she realized she was doomed," another student discussed.

These things he never did before, he was doing now. He no longer mumbled to himself and took care of his hygiene. There would be a long way until Magenta could consider Spider as a friend, but he was always asking how she was and making conversation with her. Much to Blue's irritation. He tried to keep Magenta away from Spider as much as possible. To the point that their first big argument in their relationship was over Spider.

There was a school trip to the Christmas book fair, where Spider was in Magenta's group. But Blue wanted Magenta to refrain from going on the school trip since Blue, Shelby, and Jasper wouldn't be there.

"Why can't you just stay away from him?" Blue asked.

"I don't think I need to, he's always guarded by those two big men whenever we talk, it's not like he'll suddenly do something to me," Magenta said.

"Why do you have to wait until someone does something to protect yourself?" Blue asked.

"Why are you so pushy on this? It's just a school trip!" Magenta argued.

"Because! I don't want to see you get hurt! Magenta, I told you. Just because he seems nice now doesn't mean he'll always be that way. You believe that he's good now but you never know," Blue said.

Magenta scoffed, crossing her arms as Blue continued.

"Even Shelby said he was still weird when she saw him that day of the hailstorm," Blue said.

"Yeah, maybe she didn't see properly," Magenta said.

Blue threw his arms up and he pleaded, "Please don't go on the trip."

Magenta shook her head.

"I just think it's worth it, to give him a chance. We were given a chance too, right?" She said, referring to the Reese incident.

Blue, more than anyone else should have understood the most when it came to redemption. But with Spider, there was just something that triggered him so badly. How did someone change from being an underwear sniffer to, a skirt looker in such a short time? Blue imagined either Spider went through hypnotherapy or he was just crazy and able to control himself, biding his time.

So Blue did not understand why Magenta wanted to give Spider another chance. It wasn't even Blue who was hurt by Spider in the past, but rather girls like Magenta. He didn't understand why Magenta was willing to forgo danger for possible friendship with an untrustworthy person.

Blue disagreed, "No, that's different. We were innocent. Spider is not."

Magenta couldn't listen to what Blue said anymore. She said, "Alright, we have different views, and that probably won't change. But I get it, you want me to be safe. I'll go to the book fair, but I'll ask to change groups."

Blue said gruffly, "Okay, that sounds better."

Shelby and Jasper told them to make up and hug, but they were a bit too fresh off annoyance at each other, so Magenta went to the bus without hugging or saying goodbye to Blue.

--

Magenta didn't end up changing groups.

The teacher in charge was not lenient, and would not allow for grouping changes once they were already made. On top of that, Magenta didn't try to fight to change groups. She was happy with the group she got in the first place. Her group was with Rhea and Spider amongst some other students. Magenta got along well with Rhea, who was only one year older. But Rhea seemed so much smarter and more mature, like she'd gone through a million more years.

"Rhea, tell me about that story again." Magenta said.

"Oh, the yeti in the bus?" Rhea reiterated.

Rhea was going to be a writer, she already had some writing published. Her parents worked in publishing, and Rhea wrote astounding poetry and some short stories too.

The group took a twenty-minute walk to get to the Christmas book fair. One teacher led them along with a teacher assistant, who was a cover teacher assistant. The cover teacher assistant's name was Trinity. She didn't really care. Trinity followed along 'watching' the back of the line, videotaping herself on her phone.

Along the way, Magenta talked to people here and there. Blue was being unreasonable, and she wondered how she could get him to see that Spider was not all that bad.

The book fair was a huge event, spanning multiple exhibition halls at a convention center. There were all kinds of books for all kinds of occasions. All genres of fiction, lots of self-help, business, law, computer science, and subject matters. Some had great sales going on, some had different promotion games, some were emptier and some were full of people.

As Magenta strode her way through the crowd of people, she breathed in and out. Magenta tried to focus on the lovely discounts and the leather-bound cover books. This was another claustrophobic space, but unfortunately, there was no Blue with her, so she could not calm down quickly. She decided to find a place to sit down for a moment, so she told her group. They pointed to a resting area, and she waved at them, saying she just needed a few minutes to rest.

Spider came hobbling over, his leg was still not fully healed from the balcony jump. His guards held some water, and they gave the bottle to her. As Magenta accepted the bottle, everything happened in a flash.

There was a loud bang on the left, and everyone changed course to run to the left to see what was going on. The flow of the crowd jumbled up now, and since there was a focal point, there were many more people gathered in one specific area. They covered Magenta's perspective from where she sat in the resting area. Magenta craned her neck to try to see, but her vision got cut off by Spider's face right above her.

At first, Spider had a concerned look on his face. But then as Magenta opened her mouth to ask him why he was standing so close to her, that old evil grin came back.

Magenta felt a thousand spidery goosebumps on her skin, and she tried to remember a self-defense move. Something. Anything! Her body kept her prisoner again, and she couldn't move.

Shelby taught her a few blocking moves but they had not practiced extensively as yet. So Magenta was still not very familiar with self-defense. Magenta sat stock still, looking at Spider. The last time Magenta saw Spider was when he had that creepy smile.

Spider put something in her hand, closed her hand into a fist, and disappeared into the throng in the direction of the crowd flow.

Magenta looked at what was in her hands.

Blue had been right all along