I guess it started during the break between Homeroom and first period on Thursday. When Mrs. Barker opened the Biology Lab she discovered that the terrarium with Oscar, the Biology Department’s pet tarantula, had been moved off the table onto its side on the floor, and Oscar had gone AWOL. She and the two lab assistants conducted a search, but couldn’t find Oscar anywhere. Face it, tarantulas aren’t that big and could find lots of places in the Biology Lab to hide.

Mrs. Barker decided that someone must have stolen him or her — we weren’t sure which; that was an upcoming project for AP Biology students — so she called Security. She told them that she had seen Oscar in his terrarium after her last class on Wednesday. She remembered locking the Biology Lab before she left for a teachers’ meeting, and after that she went home.

The Security officer said he thought it had been an accident, that maybe the cleaning people knocked the terrarium off the table. We knew that had to be bull.

First, the cleaning people didn’t have a key to the Biology Lab; Mrs. Barker is the only one with a key. Besides, they never do the cleaning in there; cleaning the Biology Lab is one of duties of the lab assistants.

Second, that terrarium is one heavy mother; I know because I work as an assistant for the AP Biology class before school on Mondays. In my opinion, there’s no way it could have been knocked off the table accidentally because the glass sides and bottom weren’t broken. In fact, doing it on purpose would have taken at least two guys, two strong guys. It would have to be lifted above the two-by-fours that are attached with big screws along all four sides of the top of the table, and they were still in place and hadn’t even been scratched.

Someone stole Oscar then picked up and dumped the terrarium onto its side on the floor. There were two questions: Who did it? Why did they do it?

I learned the answers to those two questions during third period.

I have Gym third period. Coach Parks had us playing soccer and we had a lot of fun, and were worn out by the end of the period. We’d showered and were getting dressed and joking around when Kenny Lamper and Jeff Walland strolled into our bank of lockers.

Kenny snarled, “How ‘bout you ladies get your panties on and make room so us real men can get ready for Gym.”

“Stick it where the sun don’t shine, Lamper.” We all chuckled at Barry Metzger’s gruff comeback.

“Oh, he’s so tough. I’m so scared!” Jeff responded, pretending to shiver.

Barry stood up, turned, and stepped over the bench where he faced Jeff from about one foot distance. “You mess around before we’re all out of here you’ll be more than scared, Walland.”

Jeff put his hands palms out and stepped back, bumping into Kenny and almost knocking him down. “Hey, I’m just kidding, okay?”

Barry stood still, staring at Jeff, then stepped back over the bench and turned back to his locker.

Like me, Barry Metzger is a sophomore at Columbia High. Unlike me, Barry is six foot two and weighs about one-ninety and is all muscle. You don’t mess with fifteen year old Barry Metzger, even if you’re sixteen or seventeen year old juniors like Kenny Lamper and Jeff Walland.

I figured that the event was over, and continued to get dressed. To my right Dan Covington pulled on his boxer briefs and adjusted his package. Dan and I had three classes together, Gym being one of them. We were friendly, but not close friends. He turned toward me and grinned.

“How do you like going to school here, Mark?”

“It’s good so far. Columbia High is lot smaller school than Ryan High in Chicago where I went to ninth grade. We had about 1,600 students, about a thousand more than here.”

“Wow! That’s huge!”

“Not really. Some of the other high schools in Chicago are a lot bigger.”

“Are you finding the kids here friendly?”

“I guess so. You know, being the new kid and only the third week of school makes it tough when the rest of you have been going to school together for years. I sort of have to figure out who the friendlies are versus the others like those two guys.” I motioned toward the end of the bank of lockers where Kenny and Jeff were standing waiting for us to clear out.

“Yeah. Well, there are assholes everywhere, even here. Thing is, here they’re more noticeable ‘cause we’re not a huge school, so you can easily suss them out,” Dan said as he put on his shirt.

I grinned. “I guess I’ve sussed out two of them already, right?”

“Right. And I think you’ve sussed out one of the friendlies, too. At least I hope so.” Dan smiled.

“I’d like that. Thanks,” I replied.

I pulled up my jeans and as I stuffed my shirt inside them I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye. Kenny and Jeff had walked in our direction.

Dan stood lifting one leg into his khakis, then the other. Just before he started to pull them up Kenny dropped something into the back of Dan’s pants. Before I could warn Dan he pulled them up and shouted “OW! Something bit me!” He dropped his pants to the floor and I saw Oscar the tarantula trying to scramble out. Dan tried to pull his legs out of his khakis and in doing so Oscar fell into the left leg and Dan shouted “OW!” again. I reached down and squeezed his pant leg, hoping to either stun or dispatch Oscar.

Barry turned to see what had happened, then turned and glowered at Kenny and Jeff who stood pointing at Dan and laughing, punching each other’s shoulders.

 “Sit down, Dan. Let me get your pants off. Kenny Lamper dropped Oscar the tarantula from Biology into your pants as you were pulling them on. Oscar must have bit you.”

Dan started breathing hard. “I’m allergic to spider bites. I gotta lie down.”

I pulled his pants off and watched Oscar trying to struggle out of the pant leg. I carefully folded the legs into the pants then folded them over. I really didn’t want to kill Oscar, just close him up inside Dan’s pants and keep him from getting out.

I looked at Dan. He didn’t look good. I knew about stings and bites and how some people are allergic to them. His eyes were dilated and his voice was ragged. He was having a hard time breathing and he looked pale. I touched his forehead and his skin felt cold.

“Dan, do you have an EpiPen?”

 “My backpack. Side pocket,” he whispered.

I got Dan’s backpack out of his locker and found the EpiPen. As I pulled it out Coach Parks walked up and asked what was going on.

I explained what happened to Coach Parks while I checked the gauge on the side of Dan’s EpiPen to make sure the pen had a full dose of epinephrine, which it did.

“Kenny Lamper stole Oscar the tarantula from the Biology Lab,” I said, “and he dropped it into Dan Covington’s pants and Dan got bit. He’s allergic to spider bites. He’s going into anaphylactic shock from the bite and he’s having trouble breathing, his eyes are dilated, and his skin feels cold and clammy. I’m going to use his EpiPen to inject epinephrine which will counteract his symptoms.”

“Barry,” Coach Parks said, “here, use my cellphone and call 9-1-1. Tell them to send an ambulance to the gym. Tell them it’s an emergency. Also ask them to contact the State Police and have them send a car.”

A woman, who I didn’t recognize, walked up to where she could see Dan lying on the bench. “What’s going on here?” she shouted.

Before Coach Parks could answer her question I had the EpiPen out and the cap off so I could jab the needle end into Dan’s thigh.

“Stop there! What are you doing?” she shrieked, and started to move toward me.

I saw Barry move to block her. When he did that, several other students moved as well, preventing her from being able to get to me and Dan.

Barry leaned down and whispered to me, “That’s Ms. Lynch, the Columbia High School Athletic Director. We call her Ms. Bitch.”

Ms. Lynch shouted again, “What do you think you’re doing! Stop!”

I ignored her.

 “No, no!” she shrieked, “You’re not a licensed practitioner so you are not to administer any medication! It’s against school district rules! I’ll call for the nurse and she can administer that drug, if it’s appropriate!”

“If we wait for the nurse Dan might die. Can’t you see that he’s not able to breathe?” I yelled at her. I heard Coach Parks tell me, “Go ahead, Mark.”

I jabbed the EpiPen against the outside of Dan’s left thigh and held it there for a slow count to fifteen to make sure he got the entire dose. Then I removed the EpiPen and confirmed that the bar in the window on the side was red. That showed the full dose had been administered. I put it back in its container and screwed on the cap and tightened it all the way so it would be permanently locked in place and wouldn't be able to be reused.

While I was doing this Ms. Lynch kept yelling at Coach Parks “Stop him! This is illegal! The school could be sued!” When she saw that I’d administered the epinephrine she shouted to Coach Parks, “I want the name of that boy! I’m going to see that he’s expelled!”

Dan’s breathing improved, his eyes weren’t dilated any longer, and his skin color slowly changed back toward normal. After a couple minutes he looked at me.

“Thanks, Mark,” he said in a soft voice. “You might not know it, but you saved my life. I’m acutely allergic to spider bites and bee and wasp stings. After getting bit I couldn’t breathe until you gave me that injection. How did you know what to do?”

 “My cousin Barbara is allergic to bees and wasp stings, and she always carries an EpiPen with her. I know about them because my uncle showed me how to use one in case I was somewhere with her and she got stung.

“Anyway, I have Oscar wrapped up in your pants. Can I keep them? That way I can return Oscar to Mrs. Barker, dead or alive. I’ll get your pants back to you after.”

Dan grinned, and that made me happy. I knew from the grin that he’d recover and would be okay.

“Yeah, that’s okay. It’s not the spider’s fault. I assume the EMT’s are going to take me to the hospital. Could you get my other stuff out of my locker and take it to my house?”

“Sure. What’s your address and home phone number?”

“It’s on my ID card in the small pocket in the front of my backpack, along with my locker number and the combination.”

I found the card and entered his name and address information, his phone number, and his locker number and combination in my cell.

Coach Parks and Ms. Lynch had moved to the end of the bank of lockers and were arguing. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, and I could care less. Ms. Lynch showed that she didn’t have a clue, and if she wanted to expel me, good luck trying that.

The ambulance arrived and the EMT’s came in with a gurney. The kids who’d been watching moved out of the way and I heard Coach Parks telling all of us to get dressed and get out. An EMT woman asked what happened as they moved Dan to the gurney, and I heard Dan tell her that he’d been bitten by a tarantula, and that I saved his life by using his EpiPen on him. She asked me for the EpiPen, and I gave it to her.

As they started to roll Dan out to the ambulance he turned and looked at me.

“Come see me at the hospital, Mark.”

“Sure thing, right after school. Okay?”

Dan nodded and the EMT’s rolled him away.

I got his other clothes from his gym locker and put them in his backpack. I kept his khaki’s separate so I could bring Oscar, or his smashed body, to Mrs. Barker.

Coach Parks and Ms. Lynch were gone, and so were Kenny Lamper and Jeff Walland. I remembered Coach Parks telling Barry to call 9-1-1 for an ambulance and to call the State Police, though I didn’t see any police. All of the other kids were gone too, which surprised me. Where were the kids who had fourth period Gym? Maybe because of the ambulance and the police they cancelled the class and sent the students to sit in the bleachers or to the library. Whatever, that wasn’t my problem. I wondered if Kenny and Jeff had been arrested. I know what I saw Kenny do and I’d be willing to tell it to the police, and even go to court if there was a trial.

I finished getting dressed, got all my stuff, Dan’s backpack, my gym bag, his khakis with, I hoped, Oscar still inside, and left the locker room. The halls were empty. I realized that everyone must be in their fourth period classes, so I went to Mrs. Barker’s classroom. She sat at her desk and the students watched me come in.

I walked up to her desk. “Hi, Mrs. Barker. I have something for you.”

“Hello, Mark. And what do you have for me?”

I told her what had happened, and how I was certain that Kenny and Jeff had stolen Oscar. “So, I don’t know whether Oscar is dead or alive, but the last place I saw him was in the left leg of Dan’s pants.” I carefully laid the khakis on her desk. “Maybe you should get something in case he’s alive and wants to get away.”

“That’s a good idea. Let’s go into the Biology lab and see if we can rescue Oscar.”

She stood and announced, “Finish reading chapter three and answer the ten questions at the end of the chapter. Turn them in at the end of class.” The kids made a collective groan, but I saw them open their books anyway.

We went in the Biology Lab and she opened a cabinet and pulled out one of those plastic containers like the ones my mom uses for leftovers.

“Let’s carefully open up these pants,” she said. That’s what we did, and there, at the top of the left leg of Dan’s khakis, we found a very irritated Oscar. He — or she; remember, we hadn’t figured out Oscar’s sex yet — sort of reared up on his back legs and waved his front feet, his palps, and his fangs at us. Mrs. Barker carefully put the open end of the plastic container down in front of Oscar, and he ran inside.

I laughed. “It looks like he wants the security of a nice plastic container.”

She smiled. “Or perhaps he was so eager to leave those pants because he doesn’t like the smell of khaki.”

‘Or maybe the smells left by a teenage boy,’ I thought. That made me chuckle.

She put the cover loosely on top of the container. “Let’s go put Oscar back in his home. The terrarium has been put back in place. Fortunately, the glass didn’t break and doesn’t have any cracks, and the lab techs got all or, more correctly, most of the sand and all the rocks back inside.”

She removed the top off the terrarium, carefully lowered the container so it was laying on its side on the sand, and lifted away the cover. Oscar walked to the edge of the container, looked around, touched the sand with his front feet, then what I’d call ‘casually’ walked out of the container into his home. Mrs. Barker removed the container and put the top back on the terrarium and locked it. The lock was something new.

“Thank you, Mark. Now we have two members of the Columbia High School family back with us who might not have survived without your assistance, Dan Covington and Oscar the Tarantula.”

I blushed. “Thanks, Mrs. Barker.”

“So what’s your fourth period class, which is almost over now?”

“Computer Tech with Mr. Sommers. Um... do you think you could give me a pass?”

“Of course.” She wrote the pass. “Here you are, Mark.” I read it and grinned. She’d written that I was helping her prepare a Biology project. “Thanks for rescuing Oscar. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Thanks, Mrs. Barker, but I might not be in class tomorrow. Ms. Lynch said she’s going to have me expelled for using Dan’s EpiPen on him.”

Mrs. Barker squinted her eyes and gnashed her teeth. “Oh, no she won’t! I’ll fight her if she tries. You just come to school tomorrow like you always would. I’m going to talk to the rest of your teachers and the principal and his staff and get them to back you.”

“Thanks Mrs. Barker. Then I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

“Yes you will, Mark,” she responded, and she sounded convinced. Well, she might be convinced that she could keep me from being expelled or suspended, but I had my doubts.

Since Mrs. Barker took almost all of my Computer Lab time, I spent the last ten minutes watching Oscar investigate the terrarium. As far as I could tell he seemed to be fine. I left a few minutes before the end of fourth period and went to the computer lab and gave my pass to Mr. Sommers. On my way I stopped at my locker and put Dan’s khakis in his backpack. With his backpack and gym bag and my books, my locker couldn’t have held anything more. I had to jam everything in so I could close and lock the door.

I went to lunch and I couldn’t have been more surprised. The story had gotten around that I’d saved Dan’s life, and just about everyone wanted to talk to me and thank me. Some of the girls hugged me or patted me on my back. I’d gone from an unknown newbie to a popular curiosity on campus. Hey, that’s better. Really.

I was asked if Dan would be okay, did he really go to the hospital in an ambulance, did I know which hospital, could he have visitors, and did I know when he’d be back to school. I answered ‘yes’ to the first two questions, and ‘no’ to the other three.

Some of the A-list kids sat me down at their table and I ate my lunch, which someone else — I don’t know who — paid for. These kids were the kind who were on the student council and in the honor society, and there were even a few guys from the football team. They had more detailed questions, and I answered the best I could.

After eating my lunch one of the girls, Lynda Farrell, introduced herself as the Student Body President.

She smiled. “Mark, you’re new at Columbia High. Where did you go to school last year?”

“We lived in Chicago and my freshman year I went to Ryan High.”

“I’d guess that’s a large school, right?”

I grinned. “Yeah, about 1,000 more kids than here.”

“Did you participate in any sports, or run for office, or anything like that?”

“Someone put my name in for the freshman student council, and I got picked to represent my homeroom.”

“What do you mean, you got picked?” I hate embarrassing questions like that.

“We had an election and I won. But it wasn’t a big deal, just my homeroom.”

“How many students were there in your homeroom?”

“About sixty.”

“Whoa! That’s a big homeroom. Were the homerooms all that big?”

“Yeah, I guess. You’re assigned all year to one homeroom, so that’s the only one I know about for sure. Based on what some of the others on the freshman council told me, I assume the other homerooms had about the same number of students.”

She laughed. “And how many are in your homeroom here?”

“About twenty.”

“Quite a difference,” she said. She looked at me for a few seconds, “Mark, how about you join us here for lunch from now on?”

I was stunned, and I must have looked that way when I croaked out a weak “Okay.”

She looked at me and laughed. “I’m serious. You’re a cool guy and I think you had some good experience at Ryan and can contribute to making Columbia High an even better school. Okay?”

I laughed and said, “Okay!”

That made Lynda and several others at the table grin. They all said, “See you tomorrow,” when I got up to leave. I’d never been invited to join the A-list kids at any of the schools I went to in the past. This was something very new and I wasn’t quite sure how to handle it. At least I had until tomorrow to think about what it might mean.

I went to my other classes and the situation was similar to what happened in the cafeteria. I was mobbed by the kids in the halls and in each class. It amazed me that they recognized me, and that embarrassed the hell out of me. I felt good that everyone seemed concerned about Dan and were glad that he would be okay. It took each of the teachers a lot of effort to calm down the students so their class could proceed.

When seventh period ended I decided to find out if Dan had gone home or would have to stay overnight at the hospital and would I be allowed to visit him. Once I found out which hospital I’d call my mom for a ride.