Off to the reviewers!
To moonjava: Thank you.
To MysticSorceror: Another anime writer who thinks my Spider-man stories are great! Thank you! You might also want to check out "Nature Versus Nurture" and Nature Versus Nurture 2." They're under my profile.
To Agent Silver: Agreed. Oh, and this chapter is where your cameo appears.
To Crys Skywalker: I'll think about it. What name would you like to be called?
Disclaimer: Up in the first chapter.
Yup, that's yours truly in a cameo at the end. On to the story! Read, review, ask questions, and give comments, compliments, and criticism!
Chapter 4: Of Beakers and Freshman Girls
Well, our friend Archie performed dreadfully on that science quiz, and over two months, it only got worse from there.
After the umpteenth time Archie caused a small explosion in the chemistry lab after being distracted by a cute freshman girl two rows down, Dr. Octavius had had enough.
"Tell me, Andrews," he said, his voice soft and dangerous, "are you naturally this damned clumsy, or are you just trying to irk me?"
"Uh, Doc…" inserted Jughead, "I think it's the former, you see, my pal is very girl-crazy and if there are pretty girls in the room that's all he pays attention to…"
"Did I elect you to speak for your friend?" Dr. Octavius sharply responded. "Andrews will speak for himself."
Jughead was beginning to think of the class as pure purgatory. He was starving.
Again, Archie had the feeling there was a little red light scanning him over, but that could just be the chemicals, you know? "Well yeah, there's this freshman two rows down and I…"
"I'm giving you two-hour detention, Andrews. That should give you plenty of time to repeat your experiment without pretty girls to distract you. Would you like detention, too, Miss Lodge? A fingernail file is not a standard piece of lab equipment."
Archie's expression of relief and happiness must have shown on his face, because the next thing Dr. Octavius said was, "Don't look like that. Her detention will be at study hall."
There goes my after-school date with Veronica today, Archie thought.
This thought was confirmed by Veronica. "Of course I'm not going to hang out with you in detention! Reggie's taking me to Le Poulpe, the finest restaurant in town!"
"Ha hah, tough luck, Freckles, you're gonna serve detention with the Mad Doctor!" Reggie cackled.
After school, Betty and Veronica were looking through books at the library. Two freshman girls, the new library aides, were chatting over a bag of popcorn. Christy Anders, an attractive redhead with blue eyes who was also the inadvertent cause of Archie's trouble, and her friend Crystal Silver, a pretty, tan-skinned girl with short brown hair, were discussing their favorite mad scientist and surfing the internet.
"So you have a mad crush on the new science teacher?" Crystal asked. "Finally, Christy Anders has finally admitted to having a crush on someone besides Dr. Octopus. This moment will forever go down in history."
"It's not a crush, I just think the new teacher looks so much like him and even though I've only seen him for one day…"
"Makes being a new student and a freshman bearable, eh?"
The two library aides continued in this conversation, which eventually steered to the movie Spider-man 2. Betty and Veronica came to the aide's desk to check out their books.
"Well I think Tobey Maguire is way hotter than Alfred Molina…" Veronica's eyes widened suddenly. "Oh Betty, who is Alfred Molina, anyway?"
Betty let out a heavy sigh, as her friend was wont to speak before she thought. "Alfred Molina is an actor who had starring roles in the movies Chocolat, Dudley Do-Right, and the Broadway musical Fiddler on the Roof," she informed her friend. "However, his most famous role was in Spider-man 2, as the villain Doctor Octopus. Tobey Maguire starred in the title role of that one."
"Oh yeah!" Veronica exclaimed. "The guy in the green suit who flew on the little purple thing!"
Christy and Crystal burst into a bout of giggling and snickering.
"No, Ronnie, that was the Green Goblin. Doctor Octopus is the mad scientist with the four metal tentacles."
Veronica thought for a moment. "Then…why do they call him 'Doctor Octopus' when he only has six arms? An octopus has eight!"
Crystal's face was red, and she was shaking with laughter. Christy burst out, "That's 'cause they count his legs, you ditz!"
Betty spared her friend from further embarrassment by gently reminding her of her date with Reggie. They walked out of the library.
Christy turned to her friend. "Man…that Veronica Lodge is something else, isn't she?"
A few seconds later, another freshman girl walked in. She wore a purple zippered cardigan over a white t-shirt and blue jeans. She had long brown hair gathered in a ponytail, and her brown, serious eyes were aided by large glasses.
"Hey Samantha," Crystal shouted. "Wait till you get a load of this…"
