ACE OF HEARTS ( mike wheeler! )

CHAPTER TWENTY

Shaking her head slightly, Cassie shifted her gaze back to the front of the classroom — crossing her arms and slouching in her chair.

As Mr.Clarke continued the lesson, Cassie couldn't help but wonder what the hell Dustin had gotten himself into, and what ghastly thing they would have to do to fix it.

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"His name is d'Artagnan," Dustin spoke, opening the case to which a slimy creature rested.

Shifting his hands, Dustin carefully grasped the creature into his palms and held it close to his face. Beaming, he looked at the group, "Cute, right?"

"It's cuter than Mike, if that says anything," Cassie joked, causing Mike to playfully elbow her. "You know I'm kidding."

"We can call him Dart — for short," Dustin continued.

Max scoffed, her face contorting as she studied the slimy creature on Dustin's hand, "And he was in your trash?"

"Forging for food," Dustin spoke, his eyes lighting up as he gazed at Max. "You wanna hold him?"

Max's eyes widened as she frantically shook her head in protest, "No, no, no."

"He doesn't bite-"

"I don't want to," said Max, only to have Dustin place the thing in her hands. Scoffing in disgust, Max turned, "Oh, God, he's slimy!"

Passing the creature to Lucas, he formed the same face of disgust, "Ugh, it's like a living booger!"

As Will held the creature, he immediately passed it to Mike. Unlike the rest of the group, Mike held the creature gently and studied its features, "What is he?"

Dustin smiled, "My question exactly."

When Mike held it up to Cassie, she sternly put a finger up to him, "Don't you dare, Wheeler."

Smirking, Mike ignored Cassie's protest and set the creature in her hands, causing her to let out a small squeal.

"Ew! Get it off, get it off!" Cassie squeaked, quickly handing it back to Dustin as the group burst out into laughter.

"Looks like you aren't as fearless as you're put out to be, Cassie," Mike spoke as Cassie shivered in disgust.

"I've never been fond of slimy things," Cassie explained, hugging her arms to her chest.

"That's true," said Lucas, a slight smirk forming on his face. "I remember when we dissected frogs two years ago and you threw up on Stacey."

Rolling her eyes, Cassie tried to hide her blush of embarrassment, "Definitely not one of my proudest moments. But, it was fun seeing Stacey so freaked out."

"What do you think she would do if she saw this lizard thing?" asked Max.

Cassie shook her head, "Now I'm not a reptile expert, but I'm pretty sure that that ain't no lizard, Dustin."

Bending down to his backpack, Dustin grabbed the books and placed them on the table, "You're right, Cass. At first I thought it was some type of pollywog. But, then, I noticed that they are aquatic — Dart isn't."