𝐭𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐬, 𝐦𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐫. ►

CHAPTER THREE: THE POLLYWOG

"D'Artagnan?" Mike looked up at Dustin, while he leaned against the table with a small look of disbelief, yet also mixed with a look of curiosity.

"Dart for short."

River continued to study the creature from beside Will, who was pretty timid at the moment, seeing that.

"And he was in your trash?"

"Foraging for food." Dustin nodded in response to Max's question, before looking up to the redhead once again, with a smile. "Do you wanna hold him?"

Max shook her head quickly, "No, No." She protested, before Dustin slid Dart into her hands, causing her to groan in disgust, "Oh, god. He's so slimey."

Now she handed it over to Lucas, who cringed just like the others did as they watched. "He's like a living booger." The young boy had pointed out before handing it to River who was continuously shaking her head at him.

Once it was in her hands, she found herself glancing at it before shaking her head once again in disgust, passing it to Will. "It's wet, It's wet, It's wet." She muttered quickly as she did so.

Will had been quick to pass Dart onto Mike, after groaning in disgust. Mike had only leaned down as he held Dart up, observing it close up. "What is he?"

"My question exactly." Dustin chuckled, taking Dart out of the boys hands, and setting him down before grabbing out a book, and setting it down.

"At, first..I thought it was some type of pollywog." Dustin started off, before looking back down at the book.

"It's another word for tadpole. A tadpole is the larval stage of a toad." Dustin explained, with a nod as Max lea was against the table, nodding.

"I-I know what a tadpole is." She assured.

"Alright, then you know that most tadpoles age aquatic, right? Well Dart isn't, he doesn't need water." Dustin continued to speak on Dart, as River leaned forward, gesturing to the book, as if asking Dustin to hand it to her, in which he did.

"Aren't there aquatic pollywogs?" Lucas questioned, while River had flipped through the pages, studying each one quickly as Will and Mike had both watched, reading the pages along with her.

"Yeah, two. Ones from India, and the others from South America, though. So how did one end up in my trash?" Dustin responded, before gently snatching the book back from River.

"Maybe some scientists brought it here, and it escaped?"

"Hey, Hey, Hey." River interrupted, holding a hand out as she stared down at Dart. "Do you guys see that?" She asked, looking up at them to see Mike, who had furrowed his eyebrows and nodded slowly in response.

"Looks like somethings..moving inside of it."

˗ˏˋ✦ ✦ ✦'ˎ˗

"We gotta show him to Mr. Clarke."

"No. What if he steals my discovery?" Dustin argued as they started to walk through the halls, after leaving the room quickly.

"He's not gonna steal your discovery.." Mike shook his head with a small scoff, while River nodded in agreement.

"Yeah. Dustin, stop being so paranoid." She added in, as she walked beside Max who was laughing.