Gwen tries to go it alone

"Er -- Miles, this would probably be a good time for you to leave," said Gwen.

"But you made me come in here in the first place," said Miles. "And anyway, I want to help."

"You helped me enough for one day," said Gwen. "If you really want to be my friend, you'd stop helping me right now and let me deal with this on my own."

"But your hands look like they're stuck right now," said Miles. "It's almost as if you got the same thing I got. And suppose you get that thing again -- that thing that makes you fall. You could hurt yourself if you fall in here."

"It's good that you want to help," said Gwen, "but right now I need clothes a lot more than help."

"So tell me where you live and I'll run over there and fetch you some clothes," said Miles.

Dude, thought Gwen, I'm not going to tell you where I live. I barely know you. And anyway, it's not like I live at any one fixed location. Nor do I keep a lot of clothes where I do live.

Then she sighed and said, "Okay, if you really want to help, get some money out of my purse and go buy me something to wear from the thrift store down the street. My dress size is ..." She bent down and whispered it into his ear.

Miles eagerly nodded, no doubt excited about actually doing something Gwen might appreciate. Gwen had the feeling that she might have been better off sending him to the Home Economics Department to fetch a needle and thread but this way seemed easier. This way Miles would be out of her hair for a while, and anyway, if she really needed sewing materials, she could ask the next girl who came into the restroom to go get them for her.

She was sadly amused to notice how easily he handled her money after all the trouble he had handling her clothes. No doubt the stickiness of his hands was an emotional problem. And no doubt similar emotional turmoil was to blame for her hand problems -- though she liked to believe there was a different cause.

Anyway, she tried to keep a smile from her face as he eagerly stuffed her money into his pocket and headed out the door. He only paused once on the way out -- to turn around and wave at her like a knight rushing off to do a good deed for his lady fair.

Unfortunately, as he did so, a long gray strand of something that looked like spider webbing shot out of his hand and onto her chest, hitting Gwen straight in the center of her bra. So quickly did it happen that neither Miles nor Gwen noticed a thing until Miles ran out the restroom door -- and inadvertently dragged Gwen's underwear-clad form behind him.

Before she knew it, Gwen was being pulled off her feet and dragged along the restroom floor. It seemed to be only a matter of minutes before she would be dragged out into the school hallway as well.