The Curse Of Artemis

Chapter 4

"Lighten up ! it was not your fault" Becky regarded her glum looking friend, and not for the first time.

Aril knew too well that everyone in the cafeteria was talking about what had happened in the school parking lot this morning. The sneaky glances people kept shooting towards her and the silver-haired boy who always sat at the farthest table in cafeteria confirmed as much.

'It has become everybody's favorite topic of conversation. Fabulous ! just what I wanted' Aril though sarcastically.

"I'm responsible in a way, you know," She said dryly

" If it hadn't been for me, Harold wouldn't have to be in detention after school today"

" Don't beat yourself over it you had no clue that Simon would act like a jerk "Becky said taking a bite off her hot dog and as an afterthought added "But then again has always been a jerk"

Aril couldn't agree more besides them the entire school knew it as a fact and it was not for the first time she wished she had never met that jerk.

She and Simon had dated a couple of years ago despite Caroline's warnings to not to do so.

" He is not bad, He is actually a nice guy people just misunderstand him" Had been her words.

"Naah, you are too innocent to understand him but he is bat s**t crazy"

Later, It turned out that he really was and despite Aril's best efforts to end things with him as sensibly and as nicely as she could he was far from being sensible about anything he screamed and yelled at her and when it didn't work and she still showed no signs of coming back to him he spread nasty rumors about her.

Though she felt hurt she didn't react to them either and chose to ignore them as well. It took more than a couple of months for the rumors to die down and eventually they did.

But Simon still gave her the stink eye whenever they happened to pass each other in school hallways or cafeteria.

Aril had long ago learned that when it came to Sam ignorance was the best policy.

Today's morning began just like every other morning. Waking up, brush, bath, breakfast and finally out of the house and driving straight to school.

As usual, there was a long line of cars in front of her as she entered the parking lot but there was no way she wasn't going to crib about it today since Harold's car was ahead of her and she could see his reflection clearly from his rearview mirror.

His windows were rolled down, his hair was wind ruffled and the black T-shirt he was wearing was a striking contrast to his silver colored hair and eyes. Aril thought if the owners of the brand of clothes he was wearing were any wiser they would sign him up to model for their brand right here in the school parking lot

She smiled slightly at the music of the song 'Stereo hearts ' coming from his car. Though it was a pretty old song it was one of her favorite songs.

A few minutes later the line had begun moving forward.

Now, this is the part were Aril felt like she was in an action flick.

Everyone frantically driving their cars to find a good and convenient spot for parking.

Scan the area.

Find a location.

Target lock.

And, Park

Mission accomplished!

She was pleased to see a good parking spot not far from where she was and she smoothly drove closer but just at the last minute Simon suddenly darted in. Aril was jerked forward and slammed right back into the driver's seat due to the collision.

The front of her truck had slammed into the back of his car.

" s**t" she muttered under her breath, she didn't want any trouble or anything to do with Simon but now it was too late for that. He was glaring at her form his rare view mirror.

Pulling her car in reverse she backed away to find a new spot.

She sighed in dismay spotting a place at the far end. Keeping her face carefully blank she picked up her backpack and pretended to not see the six feet and something tall wall of muscles glowering at her the parking lot was emptying and she didn't want to be late for her first class but Simon was oblivious to all this

" You slammed into my car" he roared as she tried to walk past him

Aril sighed 'so much for ignoring him' then turned around looking him right in the eye "No, I didn't you got it done yourself"

She could practically hear him grind his teeth in fury " You are saying I did it myself?" He spat out stepping closer to her his voice dangerously low.

Aril couldn't decide if his roar was more creepy or his deadly tone but she narrowed her eyes nevertheless refusing to step away from him or give him any indication that he was scaring her

" Smart guy "She retorted " You have figured it out correctly now all you have to do is learn how to drive like a sane person"

" b***h !" he snarled raising his hand to strike her but the next moment he was flung away and landed down hard on the floor on his back with an audible thud.

Aril blinked too surprised to see Harold standing beside her his eyes silver and furious as they remain fixed on Simon who was getting off the floor glaring daggers at him.

As soon as he got on his feet had made a move to grab Aril's wrist and Harold didn't hesitate for even the tiniest second as his fist connected with the other boy's jaw.

Then all hell broke loose.

Aril's mind was reeling 'What the hell is going on?'

In a flurry of images, she saw both the boys kicking and punching each other.

Simon was way broader than Harold, he was a wall of bulging muscles and built like a bull whereas Harold was taller and lean with thick and well-defined muscles. The fight didn't look like it would stop anytime soon and it was hard to tell what was happening to whom.

Simon snarled as he drove his knee into Harold's stomach making Harold wince slightly before he grabbed Simon and slammed him against the side of a car and then it was Simon's face that had become Harold's personal punching bag.

By now the boys have caused enough commotion that the entire school staff had rushed into the parking lot. A couple of janitors had to forcefully pry away an extremely furious Harold form Simon who looked like all the fight has abandoned him and was bleeding profusely as he clenched his nose and yelled "He broke my nose ! " in a whiny voice "He broke my freaking nose! "

By the way, Harold was struggling against the janitors it was clear that he wanted to break more of his body parts.

"Mr.Rustleworth, Behave yourself !" Mrs.Jonnah, the school principal's authoritative voice rang through the empty parking lot.

Though anger still carved Harold's features he stopped struggling against the janitors who looked visibly relieved but hadn't released him yet.

Mrs.Jonnah fixed Harold with a sharp look, the kind that had for twenty-five years made students scurry away like terrified rats in front of her but Harold stood with a blank expression on his face.

No remorse and no apologies.

She turned briefly to order the school nurse to take Simon away. Then her steel grey eyes were on Harold again, her severe expression severe making Aril flinch on Harold's behalf.

"For what you have done today Mr.Rustleworth I can suspend you for a long time" Harold's blank expression hadn't changed for even a tiny second and neither did Mr.Jonnah's soften

" The only reason I'm not, Is because you have never before shown this type of conduct and you happen to be a very good student but if this nonsense is ever repeated I assure you I will not hesitate to take strict action against you" Aril thought she could release her pent up breath now that principal said she won't be taking any action against Harold.

But Mrs.Jonnah wasn't finished yet as no less than a second later she delivered the bad news.

" But what you did today cannot go unpunished either " Her voice was as authoritative as her demeanor " Detention after school today"

Aril who was quiet all this while not exactly knowing how to react to all the not-so-normal things happening around her spoke up "Mrs. Jonnah, It's not Harold's fault I accidentally....." Mrs.Johanson blinked as if she had just now become aware of Aril's presence

" No, " Harold cut in quickly "Simon was picking on me so I decided to give him a taste of his own medicine" he darted a quick just-be-silent look to Aril before he looked back at the Principal and from the dark frown on her face it was clear that she believed in the lie Harold was saying so confidently.

"Ms.Collins, I believe that you have a class to be in right now so you better hurry".

That had been the end of it.

Harold thrown into detention and Aril sent out of the parking lot.

"It could have been a lot worse than Detention" Becky reminded her again and not for the first time but it didn't ease up the guilt Aril was feeling.

It could have been worse, Aril knew that but the thing was he was being punished for something that was her mess. If it wasn't guilt that she should be feeling right now she didn't know what else she should be feeling

Her guilt kicked into overdrive when she saw him in the Spanish class. He, as usual, took his seat beside Blacklee in the back and Aril couldn't care much about the thing that was being taught in class because she was busy thinking about what she should be saying to Harold now that he was in trouble because of her, an apology was in order but she just didn't know what to say .

He had a nice and clean reputation until today but because of the parking lot incident, he was suddenly the center of all kinds of crazy talks flying around in school.