Cooking was something Arun never really had a problem with. Once he got a home to call his own, he had to learn how to cook in order to survive. It wasn't one of his most favorite things to do, but when required he'd do it.

So, when he decided to sign up for Home Economics class at school he wasn't particularly bothered by it considering Arty and Caelum were also there. In fact it was because of Arty he signed up for the class in the first place. She wanted a class she could take with both of her best friends and Home Economics was the only class they had a free period slot for. In that case he knew it wouldn't be all that bad with his friends there.

Arun gave a long yawn as the teacher, a small, portly woman, rambled on about what the day's assignment would be. He didn't really listen to anything the teacher said. She seemed like a nice woman, but more biased against the boys. She seemed to favor the girls more for some reason. He guessed that was because the school encouraged the girls to be homemakers since their town was rather small and there was no real jobs for women. That would have been good over three decades ago, but the girls of the current generation wanted to do anything but be a homemaker. Arty certainly didn't want to.

He snuck a peek across the counter to where Arty was seated. She had her rapt attention on the teacher, hanging on every word for the assignment. Arun was amazed she would pay attention to a subject she found no true enjoyment from. He supposed that's just how Arty was. She was the good little student all the teachers loved. Him? Not so much.

After ten agonizing minutes of listening to the teacher explain the procedure, she finally released them to begin. While they went to gather the ingredients, she stepped out to go use the restroom quickly as was her habit. The woman drank way too much tea for her own good if the empty mug on the front counter was anything to go by.

"So, what do we need to do?" Arun asked Arty above the chattering voices in the background.

"We have to make an omelet," Arty explained with a soft smile. Arun had a habit of asking her for the directions rather than listen to the teacher. He claimed he always understood when she simplified things. She slipped an apron over her head. "To earn a full grade we have to use two ingredients in order to pass. Points get marked off if it's undercooked or burnt."

"Ok." An omelet. He could do that. He's made plenty of omelets before, though he couldn't tell if he ever did them undercooked. "Caelum, gather the ingredients, will ya? I'll get the frying pan."

"You really want to fight the crowd?" Caelum questioned with a raised eyebrow. It was apparent he didn't object as he already moved to the cupboards in the back of the classroom for their intended ingredients.

The crowd he spoke of was the one to retrieve a frying pan. Because their school was dirt poor and far too cheap, the class only had a set amount of cooking pans to use. As a result tables often had to share their pots and pans and most of the time partnered up. The teacher knew this so she would overlook the fact people had similarly made meals as long as people did their part in the cooking.

Arun partnered up with Arty and Caelum since the younger teens had trouble with cooking. It was one of the few things he could hang over Caelum's head. The guy couldn't cook as well as he could. Arty, on the other hand, only knew simple recipes so she mostly cooked to survive. There were a few advantages to being partnered to Arun. One being the fact most people were afraid of him and would listen to his demands. Then again, it was also a curse.

Today seemed to be one of those days it was a curse. Arun found that when he approached the front counter where the frying pans awaited most of the class had quickly snatched a frying pan before he could even get to the front. By the time the students quickly retreated to the safety of their counters, there was only one frying pan left. Arun was determined to get it before anyone decided to get it.

He raced forward to lay a hand on it, claiming it as his. Yet, at the end same time his hand touched the cool iron he found another hand grabbed the handle. Arun followed the hand up to its owner and nearly snarled.

"Back off, Ethan. Go find your own frying pan," he threatened.

"Make me, Goldy," a burly boy a year older than Arun barked back.

Arun's eye twitched at the nickname. Ethan was a notorious bully at their school with a reputation nearly as bad as Arun's. He normally spent the school day bullying the other students, including Arun. Arun was mostly his main target considering he had no parents to whine and hide behind, which he mentioned daily. He even gave him the annoying nickname of 'Goldy' because his eyes were an unnatural color.

Arun wasn't affected by his taunts and threats for two reasons. One, he could beat up the boy with a hand tied behind his back and everyone knew it. And two, most of the girls at their school would retaliate if they saw a scratch on their precious Arun. They loved him enough and despised any boy who dared to lay a finger on him-a fact that both scared off potential bullies and made the guys envy Arun, the lucky bastard. Everyone got the message except for Ethan. The idiot wouldn't get that through his thick head.

The room fell silent at the standoff of two bullies. Arun knew at least half of them rooted for him considering he wasn't such a bad guy when they got to know him (though they admitted he was far too arrogant for his own good) while the other half didn't want to get involved. Arun may have calmed down in recent years, but if they got in his way there'd be hell to pay.

"Why the hell do you even want this? You don't give a damn about school," Arun retorted.

"I can say the same, Goldy. I want this because I said so. Now, let go!" Ethan yanked on the pan to get Arun to release his hold. But, Arun kept a firm grip on it.

"What, you finally paying attention so you'll please Mommy? I bet she found out you were skipping school, didn't she?" Arun pulled at the frying pan hard, yet Ethan didn't let go. In fact he pulled back.

"Fuck you! At least I have a mom unlike you, orphan boy!"

"You really think that's supposed to hurt? Come up with better insults next time unless you lost too many brain cells drowning them in alcohol!"

"This coming from the guy who has crabs?"

"How the hell would you know? Do you stare at me in the locker room while I change?"

The insults escalated as the two played a game of tug-of-war with the frying pan. Most of the naive and innocent had to cover their ears at the vulgarity of their insults. Who knew a person could talk like that? To the rest it was amusing to see them get that way over a frying pan of all things. The two were engrossed in their exchanges as they used all of their strength to get the pan. However, being a test of strength, one that Arun would obviously win, the pan slipped out from under Ethan's slippery fingers as Arun yanked back the frying pan.

"Aha!" he cried out, victorious. He was half-tempted to wave the frying pan in the air like he would with a wooden sword as if he won a hard battle. Ha! No one could beat him when it came to pure muscle! But, to keep himself from looking like a dork, he smirked at the furious Ethan and quickly hurried to his work station.

He didn't have a chance to.

Something yanked on his arm hard enough to make Arun stumble back. Losing his balance, he fell to the linoleum floor. Strangely enough, he still had a good hold on the frying pan. Before he could get up, Ethan was on top of him to try and wrestle the pan from him. Arun struggled to keep it out of his grasp.

"Give me it, God damnit!" Ethan snarled. He reached down to grab Arun by the throat. With Ethan on top of him to straddle his waist, effectively trapping his legs, Arun couldn't do much as the boy pinched his airways enough so he had trouble breathing.

"Make me, asshole!" Arun gurgled out. He choked when Ethan leaned forward to grab the frying pan kept out of his reach. He couldn't breathe!

Arun had enough of this. He held back on causing a scene while Arty was in the room. She always got upset when he got into physical fights. She practically had to plead him not to get into fights. She worried when he did. But, his restraint reached its limit when he found he couldn't breathe and the boy on top of him pissed him off too much. He was ending this now.

So, when Ethan leaned forward Arun's survival reflexes kicked in. The hand that held the frying pan whipped out to hit the boy in order to damage a part of his body. There was a satisfying crack as it hit something solid. Ethan yelled in pain, rolling to the side to curl up in a ball.

Arun sucked in a precious breath (just in time, too, because his vision became fuzzy), turning to see Ethan clutched at his face-particularly over his nose. Blood dribbled down from the cracks between his fingers. Arun breathed a low chuckle at the sight.

"Serves you right, moron," said Arun, standing up. Brushing off his clothes, he stepped around the fallen bully to make his way back to his workstation. He ignored the incredulous and fearful looks his classmates sent him on the way. He had to make an effort to not see Arty pinch the bridge of her nose in frustration and Caelum's scowl. His attentions became focused on beginning their work. Although, internally, he smirked in triumph.

That'll teach arrogant little assholes to mess with him. He may have gone soft, but he could still beat down anyone who dared to question him. And that's the way it should be.

XXX

So, here's a short story of Heart and Soul I promised. This is the first in a collection of short stories that you guys might find interesting. I wasn't really sure what story to write about first, so I decided to write one about Arun's school days. Particularly, the one Caelum told Max in Rapunzel's world. As Heart and Soul moves on I'll write some stories the characters mention so you, the readers, may get a better view of what happened. Be warned, though. Some of the stories won't have the same character narrating. One story might have Arun while another might be Caelum or Arty.

With that said, I'll also be open to requests of stories you guys might want as long as the characters have mentioned it in Heart and Soul. I don't want to ruin any surprises I have in store. So, basically, if Arun's heard it, I'll write it. Please tell me what story you want me to write about next!