AN: Hello and welcome back! I also like to mention that I will switch back and forth between Arthur and Merlynn's POV, mostly centering on Merlynn's. I still don't own anything and please read and review!
Ch. 2 - "Much Ado About Ego and Enmity"
Arthur sighed in exasperation as his friends dragged him towards the party. He didn't have time for this; not only was he the new football captain, going to school full time, working for his father, and now had to deal with his father wanting him to get married to some girl that he had never met, just to make a business deal. Arthur was definitely not in the mood to deal with all the people that would surely bug him and his friends all night, since they were the new kids on campus it probably didn't help any that they were all well off, single, and good looking. He grimaced in disdain as they entered the party and immediately saw a blonde girl strut up to them. 'She's one of those girls who probably thought that a single man in good fortune must be in want for a wife,' Arthur thought sarcastically before the blonde girl introduced herself. "Hello, my name is Vivian Olaf. I just wanted to personally welcome you to our humble campus," the blonde giggled and Arthur stared at her in disdain as the black light made her teeth look like a weird purple/blue color. "Thank you," Leon politely replied, "I'm Leon Knight and these are my friends; Arthur Pendragon, Percy Hopper, Lance du Lac, and Gwaine Lottson," he said as he gestured to each of his friends in turn. Vivian giggled in her very annoying giggle and Arthur shifted his feet in an obvious gesture that he wanted to leave as soon as possible. "You should come and meet my friends," Vivian said as she gestured towards her group of friends. "Sure," Gwaine said flirtatiously as he eyed her friends. Arthur just rolled his eyes at his friend's flirtatious ways as they walked towards Vivian's friends. "This is Elena Changeling, Nimueh Ryan, Freya Donnelly, Gwen Thomas, and Merlynn Emrys," Vivian introduced as she gestured to each of her friends in turn. Arthur couldn't help but stare at the girl Vivian introduced as "Merlynn," it was like her beautiful blue eyes were mesmerizing him and he knew that there was something about her that he couldn't quite put his finger on.
"My friends, this is Leon Knight, Percy Hopper, Gwaine Lottson, Lance du Lac, and Arthur Pendragon," Vivian introduced the guys to her friends. Merlynn felt the man who was introduced as "Arthur's" eyes bore into hers and she felt like she couldn't look away. His blue eyes held a certain air of power and mystery that seem to call to her; almost as if it was the call of destiny. Merlynn mentally shook her head at the thought; she must have read too many books to really believe in destiny. "Gwen, right?" the dark haired, handsome man named Lance questioned. Gwen just nodded bashfully as Lance took her hand and kissed her knuckles. "Would you like to dance with me?" Lance asked as his dark brown eyes bored into Gwen's warm brown eyes. Gwen nodded bashfully as Lance led her into the crowd of dancing people. Merlynn sighed as she saw the look that pasted between the couple and knew that they were instantly enchanted with each other; Merlynn just hoped that he couldn't break her best friend's gentle heart. Merlynn watched silently as the rest of her friends joined the party before she excused herself to use the restroom just to get a break from all the people surrounding her.
Slowly but surely, the rest of his mates left Arthur for the party, until he was left alone with Gwaine. "Hey buddy," Gwaine remarked playfully, "try not to be a stick in the mud! Have some fun tonight!" " Let me be that I am and seek not to alter me, but I'm surprised you haven't got a girl drooling over you yet," Arthur remarked dryly. Gwaine just laughed as he flipped his shoulder length hair out of his face. "Actually, I was hoping to catch that raven-haired beauty; Merlynn I think her name was," Gwaine said as he waggled his eyebrows. Arthur felt a sudden surge of protectiveness towards the young mysterious woman he just met; he couldn't bear the thought of Gwaine using his charms on her, just to leave her and break her heart. Arthur mentally shook his head and wondered why he suddenly felt so protective of someone that he didn't even know. "Yeah, if big ears are your type of thing, I say go for it Gwaine," Arthur said as he tried to cover up his strange feelings for the raven-haired beauty. But what he didn't know was that Merlynn had overheard his remark.
'What a giant prat!' Merlynn thought with vehemence as she stormed out of the party and back towards her dorm room. When she first saw the handsome blonde, she felt as if she met her destiny, but now she knew it was just her imagination. No way would she ever think that again about that prat! She huffed in frustration as she entered her room, turned on the light, picked up one of her many books, and tried to escape into the worlds of her books, hoping that she could reign in her temper.