(a/n: I kind of like how this story is coming out, but I haven't got even
one review for chapter two, yet, so I don't feel very loved at all. Either
that or you hated it so much you couldn't bear to review. **gulp**. Well,
try to enjoy, 'cause I like happy reviewers.)
1 Sketch
2 Chapter 3
Artemis Lana Janine Banks couldn't sleep.
She turned to glare at the glowing neon green lights of her alarm clock that told her that it was 12:30 A.M. She clearly scowled at it and sat up. "I hate you, too." She whispered savagely, and changed out of her pajamas into something a bit more wearable. She snuck out of the dorm, mainly because it was past curfew. All she really had to do was get off campus without getting caught.
It was totally doable.
Artemis slinked by the office near silently, with no problem, since no one was there. No noise came from any of the dorms, which actually surprised Artemis, because most of the people she knew wouldn't be caught asleep prior to two or so in the morning.
It was also pretty lonely; she had no one to talk to, though excluding Tammy and Tommy Duncan, that wasn't anything new.
^^^^^Flashbacks are fun^^^^^
"God damnit! BANKS!" Kenny's voice whipped though Artemis' night like lightning split the sky. Kenny always called her Banks, because she wouldn't take his last name, but instead kept Banks. Artemis guessed he did it so that she would end up hating the name, but that would never happen.
Artemis grimaced and shakily stood from her bed, before limping down the stairs of the attic of their simple one-and-a-half-story house, where Artemis slept, along with some mice and dusty boxes. "Yes?" She asked with difficulty.
"What the hell took you so long?" Kenny asked, shooting daggers at Artemis with his eyes.
'Oh, I don't know, perhaps it was all the pain from your previous displays of love?' Artemis thought vehemently, but only muttered, "I'm sorry."
"Yes, you are." Kenny spat back, making Artemis recoil from him in disgust and considerable fear. "This place is a fucking pig sty."
Artemis looked around, and mentally agreed, though she had it spotless only a few hours ago. Furniture was broken and thrown everywhere, there were several bottles of beer from both her mother and Kenny. Articles of clothing were precariously scattered about and dust, dirt, and broken glass were everywhere. It looked like the once Mrs. Banks and Kenny got in a little fight, though it was probably forgotten already.
Apparently Artemis spaced out while she was thinking, a sharp slap across the cheek quickly brought her back to reality. Her hand flew up to her still stinging cheek. "Clean this up, and if you're not done in an hour . . ." Kenny drifted off. Artemis neither needed nor wanted to hear the remainder of the threat, she knew well enough.
~~
Artemis clenched her teeth in a silent scream. An hour has passed, she hadn't finished, and she was in trouble. The feeling of the knife cutting her flesh was like that of a hot knife through butter. On top of her bruises, it was unbearable, and she fainted due to the pain.
~~
Artemis woke in her own bed the next morning and hurried to leave the house as quickly as she could. The pain of the previous night was still with her. She wore her usual outfit, a leotard and baggy jeans, and an oversized sweatshirt. She had to talk to someone, most probably Tammy. She ran to Tammy's house, not realizing that it was only five in the morning. Not that it would matter anyway; both Tammy and Tommy would talk to her, any odd hour of the day.
Artemis walked into the house without so much a knocking, it didn't matter, because Artemis was allowed to do that, even Mrs. and Mr. Duncan didn't mind, they welcomed Artemis like a daughter. She even had a spare key.
Artemis ascended the stairs and headed for Tammy's room. "Tams." Artemis said, shaking her friend into the land of the living, or at lease conscious. "Tams." She repeated, and her friend stirred. "Tams, he did it again."
^^^^^Okay, I was wrong, all flashbacks aren't fun^^^^^
Artemis finally got out of the dorm building, with a relieved sigh. 'Thank God.' She thought and made her way to a quiet area, where, if she did get caught, she wouldn't get into too much trouble. Besides, she was the little new girl, who didn't even know when curfew was. (a/n: yeah right.)
She sighed contently when she arrived at a small garden-like spot, where a huge oak tree was adding shadows to the starry night, and where several flowers grew at the base of the tree. Artemis sat down, Indian style, and clasped her hands together, and bowed her head. Her eyelashes fluttered quickly, her breathing slowed, along with the quick beating of her heart. A sigh escaped her, and then all was silent again.
Artemis stayed in that position not moving or noticing anything other than the soft, though chilly, breeze, which brushed her hair into a caressing motion against her cheek. She didn't move for twenty minutes, in her deep meditation.
When she opened her eyes again, she nearly screamed when she noticed that she wasn't alone. A small yelp escaped her. "Who are you?" Artemis accusingly asked the shadowed figure; angry her return to meditation was interrupted. "And why are you out here, isn't it past curfew?"
"That doesn't seem to bother you." The voice shot back and Artemis could hear the grin in his voice (a/n: his as his voice was masculine, though Artemis can't really tell).
"What do you want?" Artemis asked the voice.
"Just to talk." The voice replied, and Rick Riley stepped into the open. "Just to talk."
"I have nothing to say to you." Artemis shot back, and sidestepped him. She began running back to her dorm; one of the few places that she knew Riley couldn't follow her. There was something about him that she just didn't trust. He had the same air around him that Kenny did. Not the kind of abusive things, but the sleazy, holier-than-thou attitude that he displayed. Besides, the Ducks hated him, and wasn't that enough for Artemis? Even her twin couldn't stand him, not to mention the rest of Varsity as well.
"Wait, Artemis. Why don't you want to talk to me?" Riley asked, running a hand though his hair.
"I've heard enough about you, and besides, it's past curfew, and I'm going back to my dorm." Artemis answered.
"You mean from your Duck friends?" Riley asked, using all his power not to make fun of the JV team. "They're just mad because of a few pranks that Varsity played on them, of course, they played their own fair share of pranks. And we let them win the Varsity, JV match. So they think that they're better than us."
"I may not know the Ducks very well, but I know my brother, if they won, they won because they were good." Artemis said heatedly, defending her younger twin.
"You're not talking to me because of opponents' talk. Is that how you always judge people? How other people talk about them? That's not very considerate." Riley half-laughed. Artemis sighed, he was right, though. The only reason that she really didn't want to talk to him was what the Ducks had said. She hadn't given him a chance, but Julie and Connie said that he didn't deserve one.
Artemis was very confused.
"Oh, alright, what do you want me to do about it?" Artemis heaved a sigh.
"How about we talk, Friday, right after Varsity gets off practice?" Riley grinned.
Artemis cocked an eyebrow at him, this goon was actually asking her on a date. Artemis did her best not to laugh or show any reaction actually. "If I say yes will you leave me alone?" Artemis asked exasperated, and Riley nodded with a triumphant look on his face. "Fine." Artemis added, gritting her teeth, and running into her dorm, and flinging herself on her bed not caring in the least about how loud she was being. She fell asleep quickly anyway, and if someone came in to investigate, all they would find would be three sleeping girls.
~~~~
Artemis avoided all of the ducks the next day; this was too confusing. She also avoided Riley and any of the other Varsities, not that she knew who they were, other than the obvious wearing of the Warriors jacket.
By the time lunch rolled around, Artemis was beginning to feel very lonely. Not having the ability to talk to anyone was one thing, but essentially having people there to talk to was a new thing all on its own. Not that she would really have anything to say.
Artemis was happily listening to the teacher in Biology, which seemed rather fascinating, when a note was sailed to her desk without the teacher, a kind woman by the name of Carol Blackstock, so much as blinking. Artemis seized the note, and pulled it into her lap before unfolding it.
**
Hey,
You're new, aren't you? I haven't seen you around.
Welcome to Eden Hell, oops, I mean Hall. My name's
Linda. Talk after class?
TTFN,
Lin.
**
Artemis turned her head to search for the sender of the note, and her eyes met with a girl who had chestnut colored hair, and light blue eyes, who was smiling. Artemis smiled back and nodded and Linda, the other girl, smiled wider.
'Cool.' Artemis smiled inwardly, finally, a friend who wasn't a jock, or someone who would care who she hung out with. Artemis continued to take notes from Ms. Blackstock, and waited patiently for the end of class.
"Hey!" Linda said brightly, adjusting her backpack as she spoke.
"Hi. Well, you're right. I am new." Artemis smiled. "My name's Artemis, but you can find some strange and/or interesting nickname for it. Everyone else has. Sketch being the most recent, Art being the oldest."
"Nice to meet you. Either call me Linda or Lin, because I don't think that there are too many nicknames you can come up with for Linda." Lin smiled. Artemis shrugged back. "Hey, you have first lunch, right?"
Artemis nodded. "Do you?" Linda nodded back. "Oh. I was supposed to sit with my brother, but I'll see him later, how about we sit together?" Artemis offered, and Linda smiled back.
"Okay, that works." Linda and Artemis headed off for the Cafeteria.
"Hey, Lin, how come you called it Eden Hell?" Artemis asked.
"Because that's exactly what it is. I hate it here. But I want the education so I'm stuck with actually having to be here." Lin answered.
"Yeah, that happens." Artemis smirked back and the two got to the cafeteria. To Artemis's bewilderment, Lin headed for the Ducks' table. "Hey guys." Artemis greeted the table with a little wave.
"Hey Art! So, how boring is school yet?" Adam asked, grinning.
"Well, I think I may have actually have learned something." Artemis answered.
"That bad?" Kenny laughed, and Artemis fake-scowled at him, then stuck out her tongue.
"These were the guys you were supposed to sit with, Sketch?" Lin asked Artemis surprised. "But I though that you said that you had to sit with your brother. I'm confused."
Artemis smiled back at her in a semi-reassuring way. "Get used to it. Let me fully introduce myself. My name is Artemis Lana Janine Banks. I'm the star Adam Banks' older, by three minutes and forty-four seconds, twin. And I actually thought that you weren't one of the jocks."
"I'm not." Lin replied, proudly. "I'm not a jock at all. Charlie's my boyfriend. I don't even like jocks usually, but these guys slipped by." The Ducks laughed sarcastically at Linda, and the two took their seats.
Suddenly Averman turned to Kenny. "Hey! That's new. How come you've actually got a lunch today? Isn't half the Varsity team eating it by now?"
"Usually." Kenny replied shrugging. "But why look a gift horse in the mouth?" Artemis looked between Averman and Kenny for a moment before returning her gaze to her lunch.
"Though it is too bad. I stopped packing lunches worth eating." Kenny grinned slyly at them, causing several of the other Ducks to laugh.
"Here, have some of this." Artemis offered, her lips turned upwards at the corners, and she launched a spoonful of chocolate pudding at Ken, who gaped back when the globs of pudding splattered all over his black shit. Artemis sat across from him, giggling uncontrollably. Kenny grinned evilly, and then grabbed someone's container of applesauce (he wasn't sure of whose it actually was) and he hurled it back at Artemis.
The applesauce landed in her hair and she shrieked, shaking her head full force, trying to remove it. Applesauce was flying everywhere.
"Hey!" Linda cried loudly, and began rubbing applesauce from her eyes. Charlie took her rebound shot, but he missed Artemis, and instead Adam ended up with ketchup all over his face.
"That's it!' Adam laughed, and he grabbed a handful of mashed potatoes, and he tossed them in the general direction of Charlie, but Russ, Averman, Kenny, Connie, and Dwayne also got hit.
Soon, a full-blown food fight was about, and many teachers were hopelessly trying to find the source. They eventually gave up and surrounding everyone they could get to (without being hit by flying food) and began handing out detention slips. Luckily for the Ducks, they were in the center of the havoc and there was no way that the teachers could reach them. But it also meant that they were getting absolutely covered with food.
By the time they got out of there, they were all drenched with food. Connie, Julie, and Artemis all ran for their dorm so they could change. And the rest of the Ducks (and Linda) all went to change, as well.
~~~~
It wasn't until she went into her World Geography class that Artemis noticed that her favorite notebook, and underlying sketchbook were both sticky, and though they both were black, they seemed darker than usual. She ran her finger down the notebook, and then examined her finger. It was crimson.
"Oh my God, Artemis." Kenny Wu, one of the three Ducks that accompanied her in the class cried out. "Art, you're bleeding everywhere. Artemis looked down, and true to Kenny's word, her once light blue shirt, and white skirt were now both dark with blood. "Mr. Harvey!"
The teacher of the class, Mr. Harvey, hence that's what Ken called him, looked up, and jumped, startled at the sight of Artemis. "My God! Get her to the nurse. Now!"
Kenny nodded back, and Dean Portman, who was one of the Ducks in the class, picked her up easily. Charlie and Guy followed the three (Kenny, Artemis, and Dean) out of the room. "Dean, put me down. I know how to walk." Artemis pleaded, embarrassed to be carried through the hallways like a child.
"No, you shouldn't walk it would just bleed more." Charlie objected, and led the way for the Ducks to the nurses.
"Artemis?" The nurse asked shocked. "Oh dear, what happened?"
"I'm not sure, exactly." Kenny answered. "One minute, we're all just sitting in World Geography, the next I look at her, and she's the blood lady. We just carried her here."
"It's not much." Artemis said, with a small shrug of her shoulders. "I think one of my cuts opened, that's all."
"That's all?" The nurse asked skeptically. "You know as well as I, that that's not all. Well, you have to stay here for a while. If you're not out of here by morning you'll be released tomorrow. Now, you're going to lay down young lady, and let me work on you without moving or objecting. First of all, I'm going to bandage your wound. Then I'm going to hook you up to some blood, because believe it or not, you don't have much left.
"Thank you, boys for bringing her in, but I think that I can handle it. One of you may stay, and I'll keep you updated, the rest should go back to class. You can talk later, I'd guess."
"I'll stay." Kenny offered. "You guys, someone go and find Adam and tell him what's up."
The three nodded back and headed out of the nurses office. Portman and Charlie headed one way, and Guy discretely went the other.
Since all of the ducks had previously compared their schedules, Guy had a vague idea of where Adam was that period. Yes, he did. It was the classroom next to Connie's. As if he could forget where Connie was. (a/n: I like Guy, he's probably my favorite character {uh, maybe}, but I don't like the way her waits hand and foot on Connie. The girl can take care of herself.)
Guy went to the mathematics hallway (a/n: at my school we actually have marked halls social studies, languages, English, etc, so I'm going by my school, and we live in the smallest town that I've ever been too, were not on maps, we're so small, and we have the hallways, so so do they. =)) and counted down the number of classrooms. He knocked nervously on the door, and an unsmiling woman with blue-gray hair opened it.
"May I help you?" She asked, crossly, in a nasal voice.
"Yes, ma'am. My name is Guy Germaine, and I need to speak with Adam Banks. It's an emergency." Guy said politely, hoping that the woman wouldn't ask any questions, but his hopes were more or less destroyed.
"What kind of emergency?" She asked, deeply suspicious of the teen before her.
"His sister was badly injured, and is at the nurse's office. She needs to talk to him." Guy answered quietly.
"Very well. Adam, come here." She motioned for Adam to come to the door. He was surprised to see Guy, as the teacher was excellently blocking the doorway.
"Hey, Guy. What's up?" Adam asked; his brow furrowed in curiosity. Guy wasn't a bad student, he wouldn't be hanging around to get Adam out of class and into trouble unless **something** was up.
"Artemis." Guy answered, and Adam turned jogged to pack and grabbed his stuff, and ran out of the classroom without even saying goodbye to his teacher.
"What happened to Art?" Adam asked, as Guy led the way to the office.
"Damned if I know, Cake Eater." Guy shrugged back. "One minute, we're all in Biology. Ken says something, I'm not sure what, then calls out to the teacher. Half the class looks, and Artemis is almost completely covered in blood, stomach down. Dean runs over, picks her up, and Kenny, me, and Charlie follow them out. Apparently the nurse knows what's going on. Kenny stayed with her, and I went to get you. I should get back to class, though. Let me know what's up." Guy said, and headed back down to his classroom.
~~~~
"What's your name?" The nurse asked Ken Wu, who answered her question accordingly. "Your relation to Miss Banks?"
"Friend." Kenny answered simply, and Adam Banks walked in, somewhat short of breath. "Hey, Adam."
"Hi Ken." Adam said with a half smile. "Hello Mrs. . . ." Adam drifted off, realizing that he had no clue what the nurse's name was.
"Peterson, but you can call me Angie. That's beside the point, are you here for Miss Banks as well?" Angie inquired.
Adam nodded. "Yeah, I'm her brother. I'm Adam. What's up? Guy was vague."
"You have been informed of her home life, I'm assured?" The nurse asked. Adam nodded mutely. "Well, that makes my life a bit simpler. Well, in all honesty, she really needs to be in a hospital. She's lost so much blood, and whether she likes it or not, she's frail. She's strong spirited, but there's only so much that will do. I'm registering her into the general hospital of the area. Don't worry about the bills or anything. I'll take care of all that. Your stepfather won't find out, I can promise that.
"She'll be in a lot of pain for a while. In truth, I think she's been in a pain for so long, she doesn't even register it anymore. She should be okay. I think that both me and Artemis would feel slightly better, if you and your friends help her with this. If it's just me, she'll completely against the whole thing. She'll tell me that she's able to handle it. In fact, that's what she told me last time that she came to see me."
Adam nodded his agreement. "That sounds like Art."
"Well, you guys might as well go for now. She's out of it. I gave her some painkillers, and she's sleeping like a baby, she won't be up and about for at least a little while. I'll get in contact with one of you at some point after she wakes up."
~~~~
=-=-=-=-=-= Thursday Morning =-=-=-=-=-=
"I am not going to practice." Connie told her pillow, as Julie almost put effort into waking her friend for 5 a.m. practice.
"I don't care where you're going, just as long as you wake up. I'm not going to be the only girl out there who has to suffer, so don't even kid." Julie answered, and threw something in the general direction of Connie, she had absolutely no clue what, and it fell to the floor with the sound of papers scattering, and upon opening her eyes, that's exactly what Julie saw. "Help me pick this stuff up, Cons."
"Why should I?" Connie asked irritated. "You're the one who threw it at me."
"Yeah, but only because you wouldn't wake up when I asked you nicely. Besides, you're up now, you might as well help some."
Connie growled something under her breath, and proceeded to help Julie pick up the paper. "Whoa." Connie gasped, looking down at the paper. It was a drawing of Adam, and it was perfect, down to the semi-serious, semi-wistful look in his eyes. She turned it over, and found in impossibly neat and tiny cursive writing, a letter on a piece of paper, that was taped to the back.
It read:
September 12
They sent me away a few days ago. I'm not surprised. Relieved
if anything, but there's not much that I can do. Dad doesn't want
me either, but that's no surprise. Who would want me?
Sometimes I can't help but believe them when they say that
I'm just a waste of space.
Then there's Helios, but he's Adam now. Ashamed of his name.
I feel like I'm drowning here at Eden Hall Academy. There's no one
to talk to. No one to confide in. I have two roommates, now.
Connie and Julie. I don't think that Julie likes me all that much, but I think
that they're both pretty nice, but I can't tell them.
They'd just treat me like a freak. A reject. So, they're
Helios' friends. That doesn't make a difference. As much as they're
different from the rest of the snobs here, they're almost exactly the same.
They're all caught up in their own little world.
They think that they, and their friends, are the only truly good people
to hang out with. Granted they have better attitude towards me at least,
they're still with themselves, and only that.
Kenny, the name makes me absolutely shudder, but why wouldn't it?
Helios has a friend named Kenny. Kenny Wu.
Kenny's pretty nice, and he's completely different than my
so-called-stepfather. He helped me find my room, and then my brother.
I don't know but I think that I like him. He's kind of cute. Oh listen
to me, I sound like . . . eww. I'm not even going to think about it.
Well, since I'm running out of room, I should go.
By the way, the infection on my shoulder isn't getting better. Well,
I'll be back. I hope.
--Artemis L. J. Banks
Connie turned the paper back over, to look at Adam again. "It's her diary. I can't believe you threw her diary."
"What?" Julie asked, and looked up at Connie sharply.
"Julie. It's Artemis's diary. The whole thing that you threw. She draws pictures on one side and on the other side she writes an entry. It's her diary."
"Uh oh. She writes dates on them, right? We can put them back in order without her ever knowing about it." Julie answered.
"But that's total invasion of her privacy." Connie answered. "But I guess that it would be worse if we just left them lying everywhere. Let's hurry up."
"Yeah." Julie agreed, and began to pick up more of the pictures that had scattered. "Cons, look at this one. It's of Dwayne, Averman, and Luis. It's hysterical." Julie showed Connie the picture. It was funny. Dwayne was grinning, as he usually did, and was tipping his hat slightly. Luis was rolling his eyes, but was still smilling. Averman was crossing his eyes and grinning like a jester, in fact, he was wearing a jester's hat. "She's good."
"Yep." Connie agreed, then turned to pick up more paper. Curiosity drove Julie to turn the paper over.
September 13
I had to tell them. Connie was brushing my hair, and told me to go change.
Stupid hood got in the way. I told them to promise to not tell
Helios, but they did anyway. Some trustworthy people. I know
that they only did it to help me, but having Helios fussing all over me
isn't going to do much in the helping category.
I was right about Julie not liking me, I think. She was nice enough to tell the
guys to not mess around with me, but she's not speaking to me
now. I'm guessing that that's for the best though.
I don't want her to get caught up in my life, too. That's just one more person
that won't get hurt by me. So I can't be mad. Connie seems more
understanding, but I think that I hurt her feelings too.
I'm like a human wrecking ball, everywhere I go; I cause damage.
I don't know how to handle this. I don't know how to have
friends. I think that Helios is either going to kill Kenny
or call the police. I hope that he doesn't do either. I hope he doesn't
call the police for my mom's, his, all his friends, and maybe even my own sake.
Maybe. I hope he doesn't try to kill himself for his own sake. Kenny wouldn't
hesitate to hurt Helios. I don't think that Kenny would ever intentionally
kill anyone but killing and hurting are two very different things.
I'm still confused. I think I'm going to cry. That would definitely
be a new experience, since I haven't cried in . . .well, too long for me to
remember correctly, anyway. Well, I'm off. I've decided to go to the
nurse. As much as I don't like it. My friends are right. I mean, Helios's friends
are right. I'll be surprised if they even look at me again.
The picture is of Luis Mendoza, Lester Averman, and Dwayne Robertson. I think
that they're all funny. I also think that I made a bit of a bad impression on Luis.
Well. He made fun of Helios's name, and not one of his friends even thought to
stick up for him so I did it. It actually made me think. If they wouldn't defend him
for his name, what's stopping them from defending him on a different level.
Helios told me that he made Varsity, in an e-mail, but that his friends
weren't exactly the kind, loving, and compassionate people that they should've
been. I hope that I can understand that and everything. I hope that
even if all chance with befriending the Ducks are dead, that I can at least have
one friend at this school. I don't want to be alone anymore.
--Artemis L. J. Banks
Julie was taken aback. She suddenly saw Artemis under a new light. She had been through so much, and she just really wanted a friend. Well, Julie was going to be a friend to Artemis whether Artemis liked it or not.
(a/n: Okay, that's it for this chapter. More stuff will happen next time, including [maybe I'm not sure yet] more journal entries, and a game, and Artemis, and just everything! Have some fun =) Well, I really, really hope that I get some reviews this time, b/c I've only got two (thanks Icebox and Iz, I luv u guys)(no, I'm not counting my own) for chapter two. Six, for chapter one. I really want at least thirteen before I post chapter four (that's only four more. Well, please review, and I hope you enjoy.)
1 Sketch
2 Chapter 3
Artemis Lana Janine Banks couldn't sleep.
She turned to glare at the glowing neon green lights of her alarm clock that told her that it was 12:30 A.M. She clearly scowled at it and sat up. "I hate you, too." She whispered savagely, and changed out of her pajamas into something a bit more wearable. She snuck out of the dorm, mainly because it was past curfew. All she really had to do was get off campus without getting caught.
It was totally doable.
Artemis slinked by the office near silently, with no problem, since no one was there. No noise came from any of the dorms, which actually surprised Artemis, because most of the people she knew wouldn't be caught asleep prior to two or so in the morning.
It was also pretty lonely; she had no one to talk to, though excluding Tammy and Tommy Duncan, that wasn't anything new.
^^^^^Flashbacks are fun^^^^^
"God damnit! BANKS!" Kenny's voice whipped though Artemis' night like lightning split the sky. Kenny always called her Banks, because she wouldn't take his last name, but instead kept Banks. Artemis guessed he did it so that she would end up hating the name, but that would never happen.
Artemis grimaced and shakily stood from her bed, before limping down the stairs of the attic of their simple one-and-a-half-story house, where Artemis slept, along with some mice and dusty boxes. "Yes?" She asked with difficulty.
"What the hell took you so long?" Kenny asked, shooting daggers at Artemis with his eyes.
'Oh, I don't know, perhaps it was all the pain from your previous displays of love?' Artemis thought vehemently, but only muttered, "I'm sorry."
"Yes, you are." Kenny spat back, making Artemis recoil from him in disgust and considerable fear. "This place is a fucking pig sty."
Artemis looked around, and mentally agreed, though she had it spotless only a few hours ago. Furniture was broken and thrown everywhere, there were several bottles of beer from both her mother and Kenny. Articles of clothing were precariously scattered about and dust, dirt, and broken glass were everywhere. It looked like the once Mrs. Banks and Kenny got in a little fight, though it was probably forgotten already.
Apparently Artemis spaced out while she was thinking, a sharp slap across the cheek quickly brought her back to reality. Her hand flew up to her still stinging cheek. "Clean this up, and if you're not done in an hour . . ." Kenny drifted off. Artemis neither needed nor wanted to hear the remainder of the threat, she knew well enough.
~~
Artemis clenched her teeth in a silent scream. An hour has passed, she hadn't finished, and she was in trouble. The feeling of the knife cutting her flesh was like that of a hot knife through butter. On top of her bruises, it was unbearable, and she fainted due to the pain.
~~
Artemis woke in her own bed the next morning and hurried to leave the house as quickly as she could. The pain of the previous night was still with her. She wore her usual outfit, a leotard and baggy jeans, and an oversized sweatshirt. She had to talk to someone, most probably Tammy. She ran to Tammy's house, not realizing that it was only five in the morning. Not that it would matter anyway; both Tammy and Tommy would talk to her, any odd hour of the day.
Artemis walked into the house without so much a knocking, it didn't matter, because Artemis was allowed to do that, even Mrs. and Mr. Duncan didn't mind, they welcomed Artemis like a daughter. She even had a spare key.
Artemis ascended the stairs and headed for Tammy's room. "Tams." Artemis said, shaking her friend into the land of the living, or at lease conscious. "Tams." She repeated, and her friend stirred. "Tams, he did it again."
^^^^^Okay, I was wrong, all flashbacks aren't fun^^^^^
Artemis finally got out of the dorm building, with a relieved sigh. 'Thank God.' She thought and made her way to a quiet area, where, if she did get caught, she wouldn't get into too much trouble. Besides, she was the little new girl, who didn't even know when curfew was. (a/n: yeah right.)
She sighed contently when she arrived at a small garden-like spot, where a huge oak tree was adding shadows to the starry night, and where several flowers grew at the base of the tree. Artemis sat down, Indian style, and clasped her hands together, and bowed her head. Her eyelashes fluttered quickly, her breathing slowed, along with the quick beating of her heart. A sigh escaped her, and then all was silent again.
Artemis stayed in that position not moving or noticing anything other than the soft, though chilly, breeze, which brushed her hair into a caressing motion against her cheek. She didn't move for twenty minutes, in her deep meditation.
When she opened her eyes again, she nearly screamed when she noticed that she wasn't alone. A small yelp escaped her. "Who are you?" Artemis accusingly asked the shadowed figure; angry her return to meditation was interrupted. "And why are you out here, isn't it past curfew?"
"That doesn't seem to bother you." The voice shot back and Artemis could hear the grin in his voice (a/n: his as his voice was masculine, though Artemis can't really tell).
"What do you want?" Artemis asked the voice.
"Just to talk." The voice replied, and Rick Riley stepped into the open. "Just to talk."
"I have nothing to say to you." Artemis shot back, and sidestepped him. She began running back to her dorm; one of the few places that she knew Riley couldn't follow her. There was something about him that she just didn't trust. He had the same air around him that Kenny did. Not the kind of abusive things, but the sleazy, holier-than-thou attitude that he displayed. Besides, the Ducks hated him, and wasn't that enough for Artemis? Even her twin couldn't stand him, not to mention the rest of Varsity as well.
"Wait, Artemis. Why don't you want to talk to me?" Riley asked, running a hand though his hair.
"I've heard enough about you, and besides, it's past curfew, and I'm going back to my dorm." Artemis answered.
"You mean from your Duck friends?" Riley asked, using all his power not to make fun of the JV team. "They're just mad because of a few pranks that Varsity played on them, of course, they played their own fair share of pranks. And we let them win the Varsity, JV match. So they think that they're better than us."
"I may not know the Ducks very well, but I know my brother, if they won, they won because they were good." Artemis said heatedly, defending her younger twin.
"You're not talking to me because of opponents' talk. Is that how you always judge people? How other people talk about them? That's not very considerate." Riley half-laughed. Artemis sighed, he was right, though. The only reason that she really didn't want to talk to him was what the Ducks had said. She hadn't given him a chance, but Julie and Connie said that he didn't deserve one.
Artemis was very confused.
"Oh, alright, what do you want me to do about it?" Artemis heaved a sigh.
"How about we talk, Friday, right after Varsity gets off practice?" Riley grinned.
Artemis cocked an eyebrow at him, this goon was actually asking her on a date. Artemis did her best not to laugh or show any reaction actually. "If I say yes will you leave me alone?" Artemis asked exasperated, and Riley nodded with a triumphant look on his face. "Fine." Artemis added, gritting her teeth, and running into her dorm, and flinging herself on her bed not caring in the least about how loud she was being. She fell asleep quickly anyway, and if someone came in to investigate, all they would find would be three sleeping girls.
~~~~
Artemis avoided all of the ducks the next day; this was too confusing. She also avoided Riley and any of the other Varsities, not that she knew who they were, other than the obvious wearing of the Warriors jacket.
By the time lunch rolled around, Artemis was beginning to feel very lonely. Not having the ability to talk to anyone was one thing, but essentially having people there to talk to was a new thing all on its own. Not that she would really have anything to say.
Artemis was happily listening to the teacher in Biology, which seemed rather fascinating, when a note was sailed to her desk without the teacher, a kind woman by the name of Carol Blackstock, so much as blinking. Artemis seized the note, and pulled it into her lap before unfolding it.
**
Hey,
You're new, aren't you? I haven't seen you around.
Welcome to Eden Hell, oops, I mean Hall. My name's
Linda. Talk after class?
TTFN,
Lin.
**
Artemis turned her head to search for the sender of the note, and her eyes met with a girl who had chestnut colored hair, and light blue eyes, who was smiling. Artemis smiled back and nodded and Linda, the other girl, smiled wider.
'Cool.' Artemis smiled inwardly, finally, a friend who wasn't a jock, or someone who would care who she hung out with. Artemis continued to take notes from Ms. Blackstock, and waited patiently for the end of class.
"Hey!" Linda said brightly, adjusting her backpack as she spoke.
"Hi. Well, you're right. I am new." Artemis smiled. "My name's Artemis, but you can find some strange and/or interesting nickname for it. Everyone else has. Sketch being the most recent, Art being the oldest."
"Nice to meet you. Either call me Linda or Lin, because I don't think that there are too many nicknames you can come up with for Linda." Lin smiled. Artemis shrugged back. "Hey, you have first lunch, right?"
Artemis nodded. "Do you?" Linda nodded back. "Oh. I was supposed to sit with my brother, but I'll see him later, how about we sit together?" Artemis offered, and Linda smiled back.
"Okay, that works." Linda and Artemis headed off for the Cafeteria.
"Hey, Lin, how come you called it Eden Hell?" Artemis asked.
"Because that's exactly what it is. I hate it here. But I want the education so I'm stuck with actually having to be here." Lin answered.
"Yeah, that happens." Artemis smirked back and the two got to the cafeteria. To Artemis's bewilderment, Lin headed for the Ducks' table. "Hey guys." Artemis greeted the table with a little wave.
"Hey Art! So, how boring is school yet?" Adam asked, grinning.
"Well, I think I may have actually have learned something." Artemis answered.
"That bad?" Kenny laughed, and Artemis fake-scowled at him, then stuck out her tongue.
"These were the guys you were supposed to sit with, Sketch?" Lin asked Artemis surprised. "But I though that you said that you had to sit with your brother. I'm confused."
Artemis smiled back at her in a semi-reassuring way. "Get used to it. Let me fully introduce myself. My name is Artemis Lana Janine Banks. I'm the star Adam Banks' older, by three minutes and forty-four seconds, twin. And I actually thought that you weren't one of the jocks."
"I'm not." Lin replied, proudly. "I'm not a jock at all. Charlie's my boyfriend. I don't even like jocks usually, but these guys slipped by." The Ducks laughed sarcastically at Linda, and the two took their seats.
Suddenly Averman turned to Kenny. "Hey! That's new. How come you've actually got a lunch today? Isn't half the Varsity team eating it by now?"
"Usually." Kenny replied shrugging. "But why look a gift horse in the mouth?" Artemis looked between Averman and Kenny for a moment before returning her gaze to her lunch.
"Though it is too bad. I stopped packing lunches worth eating." Kenny grinned slyly at them, causing several of the other Ducks to laugh.
"Here, have some of this." Artemis offered, her lips turned upwards at the corners, and she launched a spoonful of chocolate pudding at Ken, who gaped back when the globs of pudding splattered all over his black shit. Artemis sat across from him, giggling uncontrollably. Kenny grinned evilly, and then grabbed someone's container of applesauce (he wasn't sure of whose it actually was) and he hurled it back at Artemis.
The applesauce landed in her hair and she shrieked, shaking her head full force, trying to remove it. Applesauce was flying everywhere.
"Hey!" Linda cried loudly, and began rubbing applesauce from her eyes. Charlie took her rebound shot, but he missed Artemis, and instead Adam ended up with ketchup all over his face.
"That's it!' Adam laughed, and he grabbed a handful of mashed potatoes, and he tossed them in the general direction of Charlie, but Russ, Averman, Kenny, Connie, and Dwayne also got hit.
Soon, a full-blown food fight was about, and many teachers were hopelessly trying to find the source. They eventually gave up and surrounding everyone they could get to (without being hit by flying food) and began handing out detention slips. Luckily for the Ducks, they were in the center of the havoc and there was no way that the teachers could reach them. But it also meant that they were getting absolutely covered with food.
By the time they got out of there, they were all drenched with food. Connie, Julie, and Artemis all ran for their dorm so they could change. And the rest of the Ducks (and Linda) all went to change, as well.
~~~~
It wasn't until she went into her World Geography class that Artemis noticed that her favorite notebook, and underlying sketchbook were both sticky, and though they both were black, they seemed darker than usual. She ran her finger down the notebook, and then examined her finger. It was crimson.
"Oh my God, Artemis." Kenny Wu, one of the three Ducks that accompanied her in the class cried out. "Art, you're bleeding everywhere. Artemis looked down, and true to Kenny's word, her once light blue shirt, and white skirt were now both dark with blood. "Mr. Harvey!"
The teacher of the class, Mr. Harvey, hence that's what Ken called him, looked up, and jumped, startled at the sight of Artemis. "My God! Get her to the nurse. Now!"
Kenny nodded back, and Dean Portman, who was one of the Ducks in the class, picked her up easily. Charlie and Guy followed the three (Kenny, Artemis, and Dean) out of the room. "Dean, put me down. I know how to walk." Artemis pleaded, embarrassed to be carried through the hallways like a child.
"No, you shouldn't walk it would just bleed more." Charlie objected, and led the way for the Ducks to the nurses.
"Artemis?" The nurse asked shocked. "Oh dear, what happened?"
"I'm not sure, exactly." Kenny answered. "One minute, we're all just sitting in World Geography, the next I look at her, and she's the blood lady. We just carried her here."
"It's not much." Artemis said, with a small shrug of her shoulders. "I think one of my cuts opened, that's all."
"That's all?" The nurse asked skeptically. "You know as well as I, that that's not all. Well, you have to stay here for a while. If you're not out of here by morning you'll be released tomorrow. Now, you're going to lay down young lady, and let me work on you without moving or objecting. First of all, I'm going to bandage your wound. Then I'm going to hook you up to some blood, because believe it or not, you don't have much left.
"Thank you, boys for bringing her in, but I think that I can handle it. One of you may stay, and I'll keep you updated, the rest should go back to class. You can talk later, I'd guess."
"I'll stay." Kenny offered. "You guys, someone go and find Adam and tell him what's up."
The three nodded back and headed out of the nurses office. Portman and Charlie headed one way, and Guy discretely went the other.
Since all of the ducks had previously compared their schedules, Guy had a vague idea of where Adam was that period. Yes, he did. It was the classroom next to Connie's. As if he could forget where Connie was. (a/n: I like Guy, he's probably my favorite character {uh, maybe}, but I don't like the way her waits hand and foot on Connie. The girl can take care of herself.)
Guy went to the mathematics hallway (a/n: at my school we actually have marked halls social studies, languages, English, etc, so I'm going by my school, and we live in the smallest town that I've ever been too, were not on maps, we're so small, and we have the hallways, so so do they. =)) and counted down the number of classrooms. He knocked nervously on the door, and an unsmiling woman with blue-gray hair opened it.
"May I help you?" She asked, crossly, in a nasal voice.
"Yes, ma'am. My name is Guy Germaine, and I need to speak with Adam Banks. It's an emergency." Guy said politely, hoping that the woman wouldn't ask any questions, but his hopes were more or less destroyed.
"What kind of emergency?" She asked, deeply suspicious of the teen before her.
"His sister was badly injured, and is at the nurse's office. She needs to talk to him." Guy answered quietly.
"Very well. Adam, come here." She motioned for Adam to come to the door. He was surprised to see Guy, as the teacher was excellently blocking the doorway.
"Hey, Guy. What's up?" Adam asked; his brow furrowed in curiosity. Guy wasn't a bad student, he wouldn't be hanging around to get Adam out of class and into trouble unless **something** was up.
"Artemis." Guy answered, and Adam turned jogged to pack and grabbed his stuff, and ran out of the classroom without even saying goodbye to his teacher.
"What happened to Art?" Adam asked, as Guy led the way to the office.
"Damned if I know, Cake Eater." Guy shrugged back. "One minute, we're all in Biology. Ken says something, I'm not sure what, then calls out to the teacher. Half the class looks, and Artemis is almost completely covered in blood, stomach down. Dean runs over, picks her up, and Kenny, me, and Charlie follow them out. Apparently the nurse knows what's going on. Kenny stayed with her, and I went to get you. I should get back to class, though. Let me know what's up." Guy said, and headed back down to his classroom.
~~~~
"What's your name?" The nurse asked Ken Wu, who answered her question accordingly. "Your relation to Miss Banks?"
"Friend." Kenny answered simply, and Adam Banks walked in, somewhat short of breath. "Hey, Adam."
"Hi Ken." Adam said with a half smile. "Hello Mrs. . . ." Adam drifted off, realizing that he had no clue what the nurse's name was.
"Peterson, but you can call me Angie. That's beside the point, are you here for Miss Banks as well?" Angie inquired.
Adam nodded. "Yeah, I'm her brother. I'm Adam. What's up? Guy was vague."
"You have been informed of her home life, I'm assured?" The nurse asked. Adam nodded mutely. "Well, that makes my life a bit simpler. Well, in all honesty, she really needs to be in a hospital. She's lost so much blood, and whether she likes it or not, she's frail. She's strong spirited, but there's only so much that will do. I'm registering her into the general hospital of the area. Don't worry about the bills or anything. I'll take care of all that. Your stepfather won't find out, I can promise that.
"She'll be in a lot of pain for a while. In truth, I think she's been in a pain for so long, she doesn't even register it anymore. She should be okay. I think that both me and Artemis would feel slightly better, if you and your friends help her with this. If it's just me, she'll completely against the whole thing. She'll tell me that she's able to handle it. In fact, that's what she told me last time that she came to see me."
Adam nodded his agreement. "That sounds like Art."
"Well, you guys might as well go for now. She's out of it. I gave her some painkillers, and she's sleeping like a baby, she won't be up and about for at least a little while. I'll get in contact with one of you at some point after she wakes up."
~~~~
=-=-=-=-=-= Thursday Morning =-=-=-=-=-=
"I am not going to practice." Connie told her pillow, as Julie almost put effort into waking her friend for 5 a.m. practice.
"I don't care where you're going, just as long as you wake up. I'm not going to be the only girl out there who has to suffer, so don't even kid." Julie answered, and threw something in the general direction of Connie, she had absolutely no clue what, and it fell to the floor with the sound of papers scattering, and upon opening her eyes, that's exactly what Julie saw. "Help me pick this stuff up, Cons."
"Why should I?" Connie asked irritated. "You're the one who threw it at me."
"Yeah, but only because you wouldn't wake up when I asked you nicely. Besides, you're up now, you might as well help some."
Connie growled something under her breath, and proceeded to help Julie pick up the paper. "Whoa." Connie gasped, looking down at the paper. It was a drawing of Adam, and it was perfect, down to the semi-serious, semi-wistful look in his eyes. She turned it over, and found in impossibly neat and tiny cursive writing, a letter on a piece of paper, that was taped to the back.
It read:
September 12
They sent me away a few days ago. I'm not surprised. Relieved
if anything, but there's not much that I can do. Dad doesn't want
me either, but that's no surprise. Who would want me?
Sometimes I can't help but believe them when they say that
I'm just a waste of space.
Then there's Helios, but he's Adam now. Ashamed of his name.
I feel like I'm drowning here at Eden Hall Academy. There's no one
to talk to. No one to confide in. I have two roommates, now.
Connie and Julie. I don't think that Julie likes me all that much, but I think
that they're both pretty nice, but I can't tell them.
They'd just treat me like a freak. A reject. So, they're
Helios' friends. That doesn't make a difference. As much as they're
different from the rest of the snobs here, they're almost exactly the same.
They're all caught up in their own little world.
They think that they, and their friends, are the only truly good people
to hang out with. Granted they have better attitude towards me at least,
they're still with themselves, and only that.
Kenny, the name makes me absolutely shudder, but why wouldn't it?
Helios has a friend named Kenny. Kenny Wu.
Kenny's pretty nice, and he's completely different than my
so-called-stepfather. He helped me find my room, and then my brother.
I don't know but I think that I like him. He's kind of cute. Oh listen
to me, I sound like . . . eww. I'm not even going to think about it.
Well, since I'm running out of room, I should go.
By the way, the infection on my shoulder isn't getting better. Well,
I'll be back. I hope.
--Artemis L. J. Banks
Connie turned the paper back over, to look at Adam again. "It's her diary. I can't believe you threw her diary."
"What?" Julie asked, and looked up at Connie sharply.
"Julie. It's Artemis's diary. The whole thing that you threw. She draws pictures on one side and on the other side she writes an entry. It's her diary."
"Uh oh. She writes dates on them, right? We can put them back in order without her ever knowing about it." Julie answered.
"But that's total invasion of her privacy." Connie answered. "But I guess that it would be worse if we just left them lying everywhere. Let's hurry up."
"Yeah." Julie agreed, and began to pick up more of the pictures that had scattered. "Cons, look at this one. It's of Dwayne, Averman, and Luis. It's hysterical." Julie showed Connie the picture. It was funny. Dwayne was grinning, as he usually did, and was tipping his hat slightly. Luis was rolling his eyes, but was still smilling. Averman was crossing his eyes and grinning like a jester, in fact, he was wearing a jester's hat. "She's good."
"Yep." Connie agreed, then turned to pick up more paper. Curiosity drove Julie to turn the paper over.
September 13
I had to tell them. Connie was brushing my hair, and told me to go change.
Stupid hood got in the way. I told them to promise to not tell
Helios, but they did anyway. Some trustworthy people. I know
that they only did it to help me, but having Helios fussing all over me
isn't going to do much in the helping category.
I was right about Julie not liking me, I think. She was nice enough to tell the
guys to not mess around with me, but she's not speaking to me
now. I'm guessing that that's for the best though.
I don't want her to get caught up in my life, too. That's just one more person
that won't get hurt by me. So I can't be mad. Connie seems more
understanding, but I think that I hurt her feelings too.
I'm like a human wrecking ball, everywhere I go; I cause damage.
I don't know how to handle this. I don't know how to have
friends. I think that Helios is either going to kill Kenny
or call the police. I hope that he doesn't do either. I hope he doesn't
call the police for my mom's, his, all his friends, and maybe even my own sake.
Maybe. I hope he doesn't try to kill himself for his own sake. Kenny wouldn't
hesitate to hurt Helios. I don't think that Kenny would ever intentionally
kill anyone but killing and hurting are two very different things.
I'm still confused. I think I'm going to cry. That would definitely
be a new experience, since I haven't cried in . . .well, too long for me to
remember correctly, anyway. Well, I'm off. I've decided to go to the
nurse. As much as I don't like it. My friends are right. I mean, Helios's friends
are right. I'll be surprised if they even look at me again.
The picture is of Luis Mendoza, Lester Averman, and Dwayne Robertson. I think
that they're all funny. I also think that I made a bit of a bad impression on Luis.
Well. He made fun of Helios's name, and not one of his friends even thought to
stick up for him so I did it. It actually made me think. If they wouldn't defend him
for his name, what's stopping them from defending him on a different level.
Helios told me that he made Varsity, in an e-mail, but that his friends
weren't exactly the kind, loving, and compassionate people that they should've
been. I hope that I can understand that and everything. I hope that
even if all chance with befriending the Ducks are dead, that I can at least have
one friend at this school. I don't want to be alone anymore.
--Artemis L. J. Banks
Julie was taken aback. She suddenly saw Artemis under a new light. She had been through so much, and she just really wanted a friend. Well, Julie was going to be a friend to Artemis whether Artemis liked it or not.
(a/n: Okay, that's it for this chapter. More stuff will happen next time, including [maybe I'm not sure yet] more journal entries, and a game, and Artemis, and just everything! Have some fun =) Well, I really, really hope that I get some reviews this time, b/c I've only got two (thanks Icebox and Iz, I luv u guys)(no, I'm not counting my own) for chapter two. Six, for chapter one. I really want at least thirteen before I post chapter four (that's only four more. Well, please review, and I hope you enjoy.)