Artemis walked back into Fowl Manor like a pale shadow; his fingers
itched to be again at the computers in the study. His new school had
forbidden the use of computers outside of the school's own library
computers; the library computers were monitored at all times. Artemis had
been forced to work out of notebooks for any of his even slightly dubious
projects and spiral notebooks could not be connected to the Internet.
"Where are they, Butler?" he asked, as the manservant approached behind him
with his bags.
"They are still out of town. They're plane couldn't take off because of the bad weather." Indeed it was snowing profusely outside.
"Just place my things in my room please, Butler. Except for that bag. I'll be in the study." Artemis picked up the bag in question and disappeared up the stairs. The bag contained approximately 30 spiral notebooks filled with pages upon pages of his writing. Artemis would have preferred to use his laptop rather than writing everything down by hand, but his laptop had been mailed home as soon as it had been found. His cell phone had been mailed home the instant it had been found (which was approximately 48 minutes after Artemis arrived). Three days into school one of his classmates turned him in and the laptop was taken. But since it came to writing everything down the old fashioned way he would have preferred a locked diary, but that too was against regulations had sent home. Artemis was fortunate that all he had written on the page was "Things have been unusually quiet recently. I need more work to keep busy and I should soon be in contact with certain People, if I'm not mistaken. After all, they don't usually leave me quiet for so long." Locks of any sort really were against school regulation (except for locks on the bathrooms). The dormitories had little signs you could hang on the door that said "Dressing. Do not disturb" but there was no lock and no chair to shove against the door to keep someone from opening it.
All the boys (there were no girls) were required to join at least a single sports team a semester as there was no physical education class offered. Artemis was forced to share his room with three other boys, as there were no private dormitories available. Every room was the same, consisting of 4 beds, 4 small wardrobes, and 4 nightstands with a lamp atop each. No phone lines. He was glad to be home, and though slightly irritated at not finding his parents there, was really much happier to be alone. Despite his days on the swim team (the pool was heated) he was beginning to like people less and less.
He settled in front of the computer in the large oak study and began to painstakingly transfer everything in his notebooks to his computer, saving them on disk and the computer itself. As he typed he thought irately about asking for a new room assignment. Benjamin, who insisted on being called "Benny", was excessively upbeat. Nobody should be that perky, ever; especially not at five in the morning when he insisted on getting up. Stuart was an athlete who participated in as many sports as he could possibly fit into his schedule and was extremely popular. He was the stereotypical cool jock, adored by all. Mitchell was to put it bluntly: a nosey little teacher's pet and resident tattletale. Mitchell could do the work, and spent hours in the school library, but he was no genius. He raised his hand in every class though most of the teachers saw through his act of "the perfect student". He had taken an immediate dislike to Artemis after Artemis had outscored him not only on pop quizzes in every class on the first day of school but on the follow up quizzes each class had on the second day without studying first. Mitchell had studied and he knew Artemis hadn't. So Mitchell tried to get him in as much trouble as possible. He was the one who had alerted the school of Artemis's laptop as well as the locked journal.
Every notebook was filled to his capacity but Artemis had finished transferring the first 15 within an hour; he was one of the world's top 5 typists.
Butler knocked and entered the study, bringing Artemis some dinner.
"Thank you, Butler. The school food is atrocious, worse than St. Bartleby's."
"I heard you placed 8th in the regional swim meet."
Artemis shrugged. It had been bitter losing to the other seven, even though he detested the sport. "A trivial thing."
"Are you enjoying school?"
"Not in the least. Those boys I am forced to room with are prats. And the swim team . . .well that's just embarrassing."
"I am a thinker. A planner. I do not do manual labor. Practicing for the team was difficult. Nothing is ever difficult for me," he explained simply. "I wasn't the best."
"No one can be the best at everything."
"But I was the best at everything I tried."
"There's always somebody better. Get used to it."
"They are still out of town. They're plane couldn't take off because of the bad weather." Indeed it was snowing profusely outside.
"Just place my things in my room please, Butler. Except for that bag. I'll be in the study." Artemis picked up the bag in question and disappeared up the stairs. The bag contained approximately 30 spiral notebooks filled with pages upon pages of his writing. Artemis would have preferred to use his laptop rather than writing everything down by hand, but his laptop had been mailed home as soon as it had been found. His cell phone had been mailed home the instant it had been found (which was approximately 48 minutes after Artemis arrived). Three days into school one of his classmates turned him in and the laptop was taken. But since it came to writing everything down the old fashioned way he would have preferred a locked diary, but that too was against regulations had sent home. Artemis was fortunate that all he had written on the page was "Things have been unusually quiet recently. I need more work to keep busy and I should soon be in contact with certain People, if I'm not mistaken. After all, they don't usually leave me quiet for so long." Locks of any sort really were against school regulation (except for locks on the bathrooms). The dormitories had little signs you could hang on the door that said "Dressing. Do not disturb" but there was no lock and no chair to shove against the door to keep someone from opening it.
All the boys (there were no girls) were required to join at least a single sports team a semester as there was no physical education class offered. Artemis was forced to share his room with three other boys, as there were no private dormitories available. Every room was the same, consisting of 4 beds, 4 small wardrobes, and 4 nightstands with a lamp atop each. No phone lines. He was glad to be home, and though slightly irritated at not finding his parents there, was really much happier to be alone. Despite his days on the swim team (the pool was heated) he was beginning to like people less and less.
He settled in front of the computer in the large oak study and began to painstakingly transfer everything in his notebooks to his computer, saving them on disk and the computer itself. As he typed he thought irately about asking for a new room assignment. Benjamin, who insisted on being called "Benny", was excessively upbeat. Nobody should be that perky, ever; especially not at five in the morning when he insisted on getting up. Stuart was an athlete who participated in as many sports as he could possibly fit into his schedule and was extremely popular. He was the stereotypical cool jock, adored by all. Mitchell was to put it bluntly: a nosey little teacher's pet and resident tattletale. Mitchell could do the work, and spent hours in the school library, but he was no genius. He raised his hand in every class though most of the teachers saw through his act of "the perfect student". He had taken an immediate dislike to Artemis after Artemis had outscored him not only on pop quizzes in every class on the first day of school but on the follow up quizzes each class had on the second day without studying first. Mitchell had studied and he knew Artemis hadn't. So Mitchell tried to get him in as much trouble as possible. He was the one who had alerted the school of Artemis's laptop as well as the locked journal.
Every notebook was filled to his capacity but Artemis had finished transferring the first 15 within an hour; he was one of the world's top 5 typists.
Butler knocked and entered the study, bringing Artemis some dinner.
"Thank you, Butler. The school food is atrocious, worse than St. Bartleby's."
"I heard you placed 8th in the regional swim meet."
Artemis shrugged. It had been bitter losing to the other seven, even though he detested the sport. "A trivial thing."
"Are you enjoying school?"
"Not in the least. Those boys I am forced to room with are prats. And the swim team . . .well that's just embarrassing."
"I am a thinker. A planner. I do not do manual labor. Practicing for the team was difficult. Nothing is ever difficult for me," he explained simply. "I wasn't the best."
"No one can be the best at everything."
"But I was the best at everything I tried."
"There's always somebody better. Get used to it."