Hey peeps, I hope you are all well! Now I realise Artemis might not act the
same or talk the same, but he is supposed to be very different now. Please
let me know what you all think of the new main character... is she ok? O
yeah, disclaimer: nothing is mine, except Ruth Valie, but u can have her if
you want (
Summary: in this chappie, Artemis settles down and meets a new friend, in
an interesting way. Then an o so lovely group of 5 bring them closer
together. We also meet Artemis' room mates.
Last thing...this took me hours to do and is 13 pages long, so please R&R!!!
Artemis Fowl, Chapter 3
Artemis Fowl was alone in his dorm unpacking his suitcase. He had just finished when one of his two room mates walked in with his suitcase. Tom Wheyman. Though he wasn't a genius like Artemis, Tom had an above average IQ, and was a genuinely nice person. He was generous, and forgiving. Everyone doubted that he had any enemies. Tom was slightly shorter than Artemis, and had blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Like Artemis, he had straight, white teeth. He was extremely attractive, and always managed to charm the girls.
Tom stopped half way through the doorway and stared at Artemis. After a second, he rushed to the end of his bed setting his suitcase on the floor before walking up to Artemis and shaking his hand.
"Artemis! How did I know you'd be the first one here? How are you?"
"I'm very good my friend, very good!" replied Artemis, flashing Tom a smile. "How about you? Was your journey up here all right?"
Tom shuddered before answering. "I'm not too bad, my sister told my Dad that she had a boyfriend on the way up... that wasn't such a good idea as it turned out. Not the best memory of a family when you've moved out, but I suppose it happens to everyone."
Tom had barely finished talking when a third person walked in through the open door. This lad was much shorter than Artemis and Tom, standing at 5' 8". However, though his height was much less, he had looks to match Artemis and Tom. He had short brown hair with the smallest amount of gel to keep it slightly spiked, deep brown eyes, and skin significantly darker since the last time he had seen his room mates. "Hey Will! Decide to escape somewhere warm for Christmas did you?" commented Artemis raising an eyebrow.
Will ignored his comment, but walked through the door with wide eyes as though he had just seen a ghost.
Tom took his suitcase off Will, who still hadn't put it down. "What's up with you? Seen you're reflection in a mirror have you?" It was a harmless jibe. All three of them knew they did it out of affection.
Will ignored that comment too. "Did you see her?" Artemis and Tom looked at each other sideways, confused. Artemis decided to ask first.
"Yes, we have. But whether it is the same 'she' that you saw would be a different matter. Perhaps you could be more specific and we may be able to understand you."
Will rolled his eyes impatiently. "There's a new girl. Trust me, you'd know if you saw her." This time is was Tom's turn. "OK. So, what does she look like? You can't come to us all wide-eyed and not give us any details!" Will grinned. Now he was getting their Attention. He sat down on the bed, maintaining eye contact with both of them. They Sat down with him, waiting for him to explain. "There's this new girl. She's starting a term late 'cus she moved here from somewhere else. No one knows where, and I have yet to find her name." Now Artemis was starting to get impatient. He got up and closed the door, then sat back down staring at Will to get his point across. Will stared back, then as Artemis raised an eyebrow, he laughed. "Ok, Ok guys, I'll tell you. She's got long red hair, pale skin, bright green eyes. White straight teeth, and she's slim, but not too slim." He grinned at them. "and sexy" he added as an after thought. Artemis was intrigued. This girl sounded very attractive, but he couldn't go on looks alone. Tom appeared to be thinking along the same lines when he asked "what else do you know? Music? Dress sense?" Artemis smirked. He knew Toms taste in girls. There was one group that didn't stand a chance with him. They were the ones with skin tight trousers and horrible shoes, who plastered their fake blonde hair flat to their heads, and rolled makeup over themselves relentlessly. Artemis used to only listen to classical music, but as he became more like his age, he stared listening to music people his age did too, though he still appreciated the great musical composers, like Mozart. Will's grin spread even further. "She was wearing earphones and flicking through CDs as I walked past. All stuff you both like. Everything from Stereophonics though to Linkin Park. She was wearing jeans. Baggy, except for round the ass. Its not too tight round the ass though. Just tight enough. She was also wearing one of those strap top things, but that was plain white. Converse shoes too, always good. Oh yeah, after all that I told you about how she looks, she looks that hot without any make up! As far as I can tell, y'know." Artemis nodded. "Yes, most makeup products you cant even see now. They're most commonly used in covering up things like acne. Quite a waste of time, makeup only makes it worse -" Tom decided to stop it there. "Ok Artemis, we get it" he said, laughing. It was times like this that the intellectual part of Artemis shines through his sociable side. Will was still day dreaming about the New Girl. Tom looked at the clock in the corner. "Guys, its ten to six. There's a meeting in Lecture Theatre One at six!" The three guys stood up as one and walked out of their dorm, locking the door behind them.
Artemis, Tom and Will were walking down the corridor, when Will suddenly thrust out an arm to stop his two friends. "There she is!" He said hoarsely, pointing to where a girl was in the process of locking her Dorm. She seemed to be having trouble getting her key out of the lock. She was indeed stunning. The three watched as she threw her hair over her shoulder and returned to battle with the key. Artemis was the first to recover, and walked over casually, stopping next to her. "Would you like some help with that?" "No." She said, not looking up at him. She wrestled for a second longer, then managed to get the key out. She stood up straight, and looked up at Artemis. One thing Will had not mentioned was how short she was. No one really bothered if girls were short though. She stared at him for a second, clearly as captivated by him as he was by her. She smiled at him nervously, and added "Thanks though. I'll see you round." She turned and walked away, stowing the key in her bag. Artemis watched after her, still picturing her dazzling smile in his mind. Until he felt a tug on his arm. He tore away his gaze, and turned to see Tom and Will staring at him in awe. Artemis looked at them for a second, expecting them to say something. But when he realised they were speechless, he laughed and carried on his way to the Lecture Theatre.
The next morning, Artemis was the first to wake. He had a shower, dressed and was cleaning his teeth before his two roommates were getting ready too.
Will still had the New Girl in his mind, and was chatting non-stop while the three of them got ready.
"What do you think she's studying? I mean, maybe, if we're lucky, she'll be in our classes, right? Oh, Arty, Dude, I bet she'll be in yours. I mean, you could tell yesterday, she totally digs you!"
Artemis was ready, and about to walk out of the door. He paused in front of the mirror to check his hair, laughing. "Yeah, whatever you say Will." He walked out to grab some breakfast before his first lecture of the day, if you can call it that.
Artemis helped up his opponent in the hall of his first lecture. It was all about defence, and so was a very physical lesson. It was only for highly intellectual people, who have time. This term was devoted to fencing. Artemis had just played half of his class, and beaten them all, however experienced they were.
"Very good Artemis, Very good!" praised his instructor. He turned back to the class. "Now, who else would like to try and beat Mr Fowl?" The instructor stood there, as if he was expecting everyone's hand to go up. None of them did. Artemis was trying not to let a grin snake across his face when one hand went up. The class parted to let them through. I very short boy walked through. If Artemis didn't know that this class was entirely boys, he would have assumed it was a girl.
They nodded at each other, and assumed the beginning stance. They looked at each other fro a moment through their masks, then began to fight as one. This lad was certainly a very good fencer, thought Artemis, as he waved his blunt sword to protect himself. This one had already lasted much longer than the others in the class. They started to turn in a circle, then backwards and forwards as they took it in turns to attack. On Artemis' turn, he pushed his opponent back until their back was against the wall. Artemis managed to knock the sword out of their hands. He put his sword his opponents throat and took a great breath to announce that he had won. Before he had said it however, his opponent hooked their right leg around his left and pushed his right shoulder. He fell backwards, losing his sword. His opponent picked it up, put their foot on his chest and their sword to his throat.
"I won" came the voice from behind the mask. Usually, there would be cheers from the rest of the class, but this time there was a stunned silence. Everyone could tell even from those two words that the owner of the voice was female. She dropped her sword, took her foot from Artemis' chest, and held out a hand to help Artemis up.
Artemis took it, and brushed himself down. Then he took off his helmet slowly, indicating that his mystery opponent did the same. They did, and for a second all they saw were tumbling waves of red hair. The figure shook her head slightly, and her hair fell down neatly into place. It was the New Girl, who Artemis had helped with her key.
She smiled at him, nervously again. "We meet again."
There was silence still. Suddenly the instructor started clapping, and shouted "well wasn't that a surprise! Well done, Miss ... err ...?"
"Valie" The girl completed for him. "Ruth Valie."
The instructor started clapping again. "Yes, yes, of course Miss Valie, how could I forget. Well done, and you, Artemis, of course, well done, well done indeed... class dismissed! I shall see you all next week!"
Ruth Valie threw Artemis another smile then turned to walk towards the girls changing rooms.
Artemis snapped out of his shocked state and ran after her. "Ruth!"
Ruth turned around surprised and smiled again when she saw it was Artemis. "Oh, hey ...?"
"Artemis."
"Hey Artemis! Sorry if I embarrassed you..."
"What? Oh! No, you didn't embarrass me, don't worry." Said Artemis, seeing how she turned a little pink as she said it. "I just wanted to come over and say Hi, I mean, I knew that you're knew around here, so I thought that you might wanna..." Artemis' voice drained away as he thought about what he just said, and how she could interpret it.
A smile tugged at her lips again, but Artemis didn't notice this, he was busy staring into her bright green eyes. He just managed to listen to what she was saying though.
"Oh right! I am new here, how did you know that?" she didn't wait for an answer before continuing. "that's really nice of you to come and say hello, I mean, all the girls in my Dorm seem to hate me, and no one else has come over and said hello yet." She looked slightly down cast at this, but looked up brightly as she continued again. "But now you did! I'm sorry if I seem to make a fool of myself... like I am now, but you seem like a really lovely person!" She paused slightly and avoided his eyes as she mumbled her next sentence. "Do you mind going for lunch or something with me? Its just that I don't know where to go... I got lost on my way here, that's why I was late." She looked up into his eyes anxiously.
Artemis stared. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. He snapped himself back to reality as a smile was tugging at his lips too. "Oh, absolutely! Erm, I mean, sure that sounds great! Shall I meet you outside your Dorm at 1? Or do you want to meet a bit earlier to get away from the girls in your dorm?"
A big grin spread across her face. Artemis noticed how clean and straight her teeth were. As she radiated honest joy, Artemis felt himself start to grin too.
"Ooh, that sounds wonderful! Could we meet at 12?" Artemis nodded, struck dumb. "Ooh, great!" She threw her arms around his neck surprising him further. "Thank you so much! I'll see you at twelve then!" She let him go, flashed him one more smile, then walked back to her dorm.
Will and Tom were amazed when they heard that Artemis was going bring Ruth back to their dorm for an hour before going to lunch. They were even more amazed when Artemis told them how she beat him at fencing. They both just stared at him. Hmm, thought Artemis, mental note: don't give Will and Tom astounding news. When they eventually came back to themselves, they sat on the beds talking while Artemis changed into his ordinary clothes again. Tom and Will shook his hand and wished him luck as he walked out the door, with a slight smile playing around his face. He was doing that more and more that day.
Ruth wasn't there when he got to her Dorm, so he waited outside. A few minutes later, the door opened and Ruth came out, looking at the floor miserably. Artemis knew there was something wrong.
"Hi! Erm ... are you ok?" "What? Oh! Yeah, I'm fine." She looked at him, and saw the concerned look on his face. She giggled slightly, and linked her arm in his. "Come on," She said. "Where are we going to go?"
Artemis was slightly relieved when he heard her giggle. He supposed it was just her room mates. "I thought we could hang out in my dorm for a bit, so you can meet my room mates – you'll love each other, trust me – then we could go out for some lunch. Does that sound ok?"
"That sounds lovely" she said, trying not to smile. She seemed to be doing that all the time, unless she was in her dorm. "Which Dorm are you in?"
They stopped outside Artemis' room. "here" He said. He opened the door, and stood to the side, allowing Ruth to go in first. As they stepped inside, Will and Tom stood up, grinning at Ruth and Artemis. Will stepped forward first.
"This is Will," announced Artemis. "He's a bit excitable at times but he's fun to be around, and completely trustworthy. And a gentleman." He added, as Will kissed her hand.
Ruth laughed as Will went and sat down again and Tom came forward to be introduced.
"This is Tom. He's more composed than Will, but he's great fun too. I'm sure you will get on very well with both of them."
"I'm sure I will" agreed Ruth, smiling round at them all. She was finally happy, she had friends now. Ones she could trust too, if Artemis was right. He was. Ruth could tell that about people. She had a sixth sense about people that way. It didn't help her like the girls in her dorm though. Oh well, she thought as Tom pulled out a chair for her. All I have to do is sleep in there.
They spent the next hour chatting in Artemis' Dorm room, getting to know one another. They tried to make her seem one of them, as if she's been there from the start. They didn't want her to feel as though she's different. They could tell it was working, because she had a constant smile on her face, and had a slight pink flush on her face while she chatted to the amiably. By the time the four of them walked out of the dorm she was good friends with all three of them. Maybe this place wont be so bad after all, she thought.
Artemis walked to his lecture the next day with a smile on his face. Artemis, Tom, Will and Ruth had spent the rest of the day and evening together, and when they walked her back to her dorm at eleven thirty, she gave them all a hug and a kiss on the cheek. They had organised to meet that the boys Dorm the next day at 3, after Artemis' Law lecture and Ruth's music lecture. He was walking across the university field and he saw Ruth up ahead. He started speeding up to catch up with her when he saw five other guys walk up to her and stop her. Artemis recognised them. They were the main thugs in the university, and stopped other guys to beat them up, and girls to hit on them ... maybe even go past hitting on them, to a level the girls don't usually want to be at. As Artemis started running towards her, he saw her back away from the main thug. As she tried to turn around and run, he grabbed her by the waist and pin her to the ground. Artemis nearly stopped in disgust as the thug started kissing her neck, and groping her. She squirmed underneath him, and eventually managed to kick him in his manhood and roll him off her. As Artemis reached her, the four other guys were running at her. Artemis saw Ruth start to fight them off out of the corner of his eye. Evidently she was as good at street fighting as she was at fencing. Artemis wrestled one to the ground until and held him in an arm lock, and flipped the other onto his back. When Artemis went behind Ruth she had already kicked another, and was backing away from the guy approaching her. She turned around to run and ran straight into Artemis' arms, and screamed.
She had just realised it was her friend when she collapsed. Artemis saw the guy who she was running from with a plank in his hands, and a grin on his face. As he went to hit Artemis with it, Artemis caught it and flipped him over his back. Without hesitating, Artemis picked Ruth up and ran back to the dorm, not stopping until he was outside the door. He rushed in and lowered Ruth gently down onto his bed while Tom and Will came to see what had happened. Artemis told them inattentively while he went and got a wet cloth. He moved Ruth till she was sitting up and sat behind her. He rested her head on his chest and looked gently through her hair until he found the cut. Holding her in his arms at the same time, Artemis silently applied pressure to the cut with the cloth, praying that she would be ok.
Ruth woke up to a painful throbbing in her head and something holding her around the waist. Though she didn't open her eyes, she felt strangely comfortable and .... Safe. Then she started wondering why her head hurt, and went through what she remembered last. She remembered leaving her music lecture, and setting off happily towards her friends rooms. Then she remembered a group of guys approaching her – the thugs! Suddenly she panicked, thinking she was still in the thugs arms, feeling him breathing on her neck. She opened her eyes and sat up straight trying to get away, but whoever was holding her around the waist held her even closer. Then she heard Artemis' voice in her ear. "Calm down! It's ok! It's just me. Be careful, you're bleeding from the head. Try not to move." Ruth looked around at the room she was in. Yep, it was definitely Artemis' room. There were Will and Tom too, looking at her obviously concerned. She relaxed again, settling into Artemis' strong embrace, staring at nothing to one side. "Artemis?" she clarified. "Yes. Its me. Do you remember what happened?" "Erm... I think so... but how did I get here?" "The guy who you didn't kick hit you over the head with a wooden plank. A nail went into the back of your head, but not too deeply. You'll be fine, but you'll have a headache for a couple of days. You just need to rest for the moment." "Ok. Did ... Did I lose much blood because of it?" Artemis took off the cloth from the back of her head, and checked on the wound. It looked like it had stopped bleeding, but must have been sore. He held the cloth in her line of vision. "Oh... is that it? Has it stopped bleeding?" "yes... There shouldn't be any more blood, but it will be sore." "ok." She closed her eyes as she listened to the beating of Artemis' heart. No wonder she felt so safe, he was holding her, caring for her... Tom peered into her face and chuckled slightly. "Artemis, I hope you're tired mate, she's fallen asleep!" "What? Oh..." He hadn't counted on her sleeping on him. Well he couldn't wake her now, besides... he liked how comfortably she was lying in his arms. He put down the cloth and wrapped his other arm around her. "We'll stay here with you, Arty, one of us will go and get some food in a bit though. I can imagine she'll be quite hungry when she wakes up." Said Will, settling down in a chair and watching Ruth lying comfortably on Artemis' chest. "Ahh look at that. Match made in heaven." Artemis laughed and threw a cushion at him from the chair. "Well," put in Tom cheekily, "you never know!"
Artemis Fowl, Chapter 3
Artemis Fowl was alone in his dorm unpacking his suitcase. He had just finished when one of his two room mates walked in with his suitcase. Tom Wheyman. Though he wasn't a genius like Artemis, Tom had an above average IQ, and was a genuinely nice person. He was generous, and forgiving. Everyone doubted that he had any enemies. Tom was slightly shorter than Artemis, and had blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Like Artemis, he had straight, white teeth. He was extremely attractive, and always managed to charm the girls.
Tom stopped half way through the doorway and stared at Artemis. After a second, he rushed to the end of his bed setting his suitcase on the floor before walking up to Artemis and shaking his hand.
"Artemis! How did I know you'd be the first one here? How are you?"
"I'm very good my friend, very good!" replied Artemis, flashing Tom a smile. "How about you? Was your journey up here all right?"
Tom shuddered before answering. "I'm not too bad, my sister told my Dad that she had a boyfriend on the way up... that wasn't such a good idea as it turned out. Not the best memory of a family when you've moved out, but I suppose it happens to everyone."
Tom had barely finished talking when a third person walked in through the open door. This lad was much shorter than Artemis and Tom, standing at 5' 8". However, though his height was much less, he had looks to match Artemis and Tom. He had short brown hair with the smallest amount of gel to keep it slightly spiked, deep brown eyes, and skin significantly darker since the last time he had seen his room mates. "Hey Will! Decide to escape somewhere warm for Christmas did you?" commented Artemis raising an eyebrow.
Will ignored his comment, but walked through the door with wide eyes as though he had just seen a ghost.
Tom took his suitcase off Will, who still hadn't put it down. "What's up with you? Seen you're reflection in a mirror have you?" It was a harmless jibe. All three of them knew they did it out of affection.
Will ignored that comment too. "Did you see her?" Artemis and Tom looked at each other sideways, confused. Artemis decided to ask first.
"Yes, we have. But whether it is the same 'she' that you saw would be a different matter. Perhaps you could be more specific and we may be able to understand you."
Will rolled his eyes impatiently. "There's a new girl. Trust me, you'd know if you saw her." This time is was Tom's turn. "OK. So, what does she look like? You can't come to us all wide-eyed and not give us any details!" Will grinned. Now he was getting their Attention. He sat down on the bed, maintaining eye contact with both of them. They Sat down with him, waiting for him to explain. "There's this new girl. She's starting a term late 'cus she moved here from somewhere else. No one knows where, and I have yet to find her name." Now Artemis was starting to get impatient. He got up and closed the door, then sat back down staring at Will to get his point across. Will stared back, then as Artemis raised an eyebrow, he laughed. "Ok, Ok guys, I'll tell you. She's got long red hair, pale skin, bright green eyes. White straight teeth, and she's slim, but not too slim." He grinned at them. "and sexy" he added as an after thought. Artemis was intrigued. This girl sounded very attractive, but he couldn't go on looks alone. Tom appeared to be thinking along the same lines when he asked "what else do you know? Music? Dress sense?" Artemis smirked. He knew Toms taste in girls. There was one group that didn't stand a chance with him. They were the ones with skin tight trousers and horrible shoes, who plastered their fake blonde hair flat to their heads, and rolled makeup over themselves relentlessly. Artemis used to only listen to classical music, but as he became more like his age, he stared listening to music people his age did too, though he still appreciated the great musical composers, like Mozart. Will's grin spread even further. "She was wearing earphones and flicking through CDs as I walked past. All stuff you both like. Everything from Stereophonics though to Linkin Park. She was wearing jeans. Baggy, except for round the ass. Its not too tight round the ass though. Just tight enough. She was also wearing one of those strap top things, but that was plain white. Converse shoes too, always good. Oh yeah, after all that I told you about how she looks, she looks that hot without any make up! As far as I can tell, y'know." Artemis nodded. "Yes, most makeup products you cant even see now. They're most commonly used in covering up things like acne. Quite a waste of time, makeup only makes it worse -" Tom decided to stop it there. "Ok Artemis, we get it" he said, laughing. It was times like this that the intellectual part of Artemis shines through his sociable side. Will was still day dreaming about the New Girl. Tom looked at the clock in the corner. "Guys, its ten to six. There's a meeting in Lecture Theatre One at six!" The three guys stood up as one and walked out of their dorm, locking the door behind them.
Artemis, Tom and Will were walking down the corridor, when Will suddenly thrust out an arm to stop his two friends. "There she is!" He said hoarsely, pointing to where a girl was in the process of locking her Dorm. She seemed to be having trouble getting her key out of the lock. She was indeed stunning. The three watched as she threw her hair over her shoulder and returned to battle with the key. Artemis was the first to recover, and walked over casually, stopping next to her. "Would you like some help with that?" "No." She said, not looking up at him. She wrestled for a second longer, then managed to get the key out. She stood up straight, and looked up at Artemis. One thing Will had not mentioned was how short she was. No one really bothered if girls were short though. She stared at him for a second, clearly as captivated by him as he was by her. She smiled at him nervously, and added "Thanks though. I'll see you round." She turned and walked away, stowing the key in her bag. Artemis watched after her, still picturing her dazzling smile in his mind. Until he felt a tug on his arm. He tore away his gaze, and turned to see Tom and Will staring at him in awe. Artemis looked at them for a second, expecting them to say something. But when he realised they were speechless, he laughed and carried on his way to the Lecture Theatre.
The next morning, Artemis was the first to wake. He had a shower, dressed and was cleaning his teeth before his two roommates were getting ready too.
Will still had the New Girl in his mind, and was chatting non-stop while the three of them got ready.
"What do you think she's studying? I mean, maybe, if we're lucky, she'll be in our classes, right? Oh, Arty, Dude, I bet she'll be in yours. I mean, you could tell yesterday, she totally digs you!"
Artemis was ready, and about to walk out of the door. He paused in front of the mirror to check his hair, laughing. "Yeah, whatever you say Will." He walked out to grab some breakfast before his first lecture of the day, if you can call it that.
Artemis helped up his opponent in the hall of his first lecture. It was all about defence, and so was a very physical lesson. It was only for highly intellectual people, who have time. This term was devoted to fencing. Artemis had just played half of his class, and beaten them all, however experienced they were.
"Very good Artemis, Very good!" praised his instructor. He turned back to the class. "Now, who else would like to try and beat Mr Fowl?" The instructor stood there, as if he was expecting everyone's hand to go up. None of them did. Artemis was trying not to let a grin snake across his face when one hand went up. The class parted to let them through. I very short boy walked through. If Artemis didn't know that this class was entirely boys, he would have assumed it was a girl.
They nodded at each other, and assumed the beginning stance. They looked at each other fro a moment through their masks, then began to fight as one. This lad was certainly a very good fencer, thought Artemis, as he waved his blunt sword to protect himself. This one had already lasted much longer than the others in the class. They started to turn in a circle, then backwards and forwards as they took it in turns to attack. On Artemis' turn, he pushed his opponent back until their back was against the wall. Artemis managed to knock the sword out of their hands. He put his sword his opponents throat and took a great breath to announce that he had won. Before he had said it however, his opponent hooked their right leg around his left and pushed his right shoulder. He fell backwards, losing his sword. His opponent picked it up, put their foot on his chest and their sword to his throat.
"I won" came the voice from behind the mask. Usually, there would be cheers from the rest of the class, but this time there was a stunned silence. Everyone could tell even from those two words that the owner of the voice was female. She dropped her sword, took her foot from Artemis' chest, and held out a hand to help Artemis up.
Artemis took it, and brushed himself down. Then he took off his helmet slowly, indicating that his mystery opponent did the same. They did, and for a second all they saw were tumbling waves of red hair. The figure shook her head slightly, and her hair fell down neatly into place. It was the New Girl, who Artemis had helped with her key.
She smiled at him, nervously again. "We meet again."
There was silence still. Suddenly the instructor started clapping, and shouted "well wasn't that a surprise! Well done, Miss ... err ...?"
"Valie" The girl completed for him. "Ruth Valie."
The instructor started clapping again. "Yes, yes, of course Miss Valie, how could I forget. Well done, and you, Artemis, of course, well done, well done indeed... class dismissed! I shall see you all next week!"
Ruth Valie threw Artemis another smile then turned to walk towards the girls changing rooms.
Artemis snapped out of his shocked state and ran after her. "Ruth!"
Ruth turned around surprised and smiled again when she saw it was Artemis. "Oh, hey ...?"
"Artemis."
"Hey Artemis! Sorry if I embarrassed you..."
"What? Oh! No, you didn't embarrass me, don't worry." Said Artemis, seeing how she turned a little pink as she said it. "I just wanted to come over and say Hi, I mean, I knew that you're knew around here, so I thought that you might wanna..." Artemis' voice drained away as he thought about what he just said, and how she could interpret it.
A smile tugged at her lips again, but Artemis didn't notice this, he was busy staring into her bright green eyes. He just managed to listen to what she was saying though.
"Oh right! I am new here, how did you know that?" she didn't wait for an answer before continuing. "that's really nice of you to come and say hello, I mean, all the girls in my Dorm seem to hate me, and no one else has come over and said hello yet." She looked slightly down cast at this, but looked up brightly as she continued again. "But now you did! I'm sorry if I seem to make a fool of myself... like I am now, but you seem like a really lovely person!" She paused slightly and avoided his eyes as she mumbled her next sentence. "Do you mind going for lunch or something with me? Its just that I don't know where to go... I got lost on my way here, that's why I was late." She looked up into his eyes anxiously.
Artemis stared. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. He snapped himself back to reality as a smile was tugging at his lips too. "Oh, absolutely! Erm, I mean, sure that sounds great! Shall I meet you outside your Dorm at 1? Or do you want to meet a bit earlier to get away from the girls in your dorm?"
A big grin spread across her face. Artemis noticed how clean and straight her teeth were. As she radiated honest joy, Artemis felt himself start to grin too.
"Ooh, that sounds wonderful! Could we meet at 12?" Artemis nodded, struck dumb. "Ooh, great!" She threw her arms around his neck surprising him further. "Thank you so much! I'll see you at twelve then!" She let him go, flashed him one more smile, then walked back to her dorm.
Will and Tom were amazed when they heard that Artemis was going bring Ruth back to their dorm for an hour before going to lunch. They were even more amazed when Artemis told them how she beat him at fencing. They both just stared at him. Hmm, thought Artemis, mental note: don't give Will and Tom astounding news. When they eventually came back to themselves, they sat on the beds talking while Artemis changed into his ordinary clothes again. Tom and Will shook his hand and wished him luck as he walked out the door, with a slight smile playing around his face. He was doing that more and more that day.
Ruth wasn't there when he got to her Dorm, so he waited outside. A few minutes later, the door opened and Ruth came out, looking at the floor miserably. Artemis knew there was something wrong.
"Hi! Erm ... are you ok?" "What? Oh! Yeah, I'm fine." She looked at him, and saw the concerned look on his face. She giggled slightly, and linked her arm in his. "Come on," She said. "Where are we going to go?"
Artemis was slightly relieved when he heard her giggle. He supposed it was just her room mates. "I thought we could hang out in my dorm for a bit, so you can meet my room mates – you'll love each other, trust me – then we could go out for some lunch. Does that sound ok?"
"That sounds lovely" she said, trying not to smile. She seemed to be doing that all the time, unless she was in her dorm. "Which Dorm are you in?"
They stopped outside Artemis' room. "here" He said. He opened the door, and stood to the side, allowing Ruth to go in first. As they stepped inside, Will and Tom stood up, grinning at Ruth and Artemis. Will stepped forward first.
"This is Will," announced Artemis. "He's a bit excitable at times but he's fun to be around, and completely trustworthy. And a gentleman." He added, as Will kissed her hand.
Ruth laughed as Will went and sat down again and Tom came forward to be introduced.
"This is Tom. He's more composed than Will, but he's great fun too. I'm sure you will get on very well with both of them."
"I'm sure I will" agreed Ruth, smiling round at them all. She was finally happy, she had friends now. Ones she could trust too, if Artemis was right. He was. Ruth could tell that about people. She had a sixth sense about people that way. It didn't help her like the girls in her dorm though. Oh well, she thought as Tom pulled out a chair for her. All I have to do is sleep in there.
They spent the next hour chatting in Artemis' Dorm room, getting to know one another. They tried to make her seem one of them, as if she's been there from the start. They didn't want her to feel as though she's different. They could tell it was working, because she had a constant smile on her face, and had a slight pink flush on her face while she chatted to the amiably. By the time the four of them walked out of the dorm she was good friends with all three of them. Maybe this place wont be so bad after all, she thought.
Artemis walked to his lecture the next day with a smile on his face. Artemis, Tom, Will and Ruth had spent the rest of the day and evening together, and when they walked her back to her dorm at eleven thirty, she gave them all a hug and a kiss on the cheek. They had organised to meet that the boys Dorm the next day at 3, after Artemis' Law lecture and Ruth's music lecture. He was walking across the university field and he saw Ruth up ahead. He started speeding up to catch up with her when he saw five other guys walk up to her and stop her. Artemis recognised them. They were the main thugs in the university, and stopped other guys to beat them up, and girls to hit on them ... maybe even go past hitting on them, to a level the girls don't usually want to be at. As Artemis started running towards her, he saw her back away from the main thug. As she tried to turn around and run, he grabbed her by the waist and pin her to the ground. Artemis nearly stopped in disgust as the thug started kissing her neck, and groping her. She squirmed underneath him, and eventually managed to kick him in his manhood and roll him off her. As Artemis reached her, the four other guys were running at her. Artemis saw Ruth start to fight them off out of the corner of his eye. Evidently she was as good at street fighting as she was at fencing. Artemis wrestled one to the ground until and held him in an arm lock, and flipped the other onto his back. When Artemis went behind Ruth she had already kicked another, and was backing away from the guy approaching her. She turned around to run and ran straight into Artemis' arms, and screamed.
She had just realised it was her friend when she collapsed. Artemis saw the guy who she was running from with a plank in his hands, and a grin on his face. As he went to hit Artemis with it, Artemis caught it and flipped him over his back. Without hesitating, Artemis picked Ruth up and ran back to the dorm, not stopping until he was outside the door. He rushed in and lowered Ruth gently down onto his bed while Tom and Will came to see what had happened. Artemis told them inattentively while he went and got a wet cloth. He moved Ruth till she was sitting up and sat behind her. He rested her head on his chest and looked gently through her hair until he found the cut. Holding her in his arms at the same time, Artemis silently applied pressure to the cut with the cloth, praying that she would be ok.
Ruth woke up to a painful throbbing in her head and something holding her around the waist. Though she didn't open her eyes, she felt strangely comfortable and .... Safe. Then she started wondering why her head hurt, and went through what she remembered last. She remembered leaving her music lecture, and setting off happily towards her friends rooms. Then she remembered a group of guys approaching her – the thugs! Suddenly she panicked, thinking she was still in the thugs arms, feeling him breathing on her neck. She opened her eyes and sat up straight trying to get away, but whoever was holding her around the waist held her even closer. Then she heard Artemis' voice in her ear. "Calm down! It's ok! It's just me. Be careful, you're bleeding from the head. Try not to move." Ruth looked around at the room she was in. Yep, it was definitely Artemis' room. There were Will and Tom too, looking at her obviously concerned. She relaxed again, settling into Artemis' strong embrace, staring at nothing to one side. "Artemis?" she clarified. "Yes. Its me. Do you remember what happened?" "Erm... I think so... but how did I get here?" "The guy who you didn't kick hit you over the head with a wooden plank. A nail went into the back of your head, but not too deeply. You'll be fine, but you'll have a headache for a couple of days. You just need to rest for the moment." "Ok. Did ... Did I lose much blood because of it?" Artemis took off the cloth from the back of her head, and checked on the wound. It looked like it had stopped bleeding, but must have been sore. He held the cloth in her line of vision. "Oh... is that it? Has it stopped bleeding?" "yes... There shouldn't be any more blood, but it will be sore." "ok." She closed her eyes as she listened to the beating of Artemis' heart. No wonder she felt so safe, he was holding her, caring for her... Tom peered into her face and chuckled slightly. "Artemis, I hope you're tired mate, she's fallen asleep!" "What? Oh..." He hadn't counted on her sleeping on him. Well he couldn't wake her now, besides... he liked how comfortably she was lying in his arms. He put down the cloth and wrapped his other arm around her. "We'll stay here with you, Arty, one of us will go and get some food in a bit though. I can imagine she'll be quite hungry when she wakes up." Said Will, settling down in a chair and watching Ruth lying comfortably on Artemis' chest. "Ahh look at that. Match made in heaven." Artemis laughed and threw a cushion at him from the chair. "Well," put in Tom cheekily, "you never know!"