A/N: Okay, I finally finished the chapter. Sorry if this update took a little longer than usual-- but exams have been ruling my life lately. I hope this chapter is worth the slight wait, though. I think it is a rather cute one =) Enjoy!
Why Why Love
Chapter 7
Sam stared up at Artemis, a huge smile spreading across her face.
"Really?" she asked, eyes wide. Artemis sighed and turned away from her.
"I don't exactly know why I am doing this," he said, "but recently I received a message from one of my counterparts that requested a meeting between me and an old friend who happens to be a fairy. The message stated that…"
"…that you had to bring another person with you that was your age that you could trust," Sam finished, excitedly, "I heard you and Butler talking about it".
"You eavesdrop on my private conversations?" Artemis asked harshly, turning back towards the girl.
"I came back to get my track shoes, I didn't mean to overhear," Sam explained. Artemis just pinned her with one of his common glares.
"Another rule for you" he hissed, "don't listen in on my conversations with others. I enjoy my privacy"
"It was a mistake!" Sam cried, "haven't you ever accidentally heard someone's conversations?"
Artemis was about to deny that he ever had when he remembered the conversation he had overheard between Sam and Dr. Murray. He just puffed and turned away from the girl once more.
"When are we going to go? Where are we going to meet the faeries? What are they like?" Sam asked, changing the subject back to the main topic, "do I need to learn some special language? Will they take us underground? They do live underground, right?"
"You talk entirely too much," Artemis said pointedly, walking towards his desk and sitting down.
"I am just curious," Sam answered, sitting back down on the boy's bed, "Even though I spent the last two years researching nonstop I am still new to this"
"Right now I am as in the dark as you are concerning details about this meeting we are supposed to have," Artemis said, taking a notebook out from his schoolbag, "so it will do you no good to ask me anything"
"Well what am I supposed to do, then?" Sam asked, lying down.
"Nothing," Artemis answered, "for the next month nothing will be different between us. You will stay out of my business, I will not teach you anything, and most importantly, you will stop using my bed at your own discretion!"
"Fine," Sam muttered, feeling a bit disappointed. I assumed that having this sort of faerie bond with Artemis would make the relationship between us better, Sam thought ruefully, but he is still as grumpy and unapproachable as before.
Artemis sat at his desk, looking at the notebook in front of him. He still couldn't believe that he had asked Sam to go with him. He was the type of boy who liked to have an explanation for everything, but there was none to be found in this situation. Sam hadn't proven to be the most trustworthy of people, she was naïve, she was brash, and she was impulsive—all three things that would be major problems.
Artemis heard Sam shuffle behind him, climbing up into her bed.
"Goodnight Artemis" she said loudly. The boy just continued to look at his notebook, not saying a word, his mind in a completely different world. Sam was a girl, Artemis knew that she was a girl, but why hadn't he confronted her about this?
I can't, Artemis thought sullenly, I can't confront her. If word gets out that she is a girl then she will be kicked out of the school, and if that happens who would I take with me?
Artemis nodded resolutely and looked behind him at the lump beneath the bright yellow covers of the top bunk. Your secret is safe with me, he thought, at least for now.
"Sam! Sam, wake up! Come on, let's go!"
"Huh?", Sam groggily opened her eyes. Someone had pulled open the curtains and the sun was shining brightly through the window. Sam shielded her eyes from the sun as she sat up.
"Come on, we better go now or else we are going to be late!"
Sam looked down and saw Jin standing at the bottom of the bunk.
"Jin?" she cried, "how did you get into our room?"
"Artemis let me in" Jin answered, pointing at the boy, who was already showered and dressed as was gathering books from the bookshelf near the beds.
"What's going on?" she asked.
"We are going to SC today, remember?" Jin asked, "the girls are having their Sunday morning activities, so if we leave right now we can catch them as they finish up"
"That's a little creepy" Sam muttered.
"What are you two going to do at SC?" Artemis asked. Jin looked at him, slightly shocked. Artemis had never taken an interest to anything that anybody had done in the past.
"We are going to find me a girlfriend!" Jin answered, smiling broadly. Artemis looked up at Sam, a single eyebrow raised, and an amused smirk on his face.
"You are going to help Jin find a girlfriend?" he asked. Sam scowled at him.
"What is with that tone of voice?" she huffed, "do you think I have bad taste in women?" It took all of Artemis's self control to not laugh at the ridiculous statement.
"You are so much like a woman yourself" he scoffed, "how could you possibly like them?"
"I am not like a woman!!" Sam cried, throwing off her blanket. She was about to bound out of bed before she remembered that she hadn't had a chance to put her chest protector on. She stole a quick glance at her chest before grabbing the blanket and wrapping it around her once more. Oh gods, she thought, did Artemis see me? What about Jin?
Nervously, Sam looked down. Jin was looking in the mirror over her desk, fixing his hair. Thank god, Sam thought, he didn't see anything. Artemis however was staring straight at her, one eyebrow raised.
"Is it that cold in the room?" he asked, "is wrapping yourself in a blanket necessary?"
"Um yes, I am freezing, that's it!" Sam cried, "brrr"
Artemis walked over to the coat stand and took his sweater off of it. He went back towards the beds and tossed the sweater up to Sam.
"Put this on and come down, then," he said, looking up at her. Daft girl, if she keeps this up then everybody will know she is a girl by the end of the week. Why can't she be more careful?
"Oh, thank you," Sam said, slightly taken aback at Artemis's niceness. I didn't think he cared about me at all, she thought, happily. Plus he didn't find out I am a girl!
Sam's mood darkened a little when that thought popped into her head. He didn't notice that I am a girl, she thought, is my chest really that small?
She lifted the covers from her slightly and peeked underneath them, scowling. I'm not that small! I don't have a man's body shape!, she thought ruefully.
Artemis stood near the bookshelf, looking up at her, trying his hardest not to burst out laughing. What…me… laughing? he thought suddenly, why in the world do I always feel like laughing whenever Sam is around? Probably her insanity rubbing off on me.
"What are you still doing up there?" he cried, glaring, "don't you and Jin have plans? The sooner the two of you get out of the room, the better it will be for me. How am I supposed to concentrate with the two of you making so much noise?"
"Yeah, we better get going if we want to catch the girls before they head off to the dorms" Jin said, moving away from the mirror, "this is my big day after all!"
"True" Sam said, pulling on Artemis's sweater. The sweater was much too long for her—her hands didn't even come out of the armholes. But despite being long, it was also quite tight.
"Why is this sweater so tight?" she asked, climbing down the ladder rungs, "how thin are you? I bet you don't have an ounce of muscle on your body!"
Artemis just glared at her. He had tried being decent towards her and this is what he got in return?
"Hurry up and get out of here" he said sullenly. Sam just nodded. Did I offend him right now? How sensitive! She grabbed her clothes, hiding her chest protector in her shirt, and rushed into the bathroom.
Jin watched Sam rush into the bathroom and smiled. He really was a cute boy. He turned towards Artemis, who was once again looking through the bookshelf. Jin noticed that the other boy, however, seemed a bit distracted.
"You don't hate him, do you?" Jon asked. Artemis didn't even bother turning around.
"I think Sam might be the first classmate that you don't hate," Jin continued, "I have never seen you care at all about another person besides Butler. Plus, you always act differently around Sam. Usually you just ignore everybody around you, or act aloof, but it seems like you are not afraid to be angry or show emotions around Sam"
"What are you, some kind of relationship mistress now?" Artemis asked, turning around, enraged. He stood there for a few seconds, composing himself. Where is all this anger coming from? I shouldn't care enough to actually get angry.
"You are thinking too much" Artemis continued, once again cool and levelheaded, just as he should be, "my feelings for Sam are the same as my feelings for every other person here at SB. I couldn't care less about him"
"So hateful" Jin whispered, shaking his head. Sam came out of the bathroom, completely changed and smiling widely. She looked over at the two boys. Artemis was leaning against the bookshelf, furiously glaring at the books and Jin was leaning against her desk, furiously glaring at Artemis.
"Did I miss something?" she asked.
"Not at all," Jin answered, grabbing Sam's shoulder. He immediately stiffened and quickly moved his hand away, "uh…uh, let's just go, shall we?"
"What? Oh, okay," Sam said. She walked up to Artemis and held his sweater out to him. "Thank you for letting me use this. I'll be going out now."
Artemis just grabbed he sweater from her and tossed it on the bed.
"Hurry up and get out of here. I can't stand to hear your droning" he said curtly.
Sam nodded and slowly walked out of the room. How could someone who was so nice to me before be so mean to me now, she wondered.
"Aw, Sam buck up," Jin said, walking next to her, "you know what I always say"
"Yeah, yeah" Sam muttered. Jin looked at the dejected boy next to him and felt his heart break a little. He wanted to help him.
"Come on, say it with me, it will make you feel better," Jin said. Sam looked up at him.
"I don't know" she said. Jin shook his head and ran out of the dorm into the quad. He threw his head back and yelled as loud as he could.
"ARTEMIS FOWL IS A USELESS GIT!!!!"
Sam just stood in her spot, laughter bubbling up inside of her. Once again Jin's crazy ways were working their cheering magic.
"Come on!" Jin said, motioning for Sam to join him. She stood there for a few seconds before shrugging her shoulders and joining him. Why not? She stood next to Jin and threw her head back as well.
"ARTEMIS FOWL IS A USELESS GIT!!" she screamed. Jin gave her a thumbs up and she couldn't help but laugh. Together they both yelled it once more, erupting into laughter afterwards.
"Jin," Sam said, smiling up at the boy, "how come you always know how to put me in a good mood?"
Jin looked down at the boy and was startled at the brightness of his smile. He really does look like a girl when he smiles like this, he thought, how cute!...Wait!
"Girlfriend" Jin suddenly said, "come on, we can't forget out main goal".
"Oh, yes," Sam said, "we better hurry then"
The walk to SC was not a long or hard one at all, and Sam was surprised when they reached the gates of the school.
"It really is close to our school" she whispered as they walked through them. SC was remarkably similar to SB in the sense that it was a beautiful place. But while SB had the look of majesty and strength with it's stone castle buildings and crawling ivy; SC had a very delicate look about it. The buildings were in a Spanish Hacienda style, all painted in warm golden shades with red tile roofs. There were gardens everywhere, filled with so many different types of flowers—in fact, the whole air at SC had a flowery smell to it.
"Wow, this really is a girl's school" Sam said, taking everything in. Such a cute school!
"Oh look, we are right in time—they are getting out now!" Jin said, pointing to a group of girls walking from one of the buildings. Sam looked over and sighed a little. Even their uniforms were adorable. Like SB, they too had to wear a white shirt, maroon sweater vests and a maroon and gold tie—but instead of slacks they had checkered skirts. Sam fingered her gray pants enviously. But then again, that is what she got for going to a boys' school.
The girls looked over at Jin and Sam and immediately started to mutter amongst themselves, giggling.
"Ugh, I hate it when girls giggle like that" Jin whispered, I never know what it means.
"It means that they are embarrassed because they didn't expect to see boys here, but they are also excited because…well, they didn't expect to see boys here," Sam said lazily.
"How would you know that?" Jin asked. Sam immediately stiffened. How would a boy know that?
"Uh… my old best friend back home is a girl," Sam said quickly, "so I have a bit more insight into these things". Jin nodded his head and looked back to the group of girls.
"Oh hey, look—they're coming here," he said, nervously. Sam looked up at him with raised eyebrows.
"Jin, have you ever had a girlfriend before?" she asked. The boy shook his head.
"Always thought about getting one, but never made the effort," he whispered back.
The group of girls came up to Jin and Sam and smiled cutely at the both of them. Sam smiled back, trying to look as manly as possible. A girl separated herself from among the group. She was an extremely pretty girl, a few inches shorter than Sam with curly caramel colored hair and large, sparkling blue eyes.
"Hello," she said, her clear, strong voice spiked with a very formal British accent, "Welcome to Saint Catherine's School for Young Ladies. My name is Melinda Walker—third year student and representative of the Junior class of SC"
"Hello" both Sam and Jin muttered. Sam couldn't help but feel intimidated standing next to the girl. I am sure she could never get mistaken for a guy, she thought ruefully. Melinda turned to Jin.
"Hello," she said, "you are Jin, right? The captain of the soccer team and the star of the track team? There are quite a few girls here at SC who are quite fond of you."
"What? Really?" he asked. Melinda nodded, "of course—I am saving myself for Artemis, but there are many members of my class that would be delighted to meet you." She snapped her fingers and three girls rushed out to the front.
"Jin—meet Charlotte, Mary, and Elise," Melinda said, smiling, "girls, why don't you give Jin a tour of the campus?"
The three girls nodded eagerly and led a smiling Jin away.
"Hey!" Sam cried out after them, "how could you leave me like this, Jin? You're the one who dragged me here in the first place!"
"Oh don't worry about him," Melinda said, turning towards Sam, "those three girls have been dying to meet him for years."
"Oh…" Sam mumbled, looking at the group of girls that were still there, all staring at her.
"So, you are the infamous new boy, yes?" Melinda said, smiling.
"Infamous?" Sam asked, confused. Melinda nodded her head.
"You are the number one source of gossip here at SC. We were told that you beat Jin's record at the 100 meters and became Artemis's roommate," Melinda said, "we also heard that you were a wholly beautiful boy"
"beautiful" Sam groaned. What would it take for her to drop the 'beautiful' image? Did she need to work out more and build up some muscles? Sam looked at her arm. Yeah, maybe that's what she needed to do.
"and they didn't lie," Melinda said, nodding her head at Sam, "you are a very delicate looking boy"
"Okay, enough about that," Sam said, "you are making me sound like a woman"
"Very sorry," Melinda said quickly, "but you must know—the main purpose of a SC girl is to bring beauty into the lives of SB boys"
"What?" Sam asked, gaping, "is that seriously all you care about?"
"Why, of course," Melinda answered, "we are here to make the lives of the SB boys more pleasurable"
"What about getting an education?" Sam asked, "what about working towards your future goals? A girl's main purpose should be to fulfill her own dreams, not the dream of some boy!"
"You are funny!" Melinda said, smiling, "you must be the first boy who has ever gotten angry at us for trying to bring beauty into your lives"
"What about women's empowerment? I don't want to see you all wasting your lives for some guys!" Sam scoffed. The girls in the crowd started to mutter amongst themselves.
"So brash!"
"How American!"
"He is so sweet, yes?"
"How cute! Look he's standing up for us!"
"I seems as though your popularity with the ladies grew even more," Melinda said, smiling sweetly, "at this rate you might give your roommate some stiff competition"
"Who, me?" Sam asked, feeling slightly sick. Girls were fighting over her?
"That equal rights speech that you just gave really seemed to make you more attractive," Melinda said, "why I am sure that you wanted"
"No, I didn't say those things just to make myself look better. I certainly don't want to do that," Sam said quickly. Oh gods, I can't handle being chased after by other girls. How odd!
"Well, if you must know. SC is more of a technical school. None of us girls here have high enough test scores to go to a high school as rigorous as SB. So instead, we learn how to become the perfect companions for SB boys. Don't think of it as us selling ourselves short, it is what we want to do. This is our dream," Melinda said, smiling.
"Still think you could be doing something better," Sam muttered before shaking her head and looking up at the girls, "Well then, as long as you are happy, I have no other worries. Now if you would excuse me, I have to go find Jin…"
"No wait!" the group of girls called out. Sam looked at them, trying not to let the horror she felt show on her face.
"Wow, you really have become popular," Melinda said, batting her eyes at Sam, "if I wasn't saving myself for your roommate, I might just have to chase after you myself"
"Oh, how nice. Thank you," Sam said, dry heaving in her mouth a little bit. The way that Melinda was looking at her was sickening. Even if I was a boy, I would be frightened by her, she thought, Jin where are you?
"You wouldn't leave all these poor girls alone, now would you?" Melinda asked. The group of girls started to advance on her. Sam backed away, looking for a way to escape. She smiled nervously at them. What can I do? she thought, somebody help me please!
"Oh my god—look! It's Artemis Fowl!" a girl screamed. Everybody turned immediately and looked towards the school gate, which Artemis was leaning against. Sam stared at him in amazement.
"Artemis?" she whispered. The boy just looked at her and shook his head. Daft girl.
Artemis slowly started walking towards the group, completely impervious to the looks of admiration that were being shot at him. At least ten girls rushed up to him, prewritten love letters in hand. Artemis just took them and tossed them in his bag without a second glance. He made his way over to Melinda and Sam.
"Oh, hi Artemis!" Melinda cooed, batting her long eyelashes furiously. "Did you come here to visit us too?"
Artemis just ignored Melinda completely and looked at Sam.
"Come on," he said, "we have work to do"
"Oh…okay" Sam said, just standing there, not quite knowing what to do. Sighing, Artemis grabbed her by the wrist and started to drag her out of the courtyard. Sam, caught of guard for a few seconds, stumbled behind him. She then realized what was going on and broke out into a huge smile. She turned back around and faced the SC girls.
"Goodbye!" she cried as Artemis drug her out of the gates, "I really wish I could have spent more time with you! So sad that I have to be leaving! Goodbye! Goodbye!"
"You don't have to act that much" Artemis mumbled as the two of them left the school. They were a good 20 feet away from the school gates before Artemis realized that he was still clutching on to Sam's wrist. He immediately let go and continued walking. Sam ran to catch up with him, smiling brightly.
"Thank you for coming to save me" she said, gleefully. Artemis didn't even bother looking down at her.
"Who could come to save you?" he asked, "Butler wanted to have a meeting with you, so I came to get you for that. Don't think too deeply into things"
"Oh," Sam said, feeling a little disappointed, though, still happy over the fact that she got to escape from those SC girls. Plus…Artemis had grabbed her wrist. She looked down at it, smiling, remembering how handsome he looked walking down the courtyard. Wait, she thought suddenly, remember your rules. You can't fall in love with Artemis! She nodded resolutely and kept on walking.
Artemis sneaked a glance at the small girl beside him. She seemed to be lost in her own world. Insane girl, he thought, she would have certainly given away her identity if I hadn't come. I can't let her do anything by herself. If she relieves that she is a girl, what am I supposed to do then?
"Let me call Butler and make sure he is waiting for us," Artemis said, whipping out his phone. Sam just nodded. Butler picked up on the first ring.
"Hello Artemis" the familiar voice said.
"Butler, are you already waiting for us?" Artemis asked.
"I'm in your room right now" Butler answered, "but I still don't understand. Why did you call me and ask me to arrange a meeting so suddenly?"
"Good, we'll see you in a little while then" Artemis said, completely ignoring Butler's question. He hung up the phone and stuffed it back in his bag. He turned and looked down at Sam. Why did he call the meeting so suddenly? Why did he feel the need to protect the little girl next to him?
It's because she is the only one I can take with me to meet Holly, he thought resolutely, and that is the one and only reason why I care about her.
A/N: Okay, there is was! Ahhh, don't you just love relationship drama? haha, hope that you all enjoyed the chapter! As always, I would love to hear any thoughts you had on the chapter or on the story as a whole. Your reviews are what motivate me to keep on writing! Gracias y besos!!