Disclaimer – I don't own Artemis fowl

Chapter 4

Two months passed by. I stayed with Joshua after collecting my stuff from Artemis' room while he was out. I joined the football team and put all my concentration into the team and my school work. Those two months passed by in a dull monotone of normal. Well, except for the sharp feeling of yearning I felt in the pit of my stomach every time Artemis walked past. I wouldn't have survived those first few weeks if it weren't for Joshua, who I now considered my best friend. He came up with a lovely metaphor where I was an addict and Artemis was heroin.

"Don't you see," he'd said, "If you keep pursuing Artemis your life is going to be a horrible mess."

This didn't make sense to me at first. How could my life be anything but wonderful with Artemis in it? But eventually I began to see some sort of truth in what he said. It was more than obvious that Artemis wasn't the slightest bit interested in silly old me. What would become of my life if I spent all my time obsessing over the guy?

Eventually Joshua no longer had to drag me away whenever Artemis was near. Eventually I learned to ignore the lust I felt for him. Everything was back to normal.

--

I strode into the English classroom, still sweaty from the PE lesson before.

"Hey, Mr. Smith, what's up?" I called out to the teacher. In response he frowned at me and told me to get to my seat. I did, falling into a chair next to Joshua. He grinned at me then sniffed the air and grimaced.

"Man, you stink," he complained. "What happened to deodorant?"

"Deodorant is for sissies," I said and lifted my arms up into the air. "this is the stench of a real man!"

Joshua groaned, covering the bottom half of his face with one hand and pushing me with the other.

"Admit it," I said, "This smell is driving you wild for my body. You love it."

"As if," came the muffled reply.

I lowered my arms and laughed as Mr. Smith walked around the room out books. After he dropped one onto my desk I looked at the title. The Great Gatsby.

Mr. Smith sat at his desk. "Today we are going to start studying The Great Gatsby," he said. "All you lot have to do is sit there, be quiet and listen. I'll be reading the first chapter."

Everyone in the class groaned as Mr. Smith opened his book and began to read.

Scott, who was sitting in the row of chairs in front of us, turned around to face us. "Hey you two," he whispered, "Look behind you. Richard is sitting next to Artemis."

Oh, well, that was interesting. Wait… What?!

I spun around in my seat, craning my neck to see right at the back of the room. Scoot was right. There was Artemis and right next to him was Richard. I stared in disbelief till Richard looked up and noticed me. A mean smirk appeared and he leaned over to Artemis and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. Artemis looked up at him and he kissed him again, on the lips this time. I turned around, feeling sick.

"Oh my God," I heard Scott say. "Did you see that? Gross!" he turned back to the front of the class, shaking his head and laughing quietly to himself.

The sick feeling in my stomach grew and I found myself raising my hand. 'Excuse me sir. I don't feel so good. Can I go to the bathroom?"

Mr. Smith nodded. I thanked him and left the room.

A/N – I ended up chopping this chapter in half so I could leave you all wondering what happens next. Please review.