Chapter 23

The Encounter

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A/n:

This chapter is a part of the Phenom series. This Phenom scene will encompass many chapters. Hope you enjoy it. :)

RECAP:

Unfortunately,one of my least favorite humans was walking in it. Her eyes scanned the room and I could see the exact moment that she found me. Her lips curled up a bit into a smirk as she made a bee-line for me.

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Holly's POV:

"Holinda," Minerva squealed as she looked me up and down.

I did the same. She was wearing a dark blue miniskirt with a light blue and white lace cami. She also had on a dark blue, bolero jacket that was identical to mine in design. Her shoes were black boots that went up to her calves. Blue striped soccer socks poked out of them. Her hair was wild in curly in a way that made it look like she had just crawled out of bed. (Knowing her, maybe she had.) She had a tiny dark blue band to hold her bangs in place. In other words, she looked like some biker-chick wanna-be.

"Minerva," I nodded. If she could pretend to be civil, then so could I. I would not be the first to break the facade.

"May I sit down?"

"No one's stopping you," I shrugged. So much for being civil. Well, you win some and you lose some.

She looked slightly taken aback. She sat down, all traces of fake kindness gone. "What do you want?" I asked lacing my fingers and looking her dead on.

"So, I guess you want to avoid pleasantries and skip right down to business?"

I shrugged. "I'd rather not sit here and watch you try to be nice to me."

"Okay," she said as if she had expected nothing less. Which maybe she hadn't. She was a genius after all and any idiot could feel how much I hated her. "Where should we start?"

"What do you want?" I asked again.

"So very direct," she murmered to herself. "Are you American?" I see what she means. Americans are generally opionionated and not shy about telling you how they feel. Though, I am not technically American I do share some of their opionionated traits.

"No matter what I am. Answer the question."

"Fine, I tried to be nice," she ranted and I raised my eyebrows. This mud girl was the polar opposite of nice and I know that from experience. She's nothing like Arty. Arty always had a spark of goodness, it just needed to be blown on. Minerva doesn't have any goodness when you look at her. She's not going to change and she doesn't want to. "And all I want is to give you a warning."

"Warning? What do you want to warn me about?" I asked though I'm sure that I knew. I could feel myself getting angrier and angrier.

"Stay away from Arty. He's my boyfriend and he wouldn't want a cheap tramp like you, anyway. So if you didn't get that, let me reiterate. HE. IS. MINE. SO. BACK. THE. HELL. UP!"

Before I knew it, I had stood up so fast that I had knocked down the chair I was sitting in. It was on the floor, but I didn't care. That didn't stop me, I was seeing red. I was going to say what I needed to. "Listen bitch, you better watch how you talk to me. I don't know 'Arty' as you call him, but if you're his girlfriend then he can't be as smart as everyone says. And who are you calling a cheap tramp? You can't call anyone a slut, tramp, hooker, whore, hoe, or prostitute. That's your job. You're just more expensive than your ordinary garden variety hoe. So if you haven't gotten it yet, let me reiterate. Stay. Away. From. Me. Back the hell up!" I ranted.

Minerva looked a bit frightened but she opened her mouth to comment. Before she could say a word, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned my head and saw that it was Shry. "Chill guys," her mouth and face said, though her voice did not match her carefree words. "Just take a deep breath."

I did as she suggested (didn't help), but Minerva just stood there, very tense. Legs apart (probably used to that), hands in fists, body taut. This was a fighting stance. It was almost perfect, but I could see some faults that would lead to a very weak hit. I could take her.

"Minerva, you need to calm it down. Now," she said and Minerva ignored her.

"You're her friend, Shry?" she asked as though it was the worst crime she could think of. Which maybe it is. A large brain can't make up for creativity. "You hang with this slut?"

"Minerva, you are a genius," she chided. "Act like one. Take a moment to think it through. How could you come to such a ludicrous conclusion? You know that Artemis can't be controlled. If he's yours then you have nothing to worry about. Besides, he hasn't even met her and you know how hard it is for him to warm up to people. So please, just leave."

I could see that the common sense was working on her, but she didn't want to look weak (too late). "Why should I?"

"Well, because Holinda here is pretty dangerous. She's a black belt in karate, Tai kwan do, and other things that probably don't even have names." My mouth opened in shock. She was pretty much right. LEP hand-to-hand combat training included an ancient art that is exactly like karate and other things that did have no name in the english dialect. Recently, I had taken up some classes with Qwan. They were in Tai Qwan do (not tai kwan do). Apparently, he invented the martial arts form.

Minerva's smirk faded and I gave her my best smile as I put my arms in combat position. She quickly turned and sashayed away."How did you know that?" I asked Shry rather sharply.

"Chill Holinda. Your body's taut and your combat position is a mixture of different fighting styles that I'v tried or read about. It's my job to know people. I'm a genius and a store owner. I have to know people."

My shoulders relaxed and I said something that I needed to. "I do not like that girl."

"I know what you mean. She can be so overbearing."

"And slutty," I added.

"And slutty," she agreed. "Nice outfit by the way."

I looked down at her for the first time. She was wearing what still classified as a miniskirt, but it was longer than any I had seen tonight. It was black and flowed out. Her shirt was red-sequinced and she had on a tiny black, bow-tie. It was one that was made for girls and it really looked good. She had a tiny quarter-sleeve black 'leather' jacket on. Her boots were long black and lustrous with matching, red-sequined trim.

Wow, do all humans dress alike? "Thanks, you too."

"Thank you. The perk of owning your own store," she grinned. "Come on, let's go to the bar."

"Um, why?" I asked. Juliet was already getting the drinks.

"I told Mackenzie to meet us there," she said setting the fallen chair back up. I had completely forgotten about it. There had been a lot on my mind.

"Oh okay," I said as we went over to the bar. We kept being stopped by men asking if we wanted a drink. We both politely refused, but I was getting annoyed. All these men just wanted to get us buzzed to lower our inhibitions and our pants. That's why fairies can't share drinks with them.

The first person, that I saw sitting at the bar was Juliet. She was talking very avidly to the bartender. He seemed sort of cute in a lost puppy kind of way. Big blue eyes, lost look, blond, floppy hair. Yep, definitely a puppy. Shry and I sat down with Juliet on my right and Shry on my left. Juliet had just gotten around to ordering her strawberry daquiri and my cranberry juice. He handed the drinks to Juliet and she slid mine to me. Shry ordered a cranberry juice too. I looked at her quizzically. Most humans her age love to drink and get sloppy drunk. Not that I'm judging.

"I don't like getting tipsy around the slobbering dogs," she commented when I asked. I looked at her and as a cop I'm trained to pick up things about people (well elves, but the facial expressions are similar.). She was definitely hiding something. I need to find out what.

She laughed and wanted to know what my excuse was. "Just not a drinker," I shrugged.

"Well, that's good," she smiled as Juliet ended her conversation with the bartender, but I could tell that she didn't believe me.

Juliet turned to face us with a smile still on her face. "So, what's up?"

"Nothing," I said.

"Minerva," Shry said.

"Uh-oh. What did she do?" Juliet asked looking at me as if expecting to see blood on my hands or curly, blond hair between my fingers. I'm a little hurt. Minerva's still, technically, a child and I would never hurt a child. Even if they deserve it.

"Well, she came to warn Holinda away from Artemis. Whic is preposterous since she's never even met him."

Juliet glanced at me. Obviously a hint. "And she's a genius?" Juliet snickered and then realized that she had interrupted. "Sorry. Continue."

"Anyway, they traded insults for a while. Then when it started to look like a fight, I stepped in and got them both to chill."

"Hahaha, Artemis is gonna love to hear about this," Juliet cackled. "I can't wait to see the look on his face." She has a point. It's a guarenteed laugh. It was almost worth having to talk to Minerva. Almost.

"Oh wow. I wanted to tell him." Shry smiled at the though. I guess she's the type of friend who likes to embarrass people. That's one of the things that I like about her and I'm sure Arty does too.

"Wh-?" Juliet bagan but stopped mid-word. She was looking straight ahead with her mouth wide open and her eyes glazed.

"Hello?" I said waving my hand in front of her face. Then I turned to Shry. "What's up with her?" Shry was the only likeable genius present. If anyone knew what was going on then it would be her.

"Isn't it obvious?" Shry asked. "Look over there." I looked over to where she had pointed. Emory was standing at one of the tables.

"Snap out of it," I rolled my eyes.

Juliet jerked out of whatever fantasy she was in. "Sorry, guess I zoned out," she admitted sheepishly.

"Who can blame you?" Shry joked.

"Blame who for what?" asked a familiar soprano.

"Where'd you come from, Mackenzie?" Shry asked.

"Around," she shrugged, seeming so different from the quiet girl I had met earlier today. "The guys are parking the car. They probably won't hang with us much tonight."

"Oh well. We'll just have to amuse ourselves," Juliet grinned evilly.

"No," I said shaking my head. Any plan of Juliet's is probably bad for me.

"Why not?" Juliet grinned.

"Your idea of 'amusing ourselves' usually gets people, meaning us, in trouble."

"Not true. Name one time." More like name one hundred times. It would be easier to find a time when she didn't get me or others in trouble.

Shry watcheed as we went back and forth. She looked like she was making a play in an intellectual game (or ping-pong). After listening for a few more moments she made her point. "Enough, Juliet. Holinda has a point, she said and I smirked. "But on the other hand, Holinda, we are here to have fun and nothing's more fun than a little trouble."

"Fine," I huffed. "What's there fun to do except watch Juliet get sloppy drunk?"

"Hey!" Juliet shrieked as Shry, Mackenzie, and I laughed.

"Haha," Shry giggled.

"Seriously, my idea is good," Juliet said.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Let's dance."

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A/n:

Woo-hoo! Another chapter , the next chapter will be another Phenom chapter in Holly's POV. Hope you enjoy it. I hope to update this story soon. Keep reading and I'll keep writing. Oh and remember to review. Flames are welcome. They're what keep me warm and toasty at night. ;) Just to clear something up, I am still continuing this story. With exams, band, and advanced classes I have hardly any time to write or type. It'll take a while to update. And for those who like my Twilight stories, I'm sorry but they're on hiatus. I need to get a few Arty stories out of my head before I go back to them. Wow, my longest a/n ever. ;)

Remember: Reviews = happy camper. Happy camper = quicker updates. Quicker updates = you reading more. It's a cycle. Keep it going!

Yours truly, madly, and deeply,

Einstinette