Chapter 3

Finishing with the paperwork wasn't the problem. Nor spending another afternoon in guard duty or being laughed at for my morning performance at the chorus. The real problem started when I crossed the doors of the school. I wasn't supposed to be there, unless it was an official act or an emergency, which of course, it wasn't.

But there I was, covering my face with one hand and pretending an oversized robe would hide my two extra pairs of wings. Looking back on it I shouldn't have let Francis' words affect me that much. The bloody frog was an idiot, but even he wouldn't be such an idiot as to tell an amnesiac newcomer about his past. It never ends well.

I've only seen it happen once and I don't have it very clear, but as far as I'm concerned, the mentions force the memory to bring up the pieces and the brain overloads with so much information that it literally explodes, and it isn't a nice view, which can either incapacitate the individual for the rest of his immortal life (since we can't really die, hell, we're already dead) or the mental system can be restored but it leaves a permanent damage, causing him to be slower with words or have some sort of speech disability or…..well, you get it, Francis better not mess things up.

Suddenly the bell rang. Students ran out of the classrooms and filled the hallways with chatting and laughter. A few ones glanced at me, but just as fast they shrugged and turned to their friends. I had to find Matthew, just to see if he was alright, and get out of there. However, when I was going up the stairs I heard an ear drilling voice calling me.

"Artie!"

I cursed and looked back. Oliver was sprinting up the stair waving and smiling like the mad chesire cat he was. Honestly, I had no idea of what my relation with the boy was. Cousin? Brother? Long-lost twin brother? God only knows. I only knew he was part of my family. My mother had just arrived one day saying 'This is Oliver. He's your age. You are going to be such good friends!'

We definitely didn't become friends. Hell, he once tried to feed me poisoned cupcakes!

"Artie! Poppet, how are you? It has been like ages since I last saw you!" he cheered.

"Don't shout wanker, no one can know I'm here" I snapped. He smirked.

"Oh please Artie, as if anyone knew you" he mused. I glared at him.

"Shut the bloody hell up! And leave me alone, I'm working."

"And what are you doing, if I can know?"

"No you cannot. Now, please mind your own business bloody freak!"

"Oh my, darling, we still have problems with that temperament of yours. Don't ya worry Artie! Oli is here to help you!" he beamed.

"Bloody hell! Can't you understand I want you to shut up?!"

"Geez! Cool down a little dear. You're fuming" he commented. My head started to hurt. Wasn't he listening?

I just buried my face in my hands and let out a sigh. He kept grinning like an idiot and mumbling things about school being so boring and some health teacher who had 'totally no fashion sense'.

I wasn't listening anymore. I had to think. If Francis was Matthew's uncle, then he would want to be close to the kid. Then I had to find him first. Where could that bloody frog be? He gave cooking class at the school and had some fashion group on weekends, or so I'd been told (of course, Oliver had been the first one to join). Then it hit me and I snorted. If Matthew was his nephew, then he surely was a bloody 'gourmet cook' and had signed up for cooking.

But I still had to find him. I looked at Oliver. He didn't seem to notice, or care, that I'd been ignoring him.

"….and seriously, what do they do in China? I mean, it was a great color combination and he didn't have a reason not to like…."

"Do you know where Francis is?" I asked, cutting him off. At first he looked mad for being interrupted and started glaring at me, but then his expression changed and a smirk appeared on his face.

"And, why do you want to know?" he asked, nudging me and raising his eyebrows. I flushed.

"I-It's not what you are thinking bloody perverted twit!" He laughed.

"Aw, but if you want to see him so badly~"

"ENOUGH!" I shouldn't have raised my voice if I wanted to stay unnoticed, but at the time I could care less. "DO YOU KNOW WHERE THE FROG IS OR NOT?

He laughed harder. I could feel my ears were red and actually fuming, as well as the rest of my face, as he doubled over.

"Ah, Artie. You'll have trouble in the future with that personality. Fine, then, his cooking classroom is on the third floor. I'll see you later poppet!" he waved and walked away.

Finally, I thought. I tried to sneak through the hallways and up to the third floor when I heard my name being called, yet again.

"Arthur!" I recognized that voice. I turned around and was surprised with a hug.

"D-Diana!" I flushed. Didn't this girl understand the concept personal space?

"Hi!" she smiled, pulling apart. She was dressed in her white robe and in a hand she held her cell phone (again), even though it was prohibited, so she must've sneaked it through security (again). I straightened and looked at her.

"Diana….what have I always told you? Hugging people randomly is bad….."

"…is bad manners and not always well appreciated and so not proper of a lady. Yes, I know, but hell Artie! How have you been?" she asked, completely ignoring me. I was about to reply but another voice broke in.

"Hey!" her friend, I never actually remember her name, something like Marian or Miriam, came behind her. She was also holding a cell phone, with some creepy song playing, and I just shook my head.

"Yeah, hello, and what are you two doing out of class?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Well, like duh, I'm going to my other class Arthur" Diana answered. Her friend nodded, more concentrated in singing her song.

Just then, another teenager burst in the scene.

"HEY!" this time it was a loud voice. I looked on the direction it came and saw a somewhat short boy with his wings spread. He jumped next to them and greeted them both with a high five.

"Rosa, you aren't supposed to have them spread" Marian said, pointing at the guy's wings. He looked at them and shrugged.

"It looks cool" he replied, then he turned to me "¡Qué onda!" he patted my shoulder and could almost feel how my bones broke under his palm. I remember his name, I swear I remember…..Daniel! That's it.

"Y….¿Qué hacen?" he inquired in a low voice. Both Diana and the other girl laughed and I just stared. I never learnt bloody Spanish.

"jaja, oye rosa, ve a la máquina por comida ¿no?" Diana said, apparently talking to the guy. I only understood 'machine' and I remember comida means 'food'. He made a face.

"Ahhhhhh, ¿y yo por qué?" he whined.

"Porque eres rosa" the other girl said, giggling and tossing him some coins.

"Está bien pues, no se tarden que me como todo eh" he raised a finger like he was threatening before turning around and running down the stairs, still with the wings spread.

Diana and the girl started talking in Spanish and laughing, pointing to where Daniel had disappeared, and they seemed to have completely forgotten that I was standing there. After some minutes I cleared my throat and they looked at me.

"You done?" I asked.

"Hell, what a temperament!" the girl complained.

"Oh, come on Arthur, cool down a little" hearing them say the same Oliver had made me twitch my eye.

I sighed. "Whatever, I just hope you're doing fine with your subjects."

"It's the first day! We don't have any subject to do fine with. Geez! Even dead you're a worrier" Diana patted me on the back. My wings shook at the contact.

"Ow, don't do that!"

"Sorry" she laughed, not sounding sorry at all. The girl soon joined her and they started to talk again.

If I weren't so close to them I would surely start lecturing those girls about their awful manners. But sadly, I am, so I just have to deal with it. I don't even know why I bother so much for them. They are just some girls I met when I was alive.

Ok, that was a lie. They were some close friends I had when I was alive. Wonder how? Well, my mother was one of those women who liked to try everything. One day I went home to visit her and found a young girl in the room that used to be mine. At first I freaked out, but then my mother explained that she'd signed for one of those programs were you receive an exchange student. That's how I met Diana. She was twelve years old, she was Mexican and she'd won an exchange to England with a scholarship for some nice school.

Since we had only a six year difference (I was eighteen back then) we became really good friends. I, like a gentleman who likes the people around him to act civilized too, and no it was not obsession, proposed myself to make a lady out of her…and as you can see it didn't work.

On vacations she went back to Mexico and she took me with her, and I met her friends Daniel and…..you know, I'm seriously thinking it is Miriam. However, I think those are some of the best memories I have of my mortal life. Except for the fact that I was thought to be the older brother or the father whenever the four of us hanged out, it was rather enjoyable. But shortly after Diana turned thirteen, I, well, I died.

And now, four years later, she was dead as well. She, Daniel and Miriam were. Those bloody fools died together. What kind of death was that?

"Well Artie" Diana said "We have to leave you. We have a class to attend and food to eat."

"Yeah" Miriam said "By the way, do you think he'll get me my juice?"

"I get juice even when you're not there. You're freakin' contagious! Anyway, goodbye Artie" she hugged me again.

"Bye" Miriam waved at me.

"Goodbye…oh wait! Girls!" I called.

"Yes?" they turned around.

"Ah…eh, do you know this guy, Matthew Williams?" I asked.

"Matthew…" Diana repeated, as if thinking "Does he happen to be a tall, blond guy with glasses?"

"Yes!"

"Haven't seen him" she said. Miriam laughed.

"I don't have time for games!"

"Okay" she raised her hands "Sorry, just had to it. I heard him thinking about what elective he should choose. I believe he went for cooking" she said.

"Wait, you heard him thi….oh never mind" Miriam shook her head. Yeah, I know, getting used to the fact that your best friend can read minds and your secrets ain't safe anywhere sure takes some time.

"You sure?"

"Look, Artie, I don't know. He was way too far for me to hear clearly, but I'm pretty certain it was his last thought."

"Okay, that's enough, I think. Now go to your classes" I said.

"Oh yes sir, you're welcome" Miriam said sarcastically.

"Thank you" I forced a smile "Now go."

I felt my shoulder being hit.

"Ow!" I looked at Diana and she was glaring at me.

"What?" I glared back. After some seconds she sighed.

"Forget it. Well, see you Artie. Come on Liz!" she said and they both disappeared among the students. Oh go figure, it wasn't Miriam. Hey, you can't blame me! I was amnesiac as well when I arrived. Four bloody years just aren't enough to remember the details of a lifetime!

I didn't notice that we had walked while we were talking, so now I was standing at the other end of the hallway. I found the stairway again and went up. I'd never been to Compound K's school, so I had to ask some students where the cooking classroom was. At some point I felt a strange presence behind me, but I shrugged it off and continued my way.

"Finally" I thought, standing in front of the door. Just as I was about to grab the knob a thought passed through my mind.

What if the bloody frog had opened his damn mouth? What if everything I found when I entered was a bloody mass of flesh and brains and a very teary French knelt beside it?

I shook my head. No, that was not going to happen. Not while he's my newcomer!

I slammed the door opened….

A/N: Hi! DianaChaseKirkland here ;)

So….first of all, sorry for the delay -.-' But I had so many bloody exams and projects and zero ideas and I just couldn't write this. Besides, I started other stories that I might not continue either. Yeah, I'm a mess.

And something else….I included myself in this chapter. Well, Kodamnation included us both in her last chapter, but writing about me as an actual character of the story feels kind of weird. Besides, meeting Artie is like, my dream xD And I read minds :P Sorry, it has always been one of my favorite powers. Also, I can almost see our friend Daniel doing what I wrote :P

Anyway, enjoy! R&R please~