My Golden Life

Chapter 52

It was great catching up with Shrek and the others. A lot had gone on while I had been at school. It was kind of funny to hear all the duties Shrek had to while the king was ill. I mean, how hard did he hit the boat with the bottle for it to sink? Not only that, but I was also super excited to hear Fiona was pregnant. Shrek seemed to be happy about it too, but now and then, he would have a worried look on his face. I guessed that it was his nerves kicking in about it all. 

We all continued heading down the path, trying to ask people if they had seen Artie, but no one wanted to tell us. It might have been because they were all scared of Shrek, which I can understand to some extent. He's not that scary...when he's angry, that's an entirely different story.

As we walked, I spotted Guinevere and Tiffany talking with each other. I was about to divert Shrek from not talking to them, but before I could say anything, he was already heading towards their direction. Great, just great.

"So then I was all like I'd rather get the black plague and lock myself in an iron maiden than go out with you." Gwen moaned.

"Eh, totally-" Tiffany replied.

"Pardon me..." Shrek interrupted.

However, before he could get another word in, the girls glared at him and rushed off with disgusted looks on their faces.

"Eh! Totally ew-th!" Gwen cried.

"Yeah, totally!" Tiffany added.

As they walked past me, they turned and glared at me with a mean look. I simply rolled my eyes and turned away from them.

"What's their problem?" Donkey asked.

"They're just their usual rude, bratty selves," I grumbled.

"You know them?" Puss said.

"Sadly, yes, don't worry about them." I sighed. "They wouldn't know where Arthur is anyway."

I then spotted nearby Gary and Xavier sitting on a bench playing their role-playing medieval board game. I had heard about it before but had no clue about what the rules were. It was the type of game that geeks like them would only understand, not to be rude or anything. They were nice to talk to, that is when they weren't so engrossed in their fun fantasy world. They might have had a clue of where Artie was, so I gestured to the others in their direction to speak with them.

"Yes! I just altered my character level to plus three superbability." Gary cheered.

"Hi," Shrek said. "We're looking for someone named-"

"Gee, who rolled a plus nine dork spell and summoned the beast, his quadrupeds, and handmaiden." Gary chuckled, making Xavier snort with laughter. His nose then started bleeding, and I quickly rummaged through my bag, pulling out a tissue to give to him.

"Thanks, Katie," He nodded.

"No problem," I said. "And what have I told you about calling me a handmaiden Gary, don't make me hit you again like last time."

"Sorry, Katie," he said.

"Look," Shrek sighed. "I know you're busy, not fitting in, but can either of you tell me where I can find Arthur?"

Gary then pointed to the athletic field. "He's over there."

"Thanks," I said, and we headed off in that direction.

As we arrived, we saw a guy on a horse wearing full armour on; a jousting stick gripped tightly in his hand. I couldn't tell who he was because he had his helmet on, but he had total concentration in his eyes. On the other end of the field, there was another guy on a fake horse wearing a wooden helmet. He, too, was holding a jousting stick, and strapped to his body was a red target mark. The guy on the real horse then began charging down the field. 

There was then a loud bang, and the poor guy on the fake horse flew high into the air before landing on the ground with a loud crunch in front of where Shrek, Donkey, Puss, and I were standing. I couldn't believe what I had just witnessed, and I was about to get even more shocked when the guy on the horse removed his helmet.

"Haha! There is no sweeter taste on thy tongue than victory!" He laughed, his friends cheering him on.

My face turned to an angry frown as I looked at the smug guy on the horse.

"Of course it had to be Lancelot," I thought. "I should have guessed. Who else would do something like this."

"Strong, handsome, face of a leader. Does Arthur look like a King or what?" Shrek smiled, heading over to Lancelot and his teammates.

I was about to hurry over to tell Shrek that Lancelot wasn't Artie when we heard a slight groan. Shrek looked down and saw that he had stepped on the other guy's chest. He was still sprawled out on the ground and hadn't moved since he had been hit. That impact got to have hurt.

"Oh. Sorry." Shrek said, moving his foot away.

"Did you say you were looking for Arthur?" the guy asked.

"That information is on a need to know basis," Puss said sternly.

"It's top-secret, hushity hush." Donkey added.

I walked over to the guy and gave him my hand, and I gradually helped him up onto his feet.

"Hey, are you ok?" I asked.

"Yea," he groaned. "I'm good. Thanks, Katie."

I was a little startled that he knew my name, but it took me a second to realise who he was.

"Wait, Artie? Is that you?" I gasped. He pulled off his helmet, and sure enough, it was. He ruffled his hair before turning back to me.

"Yea, it's me." He said.

"You could have got yourself killed," I said, holding his arm. "Why on earth did you agree to do that?"

"I didn't," Artie explained. "Well... I kind of did. I didn't have a choice."

I frowned at him while shaking my head. "I swear I'm going to deal with Lancelot."

"No, don't it's ok. You don't have to defend me." Artie insisted.

"I do, you're my best friend," I exclaimed. "Anyway, listen, we've been looking for you. We need to tell you-"

"Oh no, I'm going o be late for assembly and the mascot contest." He interrupted. "I need to go; I'll talk to you later, ok?" He then began heading off out of the field.

"Hey," I heard Shrek yell to him. He turned his head briefly and then proceeded to run off. We were about to go after Artie when Gwen appeared and stopped Shrek. I spotted three other girls not too far behind her giggling amongst themselves.

"Ahem! This is like totally embarrassing," she said. "But my friend Tiffany thinkest thou vex her so smoothly and she thought perchance thou would wanna ask her to the Homecoming Dance or something..."

I stared at her with a blank look on my face. I turned and looked at Shrek, who was just as confused as I was.

"Uh, excuse me?" he said.

"It's like whatever. She's just totally into college guys and mythical creatures and stuff." She said, blowing a piece of her bubble gum.

What had I honestly just heard? That had to be one of the weirdest things that I had ever witnessed in my entire life. Shrek completely disregarded her and walked off with Puss, Donkey, and I right behind him. We had Artie in our grasp, but now we had lost him. Now we had to go looking for him all over again.