Fawkes

The Ugly Truth

With the mission growing closer, our plan coming together and the time set for the following Friday, you'd think I'd be distracted throughout the next week. But nothing, it seemed, could draw my attention away from Dick, who hadn't been at school in the last four days and whose face I missed seeing in the majority of my classes. Sitting at the back of my science class reminded me so much of the beginning of the year, and how much he despised me. We had come so far just for me to throw it all away, just like my friendship with Mindy, Sandy, Justin, and Sam.

Speaking of, Mindy and Sam had given up on speaking to me, and Justin was back to sitting at their table, him and Mindy together once more. Although I was happy for them, I knew what it meant. She and Sam had lost, and now there was no hope for me with any of them. I saw it in the way they looked at me every so often, guilt evident in their eyes. I never looked back, because if they felt guilty, it was nothing compared to what I felt.

"That's wrong," Artemis said to me, as she was looking over at my homework paper in Math class, "I know because I'm cheating off of you. That's not a common factor, two doesn't fit into seven."

I looked down at my paper, shocked to see that she was right, I had gotten the wrong answer on one of my questions. I had been so preoccupied thinking about what I'd done to Dick that I didn't even notice my error.

I didn't say anything about it, just erasing the two and fixing it silently while Artemis watched my face closely.

"Hershey, you did the right thing," she then said, and I glanced at her briefly to see concern etched across her features.

"It doesn't feel that way," I mumbled, putting down my pencil and running my hands through my unkept hair, the pink colour only reminding me further of Dick.

"Dick is a civilian," Artemis went on, "and right now you've got a target on your back. Even walking home with him isn't safe, let alone going Downtown at night."

I knew she was right, but it didn't exactly help my mood. If what I had done felt so right, why wasn't Dick in school, and why was I left feeling like I had just killed someone?

I missed his small smile, and sitting next to him in Spanish playing flick football and copying our homework off of the kids in front of us. I missed the way he'd grab my hand and pull me closer to him in busy hallways, as if he thought I'd wander off and get myself into trouble if he didn't keep a close eye on me. I missed his eyes, and the way he'd look at me when he thought I wouldn't notice. I could clearly picture his face in my head, but instead of the small smile and the twinkling blue eyes, I saw the way it twisted into hurt as I rejected him.

"You should really get some sleep. Maybe take a nap," Artemis said, standing up as the bell rang, "we've got an important mission tonight."

I just stared after her as she left before looking down at the back of my metal calculator to examine my face. I looked like hell, large bags under my eyes and my hair a mess around my head. I made a minimal effort to fix it, but my attempts were short lived when two figures appeared at my desk.

I looked up, making direct eye contact with two steely blue eyes. They didn't twinkle like Dick's, they weren't even bright and electric like his. They were a stormy, grey blue, and held a hunger I didn't like. I then turned my gaze to the other person, who had chocolate brown eyes and a smirk on his face.

"Here to try and finish what you started?" I leaned back coolly as I examined Lukas and Dallas with a calculated expression. I likely should've been scared. Lukas did in fact make me uneasy, and the teacher had left the room. The door was closed, and it was only us three, but I still leaned back in my seat and raised a bored eyebrow.