Damn! My jacket's in my locker. I've gotta get it

He changed directions and hurried to his locker. "I could've sworn it was in here," he said, until he retraced his steps back to the gym where he actually found it. The air around him became colder and he walked faster.

Outside, the sky was stormy grey and as soon as the sound of thunder came up, the sky cleared.

But that wasn't the oddest thing.

The oddest thing was that The sound came from one particular direction.

The name Artemis sounded in his head and he went back to the auditorium...

________________________

Artemis was ready for the final trick. He was going to disappear, make a light distraction behind Nora, then reappear in her front and let his moment take control: kiss her.

He rose his hands up (for a dramatic impulse and a little pizzazz). While at this, a sharp bolt of electricity came rushing towards the sky and broke the ceiling.

Nora screamed, but her voiced had seized for literally just a split second.

Looking up, tears were filled up in her eyes but didn't fall out. Instead she fell down on the chairs and fainted.

Artemis was battling with his hands which were now sort of magnetized to the electricity pull. He tried but to no avail to free his hands. Another odd thing was he wasn't physically affected by the force of the electricity (but he was affected emotionally.)

Elias who entered when electricity was at full force crashed into the wall outside the door after trying to open it.

Artemis' hands dropped suddenly and he looked at both of them with astonishment. His gloves were burnt up,then he stared at Nora who was already waking up.

The only thing he feared at that moment was Nora's response to her attempted murder.

She sat up on the floor dazzled and then angry at the same time. "Did you want to KILL ME!" She screamed.

"I don't know. I mean no? No I didn't expect-" he said, short of words.  "Ugh!" She said, dusting off ceiling chips from her shoulders and hair.

"This wasn't supposed to ha- I'm sorry," Artemis said. "This is unbelievable!" She said, almost crying. She walked up to him and punched him in his shoulder.

It was forceful but it didn't come with as much pain as it came with the force.

She stormed out angrily, with her hands swinging from side to side.

As Elias approached the scene, Nora pushed him with her shoulder. "Come on," he remarked. 

He came back in limping like he had lost his leg.

"Dude, what happened?" Elias asked in a low voice with so much concern. Artemis looked at him, looked at himself, looked out at where Nora had just left, and said, "I... I... I don't know."

Elias noticed the countenance of his friend and felt even more concerned. "You're not letting that girl or this incident get the best of you. Or are you?" he asked, hoping that he was sounding comforting.

"No Elias. You don't get it!" Artemis yelled.

Elias' gaze traveled to the ceiling and then his eyes grew as wide as donuts. "What exacting happened here?" Elias asked, not letting his gaze drop.

"Did you get struck by.... The lightning?" Elias asked, making emphasis on the lightning.....

★★★★★★★★★★

On a spaceship...

This particular ship was rather full and deserted. There was nothing like any workers moving around. Only a remote area seemed to be functioning.

In that area, sat a man who was starring directly into open space. A digital portal opens behind him and the supervisor walked in, happy.

"I have good news, sir," he said.

"Speak."

"Remember what I told you before..., One down and two to go..."

★★★★★★★★★★

"Hey Alak, we're on our way home now. Something bad happened, and it's gotta do with Artemis," Elias said hanging up.

"What do you mean som-" he asked right before Elias hung up .

"What was that all about?" he said to himself as Aeo walked in.

"What was what all about?" he asked.

"Elias... He said something went wrong with Artemis."

"Walking into the house, Artemis looked burnt. And not just from his clothes. He was burnt up on his heart. All his fantasies of Nora had ended the moment he began his last trick. His face looked simply weak and tired and it did a great job hiding his anger.

"What happened?" Alak inquired, looking blankly at him.

"Is that Artemis?" Aunt Lina asked from the phone. "Um... Yeah... He's here." Aeo said not sure of what to say. "Oh ok then put him on the phone." She said.

"NO! I mean... Um.... I won't.... No sorry.... I mean I can't..." Aeo said, unaware of what to say next.

"You can't be serious. Are you?" She asked. "I am actually. Artemis is um... Exhausted from tuning Elias at the... School's race tryouts..." Aeo lied, making Elias' mouth stick open.

"Tell him I said hi," Aunt Lina said. "Ok.... Artemis! Aunt Lina said HI!" he said to no one in particular and then hung up.

"Artemis, you've gotta tell us what's up" Alak said, concerned. "And also why you are like this," Aeo added.

"Don't wanna talk about it," said Artemis, walking away from the door entrance. As he made his way to his room, Elias said, "Well I do."

The other two drive their focus and concentration to him. "Go on," Alak said. "Ok, did you guys notice the change in the weather just like half an hour ago?" Elias asked. "Um... No?" They both replied.

"Huh? You mean you didn't notice what was going on outside all afternoon?" He asked. "No, what did happen?" Alak inquired.

"Well... The weather suddenly changed at school and.... He kinda, sorta, you know..."

"You know what?" Aeo said impatiently.

"He got struck by lightning and messed up his whole you know," Elias said, "And I think it still has an effect on him."

"Messed up his what?" Alak asked, feeling like he was left in the dark of this mess."

"The only reason he didn't come back home on time was because he was doing a magic show for someone, and now it seems he messed it up.". Aeo replied.

Thanks for pin pointing that out," Artemis said, "Now can I go. See you at school Elias."

"Thanks for the update," Alak said, ushering him out. "That's fine, but please do make sure he's ok." He said. "Sure."

"Is it just me or does it seem strange that a thunderstorm would happen just in one place?" Aeo said.

"I'm not following," Alak confessed.
"So I'm guessing you didn't hear a word that he said?" "No I did, but I don't think anything's weird about what he said." Alak said. "Long story short, I don't think what Elias said is actually true. Not that he's lying or anything..." Aeo stated.

"Look smarty pants, we weren't there to know what happened and the only witness at our disposal is traumatized so..." "So you want me to explain further?" Aeo asked. "Yup."

"Look Alak, we know that Artemis' reason for staying back at school was for a magic show, but don't you think it's.. You know?"

"I don't get your point," Alak said. "I'm saying, maybe his props interfered with the climate change or something of that sort." Aeo said. "Cos, don't you think it's unreal for the lightning bolt to channel directly to him?"

"Nope"

Aeo rolled eyes in disbelief.

"Before you continue I wanna say I think you're worrying too much about that.... And besides, all this science talk is making me sick," Alak said.

Artemis sat alone in his room thinking about what had happened, not only had he made a total mess and destruction at school but he lost his chances of ever being at least Nora's significant friend. It was at times like this he really needed to be with his mother... Or Dad.

He had always thought why he had no memory of them. Not even their pictures were available. They didn't even know their cousins. I mean he could've told at least one of his cousins about this.

His phone has been ringing ever since, but he chose to ignore it. Obviously, it was Elias and he kept on ignoring it. He finally chose to answer.

"What?!"

"Why're you so cold? I was only calling to check in on you," Elias said, with a concerned tone. "Sorry, I'm really so so sorry, " Artemis replied sadly...

________________________

The only reason why Artemis felt comfortable at school the next day was because he had thought that the news of the incident hadn't spread around.

But when he arrived at his class, the eyes that clustered in him were enough evidence that the news had gone viral. He was still suffering from the effects of his failure the day before and he        didn't even dress as he should've.

He wore a dull grey sweat shirt and baggy pants: so not Artemis' style.

Although, he walked casually into class, avoiding attention but now that everyone was staring at him he acted like he hadn't seen them and went to take a seat in front of the class where he wouldn't be able to see the gossips.

The girls surrounded Nora like she was their queen, and Artemis was sure she was still lying about the incident.

If course she exaggerated about everything and didn't even stop at that. She added a lot more spices to it.

All the boy wanted was for the ground below him to just melt and swallow him. But that wasn't happening.

Elias felt so bad for Artemis and went over to his seat and said, "I'm so sorry you gave to put up with this."

"There's no use, the news has already spread, so I've gotta deal with it." He said.

Elias got up and looked round to see everyone murmuring one thing or the other about Artemis.

Most especially the girls and.... Cheerleaders.

Ugh!

"HEY!" Elias exclaimed.

Everyone turned each of their startled necks to the teacher's desk where he was standing and began gossiping the more and they even didn't try to hide it.

Artemis was then more surprised.

"You guys had better shut up your mouth holes right now," Elias continued, and when they did, he didn't realize that they had actually kept quiet until they gave him questioning eyebrows.

"What're you doing man?" Artemis asked. "Saving you." "But there's no need for this," he argued.

"Too late. I'm already here."

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