Disclaimer : I do not own any of the character of Shrek or the movie itself.
Author's note : I've done my best to do less mistakes as I could, but I'm a French Canadian and I kinda learned by myself (mostly by reading Fan Fiction... thanks to all of you !) because English classes is not very useful, let me say it. Anyway, if you see any mistakes, feel free to tell it to me and I'll correct them with pleasure :)
Update : AllzStar is nice enough to correct my story. See the bottom of the page for more information about it:)
This was going to be an ordinary day, thought Artie. But "ordinary day" meant nothing good to him. An ordinary day in his life meant that he had to go to class and work alone for teamwork and that he had to ignore all the people laughing and playing pranks on him. Even the nerds were cooler than him and that, he thought, sucked pretty badly. He knew he deserved more than that. Yeah; someday he was going to be great and famous and people would regret all the things they had said and done to him.
"Hey Artie!"
Arthur went out of his reverie.
"I assume we will see you tomorrow at the father and son contest day?" continued Lancelot boisterously, "Oh yeah, I forgot: even your father didn't want you! And let me say that I don't blame him!" he burst out laughing and winked to his popular friends.
Yeah, this was going to be a normal day…
He looked around him, only to see his classmates having fun, chatting while they were waiting for the teacher to come. Only he was talking to no one, in the back of the classroom. He felt pretty alone, but in some kind of way, was beginning to get used to it.
The teacher entered the class and everyone stopped talking, taking their stuff out of their bags and getting prepared for the lesson.
"Good morning, students!"
"Morning, Mr. Merlin." The few students that said this said it quietly and hesitantly as to not look like teacher's pets in front of their classmates. Arthur stayed quiet and was already backing into his reverie.
"Today's going to be different," said Merlin with a hint of a smile. The word different caught Arthur's attention. "We have a new arrival in the school," the teacher continued, "I'm sure everyone will be very nice to her and help her fit right in." Mr. Merlin was now getting the attention from all of the guys in the class. "April, you can come in now!"
---
She didn't like this kind of presentation stuff. In fact, she downright dreaded it. Having everyone looking at her, making sizing her up by the way she looked. She knew that the girls were only checking to see if she would become a kind of eventual rival or threat to their status and that the guys were already thinking of how they would look as a couple. The only good thing about standing in front of everyone was that she, in turn, could also look briefly around the class and size them up.
It didn't take her long at all to find the "cool" ones, like that tall guy with brown hair who seemed to have self-confidence to buy; and the girl with curly red hair who was ferociously chewing her bubble-gum. The two of them seemed to have their little fan-clubs; there were several guys surrounding the brown-haired guy and even more girls fighting to sit next to the redhead.
April began to feel a little apprehensive about them, but, well, everyone is great unless there is something that states clearly otherwise, right?
And, of course, there were the nerds in their own corner of the room…ah, the runny-nosed, pimply-faced, glasses-and-braces-wearing nerds. How many of them asked her out? It was so difficult to her to say "No, but we can still be friends". She knew how horrible it was to have this kind of answer but she didn't know what else to say to get her out of it.
She also noticed one guy at the very back of the class who was sitting all alone and who was not even looking at her, but staring at the paper on his desk. He looked very socially awkward and shy. But he seemed nice…at least he wasn't staring at her like she was a piece of meat like everyone else in the class. And he wasn't that bad looking, either…
"Ahem." Merlin cleared his throat.
"Oh! Sorry, sir," April said sheepishly, "I just kind of analyzed the people in the class to get a good idea on who everyone is. Guess I got kind of distracted."
"That's perfectly alright; I like your spirit!" replied the wizard happily. "Now, will you give us all the honor of knowing a little bit about you so we can analyze you, too?" He laughed at his own little joke but no one else did.
"Um, okay," said April hesitantly. She didn't like doing this sort of stuff. "I don't really know what to say. In fact, I never liked this kind of presentation stuff in front of everyone, because you can't know who I am after a few short sentences. If you want to know me, you'll have to talk to me…!" She laughed nervously and bit her lip when her peers' faces remained blank. "Well, I'm a person who smiles a lot; you could say I'm still very young at heart...uh…." She began to pull at her clothes. "I really don't know what else to say..." She stood there for a moment in silence while the class waited, gathering her thoughts. "Well, I could also tell you some of my hobbies, I guess…I like to draw…and…um…I'm kinda good at sports… and I think that's it." She took a deep breath and smiled weakly at Mr. Merlin. The teacher blinked, as if expecting more, but when he realized she was done he said, "
"Well, I suppose that will be enough for us!" He gestured towards the class. "Now, take a seat wherever you like and we'll begin the lesson."
She thanked him and walked down an isle, heading for the back where the shy guy was. She felt the gaze of the guys following her all along. One guy, the brown-haired popular one, made her feel really uneasy; it was like he was undressing her only with his eyes. She looked away, pretending she hadn't seen him and sat just beside the lone boy at the back of the room. He jerked when she sat down, as if coming out of a reverie. She turned to look at him and gave him one of her most dashing smiles. He blinked, processing what was happening. When he realized that April had just sat beside him and smiled dazzlingly at him, his face turned bright red and he looked back at his desk.
---
He couldn't believe it. This beautiful new girl had gone out of her way to sit next to a loser like him? It took him a while to figure it out. When he did, he felt like the biggest fool ever.
She had caramel-colored hair that curled down to her shoulders. He couldn't place the color of her eyes because he hadn't had time to see it. When she smiled at him, he sensed his face getting hot and he turned away immediately. He must have looked like an idiot. Anyway, she had beautiful eyes and such a smile! How could she look at him? He didn't understand it.
It was just a smile. Nothing more. When everyone will talk her, she'll know how much of reject I am. She will not smile at me then and she will laugh as the others do, he tried to convince himself.
Still, he couldn't help but turn his face to his right to look at her.
"Whoa!"
She giggled. "Sorry, didn't mean to frighten you," she said shyly, "Do you want to be my teammate for this work?" she asked.
"What? What work?" he asked, a little confused.
"You weren't listening, weren't you?" she said with humor, smiling. "Merlin gave us a little work to do…that's why you have a new sheet of paper on your desk. See?" She pointed the sheet.
"Oh." His face reddened even more. He really looked like a fool now. He usually listened in class and had very good grades.
"Why do you waste your time talking with him?" Interfered Lancelot loudly from across the room, "No one loves him."
Her eyes widened. She sat there silently for a couple of seconds. "Oh…really? Thank you for telling me! I would never spend time with a reject. What was I thinking, anyway? Thank you Mister…?"
"Sir Lancelot, at your service," he replied triumphantly. "You could do this exercise with me. You'll have so much more fun."
Artie was already beginning his work alone. He knew that would happen, but not that fast. He didn't even have a chance to really talk to her…She'd even succeeded in hurting him already.
"Sure, I'll be honored to go with you," she answered confidently.
Lancelot smirked in Artie's general direction. "See? She's here only five minutes and she already sees how much of a loser you are!" He turned to April "So…. We go to my desk, unless you want to be beside a loser?"
"Yeah, you're right, I don't wanna be beside a loser…"
Ok, ok, I get it… I'M A LOSER! Now just stop it! Artie thought, pressing harder onto the page with his pencil so that he nearly tore it.
"…that's why I'm not going to work with you!"
That last part of her sentence surprised Artie and Lancelot...and pretty much everyone else in the class.
"You really think I meant I'll have said?" she asked, surprised.
"…Yeah?" Lancelot was very puzzled now.
"What were you thinking, really? You show up like you're the king of the world, cut the conversation I had with him AND you tell me I shouldn't be with him because he's a loser! That's a sick joke!"
Lancelot was now very silent, a look of shock on his face.
"How dare you tell me with who I should spend my time with?" April continued loudly, "You don't even know me…and I think; no, I'm pretty sure that I don't want to know you either. You've had your chance to prove me wrong about the first impression I had of you, and you failed. You suck…a lot."
She spat out the last word with such a look of disdain on her face that Lancelot would have backed up if he hadn't been seated.
Artie looked at her, amazed. Lancelot was gaping. No one had ever dared to talk to him that way and this girl would suffer for the outburst.
---
"Come on, let's do this work together," said April sweetly once the message had sunk in, turning to Artie with a smile. "Oh but wait… I've got an idea. I'll be right back." She passed in front of Lancelot, glaring fiercely at him (though he was still dumbfounded) and went in the front of the class to see Merlin.
"Sir?"
"Yes my dear?" he answered.
"The weather is nice outside. At my other school, when it was warm like that, our teachers let us do our work outside if we wanted to. They warned us that if we weren't doing great, we'd have to come inside, so we did the exercises as demanded and we had the chance to be under the sun. It would be great if you could do that too, sir." She smiled to show she was finished.
"That's is a great idea! Listen up, everyone!" he said loudly, addressing the class, "April here had a great idea and I'm sure you're gonna love it." Everyone felt pretty unsure of that. Some people were already glaring at her.
"You can do your teamwork outside if you want too, on one condition: do it correctly, or it'll be the last time you'll have this privilege. Come back here at the end of the class to give me your exercise. Now go!"
Everyone shouted of joy. She could hear some "Thanks April!" "That's great!" or "We already love you!" And she was sure she heard a "You're our Queen!"
That comment must come from the nerds, she joked to herself.
Lancelot was the only one who wasn't having fun. He has been turned down by April and now his girlfriend didn't want to talk to him. He eventually left with the rest of the class though.
April went back to Artie. He could tell by her smile that she was very proud of herself.
"So, what's your name, The-one-I-shouldn't-be-with?" she asked, laughing.
"Arthur…But you can call me Artie."
"Nice to meet you Artie! Now what would you think if we do our work very fast so we could spend some time together?"
"S-Sounds great."
---
This must be a dream. She talks to me and she even seems to enjoy it. Plus, she defended me. She must be sent straight from heaven!
"Finished! Whoa! We're great! We have still 20 minutes left and I'm pretty sure all our answers are right!" exclaimed April when they had finished the last question on the worksheet. "So, now we can talk about anything! If you want, that is."
While she was speaking he looked around him, only to see people whispering and pointing at them. He knew the whole situation was already bringing a lot of rumors. But, to be honest, he was as surprised as everyone else that she had chosen him to hand out with. Plus, she turned down Lancelot…in his defense!
Speak of the devil; right then Lancelot passed in front of them, following Guinevere and seeming quite desperate.
"How could you?" Guinevere shouted at him, "You wanted to work with her? You always work with me! I'm tired of you flirting with other girls! You're such a jerk!" She began to storm off, fuming.
"Guinevere…baby…you know I love you – and you'll always be the only one. I just wanted to make her…comfortable so she would adapt well in her new school…" babbled Lancelot in vain.
"Yeah, right. I'm not a fool you know! I never want to see your face ever again!"
Arthur and April looked at the scene, stunned. When the couple was far enough, they burst out laughing.
"Oh, my God, that was the funniest thing I've ever seen in my entire life!" cried Arthur between giggles.
"Yeah! I cannot even believe how much of a…a…."
"Jerk he is?"
"Yeah." She wiped at her watering eyes.
He smiled.
Suddenly her smile faded and was replaced my a look of sheepishness. "You know…you should smile more. You look really…uh…handsome when you smile." Her voice squeaked on the word handsome.
"R-Really? Well…um…th-thanks. I guess…I mean…. No! I'm sure…Thanks, that's really nice of you." He smiled again to make her happy. Was she flirting with him? He sensed his face turning pink again. He had to do something, anything, but look at her. Oh, the grass! That was a great thing to look at.
They spent a few moments in silence. Then Artie lay down on the grass, and so did April. They both looked at the clouds.
"The breeze is nice." she said quietly.
"Yeah, it was a great idea that you had: to work outside." He turned his face to look at her, an eye closed against the glare of the sun. "By the way, what's your last name? You never told us in front of the class."
"Grey. My name's April Grey."
"Mine's Pendragon."
"Nice. Arthur Pendragon. It sounds like a king name."
He laughed. "Yeah…in my dreams!" He looked at the clock tower. "It's time to bring back our work." He stood up and offered her his hand. She took it and he pulled her to her feet."Thanks…" said April slowly, gathering her worksheets. "You know, I just don't get why people don't like you. You're a nice guy. Don't ever think otherwise, okay?"
He nodded and felt his cheeks getting pink again as he began to walk with her back into the school.
"What's your next class?" asked April after giving their work to Merlin.
"Astronomy; you?"
"Math…too bad! I guess we could meet at noon at the cafeteria…?"
"S-Sure!"
The next hour seemed a lot much longer than usual for Artie. He tried the best as he could to listen to the teacher, but just couldn't! His mind wandered to April. April and him sitting next of each other, April and him kissing….Wait! He wasn't supposed to think of that! Not here, not now. But that would be so great….Dammit! Just stop you moron! He shook his head a little to help him focus on the class. This was going to be a really long hour.
---
On her side, April wasn't having as hard a time as Arthur. Everything was new to her here, so she barely had time to think. It was as if she was being controlled by a big tornado. She didn't mind it, though. She liked it when life is full of action and unexpected situations. Before she knew it, class was over, but she still had one more class before lunch break: gym.
Author's note : Hope you've had fun reading my first chapter. I wanna say a special thanks to one of my friends who found the name of April for me ! Thank you :)
Update: I also wanna say a big THANK YOU to AllzStar who corrected and improved the text of this chapter (next are to come). I even found myself laughing like "Aaah this is sooo funny!" and then I was like "Wait it's my story... and I laugh... Weird
Really, it's much better now and so much more fun to read!
I could almost gave her the title of co-author as she really improved it! Have I said thank you? ;)