Everyone is a master of his own fate

One of these days, Arthur found himself thinking,

One of these days, I'm just going walk out of this shit hole of a school and never come back. He moved few inches forward.

Seriously, how could it take these people so long to make up their mind what to have for lunch? How can these people ever be able to do anything useful in their lives if they can't even make up their minds about what to eat for lunch today? The school was so full of losers it made Arthur itch.

Yet again the queue moved a little Arthur could almost see the food now. He was so looking forward to getting his hand on some delicious chicken wings that the menu had promised. Arthur leaned on the side and tried to see how many people were in front of him.

Too fucking many. I bet they'll be out of chicken wings just when it's my turn. I don't want to eat some vegetable mush again. Sigh. He could see that his friendValiant (aka V) was just collecting his chicken from the lunch lady.

That clever knob! He always cuts in line. Maybe I should too. He tried to see someone he could easily cut in front of, but didn't really see any good victims. He scanned the line again and finally saw Gwen.

Aha, I bet she wouldn't mind me cutting in front of her. She is so in to me she can't help her self. Arthur stepped out of the line and made his way to Gwen. As he was reaching out to her he could hear some one yell.

"In coming!" And before he could react something wet and slimy flew right at him accompanied with something heavy yet bony. Too bodies hit the floor with a thump followed by the clinging sound of the dishes.

OMG, I can't move! His inner voice was screaming as his brain was slowly catching up with the situation. He lifted his head to estimate the damage that this unexplained occurrence had taken on him to find a pair of scared blue eyes fixed on him. The whole cafeteria fell silent and all the heads were turned at the direction of the commotion.

"I'm sorr…" The boy didn't have time to finish his sentence.

"Get off of him you wanker!" The weight was lifted and the eyes were gone. Before Arthur was able to pick himself up from the floor, a herd of caring females swarmed around him.

"Oh my gosh! Arthur, are you alright? Did you hurt yourself? Is your head alright?"

The girls started attacking him with concerned questions. Arthur struggled to stand up because the girls were pinning him down. Usually he didn't mind tension, well who in their right mind would say no to praises concerning looks or skills. Arthur most certainly didn't, but this was a bit too much. He was starting to get pissed, he hated overbearing girls. He had always hated the poor thing, come here, I'll give you a cuddle and everything will be alright kind of treatment girls gave him sometimes, especially when they tried to make him open up about his mother.

Damn these cuddlers were persistent!

As he finally got up he fought his way trough the herd of girls over to the boy who had just made him hit the floor. V and some other thugs were holding him as he tried to struggle out of their grasp.

"What the fuck was that all about then?!" Arthur was surprised to find himself so pissed of at this scrawny klutz.

OMG! My shirt is full of some greasy mush, its never going to come off. Arthur just noticed his shirt was smeared with food.

"Look at the state of my shirt! It's ruined!"

"I'm sorry, but they made me stumble…."

"Are you seriously trying to pin this on someone else? Have you no shame you friggin klutz!? You your self are responsible for your own feet and the direction their supposed to go."

"Don't be such a prat. Your buddies here tripped me and…."

"Who are you calling a prat you little…"

Before the situation got anymore heated, the teachers thought it best to break it off. The students had already started to bet on who would beat down who first. Oh well like the lanky kid would have had a chance. It was more like how long would he still be able to stand on his own two feet.

-

Classes were over, but as Arthur was hurrying to his football practise he went past the detention room and caught a glimpse of the boy from the cafeteria. He stopped in front of the classroom to have a little gloat. He was already late from the practise, but they would just do some lame warm ups at first anyway. So naturally there was always time for a little gloat.

Hah haw, serves him right. Ruining my shirt and all. Hmm….I don't remember seeing him before, he must be new. Oh well no surprise there. New ones are always the weirdest. Hmm, there is definitely something shifty about this guy. What the…!

Arthur jumped back when the boy raised his gaze from his school book to look straight at him. Arthur could see the boy's mouth move as if he was saying something, but no words seemed to come out `cause the teacher didn't react to him in anyway. Arthur could have sworn the boys eyes changed colour just before the door slammed shut loudly right in front of him.

Arthur ran the whole way to the football field as fast as he possibly could. Definitely no need for a warm up anymore.

-

After the practise as they were heading to the locker rooms V caught up with Arthur and gave him a little punch on the shoulder.

"What the fuck was wrong with you today Pendragon, my five year old sister could have gotten the ball away from you. "

"I'm sorry dude I just had a really weird day today." Arthur didn't try to defend himself in any way, he really had sucked. Arthur couldn't remember the last time he had sucked so bad at the field

"Wow there, you don't sound quite right. Are you ill or something?" V raised his hands up and took a few steps away from Arthur.

"No, I'm not ill. At least I think I'm not. Do I look ill, because I don't feel ill?" Arthur mumbles.

"Dude, you're almost making sense. Did you hit you head or something at the cafeteria?"

"I don't think so….Hey, by the way whose lunch did I wear today."

"Um, I don't know. We just beat that lanky bitch up every once in a while, but that don't mean I know his name."

"Oh. Ok." Arthur frowned. He wasn't quite sure why.

"But hey, I'll be sure to make him pay the next time I see him. And you'd better get your act together for the next practice or you'll be screwed." V gave him few more punches on the shoulder and took off.

"Yeah ok." Arthur watched as V sprinted towards the locker rooms and then made a u-turn when he spotted some girls hanging on the side of the field.

What a prick, he sure doesn't need much to live for. Hmm…I wonder if there is someone else who might know the name of that boy from the cafeteria. A-hah.

Arthur ran to a boy who was collecting his stuff from the side of the field.

"Hey, um…dude." Arthur just realised he didn't remember his name. They had been in the same team for few years and yet he didn't seem to recall his name.

"Lance."

"Huh?"

"My name. Lance."

"Of course. Lance. I know your name." Arthur gave him a friendly nudge and tried to laugh, but it all came out seriously awkward.

"Ok, my bad, you just kind a looked like you were struggling there for a moment." Lance shrugged and went back to his business.

"Um, Lance?"

"Yes, Arthur?"

"You wouldn't happen to know the name of the boy who threw his lunch at me today."

"If you mean the name of the boy who fell on you with his tray because Valiant tripped him over then the answer is yes, I know his name."

"Oh, um….Well what is it?"

"I'm not going to tell you that, so you can make his life even more difficult."

"I'm not going to make his life difficult. I just heard he got detention and…" Arthur tried to give Lance a reassuring smile. "I just thought that I might apologise to him."

"You might?" Lance wasn't really warming up to him.

"I will apologise. Please. If you could give me his name and maybe his address if you know…."

"His name is Merlin Emrys, but I don't know where he lives, I have never been to his house."

"Ok, thanks." Arthur turned and left. Now that he had it he wasn't quite sure what he was going to do with this information.

"Hey, Arthur!" Lance called after him. "Don't make me regret this. And you should make Valiant apologise too, he's the biggest prick in all this."

-

Arthur decided to walk home. Usually a chauffeur drove him and Morgana home, but right now he felt he needed to do some walking. He needed to clear his head. It would be over eight kilometre walk, but it's not like Arthur couldn't handle that, after all he was an athlete.

The evening air felt really fresh; it had been raining earlier that day. Arthur wasn't sure how long it had been since he'd walked home from school. He tried to use as many shortcuts as he could remember from his childhood, when he had been playing in that area. As he walked in the nostalgic surroundings he started shuffle through the events of the day in his mind.

Merlin Emrys, strange name… That lanky boy surely was a strange one.

My favourite shirt is ruined, though I could try and wash it, but the grease will never come off. I'll just have to get a new one. Maybe I should make Merlin buy me a new one, but it's not like he did it on purpose. So that would leave Valiant…Oh, I don't know. He was just having a laugh, I'm sure he wasn't aiming for me…

Merlin… What a funny name…

It's a good thing I had an extra shirt with me, otherwise I would have smelled like food for the rest of the day…

What was the thing with the eyes anyway and why on earth did I get so freaked out by them? And the door, the school is kinda drafty. But I must have been imagining; people's eyes don't just change colour.

Oh man, I totally sucked at the practise, the coach didn't seem too happy about that…

Merlin's eyes…Sigh.

Did I just sigh? Now that's weird.

Arthur shook his head to get rid of the odd feeling that had emerged out of nowhere.

There is definitely something odd about that Merlin-boy, I just can't quite but my finger on it.

Hmm…I wonder why I've never noticed him before.

Arthur frowned; he tried to think if he'd seen Merlin before this day. He remembered Will, he remembered Lance, but he just couldn't remember seeing Merlin hanging out with them.

This is a bit weird. How could anyone not notice someone like Merlin?

Hmm…Merlin…

Sigh.

Damn it!

Arthur just realized that Merlin had occupied his thought completely.

Hey, wait a minute. Where the fuck am I?

After slouching for about 40 minutes (deep in his thoughts) Arthur realised he was a bit lost, well he wouldn't use the word lost, but anyway.

Arthur studied his surroundings to find a landmark he could recognise.

All these damn housing estates look the bloody same these days.

The houses around him were all new and they were almost identical. Arthur walked a little further down the avenue and he stopped on his tracks as he noticed a familiar street sign that pointed to a little road that didn't really lead anywhere. The road was a dead end, but there was an old house that had not been lived in for centuries. Or at least that's what they said. The old house was rather notorious among the people who lived by.

Ealdorstreet! Shit. I must have taken a left turn a bit too early.

Arthur hadn't been there for years. He still had nightmares of the house, every now and then. He wanted to run as fast as he could, like he had run when he was 12. He gaped down the road where the house still stood, looking exactly the same…. Except, it almost looked like the light on the porch was on. But of course that would be impossible since no one had lived there for ages.

Now that's a bit odd; was the first thought that popped into Arthur's mind and without mulling over the fact any further, he ran like he had run all those years ago.