1

ARTEMISIA

My nose crinkled as I stepped out of the fifth room in the house.

I had been searching around for Julie for the past hour. Yet, I couldn't find her.

I went back to the dance hall and noticed some party-goers had already passed out.

Whilst others were heaving, into the dustbin, potted flowers and anything they could see.

I gagged as a blonde staggered toward me. She had barf on her clothes, and I wondered what she would have done if she had been in the right state of mind.

“Julie!” I called out as I stepped out of the door.

I inhaled and let it out slowly as the frigid air smacked my face.

I rubbed my palms on my exposed skin and shivered slightly.

I didn't know it would be this cold because, for the past week, it has been warm. Also, it hardly gets cold at this time of the year in Lanes.

It was a wonder tonight was.

Perhaps the weather report I had checked earlier had been wrong.

I shrugged, walking around the car park of the house.

On the outside, it was a large, plain-looking building. The only thing that stood out in it was the way they decorated the balcony with beautiful and different hues of flowers.

I could recognize only the fuchsia, morning glory, and red rose flowers.

The rest looked quite foreign. But I was sure I had come across it before.

“Where could she be?” I asked myself as I stood in the lot that was brightened by the light from the moon.

I glared at the lamppost that was beside me. Also, I guess it was only for decoration since I didn't see a light from it.

I looked heavenward, and I noticed the moon was at its peak.

The last time I checked the clock before coming out, it was past eight.

It was rare to see the moon outside fully by this time of the day. It didn't surprise me.

Swirling again, as I heard a low groan, I sighted Julie hunched above a dustbin.

Wincing, she clutched her tummy as she heaved.

“I won't drink any more.” She moaned, wiping her mouth with the back of her palm.

“Maybe you shouldn't say a promise you can't keep,” I said.

I lifted off her hair as it cascaded down her face. I had heard her a lot of times, promising not to do things.

But, by the end of the day, she goes back to what she had promised not to do.

It wasn't her first time vowing to stay away from booze. It might be her fifth or sixth time. Possibly more because since she had got her fake age licence, she had been partying ever since then, and it had been two years ago. We were barely sixteen then.

“It's good to see you are sober.” I patted her back before doing her hair in a ponytail.

I passed the bottled water with me to her. She opened it and rinsed her mouth and her face.

“Artemis.” She said as she straightened a while later. “You look better than I do now.”

“That is because I touched only a drink.”

Julie was the one that persuaded me to come to the pub. It was a night before our graduation, and she had said we wouldn't get the opportunity like this after tonight.

On getting here, she tried to force me to take the tequila she ordered, but I declined. Yet that didn't stop her from trying to shove the awful drink down my throat.

I had taken something else since I didn't want to look like the prude she had called me and, despite it containing only a little alcohol, it had affected me because I was a lightweight.

The first time I tasted vodka was when I vowed not to touch anything alcohol because I was overly drunk, despite taking only a few sips of the monstrous liquor.

Also, I embarrassed myself. I had kept to the vow until tonight.

But I was glad I didn't take more than I could.

“Come on, let's get going,” I mumbled, wrapping my hand around her waist.

The leaf rustled, and the air became more frigid.

I used a free hand to tug on the sleeve of the blouse I donned. But it was of no use because it was way too short.

I groaned, whilst shivering slightly. I felt Julie did the same, and I wondered why she was cold since she wore a leather jacket.

Moreover, I helped her zip it up before proceeding toward the house.

The rustling continued. Startling, I could still hear it even though I had left the side of the bush where I heard it the first time.

My ears perked up as I heard a low growl. Glancing back, I noticed the place was empty. Just like I had left it a few seconds ago.

But then the growling continued, making me wonder where it was coming from.

I shrugged, as I saw nothing out of the ordinary whilst assessing the environment.

I turned towards the house once more and yelped as a man appeared in front of me.

“Shit!”

Glancing up to glare at the man that had startled me, my breath caught in my throat.

Earlier, I thought Aaron and Jordan were the only perfect boys I had seen.

The person in front of me was perfection itself.

Although he wasn't a boy, he didn't look to be much older than I was. Perhaps he could be in his early twenties.

I frowned as a smirk formed on his face. Perhaps he had caught me staring at him for too long.

It wasn't my fault, though. It wasn't all the time I saw a 6ft man towering above my 5ft 6 inches.

His eyes. I couldn't fathom the colour because it was quite dark, and I didn't mind. As far as I could make out his physique, it was fine to me.

I am freaking drooling because of this stranger in front of me!

He looked mesmerizing and beautiful. Too beautiful for his good. It should be unacceptable to be this gorgeous without even trying.

But I wasn't complaining.

I could stare at him forever, but I knew I needed to stop so as not to make myself look weird in front of him.

I licked my lips whilst staring at his face once more. Then my eyes wandered to his large palms. I thought of all the nasty things they could do to my body.

“A penny for your thoughts.” He chuckled, tucking his hand into the pocket of his pants.

Gosh!

Aside from his look, he even sounded sexy!

What a freaking s*x god!

From his tone, he sounded like he wasn't from here. He had a thick foreign accent. I presumed he was English since I had a teacher that speaks exactly like him, and he was from England.

“I'd love to say I'm a god, but I am not even close to it.” The stranger said, jarring me out of my thoughts.

Heat rose to my cheeks, and I stared at the floor momentarily.

He was cocky; I noted. But he was better than the perverted boys I had seen in the house earlier.

“What are you doing out this late?”

“Umh…” I began, ignoring his question. “Do you go to school around here? I mean college.” I added as I saw his confused gaze.

“School?!” He chuckled as if it sounded amusing.

Maybe it does, I mused. Also, I assumed the way I asked sounded funny.

But, I believed no one was above education. Although I had heard a lot of adults attended Lone Oaks High, I haven't come across any. Perhaps I had and didn't pay attention to any of them because I was that oblivious sometimes.

The stranger before me seemed mature. Yet, he didn't look like a high schooler, nor did he seem like he was in college. He looked rather sophisticated in the tailored fit suit he donned, and his hair was in a man-bun, which added to his attractiveness.

“Artemis…” Julie groaned, tugging me.

I stared at her and clutched her hand that I had dropped, maybe by mistake, due to how startled I had been.