Reawakened: She's the Golden Quintessence

Wow, you try and help someone

A moment later, Blake and Arthur were in her car driving away from school, with Arthur looking back shaken, making sure they weren't being followed; both of them slightly panting from the run they just made.

"Oh my gosh, are you insane?" Arthur said as he sat back straight, with his heart inside pounding like a drum. "That was Rick Bream."

"Dude I’m new, I have no idea who Rick Bream is," Blake said.

"One of the guys you just hosed down, the big one."

"O.k."

"O.k.? No not o.k. He's the meanest and toughest boy in school."

"So why is he picking on you then? Let him go and pick on somebody his own size, then we’ll see how mean and tough he really is,” Blake said.

"Oh my gosh I'm dead," Arthur said as he sunk into the seat. "You should have just minded your own business. Why didn’t you just mind your own business?"

"And let you get beat up? No."

"Yes, he would have punched me in the face and I would've gotten over it like I always do but now with what you just went and did, you just angered him even more which means the next time he sees me, he’s not just going to punch me in the face, he’s going to break me in half so thank you very much!”

"Hold up, like you always do,” she said and Arthur just sighed as he turned and looked out the window. "That wasn't the first time that was happening?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Dude."

"I said I don't want to talk about it,” he said with his voice slightly raised.

“You have to report this.”

"Goodness what part of I don't want to talk about it do you not understand?"

"Hey I just saved your life I deserve an explanation."

"No you don't coz you didn't just save my life, you just made things worse, a whole lot worse," Arthur said and angrily folded his arms as he continued looking out the window.

"Wow, you try and help someone."

"Yeah well next time don't."

"Whoa hey dude, you are not going to give me attitude in my own car, what is wrong with you?" Blake said as Arthur just sat quiet, continuing to boil inside. Things between him and Rick were already bad enough as they were and now with her having hosed him down like that, he could well be living the last days of his life. "Gosh! All I saw was those guys beating you up, how was I supposed to know that you're in an arrangement where he carries your nuts in his pocket and will squeeze the living life out of them if you refuse to do what he tells you to."

"That’s not what’s going on."

"That’s exactly what’s going on."

Arthur went quiet again; she was right. Rick would tell him to do his homework and if he didn’t do it, he would get beaten up.

"What happened? Why does he bully you into doing his work for him?" she asked as she drove on.

"Because he can. He's bigger and stronger than me."

“So?"

"So I have to do his work for him or else he's going to turn me into a human punching bag," Arthur said.

"How did it start?"

"I accidentally bumped into him and spilled my milkshake all over his report.”

“Ooh.”

“Yeah, so he shoved my head against the locker and told me to get it done before the end of the day and obviously I did because duh I didn’t want to get murdered. I wrote the report and when I took it to him, he said I was the one who was going to be doing all his reports from then on and that if I said no, he and his friends were going to come and pay me a visit and by pay me a visit I mean beat me up." He shrugged his shoulders as he gave out a disheartened sigh. "Been doing his reports for him ever since."

"I'm even afraid to ask how long this has been going on for,” Blake said.

"Four months.”

"Oh heck no, dude!"

"There's nothing else I can do."

"What do you mean there's nothing else you can do? Uh hello report him to the headmistress.”

Arthur looked at her like she just said the most ridiculous thing. "You want me to snitch?"

"It’s not snitching."

"Yes it is and you know very well what happens to snitches," he said and continued looking out the window, as inside his heart pounded on; not only because he was fuming over how she just went and made things worse for him but because he was ravaged by the fear of what Rick was going to do to him the next time he saw him.

"They get stitches,"

"That's right. Things are already bad enough as they are, if I snitch on him, that’s going to be me cashing in a one-way ticket to the hospital or worse off, the morgue."

"That is not cool," Blake said.

"Whatever, there are only three months left until we graduate, I'll suck it up."

"What? Three whole months of sucking up, you have got to be kidding me."

“Please just stay out of it, you've done enough already," Arthur said.

“Goodness I was just trying to help, gosh,” she said and drove on as they then just sat in silence; both of them reflecting on the incident that just occurred. She knew he was scared of things getting worse because bullies hated being confronted and often became even more aggressive when they were, but she was not at all sorry for doing what she did. He was being beaten up, there was no way she was just going to turn blind eye and pretend like she hadn’t seen it, that was not the kind of person she was. Yes she was very cheeky and strong headed, but her heart, was always in the right place.

Minutes later, they arrived home and Blake parked the car in front of the house.

"Alright let's go," she said as she got her seatbelt off.

"Go where?" Arthur asked wondering.

"Inside the house."

He gave her a look. "You're inviting me into your house?"

"Yes."

A softness immediately came upon his face. "Why?"

"Because you look like you could use a friend," Blake said and he looked away from her; she was right again. "My name’s Blake by the way."

He looked back at her. "Arthur."

"Nice to meet you Arthur, it would have been nice to meet under better circumstances but alas life is a roller coaster and so here we are." She got out of the car and grabbed her bag from the backseat, and then walked to the other side where she opened Arthur's door. "You coming?" she then asked as he just sat there with a sheepish look on his face. Her rescuing him from Rick Bream was already such a huge thing and now she was opening her home up to him, after all he had done was be rude and give her attitude, he felt like disappearing into the seat.

She didn’t have to intervene but she did, and though he gave her attitude for it because he was trembled over what Rick was going to do to him the next time he saw him, he was more relieved than he was scared because being punched in the face by a fist the size of a melon, was not fun.

Brushing off the shame because he just wanted to move passed it, he then got out of the car grabbing his bag off the floor and hanged it over his shoulder, and together, they made their way down the concrete path to the front door and entered the house.