You know that moment when someone just.... let's go, and smiles, no matter what's going on in their lives? It's so fleeting. That one moment, yet we catalog it for another time. A different, harder, lonelier time. Why? Why do we torture ourselves with that one moment that happened, and is now gone? Why?
A pound interrupted Artemis's daily journaling session. Lately, they've gotten darker, more foreboding, and Artemis is almost positive that if anyone saw it, they'd send her to a mental institution.
As she stood to get the door, her little brother Cooper stumbled in. He was ten years old, but looked more like Artemis every single day. He had an olive complexion, and dark brown hair. Pair that with blue eyes, you have the next high-school heartbreaker. Artemis knew that'd never happen, especially with a boy like Cooper.
"Hi, Art. Mom wants to know if you're ready yet. Kolt's down there practically 'throwing a tantrum.'" Cooper used two fingers to quote tantrum, and knowing Kolt, Artemis didn't doubt it for a second.
"Ok, Coop. Tell her I'll be down in a few, I just gotta finish my entry for today." Artemis kissed Cooper's head, and then gently pushed him out of the door with a long sigh.
She walked back over to her small, measly desk and started writing again.
Sometimes it seems that no one ever smiles around here, and I don't know if it's because of Kolt's digressing moods, or Dad's nightly absences. Whatever it is, there isn't much to work with, and with all this anxiety floating around, how can one ever be possibly truly happy? I know I'm not, Kolt knows, hell, even Clara Fiefer knows.
However fleeting smiles are, I wish there were more in this house.
Okay, time to go. Time to face the world that lay beyond her door, and a few blocks away. Highschool.
Artemis let out a dramatic sigh, grabbed her bag, stashed her journal, and stomped down the stairs.
"I swear to fucking Dagon, if that chick doesn't get down here in ten seconds, I will fillet her!" Kolt sounded mildly annoyed, which Artemis could work with.
As soon as she stepped off the stairs, Kolt threw her over his shoulder, and Artemis pounded on his back. "Let me down this instant, you fucking piece of-" Artemis's mother's glare stopped her short, but then when her mom's back was turned, Artemis whispered, "-grass on a cow's ass."
Kolt grabbed her bag, her coat, and the keys to the Jeep. Artemis supported her head with her hand on Kolt's shoulder, and sighed.
"What do you have to sigh about??" He sounded indignant.
"You. I don't like being carried like potatoes. Especially when I can't even yell at you in front of Mom." Art sighed again. Kolt rolled his eyes.
"Whatever, you over-glorified princess."
There was a silence for a block or two, until Kolton spoke up.
"You know the dance that's coming up?" Artemis's stomach lurched. Didn't she! Clara-fucking-Fiefer reminded her every stinking second that Artemis wasn't going to get a date to the damned thing.
"You know I do." Artemis held her breath. Please don't, oh, please. They couldn't.
"I've been thinking... well, what if we...ditched it?"
That was new. Kolton Pryce NEVER ditched. Ever. If there was a school event, well, he was there. He was academically inclined to do so, or at least, that's what he said, but Artemis knew that it was to prove his worth. Damn that kid, she thought. She almost, almost, smiled, but she'd stopped smiling ever since.... Artemis shook her head, better not to get into it now.
"No?"
Kolton's question physically jolted her. She'd momentarily forgotten about everything.
"Uh...."
She didn't know. What if's ran through her head a million miles an hour. What if she messes things up, even though she knew it wasn't a date, it was just an escape from stuffy teachers and judgmental teens.... but still. What if she.... fell in love?
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Okay, so this is a slow start, but one nonetheless. I'll try to update every Thursday night, cause it's the most probable, and most my family is asleep so I can brainstorm. I am so excited about this book that it's not even funny. I abandoned it a while ago, but I picked it back up cause of the freaking COVID-19. DM me and lmk what ya'll are doing in this frustratingly freakish time. Also, sorry for the short chapter, I'm kinda squeezing for time here.
#let'ssurviveCOVID
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His Smile
青少年小說Laughter is sometimes so fleeting, you only get one moment to witness it. That's what it was like for Artemis Kingsley whenever she saw someone's face break into a grin. Maybe her dark thoughts were her own, but maybe they were the absence of someth...
