Somewhere in the middle of town, Parker and Artemis were conducting yet another search mission.
"Maybe we should stop for today," Parker suggested, scratching his head. "It's getting late." The sun was quickly diminishing in the west. Artemis knew that it was past late. But she also knew that the more time they wasted, the less effective their efforts would be.
They had been missing homecoming meetings. Parker was missing lacrosse practice. Now it was a week until homecoming, and coming back to Rinzen without some major revelation would completely undermine their efforts. Miren was book smart, that couldn't be denied. But it never occurred to Artemis that she also had the street smarts to remain hidden for so long.
Artemis continued on, a few flyers in hand, walking aimlessly. She closed her eyes, feeling the autumn air sludge past her hair. Parker stopped her.
"Did you hear a word I just said?" he asked, his green eyes large and irritated. She brushed past him.
"Of course I did," she said with a sigh, handing a flyer to a random civilian. "Fortunately, I'm not required to listen to you."
"But we're a team." He couldn't hide the hurt in his eyes. Artemis tensed. Great, now she had something else to feel bad about. Every day this search effort lagged on, she could feel her inner bitch being released. And here was Parker, a convenient target for her aggression.
"Besides, Wallace said she's probably in town," Parker offered, refusing to feel discouraged. Artemis nodded, trying to expel the frustration churning inside her.
"Yes, but where?" They had looked all over town. For weeks. Wallace simply assured them that their efforts were in the right direction. Nothing more. "We're not any closer to finding her. So sorry if I'm not celebrating."
"Maybe you need to celebrate something," Parker said. "Did you ever think that your attitude could be straining our efforts?" The look on his face was serious. But so was Artemis'. "I know you care, but exploding on me all the time isn't going to help." His voice lowered into a mumble. "I don't like how this has changed you."
Artemis scoffed, her amber eyes on fire. "And what about you? If you kept your girlfriend in check, then we wouldn't be here in the first place! God, what the hell do you see in her?"
"Did it ever occur to you that I never wanted to be with her?" he almost yelled. He shook his head as Artemis' eyes widened. He had over spoken, he knew that. But he couldn't fall back now.
"What?" she said in a gasp.
"Isn't it obvious?" he replied, a tense smile gracing his lips. "I liked Miren. And from afar, I grew to love her. But you're right. I didn't help her. I even made a fool of her at the assemblyâI should have just let her kill Penelope." He forced a laugh. "She probably hates me now."
Just probably.
"Then why in Allah's name are you dating Penelope!?"
"Because Miren cost me my athletic scholarship," he said, almost matter-of-factly. Artemis's face spoiled in an angry pout. Parker picked up on what she was probably thinking. "She doesn't know this. But I didn't choose Penelope out of anger or spite."
"Then why?"
"Money." He pressed his lips into a firm line, hard enough to drain the color from them. "Penelope's family's very close to mine. My dad's a wealthy software engineer. But during that time he was branching out from Apple and he almost went bankrupt. Her family helped us out when my scholarship was suspended due to my injury for that semester. Her dad was in need of software for  some type of electronic surgical technique. And because Penelope wanted to be with me, I couldn't exactly slap the hand that was feeding us."
"But you have money now, don't you?" Artemis said, trying to rationalize the situation. "Why don't you just dump her and move on?"
"It's not that simple," he said, shaking his head. It never was. "Our parents have plans for our relationship to go further. Probably marriage. Our dad's are partners in a company that produces almost a billion dollars in revenue annually, and it's still growing. So I can see why they'd want to keep our relationship 'in the family'. Even it means denying how I feel.
"Wallace is my parents' favorite. I'm just the stereotypical high school popular kid. They already think that I've peaked and that I'm a spoiled brat," he said, his eyes to he ground. He sighed, before bringing his gaze back to Artemis. "They didn't even care about the Rising Scholar award; they said the only reason why I got it was because Wallace didn't apply. Even when I told him to." He sighed. "So yeah, I should have done more for Miren. But then she got into some incident with Penelope and the situation was out of my hands."
Artemis blinked at him. "Are you talking about the assembly?"
Parker's eyes were steady against hers. "No."
"You mean The Incident?"
The boy sucked in the harsh air through his teeth. Him and his big mouth. "Doesn't matter. You probably know as much as I do."
"Tell me what you know then," she pushed. Parker looked at her hesitantly, but he knew she wouldn't drop it. So he had no choice but to drop the ball.
"Fine." So he told her. It wasn't much, but it was all she needed to hear.
"But that doesn't make sense..." Artemis was practically shaking. "How could she?â"
"Yeah." Parker closed his eyes. "It was easier to pretend that I didn't know."
"But that's so selfish," Artemis countered, her arms crossed. Parker narrowed his eyes before scoffing at her righteousness, a quality he didn't want to admit he was abandoning. Penelope and Miren were a tornadoâit was hard to get close to them without getting caught in the storm. And he was just emerged from it and was trying to determine the damage. Who was she to label him as such? After all he'd been through then and now?
"Like you aren't?" he said, his voice low and harsh. "Why the hell didn't you do anything? You go to the same boarding school. You claim that Miren was your friend, your roommate at one time even, but you didn't help her. You're not the only one making sacrifices. So stop pretending that I'm a horrible person. Both of our hands are stained with blood."
Artemis's mouth opened by reflex to say something, but instead hot tears began to pour from her eyes.
"I'm s-sorry." She was crying. She hated crying in public. But that hardly seemed to matter now. "I-I am a terrible person. Miren was hoping...pleading for someone would help her...and I didn't. I was so fucking selfish..."
"Hey, hey," Parker said, wiping the tears from her eyes with his thumbs. He took off his tie and gave it to her. "You're not selfish. I am. Didn't you just hear what I said?"
Artemis shook her head, her throat hoarse and scorching. "I could haveâ"
"You couldn't have done anything," Parker said, patting her shoulder to calm her. "I should have. And that's why I'm here. So don't lose hope, okay?"
She nodded to that, although the sorry expression on her face didn't lift. The ringing of a cellphone then stifled the already silent air. Parker retrieved the device from his pocket.
"Hey, Wal," he said softly. His eyebrows furrowed at his brother's words. "Seriously?" He turned to Artemis, who appeared too detached in her own self-pity to pay attention to his conversion. He refocused his attention on his phone. "Okay, thanks a lot! We'll head over." He ended the call.
"Artemis," he said, summoning the girl out of her self-depreciating trance. "Good news."
"What?" the girl said, some eagerness beginning to replace her sorrow spirits.
Parker grinned. "Wallace found Miren."
Artemis's eyes widened, filling with a desperate type of joy. Relief. "Really?" Parker nodded.
"Wallace just got off the phone with her," he informed Artemis. "Apparently she's been living with a family friend in town. She wants to come back. We can meet with Wallace and discuss our plan of action."
The smile on Artemis's face intensified. "Finally!"
"We did it!"
They had a celebratory hug. But somewhere between the rush of the glorious moment, and embracing her indirect savior, Artemis lost her judgment. And unfortunately, control of her mouth.
Her lips met his. And chaos should have ensued.
Was it teen angst? Hormones? Those reasons probably would have made the act seem more innocent. Maybe it was just because he was a great kisser. Maybe she really didn't like Soren. Or maybe they knew that once they released, chaos really would ensue.
Air.
It was the only reason why they broke apart to wide eyes and "Holy shit!" expressions.
Artemis' face heated up in shame. Lip-locking the only boy Miren had ever liked? God, she really was a terrible person. Parker looked equally as shocked, perhaps more. His mouth quivered as he searched for a response.
"Um...I'll go talk to Wallace after you do," Artemis said before he could, trying not to beat her head against the brick wall a few inches from her. She combed a hand though her hair instead. It looked worse. "And we can sort returning Miren though him...I guess I'll see you later." That was it. Their search union was over.
Just like their friendship?
"Butâ" Before he could go further, Artemis' phone rang. She inhaled, never in her life had she been happier for a distraction. But it was the wrong type of distraction. Soren.
Guilt began to ripple through her body as she shivered in the cool, moonlit air. She closed her eyes, crushing the nonexistent life out of the keys in her hand. "I have to go."
Parker reached a hand out to her, but she was already a world a way. His arm fell to his side. He cursed in the air.
Women.