5 The Infamous Arthur Bridge (II)

A week after his transfer; Arthur still had the halo of the cool new student, but the palpable heavy aura around him repelled anyone who wanted to approach him. As a result he was always alone and it seemed like he preferred it that way.

But apparently, not everyone was smart enough to understand that.

It was the lunch hour and the cafeteria was bustling with activity as usual. The students were scattered all across the place, and it was easy to recognize who were lone wolves and who belong to their packs.

A few moments later, a group of roughly ten people entered the cafeteria attracting quite a lot of attention their way. The group seemed to look around before their searching gaze landed on a particular table at the corner.

They slowly walked towards their destination under the scrutinizing gazes of the surrounding students. They were led by Tyler Farrell, son of one of the richest and most influential business tycoon; and following him were his best friend from the football team, Paul Williams; the first year heart-throb, Scott Myers; the self-proclaimed Queen bee, Michelle Abernathy; couple of her underlings and a few other football jocks.

To everyone's surprise, instead of sitting at their own table at the most spacious area, they stood before a small table at an obscure corner. There was a lone guy sitting there quietly, who seemed to be detached from everything. If this group of people didn't draw attention to this place, no one would've realized someone even sitting there. The guy though, didn't seem to notice the group surrounding him as he continued to lazily play around with the contents in his plate.

"So you are the new transfer guy?" Tyler was the first one to speak, as he casually sat himself in the opposite chair. He had an average build with long blonde hair gelled back behind his ears. He evaluated the guy in front from head to toe with a smirk on his face. "Not bad. What's your name again?"

A tall handsome guy in a football jersey, pulled a chair from another table and sat beside Tyler, whispering something in his ear. He was Tyler's best friend, Paul Williams; a regular player in the GDU's football team and one of the probable players to be elected captain next year.

Tyler nodded at his friend and looked at the guy again. "Arthur, huh? Why don't you come sit with us?" His casual invitation caused many reactions in the cafeteria.

All eyes were now focused on the unassuming guy sitting there, wondering who he was, to be invited to sit with the popular group. Some were surprised, some were envious and some were… just eating their lunch, not bothering about anything.

But there was no reaction from the main person at all. Arthur didn't even look at the group of people who abruptly surrounded his table and disturbed his lunch.

Paul, who sat beside Tyler frowned in displeasure. When was the last time anyone ignored them? Scratch that. Who would dare to ignore them? Just because they came to Arthur and invited him to their table, does he think he was a high existence who can look down on them?

"Let me make it clear, not anyone can sit with us. We saw that you were new here and sitting alone, so we took pity on you and-"

"What Paul wants to say is, we are all third years so we can get to know each other and you can make some friends." A sweet voice spoke up as a beautiful women came to stand on the other side of Tyler.

GDU's Queen bee Michelle Abernathy.

She gave a brief glare to Paul as she walked to the other side of Tyler. The girls behind her quickly got her a chair as she comfortably sat down and directed her gaze at Arthur. She was really impressed by him. He was extremely good looking and has a calm personality. And there was a sort of mysterious air about him which made her more interested in him.

She wanted to use this opportunity to get him into the group and slowly get close to him. She was extremely confident that no man can endure her sensuous charm. And then, it will only be a matter of time before she wrapped him firmly around her finger and turn him into her plaything.

"It's important to hang out with right kind of people." Michelle smiled sweetly as she spoke in her pleasing voice. "If you always stick with low class people, you'll ruin your reputation." Her words were completely contradicting her gentle demeanor but she was extremely confident that everyone will be mesmerized by her attractive figure and alluring voice.

"So from next time, avoid those people and come hang out with us." She seemed to be specifically targeting someone without actually mentioning them. Only Arthur and herself would know who 'those people' were."I'll even personally accompany you if you feel lonely. I'll be your new best friend from now, okay?"

She gave another bright smile as she leaned forward on the small table and picked up a piece of veggie from Arthur's plate. She slowly placed it into her mouth in a seductive manner as she fixed her burning gaze on the silent guy before her.

Arthur stopped messing around with his meal and dropped the spoon in his plate. He slowly stood up and turned around. When he took a step away, Paul immediately stood up and held him back by the shoulder.

"Hey, we are talking to you. What do you mean by leaving like this without saying anything? Do you think you are someone special just because we came to you. Let me tell you something, you are nothing- "

"Enough, Paul." Michelle interrupted him harshly for the second time. She directed her big eyes and glared at him, while she continued speaking. "This is only the first time he met all of us. He might be feeling shy and nervous. Once we get to know each other, he'll slowly open up to us. Right, Arthur?"

Arthur slowly turned around and finally cast a glance at the group of people at his table. He calmly regarded everyone with his deep black eyes.

When Michelle felt his gaze, her heart skipped a beat and color rose to her cheeks. She recognized a familiar heat inside her and she felt as light as a feather.

This was the first time in a long time she felt this sensation and she didn't even know she could still feel this way. But before she could sort out her feelings, Arthur's ice cold voice made her shudder to her core.

"Fake and pretentious, I loathe your kind the most."

The entire cafeteria seemed to be stunned into silence, the echo of his voice still ringing in everyone's minds. The chilling hatred in his tone froze everyone in their spots. With his dark gaze piercing straight through them, even Tyler and Paul felt cold sweat down their spine.

And before anyone could recover, Arthur leisurely walked away.

- -

That amusing yet unfortunate 'event' made Arthur an instant hot topic and cast a harsh limelight on him that didn't allow anyone to look at him clearly. Although that meeting didn't really cause any major disturbance in the student body, it marked the start of many more issues.

After a few weeks of calm and quiet, a major incident came to light and rocked the whole university. A 3rd year student was found severely injured inside campus grounds and was immediately rushed to the hospital. More than ten students, including seven football team regulars, who were related to the issue were all indefinitely suspended.

And at the heart of that incident was Arthur Bridge, who also served three weeks of suspension. It was not known how or why Arthur was involved, as everything concerning that incident was kept under wraps and nothing was ever addressed by professors or the principal. But still, some news made its way outside and everyone started speculating on what actually happened.

As a result, Arthur's already negative reputation turned much worse and some crazy rumors started floating all over the campus. Some claimed him to be an underground fighter who does illegal fights for money. While some say he leads a gang of outlaws; was a drug addict and even been behind bars numerous times.

Regardless of the subject, the more the rumors began to circulate, the more crazy and unbelievable they became. But that didn't stop anyone from believing them. In fact, Arthur's rather quick rise to infamy was mostly due to those rumors.

And to add fuel to fire, every now and then, he would end up in skirmishes with the troublemakers and become the subject of others' disdain. And with every scuffle, he would be a little more feared and eventually, his reputation solidified. As such, now almost no one dares to make contact with him and always maintains a safe distance away from him.

And as far as Margaret was concerned, she doesn't have any sort of impression of him at all. As much as she finds him intimidating, she was neither afraid nor attracted towards the creature known as Arthur Bridge.