Provocation

The voice was low and only those nearby could hear. But, those who heard had a little shiver going down their backs.

Arthur's hand was gripping Carlos's neck, his thumb pressing into the Adam's apple. He wasn't putting in much force, just to annoy.

What really scared Carlos was Arthur's eyes, which glared at him in a violent and almost murderous way. It was as if they were knives pointing straight at the soul.

Arthur's brows were furrowed and he was clearly annoyed, but trying his best to control his emotions. His green eyes shone brighter and he was staring at Carlos the whole time.

Aline was a little shocked by the turn of events and saw a hand suddenly gripping Carlos' neck. Beatrice, the only thing she was staring at was Arthur's face.

'Why did he…' She was a little shocked by Arthur's outburst and his clear threat. But she couldn't stop staring at Arthur's face and even felt a little pain mixed in with all that anger.

The surrounding audience had been staring at the scene for a long time and no one saw clearly when Arthur moved and was grabbing Carlos's neck. They were shocked and even some people were ready to get up and break up the fight.

Arthur gently pushed Aline aside and said peacefully and without emotion as he looked at her, "Don't worry, there's no fight. He just fell down and got stressed..." His gaze suddenly shifted to Carlos again, "...Right?"

Carlos was shocked for a while, and then courage taken from who knows where made him push Arthur's hand away. After breaking free of Arthur's grip, he turned to look at the four behind Charles as a suggestion.

They immediately awoke from that daze and roared at Arthur:

"Are you crazy, man?"

"You got into trouble and now you want to end up like this? You dream!"

"Let's go!"

They began to form a circle around Arthur and the girls, who were standing behind him. The students who were on the side backed away, possibly for fear of being hurt.

They didn't move a step before Arthur's voice came out again: "If I were you, I wouldn't get involved in this..." Along with the voice, an indomitable Will began to spread and concentrate in that circle.

For Aline and Beatrice, who were standing behind, they felt a sudden comfort, as if someone was patting their head. But for the four in front of Arthur, there was no fear, no anxiety. It was more like something inside them telling them they must obey and that there was no choice but that.

The moment Arthur's voice reached their ears, the students simply nodded and walked away. The look on their faces showed a clear willingness to do this.

Everyone in the cafeteria was immediately confused and stared at the scene with their mouths open. Arthur was standing imposingly with his hands in his pockets and his gaze was steady and relaxed. He looked like someone unattainable and heroic.

Madison and Sara's eyes sparkled a little and were moved by the scene, as if they were in love. Emily, on the other hand, stared at Arthur's posture and her mind went blank for a moment.

Charles broke out in a cold sweat and saw that nothing was going according to plan, so he came forward and spoke to Arthur, "It really was just a silly thing, everyone can ignore it. Even Carlos is fine with it so let's go guys." His gaze shifted and he spoke aloud. He also looked at Carlos, and the two of them gave a slight nod.

The group soon walked away and everything returned to "normal". Arthur was still in the same position and was looking at the group walking away as he thought of something. Aline and Beatrice were still behind him and they were both silent, as if they were trying to make sense of the situation.

The cafeteria also began to gossip about it and everyone now knew Arthur. As the event happened very quickly, no employee or teacher was called to resolve.

"Are you girls okay?" Arthur turned to the girls and asked with a smile on his face.

"Y-yes..." Aline replied weakly and didn't dare look Arthur in the eye. The way he stood in front of them and the feeling of comfort left an imprint on her heart.

Beatrice stared into Arthur's eyes for a while before nodding her head and turning her body forward again.

Everything soon returned to normal and soon it was their turn to get their food. Arthur always thanked when the cooks put food on his plate and gave them a smile. This made them nice to him and put a little more food on his plate. In the end, he left with a small mountain of food.

The girls chose a random table to sit and they started eating. No one dared to bother them thanks to Arthur's presence. But not that it was intimidating or anything, but because the girls were shy to get close and the boys wouldn't go there for him, but for Beatrice, that Arthur seemed to have some relationship with.

Despite having a plate bigger than them, Arthur was the first to finish eating and waited for the girls. As soon as they finished eating, Arthur offered to take their dishes. If you picked up a dish in one place, you would have to return it to another, after all, it wasn't a restaurant and no one was your employee.

The trio walked slowly along the way and always in the same formation. This time, the looks Arthur received were more meaningful and far more focused.

It was a total one hour lunch break, and the process of going to lunch alone took about 30 minutes. So they had 30 minutes free to do whatever they wanted.

As Arthur thought about how nice it would be to take a nap now, a voice came from behind him: "Hey, wanna play a little?"

As soon as Arthur turned around, he saw the same group of six. They carried a ball in their hand and it seemed to be used in some play, as it looked very professional. Charles was in the lead and Carlos close behind with the others.

Arthur looked at them through half-closed eyes: "What do you want?"

Charles unconsciously took a step back and said reassuringly, "We just want to play a little dodgeball. So I came to ask if you wanted to play."

Arthur tried to figure out what the hell Charles wanted with him, but he gave up thinking and just let things roll, "Where?"

Charles then pointed to the central courtyard. Everyone from the school was there and spread out. Some in the surrounding squares and others talking in many outlying places. Basically, it was an open area and everyone at the school had a view there. The place they were going to play was right in front of the teachers' lounge. A large tree was there and its branches provided good shade.

Looking at the place they chose to play, Arthur cracked a smile and thoughts ran wild in his mind as he spoke, "Then let's play!"

He turned to the girls and asked, "Are you guys going to play too?"

"Could be, I'll play… will you Beatrice?" Aline spoke as she warmed up a bit with the idea.

"I don't like these things very much, so I'll just keep looking." Beatrice spoke as she smiled a little.

Charles was affected a little by that smile and thought inwardly: 'Looks like it's going to be two birds with one stone...'

He perked up a little and spoke to Arthur: "Then let's go! With the eight of us, we need two more people and we can play!"

***

As soon as they reached the middle of the square, all eyes fell on them. More specifically on Arthur, since it was impossible for him not to draw attention. The veterans were already used to it and knew they were getting together to play, so they didn't pay much attention. Only the girls continued to pay close attention to Arthur.

They quickly managed to get two more students and everything was ready to go. Beatrice went to sit on one of the benches in a nearby square and watched. A voice also sounded close to her ears.

"Can I sit here with you?" When she turned to look, she saw that was a blonde girl with blue eyes and looked very good.

"You can." Beatrice responded politely and stepped back to make room.

"My name is Patricia, and you?" The girl spoke as she sat down.

"Beatrice."

In the same square, only on another bench, a trio of girls sat together. Sara and Madison were looking at Arthur with a hand on their chin and thinking their own thing. Emily in the center just watched the scene and couldn't believe how little memory those two had.

Back to the game, the teams were organized and separated. The tree was responsible for dividing the area and the other markings were made by scratching a stone across the place, leaving a mark. Charles' team consisted of him, Carlos and three from that group. Arthur's team consisted of Arthur, Aline, the two students who were caught at the last minute, and the last of the group of six who was left out.

"The rules are simple. Five on each side, whoever has the ball can hit. You cannot leave the area you are in, but you can move freely. If the enemy hits you with the ball, just leave and come to the back of the enemy area, and you can make plays with your own team. Simple, right? So let's start." Charles was talking as he threw the ball up. His voice was loud, so more and more people were looking at the scene.

The teams nodded in agreement as they already knew the rules.

"Great, so we can take Odd or Even for whoever gets the ball. You, come take it with me!" Charles pointed to the student in the group who had been left out and called him over to see who got the ball.

They blinked at each other before playing and obviously Charles got the ball.

"So come on, we can get started!"

Once announced, the students of each team moved away from each other and were ready to dodge or catch the ball. As for Arthur, he stood in the same spot with his hands in his coat pockets.

'Idiot! Let's see if you'll have the same posture when I hit you!!' Charles caught the ball hard and his muscles tensed. It showed a little bit and made his arm look handsome, drawing the attention of some girls.

He pretended to walk from one place to another, as if he was thinking of a strategy. He soon chose one of the students he had just called and made a pose of throwing the ball at him. But, the moment the ball left his hand, it went towards Arthur!

'Take it in the chest, asshole!' Charles screamed in rage. He begged that ball to hit.

Seeing that the ball was heading towards him, Arthur just stayed in place. He didn't even bother taking his hands out of his pockets.

"Caution!" Aline yelled a little away from him.

The students who watched also knew that ball was going to hit, so their heroic vision of Arthur began to break a little. He wasn't even able to dodge a ball out of fear, so he wasn't all that.

So, to the surprise of some and the certainty of almost everyone:

Bang!

The ball hit Arthur's chest hard and fell to the ground. He didn't move and just stood there staring.

"Okay, we still have a chance. It doesn't look bad, Arthur..." Aline reached Arthur and spoke reassuringly. She thought Arthur couldn't dodge the ball.

Arthur didn't say anything as he picked up the ball from the ground and started walking to the area behind the enemy's field. The mocking voices sounded everywhere.

"So he's not all that..."

"Can't even dodge a ball. Even my grandma can!"

"So she was an athlete, man!" A voice sounded from behind the last person.

Arthur listened mutely to all the comments and soon arrived at the area where he would be staying. It was opposite the area where their teammates were and they could face each other.

Arthur then placed the ball on the ground and walked to the square where the girls were sitting. As he walked, his voice came out loud and clear: "It's a little uncomfortable playing with that coat, so I think it'll look better this way..."

As soon as he reached a bench in the square, the closest, he slowly took off his coat and placed it on the bench. He was left with only a white blouse, where the sleeves of his shirt were close to his shoulders. The blouse matched his figure and didn't look tight or baggy.

His defined, muscular arms were on display for all to see, and they looked as if they had been finely sculpted, with perfect skin, but that contoured the muscles and added an extra grandeur.

Arthur walked to the ball again and picked it up. He put strength while holding the ball and his arm got even bigger and the veins popped. In front of everyone's shocked look, he said calmly:

"Now let's start playing!"