Several days passed and the rush of hunting season orders died down enough so that Pegatha was given a rest from the till for another year. At school the day after her last shift, she looked for Arick but didn't see him until the lunch hour when he came to sit down at the table where she and Haelie were sitting. Pegatha glanced up as he pulled a chair out and was just about to greet him with happy surprise (it wasn't often that he sat with them; he had his own table of friends elsewhere in the cafeteria) when she noticed that he wasn't wearing his trademark grin. In fact, he refused to meet her eyes until he'd lowered himself wearily into the seat. When he finally did look up, his expression was carefully blank; however Pegatha wasn't to be fooled by that. She'd spent enough years reading her father that the hint of anger behind Arick's eyes was glaringly obvious to her. She didn't say anything about it, though, sensing that it wasn't directed at her or at Haelie.
"Hey, guys," Arick said, though his voice lacked its usual spirit.
"Hey," Pegatha greeted him back. Haelie didn't say anything, just now noticing Arick's subdued disposition. Arick glanced hastily at both of them before shifting in his seat so that he could look over his shoulder. Pegatha wondered for a moment if he was making an excuse to hide his expression, but after a second or two he raised his hand and a boy at one of the other tables did the same thing. Letting his friends know where he was. When he turned back around, a smile was fading from his face, the last vestiges of the false disposition he put on so that his friends wouldn't think that anything was wrong. Pegatha was suddenly torn between feeling like a rebound from his friends and feeling special because she was one of the only people he wasn't false with when he was feeling bad.
Arick crossed his arms in front of him and glanced around the cafeteria distractedly as if a companionable silence had settled over the three of them. The situation was far different, however. For the first time, Pegatha felt a little uneasy with Arick's unexpected presence.
"Is something wrong, Arick?" she blurted out after another minute passed without any communication, except for the confused glances she'd been sharing with Haelie.
Arick looked at her suddenly as if he'd forgotten that he wasn't at a table by himself. "What do you mean?" he asked quickly.
Pegatha felt like rolling her eyes, sure he knew what she was talking about, but she decided not to make a big deal of his feined ignorance. Maybe he just didn't feel like discussing what was wrong in a place as public as the cafeteria. Eventually, she said, "Well, you weren't around before the first bell..."
At first, Pegatha thought that Arick was going to tell her where he'd been that morning, but, after a second of staring impassively into her eyes, he looked away across the room as if something had caught his attention. When a few moments had passed this way, Pegatha turned back to her lunch with a sigh, resigned to not getting an answer of any kind. Why had he come to sit with them? Just because he could be mopey around them without being teased or chided? Though she was glad he felt comfortable showing his real feelings to them, she felt a little upset that he wasn't explaining himself. If he was just going to be mopey without talking to them about it he could just go sit at a table somewhere else. She was almost tempted to say so, but then Arick sighed and said, "I was busy this morning."
Pegatha expected him to continue and was disappointed when he didn't. He'd been busy with what? Something had obviously happened. Yesterday afternoon, when he'd been working with her during her last shift, he'd been his usual cheerful self. What had gone on between then and now?
But Arick wasn't going to explain. When he did turn back to them, it was with stiff shoulders and a closed expression. "Hey, Peg," he began, and although it was his voice, the greeting sounded different than all of the other times he'd used it, "did you want to come to that dojo with me after school?"
Pegatha was, at first, unsure if she wanted to spend any more time with this strange, dispirited boy who had taken Arick's place, but then she wondered if perhaps he would feel more at ease talking to her if they were alone. "All right," she answered.
A half-smile graced Arick's features for a split-second, and then it faded as quickly as it had appeared. He gave a slight acknowledging nod and said, "Meet you by the tree," before standing from the table and walking away, dodging between students until he reached the exit to the cafeteria where he disappeared from sight.
"Was he all right?" Haelie asked.
Pegatha glanced at her friend's confused face and then just shrugged, not sure herself. A few moments of silence passed before she recognized that, although Arick had left, the strange depressed atmosphere surrounding him hadn't. Determined to get rid of it, Pegatha asked Haelie how her baby brother was doing. This was a topic that never failed to make both of them laugh, though sometimes it made Pegatha a little jealous because it made her want a younger sibling. Sometimes.
After school, Pegatha met Arick by their tree, and from there they left for the dojo. The dojo was located a few blocks further than her house was from the school, but the walk was pleasant enough, if a trifle quiet. Arick was still not talking much; the last thing he'd said to her had been his greeting at the tree before he'd started leading her silently eastward toward their destination. Pegatha wasn't really uncomfortable with the fact that they weren't talking, but after they'd come to the end of a few streets she began to feel the want of some conversation. If only she'd asked Haelie to come with them; she hadn't, though. Arick hadn't extended the invitation to include the other girl and Pegatha hadn't wanted to presume too much. Besides, she reasoned a moment later, Haelie would have probably refused anyway. She was against fighting in any way, shape, or form.
Eventually, as they rounded another corner, Pegatha decided to gather her nerve and break the silence. Staring resolutely at the still far off form of the Gold Saucer that was slowly becoming obvious over the structures of other buildings, she cleared her throat.
"So, are we almost there?"
Arick didn't answer right away. He glanced off to his left for a moment as if gauging the remaining distance, and then said, "Almost." He paused again before continuing. "Do you remember that clothing store that had a fire a few weeks ago?"
Pegatha frowned a little, searching her memory. "I think so. Why?"
"The dojo's there."
"In a burned up building?"
Finally, after endless minutes of walking as if he was alone, Arick turned to look at her. "No. Not much of the building was damaged in the fire, I guess. Someone bought it and donated it after the clothing store was gone. And now, it's a dojo," he explained.
"Oh." When the momentary pause threatened to lengthen into another stretch of silence, Pegatha cleared her throat again. "So, you've been going since the beginning?"
"Uh-huh."
"Does your mom care that you go?"
Arick shrugged. "I dunno. I don't think she cares much about anything I do."
And here it was again. Pegatha's mind suddenly twitched with memories as she recalled the strangely quiet, uncommunicative boy Arick had been a few years ago after his brother Rory had left for Cosmo Canyon. He'd never said anything about it, but Pegatha had gotten the impression that he'd felt as if his brother had abandoned him. They'd become friends during that time, even before he'd been hired at the shop, drawn together by the fact that they were both loners without many close friends, and perhaps by Pegatha's own brand of naive self-assurance that had done much to restore Arick's confidence.
But when he talked about his brother, she could sometimes still sense the resentment that tinged his words, like poison on the rim of a glass good wine. He loved his brother; so did his mother. In fact, Pegatha often got the impression that Arick believed his mother loved Rory more than she loved her second son, because Rory had gotten out, was making something of his life. And so he loved his brother, looked up to him as something of a role model, and yet resented him for being so perfect, and hated him for leaving. Also, he loved his mother, but never felt good enough in her presence. It always hurt Pegatha to see him, usually so brash and assured, brought low by the feelings that sometimes surfaced, but were never that far under the skin.
She guessed that he'd had a fight with his mother recently. What about, she could only speculate.
Pegatha only realized that she had been staring at the side of Arick's face when he turned to glance at her, wondering at the reason for her steady gaze. She averted her eyes quickly before he could guess her thoughts; he hated it when she felt sorry for him. The silence between them for the rest of the trip was enforced from both sides, and so they walked each in their own thoughts.
When they arrived at the dojo, Pegatha did indeed recognize it as the old clothing store that had once been there. It was a little strange to look through the large window in front and see, instead of displays meant for window-shoppers, people her and Arick's age dressed in white robe-like uniforms and doing some sort of exercises on mats that covered the floor. She didn't have more than a moment to watch, however, before Arick was leading her inside.
He took her to the back where he handed a robe to her and told her to put it on over her clothes and to take her shoes and socks off. This she did quickly, shoving her footwear over to the side before following him onto the mats.
The man at the front of the room (the sensei, Arick whispered to her) was tall and skinny with a mop of brown hair on his head that he kept having to shake out of his eyes when he moved. He nodded to Arick when he noticed him and Arick nodded back before taking up a position on the mats. Pegatha stood beside him and tried to copy his movements. After a few minutes when she thought she had the basic pattern of the exercises, she turned from Arick and watched the leading of the sensei.
The exercises weren't very complex once one got the hang of them. It was just a bunch of slow pivots, crouches, and arm movements. Eventually, however, Pegatha's arms and legs began to tire as she used and reused muscles she rarely use anywhere else. By the end of it, she was having trouble catching her breath. When the sensei called for a five minute break, she sat down gratefully on the mats and did her best to ignore the urge to rub her tired limbs.
Once the five minutes had passed, the sensei called a boy who was nearly as tall as himself to the front of the room and showed them all a move that would allow them to escape the hold of someone who has come up behind them. It looked deceptively easy when he did it, but Pegatha knew better than to expect it to be that simple. She partnered with Arick when they were told to get into pairs and then let him take the defensive role first so he could show her what to do. Coming up behind Arick the way the boy had when approaching the sensei, Pegatha put her arms around him in the way they'd been shown and tried her best to hold onto him as he moved to escape her grip. She didn't have a chance, though, and she suspected Arick had been taught this move before. Then it was her turn. Nodding to Arick, though she felt a little unready, she turned around and waited for his arms to come around her from the back.
It was a strange feeling to have him so close behind her and for a moment she couldn't react. But then she stirred and began her struggle for escape, moving the way she'd seen Arick and the sensei move. However, Arick knew what to expect and was able to block her attempts at slipping away again and again. She was just getting frustrated enough to give up and try once more from the beginning when Arick suddenly over-compensated for a push she'd given against his arms and she fell back into him. Fortunately, Arick was able to keep his feet, and Pegatha was just that much shorter than him that the back of her skull didn't hit his jaw. Frowning in annoyance, she righted herself and was about to throw Arick's arms off of her when the feel of his breath hot against the juncture between her shoulder and her neck made her stiffen. Shivers began to prickle along her spine as she both heard and felt Arick inhale shakily. Confused and a little frightened, Pegatha stumbled forward and Arick did nothing to stop her, his arms falling to his sides. Inexplicably out of breath, she turned around to look at Arick and was surprised to see him flushed and panting slightly as if he'd just stopped running. What had just happened? Disconcerted and light-headed, Pegatha couldn't muster the focus to do much more than just breathe and stare.
"So, how are things progressing over here?"
Pegatha started as the sensei stepped up suddenly as if from nowhere. Words failed her as she turned to look into the man's gaunt, sallow face beneath his mop of hair, and she was thankful when Arick managed to answer before things became uncomfortable.
"Fine. We were just practicing the move you showed us."
"Good." The sensei gave a smile that Pegatha couldn't help thinking showed a few too many teeth, a smile that, for all its largeness, didn't quite reach his eyes. "And I'm glad to see you brought a friend today, Arick. From school?"
"Uh, yeah," Arick muttered. "Pegatha Valentine."
The sensei smiled again and gave her a bow that she reciprocated a little awkwardly. "Glad to have you with us, Pegatha. My name is Sensei Deke. I hope you were planning to come back for another lesson after today."
Pegatha opened her mouth, but was unsure how to answer; she hadn't really thought about whether or not she'd return to the dojo. When a couple of seconds passed without her saying anything, Sensei Deke continued. "I couldn't help but notice you during the exercises, Pegatha. You caught on very quickly, and were able to last through to the end without a rest. I think that shows you have a lot of potential for the defense arts."
Pegatha was surprised by the compliment. She expected she'd looked very awkward during the exercises. But perhaps, more than instant grace at something she'd never done before, defense arts required stamina and a mind that quickly picked up the moves. She smiled a little, some of her earlier confusion melting away as she directed her attention on the sensei instead of her own muddled thoughts.
Sensei Deke gave another toothy grin and put his hands together in front of him. "Well, I suppose I should leave you to it and check up on some of the other pairs." As he turned away, he said over his shoulder, "I hope to see you here again, Pegatha."
Pegatha nodded. Once the sensei had moved on to speak with a couple of boys, she glanced at Arick, but then found her eyes drawn to the mat at her feet.
"Maybe I should get going," she said quietly, making a show of looking at her watch before she moved to take off the white robe and put her socks and shoes back on. As she lowered herself down onto the edge of the mat, she was surprised to be joined by Arick. As he shoved one foot back into a sneaker, he said, "I'll walk you home."
Pegatha wanted to protest, uncomfortable with the idea of having to talk about what had happened, but she held her tongue, deciding that it would probably be better to get this out into the open. Don't let the sun go down on your anger, her mother had told her, and although she wasn't exactly angry with Arick, she could sense that, if they didn't deal with this, it could put a rift in their friendship.
The first few minutes of the walk home were silent and uneventful. Pegatha could see that neither of them wanted to be the first to speak. Eventually, however, she decided that it had to be done. One of them had to say something or they might never talk to each other again. She cleared her throat and saw Arick stiffen out of the corner of her eye.
"So," she began quietly, "that Sensei Deke was sort of creepy."
There was a pause as Pegatha let her words break the ice that had been forming around them, and then Arick laughed quietly through his nose. "Yeah, I thought so, too." Another pause, this one not so long. "But the man who bought the building, Mr. Brescher, is a nice guy. He comes every once in a while to see how things are going."
"Mm," Pegatha replied. "Does he look like Deke?"
"No," Arick answered quickly. "He's tall, but not so skinny or so..."
"Messy?" Pegatha offered when Arick hesitated.
Arick laughed again. "Yeah, messy. He's always dressed in suits and wearing tinted glasses. He wears the glasses, I think, to cover up his glass eye."
"A glass eye," Pegatha repeated, if just for something to say. "That's cool."
Arick didn't reply after this and a silence stretched on between them for a few minutes. Eventually, Arick began to fidget, and finally he said, "You're not mad at me, are you, Pegatha?"
"For what?" she responded automatically, staring hard at the sidewalk.
"You know for what," Arick answered, his voice taking on an edge that revealed his discomfiture. "For back at the dojo. I don't even know why I did it. It just sort of...happened, like something I couldn't control. You were standing so close, and I just...needed to know what you smelled like." He stuttered to a halt in embarrassment.
Pegatha wasn't sure what to say for a moment. Swallowing a lump that had grown in her throat, she said, "It's okay. I'm not mad." She pursed her lips for a second before glancing at Arick. "Did I smell good?"
Arick stared at her as if in incomprehension for a moment before breaking into a grin. "Yeah, you did," he answered.
Pegatha couldn't stop herself from chuckling, and then Arick was chuckling with her until the sound dwindled into nothing. The rest of the walk was made in companionable silence.
When they reached the outside door to the shop, they said their good-byes. As she got ready to step into the front room, Pegatha couldn't help but notice that Arick was walking the wrong way to get home. Confused, she called after him, "Where are you going?"
Arick turned around on the sidewalk and stared at her a moment before replying, "I forgot something at the dojo."
"What?"
"Huh?"
"What did you forget?"
Arick's hesitation was longer this time until finally he just jogged back to the door. It was another moment before he spoke as he shuffled his feet beside her. "You have to promise me that you won't tell anyone. Not your parents, not Haelie, and especially not my mom if she calls looking for me."
"Okay," Pegatha answered.
He licked his lips. "I'm not living at home anymore. I'm living at the dojo. I started yesterday. That's why I was late for school. They have a place for kids to stay if they don't have homes, or if they just want to live there. And I decided that it was time to move out. Now my mom doesn't have to worry about supporting anyone but herself." This last sentence was spoken in some bitterness and Pegatha had to restrain herself from asking him what had happened. He never liked talking about the fights he had with his mother.
Pegatha found that she wasn't all that surprised by the news that Arick had left home. In fact, she discovered that, although some part of her wanted to urge him to go back to his mother, she was generally glad to hear that he'd left, that the fights were finally over. She hoped this would work out for him and was inclined to revisit the dojo if only to see how he was doing.
They said good-bye again and Arick headed off as Pegatha entered the store. Her mother seemed tired when she greeted her at the counter, but Pegatha didn't spend more than a moment wondering why. She was too busy going over her homework in her head, trying to figure out if there was any way she could be finished by supper so that she'd have her evening free. Maybe her father would be more inclined to talk about his fighting training if he knew that a sensei had said she had potential.
She entered the forge and was surprised to see that her father wasn't seated at the table nearest to the furnace, where he usually sat. In fact, she noticed, sweeping her eyes around the room, he wasn't anywhere in the forge. Thinking that perhaps he'd gone up to the apartment for something, she turned her mind back to her homework and ascended the stairs at the back of the forge.
Her father wasn't anywhere in the apartment, either. Finally halting her search at her bedroom where she deposited her things, she headed back down to the front room where her mother was working.
"Where's Dad?" she asked, walking up to the counter.
Her mother glanced up from the payroll sheet she was tallying, and Pegatha was again struck by how tired she looked. "He started his other job today, Pegatha. He'll probably be back late tonight."
"Oh." Pegatha had almost forgotten the talk she'd interrupted between her mother and father, now over a week ago, where her mother had been so distraught about her father taking another job. She was just about to head back upstairs when her concerned curiousity got the better of her. "Are you okay, Mom?"
Elira gave a weary smile. "I'll be fine, Peg. I'm just tired."
Pegatha nodded, though she was starting to wonder if some of the fatigue in her mother's expression was due to stress and worry. Why was she so upset by this other job?
But Pegatha had no answer for herself. Maybe she'd be able to get her mother to talk about it over supper. She spent another moment watching her mother add up the hours before starting toward the apartment again.
As she did her homework in her bedroom before supper, she realized for the first time what a quiet supper it was going to be. No flicking peas, no efforts to get her father to smirk with a funny story...and no being tucked in goodnight if he was going to be home late. It was just her and her mother, and although she loved her mother and wasn't against the idea of spending some time with her, she wasn't sure she liked this change.
Author's note: Sorry this chapter took so long to post! I originally meant to have another scene involving Vincent and his new job after the scene with Pegatha and Arick at the dojo, but it wasn't working out...and then I realized that an entire *month* had passed since I last updated! So, I cut it short and decided to put the scene I wanted into the next chapter. Thanks to everyone for waiting so patiently! Hopefully Chapter Twelve isn't too far in the future!