Merlin 1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Roads zoomed past the window and air conditioning filled the bus with a slightly uncomfortable coldness. There were three types of teenagers on the bus Merlin observed. First there were the silent, thoughtful ones who had their IPods blasting music into their ears and who, in Merlin's opinion, were the sensible ones. The next type was the clowns. They were mostly boys, and they kneel up on their seat, lean out of the window and try and get the other cars to honk their horn. Most of the time it was jovial and fun but there is always the one who takes it too far. Normally they swear at a car of old ladies or throw something out of the window. But today one guy threw something and it hit a window. Thankfully the window only cracked slightly but the bus driver had to speed up to make sure that they didn't get into a confrontation. The last types were, in Merlin's opinion, the most annoying. They were the squealing, cackling and gossiping girls. They, who shout across aisles, shriek everytime a car comes by, laugh at any small thing anybody said and generally make life hell for the other passengers. Merlin had seated himself as far as possible from the girls and although he really wanted a seat to himself, somebody was sleeping next to him. She was a pretty girl with dark skin and brown hair. The hair framed her face in loose curls which fell down to her chest. Her face was naturally beautiful and Merlin guessed that she was wearing hardly any makeup.

Just then the bus juddered and the girl slammed into his chest. She woke up with a start and looked at Merlin as her cheeks flushed with colour. "Oh my goodness! Did I fall asleep I'm so sorry!" she introduced herself and held out her hand. "Gwen." She said and he smiled as he took her hand "Merlin." They smiled and Merlin looked out of the window. He guessed that they were getting close to the school but he couldn't see it yet. He turned to Gwen. "So, what brought you to Camelot?"

"Well, I have a little brother who I love to pieces but, because my Dad works all the time I have to look after him. And then I heard how fantastic this school was I decided to apply. You know, to get away from it all and to start my own life. But now I'm here I'm just terribly nervous… sorry I have rambled." She looked at her lap and fiddled with her brown skirt.

"It's okay." She looked up at this boy with the funny name. He started to talk about studying science and his blue eyes lit up and she saw the haziness of being on a bus for too long melt away. He had black hair that kept falling over his eyes which made him shake his head like a puppy. And he was very funny. He made her feel at ease and she was very glad she had sat next to him as her stomach was fluttering with nervous butterflies. Camelot was a very prestigious school and she knew that it was very expensive. She had managed to get one of the eleven scholarships and was ecstatic when she found out. But in the letter it had warned that there was a rivalry between the people who paid to go in and who had been given scholarships. The school had said that they had it in control but there had been a few accidents. Gwen's dad had been worried but she knew she could handle it. She had to have her own life.

Merlin had finished enthusing about the high tech equipment that Camelot had and Gwen posed a question.

"So, did you get a scholarship? Or have you paid for this?"

"Yeah I got a scholarship. What do you think of that 'accident'? Do you think we can handle a bunch of posh kids?"

Gwen smiled, she liked how he had said "we" like they were a team, and she hoped that they could become friends eventually.

"In truth, I'm slightly terrified. But I'm sure I'll handle it."

"And I could always save you!"

"Who says I'll need saving? Perhaps I'll be the one saving you?" Merlin scoffed as gasps where heard from the front of the bus. People were pointing out of the window and Merlin looked out of his and saw why people had gasped. Camelot boarding school was magnificent. It was basically a castle with white stone walls and a moat with a draw bridge. The draw bridge was slowly coming down and there was a mad rush to get off of the bus. About 10 other buses were pulling up to the school and a crowd was forming a few meters from the draw bridge. Gwen grabbed Merlin's hand and dragged him to the front of the crowd. As the draw bridge came down Merlin could see a man standing in the doorway. He was a tall man with broad shoulders and a pin striped suit on with a red tie. He had grey hair that covered his head and grey, dull eyes that were always in shadow because of his inset eye lids. He was standing in front of two other men who had their hands held behind them. One of the men was very plump and had very little hair. He had warm brown eyes. He was the complete opposite of the other man who was skinny, tall and had horn rimmed glasses that perched on the edge of his large nose. They both had the same red ties as the man in the front.

"Welcome, to Camelot!" the man boomed. He held his hands out and the plump man had to bend down slightly to be seen under his arm. "Please follow me!" and with that, they all turned around and started walking.

Inside Camelot's walls was a courtyard. There were a few trees and benches scattered around the empty space but apart from that the pebbled flooring was uncovered. Gwen nudged Merlin the side and whispered "God, it's so beautiful" she beamed at him and he nodded in agreement. He couldn't believe he was going to live here! The man at the front, who seemed to be the headmaster, led them into a hall. The hall was just as beautiful but it was darker. The floors were deep brown wood and behind a big table there was the Camelot logo that was hung like it was a basketball shirt on a young boy's wall. The headmaster and his two followers sat at the table and he gestured for the kids to stand in front of him.

"Welcome to Camelot. I trust that your stay here will be a journey of discovery. Here is where your futures are set, destiny's can be changed and friends can be made for life. You are all equals now, colleagues in your job to learn." He sat down and signalled to the plumper man. "Thank you, my name is Mr Galahad. I am in charge of the Science department and also am the deputy head…" He was cut off by a cough from the skinny guy on the other side of the Headmaster. "Sorry I am **one** of the deputy heads. Now, after you come out of this room you will be separated into girls and boys and you will be shown to your rooms. In your rooms you will find a set of the school uniform with your name on the top of it. Where your uniform is, is where you sleep. Most of you will be sharing rooms and I expect no complaints. If you do they will be futile as there will be no room changes. You will be given a timetable which will dictate what lessons you have and where. Once you have received this, you should put on your uniform and I would suggest taking a look round the school. Tardiness will not be tolerated and if you are late to lessons tomorrow you will not be excused just because it is your first day." He glared down at the youths and Merlin felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise. "Thank you." Mr Galahad sat down and the skinny guy got up. Gwen let out a small sigh which Merlin knew was frustration at being stuck in one room; he wanted to look round the castle!

"Good morning students. I am the other deputy head but mostly I am in charge of the English department. My name is Mr Lucan and I am here to ensure your stay at Camelot will be wonderful. I also am in charge of the schools football team, The Knights." at this name there was a few cheers from the back and Mr Lucan smiled and raised his hand "Now it seems some of you have heard of us! We have won every season that I have been coach and if you would be interested in joining the Knights then you should see our captain Arthur Pendaton who will give you the time and date of your try outs." He then sat down and the Headmaster stood up again. By now the crowd was getting restless. "And now go!" the doors at the back of hall opened and the students piled out. Gwen got carried away in the rush of girls following an elderly lady and Merlin followed the rest of the boys. They were led across the courtyard again and there was a stairway that led up to the boys' dormitories.

Merlin was led up three flights of stairs and then down a long corridor to a door with the number 170 on it. He and a few boys were left and they all walked in after the old man who had been showing them to their rooms. The dorm had five beds which had thin curtains around them so that you could have some privacy, but Merlin thought that there would be no privacy with four other guys around him. His uniform had been placed on the bed opposite the door and, although it had a window which held a magnificent view, it was in a draft that came from a vent directly over his bed. Inwardly he grumbled but he remembered that nothing would change so he squashed the urge to complain. The old man stood in the centre of the room and listed off the rules. "No girls, no other guests after 10:00 Curfew is 10:30 and if you are caught then you have to do dinner duties for a week. The electricity goes out at midnight every night and so if you want to charge anything you should do it in the daytime. The door will be locked by me everyday at 9:30 and opened again after lessons have finished. Obviously this does not apply on weekends. Dinner is served at 6:00 and kept until 8:00 no later. You will have lunch at 12:00 in your lunch break and breakfast 7:00. Scruffiness will not be accepted, you will do homework on time to your best standard and you shall call every teacher by either Sir or Madam. Now put on your uniform and look around the castle." He left with a swish of his large coat and the boys looked at each other. There was one boy who was very tall, with blonde hair and blue eyes, one boy was quite large and he was panting from the trek up the stairs, the boy next to him was looking at the red faced boy with contempt, and there was one boy who had a very happy face and brown hair, he smiled around the room and introduced himself. "Hi guys! My name is Kieran Matterson; my dad is a barrister in the high court at London." The panting boy was called Martin Coot whose mother was an accomplished writer, the tall boy was called Seb and he was extremely proud of the fact that his father was a Member of Parliament. The boy who sneered at Martin was Liam whose grandfather had discovered some kind of medication that worked on 40% of common colds. Merlin had realised that this was a place where who your parents were got you everywhere. He had thought as much but he hadn't known for sure until now. He decided to skip past that and just mumbled "I'm Merlin." Liam scoffed at his name but Merlin shrugged it off. He had gotten used to it. With a name like Merlin you are going to get teased at some point, he cursed his mum for calling him that and then started to put on his uniform.

Camelot's uniform was very simple. It was a set of black trousers with a white shirt and a black blazer. The blazer had a red stripe running down the collar and pockets at the side. It was lined with red silk and there was also a red tie. The good thing was that none of the boys had been given shoes so they assumed they could wear whatever they had. Merlin was thankful as the many stairs he had seen around the site would be difficult to climb in anything other than converses. He flicked his hair out of his eyes and wandered down to the courtyard in the hopes of finding Gwen.

Gwen was shoving on her uniform. She had been placed in a room with three best friends and one girl who Gwen thought would be nice once she started to talk. The three girls who were on the beds surrounding her were insufferable. She thought that their names had been Tiffany, Lucy and Vivian. They were all very pretty with Vivian and her slim figure, long blonde hair and blue eyes, Tiffany with her curly black hair and amazing green eyes and Lucy with her Indian beauty that radiated from her every pore. But apart from their beauty there was nothing interesting about them. They were gossiping about the boys they had seen and that football captain Arthur Pendaton.

"Oh I have heard that he is the hottest boy to ever walk the planet! He has the most amazing body and apparently he is super charming!" Vivian gushed admiring herself in the mirror.

"Not to mention he's the headmaster's son!" Tiffany added joining her in the vanity parade.

"So that means rules don't apply to him. I bet he could get a girl into his room at any time of the night!" Lucy laughed and winked nudging the two girls who collapsed in giggles. Gwen had her own mirror by her bed and she looked at herself. The girls' uniform was a short, black pencil skirt with a white shirt and a red tie. They had a blazer which fitted nicely and a cardigan with the logo on it. The only problem with the uniform was the shoes. They had been given black high heels which were extremely difficult to walk in. Gwen could because of the year she had spent waitressing at a bar, but they definitely wouldn't be easy to manage on the thousands of stair cases. She sighed, grabbed her timetable and set off to the courtyard.

Merlin was sitting on one of the benches outside the girls' stair case basking in the sun. It was lovely weather for England and, as he had a moment, he thought he would cherish it. He opened his eyes for a second and he saw Gwen come down the stairs. His breath hitched in his throat as he took her in. The pencil skirt that he had seen the other girls wearing showed off her long legs and her amazing bum. She had her hands shoved into her pockets and she obviously had seen Merlin as she tottered over on the monstrous high heels that had made numerous girl fall over. But Gwen seemed to float along the ground as she came over to him and he told himself that he couldn't think that way about Gwen, she was the only friend he had here. She waved and he stood up. Gwen was amazed at how good he looked in uniform. The black trousers were slightly too tight but gave the impression that they were skinny jeans. The red tie looked strange in contrast to his eyes but Gwen thought that they also made him look more mysterious. He did a spin to show off his uniform and Gwen scolded herself for looking at his rather good bottom and she managed a laugh and returned the spin. Merlin had the same problem but was slower at making his eyes go up again and she mocked outrage. "Merlin! I hope that you were not looking at my bottom!" He smirked and ran his hand through his hair, "Well I would say that I was just admiring the pleating but I feel as though you probably won't believe that!" she smiled and shoved him playfully. "Come on we need to find our classrooms!"

The castle was huge but by the time it was 7:30 they had managed to find their classrooms twice and had made it back to the hall. The hall was now filled with long tables and Merlin spotted Kieran from his dorm room. They sat down together and were immediately given their meals. "It's a good spread isn't it?" Merlin stated and there was mumbles of agreement. Sat around them were a couple of girls and a few other guys. Kieran introduced them as Katie, Megan, Tom and Nathan. "Nathan is a member of the Knight's aren't you?" Megan said smiling appreciatively at him. He smiled proudly and nodded "Yeah, I've been training for most of today I swear Arthur is a slave driver!" Gwen looked up and talked for the first time since they had sat down. "So what is this Arthur guy like? I heard he was the Headmaster's son?"

"Yeah he is. And he knows that he is untouchable so he's a massive douche to anyone who he takes a disliking to. Once he was caught making one of his classmates clean his floor. That man thinks he deserves servants." He shook his head as Katie spoke up. "But that's not the only thing he gets up to in his room. He is a huge man whore; once, he was caught in bed with three girls. He didn't even get a warning. That guy is untouchable."

"Yeah but so was his sister!"

"He had a sister?" Megan enquired.

"Yeah, Morgan her name was. They're twins you see. But last year she went mental, punched Arthur in the face and ran out of the school. Apparently she was found and sent to their grandparents' house but no one knows if she's coming back." Just as Merlin started to ask more, there was an announcement that all girls had to go back to their dorm rooms. Once the girls had left Nathan turned his attention to Merlin. "So, what do your parents do then? Or are you one of those scummy scholly's?" Merlin laughed as if the thought he had been given a scholarship was ridiculous.

"No I'm not a scholly! No er... My Dad was a co-inventor of something, I'm not sure because he died before I was born, but my mum was left with all of his money and so…. You know, I'm totally loaded." Merlin thought that was an atrocious lie but it seemed as though the boys around the table accepted it. Tom added "Because if you were a scholly, you'd have to go and sit with them." He gestured over to the back of the hall. In the corner there was a group of girls and guys who were bent over their food trying not to attract any attention. Merlin immediately felt guilty for lying but then again he didn't want to be harassed when a simple lie could protect him. He would have to warn Gwen to lie about who her parents were too.

The next day Merlin got up early to make sure he was ready for 8:00. His first lesson was History and he was surprised when he got to the classroom on time. The door opened and there was the scariest man Merlin had ever seen. He had a wrinkled face that seemed to only have frown lines etched on. His eyes were small which gave the effect that he was always scowling suspiciously. He had no hair and his head was lined with blue veins which made Merlin feel ill. He was quite plump but not fat and he towered above the tallest of the students. He beckoned them in and stooped under the door frame. Merlin heard someone whisper that all students referred to him as "The Great Dragon" and Merlin could understand why. If this man breathed fire when he was angry Merlin wouldn't be surprised. Merlin took a seat in the middle of the second row. The Great Dragon stood at the front of the classroom and wrote his name on the board "Good morning, my name is Mr Lindwurm. You will address me as Sir but I do not expect any questions. My teaching style is that I talk, you write. At the end of every lesson I will give you one question that you will have to answer. Alright we shall begin." And with that he stood at the front and started to talk. The subject was on medieval times Merlin thought, or perhaps it was about the Victorians. He tried to stay awake and make notes but his eyes kept on veering off to the window behind the Great Dragon. The window was looking out onto the courtyard and Merlin could see into the window opposite. It was a huge room that had a bed to the side of the window and a few paintings on the walls. Merlin became embarrassed when he saw a girl walk in view of the window. She was very pretty and Merlin was admiring he long red hair when she ripped off her top and beckoned to someone out of sight. Merlin felt himself turn red as he tried to look away. But then he was a guy come into view of the window as well. He was tall and blonde and obviously athletic. He kissed the girl fiercely pulling her hair so that she was looking up to ceiling as he kissed down her neck. It seemed that all of the boys around Merlin had noticed this scene going on in front of them and there was a collective sigh of disappointment as the boy picked up the girl and took her away from the view of the window. There was a whisper behind Merlin of "That lucky bastard." And Merlin had to agree. He was lucky but how could he get a girl into his room. Merlin had heard stories of what happened to people who were caught in those situations and they were not things that Merlin would like. The Great Dragon gave them their question ("What does a new start mean to you?") and they all piled out of the classroom. Merlin was listening to the boys' gossip of who the girl was, when he turned a corner to go to his next lesson.

Gwen was sitting at the front of her English class and she was the happiest she had been in a long time. Her English Teacher was a woman called Miss Loon who was fantastic. They were starting a Shakespeare piece straight away and would be doing a term long project on a play of their choice. Gwen had decided she was going to focus on The Taming of the Shrew and was happy to find that there was an odd number in the class. Miss Loon had asked her if she was fine with being on her own and Gwen nodded pretending to be a bit disappointed. Of course she wanted to be alone but she had learnt a long time ago that if teachers realise that they have made you happy, they will take it away as quick as anything. So now it was half way through the fourth lesson of the day and there was a low mumble of people discussing what they were going to do. Suddenly, the door to the classroom burst open and standing in the doorway was a boy. Now Gwen had to admit, he was incredibly hot. His blonde hair swept over his eyes in a lazy, sexy way that was a natural gift blessed to the hottest guys. He was tall with broad shoulders and a lazy smile which hung to one side of his face. His eyes were grey but shone with youth and life. The only person that seemed to be able to talk was Miss Loon who looked incredibly annoyed with her arms folded across her chest and her eyebrows furrowed.

"Mr Pendaton. How lucky we are that you have graced us with your presence. Now tell me, why are you half an hour late to my lesson?" Arthur Pendaton swaggered into the room studying his nails as he said "Well you know, I had to do a thing." He looked at her and smiled as he sat down next to a girl who looked like she might faint.

"Well should I remind you that being late is against the rules and will end in punishment?" He scoffed and placed his hands on the desk in front of him in a triangle. He looked at Miss Loon right in the eyes and said "And should I remind you that I can get you fired at any time?" he flicked his eyebrows as the whole class looked at Miss Loon who had turned white and was trying to compose herself. Eventually she coughed and said, "Fine, you won't be punished but you will be expected to do a project with a partner. And luckily we have one girl without a partner." Gwen was filled with dread. She pleaded with Miss Loon through a stare. _Please don't put me with this arrogant arse! Please! _But unfortunately Miss Loon pointed to Gwen and said "This girl here will be your partner for the rest of this term. I hope that you two work well together." Arthur smiled at Gwen and stated "I get on with **all **girls."

Gwen was struggling to sleep. She had been hounded with questions from the terrible trio when they found out that she had been put with Arthur. Thankfully they found her description of him less than entertaining as Gwen had very different view of him than they did. Gwen thought he was a spoilt brat who thought the sun shined out of his arse and a boy who had had everything handed to him on a silver plate. He didn't say one thing to Gwen he had just cocked one eyebrow up and smiled at her as he held out his hand "Hi." He had said, "I'm Arthur, Arthur Pendaton: Leader of the Knights, Son of Uther Pendaton and your new crush." His face fell into a confused look as Gwen had pushed his hand away and rolled her eyes. He hadn't said anything else he had just stared at her quizzically until the bell had rung for lunch. Then he had only nodded when she mentioned having to arrange for them to meet up outside of school to finish the project. He had given her one last look and walked off in the other direction. The whole ordeal had left her very uncomfortable and now it was keeping sleep away from her. The only thing that helped her get off to sleep was the thought of Merlin. He was lovely and funny and she really liked him. She could see him as being a very good friend and he had cheered her up after English by making fun of the girls that followed Arthur and his friends. After reliving an extremely funny moment involving Merlin, her high heels and an unknowing Vivian, Gwen drifted off to sleep.

Merlin was also having trouble sleeping. He had had a very strange conversation with Arthur Pendaton at the bottom of the boys' stairwell. Arthur had stopped Merlin in the hope of finding out information about Gwen. He had asked, "Who is that girl you hang around with?"

"Erm…" Merlin was confused, "Gwen?"

"Curly hair, brown eyes, great arse?"

"Yeah… ah I think that's Gwen. What do you want to know about her?"

Arthur ran a hand through his hair and looked down at the ground. "God I don't know. Does she have a boyfriend? What does she like to do? What makes her happy?"

Merlin was totally confused. He didn't want to tell Arthur the things he held dear to him. He didn't want to tell her that he wanted to be her boyfriend, that she was amazing. But this was Arthur Pendaton, you don't say no to him.

"Er well. She loves English and Art. She doesn't have a boyfriend that I know of. Although she did say that she usually goes for smart, modest guys who she can have intelligent conversations with." This bit he had made up. But he was trying to tell Arthur subtly that Gwen wouldn't go for him but it didn't seem to deter him. His eyes lit up and he smiled at Merlin. "Thanks man! Hey," he slapped his hand on Merlin's shoulder "If you ever want to hang out with me and the guys I'm sure that would be okay." He winked and walked off leaving Merlin utterly perplexed.

And now Merlin lay awake trying to think of the best way to act on this. He liked Gwen and, maybe it wasn't good for them to be a couple, but surely Arthur wasn't anywhere near good enough for Gwen? He rolled over but still sleep didn't wash over him.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Arthur Pendaton was sat at the table that he and his friends like to call "The Round Table" Arthur knew that it was something to do with the Knights and he thought it made him sound intelligent so he kept it. His head was awash with ways to make himself seem intelligent. He knew that he was reasonably clever if he wanted to be. When he used to go to all of his lessons he got A's but once he found that he could get out of them easily he had kind of given up. And then once he had found out that he could fill the hours with numerous of willing girls he had almost stopped going to lessons completely. He wished he hadn't of gone to that stupid English lesson. That girl, Gwen had been in his mind for the rest of the day. Normally girls swooned when he looked at them but she had just brushed him aside. That guy with the funny name Merlin had said she liked clever guys who she could talk to. Well that was simple then, become clever. It wouldn't be difficult to memorise a couple of lines from Wikipedia would it? Just as he was beginning to plan something the doors to the hall opened and the hall went silent. Arthur looked to the door and his mind went blank. His sister was standing in the doorway but she didn't look like he remembered her. Her once blonde hair was now dyed black and her uniform was tattered and her shirt un-tucked. She had ugly spiky jewellery hanging on her wrists and had huge doc martins on her feet. She was accompanied by a boy. He had the same bottle black hair but he had bright blue eyes that looked straight at Arthur. He had the same spiky bracelets on and he wasn't wearing a tie. After a few moments of glaring at Arthur, they walked down the hall the thud of their steps the only sound in the room. They walked past Arthur and sat at the table opposite them. Morgan Pendaton clicked her fingers and the occupants of the table scattered.

There were a few moments of silence before Arthur loudly said "So Austin, how are you this fine morning?" after that the mumble of voices rose and things went back to normal apart from the Round Table which was sitting awkwardly with no one looking at Arthur. He didn't notice, he was deep in thought.

Gwen had woken up that morning with a mission. She had decided that she wasn't going to spoil Arthur. He was going to help her with this project even if he was incredibly insufferable. She wasn't going to let him intimidate her; who cares if he's the headmaster's son? So that's why she stormed into the hall, stormed right up to Arthur and said, "Tonight, 7:00 in the library, we're going to do this project." Arthur was stunned. For the first time he couldn't think of a witty reply. Instead he just mumbled something like "can't you just do it?" but then immediately regretted it. She stood up straighter and almost shouted, "The hell I will! I don't care if you are the son of god! You are going to put some work into this whether you want to or not. Not everything in life is going to be done for you Arthur, what are you going to do when you leave here and the name Pendaton won't get you anywhere? What then? Are you going to sit on your arse and hope daddy will sort things out?" She ran out of steam and she realised the whole school was looking at them. Arthur was dumbfounded. He looked at Gwen her chest heaving because she was breathing so hard. Her face was flushed red and the haze of anger that had come over her eyes fell away and she went back into herself. "I'm not going to apologise it needed to be said. Now, 7:00 Courtyard… fine well I'll see you then." And the turned and stalked out of the hall. All eyes sprung on Arthur as he sat there, his mind spinning and thoughts flying around his head. He got up and walked out of the hall after her.

Merlin smiled. They way Gwen had just stood up to Arthur was amazing. Everyone at the table was talking admiringly about her outburst and it seemed most people thought she was incredibly stupid but she was right. Merlin was worried though. She had heard stories from the boys in his dorm about how Arthur had people expelled before if they did anything to him. He just hoped Arthur's interest of her would keep her safe.

Gwen was going mad. She had gotten halfway down the corridor before crumpling in shame. She had no idea what had happened. She had planned to say a simple time and date and walk away with her dignity intact but instead she had said all the things no one was supposed to say to Arthur. She loosened her tie and un-did some of her buttons. She was sitting on the floor with her head in her hands when Arthur found her. "Hi." She jumped at his voice and immediately stood up and began to walk. He grabbed her hand and she jumped at his touch. "What?" she asked scowling "have you come to expel me?" He laughed and she narrowed her eyes more.

"Of course not. I came to apologise for my behaviour towards you. I should be more involved with this project and I'm sorry. You're right, I need to start taking responsibility for myself and I'm going to start trying." She was stunned. She looked into his eyes and tried to see if he was lying. He let go of her hand and took a step back. "So, if I may I'd like to start again. Hello. My name is Arthur Pendaton." This time Gwen smiled and took his hand slowly and said "Gwen Thomas. Nice to meet you Arthur." He smiled and it wasn't his lopsided one, it was one that spread all over his face and Gwen decided that it was his best feature. "Is there any chance you would let me walk you to your first lesson?" he looked down at his shoes and scuffed his feet on the ground as he asked her.

"Yeah, why not?" She answered and he looked at her and she smiled. They then started walking to the humanities block talking about menial things like the weather and sport but even though it was a non-important conversation, it was one that they both replayed over and over in their heads for days.

Merlin was sitting in the Chemistry lab absentmindedly doodling in his book waiting for the rest of the class to finish their experiment. They were studying the effects of acids on plant cells and Merlin had finished in seconds. He had always found chemistry interesting and quite easy to do. Mr Payens had taken an instant liking to Merlin, as most teachers did, and had given Merlin some dangerous chemicals to experiment with and Merlin had finished those as well. Just as Mr Payens was coming over to him one of the football team ran beside Merlin and knocked over a bottle and the contents spilled onto Merlin's uncovered arm. He yelped and ran to the tap immediately putting cold water onto it. Mr Payens was keeping back the class who had grown silent from the shock of hearing Merlin's pained cries. The burning hadn't died down and Merlin was starting to grow faint, he was never good with pain, a tiny injection used to make him black out and now Merlin was having trouble standing. As the world started to turn black he heard Mr Payens shouting "Someone take him to the Doctor!"

Gwen was standing in front of the mirror looking at her reflection the way she had seen Vivian do numerous times. She had pinned her curly hair back into an intricate style that gave the impression that she had a halo of curls around her head. She had undone a few buttons of her top (for comfort she told herself) and had her tie loosely on her chest. She had even put a tiny bit of mascara on. She tried to tell herself that she wasn't nervous for this session with Arthur; the butterflies in her tummy were probably just hunger. Yes Arthur was good looking but he hadn't proven that he wasn't an arrogant douche. He had just said that he would change, words weren't proof. She did not have a crush on Arthur Pendaton and, even if she did, he would never go for her anyway.

Arthur was sitting in library looking through the notes that he had made the previous night from various websites. His friends all said that he was an idiot for spending all that time on just a stupid English project but he wanted to prove to Gwen that he was a good guy. He knew that he had used to be a nice guy but to tell the truth he had changed. He used to find one girl that he really liked and would spend loads of time obsessing over her, planning a way to ask her out. But then he had found that girls obsessed over him. It was easy to pick up a girl, and then drop her after he was bored or they got too attached. He wasn't proud of this but his friends seemed to think it made him a legend and a guy that they wanted to be around. But then he had met Gwen who hadn't given him a second look and who made him obsess again. And then the way she had spoken her mind about him; reminded him of whom he used to be and it made him look at this horrible superficial guy that he had become. He just hoped he could prove to her that he could change. It was about 5 minutes before he saw her enter the library. His heart thumped in his chest and he started to mess with his hair to make sure he looked alright. She had done something with her hair to make it look like a Greek goddess and the way she looked amazing in her uniform. He had seen plenty of other girls in the Camelot attire but they all looked frumpy and ugly compared to Gwen. She seemed to glide along the ground and she radiated warmth. She had gotten close to him now and he saw a small, nervous smile creep up onto her face and it too Arthur's breath away.

"Hi." She had said as she sat onto the chair beside him.

"Hey" he said moving along his notes as she put hers out. They both looked over the notes for a few minutes before looking at each other and smiling.

"So, Arthur Pendaton, what do you think of The Taming of the Shrew?" she held out her hand as if she were holding a microphone and he laughed.

"Well Gwen Thomas, I think that it is a very boring play by a man who has written lots of boring plays about lots of boring things." She smiled and his confidence grew.

"Well you would be wrong. But not to worry I'll change your mind." He cocked up an eyebrow "Oh really?" He said and she nodded as she started to talk to him about the project.

Merlin groaned and opened his eyes very slowly. He was in a cream room that had shelves and shelves of pills, medicines and other bottled things that Merlin couldn't name. He sat himself up and an old man was peering at him from the door. Upon seeing that Merlin was awake he walked in and said "Well well well are you feeling okay young boy?" Merlin's arm was buzzing but it wasn't painful anymore. He looked at it and, even though it was bright pink, it wasn't burnt or damaged.

"I'm fine thank you sir." The old man shook his head and said "Oh no boy! Please don't call me sir. My name is Gaius. Your arm should be fine in a few days, luckily the burn was only on the first layer of skin and I was able to sort that out." He walked over to the cupboard, picked up one of the bottles and turned to Merlin. "Here, take these twice a day, everyday for about a week. It'll keep the pain away."

"Thank you" Merlin said again. Just as he started to walk away Gaius shouted.

"What's your name boy?" Merlin turned around and shouted back "Merlin sir!" and ran away. Gaius shook his head and turned to walk back into his room smiling.

Arthur and Gwen had finished their project hours ago but were now just sitting and talking. Gwen was surprised about how easy Arthur was to talk to. Once he had gotten over the idea that Shakespeare was boring he had become quite animated in his ideas and had even made a few valid points that Gwen had never thought of. Gwen had her head resting on her hand, her face pointing up to Arthur as she was talking. Arthur was sitting on his chair fighting the urge to take her hand in his. He found her enchanting, witty, clever and stunningly beautiful.

"So, Arthur, has your view on Shakespeare changed from today?" She smiled as he scrunched up his face to imitate thinking. "Well… I do have to admit that I am beginning to be enchanted by the play." He smiled and then took a chance, "But it might be because I find myself utterly enchanted by my teacher." Gwen blushed and looked down to the floor. "Arthur." She said as he took her hand. She looked into his eyes as he moved closer into her. She closed her eyes as his lips touched hers and the whole world melted away.

Morgan and Mordred were watching this embrace from a few shelves away. Morgan turned to her best friend and asked, "That girl, what do we know about her?"

"Nothing." Mordred simply turning the page of the textbook he was trying to read.

"Well find something out!" she hissed, "She could be the key to Arthurs's downfall."

Mordred nodded pretending to be interested. He knew that he would have to find something out about that girl eventually but he was trying to resist being a dogsbody for Morgan. He made sure he held out long enough that she became angry with him, but not enough so that she would get into a strop. He loved Morgan and when he had seen her last year at her Grandma's he knew that he could become her friend. Back when she used to be a prefect and girlfriend of half the football team, she had never given him a second look. But when she had discovered her hate for all things Pendaton, he had befriended her and pretty soon they had become an item. They weren't official but were more lovers that were friends. He liked that but was getting bored of the constant scheming that seemed to control her entire life. But that is what made him go along with this. He knew that once she had gotten what she had wanted she would have enough time for a relationship. Maybe one day they would get married. Then he started to laugh; the thought of Morgan in a wedding dress amused him greatly and the glare he had gotten from Morgan made things even funnier.

Merlin sat at the breakfast table the next morning all alone. Gwen hadn't come down from her bedroom and he assumed she had to finish her project from English seeing as he couldn't believe that she would've finished it with Arthur around. But when she hadn't arrived after 10 minutes he asked Kieran, "Hey where's Gwen?"

"Where d'ya think?" he asked his mouth full with food.

"What do you mean?" Merlin was confused now. Then Nathan spoke up.

"She was a damn scholly! Can you believe that? And here I was thinking she was a fine upstanding girl!" he laughed with Molly as Merlin looked to the table in the back of the room. Sure enough Gwen was sitting there glaring at him. He immediately felt bad and turned to Nathan. "Who told you?"

Nathan cleared his throat and said "Well a guy comes up to me and just comes out with it. So of course when she tried to sit here this morning I told her where to go." Merlin looked around as a shadow came over him. When he looked up he saw Arthur standing there. He was smiling at Merlin and said "Hey Merlin. I told you that you were welcome to sit with me didn't I? So why aren't you?" Merlin shrugged and Arthur pulled him up and started to walk him to the front. Arthur leant over to Merlin and whispered "I owe you one Merlin. That girl Gwen is fantastic! And it's all thanks to you that she paid any attention to me." They had walked up to the table and Arthur made Merlin sit in the empty space next to Arthur as Arthur announce to the room. "And now officially, you are my friend!" people all over the hall whispered and a few girls started to look Merlin up and down deciding whether he was hot or not. But the only person Merlin was looking at was Gwen. She glared at Merlin with tears in her eyes as she stormed out of the room. Merlin stood up to follow her but Arthur clapped a hand to his shoulder and forced him down.

Arthur was in heaven. He had spent all night replaying that kiss in his mind again and again. He was ecstatic. Nothing would bring him down from the high that he was in. he loved the way that after they broke apart Gwen started to bite her lip in a gorgeously sexy way that made him want to take her into his room and show her all the tricks he knew. But all that would have to wait. He knew that Gwen wasn't like all the other girls he had been with and he knew she wouldn't give in easily. Also with Gwen he found himself just wanting to talk to her, he wanted to see her every emotion, walk with her just spend time with her. He never realised that he could feel so strongly about someone after just one date. He smiled at Merlin. He was the reason Gwen had started to like him and for that Arthur was thankful. Heck, he would even offer Merlin a place on the team if he wanted. If Gwen became Arthur's boyfriend life for Merlin would become incredibly easy and filled with fun. The Knights parties were famous for a reason you know.

Gwen ran up the stairs to her dorm and flung herself on her bed, sobbing. She cried and cried at Merlin's betrayal and at the rejection she had felt from her peers. She knew that there was rivalry but she didn't realise that she would be shunned if they found out the truth. Gwen wondered how Merlin had avoided the subject of his parents or maybe he had just lied about his family. That was unforgivable. Gwen was always brought up to be proud of who she was and where she came from, not to hide because somebody thinks you're not good enough. She hated the way that the scholly's were treated and she hated all people who hated them. And now her thoughts went to Arthur. Yesterday had been so perfect and wonderful and she had thought that she would never be sad again. But now she wondered how he would react to her upbringing. Would he be seen with a lowly scholly? Did he already know or would she be able to keep it from him. She wouldn't lie but she could avoid the question? Urgh what was she thinking? That would go against everything she stood for and would make her a complete hypocrite for hating Merlin. No, she would go and see him tonight and tell him everything. If he didn't want to be with a scholly then she would have to leave him behind and focus on getting the best education she could. And if he accepted her, well maybe the hatred for scholly's would stop.

Merlin lay in bed silently. He hated himself, he hated the school, he hated the way he had to lie everyday and he was so tired. After spending a full lunch time with Arthur and his friends he found himself seeing that Arthur wasn't all bad, that he could be funny and at times, compassionate. But all the jokes and joviality of the round table didn't distract him from the vision of Gwen's heartbroken face as she ran from the hall. He needed to make it up to her somehow, he wasn't going to come out with the fact he was a scholly; he didn't want to put himself up for bullying, but he needed to be friends with Gwen again, he couldn't bare the thought of life in Camelot without Gwen.

Arthur was lying in bed peacefully asleep. The four poster bed was extremely comfortable having been made in Thailand and sent to him. The curtains were opened as there was no need to close them when he had a room to himself. The light from the window pooled his face in light as he rolled over in his sleeping mumbling something incoherent. Gwen opened his door quietly and walked in. she smiled at his sleeping form and then made her face harden with determination not to forget why she was here. She poked Arthur in the ribs and leapt back when he opened his eyes and sat up with a start shouting "whosstheere?" she giggled and his head whipped around to see her. He gulped as he took in the sight of Gwen, her hand held over her mouth smiling down at him. She was wearing a small white top and a pair of very short shorts. His sleepy brain thought that this was a dream and so he reached over and took her hands. She let him and climbed onto the bed. He then wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her onto his lap. At this closeness Gwen's heart quickened and all her thoughts were consumed by this gorgeous boy who was leaning in. their lips met and a spark went through Gwen's body. Instinctively she wrapped her hands round his neck and the kiss deepened as he pulled her closer and held her bum. She moaned at his touch and he smiled his hand running under her top to touch her breasts. At his touch, her mind raced back into her head and she leapt off of his lap. He gazed up at her, his sleepiness fading away. "Hey Gwen." He said slowly smiling up at her. She looked at him and walked closer again. "Okay Arthur, I have something to tell you…" He looked at her expectantly as she sat on his bed and looked at him. He was s beautiful. The moonlight hit him perfectly and lit up his defined cheekbones and made his grey eyes shine. She saw in his eyes that he was genuinely interested at what she had to say and that made her heart sing. She started to doubt herself. Should she really throw this away so soon when it had just begun. Maybe she should let it play out a couple of days, see if she really liked him before she revealed who she really was. She bit her lip. "Gwen?" Arthur asked moving closer putting his hand on hers. "What is it?" he smiled and put his hand onto her neck lifting her face up to his. She smiled and leant in to kiss him. "Nothing" she whispered as their lips met once more.

Merlin sat up on the first weekend at Camelot. He got into the shower and wandered to the courtyard unsure of what to do. He sat on the same bench he had sat upon on his first day at Camelot and he smiled at the memory. He could barely believe that was a week ago and already he had screwed things up so much. He closed his eyes and sat there for a while trying to pretend that he was at that first day waiting for Gwen. He felt a finger poke him in the side and he looked out of one eye. Standing above him with one eyebrow raised was the old man, Gaius who had fixed his arm. Merlin immediately sat up straight and cleared his throat; sure he was going to be told off for his peculiar behaviour. "Usually when I find students sleeping on this bench its because they've been stinking drunk. Are you drunk Merlin?" he voice was kindly and he seemed extremely clever. "Erm… no sir. I've just had no sleep for the past couple of days and I accidently drifted off while sat here sorry." Gaius smiled at Merlin and offered his hand. Merlin took it and stood up. Gaius started to walk off and Merlin breathed a sigh of relief. Just as he was about to walk back to his room Gaius turned around and said "Aren't you coming? I can give you something for your sleep." And with that he walked off. Merlin decided it was best to follow the old man and ran to catch up with him.

Gaius led him down a set of stairs Merlin had never seen before to a room through a wooden door. Merlin gasped at the set of equipment at the table. It was the oldest fashioned experiment Merlin had ever seen and he wondered how old Gaius was. Gaius ran up some stairs to a huge set of shelves filled with bottles and old books that looked millions of years old. Merlin sat down at the table with all the equipment on it and started to look at what Gaius was trying to create. After a while Gaius came back down the stairs and gave Merlin and small bottle full of a blue liquid. "This will help with your sleep." Merlin took at nervously. "Is this safe?"

"Of course it's safe boy! Do you think after 50 years of working at this school and helping every student I wouldn't know whether one of my own concoctions work?" he raised his hand above his head and sat down opposite Merlin. "But anyway, tell me what's been troubling you?" Merlin tucked the bottle into his pocket and started his story.

Gwen woke up smiling. The sunlight streamed into the room and she felt happy, truly happy for the first time in a long while. She felt Arthur stir beside her and she rolled over to see the smile that she had started to love. "Morning" he said in the deep voice that boys always had in the morning. Gwen felt herself smile as she felt herself being pulled closer to Arthur under the covers. He felt ecstatic. He was in bed with Gwen! They had only kissed until their lips were sore but that was more than enough for Arthur. In fact this was the only time that Arthur was waking up next to a girl that he hadn't slept with. He smiled as he leant in to kiss her again. She accepted the kiss but then pushed him away in fright when she heard a knock on the door. Arthur looked shocked for a moment and then raised his voice saying "Who's there?" a deep voice replied. "It's your father, Arthur". Arthur whispered a couple of curse words under his breath and he signalled for Gwen to hide in his bathroom. "One second!" he shouted as he gave Gwen a few kisses to quieten her questions and shut the door to the bathroom. Arthur almost ran to the door and opened it to reveal his father looking annoyed at Arthur's laziness.

Uther Pendaton was a tall man with grey hair that covered his hair thinly. He looked a lot like his son with the same grey eyes that both of his offspring has inherited. He was used to this behaviour from his son. He knew how Arthur behaved in this school but instead of being ashamed he was weirdly proud. Uther had been very much like Arthur when he was younger, a hit with the ladies always picking up girls and dropping them as soon as he had gotten bored. "Good morning Arthur." He said casually walking into the room and looking around the room. He noted the ruffled sheets, Arthur's sheepish look and the ajar bathroom door. "To what do I owe the pleasure father?" Arthur smiled trying to look relaxed even though he was inwardly panicking at the thought of Gwen in the bathroom and his father standing very close to the door. "Oh," Uther smiled "Can't a father drop in on his son every now and again on a lovely Saturday morning?" "Of course" Arthur laughed nervously and tried to distract his father but he failed miserably. "So, what girl have you got this morning?"

"What? Er what do you mean?"

"Where's the girl? Come on Arthur I'm not stupid I know that there's a girl in this bathroom." And to Arthur and Gwen's horror he pushed open the door to reveal a guilty looking Gwen in her tiny pyjamas. "Get out." Uther said his voice full of contempt.

"Dad, come on it's not like that…" Arthur trailed off as Uther grabbed Gwen by the arm and pulled her through the room and pushed her out of the door. "Dad!"

"What Arthur? Was that unkind? Kicking out the new slut my son has bedded?"

"Father, she is not a slut it wasn't like that! We just slept we didn't have sex we just slept!"

"You expect me to believe that?" Uther fumed.

"Father I'm telling the truth! I really like this girl, she… she could be the one Dad I'm serious!"

"Arthur I'm not going to stand here and listen to you babble on childishly about this new obsession. All I came here to say was that we're going to have a family dinner tomorrow night to celebrate Morgan coming home." And with that he walked out of the door slamming it behind him.

"Father it's not childish I love her!" he shouted down the corridor. He went back into his room and sat down on the end of his bed, his head in his hands. His anger died down when he felt an arm go round his shoulders. He looked up to see Gwen, tears in her eyes smiling at him. He felt himself return her smile and sat up. Gwen put her hands around his neck and whispered. "You love me?"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Merlin woke up, fully awake after the first nights sleep in days. He made a mental note to thank Gaius at some point. He smiled to himself and decided that maybe the old man was a better chemist than he had thought. When Merlin had finished telling Gaius the extent of his problems he had been puzzled by Gaius' response. The old man had just chuckled when Merlin had told him about Gwen and Arthur and he had mumbled "Wow that was quicker than last time." And when Merlin had mentioned about the fact that Merlin thought Arthur was an arrogant toe rag Gaius had corrected him and said "No… I distinctly remember that you think he is a clotpole." That had confused Merlin. This was the first time that he had spoken to this man, and he had never called anyone a clotpole. But Merlin brushed off the old man's strange comments and ran downstairs. He had decided to come clean with his friends and tell them that he was a scholly. He didn't care about the bullying he just wanted Gwen back. But when he went down to the hall she was nowhere to be found. He asked around and no one had seen her all morning and her roommates had said she hadn't been there yesterday morning and she hadn't arrived that night to sleep. Merlin was filled with dread. He could see a crying Gwen calling up her father and leaving Camelot forever, betrayed by her only friend and never wanting to see him again. This left a whole in Merlin's heart at the thought of never seeing her smile, hear her laugh again. He walked up to her dorm room and opened the door. A girl was sitting on a bed in the corner and she looked around sharply when he entered. "Oh sorry!" he said smilingly bashfully.

"Don't worry." She said quietly smiling a little. Merlin saw her dark hair and red lips and noticed how his heart had started to beat a little faster when she looked him in the eyes. "I was looking for my friend Gwen." He said simply, moving closer to this mysteriously beautiful girl.

"Oh do you mean the less silly one?" She asked quietly.

"Yes." Merlin laughed, "Do you know where she is?"

"No sorry," she said her eyebrows frowning slightly. "I did hear a rumour around school but I didn't think it was true.." she trailed off biting her lip and twirling a piece of hair in between her fingers. Even though it was a Sunday the girl was still in her school uniform and Merlin had to scold himself for letting his mind imagine tearing open those buttons.

"Tell me." He said softly looking at her as he sat down onto her bed. "Please?"

"Well, I heard that Arthur was hiding out in his room with a girl whom no one knew. I heard one of his closest friends describing the girl as dark skinned and petite." She was looking down at her lap entwining her fingers nervously. Merlin reached over and put his hand over hers. "Thank you." He said smiling and walking out of the door.

Gwen was in paradise. For the past day she and Arthur had spent every moment together holed out in his room just talking and laughing. She had found that they had a lot in common and that Arthur was an amazing listener. He was also incredibly charming and funny and she was the happiest she had ever been. After the drama of his father kicking her out and Arthur declaring his love for her, Gwen had managed to control her crazy love fuelled mind enough to talk sensibly with Arthur about their relationship. After a huge protest by Arthur, they managed to agree to keep their relationship a secret so long as his father didn't approve of her. "But I love you!" he had said scooping her into his arms and kissing her. "I don't want to hide it!" she had laughed and called him an idiot but she did have to admit that having a boy as dashing as Arthur declare his love for you so intimately was an amazing feeling. And she also couldn't wait for her snotty roommates to find out how the frumpy girl they so obviously despised was dating the guy that they all lusted over. The only problem that nagged the back of Gwen's mind was the fact that she had yet to tell him about her being a scholly. She knew he would find out soon enough but she was so ridiculously happy she couldn't imagine ruining it. And anyway tomorrow would be Monday so Arthur would probably realise the fact that she was sitting on the scholly table and anyway, he said that he loved her, so her social standing wouldn't affect that. Would it?

Merlin had run straight to Arthur Pendaton's room after the girl had told him about the rumour. But when he had found the room he found that it was being guarded by a couple of the younger Knights players. Merlin had tried to reason with them but still they would not let him get to the door. He cursed himself for not learning Gwen's phone number and was about to give up hope when the door opened and Arthur came out, his smile stretched across his face.

"Arthur!" Merlin had called catching the boys attention.

"Merlin!" His smile widened.

"Is Gwen in there with you?" He asked desperately hoping she was.

"Yeah dude! She is fantastic isn't she? God, never liked a girl more…"

"Yeah yeah." Merlin cut him off. "Can I speak to her?" he pleaded.

"Yes of course. Go right in." He signalled to his guards to let Merlin in.

Sitting on Arthur's bed, engrossed in a book, was Gwen. She looked up smiling and then when she saw Merlin her face crumpled into a frown. Merlin's stomach fluttered with guilt and he smiled sheepishly at her leaning against a wall.

"Hi." He said. "Look, I'm so sorry, I should've warned you about scholly's and I shouldn't have lied about myself and I should have sat down next to you proud of my family but I just didn't want to end up like those kids. I never had friends in my old life because I was different to them and I didn't want Camelot to be like that. I'm just so sorry Gwen and I don't know whether you'll forgive but if you could find it in that big heart of yours I'll come out to the school tonight and we'll be outcast's together." He finished his speech and looked at Gwen as she put down her book and studied him. Then her face broke into a smile and Merlin returned it relieved.

"You were stupid. Very. But you are Merlin and it seems that I can't stay angry at the boy with the big ears and funny name." She laughed as he walked over mumbling, "I don't have big ears…"

Merlin joined her on the bed and looked at her with his eyebrows furrowed. "So Miss Thomas, why have you been hiding out in well known playboy Arthur Pendaton's room?" She blushed and giggled hiding her face with her hands.

"It's been so wonderful Merlin," She gushed "He's amazing and funny and I really like him and well… he says he loves me!" She giggled and laughed noticing how school girly she sounded. "I know it sounds stupid but, I think I may love him too." Merlin smiled at her and saw in her face that she really liked this guy. Merlin was a bit more suspicious and had a thought in his mind that Arthur might only be saying these things to get Gwen into bed but then, if it made Gwen happy then she deserved it and he would be happy for her. But one thing he had to ask. "Have you told him about your er… parentage?" She bit the corner of her lip and stood up looking out of the window. "No." She whispered. "I don't want to ruin it, and if he loves me it won't matter when he finds out right?" Merlin thought that it could very well matter but he didn't want to worry Gwen and so he just nodded and smiled as she ran into his arms and hugged him laughing in glee at her new love.

Arthur was dreading this family dinner. I mean, he wasn't a fan of them normally but this one he could really do without. Before Morgan had gone AWOL it had been bearable with his twin making him laugh and vice versa. But now it seems his old best friend was hell bent on making his life miserable, he really didn't want to eat with her. And he wasn't in the mood for celebrating her return either. He hated her for embarrassing in the way that she had last year. The fact that your twin sister punches you in the face in front of everybody is embarrassing enough but then to have her run away and come back as a Goth well, Arthur couldn't deal with the shame. And that boyfriend of hers wasn't the kind of guy he wanted his sister to hang around with. When Morgan had been dating some of the Knights Arthur was happy, he would trust the knights with his life, but this Mordred guy wasn't a good influence on her. But his father was blinded by Morgan's bad behaviour as he was just happy that she had come back. Arthur was well aware the pain it caused his Dad to see his daughter run away from Camelot when that was how he had lost his wife. Arthur didn't know the full story but he did know that one day his mum had just had enough, packed her bags and left. Uther didn't try and stop her he just watched as she ran through the iron gates at the end of the land. But the fact that Morgan had come back, however messed up, had made Uther incredibly happy. She could do no wrong now and boy, was Arthur scared about what she would do.

He reached the dining room in his father's quarters and pushed open the door. He saw his dad sitting at the head of the table and his sister sitting on the left of him, slumped back in her chair her black hair over her face and her hood pulled up. She glared at him as he sat down opposite. He returned her cold stare and looked at his dad who had raised his glass. "To Morgan!" Arthur raised his glass half heartedly and drank the wine with increasing vigour as he realised how long this dinner would be. Especially when the woman he loved was waiting for him in his room. All of sudden Morgan sat up and looked at her father. "Daddy, did you know that Arthur has a new girlfriend?" Arthur choked on his wine and glanced at his father who was looking weary. "Yes Morgan, I know about Arthur's new fling."

"But dad, it's not a fling. No, he says that he is in love with her." Uther shot a look at Arthur and took in his pink cheeks and his death glare towards his twin.

"Yes and not only that father." Morgan said loudly, smiling maliciously at Arthur. "She is a scholly."


	4. Chapter 4

**I know I haven't updated in a while I'm sorry just school came back and I'm terribly lazy! I didn't exactly like how Gwen and Arthur fell in love so soon but I had to, to get the story to where I want it to go. (I think Lancelot is going to make an appearance at some point!) I do not own Merlin and this is an AU so if I don't exactly stick to character that's why! Thank you for reviews they keep me writing and help me to improve so thanks! **

Chapter 4

Gwen was lying on the huge over-sized bed, her hair spread out like a halo around her head and her chest rising and falling as she breathed slow deep breaths. Her eyelids fluttered with unseen dreams that no one but her would experience. Arthur thought about how much he would love to know what she dreamed about, how much he hoped that he appeared in her dreams like she haunted his every night. He also thought back to the past day which had been amazing. He loved seeing her laugh, hearing her talk, kissing her so softly. He loved how she bit her lip when she was nervous, how she seemed to not care what she looked like whenever she was with him. He loved hearing her voice in the morning, holding her when she slept. But that dream was over. And Arthur walked out of his room too tired to wipe the tears from his face.

Merlin was sitting at the top table the next morning happy that he had made up with Gwen, happy that she was happy with Arthur and also happy that from his place at the end of the hall he could look at the girl who he had met yesterday. He managed to stare at her while all the time pretending to be listening to one of the Knight's talking, it was the perfect cover. Gwen was still not coming to breakfast and she had accepted his decision not to reveal his true identity until later. He loved her for that, she had every right to tell him to come out in the open and sit with her but she knew what bullying felt like and she didn't want to inflict that on anyone, even if it did minimise her own pain. It was just then that Arthur walked into the hall, a vacant expression on his face. Merlin would have found this comical if it wasn't so un-Arthur like. Over the few weeks he had known this man Arthur had never worn anything less than happiness on his face. Normally it would be roguish jubilation. But that was the complete opposite of this sad, exhausted expression that was hanging on his face. The other Knights had noticed it too and had grown quiet as Arthur approached the Round Table. "Hey, you haven't seen Gwen have you?" Arthur asked the table. They all shook their heads and stayed silent except for a pompous, spotty boy who played left back who scoffed and said "What you mean that scholly? Surely she would be in a barn somewhere?" Arthur's face changed into thunderous rage which made Merlin's hair stand up on the back of his neck stand up. Merlin knew that Gwen hadn't told Arthur about her scholarship but then again, Arthur's expression wasn't shock, it was thunderous rage. Maybe Gwen had told him and he was being defensive? But Merlin didn't really feel the need to ponder on Arthur's mood so he stood up and stated, "I haven't seen her. Do you want me to help look for her?" Arthur furrowed his brow and looked at Merlin. "Er… No thanks, if she's not here then I know where she is I just though I'd check…" He stopped talking, his words seemingly ran out and the last few were just the drips left after a spill of his brain. Merlin smiled at his back and as Arthur walked out of the hall Merlin chuckled to himself, unaware of the battle raging in Arthur's mind.

In the midst of the battle were the words his father had screamed at him a few hours ago. His whole body had frozen at his sisters words; he was frozen from shock at this revelation and from fear at what his father's reaction would be. Everyone knew how his father didn't like the scholly's, no one really knew why, but Arthur hadn't wanted his father to take that out on him. But then Morgan had to stick her nose into his business and find the one flaw that could stop his happiness. And its not like Uther liked Gwen all that much anyway, he just thought her another tart Arthur was entertaining but still in the back of his mind Arthur had always thought that maybe Uther would learn to love Gwen and that maybe they would become close. But all that would never become true now that this secret had been revealed. His father had become silent until Arthur had tried to talk. When a single syllable had been uttered Uther had leapt up from his chair and began to talk in a low, threatening voice. "Arthur I do not care whether you still love this girl, even though we both know you do not really care for her, I don't want my son to be seen dating a piece of scum like a scholly. Surely you know that you are above her in every sense of the world. My god, you have seen how dirty they are, how they are so vulgar and swottish. How they are rejected by every right thinking student! And if this has passed your notice surely you know that I am the headmaster at this school! I mean of course you have you use it at every opportunity to get out of any kind of trouble." Morgan scoffed enjoying the sight of Arthur in such deep trouble. Uther paced back and forth for a while pinching the bridge of his nose not saying anything. Arthur tried his luck at getting a sentence and tried to muster his courage to ask, "Why do you hate the schollys Dad?" Uther turned to him and shouted "Because there always need to be a bottom of the pack. There needs to be people at the bottom of the food chain! That's why I started the whole scheme. Why have bullying in between the people paying when we can have our own outcasts who jump at the opportunity to join the elite! It's just a part of nature, so why let them choose who they hate? Instead, give them a common enemy to bring them together!" Arthur was disgusted by his father. How could he take in these intelligent students just to keep the bullies entertained? Like buying pigs for slaughter and it was his Gwen who was being slaughtered. He couldn't take it anymore and stormed out only pausing from shock as he heard his father yell "If you continue to see that piece of scum you can forget about my protection and you can damn well forget about being my son!"

So now Arthur was walking to his room knowing that Gwen would be there. He was still unsure of what to do he loved Gwen, at least he thought he did, she made him happier than he had ever been but maybe if he stayed away from her his feelings would fade. But then when he imagined life without Gwen his heart sank and he knew that life without Gwen would be miserable. But then, life without money or the Pendaton name wouldn't be much better. He was still battling himself as he entered his room and looked up at the girl sitting on the edge of the bed. She turned around and whispered "Arthur! You look awful. Where did you go last night? Have you slept at all? What happened?" He shook his head in answer to those series of questions and whispered, his voice coming out rough and grated. "You… You're a scholly?" Gwen's eyes widened and she jumped off the bed in fear and shock. She looked into his sullen eyes and saw he already knew the truth and so she just nodded. She leapt back and his roared with rage and pushed the large table to the side of the room so that it toppled over and the glasses that had been perched on the top fell to the floor and smashed.

"Arthur!" Gwen screamed frightened of the man in front of her.

"Why did you have to be a scholly?" He threw his arms in the air and paced around the room. "It's so unfair I loved you! I wanted to be with you but now… Now my father tells me that if I don't stop whatever this has been he'll disown me and I will be cut off from this school, from the money!" His chest was rising up and down so rapidly and his nostrils flared with anger. Gwen moved closer to him but then retreated when Arthur shouted "NO! Don't. Touch. Me." He shook his head and held the bridge of his nose with his eyes closed his breathing still erratic. "Why did you not tell me? How could I not know? Why did you deceive me?" He stayed silent for a while a few angry tears falling from his eyes. Gwen was crying to, scared by his anger and the past tense he used when he had mentioned his love for her. She should have known. Of course he didn't love her, how could he when they had been together for a few days. No one fell in love that fast. They were not the exception.

She walked over to the door and looked at him. "Arthur, I'm sorry I didn't tell you about my scholarship. I'm sorry that there's this prejudice in this school. I'm sorry that this is over. But I am not sorry for these few days. They have been the happiest of my life and I hope this doesn't tarnish that memory." Arthur stood up and looked at her tears freely falling down his face. "I thought I loved you." She laughed quietly and leant to give him one last kiss before she walked out of the room. "You never loved me."

Merlin was sitting, as he had been for most of this weekend, in a wooden chair in Gaius' room. From his chair he could see the courtyard and could watch all of the students wandering around, chatting to friends and enjoying the sunshine however dim it may be. Gaius was pottering around making a few antidotes and bits and bobs that Merlin wasn't particularly interested in. But then there was a knock on the door and of course Gaius merely stopped what he was doing and looked pointedly at Merlin and then the door and, getting the hint, Merlin went to open the door. Standing there was a dishevelled looking Gwen, tears streaked down her face, her make up smudged from said tears and hands twisting and folding over each other, never staying still. When she saw Merlin she launched herself into his arms and started to sob. Merlin was shocked and patted her head asking "Gwen? What happened?" she started to cry harder, her whole body shaking with the wails that she was making and Merlin picked her up and carried her further into the room. He set her down on a chair and he waited until she had calmed down before he repeated his concerned questions.

"Arthur, Arthur found out about me being a… a scholly! And he, he said his Dad had told him that if kept being with me he would be cut off from the money and so…" She dissolved into tears again and Merlin's heart fell for his friend. "He dumped you?" She nodded and Merlin took her into his arms again. They stayed like that until her sobs turned back into sniffles and Merlin kissed the top of her head.

"Arthur's a complete idiot Gwen, you should know that. If he thinks that money equates to more than having you then he is a huge clot pole. You're the best Gwen, and we'll forget about him together okay?" She looked at him and nodded a hint of a smile on her lips as he held her tighter and gave her a comforting squeeze.

Arthur was sitting in his room, tears pouring silently down his face as he looked out of his huge window. He didn't even turn his head when the door opened to reveal Morgan. She stood there smiling triumphantly in the doorway, her black hair tumbling down her shoulders and her grey eyes were shadowed by black makeup and she took in the sight of her pathetic brother. She would never mope over somebody like that; she would never be that weak. Imagine, losing all of your courage and pride over a silly little affair. But this crying boy looking out of the window wasn't what she wanted. No, she needed total domination of the school. She needed Arthur to be out of the school and she needed her Father to never want to see him again. And the key to this was that girl, if she could make Arthur cry, she could make him turn against his father. And Morgan knew exactly how that was going to happen.


	5. Chapter 5

Merlin Chapter Five

Gwen woke up and, for the first time, she felt happy. It was as though a weight had been lifted from her shoulders and she finally felt like smiling. It had been a couple of weeks since she and Arthur had ended whatever they were having and, although it still hurt her when she saw him walk by her, the pain was lessened by having Merlin at her side smiling or nudging her sympathetically. It was the last day of term and so there were no lessons today. She text Merlin "Hey! Meet me at our normal spot I want to say goodbye! X" and she threw on her uniform.

Merlin smiled at the text Gwen had sent him and he rushed down to meet her. He was happy that it was the last day of term because he had started to feel a little homesick and he really loved his home. He felt sorry for all of the people staying at school because they were missing out on time with their parents; Merlin knew the importance of this and had done ever since his Dad died when he was younger. It made him realise that time is precious and anything could happen so carpe diem! As he was running down the stairs he ran into someone who was just turning the corner. They dropped some books so Merlin bent down to get them and as he did he saw who he had run into. It was the pretty girl from Gwen's dorm. Immediately he felt himself blush right to the roots of his hair and he smiled when he realised she had done the same. "Oh hey!" he said trying to feign the charm that so many of the Knights had. "Hello." She smiled shyly reaching for the books that Merlin held. "Thanks" she started to walk away as Merlin called after her "Merlin!" she turned back her eyebrows creased in confusion. "Err..." Merlin walked forward kicking himself for his terrible nerves. "That's my name. Merlin" he pointed to himself. She nodded in understanding and said "Freya. Nice to see you again Merlin have a good holiday." She walked away as Merlin watched her running a hand through his hair and wondered why she had such an effect on him.

Gwen was sat in the shade of the tree that she and Merlin had taken to sit under whenever they had a free period or just whenever it was nice weather. She leant back and closed her eyes enjoyed the gentle breeze on her neck. Her eyes snapped open when she heard a whoosh by her ear and a few yells. The whoosh had been made by a football and the yells were coming from a few Knights and a certain blonde haired boy she definitely didn't want to see. She tried to stay still hoping they wouldn't see her, but her efforts were in vain as she heard Arthur yell "Oi! Throw us the ball will you?" she sighed and picked the ball up dreading seeing him. As she turned she saw the shock register on his face and then the apology in his eyes. He walked up to her and she closed her eyes willing herself to be anywhere other than this. "Sorry Gwen, i didn't realise..." He trailed off looking sheepish and he smiled at her, making her heart break. "It's okay Arthur you weren't to know and it shouldn't make any difference." He nodded and walked away holding the ball under his arm wishing that he had never let the ball go over to the tree.

After a long bus journey followed by another long taxi ride, Gwen was finally home. It wasn't much just a bungalow in the middle of Colchester but it was home and Gwen had never been happier to see it. She walked up the path and with every step she realised just how much she had missed it here. Before she could even knock the door was flung open and Gwen was scooped into a rib crushing bear hug from her Dad. "Gwenny! Oh sweetie it's so good to see you i've missed you so much! Tell me all about that fabulous school and at least pretend to be happy your back to boring old Colchester!" she laughed and pushed her father away so that she could see him. Her dad was a very happy looking man with laughter lines that made his aged face look constantly pleased. He had the same brown eyes as Gwen but instead of curly hair he had hardly any hair that was almost fully grey. He was quite tall, taller than Gwen at least and she couldn't help notice that he was round about the same height as Arthur. She shook the thought out of her head and beamed up at her Dad. "Of course I'm glad to be back I've missed you so much but the school is amazing." And with that they walked into the house.

Arthur flung himself onto his bed. Why did he have to see her? Why did she have to look so beautiful in that simple green dress? And why did his heart feel like someone had beaten it with a stick? He hated her, no of course he didn't. The truth was he hated being away from her and it just didn't sit right with him that she wasn't feeling as low as he was. She went round with that Merlin guy like she didn't have a care in the world and that killed him. He knew he had to get over her but he didn't know how. He lay with his eyes closed and it was only the click of the door that alerted him to someone coming into his room. Standing there with her trade mark smirk Morgan looked at him with mock sympathy etched on her face. "What do you want Morgan" he grumbled sitting up to look his twin in the eye. "I just wanted to see how my baby brother was doing without his precious Knights following his every move." He stood up walking so that she was in his shadow. "You are two minutes older than me Morgan and i am perfectly fine so would you please leave?" she chuckled and stepped back into the light towards the door. "I just thought you would be feeling sad and all cos a little birdy told me that you talked to Gwen today." He sighed exasperated with his annoying sister. "How do you find all this stuff out Morgan seriously?" she laughed and tapped her nose as Arthur went and sat down on his chair in the corner. "But yes, I saw Gwen, we talked a little and now I can't stop thinking about her."  
"Well have you maybe thought about telling her this?"  
"How would that help? She probably hates me and even if she doesn't we can't be together!"  
"Why?" He scoffed. Was she being stupid on purpose?  
"Because, Morgan as you so helpfully told me she is a scholly. You know how Dad hates them and remember what he told me?"  
"Yes of course I remember! But Dad doesn't have to know what you do. I mean I haven't thought about this but maybe if you went behind Dad's back and made it a secret then you can have the best of both worlds. Dad would be happy and you can finally be with Gwen." Arthur was surprised; it seemed like such a simple solution! Of course he could keep a secret; his Dad hardly noticed anything anyway. He smiled feeling so much better. "Thanks Morgan! That's a brilliant idea!"  
"I know" She said smiling, a glint in her eye that Arthur couldn't recognise.

Gwen was sitting at the table in the kitchen listening to her Dad's stories about what he had been up to while Gwen was away. It was the most interesting conversation she had ever been a part of but she just loved hearing her Dad talk and re-acquainting herself with all of his little mannerisms. After her Dad had finished she asked "Where's Ben?" and her Dad smiled. "Well, I hope you're not too disappointed he wasn't here to greet you but I think this will help soften the blow…. Your brother, your anti social brother who only communicates in grunts is actually out, in the fresh air…. With a big group of friends!" Gwen laughed at her Dad's build up and beamed at the thought that little Benny had been making friends. She was so relieved at this because really Gwen was the only friend Ben had ever had. As well as being a mother figure Gwen also had fun with him and they had always gotten on really well, she loved him and was torn up leaving him because there was always the possibility that he could slip further into his shell but Gwen couldn't let go of the opportunity to have an adventure. She decided then that she would go and unpack and walked to her room. She opened the door and smiled at her familiar surroundings. Finally a room of her own! She hated sleeping with other people and she was so relieved to have this privacy even if it was only for two weeks. She just hoped that she wouldn't lose the power to sleep through Vivian's snoring. Her bedroom was small and was furnished with a simple bed, desk and chair that had been painted white to contrast with the green walls and green bed cover. She flung herself on the bed feeling the comfort you get when you lay on your own bed after being away from it for a while. She closed her eyes and let her mind wander and in a short time she had fallen asleep.

She was woken up by someone crashing into her room and yelling "GWENNY!" she immediately shot up and ran to hug her brother before admiring at how tall he had grown since she had last seen him. He was now a good few inches taller than her and for the first time she had to look up to look into his face. Her brother was beaming at her, his smile filling his face as he picked her up in a hug again and swung her round while saying "I'm so glad you're back!" and she giggled in-between shouts for him to put her down. Once the room stopped spinning she rounded on him, hands on hips. "Where have you been huh? I arrived expecting a nice reception from my loving father and brother but then I found out that I had been deserted for a few friends! I am ashamed to call you a brother!" she tipped her head up and folded her arms in mock annoyance and watched as her brother dug his hands into the pockets in his jeans and he said quietly "Sorry Gwen. Its just they are so cool! They go to my school and they have the best music taste ever! There's this guy Tom who wears glasses and plays every single instrument ever! And he's gonna teach me guitar which is so cool. And then there's Steve and Brad and Colin and, "He suddenly stopped going bright red.  
"Ben? What are you not telling me?"  
"Nothing nothing!" he laughed nervously, "So uh how is that genius school of yours?"  
"Don't try and change the subject!" Gwen laughed and pointed at him "There's a girl! Oh Benny you've got a crush haven't you!" He went the colour of a tomato and he looked down at his feet.  
"No it's not a crush! She's called Lucy and she's really nice and funny and pretty and talented and clever and her hair is just the best you know? Its so shiny and bright and I always wonder how she gets it that shiny. I mean, no one else's hair is like that…" He trailed off when Gwen started to howl with laughter. "Hey shut up!" He protested and she tried to swallow the giggles that threatened to burst from her tummy.  
"I'm sorry! It's just that… N'aww you really like her don't you?"  
"well… yeah kind of but she's totally out of my league and I don't want to make a fool of myself and whenever I try to ask her out no words come out of my mouth and I just kind of croak at her." He gave daggers to his sister as she started to laugh again and this time she couldn't stop.

The two weeks had flown by and Gwen was packing her stuff up again. She had loved meeting with old friends and going to the cinema with Ben just like they always used to do. But she also had missed Camelot and she was glad to be going back. Warts and all, she loved it there and she was missing Merlin. There were lots of times when she had caught herself thinking "Oh Merlin would like that!" or waiting for Merlin to say something sarcastic everytime she said something stupid. But she had also not been able to shake off Arthur. She had hoped that this holiday would help her forget him but it seemed that everytime she closed her eyes she would see him. Whether she saw him running his hand through his hair, waggling his eyebrows or standing crying she would always see him. And she was fed up with it. It just wasn't fair! Everytime she had seen Arthur it had seemed like he was perfectly okay and happy and it just killed her to know that she was the only one feeling as though someone had beaten her heart with a stick. She sighed and continued to pack her stuff away.

Finally the holidays were over. For Arthur they had dragged by so slowly and after about an hour at the start of the two weeks he had found that he had to fight off boredom every two minutes. Nothing held his concentration for very long. He had watched TV until his eyes had gone square, kicked a football around until it had gone flat, napped very hour and still that only seemed to waste half a day. He had even found himself studying on the twelfth day and that was when he knew he had hit rock bottom. Normally in the holidays he would ask a girl to stay with him and then at least he had something to do all the time. But now it just seemed wrong, sleeping with someone that wasn't Gwen. Gwen. He couldn't wait until she came back because then he could tell her his master plan. He wasn't sure whether she would be up for sneaking around with him but he had to try. He couldn't just let her slip away and Morgan was right. Everytime he mentioned Gwen she would say "What Dad doesn't know wont hurt him." And he knew she was right. He could do it, he was Arthur Pendaton, if there was one thing he could do it was lie. He lied everyday telling teachers why he was late, telling random girls that he couldn't make it official with them because his Dad had banned him from dating anyone. He could do this.

Merlin and Gwen walked into Camelot in silence, worn out by the long bus journey. They had already caught up and had fallen back into their old ways, wordlessly deciding that they would rest under their tree. As they were sitting there they noticed a car pull up and a boy get out. He looked round about their age and Gwen noticed that he was very good looking. As he walked closer she could see that he had quite tanned skin with black hair styled into a messy quiff that suited his toned physique. He had on a short sleeved top that showed off his very impressive arms and already girls had stopped in their tracks to look at him. Merlin then looked at Gwen after noticing that she had appeared to have stopped breathing. He laughed and nudged her "The new guys a hottie eh?" and she snapped back into reality scowling at him and then changing her face into mock indifference. "I can't say I've noticed." He laughed and then smiled deviously, a twinkle in his eyes. He then proceeded in pulling her up and running with her flailing behind him towards the new guy. She shouted in protest but he ignored her laughing as they levelled with him and Merlin slowed to a stop. The new guy had seen them coming and had stopped walking, amused by the two people galloping towards him.  
"Hi! I'm Merlin and this is Guinevere." He saw in the corner of his eye Gwen scowl as he used her full name which she hated.  
"Well good morning Merlin and Guinevere I am Lance, nice to meet you!"

**See? I told you Lancelot would be in here! I have to say I love Gwen and Ben and I as really happy with how that worked out. Thank you for reading and reviewing and I hope that my writing is getting better (I feel it is) and I hope you stay with me on this journey! **


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Five Merlin

Gwen was sitting in the library catching up on homework and revising for the Great Dragon's next test when her peace was disturbed by someone knocking on the bookshelf nearest to her. She looked up and saw the smiling face of Lance who was now indicating whether he was allowed to sit or not. She pulled out her earphones and nodded returning his smile. Over the past few days Gwen and Merlin had taken Lance under their wings, teaching him the classrooms, who was nice who wasn't, which teacher was the strictest on uniform and other simple stuff that was never in the welcome brochures. Lance had proved himself a very nice person who was easy to talk to and who was very funny after he had drunk his morning cup of coffee. He wasn't a scholly but he had told Merlin and Gwen that he didn't care about that, it was the person that mattered, not how much money they had. This had put him very high in Gwen's view and so she had become friends with him much to the annoyance of Vivian. She knew why of course; Lance was very attractive with his purposefully sexy smile and perfectly coiffed hair that looked as though it was natural but Merlin had told Gwen that it took about half an hour for Lance to do his hair every morning. But Lance was not vain, yes he liked to look good but that was just a personal preference that he didn't extend to anyone apart from himself. He complimented Gwen even when she was makeup free in the morning. He sat down next to Gwen now and he got out some of his books. "So Guinevere, what are you doing holed up in the library on a fine day like this?" She smiled and looked away from the French she was doing and said, "The same could be said for you Lancelot."  
"Well I suppose but I came in here to talk to pretty woman and ask her what she was doing in here."  
"Well, seeing as Merlin is down helping out Gaius and you were nowhere to be found I came in here to do work that needs to be in this week." Lance pulled a face and picked up a textbook and threw it away so that it fell to the floor with a _thwump!_  
"Who cares about silly school? Textbooks won't teach you anything, you need to go out and live! You're studying French? Go to France! You're studying History? Then make it! Make sure in 50 years people are going to study the life of Guinevere!"  
"I won't be in history books if I can't get a job!"  
"Yes you can!" He leant forward and looked into her eyes intently. "Did you know that there was a couple called Lancelot and Guinevere who fell madly in love and they are studied about now? They didn't have to pass any exams to get into history books!" Lance then moved closer to her and leant in further placing his hand on hers. "Come and live life to the full with me?" Gwen laughed and whispered. "We're not all you Lance, not everyone can just saunter into a test and pass it with flying colours like you can Lance, some of us have to work hard to get where we want!"  
"Well then work hard now, but at midnight your meeting me by the tree and we are going to live a little!" And before Gwen could refuse, Lance had picked up his books and had run out of the library. Gwen smiled and shook her head thinking, that boy is going to be trouble.

Merlin had just finished helping Gaius when he ran out of the room straight into Freya. Merln gulped his breath catching in his throat. She giggled and smiled at Merlin. "We have to stop meeting like this!" Merlin blushed and laughed with her. "Well how about you come outside with me and we can talk properly?" Merlin was shocked by himself. Where had that come from? He had just asked Freya to walk with him! What if she said no? What if she said yes and they had nothing to talk about? But Merlin's fears were pushed out of his mind when he saw her blush and nod, he started to walk across the courtyard and they talked about the holidays, homework, teachers and other students. Merlin had managed to make her laugh quite a few times and they had sat down under the tree continuing to chat easily about this and that, unimportant conversations that they would both replay in their head when they tried to sleep that night. Merlin was enchanted by the way her eyes twinkled all the time, how they showed her emotions so clearly, how her mouth was small and delicate and he found he watched the way her lips formed her words so beautifully and how, just in this short time, Merlin knew that he had to talk to her like this every day for the rest of his life.

That night Gwen's heart was beating so fast with anticipation and excitement at what Lance had in store for her. She had never felt this excited before. With Arthur it was magical and so intense and amazingly emotional but with Lance everything was exciting. It was fun, she could let her hair down around him and he wouldn't judge her for it. She could be exactly who she wanted to be when she was around Lance and he accepted her for it and she loved that feeling. So when it came to midnight Gwen jumped out of her bed and ran to the tree which had a dark figure underneath it. Gwen first saw Lance smile and it reminded her of the Cheshire Cat. He had on a leather jacket, white top and a pair of tight black jeans. Gwen now felt embarrassed that she was just wearing a pair of jeans and a green top. She felt incredibly frumpy next to Lance and she thought about to go and change when Lance said "My god you look beautiful." And all insecurities fell away.  
"So, what are we going to do?" Gwen smiled at him and he tapped the side of his nose.  
"All in good time Miss, now have you ever gotten drunk before?"  
"Erm... no. Why?"  
"Well there's always a first time for everything." And with that he produced two bottled of vodka and took a swig from one before signalling for her to do the same. She felt the liquid burn down her throat and then continue to burn all the way through her body before filling her with warmth that felt exceedingly pleasant.

In about half an hour they were both quite plastered and were rolling on the floor laughing and giggling about something that Lance had said. They then lay side by side looking up into the stars. Lance linked his hand with Gwen's and she turned to look at him. "What?" He said smiling. "Nothing. Just that the sky is so pretty tonight." Lance nodded and started to point out a couple of constellations. Gwen just stared at him smiling softly at how his eyes were wide and full of life. "How do you know so much about stars?"  
"I think they're beautiful and I like to look at beautiful things." He turned to look at her. "This is why I like looking at you." She blushed as he rubbed his thumb up and down the side of her face pausing at her lips. She then leant in and placed her lips on his. She felt him smile as he pushed their bodies up against each other his hand at the back of her neck. He ran his tongue over her lip and she let him make the kiss deeper. The stayed entwined, learning new secrets about each other until Gwen fell asleep. When she had, Lance picked her up in his arms and carried her into her dorm and tucked her into the bed, kissing her forehead.

Mordred sulkily went back to his dorm, freezing and cursing Morgan. It was three in the morning and those annoying idiots had spent their time in the cold cuddling and kissing, it made him feel sick. He hated Morgan for making him take pictures of the couple, he didn't care about the petty argument between Morgan and Arthur and he was getting fed up of being the bad guy. He hated finding secrets about the girl, Gwen. Hated seeing Morgan smile when he had told her about Gwen's scholarship. And now he hated going back to their rooms and showing the pictures he had taken knowing that they were going to be used to bring pain and hurt to the nice girl who Morgan was picking on just because she had caught Arthur's eye. He wanted to be the good guy for once.


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry for the lack of chapters I just kind of lost my passion for this story and I didn't want it to become really crap. But I've remembered why I love writing and I'm going to carry on! **

Morgan smiled in victory as she saw Arthur's face crumple. His hand was held to his mouth as he looked over the pictures and tears spilled down his face. The pictures that Mordred had taken were fantastic. There was one of the two figures holding hands and even kissing. It had been a jackpot and Morgan was delighted. Arthur looked at her and she composed her face into a sad concerned pose.

"Why? How?" He croaked and Morgan tutted inwardly at how pathetic he had let himself become. This once great man was now a crying baby. And all because of that girl, Morgan would have to thank her someday.

"Love is a strange thing. Maybe it's because he is the opposite of you? Maybe she wants you to prove your love for her?" He nodded his eyes wide and Morgan had to chuckle. This was too easy. He was putty in her hands.

"So you're saying I need to tell her I love her?"

"No. You need to show her. By defeating the guy who took her from you!" He nodded and his eyes filled with rage as he looked down at the pictures. He seemed to gain some resolve and he stood up, knocking over the chair in his haste. He then ran out of the door and down the hall. Morgan followed eager to see this. It was lunchtime in Camelot and most of the students were in the hall. Arthur burst in and every head turned to him. But he wasn't paying attention because he had seen him. He had seen the bastard who had his arm around Gwen as she laughed at one of his jokes. He had seen the guy who had kissed and who was leaning down to kiss her now. He was kissing Arthur's girl and Arthur wasn't going to let him get away with it.

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY GIRL YOU PRICK!" Arthur yelled and launched himself across the room. With a crack, the two boys hit the floor and Arthur started to punch every bit of Lance that he could. But Lance fought back and soon they were rolling around on the floor.

Gwen was looking on in horror and was screaming "NO ARTHUR WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" she tried to prise them apart but instead she got knocked back. Then a curly haired boy got in between the two of them and, with Merlin's help, managed to hold them back. Blood was pouring out of Arthur's nose and Lance's lip had been cut. Arthur was struggling against Merlin and was yelling "GWEN IS MINE DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HER AGAIN!"

Lance was panting and Gwen started to cry. She couldn't believe Arthur would be so stupid! She ran over to Lance and checked that he was okay. She heard Arthur roar with anger and she turned to him, walking slowly up to him. "How dare you attack him? He has done nothing to you at all! What do you care if we are together do you not remember the fact that you were the one who ended our relationship? You broke my heart Arthur Pendaton and now that I am finally happy you try to take that away from me?" She was sobbing and so was Arthur. He couldn't look at the hatred that was in her eyes.

He protested. "Gwen, I love you. I'm sorry my father… I never wanted to break up with you!" Silence rung in the hall and was only broken by the panting from Arthur and Gwen. Lance was confused. What the hell had happened between these two? He stood up and walked closer to them. "Look mate, I didn't know about you and Gwen. I'm sorry but come on; she's not just going to pine after you forever! She has to move on at some point." Arthur nodded and hung his head. He was now on his knees and the whole school had gathered around the threesome. Merlin was shaken up. God this was getting complicated. Gwen rested her hand against Arthur's cheek and he sighed. "I'm sorry Arthur. But if you love me you have to let me go. I need to be happy and Lance makes me happy." Arthur nodded again and didn't say anything. Gwen stood up and Lance pulled her into a hug as she sobbed into his chest. With a defeated look at the couple, Arthur left the hall.

The next week was filled with gossip. Gwen was followed by whispers everywhere she went and dirty looks from girls. They couldn't believe that a lowly scholly had captured the infamous bachelor's heart. She was so sad and yet so happy. Lance had showed her how to live. She had even skipped on a couple of classes just so they could go on adventures. It was liberating and wonderful and she really liked Lance. But now everytime she walked past Arthur she saw the sadness in his eyes and she was filled with guilt. She knew she shouldn't feel guilty but she couldn't help it. She felt that she had broken Arthur. Before she had met him he was confident and cool and funny. Now he was just quiet. After the second week of this new Arthur she decided she would have to talk to him. Just so that she could say she tried to help him. She asked Merlin to send him a message to meet her at midnight and, after a shocked and confused pause, he agreed. So that's why she was standing outside in the freezing cold at midnight in the courtyard. When she saw him she felt the familiar pull on her heart and she walked to meet him.

"Hi." She had said softly. "Hey." He smiled half heartedly and she wanted to hug him until he went back to his old self. "Are you okay?" she asked and he shrugged.

"Arthur, you're going to have to talk to me. I can't see you like this. It's not natural and it kills me."

"You think that seeing you with him doesn't kill me? You know that I love you and I know that you love me so why are you still with him?"

"Because you broke my heart and I'm trying to mend it." She said simply and Arthur looked at her in the eyes.

"That decision was one that I'll regret for my whole life." He said that with such reverence that Gwen believed him and that made her shiver. The way he could be so strong and confident one minute and then defeated the next scared her. At any minute he could become that beast that attacked Lance in the corridor.

"Gwen. I want to apologise about the way I ended things. I didn't explain myself and I'd like to do that now if you'd let me." Gwen nodded and he carried on, "In my family we have this stupid idea that we are above everyone else. And before I met you, I believed that. But then you showed me that just because some people aren't born privileged doesn't mean they are below me. But then my father found out about us and he hates scholly's. I don't really know why but he does and he said that he would cut me out of the family if we continued to date. He didn't even change his mind when I told him I loved you. And although they are stuck up and discriminative they are my family and I don't want to lose them. So I broke up with you to keep him happy. I tried to forget you but I can't. I love you Gwen and I don't think I'll ever stop." Tears had begun to run down Gwen's face and Arthur wiped them away. "So I want to apologise and I really hope that you are happy with Lance because he is the luckiest man alive to have you."

Gwen smiled and hugged Arthur. He rested his head against hers and smelled the familiar scent of the girl he was in love with. "But Gwen, if you realise that you still love me I will always be here. Waiting for you." She looked at him and smiled. Then he leant in and gave her a feather light kiss on the lips. "Sorry." He apologised.

She frowned. "Don't be." And she kissed him again. Just a small peck but it sent shivers all over her body and her heart started to thrum in her chest.

It was midnight. The courtyard was dark but there was a figure standing in the cold. _Click. _Then the figure was joined by another and they began to talk. _Click._ The figures began to hold each other and continue to talk. _Click. _One of the figures leaned in and Mordred started to raise his camera. But something stopped him. This wasn't right. This was weird and malicious. He had seen how confused and angry Arthur was right now. It had, after all, been Mordred who had separated the brawl in the lunch hall. Arthur was scared and lonely and Morgan was playing on that and manipulating him. It wasn't right. Mordred wouldn't do this anymore. The couple kissed again and Mordred put away his camera. He wished those two would just get together again. Morgan would surely admit defeat then. And when this obsession with Arthur was over Morgan would finally realise that she loved him as much as Mordred loved her.

**Sorry this was short but I had this idea and I had to write it. I went to a Mcfly concert yesterday and didn't get home until half one in the morning so I'm very tired and couldn't write much more without it becoming gibberish **** please review and follow as it makes me happy and will hopefully wake me up. My tumblr is potterables02 :D **


	8. Chapter 8

**Thank you all for the reviews its really so incredibly lovely to hear from people reading this and it makes me want to write more so thank you so much!**

A week had passed since the night that Gwen and Arthur had talked and Arthur had become hell bent in winning Gwen back. He was now attending every class, answering questions, handing in homework and even doing extra so that he could bump up his grades.

The Knights were benefitting from this new Arthur as well. Their training had increased and they were working like a well oiled machine. After their mid season game they had enough points to lose the next few games and still win. But Arthur seemed determined to win every game they played (a record for the school if they managed it). With this new direction for them, the usually troublesome Knights were just too tired to wreak any havoc and so life in Camelot Boarding School was peaceful.

Merlin however was pacing up and down Gaius' lab and the old man was just about to kick him out when in walked Lance.

"Oi Merlin! Why the pacing man?" Lance asked, flopping down onto one of the empty chairs.

"I'm thinking of asking out Freya." He said quietly turning and slight shade of red.

"Well that's fantastic! Where are you planning to take her?"

"If she agrees I thought she might want to go out to the cinema on our next trip to town. But god Lance how can I ask her out? Everytime I talk to her I sound stupid and fumble with my words! I don't have your confidence I can't just wink at a girl and they fall at my feet I'm not you!"

Lance laughed at his friend's high pitched voice and he walked over to him, placing his hands on his shoulders.

"Look Merlin. The key to confidence is just to fake it. When I walk up to a girl I pretend that I am the greatest guy in the world and they believe it! I mean, look at me and Gwen. Now that I have her I don't have to pretend so much but when I first tried to get her to go out with me I had to pretend that she would be a fool if she said no!"

Merlin nodded at these seemingly wise words and looked at his friend. Lance didn't have anything to worry about. His good looks made girls swoon in the corridors and whenever he winked at a first year they practically fainted! Merlin didn't have those amazingly good looks. He was gawky and awkward and he still had the same haircut that he got when he was twelve!

Lance could see his friend worry and decided to show him what to do. "Look at me Merlin and copy what I do exactly." With that he walked away from Merlin, pausing only for a second before walking back to him smiling seductively and looking down at his friend winking. "Hey babe. Come out with me this weekend okay? Movie and a drink sound good? Good. See you then." Then he walked away. Merlin burst out laughing, clutching his stomach. Lance's eyes widen and he asked. "Why are you laughing?"

"Cos you look bloody ridiculous mate! I can't do that Freya will just laugh in my face!" Merlin continued to laugh until Lance shook his head and held up his hands in defeat.

"Then I can't help you. Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to see my girlfriend. Because unlike you I'm not afraid to talk to girls!" Merlin winced feigning being shot in the chest and laughed.

"Ouch that one stung." Lance laughed as he walked out of the door leaving a worried Merlin to continue pacing and obsessing over that pretty girl who had infected his brain.

Gwen was sitting in library working on a new question the Great Dragon had set that day (If I have the most precious jewel in the world, and someone offers me another jewel which he says is even more desirable in exchange for my jewel, what should I do? Should I take the risk? Or should I settle for the jewel I already have?). The sun was streaming into the window and for a minute she just sat there, feeling warm and calm and as though she didn't have a worry on her mind. Then that moment of peace was shattered by a boy sitting down next to her with a wink.

"Hey Lance." She said giving him a quick kiss.

"Hello Guinevere." He smiled as she cringed. He knew she hated that name but he liked to annoy her with little things like that. "Why are you indoors when the sun is shining so brilliantly outside?"

"Well, unlike you, I like to actually do my homework on time instead of having to be chased for it."

"Oh but you must know I love the chase. It's the best bit!" He winked and smiled again and she laughed softly. "Can I help with your work?"

"Yeah I guess. What should I do? Should I take a risk or should I stick for something nice and comfortable?" At this Lance smiled crookedly and leant forward.

"I am a big believer in taking a risk. Why stay for something comfortable? Why stick to the ordinary. I believe that we only have one life so at least we can make it extraordinary. If it's sunny, lie out in the sun. If it's raining, dance in the rain and get wet! Who cares about the consequences? If you never take a chance your life will be filled with regrets and if you take a risk and everything goes wrong at least you can safely say your life hasn't been boring."

He sat back and smiled, looking incredibly pleased with himself. Gwen smiled at him but she couldn't bring herself to agree. Yes it is fine to take a risk now and then but in the end you need to have something to fall back on. Someone reliable to go back to through the rough and smooth. If you always risk everything you'll live life alone.

"Wow. You've clearly thought about this before." Gwen laughed.

Lance shrugged his shoulders. "What can I say? I am a deeply philosophical guy." He then began to back away Gwen's things and when she protested he just said, "We're going to enjoy the sunshine and that's final." She stopped protesting, she couldn't answer he question anyway.

All the time that she spent with Lance that day was clouded by the fact that Gwen hadn't of been able to answer that question. Did she want a risk or a safety net?

Merlin was stood outside Freya's dorm room with his hand poised to knock. He had been like that for half an hour. Lifting his hand to knock before opting out and almost deciding to leave. That was when he would look in the mirror and begin to argue with himself.

Why was asking out a girl so difficult? Lance and Arthur made it look so easy but he couldn't just pluck up the courage. He looked in the mirror again and raised an eyebrow smiling with half of his mouth.

"Hey babe. Movies. This Saturday. You and me. Alone. Sound good?"

"Yeah it does sound good but who are you talking to?"

Merlin's mouth dropped and his face went bright red. He turned around to see a very amused Freya behind him. He could see she was trying to hold in her laughter and that made Merlin go even redder.

"I… Uh… I was going to ask you out but I've never asked out a girl before and Lance told me to be confident and that was well…" he trailed off as she started to laugh.

"That was you being confident? Oh Merlin! Being confident really doesn't suit you!" She dissolved into giggles again and Merlin started to laugh too.

"Well what am I supposed to do then? Everytime you're near me I can't think straight and I'll just look stupid!"

"And that wasn't stupid?" She asked and he smiled.

"Okay yeah that was but I didn't know what else to do?" He protested and she stepped closer to him, so that they were inches apart.

She looked up at him and softly said, "Well I guess I could do it for you." She smiled and asked, "Merlin, would you go to the cinema with me this weekend?" Merlin smiled and ran a hand through his hair.

"Well I don't know… I mean I guess if there's no one better…" She slapped his arm and he laughed.

"Of course Freya. It would make me the luckiest guy in Camelot." She smiled and leant closer, her lips brushing his cheek. She walked back into her dorm room and paused only to smile coyly at a jubilant Merlin.

"I'm the luckiest girl in Camelot!" the sound whispered in Arthur's ear and he smiled half heartedly. He was holding a pretty blonde from the year above in his arms and they had been kissing for quite a while, holed up in an empty broom cupboard.

The girl started to trail kisses up his neck and he tried to remember her name. He hated doing this. He couldn't believe that he had just admitted that but it was true. Since Gwen these meaningless flings just didn't do it for him. He had now slowed it down to only a few every now and then but it didn't make him any happier. It just distracted him from thinking about Gwen for a few minutes. He was so hell bent on getting her back, hell bent on proving that he was a god guy, but now he was doing this. If she found out she would be furious and he couldn't bear to see Gwen angry at him again. Not after they had just fixed things.

That night was still firmly lodged in his mind and it kept him going, kept him on track. But this was very much off of the track to getting Gwen back but he couldn't help himself.

As he began to kiss the blonde again her hair changed to a curly brown and her voice started to sound like the one he craved to hear. This was what made these flings worth it. It was horrible to imagine someone else but after a few vague attempts he gave up trying and just went with it. He just wished that soon he wouldn't have to imagine.

For probably the first time in his life, Lance was in a steady relationship. He had someone to talk to, someone to hold on a regular basis and he loved it. As he sat in English he sat and watched her. He loved the way she absentmindedly bit her pen lid and how her eyebrows frowned ever so slightly when she didn't understand something. He loved that she answered almost every question and when she wasn't picked by the teacher she still mouthed the answer.

But the thing he didn't love was when he caught her staring. Staring so intently and with so much longing. But she wasn't staring at Lance, her boyfriend. She was staring at him. Arthur Pendaton, the one who broke her heart. Lance wished that he could erase her memory so she wouldn't still have feelings for him. But she did. He didn't know how strong her feelings were or whether they were fading but she did still have them.

And whenever she started at Arthur, he started back. And for a second Lance can see the electricity flash in between them before one of them looks away. That spark needed to be stomped out. Just Lance didn't know how to do it.

Morgan was sitting in her room, staring out of the window when Mordred walked in quietly. He snuck up behind her and hugged her from behind making her jump.

"Hello love." He said kissing her cheek, waiting for a reply.

When none came he cleared his throat and held out the bunch of flowers that he had in his hands. "Happy anniversary!" He cheered walking in front of her. Her expression was one of confusion and Mordred's happy façade crumpled.

He threw the roses onto the bed and huffed. "Are you that uninterested by me? I would have thought that you would remember our one year anniversary? But no. You're too wrapped up in your own life that you don't care about something that's important to me! And it should be important to you too!" he flopped onto the bed.

He was so fed up with her lack of interest in him. She loved him, he knew. She just didn't show it. She was scared of her love for him and he was fine waiting for her to realise that but this was too much.

The bed squeaked with the added weight as she crawled onto the bed. She kissed him all the way from the naval to his jaw and smiled. "Happy Anniversary my love."

Mordred sighed as he let himself melt into her intoxicating kisses. He was an idiot he knew that. But what else could he do? He loved this girl and as long as she would have him he would be hers.

**Thank you for reading! I really love this story again and I'm quite happy with this chapter. Mordred is such a sweetie and Morgan is so stupid! Don't worry, he wont put up with her forever! Thank you again love you all! **


	9. Chapter 9

Gwen was sitting in the courtyard, holding a notebook and absentmindedly chewing on the end of her pen. She was still pondering over that question for the Great Dragon. Would she take a risk or would she stick with what she knows? She had been thinking for a good half an hour and still she couldn't decide.

Suddenly a shadow was cast over her and she looked up. Standing there was Arthur Pendaton. His blue eyes were crinkled from the smile that was engulfing his face. His hair was ruffled and from his attire he had just come back from football practise.

"Hey Gwen!" His voice was so familiar that Gwen couldn't help but smile back at him.

"Hey Arthur! How was football?" He looked down at his kit and smiled, running his hand through his hair and puffing out his cheeks.

"Quite a workout actually. That annoying captain has us practising twice as hard now that we have the match coming up this weekend. I wish he would let up on it, it's exhausting." He slapped his head and widened his eyes, "Oh of course! I'm captain! Silly me!" he laughed at his own joke and Gwen laughed too even if it was pretty pathetic.

"If it's so exhausting why don't you take a break?" She asked as he plonked down on the empty space next to her.

"Because I don't want to lose. I want to make sure this team is the best team we can be and we will achieve that training hard and working together." She nodded at these words and he closed his eyes leaning back so that the sun fell on his face. She watched him for a while before turning back to her notebook.

"What are you working on?" he asked peering out of one eye.

"Just a question from the Great Dragon." She answered. He sat up again.

"I had that one. The risk or safety one right?" she nodded and he smiled. "Which one are you going to choose?"

"Not sure yet." She answered nibbling on her pen again.

"Well, I've already answered so I could tell you what I chose if that would help?" she nodded and he carried on, "I chose to keep the jewel I already had. Because you shouldn't gamble everything you worked for away. If you take the new jewel it could disappoint you and you will wish you kept your jewel. You can't miss something you never had." He finished simply shrugging his shoulders and lay back down in the sun.

Gwen agreed with Arthur. It did seem like the more sensible option but did she just want to stay the same. She didn't want to be boring but she didn't like the idea of being reckless. She bit her bottom lip in confusion. Should she stay the same or should she except the new and the normal?

Merlin was looking in the mirror, studying his reflection in the mirror. He had been trying to perfect his hair for a good ten minutes but whatever he did with it, it just didn't look right.

"Mate your hair looks fine!" Lance exclaimed pushing Merlin away from the mirror. "She liked you even if your hair always looks crap." Merlin laughed and shook his head.

"You always know how to fill me with confidence Lance." Lance smiled and pretended to tip and imaginary top hat.

"That's my job."

"So what do I do on this date? Do I kiss her or do I wait? Do I put my arm round her in the cinema or should I just hold her hand? Should I hold her hand? What if…"

"Merlin calm down!" Lance interrupted. "Look, just do whatever feels comfortable! If you want to kiss her, kiss her! If you don't, don't! It's that simple!" he walked out of the dorm room and Merlin looked at himself again.

His hair was in its normal, boring hair cut but seeing as Merlin had styled it for quarter of an hour it now looked as good as he was going to get it. He was wearing a blue top with brown jeans and a light brown Hoodie to go with it. His eyes glistened with excitement and he smiled. He was going on a date with Freya! Yes, he was nervous but that didn't really matter. He was just excited.

Gwen was laid on her bed, reading her favourite book. Although as her eyes skimmed the familiar words she didn't really take them in. she was feeling a little put out tonight because instead of hanging out with her, Lance was spending time with his new friends. Gwen was happy he had other friends apart from her and Merlin but she wanted to see him and they hadn't talked alone for quite a while.

She saw him every day in class but he always seemed off with her. Not outright but every so often she caught him almost glowering in her direction. Of course, Gwen knew why. Whenever Arthur was in a class with both of them Lance became incredibly moody and distant. Gwen could see why but this didn't make her any less annoyed. She and Arthur had history, a painful and short one, but a history none the less, and Lance didn't like that. But he needed to get over it and quickly before she fires off at him.

So when there was a knock at the door, Gwen shot up smiling, expecting it to be Lance. But instead it was Arthur. She immediately became confused and crossed her arms across her chest defensively.

"What are you doing here?" she asked suspiciously. She didn't like the fact that he had just come over to see her. That shouldn't happen. They were friends but Gwen didn't really want to be that close to him again. It hurt too much.

"I just couldn't figure out this physics question and I couldn't think of anyone else who could help me." He smiled sheepishly at her and she couldn't help but invite him in. Damn that boy, one cute smile and her heart would melt.

They sat down on her bed and he got out his book. After explaining to him how to answer his question they fell into a comfortable silence. Just as Gwen was admiring their ability to do this, she caught sight of Arthur. His eyes were almost bulging out of his head and he was staring intently on something that was hanging on the corner of her bed. Gwen went bright red as she spotted her green lacy bra hanging there in plain sight.

Quickly, she snatched it and stuffed it into her drawer before looking back at Arthur who was as red as a tomato. "I uh…." He flustered looking down at his hands.

"No matter. It's only a bra." Gwen said trying to brush it off.

"Yeah but it's your bra. And it was lacy." Arthur muttered and Gwen smiled slightly. Soon after that he thanked her and left and Gwen fell onto the bed, her head in her hands and groaning with embarrassment.

Arthur almost ran out of the room. Damn her and her nice underwear. He would not shake that image out of his head for a good week. Just the thought of her in that bra made him flush uncomfortably and he shook his head.

Why did she have to look so innocent afterwards? She was the strangest, sexiest girl Arthur had ever met and he knew he had to get her back.

Lance was walking to Gwen's room when he stopped in his tracks. Coming out of her room was a flushed Arthur who looked incredibly flustered. His hair was mucked up at the top and he was smiling widely shaking his head. Arthur looked back to Gwen's door and muttered something before sighing.

Lance was filled with rage. It was obvious what had happened. Gwen had succumbed to Arthur again and has let him into her bed. He couldn't believe it! Of course she would go running back o Arthur it was pathetic! He couldn't let either of them get away with it.

He was just about to walk into her room and confront her when a black haired, attractive girl stepped in his path.

She looked up at him, her blue eyes lined with thick black eyeliner. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"Not really." He muttered his anger slipping out into his voice.

"You're Gwen's boyfriend aren't you? She asked peering at him. He nodded, not wanting to speak in case he started to shout. "Well if you're her boyfriend, what was Arthur doing in her room?" She knew why he was angry then, and she was pushing him. And it was working.

"I don't know. But I'm going to find out."

"Well why would you do that? If she's shacking up with him then it's not going to be solved by talking! You need to show her that you're better than him. You need to prove you are better than Arthur." He looked down at her, confused as to what she meant.

"So you think I should just ignore it and show her I'm better by showing my love?"

She cackled as if that was a ridiculous idea. "No of course not! Girls love guys who are strong. They need shoulders to lean on, someone to protect them. At lunch you should take your revenge. Show her how physically strong you are." She smiled as his eyes grew wide with understanding and as he began to nod she had to stifle a laugh. This was too easy. Although it pained her to say all that crap about women needing men, it worked. This Lance guy was just like Arthur, all you needed to do was set him a challenge to prove his strength and he would do it.

"Okay. Thanks… Er what's your name?"

"Morgan." She answered as she walked off.

It had been an hour since that girl Morgan had to talk to him and Lance's anger at Arthur had been simmering ever since. How dare he try to take her from him! And now Lance could see the truth. All the times he caught them looking each other was added proof that they had been orchestrating an affair behind his back.

It was the ultimate betrayal and Lance was set on destroying that arrogant, self-centred prick who was shagging his girlfriend. The hall was buzzing with students of all ages enjoying their lunch and as Lance reached the doors he was shaking with anger.

He pushed open the door with his shaking hands and searched the hall for his target. He soon saw the flash of blonde hair and the smug grin that was plastered onto his face.

He walked down the aisle of benches and soon reached the table of Knights.

He moved closer to the cheating bastard and raised his fist.

There was a yell from the back of the room as his fist collided with that perfect face. And with a sickening crunch, Arthur's world went black.

**Sorry to leave it on a bit of a cliff hanger but I'm hoping to release the next chapter soon. Enjoying this story so much at the moment and I hope you guys like this chapter! Please review and if you want you could follow my on twitter beckycwalker :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**Wowzie Zowzie almost 50 reviews thank you so so sooo much! **

A hush fell in the school hall as every single eye was on Lance. He looked like a man possessed, his face bright red, puffing out hot breaths. The veins on his forehead were pulsing and his fists were clenched. He looked up at the group of boys who had stood up when Arthur had slumped on the desk. At the touch of his gaze they slowly backed away. Lance then ran out of the hall.

He had reached the history corridor when he saw a flash of blue, smirking eyes. He grunted and launched at Morgan, pushing her against the wall.

"Why did you make me do that?" he demanded.

She just laughed, "Wow this is definitely more like the man I remember." Lance's eyes grew wide, then glared, pushing her harder against the solid brick wall.

"What do you mean? I don't know you?"

"Yes you do." She smirked again, only wincing slightly when Lance pushed his arm further into her neck. "Don't you remember me? Maybe if you imagined me with my hair blonde, dancing around in a cheer leader's outfit?"

Lance looked searchingly into her eyes and then he gasped in recognition. "Morgan Pendaton?"

She nodded, "I almost didn't recognise you, you know? You've grown your hair out haven't you? The bull shit happy-go-lucky Lance almost threw me but I remember. Why did you get kicked out of your last school eh?" She laughed as he brought his face closer to her.

"You know Morgan; you don't need me to tell you what I did."

Morgan sneered. "But yet I want to remind you of the way that you beat that guy to a pulp. What was it? Two or three broken bones?" She sneered as he growled again. She was slightly scared; she knew what he was capable of. But she loved to see him squirm in discomfort as she reminded him of who he used to be.

"I seem to remember the circumstances were similar weren't they? Your slut of a girlfriend was shacking up with your football captain and you were the last one to find out." Lance winced at the memory of his ex's legs wrapped around his friend. "All those boxing session paid off didn't they?"

Lance began to slowly break down. He had fought so hard to change himself, to clean the slate. But then his past caught up with him; it always did. It had been two years since that day and in every school he changed to pretty soon someone found out. And then people would start to be scared off him. He would be alienated again. Angry tears burned down his face and he let Morgan go. With a final sneer in his direction, Morgan ran off.

"Arthur? Arthur can you hear me?" Arthur smiled at Gwen's voice. He loved it when he had these dreams. He always woke up to a loving Gwen who was lying by his side. No Lance, no father, no prejudice, just them.

"Ah Gwen I love you." Gwen smiled.

"Arthur. You were already punched today; don't make me knock you out again." Arthur peeked open his eyes and saw that he was laying in that old man Gaius' room. His head was rested on Gwen's lap and, with a wink at her, he snuggled his head deeper into her lap. With a clunk, his head hit the stone floor.

"Ow!" he rubbed the back of his head and sat up. The world wobbled for a moment but then everything came back into focus. Gwen was now kneeling beside him, hands on her hips with a withering gaze fixed on him. Merlin was sat smiling at him on one of the benches, and Arthur thought he could hear Gaius rifling through his many bottles of medicine.

"So, Lance knocked me out huh?" He asked and Gwen nodded smiling. But Arthur could see the small tears that were forming in her eyes. He pulled her into a hug and she sighed sadly.

Merlin coughed awkwardly, "Yeah. Knocked you out with one punch. If it wasn't so thuggish I would say it was impressive." Arthur laughed.

"Anyone know why?" At this question the room went quiet and Gwen just shook her head.

Then there was a knock at the door. "I'll get it." Gwen said as she stood up. She opened the door and there was Lance. Tears were pouring down his face and Gwen felt a lump start to form in her throat. "Lance." She began but he cut her off.

"Gwen I'm sorry. But I saw Arthur coming out of your room and it crushed me. A few years ago a girlfriend cheated on me and it broke my heart. And to have it happen again… it killed me. I know that is no excuse but I just wanted you to see it from my point of view."

He finished and Gwen's throat had sealed up. She choked and stuttered before spluttering. "Me and Arthur weren't having an affair! He had been in my room to help with Physics homework! I can't believe that you would think that I would be unfaithful!"

He interrupted, "Oh come off it Gwen! I see the way you look at each other! You are in love with him! Whenever he passes you in the corridor you stare longingly at him! I can't believe you would think that I was that stupid that I wouldn't notice!"

Gwen was stunned. What did he mean? She didn't love him, she didn't stare at him. It was ludicrous.

"Look mate," Arthur had walked over to the door and Gwen tried to push him away but he just ignored it. "I know that you are upset. And I know that it didn't look that great, me walking out of her room. But we weren't having an affair! I mean, do you think I would want to keep Gwen a secret? I love her okay? And I made the mistake of not parading her around once, I wouldn't do it again."

Lance pinched the bridge of his nose in confusion. Then he looked at Gwen. "So you weren't cheating on me?" she shook her head. He sighed, "So Morgan was just making it up?"

"Morgan? What did she say?" Arthur demanded.

"She just… implied that she knew you two were… you know, doing it behind my back. I mean, I already kind of thought that but she convinced me that the way to get you back was through proving my strength. It was stupid I know I'm sorry…" He was cut of by Arthur raising his hand.

His chest was rising and falling quickly as his body was reacting to the strong feelings of anger that had engulfed him. Merlin recognised the signs and walked over to Arthur. Placing a hand on his chest, he whispered, "Don't get angry. You are recovering from concussion okay? If you do something stupid now, you will regret it." Arthur calmed a little at his words and when Merlin breathed, "And if Gwen sees you being violent, any chances you have with her will fly out of the window." He calmed completely.

Gwen quickly steered Lance into the corridor who then immediately fell against the wall and crumpled down to sit with his head in his hands. "I've ruined everything Gwen. I can't believe I mucked everything up again. It's not fair; I tried so hard to change, to be the guy I wanted to be. Not the thug who ruined my life. I'm sorry Gwen; I really thought you could be the one. The one who could make me love again."

Gwen smiled at this pitiful, damaged boy. She placed a comforting hand on his arm and gently stroked until his sobs died away. He looked up and she gave him a smile.

"Lance you didn't screw everything up. Yes okay, I don't think that we can be together anymore. It seems that I may have some faded feelings for Arthur and I don't think it's fair to put you in that position of jealously, especially when you've been hurt before. But the fact that you are trying to become a better person that is what means that we can still be friends. I know everyone says that when they're breaking up but I mean it. I don't know whether you've realised this but you Lance, are extremely awesome." He laughed slightly and smiled at her. She kissed his cheek lightly and then held out her hand. "Friends?" he nodded.

"Friends."

**I hoped that lived up to the slight cliff hanger! It's now half term in England so I should be able to update a couple more times this week, maybe more! **

**Thank you for reading, and any reviews are so appreciated and make me become a better writer so thank you :) **


	11. Chapter 11

Arthur was pacing around his room. It had been a week since Gwen and Lance had broken up and Arthur was just itching to show his feelings. He knew he shouldn't but everytime they talked he imagined leaning down and kissing her. Whenever a piece of hair fell across her face, he had to stop himself from reaching over and tucking it behind her ear. Every night she haunted his dreams and they became more and more vivid everyday he spent near her.

He'd been hanging around with her and Merlin quite a lot this week. Not enough so that his friends would notice, but enough so that they felt comfortable when he was around. Hanging around with Merlin had shown him how annoying and dim-witted his friends were. He loved his Knights and always would; but there was something in his conversations with Merlin that wasn't there when he talked to Gwaine or Leon.

And Gwen, she was enchanting and witty and goofy. She was everything to Arthur and he loved that he was able to talk to her without it being a heated argument. But then, if she didn't agree with something he did, she would tell him. Normally everyone around him would just agree, instantaneously. But Gwen and Merlin didn't let him get away with it, and that was something wonderful for Arthur. He liked being challenged, had found a way to love becoming a better person and they helped him. Last year he would have hated them, hated anyone who told him no. But when Gwen came into his life, she taught him how good life could be to be a good person. He felt the best he had ever felt and it was all down to her. He just wished he could tell her.

Gwen was lying on her bed. A week had passed since she had broken up with Lance and her head was a whirl. Arthur had been spending more time with her and Merlin and it was making her feel so confused. He had certainly changed; he was funny, clever and oh so handsome and Gwen couldn't stop thinking about him.

Everytime she saw something funny she thought of Arthur. Everytime she someone with blonde hair, she saw Arthur. It was pathetic and Gwen was trying to control herself. But everytime they talked she imagined leaning up to kiss him. And when he stared into her eyes she felt like begging him to touch her. Everytime she wasn't doing something, he crept into her mind and fogged her thoughts.

But she would never tell Arthur. It was way too complicated and they couldn't be together. She was a scholly and he was a Pendaton. His father would never let them be together and she didn't really fancy sneaking around with him. If someone found out they would both be ruined.

She groaned and dug her head further into the pillow. She couldn't handle this any longer. She just wished she didn't have feelings for him.

The hall was packed with students laughing over their food and stuffing their mouths. Gwen and Merlin were sitting on the scholly table laughing about the way Vivian was eating. She really was the most disgusting eater ever. Merlin had his arm around Freya and every now and then they turned away from their other friends and talked to each other. Gwen smiled at them, they were so cute. Since their date last week they had become official and Merlin hadn't stopped smiling.

Suddenly a hush fell over the hall and Gwen turned around to see what was happening. Arthur was standing right behind her and was smiling. "Hey Gwen, mind if I sit with you?"

Gwen looked around at the other people on the table. They seemed really shocked but then James Grahame from the year above nodded to her. She smiled up at Arthur cautiously said "Okay then." He sat down next to her smiling broadly.

The buzz slowly began to rise again but Gwen knew that most of it was wondering why Arthur Pendaton was sitting at the scholly table.

"What are you doing?" she hissed at him and he looked at her confused.

"I'm sitting with you guys, is that not okay?" he looked slightly hurt and Gwen almost laughed at how clueless he was.

"Yeah it's fine but… Arthur, you're the most popular guy at school, you can't sit on the scholly table! Your father might find out!"

"Then let him!" he smiled broadly. "Don't worry I've thought this through, if I break down the prejudice between everyone and you guys my father won't care anymore, and we can be together."

"Arthur you don't understand! There will be repercussions; you can't just change years of prejudice with one simple gesture! And anyway your Dad basically encourages this discrimination." She gestured to the table.

Arthur's face fell. He obviously hadn't thought this through. "So I should go back to my table?" he asked.

"Yes that probably would be best. Just say you were asking about homework or something." She suggested and he nodded.

Then he addressed the table, "I'm sorry for the prejudice at this school. I know I used to partake in it but I've now seen how cruel it is. I'm trying to fix it, so it won't be like this forever." He stood up and picked up his tray before smiling and walking to the round table.

"Do you really think Arthur can destroy this prejudice Gwen?" One of the year seven scholly's asked.

Gwen bit her lip and looked at the blonde boy who was smiling with his Knights. "I don't know."

**I know this is short but I wanted to update and didn't have that much time. Don't worry there will be a longer one soon. Thanks for reviewing and just reading this it means so much : )**


	12. Chapter 12

**Just a quick note to tell you of some charecters' names. As this is set in modern day some names just didn't fit in. obviously Morgana is Morgan but there are some that might not be so obvious. So here is a list:**

**Gwaine: Wayne**

**Percival: Percy**

**Leon: Lee**

**Elyan: Liam**

**That should make this chapter make more sense.**

Arthur's campaign for equality within Camelot was in its early stages but he was still blindly optimistic that he could change the way everyone thought. He knew what he had to do; he had to use his popularity and power within the school to get his Knights on board and then the rest of the school would follow.

But that was the thing; his friends were incredibly set in their ways. A couple of times he had try to mention Merlin and Gwen in a positive light but everytime he mentioned their names the boys all scrunched their noses up and stopped listening.

One time he mentioned how clever Merlin was and Leon muttered, "He can't be too clever can he? He's not even got a car!" Arthur scoffed at him and Leon looked up, realising he had been over heard.

"You really think someone's intelligence can be measured by possessions? Merlin earned his place here. He worked hard to get here, you just said your last name and you were in. I bet you're not half as clever as Merlin! You are living off your dads money, your dad is living off your grandfathers and so on! You didn't do any of the work; you are just cruising along the easy path that has been set out for you!" He stopped. The Knights were all glaring at him and he started to question how clever it was to make that speech right now. He might just be adding more salt to the wound.

"Look, I'm not saying you're an idiot or anything but I'm just saying the scholly's are just as clever as you and me." The glares were still burning into his skin. He hung his head, defeated for now.

As he was walking out he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Wayne standing behind him.

"I get what you're doing Arthur, and I admire your courage but I don't think that you will change the whole school psyche." Arthur nodded and went to walk away. But again he was stopped by Wayne's hand.

"That being said, I am on your side. I think that these discriminations are incredibly old fashioned and I am your ally. But when it comes to changing your Dad's mind, you're on your own." He smiled at Arthur and Arthur returned it. Then Wayne turned to walk back into the changing rooms.

Arthur looked at the brown haired boy and felt his smile widen. He finally had managed to get someone on his side! After only a week, one of his friends had changed his mind. That had to be a good sign. Maybe he could change Camelot after all.

Merlin and Freya were sitting together in her and Gwen's dorm room. They had been doing some homework from the Great Dragon and now they were just talking. They had been dating for two weeks now and Freya couldn't be happier.

Merlin was so lovely and kind and funny. He was her first boyfriend and she was pretty sure that she was his. But being a boyfriend seemed to come naturally to him. He would always sit next to her and notice when she was feeling down and compliment her all of the time. She felt so happy.

He was looking at her now and she smiled. "What?" she asked.

"Nothing. Just wondering how I got such a beautiful girlfriend."

"Urgh you two are so corny." Gwen laughed from the doorway. Merlin went a tiny bit red but he smiled at her all the same.

"You will never guess what just happened!" Gwen said sitting on her bed opposite the couple.

"What?" Merlin asked.

"Well, it was after I had just dropped off some berries to Gaius and as I walking along the corridor, some Knights came up and started to shout the usual things; well naturally I ignored them until I heard one of them shout in my defence. It was that long brown haired one, Wayne. He was going against his friends for me! It was so weird."

"Yeah that is quite weird. Arthur was telling me that he had made some progress in his campaign for scholly rights, maybe Wayne was the progress?" Merlin offered his explanation and Gwen nodded.

"Maybe." Her eyes glinted with excitement. "Maybe he will actually change things!"

Uther Pendaton was sitting in his office, looking over some boring paperwork for the new year that was coming in. His grey eyes scanned over the letters and he huffed in boredom. Then he heard a knock on the door. He told them to come in and saw Mr Galahad walk into the room. God this man was insufferable, always talking about his boring wife and his boring daughter. Uther didn't care about how well his daughter was doing in Cambridge.

"Good afternoon Uther. I have some very disturbing news about your son, Arthur."

"You know what the policy with Arthur is, just ignore anything he does that is against the rules. He's my son John; he can have some fun if he wants to."

Galahad coughed and then cleared his throat. "Yes I am very well aware of that rule Uther but he hasn't done anything wrong."

"Well what has he done then?"

"He's been hanging around with the scholly's, he has been talking to other students about how they should treat scholly's as equals and he's been standing up for them when they have been being picked on."

Uther sat up. Why was Arthur doing this? He waved Galahad to signal that he should leave and stared out of the window, pondering on Arthur's actions. Why would he suddenly start caring about scholly's? Of course, it was all because of that girl. She was a scholly and has obviously filled his head with all sorts of nonsense. Well, if she could make him start this campaign, she could make him end it. He pressed a button on his phone and heard his secretary answer. "Find Guinevere Thomas and send her to see me."

Gwen was sitting outside Uther's office with her heart pounding. Why did he want to see her? She hadn't done anything wrong. She and Arthur weren't together so what could she have done?

"Miss Thomas, Mr Pendaton is ready to see you now." She gulped. She focused on putting one foot in front of the other. Even when she hadn't done anything wrong she always felt nervous when she was sent to the headmasters' office. When she was little she got so nervous one time, that she began crying so much that she didn't even hear the headmistress tell her she had received an award. But that fear was nothing compared to the fear she was feeling now.

She pushed open the door and saw Uther sitting at his desk. God he was so intimidating. His grey eyes studied her and she felt herself shrink to two feet tall.

"Miss Thomas, please sit." She sat in the chair opposite the desk and looked at her hands which were shaking.

"So, it has come to my attention that you have been filling my sons head with ridiculous ideas about scholly equality." Gwen frowned. Of course this would be blamed on her. Obviously Arthur could never have an independent thought; it had to be someone else making him do anything. God, Uther hated her so much, she could see it in the way he was glaring at her.

"I have brought you here to demand that you make Arthur abandon this mission. If you do not then you will be expelled. I can not have this school descend into madness because of one scholly." He spat the last word. She flinched.

"But what if I can't change his mind."

"Don't make me laugh Miss, my son, for some reason loves you. I'm sure you can use this to change his mind. Whatever else he says, he is doing this to win your heart. So tell him that no matter what he does, you will never love him. Or something along those lines." Gwen nodded, trying to hold back the hot tears that were rising in her throat. He was so bigoted, it was disgusting. He was just using her like a servant and she hated it. But she couldn't leave Camelot. She loved it here; if she left she would have to leave Merlin, Freya, Lance and Arthur. She couldn't lose Arthur. No matter how much she tried to hide it she had feelings for him; deep feelings that she couldn't ignore.

"Yes Sir." She mumbled and she saw Uther smile. He told her she could leave and she walked out, tears falling down her face.

Gwen was standing under the tree, it was late afternoon and the sun was setting behind her. She saw Arthur walking towards her, a huge smile on his face and she felt tears spring to her eyes. But she forced them down as Arthur came closer to her.

"Hey Gwen! What's up?" he asked beaming. Her heart fell and she didn't return his friendly greeting.

"Arthur. You have to stop this scholly equality campaign." His eyebrows knitted together and he looked confused. "It's… it's pathetic. I know that you're just doing this to make me fall for you and it's not going to work." She hated herself as she saw his face fall into a sombre expression. All she wanted to do was kiss him and forget Uther's threat. But if she didn't do this, she would never see him again and she couldn't let that happen.

"I will never love you Arthur. I never have and I never will."

"Don't… don't say that Gwen I know you do." His voice caught in his throat. "Okay I admit in the back of my mind I thought that if there was no scholly prejudice we could finally be together but I really believe that scholly's are equal, if not better than us rich kids." He trailed off and her heart was thrumming in her throat as she saw the tears that were running down his face.

"No Arthur don't lie. You don't care about schollys you just want to get in my pants."

"I can't believe you think that! Do you really think that's all you mean to me? God Gwen I love you! I thought you knew that! I don't care if you don't love me back just don't… do not say that I don't care about you." He ran his hand through his hair in frustration.

"Just give up! You're being a pathetic little boy. Lance was never like this! He was a man, you are just a little kid who thinks he knows what love is when he doesn't!" She almost took it back when she saw the hurt that was etched onto Arthur's face. Bringing up Lance was a low blow but Gwen just wanted this conversation to be over.

"You love me, I know you do." He whispered. She shook her head.

"I don't." She choked out. Tears fell from her eyes and she felt like sobbing.

"You do. You're just scared. You want to believe that I don't love you because you are scared that this might be love."

"I don't love you." She whispered again and Arthur shook his head. Then he leapt forward, grabbing her waist and pressing his lips onto hers. He tried to convey all of his emotions into this kiss and Gwen tried to resist but she couldn't. She melted into him and their lips moved against each other perfectly. Their tears mingled together and her hands moved to his hair. Too soon they broke apart and stood panting staring at each other.

"Tell me," Arthur panted, "tell me that you felt nothing. Tell me that you didn't feel a thing and I'll leave you alone."

Gwen opened her mouth but nothing came out. Then sobs welled up in her throat and she sobbed into her hands. She couldn't do this; she couldn't hurt him like this. But then the vision of leaving Camelot forever burned into her eyes and she began to calm down.

She looked Arthur in the eyes and as tears fell onto her cheeks she said, "I don't love you Arthur." His face crumpled and he shut his eyes, breathing heavily. Then he opened them and Gwen saw that his eyes had somehow hardened.

"Fine. I will not make a fool of myself anymore. I will stop my pathetic campaign. I will be out of your life." He stepped closer to her, so that their foreheads were almost touching. "But I know that you love me Guinevere Thomas. And one day you will regret this night because I'm done. Goodbye." And with that he walked away.

As she saw his figure disappear, she began to sob. Of two things she was sure: one, she would regret this night forever, and two, she was in love with Arthur Pendaton.

**Thank you for reading, please rate and review! Love you all! **


	13. Chapter 13

The bullying of Schollys had been a Camelot tradition for decades. There was a time when there was no fighting but that was because there were also no scholarships. Normally the bullying was limited to name calling and delegating the unfortunate people to a table in the darkest corner of the lunch hall. But sometimes there were serious cases, where people actually got hurt.

Merlin was walking to his dorm room, having just spent an extremely pleasant afternoon with Freya. He had made it halfway across the courtyard when he heard a deep voice yell, "Oi Scholly!" Merlin ignored him, bowing his head a little lower and focusing on the door that meant safety. But before he was even two steps closer to the door, he felt a hand turn him around to face a tall, stocky boy with dirty blonde hair and dark brown eyes that almost looked black.

"What?" Merlin asked, annoyed. God, why couldn't they just leave him alone?

"Is that how you speak to your superiors?" The boy asked, standing straighter and puffing his chest out.

"You are not my superior." Merlin muttered just loud enough so that the boy could hear him. The boys face switched to a unnerving grin.

"Oh really? Did your father invent a new way to convert wind energy into electricity?"

"No." Merlin grumbled.

"So you would do better to have more respect." And with that he slapped Merlin in the face, hard. Merlin's face hurt and he held up a hand to try to soothe the throbbing pain.

"I've done nothing to you, why are you doing this?" Merlin asked.

"Because, this school is becoming infected with scholly ideas. Arthur has become rather smitten with you lot and we don't like it. So consider this a message to your protector." He raised his fist and punched Merlin in the face. With a crack, Merlin felt the fist pummel into his cheek bone and he fell to the floor.

Tears sprang to his eyes from the terrible pain but Merlin knew better than to cry in front of thugs. So instead he got back up and ran at the huge boy. He managed to get one punch in to the boy's neck before his friends pulled Merlin away and held him up so that the boy with black eyes pummelled Merlin's stomach.

Merlin felt dizzy and began to see spots. The pain was unbearable and he was pretty sure that he had a couple of broken ribs. Then he heard a crack of bone that wasn't his and he looked up. He saw a brown haired boy standing over the thug. Merlin's saviour was kicking the body on the floor while screaming something at him that Merlin couldn't hear. Then the spots clouded Merlin's vision and the world went black.

"Wayne, you need to tell me exactly what happened." Merlin could hear Gaius' voice.

"Well sir, I was walking across the courtyard when I saw a group of people. In the middle of the group was Brian Harper punching Merlin while two of his cronies held the poor guy up. I managed to get Brian by surprise and when he was unconscious the other two ran away. Then I picked up Merlin and brought him here." Wayne finished the story and Merlin wanted to kiss him. Wayne had saved Merlin a considerable amount of pain and embarrassment and Merlin knew that he could never do anything to repay him.

"Thanks mate." Merlin managed to whisper and he heard Wayne laughed and pat him on the shoulder.

"Anytime."

Freya ran into Gaius' room and gasped. Merlin was lying on a bed, unconscious and thoroughly bruised. His left cheek was swollen and of what she could see, most of his chest was bruised too. She ran to him and took his hand in hers. Then she leant to kiss him on his swollen lip.

She felt him squeeze her hand gently and his eyes fluttered open. "Hey Freya." She smiled and kissed him again. He winced slightly at the pressure on his sore lip and she quickly apologised.

"Don't worry, I would take the pain of being kissed over the pain of being punched any day." He smiled and she laughed softly.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry this happened. If you'd have stayed a little but longer with me then maybe…"

"Then it would have happened to somebody else." He interrupted and she nodded.

"I guess so. God, it's so awful. I mean, just for them to hurt someone who had never done anything wrong, just because of who they are." She shook her head and sad tears dripped from her eyes. Merlin brushed them away gently and looked at her.

"It doesn't matter. Thing will change." He smiled and asked, "Did you hear about who saved me?" She shook her head, frowning. "Wayne Charleson."

"The Knight?"

"Yeah, the one who agreed with Arthur. Seems he really does like scholly's." He was so thankful for Wayne. It took a lot of courage to stand up to that Brain guy, especially with his reputation to uphold. Defending a scholly would surely not go down well with his friends. But he did it anyway. He wished he could thank him properly.

He didn't have to wait long. Wayne came to check on him about an hour later and when he walked through the door Freya leapt up and engulfed him into one of her well known bear hugs. She shouted, "Thank you so much!" he laughed and hesitantly accepted the hug. He was followed by Lance who walked over to Merlin and patted him on the shoulder.

"I wish I'd have been there. I could have helped." Merlin just smiled and thanked him.

"If you'd have been there you would have definitely got expelled this time." Lance laughed, "By the way, it's nice to have you back. How were you're days of suspension?"

"Pretty dull, nothing is as exciting as Camelot Boarding school." Merlin laughed and looked over to his girlfriend. She was still thanking an uncomfortable looking Wayne and he smiled. Freya might be shy to strangers but when you got to know her she never stopped talking.

That's when Gwen came in. Her eyes were red from crying and she was sniffing. Merlin was worried. He hated seeing Gwen upset and he could tell the tears weren't in pity for him. She ran over and hugged Merlin, inducing a wince from the battered boy.

"Oh Merlin! I'm so glad you're okay!" she gushed and he just held her away from him and gave her a worried look.

"Gwen what's wrong?" she batted away his question.

"Who was it that saved you?" she asked Merlin but Wayne answered.

"I did." He smiled as Gwen thanked him. "I seem to be the man of the moment." The room laughed apart from Gwen who just weakly smiled. Merlin had to find out what was wrong but he knew she wouldn't tell him while there were so many people around.

"Hey where's Arthur?" Wayne asked, "I thought he was really good friends with you guys?" Gwen winced at Arthur's name and Merlin's heart sank. Oh no, something had happened between them? He wished things would calm down between them, they so obviously loved each other why couldn't they just see that?

He grabbed Gwen's hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze, she looked at him smiling, but her eyes were brimmed with tears and Merlin caused a distraction so that she could wipe them away before anyone noticed.

The past day had been incredibly difficult for Gwen. It felt like everytime she breathed a new wave of sadness hit her. She hated Uther and his ridiculous hatred for all those who weren't privileged. Why couldn't he just let them be happy? Arthur made her so happy and she knew that he loved her. She couldn't believe she had been so slow to let herself love him again. If she had realised sooner they could have been together. It took her to be faced with losing him to realise how much he meant to her.

And now, to escape losing him forever, she had broken both of their hearts. She would never forget his face as she ripped him apart and everytime she closed her eyes she saw him walking away from her.

Her lips still tingled with the touch of his and she visited that memory of the magic that had been made over and over until she couldn't feel his lips on hers anymore. She hated the fact that she couldn't tell him the truth. She so wanted to tell him that none of that had been real but she was scared of what Arthur would do if he knew what his father had done. Uther would surely find out that Arthur knew and then Gwen would have to leave forever. She just wished she could make all of it go away.

The past day had been unbearable for Arthur. The only movement he'd had was reaching for another bottle. After five, he was unhappily numb. He just couldn't believe it. How could she have done that? Did she really have that low of an opinion of him? Did she really find his campaign for equality pathetic? He had hoped that it would have brought them closer together but that wasn't the sole reason for him doing this. Couldn't she see that from his friendship with Merlin?

God he missed her. It had only been a few hours since he'd seen her but he felt empty. A giant hole had been blasted through his chest by her words and he didn't know how he was going to fill it. The alcohol helped a little but he knew that when it's affects wore off he would hurt again.

His phone beeped and he picked up. It was a message from Wayne.

_Merlin was beaten up by Brian Harper. I managed to stop him but only after he had broken two of Merlin's ribs and knocked him unconscious. Thought you should know, Wayne._

Arthur stood up slowly. He wanted to see Merlin. To make sure he was okay. He swayed slowly on the spot and felt the anger rise inside of him. But it wasn't anger towards Brain, it was anger towards him. Just a year ago, that was Arthur. He had beaten, teased and bullied scholly's before he fell in love with one of them. How had he been so blind? How could he not see that they were people just like him? No matter how much she had hurt him, Gwen had made him a better person and he felt himself mourn for the girl he loved so much. Now she had gone, would he go back to being that thug? No, he wouldn't let himself.

He staggered to the door, he needed to see Merlin.

Apart from the pain in his ribs, Merlin was feeling happy. All of his best friends, bar Arthur were gathered around him, smiling, joking and talking. He loved all of these people and he was so blessed to have them.

Wayne was reciting some kind of old joke his father had told him when the door crashed open. Standing there was a bedraggled Arthur, swaying and muttering something that sounded like, "Merlin, you okay?"

He was obviously incredibly drunk and Gwen gasped. Merlin looked at her face and saw the tears that couldn't be hidden. Arthur stumbled forward toward Merlin and as he stumbled Wayne ran to help him walk.

"Mate what the hell are you doing?" Wayne asked.

"I need to see Merlin. Need to apologise." Arthur grunted and Merlin stood up slowly.

"Why do you need to apologise?" He asked the intoxicated boy.

"I'm them. I am thug. I'm so sorry I would never. I would never hurt you." Arthur started to cry and Merlin heard Gwen stifle a sob.

"It's fine Arthur. Seriously, go back to bed you are drunk." Arthur shook his head. He moved over to Merlin and held his shoulders.

"Just, please. I'm begging. Just promise you won't let me be that guy again. Now I've lost her, I'm scared I'll be bad again." Merlin could hear Gwen sob and saw her disappear out of the door, her hand over her mouth.

Merlin looked at this poor boy and said, "I promise."


	14. Chapter 14

**Sorry this update is a little later than the others but I have gone back to school and so time has become quite tight. This might be a bit of a short one but after my maths GCSE updates should be more regular. Thank you for your patience and for reading this.**

Gwen was walking around her room, kicking her clothes around trying to stall. She really was not up for going out of her room today. She loved the lessons and her time with Merlin but she hated seeing him. Even though it had been three weeks since that night he was still not back to normal. He wasn't as depressed as last time but something wasn't right. He went to all of his lessons, did all of his homework, trained with the nights, but something wasn't right. He just wasn't Arthur anymore and it killed her to see him like this.

She heard a knock on the door, "Gwen? You coming to breakfast?" Lance called. Although things had been a little awkward between them for a little while, they had become friends again and Gwen enjoyed his company. "Yeah." She called back sighing.

She opened the door and he smiled at her. Damn, he was so hot! She knew that girls whispered behind her back, wondering why she dumped him but they easily forgot how scary he was that day, as long as he was hot, he was boyfriend material.

"Are you okay?" he asked, peering down at her.

"Yeah I'm fine just tired." She lied, but he saw past that.

"Don't fancy seeing Arthur right?" She nodded and he smiled throwing his arm around her. "Don't worry about it. He seems fine to me!"

"He may seem fine but I know he isn't. There's just something missing."

"I hate to be a bummer but we all know what's missing don't we?" When she looked confused he laughed, "You of course! He is missing you. I know that might make you feel bad but it's the truth." She looked at her feet sadly. Was it really her that was missing? But she couldn't go back to him, not with Uther watching her. She was so scared to even talk to him in case Uther found out.

"And he is the thing that is missing from you." Lance said sadly, "You have feelings for him right?" She bit her lip and nodded slightly. Lance sighed and then smiled.

"Well then, you'll just have to get him back!" He said brightly.

"It's not that simple." She stated and he scoffed.

"Of course it is!" He smiled and she hated to wipe that off of his face so she just changed the subject until they got to the hall.

Wayne was now sitting with them two days of the week and he had said that the teasing had almost completely stopped. Gwen liked Wayne. His infectious smile and charming charisma was just so refreshing that the whole table almost longed for the days that he sat with them. By the laughter coming from their corner she knew he was there and she smiled.

"So there I was, completely naked with her Dad standing in the doorway!" The table roared with laughter and Gwen cracked a smile. Wayne antics with his lady friends were always hilarious and disastrous. Gwen sat and down and let the shared laughter fill her mind with happy thoughts as she struggled not to turn to look at Arthur.

Meanwhile Arthur was devising a plan. He couldn't just let Gwen slip through his fingers. He had been pondering over his situation for many weeks and he finally realised that he didn't care what he father thought of Gwen. He needed her and he could see she needed him. If being with Gwen meant losing his family's fortune then so be it. He would just get a job or something.

In fact, he decided, that is what he would do. Arthur Pendaton decided in that moment that he would start providing for himself.

A week later Arthur was sitting in a stuffy reception area in his most impressive suit. He ran his hand through his hair and then tried to loosen the material around his neck. He couldn't believe that he was nervous but he was. Imagine that, Arthur Pendaton the most popular, most confident guy in Camelot was nervous for some unimportant interview for an unimportant job at a small retail park.

The job was tutoring young kids who were sent there after school, you had to be encouraging and confident but understanding and those were qualities that Arthur was pretty sure he had, or at least he could fake them easily. As he was waiting his thoughts started to wander to Gwen. Would she approve of this move?

And a thought started to creep into his mind as it always did after a while. He wondered whether this was pointless. Even if he split his ties from his father, started to support himself even then, she might not want him back. He had been so certain that she had feelings for him but then she shot him down. Her words still echoed in his mind and hurt him but she couldn't have meant them. Surely there was another reason because he could see the pain and fear in her eyes and that had to mean she loved him.

"Arthur Pendaton?" he heard someone call his name and he looked up. standing there was a middle aged woman with ginger hair and a warm smile. "I'm Wendy, the manager here you're here for an interview right?" He nodded and she smiled.

She led him into a small room with a desk and two chairs on opposite sides of the table. When she had sat down he lowered himself into the chair and tried to calm down his heartbeat.

"So," she asked, looking at him. "Why do you want to work here?"

Arthur paused praying that he voice wouldn't wobble from the out of character nerves. "I like teaching people new things. I am the captain of my football team and my favourite part of the job is seeing the younger boys learn how to be better players. It gives me a huge satisfaction to see people grow into their full potential and then see the benefits afterwards. Also the money is a bonus." She chuckled and he breathed a sigh of relief, that wasn't too bad.

"And how would you describe yourself in three words?"

"Passionate, kind and loyal." She nodded and jotted down a few notes. Arthur was tempted to try and sneak and peak but thought better of it.

"Now," she looked up and put her pen down. "Your father is a very well known man and obviously when we saw your surname we were a little confused as to why you would want a menial Saturday job. Surely you don't need the money?"

"You're right I don't need the money. But the fact is, that I might need the money soon. My father is quite… uh controlling as you may imagine and I would like to be able to support myself. Someone showed me that I can't expect to get by on my surname forever and I want to earn something for once. It may be hard to understand but I want to be able to buy something and say that I worked for it instead of just free loading off of my Dad."

Wendy nodded. She was becoming intrigued by this boy sat in front of her. He had everything he could ever need and yet here he was, seemingly nervous because of this interview. He was shifting uncomfortably as she watched him and he was almost comical.

"Being a teaching job, we don't tend to have that many men working here and so of course we think that having a man around would be a good role model for the young boys in our care. Would you describe yourself as a role model?"

Arthur laughed a little and looked at his hands. "If you'd have asked me that at the start of this year I would've had to say no. You see being a teenager who had everything I was incredibly greedy and arrogant and truthfully a pretty horrible person. I'm ashamed of that version of me now and I believe I have become better. I met this girl and she completely changed me. We come from different backgrounds and she was the first person I'd met who didn't think I was perfect. She made me work to be her friend and she is the reason that I would say yes, I'm a good role model."

Wendy was surprise at how honest he had been. She had taken four other interviews before him and they all spouted the same old lines about how amazing they were but Arthur, well he was being honest. And she found that incredibly impressive.

"Well thank you Arthur that will be all." He stood up and shook her hand flashing a winning smile.

"Thank you for your time." He said as he walked out of the door.

**Again I am so sorry its taken so long I cant apologise enough. To those of you who have stuck around thank you so much I will try my hardest to be more consistent with writing and I so appreciate any and all reviews I've had over this story. Everyone who reads this is so incredibly amazing and I thank you all so much! **


	15. Chapter 15

**Sorry for the long wait. Not gonna lie I got a little bit of writers block but the boredom of sitting a two and a half hour exam helped me think of this chapter! Hope you guys enjoy and please review cos it makes me happy even though I know I've been a shitty updater. Anyway here we go for chapter 14!**

Mordred was sitting on his bed trying to ignore the madness around him. From his time with Morgan he knew better than to interrupt or stop her when she got like this. She had returned from the weekly family meal fuming, it was almost comical. She was red faced and screaming about how Uther was doing something or other that she didn't like. Normally after these meals she would be angry but what she was feeling now had to be more than that. Mordred would say it was more of a blind fury.

Morgan was in a fury. She had started to throw things around and was muttering to herself. She just couldn't believe it! Arthur is still on his sympathetic "mature" act trying to change their fathers views on scholly's and still Uther favoured him.

She had been doing everything right; she had terrorised new scholly students, gotten good grades and had even stopped cussing out the teachers. But still she was barely looked at by Uther. It was as if she was completely hidden behind Arthur and his enormous head. Even after Uther had found out about Arthur and Gwen Uther's anger hadn't lasted long. If Morgan had fallen in love with a scholly she would have been locked away or sent to a convent. But Arthur is just given a slap on the wrist and left to it. Uther was completely oblivious to what Arthur was feeling. Everyone knew he was still in love with Gwen and the fact that he was hanging round with some scholly's and preaching to the football team about harmony within the school had seemingly passed Uther.

At dinner Arthur had been challenging his father again and Uther just brushed him away. He was angry, it was obvious but he didn't shout at Arthur, he just ignored him. But then Morgan put her elbows on the table and Uther screamed at her until he was hoarse. It just wasn't fair and Morgan needed to know why he hated her so.

Uther sighed. He looked around at his cluttered office and then back to the tiny corner he had managed to sort through. He hated how messy he was but he couldn't help it. Everytime he tidied up he promised he would strive to keep it tidy but that always failed so this time he didn't even bother to pretend that he would keep it tidy.

He moved to the next drawer full of clutter and started to clean it out. All of a sudden he found that he was looking into two familiar eyes that made his heart sag. He held up the photo and into those green eyes and he remembered the first time he had seen them.

It had been at a garden party held right in Camelot. Uther was the pride of the school; tall, athletic, good looking and an amazing student. He was standing next to his father who was greeting the students. The garden party was an old tradition to welcome new students. His father had always liked a party but Uther found them to be tedious. Boring small talk made with strangers never managed to thrill Uther in the way it did to his father.

A small, thin girl with brilliant blonde hair had come to them with her parents and when his father had shook her hand she moved to Uther. She had peered up at him and his breath had been taken away. She had the most brilliant and beautiful green eyes and Uther was immediately entranced by them. He took his hand and pressed a kiss which earned both of their cheeks to blush red.

"Pleased to meet you, I'm Uther Pendaton." He had introduced himself still staring at this wonderful angel before him.

"Lily Kellwood pleased to meet you to."

"Oh believe me the pleasure is all mine." He had smiled at her and led her to the drinks table. They had laughed and talked the day away and Uther found that he longed to spend eternity in the company with this wonderful girl. She had been so intelligent, so witty and so beautiful.

At the end of the night they had to part ways and Uther made her promise that they would meet again.

"Of course, I rather enjoy your company Uther Pendaton." She had whispered before giving him a quick peck on the lips. As she rushed away Uther reached to touch his lips which were tingling with love.

"Mr Pendaton?" a voice called and Uther shook his head, waking from the memory.

"Yes?" he asked the voice.

"Your daughter is here to see you." And there she was. Uther smiled at her but she just peered at him.

"Well?" he asked her, "What is it you want?"

She sighed and stared into his eyes. "Why do you hate me?"

Uther was taken aback. He scoffed. "I don't hate you Morgan, you're my daughter I love you."

"No." she said simply. Her voice seemed strong but Uther could hear the vulnerability behind her strength. "No you don't. Maybe you don't hate me but you resent me. Why?" She peered at him again and he began to feel uneasy.

"Morgan I don't resent you that is a preposterous idea." He walked over to her and placed his hands on her shoulders. "I love you, I always have and always will." He kissed her head and she nodded slowly. "Now, I've just remembered that Mr Powell had asked me to see him about a student. Excuse me."

He left the room and Morgan looked after him. He did resent her and she knew it. He just said he didn't to shut her up. She kicked his desk in frustration and something slipped off of the surface and onto the floor. She stooped to pick it up and found she was staring into her own eyes. She looked at the pretty young blonde in the picture and began to feel suspicion creep over her. This girl had something to do with her and she needed to find out who she was and why her father had her picture in his office.

Arthur flopped down onto his bed and groaned. He hated children; he never wanted to see another child again. He had been at his job for three weeks now and, although it was rewarding to get a pay check full of his money, he wished he didn't have to actually work to get it.

Most of the children he just took pity on. He would have hated to have been made to do extra school when he was younger but that didn't mean that they had to be so bratty towards him. Today he had been kicked, licked and had his hair pulled. By the end of the four hours he was ready to kill them.

The only solace was an incredibly sweet girl who he loved to teach. She was very clever and incredibly kind and in a way she reminded him of Gwen. She had bright ginger hair and so Arthur had nicknamed her Carrot. She loved it and called him Goldilocks in return and the two had made friends quite quickly. Whenever she came in he tutored her and they always made games out of every activity.

She also had an older brother who was just as ginger but incredibly arrogant and annoying. He flaunted his test scores and taunted anyone who got less than him. When Arthur had described him to Merlin, Merlin had said that he was just like a little Arthur. And although that annoyed him, Merlin was right. He saw that little boy prancing around and wished he could tell him how much he needed to change in order to grow up. But everytime Arthur tried to talk to him, he just got ignored or even pushed away. So Arthur had given up.

He rolled over onto his stomach and text Wayne to tell him that he wouldn't be joining him and Merlin in the library tonight. After he had sent the text he sat up and screamed in fright.

Morgan was standing in the doorway, dripping from the rain that was pouring outside. She laughed, "Wow Arthur I had forgotten that you scream like a girl." He rolled his eyes and stood up as she walked over.

"What do you want Morgan? He asked weary and not wanting a meaningless argument with his sister.

"I wanted to ask you whether you knew who this was." She thrust a photograph into his hands and he looked at the picture.

"Wow Morgan this looks like you!" he said laughing. "Where did you find it?"

Morgan looked at him coolly, "Dad's office." Arthur's eyebrows flicked up.

He looked at the picture again. "Why would he have a random girl's picture in his office?"

Uther and Lily had been together for about a month when it had happened. They had been making out on Uther's bed when his door had been swung open to reveal his father standing there with a venomous look in his eye. Uther had leapt off of the bed and Lily cowered in the corner.

"Hello Uther, Lily. Such a surprise to see you both here." His voice dripped with venom and the hairs on the back of Uther's neck stood on end.

"Father I can explain..." he began but he was silenced by his father raising his hand.

"Explain why you are in bed with a dirty scholly?" Uther gulped and he saw Lily's mouth hang open. Her green eyes shone with fear. Of course Uther had known about Lily. She had revealed her secret to him and although he was shocked at first, he put it past him as he knew that he loved her no matter what. But it had to be a secret. Uther knew of his father's hatred of the poor and if they were ever found out his father would do something terrible.

"I never thought I would see the day when my son is found in bed with a scholly." He spat the last word and then moved forward to get to Lily.

Uther jumped in front of her. "You can do anything you want to me but please don't do anything to Lily." He begged.

But as much as Uther begged his father wouldn't listen. He pushed past Uther and grabbed Lily by the arm. He then dragged her out of the room and locked his door. That was the last time Uther saw her.

The years past and still Uther yearned for his lost love. She had been sent away and ordered never to contact Uther. He was distraught but soon learned to push his feelings away. He had finished school and had spent a few years teaching at Camelot. Soon he was introduced to a pretty blonde called Agatha. The similarity to Lily was uncanny except from her eyes. Agatha's eyes were blue instead of the emerald that had captured Uther's heart.

Uther had enjoyed Agatha's company and found her likeness to Lily made it possible for him to numb the pain that he still felt. After two years of dating, he proposed to Agatha and she had accepted. Uther's father approved of this match and so he held a party in their honour.

During the party Uther had seen a pair of eyes that he recognised and he ran to them. Giving an excuse to Agatha as to where he was going. He followed the blonde hair for a few minutes before she turned around with tears in her eyes.

"Lily." He had whispered and soon he felt the caress of her lips on his.

"You came back!" he said picking her up and swinging her around.

"Yes. But only for tonight. I have to be in Kent tomorrow but I heard of your party and I knew I had to see you again. Uther I love you. I hated leaving you, it tore my heart in too." She began to cry and Uther swept her into a warm embrace. He kissed the top of her head and muttered comforting words to her.

They had gone back to her hotel room and soon they had found themselves kissing. These were kisses of love, lust, longing and incredible desire. Uther was beginning to lose control but instead of pushing him away, she pulled him into her. "I need you Uther. Even if it is just for one night." He had nodded and soon they had become lost in each other.

He had awoken the next morning blissfully happy but that was to be short lived. She had left without saying goodbye and in her place was a letter. In it she explained about how she was engaged to another man and that she had come here to say goodbye. She would always love him and she wished that things had been different but she was a scholly and he was a prince. He deserved a princess.

When he had returned to Agatha he pretended that nothing was wrong. His heart had been healed and then broken again all in a couple of hours but he had to pretend that he was fine. So he kissed his fiancé goodnight and cried himself to sleep.

Arthur and Morgan were standing outside their father's room. They were still debating as to whether they should confront him or not but soon Morgan grew impatient and stormed in.

Uther was sitting at his desk writing some kind of report and when he heard them come in he looked around at them.

"Tell us who she is!" Morgan screamed at him. A whole day of wondering had made her feel agitated and nervous and Morgan needed to know the truth now.

"Who?" Uther asked and Morgan threw the photo at him. Uther saw the picture of Lily lying on the floor and his heart sank.

"Dad, who is she. Just tell us Morgan's been going crazy." Arthur said looking at his Dad with confusion in his eyes. He had seen how Uther had visibly crumpled at the sight of that girl.

Uther stood up. He ran a hand through his hair and looked at Morgan before saying, "Maybe something's are better left a secret."

"No!" Morgan shouted, "Tell us now! We are a family we shouldn't have secrets!" Uther sighed again. He knew he would have to tell them eventually he just didn't want to remember what had happened.

"Okay, I'll tell you." He explained meeing Lily and their romance and then his engagement and the last night they had together. Arthur was astonished. His father and Lily's love story seemed identical to his and Gwen's.

"And?" Morgan asked. She knew that wasn't the end of the story.

"And then, about ten months later I heard a knock at the door. There was Lily, holding a basket. She explained that she had fallen pregnant and that her now husband had demanded that she gave the baby to me. Of course I accepted, I couldn't let this baby be neglected. I took in the child, said goodbye to my love and raised the child as my own."

Morgan and Arthur looked at each other. Both with sadness in their eyes. Which one was the baby? Then Morgan gulped and said, "I'm the child aren't I?"

Tears fell from her eyes as she saw Uther nod. "And that's why you resent me isn't it? Because I remind you of the love that was taken away from you." She whispered and crumpled to the floor. "Lily is my mother." She muttered. Then her eyes became wide and she screamed, "My mum was a scholly?"

Arthur immediately interjected, "Being a scholly isn't bad Morgan that's just what Dad has made you believe."

"Oh SHUT UP" she screamed standing and pointing a shaky finger at him. "Your whole life hasn't just crumbled before your eyes! You love those scholly's just because of that idiot girl who you're in love with! But don't you see? You two are going to end up like Dad and … and my mum! You can never be together just like I can never be sure of who I am anymore! My mum… no Agatha died and I thought she was my mum! I grieved for the woman who I admired and who I thought I would become but now…" She began to sob. Her body racking from her grief and confusion.

Arthur felt so incredibly sorry for her. In that moment before they had known who the child was he had been so was unsure of who he was. They had both adored their mum and to have that taken away from him, well he would be sobbing as well. He looked over to Uther who had turned around and was staying silent.

"I'm so sorry Morgan. I really am. But just because she didn't give birth to you doesn't mean that she isn't your mum." She just looked up at him with contempt.

"It's easy for you to say. I don't know who my mother is apart from she was the reason why my father never loved my mother." She sprinted from the room and Arthur stopped himself from going after her.

Instead he walked over to his father and put a hand on his shoulder. "So that's why you don't want me to fall in love with Gwen." Uther nodded. "But things could be different. You and Lily were only separated by your father's hate. You could be different. You could let us be together. You could do what your father should have done. You could stop this stupid discrimination and you could let love win." He heard Uther's quiet sob and knew that nothing more could be said.

He left his father to mourn for everything he had lost. His love, his loving wife and now, his daughter.

**Whew! A lot in one chapter but I thought that it needed to be all in one place. Poor Uther and Lily! I liked thinking of how to explain Uther's hate and I hope that you enjoyed this chapter! Updates should be more frequent but I can't exactly promise everything as I can only write when inspiration strikes or I'll give up on this story and I really don't want to do that! Please review and follow thank you for reading! **


	16. Chapter 16

**Woo! After that chapter I feel inspired again and so you get two chapters in one night! I think this one might be a tad shorter but oh well.**

Arthur walked across the courtyard not caring that he was soaking from the rain. His sister's life had just been turned up side down and he had been given some new hope that maybe he and Gwen will be able to be together. Surely his father would let them live the life that he had wanted when he was younger. Surely he saw that pain that came from small mindedness. Well of course he did, he had experienced it.

He walked around for a bit before he started to shiver a little. He trudged over to the corridor but paused when he saw a figure sitting on the steps at the head of the courtyard. He called out to the figure, "Hey! Are you okay?" he figure looked up at him but he couldn't see who it was because of the rain and darkness. He ran over and stopped when he saw who it was.

Gwen had been sitting on the steps thinking about Arthur. She hadn't been able to shake the love she felt for him and she began to think she had made the wrong choice by going along with Uther. After sitting for a while the rain started to fall and that was when she began to cry silently.

Now she frantically wiped her tears as Arthur came towards her. "Hey. I'm fine thanks." She said smiling. But the smile couldn't fool him. He saw her red nose and puffy eyes. He took off his jumper and handed it to her.

She wrapped it around her and smiled at him. She whispered thanks. "Now tell me what the matter is." He looked at her and she shuffled in the gaze.

"Well to be honest Arthur it's you." He looked confused and she laughed. She looked up into the sky and let the rain fall in her face and she said, "I just can't seem to stop loving you. And it's quite possible I never will." She laughed.

He looked at her with wide, confused eyes. "But you…"

"Told you we couldn't be together? Yeah I know but I didn't want to do that." She looked at him and he grabbed her hands which were shaking from the cold. "I shouldn't tell you, I've been forbidden to say anything."

"Tell me Gwen please." He traced small circles on her hand. Relishing the feel of her once again in his hands. "You broke my heart; the least I deserve is your honesty."

"You father told me to end our… well our whatever it was. He said that if I didn't he would chuck me out and that can't happen. You know what this opportunity means to me." He nodded and she reached out to touch his cheek. He leaned into her hand and she smiled sadly. "It broke my heart to pretend like it was my idea."

"My father is an idiot." He whispered. "He went through this and now he is following in his father's footsteps." When he saw Gwen's confused look he told her the story of his father and Lily. When he had finished she looked dumbfounded.

"Poor Morgan, poor Uther, poor Lily! Gosh they are exactly like us aren't they? Is that how we are going to end up, broken and alone?" She asked and he raised her hand to his lips, pressing a small kiss onto her skin.

"No. Because I don't care what my father says. We will be together, Pendaton or not." She smiled at him but took her hand from his.

They both turned to look at the rain which was now thinning and soon would cease. Gwen wrapped the jumper around her more tightly before looking at the logo. "Love to Learn?" she muttered and Arthur cringed. He had forgotten that he was still wearing his uniform. Luckily the jumper was the only thing with the logo on it. "Isn't that the tutoring place in town?"

"Yeah." Arthur said running his hand through his hair.

"Why do you have their jumper?" She smiled, biting back her laughter.

"Well I might work there." He muttered and she put her hands to her mouth. A burst of laughter came from her and he looked at her. "Hey! It's not that funny!"

"Oh Arthur I'm sorry I laughed. It's absolutely fantastic that you have a job I'm so proud of you!" he beamed at her as she flung her arms around his neck. "Wow Arthur Pendaton with a job! I never thought I'd see the day." He laughed as they parted.

His body ached for her to be close again but he pushed that thought away. He was going to just enjoy talking to her again.

"Tell me about it!" she demanded and he obliged, enjoying making her laugh and coo at his descriptions of the children.

Uther watched the two from his office and sighed. Arthur reminded him so much of his younger self and he really didn't want his son to feel the same pain he did. But the hatred of scholly's was just too embedded into the schools history that he knew he wouldn't be able to just change it. It was a tradition. But maybe, just maybe he would let these two lovers be friends. And maybe together they could rid Camelot of its awful hatred.

Morgan was incensed. She had no idea what to do with this new information. She mourned for the woman who she had thought of as mother and mourned for the woman she may never know. She didn't know whether she wanted to meet Lily. It might be too painful. But she felt like she didn't know who she was anymore. She felt a burning hate for Uther and intense jealousy for Arthur. But she didn't know anything else.

The next day Merlin and Wayne were walking towards the group of teenagers that had formed a circle around three boys. One of the boys was a young scholly who was being punched by the other two boys. Merlin asked around and soon found out that the little boy had answered back to the two boys who were taunting another scholly girl and so the two boys had wanted to teach him a lesson.

Wayne felt sick, he knew that he had done stuff like this when he was younger and an overwhelming guilt took over him. He nodded to Merlin and the two boys stepped into the circle. Silence filled the courtyard and Merlin saw that Arthur and his friends had stopped to look at what was happening.

"You alright?" Wayne asked the boy who nodded before darting behind his two protectors. Merlin then looked at the two thugs dead in the eye and muttered. "So, I hear you don't like schollys?"

The two boys slowly nodded. They weren't sure whether they should be scared by this thin weedy boy. Merlin then stepped closer so that there was only about a foot between them. "Do you want to tell me why you don't like people who have done nothing wrong?"

The bigger of the two boys stepped forward to meet Merlin and said roughly, "We don't like them because they are scum." He only came up to Merlin's shoulder and Merlin looked down at him with pure contempt.

"You think my friend is scum?" Arthur's voice rang from outside of the circle. Immediately the students parted and let Arthur, Percy, Elliot and Liam through. They all stood behind Merlin and Wayne smiled through his shock.

The boy took a step back from Merlin and began to shake his head. "I didn't mean it." He muttered but Arthur silenced him.

"I'm pretty sure you just called my friend scum. And I don't like that. I don't think my other friends like that either." At this he turned and addressed the whole courtyard. "Listen carefully students of Camelot. Tell your friends, families and even your pets that if you mess with any schollys Arthur and his Knights will find you and you will pay. Now we're not going to fight fire with fire no. If you say anything against those who are less fortunate than us you will be made to apologise in front of the whole school, you will become that persons slave for the day and if you fail to cater to their every need, then you will come to us and we will make you."

The whole courtyard stared at Arthur who walked over to the boy who was hiding behind Wayne. "Give me your bag." He whispered. "It will be worth it, this isn't a prank." The boy handed his bag to Arthur and watched as Arthur walked over to the boy who had been so confident and who was now shaking.

"You will be this boys slave for the next day. You will take this bag and carry it for him, you will tidy his bedroom, and hell if he asks you'll even wipe his arse for him. And then today at lunch you will stand up in front of the school and apologise. You understand?" The boy nodded and took the bag.

Arthur winked at the little boy who was now smirking at the thug and started to walk off. Merlin caught up to him and stated, "Arthur Pendaton you are a good person. I never thought I would say it and when I first met you, you were a terrible human being. But I swear you have changed. I'm proud to be called your friend and if you ever need someone to stand by you in any fight I will be there." Merlin gushed and then felt slightly embarrassed.

Arthur looked over at him and smiled, "If you weren't going out with Freya I would think you were gay." They laughed and Arthur slapped Merlin on the back before saying, "But thank you. This hatred has caused too much pain and I've convinced most of the Knights of that fact. So now we have strength in numbers and popularity we have power. I believe that we can change things around here. Maybe at last, peace will reign in Camelot."

Gwen was a nervous wreck. She had been summoned to Uther's office and she felt sick. She had talked to Arthur once! How had he found out already? She knew she was going to be told to leave and she could already feel the tears that were going to fall if she had to leave this place. She would have to leave Merlin, Freya, Wayne, Lance and Arthur. She couldn't leave the people whom she loved so dearly.

After the receptionist had told her to go in she stood up. She walked to the door and knocked cautiously. "Come in." Uther's voice called and Gwen's hands began to feel clammy.

She sat in the usual seat and looked up at her Headteacher. Strangely, he smiled down at her and immediately she felt confused. "Hello Gwen. How are you?" he asked and she had to wonder whether Uther had received a huge blow to the head.

"I'm… I'm fine thank you." She answered.

"I'm not going to drag this out Gwen I brought you here to tell you that I have decided to let you and Arthur be friends. I know that you being apart has hurt Arthur deeply and I don't want to make my son feel pain. So, you two can be friends. But only friends. I'm sorry but there is a reputation to uphold and while there is still tension between schollys and the normal students you just can not be together." Gwen winced slightly at the fact that he had basically called schollys abnormal but she brushed that under the total overwhelming happiness she felt.

Arthur was sitting under the usual tree just enjoying the precious moments he had to spare. With work and school his schedule was pretty packed and these moments of peace were like diamonds. It seemed like his day would become brighter as he saw Gwen running towards him.

When she reached him she grabbed his hands and pulled him up before dancing around with him and then throwing herself in his arms.

"Whoa Gwen slow down what happened? Why are you so happy?" he asked laughing as he held her closely.

"Your Dad said we could be friends! Only friends but we can be FRIENDS!" she shouted the last bit laughing and dancing around again. Arthur felt jubilant. His father had really done that? He grabbed Gwen in a hug before getting her to explain what had just happened.

Later that evening Uther heard a knock at the door. Arthur entered the room when Uther gave permission and he smiled at his son. Arthur looked brighter, it seemed like his whole person was happy. He walked over to his father and wrapped his arms around his fathers' shoulders. They hadn't hugged for years and both of the men felt slightly awkward but at the same time incredibly warm. Arthur pulled away and looked into his Father's eyes. "Thank you." He said and Uther smiled.

**Another chapter done god, I'm loving this story at the moment! Yay for Arthur and Gwen! One step closer to them being together! I'm sorry it's taking a long time but I always find fics a bit unrealistic if they just immediately get together. The agonising wait is sort of the best bit and makes the moment they get together more precious. **

**Special thanks to Spark Josiah who has just started to follow this story. Two updates on your first day of following… don't get used to it you'll soon see I'm terrible at updates! **

**I also want to thank all of you who have followed this story, I love you so much (cheesy but true) it makes me so happy when I see that people like what I write. So thank you and I think I'm going to try and thank people more personally so yeah thank you so much! **


	17. Chapter 17

**Firstly I'm just going to have a quick thank you to those who reviewed for the last two chapters. So here goes:**

**Larasmith I love when I make people think and ask questions about my story, it really makes me feel like I've actually written something worth thinking about so thank you so much!**

**Freckled98 thank you for your praise and yeah I know, they're so not going to manage to be just friends but you'll have to wait and see how it happens!**

**Readergirl56 thank you so much I just absolutely love it when people tell me they like my writing it makes me feel so happy so thanks **

**BEX(who was a guest): you have no idea how much it means to me that you consider this one of the best! As an avid reader of fics this seems just like the most amazing thing and I hope you know that you brightened my day! **

**Okay now on with the story!**

Merlin and Freya had been dating for almost half a year now and they were beginning to get stuck in their ways. Every Thursday they would spend the afternoon studying in the library together, every Monday Merlin would go over to her dorm and they would hang out together and usually ended up snuggling up on her bed watching their favourite American TV shows on her laptop. On Wednesday's they would do pretty much the same but in Merlin's rooms instead.

Although this may seem monotonous and boring they loved it. It was just perfect. Every moment they spent together was magical and though not always exciting, it was peaceful and relaxed and just how it should be. Merlin was really falling for her, hard and she was too. They constantly planned their future families and they both firmly believed that their dreams would come true.

So now that summer was approaching and with that, the reality that they wouldn't see each other everyday they began to get very clingy and cutesy. Gwen and Wayne normally have good fun with their disgusting cuteness by pretending to vomit every time they kissed. They both loved to see their friends so in love but they wished that they wouldn't make out right in front of them.

It was a Wednesday lunch time and Merlin and Freya had begun to give each other slobbery kisses when Arthur came over and smiled at them all. "Today, we are changing this seating arrangement." He proclaimed proudly.

Gwen looked confused and asked, "What do you mean?" Arthur took her hand and pulled her so that she was standing beside him.

"Well today me and the Knights were looking at all of you sitting here in the dark and dingy corner and we decided that it's time that changed." Now he was attracting the other occupants of the table and they all continued to stare at him, bewildered.

Arthur sighed and strode over to his table. All of the Knights stood up and the girls that stalked them did too. They then proceeded to move all of the tables that were now empty so that they were in a long line across the hall. Once all of the tables were in their new positions Arthur looked over to Gwen and held out his arms, "Welcome to your new tables!"

The school hall went quiet as the schollys began to cheer and walk to their new tables at pride of place in the hall. Gwen walked over to Arthur beaming. "Thank you. This is an enormous step, you're very brave to have done this." She murmured and he shook his head.

"It wasn't a brave thing to do it was the right thing to do." She smiled again and he pulled her into a hug.

All of a sudden a voice rang through the hall. "Oi! What do you think you're doing?" It was William Stratton, a boy from Arthur and Gwen's year. He was known because of his father, who was incredibly rich. William had always been a firm hater of the schollys and loved the fact that they were openly hated at Camelot.

And he was angry now. Just because Arthur and his followers had decided to like the schollys didn't mean the rest of the school had to as well.

Arthur stared at William challengingly. "I'm moving the tables so that my friends can all sit together, is that a problem?" he demanded but William wasn't afraid.

"Yeah. Because those friends are dirty, stinking scholly scum!" At this Arthur almost growled at him. But before he could launch himself at the boy, he felt a hand wrap around his arm, forcing him to stay back. At Gwen's touch Arthur calmed enough to retort, "Well I'm changing the tables no matter what small minded low lives like you say."

William sneered at him and declared, "Oh look at the almighty Arthur, fighting for scholly rights just to get into Gwen's pants." At this Arthur began to see red. But Gwen kept hold of his arm and he knew that he shouldn't retaliate.

"Maybe Arthur is standing up for us because it is the right thing to do? Or maybe your sexually frustrated brain can't think of any reason to do anything unless it is linked with sex? Maybe you should stop focusing on torturing innocent people and concentrate on trying to lose your virginity?" A couple of nervous giggles rose from the crowd at Wayne's comment and William looked furious. He ran forwards to attack Wayne but he wasn't looking at where he was going and he tripped over the foot that Merlin had stuck out. He fell flat on his face and Arthur and his friends laughed at him.

As the entire hall burst into laughter, William swore at them all loudly and ran out of the hall. Arthur slapped Wayne on the back while still laughing and for the rest of the afternoon Merlin and Wayne were congratulated on embarrassing the most big-headed guy in the year.

It was late at night and Gwen and Arthur were walking around the castle. They weren't necessarily allowed to do this but because of Arthur, the rules didn't really apply. They had started this habit of walking together when Arthur stumbled across a tired and stressed out Gwen who had just left the library.

Her hair had been pulled back into a messy bun and strands had fallen out and framed her face as though she had been electrocuted. Her eyes had been drooping from lack of sleep and Arthur had offered to walk her to her room. The next couple of days they made sure they kept on "accidentally" bumping into each other but now Gwen made sure she looked more presentable.

Of course that didn't matter to Arthur, he thought she looked perfect even when riddled with tiredness and stressed out. But he notice that whenever she was looking her best, she was more open and chatty and he liked it when she felt confident around him rather than self conscious. At the moment he was describing how his favourite little girl, the one he called Carrot, had come into the centre dressed as tinkerbell. She had been doused from head to toe in glitter and had been prancing around non-stop waving her magic wand. She was laughing as he demonstrated how she pranced and laughed even harder when, in the middle of a very feminine leap, Arthur had collided with the kind old man Gaius.

"Well Mr Pendaton, you have always been a good dancer, I would seriously suggest joining the cheerleading team, and they could use someone with that much elegance and pizzazz." Arthur had turned bright red and had laughed along with Gwen even when she teased him about it for the next few minutes.

Gwen loved these moments with Arthur. When they were alone together he became completely unguarded. He had revealed to her a side of him which only he knew. He was funny, flamboyant and amazing while at the same time he was also thoughtful, caring and almost vulnerable. She also felt all of her defences slowly crumble. When they were together it was so pure and Gwen knew that she would always treasure these moments.

"Gwen." He had murmured when they reached her dorm room. "I'm almost certain you already know this, but I just wanted to say it out loud." She smiled up at him and he breathed deeply, sudden nerves taking over his body. "I still have feelings for you, they've never stopped and I know that we can't be together right now, but I wanted to you to know that I still care a great deal for you."

Gwen hesitated. Of course she knew that Arthur still had feelings for her. And she returned them but she felt nervous. She still was scared of Uther and what he would do if she found out about their feelings. It would tear her apart if she had to leave Camelot and she couldn't risk it.

At her silence Arthur's heart fell. She lifted her head and smiled at him, although he could see her uncertainty behind those beautiful eyes. "Arthur I do have feelings for you. But I don't want to risk my place here. If I have to leave that means I'll never see you again! Surely this is enough for now? It's almost summer and maybe over the holidays your good work to help us schollys will help Uther to change his mind but until then we can only be friends." Arthur hung his head a nodded sadly.

He knew that it was optimistic to think that Gwen would do the irrational thing of jumping into his arms and shouting "Hell to Uther! He can stick his rules up his arse!" but he still wished that she had. He want to hold her and kiss her more than anything in the world but he knew she wasn't ready yet. So instead he leaned down and kissed her cheek before whispering goodbye. When he was out of her sight she sighed and walked into her room. One day they would be together, she just wished she knew when that day would come.

**So that's another chapter. I love this story at the moment! Again review and I'll try and mention/reply to most of the people who review because I want to feel like I actually know all of you who read this! Thank you again for reading and I hope you enjoyed it! **


	18. Chapter 18

**Okay now for some answers to your questions/ comments!**

**To the guest who left a comment: Their names are Pendaton because this is modern day and I didn't think that Pendragon was a realistic name for this era. That's also why I've changed Gwaine to Wayne and Ellyan to Elliott and so on and so forth. **

**Me the RanDoMer: thank you so much for reading and enjoying this!**

**Spartan Queen: thank you for following and favouriting I'm so thankful that you would want updates on this!**

**Osept: same for you just thank you so much it makes me so happy to think that people actually like my writing so thank you!**

**Okay on with the next chapter!**

The last day of the year came very quickly for Gwen, Arthur, Merlin, Freya and Wayne. The past couple of weeks had been heaven for all of them. The terrorising of schollys had decreased amazingly and now the schollys actually had some social standing in Camelot. Gwen and Arthur had been spending lots of time together, happily being friends and, although he wanted to, Arthur didn't try to kiss her again. Freya and Merlin were blissfully happy and Wayne was finding that he liked these new friends a lot more than he liked his Knight friends.

But now that the year was coming to an end all five were incredibly sad. Being sad to leave a school was a weird experience for Arthur but then his world had been turned on its head over this last year and it was all because of Gwen. Now, he would have to wait at least three weeks before seeing her again and he had liked being in the habit of spending every day with her.

So on their last morning together, the five friends all decided to spend the day under their favourite tree and talk until it was time for them to go. It had been an hour under that tree and Freya and Merlin had begun to get very clingy and sloppy. The Knights were playing football together and so, not being able to take the large amounts of PDA going on; Wayne got up and went to play with them. Arthur looked over at Gwen and nodded his head to indicate that they should take a walk.

Gwen smiled gratefully and followed him. Soon she found that he was leading her to his bedroom and they talked lightly until they reached his door. Once they were inside they were flooded with memories: The first time that they kissed, the memory of waking up together, Uther walking in on them and then the horrible memory of the night that Arthur had found out she was a scholly.

"So, you have any plans for the holidays?" he asked and she nodded.

"Yeah I think me and my brother are going to have a day at the beach soon and maybe the whole family will have a day out somewhere."

"No holidays?"

"No," she said hesitantly, "We can't really afford a holiday this year." Last year they had gone to France to celebrate Gwen's scholarship, but they couldn't afford two holidays in two years.

"Oh right." Arthur felt uncomfortable all of a sudden. He didn't know why, he knew that Gwen was quite strapped for cash but being in this room where so much happened… it seemed like there was this giant cloud of memories hanging over them.

"So, this room holds a lot of memories." He finally said, deciding that the elephant in the room was going to be talked about.

"Yeah," she half whispered, "Mostly bad though." She smiled and he gave a soft cuddle. Gwen was leaning on his bedpost and all of a sudden he swept her into a crushing hug.

"God Gwen I'm so sorry I was such an idiot back then. I really hate myself for what I said to you; please just forget about that immature arrogant prick." He heard her laugh and he relaxed his hug but still held her so that their noses were almost touching.

"I know that you have changed Arthur and that's amazing you didn't need to apologise." The air had become thick and Gwen's mind was filled with his beautiful eyes and his tempting lips. "But it's nice that you did."

Arthur was feeling the same tension. He was staring at her, every inch of him wanting to lean in and kiss her. She began to bite her lip in nervousness and Arthur had to stifle a groan. How could she be so sexy without even trying? He couldn't take it anymore. He started to close the gap between them and Gwen felt her breath catch in her throat. Their noses touched and Gwen closed her eyes.

"Hey guys! Oh….. Sorry bad timing I'll go." Gwen jumped out of Arthur's arms and Arthur almost growled and the boy standing at the door.

"Oh no it's fine Merlin you weren't interrupting anything." Gwen said quickly as she walked out of the room. Merlin quickly followed as he saw Arthur ball his fists and punch the bed post behind him.

"GWEN!" Merlin shouted across the courtyard. Why was that girl running? Merlin thought. He needed to know what was going on between his two friends. He caught up with her and she slowly turned to look at him.

"Yes Merlin?" she smiled sweetly knowing what his next question would be.

"Is there something going on between you and Arthur?" Gwen's shoulders slumped and she sat on the bench next to them.

"No… I don't know. I mean, I like him and he… he says he loves me and… but then Uther and I just can't leave and… I mean maybe we could work eventually but it's so scary and I just don't want to do this just for him to hurt me again." She mumbled and Merlin was just looking at her with a curious frown.

She sighed and tried to explain again. "Last time we were friends, Uther told me that if I didn't stop talking to Arthur, he would expel me from Camelot. But I wasn't allowed to tell Arthur this so I had to pretend like I didn't want to be friends with him. But then just recently Uther told me that we could be friends again and that was amazing and so wonderful. But now I have these feelings and Arthur's in love with me… I don't want to push anything with Uther. If I overstep my boundaries and Uther finds out, I'll be expelled and I won't see you or Freya or Wayne or Lance again. I can't sacrifice my best friends for this one boy!" she looked at Merlin. He pitied this poor, confused girl.

Sometimes he forgot that he and Freya had it so easy. They knew they loved each other and they didn't have some crazy father getting in the way. As he listened to Gwen's troubles he comforted her and Gwen felt like she had the best friend in the whole world.

The bus had pulled up out side of the gates and all of the students had to get into lines before getting onto the bus. Gwen was standing behind Merlin, as she always did, when she felt a tap on her shoulder. It was Arthur and he took her hand and made her follow him to one of the corridors. She realised that he had taken her here so they wouldn't be seen and she looked at Arthur frowning.

"What?" he said.

"Why have you pulled me out of my line?" she demanded.

"Can't a guy say goodbye to the girl he loves in private?" he smiled but she shook her head.

"Look Arthur you're going to have to tone down the whole 'you love me' thing. You know we can't be together and you have no idea how guilty I feel whenever you say you love me. Because I can't let myself love you, and I won't be guilt tripped into kissing you and giving you false hope!"

"So you want me to pretend that I don't have feelings for you? What should I do? Tell you that I think you're pathetic? Or should I go with your favourite, my father doesn't want me to?" as soon as he said them, Arthur wanted to take those words back. Gwen looked as though she'd been slapped. Her mouth hung open and her eyes filled with tears.

"I can't believe you would stoop that low Arthur. I know I said those things but I had no choice." Her voice was now a venomous whisper and Arthur could feel the hurt behind her words.

"Gwen I…"

"NO!" she yelled. "You do not get to apologise to me. I'm going to leave now and you won't see me for six weeks. I'm glad you showed me that the arrogant prick I used to know is still in there." She turned on her heel and fled.

She reached the line and wiped away her tears. God this was going to be a shitty summer.

**Another chapter for you! **


	19. Chapter 19

For the first week of the summer holidays, all Gwen did was try to keep her mind off of Arthur. She went to the zoo with her brother, cleaned the house from top to toe, listened to her dad's boring work stories and even went as far as weeding out the horrendously messy back garden.

Of course, thoughts of Arthur still bubbled to the surface but, when they did, she would quickly jump up and start to do something. This led to Gwen being on her feet for almost every minute of every day and when she lay down in bed, she went to sleep straight away.

But after the first week was over, she couldn't think of anything else to do. She had exhausted all of her ideas and she really didn't fancy going to work with her Dad. So Arthur's eyes, smile, lips and body filled her thoughts and she had nothing to stop them. She began to go mad when she remembered that she could phone Freya now. For the first week Freya had been on holiday but now she was back and so Gwen picked up the phone and dialled her number.

She listened to Freya talk about beautiful France was and about her plans to live there at some point. She also listened to her moans about how much she missed Merlin and how she thought that Paris was the most romantic place on Earth. Gwen described her week and they discussed how boring holidays were when Freya asked about Arthur. Gwen went silent and Freya started to think that her friend had put down the phone.

"Gwen?" she asked.

"Yeah? Oh yeah, well me and Arthur aren't really speaking at the moment." Gwen murmured.

"What, why?"

"Well, on the last day of school he… he told me he loved me and that was just so unfair because I feel like I'm a horrible person for not being with him, but his Dad is just so threatening and I don't want to endanger my school career."

"What do you mean, what did Uther do?" Freya asked and Gwen sighed. She thought about lying but then she decided to tell her.

After hearing all about Uther's threats, Arthur's tears and Gwen's decisions, Freya smile sympathetically. She wished things with Arthur and Gwen were simple but unfortunately, it looked like simple was too late.

"Oh Gwen, I'm so sorry, it must be so difficult. In my opinion I think you are right." Gwen said a huge thank you, and sat on her bed in relief. "But," Freya added, "I do sort of see Arthur's point."

"WHAT?" Gwen screamed down the phone. It was so loud that her Dad called up to check everything was alright.

"It's just, it's obvious you feel deeply for him and you two are perfect for each other. I get that you don't want to leave Camelot but really the only one who you'll have to hide it from is Uther."

"Yes, who is the head of the school and Arthur's father!" Gwen pointed out.

"I know Gwen, but I think that you and Arthur can do it. And even if he finds out, he is Arthur's dad so surely he'd be able to convince him!" Freya argued.

"I guess… I don't know Freya it's such a big secret to keep with such huge consequences. I don't know whether he is worth the risk." Gwen muttered. She cared for Arthur but was he worth her education?

"I think you care for him a lot more than you think. I think you're in love with him." Freya said. Gwen didn't want to talk about it anymore and Freya could sense that. So she changed to conversation topic to when they could meet up.

But Gwen still thought about what they had said. Did she love him? Could she love Arthur Pendaton?

Morgan had been going crazy. All of her thoughts had been concentrated on her mother. She needed to meet her, to see her. She needed to see proof that she existed. Mordred had been helping her and finally they had found an address of where a Lily Kellwood was living. She had driven the two of them to a small town and they were now walking down a country path.

She knew that her mother's house was along this road and she tried to look confident and at ease but she knew she wouldn't fool Mordred. Although he didn't know it, he really meant a great deal to her. She wouldn't say that she was in love with him, but that she did care for him more than anyone in the world.

He could sense the panic rising in her as they got closer to the 24th house on this road. He wrapped his arm around her waist and she leaned against him, smiling. "How're you feeling?" he muttered, kissing the top of her head.

"Oh you know… I'm about to meet my real mother whom I didn't know existed for the whole of my life. So you know, I'm feeling like my stomach has got lead in it." He chuckled and she smiled again.

"You'll be fine," he reassured her, "She may be your birth mother, but if she isn't who you thought she was then you still have the memories of your real mother."

"Thank you Mordred." They stopped outside of the house that held Lily Kellwood. She looked at the boy in front of her and she could see the fear in her eyes reflected in his. But then he leant forward and pressed his lips against hers. It was a comforting kiss, not the lustful, passionate ones they normally share, but it gave her the courage she needed to walk up and knock on the door.

A middle aged, slightly curvy woman opened the door and smiled at the two teenagers on her doorstep. Morgan had lost the ability to speak and so Mordred took over and held out a hand.

"Hi, I'm Mordred Macmillan and this is Morgan Pendaton." She shook his hand but the woman who stood at the door stared at the girl with the surname that held such pain for her.

"Pendaton? Are you Uther's…?" she trailed off and Morgan's eyes brimmed with tears.

"I'm Uther Pendaton's daughter. He told me that you two used to be in love and that…" she choked back a sob that threatened to fall from her throat. "And that, you two had a child together whom you were forced to give to him." Both women had tears falling from their eyes. "I am that child, I'm your daughter." Morgan managed to say.

Lily Kellwood stepped forward and placed her hands on either side of this young girl's face. The eyes that stared up at her were almost exactly like the ones that she loved so much. She remembered finding out she was pregnant, knowing it was Uther's, telling her husband the fact that it wasn't his. She remembered giving birth, the joy she felt and love she felt towards the little bundle in her arms. Then the heartbreak when her husband ordered her to give the baby away. She had been haunted by the eyes that she was staring into now and she felt her tears drip onto the front of her shirt.

"Oh my baby." She whispered and pulled her daughter into a crushing hug. The two cried and held each other tightly, the years of being separated forgotten now that they had found each other again.

Mordred looked at the girl he loved and saw that, though her cheeks were streaked with tears, she was happy.

Arthur had been pacing outside of the suburban house for around half an hour when he finally managed to take the few steps to the door and knock. He knew this was probably a bad idea but he couldn't take it any longer. He had waited for a whole week to come over to this house and he couldn't stop himself any longer.

Gwen had been pacing that morning. Her dreams had been hounded by Arthur. The feeling of his lips on hers, the way her heart leapt everytime they touched, the words that Freya had said. They all were swimming in her mind but one thought stuck out amongst all of them. I love Arthur Pendaton. She had realised this late at night when all of a sudden she imagined a future, where she was a loving wife to Arthur and an amazing mother to their two children. And her heart had soared when she imagined this. She couldn't think of a time when she'd felt happier and then it had struck her. She loved him.

The door opened and he saw her. Gwen Thomas. She was in sweats, with a plain white strappy top on, her hair was pinned up in a ponytail and she had no make up on. But Arthur thought she looked beautiful. She took his breath away and he took away hers. They looked at each other, unable to say anything. Then, just as Arthur was about to say hello, Gwen stepped forward, wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him.

His insides roared with excitement. Finally she was the one to kiss him! She was kissing him now, leaning towards him, wanting their bodies to be closer. She felt his tongue on her lips and she parted them, letting the kiss become deeper. She ran her hands through his hair and he let his arms hold her at the small of her back.

After what seemed to be an eternity, they parted. Panting and smiling at each other Gwen had no idea what to say. She didn't know what had come over her but she didn't care. All she knew was that she loved this boy and she wasn't going to hide it any longer.

Lily had invited Morgan and Mordred into her home and they sat on the sofa's opposite each other. Mordred had offered to get drinks while the two women talked and they had accepted his offer.

Morgan didn't really know what to say. What do you say to a woman you have only just met? What do you say to a long lost mother?

"I'm sorry to just spring this on you." Morgan apologised and Lily batted it away.

"Please don't apologise, I am so glad that you found me." Lily reached and held her daughter's hand. "I just want to say, to kill the elephant in the room, that I will always regret the day that I left you. I loved you so much and it killed me but, back then, I had no one else apart from my husband. I had barely any money and I needed to be safe." Lily's face crumpled into sadness as she remembered her pleads to her husband.

"I knew you would have a good life with Uther and although I hated it, I knew that his fiancé would be a good mother." Lily added smiling.

Morgan's heart sank as she thought of the woman who she used to think of as mother. "She was." Morgan whispered.

"How is she and your father by the way?" Lily inquired.

Morgan gulped and muttered, "Dad is fine, and the same as always I guess. But um… my mum, well Dad's wife is… well she died a long time ago now." Lily's heart broke for the young girl before her. How confusing this must be for her.

She moved to sit next to her and placed her other hand over their already clasped hands. "I am so sorry. I know this is hard for you but, I would love to be part of your life. I completely understand if you don't want to know me. But, if you'd let me, I'd love to get to know you." Morgan looked up at Lily and knew her answer.

"I'd love to know you, mum."

**There we go! Yay for Arthur and Gwen! And also sad but happy times for Morgan. Sorry this chapter hasn't had much ****ARWEN ****in it, but Lily will become important later and I wanted their first meeting to be in some kind of detail. **

**Now questions:**

**To Em who was a guest: Erm I'm not sure exactly what you were asking so I'll just say this. No, Arthur and Gwen haven't had sex. And also I'm not really comfortable writing full smutty scenes but I do think they should do it. So, if anyone who is good/ likes to write smutty scenes wants to write a really smutty chapter for this story then just write a review saying so and I'll get in touch and we can sort something out!**

**Thank you to everyone who is reviewing and following it makes my day when I see how much you enjoy this story. Thank you! **


	20. Chapter 20

**Woo summer holidays! **

Arthur was in shock. Gwen was still kissing him, and he had no idea what to do. After a few seconds he regained his thoughts and started to kiss back. This felt so right, they fit together perfectly like they were put on this earth to be together. Too soon it was over and Gwen pulled away. They were both breathless and Gwen was smiling coyly.

"Hello." Arthur panted and Gwen laughed lightly.

"Hi." She replied. "Do you want to come in?" she gestured to her house and Arthur nodded before walking inside.

The hall was a dark red colour and the staircase that was to the right was dark brown. Along the walls there were pictures of Gwen when she was younger and a little boy that Arthur assumed to be her brother. There was one bigger picture that had a man and a woman holding a little baby in their arms. Arthur smiled slightly. He followed Gwen into the front room which held a small sofa and a TV set as well as a bookcase. The walls were yellow; Arthur wondered whether every room in this house was a different colour. Gwen had perched on the edge of the sofa and Arthur suddenly felt a nervousness creep up on him. What should he do? Should he pretend that they hadn't kissed? Or should he kiss her now? He really wanted to kiss her now, but what about her Dad, is he in the house?

His thoughts were interrupted by Gwen coughing slightly. He looked at her and they both laughed a little. "Well, this is weirdly awkward." Gwen said and Arthur chuckled.

"You just kissed me." He smirked and she rolled her eyes at his proud tone.

"Yes I did. But you said you loved me." It was his turn to roll his eyes.

"Yes I did, and I meant it. So now I need to ask, will we be kissing again any time soon?"

She bit her lip and looked down at her legs which were crossed. "Maybe." She answered. "I'm still not really sure. I mean, I want to but…"

"But my Dad." He finished the sentence. "But maybe," he ran his hand through his hair. "Maybe, just for the summer, we could be together. My father won't find out and I just want… I would just like to be with you Gwen."

"But then when summer ends…" she interrupted and Arthur took hold of her hands.

"When summer ends, we'll figure out something else. Gwen, you love me, I know you do. And I love you. Why can't we just be happy together for a little while, who cares about the future? We can figure it out later."

Gwen still looked unsure and, when she looked as though she was about to refuse, Arthur pulled her into a kiss and all of Gwen's doubts and worries melted away. Why should we always think things over and over, why not just act on what we feel?

"Okay. Let's do it." Gwen said after they parted. Arthur smiled and pulled her into a hug.

Morgan had been visiting her mother everyday, making excuses to her father. But it was getting harder to hide. After the fifth day Uther began to ask more and more questions and she almost tripped a couple of times. She knew that at some point she would have to tell Uther but she didn't know how.

Uther knew that Morgan was hiding something; he just didn't know what it was. It must be something to do with Lily. She didn't take the news very well and he didn't know what she was doing. Millions of possibilities stretched out before him and he knew he had to confront her about it but he didn't know how.

It was the normal Friday dinner and Arthur, Morgan and Uther were sitting at the table, eating silently. Then at the same time, Uther and Morgan both blurted out:

"I have something to tell you!"

"What are you hiding from me?"

Arthur just looked at the two of them before shaking his head and carrying on eating.

"I've been seeing Lily, Dad." Morgan muttered, staring her Dad in the eye.

"Oh." Uther just looked down at his food. Morgan waited silently for her father to start to talk. "How is she doing?" He asked.

"She is doing well. She and her husband split up about four years ago and since then she's been living on her own. They didn't have any more children you see." Morgan recounted all of the things Lily had told her over the past days. Morgan smiled as she was hit with the feeling that she actually knew her mother.

Uther seemed to be stuck for words. "She is alone?" he finally asked.

"Yes." Morgan put simply.

"Okay." Uther all of a sudden became very stiff in his chair.

"Dad, do you want to see her again?" Arthur asked carefully, not looking at his father.

"No. No thank you." Uther stated. He quickly put down his fork and stood up. "I'm sorry I have to leave." He said as he walked out of the room.

**I know this is short but as it is the summer I should update more frequently. **


	21. Chapter 21

The quaint houses lined side by side were relaxing. In this street you felt as though you were safe, there was no reason to be scared or worried. Everything would turn out right. Uther Pendaton, with his furrowed brow and black suit stuck out like a sore thumb. Just by looking at him you instantly thought over every wrong doing you've ever done. The relaxed setting made Uther look like thunder and lightning wrapped into one man.

On the outside he looked powerful but inside he was a nervous wreck. Ever since Morgan had told him that his first love was single again he hadn't been able to shake the feeling that he needed to see her. He hadn't seen Lily for seventeen years and he felt fear rise inside of him.

He walked into the drive way of his old flames house and he felt his palms start to feel clammy. He managed to knock on the door tentatively and he was just about to turn away and return home when the door opened and he heard a gasp.

He looked at Lily. Her blonde hair still shone, even if it had a few grey hairs hidden within the gold. Her bright eyes shone and he thought that he could see tears forming. He too, felt his throat close up. All of those old feelings came flooding back and he felt his heart thump.

"Lily." He breathed and she smiled, her hand still covering her mouth.

"Uther, what are you doing here?" she asked and he smiled.

"Morgan told me that you were living here and I had to see you again." He smiled up at her and she was beaming at him, her eyes now filled with tears. "Lily, I still love you." He whispered and he felt arms wrap around his neck.

He slowly let his arms hold the woman whom he loved. She laughed into his chest and he couldn't help but chuckle softly.

Arthur and Gwen had been sneaking around for a few weeks now. Arthur had told his father that he had been going to a football boot camp and Uther seemed to believe it. He had been a bit distracted as of late but Arthur didn't really care. Just as long as he got time with Gwen he was fine.

Arthur was also starting to build a relationship with Gwen's brother. They had met after a few days of Gwen and Arthur's new relationship and Arthur knew that he would have to impress her little brother. So Arthur had made a huge effort to be incredibly friendly and soon they had created a little banter where they both teased Gwen mercilessly. And although this was a little annoying, she didn't care as long as they stayed friendly.

The real test was when Arthur had met Gwen's father. Gwen had been nervous, this would be the first time she would bring someone home to meet her family and she didn't know how her dad would react.

At first he was a little cold towards Arthur. They had a slightly awkward dinner which was Mr Thomas shooting Arthur glares and firing off questions which Arthur expertly answered. Eventually, Gwen's Dad had accepted Arthur and Arthur had found that a safe topic for the two men was football and the weather. And after two weeks of being at Gwen's house everyday, Mr Thomas had begun to poke fun at Arthur, and that was when Gwen knew that her dad approved of him.

Gwen was deliriously happy. She still hadn't told Merlin of the new relationship but that was mostly because she didn't want anyone to tell her that this wouldn't last. The fear plagued every spare thought but when she voiced these fears Arthur would just point blank deny that anything could come between them. Gwen knew that she should just not worry but she couldn't help but worry that when they would return to school they would have to separate.

On the last day of the summer holidays Arthur had wanted to visit Gwen but Uther had called a special meeting for the family. Arthur turned up to his dad's office and was met with a grinning Uther and a smirking Morgan. He was immediately curious. Uther never beamed and Morgan's smirk didn't have a hint of maliciousness about it.

"Father, what's going on?" He asked and Uther cleared his throat.

"I have to introduce you to someone Arthur." He stated and then gestured to the door which then opened to reveal a woman who looked almost exactly like Morgan, just in thirty years time.

Suddenly realisation dawned on Arthur. "Oh! You must be Lily Kellwood, it's a pleasure." He held out his hand and she took it smiling.

"Me and Lily have picked up where we left off, so to speak." Uther smiled as Lily moved towards him and held his hand. Arthur smiled too. He was glad that his father had love again. And although it hurt a little that his mother was being replaced, he couldn't hate the woman who had the love of his father.

"I am incredibly happy for you father." He saw his father bow his head in thanks and then Arthur's attention went to Morgan. "You knew before me?"

"Well of course, she is my mother." She put simply and she stared at Arthur, daring him to get angry. But he just smiled sweetly at her.

Merlin knew straight away that Gwen was hiding something. He knew because whenever he mentioned the summer she blushed a little and a small smile crept onto her lips. His suspicions were confirmed when he saw how Gwen and Arthur greeted each other. They both smiled coyly at each other before having a chaste hug.

"Alright." He said loudly when they broke apart. "How long have you two been together?" He laughed at their shocked looks.

"H… How did you know?" Arthur asked.

"Because you two are smiling like idiots and Gwen's blushed everytime I've mentioned the summer holidays!" Gwen blushed again and Arthur laughed, pulling her into a hug again before kissing the top of her head.

"One question though, what about Uther?" Merlin asked what Gwen had been dreading. But Arthur just smiled.

"Well my friend, Uther has just announced to me that he is in a relationship with a woman who he loves so I don't think he'll be a problem anymore."

"You mean he found her?" Gwen asked.

"Yep, Lily Kellwood, Morgan's mother and now Fathers' fiancée." Merlin smiled. Glad that they would finally be able to be together without any fear.

Morgan raced to her dormitory. Mordred had been on holiday for the last two weeks of the holiday and she couldn't wait to see him. This summer had been the best of her life. When she was with Lily she felt like she knew where she belonged. And now that her mother was going to marry her father she would finally have a proper family.

She had actually apologised to Arthur last night. Morgan had told Lily everything, all of her scheming and lies and Lily had shown her that she needed to change her ways. It had taken a while before she could think of apologising without throwing up but last night, seeing what will be her new family all so happy, she knew that she had to suck it up and apologise.

And now she saw him again. His brown hair had grown so that it now covered his blue eyes and she smiled. He smiled back and held his arms open. She ran to hug him and he capture her lips into a kiss. As he always did, he whispered to her how much he loved her and he was shocked when she looked up at him and whispered. "I love you too."

Mordred's heart soared. He had always known that she had to love him back, but hearing it from her gave him such joy, such reassurance. He picked her up and twirled her around. "Say it again." He demanded as she kissed him again.

"Oh come on Mordred, it's taken me this long just to say it!" she protested but he just laughed.

"Yes it has taken so long, and now you need to make it up to me!" he chuckled as he kissed her again and he felt his heart flip as she stared into his eyes and said "I love you Mordred."

A few months after the wedding, Gwen and Arthur went up to Uther's office and knocked boldly on the door. Arthur squeezed Gwen's hand to reassure her and she smiled at the comfort. Inside her heart was hammering.

They entered the office and saw that, as usual, Lily was seated in the corner of the office, reading one of her many books that she had on the go. Uther saw their entwined hands and he raised his eyebrow.

"What's this?" he asked slowly.

"Father, I have to be honest with you." Arthur started and Gwen saw Lily put down her book slowly. "Me and Gwen have been dating since the summer. We are sorry that we didn't tell you and that we disobeyed you but we are in love. And we couldn't lie to ourselves anymore."

Silence filled the room as Uther studied the pair. "So, you are telling me that you went against a direct order that I gave you." Gwen's heart fell. God, they were so stupid. They thought that maybe his new love would make him see how cruel he was being.

"Father, you of all people should understand…" Uther held up his hand to stop Arthur's speech.

"I don't care; you should use my past as an excuse to disobey your superiors."

"Uther," Lily interrupted putting a hand on Uther's shoulder. "Arthur is right, just think; if your father had let us be in love then we would never have been parted. We would have been married for thirty years by now. They are in love darling, let them be happy. If not for them, then for us." She watched as Uther held the bridge of his nose. He was obviously thinking and Gwen hoped that Lily's words would convince him.

Then Uther looked up at Lily who smiled encouragingly. He then looked at the couple in front of him. Slowly, he walked over to Gwen before holding out a hand and saying, "Welcome to the family."

**Okay so that is almost it! I think I might do a short little chapter to wrap up everything but I hoped you enjoyed this fic! The ending was rushed I know, but I wanted to finish this without it taking years. But I hope you will review to tell me if you liked it. Thank you to all of you who have read this, it means a lot thank you.**


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Merlin, Romance