Eli walked into Slugterra High School, not knowing what to expect. As he looked around, he saw teenagers doing all sorts of normal stuff: chatting, checking lockers, slugslinging and so on. Burpy, his Infurnus slug, chirped excitedly.

"Well Burpy, this is a fresh year so we'd better get started," he muttered. There was a map on a bulletin board and he scanned the board for the words Year 8. He quickly found it, after memorising it, found his classroom, and stopped at the doorway. A woman with brown hair in a bun, stylish black glasses, a white blouse and black pants noticed him and smiled.

"Hello! You must be Eli Shane. My name is Miss Alana Edwards, your Yr 8 teacher. I'll help you get started," Alana said warmly. The bell rang and teens rushed to find a desk. Miss Edwards said briskly, "Hello everybody, welcome to Yr 8," she started. "I haven't met most of you before, so please bear with me as I try to get to know you. You may sit next to anyone you like, but if I feel you are not working well with your partner, I will move you. We also have a new student: Eli Shane." There were several gasps around the classroom. A few girls started to look at him. Eli mentally groaned; why did his dad have to be so good at slugslinging?

"Eli, you can sit next to Trixie," Miss Edwards said, gesturing to a redheaded girl with green eyes who was using an iPad. She glanced up and offered a small smile. For some reason, she seemed familiar... A few boys in the back started to wolf-whistle loudly. Trixie rolled her eyes, turned around in her chair and hissed, "Shut up, losers!" Eli put his stuff down and settled in a chair. Alana then started saying, "Right, now let's go over the schedule-"

The bell rang and students ran out of classrooms. Eli found a bench to sit on, pulled out a snack bar and offered most of it to his slugs, who were mucking around. Someone tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around to see a muscular cave troll grinning at him.

"Kord!" Eli exclaimed. "Good to see you!"

"You too, bro," Kord replied. "How's the day going?"

"Okay, I guess," Eli frowned. "The teachers are good, and I got sat next to a girl." Kord snorted.

"Who?" he asked.

"I dunno, some girl called Trixie," Eli said. "Anyway, have you seen Pronto lately?"

"Nope, but you know him. He'll show up sometime." RIIIING! The bell screamed. The boys did a handshake and ran to their classes. Eli arrived at Geography just in time. Their teacher, Mr. Tim Samson, was around his 30s and a little impatient, but generally a good teacher.

"Alright, Yr 8s, I have a little project for you to do," Tim started. The class groaned. Eli thought, Seriously? Homework on first week? Let alone a project!

"I want you to do a map of a cavern with a partner," Mr. Samson continued. "But you are not choosing your partners." The class groaned once more. "It's going to be boy and girl partners." Andrew Winters snickered, "What year are we, Year 2?" His gang laughed in agreement. The teacher glared in their direction. "I could send you over to the nearest preschool if you like." The boys stopped sniggering immediately. Tim proceeded to read from a list, "Kayla Jones, you're with Andrew Winters..."

"Eli Shane, you're with Trixie Sting," Mr. Samson said. Eli glanced at Trixie. She apparently was listening to something on her iPod. She looked up.

"Sorry, Mr. Samson, what did you say?," she said, pulling out her neon green and black earplugs. The teacher sighed, "I said Eli Shane is your partner," he repeated. He finished the list and said, "You are going to the computer lab to research the name of the cavern I give you." He handed each pair a slip of paper.

When they reached the lab, Trixie was once again using her was humming something that suspiciously sounded like Don't Stop the Music. When Samson glared at her meaningfully, she sighed and pulled the earplugs out. She stuffed her iPod into her bag. The whir of computers and students talking was very loud, giving the air a sense of business.

"So um, what cavern do we have?" Eli asked Trixie. Trixie replied with her eyes glued to the screen, "Shadow Cavern." Eli nodded. Eli started asking Trixie random stuff, like, "What's your favourite slug?" and kept cracking jokes until they were both laughing really hard.

"Mr. Shane and Miss Sting! Iis something funny with your research?" their teacher asked rhetorically, glaring at the two. They quickly got back to work until it was time for lunch.

"Um, Eli, do you want to sit with me?" Trixie asked him quickly, hoping she wasn't blushing. He laughed.

"Yeah, ok. It's not as if we got much done anyway, so we should discuss it over lunch," he joked. She rolled her eyes at him.

"That was mainly your fault."

"Oh, sorry," he said without any sincerity. They went to the cafeteria and found a table for two. Trixie bit into an apple and asked Eli, "So do you have any siblings?"

"Well, I have a twin sister called Julie, who's older than me by two minutes," he confessed. "What about you?"

"Only child," Trixie replied, shrugging her shoulders. "My dad's a doctor and my mum..." she faltered.

"What's wrong?" Eli asked, concerned for his new friend.

"My mum died when I was nine," she replied shortly.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be."

The week went by fast and on Friday, Eli asked Trixie if she would like to come to his house.

"Why?"

"Um, because we might need to do some more research and my English homework is complicated," Eli replied. She rolled her eyes.

"Do you ever do your own homework?" she asked him.

"Not when I have an incredibly smart friend to do it for me," he teased. Trixie turned red, but agreed to go with him to his house when school was over.

RIIINNG! Students ran out of classrooms. Eli revved up his mecha. He turned around to ask Trixie, "Ready?"

She grinned. "Lead the way," she replied. The two raced off to Eli's home.