Disclaimer: Don't own and never will.
AN: Okay, this was inspired by Jake Nickleby's vicious and well written story Jittery, although it has no connection to said story.
AN2: Set during the Ironwood Tree, just after the fencing competition.
Mallory smoothed her hair back and gave a firm swallow as her stomach erupted with butterflies. Fencing was one thing; it was all about knowing yourself, your blade and using them to your advantage, feeling as though the blade was an extension of your body. This was something else, figuring out how to do something she had never done before. For Mallory, the results of getting this wrong was far more than just losing a point or two.
Mallory Grace was planning to ask a boy out.
Given all that had happened recently, with the goblins attempt to seize Simon and the trouble they had with the elves, one would think that a boy was virtually nothing to be afraid of. Certainly, there was a lot less at stake. Nobody was going to die if she made a mess of things, or be trapped for all eternity, or anything that was too dangerous.
But still, Mallory's feelings for Chris, the school captain, were intense. She was in love with him and she hated the idea of him turning her down. But she had won her match without losing so much as a single point and that was a good sign that her luck was in and now was the time to ask him.
But that didn't mean she wasn't nervous.
Brushing a stray hair aside, she walked into the empty classroom she had seen Chris walk into after the match.
The first thing she saw when she entered the classroom was Chris standing with his back to her, talking to another person she couldn't see properly.
"Hi Chris!" she said in a slightly-too-cheery voice and Chris turned his head towards her.
"Hi Mallory," he replied and Mallory was able to see who he was talking to. A girl with silky blonde hair and blue eyes and a face Mallory recognised from her biology class. "Great match, you did great out there."
"Yeah, you too," she replied and Chris gave a snort of disbelief.
"I got thrashed out there," he replied.
"Only by a narrow margin," Mallory countered with a smile and the girl nodded.
"You should listen to her. Don't beat yourself up about it," she said, before pulling Chris closer to her and kissing him on the lips. "You're perfect the way you are."
"Yeah…exactly…" Mallory said as she felt her heart slowly break in two and it took all of her willpower not to start crying right there. "Umm…I'm sorry, you are?"
"Oh Mallory, this is Fay, my girlfriend," Chris said with a smile. "Fay, this is Mallory, the best fencer on the team."
"You're in my biology class, aren't you?" Fay asked and Mallory nodded.
"Yes, you sit a few chairs behind me," she replied, slightly stiffly. "Um listen, I-"
"I'll see you at training, I've got to go anyway," Chris said with a smile that simultaneously made her heart skip a beat and made her hate the fact that she couldn't have him at the same time.
"See you around," Mallory replied quietly as she slowly wondered out of the classroom and into a nearby girl's toilet. She needed some time alone, to think and maybe even cry in private. (Although she would never admit THAT publicly) Opening the door, Mallory stumbled into a cubicle and sat down on one of the empty toilets as tears ran down her face. She hated the fact that Chris had a girlfriend, that he made her feel like this when he kissed another and the fact that she was crying over a boy when there were much worse things in her life to cry about and much worse stuff that could have happened.
"Mallory, are you okay?" her best friend Emma asked through the cubicle door and Mallory cleared her throat.
"Yes, I'm fine," she called back out.
"Are you sure?" Emma asked dubiously and Mallory nodded.
"I'm fine!" she called back with a firmness she didn't feel. "Really, I'm okay!"
"Well if you're sure Mal," Emma said as she left the toilets. Mallory wiped the tears from her eyes. Unlike some of the girls at J. Waterhouse Middle School, Mallory Grace was not one to spill her guts to her girlfriends. Wiping her eyes, she walked out of the girl's toilets.
"Mallory Grace?" an unfamiliar voice asked and Mallory turned to see a young boy with sandy-brown hair and blue eyes looking at her.
"Yes?" she asked in an aggressive tone and she felt a sharp stab of pleasure at the way the boy stepped back slightly.
"Well…your brother's in trouble and I've been told to tell you," the boy said and Mallory noticed a twinkle of amusement in his eye. There was something funny going on, but before she could say or do anything, the world turned black as she suddenly lost consciousness.
AN: Yes, that boy WAS Mulgurath and YES that was the dwarves taking her hostage.