Hello, my loves! It's been a little bit, hasn't it? Sorry about that. I kinda put this one on the back burner as I was struggling to come up with what I wanted to adventure into next with this chapter. But then I got thinking about what I wanted to do with Not-Enrique in this story again and that's how this idea came about.

So, sorry for being a little radio silent on this one! I promise to write a bit more for it when I have days off of doing schoolwork or just days off in general lol. I hope you guys enjoy this update and let me know what you think!

Much love, mates!

I tried to hide my yawn behind my left hand as I opened my locker with the opposite one.

Having some late night text conversations with Claire was hella worth the lack of sleep.

I switched out the books in my hands as I had to fight myself on keeping my eyes open.

Even though she signed off around one to go to bed, I was still having the image of a spider lady's blood being splattered on me haunting me.

I shook my head a little as I stored away my books into my bag and readjusted it onto my back.

Man, I'll never look at spiders the same. That was truly traumatizing. Too bad that if I even bother bringing it up to a counselor or some shit that they would offer me up to some kind of psych-ward. Good thing melatonin is a thing. I should stop by one of the corner stores before heading down to Troll Market and get myself some. It might be a lifesaver, honestly.

Especially when I still need to figure out a way to get to that changeling now tied to Claire's family.

"You look beat." I turned my attention to the soft voice appearing beside me. I saw the worried gleam in Claire's eyes as stepped a little bit closer to me. "I thought you said I wasn't keeping you from sleeping last night?" I gave her a simple grin as I closed my locker with a soft click.

Speak of the devil.

"You weren't." I let out another yawn as I tried my best to keep it behind the back of my left hand. "I just couldn't sleep." I watched her eyebrows knit with worry as I dropped my hand to my side. "Don't worry though. It happens sometimes. No big deal."

"Well, I think I have something that might work." She brought her bag to her side before rifling around in it to pull out a can of something. "I couldn't really sleep last night either so I packed away a pick me up. Looks like you're going to use it a lot more than I will though." She zipped up her bag before handing over the can to me. I took it curiously before looking over the graffiti design that was on the can.

"Rebel Comet energy drink? Never heard of it before."

"Trust me, once you have one, you'll never forget it. It's a blessing, really." I shot her a smile as I read over the fact that the purple-colored energy drink was called 'Purple Haze' while her iconic purple sweater popped out a little under the black sweatshirt I gave her recently.

How truly fitting.

"If it's that good then I don't wanna be taking it from you." I tried handing back the can only to be met with Claire pushing it gently back toward me.

"It's fine. I've got a couple more at home anyway, so I just gotta make it through the day. You look like you need it a lot more than I do." I fought against yawning once more as I tried to fight her on the subject, but it was pointless as she just giggled a little in reply as the yawn won the fruitless battle. "My point exactly." I gave her a sheepish smile as I just scratched the back of my neck with my free hand.

"I owe you one, Claire."

"You owe me nothing."

"No, I definitely owe you one. Between helping me out with my lines and keeping me from failing math, you've been wonderful to me. I haven't really helped you out in reply. Makes me feel like I'm taking advantage of you, you know?" I gave her a nervous smile only to be greeted with one in reply. It was one of Claire's genuine smiles. The one that would always make my heart do flips in my ribcage as my brain would flatline at the same time.

"I just want to make sure you're okay." I felt butterflies escape into my stomach as her smile just widened. Her hand moving to tuck away a strand of her hair that had somehow came loose to the multitude of hairclips that kept it in place. "That's all I need in the first place anyway. Especially with everything you've done for me these past few weeks."

How in the literal hell can someone be so perfect? Like how? How is she just allowed to be this way? It's unfair. My heart can't take this shit.

"You need to stay up long enough to get through today so we can have our study session tomorrow anyway." Her smile grew more confident as she wrapped her hands around her backpack straps. "If you end up passing out, I doubt your mom would let you out of her sight, and I've been rather looking forward to us hanging out again." I felt a blush take over my face as I let her words sink in.

Her? Looking forward to hanging out with me? I'm not dreaming, right?

Well. I shouldn't be too shocked. It's natural for two seemingly normal popular kids to get close, right? Maybe? Do I even count as popular? I'm thinking too much about all of this. I need to just calm my jets.

"Yeah. Totally. I would hate that." I gave out the words in a meek reply as she just smiled sweetly in return.

"So we're in the same boat then." She lifted her right index finger and placed it underneath the energy drink to raise the can from where I was holding it at my side so that it was right before my chest. "Then drink up, Lake. Don't need my Romeo passing out on me." I felt my blush only deepen as the bell rang. "See you around." She took her finger away from the can with a smooth smirk on her lips that only caused me to stare after her like a hopeless fool as she turned and made her way to her first hour. I swallowed hard as I took a second to gather myself together before turning toward my Spanish class with my blush still coating my cheeks.

And that just took the cooling my jets option straight out the fucking window.

"Dude. She gave you her caffeine after spending how long texting you last night?" I sipped out of the energy can as I continued scribbling down a math problem I was still struggling with since second hour.

"It was just a few hours."

"From when to when?"

"From like ten to one." I gave a small shrug as I took another sip out of the drink before setting it back down onto the table we were sitting at together in the school's plaza area. "I don't really see the importance, Tobes."

"The importance, Jimbo, is the fact that girl doesn't just give away her caffeine like that. Especially after a late-night like that. She's into you, bro! Like hella into you. Not like the 'hey you're cute' but in the 'hey, I'll give my life essence to you if that means hanging out and seeing you' kind of way." I just chuckled a little at Toby as I tried rewriting the problem I was working on and starting fresh.

"Life essence? Dude, if anyone thinks caffeine is life essence, it would be you."

"Hey, I don't doubt Nuñez is the same way. Most honor students are, honestly. Do you think they get those grades by having a heavy sleep schedule? Hell no. They're probably having espresso running in their bloodstreams at this point." I thought about it for a second before nodding along in agreeance.

"So what though? She gave me an energy drink because she thought I was tired. Nothing huge."

"If you think that's not a hint that she likes you dude, then you're more oblivious than you look." I shot him a half-hearted glare as he just held up his hands defensively. "Hey! I'm not wrong here! I'm the ladies' man out of the two of us, remember?" I rolled my eyes at him as I grabbed the can to take another sip out of it. The taste of blueberries and raspberries filling my mouth before I swallowed.

I don't need the thought of her possibly liking me getting to my head. I don't need my hope getting too high.

I placed the can back down onto the table as a small frown tugged at the corners of my mouth.

It's bad enough I'm starting to associate the taste of blueberries and raspberries with her after one drink.

"I know that look. You're thinking a little too much for your own good and you need to stop it." Toby poked his index finger into my left bicep as he leaned a little bit onto the table. "It's not bad for you to like her and it's not bad to have hopes with her, alright? Trollhunting changes nothing about the fact that you're a teenage boy who's a hopeless fucking mess about a punk theater girl. Get that through your head, dude."

"Yeah, but it does change the fact that we could have a normal relationship instead of one filled with me being a giant flake all the time or risking her life just for a splash of happiness."

"You and I both know that if she asked you out though, you wouldn't say no. You wouldn't have the heart to." I sighed a little as I knew Toby was right for the most part.

But the fear of losing her or having her used against me though? That would break me more than having to say no to her.

"I guess you're right for the most part."

"Are the two of you still down for your study date tomorrow?"

"Yeah. Why do you ask?"

"Because her brother is the changeling right? You should get a feel for the place. Figure out where exactly he is in the house so we can sneak by at some point and get some info from him. Maybe we can even get him to snag that piece of the bridge for us. It's a stretch, but it could give us some time before shit goes south." I gave Toby a shocked look as he just gave me a confused one in reply. "What?"

"Nothing. Just you saying something clever is rare, dude." He just nudged his fist into my left shoulder as he gave me a half-hearted glare.

"Shush." I chuckled gently in reply as I smiled at him.

"Love you too, dude."

"Shut and drink your energy drink. Don't want the source of your PGA's efforts to go to waste." I rolled my eyes at him once more as I just grabbed the can and brought it to my lips once more.

Well played, my friend. Well played.

"So how can you prove that this is an exponential function besides the power here?"

"If you graph it has two of those cross the x-axis things? I forgot what you called them." Claire just gave me a small laugh before resting her hand on my right shoulder.

"You got the concept, so that's good enough for now. Just calling it an x-intercept for right now should be fine for you. There's a more mathematical word for it, but that's Pre-Calc level stuff." I sighed a little as I scribbled down the answer onto the packet sheet.

"And that just makes me not look forward to next year then already." I smiled a little as Claire gifted me with another laugh of hers.

"Oh don't worry. You've got me on your side, Lake. We'll get you through that when the time comes." My smile only widened at the thought of this being a continuous thing. Let alone the fact of her saying this will last more than just during the play.

"You're willing to deal with me for that long?" I gave her a smirk at this point as she just shook my shoulder a little.

"How many times do I have to tell you that I don't deal with you, Lake? I like hanging out with you. Even if a lot of our time together has been just tutoring as of late." She let go of my shoulder as she moved to take something out of her bag that was sitting near her feet. "I actually have something to ask you, actually. If you don't mind taking a second off of the math stuff." I swallowed dryly as I dropped my pencil on top of the math packet.

"Anything to get out of algebra." I tried my best to give her a confident smile even though my nerves were swelling within my chest. "What's up?"

"I've got these tickets to a Papa Skull concert that Mary and I were supposed to go to together, but she ended up getting a date with this Hank guy instead the same day. It's next week Friday." She pulled out two think pieces of paper before handing one over to me. "I was wondering if you wanted to go with me instead?" I looked down at the ticket in her hand as the familiar skull on it glared up at me. "You know. Since we haven't actually got to hang out outside of study sessions and theater stuff." I brought my gaze up to her eyes as I noted how confident but also nervous she seemed within that moment. It was as if she knew what she was doing was something she wanted, but also something she was afraid of ruining it in some kind of way.

"Honestly, I don't really listen to their stuff," I started speaking before even thinking as I took the ticket from her. "But it'll be great to spend time with you outside of tutoring." I watched as a wide smile took over Claire's face as if I had gifted her the stars within that moment.

"You won't regret it! They're awesome! Maybe it'll get you interested in their stuff? Who knows?" I smiled at her words as I mentally noted how childishly excited the girl was beside me.

Well, I'm interested in you so I don't doubt I would give them a chance if you asked me.

I blushed a little as Enrique could be heard crying upstairs.

"Huh. He normally doesn't cry at this time. I know he's not hungry or anything. I checked all that before you came over this time." Claire raised to her feet before giving me a soft smile. "I should go check up on him. Are you fine working on the next part of the packet?"

"Actually, I might need to get up on my feet. I think they went asleep for how long we've been working on this." I got up onto my feet as I shot Claire a lopsided smile. "That or I just want nothing with Algebra at the moment." I stretched my arms up over my head as she just gave me a small laugh in reply.

"Well, you can always give me a hand with Enrique. I think he'll like you anyway." She seemed to have wanted to say something else along with that, but she just started making her way toward the staircase. "Unless you don't get along with little ones or if you're a child eater. If so, tell me now or forever hold your peace." I laughed a little at her before making my way over to join her.

"I love kids, actually. And I'm not some kind of child version of Cookie Monster so you don't have to worry about that." She laughed once more as we started our way up the staircase. "I actually used to hang out with the kid patients at the hospital my mom works at when I was younger. It was a win-win kind of thing though since it meant my mom knew I was being taken care of as well as being able to make sick kids happy with silly jokes, but it didn't last long since once I was old enough to stay home on my own, she was pretty insistent on me doing so since she didn't want me around so much death."

"Makes sense."

"The death part?" I gave Claire a curious look as we reached the second story of the house.

"Yeah. But also the fact that you would spend your free time making kids with illnesses happy. Kind of just screams Jim Lake Junior, you know?" I blushed a little at her as she led me down the hallway toward her brother's room. "This one's Enrique's." She opened the door to the right and lead the way in before turning on the lights. After that, I followed her soundlessly as I took in where exactly we were.

Second floor. The right side of the staircase. This means if I was standing right in front of the house that it would be on the right side.

God, it feels weird thinking like this when all I want is to just enjoy my time with her. But I guess I'll get that later with the whole concert thing. Wait. Maybe I can finish up that Vespa Blinky and I are building together beforehand? That would be cool to take her on. It would be a great break from all of this anyway. Especially when we probably have to wrestle the little fucker around once we get the chance to talk to him.

"Did you have a bad dream, mi amour?" Claire's voice brought me back into reality as she picked up the crying little boy into her arms. "It's okay. Tu hermana mayor is here." I felt my heart melt at the scene as I found myself stepping closer to her. The wailing cries of the infant slowly turning down in intensity as Claire somehow soothed him with ease.

"Wow. You're a natural." Claire turned her attention to me as a sheepish smile just took over her lips.

"It took a little bit of practice, but I got a hang of it in the year I've had so far being a big sister." She pulled the infant back a little bit so she could look him in the eye. "But you can be a little fussy at times, can't you." As if understanding his sister completely, the infant just gave her a toothless smile as she just giggled a little bit in reply. "It's as if he knows he's adorable or something." She brought him back into her arms and leaned him against her chest with a smile. "Can't stay too mad at him after all. He's my favorite pain in the butt." I watched as the infant turned his head toward me and gave me a toothless grin as well. Completely different than any other kid would. Or at least from what I know about little kids.

And at least I know why.

I swallowed hard as Claire turned her attention toward me once more.

"Want to hold him?" I gave her a sheepish smile as reached up to scratch the back of my neck.

"It's been a little while. I don't know if I even remember how at this point."

"Here, I can show you." She stepped forward and guided me with her right hand that she brought down from her brother's back to put my arms in place. "Cup your hand here and keep it secure. That's where his head will be." Her hand guided across my hoodie sleeve covered arm like silk as she then guided my left arm in place. "And then you use this arm to cradle and support." I blushed as I felt her hand leave my arm. "Ready?" I gave her a simple nod as I didn't trust myself to speak within that moment. After that though, she slowly but gently placed her little brother into my arms. Her hands placing themselves on my elbows as if to make sure I had him correctly. "There you go." She spoke softly as I just looked over the blonde-haired baby that was now resting within my arms. He looked up toward me with brown eyes that were exactly the same as Claire's. They looked up at me curiously as he just reached out for my sweatshirt's strings. I didn't give it a second thought though as I just kept thinking of what would this child look like as a troll.

What would his hair be like? The same? I've never seen a blonde troll before so I kind of doubt it. I swear if his eyes are the same though. I might actually lose my mind.

"And you say I'm the natural." Claire giggled a little bit as she toyed with the small amount of hair that was on the infant's head. "I've never seen him this quiet before." My mind thought against fight her on that. It screamed to tell her that there was nothing natural about this. That there was something wrong and somehow both me and this infant knew it.

But I kept myself quiet and just looked up at her with a soft smile.

"I guess I just have a way with little trolls like this one."