Writers Anonymous Break the Cliché Challenge

Teenage Angst

Adventure/family

Amanda Prentice is a teenage mixed Lowen girl who is dealing with the stress of being a highschool freshman.

Mostly Non-canon characters set in the Grimm universe. Timeline - approximately 4-years after series finale.

Reviews and Criticism are appreciated.
2.5k words

AN: Lauren Cole is one of Theresa Rubel's HW cover identities in Season 5. Lauren Cole = Trubel.

...

Amanda Prentice wrinkled her nose at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. She ruffled and swished her favorite pink fuzzy yellow fuzzy pajamas, twisting around backwards to decide if they helped her 5'1" tall, petite, ninety pound teenage figure. She chuckled at the smiley-face hearts and wondered what she was getting for her fourteenth birthday, it was only a month away.

She remembered a year ago when she had "fanged out." She had been anxious about her first transformation from her normal Kehrsite human form into her Wesen monster form. Woguing kinda hurt, but she was used to it now. Amanda stared at herself in the mirror, smiled, and transformed into a Lowen lion monster. She curiously inspected her large sharp white teeth, the black animal hair on her face and skin, her feline facial features, and the long razor sharp claws which extended and retracted.

She twisted one lock of her black curly hair and sighed. Charlotte Lanson teased her endlessly about her her black curly hair, petite figure, and her honor roll grades. Charlotte was the most beautiful girl on their highschool cheerleading team. She was the picture of a full blooded Lowen with her straight blonde hair and curvy athletic figure. Charlotte had the attention of every single boy on their highschool campus and she knew it.

Charlotte's mother helped coach their cheerleading squad and made sure her daughter received special treatment. The girl ruled "Flying" her entire highschool career until this year. She hated Coach Little for pushing her out of Flying into a Spotter position because of her body filling out. The Senior hated Freshman Amanda because her tiny size, natural athleticism, coordination, quick reflexes, and fearlessness made her the team's favorite for launching into high flying stunts. Tiny Amanda pushed herself as hard as she could and took Charlotte's place on top.

Amanda looked in the mirror and grumbled. She had been trying hard to make friends with everyone on the team, especially Charlotte and Meghan. I can't believe she stole Jeff from me. She never cared about Jeff, he's a sophomore. One single date and she made a big show of breaking up with him. She sighed a huge sigh. I can't believe Jeff is dating Meghan now. She told him I'm mixed and now he won't even talk to me.

Amanda knew being mixed made her features different than regular Lowen like mom. Her mother's hair was straight and blonde. Mom's body hair and facial hair in Lowen mode was thicker, her feline features were more pronounced, she was taller and more curvy. Amanda extended and retracted shiny, black, razor sharp claws in and out of her fingers. At least my claws are longer.

She retracted her claws and sighed. She always worked twice as hard at practice and school work as the other girls on the team. Coach gave me Charlotte's spot because I pushed harder than everyone else. She knew she wasn't "beautiful" like the regular Lowens or Klaustreichs who made up the majority of the team. They allowed her on the team because she was part Lowen. Her friend Miriam was the best spotter on their middle school squad, but they wouldn't let her on the squad because she was a Skalengek - a scaly lizard Wesen monster. I wonder what they would do if they found out I'm a Grimm?

The other girls looked down on her because she practiced MMA martial arts instead of "feminine" gymnastics or dance. She knew they talked about her behind her back because her family wasn't normal like everyone else's, she had two mothers and no father.

She peered into her eyes in the mirror. They weren't like her mother's eyes which glowed bright yellow when she wogued into a Lowen. Her clear blue eyes eyes turned jet black with absolutely no white. She looked at her own feline Lowen reflection floating in the endless, bottomless black abyss of her own eyes. No one in her family had any idea who her father was, but he must have been a Grimm, like her.

Amanda heard Mom calling again. She quickly wogued back into a young woman, brushed her teeth, and headed to bed.

A few minutes later Mom came in to tuck her into bed. They talked for a few minutes about school, cheerleader practice, and her martial arts training. Her mom was a black belt instructor at their local MMA gym and had been training Amanda since she was young.

"Mom, can you tell me one of the Grimm stories Grandma told you when you were little?"

Sandra rolled her eyes and petted Amanda's dark curly hair. They never bithered teaching Amanda any of those dusty old wives tales or the foolish legends. Nobody they knew had ever even seen a Grimm before, it simply didn't make sense to fill children's heads with that sort of nonsense in our modern world. Sandra grumbled to herself about the old Grimm stories. I hate telling her these stories because every single one makes Grimms into soulless axe-murderers. I wonder what sort of stories Grimms tell their kids to explain what they are? Amanda kept asking about Grimms so they finally told her the only thing they knew, the stories that ended with "and the Grimm chopped off his head." "Why do you always want to hear these old fables, honey?"

Amanda smiled at her mom, waiting for a story. "Mom!"

"Well, ok Mandy. Once there was a Lowen family that had a pretty young daughter. As she grew up she became beautiful and was very popular with all of the young men.

Her father worried that the young men would take advantage of his daughter. He was very protective of her. He refused to let them come to his house or to take his daughter out on dates. Her mother always fretted about a Grimm killing their family so she always warned her daughter to carefully control her emotions and never ever show her Lowen nature in public.

The girl was very proud of her beauty and she was proud of being a Lowen. She loved to tease and flirt with the young men, and she loved scaring the ones who tried to kiss her by woguing into a Lowen.

One night, she snuck out of the house to go on a date with Noah, the captain of the highschool football team. He took her to a movie and after the movie they were sitting on a bench in the park. It was a cool fall night. They looked up at the stars together and talked. He leaned in and kissed her. She transformed into a Lowen to scare him, but he also transformed into a Lowen. She was surprised - she didn't know he was a Lowen too. They kissed and held hands. Father will surely like Noah she thought to herself. He was smart, handsome, athletic, and a Lowen like them.

She heard something metallic dragging in the gravel behind them. She looked out of the corner of her eyes and saw her own Lowen reflection floating in the endless black abyss of a Grimm's eyes. Terror washed over her, a Grimm had seen Noah and herself wogued in Lowen form.

She jumped up, yelled 'A Grimm," and started running. Noah thought she was just teasing him, but it was too late. She watched in horror as the Grimm savagely hacked Noah's head off with his huge axe. Then he smiled, and started walking towards her, with the bloody axe in one hand.

She ran as fast as she could to escape. She got home screaming and crying to her parents about a Grimm.

Suddenly they heard footsteps on the porch. Seconds later a giant axe smashed through their front door as the Grimm hacked his way into their house.

'You led the Grimm straight to us," her mother screamed.

Her father yelled, 'Take our daughter and run!' He wogued into Lowen mode and attacked the Grimm. The Grimm kicked him across the room and then chopped his head off with the bloody axe. Her mother frantically grabbed her hand and pulled her away.

Her mother fled upstairs with the girl, slammed the door behind them, and grabbed their shotgun. They heard the Grimm's footsteps slowly walking up the stairs and the old bloody axe clanking on each step as he walked. Soon they heard the footsteps stop and watched in terror as the axe crashed through the door. Her mother frantically shot the shotgun at The Grimm but missed. The blood spattered Grimm smiled and stared at her with his jet black eyes, then hacked her mother's head off while the girl bolted down the stairs, screaming, out of the house.

The girl ran out of the house to hide in the woods. Terrified, she ran deeper and deeper into the dark forest lit only by moonlight. Every time she stopped she heard the Grimm's plodding footsteps, and the scraping of his old brown axe dragging on the ground. She hid in the darkness of the bushes to escape, but soon heard the footsteps stop next to her. She jumped up to run, but was paralyzed when she saw her Lowen reflection floating in the endless, black depths of the Grimm's eyes. He smiled, and the Grimm chopped off her head.

And that's why you must always control your emotions, and you must never ever wogue in public."

Amanda was yawning and her eyes were heavy. Sandra smiled as she tucked Amanda in under her purple giraffe bed covers, kissed her on the forehead, gently tousled her hair, and turned off the lights. "Good night Kiddo!"

"Night Mom." Amanda snuggled her head into her pink fuzzy heart pillow, cuddled Seymour her brown stuffed lion doll, and smiled "Hey Mom" She yawned, eyes sleepy from the day. "Can I have an axe for my birthday?"

Sandra chuckled at her daughter and made a funny face. "No, silly. What, are you going to be a lumberjack or something? An axe? How about a dress or some new shoes?"

Amanda laughed.

...

A few weeks later, Charlotte and Meghan dropped Amanda during a stunt. They stood around taunting her while her head spun and she saw stars. Charlotte And Meghan's mothers saw the whole thing. Amanda watched Meghan's mother smirk to Charlotte's mother and say, "That'll teach the little half-Lowen."

...

A week later

Amanda finished her knife practice with her Grimm friend Lauren Cole. The two munched on pepperoni pizza at Lauren's place. They had met at the MMA gym six months ago and now trained together. Amanda smiled at Lauren's two-year old son Jess as she ate her pepperoni pizza. She made funny faces at the toddler and watched him giggle.

Amanda stuck her tongue out and made a kissy face as she bounced the little guy on her knee. She enjoyed watching him giggle and laugh. She looked at Lauren with a smile. "Yeah, you were right about the machete. An axe would never fit up under my jacket. That was an awesome birthday present by the way."

Lauren snickered and handed her a package of baby wipes. "Hey, there's still some blood on your face."

Amanda smiled, wiped the blood spatter off her face, and took a bite of her pizza. "Thanks!"

Lauren took a bite of her pizza. "So her mom really shot a shotgun at you after you hacked through the bedroom door?"

Amanda took another bite of pizza. "She missed."

"That's lucky. So what did you do?"

"I chopped her head off." Amanda replied with a shrug.

"Cool. What about that Charlotte girl. Weren't you trying to make friends with her?"

Amanda smiled, and made a kissy face at Jess as they played. "She ran downstairs out of the house and into the forest. I tracked her down. She was hiding in the bushes. She tried to run but I chopped off her head."

"So you found that Meghan girl sitting on a bench at the park kissing that Jeff guy?"

Amanda smiled while she bounced the toddler. "Yep. Took care of that too."

Lauren smirked and fist bumped Amanda. "That's my girl! I'll call some people to take care of the mess."

...

Later that night, at home, Amanda finished up brushing her teeth and looked at her reflection in the mirror. She transformed into Lowen mode, inspected her face, and teeth. She looked at her reflection floating in the emptiness of her jet black eyes. She noticed something on the side of her face in the mirror. I must have missed a spot. She washed the blood off her ear and twisted around to look at her figure in the yellow smiley-face fuzzy pajamas. She smiled and headed to bed.

Her mother came in, talked with her about school, and how things were going with Cheering. "Are you sure you're ready to cheer again this soon? That was a pretty hard fall. I'm amazed nothing was broken. I can't believe Coach didn't do anything about it. I don't think I want you cheering, if they are going to drop you like that. Are Charlotte and Meghan still harassing you?"

"It'll be fine. They stopped bothering me. I'm OK. Mom, can you tell me another Grimm story, that Grandma told you?"

Sandra smiled and petted Amanda's hair. She didn't understand why her daughter wanted to hear stuff like this. "Mandy, you know these stories are just dusty old fables and legends meant to scare kids into behaving. We both know Lauren. She's a Grimm like you. She doesn't seem like the axe murderer type. I doubt Grimms actually bother with chopping off people's heads anymore, they probably never did."

"I know, Mom."

Sandra saw her daughter waiting anxiously for the story and rolled her eyes. "Ok honey. There once was a handsome young Lowen boy. He was very proud of being Lowen..."

Amanda smiled while snuggling into her pink heart pillow. Her heavy eyes closed and she let out a sleepy yawn.