3 weeks into the new school year and the day began like any other. Students began filling classrooms with the 5 minute bell sounding off Jake, Trixie and Spud sat at the back of the classroom where Jake could try to catch up on his sleep. His vision was slowly fading when another body slid in beside him.
"hey there stranger"
Jake sat straight up almost instantly to see Rose and who cold have been her clone beside him. "Rose! You're here" he whispered. Rose quickly kissed him if only to turn down his volume.
"vocal control there Dragon, i'm happy to see you to, but first Jake, guys this is my twin sister Violet"
Violet nodded at Jake summing him up. He was cute, the green hair was unique but she could see what drew her sisters attention. She was going to have a field day with teasing them.
Jake began scanning over his time table then glanced at Rose's and Trixie's "anybody have ancient Civ's After lunch?"
"nah i got biology" Trixie said.
"I got AP physics dude, took your advice and i'm gonna try using my noggin a bit more this year" Spoud added.
"Sam and i do Jake and Gym right after" Rose said
"sweet get to see you back in action" Jake smirked. He saw her cheeks turn red despite Rose trying to hide it.
Violet however grew a wicked smile and decided to get her second point "oh wow Rosey are you blushing? We're is all that smack talk from home, you know the talk about the couch and my bed and the..."
Rose quickly covered her sisters mouth silently praying that Jake didn't catch everything she said.
"uhm Rose?" Jake asked
"oh it's nothing Violet is just trying to be funny" Rose replied "Violet remember the rules the house is the battle ground, therefore point for me"
Class dragged on for the morning period during Ms. Braddacks lecture that 5 students including Jake fell asleep. His head rolled from the desk onto Rose's shoulder, who quickly readjusted so his head was on her lap. "don't drool on my jeans Dragon" she chuckled under her breath at the same time stroked his green hair.
"rough night i take it?" she whispered to Trixie,
"he's had better nights, but fair to say it was rough, boy got jumped by some biker trolls took a bit out of him" Trixie whispered back keeping her voice low enough so Violet couldn't hear them.
"Biker Trolls by himself? I remember his grandpa helping him out, at least he did when when the Huntsclan was around"
"not as much these days Rose Gramps has been staying on the sidelines unless it's a major emergency but hey, this is Jakey we talk'n about here ain't nothing he can't handle" Trixie replied.
Rose looked down at Jake he looked so peaceful that she didn't want to wake him. After she left he carried on, he had all kinds of trouble and new experiences that she wouldn't know about.
Jake shuddered when her finger clipped his left ear which brought a small smile to Rose's lips "oops. Sorry Jake" she giggled but resumed still playing with his hair until the bell rang. To Rose's disappointment, she was enjoying herself but prodded Jake into waking up.
"huh? Wha? What's going on?" he groaned.
"you passed out on my sisters lap" Violet bluntly told him "so were you tired or just finding an excuse?" she snickered,
"Violet!" Rose hissed
Still dazed Jake was left looking from Rose to her sister in confusion and then to Trixie for an answer. But both Trixie and Spud were off to their next class as other students filed in ready for Ancient Civilizations.
Ancient Greece was the subject of todays class and how they shaped the modern world. Another long boring class, or so was the thought.
"Greek Mythology is the foundation of most inspired tales such as The Labors of Hercules, Jason and the Argonauts, Perceus and Medusa. All myths of heroes over coming great adversary and battling monsters. So for this class and your assignments tonight i want all of you to pick a hero and write a minimal 1500 word essay on how that hero influenced Greek Culture by friday"
"crap." Jake whined "1500 words by Friday!"
"not a big fan of paper work Jake?" Violet asked,
"not in the least"
Violet looked at her sister and got an amusing idea "we'll help you out Jake come to our place tonight mom can order a pizza and we can all work together"
"yeah, that would be great!" Jake replied.
"Violet what are you playing at?" Rose skeptically asked
"just giving Jake a chance to meet everyone, again"
Rose gave her sister a dirty look signaling she was going to catch hell but on the other hand it would be good for Jake to have a proper meeting with her parents.
"Mr. Long answer the riddle please. Mr. Long?"
Rose turned around to see Jake had vanished from his spot. "damn, he's good did you see him sneak out? If he's able disappear from a crowded class without getting caught he could rob a Bank or...sneak through a bedroom window... I'll be locking our bedroom window from now on" Violet whispered.
Rose looked down at Jake's notes and saw he left her a note text from Fu rengade Gargoyle, might need some help if you can get away, Empire state.
Rose quickly grabbed the hall pass and ran to her locker for her staff and clothes then for the front door, she was back, but not as a slayer.
By the time Rose arrived Jake and the gargoyle were flying around the roof tops trying to knock each other out of the air. Jake blew a stream of fire hitting the Gargoyle square between the wings knocking it to the roof tops. "ok stoney lets get you back to the Cathedrale" Jake huffed. Only for the Gargoyle to turn around and kick him in the shins before racing off straight towards the edge of the roof. Rose blasted the roof escape door off its hinges colliding with the Gargoyle in mid flight knocking it out.
"nice job Rose"
"thanks? Not sure what i did besides blow a door of its hinges though" she replied as she threw the net over the Gargoyle then turned back Jake "truth be told Jake i might be out of practice a bit, would you be open to some sparring later?"
"sparring? Rose you'd kill me and you know it, you held your own against the Dark Dragon remember?"
"yeah and nearly got lost to another dimension" she reminded him.
"fair point, alright then could be fun besides i'm sure Gramps would agree my fighting abilities are a little slack yeah we can do that then. I"ll take this runaway home then we can head back to school pretty sure we missed Gym class but i think this counts"
Rose climbed onto Jake's back as he lifted the Gargoyle into the air and flew towards the Cathederal. They stayed high enough so no one could make out what Jake was until the reached the Cathederal "hey Louise caught your boy just bringing him back" Jake shouted to the Gargoyle wearing a hard hat.
"thanks American Dragon"
Jake looked at his watch seeing that it was 5:15, there was going to be a phone call home for sure. His mom was going to kill him for sure not too mention Rose was with him, her parents would be getting a call to. Once again without meaning it Jake created problem for someone he cared about.
They landed in alley behind Rose's house where Rose tried to make herself look like a student instead of an urban ninja and realized she still had the hall pass "oh, crap" she muttered.
She led Jake to the door and started fidling with her keys, rushing inside to the answering machine to delete the schools message. "phew, well we're okay here mom and dad won't know i missed my classes today. Violet will probably try to use it as black mail"
Rose trailed off when she saw her moms car pull up with her sister in the front seat. Now the trouble was about to start, her mom walked in as Violet jumped onto the couch "told you mom Jake was walking her home and here they are safe and sound and fully dressed" Violet grinned.
"why is your mind in the gutter so much recently? Seriously any time your sister and Jake get are brought up you go for the dirty jokes?" their mother asked.
"rules of the game mom Rose started it with that crack she made back in Hong Kong remember" Violet replied.
"Violet, we have company. Whatever game you two are playing don't speak like that in front of guests is that understood?"
"haha yes mom, but in fairness this particular guest is the cause of the game so no reason in hiding it from him, also can we have pizza for dinner? We've got some home work and Rose and i offered to help Jake"
"hello again Jake, I'm Madison Price welcome to our new home" Madison smiled shaking Jakes hand "sorry for the uh... Mix up, as Rose put it last time we met pepperoni okay with everyone?"
Jake simply nodded unsure of what to say in his current situation.
"i wonder if Kenos is still open?" Violet added,
"uhm Kenos shut down a couple months ago after getting trashed" Jake piped up earning him an usual glare from Rose "ok yes i wreaked it, a bunch of gremlins were being sold on the black market there Fu and i went in and the Gremlins got loose and Kenos got broke" he whispererd.
Rose rolled her eyes then sat with Jake on the couch with her feet on his lap figuring it was only fair since he used hers as a pillow earlier and started with their reports. They spent the better part of an hour working luckily thanks to Rose and Violet research and proper wording came the much easier. They finished before the Pizza arrived giving them some time for a quick tour of the house which ended at the twins shared bedroom.
"violet and i usually end up sharing anyways everything from hair brushes to shirts so sharing a room isn't a big inconvenience" Rose explained. As she threw one of Violets shoes to her side of the room.
"you know at first it was hard to tell you apart aside from your eyes and birthmark but after hearing your sisters personality it's a little easier"
"Jake, you're the first guy to actually identify the differences between us everyone else mixes us up on a regular basis"
"Violet only looks like you Rose, i know you. I love you so picking you out of a field of Roses wouldn't be an issue" Jake said with a grin confident in his answer.
But when Rose stared at him with watery eyes he felt taken aback "Jake, you just said you love me, never once have you ever told me that" she said.
And she was right. Jake racked his brain trying to think back if he had, but Rose was right he never said those words to her before. "you're right Rose but its true i do"
Rose cupped Jakes face and pulled him in for a kiss but pulled too hard and knocked them both onto the bed.
Chang stood where the temple would reappear with her vile in hand "show me the Dark Dragon" she commanded before breaking the vile to reveal a vortex showing the Dark Dragon destroying the ancient temple. "master i have returned for you" Chang called out drawing his attention.
"Chang, my loyal servant so glad to see you return for your master" he cackled as he flew for the portal into leaving the lost dimension behind.
"master, i've recovered your tail and am currently experimenting on extracting your dark essence, we can use it to corrupt your apprentice Master" she finished with a humble bow.
"excellent Chang however the American Dragon has proven resistant before should he refuse me any more kill him, Lao Shi's grand daughter will also prove effective in breaking the old man"