Hey y'all! So graduating has put me in the best mood I've been in for years! So, Weekly updates for you all! YAY!

I'm also taking situational requests, any sort of situation you want to see Jim and Claire in. This chapter was SO MUCH FUN to write, but also very tricky so please let me know what you think.

My senior prank was this. I put 500 business cards all over the school that say... Class of 2019; good luck getting rid of us!

Next chapter is in the works, shout out to AngelicVollyball for the ideas, they're a great help in my writing!

I don't own Trollhunters, Enjoy!

Chapter 12: Never piss off Jim or Claire; and Hot is a more appropriate word.

Claire's P.O.V.

I felt a little bad for leaving Jim at the school all by himself, but knowing that he's just going to sleep helps me feel a bit better. I can't help but worry about him, if he's not going to be able to sleep at night…

Ugh, he'll be fine Claire.

I push the thought out of my mind.

Amanda, Maggie and I walked to her house and finished our AP English papers, and we're now in Maggie's bedroom. Just sitting and talking about normal stuff. It's nice, and I hadn't realized how much I'd missed it.

"So you're saying that the whole time you guys were in detention, the teacher was in the bathroom because he stole your friends burrito?!" Amanda fell over laughing.

"Yeah, and we were running all over the school, doing anything and everything we wanted." I laugh. "And Jim almost got caught, and I don't know how, but at the last second. He showed up behind the door sharpening his pencil."

I do know how, I sent him a portal while no one was looking.

"OMG, Claire, your brother is so cute! You have got to set me up with him. He's so strong and confident." Maggie says wistfully. "And his eyes, their so intense."

I roll my eyes, "Jim is cute. He is really strong and confidant." Claire agreed, "And his eyes are one of my favorite things about him. But I feel hot is a more appropriate word." I say with a far away look.

"Ew, you can't say that about your brother!" Amanda yells.

"Guys, he is not my brother." I laugh, holding my hands in front of me.

Maggie facepalms, Amanda is dumbfounded.

"He's your boyfriend, isn't he?" Maggie sighs.

"Yes, but it's a bit more serious then that." I can't exactly tell them he's my mate.

Maggie looks up at me eyes wide, "I am so sorry for hitting on him! I'm so sorry, I didn't know!"

"I can't believe you, Maggie." Amanda says sarcastically. "How dare you."

"Maggie, you're fine. You didn't know, I just didn't feel like explaining it while all those people were around." I say.

"Wait, you moved here together?" Amanda says.

"Oh my gosh, you guys moved here together." Maggie repeats.

"And no one has even seen a new adult." Amanda points out.

"Oooh, you two didn't elope did you?" Maggie asks, leaning back.

"Oh, hell no! We're 16!" I shriek.

"But you did move here together?" Amanda says, leaning closer.

I sigh, "Yes."

"Alone?" Maggie dares.

"Yes, alone, together." I provide, Amanda tries to talk a devilish grin passes her lips, but I stop her. "And no, none of that."

"Girl." Maggie nods approvingly. "So, you going to tell us why you moved out here?" She asks cautiously.

I shake my head, "Nope, it's still not entirely my story to tell. I will tell you this though. Jim had to leave, and I didn't want to be without him. So I went with him."

"Awwe… You two are so cute." Amanda says.

"Just so you know, none of this leaves this room, right?" I clarify making a harsh face.

They both nod.

"Ok, so this might be a weird question, but how strong is Jim?" Maggie asks.

"Ok, how do you expect me to answer that? Like, people keep asking that, but how am I supposed to answer that?" I spit.

"Like, how much does the heaviest thing he could lift weigh?" Amanda giggles.

I shake my head, "Jim is stronger than anyone you've ever met. I'll say that and no more." I smile with pride.

"See, I tried to get a gauge of his strength with a handshake, but it still felt like he was holding back, and I've almost broken someone's hand with my handshake." Maggie says a bit too happily.

I'm shocked a bit than Amanda says, "Don't mind her, she's just really violent. And paranoid." She smiles at her friend.

I glance at Maggie who shrugs and nods, "She's not wrong." she laughs.

"She also likes sharp pointy things." Amanda rolls her eyes.

"Traditional weaponry is not all sharp pointy things."

After giving her an off glance she sighs, and stands. "I'm a bit of a weapons master, and a martial artist."

"A what?" I breath.

Maggie waves her hand to follow, I stand and follow her over to a bookcase against the wall. She smiles at me and raises an eyebrow than pushes against the bookcase and behind it, an frameless doorway leads to a hidden room. I stalk forward and Maggie ushers me in.

A huge room with high ceilings, spot lights shine on the walls lined with all sorts of weaponry, hung on peg board. Swords, nunchucks, staffs, and a ton of other things I've never seen. A few things that look similar to Jim's thigh blades… What are those called? Several punching bags in the corner and a rack of weights.

"Holy guacamole!" I breath out. "And you know how to use all of these?" I spin around, the low lighting reflecting on the light wood floors.

Maggie nods, "well most of them."

"It's ridiculous isn't it?" Amanda says, leaning in the frame.

I shake my head, "No, now I'm wishing Maggie found out and not Justin." I slip, and cover my mouth.

"Found out what?" Maggie asks.

"Um, I'll -probably- tell you later. Again, not my secret to tell, but wow. This is amazing. And totally not ridiculous." I shoot a smile in Amanda's direction. She rolls her eyes.

"You really like it?" Maggie asks.

"Pht, yeah! This is so cool," I pause, "And just what Jim needs." I say to myself.

"What?" Maggie says.

"Oh, Jim's been in a bit of a funk lately. He's been missing the… training ground that we had back in Arcadia. And he would love this."

"O M gosh, you're all weirdos." Amanda smiles and walks back to Maggie's room.

"Don't mind her, she avoids anything that isn't in the 'social norm'," Maggie rolls her eyes. A chime rings. "Oh, that's probably Jim." She smiles and leaves the room, I follow her to the front door.

She swings it open and I can feel my heart speed up slightly at the sight of Jim. He stands awkwardly in the doorway, glancing almost frantically between me and Maggie. Waiting for the invitation to enter.

"Hey Jim, come on in." She smiles and opens the door a bit wider.

Jim rushes past and lifts me by my waist and spins me around, setting me down he wraps his arms around me in a tight hug, and buries his nose in my hair. I hear him take a deep breath, probably taking in my scent. Then, hesitantly, he kisses my cheek. The way his nose crinkled tells me that that was not exactly what he wanted to do.

"Awe, you two are so cute." Amanda coos from the hallway.

He ignores her, "Hi Claire, I missed you."

"It's been like five hours Jim." I giggle, then whisper for his heightened senses. "And you were asleep for those hours."

"I know, but I still missed you." He goes to nuzzle my face, but stops himself. I hear a small whine in his throat.

"Hey Jim," Maggie says. "I'm so sorry for flirting with you earlier, I didn't know that Claire's your girlfriend."

"It's fine. It's not like you would have gotten far. I'm kinda partial to my ma… OOF"

I elbow Jim in the side, "He's kinda partial to me." I cover.

Maggie stares at the two of us, Jim's rubbing his side. I'm trying to look innocent, and take his hand in mine.

"Alright, the secretive couple from across the country… weird." Amanda chimes and wonders into the kitchen.

I roll my eyes, "Hey Maggie, could you show Jim the cool weaponry room you have?"

Jim's hand twitches in my grasp, he can't help a gigantic smile grow on his face. "Weaponry room?" he says.

"Yeah, but I call it 'The Hazard Room'. Follow me." She guides us back through her room into The Hazard Room. Jim gasps before the lights are even on, then she flips the switch.

Jim's jaw is slack, eyes wide. His head's basically spinning, he glances back between the weapons on the wall, and Maggie, and the weapons, and me. His grin couldn't be wider unless he was a troll.

"Can I?" He asks, walking toward a section of the wall with swords.

"Sure, I don't know how to use those yet though. I can't find anyone to teach me swordplay." Maggie shrugged.

Jim picks up a long sword that broadens as it goes to the top and a curve toward the tip, it only had one sharp edge.

"That's a falchion, I got it from a little blacksmiths shop in Europe. It's like a… modern day machete." Maggie explains.

Jim says nothing, he takes it off the hooks on the pegboard. He holds out his index finger, and finds the blade's center of balance. In one swift movement he throws the blade into the air off his finger, spins around and catches it by the leather wrapped hilt. He maneuvers it around himself skillfully, testing its weight.

"It's nice," Jim says, "It's got good balance, nice grip. A bit on the small side from what I'm used to though." With a flick of his wrist the blade spins and he stops it again. He can't wipe the grin off his face. "Man Maggie, I wish you knew swordplay. I've been dying to spar. Claire won't spar with me even without weapons."

"Wait, you know how to use that?" She asks, stepping closer to Jim. In response, he tosses the blade into the air it flips and he catches it once again by the hilt.

"I may not know specifically how to use this particular type of sword, but yeah."

"Do you think you could teach me?" Maggie asks, eyes pleading.

Jim rubs the back of his neck, "I don't know, we just got here and…

"Please!" Maggie pledes.

"Hmm, how about this. In a few months, maybe when you've gotten to know me better, then I'll teach you."

Maggie sighs, "Fine, but I'm holding you to that." she points a menacing finger at him.

I laugh at the exchange, "Jim, how about we do two on one?" I say, I pull two staffs off the wall, and toss one to Maggie. I spin my chosen staff to get a feel for it.

"Com'on babe, you know that's not a fair fight." he grins.

"Claire, don't you think we should only do one on one? Ganging up on him doesn't seem fair." Maggie suggests.

"Pht… Maggie, he means it's not fair for us. And trust me, there is no way we're going to beat him. Even if he's only human." I say the last bit as a reminder for Jim.

He replaces the sword to its place on the wall, walks to the center of the room and moves to a more trollish position. His shoulders are hunched and his center of gravity lower to the ground.

"You two ready?" He asks. His troll voice slipping a bit.

"Are you sure?" Maggie says again. "You don't even have a weapon."

"I'm sure, now hit me with your best shot… but avoid head shots." he adds, not wanting the glamour mask getting knocked off.

"Alright, one…" I say. "Two… three!"

Maggie and I run at Jim at the same time, he blocks our advances with the staffs and ducks beneath the two sticks. Maggie uses her momentum from the first blow to spin around and tried to drive the staff into Jim's side. He blocks it with his forearm and shoves her away. I try and sweep his feet, he jumps the attempt and lands with a foot on my staff.

I pull it back as hard as I can, enough for Jim to stumble a bit. Maggie regains her bearings and makes another advance, she starts with what looks like would be a jab, but spins at the last second and swings the butte of the staff into Jim's thigh, it doesn't do much. He grabs the staff and twists from her grip. I come at him with a pathetic attempt to hit his arm. He easily blocks it with his arm and using Maggie's staff, trips me. He catches my staff and knocks her off balance and holds each staff to our chests.

Jim laughs, his face is positively giddy. He moves both staffs to one hand and helps me up.

"Jim, what the crap! Two on one? Against me, and someone else? I don't believe it. That was sick." Maggie rants.

Jim humms thoughtfully, and places the staffs back on the wall. "Thanks Maggie, I've really been itching to do some fighting. The last thing I fought actually wanted to kill me."

"Oh, the uh… Stalkling?" She says.

"How fast does word spread in this town?" I ask.

"Really fast, and faster in the high school."

"I bet it does, but yeah it was the Stalkling. Which by way, really did look like a Jersey devil." Jim smiles. Walking around the room admiring the weaponry.

"Yeah, when it wasn't trying to kill us." I sigh.

After a moment of silence, "Ok," Maggie starts. "So, I've gotta know. Justin told me that you guys are like, some paranormal experts. That you guys have done all sorts of cool stuff like hunting monsters. Is that really true?"

Jim and I glance at her then each other. "Well first of all, Justin wasn't supposed to know anything." Jim spits, an echo of a growl in his voice.

"Second, he was poking his nose in places it shouldn't have been." I sigh.

"Third, if I ever get around to teaching you sword fighting, then we'll tell you." Jim says.

Maggie sighs, "alright. You're entitled to your secrets. But when you teach me sword fighting, I'll be excited to know. Maybe even be apart of 'your team'." She smiles, heading for the door.

"I'm gonna kill him." Jim growls.

"I'll help you." I add.

Jim's P.O.V.

After Maggie apologized for keeping so late, Claire and I headed back for New Trollmarket.

"I was really hoping for people here to be as oblivious and ignorant as the people back home where." I shake my head and sigh.

"Yeah, that's not the case." Claire says, "And I'm fairly sure that Maggie's only more into you now after you beat her." She giggles.

"It's not my fault, I've done nothing remotely attractive in front of her." I run my hand through my hair, walking down main. Claire's hand held in mine.

"True, but you're attractive just the way you are. Even more so as a troll. And she seems quite a bit different from everyone else in this town. Amanda said that she's violent and paranoid. Which fits, and sounds like you. It's also some cause for worry."

"She's a bit too aware, curious." I nod. "So what are we going to do about Justin?"

"Ugh, killing him would be a bad idea. Even if we really want to." She slouches. "We didn't tell him what he could say or couldn't say, so some of it's on us."

"Yes, but I was hoping he wouldn't say anything!" I snarl, "And now there is way too much information floating around." I drag my hand down my face.

"Too much for comfort that is. Just make sure you don't do anything rash next time you see him." She squeezes my hand.

"I'll do my best," I say.

We reach the warehouse and I basically tear off the mask and shove it in my bag.

Once we make it back to our cave I pause and think for a minute.

"What is it Jim?" Claire asks, picking out some pajamas.

I pull off my shirt and toss it in my pile, "I was just thinking. Who do we want in our… house?"

"What kind of a question is that?"

"I mean, the only people who can actually come here, are those who know I'm a troll. So who, are we going to let in our house?"

"Oh, well. Right now the best we can do is just go about our days as normal teens. In a few months, we might tell a few people. But you know as well as I do, the more people that know a secret, the harder it is to keep." She wanders into the bathroom to change.

I raise my voice for her to hear. "I know, but Maggie, she's going to want to know where we live. And so are a lot of other people. I want you to be able to have friends that can come over." I wait in the living room for her.

From the bathroom she calls, "I want that too, and I feel like Maggie would be the ideal person to tell. But it's just not a good idea right now." She comes out of the bathroom and tosses her cloths in her pile. "We're going to need some dressers." she huffs.

I tilt my head at her, leggings, and a tank top. She gives a long tired yawn. I check the time, just past one.

"Alright Claire, time for you to go to bed." I say, walking into the dark bedroom.

"But what about you? You said you can't sleep at night." her eyelids are heavy.

"I can't. Not normally, but you aren't half troll, and you can't draw energy from the heartstone like I can. So it's bed time for you sleepyhead." I smile as I drop the curtain door, making it almost completely black.

I guide her to the blankets, and sit down. She rests her head against my bare chest and I lay down, holding her close. I purr softly and nuzzle her head with my nose.

"Thanks Jim." she whispers. And attempts to brush her cheek on my chest from her position.

"Sleep well princes." I say into her hair. And she quickly drifts to sleep.

The next day starts just as the one before, nothing out of the ordinary. I saw Justin in English second period, he avoided me like the plague. Smart kid. Also Claire's right, Mrs. Bennet sucks.

Now I'm sitting on my perch eating some chicken, watching the bustle of students with their trashy school food. The school seems to have a lot of stereotype students. And a few unique individuals too. After I finish and clean up, I slide down the beam and walk to join Claire, Amanda, Maggie and Kyle.

"Guys, what am I going to get her?" Kyle says, running his fingers through his normally neat brown hair. Panic written on his face.

"Calm down Kyle, it's just her birthday. Not the end of the world." Maggie says, patting his shoulder.

"You've got to be kidding me Maggs, the boyfriend gift is the most important gift." Amanda huffs. Kyle proceeds to drop his head on the table with a loud thud.

I sit down next to Claire, who is rolling her eyes. "Hey, babe. How was your lunch?"

"Mmm, nice and juicy." I say, holding a pleasured growl.

"That's good, but you might want to eat a mint. The smell lingers." She gives a side glance to the others. I roll my eyes and comply, the mint burns on my taste buds like menthol.

"So, what's going on?" I say.

Kyle says something incoherent with his face smashed against the table. Maggie rolls her eyes and says, "Alex's birthday is in a few weeks and he doesn't know what to get her."

"Ohh, alright. Maybe I can help." I say.

Kyle's head shoots up off the table, with large red spot all over from the pressure, "Please." his eyes beg.

"Oh, and our help is invalid?" Amanda shreeks.

"Oh chill out, Jim's got some of the best gifts." Claire smiles, under the table she takes my hand.

"So, what does she like to do? That's the most important thing." I start.

"She loves to play guitar. It's part of the reason Mr. Werber is her favorite teacher." Kyle says.

"Alright, so make sure it's something guitar related. But the best advice I can give you is to get her something that she misses." I say pointedly.

"Something that she misses?" He echos.

I nod my head.

"What do you mean by that Jim?" Amanda asks.

"Something that she once had, or something that reminds her of something she loves. Like, for instance, say she had a favorite guitar but it got destroyed. Get her a replica of it. Or a poster of her favorite album. Something sentimental, but functional." I explain.

"Jim, this wouldn't happen to be how you picked my birthday present would it?" Claire grins.

"You won't get a peep out of me." I smile than pretend to zip my lips and throw away the key.

"That's perfect," Kyle says. "I've got it… now I just got to figure out how to get it." He has a thoughtful look on his face and stands. He bolts up and grabs his pack, "I've got to go. See you all later!" He runs out of the lunch room.

"Well that just happened." Maggie says after a moment of silence.

I chuckle, "So what do you guys have next? Claire and I have P.E."

They both slouch and moan loudly, "We have P.E. too, and it's coach Stone." Amanda sighs.

"He starts the first day of school with recording how much we can do of each thing. Pushups, situps, crunches, pullups, timed runnings, and ugh… the rope." Maggie lists off.

"You guys have a rope too?" Claire asks.

"And it's the worst," Amanda sighs.

"Maggie, I thought you liked working out. Shouldn't this be like, your favorite class?" Claire raises an eyebrow.

"Normally yes, but after the incident last year. Stone and I don't exactly see eye to eye." Maggie shivers, and sighs. "Now he's extra hard on me." She pokes her half eaten salad with her fork.

"What incident?" Claire asks cautiously.

Maggie looks up and points her fork at Claire, "You've got your secrets, I've got mine."

"Fair enough," I grin. The bell cries and we follow Amanda and Maggie to the gym and seperate into the locker rooms. I find an empty stall and take off the glamor mask, then immediately replace it so it looks like I'm wearing my gym clothes, having practiced in weeks previous.

So far I've been able to avoid going in the light that comes through the windows, just sticking to the shadows and most of the classrooms don't have windows. But the gym, large open windows sending light in from all angles. I walk out of the locker room and stop in the doorway, natural light filling the gym.

A few boys brush past me chatting about how they're going to crush the prilianaty fitness exam. I spot Claire, Maggie, and Amanda across the gym, bathed in the rays of the sun.

Slowly I step forward, I place my hand in the light. I immediately pull away, but didn't feel any pain. I reach forward again and leave my arm in the rays. Nothing, I smile and cautiously step the rest of the way in. I scan my body and dash across the gym to meet Claire.

I come to an abrupt halt in the midst of the group, "Claire! Look at this, I'm in the sun!" I say, a grin spread across my face.

"Yes, you are." She giggles.

I kinda just bask in the warm light kissing my skin and sigh.

"Just remember, the rest of us are in the sun too." She whispers.

I tense for a moment, "Oh, right."

"Hey Jim," Maggie smiles at me.

"Hey Maggie," I wave.

"So, Jim." Kyle says, "What did you get Claire for her birthday?"

Claire's talking with the other girls and doesn't hear us. I snort and say, "Something magical."

"What does tha…" Kyle gets cut off.

"Alright! It's time for you flabby twigs to build some muscle and show me what you got! Line up!" Coach stone yelled, he was a tall square shouldered man, tan skinned with a high and tight haircut. He wore a single compression sleeve on his right arm that hid a sleeve of tattoos, underneath a blue polo.

We all shuffle into line and wait as he numbers us off.

One two three four. One two three four. One. I glance at Claire, she doesn't look at me but whispers "Three." I internally growl. "Jim, it's fine. You've gotta get used to not being with me all the time." She says from four people down.

Even if I know she's right, I don't like it.

"Alright, one's running. Two's and three's hit the mats, and the pull up bars and grab a stopwatch. Fours… you guys get the ropes." He grinned evilly. Everyone moaned and was about to head off in the assigned directions when he spoke again, "Newbies, step forward."

Claire and I take a few steps forward, I stand at attention. This guy commands respect, so I'm going to give it to him.

"I don't want you two slacking, just because you're new here doesn't mean I'm going to give you a break. What do you have to say to that miss?" He stands in front of Claire.

"I'll give you 120% sir." She smiles.

Coach Stone doesn't change his stern facial expression, "Good," he walks over to me, "and, you. Mr. Skinny legs, what do you have to say."

I snarl mentally and stare him down, "First, don't insult me." I bite, making the whole class gasp. "I'll respect you if you do the same for me, you just lost that respect by calling me skinny legs. I expect you won't do that again." He tries to talk but I keep going. "As for not slacking, well, I don't think even you could keep up with me." I give him a challenging smile.

The class held their breath, then Coach Stone began laughing like a mad man.

"Thank you for making yourself clear, I would have taken you for a wimp. Good of you to stand up for yourself, I respect that." His smile disappears, "But you just earned yourself hell."

He tries to intimidate me by glaring into my soul, I glare right back, more intense. A small smirk on my lips.

"Good, It'll be just like home." I say.

He lost his gaze and just stared at me for a moment, and laughed again. "I like you kid. Alright everyone to your stations, Bellator!" Maggie stands straight. "Double laps for you."

I could practically hear her eyes roll along with the audible sigh, "Yes coach!"

I take off running around the gym, painfully slow. I make sure to keep an eye on Claire. Maggie runs up next to me, "Hey."

"Hey, what was that about? Double laps for you?"

She nods, "I told you, he's extra hard on me. And I can't believe he didn't just eat you alive."

"You heard what I told Mr. Werber, my culture is brutal. The only way to get respect is to demand it through force. I can not, will not, and do not get intimidated." I state. Again, biting back a growl.

"Harsh."

I smile, "But you know, I love it."

"Well, that's good… I guess." She has a small frown, "Well, if I want to get these laps done in 15 minutes I better get going." She says and speeds up.

I roll my eyes and catch up to her easily.

"What are you doing?" She asks, panting slightly.

"I'm running double laps with you." I say.

"But you don't have to do that."

"I know, but running as slow as everyone else is ridiculous. Think you can keep up with me?" I smirk, raising an eyebrow.

"Pht… Duh." She smiles and speeds up.

I match her sprinting pace and push it a bit farther. We lap people multiple times. Every once in a while I get a girl who smiles all sweet at me or flips their hair saying, "Hi Jim." in a high girly voice… ugh, this has got to change.

After we do the twenty laps, double the ten everyone else was assigned, we still had five minutes left. We come to a slow and the other kids are still running, Maggie sits down on the floor and pants. Covered in sweat. I just stand there, breathing normally.

"Jim…" She huffs, "How… are you… not dying! I was running at a dead sprint the whole time to keep up with you. And you're not even sweating!"

"I run a lot, mostly from things faster than me and are trying to kill me." I shrug.

"You sound so chill" She glares at me.

"Yup, having things trying to kill me is normal. Anyways I'm going to do a few more laps."

Her eyes grow wider than humanly possible and presses her lips as if to say 'why in hell would you do that.'

I take off around the edge of the gym once again, I may look human but running isn't strenusos on my body like, at all. I only wish I didn't have to wear this stupid mask. Run on my hands and feet a bit.

After several more laps at speeds I shouldn't have been going, Coach Stone calls everyone to switch stations, going to the numerical next.

After Maggie had caught her breath we walked over to the Mats. Justin was there about to walk away, he had a stopwatch so I had an excuse. "Justin." I yell. I can see him shrink.

Slowly he turns around, "Heeyyy… Jim…" He grimaces.

"Why do you look so tense? It's almost like you told the secrets of someone else when, you weren't supposed to." I say so nicely it's scary.

Maggie stares and leans away from me.

"Look, sorry about that Jim, but I'm kinda popular now." he smiled shyly.

My face falls, "Look, just because you know something does not mean you should share."

"I'm sorry." He shrinks more, "I won't say anything else."

"Good." I snarl, Maggie hears it and looks at me quizzically, but doesn't say anything. "Now, may I please have the stop watch."

He hands it to me and runs away with his proverbial tail between his legs.

I turn to Maggie, "So, we're supposed to have partners to count our sit ups and such in one minute then write them down?"

She nods, still wary. "Yeah, did you want me to be your partner?"

"That would be awesome, and don't worry about Justin. He promised he wouldn't say anything then he went and spilled all sorts of information." I roll my neck and sigh.

"Well, he's freshman age. They're all idiots." She smiles, "Let's get started."

We sit down on the mat and I clicked the timer button, "Go." She started with sit ups.

She finished and I wrote down her score. Then I did the sit ups. Maggie stared at me like I was nuts everytime she told me to stop and wrote down my number.

We repeated this with pushups, and crunches.

We went to the next station and we did pull ups, chin ups.

"Man. Jim! How are you able to do that many and keep going?"

I shrug, the only way I'd be able to answer that is cryptically, and that's always anoying when Strickler doses it.

We walk over to the two ropes hanging from the high ceiling. I stare up at them for a minute, "I'll go last, just to make sure everyone else has time."

Maggie gives me a raised eyebrow, "How very considerate of you." she says sarcastically. "I'll just wait with you than."

I roll my eyes and crouch down, "Fine by me."

I focus on my shoes, and without taking off the mask, make them disappear.

One by one I watch the students struggle to climb the rope, most can't make it a few feet off the ground, some made it halfway. Only one from our group made it to the top.

Soon it was both mine and Maggie's turns.

We step up to the ropes as coach Stone walks up, "This will be a race. Just for the two of you," He grins. I shrug and Maggie slumps.

She looks at me and I say, "Don't expect me to go easy on you like I did last night." I laugh.

"Wait, what?!"

"On your marks," Coach starts.

"I was going easy on you and Claire in the Hazard room."

She shakes her head, "No… no way." disbelieving it.

"Get set."

"Yes way, prepare to lose Mags." I grin, a growl of anticipation set quietly in my throat.

"Go!"

She jumps and grabs the rope, wrapping it around her feet like a pro, I jump twice as high and start climbing with just my hands, I used my trollish feet to cling to the rope as I scale it in seconds.

From below, "holy fuu...uhdge." Coach yells but catches himself, he is around students after all.

I laugh from the rafters and glance at Maggie, too focused to know I've already won. I slide down at speeds that would give a human rope burn, I slow next to her. Holding onto the rope casually with one hand, "Hey maggie."

She looks over at me, "You might want to hurry if you want to win." She gives a shaky laugh.

I tilt my head at her, "I already won."

"What?"

"Yeah, climbing a rope is way easier then climbing over a gaping chasm with fire being blasted at you." I smile.

"You can't be serious…"

I give her a devilish grin.

She glares at me, "I hate you." and keeps climbing.

I watch her pass me and climb just below her, then my ears flick underneath the mask. I look around for the cause and spot Claire… being pushed against a wall… by another guy…

I direct my ears to hear what's happening, and I don't like it.

"Look, Drake was it? I'm flattered that you think I'm a 'smoking hot chick', but I already have a boyfriend." She said firmly.

He had her against the wall with a hand above her shoulder, his other hand trying to brush hair away from her face. Claire slapped his hand away.

"Hey girl, that boy is all the way back in Cali. Don't you think a relationship with a guy here would be better?" He tried.

Her brows furrowed and her eyes blazed, "Are you dense? I said no." She tried to walk away but he put his other arm against the wall, stopping her.

I don't even try to hold back the furious growl that rings through the rafters, I slide down and swing on the rope until I have enough momentum to jump. Launching myself through the air, I land with a loud smack on the mats. Claire hears and looks over to me with a sigh of relief. I would smile back, but all I see is red. I march over to Drake and shove him to the ground.

"You stay away from her." I say through clenched teeth. The crowd quickly starts to gather and I have to swallow my growl.

Drake gets up and dusts himself off, "Awe look, big brother to the rescue." He mocks before throwing a poor punch. I side step and shove him back to the floor.

I pull Claire defensively behind me, "I'm her boyfriend actually." I spit. A wave of whispers goes through the students, and the girls all sound disappointed.

Glancing around I notice that Coach Stone had left.

He gets up again, "Well she needs better taste in guys," he says.

"Or maybe you just need to back off."

He runs at me and I step out of the way again, he stumbles from the empty momentum.

"Drake, you should really just stop. You don't know what he can do…" Justin squeeks.

"Back off, nerd! Your loud mouth is probably why your precious daddy left." He yells. Justin falls back into the crowd, his eyes glazed over.

My heart pounds harder in my chest as my anger rises.

"Drake, shut up. That's uncalled for!" Amanda says.

"Yeah, who gives you the right to be an ass?" Maggie stepped forward.

"Well of course the thrift shop diva would pipe up. And Maggie, when was the last time you saw your parents?"

Amanda looked like she'd been shot, and Maggie's confidence took a blow and she lowered her head, uncharacteristically.

From behind me I can hear Claire's as mad as me but whispers, "kill him." She mutters.

I gently direct her aside, "Oh I get it." I say with a deathly smile, "You're the guy that everybody hates because you're a jackass."

Drake glares at me, and swings another punch. I trip him as I step to the side.

"See the thing is," I say as he gets up. "You have no right to be that way toward anybody."

"What do you know?" He says.

"Oh, I know plenty. Like for instance, Justin is right, you don't know what I'm capable of. But me, oh I know exactly what I'm capable of, and you won't even know what hit you if I were to fight back for one second. I also know that you think you have an excuse for the way you act, that It's justified, but it's not. No amount of trouble at home or in the past, gives you the right to treat people that way." I sid step another advance.

"If you ask me, you're just afraid to fight someone bigger than yourself." He spits.

I pause and give a dark laugh that sent chills down the spines of everyone in the room, "While being scared is a good rule, I could kill you easier than a goblin."

Though in this form Drake was taller, I dwarfed him in power.

He looked at me with a taunting 'bring it on motion', "Come get me."

I bite back a snarl.

"Or are you worried you'll embarrass yourself and your girlfriend will see that I'm the better choice."

"You leave her out of this… In fact, stay away from her entirely." I stomp my foot.

"Awe did I make you mad, coward? Don't like me talking about your precious little wench?"

Claire's face blazed, and she marched forward.

I hold out my arm and stop her by the waist, "You can have him after I'm done." I growl.

At this point the entire class is watching intently and confused at the strange sounds the new kid was making.

I stomp forward and continue growling, "You can insult me and everyone else in the world, but there is no way in hell I'm going to let you talk about my mate like that." I snarl and rush him.

I ram my head into him, where my horns normally are, he skids back with shock on his face. He runs back at me and I flip him over my shoulder and spin around than shove my fist into his ribs feel a subtle crack, he doubles over and I kick -with minimal force- the back of the knee. I knee him in the back sending him to the mat.

In seconds he's on the ground moaning in pain, "Stay away from Claire," I glare.

He holds his ribs as he slowly gets up, his head lowered in submission. Claire marches past me and performs a perfect side kick right in the rule number three.

He holds himself as he collapses on the floor, silent tears run down his face. "Jim might stand for your name calling, but I won't let you do that to him." Claire snaps.

The whole class is stunned, Kyle stares at us in horror, Maggie is grinning ear to ear, and Amanda and Justin still look hurt, but amazed. The rest of the class has probably got it in their heads to never piss off Claire or I.

Just then Coach Stone walks in, "Hold up, what's going on in here?" He shouts, he walks up to me and silently asks for an explanation.

"I was earning respect." I say simply.

He raises an eyebrow and looks me up and down, "You," He points at me. "Fought him," he moves his finger again, "And won?"

I scan myself and then Drake, who is probably almost six feet tall, his arms stretch the hems of his sleeves, he has broad shoulders and a strong jawline with high and tight hair. I can see how this me would look horribly under qualified to fight, let alone beat this kid.

I stand straighter, "Yes sir." I grin.

He walks over to him and nudges Drake with his foot, "you ok son?"

A high pitched moan escapes his mouth, he barely moves. Still holding his gronk nucks.

Stone looks at me, "You didn't do that to another guy did you?" he looks ashamed.

"That was me sir," Claire steps forward. "he was being a bully. He disrespected Jim, my friends and me, all at once. After Jim beat him, I took my shot at him." she said straight faced but an evil grin remained in her eyes.

I try to stroke one of my horns but find only hair, "Yeah, you might want to send him to the nurses office. I definitely broke ribs." I can't but help a proud smirk.

He tries to look angry, but ultimately fails. "Everyone but Drake line up and give me your score cards. I'm going to read the best and the worst." He grins.

I take Claire's hand, and turn in my paper, we stand next to Maggie, Kyle, and Justin. My ears twitching against my scruff.

"Holy cheese, that was bruse!" Justin says, "I can't believe you actually beat him up."

"Dude, where did you learn to fight like that?" Kyle exclaims.

I scoff at the comments, then Claire says, "Maggie, you ok?"

Maggie's head was still hung, her normally bright piercing eyes, dull. She looks up with unshed tears brimming her eyes, "yeah, totally fine." She puts on her happy smile and looks at me with her regular determination "So Jim, what's a goblin?"

I smirk at her, "Their little green or white creatures, spindly arms and legs. Hit them with just about anything and they explode into green goo."

They're faces all get grossed out.

"And it's even nastier when it gets in your mouth." I say. Thinking about it for a second, it might actually taste good now as a troll.

"Jim, as much as I hate the taste of goblin, these guys don't deserve the imagery." She laughs.

"Ugh… that sounds nasty!" Kyle says.

Claire whispers to me, "But it's nowhere near as bad as Changeling dust."

"That's true." I laugh, getting strange looks from the others.

We wait for a bit longer and Coach finally begins reading off the scores.

"Alright, the lowest… Liam."

Sit ups - 3

Push ups - 5

Crunches - 10

Pull ups/Chin ups -0/0

"Sophie…"

Sit ups - 17

Push ups - 7

Crunches - 19

Pull ups/Chin ups - 0/ ½

"Half doesn't count." He says, "Daunelle…" he looks at the score sheet "Dawn, did you even try?"

I look over to the kid he's looking at, a tall dark skinned boy with platinum dyed hair. The boy smiles and shrugs, "I didn't feel like it today coach."

"I know you can do better, I've seen you do better. So I'll expect it next time."

The boy smiles again, "Yes sir." he says casually.

"Now for the high scores, Claire."

Sit ups - 35

Push ups - 30

Crunches - 60

Pull ups/Chin ups - 15/9

"Bellator." He glares at her and she rolls her eyes.

Sit ups - 45

Push ups - 35

Crunches - 60

Pull ups/Chin ups - 20/13

"And Jim… Holy Crap!" He mutters.

Sit ups - 83

Push ups - 105

Crunches - 123

Pull ups/Chin ups - 40/42

Coach Stone stares at me, "You're not on any steroids are you?"

I smile, sigh, and shake my head. "No, sir." I can't wipe this grin off my face. Does a magical potion that turns you into a half troll count as steroids? Not by his book.

"Then how…" The bell rings. He stares at me through the crowd of students. I squeeze Claire's hand as she leaves and my ears start twitching again. I shrug at his gaze and stand there, I have weights with him next.

After the students pass I walk forward and ask, "So do you think you could show me where the weight room is?"

He laughs and directs me out of the gym and to the cafeteria, on the other side of the lunch room there was a state of the art weight room, glass walls and brand new equipment.

We enter as the first ones there, "So you're not on steroids?" he asks.

"Nope, just superhuman." I provide.

He gives a deep belly laugh. "So what did you to get that way at the age of 16?"

"Have you not heard the rumors?" I raise an eyebrow.

"No, I try to stay out of the teacher gossip." He admits.

I'm a bit shocked but smile, "I respect that." he nods at me, "Well, the word around the school spread by none other than loudmouth Justin, is that Claire and I are monster hunters." I laugh, he follows along.

"So is that true?"

I shake my head, "In a sort, I mean I've spent almost the whole last year dealing with paranormal and hunting… creatures."

"Really?"

"Yeah, but when you do that kind of stuff you have to train a lot. And though I don't look it, I can lift more than…" I pause. I'm being way to lose with my secrets, I need to do better. "Well, lets just say it's a lot."

"Well, don't expect me to go easy on you." He says.

"And don't expect me to not do twice as much as you give me."

He looks at me like I'm insane then walks away. The other students shuffle in and as Drake walks past I do a fake lunge at him and he jumps and squeals like a little girl.

I know, it was evil, but it feels so good.

Hope you all liked it. Please review and leave any ideas you may have. there is a very high chance that I'll use it.