Of Boys & Trouble

~O|*|O~

Emily glanced up, both sheepishly and nervously at the person in front of her as she bit her lip. Her face picked up a slightly red hue and she looked away for a moment, before finally letting her gaze settle on the tall male in front of her. This one human, not that she'd seen him around before. "S-sorry... I didn't mean to..." she apologised with a light stutter creeping into her voice. She cursed herself and her clumsiness, but not out loud for the fear of humiliating herself further. Instead, she managed a small, sheepish smile and took a step back. So did the male.

"No, I should apologise, never looked where I was going," the raven-haired boy (?) in front of her explained, appearing to be as embarrassed and anxious as she was. He mumbled something about being clumsy, before smiling sheepishly.

The girl couldn't help but wonder where he'd appeared from, but she didn't want to press.

"I suppose I might have been too preoccupied with looking around the school to actually look in front of me," he added, and where he noticed it or not, one of his hand rubbed against the other wrist. Emily quirked an eyebrow. Hadn't he seen this school plenty a time already? "New school, new country... never thought of focusing on the people around me so much as space..."

Well, that certainly explained the odd inflexion in his voice. British, she would say, but it wasn't as recognisable as Scottish or Irish. English then or maybe small-town Scots, but even so. It also explained why she hadn't seen him around. Though it was odd that he'd come along at this time of year. Made her wonder what year he was in. He certainly looked tall for a junior high student... so he must have come late into his studies. That could be an issue. As well as his close. Looked ridiculous, how smart they were. At least they would look, to the likes of Darren.

It struck her then that she hadn't responded to any of his words. So she nodded. "Must b-be quite d-difficult to get used t-to this," she forced out of herself. 'You don't say, Sherlock.'

"A little. Educations a little different, curriculums and tests are done differently..."

"I-I meant life here, in general. New people. Different accents."

"Right... that too."

The awkward conversation continued until finally, the male decided to leave it be. He explained that he would have science next and headed in a different direction. Complete opposite to where the science corridor was. Emily shook her head, stifling a giggle. Then he turned around, hesitantly, looking a bit flustered. "Would you know where the science rooms are, by any chance?"

The female nodded and gestured for him to follow her, going in the opposite direction of the corridor he'd taken, leading him up a set of stairs and taking him to where the science classrooms were, lined up, with posters of molecules, cells and space hanging from the walls. She tried to start a conversation, a simple one, but he responded only curtly, asking very few other questions on his own. She wondered as he stayed so quiet, so hesitant if perhaps he just wasn't used to talking to people at all. Or relying on their help.

As they finally reached the door of his classroom, he finally looked at her and smiled, thanking politely for her assistance... as he put it. She wondered though, why, if the teacher still wasn't inside the room and wouldn't be for at least the next ten minutes or so, why he bothered waiting around. Perhaps he was one of those diligent, hard-working A-students. Or maybe he just wanted to escape from the crowds of students standing around the corridors down below. She never asked about that either. Instead, she left him with a "see you around" and a quick wave of the hand, before turning around and going back into the library. There was no strange happening after that.

Only thoughts.

Would he be in any of her classes?

Did she care?

Should she care?

Still, she knew that she would definitely be seeing him around; she could feel it. The thought was both pleasant and strangely unnerving. It was also one that made her forget all about what she had gone to the library for. She had never even learned his name.

Darren glanced over at Emily, both glad and surprised that she was back. What on Earth was that? He quirked an eyebrow, confused about the situation. She had left, for reasons she forgot to share with him, just moments ago. Now she was back, seemingly calm and relaxed. Thinking back, he found that actually, it wasn't the first time that she was acting this oddly. But he wasn't here to judge her, or to laugh at her. No, there were other, more important things, questions to ask. His gaze followed her as she skimmed past books, walking past the shelves, occasionally tidying up some out of habit. She'd always been strange in that way. He'd stuck around, partly out of his own volition. And because of something that happened some time ago. Summer break.

Deciding not to say anything, he looked back down at his own textbook, reluctantly.

Not very long afterwards though, he found himself being joined by another group of teenagers, from his year. He almost regretted ever sitting at their table. Still, you couldn't exactly refuse them, reject them or push them away.

"Hey, Darry Boy, how's life?" one of them asked, grinning as he sat on the chair next to his. Blond, moderately tall, grey eyes.

"What's your girlfriend doing anyways?" another, a brunette male with long hair and a growing beard inquired, sitting in the chair in front of Darren. And then there were two gorillas...

Darren huffed. "What is it now?"

"Nothing, nothing..." the blond said with an air of nonchalance, but that quickly changed as he narrowed his eyes at Darren. A few teeth poked through his usually charming smile. "I just want to know how you're getting on with Emily."

Darren rolled his eyes. He should have seen that question coming. Standing up from his seat, he closed the textbook, shoving it into his bag, before turning away from them. He began walking to the door but didn't get far without the blond catching on, still grinning. "You know that you only have until summer, don't you, Foster?"

"That's plenty of time Conner and right now, I have better things to do than listen to your jabbering," Darren cut the blond boy off, before opening the library door and walking out.

"Jack!" a voice boomed from inside of the workshop. A tall, round-faced man with a white beard and bright, blue eyes came up to him with an eager, jolly stride. A cossack dressed in reds, blacks and golds, who was responsible for spreading wonder across the world. Nicholas St. North himself.

"Ey! North. I thought I might find you here. How you doing?" Jack greeted with an equally merry grin.

The spirit of Christmas could tell something was going on - something good - from the light that shone in the younger spirits ice-blue eyes. "Good, no Pitch, lots of ideas..." North responded, gesturing to the floating objects in the room, painted with bright colours and made up of all sort of little parts. Then North looked towards Jack. "And you? I assume it is good news from how you are grinning!"

Jack nodded. "Very. She's good- I mean, I've got good news alright," Jack stumbled through his words, smiling sheepishly.

The older man laughed. "Who is this she you are talking of?"

Jack rubbed the back of his neck subconsciously. "Emily..." he responded, his eyes shining as he said her name. "She believes... in me."

North froze, his eyes widening. "But that is... Emily is almost adult. She is... she is too old to believe in us," he muttered, not quite believing. Jack shook his head, leading North away to the control room where the globe stood, lights twinkling. Lights which represented believers. North squinted, looking closely at the globe. His mouth was gaping open when he realised that there really was a small light glowing on the spot that Emily lived on. But there was something a little different about the teenage light. "This... this is not possible."

"Come on! Of course, it is! You can see it for yourself, North."

"It is not supposed to be that way."

"But Jamie still believes!" Jack protested. "And he's an adult."

"Jamie is one of the exceptions. There cannot be a million exceptions, or there is no such thing as exception."

Emily's belief could be a very special, a very empowering thing. It could also be a very, very good thing. Or, it could be quite the opposite. And that was what North was afraid of. If a dark spirit were to try and ensure that she would hold her belief for them, especially only them... MiM help them then. Such a belief, at such an age held conviction, held strength. If it were to last, and adult belief could last for far longer than childhood belief, naturally, it could prove dangerous. Most children stop believing by the age of ten and start around the age of five or six. That only gave it four to five years to strengthen. But the older you were, the move faithfully you believed. Which meant it could last for many more years, even decades. Jamie, Caleb, Pippa, Cupcake and Monty all still believed. So far, with them only believing in the Guardians as they lost all memory of Pitch the had provided them with enough power to keep Pitch at bay, perhaps forever. Along with their own efforts, this had proved not only good news but also useful. But there were other ways, ways that few talked about and fewer made use of. It was risky and unpredictable. If a dark spirit found this girl, they wouldn't hesitate. They could turn her into a weapon. Use her own energy to strengthen the magical energy from her belief to then enhance their power. She was guarded by no one, believed in no specific spirit. At least the kids the Guardians had known so long were guarded, almost constantly to prevent this.

"What you allowed to happen... to encourage that belief... that was a bad idea," North exclaimed, watching the globe carefully. "You put her in peril. We do not have unlimited resources... we cannot watch over every individual kid no matter what you believe. As a general population, a race, yes. But individually, we cannot watch out for the 24/7."

"Yes, but, Emily is almost an adult! She can look after herself, I know she can!"

"But she doesn't know how to defend herself against a spirit, Jack. She knows nothing of the dangers..."

"Then I'll protect her!" Jack exclaimed resolutely, as the base of his staff thumped against the floor. He'd had enough of the scolding and berating. He knew what he was doing. He could protect Emily. He turned around, slowly walking off.

"And what if Pitch finds her?"

Jack ignored that, despite hearing North's voice echo in his head for long afterwards. He kept moving forward.

"What if he already has?"