A/N

This chapter was done almost five hours ago, but I wasn't able to add the A/N and reformat everything. Also, proofreading was rushed, so if you spot anything, let me know and I'll go back and fix it. I'm using the FF mobile app to upload this, so let's see how that goes as well.

Don't use he FF mobile app yet, unless I did something wrong. It wouldn't let me upload it through the app for some reason. Also, sorry for the weird font size.

Chapter 9

Eragom

Eragon awoke to a loud THUD THUD THUD! on his door, then a beautiful voice say "we have forty-five before we have to leave for school. You better get ready." He saw 7:00 am on his phone, then unlocked it to find Add Alarm? across his phone screen. Smooth, he thought to himself. As he reached the door, another THUD! came from the door as he opened it. Arya's eyes widened for a fraction of a second, then returned to normal. What? he thought to himself. Arya silently walked away, leaving a confused Eragon standing there. When he entered the bathroom, he set his clothes down on the counter, then realized why she reacted the way she did. He threw his shirt off just before going to sleep and never put one back on. He then began getting ready, taking a shower, the putting on a pair of jeans, t-shirt, and a light jacket. He finished his morning necessities before considering shaving. He looked for a razor, but couldn't find one. Well, I guess that decision is made for me.

He walked down the stairs to see Arya eating cereal, leaning over the kitchen island. He made his bowl, then set his down beside her's. Their shoulder were touching and Arya just looked at him for a second before returning her attention to the news. "So, the Urgals have been increasing activity recently?" Eragon asked Arya, joining halfway through the broadcast.

"Yeah, they are the only gang to be increasing in activity. The other gangs are falling in activity."

"Wow," was all he said, not sure what else to say. Not being a morning person, Eragon finished his breakfast quietly, then the two of them grabbed their bags and they drove to school.

As they approached the front doors, Arya began speaking. "You need to go to the principal's office. Principal Ajihad will be expecting you today."

"Alright, do you know when I'll see you next?" Eragon asked anxiously.

"Lunch is a high possibility, but I'll send you a picture of my schedule so you can find me if you need to."

As Arya finished, Eragon hesitated. He wasn't sure if he should do what he thought about doing, but decided to do it anyways. He pecked her on the lips, then walked to the front office before she could have any reaction. Eragon noticed a couple of students watching him, curious. He ignored them and walked to the secretary, thought double doors, then to a secretary behind a desk. "Ma'am," Eragon respectively spoke, "my name is Eragon Miles and I was told to go to Principal Ajihad."

The secretary looked at him, before speaking. "Ah, yes. He is just through that hallway," she said, gesturing to a small hallway with a number of offices. Eragon thanked her, then turned into the hallway, seeing him speaking with two twins, who looked like they were in their twenties.

Ajihad noticed Eragon approaching and spoke to the twins. "We'll continue this conversation later." The man then turned to Eragon and spoke, in a much kinder tone, saying "ah, you must be Eragon." The two shook hands awkwardly, still unable to use his right due to the cast. "I was told you are staying with Arya and her mother, so I tried to match your classes as much as possible." Eragon was relieved to hear this. "Core classes were easy, but I had to match your electives with the electives you took at your original high school. These will be during the first three classes, but the last four of your day will be with Arya."

"Thank you, sir."

"I'm sorry to cut this short, but I have a meeting in five minutes. The teachers are expecting you any minute now." Ajihad handed him a paper with his schedule, then Eragon turned to leave until Ajihad spoke again. "Oh, and Eragon?" He turned back. His tone turned somber. "I'm sorry for your losses. Your parents were good people." Eragon merely nodded before turning and leaving. So, where to? Eragon asked himself as he saw his first three classes were the same, basically. They were mechanics classes. Yes! This will be easy, he thought to himself.

After spending ten minutes navigating the hallways, five minutes after the bell, he found the classroom. He immediately noticed a familiar face as he walked in. "Saphira?" He asked, curious.

She looked up from her conversation with a couple of other students. "Oh, hey Eragon. Late on your first day of school, I see."

"Very funny." He replied as he walked to the teacher. Mr. Fredric. He said the name in his head before speaking. "Mr. Fredric, sorry I'm late. I'm Eragon Miles."

The man, who has a pungent odor, looked up from his paperwork, before smiling. "Welcome to Varden High. I'm the mechanics teacher here, as I'm sure you can tell. At the moment, we don't have any cars to work on, as the students just finished working on the last one. You can use this class as a study hall for the time being." Best. Teacher. Ever. He immediately thought.

Eragon thanked him, then sat beside Saphira.

"You're into cars?" Saphira asked as he sat down.

"Yeah, I used to have a 60's model Camaro that my dad and I built from the ground up. We put a 454 in it."

"That's what I'm talking about!" a new voice said. Eragon looked over to see Orik. This caused Eragon to think of the funeral, but he pushed the thoughts from his mind. This isn't the time, he thought.

A new voice spoke, "'used to,' what happened to it?"

Before Eragon could continue, Saphira introduced them. "Eragon, this is Fírnen." Fírnen had deep green eyes that reminded him of Arya's, but they weren't the same.

For the next three class periods, they spoke about various topics. He and Saphira spoke as if they had known each other since birth. Eragon often knew what Saphira was about to say, however, he didn't speak up about it to avoid being creepy. He noticed she wasn't afraid to speak her mind, and the only person who openly opposed her was Fírnen.

It was 11:20 am, just five minutes from class ending, releasing the students to lunch. Eragon asked Saphira "when does Arya have lunch?"

Saphira replied with "curious about her, are we?" Eragon smiled. She knows. "Yeah, she has first lunch with us," Saphira continued, in a more serious tone. Eragon began untangling his earbuds, knowing exactly where this conversation was headed and he wanted zero part of it. He wasn't fast enough, however. "So, you have a thing for Arya?"

He was successful avoiding similar questions the entire time, but he had no way to get out of this one. He decided to play it like a stereotypical high school student would, saying "yeah, she's pretty hot."

Saphira looked at him, seeing through his facade. "Well, Arya doesn't let guys who think she's 'pretty hot' make out with her in her car." She gestured all around him as she continued. "There's more going on here and I'm going to get to the bottom of it."

Eragon smirked as the bell rang. "Have fun with that" was all he said as he put his earbuds in and played music, trying to ignore her questions. Fírnen decided to save him by distracting Saphira during their walk to class. He didn't talk to Eragon much, and, as a result, Eragon didn't know him well.

When Eragon saw Arya, her eyes found his and everything else became insignificant. A lot of people looked at him, as the "new kid" walked through the lunch room, but all he saw was Arya.

He was around 10 feet away when a girl stepped in front of him. He reluctantly broke his eyes from hers to look at the girl. She was younger than he was, that much was obvious, but that was all he could tell. Her binder was wrapped in her arms in front of her chest, which only made her seem younger. She didn't speak up after several seconds, so he spoke up in a forced, kind tone. "Can I help you?"

She smiled, then spoke "yes, actually. I was wondering if you'd go on a date with me." The statement shocked him to his core as flicked his eyes to Arya, who was staring at him, then back to the girl. This was the first time he actually focused on her. She was the kind of girl your mom would call "cute," but try to discourage a relationship with. Her blue eyes were startling, almost off-putting, and her wry mouth was twisted into a smile. She looked like she was planning something.

"I'm sorry," he said, immediately coming up with an excuse, "but I'm not really in an emotional state to have a relationship right now."

"If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were looking for an excuse to skip out," she coolly replied with a smile.

She does not take a hint. "I just lost my parents less than a month ago," he didn't want to say it fully. She's just a teenager looking for a boyfriend, he told himself. She threw her arms around him in a hug and he could only stiffen while he stared at Arya, apologetically. "Hey, um, I'm gonna go get lunch. See you around." He walked towards Arya as Trianna waved just her fingers at him and he waved back.

"Got a new girlfriend?" Arya asked as he approached.

He couldn't tell if she was joking or being serious, so he played it nonchalantly. "Pssh, no. That'll never happen." The lunch line hadn't moved since he walked in and he commented that to Arya, trying to change the subject.

She responded with "yeah, there's around 300 students in this lunch. Plus, people like Saphira tend to cut line to talk to their friends."

"Speaking of Saphira, what's with her and Fírnen? They were gawking at each other the last three periods," Eragon asked. He stared into her eyes. I don't think I'll ever tire of her eyes, He distractedly thought to himself.

She was staring back into his eyes as she spoke. "I'm not really sure. He moved here at the beginning of the school year and I haven't talked to him much," was Arya's reply.

The two of them walked through the line, they talked about what to expect during the next classes. They grabbed food on their way through, finding the school offered pizza, which every school seemed to offer, and cheeseburgers, with a few sides.

Eragon paid for his lunch, then waited on Arya to pay. As he waited, he looked for a place to sit. Arya motioned for him to follow as she left the line, which he complied to. A moment later, he found himself sitting at a round table, where Orik and a couple of others were already sitting across the table. Saphira and Fírnen arrived at the table as Eragon and Arya did. Saphira and Fírnen took seats side-by-side just as Eragon and Arya did.

Eragon and Arya ate and spoke for over ten minutes, primarily about cars, when someone walked towards them from behind. "Yeah I-" Arya started, then grimaced slightly. "No" the word came out cold. Arya's eyes were still on Eragon, but the words weren't directed towards him.

Eragon glanced at the person who walked up from behind them. The guy was huge. The kind of huge that came from genetics as well as frequent gym visits. He gives Roran a run for his money, Eragon amusedly thought to himself. With an arrogant stance and an attempted charming smile, he spoke in a roughy voice. "Come on, Arya. Just one date." He didn't seem the type to beg, but he was getting very close now.

Arya focused solely on the guy. "Cameron, I'm not-" she stopped, refocused on Eragon, then looked back to 'Cameron' to continue. "If I were to get a boyfriend, it wouldn't be you." Eragon began to connect the dots. There's history, he's tried this before. Rough voice, perhaps frequent yelling as a quarterback? He's big for a quarterback, but anything is possible.

"Arya, all I want is-" Eragon had enough.

Eragon abruptly stood up, knowing Arya would probably be mad at him for defending her, and said, in an equally cold voice as Arya, "she obviously doesn't want to, so stop asking."

Cameron was fuming. His shoulders rose several inches with each breath he took and his nose expanded as he exhaled. Eragon could feel the eyes of over 300 students and staff on him. The only two eyes that mattered were Arya's, which he couldn't risk a glance toward. After several seconds, he spoke just loud enough for Eragon to hear. "You better watch yourself, boy," then walked off. He sat down, everyone still watching him, and began to quietly eat. After a couple of seconds, everyone's eyes left him except for Arya's.

"Thank you, but you didn't have to do that." He looked up to see Arya staring at him, an anomalous emotion in her eyes.

He stared at her for a few seconds, gathering the courage to say the next words more than anything. "Yeah, I did."

Arya

When he stood up for her, part of her hated it, but another part of her felt fuzziness. It was almost as if part of her enjoyed having him stand up for her. "Yeah, I did" rang in her head. Arya expected a lot of reactions from Eragon, but a direct confrontation to a star football player? That wasn't even a consideration.

He did have to stand up for me. That means- no. Why am I acting like a middle schooler about this? Arya thought to herself as she led Eragon to their next class. As they walked, Arya noticed people look at Eragon, but she didn't know if it was because he is new or they heard about the confrontation. Both? Probably. They didn't talk much as they made it to the classroom.

The teachers were already informed of Eragon's loss of his parents, so the next teacher, Mrs. Ryan, put Eragon beside Arya, probably to keep someone who knows him close. The teacher handed him a copy of Hamlet and he grimaced. Arya smiled and said "we're reading it in class. The roles have already been given out, so you just have to focus on staying awake, really."

Eragon was about to reply when the bell rang, and the teacher immediately began telling the students where to start. Instead of continuing, he pulled out a piece of paper and started writing. Is he taking notes? He handed her the paper. He's passing notes.

We read this in class last year.

Arya scribbled on it how cheesey, writing notes in class. She handed it back to him when the teacher wasn't looking.

Before Eragon wrote back, he hesitated. After a moment, he wrote on the paper again and handed it back to Arya. He was watching her this time. She read only when you consider the most gorgeous girl in school is writing me notes in class. Simultaneously, she blushed, smirked, and shook her head as she wrote her reply.

She wrote you don't look bad yourself, then handed it back to him. They continued this through the class, making jokes during certain parts of the play. The teacher caught Eragon writing once, but said he was writing page numbers and lines for important scenes. The teacher complimented his efforts, then concluded reading for the day as the class was about to end. Arya was smirking at Eragon as he put his book and "notes" up. He saw her expression, then laughed.

This continued as they went from class to class. After English, they went to AP Calculus, PE, and were about to enter chemistry. It was taught by a Mr. Steele. He was in his thirties with dark brown hair, and a skinny body. The classroom's door opened to an area filled with desks and chemistry-related decorations, then had a laboratory area beyond the desks. The laboratory area had numerous lab tables and equipment.

Once the late bell rang, Eragon and Arya focused on the teacher. Eragon didn't know, due to the conversation not being brought up, but she was expecting to begin a lab in this class. Mr. Steele began class. "To some of your disappointment," he began, "and others immense joy, the lab materials have been delayed due to a shipping problem. As a result, our plans have been delayed a day. I don't have any plans for class, so this will be a free day. These don't happen often, so utilize this efficiently." With that, he grabbed a paper off his desk and handed Eragon a syllabus, like every teacher before, and welcomed him to the class.

Arya sat quietly as Eragon put his new paper in his bag. They sat beside each other, like in every class before it. Arya watched as a familiar face walked towards them. The girl spoke first, startling Eragon as he dug through his bag, "hi, I'm Angela. I've heard a lot about you and, I must admit, it has made me quite curious about you." Angela was interesting. She was of short stature and had thick, curly brown hair. She seemed as if she were in her twenties.

"Umm," Eragon stuttered as he rose from his bag, "hello, I'm Eragon." He stuck out his left hand.

Arya watched as Angela cautiously shook his hand. "You know, in some cultures it is considered rude to shake with your left hand. The reason for this is because they don't always use toilet paper and use their left hand." she said, smiling.

Arya laughed as Eragon stumbled over his next reply. After several seconds, he managed to say "I can assure you that I use toilet paper. My right hand is in a cast, so I have been using my left."

Angela kept smiling throughout his reply, then calmly added "I just thought I'd meet you. I need to get back to a couple of tasks before an unpleasant explosion occurs." With that, she walked off, leaving Eragon staring at Arya with a very confused expression.

"That's Angela. She stays in this room most of the time, but helps Ajihad and some others with many tasks. She graduated a couple of years ago, but she works at a nearby university, performing experiments." Eragon's confused look didn't change, which caused Arya to laugh. "It's not that hard to grasp, Eragon."

He shook his head, as if clearing his head of his thoughts, then said "no, it's what she said to me. That was very...unusual."

Arya smirked as she remembered her first encounter with Angela. "She does seem weird at first, but you get used to her."

Due to Eragon's limitless questions, Arya ended up explaining that Angela was invaluable to Ajihad outside of school, which basically allows her to do as she pleases in the school as long as she doesn't disrupt class. After the conversation, the talking between the two died down and they sat there, quietly. Eragon kept sneaking glances at her. I'm going to ask him next time he does it, she told herself, but she didn't. The words wouldn't come when she tried to say them. Seconds before the bell rang, he did it again. Finally, the words came out, in a kind tone, as she led him towards the exit. "Why do you keep looking at me?"

"Huh? Oh, no reason." This caused Arya to give Eragon a look that said really? You're going to play it like that? Instead of replying, he stepped in front of her to the side door leading to the student parking lot. He walked into it backwards and began talking, keeping one hand on the door with his body extended past the door. "If you must know-" he was cut off as a fist came from around the blocked side of the door. Arya watched as Eragon dropped to his knees, narrowly avoiding the collision, then turned his attention to his attacker. By then, Arya had already rushed out of the door Eragon had let go of and she saw his attacker. Cameron. Arya was about to speak again, telling Eragon to leave him, but Cameron noticed Arya and immediately swung at Eragon again. Arya watched in shock as Eragon grabbed his fist, using his left hand, then expertly use his momentum against him, bringing Cameron's arm behind his back and lifting it towards his shoulder blade. He whispered something into the Cameron's ear, quiet enough that Arya couldn't hear, then Cameron's rage-twisted face turned red and Eragon let him go. He looked at Eragon as if he was everything Cameron hated, in one form.

Eragon turned around and walked away, headed towards her car. He was taking long, purposeful strides. Arya had to practically run to keep up with him. "Where'd you learn that?" she asked when she finally caught up. She wanted to keep the conversation on the topic of the fight.

As he approached the passenger side of the GT-R, he said "my dad insisted that I take fighting classes back when I was in middle school. He would never explain why, but it made sense after he explained what happened with the IRC."

Arya nodded. He said more about that topic than I expected, she thought to herself. As she pulled out of the parking lot, trying to beat the mass chaos that develops if you don't hurry, she asked "what did you tell him?" That was the question she really wanted to know. It would allow her to determine if Cameron would come at him again.

He didn't answer. Instead, he just looked out of the window. Arya decided to not push it, she could determine it later. So, she connected her phone to her radio with Bluetooth and played a song she knew Eragon enjoyed. After it played for a couple of seconds, she noticed he looked towards her, but didn't say anything. An idea came to Arya as she drove, then she turned. Eragon noticed the anomaly, but didn't say anything. He became more alert as she approached the destination.

They arrived on the outskirts of the city, in an abandoned parking garage that rose four stories. Arya drove to the top as she went through the best way to go about what she was about to do. She turned the car around, moving her hands nimbly, when they reached the end of it. She was about to straighten out when she slammed on the gas, sending the rear of the car out, then immediately turned the wheel back to the right to counter steer. It was expensive, but she was glad she paid for the RWD conversion. She feathered the gas, sending the RPMs up when she felt the car grip too much and letting them fall when the car swung out too much. As she approached each of the ninety degree turns that combined to make a U-turn, she would shift up, providing the car with more torque and, as a result, wheelspin. As she brought the car through a wide S shaped drift, working the car towards the next level, she glanced at Eragon. He had a look of pure joy on his face. It was a smile he only got when she was with him or, apparently, when racing and drifting.

She tore her eyes from him as she prepared for the next sharp turn. The car shifted up, then the tires squealed even more as the RPMs rose again. She repeated the maneuver through each floor until she got to the bottom, then stopped. Her heart was racing from the adrenaline that was running through her. That never gets old, she thought to herself as she decided to speak with Eragon. "So-"

Eragon spoke at the same time and Arya stopped immediately, not wanting him to stop. He met her eyes, then said "I told him 'you have one option right now and that is to walk away. You do not speak to Arya again unless she says it's okay.'" Arya didn't say anything. She didn't know what to say primarily because two sides were fighting. One part argued you can defend yourself. You've done it for over a year now. The other majority of her argued that's sweet of him. He isn't the average high school guy with only sex on his mind. When he could have yelled at him for taking a cheap shot, he defended me instead.

Eragon was about to speak again when Arya's body acted without thought. She leaned over the console, which was becoming a more and more frequent barrier in recent weeks, and kissed him, taking him completely by surprise. After the moment of surprise, he returned the kiss as passionately as she did, their lips moving in sync. Arya's hands went to the back of his neck as his hand and cast wrapped around her back, pulling her torso against his. Eragon slowly pulled back, leaving centimeters from their faces, just enough to look each other in the eye. He spoke. "Arya, I know the only thing lacking is the label, but, after what that guy said at lunch, I have to make it official. And I know the timing is awk-"

Arya cut him off. "Yes, now stop making it worse." Arya kissed him again. How long it lasted, neither of them know, but the clock in her car read 3:43 when Arya started driving again. They both had childish grins in their faces. How am I going to tell mother? Am I going to tell mother? She might kick him out or… she decided not to dwell on it yet. There will be a time for that later.

A/N

Asnari-I did a bit of Eragon and Saphira and I wanted to do more. In hind sight, I probably should have covered less time and more content. Next chapter will definitely have more of a focus on other characters. As far as guns go, I think I've decided on how to implement it, but keep it limited. Thanks for the review and the good luck on the exams. I got those out of the way, so more time to write!

Guest-First, I want to thank you for the review. I'm probably going to avoid magic as I'm not sure how I would go about implementing or explaining how it exists.

Friday's chapter will have a lot more content because I'm out of school Tuesday for the primary election.

I decided to focus less on Saphira and Fírnen this chapter to try to emphasize Eragon and Arya's focus(or lack there of) on their surroundings. This chapter had a lot of "should I do this?" and retyping of areas. If you guys want, because of my "I should have added more" mentality on this chapter, I am more than willing to go back and add more details in this chapter, but the next chapter might be a day late. I'll have three solid hours riding shotgun tomorrow, so updating this chapter before May 13 at midnight is easily possible. A new chapter in Sunday and Monday is also possible, it will just cause me to limit my World of Warships addiction. As always, I am open to suggestions on previous changes and/or future changes. Anyways, thank you for reading and please leave a review or send me a PM.