Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age.


AN: Sorry for the wait…wanted to try and make sure that I had a clear plot and idea to where this was going before writing more. Going to apologise in advance if anyone sees this story as poorly written, and for the names, but thanks for reading, and thanks to those who reviewed!


Despite the past week being a supposedly introductory week to allow the new students - from both Valley and Half-Peak - to get to know the school and the system better, it had been hectic. Life rivalries had been formed between the Half-Peak and Valley students, and no amount of speeches or teacher intervention had been enough to get them to back down.

To be fair, most of it was on the end of Half-Peak; many of the Valley students hardly paid them any attention, torn between cowering under the glares and focusing desperately on the sets of new creative syllabi that had been sprung upon them.

Introductory week, my foot, Manny scowls as he shoves yet another booklet into his straining bag. Ellie hums happily beside him, her bag having given up and leaving her hugging her books to her chest.

"We have biology next, right?" Sid pops up beside him.

Manny scowls at him, but Ellie merely nods in affirmation, giving Manny a stern nudge. He raises his hands innocently. They make it just in time, quickly settling around a group table.

Crash and Eddie come hurtling in just as the bell rings, practically vibrating in their seats. Manny knows that despite what people thought of the twins' collective intelligence, they were actually smarter than they seemed, and the energy that seems to burst off them must've come from their chemistry lesson.

Sure enough, he can see that the bottom of Crash's shirt is singed, and the tips of Eddie's hair seems a tad too…orange to be safe.

Their biology teacher comes swirling in on a lilac-scented cloud, and gives the groups a scrutinising glance. With the teachers' rule of integration between the two schools, Half-Peak students had been reluctantly mixed in the groups sitting around these tables; the threat otherwise was for the assigned seating, and everyone sure as anything did not want to risk the teacher's absent-minded switching of seats.

This whole system was thus why there were four empty seats at Manny's table.

Only one Half-Peak student was there, and he seemed more interested in whatever he was scribbling in his notebook than the other students sitting there.

As their biology teacher's gaze lands upon their group, four more people show up, almost as if on cue.

Their leader shoots the teacher a condescending smile. "We got lost."

The teacher merely waves them to their seat, then turns to open her folder on the table, pulling out some worksheets.

Many scowls as they sat down one-by-one. They weren't very nice people, truth be told, but they were part of the winning football team at Half-Peak, and apparently that was justification enough for keeping them enrolled.

The captain, Soto Williams, leers at them with a dark smile - the stereotypical jock if not for the cunning that allowed him to manipulate people to his will. Zeke Jones - widely known to be crazy - is practically vibrating with energy next to him, comically similar to the twins.

Oscar Brandon, the sly one, who was not afraid of using blackmail, threats, or a combination of both to get his way. Next to him, huddled as if trying to make himself seem smaller was Lenny Brown, renowned goalie for Half-Peak's football team - surprisingly shy but deadly obedient to anything Soto said.

And then there was Diego White, the one who had been sitting quietly at their table; sharp, quick, and light on his feet - Soto's second-in-command (and the only reason Manny knows this is because Oscar has no qualms about complaining about this loudly and frequently). Manny is a little surprised - he'd have thought that Diego stuck next to Soto like glue, but apparently their separation was possible.

Apparently, Soto and Diego had known each other the longest. Ellie had informed him in excited whispers during the first few days, that there was a rumour spreading that Diego had been homeschooled until freshman year, then had started attending Half-Peak in sophomore year. There hadn't exactly been any basis for this rumour considering the rarity of Half-Peak and Valley students actually colluding on rumours, but that was what Ellie had heard.

The only reason Manny even paid these rumours any attention was for one simple reason: Manny hated Diego. Instinctively, primally, without any basis for this hatred.

When Diego glanced at him during classes, Manny could feel his pen straining under his grip and had to resist the urge to snap at him, much less strangle him or tackle him. He often resisted the urge, but it was getting harder when Diego seemed to pay him so much more attention as the week went on.

Manny pulled out his book as the biology teacher wrote out several pages on the board.

"Aw, such obedient herbivores," Oscar sneers.

Sid frowns, tilting his head to the side. "Vegetables are good for you. Especially broccoli, which provides…" he ignores the fact the others had started to tune him out the moment he started, elaborating on the finer points of vegetables.

Soto seems equally unimpressed, arching an eyebrow at Manny, as if questioning what he was doing, being friends with Sid.

Manny would agree, but Ellie would kill him. Probably less painfully than Soto, thankfully, with how hard she was glaring at him. Say what you want about Ellie's peace loving nature, but she was deathly protective of her friends and family to a terrifying fault, and no scary Half-Peak student was going to stop her.

"How are you even friends with him?" Oscar rolls his eyes, abruptly cutting Sid short. "Did you get stuck with this freak like-"

"Oscar." Diego cuts in sharply. Oscar frowns, clearly taken aback; he glances at Soto for backup, only to find his captain glaring at him disdainfully as well. Oscar immediately ducks his head, confused about what was happening, then turns his glare onto Diego.

Diego merely scoffs and turns back to his textbook.

Manny can't help but notice the notebook he was using had disappeared.

Needless to say, with Lenny and Zeke looking nervous at the tension between their own team members, it was a very quiet lesson.


"God, what is this, a musical?" Soto mutters under his breath as he stares at the sheer number of instruments lying neatly in their respective shelves. Zeke trips over a wire and would have gone face-down on a guitar stand if not for Diego's quick reflexes, a hand shooting out as he glances out the window.

Ms Mitford smiles welcomingly at the students straggling into her class.

"Good afternoon, everyone!"

The Valley students echo back the greeting, some equally enthusiastically, and some more subdued, but the Half-Peak students remain stubbornly silent.

Ms Mitford picks up a violin, as she was oft prone to do at the start of class. "Is everyone ready for today's starter?"

Some half-hearted nods, some concentrated looks…mainly many disinterested looks.

Ms Mitford's fingers were light and quick as the unfamiliar song floated in the air around them, wrapping them in her magic as she swayed on the spot. Manny frowns, the song sounding desperately familiar. He had heard it over the summer, and remembered there was some strange backstory behind its conception.

Nonetheless, he couldn't put a finger on it. Ellie was looking equally puzzled next to him, frowning as she mouthed several composers under her breath and shook her head to each one.

Ms Mitford's gaze traversed the room. Manny was still thinking about it when she points at someone huddled in the corner. Manny looks up and resists the immediate urge to groan. Blonde hair and narrowed green eyes, looking almost offended.

"Do you know the song?"

Diego shakes his head.

Ms Mitford persists; she clearly saw something that convinced her otherwise and arches an expectant eyebrow.

Diego shakes his head again.

Ms Mitford's gaze is steady, and as more people notice the uncomfortable silence between teacher and student, Diego lets out a frustrated breath. "The Devil's Trill."

"And who composed it?"

Diego frowns. "Tartini." At her expectant look, he gives her a sharp humourless smile. "Gieuseppe Tartini."

Manny mentally face palms. Of course. How could he forget? The composer who claimed the devil played him this very song, which he tried to imitate as much as humanly possible. Crash and Eddie had attempted some adapted duet version of it over the summer. Damn.

He glances over at the twins, who were also scowling. They were clearly thinking the same thing.

So concentrated on the twins he was that Manny barely registered the fact that Diego was still speaking until he caught the tail end of his answer. "-composed the music."

Ms Mitford smiled and finally deemed it ready to move on, drifting back to the centre of the small semicircle that had formed around her. "We will be learning about Tartini and his music for our first class project!"

Manny doesn't register the rest of her explanation as they all take a seat. His gaze is focused on Diego, who is muttering something sharp in reply to Oscar's sneer.

Just where did he learn that?