Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age.
AN: Hi again, and THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS! The story will move along a little faster now, and will start to get to the real thing in about…chapter 10? Not sure yet though… thanks for reading!
Chapter 4:
Ellie sighs as Manny once again glares at Diego. Not even she could get out of him why Manny seemed to despise him so much; any time anyone tries to mention it, they either get a glare in response, or a cold shoulder. And even though Ellie was exempt from this behaviour, she couldn't help but notice a certain iciness whenever she tried to bring up the subject.
To be fair, Diego takes it in stride for a few more days before he finally snaps in the third week, whirling around on Manny in biology the second they sit down.
(Ellie notices that the other four Half-Peak students are conveniently late.)
"What is your problem?"
"My what?" Manny snaps back, almost nonchalant.
Diego scowls. "Ever since the first day you've been glaring at me like I killed your pet. What the hell did I do?"
Manny frowns. "You're from Half-Peak."
"Really?" Diego asks, voice laden with sarcasm. "Gee, I couldn't tell. Why didn't I think of that?"
Manny scowls in response but doesn't offer an answer.
"That's not it," Diego continues regardless, eyes narrowed dangerously. "You're glaring at me. Not Soto, not Lenny, not anyone else. So what the hell is it?"
Manny looks down, almost uncertain. Ellie elbows him sharply. Manny sighs and mumbles something under his breath. Ellie doesn't get it, but Diego clearly does, because his expression turns incredulous.
"You don't know?" He mocks. "Well, figure it out. But leave me alone. Heck, I'll even say please."
"Don't twist yourself up for this," Manny scowls, but he turns away, back to his own work.
Ellie sighs.
Then again, Diego isn't exactly making this easy for himself either.
Over the next few days, the tension between the two schools ease surprisingly quickly. Of course, there are the blood rivalries that still seem to continue, but there is now a strategy of aversion rather than confrontation.
Ellie continuously wonders just where Diego learned about Tartini that he could pull out information about his life and music just like that. An attempt by Ellie to find out if this is a special case is proven unfruitful, as Diego had proven just as uneducated about other composers as those from Half-Peak.
Almost alarmingly so. His face had turned completely blank at the mention of Bach.
During PE, Diego had become somewhat more lenient with the Valley students, though his commentary remained as biting as ever; more and more were starting to understand the sarcasm that he hid so well under his carefully-constructed personality.
Soto also sent him strange looks, but Diego did not deign them important enough to acknowledge.
Manny, while the loathing did not go away entirely, managed to dull it out slightly. If not for himself and the constant adrenaline that spiked through him whenever he was in Diego's presence, then for the ease of his friends' minds, who looked like they were starting to get along with Diego.
Ellie sighs as she enters the music classroom. Everyone splits off into their assigned group, then starts to work as they pull out laptops. A few Valley students borrow musical instruments as they start the final part of their project.
Not only did they need to find a piece of Tartini's music and present it as best they could, but they had to perform one of Tartini's compositions, and then in turn create a composition based on one of Tartini's piece.
They hadn't gotten to the last part yet, but they were nearing there. With the extra time they received - Half-Peak had one extra music session while Valley had one extra PE session to learn the skills required to match the other's level - they were getting along pretty well. In fact, Ellie mused, it's almost as if Diego did his best work alone than with them.
Valley, naturally, had slaved away in PE lessons, while Half-Peak would come out of lessons grumbling about notes and confusing sheets of music.
Occasionally, Soto's pack would rile up Gutt's crew (and Ellie didn't necessarily miss the looks Diego and Shira sent each other - god, it was just like one of those cliched tropes that she unfortunately loved), but both managed to avoid getting caught by the teachers.
That is, until one week later.
It had been, rather surprisingly, a rather small matter, but one which had gotten the pack into detention. Ellie hadn't gotten all the details, and those involved were keeping mum about it.
Well. The Pack. And Shira.
Apparently, as Ellie was to find out later, Gutt had had something stolen, framed it on the pack, and Shira had accidentally been caught in the fray, meaning an automatic detention as well. Still, Ellie couldn't help but smile to herself as she saw complimentary heads of gold and silver head into the classroom sulkily.
This was going to be interesting.
"Well, well, well, what are you doing here, kitty?" Shira glares at Diego.
"You better shut up if you know what's good for you."
"Don't worry, I do," Diego assures her. "Though I'd say shutting up is the least of my worries right now."
Shira glares and threateningly cracks her knuckles. Diego smirks but leans back on the desk in front of her.
"Seriously though. I thought you were a part of Gutt's crew."
"I am!"
"Then what are you doing here?"
"Accident," Shira snaps out. She tries not to think about it too hard. If she did, she'd question herself and everything that she had fought for to get to this position in the school hierarchy. Losing this was out of the question, especially to the second-in-command to the crew's rival.
"You don't need to be so defensive," Diego rolls his eyes. "Though this doesn't really seem to be an accident."
"This is just a part of Gutt's plan. Gutt has my back."
"Really?" Diego asks, eyebrow arched.
"Yes," Shira growls back. She frowns, briefly wondering where the other members of the pack were. Was this some sort of joke? Some sort of trick they were going to use to humiliate her? Oh crap, was this an ambush of some sort? Have Diego distract her then attack her when her guard was done?
Her shoulders relax only slightly when she notices that the other members of the pack - save Soto - were distracting him. The captain was inclined on the back legs of a seat, for all intents and purposes taking a nap.
"Well," Diego drawls out slowly. "It's just that I don't see Gutt trying to defend you or getting you out of here."
Shira falls silent. Diego leans forward, planting his hands on her table. His expression is serious, green eyes sincere as she'd ever seen them. "You don't want to get involved with them if you can help it, kitty." He straightens up and turns to saunter away as she slumps in her seat. "Think about it."
