cammycrazygirl: How are you lost? I'd be glad to explain whatever you're not getting.
Third marking period rolled into fourth in a haze of lessons, and Sabrina's thirteenth birthday passed uneventfully. Bella and Veronica had both wanted to host a huge party, but Henry had vetoed it. She only got presents from her family as a result, but she didn't mind. Having her parents there to celebrate with her was present enough.
Baba Yaga had, after her talk with Daphne, gone to meet Mr. Clay, and he became a much more prominent figure in the house again. There was something in his eyes when he looked at Baba Yaga that suggested the two were more than friends, but there was no proof otherwise: he paid her no special attention, nor did she act particularly moony-eyed around him, though they did spend a lot of time together.
In English class, Sabrina, Bella, and Puck worked their way closer and closer to finishing the required work for the entire course. Puck and Bella shot forward in Science- and Puck in math- and everyone had finished U.S. History one and was either on World History or U.S. two. In gym they worked their way through larger groups by the week, and thus finals jumped upon them suddenly.
Taking the finals was easier than Sabrina had feared, and she was fairly confident she had passed all of the written exams, except for French, as she headed for her final test, Gym.
"All right, chickadees." The Beast grinned at them all. "You're going to be sparring against me. One on one. Your choice of weapons. You have fifteen minutes to either defeat me or simply stay alive. If you must surrender- or I 'kill' you- then you fail. Everyone leave the room except Bella."
Bella looked around nervously, and Sabrina shot her an encouraging look as she left.
One by one, the other students entered the gym and left again, fifteen minutes later, sweaty and exhausted. Finally, it was Sabrina's turn, and she took a deep breath before pushing open the door and walking into the gymnasium.
"Grimm." The Beast greeted her, not looking tired at all.
"Hello, sir." Sabrina said.
"Choose your weapon." The Beast told her, nodding to a table full of various sharp objects.
"Sir?" Sabrina asked, "Can I use my own sword? I have it with me."
"Your sister asked the same thing." The Beast sighed. "Go ahead, makes no difference to me."
"Thank you." Sabrina said, pulling her sword out of her belt and running her thumb over the hilt so that it morphed from wood to metal.
"Nice." The Beast said appreciatively, pulling out his own enormous broadsword. "You wield it better than she does. Guard."
Sabrina held her sword up in the proper position, waiting for the Beast to move.
He struck suddenly, and she parried. His strength surprised her, and she realized soon enough that blocking him wasn't going to work, because it wasted too much energy to keep from collapsing. Nor could she dodge, because she might trip, or not move far enough. If things kept on this way, she'd be dead in a few minutes.
By the time she finished that thought, the Beast was coming at her again, and she jumped back just in time to avoid his blade.
She never touched back down. She reversed her gravity just enough that she floated near the ceiling, watching the Beast warily.
"Are you going to wait the time out up there?" The Beast asked. "You'd pass, then. But I was rather looking forward to fighting you. You're quite talented."
"Not enough to beat you." Sabrina said. "You're too strong. Maybe next year."
"Very well." The Beast said, sitting. "I'll just rest up for the next tester. Maybe he'll have the courage to actually fight me."
"You can't goad me into this." Sabrina said. "I know when I'm out of my depth. I have one year of swordfighting experience. You have centuries, and you're both twice my size and three times as strong. I will lose. If it's a choice of fight or flight, I'm much better at flight."
"Your sister stuck it out." The Beast said nonchalantly. "I'll give her a D, or maybe a low C, but she didn't quit."
"Not working." Sabrina said calmly, her back resting against the ceiling now.
"Suit yourself." The Beast said. "I expected more from you, though."
Sabrina made no reply, but she decided that she was going to fight him. She'd do it on her terms, though.
"Bella finished, too. So did Red and Puck." The Beast continued.
Sabrina waited a few more seconds, making sure she was ready, then dropped behind him, landing as quietly as possible.
It wasn't quietly enough, though, and the Beast turned around just in time to block her sword, grinning.
"Good girl." He said, face full of approval.
Sabrina muttered a curse, slipping her sword away.
The Beast swept his arm forward and said, "You were almost quiet enough. I heard you draw your sword, though."
"I'll work on that." Sabrina said, parrying. "Just a question- how much magic can I use before I get in trouble? Pretending that first jump thing didn't happen."
"All you want." The Beast said, breaking his sword from hers and striking again. "I never said it was a swordfight. I never even said you could only use one weapon. But if you start using special tools, I may switch to tooth and claw."
"That's good to know." Sabrina said, and a bubble materialized around her, one her sword could leave but his couldn't enter.
"Now you're thinking, girl!" The Beast congratulated her as his sword hit the barrier and bounced off.
Sabrina was on the offense now, and even though he was stronger than she was, and she had to watch how she moved so that she didn't step out of her shield, she had a fighting chance now. She cut and jabbed for a good five minutes, but she was getting tired, and it was taking more and more energy to hold the shield up. She knew she was eventually either going to have to drop it or take a break.
Taking a break won.
She stood there in her bubble, breathing hard, staring at the stopwatch. Seven minutes left.
That was when the Beast dropped his sword and ran at her.
"Crud." Sabrina muttered, unfurling her wings and flying out of his reach. She hadn't made the shield impervious to flesh.
She dropped the shield completely, since it wasn't doing her any good anymore, and flew back down, touching to the ground lightly, out of reach of the Beast, her sword held up in the guard position.
The Beast chuckled and ran at her again, and they were sparring, Sabrina at a disadvantage, because she had less stamina, and because she was much shorter and lighter, so had less of a reach and less ability to stand her ground when his sword hit hers. She would never be able to even hit him, because his sword was so much longer, and so were his arms. She needed a longer reach-
Sabrina smiled, and ran her thumb over the base of her sword again. It shimmered, growing thinner and longer- much longer. She'd unintentionally had the sword pointed at the Beast as it changed, and it stabbed him before he had a chance to back up.
"Nice." The Beast said approvingly.
Sabrina decided she'd pretend the sword had been aimed that way on purpose.
They fought for several more minutes, and though Sabrina worked hard, she was losing when the time was up.
"Drat." She muttered, looking up at the Beast, who was moments from separating her from her sword. "I was hoping I'd be able to find a way out of that."
"You did." The Beast laughed. "The bell rang. Now get out of here. Go enjoy your summer."
"'Bye!" Sabrina called, trotting out of the room. "See you next fall, Sir!"
The results for the finals had come in, but Granny wasn't letting any of the children see them.
"Come on, Granny!" Sabrina complained. "I need to make sure I passed!"
"You did, liebling." Granny responded. "You all passed all your finals. I don't believe you need to know more than that."
"But why?" Daphne asked. "I'd like to know my actual grades."
"Leave for a minute, would you, children?" Granny asked. "I'd like to talk with your parents alone."
With much complaining, the children filed out, something in Granny's voice preventing Red, Puck, and Bella from protesting that they had no parents in the house.
Of course, as soon as the door was closed, they all clustered around it to listen in. Daphne claimed the keyhole, Red and Bella crouched by the bottom of the door, and Sabrina and Puck both flew towards the top, ending up with their faces pressed inches away from each other. Sabrina tried to ignore the heat in her face and listen to what was being said.
"-Ably listening in right now." Uncle Jake was saying, and he chuckled. "I'd bet twenty bucks they didn't get five feet down the hall before they came back."
"I do hope not, but you're probably right." Granny sighed.
"What is it, Mom?" Henry asked.
"Well, they did all pass everything. Some of them just barely. The older three are almost done with English- Snow predicts they'll finish by the end of the first marking period next year- and they've all finished history with low grades. Bella exceeded expectations in her science class, and even though she's well past the requirement for middle school and some high schools, it's recommended that she keep taking science classes because she has so much potential. The same goes for Puck with math, and of course, since the two subjects go hand in hand, they'll both have to take those two classes together."
Sabrina was shocked to find that she was jealous of Bella for the promise of two classes with Puck next year. Didn't she see enough of that boy without having all the same classes?
"That's not a reason to send them all out, though, is it?" Veronica asked.
"Well, not particularly, aside from the fact that Puck and Bella both got A's in those two subjects, and the others barely passed them all. It's that way for most of the classes, actually. Daphne has a wonderful grade in French and an acceptable grade in English. Red only really excelled in her art class."
"And Sabrina?" Baba Yaga croaked.
"She did well enough in English, like Daphne, but she got the highest grade in gym class out of the whole school, according to Snow."
"What grade?" Henry asked.
"Eighty-nine," Granny said.
Sabrina floated back down to the ground, a little dazed. The highest grade? An eighty-nine was the highest grade? She'd gotten the highest grade? But she'd done horribly on that final!
She looked up and realized that everyone else was staring at her. Daphne looked excited, Red vaguely worried, Bella shocked, and Puck surprised and a little jealous
She nodded her head towards the living room door, and the children all filed in there, just in case the adults came out sometime soon.
When they were all sitting down, she snapped, "What is it?"
"Eighty-nine?" Daphne asked. "But you're so good! You definitely deserved an A!"
"Thanks, Daph, but I didn't do so good against the Beast. I've only had, like, a year of sword training."
"How come you got the highest grade?" Puck complained. "I've had tons more training than you have! And I always beat you when we spar!"
"Maybe because I only had a year of training and I kind of accidentally-on-purpose stabbed him and pretended it wasn't an accident..." Sabrina said.
Puck glared at her. "I'm still better."
"Sure." Sabrina said. "When I've had four thousand years of sword training, then maybe I'll be able to beat you."
"Except by then he'll have had eight thousand years of training." Red pointed out. "So it still wouldn't be a fair fight."
"Good point." Sabrina said. "Maybe I'll have to mess around with time enough that I can catch up..."
"Or you could just practice all the time and prove you're better by beating him without an extra couple thousand year's practice." Daphne suggested. "After the wedding, though."
"But that's over a month from now!" Sabrina complained.
"Use that month to work on your magic stuff." Daphne said. "Now you won't have any schoolwork to get in the way."
"I will." Sabrina promised. "But I need to keep working on my swordplay, too."
She did, and so did the others, throughout the end of June and most of July, because the promised skirmishes never came. They did yardwork, too, because Granny had decided that it would be good for them. They all- except Daphne, for she discovered it hurt her- took their turn mowing the lawn, pulling weeds in the flower beds, and trimming hedges. Sabrina and Puck spent a lot of their time attacking each other with garden tools, and Daphne tried to learn how to coax the plants to grow in the shapes Granny wanted them in in the first place, so that they wouldn't need trimming. Briar finished the wedding plans, and everyone in the wedding party was fitted for their clothes by the Brave Little Tailor. Most of the others simply wore clothes they already had, though Daphne and Puck had to have new things made because they were both taller, and Daphne was slightly thinner.
After their fittings, Sabrina made a face. "How come I'm not getting any taller?" She asked Bella. "I mean, Daphne's growing, Puck's growing, you've grown a little, but I'm still short!"
"No you're not, but I can't count your ribs anymore!" Daphne said brightly, entering the room with a dress over her arm. "It's finished, see?" She held the dress up for the others to admire.
Daphne's dress wasn't actually a dress, more a longish pink tunic with short sleeves, a pair of black leggings decorated with hearts, and a brownish see-through overcoat that reminded Sabrina vaguely of feathers.
"Cute!" Bella declared. "If I didn't already have an outfit, I'd totally want one."
"I wouldn't." Sabrina said. "But it'll look nice on you, Daph."
"I like yours better." Red said. "I don't look good in yellow."
"You look fine." Sabrina rolled her eyes. "Besides, you're too young to start that I-hate-the-way-I-look nonsense."
"She's, like, five hundred years old." Bella pointed out.
"That's too young." Sabrina said. "Any age is too young. You're either pretty or you're not. There's nothing you can do about it, and you shouldn't complain, especially when what you're really doing is fishing for compliments."
Red looked down.
"Now you hurt her feelings!" Daphne said. "And you were complaining five minutes ago that you were too short!"
"Actually, I was complaining that I wasn't growing." Sabrina said. "Sorry, Red. I didn't mean it like that. And I didn't expect you guys to tell me I'm not short. I am."
"It' all right." Red said."
"You are short, Grimm." Puck said, entering the room with his new suit. "Too short, too skinny, and very, very blonde."
"Besides." Sabrina said. "Who needs to criticize their own appearance when we've got Puck to do it for us?"
"He only really makes fun of how you look." Bella said thoughtfully. "Why is that, Puck? She's quite pretty."
"If you say so." Puck shrugged.
"Hah!" Daphne exclaimed. "You just admitted you thought she was pretty!"
"I did not!" Puck snapped. "All I said was 'if you say so!' I never said I thought she was pretty!"
"Notice they're talking about me like I'm not here?" Sabrina muttered to Red as the other three continued to argue. "I hate it when people do that."
Red giggled. "They are trying to make him admit he likes you."
"But he doesn't." Sabrina rolled her eyes. "I wish they'd give it up, this is getting embarrassing."
"Leave, then." Red suggested. "They're not talking to you at all, anyway, and you don't want to hear what they're saying."
"Good idea." Sabrina said. "I think I will." She got up and left, unnoticed by anyone but Red and Puck.
"Fine!" Puck snapped after several more minutes of arguing. "Maybe she's not ugly, all right?" He, too, left the room, with considerably more stomping than Sabrina had made.