Fix the future by changing the past

a family ever growing

"So," Mary started as she sat down next to Claire and Darci with Toby, Eli, and Steve (much to Toby's surprise). "A friend of yours is transferring here, Claire?" She asked. "What's she like?" 

"Uh… actually it's Douxie." Claire said plainly as she took a bite from her homemade sandwich, causing the trollhunter to choke on his apple juice. 

"Toby! Are you okay?" Darci asked, concerned for the boy who tried his best to calm down his frantic coughing before he faced Claire with a dumbfounded expression. 

"Douxie? He's transferring here?" Eli finally voiced out after a while. 

"That's great! I missed him!" Steve said, joining into the conversation. 

"Okay but how do you all know who Douxie is?" Toby asked after one final cough, his voice strained just before he took a drink of water. 

"What? Douxie's pretty famous you know." Mary said, her eyes not leaving her phone. "I mean he's the Big D, from Ash Dispersal Pattern! Their band always wins the battle of the band competition every year!" She exclaimed before turning her phone to show the stout boy a video clip of said band with Douxie as the main guitarist and vocals. 

"And he works at both the café and the bookstore!" Eli piped in, pulling out a book from his backpack. "He gave me this book about aliens!" He said flipping the pages to show a strange looking humanoid creature that were mostly different shades of neon blue. 

At the mention of aliens, Steve rolled his eyes. "They're not "aliens", pepperjack. They're Akaridions." The blonde corrected as he looked away, earning himself dumbfounded stares from the group. 

"What?" He asked after noticing their stairs. Claire bit her lip, forcing herself not to facepalm at Steve’s stupidity sometimes. "I like aliens?" He offered, attempting to correct himself and give an explanation just so Toby wouldn't be too curious. 

"And you were bullying Eli about beings made of rocks a week ago." Toby stated with an eyebrow raised, now truly wondering why the blonde was there with them. 

An exasperated sigh escaped the jock as he glared at Toby, effectively making the stout boy shrink back just a bit. "Lake talked to me and I thought maybe it was time to change." He admitted, looking at his food as if it offended him. 

"And you did the right thing" Claire added, reaching over the table to put a hand on Steve who looked up with a smile towards his twice time-travelling surrogate sister. 

"Speaking of," Darci started, looking thoughtful before her gaze turned to face Toby. "Where is Jim?" 

Toby’s face fell, everyone around the table catching onto the shorter boy's sudden shift in mood. Claire’s heart ached at the sight, she really just wanted to tell him everything, but they needed Toby to be able to fight his own battles without Jim as a crutch. True, he needed to work more than Jim had, but as far as she knew he was taking the role better than her boyfriend did. 

"Jim's… sick." Toby said after a while, everyone at the table looked saddened at the news but Claire and Steve shared a silent conversation with each other. 

"We should pay him a visit-" Eli offered before being cut off.

"We can't." Toby said, a little firmly. "I mean, we literally can't! He's in a hospital out of the state…" he said a little quietly, earning concerned gasps from Mary and Darci while the other three just looked down.

The rest of lunch was quiet as they ate their food. The moment the bell rang, Toby was the first to leave, heading off to Spanish, a class he didn't share with anyone. The moment he was out of earshot, the rest of the group turned to look at Claire who spoke up as they took their time to pack up.