For Whom The Bell Tolls (Trollhunters continuation/Evil Jim AU)

17: New Kids On The Block

The school day began in the most mundane, normal way possible. But that didn't overly faze Jim or the other two. It felt like a breath of fresh air compared to whatever the fuck they'd been through the previous night. The ride in had been pleasant enough, no one had really brought up anything, or they were too nervous to bring up anything.
Their bikes were parked up and chained to the cycle rack in the school yard. Everyone they'd passed on the way to class had eyed them all up in confusion, especially Steve, Mary and Darci. It was relative silence as they settled into their seats. The three of them chose to sit together at the back of the classroom, Coach Lawrence didn't seem to care however. Jim was absentmindedly staring out the window whilst Coach began to take the register. Eventually, Jim let out a muffled 'yeah' to confirm his attendance and the so-called lesson began.

"Right, before we put on a movie for you sad sacks, the principal has asked me to welcome two new exchange students into our class."

Coach Lawrence stepped to the side and let two kids through the door to stand at the front of the classroom. One of them was a tall girl with pale skin, platinum blonde locks that cascaded down her back and a pair of grey-blue eyes that were the colour of pebbles in a stream. She was clothed in an oversized  teal and black flannel shirt, black trousers and some red converse. The other new student was shorter with tanned skin, wavy chocolate brown hair and deep hazelnut coloured eyes. His outfit consisted of a long sleeved striped shirt layered underneath a navy blue t-shirt with the Papa Skull logo on it, dark grey denim jeans and a pair of blue and white sneakers.
Jim snapped back to, the class full of murmuring. He immediately recognised these two. Fucking wonderful, the teen huffed to himself. Toby and Claire seemed to catch onto this but stayed quiet.

"Why don't you uhh...tell the class about yourselves?" Coach offered, handing the board pen over.

The girl grinned and took the pen, scrawling three large unknown symbols on the whiteboard.

"Hello humans! My name is Aja Tarron, I am very happy to be here and meet you all! This is my name, in my language. I hope we can all be amazing friends and have a lively time together!" Aja yelled, her voice being so loud that Jim grasped at his ears a bit.

She handed the pen over to the shorter guy next to her, who looked ticked off and a tad shy. He accepted it and wrote his own name underneath hers in smaller letters, but this time in English.

"I'm Krel Tarron, I...I don't really want to be here. Please don't talk to me." His tone was borderline monotonous.

A burst of laughter rippled across the student body. Coach was taken aback.

"These two are exchange students from some place called Cantaloupia. Since they're unfamiliar with Arcadia, I've been told to tell you all to be welcoming and look after the Tarron siblings!" The coach slammed his coffee mug down onto Strickler's desk causing a drop of black coffee to plop onto the scratched wood, "Aja, Krel, please find a seat at the back."

The siblings complied with the request and walked to the back of the classroom, taking the two seats in the corner, a row over from Jim, Claire and Toby. Aja smiled ecstatically, waving at Jim when she caught his aggressive stare, but her attempt to be friendly was only met with an emerald eye flash.

"I didn't know humans could change their eye colour." She whispered just loud enough for Jim to hear, pulling Krel's ear close.

Krel kept a stony faced expression throughout, his disposition far from his sister's sunny one. He cast a quick glance over at Jim, "Aja, I don't think humans are meant to be able to do that."

Claire noticed Jim staring daggers at the new kids and went to throw a pencil at the back of his head. He grunted, catching it rapidly and breaking it in half. Toby found that unnecessarily cool, Claire thought Jim was just showing off.
Coach wheeled in the old rickety TV stand and pushed a DVD into the Blu-ray player. Jim kept whipping his head round, trying to hear what the Tarrons were saying. Especially Aja, she had to have an ulterior motive, she always did, she always fucked up his plans.
The background chatter eventually grew too much for him and he stood up and stormed out the classroom, everyone else reacting like a raucous pack of hyenas. Lawrence wasn't impressed, but he didn't care enough to stop Jim Lake from leaving the room. Why should he care? He was supposed to be training the baseball team for nationals, but thanks to Mr. Strickler waltzing off on a sudden vacation, he was stuck with this damn class and their chaos. Was it too much to ask that he just be able to stick a movie on so he could sit back and read the latest issue of No Way, Crochet!, in secret behind a sports magazine. He was so close to collecting all of the pattern pieces to make a throw for the couch...

Toby muttered something to Claire before excusing himself to go after the pissed off Jim. The redhead grabbed at Jim's wrist as he charged towards the school gates.

"Jim? Jim! Where are you going? You think you're gonna...y'know...change?" Toby hissed as he caught up to his friend.

Jim huffed aggressively, "I'm not talking to that bitch again. Not after what she made happen."

He shook his head, voice returning to it's usual state, rather than a deep growly tone. He looked at Toby with a slightly downtrodden gaze. He knew ultimately he'd end up having to speak with Aja again, but he was damned if that moment was the split second she'd entered the classroom. The Tarrons were way earlier this time compared to their usual arrival. Usually by this point, NotEnrique would be in the picture and they'd have rescued the real Enrique from the Darklands. Nothing was going to plan.

"Jim, why'd you run off like that? You good?" Toby asked again.

Jim shook his head, "I just...I've met her before...we didn't exactly get along after a while."

"Who, Aja? I've never seen her before, or Krel. Sure, she seems a bit...quirky? But overall harmless." Toby replied, leaning on the bike rack.

"Yeah...she does...but just a word of advice, for you and Claire...stay the fuck away from Aja and Krel for now? At least until I've had the chance to speak to them?" Jim bit at his lip in frustration.

"Oookay? Kinda weird man. They seem fine...get over yourself Jimbo," Toby rolled his eyes, "I'm heading back to class, you coming?"

"I'm good. I need some air, I'm just gonna stay out here until recess. But stay away from the Tarrons until I can speak to them...please."

"Whatever dude." Toby sighed and walked back into the classroom.

Coach Lawrence was too engrossed in his reading to notice Toby come back. He took his seat next to Claire again.

Nuñez leaned over and whispered, "What's wrong with him?"

"He said he's met Aja before, doesn't want either of us to speak to the new kids until he's had the chance to. Fuck knows why...his eyes and voice did that freaky thing again." Toby replied under his breath.

Claire hesitated before she spoke again, "What the fudgeknuckles? Ugh, well until he explains his edgy ass, I'm gonna do whatever I want."

"Fair enough, I'm inclined to do the same."

Claire shuffled her chair over to Aja's table, Toby following suit. Both noticed Mary keep hazarding glances at Aja, quickly turning around as soon as anyone caught her looking. Claire grinned to herself, Looks like someone finds the new kid cute.

The Tarrons blinked, confusion etched into their faces.

Claire offered her hand out, "Hi, I'm Claire Nuñez, class representative. Nice to meet you. Welcome to Arcadia Oaks High."

Krel dismissed her handshake, Aja accepting it with gusto, "Thank you! This place is so lively!"

Meanwhile, Jim sat outside, preparing himself for the confrontation to come.