StarLight

Chapter Twenty Three: Old Habits

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Arya
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After a long day of school without Skylar, I headed towards her house with Jim.
She said she had one of the most boring days of her life.
I got slightly worried when she didn't text me back after I had texted her when school was over.
We walked in silence the whole way there and Jim had allowed me to walk into the house before him.
"Skylar, you here?" Jim asked, calling out quite loudly.
"In the basement." She replied, causing the two of us to exchange a look before heading over.
We started down the stairs when she spoke again.
"Want to help me hide a body?" She then asked.
"You didn't." Jim stated, rushing down the rest of the stairs.
I looked down at them as Jim sighed in relief.
"Wait, so where's the body?" He then asked, frowing deeply.
She gestured to the game.
"I was the murderer." She stated.
"Oh." He stated, walking over to them as I made my way to stand next to Skylar, moving close to her ear.
"It seems you're relationship is improving." I whispered as Jim and Draal spoke about the game and how Skylar was the best at any game that you had to use your brain in.
"I was just bored." She stated off-handedly, rolling her eyes.
I let out a hum and she cleared her throat.
"Do you two want to play?" She then asked, trying to change the subject.
"No, I have a date." Jim replied, causing Skylar to raise a brow at him.
"You. Have a date?" She asked in disbelief.
"It's a study date. Claire had offered to help him with his homework." I explained, causing her to roll her eyes.
"How original." She stated.
Jim rolled his own eyes.
"And you should have been resting." He countered.
"I'll sleep when I'm dead." She replied before she covered her mouth with her hand, hiding a yawn.
"Yeah, well, our teachers asked me to give you the homework for today, so you have a mountain of it to do.
I never thought I'd ever see someone look so happy over the fact of an overfilled binder filled with homework.
"Yes! I'm going to get started on it right away. Wanna study together, Arya?" Skylar asked, giving me one of the brightest grins I have ever seen from her.
I gave a shrug.
"Sure." I spoke.
She quickly lead me up the stairs, disreguarding the troll completely.
We worked on the homework and study material for a few hours.
She had asked for every little detail of every class since we shared all the same ones.
Eventually our conversation shifted to Toby's reaction to the world of trolls and he was apparently going to be joining us from now on thanks to Blinky.
I suppose it was only natural for more humans to come in because of the strange predicament of the amulet choosing a human.
There was a lot going on and I had a feeling that it was far from over.
Not to mention the fact that the Killahead Bridge had just up and disappeared.
Eventually, we did hae to leave for trollmarket, Jim coming with us after grabbing Toby.
It was just more training.
Climbing this time.
Despite Blinky's advise, I had forgone the rope, though Jim had decided to join us while Toby watched above with the trolls.
He and Arrrgh had apparently grown on each other, which was interesting to see.
Jim had just finished telling everyone about the goblin we saw, Toby being his witness.
"What about you, Lady Skylar. Did you see a bird or a goblin?" Blinky asked, catching her attention quite affectively.
"I wasn't there." She stated.
"She's right, she was studying with Arya." Jim replied, grabbing another rock as I pulled myself up onto the ledge.
Blinky then turned his attention to me.
"Ah, yes, Arya. Because Jim and Skylar have Draal to protect their home, I was thinking Arrrgh would protect yours." He explained.
"Eh, no thanks. I think it'd be best if he protects Toby. After all, if he's going to be here and he's just beginning training, it'd be better if there was a troll who could protect him." I replied, recieving a nod.
"Agreed. Tobias, what do you think?" Blinky asked, causing Toby to give him a look.
"What do I think? We're gonna be roomies! Yeah! Highfive big guy!" Toby exclaimed, holding his hand up, the larger troll giving a grin.
Arrrgh then let go of Jim's rope to highfive Toby, causing Skylar to dive after her brother, catching the rope.
She was pulled down slight due to the sudden weight, but was able to bring them down gently.

The next day, we were back at school, the four of us walking together as always.
Jim was talking about figuring out who the stuffed bunny belonged to and that's when Claire walked up, claiming the toy belonged to her younger brother.
Skylar didn't seem very comfortable around Claire, and I wasn't either.
That's when I noticed a rather large crowd.
I nudged Skylar, gesturing over to it.
She glanced over.
"What's that about?" She asked, causing me to shrug.
"No idea." I stated.
Jim frowned as he looked at the crowd.
"What the..." He spoke, trailing off.
"Let's check it out." Skylar then stated, walking off quickly.
I frowned before following after her, Toby, Jim, and Claire following suit.
The crowd parted slightly as Skylar walked through.
I made my way to stand next to her, finding the person at the center of the crowd.
A new student.
He had shaggy brown hair that shown brightly in the sun and his green eyes held golden flakes, glasses resting on the bridge of his nose.
His smile was charming to say the least, yet something about him rubbed me the wrong way.
His eyes met mine and his smile seemed to brighten slightly.
"Hi, I'm Alden. Alden Creeke." He spoke, holding his hand out for me to shake.
"I don't shake hands." I stated, causing him to nod in understanding he then held his hand out to Skylar.
She took it, a cautious look in her eye.
"Skylar Lake. This is my friend Arya River." She replied, pulling her hand away as soon as politeness allowed it.
"Lake and River. What a coincidence." He commented.
"And your last name is Creek." I stated.
"Ah, there's a third he at the end." He replied, rubbing the back of his neck.
I only gave a hum, keeping my gaze neutral.
"Come on, we have classes to get to." I spoke, looking at Skylar.
She nodded.
"Yeah, let's get going." She agreed and we made our way to the first class.

At the end of school, we had tried to rush out of school as fast as possible, but Strickler stopped us in the hall.
"Skylar, how have you been? I noticed you weren't here yesterday." He stated.
"My mom called me in sick." Skylar replied from next to me as I adjusted my bag.
"Yes. I hope you're feeling better." He stated.
"Fine." She stated curtly, her grip tightening on the strap of her bag.
"Have you been stressed as of late?" He asked.
"What are you? A guidance councler?" Skylar asked in turn, narrowing her eyes in suspicion as a flash of panic crossed over his eyes.
"I suppose I am asking too many questions for your liking. But you seem to be on edge as of late." He stated before adding, "Both of you do."
"Listen, Strickler. I never liked you and I'm pretty sure you never liked me. Stay out of my business." She growled out.
"I can see that the title of protector is stressing you. You're seeing that you can't protect those you love as much as you would like." He stated.
"I can do anything I put my mind to Strickler." She growled, turning on her heel and walking out.
I followed her, hearing her groan.
"I can not stand him! He thinks he's so smart, but he doesn't know anything." Skylar spoke, her knuckles turning white.
"He does seem to be hiding something." I agreed.
"Exactly! It would be so much easier if I could just read someone's mind!" She spoke, causing me to chuckle.
"If only that was a thing." I stated before my vision temporarily went black.
I felt a pressure at my side as fangs and blood flashed  before my eyes.
A heavy breath left me as my vision returned to my surroundings.
"Sorry... Sometimes that happens." I stated, pulling out my artbook from my bag and beginning a sketch.
"Don't worry, I'm here when you need me." She replied, a worried tone to her words.
"Hey, Skylar, Arya!" Jim greeted, running us down.
He panted slightly when he caught up.
"Can you guys help me babysit Claire's little brother?" He asked, causing Skylar to frown.
"Why would you need help with that?" She asked.
"You know me, I'm not responsible enough to take care of a child." He replied, his tone a bit unsure and sketchy.
"Alright. We'll help." Skylar agreed as I shook my head.
"Actually, I want to try hunting Bular down again. I haven't been doing that for some time." I spoke, causing them both to look at me.
"You shouldn't go after him on your own." Skylar spoke.
"He needs to pay for what he did, Skylar." I spoke, frowning.
Her frown deepened and I realized that I never did tell her why I was hunting said troll down.
"We will find him, together. And we'll take him down." She spoke.
A moment and she sighed.
She knew she wouldn't win this one.
"Just call me if you find him. Don't engage until I arrive." She spoke, causing me to nod.
And so, we went our seperate ways.

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Hmm, a new character has entered the scene.
Arya is getting more and more impatient.
Well, I hope you all enjoyed today's chapter and as always, I hope you have a wonderful morning/afternoon/evening/night!
Bye for now!