Jim Lake Jr. POV
Rumors have been going around lately of a new student transferring to Arcadia Oaks High. Toby was making guesses left and right of who it could be while Jim just listened and laughed at his crazy ideas. They sat in their seats joking around with each other when Mr. Strickler cleared his throat to get all our attention. "Ahem. Good morning, class. We have a new student here today. She just transferred from New Jersey and will join us for the rest of the term. Miss Walker, you may come in."
The class turned their heads toward the door as a girl with long, wavy brown hair and turquoise eyes entered the doorway. Everything around Jim paused as he stared at the new student. He could not believe his eyes. It should be impossible, but he recognizes those eyes anywhere. The same ones as his childhood friend – Lizzie.
Is this a coincidence?
Others around him whispered to each other, their gazes fastened on the girl in the front.
"She's so pretty!"
"I want to be her friend!"
"I want to date her!"
"Ah, my heart!"
Standing in front of us all with a charming smile, she spoke. "Hello, everyone. My name is Elizabeth Walker. But you can call me Liz. I just moved here from Hoboken, New Jersey, and I look forward to getting to know you all."
No way. Elizabeth. Liz. Lizzie. That is too much of a coincidence!
A million thoughts cross his mind as he tries to rationalize everything. Then, that happened. As she turned her head, her ocean-green eyes met with his sky-blue ones, and Jim froze in his seat, unable to tear his gaze from hers. He felt everything around him go dark, leaving just him and her. Then Jim sees her as a little girl in his dreams, her light brown wavy hair floating in the passing breeze, her turquoise eyes glistening like the sea, and her bright smile shining like the dawn as she calls out his old childhood nickname. "Jimmy!"
Suddenly, he hears a loud whisper call to him. "Jim. Jimbo! Hey, snap out of it!"
Jim shook himself awake from his reveries and noticed his friend staring at him as others around him were busy typing on their laptops. Including the new girl, Lizzie – he meant Liz – who took a seat behind Toby.
"Were you daydreaming or something?"
"No. No, I'm not." Jim quickly denies it and looks over at his friend's laptop screen, wondering what he had missed. "What are you doing?"
"Research," Toby replies as he continues typing.
"Hey, look up 'talking amulet,'" Jim suggested. He felt eyes on him from the side, and he turned to look but saw Liz absorbed in her laptop. He can already feel his cheeks warming just by her presence close by.
Toby was way ahead of him, pointing at the result of his search. "I already did that. All I got was toys. One of them was a plushie."
Suddenly, Strickler's voice called to him. "Jim, would you agree?"
Snapping in attention, Jim looks up to his teacher. "Sir?"
"With Herodotus' opinion on tactics of war, as I've described." Strickler clarifies, pulling out his favorite pen. Sweat dropping, Jim tries to stall, looking at Toby, who turns away and whistles. "Oh, uh...Absolutely."
"Excellent. Which tactics, specifically?" Strickler questions. Feeling the pressure, Jim tries to think of an answer. "The, uh...winning ones?"
The class laughed at his response as the school bell rang, signaling the end of class. Getting up from his seat and putting his books in his bag, he glances at Liz, who is already heading out the door.
"Jim, may I have a word?"
Jim turns to Strickler but ends up dropping his school cross bag on the floor, the contents spilling out. Both teacher and student bend down to sort it out as Strickler continues. "Jim, you're distracted. You fell asleep between the invasion of Attica and the Peace of Nicias, and your attention wandered for the rest of class."
Jim apologizes. "Sorry. I didn't get a lot of sleep last night." And the night before that and so on.
"I know it's just you and your mother, and you want to help her."
Jim sighs, frowning. "She's just really tired, Mr. Strickler. She's been working double shifts at the clinic."
Bringing out a post-it note and pen, Stricker began writing before handing the slip to Jim. "I believe I'm overdue for a conversation with her. Have her call me, please."
Taking the note, Jim felt unsure. "Uh..."
Before he could continue, Strickler interjected. "And feel free to drop by my office if you ever need to talk."
"Yeah, I'll do that." Jim nodded, putting away the note. They both stood up as Strickler handed off another textbook to Jim, offering a piece of advice. "Oh, and, Jim, if you fancy Miss Walker, I submit that talking to her will be much more effective than staring at."
Jim walks away, blushing.
***
During physical education, Jim cheers for his best friend as Toby struggles to climb higher on the rope. "Come on, Tobes. You've got this."
"So close!" Toby grunts from literally at the end of his rope before dropping down on the mat with his leg tied to the string. Coach Lawrence looks down at Toby before bringing his clipboard and checking it off. "What is that on my rope? Every student here should be able to climb this rope and ring that bell."
Suddenly, Jim hears gasps from other students nearby. "Oh my gosh, she's fast!"
Turning to look, he saw Liz easily climbing the rope until she reached the top, ringing the bell and breaking the class record. Coach Lawrence beams proudly. "Now that's what I'm talking about! And on the first day, too. Great job, Walker!"
Grinning from above, Liz slides down the rope and lands on the mat without breaking a sweat. Jim suddenly realizes that his mouth is open and quickly closes it. Before he could introduce himself to Liz, Coach Lawrence called for her. "Walker! See if you could help Domzalski over here."
Jim sighs, missing his chance. However, he glanced at the bleachers, seeing Claire with her friends. He takes a deep breath in and out. Guess he might as well try speaking with her, at least.
Liz Walker POV
The first day of school was better than Liz thought after finishing her last class for the day. Students came around, introducing themselves and getting to know her. Though she was not too fond of one guy in particular – Steve, was it? – coming at her, standing too close for comfort, asking if she wanted to go out. She rolls her eyes at the thought. Thankfully, she turned him down without difficulty. Plus, she was able to help out Tobes, who introduced himself as Toby Domzalski. Turns out he is best friends with the chosen one, James Lake. They got along fine, bonding over tacos. Despite their new acquaintanceship, she could not get information on the amulet they found.
As for James Lake, she never got the chance to meet him formally. However, she could not ignore how he looked at her in class when she was first introduced to everyone. His gaze filled with surprise and longing as if he recognized and knew her from before, which was impossible since she never remembered encountering him in the past. After all, she grew up mostly in Trollmarket beneath Arcadia Oaks and lived in New Jersey in recent years.
Despite all that, seeing James closer in person made her question that fact. His sky-blue eyes were seemingly familiar, bringing forth feelings she had never felt before. Unable to understand it, she pushes it aside, focusing on what matters – retrieving the amulet before it gets into the wrong hands.
Suddenly, Liz felt her phone vibrating in her pocket, alarming her that her shift was coming up soon. Back at her designated locker, she quickly grabbed her books, placed them in her brown crossbody bag, and pulled out her helmet before leaving campus. She goes to her KTM Duke 200 motorbike parked by the other bicycles on the parking rack. Ignoring other students' jaw-dropping stares and whispers, she unchains her bike and gets on. She should just skateboard to school from now on, she decided. Her ride is grabbing too much attention. Douxie told her not to draw too much attention, yet she was doing the complete opposite.
Liz starts the engine, drives down the street, and turns a few corners into the bustling town square where all the shops are located. She parallel parks on the street, chaining her bike on the meter, and steps into Benoit's French Bistro, greeting Douxie before heading to the back to change into her uniform: a white sleeveless collared shirt with a black ribbon tied around the collar and a black apron tied over a black pleated skirt.
Like Douxie, Liz works part-time to earn cash and help pay her rent with Douxie for their shared apartment unit above the commercial stores in town. She should've been living with her parents like the other kids her age, but she was an orphan. With no memories of her early childhood, she was told that her parents died in a car accident, where she was found in the wreckage by Kanjigar, who raised and homeschooled her in Heartstone Trollmarket. At 13, she decided to move in with Douxie to live her life with the rest of her kind. However, for the past two years, they lived in Hoboken, New Jersey, to investigate a Heartstone there, seeing if it was habitable for trolls. It was for an assignment tasked by Vendel himself. So that's why she is living with a boy. Parents would be shook at the thought of it.
During her shift, she prepared their famous espresso and called out the name written on the cup. "Barbara!"
A woman with orange-brown hair and familiar blue eyes behind black-framed glasses came over. Taking the cup, the woman looked up at Liz to thank her but froze, staring at her with wide eyes. Liz tilted her head in confusion, seeing the woman with the same look as James Lake in class. In fact, the two shared similarities with one another. She thought to herself, wondering if they were related. "Is there anything else I could get you, ma'am?"
Barbara blinked at her question, shaking her head slightly before offering a kind smile. "Oh, it's alright. Thank you."
Liz was about to turn back, but the woman spoke up again. "Wait!"
The teenage girl turned back, confused. Barbara begins to stammer. "O-Oh, sorry. Um. It's just...you look like someone I knew before."
Liz offered a friendly smile. "Oh, I see. Not to worry, ma'am."
"Ah, sorry. How rude of me. I'm Barbara. Barbara Lake." Barbara held out a hand to her, and Liz shook her hand. Lake. So they are related to each other.
"I'm Elizabeth Walker. But most people just call me Liz." Barbara's eyes widened even more, but Liz didn't question as she introduced herself. "I just moved here from New Jersey a couple of days ago."
"I-I see. How do you like Arcadia Oaks so far?"
"It's nice. Today was my first day at Arcadia Oaks High.
"My son goes there. I believe that he mentioned that there was going to be a new student attending."
"James Lake?"
"Junior." Barbara corrected. "But he prefers the name Jim instead of James. Jim Lake Jr."
"Ah, yes, I had him for one of my classes, but we didn't get the chance to be acquainted yet."
"You should come over tomorrow night and have dinner with us. Jim's a great cook, and I'm sure he will be delighted to give you a tour of Arcadia Oaks once you get to know each other," Barbara insists.
Liz chuckled. "That sounds great, Ms. Lake. I look forward to it."
"Please, call me Barbara." Liz smiled at that. Barbara gave Liz her address, directions to her house, and phone number in case she got lost on the way there. In exchange, Liz gave Barbara her number and waved goodbye as the woman left the restaurant with her coffee.
Jim Lake Jr. POV
Toby and Jim were riding their bikes home when they saw Jim's mother's blue car approaching. Both the bikes and car slowed to a stop next to each other. Rolling down her window, Barbara greeted them. "Hey, boys."
"Hey, Mom." Jim greeted back.
"Looking sharp, Dr. Lake." Toby complimented as he struggled with his bike to stop.
Glancing at Toby, Barbara replied, "Thank you, Toby. So are you."
"Oh! Does it show?" Toby looks over himself.
Jim turned to his mother. "You're going to be out all night?"
Barbara sighs. "Dr. Gilberg is out with bursitis, and Dr. Lenz has a wedding out of town this weekend."
"Okay, well, don't forget to bring you –" Jim was about to remind his mother. Still, Barbara interrupted, grabbing a brown bag and showing it to him, "Dinner. Thank you."
"Right. And try to find an oven to reheat it in instead of nuking. It takes all of the flavor and nutrients away." Jim looked down at the post-it note with Strickler's name and number on it, silently debating whether to give it to her. Still, in the end, he decided not to as he placed it in his jacket pocket.
"Jim, there must be a million things you'd rather be doing than looking after me," Barbara says as she puts back the brown bag beside her. Jim shrugs. "Can't think of one."
Barbara glances at her son, watching him see how he would react to what she is about to share. "Well, I did. I invited your new classmate, Liz, for dinner tomorrow at our place. You should give her a tour around Arcadia Oaks."
Jim's jaw dropped. "What! When did you guys meet? Is she really coming for dinner tomorrow? Did you tell her about me?"
"Slow down there, kiddo." Barbara chuckled, satisfied with her son's reaction. "I'll tell you all about it when I finish work tomorrow. Why don't you plan tomorrow night's dinner? Got to make a good first impression." Barbara winked. Jim started to blush and stutter. "Y-yeah. S-sure. Count on it."
"Great! Love you, honey." She rolled up her window and drove off.
"Bye, Mom." Jim watched her leave as he thought about what could be going through his mother's mind when she first saw Lizzie – he meant Liz.
Did Liz remind his mother of his childhood friend he lost years ago?
Revised: 8/16/2023
Hello fellow readers!
I just watched the movie finale of Tales of Arcadia, Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans. Watching the movie till the end has left me with mixed feelings. Though I love everything about it, the ending scene just didn't do it justice for the entire franchise. Because of that, I made it my mission to change the final ending. For the good of all!
Cool fact: I waited until I saw the movie finale before I officially published my first chapter of this fanfiction, and I'm glad I did.
Original Art: mjj_nz
Fandom Question: What was your favorite part of the movie?
Also, please don't forget to vote or comment, if you liked this chapter. I would love to hear what you all think. Happy reading!
- Miss_Nightingale