"I'm slipping into the lava

And I'm trying to keep from goin' under

Baby who turned the temperature hotter

Cause I'm burnin' up, burnin' up

For you baby"

-Jonas Brothers

Not too long after, Jared had imprinted on some girl named Kim that he had had a crush on since they were in middle school. Luckily, she had a crush on him too. Imprinting was meeting your soulmate but that didn't mean they had to be romantically involved. They could be friends, protectors or whatever.

Kim was nice enough and the three sat together at lunch with Kim and Jared leading the conversation. Kim had gotten used to the fact that TJ wasn't much of a talker, choosing to mostly ignore them. But at home, she was fiercely over protective and passionate about everything that she did. She loved reading, boxing and patrolling, often choosing to take over Jared's patrols when he and Kim wanted to go on dates. Kim wasn't as freaked out about the shapeshifter thing, she didn't even faint, making TJ lose the bet and owing Jared money.

Today she opted to go home early as she was starting not to feel well. She felt as if she were running a million degrees and began to profusely sweat before she even made it to her room. Her parents were both doctors in Seattle and started to take longer shifts as TJ got older, not that she minded, so she texted them to bring some medicine home.

"Baby, you're burning up." Her mother's voice said, breaking her from her sleepy haze.

She felt awful. She couldn't even feel her mother's hand on her forehead because she was so hot. Her vision blurred and she promptly turned her head to the side as she vomited in the trash bin.

"Thomas, help me put her in an ice bath." Veronica instructed as they watched their daughter pass out again.

When they had gotten home to check on TJ, the noticed that she looked as if she went swimming and then climbed into bed. Her temperature was at 106 and they needed to cool her down fast. The ice bath seemed to help and TJ groaned.

"What's wrong with me?" She croaked out. Thomas gave her some water to help her cotton mouth.

"I don't know baby, I think you have the flu."

*

Paul had noticed that she left early that day as they had their last class together and he knew it was her favorite class as this was the only one that she stayed awake for. Truthfully, he had only taken Mythology because he knew how much that she liked it.

He didn't know where she lived but he knew where Sam did so he went to his house. When he got there, Jared and Sam were wrestling in the front yard while Kim, a girl from school, and a lady were watching them. When the guys saw Paul, they immediately stopped and put on serious faces.

"What are you doing here?" Sam asked. Paul felt a little intimidated by him as he's seen Sam around but stood his ground.

"Is TJ here?"

He could tell that Sam was protective over her just by the way that Sam glared at him when her name was mentioned.

"No, did something happen?"

"I'm not sure, she missed her favorite class today so I brought home the homework for her."

"That was nice of you, thank you." The woman next to Kim said as she stood by Sam's side and grabbed the papers.

He noticed that she had three claw mark scars on the side of her face and looked away when he swore he heard Sam growl at him.

"You should get going now." Sam said angrily.

"Right."

He climbed in his car and drove away.

TJ stayed out of school for a week and when whatever it was, finally passed, she felt better than ever. She did her usual routine and as she looked into the mirror she noticed that her pimples were all clear, her hair looked healthier and her eyes looked brighter. Looking down she saw that her body was more toned than usual, despite being bedridden for a week. She felt on top of the world.

Little did she know that her life was about to drastically change.