Hey! So I've decided to write a fic about Merlin. It's completely AU. It's set in present day and the characters are who I imagine them to be if they were in high school. Hope you enjoy!

Merlin's POV

My name is Merlin. I'm 16 years old and until now, I've lived in a small town in Connecticut. My mother and I just moved to Albany, New York. After my dad died, she decided we needed a change. I couldn't really complain. I had never fit in at my old school. Besides, my uncle was a teacher here so I would get to spend some time with him.

As we pulled up to the front entrance of Avalon High, I turned to my mom. She smiled at me. "Please try to make some friends," she asked, a look of pleading in her eyes, " and make sure your secret stays that way?" I laughed sheepishly and nodded. Yeah, about my secret… I have magic. Crazy I know, but apparently I get it from my dad. I quickly gave her a kiss on the cheek and hopped out of the car. I took a deep breath and walked into the school.

First stop, the office. I walked in and waited while a girl with dark curls and a kind smile got a slip from the lady at the front desk. "Hi," I said quietly, "I'm Merlin, I'm new?" She smiled brightly and nodded, "Of course! I have your schedule right here. Oh, and here's a map to help you find your way around. Have a great first day!" I smiled and left only to run into a very pretty girl wearing a cheerleading uniform. "Oh, sorry." I apologized, "Didn't see you." She glared at me and stalked off. "Nice to meet you too," I muttered as she walked away. I continued walked and saw a tall, blond guy wearing a letter jacket over his uniform harassing a kid. As I watched, he pushed him down making him drop all his books. I couldn't stand bullies. "Hey," I shouted, "You know, that's not really fair." He turned to me and smirked, " Oh, really? Is anyone gonna stop me? You maybe?" I gulped but refused to move. Suddenly, without meaning to, I replied, "Yeah. After all, bullies are really just insecure prats." He glared and started towards me. Before he could move more than a couple of steps however, I used my gifts and tied his shoes together. He fell flat on his face and the whole hallway, except for a few guys in jackets, started laughing. They stopped immediately with one look from the guy. "You'll pay fro that." He said to me as he walked away. I simply shook my head and looked back down at me schedule. First period, biology. I smiled in relief. I loved science, plus the teacher was my Uncle Gaius.

I followed the map and walked into class. Since I was kind of early, there was only one person in the class. It was the dark- haired girl from earlier. I walked to the desk. "Hi, Uncle Gaius!" I said cheerfully. He looked up at me and gave me a bright smile. "Colin!" he said walking around to hug me, " I'm so glad you moved here! I smiled and, since the room was beginning to fill up, I asked, "So which seat is mine?" He nodded toward the girl I had noticed earlier. "You can partner with Gwen. She's one of my best and nicest students." I nodded and sat down next to her. "Hi," I said, a bit shyly, "I'm Merlin. I'm new and, I guess your new lab partner." I'm not too comfortable around new people. She smiled at me, "I'm Gwen Angel. I saw what you did earlier by the way. Stopping Arthur from harassing that kid? I thought it was really sweet." Gaius was right. She was extremely nice. I shrugged, slightly embarrassed. Through the course of the class, we continued to talk and became friends.

I had my next two classes with her as well. Second period was English and third was History. She was amazing at History. Then, we had lunch. "Do you want to sit with me?" she asked, seemingly nervous. I nodded, "Of course! Besides, it's not like I'm friends with anyone else." She smiled widely and led me to sit down at a table. Almost as soon as we sat down, the girl I had accidently walked into walked over to us. She had a mean look on her face and I could tell this wasn't going to be good. "Hi Gwen," she said in a false sugary sweet voice. "Oh, hi Morgan," Gwen replied without looking up from her sandwich. "So Gwen, I was wondering…who are you going to homecoming with?" Morgan continued smirking. Gwen started turning red so I came to the rescue. "Me," I said, standing up. Gwen turned to me in surprise, as did Morgan. She looked at me and glared. Apparently, she recognized me. "Never caught your name earlier?" she asked. "It's Colin. Colin Morgan. And you are…?" She glared again and replied, "Morgan Leaf. Head cheerleader. You don't want to mess with me." I looked at her coolly and replied, " I think I'll take my chances." By now, half of the cafeteria was watching our exchange. She sneered and walked away with her head held high.

I sat back down and blew out a long breath. Well, that was nerve-wracking. I felt someone's eyes on me and turned to see Gwen staring at me with her mouth open. "What?" I asked nervously. "Ummm…you just stood up to Morgan." I nodded, "Your point?" She shook her head slowly, "No one stands up to Morgan, Merlin. Everyone, even the boys, is scared of her. She can make your life a living hell. Trust me, I speak from experience." A dark look crossed her face. "I don't care," I replied, " I can't stand bullies and the only way to beat them is to stand up to them." She shrugged but let it drop. After a few minutes, she asked, "Did you really mean what you said about going to homecoming with me?" I nodded, " If you want to. As friends of course." She smiled and nodded, "I'd like that." I smiled back and we continued eating our lunches while she told me about the school.

As we finished, Gwen asked, "So, what do you have next?" I glanced down at my schedule and answered, "Umm…Precalculus, then Human Anatomy, and last, Gym. Gwen stared at me for a moment, "You're taking two science classes?" I shrugged and nodded, "I like science. I always have." She shook her head slowly and we began walking. "Ok," she finally said, "I've got an advanced math class so I'll see you after school?" I nodded and watched as she walked away before heading into my math class. It was easy. We were covering stuff that we'd already gone over in my old school. I pretty much zoned out the entire time. Human Anatomy was a different story. It wasn't offered where I used to live, probably because of the small population. I loved it. We were still covering pretty basic things but, like I told Gwen, I love science. After class was over, I reluctantly headed to the gym. I had always hated sports. For some reason, I was just not athletic. At all. In fact, if I tried to do sports I usually ended up hurting either myself or others.

After I changed into my gym clothes, a red t-shirt with black shorts, I walked into the gym as the coach announced that we would be playing dodge ball. He followed by yelling, "Pendragon, Wagner! Pick your teams!" Arthur walked up to the front along with another guy with brown hair that I hadn't met. Wagner, apparently, was popular but still nice to the rest of the kids. Arthur picked a couple of his football buddies along with some other kids who looked like they hung with the popular crowd. Wagner picked pretty athletic kids. I have a feeling he knew which ones were good at dodge ball. I, of course, was picked last. Ordinarily, I would have been slightly annoyed, but considering it was my first day and no one knew who I was it wasn't that surprising. I was on Wagner's team. As I walked past Arthur, he whispered menacingly, "Time to meet your maker." I rolled my eyes and walked to the side where the rest of my team was gathered. Our team was good, but unfortunately Arthur's was better. Within the first few minutes, 3 of our 7 players had been hit. Just as Arthur aimed a ball at my head, I used my magic and made him trip. Will hit him as he started to get up. Soon, it was just Will and I against one of Arthur's football buddies. I threw a ball at him, which he easily caught. He tagged Arthur in. Just as Arthur ran onto the court, Will and his buddy hit each other at the same time. Great, I thought, now he really gets to destroy me. For the first five minutes, it looked like a stalemate. Arthur dodged my throws and I used my magic to avoid being hit. Just as I thought coach was going to end the game (it was getting pretty close to the end of the period), Arthur hit with a ball right in the gut. I felt the wind get knocked out of me and landed flat on my back in the middle of the court. Arthur cheered and Will came to help me up. Looks like I made another friend. As I walked back to the locker room, I felt a piercing pain in my head and doubled over. A voice said, Protect Arthur. It is your destiny. After a few seconds the pain went away and I stood up. Yeah right, I thought. There is no way I am protecting that clotpole.

After I changed back into my uniform, I found Gwen waiting for me in the hall. "Hey," I said smiling. She replied, "Hey. So anything interesting happen?" I shook my head and grimaced. I had very briefly contemplated telling her about the weird voice I had heard while I was in the locker room but decided not to. "Other than almost getting knocked out by Pendragon in dodge ball, life's been pretty normal." She flushed a little when I said Pendragon, but I let it go. If she got embarrassed when I said his name, I could only imagine what would happen if I questioned her about it. We stopped by my locker to get my things (Gwen already had hers) and continued towards the parking lot. Since my mom had to work, Gwen was going to give me a ride home.

As we approached the lot, I took notice of all the cars. The cheerleader girl, Morgan, was standing next to a bright red convertible with a couple other cheerleaders. I scoffed as we walked past. The license plate read 'GUD 2 B BAD'. Really? We continued walking towards Gwen light blue VW and passed Arthur Pendragon walking towards a black hummer. His license plate read 'XCALIBUR'. Ok…whatever that meant. Just as we stopped by Gwen's car, I got this weird feeling like something bad was about to happen. I looked up and noticed a nondescript grey Honda speeding towards Arthur who was in the middle of the street. It looked like the owner had lost control. Without even thinking, I used my magic to increase my speed. I ran to Arthur and knocked him out of the way. Arthur looked like he was about to pummel me for knocking him to the ground but took a look at the car, which had finally managed to slow down, and seemed to think better of it. He got into his car and drove off without a word. Your welcome, I thought sarcastically. Seriously. I just saved his life and I don't even get a thank you or an acknowledgement? Whatever. After Gwen managed to stop staring at me with an open mouth, we got into her beat – up car and drove home.

Arthur's POV

As I pulled into the driveway in front of our ridiculously large house, I noticed my father's car. That was strange. Usually he wasn't home until at least six. I walked into the house and called, "Dad?" He replied from inside his study, "In here, Arthur." I walked in and he explained that he had taken the afternoon off. I nodded. As I was about to leave, he said, "Hold on a minute. How was your day?" I shrugged, "The usual. Class was boring, geeks were annoying. Although, one of them did push me out of the way of a speeding car, knocking me down in the process." My dad blinked, "A kid you don't even know saved your life? Well, I say that deserves some sort of reward. Do you know anything about him?" I shrugged again, "He's some sort of science genius. I think his name's Merlin." My dad looked back at me shrewdly, "Science genius, huh? You do need a chemistry tutor…" My jaw dropped and I groaned, "No way! There is no way that I am spending any more time than I have to with that geek!" My dad just gave me a look that said that he wouldn't change his mind. I groaned again, dropped into a chair, and said, "Can you do something for me at least?" I continued at his slight nod, "Get rid of the stupid uniforms. We all look the same. I want to set myself apart from the other losers." He considered it and finally said, "I'll bring it up at the next parents' board meeting." He then waved his hand at me as if saying I was dismissed. I quickly left before he could change his mind. About an hour later, he came to my room and said, "Your first tutoring session with Merlin is on Thursday." He left before I could say anything in response. I started to dread the rest of the week.