What started out as a prompt for a one shot from the always wonderful Nanu Kitty deviated and turned into this... monster... I don't even... R&R please!
Jack sighed. Yet another new school. This was the third time his family had moved in two years. And so far this school was even worse than the last four he had been to put together. Because while, at all of the other schools, he had been the weird albino new kid who was cool enough to laugh with when he made a joke, but not cool enough to try and make friends with, at this school he was invisible.
Except for when the teachers decided to pick on him during class for getting something wrong no one talked to him. No one even looked at him. After a week of being here he had finally figured out that any one who was deemed weird (And how was having white hair at age 17 NOT weird) was promptly ignored. And he figured, only guessing but probably right none the less, if anyone broke that rule then they would more than likely get the same treatment. Jack wanted to go back to the last school (Something he never would have thought possible.) at least there people would laugh when he made a joke.
The blue-eyed boy set his tray down at an empty table and sat, resigning himself to yet another silent lunch. Five minutes in he was surprised by the sound of another tray being plunked down beside him. He tore his gaze away from the mystery meat he was meant to be eating and saw a short blond kid was sitting next to him scribbling on a note pad.
"Uhm..." The albino started, not really sure what to say. Just then the boy held up the pad so he could see what was written. It read, Hi! I'm Sanders. My friends call me Sandy. I'm mute by the way. Jack looked from the paper to the boy's face and back again. "Well that's a blunt way of putting it."
The boy, Sandy, laughed silently as he wrote. I always do that. It's better to get it done and said before the awkward questions have to be asked.
Jack grinned. "Makes sence I guess. Sandy nodded then started back at his paper. When did you get here anyways?
Jack thought for a moment. "Uh about five minutes ago..." He stopped when he was Sandy shake his head and scribble something else. I meant when did you start at this school?
Jack felt slightly stupid. "Oh. About a week ago... Why? Are there no rumors of the freaky white-haired kid going around yet?" This question got a grin from the diminutive blond. No one talks about that kind of thing here. It's kinda like it's taboo... 'cept it's not. And besides it's not like any one would be telling ME the rumors. Jack laughed. "So I'm not the only one they won't talk to?"
Sandy gave his slightly creepy silent laugh again. No there are others. But most of them are on the senior trip right now and I was sick for three days of this week, and yesterday I brought my lunch and ate it outside. I didn't even know you where in existence before I saw you sitting here a few seconds ago. Jack looked at him for a moment. "Sick?" This, for some reason, drew another grin from Sandy. Had the sniffles, not even a fever, but my mother is a little over protective of her 'silent angel'. This set Jack off laughing again.
The two "talked" for the rest of the lunch period, eating quick bites in between writing, talking, and hysterical laughter. As the bell rang Sandy scribbled down yet another quick note. You wanna learn sign language some time? My hand starts to cramp when I have to write so much.
Jack grinned and nodded. "I always wanted to be bi lingual and spanish just never seemed... right... for me." The blond laughed as he dumped his tray then held up the pad again. Well then. Your instruction in the art of silent communication begins now. Later! Sandy quickly the last word and watched as Jack clumsily repeated the action, caught slightly off guard. Sandy laughed as he ran off with a wave to catch his next class.
The next day Sandy came to the table in the cafeteria to find his new friend deep in thought. What's up? Jack grinned. "Hay, have you ever thought of all the fun we could have with this?" The blond boy tilted his head to the side in a question. "You know? The ignoring? I wonder how many pranks we could pull before they finally decided to try and put a stop to it."
A devilish smile spread slowly across Sandy's face as he though about this. After a minute he turned towards his notepad. Why don't we try and find out?
A week of laughter, signing lessons, wich mostly consisted of Sandy pointing at something and signing the word insisting that Jack copied the action, and mysteriously covert planning sessions later Jack was sitting at the table they had claimed waiting nervously. The friends Sandy had told him so much about where returning from the senior trip.
The albino was doing his best not to show how nervous he was at the prospect of meeting these 'friends'. He picked at his serving of mashed potatoes with his spork and sighed only to jump back a little when a note pad was suddenly thrust in front of his nose. Why so serious?
Jack chuckled a little. "You do realise how creepy that note is right?" His eyes shifted enough to see Sandy's face, figuring that with the wide grin his friend was showing that he did, in fact, know how creepy it was. A voice spoke up from behind them. "Oi mate, you gunna introduce tha' dag?" Jack whipped around. "The WHAT?!"
Blue eyes meet startled green. The stranger ran a hand through his messy blue-black hair. "Oi no need to get ropeable there mate! It ain't much of a insult."
"Much?" Jack instantly latched on to that word and glared a little as the tall boy shrugged. "Where i'm from it's a friendly sorta thing mosta tha' time." Jack rolled his eyes. "Much and most. I feel soooo reassured." Just then a squeal comes from across the room and a running figure follows after it. "SANDY!" With that the short blond with said name was caught in a tackle/hug before he could escape.
"Sandy! I missed you! How where things while we were gone?! Did you have any problems with school work? Was it boring? Oh! You texted me that you had gotten sick! How are you feeling? Are you ok? Was it serious?! Who's this?!" Jack jumped a little when he realise that the attention of the energetic girl with multi colored hair was suddenly directed at him.
"U-uhm..." He stood up slowly as started trying to back away without her noticing. "I'm Jack... I just moved here last week..." He barely managed to dodge the girl's charge by jumping up onto the table landing in a crouch and earning himself weird looks from the three teens. His pale face turned red when he realised what he had done.
"Sorry... not use to people trying to hug me like that... You where trying to hug me right?" The girl nodded looking slightly dazed and confused as the still un-named boy burst out. "What tha hell? Are ya some kinda bloody ninja or somethin'?"
It was Jack's turn to look confused. "W-what? No." he glanced around and noticed that even though he was sure people had seen him on the table everyone was still ignoring his existence. He as he jumped down from his perch he found that while he was relieved that he probably wouldn't get in trouble for his instinctive reaction it also kind of hurt that they would go so far to ignore him.
Jack almost jumped out of his skin as a big hand slammed down on his shoulder. "That was good show! Are you perhaps an acrobat? No? Well that's too bad! You would be good!" The albino turned to see the massive person at his side, dark brown hair and blue eyes.
Jack slipped out from underneath the weighty hand, "Uh thanks... I think." This was met by a hearty laugh from the giant with a Russian (Jack thought) accent. "So now tell me friend, who are you?" Jack looks around at the ring of faces. "Hey I already gave my name. Why don't you all introduce yourselves first?"
"Oh my gosh!" The girl's hands fluttered around her like little wings as she suddenly became anxious. "How could we be so RUDE?! I'm so sorry! I'm Tina Dint but all my friends call me Tooth so... Sorry for being rude earlyer..." She trailed of looking uncertain.
Jack gave her a smile. "It's fine i guess." The albino was slightly shocked when she swooned a little. "Oh! Your teeth! They're perfect!" He took a step back at the exclamation. "Uh... what?" The other three boys broke out laughing, silent laughter in Sandy's case, and before 'Tooth' could answer the tall boy with grey-black hair who he was arguing with before cut in. "I'm Aster Bunnymund, and the lummox 'ere is Nick, though he goes by his last name, North."
Jack looked around at all of them for a moment. "...Glad to see I'm not the only one with a weird name around here... I'm Jack. Jack Frost." The others regarded him in silence for a moment before all of them except Sandy burst out laughing.
"He's perfect!" Tooth exclaimed. Jack looked down at his small blond friend and signed. Care to translate? Sandy grinned. It's an old running joke between us. Jack sighed. "Well thanks. That's a lot of help." You'll probably hear more about it later. Jack nodded and looked around just noticing the stunned faces of his new acquaintances (Jack wouldn't go so far as to call them friends yet.). "What?"
North spoke up. "You know sign language?" Jack grinned. "Sandy taught me. It was fun... though I don't think he used the conventional methods of teaching..." This caused the big teen to laugh. "Our little friend never uses conventional methods for anything!"
Aside from the devious glint in his eyes Jack's smile would have seemed almost innocent. "Oh I've noticed. It seems we get on well in that."
Jack's pale face smashed into the side of a bank of lockers. He managed to keep his feet as the pale fist withdrew from it's first strike. "P-pitch... I'm sorry! I didn't man to! oof-" The slim albino slumped back against the lockers trying to regain his breath.
Striking golden eyes flash with rage as they stared down at the smaller boy. "Like hell you didn't! I'll teach you to bump into me!" Pitch, golden boy, amazing athlete, jock leader, small town favorite, girls swoon over his accent, bad ass team captain, Pith Black snarled down at the outcast.
Jack gazed into the eyes of his assailant and knew he wasn't getting out of it. They both knew that if Pitch backed off now he would lose favor with the fickle ranks of his followers and would revert back to a worthless nobody. Pitch knew he wouldn't be able to survive being ignored again.
For that very reason he knew he was going to enjoy the act that would only solidify his place as top dog. He stepped forward and let his voice drop a little, "You will learn to watch where you're going freak."
The next morning found Jack Frost hesitating outside of the cafeteria doors, unwilling to go in and face the small group whom he was slowly starting to count as his friends. He knew that the rest of the people in the large room would ignore him even as they swooned over Pitch for upholding his so called honor.
But he didn't want Sandy and the others to see. He knew that kids in their positions on the social ladder usually steered clear of kids who got bullied knowing that if they got too close they would more than likely be the next target.
Jack himself had never been able to turn his back on people being bullied and it had resulted in many beatings for him over the years. But he had also seen others ignore and pull away from the bullied. He had seen that side of human nature too many times to try and fool himself into believing it didn't exist.
And now here he stood. Knowing that if he went through the doors in front of him he would more than likely lose what little friendship he had managed to gain in this rotten town. He knew word would get around to them sooner or later but he really didn't want to deal with it while the bruises and cuts were throbbing so badly. He sighed, resigning himself to not having breakfast, and turned... right into North.
Startled blue net shocked blue as their eyes locked and North took in the molted coloring on Jack's face, the one thing his hoodie and jeans couldn't hide. "Jack? what- hey!" The albino teen bolted in a panic, not knowing why he was so afraid of North seeing him like this but not really caring about the reason at that second.
After a moment he heard the loud thudding sound of North running after him and Jack started running faster even though it hurt to do so. He managed to gain distance on the heavier and slower Russian and turned a corner, slipping into an empty classroom a second after. He hid behind the door and listened as the larger teen thundered past.
Slowly his pale form slipped out from his hiding space, holding his ribs and trying to get his breath back as his bruised and battered ribs protested along with the rest of his body. After a bit he staggered out of the room and quietly made his way to his first class, wondering how he was going to avoid the group of misfits now.
They had laid an ambush for him. Jack understood that as soon as they fell in around him as he walked through the school gate. The four of them took up positions to block possible escape routes. Jack sighed but kept walking glaring at the pavement as they kept pace.
After a few blocks of silence he knew he would have to be the one to break the silence. Might as well get this over with... "What did you guys want?" Tooth glanced at him. "We want to know who you fought with."
This took Jack by surprise and he laughed. "Is that what their calling it? A fight?" He laughed harder but winced as his ribs once again gave protest. He saw Sandy's face as he started to frown and the tanned fingers as he started to sign but turned his attention to Aster as he began to speak. "So who'd ya get into a blue with?"
The albino did his best to look utterly confused even though he guessed what the Aussie was saying. "Blue?" Aster glared and stopped walking. "Yeah mate. Who'd ya fight with?"
Jack shrugged hiding another wince. "No one."
Aster growled while Tooth spoke up. "I call Bull." Jack glare at the side walk and they all stopped walking, forcing him to stop as well. North took the torch. "Look Jack... My friend... We only want to know who you fought with.. Is no big deal." The glare went from the side walk to the Russian now in full force. "I didn't fight with any one!"
"Don't come to the bloody raw prawn with me ya ass! We know there was a fight after last period gym yesterday! And yer the only one sportin' a shiner so we know you were involved! Who did ya fight with!"
Finally Jack snapped under the pressure. "I didn't fight ok? I let them beat the living daylights out of me in a five on one beating! So now if you would be so kind as to let me go home and take a friggin nap I-" Coming back to his senses he realised what he had said. The skin that wasn't turned some fantastic color paled visibly.
It took a moment for the others to realise what Jack had said and another for them to figure out what all it meant. Tooth was, of corse the first one to react. "Jack? Do you mean..." One look at his face confirmed and and she started crying. "Oh Jack!" She rushed at him in a hug not seeing the look of pain that crossed the stunned albino's face before he could hide it.
He looked to the other boys for help only to see a look of undisguised rage on all three of their faces. Suddenly Aster stepped forward visibly seething and hissed. "Who was it?" Jack stepped back Tooth still sobbing on his chest, stopping as he felt the rough bulk of a wall behind him. He shuttered a little thinking that their anger was directed at him and that he was about to get another beating.
North raised a giant hand to the Australian's shoulder. "Bunny. You are scaring him." He brushed past Aster and gently pulled Tooth away before kneeling in front of Jack. "Jack Frost. We need you to tell us who did this to you. We will not stop asking until you do." By now the white-haired teen was confused and he knew his blue eyes showed it. "Just tell us my friend. We aren't going to hurt you for it."
Aster looked surprised at that last statement. Does the kid really think that WE would hurt him too? Jack glanced around for an escape and upon finding none his shoulders slumped in defeat. "It was Pitch and the four goons that are in that class too..." He gritted his teeth as he heard how feeble his voice had sounded. He was ashamed that they had made him talk. Now they'll beat me and go to join Pitch's ranks.
He was utterly and completely taken of guard when North caught him up an a surprisingly gentle hug. "Thank you Jack." The giant of a boy regained his feet and the four friends headed back towards the school.
"Wait... Where are you guys going?" Jack sounded completely bewildered. Sandy turned around and signed. To teach those guys a lesson. No one messes with one of our friends and gets away with it. Jack stood there for a moment completely shell shocked before running forwards. "Hey wait!"
It took him a whole hour to convince the others that beating Pitch up wouldn't solve anything and would only get them all expelled. No, Jack had a better idea. One he and Sandy had already been working on. Jack showed the group the list with the heading of '101 ways to make people miserable when you're invisible' It was the list of pranks the devious duo where planning to unleash on the school. They all decided that the first one to get pranked would be Pitch.
No one saw it coming one second Pitch Black, all-star athlete, wonder boy, champion of the town, was carrying the ball, five steps away from the touch down, the next he was sprawling ungracefully on his back the wind knocked out of him and an entire home stadium booing at his failure.
No one knew exactly what had happened, except for five grinning teens sitting on the side lines, one of whom was doing his best to discretely cover the empty bottle of vegetable oil with the wrappers from his friends hot dogs.
Every one knew that Pitch Black's precious reputation was trashed. The scouts who where watching the game all frowned, angry that they had been called out for yet another useless player. No one would be following this failure around admiring his every move and hanging onto his every sentence anymore. Pitch was through.
Revenge was sweet.
Tooth was lecturing Sandy and Jack telling them that they were, under no circumstances, to do any of the other pranks on that list... While she was around. Jack grinned. "Ok Tina... Ill do my best to be good... If you tell me why every one calls you Tooth. Also, I wanna know why Aster goes by Bunny."
Sandy and Tooth laughed. "It's an inside joke. Aster's favorite holiday is Easter... something to do with family history or something. He goes batshit crazy getting ready for the annual town egg hunt. And his last name is Bunnymund. We thought the nick name fit... And then North came into the picture. Nicolas St. North. The giant boy who's mom acts like it's Christmas every day of the year. He would have made the perfect Santa... I mean the name alone qualifies him... Before I go on I wanna ask you another question."
Jack frowned but knew better than to argue with the stubborn girl. "Uh ok?"
She looked at him. "How did you pick up sign language so fast? You where only here for like a week before we met you right?" Jack nodded. "I've always been good with that stuff... I've picked p a lot of bits and pieces of different languages just from listening to people on the street... I'm still learning from Sandy here but I guess I did pick it up faster than most would... on now why are you tooth?"
This drew a grin from the colorful girl. "Well we already had an Easter bunny and a Santa, So I became the Tooth fairy, because I wanted to be a dentist, and Sandy became the Sandman because it just... fit him I guess..." Jack nodded thoughtfully. "I see." He looked down as Sandy tugged on his arm then signed. Do you also see what that makes you? "Huh?" In our group you are Jack Frost, bringer of winter and snow days!
Jack grinned. "Snow days huh? Sounds fun!"
Whelp. After over a week of brainstorms (lol), aching eyes, and computer problems I finally did it. and I'm uploading it in one chapter cuz its late and I don't feel like cutting it apart. Hope you guys enjoyed it! Review! Oh and if you all want to read some of the pranks I'm playing with the idea of doing so actual one shots (Not as long as this one!) of one or two of them. Tell me if you wanna read 'em!