Hello again everyone! Here's the latest brainchild of me and the lovely Jarjarblinx1. Hope you guys enjoy!
The school was chaos. A long summer apart from each other made it absolutely essential for the students of Mansfield High to eagerly crowd around each other's lockers. Their eagerness to be heard led to a screaming match, voices fighting to tell their stories of vacationing in Bermuda, ziplining in Belize, and safaris through Africa. Perhaps the largest group of them all was crowded around Jackson Frost, the most popular and well-liked student of them all. While he may not have been the tallest student, his naturally pure white hair made him unmistakable in a crowd. From a soft face, two piercing blue eyes were crinkled in mirth as he laughed.
"So we were in a rush to get to the train station, we wanted to make sure we had time to return the rental car and still make the train heading from Italy to France, but Mom was dying of thirst and we had to stop at the store. Dad ran into this little shop and came running out real quick. The problem is that there was a car in front of us that looked almost exactly our rental, and he jumped into that one." He paused to catch his breath from laughing. "Next thing we knew Dad was being chased out of the car but the tiniest, old Italian lady trying to hit him with her cane!"
Next to him, a girl with rainbow hair giggled. "Seriously?"
"It was hilarious! Dad was complaining about his bruises for the next three days."
"You always have the best stories!"
"They just sort of happen to me. I don't plan them or anything."
Nicholas North, the large captain of the football team, clapped his hand on Jack's back. "It's because your family is perfect!"
"I don't know if I'd go so far as to say that." Jack gave an embarrassed laugh.
"You know it's true. Loving parents, a little sister who adores you. Damn, you're damn near perfect!"
"Okay, okay, guys. No more of this." He shuffled a little uncomfortably at the attention. "I have to head to class."
"Alright, Jackie boy. See you at lunch!"
Tooth, the rainbow-haired girl, smiled at Jack. "See you at lunch."
"See you guys!" Jack grabbed the books he needed for his next few classes and headed off to AP Calculus.
On his way to class, a rushing student knocked into Jack's shoulder, jostling the books out of his hands. "Watch it."
"Hey! Excuse you!" He knelt down to gather his books again.
The boy sighed loudly and knelt down, helping Jack gather some loose papers which had floated out of reach. "So you're Jack Frost. Never thought I'd see you without your entourage."
"They're not my entourage. They're my friends." Jack took the papers and straightened them with a sigh.
"They're a cult."
"If you feel like that, then you must not have many friends yourself, huh, Pitch?"
"Wow, Jack Frost knows my name. What an honor."
"As student body president, it's my goal to know every student at school." He stood up, his books gathered in one arm, and held his hand out to Pitch with a friendly smile. "Nice to meet you."
Pitch looked at the offered hand, not reaching out to take it. "Do you do this with everyone, or am I just special?"
"With everyone I get the chance to meet." He awkwardly retracted his hand.
"That must be annoying."
"I like to think of it as the potential meeting of a new friend."
"I think you have enough friends, Mr. Perfect. And now you've made me late."
"Who're you to decide how many friends I'm allowed to have? You shouldn't be so quick to blame others for your own being late," Jack grumbled.
"If you watched where you were going, you wouldn't have made me late. Be a little more considerate!" Pitch ran off down the hallway in a rush to his next class.
"You-" Jack bit back a retort, seeing as the guys was already long gone. He repeated his mother's favorite saying over and over in his head. Kill them with kindness. Kill them with kindness. After another few calming breaths, he headed off for his own class, making it in the door just before the tardy bell.
"Thank you for joining us at last, Mr. Frost," the teacher said and checked his name off on the attendance sheet. "Please take your seat."
"Sorry, sir. Dropped my books in the hallway." He took one of the seats in the front, close to the window.
"Alright, now that everyone's here, we can begin. First things first, the school is hosting a pen pal project this year in order to promote kindness and tolerance amongst the students. Please give some sort of contact info to the Kindness Committee, and they'll pair you up with an anonymous pen pal from within the school."
"Mr. Stevens?" A girl in the back raised her hand. "How is this pen pal thing going to benefit everyone? I'd like to think I'm already a kind person, so what is it supposed to do for people like me?"
Jack quickly raised his hand before the teacher could speak. "Could I answer that, sir? I'm the student ambassador for the Kindness Committee."
The teacher waved his hand towards Jack. "Yeah sure, go ahead."
He stood up in front of the class. "To answer your question, Sarah, I'd like you all to know why the Kindness Committee decided to try the Pen Pal Project. Yes, there are a lot of students here are already kind to each other, but others are still left out because of social groups. We have seen those who aren't in a necessarily 'popular' group find it hard to connect those who are included. And those in the groups, for the most part, aren't willing to branch out from their comfortable groups. Or they think that they don't have anything in common with the people who prefer to stay separate. Believe me, I'm just as guilty as all of you." He cleared his throat for a moment. "Our hope for this project is to forge friendships between groups that might never have met otherwise. Since it's completely anonymous, you don't have to be afraid of how someone else might perceive you."
"Is it mandatory?"
"Do we get extra credit?"
"Can I send nudes to my girlfriend?"
[ShadowKing is online]
ShadowKing: Hey
ShadowKing: Guess you're my pen pal.
[GuardianOfFun is online]
GuardianOfFun: Hey ShadowKing
GuardianOfFun: Looks like we are. I like your user name. Is that supposed to represent you, or are you a LotR fan?
ShadowKing: I guess both? Does your name represent you?
GuardianOfFun: My little sister picked it. She says I always go out of my way to make sure things are fun. So I guess you could say it represents me?
ShadowKing: So you have a sister? That must be nice. Is she younger or older than you?
GuardianOfFun: She's younger. Just started sixth grade this year. What about you? Any siblings?
ShadowKing: Adopted. Single kid. Parent's away a lot.
GuardianOfFun: I'm sorry. That's a bit of a bummer. What do you do to blow time then? Besides binge watch LotR like me?
ShadowKing: I like music. I taught myself how to play the cello and the piano.
ShadowKing: I also like reading. Have you read any good books lately?
GuardianOfFun: That's awesome! I'm a percussionist and a singer, but I'm not as badass as you teaching yourself. I picked up some sticks in fifth grade band and never turned back.
GuardianOfFun: I do love reading. Haven't been able to read much lately, though, what with mountains of homework and family stuff.
ShadowKing: So you like the drums? I'm guessing that means you like rock music? Are you more into classic rock or…?
ShadowKing: I hear ya. There's so much homework and now this project too. Do you think anyone's taking it seriously?
GuardianOfFun: It's probably safer not to ask me about my tastes in music. It's so eclectic it would take an hour of messaging just to tell you the basic list of my favorite artists. And I don't think either of us has time for that.
GuardianOfFun: The vibe I got from everyone kind of made me feel like they didn't care much for it. I wish they did. Turns out I didn't get such a bad partner.
ShadowKing: My teacher made it mandatory. But you're a pretty good partner, so it's not too bad.
ShadowKing: What are some of the artists you're into? Maybe we have some common interests.
GuardianOfFun: It was mandatory for me too. I think I would have done it even if it wasn't though. It's a big school, and you never who you might be missing out on meeting.
GuardianOfFun: I like Alexandre Desplat and Hans Zimmer for movie composers, pretty much any broadway musicals, Blink 182, Green Day, Journey, Demi Lovato, cheesy old Disney Channel stuff, some new cheesy Disney Channel stuff thanks to my sister, and tons more stuff.
ShadowKing: You sound like a big kid. I like Alexandre Desplat and Hans Zimmer. Also Carter Burwell, Wojciech Kilar and James Horner.
ShadowKing: Disney's cool. I'm also really big into Bollywood music right now.
GuardianOfFun: I think a big kid is the best description of me I've heard in awhile.
GuardianOfFun: I don't listen to much Bollywood, but I like K-Pop. I have a knack for languages and can pick up a song pretty quick. It's fun watching people's reactions to me singing it since I'm about as far from Asian as you can get.
ShadowKing: So you're not Asian. That's a clue.
ShadowKing: K-Pop is cool. Do you learn the dances too?
GuardianOfFun: I try to for fun sometimes. Dancing doesn't come as easy to me though, so I don't do it much.
GuardianOfFun: Are you Asian? Didn't mean to offend, if you are.
ShadowKing: I am not Asian at all. I actually don't know what my genetic makeup is. I've been thinking about doing one of those genetic testing kits. What do you think?
GuardianOfFun: I think those are pretty cool. My grandparents gave my Mom and Dad each one for Christmas last year. Turns out we have a some Spanish and English blood in us that no one was aware of before. If you do it, I want to know what you are!
[ShadowKing is offline]
[ShadowKing is online]
ShadowKing: Hey, sorry for the delay! I had to Skype with Lois (my adoptive mother). She's in Rome right now having dinner with the Pope. Who does that?
ShadowKing: I'll tell you the results if it doesn't reveal my identity. I'm guessing we have to remain anonymous as long as possible, right?
GuardianOfFun: That's the plan. Anonymity for as long as we can stand it.
GuardianOfFun: Your Mom is having dinner with the Pope?! What'd she do to get to do that?
GuardianOfFun: P.S. You're adopted?
GuardianOfFun: Ignore that. Just realized I skipped over that message earlier.
ShadowKing: Lois has a cousin who's a cardinal or something like that. I dunno, she's kinda weird like that. She brought me Putin's signature last month and a hand-written letter to me from Elizabeth II the month before. Michael (my adoptive dad) is even worse. He knows everyone.
ShadowKing: Yeah, I'm adopted. I lost my parents when I was 6.
ShadowKing: Sorry to bum you out. I tend to do that.
GuardianOfFun: Don't worry about bumming me out. You're the one who deserves to be upset after all you've gone through. I'm sorry that happened to you.
ShadowKing: I'm over it. I get the house to myself a lot, so I can be as loud as I want. Maybe if we become friends I'll invite you over.
GuardianOfFun: That would be cool. My parents love having people over, but I'm usually too busy or they are to actually have any friends over.
ShadowKing: So where do you like to hang out?
GuardianOfFun: Honestly, as sad as it sounds, I don't hang out much. I'm too busy with family, sports, good grades, and all that. School is my social time.
ShadowKing: At least you have a social life. I don't really do friends.
GuardianOfFun: That sounds awfully lonely. Well, where do you usually hang out?
ShadowKing: The studio, the library, or home. Pretty exciting.
GuardianOfFun: I'm sure there's people at the studio and library you could find who like the same things you do. Or do you not want friends, not so much you can't make them?
ShadowKing: It's not that I don't want them. I guess it's hard for me to make them.
GuardianOfFun: If only I knew who you were at school. I'm a people person, and there's already a few I think you'd like. Based on our conversations so far, at least.
ShadowKing: So you're one of the popular kids?
GuardianOfFun: Some people might call me that. I don't like to be called popular. I just try to be nice to people, and I guess it makes them like me. I try to follow the Golden Rule.
ShadowKing: I can imagine it's hard to be liked by everyone. A lot of pressure.
GuardianOfFun: You have no idea. With everything I've taken on this year, I think I've set myself up for a mental breakdown.
GuardianOfFun: Or two or three.
ShadowKing: You should focus on you. It does you no good to be president of every club if you start screaming the moment you have privacy.
GuardianOfFun: It sounds to me like our problems are polar opposites. I have too many social obligations, and you have too few. I'd happily give you some if you want.
ShadowKing: I have obligations. Just not as many as you by the sound of it. I bet you have a leather planner or something. Color coded too.
GuardianOfFun: Nah. I've just got a cellphone with a packed calendar full of about twenty reminders a day for myself.
ShadowKing: That probably gets annoying fast.
GuardianOfFun: I'm used to it. So far it hasn't failed me.
ShadowKing: Your perfectionism narrows down the field of potential pen pals. You're making this too easy.
GuardianOfFun: I didn't think I was being that obvious. There's tons at school who fit my description
ShadowKing: Less than you think.
GuardianOfFun: Then there's you. There's a surprising amount of loners at our school. None of them have really talked to me, for obvious reasons, so I don't know much about them to get an idea on which might be you.
ShadowKing: So…
ShadowKing: Do you have the extended editions of LotR?
GuardianOfFun: Would I be a true closet nerd if I didn't?
ShadowKing: There are plenty of nerds who settle for the plain blu-ray.
GuardianOfFun: Not this nerd. Hardcore all the way.
ShadowKing: Have you ever gone to a convention?
GuardianOfFun: A few years back I did. Lately, my schedule has been a little too crazy to unless they're on school breaks. Which hardly ever happens with my luck.
ShadowKing: That sucks. I've gone a few times. I went as Thranduil last time I went.
GuardianOfFun: What a coincidence! I went as Legolas last time.
ShadowKing: So you dressed up as my son? That's not awkward haha
GuardianOfFun: #awkwardnotawkward
ShadowKing: So you're a guy. Interesting.
GuardianOfFun: Or I went as a genderbent Legolas. I'll leave it to you to figure out which.
ShadowKing: I think you would have specified that earlier. I think you're a guy.
GuardianOfFun: Alright. You caught me. I'm a guy.
ShadowKing: Cool beans. Me too. That'll make it easier.
GuardianOfFun: Easier for you.
ShadowKing: Why?
GuardianOfFun: Most of the loners at school are guys :P
ShadowKing: How is that easier for me? I wouldn't be able to pick you out of a lineup. I made it easier for you to guess.
GuardianOfFun: I feel like the group I could be in is much smaller than yours.
ShadowKing: Depends. Do you have any guesses about my identity?
GuardianOfFun: Honestly? No.
GuardianOfFun: The one guess I was kind of leaning toward has already been debunked.
ShadowKing: Let me hear it. I wanna see how close you were.
GuardianOfFun: Well...I thought you might be Andrea Youngerman. Clearly I was way off.
ShadowKing: Oh yeah. Way off. Is that even a real person?
GuardianOfFun: The fact you've never even heard of her is proof she's the ultimate loner.
ShadowKing: Or am I?
GuardianOfFun: I guess I'll figure that out when I figure out who you are.
ShadowKing: Never, I say! Never!
GuardianOfFun: That only makes me more determined to figure it out.
ShadowKing: You won't succeed.
ShadowKing: Sincerely, UltimateLoner fka ShadowKing
GuardianOfFun: UltimateLoner,
GuardianOfFun: Nice to meet you.
ShadowKing: Nope, not as cool.
ShadowKing: Sincerely, ShadowKing fka UltimateLoner fka ShadowKing
GuardianOfFun: ShadowLoner/WhoeverYouAre,
GuardianOfFun: Please let ShadowKing know I'm going to have to head to bed. It's getting late even for me.
ShadowKing: I'll let him know. Have a good night.
GuardianOfFun: You as well. Chat again tomorrow?
GuardianOfFun: Unless I've already run you off?
ShadowKing: Sounds like a plan. Talk to you tomorrow, Guardian.
GuardianOfFun: Sleep well, your Highness.
ShadowKing: I shall do just that.
[ShadowKing is offline]
[GuardianOfFun is offline]
Soooooooo? What did you guys think? We'd love to here from you guys!
