A/N: I just saw The Breakfast Club & Rise of the Guardians, and I'm so pumped now I'm gonna write a fic! (fun fact, did you know the title of this fic was one of the proposed titles for The Breakfast Club?)
xxxxx
Jack is not pleased.
And he has a very good reason not to be. School, on a Saturday? 'Ridiculous,' he thinks. He would've skipped it and gone over to Jamie's house or something, except that he didn't and he is currently walking towards the school, with his hood up for warmth and why is he doing this again?
xxxxx
He considers walking one round around the school before deciding not to. 'Just get this over and done with,' he thinks, and makes his way steadily to the library. The door is already opened and he walks in with confidence. 'It's just extended detention. It can't be that bad.'
Inside the room he sees three other students. Two of them are sitting at the front table together, a girl and a boy. Jack finds them vaguely familiar, but cannot seem to place a name to their faces. The girl is small and looks clean and proper, and the boy is opposite of that. He is untidy and tall, even when sitting down, and Jack thinks maybe he is on some sports team. Probably.
The boy glances up at Jack, and meets his eyes. Jack smirks at him, and the boy scoffs before looking away.
Jack takes a sit two tables down from them, because the one behind them is taken by the third student. Jack knows him by name- North. He is the Russian transfer student from months ago, and was the hot new topic among students for quite a while, because of his large physique and contrasting soft demeanour. Jack thinks he talks funny, because North speaks with a Russian accent.
As soon as he takes a seat, North turns around to greet him with a huge smile. "Hello, Jack!" he booms.
Jack blinks. "Uh, hi?" he offers weakly.
North continues, pleased with his response. "Is such a shame we are all here today. Waste of Saturday!"
"Yeah..." Jack stuffs his hands into his hoodie pocket, hoping that North would get the hint that he doesn't want to talk. Not to this person he doesn't know, anyway.
But North doesn't get it. "I wonder what Mr. Black will do with us?" He taps his chin, frowning.
"I don't know, and I don't really care," Jack mumbles, and the door opens to reveal another student.
North turns to look and bellows immediately. "Sandy!"
Sandy smiles at him and takes a seat next to North. The two of them start a conversation immediately, thus ignoring Jack (luckily). Jack tries to follow it, but with North's talking and Sandy's... not-talking (really, just some hand movements. Jack has a niggling suspicion that Sandy is mute), he gets bored of it soon enough.
His eyes wander around the room, before he feels a stare on him. Jack rotates his head to face the front, where everyone else is.
The girl is looking at him. When he meets her eyes, she turns in front quickly. Probably hiding a blush. Jack allows a smirk onto his face.
Oh. Now the tall boy is looking at him. He looks wary and distrustful, with a scowl on his face. Are the two of them dating or something? Jack looks pointedly at the girl, and back to the boy. Then he raises his eyebrows in question.
To this, the boy glares at him before turning back in front.
Jack rolls his eyes before examining the room again. 'Rude.'
xxxxx
The teacher-in-charge, Mr. Black, is also rude and annoying (we are going to write an essay-of no less than a thousand words- describing to me who you think you are) and Jack is glad when he leaves, because he was pondering about the pros and cons of just standing up and walking out. The pros were in favour, but he would've gotten into more trouble, which wasn't very appealing.
Now he has to focus on the fact that he is stuck in this room with four other students until 4pm. And it's only 7:06am.
Jack sighs softly and starts to rock his chair. He has no plan to write the essay, and it would seem as if the others had the same thought as well. Rude boy was whispering to the girl, and North was chuckling softly (as soft as he could, anyway) at some of Sandy's gestures.
Which left him alone. 'Oh, well," Jack thinks.
Rude boy is talking louder now. "...and I just hit him, y'know? That dipstick was lookin' for it."
Jack sees the girl nod her head sympathetically over North's shoulder. "Yeah, I get what you mean. I hate it when they do that."
Jack rolls his eyes and snorts. Unfortunately for Jack, rude boy seems to have heard him. He sends a glare Jack's way.
"Hey there, mate. You got something you wanna say?" Rude boy says. The girl glances worriedly at both of them, and North and Sandy has stopped communicating to do the same.
"Oh, nothing... Just that, well, that's kinda typical of you, isn't it?" Jack quips, thinking quickly.
"What are ya talking 'bout?" Rude boy bristles, obviously getting riled up.
Jack smiles and opens his mouth to speak before getting interrupted.
"Guys! You shouldn't fight," the girl says in a placating manner.
"Aw, your girlfriend's protecting you," Jack comments, with innocence in his voice. He can't help it.
"Alright gumby, listen up," Rude boy stands up from his seat and stalks towards Jack. "Tooth ain't my girlfriend, and you're a wanker!" he calls out angrily, gripping the front of Jack's hoodie.
"Woah there!" Jack says and puts his hands up in mock defeat at the same time North hollers out a "Stop!"
The room is silent for two beats, before Mr. Black pops his head in.
Rude boy lets go of Jack, and Mr. Black shakes his head. "I had expected this," he says almost sadly. "Jack, Aster-" 'Oh, so that's his name.' "- I want to see both of you, outside. Now." And he leaves.
Aster turns around to walk out, and Jack follows obediently.
xxxxx
They are let off with a warning not to fight again or they would have to come back next Saturday.
"And please, Jack," Mr. Black says condescendingly. "Do try to keep your childish manners to yourself." Aster snickers not-so-quietly and Jack scowls before nodding begrudgingly.
Both of them re-enters the room when Mr. Black dismisses them. Jack strolls back to his seat and glances at the clock in front. 7:13am. Still a long way to go.
xxxxx
"Wake up!"
Jack doesn't remember falling asleep, but he wakes up from a nap anyway. His arm is numb from the pressure he put on it as he was sleeping.
Mr. Black is in the room, with a frown on his face as usual. The other students have their heads on the table as well.
"Who has to go to the lavatory?" Mr. Black asks, and everybody puts up their hand in sync.
Jack sees Mr. Black sigh and he chuckles softly.
xxxxx
The time now is 10:22am. Jack glimpses at the clock, before burying his head in his arms. North is drawing loudly (his pencils make a lot of noise, and so do his occasional Russian phrases) at his table, Sandy is reading a book at a sofa behind, Aster is walking around the library and the girl is at her table, doing god-knows-what. Mr. Black isn't even checking on them. Jack bets he doesn't even care.
He is wide awake, but still he tries to fall asleep. In the middle of his attempts, he hears the chair next to him get dragged out and occupied.
Jack lifts his head from his arms, knowing that he probably looks messy now, but he doesn't care.
Oh, it turns out to be the girl. Jack blinks, and she smiles.
"Hi," she starts.
"...hello," Jack says warily. Did Aster put her up to this?
The girl seems unaware of his thoughts. "My name is Toothiana, but call me Tooth."
"...okay," Jack is confused. The girl- Tooth- looks at him expectantly, and he remembers the correct thing to say. "Oh! Uh, my name is Jack."
"I know," Tooth states simply, before getting embarrassed. "Oh gosh! I mean, I've heard about you before! Yeah," she gives a nervous chuckle, and Jack gives a tiny smile back.
"So, anyway, you're probably wondering what I'm doing here talking to you... Well, um, I just wanted to apologize to you, for Bunny's actions-"
"Bunny?" Jack echoes puzzedly. Surely, she can't be talking about...
"Oh, Aster. The- We, um, the others, we call him Bunny. It's 'cause he runs really fast, like a rabbit! A bunny. See?"
"Ah," Jack nods in acceptance. "I see..." He's already thinking of all the names he can call the other boy.
"So, yeah. Just saying sorry. For him. To you," Tooth smiles awkwardly.
"Right... Okay. Apology accepted," Jack says gracefully, and smiles for added measure. The fight didn't really affect him, anyway.
"Oh, wow! Your teeth are really nice," Tooth squeaks, awestruck, before pulling herself together. "I mean, they're just- no offense! They're just really white and shiny and you don't seem like the type to take care of your teeth and- oh gosh, I don't mean it like that, just- you're nice as well, and um! I really like your teeth!" she ends, flustered.
Jack blinks before speaking. "...thank you?"
Tooth smiles at him in relief and nods. "You're welcome!" she chirps. "I'll be going back to my seat now. Nice talking to you, Jack!"
"Bye," he replies, dazed, as she leaves the seat. 'What was that?'
xxxxx
It is 11.30am when Mr. Black walks in the library without warning. Jack spots him and almost falls down from the statue he had scaled. A glance around the room shows him that Tooth is still at her table, writing in her organizer or something of the sort. Aster is sitting at the library's stairs with his eyes closed. Sandy is still at the sofa, but surrounded by dozens of books. North is building a pyramid out of books at the second level of the library. None of them has noticed Mr. Black. Jack wants to pretend the same, but Mr. Black has noticed him.
"Jackson!" he calls out sharply, and all eyes fall on him, before they fall on Jack. Jack cringes, and jumps down from the statue.
"Hey," he drawls, smiling cockily.
Mr. Black is not affected. "I will tolerate no stunts in this school, is that clear?"
"It's not even that tall," Jack complains.
"Is that clear?" The way Mr. Black stresses each word makes Jack reply with a crisp "Yes, sir". Mr. Black nods at him, apparently satisfied.
"Thirty minutes for lunch," he announces to the occupants of the room.
"Here?" Tooth asks.
"Here," His tone makes Tooth shut up.
"We need drinks," Aster says instead. "Drinks, that ain't available here in the library."
Mr. Black presses his lips together tightly. "You two," he gestures towards Aster and Sandy.
"There is a soft drink machine in the teacher's lounge. Let's go."
xxxxx
Sandy walks quietly in the hallway. He is quiet as well (due to the obvious fact that he can't speak). Occasionally, he glances up at the Australian. Aster, wasn't it? Aster walks with a slouch and a frown. Sandy wants to make him smile, but can't figure out how. So, he opts to remain silent.
Surprisingly, it is Aster who speaks. "So, what do you drink?"
Sandy blinks once in surprise. Then he tries to gesture 'pepsi' with his hands but all Aster does is to look at him funny.
Sandy sighs noiselessly, and shakes his head. 'Nevermind!' He waves his hand carelessly and Aster gets it.
"You can't talk, can you?"
Sandy smiles and shakes his head.
Aster chuckles. "You know, for a mute, you're awfully cheerful."
Sandy shrugs happily.
"Your name's... Sandy, right?" A nod. "Well, I'm Aster. Nice to meet you."
The two of them shake hands.
"Mate, you're alright," Aster nods in satisfaction at him. Apparently, Sandy had passed a test he didn't even know of. Sandy smiles, pleased anyway.
"Better than that Jack fella, in any case," Aster mumbles under his breath and Sandy frowns. He skids to a stop in front of the taller boy and puts his arms in an X, shaking his head.
"What?" Aster is confused.
Sandy points to him.
"Me?"
Sandy shakes his head, then moves his hands in a 'continue' gesture.
"...Jack?" Aster hits the jackpot and Sandy grins, nodding. Then, he proceeds to put a thumbs up.
"Are you trying to compliment that boy?" Aster says with an amused smile, matching Sandy's.
Sandy nods, pleased.
Aster breaks out into a short laugh. "Mate, I don't know what you're trying to say."
Sandy frowns.
"That boy ain't-" he puts a thumbs up, mimicking Sandy from earlier on, "-as you put it. Did you see him earlier on? Nothing but trouble, I tell you."
Sandy shakes his head in an exaggerated motion.
"I've seen many people like him: nothing but a show pony. These people need to be knocked down a peg or two," Aster brings a fist to his hand, and Sandy blinks in surprise.
Then he points towards the boy's hands and to the boy himself, eyes wide with question.
Aster lets out an embarrassed huff. "Yeah, my anger gets the best of me sometimes... That's how I got into this detention in the first place, heh."
Sandy nods politely. 'I see.'
"What did you get in here for?" Aster asks and they start walking again.
Sandy presses his lips together and looks away shyly.
"Ah, not telling, are ya?" Aster chuckles. "Well, nevermind then. I expect it's not really that bad."
xxxxx
When Sandy and Aster returns, everyone is already in their seats. They give out the drinks and soon, the air is filled with the noises of paper bags crunching and plastic wrappers crinkling.
Tooth takes a hesitant peek behind at Jack. He is merely sipping his apple juice, and not taking out anything to eat. North notices her noticing him, and he does the same- albeit without any finesse or subtlety. His chair scratches against the carpeted floor and the friction produces a rough noise that makes everyone cringe.
"Jack!" he booms worriedly. "Where is your lunch?"
His words make Aster and Sandy turn around as interested parties.
Jack clicks his tongue in annoyance. "Don't have it."
"And why is that?" North sounds genuinely confused.
Jack shrugs. "Forgot."
North frowns. "That is not good! Growing boy like you must have food. Come, Jack! Let us share my lunch."
Jack takes a look at the inside of North's lunch box warily. He sees meat balls, chicken salad, some sort of baked pie, and cookies. Lots of it.
"Uh, no thanks. I'm good," he shakes his head.
Sandy gestures towards his lunch, catching Jack's attention. There is only a hamburger present. Jack smiles and denies it. "I think you'll need all of that."
"Oh, Jack! You can share mine!" Tooth smiles eagerly and tilts her lunch box slightly to show him.
"What is that?" he is confused by the amount of colours in her food. There is orange, green, white, yellow, red and pink, and he is sure that that isn't normal food colour.
"Sushi!"
"You mean raw fish?"
"Well, yeah!"
"How can you eat that?" Aster says, surprised.
"You just eat it. Something wrong?" she flashes a puzzled smile at him.
"Nah, mate. I just prefer my food cooked, yeah?" Aster gestures to his lunch. Jack leans forward and sees real food- baked beans, sandwiches and vegetables.
Seeing him, Aster quickly shifts, and Sandy fixes his eyes on him. They end up having a mini stare-down, and when Aster narrows his eyes, Sandy knows he has won.
The other watches their interaction with intrigue. Then Aster plucks one sandwich out of his lunch and shoves it towards Jack, and everybody stares more blatantly now.
"Uh, thanks?" Jack recovers quickly and accepts the sandwich with shock.
Aster grunts in reply and turns back to his lunch so that Jack is left staring at his back instead.
"Thanks," Jack repeats more softly to himself as the shock wears off and he nibbles at the sandwich quietly, as North lets out a guffaw and everyone returns to their lunches.
xxxxx
At 1:00pm, Mr. Black leaves the office opposite the library, presumably for a lunch break. He catches some of the students' attention as he leaves, but they quickly get distracted again. Then, Jack has an idea.
He rummages in his bag for a screw driver, and leaps out of his chair when he finds it. The noise makes all eyes fall on him, but Jack is not perturbed. He walks out of the room, and into the office.
"Jack?" Tooth whispers loudly, and North ups her with a much louder "Jack! What are you doing?"
"Nothing!" Jack calls out, before ducking out of their line of sight. The others share looks of confusion and curiosity, but none of them get up to stop him.
xxxxx
When Jack returns to his seat, smiling smugly, Tooth asks him, "What did you do?"
Jack just grins at her. The lack of reply makes Tooth worried and the grin makes her swoon.
The other students forget about the incident, until Mr. Black comes back half an hour later. Jack straightens in his seat and watches eagerly.
They see Mr. Black walk around his desk, sit... and disappear from view with a crack and a thump.
Everyone turns around to look at Jack- and the screws he hold in his hands.
North raises his eyebrows, Aster groans, Tooth sighs, and Sandy shakes his head.
A few seconds passes, and the teacher walks into the library. He is graceful, but the students can see the contempt in his eyes and posture. Jack throws the screws into his bag and looks away innocently.
Mr. Black gazes over all the occupants of the room, and stops at Jack.
"Jackson," he orders. "A word, outside. Now."
Jack gets up sloppily and follows him out obediently, all the while grinning.
The other students share looks of sympathy as they hear the muffled noises of a lecture in process drift in. Aster gives Sandy a look that says 'I told you so.' Sandy frowns comically.
xxxxx
Jack ends up dragging a chair from the library to the office for Mr. Black to use. While he does so, the teacher pops his head inside the room with a not-so-pleasant smile on his face.
"Don't forget to complete your essays. I want them handed up at 4pm sharp."
The students groan and sigh. Papers are shuffled and pens are uncapped, but as soon as Mr. Black leaves, the act is dropped.
"Jack!" North whispers to the boy behind him.
"Yeah?"
"Are you alright?"
Jack is confused. "Yeah, why won't I be?"
"Mr. Black looked really angry just now. Just wanted to make sure you are OK," North says, and his hoodie suddenly feels so warm.
"Oh... Yeah, I am. Um. Thanks, for asking," he mutters, dipping his head.
"That is no problem, Jack."
xxxxx
They end up doing nothing.
The five of them gather in a circle on the floor in the library, quite a distance away from the door so Mr. Black would not catch snippets of their (North's) conversation.
"So, how did you guys get in here?" Jack asks lazily, back leaning against a pillar comfortably. Tooth is sitting across from him, resting on an adjacent pillar just like him. Aster is on his right, in the middle North and Sandy, who are idling along the railings. "Apart from Aster."
"Ey, mate," Aster senses a tease coming on and bites out a warning in advance.
Jack raises his hands in mock defeat, imitating his actions from earlier today. Aster huffs.
"It's not my fault you got into a fight," Jack says.
"You say it like it's mine," Aster complains grumpily.
Jack raises his eyebrows innocently. "You mean it isn't?"
"Now, I am sure Bunny here," North pats Aster on the back and he splutters from either the force or the nickname. Jack chuckles- seems like North had overheard Tooth's words from before. "Did not commit such acts without purpose! Am I right?"
"Yeah," he mutters in indignation. "Some other guy started it first by insulting my mates."
Sandy waves his hands. Tooth notices, and informs North. North translates for Sandy. "You should walk away and not fight! Violence is never answer."
Aster waves it off. "Thanks for the concern, but I'm fine. The guy, on the other hand... may or may not be fine." He ends with a satisfied smirk.
Jack laughs, but the sound of it is covered up by North's louder one.
"Your story is much more fascinating than mine," North rumbles cheerfully. "I was brought in because... Well, I forget many things are not fragile."
"Did you kill someone?" Jack asks warily.
North chortles good-naturedly. "Nyet! Just a table."
Sandy shakes his head in fondness and Jack 'ah's in understanding.
Tooth giggles. "I just talk too much during class. Which happens to be Mr. Black's." She frowns. "I bet he did this on purpose. Picking on me, I mean."
Jack nods with sympathy. "Same here. I mean," he rolls his eyes. "I just skipped class. So what?"
"Skip class? What were you doing?" North asks.
"Outside." Jack gestured carelessly. "It was a snow day! School was supposed to be cancelled, anyway."
"You skipped Mr. Black's class to play with snow?" Aster frowns.
"I skipped school to have fun," Jack corrects.
Sandy wags his finger at him, looking like a mother nagging her child.
"Hey, it was worth it," Jack laughs. "So, how about you, Sandman?"
Sandy laughs silently from the nickname, before smiling and shrugging.
"Sandy, I do not believe I know of the reason why," North says curiously.
Sandy shrugs again, and shakes his head.
"You... don't want to tell us?" Tooth tries to interpret.
Another shake, and then frantic hand gestures which only North could understand. He eyes Sandy for a while before bursting out in unrestrained laughter.
The other three watches on with confusion written over their faces. North, upon noticing, calms down and tells them. "He has no reason."
"What?" Jack furrows his eyebrows.
"Sandy had no reason. He has nothing else better to do," North says.
"On a Saturday?" Jack is astounded. Tooth smiles and Aster laughs as well.
Sandy shakes his head at Jack, and points to North. Then he points between North and himself.
"You came here for North?"
Sandy grins.
"Ah... It is good to have friend like Sandy," North declares with affection.
"Yeah," the other three reply simultaneously, before looking at each other with surprise.
Then they laugh.
"Do you think..." Tooth starts after they stop, and trails off.
"Yeah?" Aster prompted.
"Well, this is silly of me," she giggles shyly, a hand on her face. "But do you think we could all become friends?"
There is silence for a while, before North breaks it. "Well, why not?"
"There would be questions asked," Jack says softly.
"Well, they ain't gonna matter," Aster replies seriously, staring at Jack.
"Not for you," Jack mutters.
"Why can't we be friends, Jack?" Tooth inquires gently.
"Uh... Status quo?" he says with an eyebrow raised. "I thought you guys would care a lot about that. I mean, it won't do if Miss Popular," Jack gestures at Tooth, "and Bunny," at Aster, "suddenly hangs out with, no offense, the Russian transfer, the mute, and me."
"What's wrong with you?" Tooth sounds genuinely surprised.
"I'm not exactly well-liked?" Jack shrugs. "The reason why people tolerate me is because of how I look?"
"Mate, we don't care about that." Aster interrupts.
"It is true, Jack," North says quietly in a soothing rumble. "So what if people talk? They are teenagers, they will forget quickly. And if we are friends, we should not base it on what other people say."
"I dunno," Jack says with discomfort, shoving his hands inside of his hoodie pocket.
Sandy gestures. 'Can we give it a try? I would like that.' North translates, and Sandy looks at Jack expectantly.
"Oh, alright," Jack mutters in embarrassment. "But no promises."
The smiles they give him makes Jack hide his face in his hood.
xxxxx
He removes it almost immediately. "Oh shoot, what about the essay?"
Without thinking, all of them glance at the clock. 3:42pm.
"There's only 18 more minutes," Tooth says anxiously. "We can't finish it in time!"
Sandy flicks the railings gently, attracting everyone's attentions with the noise. He smiles and points to himself proudly with his chest puffed.
"You've finished it?" Jack is amazed.
Sandy shakes his head, then points to every single one of them, before pointing to himself and miming writing.
North lets out a cry of joy. "You will do it for us!"
Sandy grins, and puts a thumbs up.
xxxxx
'Dear Mr. Black, we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong. But we think you're crazy to make an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us... In the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions.
But what we found out is that each of us is a jock, a princess, an outcast, a mute and a transfer.
Does that answer your question?
Sincerely yours, the Guardians.'
xxxxx
A/N: That's it! Sorry for the crappy ending, I was basically aiming to complete this before my muse runs away. Thanks for reading :) hope you liked it, & have a lovely day!