Rapunzel Tower, or 'Punzie' for short, looked at her outfit in the mirror and nodded her approval. Colourful, elegant, pretty, but not like she was trying too hard. Exactly how she want to look on he first day of her sophomore year. She glanced at her clock, 7:00am, time to go! She grabbed her backpack and danced out the door.
I'm gonna see all my friends! she thought happily and she waved goodbye to her mother I wonder if Sandy finally got a growth spurt? And maybe Hiccup got some muscle? Or what if Mavis grew out of her training bra? Punzie laughed at the idea of these scenarios. The art club, or the Artsy Fartsies as everyone called then, was pretty much just a bunch of underdeveloped outcasts, and it was always funny to think of them changing.
She did a little twirl in the street as she began her 4-mile stroll to school.
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP Hiccup Haddock's alarm clock blared, he groaned and dragged himself out of bed, whacking the annoying machine as he did. 7:30am, the neon green figures declared. Ugh, he thought, I hate schooldays. Pulling on the first clothing he could lay his hands on, he dragged his feet downstairs to the kitchen, grabbed a mug and poured himself coffee.
Now freshly caffeinated, he realised that he had left his school bag in his room. He groaned and slumped upstairs to get it, then slumped back into the kitchen to get the lunch money his dad had left on the fridge.
After dragging his feet to his car, parked on curb in front of his house, he remembered his keys, which were still on their hook, on the hallway, he groaned again. I'm going to late.
"Jackson Overland Frost! You are going to be late for school!" His mother yelled.
He jumped out of bed and raced to the kitchen, "What're'ya talking about, I've been ready for hours!"
"You ain't foolin' your mother." His dad, or 'Bunny' as Jack had called him since he was 9, stated over his newspaper.
"You slept in your clothes again, Jack? Really?" Tara put her hands on her hips, "And when did you last wash your hair?"
"I thought you said I was gonna be late?" Jack complained.
"You are. But you need breakfast!" Tara shoved a bowl of cereal into his hands.
He ate as fast as he could, then grabbed his backpack and hurried down the 7 flights of stairs in his apartment building.
His blue bicycle was leaning against the wall on the bottom landing. He weighed the option with his hands, walk or bike, walk or bike, walk or bike? he glanced at his watch 7:46am, bike!
He grabbed the handlebars and started to wheel it towards the door, then noticed the flat tire walk, then.
He ran.
"Honey, I know how hard it is, going to school without Angus, but you can make more friends!" Elaine Dunbroch attempted to sooth her distressed daughter.
"No! You don't know!" Merida yelled. "No one wants to be friends with the spoiled rich girl! Nobody likes me! Except for Angus! And he just had to go his stupid private, all boys, boarding school! And stop staring at me! There's nothing to see!" The last part was directed to her three younger brothers who she pushed past to leave the room and slam the door shut.
"Sweetie!"
She slipped her shoulder bag over her head and went outside to where her driver waited with the car.
"To school, Miss Merida?"
"I don't suppose you'd let me ditch?"
"No, Miss Merida, I would not."
The minute Hiccup got out of his car, he was tackled by a double hug from Punzie and Mavis. Sandy and Jane stood nearby, laughing.
"Hiccup! I've missed you so much!" Punzie said, releasing him from her half of the hug.
"How was your vacation?!" Mavis, still hugging him, asked.
"It was good, I got to level 26 on Skyrim!"
"I have no idea what that is." Mavis laughed, "I went to Transylvania with my dad, we found the house our ancestors lived in! It was massive!"
"And I went to Washington DC and went to the Smithsonian! And the Lincoln Memorial! I loved it!" Jane added.
"Well, your summers sound better than mine was." Hiccup said, "How about you Sandy?" Sandy just shrugged, he didn't speak much, anymore.
Punzie gasped with some sudden realisation and started talking to Mavis in the super-fast-excited way that only Mavis could understand, Mavis answered her in the same manner, maybe it was girl thing? Though Jane seemed just as confused with it as the boys.
Jack made it to school with about 2 1/2 minutes to spare. Phew. He went to the office to check in and got his schedule just as the first bell rang. Glancing at his schedule and map, he went to his first class and got a seat by the window.
Operation New School Step 1: Complete.
Merida's car pulled up and she got out, waving goodbye to the driver.
She looked around at the other kids, all greeting their friends and smiling and laughing, like she and Angus used to. She pushed the thought aside and began her walk to her first class, she heard snippets of conversation as she walked past different groups of kids.
"... you're taking AP biology?"
"... And WHOOSH I went flying..."
"... Did you see what she was wearing at..."
She contemplated joining one of the groups, maybe the Buffs or the Artsy Fartsies, and making friends, but at that moment the bell rang, she hurried to class with everyone else.
The classes went by quickly, but were still kinda boring, or so Hiccup thought. He had History and Mythology with Mavis, but so did her long-term crush, Johnny, so her time was consumed with trying-not-to-look-like-a-stalker-while-staring. Then AP Biology, where he saw his childhood friends, Astrid and the twins, who hung out with the Hardcores.
Punzie met up with him so they could walk to lunch together.
"Are you buying lunch or did you pack one?" Hiccup asked his friend as they neared the cafeteria.
"I packed my lunch every day of Freshman year, do you really think I'd switch to school lunch in Sophomore?"
"I guess not, will you wait in line with me?"
"Sure." She followed him to the end of the que. After a few minutes she said "Let's sit with her." pointing to the table at the back of the cafeteria, where a lonely red head sat.
It took Hiccup a minute to figure out what she meant. "Her? Why don't we sit with our friends?"
"Because she's lonely."
"How do you know? Maybe she's just waiting for her friends to come out of class." Hiccup asked, annoyed with his blonde friend.
She gave him a look that made him feel like a moron. "That's Merida Dunbroch. Her best, and only, friend was Angus Horsemittle! He transferred to St. Henry's at the end of last year. You really need to use your brain sometimes, Gimpy!" They finally made it to the front of the line and Hiccup grabbed a tray.
"Should I have a burger or chicken nuggets?"
"'Said Hiccup to his vegetarian friend.'"
"I'll go for nuggets." After getting the rest of his lunch, including an extra chocolate milk for after Punzie drank his first, he followed his friend to the table with the lonely red head.
"Is this seat taken?" Punzie asked the girl, brightly, already sitting down next to her.
"Uhh, no."
"I'm Punzie, by the way, and this is Hiccup!"
"Merida." Hiccup figured that this girl was not very talkative, as he sat down across from the other two, and she'd probably get annoyed with Punzie's inability to shut up. Punzie didn't seem to notice.
"Did you hear about the new boy? Jack Frost! He's Sandy Moon's cousin, well, Sandy's nephew, well, his adopted nephew, but they just say cousin cus they're the same age, anyway, he's been kicked out of 7 schools since grade school. And someone said that if he gets kicked out of this school then his parents are gonna send him to a military discipline thing. So it looks like there's still gonna be a bad boy when Pitch graduates!"
"Wow." Merida said, sarcastically.
"And you know the school board's thinking about adding a swimming pool to the school grounds! Won't that be cool?"
"Yeah." Still thick with sarcasm.
"And there's a new chemistry teacher! He's..."
She drifted off, staring at the door to the cafeteria where a boy with bleached white hair stood, looking as if he owned the place.
"I'm guessing that's the infamous bad boy Frost?"
Jack looked around the room at the other kids. About half of them had noticed his arrival and were staring at him. So this was one of those we-rarely-get-new-kids-so-everyone-already-knows-everything-about-you schools. Good. Normally all of the stories were blown out of proportion so he seemed far more wild and bad-boyish than he really was. Which was always fun.
He cut in the lunch line in front of a nerdy looking guy with massive glasses who was preoccupied with a book, and looked around the cafeteria again, this time to find a seat. There were a few empty tables here and there, he wouldn't sit at any of them, people would think he was a loner. Random people in the room caught his eye. There was his cousin, Sandy, sitting with a bunch of art-enthusiasts and chess players. A girl with white-blonde hair was enthusiastically talking with an Asian guy in a baseball cap while a miniature version of him stole their food as they were distracted.
"The Elite." The nerdy guy Jack had cut in line in front of, said to him.
"What?" Jack wasn't normally used to the nerds he passively bullied talking to him.
"The group you're looking at, they're the Elite, basically the cool nerds, that's Elsa, the Hamada boys, Honeylemon, and Gogo, and there's Wasabi walking towards them. The Elite! Oh, and I'm Milo." He put out his hand.
"Jack" Jack shook it. "I've never been to a school where they name their cliques."
Milo laughed, awkwardly, "Yeah, we're pretty weird."
"I think it's cool." Jack thought, he debated sitting with Milo and his friends but he got the feeling he was one of the uncool nerds, then a flash of gold caught his eye. At the table in the corner of the room was three teenagers about his age, one, the only boy, with ordinary looking clothes, one girl with bright red hair, and the last with a golden braid, so long that it touched the floor when she sat. "Who're they?" He asked Milo.
"Uhh, that's Merida, I think, she's not in a clique, and there's Hiccup and Punzie from the Artsy Fartsies."
"The Artsy Fartsies?"
Milo shrugged, "I didn't make up the names."
Something the blonde girl, Punzie, seemed familiar, but Jack couldn't put his finger on it till he caught a glimpse of her lunchbox. Pink with hello kitty's face plastered on it. No, he thought, it can't be. A memory surfaced, of a little girl and her 'stupid kitty' obsession.
Rapunzel.
Jack finished getting his lunch, nodded his goodbye to Milo, then walked to her table.
"Can I sit here?" The sudden sound of his voice made all three of them jump. He smiled and sat across from Punzie, next to the boy, then said to her, "I'm Jack, I don't know if you remember me, we used to go to grade school together?"
"I- Um- we did?"
Jack laughed, "We weren't friends or anything, but yeah."
Hiccup cleared his throat, and Punzie introduced them all.
"Hiccup? Is that a nickname or did your parents really name you that?" Jack asked with a condescending smirk.
"It's a nickname."
"What's your real name?" This was, surprisingly, from Merida, who had finally taken an interest in the conversation.
"I'd- er- I'd rather not say"
"Aw, c'mon Hiccup, it's not that bad!" Punzie prompted.
"Ugh, it's Nimrodius."
Jack snorted and Merida giggled.
"Where did 'Hiccup' come from?"
"I started getting the hiccups a lot in 5th grade. And whenever I'd hiccup everyone near me would yell 'hiccup' and eventually they just started calling me Hiccup." He seemed to shrink into his seat as he spoke.
To change the subject, Punzie asked Jack what classes he had for the remainder of the day.
"Uhh," he took out his schedule, "Chemistry, English, then Gym."
"I've got Chemistry, too! And I think Hiccup has Gym at the same time."
"We should actually get to get to class now, or we'll be late." Hiccup said, looking at his watch.
"C'mon Jack!" Punzie excitedly took his arm and started leading him toward the Lab.
Hiccup started to go but before he was halfway to the door, Merida caught up to him.
"What class do you have now?" She asked.
"A-Algebra."
"Me too! Can I sit with you?"
"Sure..."
They walked to class, not arm in arm like Punzie and Jack, but side by side.
One hour later, Merida walked through the door of the art room, she looked around for a familiar face and saw Punzie waving at her.
"Hey! We have the same art class! That's awesome! We can be partners!"
"Partners?"
"Mrs. Smith told us to find partners for the semester right before you walked in, you have fairly cool timing, though I wouldn't necessarily call it good." It came to Merida then that her new friend was the kind of girl who would keep talking and talking till she lost her voice. "Jane's with some bookworm, and Pascal and Sandy already joined up. And Mavis and Hiccup are too 'freelance' for art class, so I don't know anyone else."
"Ok, then, partners it is!"
The class went by quickly, and Merida got to see how amazing Punzie was at painting and Punzie got to see how amazing Merida was at, well, stick figures...
At Gym, Jack learned how much of a nerdy weakling Hiccup really was, but rather than making fun of him, as he normally would have, he stuck up for him. Glaring at the others when his friend fell over or dropped something, with his icy glare that had taken him years to perfect, they stopped laughing quite quickly.
Other than that, the class went along smoothly.
Hiccup even got a couple of other rescuers, like a strawberry-blonde soon-to-be-cheerleader who offered to help out with his balance when he faceplanted again, and a funky blonde girl who glared at her twin brother and his friends when they laughed.
At the end of the school day, the four new friends met up in the parking lot and exchanged phone numbers, email addresses, and promises to message each other. Punzie promising Jack to help him with his chemistry homework, and Jack telling Hiccup that he could help with his problems in Gym, "if you won't accept it from the pretty freshmen." Hiccup turned bright red, and Punzie burst out laughing.
Then Merida's driver came to pick her up, and Hiccup asked Punzie if he could drive her home, which she declined, saying she 'needed the exercise, so he drove off on his own, and Jack and Punzie started walking home together.
They were a few blocks from Punzie's when a low, cold voice came from the shadows of an alley.
"Hey Jack! How was your first day?" Pitch Black stepped into the light, closely followed by two of his gang. Punzie gasped. Pitch Black was a senior, and the worst kid in school, he had yet to be kicked out, but he'd gotten a couple suspensions, and more detentions than anyone else, mostly for missing his previous detentions. He had been in more fist fights than anyone could count. He was the most notorious bad boy EVER. That, and his motorcycle, meant that most girls had had little fantasies, but they'd all run the other way when he came in view.
And he was standing right there. Punzie looked at Jack, how did he know Pitch?
"Same old same old. Was expecting to see you there though, and was pleasantly disappointed." His tone was casual but his body tense, he adjusted himself slightly to better protect Puzie if a fight started.
Pitch laughed and crossed his arms over his black leather jacket.
"I never go the first day, or the first week. Or very often at all. It's quite liberating, you should try it."
Jack shrugged, "Maybe I will, but now we'd best be getting home. C'mon Punzie." He took her arm and started to lead her away.
"Punzie? I know you! You're Rapunzel Tower! From the arts district! You-"
He was cut off as Jack pushed past him with Punzie in tow.
They practically ran the rest of the way to Punzie's house.
"How... Do... You... Know... Pitch?" She wheezed, out of breath.
"Long... Story." Jack wheezed back.
They went through the gallery on the bottom level, to get to the apartment above. Punzie poured them each a glass of juice. When they'd caught they're breath, Punzie asked again.
Jack took a deep breath. "A few years back, Pitch and his friends tried to break into my grandad's place. They figured out his schedule and went when he wasn't home. Only thing they didn't plan was Sandy. His weekend plans fell apart at the last minute and he ended up staying home alone, watching some tv show. And halfway through the episode, he heard them breaking in. Obviously he called the police, and Pitch spent a night in jail and got 50 hours of community service.
"And from then on he's hated all my family. We've had a couple fist fights, me 'n' him, and one time, I broke his arm. So he takes special pleasure in making my life a misery."
Punzie sighed. "I guess he really hates you."
"Yeah."
They were silent for a few moments before Jack said "don't tell anyone, about me breaking his arm or Sandy calling the cops, or anything, if people found out it might make him even more angry at us."
"Don't worry." She smiled, "It may surprise you, but I know when to keep my mouth shut."
Jack smiled back, "Now, let's get started on this homework!"
Merida and Punzie.
Merida101: Hey Punzie! :D how's homework going?
PrincessRapunzel6: x.x badly
Merida101: are you still with Jack? ;)
PrincessRapunzel6: was that a wink? Why is that a wink? There's nothing to wink about .
Merida101: suuuuure there's not 0:)
PrincessRapunzel6: there's not!
Merida101: I'm pretty sure Juliet said that about Romeo.
PrincessRapunzel6: Uh, no she didn't.
Merida101: yes she did.
PrincessRapunzel6: when?
Merida101: How would I know? I never read it.
PrincessRapunzel6: I'm not even going to start on how much that irritates me.
Merida101: 0-2 to Merida!
PrincessRapunzel6: when did you get the other?
Merida101: when you decided 'PrincessRapunzel6' was a good username.
PrincessRapunzel6: oh, come on! It's not that bad! Yours sucks too!
Merida101: does not! And plus, Hiccup probably has the worst.
PrincessRapunzel6: yeah, it's pretty dumb. Don't tell him I said that.
Merida101: your secret's safe with me!
Hiccup and Jack
FrostFlake: what's the square root of pi?
HicHicHiccup411: I think the point of homework is to do the work yourself
FrostFlake: this isn't for homework
HicHicHiccup411: then what's it for?
FrostFlake: it's for uhh... Um... Ok fine it's for homework! But c'mon, man! Be a pal! Punzie won't tell me either!
HicHicHiccup411: you're still with Punzie? Dang, you two didn't seem that close earlier. ;)
FrostFlake: we're not that close, Nimrodius.
HicHicHiccup411: you keep telling yourself that.
FrostFlake: well what about you and the red-head?;) ;)
HicHicHiccup411: what, Merida?
FrostFlake: no :/ the girl in gym class who offered to help with your handstands, what was her name? Anna? Why would think Merida? Is there something between you and her? ;)
HicHicHiccup411: Anna? I don't remember any Anna. What did she look like?
FrostFlake: she had a blonde streak, I think she was a freshmen, so I don't know why she was in our gym class. But DONT CHANGE THE SUBJECT!
HicHicHiccup411: gym class was pro Freshmen and sucky sophomore. And I still don't know who you're talking about. Freshmen red head with blonde streak?
FrostFlake: I guess it was more strawberry blonde hair.
HicHicHiccup411: ohh, Anna Arendell! I know her! I have AP bio with her sister, Elsa, who would probably murder me if there was anything more than gym classmates. I mean, that girl's scary.
FrostFlake: oh, well, now that we have that sorted, what about you and Merida 33333
HicHicHiccup411: you're a jerk, Frost.
Punzie and Jack
PrincessRapunzel6: you forgot your hoodie.
PrincessRapunzel6: you're not answering so I'm gonna keep it.
PrincessRapunzel6: mmmm it's so lovely and warm
PrincessRapunzel6: I found a dollar in the pocket
PrincessRapunzel6: I think this colour suits me.
FrostFlake: I only just saw your messages DO NOT KEEP MY HOODIE. Or my dollar. Bring them to school tomorrow and nobody gets hurt
PrincessRapunzel6: Ha! You have no leverage!
FrostFlake: I have -dun dun dunn- your pencil
PrincessRapunzel6: *gasp* you stole my pencil?!
FrostFlake: yep
PrincessRapunzel6: Fine *sniffs* I'll bring your hoodie. Just don't hurt my pencil.
Merida and Jack
FrostFlake: can you hide random stuff in your hair?
Merida101: like what kind of stuff?
FrostFlake: I dunno, food? pencils? test answers?
Merida101: no, I'm not helping you cheat on school tests.
FrostFlake: awwww, come on! Please?
Merida101: no.
Punzie and Hiccup
PrincessRapunzel6: Merida wants to know if you like her. Like, 'like like'. 3
HicHicHiccup411: really?
PrincessRapunzel6: no, not really, Gimp :P
HicHicHiccup411: ugh, Punzie, you shouldn't play with a guys emotions like that!
PrincessRapunzel6: why? Were you excited? :/
HicHicHiccup411: no!
PrincessRapunzel6: heehee, you totally were.
HicHicHiccup411: WAS NOT!
HicHicHiccup411: Did you really go to grade school with Jack?
PrincessRapunzel6: maybe, I think he was the dragon in this play that we did. But I don't remember very well, it was a long time ago, and there three jacks in my grade.
HicHicHiccup411: you and him hung out for an awful long time after school 3?
PrincessRapunzel6: yeah, cus he's dumb and it took him 3 hours to do chem homework even with me helping
HicHicHiccup411: are you suuuuuure?
PrincessRapunzel6: -_- goodnight.
Merida and Hiccup
Merida101: what was our Algebra homework?
HicHicHiccup411: I was gonna ask you...
Merida101: well, we're screwed.
HicHicHiccup411: yep. :D