Aster let out a tired yawn and watched sadly as Ana rushed along the sidewalk well ahead of him. He could've caught up to her easily if he wanted to, but she had made it abundantly clear that she didn't want to walk with him today, a thought that made his frown deepen. He hadn't realized she was this mad at him. When was the last time he'd walked to school without her by his side? He honestly couldn't remember it happening before (other than the few times over the years when she'd been too sick to even leave her room) and not having her by his side felt wrong. Was what he'd said yesterday really that bad? It had to have been to get this kind of response! As the school came into view, he began to mentally rehearse the apology that he knew was needed for her to forgive him.

When he reached the edge of the building's parking lot, his mental musings about appropriate apologies were cut short. From here he could see that Ana's plan hadn't been to just walk to school alone. She was getting into the passenger's side of Nick's jeep. That was Aster's spot! And if she was sitting there, that meant he was going to be stuck in the back with… Aster let out a growl of annoyance as he realized the full extent of her plan was and he ran across the parking lot to side of the cherry red vehicle. Once he'd reached his goal, he grabbed the passenger door's handle and tugged, but she'd locked it. All he could do was glared in at her through the window and snarl when she gave him a smug wink. This was not fair.

"Ana, get the bloody hell outta my seat!"

She shook her head and pointed to the back of the car, causing Aster to let out another low growl. Then he pulled at the handle once more and giving Nick a pleading look, but the other teen merely shook his head in befuddled amusement and laughed. There was no way he was getting involved in this little spat. Besides, just because it was traditionally Aster's spot didn't mean the Australian was guaranteed it. Ana had claimed the seat fair and square.

With a final tug followed by a defeated sigh, Aster opened the car's backdoor and grumpily slid into Ana's usual spot beside Sandy as he said, "I hope you know you're only gonna be able to pull this off once."

Ana merely grinned wider as a familiar figure with a head of snowy white hair came into view at the far corner of the building and made his way towards the parking lot.

Aster saw him too and slumped down in his seat. He could deal with being around Jack just fine, but there was a difference between just being near each other and sitting with their bodies pressed together in the bloody backseat of Nick's ruddy car. He was going to kill Ana.


Jack Frost was lost in a world of his own, his thoughts revolving around a rather upsetting phone call he'd received the previous evening that had led to a rather disturbing nightmare which, in turn, lead to him getting barely three hours of sleep. He was so wrapped up in gloomy thoughts that he didn't notice the strange adjustment to the sleigh's traditional seating arrangement until he opened the door, ready to greet Ana, and found an embarrassed looking Australian in her place.

"Morning Jack!" Ana called from her stolen seat as the new arrival treated his female friend to a curious glance before returning the greeting and climbing into the car.

"Not that I'm complaining or anything," he said, with another confused glance between the scowling teen at his side and the grinning one in the passenger's seat, "but why's Aster sitting in the back?"

"Because he's had his special privileges revoked," Ana replied, winking at Jack while Aster growled out the words, "Don't ask."

Jack chuckled, deciding he probably didn't want to know. "Alright then, forget I asked."

Then he leaned back in the seat and closed his eyes, bringing a hand up to cover his mouth as an enormous yawn escaped through his pale lips.

"Up late reading, again?" Ana asked as Jack treated her to a tired smile once the yawn was finished.

"Yeah, something like that. Just couldn't get a story off my mind." Namely the story of my impending doom.

Sensing that there was more to the tale than Jack was letting on; Sandy tilted his head to the side and gave his frost eyed friend a pointed look. Jack pursed his lips and refrained from glaring at the diminutive teen. Trust Sandy to call him out on a half-truth. Why did Jack even bother trying to lie around him anymore?

"Okay, so maybe I wasn't exactly reading anything."

Now he had the attention of the entire gang.

"I," Jack stopped and looked around at their curious faces before bringing his hand to rest at the nape of his neck. As he nervously fiddled with the short, white hair that grew there, he averted his eyes and continued, "I got a call from the Burgess Police department yesterday."

He stopped talking, trying to figure out what to say next, but Sandy had already realized out where this was going. The golden haired teen mimed an image of a judge pounding down a gavel and the others quickly connected the dots.

"Oh." Ana looked troubled now. "You're gonna have to go to the trial, aren't you?"

Jack glanced up at her for a second before looking back down at his jean covered legs and bobbing his head lightly. "Yeah, the video testimony idea was dismissed since I'm the star witness. Looks like I'll be seeing him again a lot sooner than I'd hoped."

Though she'd noticed that Jack had pointedly avoided saying Pitch's name, Ana didn't mention it. Instead, she reached out and laid a gentle hand against Jack's knee and asked, "Are you gonna be okay?"

A shrug and a grin that didn't quite reach his eyes formed the tired albino's halfhearted reply.

Ana desperately wanted to hug Jack and was suddenly regretting deciding to change places with Aster today. As another yawn caused Jack to close his eyes, she gave her tan friend a pointed look, hoping that he would man up and do what she couldn't.

To her delight, the Australian took a deep breath and wrapped an arm around Jack, pulling the albino close. "You know we'll be there for you, mate."

Jack smiled at him, their eyes meeting, and Aster found himself fighting a blush as Nick added, "Anytime, anywhere, just say the word!"

Now Jack laughed, picking up the subtle reference and turning his gaze from Aster to the front of the car. "Thanks Kim, I think I'll be fine, it's just still sinking in."

Aster knew that was probably a lie. They'd all been hurt by Pitch, but Jack had been put through hell by the demented teen and he couldn't imagine what the idea of being forced to see Pitch again was doing to his crush. Then he realized he still had an arm draped over Jack's shoulders. In order to avoid yet another blush, he quickly removed the appendage from its perch and gave his crush a light punch on his shoulder along with a warning of "Yeah, well, don't push it."

This time Jack's grin really did reach his eyes as he gave Aster a mocking salute and said, "Yes sir, whatever you say."

Beaming at the sight of the two finally acting like they normally did, Ana decided to move the conversation on before either boy had a chance to clam up again. "In other news, I got a call from Mr. Kaufman last night."

The boys looked at her with interest. They hadn't heard much from the older man since the Christmas fair due to the busyness of the holidays.

Happy to have their attention, Ana continued. "The inspector finally came and examined the shed. It's been officially declared structurally sound. That means we can clean it out and see what survived the fire whenever we want. So I motion that we go this weekend and do it! Easter is only three months away now and that means we've gotta start getting ready for the Easter egg hunt, right Aster?"

The Australian grinned, excitement overtaking bashfulness and annoyance as he replied, "You better believe it!"

She smiled back and then began to talk about the details. The four boys did their best to follow along as she listed their current fund balance, what supplies they had available, past attendance records, and all the other data that she could think until it was time to go to class at which point the five friends headed off to their respective classrooms, promising to see each other at lunch.


Aster was always the first one to arrive at their lunch table and today was no exception. While he waited for the others to join him, he began to doodle in his latest sketch pad as he munched on a carrot stick.

As was also the norm, Jack arrived second and plopped down into a seat across from the sketching artist. When Jack took that seat, though, there was a brief moment where their feet brushed together. As soon as Aster felt that fleeting touch his heart began to pound. This was getting ridiculous; only their shoes had touched. The thought made Aster glower and he began to sketch faster, not even paying attention to what he was doodling as he furiously tried to get his emotions in check.

Jack, who had initially planned on reading, didn't. He was far too busy watching Aster with a growing fascination. What in the world was the other teen drawing? He rarely saw Aster get so into his work when he was merely doodling.

Curious to see what had his friend so engrossed, Jack quietly got up from his seat and came to stand behind Aster, looking down at the doodle. The image made him smile. "Getting into the abstract, are we?"

Aster immediately returned to reality and looked at what he'd been drawing. A collection of random lines and circles covered the paper, forming the loose image of a human face. A distinctively male face. He mentally groaned, knowing exactly whose face had been on his mind as he sketched, but outwardly he only gave a noncommittal shrug. "Just trying something different. It's pretty stupid, though."

Then he tore out the page, crumpled in into a ball, and tossed it towards the nearby trashcan. Jack made a strange noise and grabbed the paper ball in midair with a exclamation of, "Hey, I think it's neat! If you're just gonna toss it, I'll keep it."

As the albino began to smooth out the wrinkles in the paper, Aster could feel the blood rushing to his face. Not good. He quickly turned back to his sketch pad and resumed doodling, mumbling the words, "Sure, keep it, I don't care" as he did so.

Jack's absentminded reply of, "I think I'll hang it up in my room," only made Aster's blush worse and it took all of his self-control to get his face back to its normal tan shade by the time the albino had turned to look at him once again.