Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians.
Walking home after a long day at school, Jamie sighed as he caught sight of his house. He couldn't wait for winter break to begin next week. He couldn't wait to finally have 3 weeks free from homework and education. He couldn't wait to see that beautiful snow rain down on all of Burgess so he could have snowball fights with his friends.
The thought of snow made Jamie smile to himself. If snow came, then that meant that he could be able to see Jack once again. It had been 2 whole months since Jamie last saw him, the latter saying that he had an "important Guardian duty" to fulfill. He didn't specify on what was exactly the problem, but Jamie knew perfectly well that he meant to spread winter throughout the entire world. Jamie's smile dissipated and was quickly replaced by a frown. Jack should've been back to Burgess weeks ago, so he wondered what was taking him so long. How hard should it be for a winter spirit to make snow fall in a country, no matter how big?
Jamie stopped walking, realizing that he had already passed his house. He went back, went up to the front steps, and opened the front door. From the kitchen, his mom smiled at him.
"How was school?"
"Okay, I guess, except that Mrs. White gave all of us a book report that's due on the first day after winter break. You know, on that Charles Dickens book, A Christmas Carol." He sighed. "I swear, I thought I had to wait till high school to start writing these things."
His mom simply chuckled. "Well, why don't you go start on it? I'll be upstairs in a few minutes to bring you a snack."
Jamie nodded and went upstairs. He opened his bedroom door...
...And found a bored-looking, brown-haired teenage boy sitting cross-legged on his bed.
The older boy looked up from playing with the bedsheets to Jamie and gave him a small smile. "Hey, Jamie."
"...Hey...Jack..." Jamie greeted back tentatively, finally deciding that this other boy was indeed the winter spirit. He had on the same hoodie, same pants, same lack of shoes. The only thing different about him was his hair and eyes, both now a rich, chocolate brown. And Jamie swore his skin looked a lot less pale now. "What are you doing here? And...what's with your hair...? And the eyes...?"
Jack lost his smile and sighed. After he had woken up, he still had his immortal appearance. However, after a few days of wandering around North's workshop had passed, his hair and eyes began to turn back to their original color. "I was making the temperature below zero in Russia until this gooey monster thing attacked me. And then I turned human." Seeing Jamie's confused look, he added, "I'll give you the complete version once you're done with your homework and stuff."
Jamie nodded slowly. "Okay... I still don't get why you're in my room though."
"That monster is still out to get me, since the other Guardians had come to save me in time. So North decided that it was best to not stay in his workshop, since naturally, the monster would think to look for me there. And I can't risk being out in the open, so I have to stay in a house. And I chose yours."
Jamie, finally recovering from his shock, exclaimed happily, "That's- That's great! You're gonna be like the big brother I never had – not that I didn't already view you as a big brother before – and you can go take me out to pizza places and stuff! This is gonna be awesome!"
"Jamie?" came a voice from outside the closed bedroom door.
Jamie froze. He whisper-yelled to Jack, "Oh man, I totally forgot about my mom! She's here to give me a snack! And you're not invisible anymore, are you?! Quick, hide in the closet!" He quickly pulled Jack off of his bed and pushed him toward the closet door.
"Hey! Wait-" Jack tried to protest.
"Jamie?" came Jamie's mom's voice again.
"I'm coming, Mom!" Jamie yelled, and then he commanded quietly to Jack, "Just hide!" He finally managed to open the closet door and shove Jack into the small space.
He opened the door leading out to the upstairs hallway, and saw his mom holding a plate full of chocolate chip cookies. "Hey, Mom!" he chuckled nervously.
Mrs. Bennett looked around, confused. "That's odd... Where's Jack? I told him to wait for you in your room... I even prepared a few more cookies than usual just in case he wanted some. Is he using the restroom?"
"What?" Jamie asked, surprised.
The closet door opened and Jack casually strolled out. "Sorry, Mrs. Bennett. Your son thought that I sneaked in here through the window or something, so he hid me in the closet."
Jamie glared at him, giving him a 'Did-you-really-have-to-tell-her-that?' look.
Mrs. Bennett looked amused. "Oh, Jamie. Jack rang the doorbell around noon today and told me that he was moving here, but his parents haven't signed the papers to officially buy the house yet. They convinced him to move here first, wanting him to adjust to the neighborhood, mistakenly thinking that there was a hotel nearby. Jack said that when he came here this morning, he had no choice but to find a local resident's home and temporarily stay there."
"And obviously, I chose this house," Jack finished for her.
Jamie blinked. "Oh... Well, okay." He turned to Jack. "I hope you enjoy this place... I guess."
Mrs. Bennett set the cookies down on Jamie's desk. "Jack, how long will you be staying for?"
"I dunno. Our stupid, cruddy landlord hasn't said anything about it," Jack replied in such a deadpan tone of voice, that Jamie felt the temptation to laugh.
"We'll, you can stay for as long as you'd like. You and Jamie can get to know each other during your stay," Mrs. Bennett smiled. "I have to go pick up Sophie, Jamie's little sister, from daycare now, and I'm also going to the supermarket. I'll be back soon, so would you mind watching Jamie, Jack?"
Jack gave her a playful salute. "In this household, I babysit for free."
Once she left and was far from hearing range, Jack turned to Jamie. "Your mom's really nice; I like her."
Jamie shrugged. "Eh, she's alright. By the way, where'd you come up with that crazy lie about you and a new house?"
Jack shrugged. "Around 3 months ago, I saw this house for sale that's just down the street. On the contrary, I went in and it really was a pretty nice house, so I have no idea why the people who used to live there moved out," he added, before continuing, "I saw it again today, and that 'For Sale' sign was still there, so just in case your mom wants to know which house I 'want to move into,' I won't end up getting caught red-handed."
Jamie nodded. "Smart."
"Yeah. So, uh, I'll leave you alone so you could do whatever homework you have. If you need me, I'll be downstairs, watching TV."
"I'm done with my homework now, and – What the fudge are you watching?"
Jack, his eyes still focused on the TV screen, just replied, "I don't know, it's about this girl and an ugly, creepy vampire or something like that? For some reason, I can't change the channel; this just came on when I turned on the TV. And I have nothing better to do, so I'm keeping on watching this. It's weird, and the love is cheesy, but it's strangely enticing all at the same time."
"Jack, you're watching the first movie of Twilight. My mom's a Twilight Saga nut, so she must've been watching it late at night yesterday and forgot to take the disc out of the DVD player."
"Oh. Okay."
"...Do you want me to turn that off for you, so you could watch something else?"
"Uh, sure, later, once I find out what's gonna happen to Bella. I'm at the part where James tricks her and lures her into a trap."
Jamie groaned.
The front door opened after a few minutes and Mrs. Bennett walked in, carrying Sophie and groceries in her arms. "I'm back! Jamie, I thought you had a book report?" she asked once she saw her son sitting with Jack in the living room.
"Mom, my book report isn't due for another 3 weeks. I got the introductory paragraph covered already though," Jamie said. "By the way, you got Jack obsessed with Twilight."
"Oh, right, I forgot to take the disc out of the DVD player. Silly me," Mrs. Bennett laughed. "Well, at least Jack's satisfied with the movie, aren't you, Jack?"
"I'm busy watching Edward save Bella right now, so don't talk to me," Jack replied, his eyes still glued to the screen.
Jamie's mom shook her head in amusement. "Jamie, once he's done watching, ask him what he would like for dinner. We'll let him choose since it's his first day here."
With that said, she left the room and went into the kitchen.
Jamie, having had more than enough Twilight for the day (and for the rest of his life), grabbed the remote on the coffee table, and pressed the pause button. "What would you like for dinner?" he asked Jack.
Jack looked at Jamie as if he just ripped his heart out of his body for a few seconds and then snatched the remote back from the younger boy. "Either fried chicken or a corndog," he said irritatedly, before pressing the play button again.
"So, Jack, are you transferring to Burgess High?"
Jack looked up from his chicken leg to Mrs. Bennett, with a taken aback expression etched on to his face. "W-What?"
"You said you were 18, so aren't you a senior in high school?"
"Um... Yeah..." Saying that Jack was starting to feel uncomfortable would be a major understatement.
Mrs. Bennett laughed. "Silly Jack, you didn't really think that you're going to miss out on school just because you moved to Burgess, did you? You still have an education that you need to complete."
Jack turned to look at Jamie for help, but the younger boy just shot him a knowing look.
"I'll enroll you into your new school, other than waiting for your parents to do it," Jamie's mother continued. "And you and Jamie could walk to school together, since his school is right across the street from the high school. But since winter break is about to start, I suppose it would be best if you only started going after those 3 weeks of no school."
The more Mrs. Bennett talked about school, the more Jack slumped down into his seat. School? Yup, becoming human was going to be worse than he imagined.
...I REALLY couldn't resist making Jack a Twilight fan, so don't judge me.
So yeah, Jack's going to school. This is gonna be fun... -insert evil laugh here-
By the way, I have absolutely no idea how that whole "buy new house and go to new school" stuff works, since my family and I never moved anywhere before. I just did my best to wildly guess on Jack's so-called predicament in this chapter.
Shout out to Aidorable: Do you get how I thought up the scene where Jamie pushes Jack into his closet? ;D
Review! Pretty please with a million Jack Frost plushies on top?