Author's Note: So I really have no idea how long this story is going to be. I just come up with ideas before I go to sleep, then write 'em down in the morning. I really appreciate reviews, but the main point of this is for me to just get the ideas out of my head! I can't concentrate on school if I have all these things swirling around between my ears.
Catherine woke up to sunlight coming in from her window. And the cold. Her room was freezing! Then she noticed one of her windows was half open.
"Well, crap," she said. Cat slipped out of bed, toes curling as she reached the end of her carpet. How did this get open in the first place? She wondered. Probably forgot to lock it when I came back from the park yesterday afternoon. Wait. The park. Catherine remembered meeting Jack Frost, that beautiful winter spirit. She remembered him staring at the almost full moon, as if he could learn something by keeping those icy-blue and silver eyes on it… Who knows, maybe he could? Hadn't he said something about the Man on the Moon? Rubbing her chilly arms, Catherine grabbed her white hoodie off the back of her desk chair and slipped it on. She put on her fuzzy slippers too, thinking of how amazing it was that she hadn't caught a cold last night. Cat quietly made her way downstairs, knowing her dad wouldn't be awake 'till noon. The clock on the stove told her it was around eight thirty, so she went to the cereal cupboard. Then her sleepy mind registered the mess. The kitchen table was scattered with dirty dishes, and the counter wasn't much better off. It looked like her dad had come home, and then attempted to make a meal. Not a microwave one. She noted the cook book on the counter. Then she noticed that there was, in fact, two sets of dishes for what appeared to be three courses. Her fist thought: I am not cleaning this one up. Her second one: Dad is trying to forget about mum. Catherine decided to begin with the first thought. She grabbed a thick sharpie from the box of pens on the counter. She took a piece of scrap paper, and then wrote: CLEAN IT, placing the note on a pile of pots and dishes. How did I manage to sleep through this? She wondered. Then, Catherine dashed upstairs, threw on a warm outfit, grabbed her bow and arrows, and walked towards the front door. Oh, yeah, shoes she thought. She kicked off her slippers, and replaced them with her brown leather snow boots. She fastened the arrow belt around her waist, the deep holder settling on the back of her right thigh. The arrows rattled around as she peddled her bike away from her home. She didn't even realise where she was going, until she was at the park. Burgess had lots of old forestry areas, allot of them close to this park. It had definitely snowed last night, and only a few brave souls were out and about. Catherine didn't even bother locking her bike. The thing was old and rusty and it was winter so no one wanted to steal it anyways. Cat walked towards the tree line, and then slipped in, heading for a favourite spot. After around fifteen minutes of walking while trying not to think about her father and whoever he was flirting with (she was certain that was what he was doing. Why else would he bother bringing out a cook book?), Catherine reached a large oak tree that was mostly bare of leaves. She climbed to a relatively thick bow, straddling it. Catherine took her bow off her back, and aimed for one of the targets she had set up around here. She was about to let the arrow fly, when a shape in a blue hoodie landed in front of her. Catherine was so startled; she almost shot Jack with her arrow.
"You idiot! I could have killed you!" Cat exclaimed. Jack smiled annoyingly.
"I'm immortal, remember? I would have been fine. Besides, you probably would have missed that target anyways. Funny how the wind can pick up when you don't want it to," He said.
"Asshole," was her response. Catherine glowered at jack for a moment before turning her attention on another target. Once again, she put the arrow up and aimed for the target. She let the arrow fly, just as the wind picked up, knocking it off course. Not even bothering with looking at Jack, Catherine said, "I'm starting to regret not hitting you in the first place." Jack let one leg dangle off the branch while the other was pulled up to his chin.
"Actually, that wasn't me," he said, squinting at the arrow, now lying on the ground.
"Oh, ya. Present for you," Jack said. He handed her something thin and long wrapped in a piece of cloth.
"It won't melt," he said as she opened it. Inside lay a crystalline arrow. Cat picked it up and almost dropped it from surprise of how cold it was.
"Won't it shatter?" Catherine asked Jack. He shook his head.
"Well, try it!" he said. Cat put the freezing arrow up and drew back the string. She aimed and shot. It landed in the centre of the painted target. The arrow seemed to release a burst of bluish energy as it struck its mark.
"What was that blue stuff?" Catherine asked, looking at Jack curiously.
"Well, it's a bit much to explain," he said, dangling his staff.
"So explain. And I have more questions, too. I didn't really get the chance last night," Catherine urged Jack. He fiddled with an extra-large snow flake, and then let it drop.
"All the guardians have centres, ok? It defines what they protect in the children. Like Santa's centre, he prefers to be called North, so let's just call him that, is wonder. He explained it to me when I first became a guardian. He protects the wonder that children see in everything. Tooth protects the memories of children. Each tooth she collects contains important memories of that child. Get it? My centre is fun. I need to use it, or it just sorta drives me crazing, bubbling up with no output. Kids need fun; it's part of their child hood. So I put some fun into that arrow. It won't do anything if you shoot it at a tree or a target, but shoot it at a person, and they'll probably start a snow ball fight or something. But you can only use it once," Jack told Catherine. Cat climbed down the tree. She picked her arrow up out of the snow, and then pulled the ice arrow out of the target. Jack floated down beside her, and gestured for her to follow. Cat walked beside the lanky boy, wondering if now would be a good time to ask more questions.
"So who's Pitch Black?" She said after a moment. Jack glanced at her than said, "Well, if the guardians are the protectors, who do you think Pitch is?"
"Like, the bad guy?" She said. Jack smirked.
"Well, yeah, the bad guy. Kids call him the Boogie Man, we call him Pitch Black. After all that is in fact his name…" Jack said. "Hey, do you remember a time when you were younger and a bunch of weird stuff happened in one night?" He continued.
"Actually, yeah. When I was nine, I had a streak of bad nightmares. One morning I woke up and our street was a mess. That and the park looked like a bunch of people had tromped through it overnight. A few other streets were out of shape too," Cat said. Jack was looking steadily ahead.
"That was the night the guardians and I finally defeated Pitch. Of course, he's still down in his freakish lair, probably plotting against us again…" Jack said. Cat looked startled, but Jack reassured her, "Nah, he won't be back for a couple hundred years at least." Catherine nodded. They had reached the park, and some kids around her age were hanging out. It dawned on Catherine that those were the kids she'd seen in the park when she was nine, having a snowball fight with Jack Frost. Catherine stopped by a bench, but Jack continued on towards the other kids. One of the boys, she knew his name was Jamie, but that was it, looked over at Jack and smiled.
"Hey guys, Jack's here!" He exclaimed to his friends. They looked over and smiled at Jack. Jack had said last night that lots of kids forgot about the guardians or dismissed them when they got older. These kids were as old as or older than Catherine herself, and could still see Jack. They were talking and smiling, and then one of the kids, a skinny girl with short auburn hair chucked a snowball at Jack, who grinned, and then there was a full blown snow ball fight. Cat looked them with a touch of longing. Suddenly, Jack turned on Cat, and hurled a frosty-blue snow ball at her. A joyous feeling rose up inside her. She grinned, and then laughed. Catherine scooped up a ball of snow, and threw it at Jack, who was too busy cracking up to dodge the white ball. It hit him square in the face. The other kids cracked up, too. Soon, they were all tired and panting. Jamie flopped down on the ground, the other kids following his example. Cat's hoodie was soaked, but she didn't feel it. Even Jack seemed content, having let out some fun. Cat caught herself staring at him. His silvery-white hair was ruffled; his normally pallid cheeks had a rosy tint to them. She couldn't get over how attractive he was. He always had dark circles around his beautiful eyes, but she thought it made him look even hotter. His lanky form was so appealing as well… What was wrong with her? Was she seriously falling for this immortal winter spirit?
Author's Note: Let me know if I'm doing an ok job of portraying Jack's character! Is there something that needs to be added or what? I don't want to change Jack's character by mistake :/ .