PenPals - Chapter Three

Author's Notes:

I just want to thank the Hijack fandom for being awesome and everyone who really supports this story, like Lebistole and Panbelacqua. You guys keep me going strong, especially when I get lost on what the heck to write next. Thank you so, so much! And, again, I am SO SORRY that this chapter is late, but I will have the fourth chapter up by Friday, as promised! I WILL make this a regular thing!

I do not own rights to any of the characters from How to Train Your Dragon, Rise of the Guardians, or the Guardians of Childhood series.

Chapter Three - The Meaning of Lonely

Pairing: Hijack

Word Count: 3137

Warnings: Slight angst, Bunnymund being a meanie to Jack

Jack's POV

Jack adjusted the strap of his backpack, the weight of his new textbooks making it heavier than he truly thought was necessary. He walked along the sidewalk, his eyes staring at the ground in front of him during most of his trek. He glanced up at every intersection he passed, but after a while, he finally met up with the crowds and just flowed with them.

The group of adults all crossed the next street and he noticed three kids in brightly-colored jackets rush through them, running across the crosswalk in the opposite direction.

Jack looked back up as he reached the curb and the elementary school came into view.

A sense of relief fell over him and he shoved his hands into his hoodie pocket, peering around the group of adults as he grew closer and closer to the school.

"Jack!"

He heard the familiar voice ring out and he spun around, trying to find the source of it. He stepped over to the side of the walkway to see his little sister running across the schoolyard, waving her arms in the air. Her pink backpack bounced up and down against her back right up until she skidded to a stop at Jack's side.

"Hey, squirt!" Jack grinned, reaching down to ruffle her hair. "How'd your first day go? Is the fourth grade as awesome as I told you it'd be?"

Emma smiled wide, swinging her arms out and replying,

"It was super fun! My teacher's name is Ms. Wolf and she said we're gonna get to read books a whole bunch this year-"

Jack grabbed her backpack and flipped her in the opposite direction, cutting her off.

"You and your books…" he scoffed, shaking his head.

They started walking back in the direction Jack had just come from. Emma swatted his hand away from her bag and shot him a playful glare.

"And me and Jamie are in the same class again!" Emma continued, "That's, like, three years in a row!"

Jack nodded. Emma always liked having Jamie in her classes, Jack had noticed. The two were complete book nerds-they were practically soulmates.

"Oh, yeah?" Jack responded, "What about Pippa? And Cupcake?"

"Nope," Emma shook her head, seeming a bit disappointed. She turned to look up her brother and smiled, adding, "But we all have recess together!"

"Perfect!" Jack exclaimed. "You know, that's the most important class of the day!"

Emma giggled.

"Silly!" she called out, "Recess isn't a class!"

Jack grinned, narrowing his eyes.

"Are you sure?" he teased, walking ahead of her and turning around to face her. "I'm pretty sure it was always my favorite class! ...Second only to lunch, of course!"

Emma laughed, skipping ahead to catch up with him.

"Haha, you're crazy, Jack!" she told him.

They stopped at the crosswalk, waiting for the light to change so they could cross. Jack eyed the area, especially the park right across the street. A familiar squeal rang out from the park, and he noticed a couple of kids running over to the swingset. Jack smiled, and pointed over to the park, poking Emma with his other hand, and saying,

"Hey, there's your friends now!"

Emma stared past him and her eyes lit up. The traffic light switched to the walking person, and Jack rushed out into the street, Emma skipping along next to him. They reached the other side and ran over to the park.

"Hey, guys!" Jack laughed, waving the other kids over.

The girl who had stood up on the swing jumped down, calling out,

"Hi, Jack! Hi, Emma!"

Emma ran ahead of Jack, grinning as Jamie and Monty turned around to see them coming. Jack grinned as the other kids soon joined them.

Cupcake made a face as she saw Jack walk up to them.

"Whoa," Cupcake stared up at his hair. "What happened to your head?"

The other kids stared up at him, too, and he grimaced, biting his lip as he tried to remember the explanation he'd given his sister when she first asked about it.

"Oh, uhh…" he rubbed at his arm a moment, before he grinned as he remembered. "It turns out I'm part-snowman! Haven't you heard?"

Emma rolled her eyes and the whole lot of them started to giggle.

Pippa walked up to him and reached out, mumbling,

"I wanna touch it."

Jack laughed, replying,

"It's just my hair, guys. It's just white instead of brown, you know?"

Emma pushed through the group of kids and grabbed Jack's hand.

"Come on, Jack," she told him, "we gotta go or Daddy will be mad we're late!"

The other kids seemed to frown, and Jack stood up straight, letting his sister drag him back toward the sidewalk.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming," he groaned, throwing a sympathetic pout at the kids as he walked away. "Bye, guys!"

Pippa waved at them as they left.

"See you tomorrow!" she yelled.

"Bye!" Jamie shouted out, too.

Emma turned back for only a moment to wave back.

"I don't see why we have to hurry back," Jack whined, pulling his hand out of Emma's grasp. "I don't even have homework."

"Well, I do!" Emma put her hands on her hips, giving him a stern look-which, obviously, wasn't very menacing coming from an eight-year-old.

"Pfft," Jack smirked. "Sucks to be you!"

"Meanie!" Emma huffed, and held her head up.

Jack sighed silently as they continued to walk along the sidewalk. He glanced down, and instinctively reached up to push his glasses back, but they weren't there anymore. He frowned. He really needed to stop forgetting that.

Emma giggled, and Jack looked over at her, confused.

"What?" he asked.

Emma smiled up at him, replying,

"You keep touching your nose."

Jack rolled his eyes. She noticed that?

"Well, sorry," he retorted. "I'm used to having my glasses."

"You look so weird without them," Emma commented, tilting her head to the side and giving him an odd look.

"I do?" Jack asked, his voice sounding a bit more concerned than he had meant it to. But, he was concerned. Maybe he should have kept the glasses and only changed his hair?

"Ha, yeah," Emma responded, staring ahead again. "But, it's okay! You always look weird!"

Jack pouted, unamusedly glaring at her and replying,

"Oh, you think you're funny now, do ya?"

Emma looked back and forth down the street as they were about to cross. Jack reached down and tickled her side.

"Ahh! No!" Emma squealed and ran across the street and away from him.

Jack ran after her, calling out,

"I'm gonna catch you!"

"Nu-uh!" Emma called back, stomping as she reached the curb and turning to run towards the big, brick building on the corner. She raced to the stoop, skipped up the steps, and touched the door before turning back and shouting, "SAFE!"

Jack rushed up to the stoop and frowned at Emma.

"Ugh, you beat me," Jack pouted, slowly walking up the stairs.

"Maybe I should be in the race this summer!" Emma told him, laughing. Jack pushed open the door and they kicked off their shoes.

"But, then who's gonna be there to cheer me on?" Jack asked, letting his bag slide off his arm and tossed it on the floor of the foyer as Emma brought hers with her into the sitting room, walking over to the dining room table and setting it in one of the chairs. Jack trailed in behind her, noticing no one else seemed to be back yet.

"I bet Aunt Tooth will do it!" Emma told him, unzipping her bag and pulling out her papers.

"I'll be doing what now?"

Jack and Emma both looked up to see Tooth walking through the swinging door from the kitchen, giving them an inquisitive stare.

"Nothing~" Jack smirked, sitting down in the chair at the end of the long table. Emma giggled, sitting down in the chair next to his.

Tooth shook her head, walking over to the couch in the sitting room and plopping down on it.

Jack reached down and pulled out a crumpled, folded piece of paper from his hoodie pocket and flattening it against the table with his hand. He grabbed one of Emma's pencils and wrote his name at the top of the first one.

"I thought you said you didn't have homework?" Emma questioned, eyeing the papers in front of him.

"I don't," Jack replied matter-of-factly. "I just gotta fill out some papers."

"Oh, okay…" Emma sat back, and then glanced over as Jack picked up and squinted at the paper in his hands.

"Did you make friends today, Jack?" she asked innocently.

Jack almost dropped the pencil and peered over the paper at her.

"Huh?"

"Your plan," she tried.

"How do you know about that?" he asked, placing the paper down and stared at her incredulously.

"I'm not dumb enough to actually believe you're part-snowman," Emma told him blandly, leaning forward again and looking at her math worksheet.

Jack snapped his fingers, huffing a quick "Darn."

"Aunt Tooth said you did it to make friends," Emma commented.

"Well, yeah…" Jack frowned. She was right about that much.

"So, did it work?" She asked, looking up at him again with that innocent look.

"Uhh…" Jack hesitated before responding, "Yeah! Yeah, it worked great!"

Emma shot him a glare, remarking,

"Liar."

Jack let out a dramatic gasp.

"Am not!"

"Why can't you just be friends with Jamie and Pippa?" she asked, "Like me?"

Jack sighed, putting his chin in his hand lazily.

"Well, they are my friends, kiddo," he told her. "But...well, I need friends my age, too. You know, friends I can do homework with and go drive to the movies with-"

"But you don't have a car," Emma interjected.

Jack stuck out his tongue at her.

"It was an example," he remarked.

"Yeah, a bad one," Emma smirked.

North burst in through the door from the foyer, his boots pounding against the hardwood floor. He walked in, smiling as he saw Jack and Emma sitting at the table. He waltzed over, saying,

"Ah, already doing homework? Good job!"

Emma turned around in her chair, a big smile plastered on her face.

"Hi, Daddy!"

North patted her head affectionately and rested his head on the back of her chair.

"Hello, my child," he replied, and then turned to Jack, adding, "And, Jack! How was first day of school?"

Jack gave him a weak smile. Was everyone going to ask him about his plan today?

"Uhh, you know…" he told him, "Same old."

"His plan didn't work," Emma told North, promptly turning back to her homework on the table.

Jack glared at her,

"How would you even know?" he retorted. It was like she had been there, and he definitely didn't say anything to her about it. How could she possibly know if it worked or not?

"If it worked," she told him sternly, "you would be all smiley and in a good mood, but you're not."

"She is very smart, no?" North chuckled, taking a step back. Jack scooted back his chair and stood up, replying,

"Yeah, a little too smart, if you ask me…"

The foyer door opened again, and in walked Bunnymund, his permanent frown still on his face as he walked right over to the couch and plopped down onto it. Tooth gave him a warm smile, but he just reached over and grabbed the TV remote, flipping on the television in front of them.

Jack started to walk over to the door, but North stopped him, asking,

"What about the new project?"

Jack turned back, confused.

"Project?" he questioned.

"Your pen pal, Jack," Tooth told him from over the couch, sitting up so she could see him over the back of her seat.

"Oh! Uhh, yeah, I don't know…" Jack shrugged, taking a step back and sighing. "I sent my letter, and I'll get one back soon enough."

Tooth turned around on the couch, leaning over the back and smiling over at North, telling him,

"He talked about how much he liked playing with his sister! It was so cute!"

Jack froze, shooting her a look.

"Wait, you read it?" he asked, confused.

"Oh, yeah…" Tooth replied, waving him off. "All your letters are copied to your homeroom teacher's e-mail so we can make sure you're actually doing the work-"

"You mean Bunny read it, too?!" Jack grimaced, glancing at the back of the gray-haired man's head.

"I could care less what you wrote, sport," Bunnymund replied, staring at the television. Jack folded his arms over his chest and Tooth turned to him, saying,

"But you really should have talked about your interests, not just what you do here at home."

Jack opened his mouth to speak, but Bunny started laughing, remarking,

"You're talking about Jack, Tooth. He has as many interests as he does friends."

Jack sneered at him in return, finally catching Bunny's eye as he stared back before he retorted,

"Now, that's rich, coming from some grumpy, boring old man."

"Jack!" Tooth called, giving him a strict look.

Bunny turned around, glaring at Jack.

"Boring?" He scoffed, "Eh, maybe, but at least I ain't invisible."

Jack went silent, along with the rest of the room. Bunnymund always had to do this-turn every simple discussion into some pointless argument. Jack stared back at him, feeling his eyes get hot.

"If a boring old man like me can get friends," Bunny continued, "then why can't you, huh?"

Jack stayed silent, and Tooth sank down on the couch. North glanced over at Jack and Emma's concerned face peeked out from over at the table.

"Jack," North spoke, but Jack instantly turned around and stormed out into the foyer and stomped up the staircase on the left.

Emma pulled a frown,

"Jaaack," she cried, clearly upset.

"Bunny, was that really necessary?" Tooth berated the man next to her. Bunnymund sat still, facing the television with a slack expression.

"Hey," he remarked, "he started it. I just ended it."

Emma frowned, turning back to her homework.

"I hope he's okay," she said quietly.

North and Tooth looked back at her, sympathy written all over their faces in an instant. Tooth stood up, walking over toward the table.

"Oh, Jack'll be fine, sweetie," she told her, putting an arm around her shoulders as she stepped closer. "He just needs to cool off for a bit, that's all."

Emma looked up at her with a small smile, but Tooth wasn't sure she seemed convinced.

Jack stomped up to the second floor and stopped to take a breath before briskly walking over to the smaller staircase at the end of the hall. He gripped the metal frame and skipped three steps, finally arriving at the dark door with a simple, paper sign on it that read "Jack's Room."

He bumped the door with his shoulder, opening it to enter the large, open room behind it. The entire being made of glass lit the room up with a warm, orange glow, but it clashed against his blue, cold mood. He slammed the door behind him and walked over to the bed, standing on top of his messy sheets to reach up to the closest window panel. He pried it open and set one, bare foot on his shelf, successfully pulling himself up and onto the roof of the boarding house.

He sat back against the paved roof, closing his eyes and soaking in the sounds of the bustling city below. Cars drove by, kids laughed as they walked by on their way home from school, but all this noise eventually died down. It grew quieter and quieter. Jack stared up at the sky.

This plan of his hadn't been a complete waste of time...right?

All the effort he put into getting used to the contacts and dying his hair the strangest color he could think of (after green) was going to pay off eventually, right? Bunny was just running his mouth down there, like he always did. He was just riling him up; he didn't mean any of it.

Besides, Jack had PLENTY of interests. He just happened to particularly enjoy playing with his sister more than any of the other, numerous hobbies and fun activities he liked to do. And maybe he couldn't exactly think of any of them when he started writing his first letter to his pen pal, so what? He was totally going to have LOADS of stuff to talk about over the year to this... What was the guy's name again?

Jack shook his head. He couldn't remember, but it didn't matter. He was going to make so many new friends this year, he probably wouldn't be able to remember all their names anyway.

He sat up.

"Oh, that would have been a great excuse to use on Emma," he told himself. But it was too late to try it now, of course.

Jack sighed, deflating back onto the roof. Maybe this plan wasn't going to work, after all. Maybe he should just wash this gunk out of his hair and put those dumb glasses back on and go back to being his usual, invisible self...

No.

He sat up again, puffing out his cheeks as he stared out at the blue, cloudless sky.

No, he told himself. He refused to just give up. It's only been one day, after all. Everyone was still in their own, little, summer-minded bubbles and hadn't realized he looked any different today. Yeah, that was it! Tomorrow, everything would change. And, if not, the day after tomorrow, maybe even the day after that. It was going to happen, he knew it. There was no reason to give up hope so soon.

After all, there was still Plan B, but he was saving that until the spring.

He grinned, closing his eyes and folding his hands behind his head.

No, he wasn't gonna give up. Plan B could wait; his original idea would do the job-he was sure of it.