Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Chapter 6. Bad luck.
Years passed by and Jack and Tooth were now 12 years old, they were best friends now, inseparable in any way possible. Tooth had been taking lessons in sign language at school but also at the workshop with, Bunny, North, Sandy and Jack there to teach her she was now as good at it as Jack and Sandy. Since hardly anyone in their class had bothered to learn it, it had become their own secret language. Tooth hardly ever used her voice when talking with Jack that way they could talk in private with no one listening in on their conversations. Their classmates had noticed that something was rather odd about Jack. He never felt cold not even when he had come to class in nothing but his regular light brown pants, t-shirt and his blue hoodie despite the sub-zero degrees outside. However, it was how he acted during summer that struck them as the oddest. They noticed, that Jack hated spending time outside under the hot sun and would rather spend those "lovely summer days" inside in a much cooled room. Another thing that came out as odd to them was his intense fear of letting anyone but Tooth touch him.
Of cause none of them had ever figured out why he acted like that, but that didn't stop them from teasing him frequently. It only got worse when they a few months ago found about his extremely cold body, when one of the girls tripped on the hallway accidentally taking Jack with her in the fall. The girl had of cause felt it and told everyone about it, causing everyone in the class to keep attempting to touch him to find out if the rumors were really true. As enough kids confirmed the girl's story they began avoiding him totally and calling him a freak. Only Tooth stood by Jack side, hardly anyone would dare touch him with her around, as they had learned rather quickly not to deal with her when she was angry, but that didn't stop them on the rare occasions he was alone.
Jack was walking down the hallway alone when someone called out to him "hey freak!" he turned around and saw Matt, the school bully, tearing his way angrily through the crowd. Jack paled at the sight, certain that Matt was out to harm him. He turned around to run, but before he could flee Matt had already captured him and pushed him up against the wall. Matt, who were rather huge and strong for his young age, could easily push skinny Jack around as he pleased. Jack was already preparing himself for his usual beating, so he was rather startled when Matt suddenly handed him an invite, along with the words "don't look at me like that, I'm only inviting you cause my mom takes pity on you and forced me to, not because I like you and if you know what's best for you, you better stay away from my party." however when Tooth, who didn't know about the fact that Matt bullied Jack, found out that Jack had been invited to their classmate's birthday, he knew he wouldn't be able to refuse going with her.
However, it was just his bad luck as the party turned out to be a pool party on a hot summer day. He had only been outside in the heat for 10 minutes, just walking toward his classmate's home, before he started to feel sick. He decided it would be best to either stay in the cool pool water or sit quietly in a shadow somewhere trying not to get noticed. He decided for the "hiding in the shadows" plan as he knew he weren't welcome.
Again, his luck seemed to take a turn for the worse as five of his classmates did notice Jack sitting alone in the shadows. "Oh look who is here, the freak! I thought I told you to stay away from my party. Guess I need to teach you need a lesson." the five boys grabbed unto Jack and hauled him away unnoticed. They knew that Jack hated the heat so they brought him to the greatest source of heat available, the sauna. when Jack saw what they intended to do, he panicked and struggled to get away from the boys but it was futile and they threw him on the floor turned it on and cranked up the heat all five of them blocking the only exit.
They could hear Jack's useless struggles on the other side. They laughed hardly at that. As the punches and kicks had come to a sudden halt shortly after, "giving up already? You're so weak!" they laughed at that, expecting Jack to start struggling again to prove them wrong. When he didn't they looked rather confused at one another, but agreed to try and check on him. They opened the door only to find Jack collapsed on the floor sweating and thrashing around madly on the floor, clearly in massive pain.
Tooth, who had gone to look for Jack, choose that very moment to walk by and she spotted the five boys by the sauna and something white on the floor in front of them, she immediately rushed past them and she took her hands to her mouth in horror at what she saw. She quickly went to Jack's side picking him up and carried him off to lay by an air conditioner which she quickly yelled at the boys to turn on and put it on the coldest setting possible. She then took out her cellphone and called 911 telling them that her friend were suffering from an acute and dangerous heatstroke.
The five boys looked at the scene in a mix of horror and guilt at what was happening. all five of them were exchanging regretful looks, Tooth who were still on the phone, where regarding the boys in pure rage as she could clearly tell from their expressions, that Jack's current condition, were their fault beyond a doubt. As much as she wanted to beat the boys to a bloody pulp right now, she controlled herself knowing that Jack needed her more right now.
It didn't take long for the ambulance to arrive, much to the surprise of the other guests. Matt's mother rushed to them to tell them they were in the wrong place, but before she could say anything they quickly requested her to take them to the living room. She did so realizing that they wouldn't listen to her anyway and would go in without her if she didn't go along. When they got inside the living room they were shocked at the scene in front of them. A lone girl were sitting by the white haired kid desperately trying to cool him down, but what surprised them the most was the girl's hateful stare at the very guilty looking boys. One of the paramedics rushed to help the suffering kid, and the other told the mother that none of the boys would be allowed to leave this room before the police arrived. The two paramedics rushed out with Tooth in tow, she was allowed to ride with them as it was quite clear that she knew of the boy's condition.
North was in the middle of crafting a new toy as his "Jack" phone had gone off. he named the phone as such as it was a phone he had specially dedicated to receive calls related to Jack, only people who had access to this phone was the school or the hospital. He frowned at that, knowing it wasn't a good sign, however, nothing could have prepared him for this call. "Mr. North?" "Yes?" "Your son, Jackson, has just been brought in, he is suffering from a sever heatstroke" North dropped the toy and the phone in his hands in pure shock and horror at the news. He didn't even take time to hang up on the phone or say anything, before he rushed out. Bunny and Sandy rushed after him, just taking enough time to get another employee to look after the shop before doing so. They barely managed to keep up with North but they had already taken a good guess that this was about Jack, and judging by North's rush and expression they knew it was bad. They found Tooth, who rushed to hug North as soon as she saw him, crying as she held onto him. North composed himself enough to comfort the girl so he could have her explain what happened but before she could do so the doctor came.
The doctor informed them that Jack had been extremely lucky and his body hadn't taken damage. They had managed to cool him down enough and he would no longer be in danger, but it would be best to left him stay home for two to three weeks to rest as his body was rather weakened and fragile as a result. They all let out a huge sigh in relief at those news. The doctor then let them into Jack's much cooled hospital room. Jack was still unconscious on the hospital bed still having the cooling pads covering some of the most vital areas to keep him from heating up again. They all went to his side and sat down on the chairs, no one daring to touch Jack or even utter a single word. After an hour or so, there was a knock on the door and two policemen came into the room, Tooth being the one who knew why they had come went with them, with North in tow.
"Are you Sheila Lockhart?" she nodded "would you tell us what happened earlier today at Matt Daniels' birthday party? " she looked at North, who put a hand on her shoulder in support "No one at school, but me, likes Jack very much. They all treat Jack as an outsider just because he's a little different than the rest of us. I knew that if everyone just gave him a chance and try to get to know him just they wouldn't treat him like that. When I found out he had been invited to Matt's party I was so happy thinking it might be a chance for everyone to take another look at Jack, as a person. So, I begged him to go with me to the party. Even though I knew he wouldn't like it, I just chose to ignore it because I still saw it as a chance.
At the party, Jack and I went to sit in the shadow as Jack can't handle heat very well due to his condition. I left for a few minutes to get us some cool drinks as I could tell Jack was starting to get to hot even in the shadow. When I came back he was gone and I went too look for him. It was about 10 minutes later that I found him collapsed inside of Matt's sauna with him and four other boys standing at the entrance. It didn't take a genius to figure out they were the ones responsible for what had happened as I knew Jack would never willingly leave the shadows on a hot day like this, let alone walk into a sauna. I knew I had to get him to somewhere cold and immediately called for help." the policemen were looking at the girl rather startled by her calm and quick response to help her friend. as they finished writing down her statement "thank you miss Lockhart" they now look at North "I assume you are the boy's guardian" North nodded, the policeman then held out a small card with his phone number "please call me, when your son wakes up, we will need his statement for the case"