Well, erm hi. It's been a long time, hasn't it? Life's been busy, exams failures, going into last year of school before university. All that good stuff. I'll be trying to keep an update schedule this year and studying, so things will be a bit sparse. I'll try though. I feel like this chapter's a bit crappy but I need to get into writing the story again.

One further note, if you want to follow me on tumblr, so there is a link of my profile. So on that note, I will see you in the next update!

Jub-Jub0250- All fixed now!

Frostfairy-Thank you, she'll be showing up very soon.

falconrukichi-I am! I know :)

14th January

5. Redheaded Temper

It had been over a week since Jack had joined the school, he had spent every lunchtime with Hiccup and the two had quickly become friends in such a short space of time. Mrs Mabel usually gave him chocolate bars to share with him, she loved hearing stories about Jack's new friend. Unfortunately, his class still ridiculed him but Jack had started to ignore it now. He had a friend at the school, he was going to be fine.

Mrs Mabel was actually doing a very good job, looking after Emma and Jack's worry had started to wade away but he still checked on her. Their mother's song was still the only thing that could get her to sleep. He was allowed into the make-shift nursery to sing to her but that was all. He had homework to focus on. He still didn't want to do it but luckily Kristoff and the other orphanage children sometimes helped him.

At the weekend, Kristoff had sneaked off into the woods to feed Sven. Jack had gone with him, making sure that Mrs Mabel hadn't noticed. To be honest, Jack thought he was doing pretty well with friends, Kristoff was his main friend at the orphanage but Hiccup was more special than just a friend at school. Jack liked to think Hiccup, of his best friend.

It was almost the end of lunchtime and Jack had just spent it by the pond with Hiccup. Hiccup had been trying to draw some ducks but had failed. It had made Jack laugh a bit but Hiccup could draw better than Jack, it made him want to start drawing. Perhaps one day he could be a famous artist and the Guardians could by his drawings! The guardians, it had been a long time since he had seen them and it made him worry. When would they be coming back? They had to come back! They had promised a visit as soon as possible.

"Jack," Hiccup said getting off the floor too.

"Yeah?" Jack asked.

"I told Daddy about you and he was wondering if you wanted to come around for dinner, on Friday and we could play outside?"

"Yeah, I would love that!" Jack laughed and he watched as Hiccup went back to his class.

He was now incredibly excited, he was going to see Hiccup's Dad! He hoped Mrs Mabel would let him go! She could be very strict when she wanted to, always making sure that he tidied his room. He would do other chores but he remembered doing chores for his mother, it was only helping out.

As Jack walked back to class, he walked back with a massive smile plastered across his face. He was making plans about what he and Hiccup could do after dinner. Perhaps they could search for dragons or mythical creatures in Hiccup's back yard. He was still smiling as he sat down in his seat and Mrs Davies walked in with a massive stack of paper.

She put them all on her desk and clapped her hands. "Well, class! Today we are going to be doing group work on handwriting! So would you please get into groups!" Mrs Davies chirped.

Jack swore his heart almost sank in his chest, no-one in his class liked him! How was he supposed to find a partner? He watched as everybody get into groups of two's or threes. He was just left standing there, not sure what to do when he noticed that Merida was on his own. Oh, no, he thought. This would not go well.

"Merida, would you please go to Jack?" Mrs Davies asked and Merida obliged with a small grumble.

They started on the work and Jack watched as Merida hand flowed over the letters they were tracing, he stared in awe. Her handwriting was certainly much better than his. Merida didn't talk until she had finished the whole sheet. Jack realized that he had been watching the whole time and went back to tracing the letters, going over them as quickly as possible.

"You have nice handwriting!" Jack said with a smile. Merida rolled her eyes and leaned back.

"Mum always made me practice," Merida replied with a shrug. Jack's eyes widened as he realized that Merida was actually talking to him! She wasn't being bossy or mean.

"Well it worked,"

"Now leave me alone, can't ye see I don't want to be here," She mumbled and Jack looked at her in confusion.

"It's only school! School is boring but it's fun sometimes. I've only been here a week, no-one in this class likes me,"

"Cry-baby. Try a year and then you'll see," Merida snapped.

A year. Merida had been here a year and no-one had tried to make friends with her? Jack felt a little sad for her, he had Hiccup. Merida had no-one.

"Oh,"

"Don't feel sorry for me. I'm fine by myself!" She huffed and the two sat in silence for the next five minutes.

Mrs Davies was soon collecting in their work and told them that they would be marking each other's tomorrow in class as the bell rang for the next lesson which happened to be art. Jack tried to pay attention, learning about all the different shape patterns and how to draw them. He wanted to find out how to draw, he and Hiccup could then draw together!

When the final bell rang, Jack rushed out of the building to see Mrs Mabel waiting by her car. What he didn't understand was why he had to go to a separate school than all the other orphans but he guessed it was Mrs Mabel choice. He hummed to himself in the car as they picked the other's up. He noticed that they had stacks of friends. It must have been nice to be popular.

Once they had arrived back at the orphanage, Jack went to the kitchen table and started on his homework. About an hour later, after a massive headache and constant complaining, he had managed to finish it all. Mrs Mabel served all the children dinner and soon it had gone dark outside.

Now with nothing to do, Jack wondered about until he came across the nursery. Checking that no-one was in sight, he ducked into the room and saw his baby sister lying in the cot. He heard Emma gurgle when she saw him and a smile lit up his entire face.

"Hello, Emma!" Jack whispered. Of course Emma didn't respond back because she was only a baby and couldn't talk yet. Jack had always had little talks with Emma, his mother had listened on the other side of the door as he told her what he had been up to. Jack hadn't been able to do it for a while.

"I'm sorry I haven't talked to you in ages! It's just, Mrs Mabel doesn't like me being in here so I have to be quick. I have a new friend called Hiccup, I bet he would like you. There's a girl called Merida as well, she's Scottish. She can be a bit scary, I think that's why she doesn't have any friends. I want to be friends with her though, I think she needs all the help she can get," Jack trailed off as he stared into Emma's big brown eyes. He wished she could talk back, he needed his family to comfort him.

The nursery room door suddenly squeaked on its hinges and Jack whisked around to see Mrs Mabel standing in the dimly lit doorway with her arms crossed.

"Jack, you know you're not allowed in here,"

"Sorry, Mrs Mabel," Jack said, looking down at the floor. He felt guilty but he was only trying to visit his sister. "I only wanted to see her,"

"That's understandable, Jack but one day someone might come to adopt your sister on her own. People like looking for babies so you might have to try and distance yourself from her as best as you can. Besides you have to focus on school. Now come on, off you go to your bedroom," Mrs Mabel ushered him out.

He couldn't believe what she had said! He and Emma were going to stick together! He would kick and scream if they ever tried to take Emma away from him. Jack knew he would look after his little sister, not matter what it took. He went back to his room and sighed. Mrs Mabel probably wouldn't let him sing anymore!

For the first time in quite a while, Jack didn't want to be back with his family, he wanted to be back with the Guardians. He needed them, just as much as he needed his mother. He especially wanted to see Tooth, she had reminded him of his mother. How caring she had been! Jack lay back on his bed and didn't realize that he was drifting off to sleep. His last thought was about Merida, she was lonely and she needed a friend. Jack was going to be that friend.