Hello everyone who isn't SOPA! And if you are SOPA- GET THE HELL OFF THE INTERNET AND LEAVE US ALONE!

Everyone we have a serious problem! SOPA is apparently at it again and we are all SCREWED if this manages to go through! At first I thought this was just another prank but I looked it and and apparently NOT! For those of you who don't know what this is, the long and short of it is it's an anti piracy bill that strengthens U.S. law enforcement to fight online copyright infringement, BY TAKING DOWN WEBSITES THEY THINK ARE BREAKING THE LAW BECAUSE OF PIRACY. Some of the websites this would likely include are Fanfiction, DeviantArt, and even YOUTUBE!

We have a problem people! If you all think this is crap then please go here:

petition/stop-sopa-2014/q0Vkk0Zr

To protest! I'm very sorry if that address doesn't work but if that's the case then just look up 'stop sopa 2014' and it'll be the top link and sign the petition! Let them know they have no right to take out beloved fanfiction and fanart away from us! And do it quickly! We only have until 3/19 until the petition closes and we still need more signatures! Common everyone! We stopped these clowns before we can do it again! Even CHAPPY is against this and he normally doesn't support anything but violence, death, and tuna!

Nyu nuuuu! NUNUNUNUNU!

You heard'em people! Stop SOPA for the rights of fanfiction writers and lovers everywhere!

Alright! So that was this week's announcement and plead for help! As always I would like to thank all of my wonderful friends who have helped me in so many ways in both my writing and life! Especially Starskulls who was so kind as to let me adopt this story from her! Another thanks goes to everyone who has fallowed, favorited, and reviewed the story thus far! You guys all rock! Sorry by the way about any spelling errors or anything like that. The documents on my flash drive got a little screwed up so I'm not sure if this is the edited version or not.

As always I do not own RotG or The Guardians of Childhood book series. They belong to William Joyce and DreamWorks. YA HEAR THAT SOPA?! IT'S NOT MINE AND I NEVER SAID IT WAS SO GET OFF MY FREAKING CASE! The first, roughly 5 and 3/4 chapters, were all done by the amazing Starskulls as well! Thanks again girl! So without any farther adieu! Please allow me to present the next chapter of- WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! ANGST, DRAMA AND FEELS AHEAD! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!


Spirit -not so- Well High School

Chapter 9: OK What the Bloody HELL Just Happened?!

Math went relatively quickly and surprisingly ended with no homework for anyone which Jack was more than a little grateful for. The loud bell that signaled the end of the period echoed through the air and everyone slowly made their way out into the hallways towards there next class while they met up and talked with their friends.

Just like yesterday Jack was the last to leave, trailing behind everyone else as they shuffled into the hallway and headed to their second period, once again having to ignore the strange looks and whispers from the people he walked passed.

God, don't they ever get tired of this? He thought begrudgingly before rolling his eyes with an inaudible sigh. Yeah, after six months.

That's how it always was. For more than half the school year people would stare and whisper behind his back whether or not they thought he could hear them, which most of the time he could. At least that stopped after a while though, then most people just left him alone with the class freak label. But everywhere he went there were always those few wonderful people who seemed to have made it their personal job and pleasure to make his life a living hell every day.

Jack was so caught up in his mind that he wasn't actually paying attention to where he was going until he was abruptly ripped from his thoughts and back into reality when he felt his shoulder accidentally hit something.

"Watch it freak!"

Jack held back a wince at the sudden yell and backpedaled away in reflex from the dark haired boy who was now glaring daggers at him, his friends laughing behind him. Jack matched his glare but stopped himself before he could open his big mouth and say 'Screw you.'

Keeping his hands tightly secured in the pockets of his hoodie he mumbled a quick apology before walking passed the other teen and his group of still laughing friends.

"Man, what a loser!" One of them yelled.

Jack clenched his fists while glaring holes into the tile floor as he kept walking, ignoring the whispers and sniggers he heard next to him as he walked past. At least some people had the decency to whisper there insults when they thought he couldn't hear them. Those jerks didn't even try to hold back.

He walked silently into the room of his next class and took his seat, resting his head in his hands tiredly on the desk. Once again being one of the first to arrive rather than screwing around with the friends he didn't have like everyone else.

"Good morning Jack." He raised his head slightly to look up at the kind smile of his new English teacher.

"Um, hi Mrs. Katharine?" He didn't mean for it to sound like a question but normally even the teachers ignored him unless he was in trouble or pulling a prank, at least that's how it was at his other schools. And truth be told he wasn't quite sure if that's what her name actually was. After what happened in math yesterday he had been a bit out of it and hadn't paid much attention to the first few minutes of his next class when the teacher had introduced herself.

Clearly not taking any offense and understanding what the problem was she merely nodded her head in confirmation. "So how are you enjoying the school so far? I know it must be difficult having to transfer in the middle of the year like this."

Still in slight shock about the fact that this teacher was actually talking to him voluntarily he just nodded dumbly before fully connecting the dots of reality back together in his head and forcing himself to speak.

"Um, yeah. But it's not exactly a new thing for me." He said, momentarily screaming at himself again before remembering that all the teachers he had had probably already read his files and knew about what happened.

Mrs. Katharine smiled sympathetically and her eyes softened again. However it wasn't in a sad way that screamed 'Oh you poor thing' or showed any pity. It was just kind look that showed that she understood, and for this Jack was more than a little grateful. If there was one thing he hated most than it was pity, epically false.

He could clearly remember every detail of the first few months after the accident, and that entire time had been full of nothing but pitying looks and apologies that no one had actually meant. Complete strangers he had never met saying how sorry they were for his loss when he knew that didn't actually give a damn. He was just the poor orphan troublemaker that no one ever wanted.

But that was fine, he could and had learned to deal with that. But when someone now actually did look at him like a poor lost little boy with real pity, he hated nothing more. He wasn't just some lonely orphan, well, technically he was but he could take care of himself! He didn't want their pity, he didn't want them to say sorry, and he most certainly didn't want their 'It'll get better someday.' lies. Because it was four years now, four years and nothing had gotten better, though they sure as hell got worse.

But with her there wasn't any pity. There wasn't any of the typical bull of false sympathies that most adults looked at him with when it wasn't in annoyance or anger. It was just nice. And for that he was grateful.

Mrs. Katharine nodded her head once more in understanding, ether not taking note of how he avoided her question or just choosing not to mention it. "Well I hope that you're able to enjoy your time here. You've had a bit of practice so I believe that you'll be able to find your way here soon." She said.

Half of Jack's mind wanted to say "Doubt it." But he knew enough to keep his mouth shut and just nod back again. It was then that the second bell rang to signal the start of class and he let out a silent sigh of relief when the teacher turned around to start writing on the board.

However that silent sigh turned into a moan in his head when he heard someone take a seat behind him. Automatically knowing that it was Aster's seat.

This was just going to be perfect.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Yeah, perfectly horrible.

Through the entire freaking period Jack could feel Aster burning holes into the back of his head with his glare that may as well have been a blowtorch!

Unlike what he usually did the second the bell rang to dismiss everyone to the break period Jack hurriedly grabbed his bag and made for the door before anyone else had time to put their books away. Now he was walking to his locker as the already narrow hallways seemed to get smaller and smaller as more people left their classrooms and began socializing on their way to break.

Jack quickly reached his locker which he involuntarily scanned for any signs of vandalism or weird notes sticking out from the door that people had often left him at his last school just to add a bit more misery to his day. Thankfully there was still none to be found so be dumped his backpack in front of the blue painted metal and turned the dial to open it.

Grabbing his gym kit and history textbook in exchange for his math and English ones he stuffed them into his bag before anyone could get the chance to slam the door in his face again like this morning.

His thoughts briefly wandered back to that little incident with Bryce and Pitch from earlier and he couldn't help just the smallest grin that etched its way across his face. No one had ever actually stood up for him like that before. Yeah, he knew for a fact that he could take care of himself but it was still… nice to have someone on his side for once.

However that little moment of happy thinking quickly came to a crashing halt. Literally.

Jack was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice when without warning a much larger boy who had been talking to his friends against the lockers suddenly turned around and stepped into his path. The two collided and Jack was thrown back, trying to right himself but managing to oh so brilliantly trip over his own feet and fall back on his butt.

Jack winced slightly at the small burst of pain that shot up his leg from his ankle but even more so when he realized what had happened and heard the loud laughter that he instantly knew was directed at him.

Making an idiot of yourself twice in less than one hour. Great, just great, a new personal best. His thoughts mused sarcastically in a way that made him want to ram his head into a locker.

What'll it be this time? 'Loser?', 'Weirdo?', or are we gonna stick to the ever popular 'freak-

"Ah Jack! It is good to see you my friend!

Jack's eyes shot open at the booming voice and he stared wide eyed up at the Russian teenager that towered over him with a happy smile on his face. Before he could even get over the shock enough to choke out any kind of response he was suddenly hauled off the hallway floor and onto slightly shaky legs.

"Sorry about that, I did not see you there!"

A sharp wave of pain shot up from his ankle when he was suddenly pulled to his feet again and he just barely managed to hold back from showing it. "I-It's no problem. I should have been watching where I was going anyway."

North smiled and Jack was slightly confused to just how exactly he wasn't being threatened or cussed out right now but decided to question it later. North did seem like a different sort of guy than the ones who constantly did that sort of thing to him at his old school though so he was probably being too quick to judge. But after all this time he had sort of learned to question everything about people.

"So Jack are you going to be-"

"Excuse me Nicholas, I'm sorry to interrupt but may I speak with you for a moment?" The Russian teen was suddenly cut off before he was able to ask Jack his question and he turned to see professor Ombric calling to him from the door to the science room.

Jack didn't have him as a teacher but he had already heard a few things about him. Apparently he was very strict about some things but most of the students seemed to like him because he was never actually boring. He had also heard something about him teaching science as if it were magic or something, and seeing him now Jack could believe it. With the long white beard and the strange cane that looked almost like a staff he looked like some kind of wizard!

"Of course Mr. Ombric! I will be right there!" North called back, then he looked to Jack. "Sorry but I have to go. But we can talk later!" The white haired teen didn't even get a chance to respond before North was out of sight and he was left standing alone. Again questioning what had just happened and how anyone could actually say that they wanted to talk with him out of free will.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Jack sighed heavily as he flopped back onto the somehow dry grass in the back of the school, wincing slightly at the small burst of pain that ran up his right leg and silently cursing himself for his stupidity at managing to get himself hurt like this just from falling down like an idiot.

"Great. Work is gonna suck today." He grimaced when he felt his ankle and could tell it was clearly swollen. He knew there was no way he could just call in sick, not after the rink closed so early yesterday. Besides he had a class to teach, he was just going to have to grin and bear it for now and pray he doesn't do anything else stupid to get himself even more hurt before school let out.

It would suck immensely but he didn't actually have much of a choice in the matter. "And it's not like I haven't done it before." He mumbled to himself.

With another sigh he pulled a ripe apple from his pocket he had gotten for lunch and a torn up old copy of Howls Moving Castle from his backpack.

"Hi Jack!" Before he even got a chance to flip the book open a loud voice from directly behind him nearly made him jump out of his skin. The apple in his other hand dropped to the grass below him and he turned to face whoever was behind him with a speed that was frightening at best, ready to run if it was those three idiots from earlier planning to finish what they started.

But thankfully it wasn't Bryce and the other two stooges' behind him, well, thankfully for him at least. Toothiana jumped back in surprise and nearly fell flat on her butt before managing to catch herself. "Whoa! Sorry! Didn't mean to scare you like that!" She quickly apologized.

Once again Jack silently cursed himself for being an idiot and freaking out like that. After so freaking long of being bullied and harassed it had just kind of become instinct at this point. He let out a sigh of relief from a breath he didn't know he had been holding and shook his head, immediately reconstructing his carefree mask and the all too familiar smirk he always wore.

"Nah it's fine. Just caught me off guard for a minute." She nodded with a smile and Jack felt his eyes widen disbelievingly when she suddenly sat down next to him and he nearly had to pick his jaw off the lawn when he saw North and Sandy fallowing behind her.

"Jack! We looked for you in the cafeteria but could not find you!" North exclaimed loudly as he took a seat on Jack's other side and started unpacking his lunch. Sandy took a seat next to him and waved happily before pulling out his notepad and jotting something down.

'Hi Jack! How's your second day going?' Though he was still in more than just a little bit of slight shock and he knew the answer to the question wasn't really a good one Jack couldn't help but smile slightly at this.

"Not the best, but I've definitely had worse."

Sandy nodded sympathetically as he caught the unintended but still underlining message in that, he could definitely relate. He was short and mute after all, not everyone was the nicest when it came to being different and it wasn't hard to tell that Jack new about that.

"So what are you doing all the way out here by yourself? I thought you were going to sit with us today." North said, not at all in a demanding or mean way, just a bit of curiosity though they all sort of knew the answer.

Jack froze for a moment at this, truth be told he didn't really have an answer. Well, he actually did but not one that would have actually sounded good. Oh well I just sort of thought you were kidding and didn't actually mean it and that you didn't want the school freak show sitting with you.

Yeah that'd probably go over real well.

He fumbled on his words and tried to choke out a reasonable answer to the question, but both luckily and unluckily he didn't have to because without warning the person he had least expected to see sat down across from him.

Aster was still wearing that hard glare that he had been shooting at Jack the entire freaking day but only glanced at him briefly before choosing to ignore him and eat his lunch.

Jack looked at the other teen in wide eyed shock for a moment before managing to snap back to reality. "I just, kinda forgot about it I guess." He said.

Sandy, North and Tooth all shared a look before smiling and nodding in response, choosing to not mention the real reason they knew he hadn't shown up and silently giving Aster a few passing glares. "That's all right; it can be pretty hard to remember things on your first week in school." Tooth said with a bright grin before biting into her sandwich.

"So Jack, how long have you been working at the skating rink? I must say my friend yesterday was very impressive!"

Jack smiled at that, finding it a nice change of pace that someone is actually thinks what he did was cool other than just automatically making him gay. But North didn't seem like the kind of guy to make those assumptions anyway.

"Umm. Well I've been working there as a teacher for just over two years and I've been skating there since I was a kid."

"Wow! So a pretty long time then huh? No wonder you're so good at it!" Tooth said. Jack blushed just slightly at the sincerity of her complement but didn't say anything.

"Anna and Sophie really seemed to like you to. Anna's been coming back home for the past year talking about how fun her teacher was and how much she liked skating now. You must be really good with kids to keep those two entertained." Jack nodded with a slight smile at that one but noticed Aster tense up across from him at the mention of his sister.

"Yeah, I've always been pretty good with little kids. And as long as you can get them to have fun they're really not as hard to handle as you might think." He said.

Jack and the others looked at Sandy when he started writing something down in his notebook again and waited till he held it up for them to see. 'It's really cool that you've been working there for so long. But I can't actually remember ever seeing you around town before. I know you said you've been to a few different schools but it's still a pretty small place. Do you live out of town?'

Jack read the note and felt his throat go involuntarily dry. He held back the feelings of unease and anxiety that were starting to build up in his stomach like when Mrs. Ferry had offered him a ride home from work. He had said no, and he had said no for a very good reason. But after a moment of silence and unease he finally noticed all of the others were waiting for a response, even Aster who had momentarily stopped eating to listen in.

"Um y-yeah you could say that. I live outside of town a few miles and I never really came here for anything besides work." He stuttered, looking down and away from the rest of them to the uneaten apple still in his lap.

Everyone in the group could tell there was something a little bit off here when they saw Jack give the same sort of reaction he had given Tooth's mom yesterday. Though this time he wasn't trying to force out a smile.

Tooth chose to try and think of a slightly different topic to bring up and the small bout of awkward silence that fallowed Jack's response. However she didn't know that what she was about to say was exactly what Jack was praying that she wouldn't.

"Well that's interesting. So you never come into town with your family to do anything together?" She asked happily. Everyone except for Aster was too focused on Jack's facial response to notice how his hand clenched into a tight fist around the red fruit in his palm. Though the Australian teen wanted nothing more than to not care he couldn't help how his eyes widened slightly at the small action the others seemed to miss.

"My… family?" The question was slow and even, sounding like something a lifeless machine would say rather than an actual person. Sandy and North were now in the same confused state as Aster and could immediately tell that something was definitely wrong here.

Toothiana however was somehow oblivious to the rising tension and continued to speak, hoping to get the chance to learn a bit more about their possible new teammate. "Yeah! Like, don't you ever go to movies or out to eat together? Oh! Speaking of which what's your family like? You're so good with kids, I bet you have a little brother or sister don't you?"

Jack froze the second those words left her mouth. His shoulders tensed like solid rock and his iron like grip on the apple in his hand slackened, dropping the nearly crushed fruit to the grass with a soft thump. That was when the last of the four friends suddenly noticed that something was wrong. The happy smile she had been wearing only seconds ago dropped like a rock as she and the others stared at Jack and waited for any sort response.

But for the longest time he said nothing, merely kept his head lowered so they couldn't even see what sort of expression he had. They all shared a look with one another, silently asking what they should do and what they had done wrong. Even Aster was getting a little anxious though, he would deny it till the day he died and pound any idiot who brought it up unto the ground.

After what felt like an eternity of deafening silence Jack finally managed to choke out an answer, or at least he tried to. But whatever God or cosmic force was watching over him was apparently merciful enough to put an abrupt end to Jack's misery before he could get the chance to respond and the sound of the school bell echoed through the otherwise silent air.

Before any of them even got the chance to blink Jack was back on his feet with his backpack, ignoring the sharp pain that radiated from his bruised ankle and turning his back on the group. "I…I have to go." And without anyone having the chance to stop him he quickly ran away from the group of incredibly confused teenagers.

The four friends sat in slight shock as they watched him run into the back doors of the building like he was running a freaking marathon before looking at one another in concern. And surprisingly enough it was actually Aster that managed to voice the question all of them had racing through their heads.

"OK what the bloody hell just happened?!"


Well there ya go! I promised angst and I believe I delivered it quite nicely! As always please fallow, favorite and review! I need requests and suggestions for the story people!

Until next time everyone! Keep calm and PROTEST FREAKING SOPA!

REVIEW!