A/N: omg this fanfic has over 100 reviews now :D i know its n ot that much compared to Sleep but im still grateful because there are a lot of talented authors on this website

Chapter Nine

Aster looked at his cell phone screen to see that Tooth was calling him. He mentally face palmed as he remembered that they were having a meeting at her house today, which he was supposed to attend after picking up Sophie. Pressing the call button, Aster answered his friend.

"Hey Tooth,"

"Aster where are you? It doesn't take you that long to pick up Sophie does it? We're almost done with the planning and-"

"Alright alright Tooth I get it. I just got a little side tracked that's all."

"So what's taking so long?"

"Well, I'm with Sophie right now-"

"Did she run away?"

"At first she did, but everything's all taken care of."

"So are you home yet?"

"That's the thing. I ran into Jack at the elementary school."

At hearing those words, Jack suddenly looked at Aster and shook his head indicating that he should really shut up right now. He doesn't want Aster to be going around blurting out to everyone that he sneaks into the elementary school to play with the kids. If more people knew, then word might get gout to the staff workers.

"You ran into Jack? As in, our Jack?"

"Yeah.

"What was he doing there? I didn't know that he had younger siblings."

"He doesn't."

"Then why was he there? Was he picking up somebody?"

"As it turns out, he-"

Aster was cut off when Jack snatched the phone from his hands. "What are you doing?"Jack asked. "Are you going to tell everyone you know about me?"

"Tooth has a right to now as of why you skipped out on us."

"You see, this is why I don't tell anyone anything. They go ahead and tell it to everyone they know even though they don't have the permission to do it."

"Listen mate, it won't hurt her to know and if she does, then you won't have to lie to her all the time. Trust me, it's better that she knows."

Jack looked at Aster silent still hesitant on giving him back his cell phone. After one moment, he sighed before staring at the ground as he held out Aster's cell phone. The Australian quickly grabbed it before Jack could change his mind and returned to his conversation with Tooth.

"Hello? Tooth ya still there?"

"Yes. What happened? Did you drop your phone?"

"No, Jack took it from me."

"He's there with you?"

"Yeah, so anyway as I was saying, Jack apparently has little friends at the school who he plays with while they're at recess."

"Is he allowed to do that?"

"Judging from how spooked he was when I caught him, no."

"How long has he been doing that?"

"Since his freshman year."

"So that's what he was doing instead of meeting with us? Playing with kids?"

"Yep."

"But if you are with Jack, shouldn't the two of you have come to my house by now?"

"Well the thing is sheila, both of us kinda got side tracked together."

Aster had no intentions to tell Tooth that Jack fell out of a tree. He had a hypothesis that Tooth had a major crush on Jack and if she discovered what had happened to him, she would smother him with care. Tooth wouldn't even let Jack out of her sight if she knew how much trouble he could get himself into on his own.

"It was nothing really. The whole thing settled itself out."

"Oh, well that's good to hear. The meeting at my house just ended and all of us are on our way to your house to start working on the eggs. Think you can make it?"

"Tooth, it's my house, where I live."

"I'm just making sure so that you and Jack won't get side tracked again."

"Fine."

"One more thing,"

"What?"

"Is Jack with you right now?"

"He's right in front of me keeping Sophie occupied."

"Then can I talk to him?"

"Sure."

Aster was about to pass his phone to Jack when he saw how he was playing with Sophie. Jack was acting like a dragon while Sophie was role playing as a fair maiden. He had never seen Sophie look so amused and happy before. The look on her face made Aster's heart melt at seeing her having such a good time with Jack. It was as if those two were close friends that knew exactly how to interact with each other. Seeing both Jack and Sophie laughing together, Aster didn't want to spoil their fun by interrupting.

"Actually Tooth, he's a little busy right now but if you have a message for him I can pass it onto him."

"Okay. Tell him that he doesn't need to lie to us about his plans."

"Got it. I have to go now."

"I understand. We're almost at your house so we'll meet you there."

"Okay. Bye."

"Bye."

Aster closed his cell phone after saying his goodbyes to Tooth. He then proceeded to turn to Jack to inform him that they had to get a move on.

"Alright Frosty, Tooth said-"

Splat.

Jack and Sophie were giggling together at the snowball that was hurled at Aster while the Australian wiped the snow off of his face.

"Did you throw that Frosty?"

"Throw what?"

"The snowball!"

"What snowball?"

"The one that his me in the face!"

"What hit you in the face?"

Aster sighed and face palmed while Jack just smirked at him. Sophie was at their heels giggling to herself at how silly they were acting before he brother continued.

"Anyway, Tooth said-"

"Oh yeah, you were about to tell me something Tooth said. So what was it?"

"Well, before you decided to act like a child, she was saying that we missed the meeting at her house."

"You mean you missed the meeting at her house. I wasn't going anyways and just because I'm with you guys now doesn't give you the right to launch me into how you do things."

Aster rolled his eyes at Jack. There were times when this kid could be so intolerable to people.

"As I was saying, Tooth said that they finished the planning without us and we're gonna have to be brought up to speed later. The rest of 'em are waiting back at my place and as soon as we get there we can start making the eggs."

"Don't you mean painting them?"

"No mate, I mean actually making the eggs. We cast them in resin so that each one if custom made and then we paint 'em."

"Why don't you just buy plastic eggs?"

"Have you seen the size of those things? You can only fit choking hazards in them and the ones that we make are much larger. The way we do it is so that the googies we put in the eggs are kid friendly."

"That seems like a lot of unnecessary work just for an Easter egg hunt."

"Of course you wouldn't understand. You're just like North. The two of you have now idea how important Easter can be."

Jack was about to retaliate with a sarcastic answer when Sophie cut him off. "Aster! Up up!" she chimed as she was hopping up and down while waiting for her brother to give her a lift. She didn't even care that her kite was gone.

"Alright ya little ankle biter."

Aster bent down and picked up Sophie in his arms. He still had to take her home so that she could have her afternoon nap.

"Oi, Frosty,"

"What?"

"Ya better come with me to my house if ya know what's good for ya. You can't be skipping out on us all the time."

"Yeah sure."

Jack had no choice but to accompany Aster. Jamie and Pippa were still attending school, he didn't feel like doing his homework, and making plastic eggs seemed more interesting than being cooped up in the orphanage. Jack was really apathetic about whether or not he would be adopted by now. In a few weeks, he would qualify as a legal adult on his eighteenth birthday. Besides, it'd be nice to see Tooth again. She was so nice to Jack, and he felt like she wanted him to feel included with them. But it wasn't just Tooth he was looking forward to spending time with. No, it wasn't just her. There was also Sandy. He was pretty cool according to Jack.

The scrawny boy trudged along with Aster to his home. He was part of a group now, he was actually being included. Instead if everyone in the group ignoring him, they were actually acknowledging him. Jack was beginning to think that he should return the favor to them. He would not be a slacker in the group and he would not neglect them. If he did that, he'd never hear the end of it.

/

They had been walking for five minutes already and Jack noticed that there were a few bruises forming on his arms. He tugged his sleeves down not wanting Aster to see them. He knew that Aster was already feeling guilty that Sophie was the cause of Jack's little accident with the tree, but Jack didn't need anyone's help. He could take care of his own well being by himself. It wasn't like he's been taking care if himself for a majority of his life anyways.

Jack could faintly remember his father before he left, but he did remember his mother. She would always be working trying to support him, so Jack barely got to see her. Even when he was a toddler alone in his dark room in the middle of the night, she wasn't there. Jack had to learn to comfort himself, which he had done. It wasn't until his mother started working two jobs did he start taking care of himself completely. He didn't have time to make friends, not that anyone in elementary school wanted to befriend him anyways.

"Hurry up Frosty, you're laggin behind."

Jack looked up to see that Aster was waiting for him up ahead with Sophie. How long had he been falling behind? The last time Jack checked, Aster was only three feet ahead of him. Now the Australian was almost an entire block ahead. Jack quickened his pace and caught up to his acquaintance.

"Try to keep up mate."

Jack nodded his head in response and kept going. Time had always seemed to slip away whenever he lamented on his childhood.

/

By the time they reached the Bunnymund household, everyone was already there waiting for them. North's van was parked in the driveway while North, Sandy, and Tooth waited for them.

"There you are! What took you guys so long?" Tooth questioned them. "We've been waiting here for at least ten minutes."

"Sorry, some of aren't that quick on our feet." Aster responded as he looked in Jack's direction. Jack had been walking so slow while they were traveling. It was like he was thinking about whether or not he actually wanted to come. What they didn't know was that Jack was actually very quick on his feet. He may not be the fastest runner like Aster, but Jack was very nimble and very well balanced, most of the time. He was just slowed down from all of the incidents he faced today.

"What's in your hair Jack?" North asked. He could see snow camouflaged in Jack's white locks as well as dark green pine needles. As soon as those words left North's mouth, Jack and Aster glanced at each other. Aster shrugged leaving Jack to stammer out an answer.

"Well uh, it's nothing really. It's just a bit of nature."

"I don't think so. Are those pine needles?"

"You see, Aster and I were having a snowball fight, and we were running around. There was some loose snow piled up on a tree branch, and it kinda fell on my head."

"Is that what made the two if you take so long?"

"Yes, and the fact that Sophie ran off a few times."

North nodded his head fully believing in what Jack had said. Sandy cocked his head to the side half believing Jack. He had seen how Aster and Jack glanced at each other, and Jack's jaw made a slight hesitation before he told his story.

Wanting to change the subject, Jack noticed that Tooth was holding a binder to her chest. Everything about the Easter egg hunt should be written down in there, so it provided Jack with the perfect reason to use it as a distraction.

"So Tooth, what are we supposed to be doing right now?"

"It's good to see that you've taken an interest Jack. I'm glad you asked, so now I can tell you and Aster at the same time. Today, we're supposed to start making the eggs and I'm sure Aster has already informed you about that, right?"

"He said something about casting them because its better to making them ourselves."

"The way we make them is that we pour resin into molds and once they dry we paint them. It was all Aster's idea and I think it makes out version of an egg hunt unique from others. Besides, if they were really small, then there's a chance of someone tripping over them. I remember last year this one girl was running and she accidentally stepped on one of the eggs that was bought from a store. She ended up chipping a tooth! I don't want anything like that to happen again."

Jack was paying attention to half of what Toothiana was saying. In retrospect he wasn't that all interested, he just needed to steer the conversation onto a different path. He wasn't even sure what Tooth was rambling on about anymore. At first she was talking normally, but then it quickly escalated into her talking a mile a minute. Was she talking about children's teeth? Whatever it was, she kept chatting about it as they all entered Aster's house.

/

"Mum, this is Jack Frost. He's the new member of our little group." Aster said as he introduced his mother to Jack. "He may not seem like much, but the bloke isn't half bad."

Mrs. Bunnymund held Sophie in her arms as she stood in the hallway. Her green eyes scanned Jack as he stood silent besides her son. "'Ello Jack, it's nice to meet you. It's good to see that Aster is making new friends." she said while smiling at the teen. Jack noticed that her Australian accent was very mild. She most likely grew up in the United States, spent a portion of her life in Australia, got married there, had Aster, and lived there for for at least fifteen years before coming back to America. Sophie was most likely born within the country but at the moment her sentences were more similar to single phrases so it was rather difficult to tell.

Jack was frozen in place as he blinked at her. It wasn't until Aster nudged him did he say something.

"Nice to meet you Mrs. Bunnymund."

"You can call me Mrs. B if you'd like to."

Jack didn't have much experience talking to the mothers of his friends. He's never had friends before, meaning that he's never been introduced to other parents. Even at the orphanage parents looking to adopt would pay no attention to him. It was as if he was invisible to them. If they actually acknowledged Jack, it wouldn't even make a difference. Everyone would adopt the younger kids despite how bratty or spoiled they were. No one ever wanted a teenager like Jack.

Mrs. Bunnymund took Sophie upstairs leaving Aster and everyone else to do what they needed. She's known her son's three closest friends for so long now, they're like part of the family. Mrs. Bunnymund was great friends with the other moms too. Mrs. North and Mrs. ManSnoozie were very friendly while Mrs. Fairie was always busy with her own family.

Aster and everyone else were still in the hallway and Jack was glancing around. He's spent his days at the orphanage for so long, he barely remembered what it's like to be in a family's actual home. He saw pictures of Aster when he was young, and very short too. Jack couldn't even believe that the tiny boy in the framed pictures hanging in the walls was Aster. It just shows that puberty really does change you.

"Frosty did you hear me? I said he have to start workin now."

Jack looked back at Aster who was staring back at him. When did he say anything? The albino swore that Aster didn't say a word to him but then again, he was probably too busy gawking around to listen. Jack nodded to Aster and he followed the Australian. He didn't know where they were going, but his thoughts were soon answered when they stopped near the entrance of the garage. Jack was about to open the door when Sandy grabbed his arm and shook his head.

"No?"

Sandy nodded and pointed allowing Jack so see why they weren't going into the garage. In the room adjacent from the entrance to the garage, was Aster. He was standing over a door in the floor much similar to the door in the ceiling that Jack used to get into his bedroom. It wasn't much of a bedroom though. His living space was basically an attic full of dusty boxes with a bed, one wooden dresser, a window to the outside, and a battery powered lantern as a lamp. There used to be an alarm clock, but it was smashed into pieces this morning when Jack wouldn't wake up. To others it may seem like a horrible place to live, but Jack was fine with it. The window in the attic had a fantastic view of the forest and the frozen lake outside of town and the best thing about it was that it could open. His window gave Jack an opportunity to climb out whenever he wanted to and no one would even know.

Jack turned his head to get a better view of the door in the floor and saw that there was a flower on top. It seemed rather out of place since it just looked like it was a random plant in the middle of a hardwood floor. Maybe it was for decoration? There was no possible way that a flower could grow on top of a wooden trapdoor, so it was obviously a fake plant.

Aster opened up a latch and flipped the door open revealing a staircase. Tooth, North, and Sandy walked down the steps as they had years of experience working with Aster under the same conditions. While they moved down, Jack lingered where he was. "Are you coming or not mate?" asked Aster. "We haven't got all day."

"Why does your house have a door in the floor?"

"This house was built way before my parents' time. I'm surprised it's still kickin around today. Whoever built this house obviously wanted to have a hidden underground basement or something like that. My folks have no use for it, so they let me use it."

"And what about the flower?"

"That's just there for decoration. Now, are ya comin or not?"

Jack nodded before following Aster down the flight of stairs. They led to a dim hallway illuminated with flickering light bulbs that were strung on the walls. It wasn't long before the two teens entered a room where their other three friends resided. Jack was surprised as he glanced around at the basement. It was very wide and there were even windows at the tops of the walls where sunlight seeped through. If you looked out of them, you would see the surface of the frozen ground outside while still remaining beneath it. For an underground basement, it was very well lit. The sunlight lit up the room while a few electric lanterns assisted as well. There was even an array of shelves and tables lined up around the room's perimeter that each held some sort of art supply ranging from chalk pastels to clay.

"What do you think Jack?" said Tooth at seeing Jack walk in. Jack spun around to face her.

"Well, it's certainly a place that I've never been in before. Do you guys really work down here?"

"Yeah we do it all the time! I know it may seem cool at first, but after a while it just starts to feel like a normal art room. We usually work down here for Easter and then during Christmas we're mostly in North's garage helping out."

"So what exactly are we doing again?"

"You can just ask Aster if you'd like. We basically just pour resin into molds and wait for them to dry."

"Is that it?"

"Pretty much. Our goal is to spend the rest of today and Saturday making the two hundred eggs and once we're done we'll fill them with little prizes for the kids. I think we could easily accomplish that since there'll be five of us working instead of just four this year."

Once Tooth finished her conversation with Jack, the group of five set up a working space. Bottles of resin ready to be poured into egg molds lined a few tables that were pushed together while a roll of paper towels rested besides them. As soon as they were complete in setting up, they all got to work.

/

"No Jack, if you pour too fast then the mold will overflow." Tooth instructed to the albino. Jack stepped back when some of the resin flowed over the edge of the mold and he quickly wiped it up with a few paper towels. That was the fifth mold he had overflowed in the past half hour. He always seemed to mess up in trying to make the eggs, and he didn't have years of experience making them like the others. Jack was still new to everything that they did and it didn't help that he made a mess of literally everything. Who else falls of of their school bus? Who else receives their first kiss by tripping and falling on a pretty girl while making a sack of flour explode?

"Want me to help Jack?"

"Yeah, I think that would be best."

Tooth walked over to Jack with a clean mold in her hands. She knew that he was becoming frustrated, and she didn't want that. There were countless of times when Jack would either pour too much or too little even though he was trying his very hardest. Tooth placed her hands on Jack's and helped guide them in the right path. Despite how cold her hands were, Tooth felt warm inside. She showed him how to pour the resin without making bubbles, how to know the right amount to pour, and how to stop. Ten minutes had passed while she was tutoring him, but Jack didn't mind at all. Not only was he learning how to properly cast the eggs, but there was a part of him that was enjoying Tooth's company.

His feelings for Tooth were only platonic, right?

In just one day, Jack had already gotten close to Tooth a handful of times. He still wasn't quite sure what he should do about this. She's just his friend. She doesn't like him in that way, does she? Jack just became friends with her today; the two of them couldn't possibly develop a crush on one another in just one day.

Besides, who would be foolish enough to actually have a crush on him anyways?

He just made a disaster where ever he went. Jack was like a ticking time bomb ready to accidentally go off at any second.

Despite being confused about his emotions, Jack did know one thing. Tooth just saw him as a friend. It was true that she enjoyed looking at his teeth, but that was only because she adored teeth and his were so white and perfect.

Jack barely talked to anyone, especially those of the opposite gender.