Chapter 10: Too caught offguard
"An F." Jack muttered as he showed Sandy his test paper in Math
"Jackson," The teacher, Miss Heusaff, called, "Come here, will you?"
Jack put the paper in his math book and proceeded to the front.
"You realize that you're failing my subject, right?" The teacher started
"Yeah, but it's because of the daycare. I don't have time to study." Jack reasoned out
"That's just it. I've talked to the principal about that and she decided that you are going to stop working temporarily." She responded
"Wait, no, I can't." Jack interjected, "Who's going to be the mascot?"
"The one who isn't actually failing my class. Bunnymund."
What?! Bunny!
"What can I do to get my job back?" Jack asked
"Stop failing all exams! You know, if you passed the last quiz then maybe you won't have much of a problem." The teacher glared at him, "Class dismissed."
The bell rang, signaling the end of the day.
Jack went over to the daycare and entered the room. The place where he got almost bruised by balls and rubber swords. The place where he got used to wearing dresses and wigs. The place where he was forced to learn and braid little children's hairs. The place where he first removed and replaced a diaper. The place where he cleaned up children's pukes and spits. The place where he got super tired. The place where children relied on him to fall asleep. The place where children slept on his chest and got drool all over his shirts. The place where children pulled on his hair. The place where his hair was colored by children whenever he accidentally slept. Most importantly, the place where he became a daddy and Tooth, the mommy.
"Jack?"
The boy looked up and saw Tooth's violet eyes.
"Oh, hey Tooth." he greeted, "So, um, listen. I'm not working anymore. I failed my math test again and Miss Heusaff replaced me with Bunny."
The door at the other side opened and in came Bunny.
"Oh, Tooth, Jack, nice to see you two here." Bunny said
"Bunny," Jack muttered, not quite happily, "Well," he sighed, "good luck on dressing up as Rapunzel."
He exited the room and stuck his hands in his hoodie pockets and closed his eyes shut.
"Well that was," Tooth paused, "out of character."
Bunny shrugged, "He's just disappointed that he lost the job."
Jack sat on his wooden bed in his room shared with nine other boys around the ages of ten to seventeen. He groaned and stared at the different spots in the room, silently thinking.
"Everything. Everything was what I wanted." He said to himself, "I had a great job, I was going to have good grades, I had a great reputation in the school, I had the children, I had Tooth,"
"And now I can only fulfill the children." he sighed
The caretaker named Mr. Moon then entered the room and sat next to Jack.
"So. I know that you have a huge problem." The man started
"Yeah, I lost my job. I never really thought that it was possible." Jack sighed
"You know, sometimes, it's not always you who's in control. And sometimes, you don't have to have everything."
"I know, but does it really have to be now? A-and just in time that I'm," he paused, "I'm asking Tooth out. Ugh, why can't I just be first in this? In all of the things?! Nobody ever cares about me anymore! Even my own family left me! Why?!"
"Jack, you simply can't be the best in everything, and you certainly can't be first in everything."
He huffed, got up and decided to walk around the neighborhood. More specifically, Tooth's neighborhood. He walked for a few minutes then saw a sign in the window of a house. "Babysitter for hire" it said and it was the best opportunity to have children to take care of. He walked to the house's front porch and knocked lightly. The door opened and a young woman in about her late twenties was seen.
"You were looking for a babysitter?" Jack asked
"Yes," she merely replied, "But I haven't seen you around, how can I trust you?"
"Next door's my friend's house." Jack responded
"What's the daughter's name?"
"Toothiana."
"Parents?"
"Mister Haroom and Mrs. Rashmi." Jack answered, "And here's where I live, in case you don't like my services and want to get rid of me."
The woman looked at the little card Jack gave to her.
"This is a calling card for the orphanage." She said
"Exactly."
"Alright, so how experienced are you in taking care of kids?" The woman asked
"I work part-time at our school's daycare center. Well I used to until my math teacher decided that I was failing her subject and I had to give the kids up." Jack deadpanned
"Oh, you're the Merida and the Elsa?" The woman suddenly questioned
"I am, thanks for noticing." Jack answered
And yet she didn't notice that I was Hiccup.
"Okay, good. You're hired. Be here tonight at six the children hadn't had dinner by then." She instructed
"Um, okay,"
Six pm struck the clock and Jack was back at the front porch. He knocked lightly just as he did the last time and the door was opened by the same woman.
"Good, you're here." She said and led him to the living room where a brown headed boy at the age of ten and a blonde girl who looked not older than five were watching tv intently.
"Kids, he's your babysitter for tonight, Jack. Jack this is Sophie and Jaime."
"Weird, isn't Tooth supposed to be our babysitter?" Jaime asked
"Yes, but she said she had something important to do tonight with that friend of hers, what's his name again, Bunny?" The woman said
"Bunny, Bunny. Hop, hop, hop." Sophie interrupted
"Anyway, the numbers that you could call for emergencies are at the fridge, if you want something delivered for dinner, Jaime, you probably know how to search numbers through the internet. Jack, you have my phone number so in case you had an accident in the house just call me." The woman explained then handed Jack twenty dollars, "If they want to buy something, but don't let them order anything sweet, anything chocolate, or anything that has caffeine. The kids should be in bed by nine and I'll be home by eleven."
"Alright, be good kids." She kissed her children's heads, "Don't be too hard headed now dear."
"Bye mom." Jaime greeted and turned his attention back to the tv
"So what do you guys want for dinner?" Jack asked, standing next to the tv
"Can you cook?" Jaime asked
"Pa-cakes!" Sophie squealed
"No, Sophie, we can't eat pancakes for dinner." Jaime said to his sister
"I could use the batter to coat chicken for fried chicken." Jack suggested
"Pacakes! Pacakes!" Sophie repeated
Jack then proceeded to the kitchen and cooked the chicken Sophie kind of requested. He called the children after a while of cooking and they all sat down for dinner.
"So Tooth was your babysitter?" Jack asked as he munched on a chicken leg
"Yeah, but ever since last last week, she brought Bunny when she babysat us." Jaime replied
"Bunny! Bunny!" Sophie squeaked
"Sophie likes Bunny a lot." Jaime stated
"So this Bunny, does he seem like he's dating Tooth?" Jack asked
"No, she said that they're just friends. But I doubt it, he's always over at their house."
Jack gritted his teeth.
First I'm failing math, then I lost my job, then I lost Tooth, then I'm losing over Bunny on Sophie, then I'm losing my chance to get Tooth. Can this day get any worse?
Jack groaned and laid his head on the table.
If only time would repeat itself, I'll try to pass math and, wait. It does repeat itself. So all I've got to do is say "I love you, Tooth" in front of her and-
"Sophie get away from that thing!" Jaime yelled as he wrapped a protective arm around his sister
Jack looked towards where Jaime was looking at then gasped.
"The portal," he said, "but I just thought of it."
"Thought of what?" Jaime asked, pushing his sister to the living room
"Nothing," Jack replied quickly, "Don't be scared, it's not going to hurt you."
He took a step closer to the portal.
"What are you doing?" Jaime asked
"Something crazy." then Jack jumped in the portal
"Alright class, I will give you thirty minutes to finish the test. And start."
Jack looked down and saw his right hand holding a black pen and a test paper on my desk.
"I'm, I'm back," Jack smiled, "And I know the answers now."
"Frost," Miss Heusaff sent him a warning glare