A/N: woah i never realized how long this fic has gotten and im not even done yet. Oh and by the way, school is over for me! I'm officially going into high school and I'm on summer vacation :D
Chapter Twenty Six
He was leaning against the wall of the school as he watched them walk inside. His other friends weren't at school today, most likely skipping without him. He glared at Jack smile at his short, chubby friend who couldn't talk. After their encounter on Friday, his tongue was still sore from when the school nurse yanked him off of the railing in front of a bunch of freshmen.
In conclusion, Gerald hated Jack.
If that blonde midget wasn't with him, Jack would have been in more trouble than he bargained for. Gerald was fully aware who Sandy's associates were, who didn't? There was that huge Russian guy, North, who was surprisingly not one the wrestling team. A guy like that could take down a grizzly bear. There was also that tall guy from Australia, Aster, who had taken martial arts as a kid and rumor had it that all of the martial arts centers in Burgess wouldn't accept him claiming that "they had nothing to teach him".
Gerald let out a low growl. He longed for revenge on Jack, but he had no idea how. If he tried anything there was a high chance that white haired freak would outsmart him again.
"Lost in thought, Gerald?"
The misfit teen gasped and came face to face with the notorious Pitch Black. Pitch's arms were behind his back and the grin on his face was nothing but an omen that spelled trouble.
"M-Mr. Black! I swear I wasn't doin nuttin! Honest!" stuttered out Gerald. He was just as scared of Pitch as everyone else in the school. One wrong move and that man could send you out of the school in the blink of an eye. Within a heartbeat he could single handedly ruin your life.
"Calm down you dunce, I won't tidy up for you if you wet yourself here." Pitch shot at him. "And if you get on my nerves you'll be having nightmares for a week."
"T-Then why are you here?"
"I have something to negotiate with you. That means that I have a thought I'm sure you'd be interested in hearing."
"What's it got to do with me?"
"It has come to my attention that you have a bone to pick with none other than Jack Frost, am I correct?"
"How do you know that?"
"I get around more often than you'd think."
"What do you mean?"
"I just do."
Pitch folded his arms across his chest. He recalled passing by a window on Friday where he caught a glimpse of Gerald and his friends being humiliated by Jack. The whole epidemic was highly idiotic since Jack was way smarter than his antagonists, but Pitch had still watched everything unfold.
"Now listen up, you want to get back at Jack, right?"
"Uh huh."
"And I have a little plan to do so but I'll need someone else to carry it out with me. Are you willing to do that?"
"Umm…a-alright."
Gerald had no clue on what Pitch was planning, but he just wanted to get away from him as soon as possible.
Pitch motioned the terrified teen to come closer so that he could tell him his plan. After five minutes of explaining everything in a hushed tone, Pitch stood back. "Do you understand?" he asked already expecting what the answer would be. Gerald scratched his head. "Uh…"
"Listen up you dolt, do you know about Toothiana? That over optimistic quack?"
"She's that tooth chick, right?"
"Yes."
"Okay, yeah I know about her."
"And did you notice how she had a rather large abundance of photos with her?"
"No, I don't really pay that much attention to her."
"Anyway, I overheard her talking about how excited she was about looking through them today; during lunch, I assume."
"And what does this have to do with anything?"
"I'm just saying that it would be a shame if something had happened to them, wouldn't it?"
"Oh…oh! I get what you're saying."
"It took you long enough. So, during lunch I need you to lure them away from the table."
"How?"
"You'll think of something. Just distract them long enough for me to-"
"Mr. Black, what are they even pictures of?"
"How should I know? But they're important to Tooth and I need to look through them to see if there's anything I can use against them."
"Wait, you want me to help you so that you can blackmail them?"
"Just shut up. Or do you want me to become your worst nightmare?"
"N-no! Not at all Mr. Black!"
"I thought so. Now hurry up and get to class."
"But-"
"Now!"
Gerald fled the scene when Pitch had raised his voice. He didn't know what a bunch of photos could do, but he was too scared to ask.
Pitch watched his new temporary accomplice clumsily stumble on his way into the school. Honestly, he swore that the idiocy in this school would be the death of him someday. These students wouldn't know how to find a tree if they were lost in the forest. He just hoped that this would all work out in the end.
/
The day had went by so fast for Tooth. She wondered where the time had slipped away because she was sitting at her desk before in the class before lunch. It felt like she was sitting in North's van with Jack just a few seconds ago, not hours.
Clutching her new locket, thoughts of Jack instantly flooded her mind. Placing Jack in their group would have to be the best thing that Mr. Ombric has ever done, and Tooth would have to be sure to thank him later on.
Her eyes wandered to the stack of photos on her desk. Lunch was minutes away; she could wait a few minutes to look through them with everyone. But still, the temptation to take a peek at them right now was overwhelming. She had no idea what each picture held, and the suspense to see how each of them came out pushed Tooth into grabbing the deck. A second before she spread them out, the teacher made and announcement.
"Alright students, grab everything you'll need for lunch."
Tooth sighed and grabbed her lunch box. She was so close to looking through the pictures without her friends' consent, and she suddenly remembered that they were photos of Jack too. He should be there when they looked through them together. With that in mind, Tooth walked out of the classroom with her lunch box and her pictures; excited to know that she was moments away from browsing through them.
/
Jack was out of the classroom as soon as the teacher dismissed them. He hated his civics class, he'd rather learn about history than the different powers of the government.
As he walked through the hall he realized that today would be his first time eating lunch at a table with actual friends who acknowledged his existence. He'd always eat outside alone up until now and he'd isolate himself in the cafeteria in past grades. Sitting with friends at lunch was something he's never had the chance to do before, what should he even do? Unless they came outside into the cold to eat lunch, Jack would have to eat with them inside.
When the orphan reached the cafeteria doors he slowly opened them, unsure about what he was going to do. He scouted the cafeteria, trying to locate the table where he'd be supposedly sitting at, and saw Sandy wave to him from the back. Tooth was with him too, and Jack knew that that was the table he'd be seated at today. "Hey, Jack!" greeted Tooth. "I saved you a seat!"
She patted the chair to her right and motioned for Jack to come join her. North and Aster were in the lunch line, so Jack would be alone with his secret crush and mute best friend. What could possibly go wrong? Feeling welcomed, Jack sat in between Tooth and Sandy.
"Thanks, Tooth."
"No problem! Since we're all friends here, I didn't want you to be left out."
Jack was sure she was talking about how he are lunch outside with no one around. It's just occurred to him how sad and lonely he must have looked while doing that.
"And I have the pictures from Sunday! I don't know about you, but in dying to look through them."
"Yeah, so am I."
"Wanna do it now? Most of us are right here."
"Shouldn't we wait for North and Aster, first?"
"I'm sure they'll be fine if we do it now."
Tooth took the rubber band off if the stack of photos and spread them on the table. Because there were so many, they overlapped each other, hiding what they held in their frames. Tooth didn't even realize that Baby Tooth had taken any pictures or that they were covered under the pictures that she had taken herself.
Sandy picked up a photo of Jack hanging upside down from a tree branch coated in frost. He held it up to his friends, tilting his head as to why Jack was doing such a thing.
"I remember that," said Jack. "that was when Baby Tooth wanted me to climb up the tree."
While they sifted thoroughly the pictures, none of them came across any of the pictures Baby Tooth had taken. It was remarkable how many snapshots Tooth had taken alone. They didn't even see a greasy haired brunette glaring at them from afar.
Gerald watched as Jack laughed with his friends while holding up different photos. To him, it was all so stupid, and now it was time for him to walk over there. After all, Pitch would kill him if he didn't do what he wanted.
"Helloo ladies," he said as he casually walked over to them. The perky smile on Jack's face dropped. "What the heck are you doing here, Gerald?
"What he heck are you doing here? You little match girl?"
"That doesn't even make sense! I'm not even related to being a match girl!"
Jack was shot daggers at Gerald. He had to remain calm, because they weren't outside anymore. The two of them were inside, surrounded by other people unlike the last time they tussled. If he started a fight now, he would get a detention for sure and he already had more than enough of those.
"Jack," Tooth whispered to him. "What's going on?"
"It's nothing. It's just that me and him kind of had a little scuffle on Friday."
"You got in a fight?! With him?!"
"I wouldn't necessarily call it a fight; more like an active disagreement."
"When on Friday did that happen?!"
"During lunch. This was before we were friends and you guys were all inside and I was outside. But there's not really a reason to fret, Tooth. He started it, anyway."
"How?"
"He and his friend thought it'd be funny to shove me in my locker. When we were outside, I threw a snowball at his back."
Gerald stood in front of the table tapping his foot in an act of impatience. He could see Pitch standing in the doorway of the cafeteria, his eyes focused on him. Th bully gulped, knowing that he'd have to act fast from now on before Aster and North came out of the lunch line.
"Hey Frost," he sneered. "you done gossiping with your bitch yet, or what?"
"Do NOT call her that!"
Sandy was surprised by how fast Jack shot out of his seat. Tooth was astonished as well, for Jack's behavior and for Gerald's language. If she wasn't in a cafeteria full of witnesses, she would have marched right over to the delinquent and smacked him across the face.
"Listen Gerald," Jack strictly spoke. "Tooth is not a bitch, she is my friend and I don't own her either. She's a human being that-"
"Did I strike a nerve there Frost? Don't you like me talking about her? If she's not a bitch, then what is she? A whore? Slut?"
Jack was about to pounce over the table and knock the daylights out of Gerald but Sandy held him back. However, Tooth acted instantly and rose from her seat. She didn't care that they were surrounded by people anymore, she just stomped over to Gerald and backhanded the smug look off of his face.
"I am not any of those things!" she shouted at him.
Gerald held up a hand to the half of his face that was stinging. It didn't help that Tooth was wearing rings o her fingers either. But he was advancing in Pitch's orders. Tooth was away from the table, now he jut had to lure away Sandy and Jack. He searched around for something else to do when something that he couldn't miss caught his eye.
Tooth was wearing the nicest looking locket he'd ever seen.
A/N: by the way, some of you wanted to see the fanart of chapter 6 that i mentioned and heres the link:
bente36,tumblr,com/post/52528137834/a-scene-chapte r-6-from-kill-the-lights-by
and see those comas? just replace those with periods and you should be able to open it