A/N: okay before you say anything, I NEVER MEANT TO MAKE ANY OF YOU FEEL GUILTY ASDFGJHKFL. i get that all of you like this story, but its just the reviews that are literally nothing but someone telling me to update that stress me out.

im still writing this fic, and right now these chapters have kinda been a whole 'bonding time' between jack and tooth so that the climax will really leave an impression. basically, im just building up their relationship before all the big stuff happens :P

Chapter Twenty Nine

An array of chairs lined the gymnasium floor, waiting for students to come fill them in. All of the seniors were gathered, engulfing what little space there was in the room. From jocks to wallflowers, every senior clique was present. Even the students who do drugs behind the school were standing I the farthest corner of the gym.

"I don't see any empty seats near the front." North stated, towering over everyone with his tremendous height. He was taller than Aster, so he could clearly see over everyone's heads.

"I bet there'd be some seats in the back." Jack said. "We just have to get there."

They had to push their way through the crowd to reach the far side of the packed gym. It was times like this where Sandy would become frustrated about his height, because he felt like a child walking through a forest of moving trees. Every student around him was at least three inches taller than him and some were almost twice his height.

"Oh! I see an empty row back there!" Tooth pointed out. There was an empty row of chairs near the wall and the group of five migrated towards them.

"I can't wait to leave this school." Aster mumbled. "Then I'll go somewhere that's not overcrowded."

"Ugh, tell me about it." Jack commented. They were attending the only high school in Burgess that was actually decent enough to afford while still providing a proper learning environment. The other schools were either kept together with paper clips and gum or only affordable for the preppy rich kids who live in the mansion sized houses. If Tooth's family wasn't so modest and if they didn't schools like that were overrated, Tooth would probably be enrolled there.

"What time does the assembly start?" North asked. Sandy glanced at his watch and held up three fingers, indicating they had three minutes until the presentation began.

"This better be interesting." Jack cursed under his breathe. It wasn't until they all took their seats did Jack become nervous. Tooth sat next to him and because of how many people were in the gymnasium, she was sitting closer to him than usual.

/

Pitch leaned against the wall in the back of the gym, shrouded in the dark corner and unseen. He had already completed his task of tweaking the slideshow and it would premier any minute. If only he was up front, then he could look over the crowd and see Jack and Tooth's horrified reactions.

The projector in the middle of the room turned on and shot the cover image of the slideshow on the front gymnasium wall for everyone to see. Once all of the senior students had calmed the noise level to a small silence, the speaker of the assembly stepped out. She was a snazzy dressed woman with a microphone in her hand which she used to address her audience. "Gooooood afternoon future graduates of Burgess High!"

The speaker was standing too close to the speakers and they emanated a high pitched screech that caused everyone to cover their ears in annoyance. Even though her audience did not want her to continue, the perky speaker kept talking.

"Now, I know that the school year is half over and do all of you know what that means?"

A girl sitting in the front row raised her hand to answer the question but she went ignored. Instead, the speaker continued her one sided conversation.

"That's right! In a few months all of you will be finished with school! And that means that you'll be starting your independent lives!"

Jack leaned back in his chair. From his point of view, this was going to be the worst school assembly of the whole school year just from how cheerful and perky the speaker was. Her overly positive attitude was annoying and how she was lecturing on about "how important college is" was just mocking Jack. He couldn't even go to college if he wanted to, making him apathetic.

"And when you graduate high school you have two choices: go to college or try to live on your own and try to get a job! What I recommend is going to college, that way you won't be doomed to an eternity of working in the luxury of fast food and impatient clients."

Pitch had only been present for two minutes of the assembly and he already wanted to shove the speaker out the door. She was the worst kind of people, always seeing everything as sunshine and happiness and being too happy when talking. He loathed her entire personality, and no wonder barely any of the other teachers showed up for the assembly.

"As you can see behind me, a slideshow has been prepared and is being projected on the wall for all of you to see. Right now it's only displaying the cover slide, but I'll show all of you the benefits of continuing your education after high school with one click of a button!"

This was is. Pitch knew it.

Once he had scanned Tooth's photos onto a flash drive, he had tapped into the laptop the speaker's slideshow was held on and did whatever he pleased with the slides. All of them but the cover slide had been altered, and within seconds Tooth would find out what had become of the missing pictures that had vanished out from under her.

Tooth had her focus on the projected slideshow. Aside from the speaker, she might enjoy this assembly. It seemed informative and it never hurt anyone to know more about college. Her plan for attending college was already made but after today, Tooth may find a way to improve it.

To her left, Jack was sitting next to her and looked as if he might fall asleep any second. "Jack, pay attention!" Tooth whispered to him. "You might learn something!"

"Why? None of this even-"

"Shhh! She's about to start the presentation!"

Jack just crossed his arms and kept his attention up front. Who knows? Maybe he could learn something new after this assembly was over, not that he wanted to be at the assembly anyhow.

The speaker said a few more words and pulled out a small device from her pocket. There were two buttons on it, making it look similar to a small remote. Her back was turned to the projection as she clicked a button, causing the title slide to transition to the next slide.

Gasps escaped the audience and a thick silence loomed over them. However, the speaker's back was still turned and she was unfazed.

"Now I know that where you can end up without a college degree can be shocking, but if you- OH MY WORD!"

Dropping her microphone, the speaker was as stunned as her audience.

Instead of displaying the slideshow she had made, it was something different.

It was a familiar looking boy with white hair holding a well-known girl with colorful hair down low, as if he was about to kiss her. They were standing on a frozen lake and as the speaker furiously smashed the buttons on her remote repeatedly, the different slides still showed the same people in different romantic positions with the same background.

Everyone could only sit in their seats and stare at what was happening, but none of them were as shocked as Tooth and Jack sitting together in the back row. They were mortified.

Jack sank down low into his seat, not wanting to be seen, and Tooth was frozen like a statue. Her eyes were wide, her heart seemed to have stopped pumping blood to her brain, and her mouth was open but no words came out. She just wanted to scream, but she couldn't.

"Umm…I am so sorry but I did not plan any of this!" the frazzled speaker apologized. "I don't even know who these people are!"

Panicking, she eventually just ran over to the projector and turned it off.

"What the 'ell was that all about?!" Aster urgently asked Tooth. "Why were you and Jack on-"

"I-I don't know! I didn't do anything!"

"Then-"

"Wait! Wait!"

Tooth turned to Jack. "Remember how I was missing some pictures before we left the cafeteria?"

"Yeah,"

"Th-The ones we just saw! Those were probably them!"

"But if they were, then why were they in the slideshow?!"

"I-"

Tooth seemed to have lost her voice when she realized people were staring at her and Jack. Everyone sitting around them had their heads turned to them, with a pestering look of curiosity on their faces.

"Are you two dating?"

"Hey guy with white hair, what's your name?"

"Why'd you guys put your pictures on the thing?"

Even though the slideshow was presented for only a few minutes, everyone had gotten a quick glimpse at each slide. The crowd bombarded them with questions and some of the girls even leaned in closer to hear what Tooth and Jack would have to say. They paid no attention to Sandy, North, and Aster, who were trying to get them to back away. "Will all of you just shut up?" Jack harshly spat at them. "Ever heard of personal space?"

He hated all of this sudden attention, and he knew that they were making Tooth uncomfortable. She was still feeling uneasy about seeing an album of the pictures Baby Tooth had taken blown up onto the wall in front of the entire senior population. All of the pigment in her face had been flushed out of her system when she had seen it, but she still wanted to know why they were there in the first place.

Pitch saw a large portion of the crowd turn to where Tooth and Jack were sitting. He could tell it was them by how their hair was colored, because no one else had hair like theirs in the entire school. The speaker had her hands on her laptop, editing and deleting everything from her slideshow and Pitch thought it was time to go inform the principal what had happened. After all, he was sure the principal would be interested in what he would have to say.

Pitch walked out of the gymnasium to the less noisy hallway. When he reached the principal's office, he knocked on the door and prepared to tell his advisor how he saw Jack Frost near the laptop that belonged to today's speaker. It was completely false information, but Pitch would play his cards in a complex manner to make it sound true. He was a member of the school staff, so hoodwinking anyone would be easy.

/

The assembly was supposed to have ended half an hour ago but because of the technical difficulties, it was delayed. The speaker was still recovering her slideshow and the senior student body was still gathered in the gymnasium with everyone still focused on the previous events.

"Do you think you've calmed down enough, Tooth?" North asked her from the other side of the row.

"Yeah," she responded. "Yeah, I-I think so."

Jack was talking to Sandy and Aster while trying to look as if he wasn't embarrassed when he looked over to the doorway of the gym and saw the principal; with non-other than Pitch Black standing at his side. "And here I thought this whole thing couldn't get any worse."

The principal, Dr. English, was just told of the misdemeanor by Pitch and had come to the gymnasium to settle everything out. He spotted where Tooth and Jack were sitting in the back and walked over to them. "Mr. Frost, Ms. Fairie, I'd like you two to come to my office for a word with me."

When Tooth had seen the angry principal request that they go to his office, she felt her knees get weak and tried to keep calm. She's supposed to be a role model for her sisters! She can't get a detention now! Ever since she was in first grade she had kept a clean slate when it came to disobedience within school; and now it seemed like today it would be tarnished.

"Just stay calm Tooth," Jack whispered into her ear. "it'll be alright in the end. And I'll make sure you won't get into any trouble."

The two teens rose from their seat and they both brushed past Pitch as they accompanied Dr. English to his office. Just before they left the gym, Jack looked back to where Pitch was standing with a devious smirk on his face, as if he had won a game agaisnt them. Pitch's reaction planted itself into Jack's mind, and he couldn't help but be suspicious.

"Mr. Frost, hurry up. I won't have you stalling."

Jack closed the gymnasium door and quickened his pace.

/

It was unnerving to sit in the principal's office for disciplinary reasons. Tooth had never been sent to the office because she was in trouble, it was usually so that she could talk to him about school events. But she wasn't talking about any of that with him today, because she was a victim that was going to take the heat for something she had nothing to do with. She couldn't help but feel paranoid about what her mom would say about all this.

Dr. English sat behind his desk, his hands interlocked while his chin rested upon them. "Well?" he sternly asked. Tooth swallowed hard, not knowing that to say. On the other hand, Jack had been sent to the principal office multiple times, so he was experienced with talking to the principal.

"Watcha wanna know Dr. English?" he mocked. "Haven't seen you in a while."

Jack smiled and watched his school principal sigh while rubbing his temples.

"Jack, you've been in here far too many times."

"Hey, what can I say? And by the way, this is my first time coming here in months. That may be a new personal record."

"And you've managed to drag poor Toothiana here with you."

"What do you mean? It's not-"

"Not long ago, Mr. Black brought some…interesting news to my attention. He reported seeing you near Ms. Darcy's-"

"Who the heck is Ms. Darcy?"

"The speaker at the assembly today, the one you degraded."

"What? You think I did that?"

"Mr. Black did see you near her laptop before the assembly. I think he said it was near the ending of lunch when he saw you."

"So you're going to believe him? I didn't have anything to do with her slideshow! And I wasn't remotely close to any laptop during lunch!"

"Well, if you didn't do it, then who did hmm? Who else would do something like that? Even if it were a bit… bold."

Tooth glanced at Jack and mouthed 'what?' to him. He just responded with a shrug, equally as dumbfounded as she was. None of them even realized that Pitch was standing outside the door, eavesdropping.

Dr. English kept talking and Pitch scowled at what he was hearing. The principal was supposed to deal a punishment to Jack and Tooth, but he guessed he would just have to settle with Jack getting in trouble for now. But he should have known trying to put Tooth behind bars would fail even if she was the one who committed the crime.

Tooth was too different from Jack. Teachers trusted her, she was an honor student, and her permanent record was flawless. Then there was Jack, who was just lucky that he wasn't expelled from school yet. He would always be skipping classes, show up unexcused, and pulled too many pranks for a super computer to count. The type of student Jack is would be the contrast of what Tooth is, they're opposites.

Pressing his ear to the door, Pitch listened closer.

"Do you want me to pull up the security camera? Because I'll pull up the footage recorded throughout the entire day if I have to."

"Okay... I'll admit it. Maybe I had something to do with the lady's-"

"Ms. Darcy."

"with Ms. Darcy's presentation."

Tooth's eyes widened and she turned to Jack. "What are you doing?" she whispered. Jack just winked at her and continued his lie.

"And I'll just save all of us time by saying all this stuff now. Trust me, I've got more important things to do than sit in here for an hour."

Jack placed his hands behind his head and casually rested in his chair, as if he lived in it. He was amused by how Dr. English was like a volcano waiting to erupt while Tooth was just a bystander. But Tooth had never gotten in trouble like he had, and she didn't know Dr. English like he did.

"So yeah, you caught me. I'll even put my hands up. By the way, are those degrees on your wall real? Because you never told me the last time I was here and you can get fired if they're-"

"Jack, you are testing my patience and I must ask you to please step outside and wait by my office."

"Really? And I thought we were having such a nice time together."

"GO!"

"Alright alright, I get it. You're kicking me out early."

"No, you will stand by the door and wait until you are called back in. I must speak to Ms. Fairie in private and you are not to move an inch away from here unless instructed. Understand?"

"Yes, dear."

Tooth giggled to herself at Jack's behavior. At least he was lightening up the mood a bit. He even winked to her again on his way out the door, leaving her with the principal. Tooth kept her attention to Dr. English, knowing he would have something important to say.

"I'm terribly sorry for all the trouble Jack has caused you."

"What? Dr. English, Jack had-"

"I'll make sure to give him a proper detention if not suspension. And I don't know how he made those slides, but he won't get away with doing it."

"But Jack and I-"

"And you will not be put into any kind of trouble because of him. Once I call him back in, he will apologize to you."

"But it wasn't even Jack who did it! He-"

"Don't try to cover for him, Mr. Black told me everything I needed to hear concerning-"

"Except that Pi- Mr. Black, lied-"

Dr. English held up his hand, showing her that she no longer needed to talk. He called Jack back in before Tooth could explain what really happened and made him sit back down.

"Pitch was out there," Jack whispered to Tooth. "and I think he was listening to us in here. It probably was him who sabotaged the slideshow."

"Ahem,"

Dr. English cleared his throat.

"Jack, is there something you would like to say to Toothiana?"

"I dunno, is there?"

Tooth still couldn't wrap her mind around how calm Jack was acting. He could get suspended! And here he was acting like a smart aleck to his principal!

"Apologize to her."

"I was going to do that anyway. I wasn't raised in a barn, you know."

Jack turned to Tooth with a smile on his face. "I'm sorry Tooth; I didn't mean to upset you. I was just looking for a laugh."

Dr. English cocked an eyebrow at Jack. "And?"

"And... I'm sorry I used those images without your permission."

"That's more like it. Tooth, you are dismissed."

Despite being apprehensive about leaving Jack, Tooth knew she wasn't permitted to stay. She walked to the door and wondered if Pitch was still out in the hallway waiting. The thought of going out there alone with no one around but Pitch sent shivers down her spine.

Tooth took one last look at Jack, who waved to her, and she exited out the door.


A/N: so i just realized that the fanfictions i write are like novels you read on the internet because of how insanely long they are ;A;