Chapter Two:
Jack took his time on the walk home. As he approached the back door, he could smell the pasta Katherine must have made. From inside, his siblings' voices mingled together, forming the loud and happy hum Jack had found himself missing.
He slipped inside, smiling to himself as he watched the mess inside the kitchen.
Katherine (who was covered in sauce and cheese), lazily dolled out portions with one hand. In the other, she scribbled something in her notebook, balancing on one leg while she used the other as a table.
Sophie ate at the table, already covered in sauce herself, but otherwise calm as the twins wrestled over a roll of paper towels. Emma and Jamie had matching sauce spots on their faces, and Emma successfully yanked the roll away with a cheer.
Their mother sat at the table, chewing tiredly. She barely responded to what was happening around her, and Jack recognized the tell-tale water bottle next to her.
"HEY! SHUT IT!" MJ screamed, appearing in the doorway. She was covered in dirt smudges and had several new plants in her hair, and the entire room stopped, lest they make her angrier. MJ locked eyes on Jack.
"Where have you been?!"
"Exploring?" Jack tried, smiling a little. MJ rolled her eyes and grabbed a plate. He picked one up too, then took over the serving duty from Katherine. He finished spooning out manicotti, then joined his family at the rickety table.
While dinner was messy, everyone laughed and shared stories. Jack felt himself finally loosen up and breathe. He smiled as the twins talked over each other. Laughed when Sophie's dinner made her face look like it was covered in warpaint. Agreed with MJ and Katherine about their customers and fellow students. He made sure his mother's plate and glass of water stayed full. By the time dinner had wrapped up, Olivia Overland was only a few seconds away from falling asleep at the table. MJ grabbed their mother around the waist and helped her towards the stairs and her bedroom.
"Stay still Soph," Jack muttered, trying to scrub some runaway sauce from his little sister's cheeks as Katherine pulled out a small box of Oreos from under the sink (hidden from their mom). Jamie tried to grab two, but the older girl stopped him and shook her head quietly.
"Only one tonight," Katherine chided.
Emma took two, and handed one over to Sophie, who started to happily munch on the treat. Jack took his cookie as well, shoving it into his mouth all at once.
"Bedtime dorks," Katherine said, shooing the younger siblings out into the front room and towards the stairs. "Don't wake up mom,"
Katherine set up to do the dishes while Jack herded his siblings upstairs. They crept up to the upstairs bathroom, where Jack scrubbed down everyone's faces as they brushed their teeth. Emma brushed her hair out, and the foursome left the bathroom. Jack shooed the twins up another level, and made sure Sophie was dressed for bed and tucked in. He then snuck up to the twins rooms. Jamie was already in bed, but Emma seemed to be struggling with the clip on the back of her dress.
"Here Ems, I got it," Jack muttered, reached up to unsnag the hook. The back of the dress popped open, and Emma pulled it over her head. Jack turned around to leave, but did a double take and turned back.
"Ems, what's that?" He asked, gesturing to the large blooming bruise on her back. Emma froze.
"N-nothing!" The ten year old squeaked, stuffing her head into her nightgown.
"Em."
Jamie looked up from his comic. Jack noticed his brother's wince.
"Jamie."
"Emmagotpushedintothefence" Jamie muttered. Emma looked almost distraught.
"On accident or purpose?!" Jack almost yelled.
"It was the eighth graders…" Emma mumbled. "They keep picking on us because they know that Mom works at the bars and they know that Dad died…"
"So they're bullies." Jack snarled.
"What's happening?" Katherine interrupted, nudging past Jack to get into the bedroom. "Who's a bully?"
"Stupid eighth graders who come from the rich side of town," Jack growled. "I'm going to beat them up next time I see them -"
"Jack, shut up," Katherine muttered. "You two, get in bed. We're talking about this tomorrow. If it doesn't stop we're going to the principal."
She turned on her heel and dragged Jack out of the room, flipping off the lights as she passed.
"You need to get a handle on this… whole thing." She muttered, gesturing at Jack.
"You just gestured to all of me," Jack stage whispered angrily. He was fuming. It was bad enough that the Overland family hadn't been well off since Micheal Bennett had died seven years ago, but he hadn't realized that it was this bad. How long had Emma and Jamie been getting hurt?
Katherine grabbed Jack by the shoulders and shook him lightly. He could barely see the expression on her face in the dark hall.
"Go up to bed," She whispered. "MJ and I will handle this. Trust me."
Jack took a shaky, angry breath. He climbed the final set of stairs to the attic - his room. The room was half storage and half bedroom. The bedroom side was painted white, and several small pictures were hung up on the walls. A rickety desk was shoved to the side, next to an old dresser, and a big blue bean bag sat under the biggest window. A bed and bookshelf were against the other wall.
Jack got into his pajamas quickly, then crept back downstairs to brush his teeth. He passed by MJ and Katherines shared bedroom, where Katherine was already in bed reading. MJ's side was covered in various plants, but she wasn't in bed yet. Jack quickly brushed his teeth before heading back up towards his room, where he found MJ waiting for him.
The older girl enveloped him in a huge hug, squeezing his so tightly Jack thought his lungs might burst.
"I'm sorry," MJ muttered into his hair. "I know the twins mean a lot to you,"
Jack remembered when MJ had stopped being a hugger. It had been about six months after their dad - their biological dad - left. In the awful five years between her divorce and remarriage, Olivia Overland had devolved into a pattern of drinking and sleeping it off. She forgot everything - making dinner, taking her kids to school, picking them up after events. MJ, who'd still been bright eyed, cherry Emily-Jane found it upon her nine year old shoulders to become a mother for her siblings. She'd packed lunches, walked from the elementary school to the bus stop to take a bus to the daycare, where she'd retrieve her siblings and have to take two buses back home. She made dinner and tucked three year old Goosie and two year old Jackie into bed and then spent hours pouring over her own homework, and sometimes bills her mother had forgotten about.
By ten years old, Emily-Jane Pitchiner Overland-Black had stopped being Emily-Jane and had become the untouchable, rock-hard MJ Overland.
She'd stopped hugging then.
Jack took a deep breath and let his older sister hug him. He felt his insides unravel and his anger subside as the two stood still for a few minutes. It wouldn't matter if Emma and Jamie were being bullied by eighth grade boys. Nothing could stop the three oldest Overlands when they set their sights on something. And the weird, knotty feeling that Jack had felt earlier, the one where he felt invisible to the worlds, also melted away.
"Go to bed Jackie," MJ whispered, giving her brother one last squeeze before going back down to her bedroom. Jack yawned and crawled into bed, turning off his light and lying back to look at the dark ceiling. A few tiny glow-in-the-dark stars were left from when he was eight.
He drifted off to sleep, mind confused and foggy, chest still twisting with anger and the lingering depression he'd yet to confront.
The next day at school was just the same as the one before. Jack trudged through it, almost sluggish as he went through his classes. Hiccup had a doctor's appointment that morning, so it left Jack and Merida to their own devices. Rather than risk an argument or debate with the redhead, Jack slipped off to the library. He didn't notice Merida's confused expression when he bypassed their normal hang out spot.
He was rudely reminded of an english paper due in the next class period, so Jack shouldered his bag and made his way down to the library. He dropped his bag at one of the large desktop computers and logged on, tiredly waiting for the worksheet to load.
Jack finished the work, albeit much quicker than he should have, so it was bound to be riddled with mistakes. He slumped back in his chair, tilting his head back to see the clock by the door.
But instead, he saw her.
Like the night before, Mystery Girl wore the same large brown jacket that swallowed her up. Her choppy brown hair still fell into her face and there was a dark purple winter hat crammed onto her head. Jack noticed she looked a little awkward, standing in the library entrance with her dark purple backpack slung over one shoulder.
Jack didn't know what came over him. He waved.
Mystery Girl's eyes widened when she noticed him. She frantically looked around before almost sprinting into the bookshelves. Jack watched her, blank look all over his face. Then feeling a rush of adrenaline, he grabbed his bag and went after her.
"What the heck are you doing Overland?" He muttered to himself, weaving in and out of the bookshelves. The Burgess High School Library wasn't big, but it wasn't small either. It had used for the old Special Education Ward, and took up three interlocking rooms.
Finally, Jack saw the girl round a corner which would lead to a dead end. Still not fully understanding what he was doing, he followed.
But she was nowhere to be found.
"Huh." Jack said, staring at the empty wall. "And I really wanted to talk to her again."
He turned to head back out when a thin purple scarf suddenly fell in his face. Jack looked up and locked eyes with Mystery Girl. Who had scaled the bookshelves and was supporting herself using a beam on the ceiling.
"Okay, what the hell," Jack said. Mystery Girl cringed a bit.
"Fine," She muttered. "You got me."
She dropped down from her perch and collected her scarf from the ground. Then, she stuck out a hand.
"I'm Rapunzel. Rapunzel C-corona,"
"Jack Overland," He said, taking it.
"Mr. Overland, I believe the world had decided you will be my guide," Mystery Girl - Rapunzel - said. "So I guess I'm going to have to deal with it."
"Guide?" Jack laughed. "How bout friends first?"
Rapunzel shrugged.
"Same difference,"
Authors Notes:
'You just gestured to all of me' is apparently a staple in my fics.
I'm struggling to make Rapunzel... angsty. Its hard with both of these characters, and this might the angstiest I ever write them (but don't quote me on that, my big Modern AU also has some heart wrenching backstories).
For anyone confused about Jack's family:
The Overlands: Olivia (mom), MJ (Emily-Jane, older sister), Katherine (older sister) Jack, the twins Emma and Jamie (Emma is Jack's little sister from RotG) and then Sophie (little sister)
I haven't read the Guardians of Childhood books so MJ and Katherine's personalities probably aren't accurate, but they're characters from that. Jack, Emma, Jamie and Sophie are the movie versions.