For a long time, all Jack could feel was cold. He supposed it was due to the train accident. It was the same accident his family died in last year and Jack was the sole survivor (as all tragedies go). And as angsty as it sounded, his life became bleak after that.
There wasn't any joy anymore. His school performance was falling and his desire to live was at a record low. Everyone avoided him now. He used to be pretty popular but ever since his life fell apart, everyone left. Jack was left to brood about his struggles as his peers lived good lives. Always laughing and smiling as if they didn't know Jack Frost's life went to shit.
He was in another one of his brooding episodes when his teacher passed back their most recent test scores. It was probably a fail. He wasn't even caught up with the unit they were working on.
The girl in front of him turned around to pass him his failed exam. She was nice enough, she smiled at him and tried to make conversation, but for the life of him, he could never remember her damn name. It definitely started with an R, though.
He grabbed the packet from her and for a second, their fingers met. Jack jerked his hand back. Her hand... She felt… Warm.
"Sorry! I'm sorry, did I do something? Did I give you a paper cut? Here, let me see your hand." He watched as she took his hand in hers, not even close to believing what he was feeling. All he felt from her was pure warmth, the gentle kind that came from the summer sun, the kind that warmed you right to the core. It reminded him of the time he went to the beach with his family. The water was freezing cold and him and Emma ended up playing on the sand for most of the time. It was warm and she was warm and it unsettled him.
"Listen, I'm fine. Could you stop tha-" Jack started to say.
"Miss. Rapunzel, may I ask what you are doing with Mr. Jack's hand?"
The girl, named Rapunzel apparently, visibly shrunk with embarassment. She turned to face forward and everyone was looking toward them.
"I…" She started, but she was at a loss for words.
The teacher sighed, "English class is not the time for romances. Please pay attention and you can get back to what you two were doing later." He could hear a few students snickering.
"No, no, I was just-"
"Miss. Rapunzel, save your excuses. It's high time we got back on track. Thank you. Alright, class. Where were we? Ah, right. The Unit 7 test answers..."
Jack began to zone out his teacher and focused on the girl in front of him. He knew, from the other classes he had with her, that she was a goody-goody, always looking to be accepted and she was, for the most part. 'Well, that's definitely changed now,' he thought. Jack let himself feel a little pity for her. I mean, she was assumed to be dating Jack Frost. Couldn't get anymore embarassing than that. Even if she was warm, she was just like everyone else.
Class ended and he stood up and walked past Rapunzel who still sat in her seat. It was at the last second where he decided to apologize. "Hey, I'm sorry about that, what happened in class."
She was surprised at first but it melted into an easy smile. "Oh, please don't worry about it. It was totally my fault. I can be too friendly sometimes."
Jack Frost smiled a bit and nodded in agreement. "Yeah, just a little."
Rapunzel's smile widened at that. "Anyway, I should be sorry. I hope I didn't offend you or anything."
"Uh, no, you didn't. It's just not everyday that someone holds hands with the social outcast at school." He joked, but it stung anyway.
Rapunzel blushed lightly, shouldering her backpack. "I wasn't holding your hand."
"Well, Mrs. Parks certainly thought you were."
"Well, she also thought we were dating. Which we aren't." Rapunzel quipped back. Jack felt himself smile. "Touchè."
"Also, you're not a social outcast. To me, anyway. You're just… A badass lone wolf." She added as an afterthought, "Pardon my language."
"If only it felt as cool as that sounds."
Rapunzel looked at him with a strangely knowing smile. "I get it. Listen, my second is that way. I'll see you in third though, okay?"
Jack nodded and didn't look back as she left him. He wondered why she thought that of him. He wasn't close to being badass or a lone wolf. Jack was just a sad, lonely boy whose family died.
Second period passed as slow and boring as ever. Then it was lunch, which Jack usually took to eat in his third period, Drawing and Painting. The teacher, Miss. Diaz was pretty cool, always bouncing off the walls and cursing loudly. She hardly cared what students did in class, as long as they did the projects. That meant an easy A for Jack who was loathe to do anything at all.
As he ate the school's terribly bland stew, he reflected upon his meeting with Rapunzel. She really was something. Overly friendly, that he knew. Warm, that he didn't know. And it was a strange surprise. Jack hadn't felt warm in a long time and wondered why the hell she was, when his ex wasn't and neither were his friends or his extended family. He hardly even knew her so how could she be the only person in his life to be warm?
"Hey Jack." Rapunzel greeted him and sat across from him.
"Oh, what are you doing here?"
"Uhh, just hanging out? My… other friends were busy."
Jack frowned. "They don't seem like friends if they can't even hang out with you." Rapunzel just shrugged as if she could do nothing about it.
"Anyway, how's lunch?" She asked him with a grimace.
He pursed his lips. "As shitty as ever." The blonde gasped a little. "Jack! Language."
He gave her a pointed look and turned back to the sucky food. A silence descended on them as she began to work on some notes.
"Sooo, I wanted to ask you, why the white hair?"
The food in Jack's mouth turned into a dry mound. "What about your long hair?"
"Hmm, that's fair. Fine, if I tell you, you have to tell me why your hair is white." Jack shrugged in concession. Maybe he should lie. Was he really gonna tell a classmate of the tragedy that was his life?
"Well, ever since I was a kid, my adoptive mother would cut it very short. She always told me that I was too beautiful and boys would hurt me unless I looked like them. Since she got arrested a while back, I started growing it out. To kind of cleanse myself of her, I guess."
Jack certainly had not expected that. "What… What did she get arrested for? If I can ask." Rapunzel frowned a bit.
"Child abuse."
"Oh… Sorry about that. That sucks. I kinda just thought it was the name." Rapunzel laughed, an odd reaction. Definitely not the one he expected. But then again, she was beginning to become more and more odd. "I would say the same about you, Jack Frost. So tell me how you got your hair."
Jack swallowed his food and paused. This was what he hated, having to confront Emma's death. And he was going to share it with a girl he had just met. Who just told him of her own life tragedy. Why was he going to tell her the truth?
"Don't say it if you don't want to. I just want to get to know you better."
Don't tell her. Just lie. Tell a damn lie.
"It's fine." Dammit. "Gotta talk about it sometime… I had a sister." Dammit, dammit, damn it all! "Emma. She used to always tease my name and wanted me to get my hair bleached. I always said no. But then she died, and so did my mom. I bleached it to pay homage to my sister."
Rapunzel smiled gently. "I'm sure she would like it. I know I sure do." With that, she ruffled his hair and he felt a faint warmth. "Oh, sorryy. Too friendly again?"
Jack's eyes had teared up, but he smiled, a true one this time. "It's fine. I've gotten used to it now." What was he feeling now?
"Heyy, you're crying! Just tell me if you don't want me to touch you!" She jerked back and was caught between hugging and not hugging him. What was this feeling called?
"You're totally misinterpreting everything, Rapunzel." He sighed.
Wait. Happiness. That is what he was feeling with her. Jack hasn't felt like this since last year, when he lost his best friend. He couldn't bring himself to feel happy without her. Here he was, and the emotion bubbled up out of nowhere. But it wasn't with her, with Emma, and he didn't know how to process that.
Rapunzel huffed. "So is it okay if I hug you or not?"
Jack rolled his eyes playfully. "It's okay." The girl beamed and wrapped him in a crushingly cozy hug. He was overcome by her summery heat and drowned in what felt like sunlight.
"Thank you for telling me the meaning behind your hair. I really appreciate your openness."
"Yeah. Thank you too." Rapunzel broke away and said, "I guess that makes us friends now."
"Hm. I guess so."