This update was delayed slightly by work and screwing around on Tumblr. Sorry! There's a Jackie Tumblr called fuckyeahjackjamie on there that I really like. If you want mine, I'm under the same name that I am here. If people want to start talking to me, I may just create a Twitter. But for right now, I'm sticking with Tumblr. I mainly reblog stuff, so I'm actually pretty boring.

Anyways, I want to thank everyone who has this story on alert, in their favorites, and/or left a review. I'm a first time writer and this story has received a lot more attention than I ever thought it would. Thank you so much! Now without further delay, let move on to chapter two. If you can get through this, I promise that the blunt of the frowny faces is ending soon. Bear with me for a bit if you want the fluff!


CHAPTER 2: IF WE EVER MEET AGAIN

I thanked Sandy for allowing me to get to sleep quickly. Realistically, I should have been up all night due to the excitement, destroying my energy supply for the next day. I knew that I could trust Tooth to keep her promise, but if I fell asleep she wouldn't hesitate for a moment to leave again.

The next day was probably the slowest day in my entire history of going to school. The entire day, my distracted mind was the cause of numerous incidents. In chemistry, I dropped a hot beaker on the table, shattering it and forcing everyone out of the lab, just in case. It wasn't even that volatile of a chemical unless you stuck your fingers in it.

In my art four class, we started had to divide into four different groups, one for each season. We were told to discuss for the first ten minutes and then start our projects. The spring group chose to paint flowers, the summer group chose landscapes, and the autumn group went with a harvest theme. As I'm sure you already know, I signed up for winter. The group liked my suggestion to paint a model to portray the season, so they discussed the possibilities when it came to hair and makeup while I began sketching.

No bonus points for guessing who I chose to represent the season. I had the sketch laid out and had barely begun to paint before the bell rang. Miss Felton gave me a knowing look before coming over to check out my painting. She nodded and told me that I could store it in her office to keep it safe if I wanted to.

She knew. She may not know who the boy in my paintings was, but she knew he was important to me. She most likely knew what I was painting before even checking up on me. We shared a strange kind of bond. Still was still a disciplinarian when she had to be, but we had something of a friendship.

At lunch, I sat with Pippa. She wasn't very well liked by the other students, which was strange considering how kind and pretty she was. High school hierarchies made no sense to me. The ones who were unpopular were usually the kindest, while the arrogant jerks were considered popular. I really had no interest in it and mainly tried to avoid confrontation.

"My friend Sarah is in your art class, you know," she said before taking a bite of her chicken patty. I personally didn't really like them, but I had learned from experience that skipping lunch would make me crash harder at night so I ate one anyways.

"Is she the quiet one with the nose ring?" I asked, poking at my peas with a fork, stabbing one pea onto each individual prong.

"She usually paints cats, if that helps," she added with a shrug.

"Yeah, same girl."

"She told me about the latest project, Jamie," she paused to take a sip of milk, "Is it safe to assume that you chose winter?"

I nodded silently. I probably would have commented, but talking with a mouthful of over-processed chicken is rarely an attractive move.

She stayed quiet for a few drawn out moments, likely think over what to say, before she spoke up. "Well, at least it'll look amazing in the end. God knows your a master as that subject by now."

"Thanks." I'll take what I can get.

"Anyways, tonight at ten there's going to be a movie party at Sarah's house. She said that I could invite you too."

Pippa always seemed to be busy with something whenever I tried to hangout with her, so she chooses tonight of all nights to break that habit? Lovely.

"Pippa, I... Tonight isn't really-"

"Forget I asked," she interrupted, obviously annoyed. Wow. I suck.

"I'm really sorry, I just-"

This time, it was the bell that interrupted me. She quickly stuffed the last bite of her sandwich into her mouth before getting up to go to class in silence. I honestly didn't blame her for being mad at me, but I couldn't let tonight's opportunity pass me by.

The next couple of classes went by as a sort of drawn out haze. I spent the time jumping back and forth between thinking of what to ask tonight and wondering if Pippa still considered me a friend. In all honesty, I was a terrible friend. I never called anymore and only spent time with her at lunch or when I dropped her off.


"Do you promise not to be late anymore?"

"I promise, Miss Felton."

"Alright," she sighed, reclining in the nice black chair behind her desk. "Sorry about this. I just don't want people thinking I play favorites. You can work on your painting if you want. Detention ends at four. Can I trust you to stay?"

"You can," I nodded.

"Alright," she replied, getting up to unlock her office. "Just turn the light off and close the door when you leave."

"I will. Thank you." She really was my favorite of all teachers.

"Stay out of trouble or I'll make you scrape paint off the floor next time. See you next Monday," she waved at me, locking the open door so that nobody could go in once I left. "Enjoy your three day weekend."

"You too," I shot back. I had completely forgotten about that until just now. I probably would have been the only idiot to show up.

I spent my time working on my painting. I managed to get the skin and most of the face finished. The background was easy as well. The only parts that ever really took a long time were skin hair and his eyes. I always took a long time painting each individual strand. Beautiful snow white hair like his only came by once in a childhood, so I chose to spend as much time as needed to try and capture it as perfectly as possible.

I had yet to master Jack's eyes though. Mixing such a mesmerizing hue was always a struggle, and even then his eyes always lacked that sparkle that I had only ever seen in the eyes of the Guardians. Perhaps it was wisdom? Maybe it was pure wonder. All I knew is that even with the aid of various types of glitter, I had yet to get it right.

I spent some extra time working on it until by average standards, I was done. Nothing was unpainted. I was proud of my work, but the eyes still bothered me as always. They were lacking. They were so much like Jack's icy blue eyes, but at the same time they were nothing alike.

"Young man?"

I looked away from the canvas to see our school custodian watching me. "Yes?"

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave so I can clean in here."

I instantly looked at the clock, which read sightly after six thirty.

"Shit!"

"Language," he warned.

"Sorry, sir." I quickly piled up my paints, storing them in Miss Felton's office next to my painting.

I ran out to my car, rushing to get home. The sun was already almost down. Tooth could show up at any moment.


Once home, I ran straight for my room. I yanked the door open, finding Tooth rolling around on my bed, toying with a plush doll of her that usually rested on a small shelf above my desk with the rest of the plush Guardians. I stared from the doorway, awestruck to see someone who had been so evasive behaving so casually. It was like we had never separated in her eyes.

"You know, most people would find this kind of creepy," she observed jokingly, waving the doll in my direction.

"I paid a lot of money to have a local artist make those," I revealed. "I almost couldn't afford to have yours made."

"Well, that's pretty sweet I guess," she said with a smirk. "You got me in trouble, Jamie."

"I did?"

She nodded. "Sandy's in trouble as well."

"What?" I protested. "What did he do?"

"I understand you've been dreaming an awful lot about us?"

I nodded.

"Well he's really not supposed to send those kind of dreams. There's not really anything that they can do to stop him, but we both certainly received a stern talking to."

Without responding, I sat down next to her. She sat up, opening her mouth to say something, but I pulled her into the tightest hug I could without feeling like I might hurt her.

"You really came for me," I hiccuped, feeling sobs begin to bubble up from my throat.

"A Guardian always keeps her promise," she assured, returning my hug.

"Not always," I whispered, bringing a hand up from her back wipe away some of the tears that had begun to fall from my eyes.

She withdrew from the hug, laying her hands on my shoulder. "What do you mean?"

"I know that's not true. You all broke the most important promise you made to me." I began biting my bottom lip to hold back the sobs, not wanting to look like any more of a blubbering idiot than I already did. "You all promised that as long as I believed in you and still needed you, the you would be there for me."

"You and your friends stopped needing us, Jamie," she frowned. "We had no choice other than to move on."

"What do you mean? I didn't stop needing you, Tooth. I still need you," I cried, giving up the losing battle to keep my face dry. "I need you now more that ever."

"Oh, Jamie..." she sighed. "I wish there was another way, I really do. I'm just... My hands are tied on this."

It was then that it struck me. They left because my friends stopped believing. They just assumed that I was the same. They assumed that even after everything that I had seen and been through, that I had somehow written them all off as myth. Years ago, I would have felt sorry that they felt rejected by me. Years of feeling the sting of their rejection, however, had made me bitter.

"You abandoned a child when he still needed you. You didn't even try to explain. You left him alone to wonder what he had done to drive you away..." I trailed off, feeling something click inside me.

"Jamie, please-"

"You have no right to call yourself a Guardian," I snapped. She made eye contact out of shock, but quickly dropped from my glare.

"Jamie..."

"Your job is to protect children and all of the magic and wonder that lives within them. Am I right?"

"Please, st-"

"You're supposed to protect that spark that resides in every child, aren't you?"

"Jamie, we-"

"Yet you had no problem completely crushing all of that in me. You have noproblem just leaving me-"

"ENOUGH!" she screeched.

I fell silent, taken off-guard. I had never once heard her raise her voice, and the shrill tone to it was actually pretty terrifying.

"Jamie, do you think it's easyto do what we do?" she choked, tears beginning to consume her as well. "Because it isn't! We have to try our absolute hardest to protect every single child in the world, knowing full well that they'll stop believing in us one day. Some days, I wish that I could just die and stop all of this. The only thing that keeps me going sometimes is knowing that if I disappear, I'll be letting down the other children across the globe who need me."

"Tooth..."

"No, Jamie. It's my turn to ramble now," she snapped back. "As a Guardian, we can never get attached to a child. When we get attached, the pain when they stop believing in us destroys us."

"But I'll never stop believing," I argued. "I can't."

"You know, Jamie, many children have told me that," she sighed, "But in the end, they almost always forget sooner or later."

"But-"

She held a delicate finger to my lips, giving me a stern look that commanded me to let her finish.

"And the few who can keep that promise, the ones who we get close to..." she pursed her lips, closing her eyes, "They always die in the end."

I said nothing.

She took in a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. "So you see, Jamie... That's why we can't stay. We let ourselves get too close, and I don't think any of us can take watching another child we love grow old and die. We've all done that so many time, Jamie. I don't think any of us can take much more."

I ran my fingers through my hair, struggling to grasp everything that was being laid out before me. "Why could you have just told me this from the beginning?"

"Well.. You see, Jack-"

"Jack?"

"Yes, Jack. He-"

"Is he here too?" I jumped up, running towards the window.

"No, Jamie," she whimpered. "It's just me here. Sandy will be by soon, but I doubt that he'll be stopping in here."

"Tooth, I need to talk to Jack," I demanded. "I need to see him again."

She followed me to the window, wrapping me in another hug. "That's not up to me. Only Jack can choose to come back."

I turned around in her arms so that we were face to face. "Can you make me another promise?"

She scrunched her face, letting out a small moan. "Jamie, I'm already in enough trouble as it is..."

"Please, Tooth,' I begged. "Just this one thing. I'll never ask you for another favor in my life."

She put two fingers to her temple and closed her eyes before asking, "What is it?"

"I need you to talk to Jack for me. I need you to tell him how much I miss him. I need you to beg him to visit for me. I need-"

"I get it, Jamie. You want me to ask Jack to visit," she shifted slightly before continuing. "I really can't promise that he will come, but I'll talk to him, alright?"

I nodded in acceptance.

"Anything else?"

I rolled it over in my head, before thinking of one more thing. "I need to to come back in a week."

"You know very well that I can't do that."

"I just need you to pick something up," I pleaded.

"Jamie..." she protested.

"I promise not to be here. I won't even be in the house. I promise!"

She buried her face in her hands before letting out a muffled, "Fine."

"Thank you!" I exclaimed, wrapping her in another hug.

"What will it look like?" she questioned.

"It's a painting. I'll put it on my desk. You'll know it when you see it. I just need you to give it to Jack."

"You're really twisting my arm on this, you know it?"

"Sorry," I grinned, revealing the first genuine smile that had spread across my face in years.

"I see you've kept up on your flossing," she laughed. "Goodbye, little one."

"Goodbye," I said, wrapping her in one final hug. "If we ever meet again, I'll make up for everything I've said to you tonight. I promise."

"Goodnight."

And with only a few stroke of my hair, sleep claimed me.


I expected a dreamless night or perhaps some type of default dream to fill my sleep, but instead, I found myself high in the clouds, in the cold embrace of the boy I missed so much. It was then that a series of lights began to fire off in my mind.

A series of lights that made me question everything.


"And... SCENE!"

Alright, so I've decided that if there is enough demand for a lemon, then when the time comes I'll write a few. If that happens, they will be published outside of this story. If you really want to read them, they will be available separately on my profile when the time comes. I want that sort of thing to be optional, as I know many people want fluff, not smut.

This update took a little bit longer thanks to Tumblr. Sorry about that. Either way, I updated as quickly as I could, just like I promised! I'm excited at how many people have already taken notice of this story. This has gone far beyond what I expected. Thank you so much for making someone like me feel wanted. I hope that none of you ever lose that magic and wonder of childhood. Promise me that you'll keep holding onto that okay? That spark is what keeps me going in life, so never let anyone take that from you.

Oh, and be sure to keep reading as well. I try to respond to all reviews, so be expecting a PM if you leave even the tiniest of reviews. Thank you!