Pitch grinned as he watched the five children standing on the sidewalk, looking at the bus as if it were about to eat them. He reveled in the fact that the Guardians, normally so full of themselves, were intimidated by such a little thing as school. Jack clung to Bunny's hand tightly, Sandy stood on his other side, and North and Tooth seemed to be in deep conversation about what they thought the large yellow beast could do.
"Well, let's get to it," sighed Bunny, stepping forward with Jack and mounting the stairs into the already noisy atmosphere.
The others followed and they quickly found seats in the middle of the bus. The other children stared for a bit but then went back to their own conversations. When they arrived at the school, the Guardians were the last ones off the bus, slowly approaching the towering building with unease.
"We should take Jack to pre-school first," said Tooth. "Then we'll go find our classes."
"Yes," agreed North. "Come along, Jack. We'll drop you off at your classroom."
Jack looked around him with joy, happy to be surrounded by people closer to his size, but his grip on Bunny's hand didn't loosen a bit. Still, they five somehow managed to wander the halls that eventually led them to Jack's classroom. They knew it was his by the noise, cries, and general chaos that surrounded pre-school.
"Hello there," greeted a man in his mid thirties. "You must be our new student Jack. I'm Mr. Bennett, I'm your teacher. Welcome to pre-school."
Jack took one look at Mr. Bennett's towering form and dove behind Bunny.
"Jack, you have to go to school," said North. "Let go of Bunny."
"I told you not to call me that here," hissed Bunny with a glare before he turned and sat on the ground in front of Jack. "Jacky?"
Jack looked up.
"I'm going to walk you in to your room and help you find a seat," explained Bunny slowly. "There are going to be lot's of other kids here. You're going to make a lot of new friends and have a lot of fun."
A small smile broke on Jack's face at the mention of fun.
"At the end of the day, we're all going to meet you and we'll go back home to Uncle Pitch. Okay?"
"Don't leave me," whispered Jack.
"I'll be just down the hall," said Bunny with a more confident smile than he felt. "You'll be fine."
With that, Bunny marched Jack into the classroom. He sat the boy down on the nearest seat, ruffled his hair, and walked back out quickly before Jack had a chance to process what had just happened. The moment Jack realized he was alone, he began to panic. He looked at all the other kids running around, the parents milling about the room, and he ran over to the painting center and hid under the easel.
"You're in my hiding spot," said a little girl, pouting.
Jack blinked at her but said nothing.
"Fine," said the girl. "Mr. Bennett!"
"Yes, Zuzu?" said Mr. Bennett, walking over with a patient smile on his face.
"This boy is in my spot," pouted Zuzu, pointing an accusing pudgy finger at Jack, who cowered back away from the older male.
"He's new here, Zuzu," explained Mr. Bennett. "His name is Jack. Why don't you introduce yourself to him?"
"I'm Zuzu," said Zuzu. "I want my spot."
Jack shook his head.
"He still won't move!" whined Zuzu.
"Then pick another place, Zuzu," said Mr. Bennett. "Jack was there first and if he wants to sit next to the paints, he can sit next to the paints. Why don't you go sit on the carpet?"
Zuzu glared at Jack and stomped off to the carpet.
"Jack, we're about to start story time if you care to join us on the carpet," said Mr. Bennett. "However, you may stay here if you want. It's your choice."
Mr. Bennett then left Jack to decide what he wanted to do. Pitch had come in the week before when he enrolled the kids in the school and explained to Mr. Bennett that Jack was shy and scared but would warm up eventually if he was allowed to do it on his own terms. Mr. Bennett's heart went out to the little boy but he had experience with such cases and was prepared to handle it. By giving Jack the choice to join the group, he let the boy know that he was welcome but could stay on the edges if he felt more comfortable.
Jack stayed next to the paint, fidgeting while the other kids found spots on the carpet for the story. He loved stories but he didn't know those people and Bunny wasn't there. Neither was Sandy or North or Tooth. He was alone with a bunch of strangers and no amount of love for stories would convince him to leave his place. However, he was bored.
By the time the story ended, Jack had found a sheet of paper and a box of crayons and had proceeded to draw. His picture was of him racing Bunny in the snow, laughing while Uncle Pitch watched and Tooth, North, and Sandy had a snowball fight. For a pre-schooler, it was amazing. For anyone, it was good. It appeared that his artistic abilities had carried over in the change, not that Jack knew that. He was just drawing a picture.
"That's very good, Jack," said Mr. Bennett, sitting on the ground next to the boy while the other students ran to their centers. "Who is that in the picture?"
Jack looked up at Mr. Bennett, alarm written all over his face but Mr. Bennett looked back calmly, his smile kind, voice soft, and a nonthreatening distance from Jack.
"Bunny," said Jack softly, pointing at Bunny in the picture. "Me. North. Tooth. Sanny. Uncle Pitch."
"It's amazing."
"Bunny draws with me," admitted Jack, hands fumbling around his tiny blue hoodie. "Where's Bunny?"
"He's in his classroom," said Mr. Bennett. "But he promised to come pick you up when school was over. Remember?"
Jack nodded.
"We're going outside to play now, Jack," said Mr. Bennett. "Would you like to go outside to play with us?"
Jack nodded and got at the end of the line. He was easily smaller than the rest of his classmates but that didn't bother him. What bothered him was when he stepped outside and all the big kids were also outside playing. The rest of his class ran out screaming and started playing tag. Jack walked out, took one look at all of the people, and started heading for the tree in the center of the field. He trek took him through a football game, where he almost got trampled, but he finally he made it to the tree.
The tree was large, towering over Jack, but it was a choice between the scary bigger kids and the tree, so Jack picked the tree and started to climb. He kept going until he was firmly nestled into the branches, hiding amongst the leaves. He still had a good view of the others children but was safe.
"Hey, what's with the kid in the tree?" yelled one of the nine year olds, pointing at Jack, who, it turned out, was not as well hidden as he had thought.
"Oh, that's my brother, Jack," said Tooth, turning back to play with her new friends. "He'll be fine."
"There's a kid in the tree!" the other kids began to yell, pointing at Jack, who began to tremble.
"He's new!"
Bunny hadn't been paying much attention to the other students, opting to sit and read a book on the outskirts of the playground, but at the mention of a kid in a tree and then the further development of that kid being new, he dropped his book and raced across the field, shoving his way through the growing crowd to find Jack up in the tree and a mess.
"Oh Jack," sighed Bunny, shaking his head.
With a sigh, Bunny jumped, grabbed on to the nearest branch, and began pulling himself into the tree as well. It was easy to reach Jack once he started.
"Hey, Jacky," said Bunny softly, gathering the crying boy into his arms. "Want to tell me why you're in a tree?"
Jack just shook his head and clung to his older brother. That was when Bunny noticed the other children were still yelling and it clicked. Jack hated yelling.
"Oi!" said Bunny, glaring down at the students. "Shut up. You're scaring him!"
"Bunny?" said North, pushing to the front of the crowd. "What are you doing up there?"
"Jack climbed the tree," explained Bunny, for once happy to see North. "Now he's too scared to come down because everyone keeps yelling. Tell them to rack off."
As North turned to dispel the crowd-or attempt to anyway- there was an almighty snap and suddenly the tree branch was tumbling down, two screaming boys with it.