Chapter 8

Jack Frost

I stretched out my arms. Nod swatted the back of my head. I grinned at him and nudged his shin with my sneaker-clad foot.

"Uh, h-hi, guys."

I looked up from my foot-fight with Nod. Nod kicked me in the calf and succeeded in creating a large purple bruise there. I glared at him, then noticed the white-blonde-haired girl standing in front of us. "Oh, hey, Elsa," I replied. "How you doing?"

She blushed. "Fine," she said quietly. "I was just-well, Rapunzel said I could help you all with the decorations."

"Did she now?" I said, raising my eyebrows in Rapunzel's direction. She rolled her eyes and pointed her pencil at me.

"Well, we could use all the help we could get," Guy told Elsa smoothly. No wonder he'd won over such an animal of a girl like Eep.

Elsa immediately brightened. "Great! Now, I think Guy and Hiccup should go try and hang up the banners. Nod, you're the most muscular of all, so you should go help carry the heavy boxes. And Jack should . . .blow up the balloons," she ordered.

"Okay," all of them said in unison. Except for me.

"Blowing up balloons?" I repeated uncertainly. "I don't know . . ."

"Don't worry, Jack," Elsa reassured me. "You can use an air pump. And plus, to make it go faster . . ." She blushed bright pink. "I can help you with them."

I smirked at her. "Geez, thanks, Arendelle." She flushed a deep red. "Let's get to work."

The rest of the afternoon, Elsa and I blew up balloons with the huge helium pumps. Near the end of the time we had, which was about 5:00-ish, she looked at me and said, "Jack."

"Hmm?" I was blowing up the last balloon.

"I was wondering . . ." Elsa turned pink again. She had been blushing a lot lately. "Would you, um, go to-to the dance . . . with me?" she stammered.

The balloon I'd been blowing up was released from my hands. It made loud sounds of air escaping from it as it flew around the gym, and I snatched it out of the air before it hit Hiccup in the face.

"Go to the dance with you?" I repeated slowly. "Why?" Apparently it was the wrong question, because it looked like Elsa might turn into a strawberry from all the blushing.

"Because I . . . I l-like you, Jack," she whispered.

"All right, then, Elsa," I said. "I'll go to the dance with you."

Elsa squeaked, then squealed, then hopped up and down in the air. She ran out of the gym, still squealing.

Rapunzel looked over at me, narrowing her eyes. I shrugged, acting nonchalant.

Hiccup walked up to me. "Hey, Jack, what was that all about?" he asked quietly.

"Tell you later, dude," I replied, not taking my stare off of Rapunzel. Finally, she turned back to talking with Mavis.

"NOW will you tell me?!" Hiccup pressed.

"Hic, I said LATER," I said irritably. He just walked away. I was about to reach for another balloon when I realized that there were no more. I was done.

I skateboarded home pretty quickly. A large black Toyota came driving up on the road next to me.

"What's up, Jack?" Hiccup leaned out the window, grinning.

I felt myself grinning back. "Nothin' much, Hic. Just going home."

"So, are you gonna tell me what happened back there with Elsa or what?"

I kept my eyes ahead in front of me. "Nothing really happened, Hic. She just asked me to the dance, that's all." I shrugged.

He whistled. "Go, Jack! Scored a date to the dance pretty quickly, huh?" I looked over at him and saw he was grinning teasingly.

"Shut up, Haddock. By the way, who's your date?" I shot back.

Hiccup lowered his eyes to the ground and parked his car by the edge of the sidewalk. "Rapunzel's friend . . . Mavis, was it? She set me up on a blind date. All she told me was that the girl was going to wear red."

"God, Hiccup!" I shouted, jumping off my board and flipping it up into my hands. "All you had to do was find a nice girl and ask her out! That was it!"

"I know, I know," Hiccup sighed. "It's just-none of the girls seem as right as Astrid does-did."

I walked over to his car and placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, Hic. Let's just hope the girl's pretty." I gave him a sly wink and we both cracked up.

"Well, see you, man." Hiccup started up his engine again and drove away, waving out the window. I smirked at his hand and continued on home.

"Jack!" Maddie screamed. She ran towards me and tugged at my arm. "Grandpa's here! Grandpa's here!" I laughed and let her lead me into the house. I propped my skateboard up against the wall, dropped my backpack on the floor, and kicked off my sneakers.

A large, portly man with snow-white hair and a beard in the same color was taking a freshly baked tray of cookies out of the oven.

"Hey, North!" I called to my grandfather.

"Ah, Jack Frost!" North set down the tray and enveloped me in a huge hug. "It has been too long, no?" He spoke with a thick Russian accent. "See, your cousins are here, too!" He gestured to the dining table. There sat my cousins: Sandy McSnoozie, the golden-haired young man who was no pushover even though he was short; Toothiana (Tooth), the crazy-colored-hair dentist who was in love with teeth; and E. Aster Bunnymund, the Australian athlete who was, frankly, a pain in the ass.

"Been a long time, mate," Aster said. "Easter Sunday, was it? Couple a years back, eh?"

"You're not still mad about that, are you?" I asked him, leaning against the wall.

"Yes. Yes, I am," he replied. "But this isn't about that. We all came here for a different reason."

"Hi, Jack!" Tooth fluttered on over to me. "Open up wide!" She pried my mouth open. "Oh, your teeth are as white as snow, Jack! Wonderful, you've been flossing!"

Sandy signaled, "Tooth, hands out of mouth." Sandy wasn't deaf or blind or had any disabilities. He just didn't like to talk, so he used sign language instead.

"Oh, sorry," she apologized. "They're beautiful!"

North barreled in. "Ah, Jack, you should know why we are here, no?"

"Um, no?" I said questioningly.

Aster sighed. "Ya little ankle-bitah!" he said. "We are here because-"

I interrupted him. "Sorry, Kangaroo, but I thought North wanted to explain."

"What did you call me?" Aster narrowed his eyes and put his face right in front of mine. "I'm no kangaroo, mate. I'm a Bunnymund."

Sandy pushed himself in between us and signed "Stop it, you two! Don't make me mad!" He held up a fist.

North cleared his throat. "Ahem! Now, Jack, ve all came here today to tell you good news! Ve have found jobs here en Berk! Right, Tooth?"

Tooth nodded energetically, her wild, colorful hair of gold, blue, green, and purple flying around. "Oh, yes! North has found a job at a toy-maker's shop, Sandy is helping at a school for the deaf, I found a job at Smile Bright dentists, and Aster is going to be a sports coach for football, wrestling, soccer, and other boys' sports at the middle school!"

"Great, you guys," I said sarcastically. "The Kangaroo's got a job. That's just wonderful."

Aster snarled and reached out to grab me, but Tooth grabbed him and pulled him back. "Easy, Emmett aster Bunnymund!" she told him. The tips of his ears grew pink, then red. He hated being called his full name, even more than Kangaroo. I could tell that a fight was brewing, so I swung my bag over my shoulder and sprinted up the stairs into my room, slamming my door behind me.

I threw my backpack down and leaped onto my bed. I grabbed my iPod from where it was charging on my nightstand and scrolled through the playlist. Soon Train was blaring through my ears. After a while, I thought the phone rang, so I yanked out my ear buds. My cellphone was ringing. I looked at the Caller ID. Punzie, it read. I accepted the call and put my cell to my ear.

"Hey, Punz, what's up?" I asked her.

"JACK!" she screamed into my ear. I winced and pulled the phone away from my now-ringing ears. "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME YOU HAD A DATE TO THE DANCE?! I had to find it out from HICCUP, FOR PETE'S SAKE!"

"What's wrong with Hiccup?" I wanted to know.

"Nothing is wrong with Hiccup, Jack. It's YOU! Why didn't you tell me you were going to the dance with someone?! I was about to set you up with someone! Who are you going with?" Rapunzel sounded like she might burst with excitement and energy.

"I can't tell you," I said, smirking through the phone. "You'll just have to find out the night of the dance."

"UGH! Jack Frost, you are SO aggravating!" she practically screamed in frustration.

"Thanks, I know." I felt my grin growing even bigger.

"I can feel you smiling through the phone, Frost!" Rapunzel said. "Just shut up and wipe that stupid smirk off your stupid face!" Then she hung up.

I hung up, too, then stared at the phone for a few seconds. Then I started cracking up.

A/N: Yes! I finally managed to finish this chapter! (I have been dragging it out for about a week and a half) I am planning for the next chapter: the dance that has been so long awaited for! But you know me and my planning *rolls eyes* and I might get sidetracked a little. I have a bunch of homework to do, and then I'm helping my BFFs with a project. I promise to let out my next chapter ASAP!