...(ignores glares)...So towards the end of this chapter we finally have Jacks point of view and a glimpse of why the guardians are there. Thank you for still reading despite my untimely updates and my poor plot. If you have any ideas, please tell me, that's all I have to ask this chapter. Oh and hopefully next chapter will have more Merida. I'll shut up now.
Jack tapped his pencil rapidly on the edge of his desk, his head in his opposite hand and his body slumped. Out of all his classes, he seemed to despise math the most. Hiccup sat at the desk across from him, his thin, hurried script crawling across the paper as he took notes. The teacher, Mr. Belch, was lecturing the class over the fundamentals of the Pythagorean Theorem. His accented voice droned on and most of his students were falling asleep. Jack was far to energetic for that, practically bouncing in his seat and glaring at the clock as though to hurry its pace, his blue eyes coldly narrowed. He jumped when Mr. Belch called his name, giggles rippling through the class. Sly as a fox, Jack leaned back in his chair and smirked, saying,"Sorry sir, I didn't catch that."
Pushing his halfmoon glasses forwards, he began,"Jackson-"
"Jack." the teen interrupted, his pencil spinning across his knuckles as he absentmindedly twirled it. The teacher's tanned, weathered face deepened into a frown, and he continued,"I asked you who first formulated the theorem. Do you have an answer?" The pencil stopped its wild dance, it's owner for once without a comeback.
Hiccup, despite slightly enjoying Jack's dilemma, couldn't let his friend suffer. He shook his head and sighed, writing with slow, dark strokes. Before the last two day's chaos, Hiccup had no idea that his newfound friend was in his class, and had been all along. Albeit after the short reciprocation, Hiccup was shocked to find himself so loyal to the strange teen. He slid the paper under Jack's arm, who was stalling in an attempt for some escape. Jack glanced at the note, and said. "Samos.." The teacher didn't blink, and Hiccup inwardly face palmed, Jack hadn't read the whole note.
The pale teenager nearly fell out of his chair when Mr. Belch roared with laughter, revealing his tooth lacking mouth and sticky gums. The bell rang during his laughing fit, and by the time he was done all twenty nine students were gone.
"Thanks." Jack huffed, shoving his way past people with Hiccup trailing along. "What's the hurry?" He shouted back, stopping to apologize to a girl whom he pushed. Catching back up, he caught Jack's reply. "I need to see Rapunzel, she's in history right?"
Hiccup grabbed his friend by the arm, stopping in the middle of the crowd. "Jack she's on the third floor of the other building, you cant go to her." A girl shoved past them, loudly saying,"I LOVE IT WHEN PEOPLE STAND IN THE MIDDLE OF THE HALL!" Seeing Jack's unconvinced face, and ignoring the glares and shouts, the brunet said,"Merida's with her, she'll be fine." Apparently, the answer was sufficient, and Jack walked with his friend to French.
The crowd thinned and Hiccup picked up the pace, flying up the stair case and racing down the hall. Jack was uncaring, and was left behind in the viking's hurried haste. It was three minutes after the bell when he walked in, his book bag swinging from one shoulder and an indifferent look painted his face.
The teacher, Mrs. Belle, was already cross and didn't like his attitude. "Bonjour Monsieur Frost. Tu as vais aller s'asseoir?"
(I am myself only in French one, so I'm not sure if this is correct. Bare with me here)
Dropping his bag on the desk, Jack smoothly said."désolé Madame. Il temps est de l'essence, oui?"
Hiccup, flabbergasted, stared open-mouthed at Jack and the teacher. He didn't realize Jack was fluent in a different language.
Mrs. Belle, also bewildered, let her temper slip away and said,"have you ever spent time in France Jackson?"
His pale face split into a wide grin and he said,"yes, I travel a lot, and France is one of my favorite countries to visit. The culture is so rich and enlightening, I am left in a state of awe at its splendor." He paused, then said, "j'ai na besoin pas s'asseoir?" The middle aged woman was at lost for words and she simply nodded, sliding into her chair.
Jack, deciding to go ahead and sit, turned around, and his classmates were rewarded with a curled smirk and a slight dip of a false bow. Hiccup grinned, and leaned across the isle to question him. "How'd you do that?" He asked, but his twinkling green eyes were not met with the same mischief, and instead with hardened pride. "I actually CAN speak french Haddock. Along with just about every other language."
Surrounding students either rolled their eyes or widened them, and Hiccup, ever the skeptic, raised an eyebrow. "Right. And just when did you accomplish this feat?"
Jack's prideful smirk slipped and he seemed at lost for words. However, before Hiccup could continue, Jacks eyes gleamed and he quickly answered. "My parents travel the world, they taught me."
The pale teen turned around, dropping the topic while Hiccup inwardly objected. Jack usually referred to his parents as his guardians, seeming to grow angry if they were brought up. Plus, Hiccup was pretty sure it was impossible to be fluent in every language, and Jack was certainly not the brightest.
The classroom phone rang, and Mrs. Belle, shaking herself out of her shocked state, answered it. A moment later and she called out across the classroom. "Jack! Your father is at the office, you're checking out." The blue eyed teen groaned and got up, muttering about a fat man named North. Before he left the classroom, however, he grabbed Hiccups shoulder and said,"I can't get out of this, you need to take care of Rapunzel. If anything happens to her Haddock, winters coming early." With that he left, leaving Hiccup and the rest of the class wondering if Jack was a Game of Thrones nut. What sort of threat was that?
(Jacks pov)
Jack entered the office with a sense of dread settling in his stomach. North was there, along with Bunny and Toothina, who was apparently off work because she was standing in front of the desk with her purse and jacket. Now that she didn't have her feathers, she was always cold and covered herself with layers.
North also changed his appearance, so children didn't assume he was some creepy mall Santa. His tattoos were gone, his beard trimmed, and he wore jeans and a blue, checkered, fleece shirt. Even his blue eyes held less wonder, which in turn made the guardian seem older.
Bunny, like Jack, was impersonating a highschool student and was hating his human form. He still towered over the younger guardian, however, and was tanned with shoulder length dirty blond hair. The stubborn Pooka refused to hide his tribal tattoos, and the students found him intimidating because of them.
They all turned to Jack as he walked in, and he smirked to hide his nerves. "Thanks for getting me out of class," he said, casually swaggering over with his hands in his hoodie pockets. His warmth was met with cold glares from the trio, and Jack feigned hurt. "What did I, a humble sophomore, do to deserve this scrutiny?" A student helper was working in Toothina's place, and she stifled a giggle at Jack's attitude. He winked at her, and she blushed furiously, ruffling through some papers to busy herself.
North grabbed his shoulder and said,"Come. We are going home." Jack was unwillingly led to 'the sleigh', which was actually North's red pickup truck. As soon as the car doors shut the guardians dropped their facade and began yelling. "How big of an idiot are you!? This mission is too important for you to be jeopardizing by getting involved with High schoolers!"
Jack opened his mouth to retort, but Bunny joined in, sarcastically defending Jack. "You can't be mad if the kid wants to spend time with his girlfriend."
"She is NOT my girlfriend!" Jack exclaimed, but his cry went unnoticed.
"Please," Toothina scoffed, ignoring the snowy teen's growing temper. "He's just been acting out because we took away his staff."
North silently drove the car, staying out of the argument although he had dark rings under his eyes from Jack induced stress.
"You would too if your ONLY possession was getting man handled by yetis." Jack retorted, anger darkening his expression.
This time the driver did interject, defending his yetis,"This Man handling, does not apply to yetis...they are not men."
The guardian of fun leaned forward, exclaiming,"Exactly! They're giant furry beasts who weigh more than you! I don't know what I'd do if it broke!"
Bunny rolled his green eyes, and said,"Look Frost, if anything happens, we'll get you another one."
Jacks face began heating up, and the contrast of white against red would've been comical if he wasn't so mad. "How about I go to your warren and break one of your egg golems, I'm sure you can just get 'another one'."
Bunny turned to face the smaller teen, his nose scrunched up in disgust. "Don't you EVER think about touching my Golems. And I case you've forgotten about last Easter, I'll remind you; you're not welcome there."
Toothina, sitting in the passenger seat continued to berate the youngster. "It's just a stick Jack, you're being dramatic. Maybe it's all the time you've spent with teenagers."
"Dramatic!? Last time it broke, it HURT!" Jack's voice cracked with emotion and as North pulled into the driveway, the three turned to face him.
Toothina was the first to speak, quietly asking,"last time?" The newest guardian's eyes widened, and, realizing he said too much, he opened the door and got out of the car, ignoring the cries of his 'family'.
He entered the house, which was two stories with four bedrooms, and was styled in North's distinctive taste. Jack didn't sleep in a room, choosing instead to sleep in the rafters where the guardians couldn't find him. He still wasn't comfortable being near other spirits, teammates or not.
Sandy was sitting in the living room, blankly looking over documents as Jack barged in. The sleepy guardian waved at the winter spirit and offered a tired smile, his brown curls bouncing with each head turn.
The other guardians walked in, and Jack hopped onto the coffee table and then to the rafters, pulling himself quickly up into the shadows. Sandy frowned, and turned to the trio, a question mark written in his expression. "Don't ask." Bunny said, collapsing comically in a chair. The guardian of dreams didn't need to, because Toothina promptly answered, but not without shooting a glare to the darkened celling. "Jack said that his staff was broken, and he wont explain." Sandy furrowed his eyebrows, glancing up at the ceiling while wishing his powers were still present.
He put a hand to his collar bone, where the moon pendant that granted him his mortality rested, and sighed. Once he and the others took it off, they'd become spirits again, and go their separate ways.
"He doesn't need to, we've matters to settle",said North, taking and looking over the list of names Sandy had taken. With furrowed eyebrows he turned to the Guardian of dreams and asked,"these are the potential candidates? But they are children!" Sandy shook his head and held up another list, this one with one name circled and the rest eliminated.
A pale hand snatched the list and retreated back in to darkness, then with a cry of dismay, he dropped down.
"Jack? What is it?" Toothina asked, concern edging her voice despite her irritation at his behavior. The pale spirit shook his head and laughed bitterly, grinning in a way that frightened her. "This is rich, just great. The person we've been looking so hard for is none other than Rapunzel!" His laughter faded and he moved towards the door.
"Jack!" North exclaimed, taking a few steps towards the boy but stopping when he reached the door. "Where are you going?" The teen wrapped his hand around the door knob, hating the way the cold metal felt against his too warm skin. He then opened it, growling,"to find a friend." The door slammed behind him, and the guardians stared at its wooden surface, hating this mission and everything with it.
Bunny felt a tapping on his arm, turned, and winced under the power of the culprits glare. Sandy looked pointedly at the door the back to the former Pooka, clearly conveying that he wanted him to follow Jack.
"Fine!" He groaned, standing up and zipping his jacket. "But if he gets into trouble it's not my fault!" With that he left, hissing at the early winter air.
