Jack's POV
Crap. Crap. Crap. He's going to literally murder me. I wave, sheepishly at Bunny. "Hey, uh, B-"
"JACKSON FROST!" He yells, completely ignoring me and drawing the attention of everyone in the cafe. Bunny is quickly approaching me, and I try to stand up in some kind of attempt to give myself distance from him.
This fails terribly because he gets to me faster than I thought. Before I can even push the chair back, Bunny is standing over me with a scowl on my face and a rough hand on my shoulder. Within seconds, he has me pinned down on the table with my cheek against the wood. I hear Elsa gasp from across from me and the sound of her chair scraping against the floor. She must be freaking out. I have to be some kind of comic relief for her sake.
"Well, hello to you too," I mumble through my squished cheeks.
"Don't pull that smart ass crap with me, Jack! I'm not dealing with any of that bull today!" He roughly pushes me further into the table. Ow. "A fight, Jack!? Are you kidding me!? After all that's happened you, everything you've had to- we've had to do, you're going to throw it away?" He slaps the back of my head. Double ow.
"Aster," Tooth tells him gently, placing a hand on his shoulder. Now normally when Tooth calls Bunny by his real name, she means business, and he immediately softens up, even when I've done something stupid like this. Today is not one of those days.
"Tooth," he looks at her and his gaze softens the slightest bit. "Not this time." He turns back to me. "I just need to understand why I got a call on my off day in freaking forever from the principal himself because this dumbass decided to be a tough guy. I need to know why I am at Walney cleaning up your mess after we already agreed that this kind of thing would never happen again." He pushes me down again.
"But should you really be doing it here?"
"Yes!"
She looks down at me, really looks at me and gasps. "He's hurt, Aster."
"This is nothing. You should see the other guy." Because apparently this is my go to line when someone reacts to my beat up face.
"So you wouldn't mind if I finish what he started?"
"Let's not be to hasty there Bunny. I do have a bruised rib or two."
Tooth gives him a pointed look that basically screams, 'see, I told you so.' She hits Bunny's chest lightly. "Come on let me see how bad he looks before you decide to beat him into the ground." When he doesn't let me go, she sighs, and sternly says, "E. Aster Pooka (1) let me see Jackson's injuries this second or I will be forced to give you some to match." The last part is said with narrowed eyes.
He chuckles and gets very close to her face. "I'd love to see you try." It's a pretty funny display considering Bunny is so much taller than Tooth, but he does comply and loosens his grip on my shoulders but not before punching my left one with every ounce of his strength. I hold my shoulder in pain and rise from my seat.
Tooth takes in the full state of my injuries and gently touches the bruises on my cheek then moves onto my eye. It's the same way Elsa touched it, but this time I don't have the energy to pretend it doesn't hurt. I flinch. "Oh, Jack. What were you thinking? Bruised ribs, black eye? I was so worried when they called back home, saying you got in a fight and were hurt." She shakes her head.
"I'm sorry Tooth," I say gently.
She nods. "I know. And I know that we'll figure out exactly what happened today, but I'm just glad you're okay." Tooth nods her head at Bunny. "Unless this one does decides to change that."
"Well, you do know how to make a scene, Bunny."
"Aw, shut it, Frostbite."
"And interrupt a date, I'm guessing," a thick Russian accent says from just out of my line of vision. Clause.
"Date? What are you-" I turn to see what he's talking about to see Elsa, the tips of her ears red, slight pink tint in her cheeks, and Sandy looking up at her curiously. "Oh, n-no we- we weren't- this isn't- uh..." I manage to spit out while Elsa simultaneously utters something similar.
Bunny gives me the 'I'm not buying any of this' look he's so good at and takes a step closer to Elsa. Tooth does the same. "Your st-st-stuttering makes your argument really believable, Jackson."
"Jack, aren't you going to introduce us to your girlfriend?" Tooth asks, her voice dripping with happy curiosity.
"She's not my-" "I'm not his-"
The two of us look at each other. I can see Elsa's deep blush and feel myself become a couple of shades of a darker red. Clause let's out a big hardy laugh, Sandy looks at me with a knowing smile, Tooth gushes with joy, and Bunny looks like how he did when he got a picture of me in one of Tooth's dresses. Blackmail. Crap.
I clear my throat and try to recompose myself. "How rude of me. I was pinned to a table inches from my lunch and suffering from some seriously painful injuries, and I didn't even think to introduce you to my beautiful friend, Elsa. Elsa, this is my family. They're a little dysfunctional, but I love them all even though the one from down under wants to put me in the hospital. That's Sandy, Clause, Bunny, and Tooth, also known as Sanderson, Nicholas, Aster, and Tina. Everyone, this is Elsa."
There's a chorus of hellos from all except Sandy, and Tooth rushes directly for Elsa, and more specifically, her mouth. Crap. She's going to go into her dentistry mode. "Tooth, please don't," she interrupts me and gets as close to Elsa's mouth as possible.
Sandy makes a disgusted face and signs quickly 'Gross.'
"You have the most beautiful teeth I have ever seen!" She says, excitedly, getting even closer.
"Thank you?" Elsa manages before Tooth grabs onto her chin and cheek.
"Can you just say 'ahhh' for me? Please?"
"Um," she looks to me for help.
"She is not going to say 'ahhh' for you, Tooth. This is a cafe not a dentist office."
"Sorry," she says taking a step back but not moving her eyes from Elsa's mouth. "I just can't help myself around pearly whites like that! They're so perfect!"
'Careful, Tooth, you may scare her away before her and Jack's wedding,' Sandy signs, making me blush and the rest of my family laugh.
Elsa looks at me, confused. I shake my head at her. There's no way I'm going to tell her what he just signed.
"I assume that you're just as bad as he is," Bunny says to Elsa, nodding his head at me.
"Aster," Tooth tells him through bared teeth. "Play nice."
He puts his hands up. "I'm just asking. Because anyone but a rebel like him could deal with his stupidity."
Oh, hell no! He is not going to treat her like she's some kind of misfit. "Actually. Elsa is nothing like me." Bunny raises his eyebrow, skeptically. "She's almost the complete opposite. Top of our class, straight A student, all of our teachers love her, she's got a heart of gold, and the best damn sense of humor I've ever encountered." I'm bragging, I know. But I just want them to understand Elsa the way I see her. Of course I leave out the best items in the list of her many talents: her laugh sounds like a harmony of bells, she's absolutely beautiful, the sound of her voice alone brightens the darkest days, the fact that she's the only girl that can make my heart skip beats, the way she-
"That so?" Bunny asks.
"Yup," I reply, popping the 'p'. North is smirking at our exchange, and I catch a blush splayed out on Elsa's checks from the corner of my eyes.
"Don't worry, though," Sandy signs. 'They're just friends'
I roll my eyes at him and force the heat rising in my cheeks down. Bunny smirks. Tooth smiles like if she's in on some secret no one else knows.
North pulls up a chair from a nearby, empty table pushes the back against the tables ledge, and sits down with his stomach against its back. "I hope you all got the teasing out of your systems because we need to get serious. Now," he says in his rough voice. "Let's talk about why we're really here, Jackson before we head over to the school."
Bunny's face hardens again, all teasing drained from his face as he pulls up another chair and slouches into it. Sandy and Tooth follow. "Should we be doing this in front of Jackson's friend?"
Elsa opens her mouth to say something, and I have no idea if it's her way of following through on what she said about talking to them about what happen during lunch or if she's going to take this opportunity to back out. I'm not willing to hear the latter of those options, so i place a gentle hand on her arm, stopping any words she was about to utter. She flashes her eyes at me, shocked, and I smile at her before turning back to Bunny.
"Elsa was there when it happened," I turn to North. "If it's all the same to you, I would like it if she was still here," my hand travels down its spot on her arm to squeeze her hand, softly.
North smiles at me, while Bunny raises an eyebrow and smirks at Sandy's 'Just friends,' signing. I roll my eyes at their actions, but, despite the color threatening to rise into my cheeks for what feels like the hundredth time today, I refuse to release her hand and go as far as to intertwine our fingers.
"Well," North says, clapping. "I guess we should start from the beginning. Tell us exactly what happened this afternoon."
I tell them every detail of what happened in the lunchroom today, leaving out as little as possible. They're going to find out eventually anyway. Elsa adds in any parts that I miss, while also elaborating on my parts of the story from her point of view.
"Jackson," Bunny starts in a stern voice after we finish.
Elsa rushes to stop him before he can pin me to the table again. "Excuse me, Mr. Bunny sir, but if I may," she watches him, waiting for his permission to continue. He gestures for her to do so. "I haven't known Jack for very long. But I know him well enough to know that today was a fluke, and it was brought on by a good reason. And Pitch, for as long as I have known him has been the kind of person to go for low blows. Had I been in Jack's position, and someone like Pitch talked about my little sister the way he talked about Jack's brother, I'd probably, well, I'd probably kick their ass too." Whoa. Elsa cursing? That's new. "Violence is in no way the answer to anything, but in the heat of the moment as tense as everything was and after all of the times Jack tried to walk away and Pitch pulled him back again and again, Pitch had it coming. I truly am sorry that you all had to rush over here for a parent teacher conference and that it really does seem like Jack has reverted back to his old, blockheaded ways, but he has changed. He is not what every rumor I've heard says he is. That bad guy, with a grudge against the world, ready to fight without a second thought and a terrible attitude is not who he is." So she has heard what everyone says about me. "He is the sweetest, kindest guy I know. He may be a dork sometimes, like when he got my sister a detention on the first day of school, but his intentions and morals are always good. He never would have fought Pitch if he weren't pushed passed his limits. He has changed."
Sandy smiles at me. 'I like this one.'
I slightly smile at him and sign back, 'Me too.'
"Jackson," Bunny says again. Elsa speech must have had no effect on him. "I have two things to say. 1) Where the hell is this Pitch dickhead? and 2) Will anyone miss him if he were to suddenly disappear?"
My hand strokes my chin in fake thought. "Probably the nurse; I think I broke his nose and no."
"You broke his nose!?" Tooth cries.
Bunny smiles like he's proud of me. He points at me, laughing. "Don't get me wrong! I'm still gonna kick your ass for getting in another freaking fight and ruining my off day, but," he pauses and looks around the table. "I'm not as mad as I was 10 minutes ago, and I really do think that I would be willing to be helpful in that meeting instead of trying to convince Elias into expelling you like I intended."
Sandy wipes his brow and sighs. 'That's a relief. He was yammering it about it the entire drive over here. And he can be very persuasive when he wants to be.'
North laughs, a big, full laugh. "Persuasive isn't the word I'd use to describe his, um, methods."
"Now," he says, cracking his knuckles. "Let's go talk to your principle and see if we can work out the consequences of today's lunch period."
"Alright," Clause responds clapping his hands down on the table. "Now we're talking. We'll talk to Elias, figure out what's gonna happen next, and then we can all go have a nice family dinner before we leave. Sound like a plan?"
There's a unanimous agreement from my four family members, and all of out eyes travel to Elsa. She shakes her head bashfully. "I couldn't- can't. I would-I'd hate to impose" She's so cute when she's flustered. "Plus, I haven't seen my sister all day and she's probably worried sick. And my roommate- Merida is probably freaking out right now so there's that and-"
Clause interrupts her rambling with a wave of his hand. "Nonsense. I insist. I want to get to know the girl that not only has our Jackson enchanted but the one that also sees the good in him. So will you let us treat you to dinner?"
Her blue eyes land on every person at the table, one by one, before she smiles and nods. "I would love to," she answers with a small smile.