It was the first day back after winter break and Jack was feeling pretty confident on his way to first period. As he walked down the corridor, he spotted golden-blond hair in the midst of the crowd of high-schoolers and knew he'd found her. Pushing passed an intimate couple, he leaned against her locker.
"What's up?"
Rapunzel looked up, surprised, and then slammed her locker door in frustration. It was kind of cute, actually. Her mouth formed a little pout and she blew a strand of her hair from her face, leaning her back against the locker door. She was wearing jeans today, a noticeable improvement to the shapeless black dress, and her long hair cascaded down her back in a braid that reached her waist. Her top was baggy and plain, and her shoes looked as if they were donated by a kindergarten teacher- but she weirdly pulled it off in her own 'too cool for school' way. He guessed that fashion didn't really appeal to her, or at least, not anymore. Raising her eyebrows, she looked up into his blue eyes as he looked down into hers. For a heart-beat, everything around them faded into the background as if they were the only two people in the corridor. She shifted uncomfortably under his gaze before finally breaking the silence. "What do you want?"
He might have been mistaken, but was that a blush forming across her cheeks? Hiding a smirk, Jack pushed on. "Why would I want anything from you, gorgeous?"
There it was again. This time her neck definitely went red, and Jack chuckled under his breath.
"Because you were lurking around my locker." She replied, before crossing her arms and walking away from him as fast as possible.
He jogged to keep up, winking to a hot cheerleader who called his name. "Alright, okay! I did want something, now would you just slow down so I could-"
She stopped suddenly and swivelled round to face him. "You have 30 seconds."
"Well... Uh..." Jack began. He hadn't actually expected things to go this well. "Do you, well, maybe want to, I don't know, come to this party on Friday?"
Rapunzel looked shocked for a moment, but recovered quickly, shaking her head. "Not for me, not anymore. Sorry, Joe."
"It's Jack." He said, but she had already gone. He couldn't understand it. For a moment back then... Something had happened between them. And she had felt something- he was sure of it. Jack ruffled his hair, suddenly vaguely pissed off. Normally, girls couldn't resist his charm- even ones who hated him. So why wasn't it working now? As Jack walked to his next class, he made a vow that he would get her to come to that party, no matter what the cost.
"Yo, are you still following that chick around? You know she can file a restraining order against you." Jack smirked as Eugene put his arm round him. "She's a proper head case man. I know she's hot, but she's not anything special."
Jack shook his head, a cocky grin forming on his lips. "You're one to talk."
Eugene pushed Jack's shoulder, laughing. "So what's your plan? Fuck her?"
"You're disgusting." He joked, giving Eugene an equally hard shove back. "My intentions are totally pure."
"Yeah, yeah."
"Then again, maybe not." Jack said, thinking of her caramel skin and curvy yet petite figure. Eugene chuckled, and stopped just outside the English classroom. "But I will say, I'm interested in her. She's different, you know?"
"Careful, Jack. You know what they say." Jack looked at him questioningly and he gave a dramatic sight. "Curiosity killed the cat."
"Satisfaction brought him back." Jack quipped as he walked through the door, smiling at Rapunzel who averted her gaze almost instantly. She was sat at the front of the class and Jack wondered why he had never properly noticed her before. Sure, he had only arrived this semester, but how could he have not recognized her- after all, they had three classes together. He followed Eugene to the back of the class where two girls sat gossiping on their left and to his right, a guy, who must have been around 6ft 6, slept on his desk. Eugene chatted to him about the party, his boyfriend, football, and his boyfriend some more. But all Jack could focus on was Rapunzel. How delicate her shoulders were. The way she would flick her plait over her shoulder every so often. How intently she watched the teacher, as if she actually cared about the subject.
It must have been so awful, that night. The guilt drove her to give up everything, her friends, her whole life. The walls she put up between herself and the rest of the world must be to prevent herself from getting hurt like that again, Jack thought, or from hurting other people.
"Hey, are you listening to me?" Eugene thumped a hand on Jack's desk.
"Mmm" He replied, chewing the end of his pen.
"So you think I should propose to him tonight?"
"Uhhuh." Jack said, still watching Rapunzel. And then Eugene's words sunk in. "Wait what?!"
Eugene sniggered and Jack punched his arm. "You're acting like a love-sick 12 year old, man, this needs to stop. I swear you only realized she existed yesterday."
"I know, I know. I just wish I could figure her out."
"Then invite her to the party- I'm sure Elsa won't mind."
"That's the problem. I already did."
"Wait. She turned you down?" Eugene smirked. "So that's what this is about."
Jack put his head in his hands. "It's not about anything."
"I can't believe she shot you down."
"That's not even the worst part." Jack shook his head. "She called me Joe."
Eugene snorted loudly, and the whole class suddenly went silent before turning round to look at him. The whole class, that is, except Rapunzel. She continued to stare dreamily out the window as if she was unaware of anything happening around her. The teacher, Mr Lees, sighed; putting down the book he was reading an extract from. "Yes, Eugene?"
"Nothing."
"No really, I'm sure we could all benefit from your insightful humour."
"You're alright, sir."
"No, I insist."
"Sir I really don't think that-"
"Maybe you can stay after class for an hour instead?" He said, exasperated.
Eugene smiled a little, and looked down at Jack- who shook his head furiously. "Don't." He mouthed.
But Eugene just shrugged his shoulders and smirked. "Jack was just telling me that a certain girl he liked dumped him before class." The classroom erupted in laughter, and Jack looked over to Rapunzel, but she was still facing the front. He was pretty sure he had gone bright red- Eugene was going to pay for this later. "Yeah, she even got his name wrong-"
Suddenly, Rapunzel rose from her chair. The class went deadly silent as they watched her pack up her bag, and, very calmly, push in her chair and walk out the door. As soon as she left, the whole room filled with noise, and Eugene sat down again, putting his feet on the desk in triumph.
"WHY DID YOU DO THAT?" Jack asked, grabbing his collar.
"Calm down, man. I was only telling the truth." He said, shocked at the seriousness in Jack's tone.
"Settle down 11H!" Mr Lees called over the racket, but Jack wasn't finished yet. He loved Eugene like a brother, but he always had to take things too far. Rapunzel was never going to speak to him again now- why couldn't he have just made something up?!
Jack stood up, pushing Eugene backwards until he almost fell off his chair. Eugene retaliated by kicking Jack's stomach in defence and soon they were on top of each other, grabbing and punching whatever they could. All hell broke loose, and the class crowded round them. Mr Lees pushed the circle of students out the way, yelling at the top of his voice: "Head-masters office. Both of you. Now."