Guys. I said it two chapters ago, and I'll say it again if I have to. Do NOT, I repeat, do NOT ask me when Jack will return to being a Guardian or when Immo Blobhead is going to appear again or when whatever-will-happen. It's really starting to get on my nerves now, but I won't point out any names. You know who you impatient people are. Time to release an ultimatum: If I get one more question concerning when the Guardians will get involved again, I'm gonna postpone Jack's return to immortality. I'm just gonna make Jack's stay as a human longer than anyone would like.

I swear, even though this story has been going on for almost 4 months now, the time duration within the story isn't that long. What I mean is that Jack was turned human shortly before Christmas, and this chapter takes place on January 25 (Uh huh, I checked my calendar!). Yeah, that's probably earlier than you guys think.

Flagpole. Yes. Very, very important. Not here, but in the sequel. Yes. Do not forget the flagpole. Or else. It will come back to skin you.

He could feel it. Something was very, very wrong. He could feel it in his belly. The belly was never to be doubted.

North couldn't concentrate on making toys with all the nagging feelings he was getting from his stomach. He groaned frustratedly and slammed his chainsaw down on the table. Seriously, there was always something that would distract him from diligently preparing for next Christmas.

Maybe he should call Bunny. But no, wait, the Pooka wouldn't appreciate that. He wasn't particularly happy when the man had sent out a not-so-false alarm last time when Pitch had tried to seize power until he actually saw for himself that the situation was urgent. So why would he be willing to come over here just because North was having stomach pains? Besides, rabbits tended to be a bit antisocial around big, old, jolly men. When North had came up with the idea of walkie-talkies disguised as phones, Bunny had immediately shot down the idea and buried his own phone. Probably to fertilize his eggs or something like that.

Okay, North had to admit that was a stupid idea (He must've drank too much eggnog on Christmas Eve), which was why he had accepted Tooth's offer to send out Baby Tooth to watch over Jack. With the mini-fairy around, electronics weren't needed. Well, they were needed when it came to Jack. North didn't know much about teenagers these days, but he did know that every teenager was practically glued to whatever technology they owned. If Jack didn't even have his own cell phone to carry around, it wouldn't be long before one of his schoolmates discovered that there was something very different about him. North reminded himself to remind Jack to thank him later.

His stomach growled again and he winced. Yikes. If he didn't hit the loo soon, there was going to be a gigantic mess, and he was sure Phil wouldn't enjoy picking up after him. He grabbed a newspaper off the table and headed straight to the bathroom, whistling Christmas carols to himself.

"So you're paired up with Overland for your little performance art project."

Anton sighed and slammed his locker shut, knowing full on well who the speaker was. "Yeah. But it's not like I chose to work with him."

"Yeah, sure you didn't."

"Samson, I'm serious."

"I know, I wasn't being sarcastic or anything," Samson insisted. "So how do you feel working with him and all that?"

Anton eyed him weirdly. "Why do you ask?"

Samson looked off to the side as if making sure nobody was overhearing. "You know what happened last Friday?" he asked in a low voice.

"The only thing I remember from last Friday is you coming to me and yelling about how your locker had been vandalized," Anton deadpanned.

"That's the thing!" Samson raised his voice for a second, but lowered it again. "He was the one who did it."

"How do you know for sure?"

"Dude, he broke my nose. It'd be weird if it wasn't that same fist that crammed itself into my locker. Besides, those loser twins that always hang out with him, I overheard them talking about it," Samson explained.

"Okay, so he did it. But it was kinda justified, considering you did write something that wasn't true about him." Anton's words surprised even himself. When was he on Jack's side?

Samson apparently thought the same thing. "When did you start covering for him?"

"Never," Anton replied without any hesitation.

"Good. 'Cause I need you to do me a tiny favor. Just to get back at him for wrecking my property." A smirk made a way onto Samson's face as he handed Anton a camera, what one would typically use for paparazzi. "Try finding something for me again. That last one worked wonders. I'm gonna be expecting something that'll top that."

"Have fun," Mrs. Bennett called as Jack got out of the car.

"As impossible as that is, I'll try," Jack said flatly and closed the door. He briefly waved to Jamie's mother as he went up Anton's front steps.

He barely reached the front door before Anton swung it open. "You would've been here 45 minutes earlier if you just let me drive you," he grumbled.

Was he seriously looking outside just to see when I would arrive...? "I'm not sitting in a car driven by you," he deadpanned back. "How'd you even get your license?"

"What exactly is that supposed to mean?!" Anton exclaimed, offended. "I just got it. Why would you question my driving instructor?"

"Just a gut feeling."

"I just remembered, we need a banner for the whole thing," Anton said. "Got any ideas on what we should do?"

"Oh, damn, you're right," Jack muttered. "Uh... I can't draw. I have no drawing ability. So it's best if you don't ask me about it."

"I'm not great at designing signs either!" Anton snapped. "You know what, I'm taking a break. There's been a lot of pressure on me lately. I'll be back up in, let's say, twenty minutes. If anything happens, I'll be downstairs watching Revenge."

"That Emily VanCamp show?"

"Yeah, that one. Anyway, feel free to do anything in here. Just don't touch anything."

"...How can I do anything if I'm allowed to touch anything?"

"Not my problem. That's for you to figure out."

"But—"

Anton had left the room. Jack sighed and lied down on Anton's bed, which he had previously been sitting on. These next minutes were going to be boring. That is, if Anton was keeping his promise that he would be back soon. Considering for the billionth time that he strongly disliked him for pretty much no reason at all, he might as well expect him to be back in two hours. Jack looked up at the ceiling, counting the seconds that went by. Being human sucks.

He heard the door open, and he abruptly sat up again. It wasn't Anton, but Kayla. The girl had obviously just arrived home from school, as her backpack was still slung over her shoulder. She didn't seem surprised that Jack was in her brother's room.

"Hi Kayla," Jack greeted.

"Hey. I thought you were working on some sort of project with my brother," Kayla cut right to the point. "So how come I found him watching shows on ABC channel and you're just chilling on his bed?"

Jack shrugged. "I don't know, to be honest. He seemed kinda stressed about something, and demanded for a 'break.'" He put air quotes around break.

"He's always gloomy like that," Kayla assured him. "It's been a long while since I've seen him not pressurized over something."

"What's wrong with him?"

"Stuff at school."

Jack patiently waited for her to continue her explanation, but she did no such thing. "And?" he pushed on.

Kayla sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed, giving Jack a side glance. "I told you last time that he talks about you, didn't I?"

"Yeah, why?"

"He complains about everything that has to do with you. One day, he came home and the first thing out of his mouth was that there was a new transfer student in four of his classes."

Jack cringed and looked away. "Yeah. Four of them."

"And then he went on talking about how carefree you seemed," Kayla continued as if she hadn't heard him. "If I remember correctly, his exact words were, 'A guy like him can't just go and act like there are no worries in this world!'"

Jack bit back a snort at the Kayla's pathetic portrayal of Anton's voice.

"And after he was finally done with that, he started ranting about how you had good friends right on your first day. He saw you hanging out with the Anderson twins, and you all seemed to be getting along pretty well. He wouldn't stop talking about you until it was time for dinner."

"...Wow. Okay," Jack coughed awkwardly. "He really said that much about me?"

"Yup."

"So he hates me just because I seem perfect to him?"

Kayla raised her eyebrows in surprise. "What gave off the impression he hates you?"

"You've never really seen the two of us interact, but I can tell you right away that we don't get on too great." Jack paused. "Well, he doesn't get on too great with me. I just try to tolerate him as much as I possibly can."

Kayla was silent for a moment, then said, "I kind of have to disagree. Sure, he doesn't really treat you with a respectful attitude, but that doesn't mean he hates you. If anything, I think...he's jealous of you."

That definitely caught Jack off guard. "Jealous? Of me? What's there to be jealous of?"

"To him, everything. Like I said earlier, you've got friends you can rely on. As for him, he has Samson."

"...Is Samson a bad friend?"

"He isn't mean to him or anything, he's just a little dominating, and it's like Anton has no choice but to be his sidekick for everything. He doesn't like it, but it's like he's forced to."

"Then why's he friends with him in the first place?"

"They've known each other since elementary. According to Anton, Samson used to be nice. But then again, that was back when they were eight, and things are bound to change by the time you're eighteen. My brother's very loyal, and he feels as if it's wrong to leave a friend, no matter how cruddy they may be."

Jack certainly didn't come here today expecting to be discovering hidden layers to a stoic classmate he was sure who hated him. "...What school do you go to?" he asked, changing the subject to ease the seriousness.

Kayla seemed to understand why Jack didn't continue on the topic of her brother. "The one right across the street from yours. Why?"

"You always come home later than your brother. Why is that?" Jack asked, genuinely curious.

"Oh right. I'm in orchestra, you see." Kayla affectionately patted the violin case she had put beside her on the bed. Jack swore he really was going blind if he didn't notice that earlier. "I regularly have practice sessions after school."

The door suddenly opened again and Anton walked right back in. "Alright, I'm back. Oh hey, Kayla. What're you doing?"

"Just chatting with your visitor," Kayla answered, looking knowingly at Jack.

"Right. Both of us have to work on our project, so would you mind leaving? Don't you have to practice a violin excerpt or something?"

"Yeah."

"Then go do your own business."

Kayla left and Anton sat down on his bed again. He refused to look at Jack.

"I like your sister," Jack piped up. It was true.

"Huh? Oh yeah, she's alright." Jack may have been imagining it, but he sensed that Anton was acting a little weirdly. He seemed uncomfortably distracted about something.

"Um... I think I have an idea for our banner," Jack said.

Anton finally looked in his direction. "What is it?"

"...I just said that just to ease the tension in the room. I really don't have any idea," Jack admitted sheepishly, prompting Anton to glare at him.

Anton sighed and covered his face with his hands. "We're so unprepared for this... We don't even have a good idea for our play, and the two of us have to do this, and..."

"Things will get better," Jack tried to assure.

"I know things will get better," Anton said flatly. "It's just all the pressure I'm currently having. I don't do good when I'm stressful." He removed his hands from his face. "We have to pick things up soon, or we won't be ready in time."

You were the one who went downstairs to watch TV, Jack thought caustically. Instead, he said, "I could come tomorrow and Sunday. I'm totally free on the weekend."

"Good idea. You should probably leave now anyway. My dad's gonna be home from work any minute, and he's not gonna approve of the two of us lazing around like this, so if you go, he won't question us about the progress we made."

That sparked Jack's interest. "Who's your dad?"

Instead of directly answering, Anton gave him an unimpressed look. "Are you seriously asking me that?"

"What?" Jack didn't know why Anton thought that was so wrong. "I never met him before."

"I thought you did."

"If you would just tell me who he is, I might know what you're talking about," Jack deadpanned, then added, "Look, this is kinda weird, but I don't even know your last name."

Anton didn't say anything for a minute, then questioned, "If we're gonna work together on this class project of ours, shouldn't you at least know that much?"

"I know, that's why I wasn't gonna ask you straight out what your full name was. It's embarrassing not knowing," Jack sighed. "Nobody bothered to tell me when I asked, and in the end I decided it wasn't that important. To me, at least." He vaguely recalled something Zander had told him just last week: Jack, if I were you, I would at least try to find out more about my cohost.

Anton nodded slowly. "Yeah, you do your best to find out."

"...You're not gonna tell me?"

"Nope."

"...Why not?"

"Because if you want to know, I think you're gonna have to find out yourself. It's as simple as that." Anton shrugged. "I'm sure you'll catch on."

Jack groaned. That's great, man. Out loud, he said, "I think I should go. Like you said, your dad won't want to see us not making any progress. Whoever he is."

"Right. So see you tomorrow?"

"Sure, why not?"

Jack went downstairs and saw Kayla fingering her violin. She looked up at the sound of his footsteps coming down the stairs. "You're leaving?"

Jack nodded. "Yeah. So you were practicing your violin lessons down here the whole time?"

"Uh huh."

Jack paused, suddenly curious, then inquired, "Why did you join orchestra?"

To his surprise, Kayla's face turned red and she began to stutter, "I j-just like m-music a-and I w-wanted t-to learn h-how to p-play an instrument s-so I..."

Jack frowned. "Why do you seem so embarrassed?"

Anton had come down as well, and as he stood next to Jack, he informed, "She likes this guy at school and wants to impress him. The dude doesn't even notice her and she wants that to change."

Jack raised his eyebrows and looked at a furiously blushing Kayla. "So you're learning all this because of a crush? Who's this guy anyway?"

"...H-His name is... Jamie B-Bennett..." Kayla murmured.

Jacky's face suddenly contorted into a twisted expression, earning him an almost concerned look from Anton. Almost concerned. "Uh, you okay?"

"I...need to...use your bathroom..." Jack breathed, expression unchanging. He shakily went to the bathroom and closed the door. Both Anton and Kayla heard someone laughing loudly from inside and looked confusedly at each other. After about two minutes of nonstop guffawing, Jack came out, sober once again. "I haven't laughed like that in forever," he said, smirking like there was no tomorrow.

"...Was there a joke that I missed?" Anton asked tentatively, as if he was afraid that Jack had officially lost his mind.

"No, it's just that I know Jamie." Jack's smirk grew as Kayla turned redder. "As a matter of fact, I'm living with his family right now. Don't ask why."

"Well don't go blabbing to him that I like him!" Kayla shouted frantically. "If you do that, I'm gonna be humiliated for life!"

Jack raised his hands in defense. "Relax, Kay, I'm not gonna tell him about you. This'll just be a secret between the two of us."

Anton cleared his throat, reminding everyone of his presence.

"The three of us," Jack corrected himself.

Kayla nodded, relieved. "Good."

"Yeah, I really should go now." Jack turned to Anton again. "Before your dad gets home. I'll see both of you tomorrow." He exited the house and grinned to himself as he went down the steps to the sidewalk, still rather amused at the events that just happened. Looks like Jamie's got a secret admirer.

"Jack?"

Jack snapped out of his thoughts and turned in the direction of the voice, surprised that the owner was Mr. Suzuki, his vice principal. "Uh... Hey."

"What are you doing here?" Mr. Suzuki asked.

"I was just leaving Anton's house. We have that project, remember?" Jack explained, still recovering from bumping into his vice principal. He must've just been let off work.

Mr. Suzuki nodded. "Ah. Did you get a lot of stuff done?"

"Probably not too much, but we did make progress."

Mr. Suzuki nodded again. "Alright then. I'll see you around at school next week sometime." He went off the sidewalk and up the front steps of his own house.

Jack took out his phone to call Mrs. Bennett to come pick him up, but did a double take at the house Mr. Suzuki just entered. How strange, wasn't that Anton's...

It clicked. Jack put a hand to his forehead. "Oh my snowballs..."

This chapter was choppier than a kitchen knife slicing beef. Probably not my best chapter, but it'll have to do.

Really guys? Seven votes on my new poll? Are you kidding me? GO VOTE. I'm disappointed.

Speaking of disappointments, nobody has given me a pole-dancing Jack yet... That just breaks my heart :(

I realize only now that Cody and Anton's developments are getting ready to kick in. It feels as if there's still a short while until that happens but it's coming a lot sooner than I thought it would. Sigh.

Review replies (including a headcanon in likhitata's review)!

storygirl99210: Because Pitch is stupid and bad. It's that simple.

feathered moon wings: Yeah, angsty one-shot isn't finished yet. I've been procrastinating way too much D: Oh yeah, an accident's gonna happen with the pole...

Mystery Girl Who Writes: Yeah, I figured that Samson should probably push him into the pool, but I just don't know who should save him. I'm way too evil to be able to write Jack not drowning.

pearlsofwisdom: The flagpole's gonna be in the sequel, and Pitch is the bad guy in the sequel. Try to figure it out from there.

PuppetMaster55: You're very close in figuring out who Carrie is. Here's a hint to help you: Cody's not the elder, but the younger.

Sassy Shota: And then Kayla showed up and twisted that 'nice twist' around even more ;D Anyway, thank you!

likhitata: Headcanon number -insert random number here-: For the first 50 years of Jack living his life as Jack Frost, he was extremely unstable because nobody was able to see him. He's obviously recovered from that derangement, but it's hidden away deep down in his soul, waiting to be awakened. And once it's awakened... All hell is loose (like with the Blizzard of '68). I think this headcanon is partly the reason why he seems so nonchalant about the weapons in Jamie's guest room, since he's slightly insane.

Lovepuppy316: ...WHOA, OKAY. I didn't even think of pole-dancing!Jack when I typed that flagpole conversation. That proves you're more sucked in than I am. Anyway, yes, something's gonna happen with the flagpole, and I will say that you guessed correctly on what would happen with one of those random guesses you spewed out at me. Hint: He's not pole-dancing.

YandereGoddess: You go update. Here's the OC list. Major characters: Zander, Spencer, Cici (You forgot about her D:), Cody, Anton. Minor characters: Samson Fisher, Ariel Jaleen, Erik Chou, Kayla Suzuki, Kevin Fisher, Christine Lee, Scott Kimberly, the Robinson triplets–Flo, Bo, and Jo. Future background OCs include: Ellen Black, Fernando Chavez. Future OCs in the sequel: Hazel Campbell, Hector Campbell, Conrad Montgomery, possibly more. And Flo's gonna become a major OC in the sequel ...That's a lot, I just realize.

Maddie Seth: Here's the thing–I thought Alec Baldwin sounded like he was saying Bitch instead of Pitch at the beginning of the movie since he had that strong Russian accent going. On the bright side, that just gives me the opportunity to make fun of his name.

Review please!