Jack made his way down the halls of his school, trying not to be noticed by any of the other students. Jack refused to make friends with the children his age, mainly because of their lack of creativity, and because of the few people who decided to go out of their way to make Jack's high school life more difficult than it needed to be. Speaking of the devil, as Jack opened his locker, a boy, at least a foot taller than Jack, slammed his locker shut and smiled. Jack sighed, knowing that smile was not meant to be a sign of peace.

"Jordan, please, I'm not feeling up to your shenanigans today. Can we just do this another day?"

"And miss out on all the fun I could have with you now? I don't think so." Jordan watched as Jack put the combination into the lock and opened his locker again, only to have it slammed closed again, this time catching one of his fingers in the door.

" Dammit Jordan! Why can't you just leave me alone, huh?! All I want to do is-"

"Is what, go hide in a corner, pull up your hood and hide from the world? Is that it? Everyone hates you, you know. You're the loser of the school. No one wants to be your friend. We all know you have mental problems. Thinking you're, what, some kind of mythical creature? You need to grow up, Frost." A shove emphasized his sentence and pushed Jack against the lockers.

"Jordan, I know that your father hates you and you have serious girl problems, but that does not entitle you to-" A swift punch to the eye stopped Jack's insult in its tracks.

"You are some kind of sick. Well, fuck you too." Jordan stormed off, leaving Jack leaning precariously against the lockers, his eye beginning to swell. This was a regular occurrence, and Jack always tried his best to insult the other just as much as he did to Jack. He would never take a fight sitting down, but also knew that words hurt more than any physical attack at times, and Jack just hit his soft spot. He had been working up the courage to say that for ages, ever since he had joined this horrible institution. North made him go to school, and he hated every second of it. He had to learn about math. He spoke several languages, had observed several major figures of history, and had travelled the world but still here he was, in the concrete prison to learn, what, that one plus one is five or whatever?

Jack reopened his locker after calming down a bit and grabbed his books for homework that night. He did not have any extracurricular activities, North's advice going on deaf ears. After the accident…

Jack shook his head and pulled up his hood, then went out the door to the front of the school. He kept his head down as he made his way over to the red truck waiting for him in the parking lot. North always picked him up from school after the first fight within the first month of Jack being there. He was now known as a trouble maker, but Jack just saw all of it as self-defense.

Jack opened the passenger door, never looking at his so called uncle, and climbed into the truck.

"Good day at school?" North asked in hopes of a positive answer today. No response came and he put the truck into drive, knowing he was not going to get one the whole drive home.

After a few minutes, North glanced over at Jack. He had not moved his eyes away from the window and any movement he made was stiff. "You were in another fight today, were you?" Jack became ridged and his head fell a few inches, now leaning tiredly on the window. "Jack, let me see." North put his hand to the back of Jack's hood and pulled it down to reveal what he was hiding. North looked back at the road then back to Jack and frowned. "Who was it this time?"

"Does it matter?"

"Of course it does. You do not deserve to be bullied, and you need to tell me-"

"So you can make me even more hated at that school? North, you know how much I hate i-" Jack paused for a second to sneeze twice, then wiped his nose and continued, "North, please don't make me go back again. I can take online school. I can learn how to use the internet."

"Jack, we already went over this. You need-"

"Social interaction, yes, I know. I need to fit in with the other kids. But, you see what they do to me. You know this isn't the first black eye I've gotten from those damned hypocrites. I just… I hate it there. I'm miserable, I don't remember ever taking these classes before. This stupid amnesia is causing too many prob-obl-" Another sneeze erupted from Jack, causing his chest to ache hollowly. He leaned forward and hid his head in his knees. After a minute, a cold hand touched the back of his neck and began rubbing gentle circles.

"Jack, I think you're coming down with something. How about I make tea with honey and you go lie down, yes?" Jack nodded his confirmation of the request and relaxed a little against North's touch. It seemed the man always knew what to do with the boy, no matter the situation. Well, in Jack's mind he was Santa Claus, so Jack expected him to be good with kids.

Once they reached home, Jack sluggishly fell from the truck and made his way through the front door and onto the couch in the family room. His eyes fell shut and only opened again when North draped a blanket over him and put a cup of tea on the coffee table.

"I will make dinner. If you are feeling alright, then you should join me. Aster will be over tonight. Please try to be nice today. He is a family friend, and really does care about you." Jack didn't give any acknowledgement, but his breathing was enough evidence that he had heard. "Now get some rest. Homework later." North then exited the room to get started in the kitchen.