All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.
The good news? Pippa wasn't mad at him.
The bad news? She wasn't mad at their father, either.
"I just don't see why you can't apologize," his sister confessed over the phone. "I mean, you guys were, like, both in the wrong."
Jack couldn't believe what his sister was saying - how dare she act as if it wasn't their father's fault. Don Overland was always at fault; he was selfish, hot-headed, and completely unreasonable. He uprooted Pippa and dragged her across the country, without so much as consulting Jack. Her older brother. His son. The one person who knew her better than anyone, and who needed to be there for her. He hadn't even stopped to think how it'd affect Jack; how he would have to uproot his own life and move across the country as well.
He had friends back in Burgess; he had a life! He went to school, had a steady job, and was making a life for himself. A life that would include Pippa. He was going to make it work. He was going to give her an easier life; even if it meant he'd have to work himself to death. He loved his younger sister more than anything; and Don tried to take her away from him.
"He's the one who blew up at me!" Jack exclaimed, earning a few curious stares from the other students. Lowering his voice, he continued making his way across campus. "He just flipped out - like he always does, and I wasn't just gonna stand around and -"
"Dad's always had a temper," Pippa replied simply. "But he's not a bad guy -"
"He abandoned us, Pip!" Jack nearly yelled, feeling his face grow hot in anger. How did she not realize the severity of that? Sure, she was young, but he could still remember her wondering why their dad wasn't visiting anymore; he remembered her asking, not for toys or games at Christmas, but for their father to come home. Even Jack had missed him at first - before he realized his father was a total scumbag.
His sister remained silent for a few moments, and Jack could only hear the sound of her breathing over the phone. They were short, sporadic breaths; the way she would breathe before crying. Jack could literally feel his heart breaking.
"He's back now," she began, her voice almost too quiet for him to hear, "and I know he's gonna stay. I'm gonna stay, Jack."
He knew arguing further would only upset her, and he couldn't risk her getting angry with him as well. Letting out a defeated sigh, Jack ran his hand down his face in exasperation. "I love you - you know that, right?"
A subdued giggle escaped his sister's lips, the sound distorted slightly over the phone, yet still bringing a smile to Jack's face. "I know. I love you, too."
"And I'll take you ice skating or something later - after things blow over. Would you want to do that?"
"Yeah!"
His smile widening, Jack glanced up as he neared the dorms. It was still snowing, and the small flakes were getting caught in his white hair. Shaking his head slightly, he said goodbye to his sister and hung up the phone. Despite what he had told Anna and Merida, it was pretty cold, and he didn't want to catch any kind of sickness right before classes started.
As he reached his floor, it didn't come as a surprise to see Hiccup exiting the room, nodding in acknowledgement and muttering under his breath as they passed each other. Unsure if Jack liked the idea of having the room to himself, he entered it slowly, watching Toothless from the corner of his eye as the cat stretched. He had survived a few minutes being alone with the animal before, so he figured it'd be fine again.
When it became clear that the cat was more interested in his food than in what Jack was doing, Jack sat back on his bed and stared out the window. Their view consisted mainly of the quad and a few buildings, but behind them, he could see the tall, snow-covered hills that surrounded Arendelle. It was a breathtaking sight, and he was tempted to pull out his camera and take a few shots of it. Jack liked to think of himself as an amateur photographer, though he hadn't really picked up a camera since his mother's passing a few months prior. In fact, he had actually sold his best one in order to afford moving down here, though he kept the one his mother had gotten him for his thirteenth birthday. It was old and out-of-date, but he cherished the thing. But digging through his box full of memories didn't sound too appealing at the moment.
His father and step-mother had gotten him a really fancy camera for Christmas, but he had neglected to take it out of its packaging. It felt wrong to enjoy their pity-gift. Yet, as the mid-afternoon sun splashed across the hills, and the snow began to shimmer, he decided to suck it up. Hopping off of his bed (and startling Toothless, who hissed in surprise), Jack made his way towards the closet. He had carelessly tossed in the present when he had gotten back, and over the course of a few days, Hiccup's failed inventions had began to pile up in there. Digging through the mess, he let out a relieved sigh when he caught sight of the colorful packaging.
Pulling the camera out of the junk, he began to tear the box open as he returned to his window.
It was a sleek, chrome-colored model in a favorable brand, and Jack already knew that he was going to love it. A thought that pissed him off, though he couldn't find the energy to care at the moment. Turning it on, he smiled as the focus self-adjusted, before he opened the window and zoomed in on the hills in the distance. He decided to leave the tops of the buildings in the shot, and took a few test shots. Realizing that the light in his room was messing with the focus, he set the camera down on the window sill and quickly crossed the room to switch off the lights. Turning back around, he felt his heart stop.
Toothless was sitting beside his camera, curiously staring out the open window. Jack figured that the cat wouldn't be stupid enough to jump down three stories, but he knew his camera wouldn't survive the fall, if Toothless were to bump it.
Cursing silently, Jack slowly crossed the room, feeling his breath hitch every time the cat so much as twitched his ears. Toothless was blissfully ignorant to the human creeping up behind him, and was instead focusing on all the new smells the outside world had to offer. But as Jack neared the window, he stepped onto a wayward blueprint, the paper crunching beneath his shoe. Moving faster than he thought possible, his hand darted out towards the camera just as the cat knocked into it. Feeling the device safely within his grasp, he ignored the stinging sensation of the fresh scratch along his forearm, where Toothless had taken the liberty of punishing him for his sneak attack. Hopping off of the window sill, the cat trotted back towards Hiccup's bed.
Grinning triumphantly, Jack crouched onto his knees and began to re-adjust the focus, his camera aiming randomly at the quad. But the sight of platinum blonde hair caught his attention, and he realized that he had been absently pointing the camera on none other than Elsa.
She was making her way across the quad, dressed in a pale pink coat that looked very similar to the blue one she had been wearing earlier. Her hair was still in a perfect chiffon-style bun, though a few stray pieces were framing her face. She had stopped for a moment to converse with some brunette girl, though Jack paid the stranger no mind as he zoomed in on Elsa's face.
Now, Jack wasn't a stalker. He hadn't purposefully aimed his camera at the girl, nor had he intended to take a picture of her. But the way her pink coat complemented her flushed cheeks made for an incredible combination, and he couldn't resist snapping a photo or two. That is, until he realized he was literally snapping pictures of a complete stranger. Feeling his face flush, he quickly aimed the camera towards the hills in the background and took a few frenzied shots. By the time he felt he had gotten a few good pictures, he idly glanced back towards the quad, letting out a sigh of relief when Elsa was nowhere to be found.
Pulling himself back up to a standing position, he tentatively closed the window before anymore cold air could rush in. Or before his inner creeper could get back out. Jack blamed his slip in sanity on the fact that Elsa was incredibly photogenic. When he had taken her picture, it hadn't been because she was a pretty girl that he wanted to know better. It had been because the streaks of sunlight across her face made her pale skin sparkle. It was because her pastel wardrobe had looked so graceful and innocent against the snowy backdrop. It was because she happened to be in the midst of a beautiful scene, and Jack had a duty as a photographer to capture the moment.
If anyone else had been standing in her spot with a similar color palate, he wouldn't have thought twice about snapping a picture. It was just the fact that he was obviously a bit infatuated with her, and that made him feel like a weirdo. And he didn't like feeling that way. Glancing down at his screen, he quickly went through the pictures, intent on deleting the ones of her. But as he looked at them, he realized he didn't see Elsa, but just a beautiful candid shot of a total stranger. He looked at the picture and saw art, not his lapse in judgement. It was a beautiful photograph, with perfect lighting and contrast, and he couldn't stomach the thought of deleting it. If anything, he could edit it a bit on his computer - distort the imagine enough to where you couldn't even tell it was Elsa. Make it into just a beautiful shot.
Making up his mind, he turned off his camera and set it on his bed side table, before furrowing his brows as he stared at the scratches on his arm. They weren't deep, and hardly bled, but he knew it'd be best to put some kind of medication on them. He didn't want to get an infection or anything. His blue eyes scanned the room for any kind of first aid kit, though he knew that they probably didn't have one. He also knew the scratches weren't serious enough to venture into the hall and find somebody with a kit, so he decided not to bother.
Shooting Toothless a quick glare, Jack snatched a random hoodie from out of the closet and pulled it over his head, before heading back out. Jamie had texted him back a while ago, apologizing for not being home, and inviting him over for later. And Jack figured it was later.
Making his way towards his step-brother's dorm, he passed a group of giggly girls, who eyed him curiously. He naturally sent them his signature grin, feeling a tad bit cocky as they blushed and looked away with bashful smiles. Obviously he still had a way with the ladies, despite the whole debacle with Elsa. But the blonde was on an entirely different level than most girls - she was pretty much royalty. And she knew it.
But it didn't matter - Jack was confident that, if the opportunity arose once more, he'd be able to secure a date with the 'Princess'. Nobody could resist his charms for too long, and if he kept the whole camera-incident to himself, she wouldn't have a reasonable excuse to keep rejecting him. But he decided that he'd have to go about this with a different approach. He'd get to know her first; befriend her. And if she still refused him, then he'd just look at it as a lost-cause, and move on. It wasn't the end of the world if he never got her to come around - it'd just be a blow to his ego.
And his frustration with Elsa was serving as a good distraction. Sure, he could admit that he was maybe thinking about her a little too much, but it was because he needed to think of anything but his shattered life. And getting the unattainable Delta Zeta to go out with him would be a great way to ignore the emptiness inside of him, and the way his chest throbbed every time he pictured his life back in Burgess.
His best friends were back there, going on with their lives without him. He'd talk to them every other day, and they'd update each other on what was going on, but he had a gut feeling that he was going to lose them. They were busy with their own lives, and 'catching up with Jack' probably wasn't their highest priority. He was fearful for the day when he wouldn't receive a call; the day when he'd realize it had been days without so much as a text. The day he'd know for sure that his life in Burgess was over, and that nothing was tying him to the town besides his mother's grave.
Cringing internally at the thought, he quickened his steps as he descended down the stairs and towards the building's entrance. Jamie lived in the dorms across the quad, next to the Art and Literature hall. Jack wasn't sure if his step-brother's roommate was in, but he was sure Jamie wouldn't mind his company. After all, they had some unfinished business with a certain video game, in which neither could admit defeat. And Jack was adamant on winning.
As he entered the building, he wondered idly if Anna and Merida had gone back to their dorms. And, if they had, did that mean Elsa had joined them as well? She was making her way across the quad, though Jack didn't see where she went. The thought of running into her made his stomach churn; sure, he'd appreciate another chance to woo her (or bug her - that was fun, too), but not so soon after his accidental-creeper moment. He didn't think he could keep his cool around her.
Thankfully, he didn't run into any of the girls as he strolled down the hall, coming to Jamie's door. Knocking loudly, he waited somewhat impatiently as the sound of something being knocked over came from within the room. With another crash, and a muffled curse, the door burst open, revealing a frazzled brunet boy.
"Oh, hey," Jamie greeted with a sheepish smile, before gesturing for Jack to come in. "I was attempting to get my side all, uh, situated, but this place is a lot smaller than my apartment - er, old apartment."
Jack stifled a snort of bitter amusement as he entered the dorm room. He knew Jamie wasn't resentful for losing his apartment, but Jack thought he ought to be. It was entirely selfish on his father's part for making Jamie move.
"Sorry about the mess," the younger boy began, attempting to clear a spot for Jack on the small couch crammed between the beds. "I'm still rearranging things."
Jack nodded his head absently as he plopped onto the black leather couch. Jamie had already moved in his large flat screen TV and gaming system (something he was sure his step-brother's roommate would appreciate), and it looked like he already had a game going. But aside from the couch and entertainment system, the room looked like any other college dorm. Tiny and insufferable.
"Met your roommate yet?" Jack asked curiously, glancing towards the unmade bed to his left. It was adorned with a plain blue comforter and solid white pillows, with a few forgettable movie posters hanging on the wall beside it.
"Not yet; the guys next door said he went home for the holidays," Jamie replied absently, his brown eyes focused on the box before him as he rummaged through it. "I heard he's pretty chill, though."
"That's cool," Jack mused, his gaze still wandering around the room. Jamie's roommate seemed like a pretty normal guy - definitely not as eccentric as Hiccup. And the lack of hissing noises confirmed that the dude wasn't harboring an evil cat, either. But he also came across as kind of bland. Jamie was going to hate it here.
"Did Pippa get a hold of you?" the younger boy questioned, sparing his older sibling a glance.
Jack nodded absentmindedly as he reached for the controller, intent on exiting the game. Jamie didn't protest, and instead cleared the couch of a few spare articles of clothing, before sitting down as well.
"How about we start a new game? Determine the winner that way," he suggested, reaching for a controller of his own.
Jack silently agreed, deciding that there was too much on his mind at the moment, and that he needed a good distraction. And beating his younger step-brother at every game the kid owned sounded like a great way to go about that.
Blame a picture I saw on Pinterest for me deciding to make Jack an amateur photographer. I'm sure some of you guys have seen that picture as well, and it just looked so perfect for him haha. Also, I really hope he isn't coming off as a creeper - he's just very cocky at times (thinking he can get a date with Elsa), and passionate with his photography!
I'd like to thank all of the reviewers for their reviews - they mean so much to me! Also, I am planning on having frat parties and whatnot! And I'd just like to say that I am not in college or anything and all my information is given to me by friends and TV, so I hope it's coming across as realistic!
Also, thank you to the followers/favoriters/readers as well! You guys are awesome! :D
And I still don't own these characters!
