ANNOUNCEMENT: I have seen something in youtube about a petition for the Big Four. It needs a thousand signatures but I don't know if it'll work. I searched it on Google. It's from .com. I really don't know… I planned on emailing even at least one of the leading directors of each movie to tell him that we, the fans, appreciate their work and tell them about our 'fetish' about their collaboration to make an ultimate movie. I know it wouldn't work but at least we're able to tell one of them (and I'm hoping you guys can help me get in contact with them).

I also made a forum under Tangled about ROTBTD. You guys can share it to your friends. I'll be posting there.

Bluemangosmoothie: D'aww. I hate it when my iPod does the same D: but I'm glad you managed to finish chapter 11! Hurray!

FrozenLanterns: Thank you! I already planned the Jackunzel and Mericcup last night after posting chapter 11. I made for to five possible plots but I'm not sure what plot I should follow. I still need a second and third opinion so, if you want, I will PM you the plots :D

AngelofImagination4: Thank you! :D I thought the last chapter was boring D: But I'm happy you and my other readers enjoyed it :D

Readers, thank you for appreciating the last chapter! Here is the next one :D


Chapter 12: Jack's First Day

They stood there, looking at the already closed door. Silence was threatening to pierce through their eardrums as a light static ping sound start to form itself. Deafening silence took over. Both of them held their breaths until the near-dying-need to release the toxic from their lungs. Rapunzel exhaled as quietly as she could and looked at him. She swallowed and smiled, "I got more presents for you." she said, trying to sound excited. She was nervous for some reason she couldn't pin point. Jack in turn, looked at her and grinned, "I got more for you too." Then, they raced back to the living room. They came to the room at the same time and exchanged gifts. They opened the presents.

Jack was happy when he opened the presents she gave him. It was all clothes with different shades of blue. He looked at her, his eyes glimmering like the water under the moonlight, "How did you know blue's my favorite color?"

She laughed, "I made a guess and assumed it was your favorite colorbecause of your hoodie."

His eyes still glimmering, he stared at the three-quartered sleeved shirt in his hands and smiled. Then, he grabbed one of his presents for her and passed it to her. She looked at it, guessing what was inside the box that was slightly bigger than her hand then looked at him. He just smiled at her, his expression telling her that she should open and see what was inside. She unwrapped the box excitedly and to her surprise, it was a Victorian style box. She marveled at the etchings and engravings on it. On the foldable lid was her name engraved in Victorian style lettering. She opened it and saw that it was a jewelry box not because it had a mirror but there were jewelry in it—a whole set of diamond pieces. Her breath left her when she saw the set. She looked up at him.

"Oh, Jack! Where did you get these?" she asked, holding up the diamond necklace.

Jack chuckled, "North has a way of getting them from the mines in North Pole. He made them himself."

"These are wonderful!" she said, placing back the necklace and then closed the box.

He grabbed another gift, "I actually didn't know what to give you so I asked North about things to give you." He laughed at the memory and looked at her, "Remember when I said I had to go to North Pole at 7 p.m. the other day?" he arched a brow and she nodded. He just stared at her as if he was making her swim to depths of her logic and find out herself. In a snap, she finally knew. "You mean you used that time to get me presents?" she asked with a hushed voice. He nodded.

Rapunzel felt her cheeks warm up. She knew she was turning as red as a tomato but she tried to suppress the joy her heart felt. Despite that she was alone the whole night, he was actually taking his time to find gifts for her—not to mention he was thinking about her. The realization made her cheeks fluster more that it made her look like she had a fever.

Jack, oblivious to what was happening to her, grabbed another present and gave it to her. It was a rectangular-ish box wrapped with red wrapping paper and was a bit heavy. She wondered what it was. After unwrapping, she opened the box from the bottom and took away the box. To her surprise, again, it was a beautiful snow globe and inside the globe was her and Jack making one big snowman. She looked at him. He was a bit red and was looking at the snow globe, horrified at what was inside the globe. She giggled and shook the snow globe and lifted it to eye-level. When the snow in the globe settled, she saw Jack's face. He was looking at her and she was looking at him. Rapunzel placed the snow globe on the floor but they continued to look at each other.

She smiled, "Thank you, Jack…"

He smiled back, "I still have three more presents for you." He said, grabbing her hand and giving her a necklace with a ring as the pendant.

She looked at it. Her name was engraved on it. "It's wonderful Jack!" she said then she looked back at the ring and saw something glisten on the inside. She turned the ring and saw his name just behind hers. She blushed, "T-thank you…" she continued to look down at the ring, avoiding to look at his eyes.

He scratched his head and looked to his side, "You're welcome…" he said and grabbed something from inside his shirt, and pulled it out for her to see. His face turned red, "I have the same as yours." He said and showed it to her. She saw his name at the front and when he turned it, she saw her name on the inside. "I figured, this could be our friendship necklace… or ring… You know, to have something the two of us have." He said, avoiding to look at her.

She was smiling at their necklaces and immediately wore it, "I will never take this off…ever." She grinned. Jack couldn't help but grin back, "Two more gifts left." He told her and held her hand, "Come on! I'll show you!" he said and helped her up to stand. They went outside and saw an igloo. Rapunzel squealed and ran to the igloo and went inside. He went after her. He hid his second present there, hoping she would like it. Just when he got inside, he heard her voice—she was squealing and giggling. He smiled at her. She was holding a really thick sketchpad with a set of pastels, paint brush and colorful markers.

"How did you know!?" she asked him happily.

He looked at her with a small smile, "I peeked in your sketchpad and saw it was going to be full soon so I thought getting you a new and thicker one would be nice." He said but when he saw that she wasn't smiling anymore, he panicked. "Now, don't get mad! I didn't-!" but before he could finished, Rapunzel already hugged him, which successfully made him close his mouth and widen his eyes. She hugged him so tight that he felt her warmness. His heart started to beat hard again and his stomach felt weird. As if his arms had a mind of its own, they moved around her waist and hugged her closer. When they pulled away, their faces were only a few inches away from each other. They smiled in unison and decided to go out of the igloo and go back inside.

They dusted off the snow from their clothes. Jack went to the living room again to collect the torn wrappers. Rapunzel looked at him with confusion, "So what's the third gift?" she asked, following him around the house when he didn't speak. She wondered what his last gift was. Maybe it was a canvas stand or maybe it was a palette. Maybe it was clothes too or hair decorations. She continued to follow him up until they got back to the living room. She tugged his sleeves, eager to know what it was.

"Jack? What's the last gift?" she asked excitedly.

He turned to face her but he wasn't smiling or grinning—he was just looking at her intently. Their eyes met and they were frozen in time. He went near her and hugged her. It was enough to shock her but that was just half the blow! When he kissed her forehead, she completely froze, holding her breath, her eyes wide and her mouth open. He pulled away from her and she looked up at him without changing her expression. She saw that he was smiling at her and it made her cheeks turn red again.

"Merry Christmas, Goldilocks." He said softly.

He thought he made her surprised but her actions surprised him more—she kissed him on the cheeks! His eyes widened and his mouth opened a bit. She pulled away "Merry Christmas, Jack." She smiled at him. His lips curved into a smile on its own. Why do I keep doing that!?, his mind asked in irritation. The two of them went to the kitchen and cleaned up the mess before going to bed.

For the entire week, they stayed indoors and spent the New Year having a date but of course, both of them are oblivious to that fact that it's a date. Although, Rapunzel's mind had the idea it was but she dismissed it. It was only a friendly date, she told herself. They also watched a movie and ate dinner before going home. They had a movie marathon of horror movies because they both agreed that watching romantic-comedy movies were too mainstream. They wanted suspense and thrill so they decided to watch Insidious. Rapunzel hugged his arm and tried to hide behind a pillow when it got very intense. On the other hand, Jack only grabbed a handful of popcorn and ate. He didn't mind her hugging his arm the entire movie. He actually enjoyed it. Although, there were times he got nervous—especially when he felt her lips press against his skin. After watching movies, they waited until the clock strikes midnight.

12:00

The two of them greeted each other a joyous "Happy New Year!". The entire week was spent on bonding with each other. They grew closer together that hugging wasn't a big problem anymore but it still made them freeze at some point. They spent time in the arcade, shopping for groceries and went to pass Jack's application form in CU. They viewed the results the next day and celebrated because Jack was going to join them the coming Monday. He applied for the same course as Rapunzel. Although, they weren't in the same class because he was a freshman and she was a sophomore. Rapunzel told him that he could join the arts club with her. He agreed and they both continued to makes plan for his first day. And when Monday came, Rapunzel accompanied him to his classroom.

"I'll be in the classroom at the other end of the hall, okay?" she said.

Jack was staring down at the floor. He was nervous and excited at the same time. She saw this through his eyes and, with the use of her fingers, she lifted his chin to look at her. She smiled gently, "It's going to be fine, Jack. Just be yourself." They shared a moment of silence as they stared into each other's eyes.

He sighed and gave her a pat, "I will." He said and went inside the room.

The door behind him closed and he started to walk towards the back row and sat on the third column from the back door. The room was a bit quiet. Only a group of two friends were talking and the rest were all staring at the whiteboard, waiting for the professor to come in. A few minutes later, a female teacher came in. She had long brown hair that waved from her neck to the tips and her eyes were the color of amethysts. She was wearing a grey colored jacket, jeans and boots. Now everyone was silent.

"Good morning class." She said as she scanned everyone, "I am Ms. Claire Peterson." She wrote on the whiteboard and faced the class, "Call me Ms. Claire." She smiled at them.

Jack tilted his head. The name was familiar. After a moment of rummaging in his memory bank, he remembered that she was the Arts club coordinator. He opened his notebook and wrote her name on the first page and next to it was the subject. Ms. Claire was his Literature teacher. He wondered what kind of teacher she was and what he was going to know in her subject. For the entire hour and a half, they were told to introduce themselves and when it was Jack's turn…

"You, at the back, you're next." Ms. Claire told him.

He gulped and stood up. Everyone had to introduce in front. He went and walked down the middle aisle with his head down, panicking in his mind what he was going to tell the class. He swallowed before jolting his head up and when he did, everyone was looking at him. He never felt so afraid and nervous because of people staring at him his entire life. He always wanted to be seen and get people's attention but now, he just wanted to be unseen again. He wanted to scoff at himself because of the sudden change of wanting attention. Come on! Speak, damn it!, he scolded himself in his brain.

He slowly opened his mouth, "I'm Jackson Overland…" he started and looked at everyone with his eyes and continued when no one was uttering a sound, "You can call me Jack. I'm… from Burgess."

"How old are you?" the professor asked.

He stiffened, "Eighteen…"

Ms. Claire looked at the class, "Do you guys want to know anything else about him?" she asked.

Most of the girls raised their hands. Jack's shoulders dropped when he saw them. Oh no, he thought.

Ms. Claire pointed at one sassy looking girl, "Yes, Ella?"

The girl called Ella stood up, twirling her hair with her finger, "Do you have a girlfriend?" she asked with an arched brow. Everyone looked at him, especially the girls.

He gulped and held his breath, "…No." he said then some of the girls whispered to each other or to themselves about God-knows-what. Another girl raised her hand and Ms. Claire nodded at her.

The girl remained seated and looked at him with a smile, her chin on her palm, "What kind of girl do you like?"

He shivered, "I don't really know." He inhaled again and frowned in his mind, Please stop asking questions!, he screamed in his head.

Ms. Claire laughed. "Alright, alright, settle down, ladies. Give others their turn. You can ask him after introduction."

"But miss, he's the last one." Jack's seatmate said.

"Oh, well—" She shrugged and gave Jack an empty chair, "Sit down, Jack. You're going to need this." She grinned at him.

Jack sat on the chair and placed his left ankle on his right knee. Another girl raised her hand and spoke, "Do you like anyone in the classroom?" she asked confidently.

He arched a brow and didn't speak. Man, they really want to know who I like?, he thought and tightened his lips and shook his head lightly.

Some of the girls gave an "aww", sighing in defeat but some didn't give up. They still threw questions at him that he wanted to avoid because it was all about him and girls and relationships. He wished it was still Christmas vacation so he could spend more time with Rapunzel than the girls in his class. He sighed to himself.

What am I going to do?

End of Chapter


It ain't long but I hope it does the trick. Poor Jack xD! Oh well, I hope you liked it :D Don't forget to check out the poll in my profile or in my forum. If you want to tell your insights to the director, let's help each other to tell them how much we love their films and how much we wish they would collaborate! (Even though they really won't but at least they have this idea that a lot of us want it!) Let's all look at the moon and wait for it to tell us something! If it says anything, believe it! (Like what Jack said at the end of ROTG XD)