The Ties of Family (RotG Fanfic)

Chapter 29

Sophie pushed her way through the hall thronged with students, clutching the tin box to her chest, attracting several curious stares. Silently cursing Jamie, she turned down a corridor and ran into a group of sophomores who had a reputation as the school bullies.

"Cookies for sale, Sophie Bennett?" one of them sneered.

"Can we have some on the house?" another laughed, reaching out to grab the box but Sophie dodged and hurried on, only to find her way blocked by a third one, who took her by surprise and snatched the box out of her arms. Being taller than her, they held it out of her reach, sniggering as they watched her try to get it back, her face mutated with anger.

"What have you got here? Not just cookies, I guess?" smirked the first sophomore, who tugged off the lid of the box and shook out its contents.

It didn't affect Sophie in any way to watch her illustrations and Jamie's complete manuscript fall to the ground but it broke her heart to see the sophomores picking them up and manhandling them.

"Wow, look at this! It's a picture of a white-haired flying boy!" whooped one of the sophomores.

"Those are mine! I want them back now!" Sophie yelled angrily, attracting the stares of everyone who happened to be walking by, but none dared to help her after receiving glares from a fourth one in the group, who was on the lookout for any busybodies.

"I wonder of the paint will wash off if we put it in the drinking fountain," wondered the third one aloud, sparking laughter amongst the others. The first one picked up the manuscript before Sophie could gather them and read out the first line, dramatically.

"Darkness. That's first thing I remember." All four burst them into peals of laughter. "What sort of childish story is this?" He turned and hurried off with it. Sophie watched him go, torn between saving her paintings or Jamie's manuscript. With all her might, she slammed into one of the bullies, knocking him against the wall. It wasn't the best thing she could've done, though, as her illustrations were crushed in his fist as he fell against the wall. He glared at her and was about to swing out at her when a soft crackling sound was heard and the boy froze.

The hand that was on the wall was wrapped in ice. The boy let out a yell as he tried to tug himself free, obviously fearing frostbite or the supernatural force that caused his hand to freeze against the wall. The other two watched in surprise and shock and Sophie exploited the moment to gather her illustrations, but one of them recovered and stepped on her hand, preventing her from picking them up. He didn't step hard, and it didn't hurt, but Sophie knew he wouldn't hold back if she continued. They were just cowards. Just trying to frighten her. But before she could do anything else, a loud whack resonated as something hit the boy in the head, causing him to stumble backwards. Sophie caught a glimpse of it as it spiralled back towards the thrower. A boomerang. She didn't have to look to know who it belonged to as she quickly collected the rest of her illustrations and dumped them back into the tin box which lay on the ground, forgotten, and tore off after the first one, finding him by the drinking fountain, and the manuscript under running water.

"Stop that!" Sophie yelled, knocking the bully out of the way and grabbing the drenched manuscript before hurrying off, wondering if the other sophomore had gotten a concussion from Bunnymund's boomerang. Something he probably couldn't see. Sophie grinned at the thought.

As she turned into the art room, however, her enthusiasm faded as she flipped through Jamie's waterlogged manuscript. Some of the words were no longer legible, and some of the pages were threatening to disintegrate. Her illustrations were crumpled but she was grateful they didn't get in the way of water or some other medium that could destroy them. She wondered what the Guardians were doing in the school, though she was glad they were there. She hadn't seen them, however. She sat there, examining the drenched manuscript, not sure what to do. Jamie was definitely going to kill her.

"Sophie Bennett?"

Sophie looked up at the sound of her name and saw Emily. She caught sight of a picture of her in the girl's hand, before it was quickly stuffed into a folder. "What happened?"

"Ran into some of the seniors," Sophie replied, listlessly, as she tossed the manuscript onto a desk. Emily flipped through it carefully.

"Isn't this Jamie's?" she asked.

"Yes," Sophie replied. She then sat up. "Wait a second, Jamie told me you didn't remember who he was when he ran into you once. What happened?"

"You know, we can salvage this," Emily responded, obviously avoiding the question. "Tell me what you remember of the story and I'll write out the illegible parts. I have plenty of free time at the moment."

Sophie fixed Emily with a weird look, but decided to save the question for later.

#

"And that's what happened."

Jamie lay the rewritten manuscript on his desk and picked up the waterlogged one. "What do you think of Emily's?" Sophie asked.

Jamie pondered on that question for several moments. "Not much different from the original," he replied. "Though she added several lines and basically, her grammar is much better. But how did she remember me?"

Sophie shrugged. "No idea. She's weird."

Jamie's attention was redirected towards the window pane, where frost was swirling continuously. "Jack!" He hurried over and opened the window, allowing the winter spirit in.

"How did you like the little shocker I gave that boy this morning, Sophie?" asked Jack, grinning.

"Hmph. Could have been more impressive," the blonde responded, but she smiled slightly. "Just kidding. Thanks a lot. Say, did Bunny give that boy a concussion?"

Jack chuckled. "Not really, but it was close to one. That boy will be having headaches for days!"

"Isn't it illegal?" Jamie asked.

"Who cares?" Sophie answered. "They're just sick cowards!"

"Yeah, but they're still students," Jamie argued. "What if you got held responsible, even though you were definitely not the one who hurt them?"

"Aliens have taken over Jamie! This is not him!" Sophie exclaimed. "Jamie, come back! Aliens! Bring him back now!"

Sophie tackled her brother and the latter fell back onto the bed. Instantly leaping up, he tried to get Sophie, but she ducked and ran out of the way. Jamie sprang off the bed and hurried after her, trying to get her. Jack contributed by freezing the floor and creating ice passages through which they slid through, playing a game of tag in the small bedroom.

"Jamie! Sophie! What on earth are you doing?" came Mrs. Bennett's voice all of a sudden, accompanied by the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs. With one wave of his staff, the ice disappeared, leaving the bedroom in its original state just as Mrs. Bennett entered, only to find her kids lying on the floor, panting with delight.

"Was just having a game of tag, mom," Jamie said, in response to his mother's raised eyebrows.

"In the room."

"Yeah, in the room."

"Nice." She turned to exit before stopping in her tracks. "Oh, dinner's ready."

They didn't need to be told twice as they overtook their mother out of the room.