#Schooled

Chapter 7

Jack waited until he was as far away from the house as possible before opening the portal in a park about a block away. He knew as soon as he got to the factory that he was in trouble, but he didn't care. He had skipped detention to hang out with his friends. What was so bad about that?

So, Jack arrived at the factory feeling undeniably pleased with himself. He was prepared for any onslaught that was about to take place. 

"What's up, bitches?" He said, arriving in the globe room. 

North, Tooth, Bunny, and Sandy were all there, looking disappointed. Well, not Bunny, he looked a little more annoyed than anything, but it wasn't a big deal. Not to Jack. He had plans to go straight to bed. 

"I can't believe you did that, Jack," Tooth said, the first to speak. "That's incredibly unlike you."

"Just like it's unlike you to go behind my back and take away everything I've ever known for the past three hundred years?" He asked cheerfully. 

"We did that to help you, and that is a another conversation all in itself," North said disapprovingly. "We are here to discuss why you skipped your detention and why you received such detention in the first place."

"I can answer both of those questions: One, I skipped it because I wanted to hang out with some people. Two, because the teacher was being a jerk and I wasn't going to take that from her," Jack explained. 

He tucked the sign-up sheet under his arm and turned to leave the room. His back was straight, head held high, and he was feeling good about himself. For once he felt like it wasn't the Guardians constantly talking over him. 

"This is all going to be for nothing if you keep goin' this way," Bunny said, right as Jack reached the doorway, "The Man in the Moon isn't gonna give you your staff back until you finish a year of school, and you actually gotta try, remember?"

Jack laughed at that. "Look, he doesn't really mean that. Maybe that's what he said, but the truth is, I'm powerful. He needs me. If I'm human then I'll get old eventually. Then I'm no use at all. He's short of a Guardian right now; I give him maybe a decade before he gives up."

Sandman shook his head. An image of a clock appeared in the air above him to symbolize time passing. 

"Sandy, I'm over three hundred years old. Another ten is nothing."

"We are not finished with this conversation!" North shouted after him.

The words flew by unheard, and Jack left them alone in the globe room. 

Okay, if he was being honest, Jack felt a little bad. But not really. He pushed the feeling down and went back to his room, tossing the permission form onto his nightstand. He missed and it accidentally slipped to the floor. 

As Jack bent to pick it up, he couldn't help but read the first couple lines. 

BPHS TRACK AND FIELD

Name: ________________________________

Year:__________________________________

Parent/Guardian Name:__________________

Below all the basic information were pictures of the track and field team from last year. Elsa was there, her ponytail high on her head, a grin from ear to ear, dressed in the school's colors: A blue T-shirt and purple running shorts. She was doing the pole-vault and honestly killing it.

Gosh, Elsa sure is pretty...

Wait a minute. 

"No, no, no, no," Jack muttered to himself, tossing the paper into the trash, "That is not allowed. Off-limits, Jackaboy."

Elsa was a human. And just because Jack was a human at that time didn't mean he would be forever. Elsa would graduate, go to college, marry a real estate agent or a lawyer, and grow old and happy with someone else. That was how it should be. 

Jack couldn't be that for her. To protect himself, he wouldn't even try to be. 

Someone knocked on his door. 

"Go away," he said loudly. He didn't want to put up with anymore judgment for the rest of the day. 

There was a pause before the footsteps retreated. 

Jack fell onto his bed with a sigh. 

Everything was fine. He didn't like school, so why would he want to participate in sport that it would benefit from? Certainly not for a girl. Besides, he didn't want to give the Guardians a reason to make fun of him or anything.

Jack tried really hard to just go to sleep. 

Ten minutes later, he was digging frantically through the trash to find the permission form.

***

"I thought you hate school."

God fucking dammit. 

"I do. I'm only doing this because it's required for gym class." A lie. Jack was lying to Tooth's face and he knew it, but he lied all the same. 

"Since when do you care about your classes?" She raised an eyebrow at him. "I thought your plan was to get old until Manny had no choice but to give your powers back." Tooth raised her voice a little, mocking him. 

"As in, I can't go to class without it." 

Tooth huffed and started to sign the paper. "Why didn't your teacher email me?" She muttered. 

Jack snatched the paper up before she could read the words 'extra-curricular activity' at the bottom. Once again, he retreated into his room, victorious.

What the hell am I doing?

***

Jack turned the permission form in first thing the next morning. Later, at lunch, Elsa ran and threw her arms around his neck in a tight hug. She had to stand on her tiptoes to manage it. 

"I just found out from coach that you were joining! I hoped that you would. It's so much fun, especially when we do traveling competitions-" She pulled away, beaming. "You'll love it!"

"I'm just giving it a try," said Jack, sort of bashfully. 

"Practice starts to tomorrow. Well, I suppose the day after, for you, since you've got detention and all..."

"Who me?"

"Yes, you! Don't you skip again. Then you won't get to come to practice at all." Elsa gave him a very stern look. 

Jack put his hands up as a sign of defeat. "Okay, okay, I'll do my detention like a good little slave of society. Happy?"

"Yes." She took a bite of her cafeteria mashed potatoes and hummed contentedly. 

Hiccup slid into the seat across from them, eyes flicking from Elsa to Jack suspiciously. He smirked a little. Jack gave him a look. 

Hiccup's response was to roll his eyes. "So, get in trouble?"

"Yep."

"What's your sentence?"

"Didn't get one -- they just kinda yelled at me and told me to go to detention or else."

"Nice." Hiccup gave Jack a high-five. 

"Too bad you had to leave early," Eugene told him, "You totally missed Kristoff getting tangled in the remote control cord and choking on chips. It was great."

"I almost died," said Kristoff disapprovingly. 

Anna and Rapunzel laughed. Merida rolled her eyes. 

"Boys," the red-head muttered.

One minute, Jack suddenly began to wonder if he had found the best people in the world.

The second, a big handful of mashed potatoes flew across the lunchroom and went splat on the back of his head. 

Hans. 

****

Sorry for any typos. It's late, got to go to bed for school, you know how it be :) See you guys next time I update!