Guardians and Angels

Chapter 29: Rapunzel

"Freedom!!!

Jack grabbed my hand and held it high in the air as a sign of victory before bringing it to his lips. His face was full of relief and joy, and it was oddly contagious.

"Finally! Winter Break is upon us and all is right with the world. No homework, no classes, no crappy lunches... this is probably one of the greatest days of my life!"

"Make it last while you can cause these two weeks are gonna fly by and you'll be stuck with homework, classes, and crappy lunches all over again."

Jack frowned. "No one asked for your input, Cheeto-head."

"No, but someone's gotta crush your hopes and dreams."

I couldn't help but laugh at their bantering, and gave Jack's hand a light squeeze, smiling up at him. "Well, I'm glad to see you so excited. All of us deserve this break. I even heard it might snow tonight."

This made Jack even more happy. "This is going to be the best break ever!"

After a pause in conversation, Hiccup had finally spoken up. "What's everyone doing over break?"

"Christmas celebrating, birthday celebrating, New Year's celebrating, and some of North's co-workers are getting married," Jack said, excitement lacing each word.

"Wow," I drawled."Parties galore."

"What can I say, I like to have fun."

We turned to Merida for her answer.

"Well, considering how this is Rapunzel's first Christmas and New Year's, my family and I will no doubt spoil the heck out of her."

Hiccup looked at me as though remembering something. "Oh yeah, I totally forgot this is your first Christmas. Trust me, the Dunbroch's are gonna make it a good one for you."

I should be sad that my previous life was pathetic enough to deprive me of holidays such as Christmas and New Year's, but in all reality I was just excited. I'm grateful that I get to experience all these holidays for the first time with people I love and care about.

"It is," I told Hiccup. "I'm not even sure what we're gonna do, but I'm excited anyway. What about you, Hiccup? What are you doing for break?"

His lips turned up in smirk and he gazed down at Merida. "I'm going on a mistletoe hunt and then tracking this one down to get me some Christmas kisses." He pulled her close to him and kissed her cheek.

"Have I ever told you what a sap you are?"

"Hey, I'm just trying to get into the Christmas spirit."

Merida rolled her eyes, but we all knew she liked what he was saying.

I elbowed Jack when I saw him gagging. "Leave them be. They're cute."

He shrugged and leaned close to me. "Can we hang out today? I want to spend the first day of break with you."

"Of course! What do you wanna do?"

"We can go over to my house and do something. I don't actually have a plan, I just want to be with you."

I smiled at how sweet he is and nodded to him. "That's a good enough plan for me." I spun around towards Merida. "Hey, Mer, I'm going over to Jack's house, is that okay?"

"Are you asking or telling me?"

I thought for a moment. "Telling."

She rolled her eyes at me and chuckled a bit. "Man, you're so annoying sometimes, you know that? But go ahead, someone's coming over to look at the house and you'll probably get bored anyway."