28th January

7. Progress

The past week might have been one of the worst in Jack's history, it might have even been on par with his mother's car crash. Not only did the rest of his class choose to ignore him, Merida had gone out of her way to not speak to him as well. He would try and catch her eye but instead she would just huff and continue to ignore him.

He had tried to talk to Hiccup but the younger boy had constantly kept running away from him the first couple of days so now Jack had given up. In fact the only person that had wanted to talk to him were the other children at the orphanage and that was where he found his respite. They still didn't include him in their games but they spoke to him at meal times always asking what he was doing at school. They had quickly grown bored when Jack hadn't given them an exciting tale.

Jack had found himself mostly in the company of Kristoff and the two of them would often sneak off to feed Sven who was growing quite quickly and always wanted to come out of the safety of the forest.

It was a Monday night and the weather was still a biting cold as Jack followed Kristoff into the woods. He had stolen a large scarf and coat that engulfed him, he didn't do much for the weather as he could still feel the biting cold. He wondered if one day, the cold wouldn't be so annoying and that it would be fine for him to be in!

Kristoff had been silent as they walked which wasn't really normal for the older boy, he usually couldn't be shut up much like Jack. When they reached Sven, Kristoff didn't even pretend to be Sven's voice, he just fed him the carrot and then patted the reindeer's head.

"What's the matter?" Jack asked his friend in concern.

"I don't want to be here anymore." Kristoff muttered beginning to stroke Sven's head.

"What do you mean?" Jack inquired with his eyebrows raised.

Kristoff was quiet then and carried on stroking his reindeer's head. "It doesn't matter!" He said a little too cheerily. Jack didn't know what to make of it so he kept silent.

He started to walk over to them and patted Sven's head too. The reindeer sniffed at Jack's arm as if too expect more carrots but when there was none, he quickly backed away from the two of them.

"He's a big greedy guts!" Jack declared laughing as Sven began to dig at the ground in hopes of finding more food.

To his surprise Kristoff actually laughed and agreed with him.

"We should be going back now." Kristoff said and Jack nodded. Kristoff seemed a bit better to Jack but he didn't know he wasn't very good at reading people.

Once they arrived back at the home, they quickly snuck past Mrs Mabel. It wouldn't do them any good if they were caught. When they finally got up back to their room, Kristoff said a quick good night to Jack as they both got into their beds. However Jack couldn't sleep.

He listened to Kristoff's snores as Jack began to toss and turn on one of his first ever sleepless nights. He was fretting about Hiccup and wondering how he was going to solve it, the young boy fretted over it most of the night and it wasn't until the early hours of the morning that he was finally able to give in to sleep.

The morning arrived and with it brought even more doubt for Jack. He stretched his arms and proceeded to get ready for school. Once he was ready with a baggy t-shirt and jeans, he went to go and visit his sister.

Luckily Mrs Mabel was downstairs with her husband who was hardly ever seen. Jack had heard him before but he still hadn't seen him as the man worked nights and often disappeared into the bedroom before he could catch sight of him.

Emma was asleep but her eyes opened as he tip-toed in. He put his hand through the crib's bars and the baby reached out for him.

"Hello Emma," He whispered with a smile. "I can't stay long but I just thought I would stop and say hello. Hiccup isn't talking to me but that's because I did something very naughty. I told his Daddy about his secret drawing which I shouldn't have but I don't know how I can make everything better. I wish the Guardians were here, they would know what to do." Jack finished. He held her hand for a couple more minutes before deciding that it was time to head back down for breakfast.

Breakfast was quiet as the other children chattered together. Kristoff sat across from Jack messing around with the pancake on his plate. Not forgetting about Kristoff's strange mood the night before so Jack didn't bother him. Jack had already eaten his pancake feeling hungrier than he normally did.

Once breakfast was over, he hopped into Mrs Mabel's car and she drove him to school. For the first half of the morning, Jack kept his head down and carried on with the work which he found that he was starting to enjoy. Recess was a lonely experience without his friend but after the past week he was getting used to it. He didn't head to the pond, he had an inkling that Hiccup was there and didn't want to disturb the younger boy.

Once recess was over it was time to resume with normal lessons and he still kept his head down. He still tried to eye from across the room but all he could see was her frizzy hair. She was tapping her pen on the desk and kept glancing at the window, then the clock. Jack wondered if she was waiting for the time when she could go back home.

When the Lunch Bell rang, his teacher asked him to clean up the supplies that had been using with Merida. Jack reluctantly agreed as he headed over to her desk with the box to collect all the books in.

"Merida, are you okay?" He asked, as she stood up and began to put the books in the box.

She stayed silent and carried on. Jack sighed, he had only meant to be friendly and try and ask if she okay. He decided to ask her about Hiccup although he knew he wouldn't get a reply, he just hoped that it might make him feel better, talking to someone about it.

"I made a mistake with my friend and I don't know what to do, he got in trouble because of me." Jack whispered.

To his surprise, Merida looked up over at him. "Say you're sorry, that's what my mum always says, she always say you're sorry to your friends and try and make sure you mean it."

Jack's eyes widened and his face lit up with a smile. He didn't say anything until they had finished putting the books away, he got his backpack and the two of them started to head out the door.

"Thank you Merida, do you want to come and sit with me for lunch?" He asked, hoping that his string of good luck wouldn't end.

Merida just shrugged her shoulders and followed after Jack who was beaming from ear to ear. They spent lunch together, Merida didn't talk much but she gave a few little answers here and there to Jack's questions. She told him that he she loved her father very much but he worked for the government and was constantly away all the time.

Jack knew that she wasn't showing her true personality but it was a start and that was all that mattered to him.