Chapter 1

Heels angrily dug into blue carpet as Anna paced about her room, clearly annoyed. It was the first day of a new semester. And as usual, she was unprepared and had no idea what to wear.

"Green and white flannel, skinny jeans and black Uggs? Ew, no..." The strawberry blonde continued to launch herself about the room dramatically as she mumbled outfit ideas to herself.

Finally, after what felt like forever, The junior decided to put on the first thing she set her eyes to; a dark red and white varsity jacket (complete with a maroon letter 'A'), some skinny jeans, black tank-top, and black converse. With a huff, the girl left her room and tossed her pajamas over the railing.

"Anna, come on! It's seven-twenty," her father warned, clearly impatient and ready to go.

Anna dashed into the bathroom at top speed before taking her brush in hand.

Anna let out a stifled groan as she realized she couldn't put her hair into braids... it would be too timely. After a second of hesitation, Anna let it cascade down her back in natural waves before taking off.

{ANNA POV SCHOOL}

"Anna! You have got to see the new kid!" Rapunzel bounded up to me in the junior hallway. Sometimes she reminds me of a chihuahua- she trembles in excitement over just about anything.

"Hottest guy ever?" I let out an annoyed sigh as my backpack started to slide off of my shoulder. Stupid combination locks...

"No way! Far from it. The guy's a gal. And, she's totally nasty. She got kicked out of her last two schools, and Eugene says that she's on parole." Rapunzel grinned. "Besides, everybody knows Kristoff is the hottest guy ever." She jabbed me in the side.

Finally, the backpack completely fell off of my shoulder. My box of pastels dumped out at my feet. "I wouldn't know." I grumbled and squatted to pick up my shattered pastels. "Kristoff is my brother, remember?"

Rapunzel rolled her eyes. "He did ask about lunch, right?"

"Yeah" - I picked through the chalk bits- "he said, 'How's Rapunzel?' and I said, 'She's fine,' and then he gave me half of his turkey sandwich." I swear, if she had a disloyal bone in her body, I'd worry Rapunzel was only my friend to get close to my brother- like half the other girls in this school.

"Hurry up," she groaned, glancing over her shoulder.

"You could help." I waved a broken pastel at her. "I just bought these on my way back from the café."

Belle crouched and picked up a blue one. "What's with these anyway? I thought you were working with charcoal?"

"I can't get it to look right." I plucked the piece of chalk from her fingers and and stuck it back in the box. "I'm starting over."

"But it's due tomorrow."

"I can't turn it in if it doesn't look right."

"I don't think it looks that bad," Rapunzel stated. "Besides, the new chick seems to like it."

"What?"

Rapunzel bounced up and grabbed my arm. "Come on, you have to see this!" She sprang towards the art room, pulling me with her.

I clung to my pastels, "you are so weird."

Rapunzel laughed and quickened her pace.

"Here she comes," Belle called as we rounded the corner to the art department. A group of students congregated in front of the doorway. They parted to either side as we approached. Whispers resounded throughout the room, but I tried to ignore them.

"What's the big deal?" I asked.

Rapunzel pointed. "That is."

I stopped and stared at her. This girl more than pushed the limits of Arendelle's dress code in a spegetti-strap blue tank top and dark, skinny jeans, shredded and torn all about. Her messily-braided, platinum blonde hair hid her face, and she held a large sheet of paper in her pale hands. It was my charcoal drawing, and she was sitting in my seat.

I left the group of bystanders and strode up to the table. "Excuse me, you're in my spot."

"Then you must be Anna," she said without looking up. Something about her sharp voice made my arm hairs stand on end.

I stepped back. "How'd you know my name?"

She pointed at the masking tape name tag on the supply bucket I'd left out during lunch. "Anna Gold. What an interesting name. Precious, literally." She scoffed.

"What's your point?"

"Anna Gold, they must all expect great things from you."

"They do. Now move."

"This drawing is anything but great," she remarked. "You've got these branches all wrong, and that knot should be turned up, not down." She picked up one of my charcoals between her thin fingers and drew on the paper.

I was ticked off by her audacity, but what I couldn't believe was the ease with which she wove thick and thin black lines into striking charcoal branches. The same tree I've been agonizing over all week had just come to life on the paper. She used the side of her pinky to smudge the coal on the trunk- a "no-no" in Weselton's class, but the rough blending had just the right effect for the tree's bark. I watched her shade along the bottom of the branches, but then she began to fix the knot in the lowest one. How could she have known what that knot was supposed to look like?

"Stop it," I said. "That's mine. Give it back." I grabbed at the paper but she pulled it away. "Hand it over!"

"Kiss me," she said.

I heard Rapunzel yelp.

"What?" I questioned.

She leaned over the drawing. Her face was still obscured by her lengthy bangs, but a blue quartz necklace slipped out of her shirt. "Kiss me, and I'll give it back."

I grabbed her hand that held the charcoal. "Who do you think you are?"

A beat. "So you don't recognize me?" She looked up and brushed her hair back, clearing it from her face. Her cheeks were red and her face pale, but it was her eyes that made me gasp. They were the same bright ones I used to call, "sheets of ice."

"...Elsa?"