A/N: Absence. I'm sorry for it. And yes, a highschool AU fic. I'm just a little burned out from work and now I'm starting school again and I needed something easy. But the good news is the writing bug is back so I'll be updating other stuff soon. Thanks to anyone who reads this silly little paranormal highschool AU. :)

Halfs
Part One

The wolf. The pariah. The predator. The social media accounts of her peers already stunk of his toxic reputation and school was still a week away. They weren't kind to halfs because they didn't have to be. Not until now, anyway.

It had been announced before the turn of summer over the school loudspeakers. It was precisely 10:53 an an insipid Tuesday morning. No one had been particularly keen to stay for an announcement given most classes were about to break for lunch and gossip over bad pizza and bargain brand chocolate pudding. No one wanted to hear about the price of last-minute prom tickets or a candid reminder to submit college applications.

But this one was different. The principal's voice crackled with static as he spoke. "It is my pleasure to announce," Your resignation. The cancellation of the last week of school. "…that Measure 44 has passed. Due to the hard work of the Equal Education Committee, our very first half will be joining us this next school year. Thank you,"

The room was quiet as smoke as everyone stared at the blackboard, trying to decide whether or not this was good news. It was a girl in the back of the room who pushed her chair back and stood, slapping her hands together and shaking her head.

All eyes turned to her and the shock of red hair on her head. With just as much fire in her eyes, she clapped as she stared at the teacher, who smiled at the liberties this young woman was not afraid to have.

This girl was not Elsa.

She was sitting in the front row, staring at the backs of her hands as she thought about bargain brand pudding with cheeks so flushed they almost hurt.

The bell rang and Elsa grabbed her backpack, making it out the door first with her head held high. She had wanted to count the bodies so she could remember how many wouldn't be back in the fall.

Now, just a week before school, she saw him for the first time behind the class of her TV. His head was cocked to the side like a puppy and the slender white ears poking out of his hair only added to the allusion. The news banner on the bottom of the screen had his name, Jack Frost, accompanied by his title: First Half Student Admitted to Public School.

Elsa swallowed, setting her takeout carton on the table. The chow mein had become cold and mealy, tasting wet and sad in her mouth.

The reporter standing next to him was a pretty brunette who had used too much bronzer to contour. She was a lovely young girl, Elsa thought. She didn't need that cake. Then she thought it odd that she was fixating on someone completely normal when there was a white-haired boy with ears and a tail beside her. Plenty more interesting to fixate on.

"What," the reporter said. "is your preferred term? Half, werewolf, or is there another you prefer to be called?"

The boy cleared his throat. "Well, I prefer the term half." Elsa hid her face behind her hands. He was real; so much more tangible than she. "You see, werewolf is kind of derogatory."

"Ah," the reporter said. "And how do you think your classmates will receive you?"

"Well, considering people have known about halfs for over eighty years, I hope they will be open-minded about getting to know me for who I am."

"You don't think the ears and the tail will be a problem?"

He shrugged, scratching behind one ear as it twitched again. "Well, maybe."

"And what about your identification?" She asked. "Will you still be wearing that?"

His shoulders fell, he had shadows on his face.

"What are you watching?" Anna's high voice made Elsa jump.

"Oh goodness," Elsa said. "You scared me."

"Really? Is it possible to be so passionate about the news?" Anna picked up her sister's discarded chow mein, took a sniff, then set it back down on the coffee table.

Elsa pointed at the TV. "They're talking about him."

"What?" Immediately Anna plopped down on the couch, accidentally jabbing her sister in the ribs with her elbow. "That's cool! Are you looking forward to meeting him next week?"

Elsa clutched a pillow to her chest. "I mean..."

Anna rolled her eyes. "Oh come on. You of all people can't be afraid of him."

"Why not?"

Anna stared at her sister. "Are you seriously asking me that question?"

Instead of answering, Elsa looked at the floor. Anna groaned and took away the pillow.

"I think this is kind of neat. I mean, halfs are finally being accepted into society. This is proof! I want to meet—what's his name?"

"Jack Frost?"

"Yes! Cool name, like literally."

Elsa sighed, picking up her phone. She had three text messages. It didn't matter who they were from because they were all about him.

U see the news!?

OMG I can see his teeth ...kind of hot?

Do you think he bites?

The wolf was easy to fear.

The vans of five different news stations had formed a band in the parking lot, effectively cutting the available spaces by a third. There was a flock of students near the entrance of the school and interns that were trying hard to impress their bosses were herding them away from the cameras. Elsa's grip on the steering wheel was turning her knuckles white.

"Um, just drop me off out front?" Anna said.

"No," Elsa murmured. "We're going in together."

"Good idea." Anna said. "It might ease your first day jitters."

"I don't have first day jitters." Elsa said as she pulled into the parking lot of the grocery store across the street. "I just think it's stupid that the press had to take up all this space and make us walk all this way on the first day, and—"

"Elsa, just time out. He's making history. I mean, this is a good thing for halfs everywhere. They're finally being seen as people."

As they walked across the street, Elsa stared at her sister's back. The pigtal braids were bouncing with her light steps and the carefree way she swung her arms reminded Elsa she wasn't yet a woman, but she spoke with wisdom nonethelss. It made Elsa at least consider with what emotion she was filtering today with because it certainly wasn't the same optimism her sister used.

"Why are you so passionate about halfs?" Elsa asked.

Anna shrugged. "They're people too, just like you and me."

Elsa followed her sister into the school, wondering if that was true.

Fortunately, she had an early class and didn't have to give it a second thought for the remainder of first period.

Second, however, was a different story. She had just set her economics book on the desk and gotten out not one but two pencils and was aligning them symmetrically when the teacher said something awful.

"We have a new student joining us."

Elsa felt her heart hit her ribs.

"This is Jack Frost." All she could do was look at his shoes, the dirty laces of his scuffed converse, the frayed ends of his dark jeans. "Please make him feel welcome." Maybe a little higher. The knee on the right side was starting to wear thin. Murmurs began to spread like a rash. "...And hold all questions until free period."

He started to walk toward her. Toward her. Elsa still didn't look up.

But he passed right by, leaving nothing but the faint scent of pine trees. Elsa glanced behind her to see him walking towards the back, letting her mouth fall open at the sight of a sleek tail the color of snow poking out from under the lip of his hoodie.

The teacher cleared her throat. "Thank you for welcoming Jack, but it's time to direct your attention up here."

Ashamed, Elsa looked at the white board where the teacher was scrawling pertinent points. She wanted to be good, to focus and not think about… about Jack and his tail.

The ears and tails were a problem. And not just for her. Beside her, two boys were whispering.

"You know it's the full moon tomorrow." One said.

"You're not scared of the wolf are you?" The other replied. Elsa could hear Anna's words in the back of her mind, how adamant she was that his Jack was just like anyone else.

"Nah, man." For a moment, she was proud of the boy next to her. "I could take him." And then it disappeared. This was the kind of bigotry that Anna so vehemently opposed. This was the kind of disgrace the redheaded girl from her class last year had opposed when she stood to applaud Jack's admittance to public school.

Elsa turned quietly in her chair to look at her classmates. Half the size of last year, she tried to remember the faces that left in June and would not be back, all because of the boy sitting in the back row.

Who was looking at her. And when their eyes met, he raised an eyebrow and the right corner of his lips. She could see the sharp tip of a canine tooth.

Quick as a cat, Elsa turned back to her textbook.

It wasn't his tail. Or his ears. It was the eerie blue of his eyes. That blue was something ethereal.

Really, that was a lie, but Elsa felt like less of an asshole if it was his eyes that gave her the chills rather than the odd extremities.

Anna's little speech rung in her ears, how he was just a regular person. She thought of the news vans out front, or the people whispering about him. What would she feel like?

Stepping back, she looked up and down the line of lockers. About three yards down, he was changing books just like the rest of her classmates. Taking a breath of courage, Elsa decided to approach him. Everyone needed a friend, even wolf boy.

He glanced at her at first but when he saw she was coming to him for real, he smiled. It felt genuine.

"Hi," Elsa held her arm out way before it was appropriate, half expecting him to sniff it then regretting that thought. "I'm Elsa."

Instead, he took it in his own. His palms were large and slightly calloused, but warm. There was surgical steel band on his wrist engraved with an eight digit number. "I guess you know my name." He said. "But hi."

"Uhm, yeah, I guess. But I—I guess I just wanted to introduce myself because you seemed like you needed a friend."

He raised his eyebrow again. "I… did, huh?"

"Oh, yeah," Elsa said. "I mean, with all the press and then I've been hearing kids say some mean stuff."

"Uhhh… I mean…" Jack took a step back.

"Like, how you might turn into a wolf and hurt someone tomorrow. I mean, that's pretty judgemental, right?"

His hands were in his pockets and his eyes weren't meeting hers anymore, focused instead on her shoulder.

"I mean, I'm not a half, but I've been picked on and it doesn't feel good, you know? So I just—"

"I don't like blondes." He said, interrupting her sentence.

"Wh-what?" Elsa blinked, a little surprised by his sudden admonition.

He raised his hands to mimic innocence. "Blondes. I don't like them. The personality that comes with them is too… shall we say, princess? Also, your lips are so pale I can barely see them, you probably don't have much to say anyway." Elsa's fingers flew consciously to her lips, touching them all over. "And you're pretty short too. I mean, seriously short. That's not useful to me at all."

"I—I'm sorry, but that's just rude. Why did you say those things?" Elsa said, everything inside of her stinging. He wasn't smiling even though she felt like she had given him victory by showing her pain.

His tail swished to one side and then the other. "Now you know what it's like to be judged based solely on appearance. Have a good one." As he passed, he clapped Elsa on the shoulder.

Anna had ditched her sister to go to cheer try outs. Elsa was fuming because she wanted to glom onto her sister to vent about how truly correct she was about that Jack Frost character. He was an asshole, just like every other person living and breathing on this planet. She was fumbling with her keys to find the fob for her car when she first heard the howls.

Turning, Elsa could see across the parking lot none other than her beloved asshole.

But he wasn't alone. The two boys from her economics class and three others were following Jack, whose ears were pressed flat against his head. His tail was high and puffed. The other boys were following him, barking and howling.

Elsa thought to turn back to her car because truly she liked nothing more than to see him hurt in the way that he had hurt her.

Yet, that was a lie as blatant as the one she had told herself about his ears and tail. She only thought she wanted to see him suffer. Actually seeing it was sour and disgusting. Even trying to enjoy it made her feel dirty.

And then one boy pulled an egg from his pocket. He hurled it at an unsuspecting Jack, the yolk exploding all over his back.

"Oh my God, dude!" the boys started laughing but Jack never stopped walking, never even changed his pace. It was awful to think but Elsa wondered if his reaction was calculated and practiced. From his pocket, the same boy pulled another egg that he threw at Jack. This time he missed, the egg breaking apart on the hot black top.

"Hey!" Elsa shouted. The boys glanced in her direction but didn't say anything. "Hey!" She yelled again. "Stop it!"

This time they didn't even acknowledge her. Balling her fists, Elsa ran across the parking lot. The boys were pulling more eggs from their pockets. "I told you to stop!" Elsa put herself between Jack and his antagonists just as they were hurling the eggs. She felt her heart drop as three eggs shattered against her, smearing her with yolk and bits of shell.

"Dude," one of them said, laughing. "You got all—"

A pop like the first breath of French champagne and sitting where Elsa had been was a cream colored cat with delicate blue eyes, covered in the yolks of broken eggs.

Jack grabbed the cat and ran.

A/N: YEAH! First chapter, not much else to say but that this idea came to me originally for an animated short but I'm currently lacking the tools to make that happen so... it's on paper instead. Thanks for reading! :3