Elsa didn't need an alarm clock to wake up. She did so naturally, at six thirty AM, pretty much every morning. This morning was no exception.
It was chilly in the morning in Arendelle, a small town that was pretty much as close to Canada as you could get while still being in the US. Elsa lived with her twelve-year-old sister Anna and her adoptive parents, Kai and Gerda, just outside of town. It was a twenty minute walk to get to town and about thirty-five minutes to walk to school, which was what the girls always did and always had done.
Elsa put on black skinny jeans and a sky blue zip-up hoodie. She braided her dark brown hair over her shoulder and loaded her backpack with the books she would need for school. Then, she went back to her bedroom to wake her sister up.
Anna was still fast asleep, oblivious to the sounds of her sister walking around her room, Kai making coffee, and Gerda frying eggs. That is, until she was rudely shaken awake by a cold hand on her shoulder.
"Five more minutes, Elsa!" she groaned.
"In five more minutes, it will be six fifty-five, which means that you will have fifteen minutes to get ready, and I don't think it's possible for you to do everything you need to do in that amount of time. Let's go."
Anna heard her sister leave the room and decided that she would love to fall back asleep, but then she heard running feet. Oh, no. Then, there was a person on her back.
"I'm getting up!" she said. Now she was actually awake.
"You'd better be. I'm going to pack your stuff," said Elsa, rolling off the bed.
Anna put her red hair in two braids and got dressed in red jeans and a forest-green shirt. She slipped on black boots with a heel and followed her sister out the door.
They walked together for the first twenty minutes in silence. Elsa tipped her head up, liking the feel of wind on her face. The sun was out, drying the grass and reflecting off the stream running beside the road, turning it to silver.
Just outside of town was a small diner called Wandering Oaken's that made chocolate chip pancakes to die for. Elsa typically ate healthy, but she couldn't resist chocolate anything. They always stopped there and usually just grabbed bagels or something, but today, Elsa deemed that there was enough time to eat something at the diner.
The sisters got a plate of chocolate chip pancakes to share and Elsa got a fruit salad. As they were finishing up, another boy walked in. He was tall and broad-shouldered, with blonde hair and dark brown eyes. He was followed by a chocolate lab.
"No, no, no, no! How many times to I have to tell you, no dogs allowed!" said the shop owner, Oaken. He hurried out from behind the counter. Oaken was at least seven feet tall and built like an ox. The boy protested, but Oaken just opened the door and pushed the dog out. "Bye bye!" he said cheerily. "Your puppy can wait there."
"Oh, come on!" said the boy. Elsa recognized him. His name was Kristoff and he was about six months younger than her, but he had stayed back a grade at some point, so he was now in eighth grade. Elsa was in tenth.
"You can leave, too," said Oaken, whose smile had never left his face.
"No, that's okay. I'd like three waffles, please. To go."
Elsa and Anna got up and headed for the door. Kristoff was right behind them. "Hey, guys," he said.
"Hi!" said Anna. "Ready for the field trip?"
Oh, yes, Elsa had nearly forgotten. This week was Learn About Arendelle week, and today, the junior and senior high schools were visiting Arendelle Castle. The castle had been built by Lord and Lady Arendelle, the founders of the town, but now it was just a museum. Elsa and Anna were descended from the original Arendelles, so Elsa had always felt a close connection to the castle and the town.
Anna, meanwhile, was chatting away with Kristoff. He was a nice boy, even if he was closer to Elsa's age than hers. Anna had had about a billion crushes in her twelve years of life, starting with Jeff Rides, all the way back in preschool. Now, she was pretty sure that she liked Kristoff, and that she liked him more than she had ever liked anyone else. Anna wasn't sure if that counted as love, but she was going to call it that.
