Hey there guys! So it seems that people are generally interested in my story, which makes me excited and want to write it as quickly as possible. Which I'll try to do but I do have classes right now and I'm looking for a job at the moment, still I'll try and update (At least) once a day depending on how much I get done in that day! I'll post every night, if possible!
Anyways, Be patient with me for this chapter because I need to lay down some background! Please enjoy this chapter!
Chapter One
It wasn't the annoying buzz of the alarm clock or the light that flashed in her eyes that woke Elsa, it was the unfamiliar sting of the salt in her eyes and the strange moistness of her cheeks that caused her to sleepily pull herself into consciousness. Stirring slightly she lifted her head from the awkward position that it was in, leaning against the window, and looked around her still mostly dark room. She noticed the side of her face was cold from where it had been pressing against the glass when she slowly rubbed the water from her face, wondering absently when she could have possibly fallen asleep the night before. Elsa racked her brain, forcing herself to play back the night before as best she could through the throbbing pain of the headache starting to take hold of her head. In the end she gave up with a little sigh and stood from her place on the little bench under the bay window, shaking her head to clear it.
"Ouch..." She mumbled softly, her hand going to her forehead as she flinched at the movement of standing to quickly. She regretted what little she remembered of the previous night, the weakness that she had had against Lil's persistent pleas for Elsa to attend a beginning of the year sorority part that she had wanted to go to. A night of getting cups of alcohol pressed at her from all directions and one major hangover later made Elsa wish she had refused Lily firmly. It was to late now though, it was best to take medicine and get to class. Glancing at the clock reading 4:30 A.M. Elsa made a face, her first class wasn't for another four hours and she doubted that she'd be able to fall asleep again. Instead she picked up one of the several boxes around the room and opened it, pulling out a book that she set on the shelf just above her bed with a regretful sigh. She shouldn't have brought them. Carol had insisted she leave them behind, saying they wouldn't be going anywhere and that Elsa would be back for the breaks anyways but she couldn't bare parting with them even if it was for short periods of time.
Removing a collection of them she continued her slow set up before she reached in and withdrew a picture frame. Sitting back on her heels she looked over the three people in the plain silver frame silently, taking in the grinning faces of Carol and Jonathan Smith before glancing at her own sullen face between them. This photo had been taken shortly after Carol and Jonathan had adopted her, at a family picnic that the Smith family had every spring under the cherry blossoms at Woodward Park. It had been the first one Elsa had attended as a member of the Smith family, close to a year after the accident that killed her parents. It wasn't that Elsa hated having a new family, it had just been an especially hard time for her. She wouldn't say that things got easier but it seemed like Elsa's feelings had numbed quite a bit since then; she was better at controlling her emotions now and while the thought of her family was pretty prominent in her mind she found that is was simpler to shut away that part of her life then struggle with the memories.
Still, having said that, Elsa found that she couldn't connect with Carol and Jonathan as much as she wished she could. They had always been so good to her ever since she had been taken in by the foster parents with kind smiles. They had seen her, a disgruntled and depressed fourteen year old girl whose family had just been ripped from her life forever, and had been very gentle to her. They hadn't forced her to do anything that she didn't want to, letting her take her time as she recovered from the trauma of being orphaned so quickly and understanding completely. Then there was Anna, whom laid unconscious in a hospital bed for two years on monitors before waking up crippled and unable to move her legs. For the first few months Elsa had refused to set foot in the hospital, unable to look at the wounded and sleeping Anna. By the time Elsa had worked up the courage to visit her younger sister it had been nearly half a year after the accident. Not visiting at all turned into visiting every day, Carol and Jonathan patiently driving her to and fro without any complaints. Elsa was extremely grateful for it but what really made her ant to give Carol and Jonathan the best daughter she could was when Anna finally did wake up. They took a crippled without the ability to move her legs and adopted her, footing all the hospital bills without a bat of their eyelids, and told Elsa that she wouldn't have to worry about Anna since she would be taken care of. This lifted a great burden from her shoulders, giving her the confidence to attend university and not having to worry about Anna.
"B-Bananas!" The voice made her jump, her eyes darting around to the bed across the room where Lily lounged with her feet resting on her pillow and her arm dangling over the edge of the bed, "Don't... want... not... the bananas..." She was twitching slightly, her head rocking back and forth as one of her legs flew upward in a pathetic kick before it sprawled sideways to lean against the wall. Elsa laughed, unsure what exactly was going through Lil's head that had her screaming about fruit before looking back at the picture and putting it on the shelf. She then reacted in and picked up the second frame, the one of Anna and herself at her graduation. Anna, her red hair braided neatly on the top of her head, smiled happily from her wheelchair. She was wearing a beautiful green gown, Elsa remembered that Anna had insisted on dressing up for the occasion saying that it wasn't every day that her older sister graduated with honors from high school. Elsa didn't deserve her, not one bit of her glowing brightness. She didn't understand why Anna didn't blame her for the accident but she knew that she blamed herself enough for the both of them.
"Honestly, you shouldn't drink." Elsa commented to the sleeping Lily as she set her photos on the table next to her bed and stood, dusting off her skirt with a little shake of her head, "Both of us shouldn't drink." She groaned a little at the throbbing of her head and wandered over to the bathroom to find the container that held the Advil. She was glad she had thought to bring it as she filled a small cup with water from the tap and took the pill with a swish of water. When that was finished she looked over her imagine the mirror with a grimace. She looked horrible, her blonde hair in a tangle of knots fluffing out from her head like a wild beast while her face was smeared with the leftover makeup that Lily had carefully painted onto her features after demanding that Elsa not leave the house without it. The dress she had picked, a loose black chemise style dress that reached to just above her knees and hugged her body, was covered in some unknown red-blue paste that smelled strangely of alcohol and glue. Making a face Elsa flipped on the shower and stripped off the black dress which was deposited it in the tan wicker laundry basket that was line with a clean white sack.
Allowing the water to heat for a minute, Elsa headed back into the room she shared with Lily. Grabbing a box at random she began to rummage through it until she found the bag with all her bath supplies in it, tucked it under her arm, and picked up the towel waiting for her in another of the various boxes. She hadn't had time to unpack most of her stuff the night before since Lily had dragged her out of the dorm room almost as soon as she had arrived. She'd have to work on getting everything set up after classes that day, not that she minded much. Reentering the bathroom she slipped off the remained of her clothes and climbed into the shower, being careful not to slip on the slick floor of the tub. She had been lucky, getting a friend as a roommate for her first year of university. It was a pretty rare thing but somehow it had happened. Elsa had met Lily in her sophomore year of high school just after she transferred into the class following the period of time when she was homeschooled. They had become friends pretty quickly despite Elsa's reluctance, it was probably because of Lily's easy-going nature. She hadn't pressed Elsa for friendship but she had never allowed Elsa to be alone when she needed someone around. Lily was also one of the only people she had personally told about her parents and younger sister, Lily had helped her through the time when Anna had woken like the amazing friend she was. Lily was one of the other people that Elsa felt she didn't deserve in her life but had somehow been lucky enough to receive as a friend.
"Elsa?" It was Lily, her voice confused as a soft knock sounded on the bathroom door, "You know it's five in the morning right? Why the heck are you up?" Elsa let out a chuckle as she rinsed the last bits of soap from her body and climbed out, wrapping a towel around her body and tugged open the door with a little grin.
"Sorry, did I wake you?" She questioned her red haired friend as she exited the bathroom, "I didn't mean to, I just couldn't go back to sleep." Lily was a cute girl, her frizz of red hair hanging around her fair features like an Celtic beauty. Her large green eyes held a sort of confused amusement as they studied Elsa, her blonde hair still dripping and clinging to her face as she went to look through the suitcase she had sitting on her desk.
"Ah... yeah, you did." Lily stated after a minute as she returned to her bed, perching herself on the messy blankets with a pillow in her lap as she looked over Elsa with narrowed eyes, "The water heater sounds like a dying animal. It's impossible to take a shower without waking up everyone in the hall." Elsa made a face, she had forgotten about that and gave Lily an apologetic glance as she pulled on her jeans and tank top with would later be hidden under her jacket.
Finally, while patting her hair with the towel, Elsa turned to Lily with a kind smile. "Won't happen again, I promise." She said and headed back to the bathroom to brush out her hair and braid it like she did every day. Her hair was a bit unruly, wild white-blonde locks that didn't like to listen to her multiple attempts to tame it; not allowing her to do anything with it except braiding it and letting it hand over her shoulder. Today was no different as she brushed it out, making sure to be gentle with the tangle of knots, before she did the single braid and pulled it over her shoulder with a little shrug. She knew it wouldn't matter how her hair looked today, so a braid that was still half wet would half to do.
"Again... it's five in the morning." Lily said watching as Elsa settled in front of another box and began unpacking, "Why are you up..?" Elsa didn't answer, allowing a silence to fill the room that was only broken from the soft noises of her moving things about the room. She supposed there were several reasons she was up, the major one being that she couldn't go back to sleep. That, of course, was a very complex excuse though. She couldn't sleep because of a variety of things she had no intention of talking about so early in the morning.
"My hangover." Was all she offered up after a minute, though Lily didn't seem fooled by that answer, "I mean it. I woke up to a headache and.. well I won't be able to fall back asleep so I might as well get my stuff unpacked." She saw Lily roll her eyes in the corner of her vision before the girl flopped backward so that she was sprawled out on her bed once more.
"Whatever, when you want to tell me what's bothering you..." She grumbled as she rolled over so her back was to Elsa and tugged a blanket over her shoulders, "You know where to find me." She was then silent for a minute before adding, "Wake me up at seven, will you?" Elsa laughed slightly and shook her head slightly before turning back to her stuff. She had a lot to do, though she suddenly didn't have much of a drive to do so as she looked over the pile of boxes. She wished she had taken Carol's offer to help her unpack, it would have gone much quicker but Elsa hadn't wanted to bother her at the time. She figured she could make Lily help her once their classes were done but shook her head and finished unloading the books onto her shelf. Their dorm room was just a small space, enough to fit their beds and desks in the larger section of the area while their dressers and other belongings were stuffed into the closet area and hall leading to the bathroom. It wasn't much, it wasn't grand in the least, but she felt more at home in that tiny space then she did in the large room that Carol and Jonathan had given her.
By the time seven o'clock rolled around Elsa had managed to unpack a majority of her clothes, all of her books, and was working on her desk. Leaping lightly from the chair, she wandered over to Lily and shook her shoulder gently with a soft mutter of the time. It took a little while for Lily to actually grasp what Elsa was saying but when it finally clicked into her mind she grumbled and headed for the shower. Not only had they been assigned as roommates but it seemed that their first class was the same on Mondays and Wednesday. The rest of the courses they had signed up for were different and pretty sporadic but they would be able to balance everything pretty well. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays when Elsa had late classes Lily would do the cooking. Then on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays when Lily had late classes or Club Elsa would do the cooking. They would also alternate cleaning duties by week. They figured it was the fairest way to handle everything.
"Ready?" Lily said with a yawn, still not fully away almost an hour later as she picked up her bag from the chair and looked toward Elsa, "We should get going if we are going to make it to class on time." Elsa nodded and they set off. Their dorm was in one of the farthest away halls but it wasn't more than a ten minute walk to the main part of campus where all the classes were. The campus was quite beautiful, hugged by mountains and lush forest on all sides expect for one which peered out over a beautiful blue ocean. The dorms were clustered in the mountain while the lecture halls and classrooms were settled around the bottom of the valley closer to the beach. The only way around the valley, besides the very few streets, were foot and biking paths that created a maze of trails throughout the valley. They had just barely made it into the right building when it happened. Pushing the door back, Elsa stepped inside the warmth of building as she chatted with Lily when suddenly her feet slipped from underneath her. She let out a surprised squeal as the world seemed to revolve slowly, falling backward she landed squarely on her bottom in a puddle of cold water with a small splash.
Well, It was a bit of a process to write chapter one and it's not as long as I had hoped but I still hope you enjoyed it! I'll try and make chapter two a bit longer! Please leave a review so I know what everyone's thoughts are!
PS: Sorry for the various errors, I'm planning on re-reading and fixing them tomorrow before class!
