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Disclaimer: I do not own Frozen. Seriously, who do you think I am.
I also don't own the various other characters that show up.
"Elsa!"
Elsa burrowed her head in her pillow.
"Elsa! Wake up!"
Suddenly she was being shaken. Elsa groaned and rolled over to find a small redheaded girl peering into her face.
Elsa was all of a sudden very awake. She wasn't used to people being close to her let alone on top of her.
She squirmed out of the bed, rubbing her arm. Anna seemed oblivious to her discomfort.
"School is today!" Anna was bouncing around. "I love school, I have the nicest teacher ever. Her name's Ms. Belle and she's so pretty. She helps me with my reading..."
Elsa only half listened as Anna flew back and forth across the room, pulling her favorite blue sweater out of her suitcase.
"How do we get there?" Elsa asked. Anna stopped her high speed talking to answer.
"We walk. I'll show you the way. And if we get there early enough, we can get free breakfast! They have it there for kids who..." Anna paused, her tiny form pausing as she thought. "Well, for kids like us," she finished. "Are you ready?"
"Aren't you going to change your clothes?" Elsa looked at Anna who was wearing the same grubby green dress and brown leggings. Anna looked down at her clothes and shrugged.
"No, I want to wear this."
"Okay," Elsa shrugged. She grabbed her backpack; she had packed it the previous night with her school supplies and some folders. "Hold on let me talk to your parents really quick."
"Uh, you shouldn't wake them up." Suddenly Anna was in front of Elsa, blocking her path, blue eyes wide.
"They probably need to come with me to get me registered for school." Elsa had been through the new school routine more times than she cared for. She stepped around Anna and walked across the hall. Pausing in front of the door, she raised her hand and knocked.
Nothing.
Elsa was aware of Anna watching her from around the corner.
She knocked again, harder.
"Go away!"
"Um, it's Elsa..." she raised her voice.
"Go away!"
"I wanted to ask you something..."
"God damn it is that you Anna?! Shut up or I'll beat your miserable hide!"
"No, this is Elsa, I... I was wondering if you should come with me to school to get me registered and stuff?"
There was a pause. And suddenly the door creaked open. Anna's dad, Scott, leaned against the wall, a scowl on his face.
"Look Elsa, just go to school and figure it out. We're your foster parents, not your babysitters. Got it, sweetheart?"
Elsa clenched her hands into fists at his condescending tone. She stared at the man with something like hatred in her blue eyes.
"You got a problem?" Scott leaned closer.
Elsa slowly shook her head.
"They're busy this morning. They couldn't come get me registered," Elsa told the secretary, a pretty old woman with very oval features and bright green eyes. Anna was clinging to her hand. She had latched on after they had left the house and hadn't let go. Elsa wasn't sure how to get her off. Maybe there was some sort of secret button somewhere? Or a magic phrase?
"I'm sorry, we had no idea the Kingsleys were getting a foster child. Can they come in later today?" the grey haired woman asked kindly.
"I don't think so."
The secretary looked concerned. Elsa spotted a name plaque on her desk. Ellie Fredricksen.
"Let me give them a call. What's the house number?"
"I don't know."
"Cell phone?"
"I don't know." Elsa turned to Anna. "Anna do you know how to call your parents?"
"Nope!" Anna was distracted by a blond boy who was sitting across the office, occupying herself by making faces at him.
"Alright, well they should be in our files. Aha, here it is."
However after dialling the number it became clear nobody was going to pick up.
A bell rang, causing Elsa to jump.
"I'm late," Anna informed Elsa, not at all concerned.
"Go then," Elsa told her, trying to shake her off.
"How long do I have to wait?" the blond boy complained from across the room.
"Anna, please go to your class sweetie. Elsa, wait here for a moment, Kristoff, I'll go see if Principal Triton is in. Please tell me your parents came to get that... that creature."
"His name is Sven! And he's a Saint Bernard," the blond boy protested.
"I don't care what he is as long as he's not here at school! Anna! Go to class please!"
"I want to see Sven!" Anna nearly shouted.
"Kristoff, go back to the office, Principal Triton is able to see you. Anna, go to class, Ms. Belle is going to worry, and Elsa, hang on a moment." Secretary Ellie stood up and gently nudged Anna down the hall and led Kristoff back to an office, leaving Elsa standing awkwardly alone.
By the time they finally got in contact with Elsa's foster parents, got one of them to come, and filled out paperwork, Elsa was just in time for the last hour of school.
You're not going to be here long, none of this matters. She reminded herself.
She hated the initial moment she had to step into the room and all eyes turned to stare at her...
Elsa tried to ignore them and instead looked for the teacher, who turned out to be a tall bald man with a very very long nose.
"This is Elsa Winters," Ellie told the teacher, placing a comforting hand on Elsa's shoulder. Elsa appreciated the gesture but wished the kind secretary wouldn't do that; she didn't like being touched.
"Hello Elsa. Velcome to our class!" The teacher spoke with a strange accent that Elsa couldn't place.
"Mr. Gru will be your teacher," Ellie told Elsa. "Have fun!" she gave Elsa a warm smile then left.
"Miss Elsa. Please have a seat over by Astrid. Astrid, raise your hand so Elsa knows who you are."
A blonde girl raised her hand, spiky bracelets running down her arm, narrowing her blue eyes as she did so.
"Now class, what do you think we're going to do next?" Mr. Gru asked the class as soon as Elsa was seated.
"Learn fractions?" a skinny brown haired boy suggested.
"Hiccup you are absolutely... WRONG!" Mr. Gru raced across the classroom to a tarp covered lump on a table. "Underneath this cloth is a very secret device which will allow one of you," Mr. Gru pointed at the class "to speed down the hall so we can learn about friction. Now, this super rare device..."
"Is it a go cart?" Astrid asked.
Mr. Gru's face froze. Then he recovered.
"No! Absolutely not. This is definitely NOT a go cart."
"It's a go cart, isn't it?" Astrid crossed her arms.
Gru's face fell.
"Yes. Yes it is a go cart," he sighed, pulling the tarp off to reveal the most rickety go cart Elsa had ever seen. It looked like he had built it himself.
"I built it myself!"
"This isn't really conventional teaching is it?" Elsa muttered to herself.
"You got that right," Astrid told her. "How old are you?"
"I'm nine."
"I'm nine and a half," Astrid said triumphantly. "You're new here?"
"Yeah." Elsa doodled on a piece of paper about friction. "I just moved here."
Story of her life.
"Elsa! Elsa! Elsa! Elsa come meet my teacher!"
The presence of Anna was like a hurricane, Elsa decided as she found herself suddenly being dragged down the hall minutes after leaving her classroom for the day.
"Okay, okay," Elsa tried to pull her arm away from the tiny girl. "I'm coming!"
They passed a bunch of drawings of flowers in crayon, Anna only pausing to identify her own to Elsa.
The door to the first grade room was covered in bright posters. The room was no different; almost every surface possible was covered with cheerful signs and drawings.
"Ms. Belle! Ms. Belle!" Anna was practically shouting.
"What is it Anna?" A slim brunette came into view from behind a bookcase.
"This is Elsa! She's my new sister!" Anna squealed. Elsa raised her eyebrows at the proclamation from the small girl.
She had taken pity on the girl for one night and let her sleep in her bed, talked and played with her for a little bit and now they were sisters?
"Nice to meet you Elsa," Ms. Belle smiled, her large brown eyes kind, if not a little puzzled.
"Jill and Scott, uh Anna's parents, are my new foster parents," Elsa explained quickly.
"Ah," Ms. Belle's eyes filled with understanding. "How are you liking Walt Elementary?"
"It's nice." Elsa didn't say anything else.
"Elsa, can we play on the playground for a little while?" Anna tugged on Elsa's hand.
"Shouldn't we go home?"
Anna began to say something, glanced at her teacher and shut her mouth.
"Alright,we'll go to the playground."
"YAY! Come on, I'll race you there!" The tiny redhead raced out of the room.
"Nice meeting you, Elsa," Ms. Belle smiled at the pale girl.
Elsa nodded and moved to the door.
"Oh and Elsa? Take care of her?" The look in the young teacher's eyes spoke volumes.
Elsa nodded once more and walked down the hall.
"Do you believe in the tooth fairy?" Anna suddenly asked Elsa. They were sitting on the top of the play structure, between the slide and monkey bars.
The words no, she's made up almost slipped out of Elsa's mouth but the look in Anna's big blue eyes stopped her.
"Yeah. Of course she's real. Don't you get money under your pillow?"
"I lost my first tooth a little while ago, and she didn't come," Anna admitted. "I put it under my pillow but it was still there in the morning. Maybe I did it wrong?"
There was a sort of fierce hope in the tiny girl's eyes as she stared up at Elsa.
Elsa had no idea why, but suddenly this seemed to matter a lot.
"Well... the Tooth Fairy is pretty busy! Imagine all those teeth she has to get!"
"Yeah, like probably even a hundred every night!" Anna contributed, eyes widening.
"Exactly. So, every once and while she just can't make it to every house. So she picks the nicest kids to skip because she knows they'll understand and won't get mad at her!"
Elsa had absolutely no freaking idea where the words were coming from but they seemed to just flow off her tongue.
"So she picked me? She thinks I'm one of the nicest?!" Anna's mouth fell open.
"Seems like it," Elsa shrugged, smiling a little at Anna's amazed expression. A sudden strange warmth filled her.
"Wow. Well, she can take her time, I understand!" A huge smile spread across the girl's freckled face.
"Ready to go home?" Elsa asked. To tell the truth, her stomach was hurting so badly. She hadn't eaten all day, and was pretty sure Anna hadn't either.
"I don't know, we shouldn't go home if Daddy's friends are over." Anna lowered her gaze.
"Does your dad have a job?"
"Part of the day. And Mommy has one too.
"What do his friends do?"
"Drink beer and smoke funny smelling stuff. Sometimes they have needles and give each other shots or something," Anna shuddered. "They act weird too afterwards."
"Oh." Elsa felt a knot of dread forming in her stomach.
"But you can't tell anyone." Anna put her hand on Elsa's arm. "I wasn't supposed to tell you. You can't tell anyone, 'kay?" There was a desperate look in those young eyes. "I'll get in trouble."
"Okay, I won't," Elsa promised quickly. Anna relaxed. "But how about we go home and check if your dad is home?"
"Okay," Anna agreed.
They began the walk home and suddenly Anna was holding Elsa's hand again. The contact made her jump slightly, but she didn't pull away. Afterall, it was probably safer to hold Anna's hand. It wasn't inconceivable that the small girl might run out into the street in front of a car.
They paused to watch an old man mow his lawn.
"Look at how good it looks after he goes over it," Anna admired. "Hi Mr. Fredricksen!" she waved.
The man didn't seem to hear her.
"He has hearing aids but sometimes he turns them off, like when he's mowing," Anna told Elsa cheerfully. "He's my friend Russel's honorary grandpa. Sometimes Russel likes to take his hearing aids out when he is sleeping. They have a dog too." Anna's expression suddenly became wistful and her grip on Elsa's hand tightened.
They both stood there on the edge of the lawn, unruly green grass barely brushing the toes of their shoes, two girls alone in the world.
The drone of the lawnmower suddenly stopped followed by a loud bang. Mr. Fredricksen mumbled and huffed under his breath as he painfully bent down to examine the machine.
"Let's go," Elsa said. She was tired of new situations and people and just wanted to go into her room and draw.
"Okay." Anna all of a sudden looked tired, her two pigtails wilting and Elsa suddenly realized how pinched the freckled face was and how skinny the legs underneath the brown torn tights were.
"Let's get some food," Elsa suggested.
Later they sat together at the lopsided kitchen table and shared a sandwich that Elsa had pulled together from the odds and ends in the fridge.
"Is the fridge usually empty?" Elsa asked as Anna ate her sandwich ravenously.
"Yeah," Anna said with mouth full of food. "Daddy uses the money for other stuff. Mommy and him argue about it sometimes."
"Oh."
Elsa had briefly wondered how the Kingsleys had gained foster parent status but realized that it wasn't that the family didn't have money; it was that the money wasn't being used in the right places. They would still pass the income requirement and if Scott stayed clean for a little while, he wouldn't mess up any drug tests. This was a family that could look alright from the outside but, as Elsa was finding out, was thoroughly rotten on the inside.
"You have dinner last night?" Elsa finally asked. Anna shook her head.
"When are your parents going to get home?"
Anna shrugged. "Depends."
"Don't people notice you're on your own all day?" Elsa wondered.
"I'm allowed to play outside but I gotta say that there's a babysitter at the house but I can play outside on my own," Anna explained. There was a sort of sad look in her eyes. A lonely look.
A little later, with Anna bouncing on the bed, singing to herself, Elsa went to her backpack and pulled out her social worker's card. She stared at the ten numbers. Ten numbers and she could be out of here, away from a neglectful home with an empty fridge, away from a set of parents who couldn't care less about her. She could play the home lottery again and maybe she would finally draw the address for a large clean house with white carpets and a golden retriever, a pool in the back, and two loving devoted parents who happened to be looking for a new foster daughter and maybe even an adopted daughter eventually.
"Elsa?"
"Yeah?" Elsa turned around, guiltily holding the card folded in her fist.
"I think tonight's the night. I think the tooth fairy is going to come tonight," Anna beamed. "I thought about what you said and it all makes sense! But I think she'll come tonight, don't you?"
Elsa paused, for a moment tightening her grip on the little piece of paper in her hand.
Then she slipped her social worker's card back into her backpack. "Yeah, I think so too."
Half an hour later Mr. Fredricksen, still grumbling and fiddling alternatively with the lawnmower and his girl with large blue eyes standing right on the edge of his lawn.
"I think your mower hit a stick or rock. I'm looking for a job, could I maybe help you?"hearing aid, trying to get his thick block-like fingers do what he wanted, looked up to find a white blond
"Eh?!" Mr. Fredricksen jerked up as his hearing aid screeched in his ear. He tilted his square face and squinted at the girl suspiciously but not unkindly.
The girl repeated her request.
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