Sorry for the delay with this update but I have been busy. Next chapter is here now so please read and enjoy (hopefully).

Warning: Bullying.

Elsa pushed open the cafeteria doors. The whole area was abuzz with activity as students and faculty alike indulged in their lunch. The room was very loud with chatter and laughter and people were running around and gallivanting in small groups. Elsa walked over to the food stand and waited in line.

It didn't take long for Elsa to be served so she grabbed a tray and started helping herself to the food as she walked along. She was never a big eater and today was no different as she chose a small bowl of salad, a couple of rissoles and bottled water. She went to the checkout and paid her cashier before making her way in what she hoped was the correct direction that Kristoff had given her earlier.

Elsa made her way towards the door and stopped when she couldn't find Kristoff and stood somewhat aimlessly for a few seconds. She hadn't thought of where she'd sit if she couldn't find him and contingency plans started flashing across her mind, also making her light-headed. She spun around and started frantically searching for her newest friend but soon gave up and instead looked for the nearest free seat.

"Elsa!" she heard a shout from behind her and turned to see Kristoff standing with his hand raised. When he saw that she noticed him, he beckoned from her to come over with his hands before sitting back down, "there's a seat here for you!"

Elsa smiled and navigated her way around other people and their bags as she approached the table he was sitting at. A couple of people were already seated so she paused as Kristoff stood back up and nodded his head down at his company.

"Ah, sorry," Kristoff put a hand on the shoulder of the boy next to him as he introduced him, "this strapping lad is my younger brother Sven. He's a junior and a bit quiet and shy but he's a fantastic bloke."

Sven blushed but waved his hand at Elsa affably, "nice to meet you." Elsa smiled back at him but didn't wave as she was still standing with her tray of food in her hands.

"It's nice to meet you too Sven," she bowed her head towards him slightly as a similar friendly gesture, "my name is Elsa."

Kristoff released Sven's shoulder and pointed his arm towards the other companion who was seated opposite him and more towards Elsa's side of the table, assuming that she were to sit and take the available free chair. He had his head facing down towards his plate and seemingly wasn't aware of anything going on around him.

"This over here is Olaf," Kristoff hoped that that would rouse Olaf but he seemed absorbed in whatever he was preoccupied with. Kristoff laughed with a fluster before reaching over and grabbing Olaf's hand, causing him to lose grip of his Nintendo.

"Kristoff, I was doing a speedrun!" Olaf complained but it sounded more like he was singing a children's jingle.

Kristoff raised his eyebrows and gestured towards Elsa, "this is my new friend Elsa, would you like to introduce yourself?"

It was probably for the best that Elsa couldn't see Olaf's face as Kristoff could swear that he could see the colour drain from his cheeks in but moments, making him look like a snowball. Olaf tentatively turned and stood slightly before reaching his hand over to shake Elsa's hand.

"Hu.. Hi, um I mean hello!" he paused as he waited for Elsa to shake back but quickly realised that her hands were full, "oh my goodness, how silly of me. Um, oh dear.. uh, I'm Olaf, hi! Wait, I said that already... yes, nice to meet you!"

Elsa could do nothing but smile back at him. She quickly placed her tray on the table and grabbed his hand within hers to shake it graciously, "it's very nice to meet you too Olaf. My name is Elsa and I can already tell that we will be fantastic friends." The smile on her face spread and she saw a mirror of it begin to plaster on the man standing before her. Olaf released his grip and reached his hand up to his face to push his glasses up as they must have slipped down his nose during his movement.

"Do you mind?" Elsa tried to address the empty seat next to him.

"Sit down? Oh, by all means please do!" Olaf responded and sat down in his seat again as she sat in hers. Kristoff smiled to himself and saw Sven chuckling from the corner of his eye. Olaf was a complete social misfit but it was great to see him connect with someone so quickly.

An awkward silence passed over the group now that there had been a new addition to the table. None of the boys knew much about Elsa and didn't really know what conversation she'd be interested in having and she knew nothing about them or the area or public school for that matter.

Elsa decided that there was no sense in just sitting there and after about 15 seconds of silence she piped up, "So, how long have you all known each other?" Seemed to her like a pretty decent first question before she remembered that Sven had been Kristoff's brother, "I mean... obviously you two are brothers so you obviously don't count... obviously." She face-palmed in her mind at how stupid she must have just sounded but Sven and Kristoff just grinned at each other.

"Well, obviously I've known Sven since he was born," Kristoff paused for effect, never missing an opportunity to take advantage of someone else's misfortune, even if it was someone he didn't really know, "obviously." A blush crept up Elsa's cheeks in response which was met with snickers all around.

"I've known Kristoff since high school started," Olaf chimed in, "we went to different primary schools, so we didn't know each other then... obviously." A smile plastered itself to his face and Elsa struggled not to laugh, causing Sven to snort trying to hold back his laughter, at which point they all burst into fits of it.

As they all calmed down and regained their composure, Elsa smiled to herself. She'd found friends and she didn't know why but she could tell that they'd be great and lifelong friends to her. They sort of just clicked with her, like they were on the same wavelength as she was. It seemed crazy to her as she practically knew nothing about them but that thought didn't placate any of her reassurance.

Kristoff was chuckling while he calmed and out of nowhere a fruit which looked like an apricot or peach hit him square on the head causing him to cry out, clutching the affected area in pain. He leaned over and bumped into Sven, causing him to try to brace his brother who was substantially bigger than him as he tried to figure out what was going on. Olaf hadn't been looking and also looked on in query but Elsa looked in the direction that the throw had originated from and saw a table full of footballers laughing to themselves.

She gave them a death glare but none reacted so she supposed that they didn't even notice she was there but as she did she saw one of them with red hair and a chiseled jaw reach into his bag and pull out another of the fruits that he must have previously thrown at Kristoff. Elsa stood and quickly made her way to the other side of the table as he launched the projectile and caught the stone fruit in her hands. Her hand stung as the boy had thrown it with substantial force and it had made a loud slapping sound as it contacted her palm but there was no way in hell that she was going to let them know her discomfort.

Elsa tossed the fruit, which she'd now determined had been a nectarine, on to her and her friends table and put her hand on Kristoff's shoulder. "Are you alright?" she questioned him but suddenly had a terrible feeling and turned back to the other table. She felt the fruit before she could see it as she had turned at the most inopportune of moments. They must have been trying to hit her head as she was turned but it smacked her right in her eye and she immediately crumpled to the ground in a world of hurt.

Her legs lay by her sides as she clutched at her face. The pain was almost unbearable and it took everything that she had not to burst into tears. She heard yelling from behind her and realised that one of her friends must have launched to her defence and she pulled her hand away from her face as she steadied herself to stand. Her vision was a bit blurry but it soon focused and she could see teachers coming over and reprimanding the group of bullies. It gave her a slight feeling of satisfaction knowing that they were now in trouble but that certainly didn't wipe the soreness away.

She turned around and Kristoff was being held around the shoulders by Sven. He must have been the one who had been hurling abuse and itching to start a fight but luckily his young sibling had more sense than Kristoff had. Those footballers would've beaten Kristoff to a pulp. He was a pretty big guy but in a fight with those athletes he was a lightweight. She turned to Olaf and he had a look of shock. Surely he knew and saw bullying before but it looked to her as if they only way he dealt with it was to simply freeze up and hope the problem went away.

"Guys?" Elsa quickly grabbed their attention, causing Olaf to look up and Kristoff to cease his struggling and give her his attention, which meant Sven could release him from his grip. "Are you all okay?" They all nodded to her and as she was about to sit down to continue her lunch she felt the stares of a hundred people on them. She felt a wave of self-consciousness as she looked around the cafeteria to see everyone in the room looking over to them. She could feel herself blush before feeling a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"The question should be, are you okay?" The sweetest voice Elsa had ever heard had landed upon her ears. She hesitantly turned to see two beautiful blue eyes smothered between a forest of red hair staring at her worriedly. She pulled her hand away and Elsa suddenly wished that she'd place it back.

It took a little too long to realise that she should probably have said something quicker and she started stumbling through her words, "oh, uh... I mean, I'm fine I guess... um, yeah... I'm good, yeah." Elsa could feel blood rushing to her cheeks and cursed herself mentally. The person before her gave a little smirk before responding.

"You should probably go and see the nurse anyway," her voice was like a sweet lullaby to Elsa's ears.

Elsa didn't respond right away, "I'm Elsa." She mentally face-palmed before realising that she had physically face-palmed as well, further making a fool of herself. The girl before her giggled and threw her hand in front of Elsa.

"My name is Anna," it was like listening to a symphony. Elsa took her hand and shook it gently. She was about to release her hand before Anna pulled her to her side and swivelled on the spot so they were now walking side by side. "I'll take you to the nurse. I sure hope that you'll be okay. Your eye is already going red and I think that the impact may have given your some sort of concussion."

Elsa reached up to her eye on reflex and felt how tender her face felt. She turned back to Kristoff and the others, "I'll see you guys later." She waved at them and they all smiled and waved back.

"The infirmary isn't too far away," Anna released her hand as she spoke, "I'll drop you off there but I won't leave until the nurse sees to you. I don't want you sneaking off to class without seeing him."

Elsa didn't really care about the bruise on her face. She'd had plenty of bruises during her life from her ice-skating falls and was used to having them constantly. At this moment she was only concerned about learning more about this beautiful girl walking with her. "Hey, Anna?" Elsa tried to grab her attention and realised that she had it when those precious eyes were staring back at her. She couldn't look into them without going weak at the knees so she turned to face forward and asked, "are you in your senior year?"

"Oh," Anna piped up with a bright sound, "yes, I indeed am."

"Great! Me too," Elsa answered a little too enthusiastically so she toned down slightly, "what classes do you take?"

"Well... I have Graphic design, English and Maths of course, Phys Ed and Biology but my favourite subject is Drama," Anna sounded to Elsa as if she were singing a jingle as she spoke. Her voice carried such a positive energy that Elsa completely forgot the reason that they were walking together. She was interrupted from her thoughts when Anna continued to speak, "Drama is my real passion. I love designing things like dresses and outfits but my real wish is to become an actress. I want to perform in from of thousands of people on Broadway and sign and dance and act my heart out for them all."

"Wow!" Elsa exclaimed, "that's kind of my passion as well. I'm taking Drama too but I'm taking Music as well. I'm hoping to become a stage performer, using my singing and piano to impress those watching me. There's no thrill like performing in front of an audience."

"There really is nothing like it," Anna crooned as she spoke but quickly regained her usual composure (Elsa used the term 'usual' very loosely here as she didn't seem to have a usual), "oh, we're here!"

Anna reached forward and pushed on the door before Elsa remembered what was happening and realised that they were now at the nurse's office. Anna pulled her towards the desk and rang the bell.

"Out in a sec!" they both heard a voice from down the hall to their left and Anna shrugged and walked back into the foyer to sit on a chair. Elsa followed suit and took the seat opposite.

"You don't have to stick around, you know," Elsa started.

"Oh no you don't!" Anna quickly accused while leaning forward on her chair, "there's no way I'm leaving while you sneak off to class without getting a check up."

"Anna, please," Elsa tried to reassure her, "I'm not that kind of person. I keep my promises."

"That may be so," Anna pointedly spoke while relaxing and leaning back in her chair, "but you haven't made any promises yet."

Elsa smiled as she realised that this girl was not only beautiful but smart as well, "good point," Elsa dipped her head in appreciation before continuing to speak, "fine, I promise that I will see the nurse."

"I promise that I will see the nurse..." Anna reiterated before stating, "...before going to my next class and making sure I check out my swollen eye."

Elsa chuckled to herself, "yes, I promise that." She didn't have any intention of bailing on seeing the nurse. She was actually a little worried about it anyway. A black eye on the first day was going to be a bad way to start the year, but at least it'd be memorable.

Anna eyed her sceptically before standing and walking to the middle of the room. Elsa eyed her curiously before the redhead spoke, "alright, I believe you. I'll see you in drama later on today." Anna made her way to the exit door and pulled it open and began to leave.

"Hey, wait!" Elsa called out and Anna turned her head back, "what home room do you have?"

"I have E13," Anna answered and Elsa wished she could fist-pump but didn't want to look like a complete idiot in front of this goddess.

"Me too!" Elsa smiled instead of her other elaborate celebrations that she wished she could do.

"Well, I guess we'll be seeing quite a bit of each other then Elsa," Anna smiled back and proceeded through the threshold. Elsa smirked as she did and thought about how soft and full her lips looked to her. She'd never felt this much desire for someone before, nowhere near this much desire, and the feelings stirring within her were starting to make her light-headed. She rested an arm on the rest of her chair and cradled her head in her hand.

As soon as her face hit her hand she was roused by the noise of the nurse bounding into the foyer and knocking over a plastic cup full of pens which scattered all over the floor.

"Oh dear, not again!" it seemed to Elsa that this was not the first time that this guy had knocked this particular pen holder off the bench. She stood up and got on her knees beside the nurse and helped him pick up the pens. He looked over and gave her a quick smile.

"Thanks for the help," he said as he took the few pens Elsa had picked up from her.

"Quite alright there..." she left the sentence open, hoping that he'd finish it for her.

"Oh, my name is Oaken," he finished for her.

"Oaken," Elsa held her hand out for him, "it's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Elsa."

"Well, well," Oaken piped up, "it's been a while since I've been greeted with such fantastic manners." He graciously took her hand and shook it gently before continuing, "now! What seems to be... oh my! What happened to your face?" he gently reached up and probed her tender cheek and eye socket which made her flinch back instinctively.

"A wild fruit projectile appeared," Elsa scoffed.

"Why didn't you use max repel do avoid the situation completely then?" his question made Elsa look up and when she saw his grin she smiled back at him, appreciative they he understood the reference.

"Regardless of how it happened, can you do anything to help me?" Elsa asked back.

"Well, other than giving you some ice to make the swelling go down, not really... no," Elsa figured as much but thought that he might've had some miracle cream or something, "surely you would have known that though so why did you really come here?"

Elsa sighed, "I was forced to come."

Oaken's interest peaked at this point, "what do you mean by that?"

Elsa sighed again before making a mental note to herself to stop sighing so much, "a bunch of idiot footballers were bullying my new friends so I stood up for them but got clobbered by a nectarine. Out of nowhere, this girl came and pretty much ordered me to come here before next class so that's why I'm here."

"I see," Oaken nodded in understanding, "Hans and his friends. I couldn't tell you how many students have come here due to him and his goons forcing them here."

"Kristoff told me to be wary of some people here," Elsa remembered from the assembly, "are these the people that he was talking about?"

"Elsa," Oaken took a sullen look and lowered his voice, "you have no idea. Keep your head down and don't do anything out of the ordinary. If you do anything that gains you some kind of notoriety then you will be tormented relentlessly. Hans and his friends are bad enough but you do not want to incur any sort of wrath from Jacqueline and her entourage."

"I've heard a lot of bad things about her," Elsa tried to dismiss him, "but I don't think I have anything to worry about."

Suddenly, Oaken grabbed her by both shoulders and roughly caught her attention, "listen to me very carefully. You seem like a fantastic person and I don't want to see you get hurt. Don't do anything to get their attention. Do you understand?" Elsa thought about dismissing him again but he could see how sincere he was being and suddenly she felt a chill run down her spine.

"Alright," Elsa hesitantly agreed, "I'll stay out of trouble."

He released her arms and nodded, "good!" He threw a smile back on and went to the nearby freezer to grab an ice-pack. He grabbed a hand towel and wrapped that around the pack before walking back and passing it to her, "put this on your face and gently leave it there for at least 15 minutes. There's a room just around the corner..." he used his hand to direct where he was mentioning, "...where you can lie down and rest so please feel free to do so. When you're ready to go back to class, let me know so I can write a note for you."

Elsa understood that this was her queue to leave him alone. "Thanks very much, Oaken," she bowed her head slightly to him.

Elsa stood and made her way towards the vacant room, "Elsa," he said again to garner her attention and she reciprocated by turning back to him, "remember what I said. Don't do anything noticeable."

Elsa didn't respond but she nodded in understanding instead. She made her way to the small room and lay down on the bed. What could possibly be the worst that could happen, and indeed what could possibly be a valid reason to be bullied? Didn't this school have a disciplinary committee or something to prevent bullying on campus? She shook her head to physically and mentally throw the thoughts from her mind and as soon as she did so she thought again about Anna.

Anna had been, for lack of a better world, beautiful. Her strawberry-blonde hair was tied into two braids on either side of her head. Her blue eyes were both entrancing and piercing at the same time and drew Elsa inside of them like a vortex. She realised that Anna was one of only a few people who wore a dress at school, mostly everyone else wore a shirt and pants or jeans. The dress had been a deep blue with snowflakes printed on it towards the bottom with a lighter shade of blue for the sleeves which went half way down her upper arm. The freckles that dotted her face had made Elsa want to reach out and gently touch them to made them pop, knowing that they wouldn't but at least giving her a reason to touch what was surely the most supple skin imaginable. Elsa sighed again though this time it was lovingly. She had strong feelings for Anna but it upset her that she'd undoubtedly never feel the same way back. At least there was the possibility of being friends with a goddess so this at least made Elsa feel a lot better.

Elsa rested her head back on the pillow, and although it was quite firm and uncomfortable it nevertheless calmed her down and she felt her eyelids begin to slump. Within a few seconds she was in a gentle slumber with the icepack precariously balanced on the left side of her face. A small smile greeted her lips as she dreamt of a time far in the future where she and Anna were walking through the park hand-in-hand whilst stealing small kisses from one another when they thought no-one else was looking.

If anyone has any questions about the schooling system in this story, please ask me as I am from Australia and I'm using our education model as a guide but I'm also trying to avoid using the terms we use as much as possible to avoid any confusion that people from other countries will probably experience.