From the long and a little bit scary silence, I assume that the last chapter was far far worse than I originally thought! I am so sorry! In all honesty I'm feeling a bit embarrassed to post any more. I like getting some feedback, and I think that I'm just a little scared that this one will be just as bad or worse than the last one. I had to write this in a rush as I've got a lot going on so I apologise in advance.
Once again, I'm sorry.
I do only write as a pass-time, though. So I am by no means a professional writer or even a good one.
By the time Elsa had composed herself, she was over half an hour late for her next class – biology.
She internally groaned as she realised who would be in that class, and knowing his and Jacks friendship Hiccup would no doubt know what he had done.
Elsa knew that she was probably coming off as highly ungrateful. Jackson Overland, a guy who she could just about deem an acquaintance, had jumped in and got her a ticket away from the torment and distress caused by Pitch.
But at the cost of going to prom. In all honesty, the idea of prom hadn't crossed her mind since she got to the school. Sure, she had seen the flyers and posters advertising the date, time, place and theme of the event but Elsa never had any intention of going. She couldn't think of anything worse than sitting in the company of people who despised her for hours on end, in an uncomfortable outfit.
And this was all before she discovered her... condition.
The thought of going to prom made Elsa feel physically sick. There was a very high chance that she could hurt somebody if she lost control – and when she was stressed the powers were almost impossible to control.
It was then that Elsa realised: she would much rather have Pitch and her gang beat her black and blue if it meant that she wouldn't have to go to prom, and her powers remained a secret.
She only had the rest of the year at school, and then she would be free and able to work out what to do next.
By this time, Elsa had reached her locker and as she went to put the key into the lock, she noticed a wad of paper sticking out of one of the slots. Someone had tried to push something into her locker!
Elsa bristled. This was her private locker! When would people just leave her alone?
But as she pulled the paper out, she noticed a bright yellow sticky note had been stuck to the front page. She peeled it off and in a scrawl that was rather messy and hard to decipher, she read:
Hey Elsie!
I thought you might want these, biology's next, right?
Anyway, I hope you're ok.
Text me and we can meet over a coffee or something?
Jack
Underneath his name, Jack had written his mobile number along with a smiley face at the end.
Elsa looked at the papers in her hand. They were her notes! She hadn't even realised that she'd left them behind. Flicking through them she realised that though some of the corners were torn and frayed, the majority were in a good state.
Against her will, the blonde smiled.
She still didn't trust him completely – or even as much as Hiccup – but something about the gesture made Elsa warm up a little towards the fluffy haired ice hockey player. She pushed down the niggling concern that he knew where her locker was and her timetable, despite her not ever telling him. He was Jackson Overland – he probably knew everything he wanted to know about everyone in the school.
However, she didn't feel comfortable with giving him her number. His reputation as the school's number 1 prankster made her wary. If he got hold of her number then who knows who else would get hold of it and goodness knows what kind of messages she could start getting.
Unsure of what do about it all just yet, Elsa made her way to biology. Her heeled shoes clicked against the flooring and the sound echoed across the empty corridors as she walked briskly.
Hiccup looked up eagerly from his experiment that seemed to be failing miserably when he heard the door of the science lab open and close.
The sound was gentle, and nobody else seemed to hear the late comer enter the room, but Hiccup had been waiting for it.
He had been concerned when he couldn't find Elsa. He'd looked in all the other parts of the library and even asked a group of girls who just came out of one of the sets of girls toilets if they'd seen a senior student with white blonde hair go in or come out at all.
When he came to the conclusion that Elsa would not be found until she wanted to be, he sighed and made his way dejectedly to his next lesson, expecting her to be ready and waiting in her seat as she sometimes was.
But she wasn't.
So naturally, Hiccup was relieved to see her sneak into the classroom. It took a bit of effort not to jump up out of his seat. Instead, his green eyes glittered behind the large, safety goggles, and he visibly relaxed his shoulders. When Elsa glanced his way he smiled crookedly and did a tiny wave.
He was shocked when Elsa flashed him a tiny smile in return, before turning her attention to their professor who was handing her a white lab coat and a set of safety goggles and telling her about the experiment she had missed the tutorial for.
Hiccup looked up again, pushing the goggles onto the top of his head, when he heard a set of footsteps coming over and stopping at the side of his desk.
"Miss Winters is going to work with you this afternoon, Harry," their professor informed him, "as she missed the beginning of the lesson I felt that you would be the most appropriate partner to fill her in. Plus, I dare say that you may need her help to get any result at all," he added quietly with a cough and then he walked back to his desk to continue marking papers.
The pair acknowledged each other silently with a nod before looking at Hiccup's unchanging mixtures in test tubes.
Elsa furrowed her brow and looked at the sheet of paper she had been handed, then she gazed around at the other experiments that were going on around the room.
"It's meant to be colour changing, but it's er... it's not," Hiccup explained, flushing a little in shame.
Elsa looked over Hiccups shoulder and read his notes – almost thankful of her time reading his work before, as it made the task quick and easy. After a pause, the blonde picked up a pipette and dropped a few drops of acid into the tubes and started a stopwatch which was already laid out.
"Give it thirty seconds, and it might change," she said gently. She was blushing a little herself, embarrassed to have just altered his experiment without even asking his permission.
Hiccup instead grinned and thanked her, patting the empty stool next to him.
Elsa sat.
"Are you, er... Are you OK? I mean, Jack told me about the whole prom thing." He asked quietly, looking around slightly to make sure that no-one was listening. His goggles were still on top of his head.
Elsa nodded, wringing her gloved hands in her lap. She was getting worked up again, and as she looked at the almost dorky boy beside her to tell him to please, leave the subject she found herself suddenly reassured by his soft expression.
It was kind and gentle without being invasive. It was a look similar to the one that her parents gave her when they wanted her to talk to them about her being bullied at school. It was an expression of care and Elsa knew at that moment that there was nothing untoward about Hiccup's concern.
With a sigh, she quietly explained her predicament. From not wanting to go to prom, to feeling like she was being entirely ungrateful and unfair towards Jack to not knowing how to respond to the sticky note she had found in her locker. The only thing she left out was about her powers.
The whole time Hiccup listened intently, nodding where he needed to and when she had finished he tried to give her as best advice as possible. He also put in a good word for his friend, assuring a wary Elsa that – Jack, though reckless and infuriating – really meant no harm.
By the end of the lesson, the fluid in the test tubes had changed colour as they should have done and Elsa waited for Hiccup as he packed his things away, and they walked out together.
Meanwhile, Jack strolled out of his own lesson (business management) 10 minutes behind the rest of the class after being pulled back for a long 'chat' regarding his tardiness towards studying.
As he swung open his locker, whistling a tune as he relished the silence of the empty school, a folded note on blue paper caught his eye.
Unfolding the note, he read the neat, even handwriting:
Jack,
Thank you very much for my notes, I really do appreciate what you did.
If you'd like, meet me by the broken oak tree in the park tomorrow evening at 7.
Elsa.
He even read the note in her formal, detached tone. But even so, he smiled at her method of reply. Maybe Elsa was secretly just as witty as he was? He didn't know. But he would make it his aim to get to know her better as it would mean that she would get to know him.
Then hopefully Pitch would let both of them be come prom day.
As he strolled out of the school, his backpack slung loosely over his shoulder, he slipped another note through Elsa's locker. As he heard the paper flutter to the bottom, he smirked slightly to himself and continued his walk.
As he walked out he noticed the cute little ginger girl with plaits – the one who often came to watch them practice – loitering by the bike sheds, looking a little tetchy. Deciding that this was an opportune moment to talk to her and get the ball rolling between her and Kristoff, he detoured from his path over to her.
"Hey, are you ok?"
Anna jumped and spun round, her eyes scanning the doors to the school and the car-park as she did so. She noticed the guy who spoke – he was on the ice hockey team like Hans.
She nodded politely, readjusting her bag strap.
"I'm just waiting for my boy– Hans. I'm just waiting for Hans," she informed him.
Jack couldn't help but think of Elsa as he watched the redhead straighten herself into an almost regal posture as she spoke. She even wrung her hands nervously like Elsa did.
Minus the gloves of course.
Ignoring the fact that she was waiting for the douchebag that was Hans, Jack continued. "I'm Jackson Overland, but you can call me Jack." He introduced himself. He flashed her his lopsided grin, and offered her his hand to shake.
Anna immediately took his hand, shaking it vigourously. "I'm Anna White. Just Anna." she laughed awkwardly.
Wait, Anna White? Wasn't that Elsa's surname?
"Do you have a sister, Anna?" Jack decided to just bite the bullet.
Anna's blue eyes widened. Was Elsa friends with the ice hockey team? "You know Elsa?"
Jack wasn't too sure of how to answer that question. He guessed he did know Elsa, but at the same time she was a complete stranger to him. His big mouth had gotten into a lot of trouble today alone, so he resorted to just nod.
As he did, a bright red car drove round the corner from the car park.
Hans South let the window down, and leaned out of the drivers side, one hand resting on the wheel.
"Anna!" he called, "Are you ready?"
Anna White grinned, and hurriedly said goodbye to Jack before running over to the car and jumping into the back seat.
Jack caught Hans' glare and held it. However, he looked away when he caught sight of the woman in the passenger seat.
What was Anna's seemingly innocent little sister doing hanging out with the likes of Pitch? Did she not know what she was like? Anna's sweet nature led him to believe that she was oblivious to Pitch's bullying ways, just as she was oblivious to Hans' behaviour towards others and even herself.
Suddenly the word 'Oblivious' seemed like a pretty apt way to describe Anna, and he added her to his ever growing list of people that he wanted to help.
He watched the car drive out of the school gates, and turn the corner.
Did Elsa know about Anna's after school activities?
He guessed that he'd just have to ask her tomorrow evening when he met her at the broken oak tree.
If I write anymore, it will be following Anna some more. I think that I want to go alternate characters so one chapter is more Elsa-centric and then the next one more Anna-centric and eventually they'll merge.
it's a very slow moving story, I know. I would speed it up but I don't particularly want to rush it.
I don't even know if I should continue it!
Let me know what you thought of it (please)
There'll be more drama in the next one, I know that it's been a bit boring with not a lot happening but again, I felt it was necessary.
Thank you x
