7
I've been playing the same melody on the piano ever since Anna left abruptly. I'm not one for sad music but I think now's the perfect time to be a little cliché. I was about to finish the last few notes until Kristoff barged in the room.
"What?" I asked dead panned. I'm getting used to him doing this so I guess it's not as scary anymore.
"What the hell did you get yourself into?!"
"You tell me." I have no idea what he's talking about.
"Hans is trying to kill you!"
"Why? What's got him so pissed off?"
"He's got a hold of some picture of you and Anna in the nurse's office being all cuddly and shit!"
"Kristoff…..how did Hans get a picture, of something that NEVER HAPPENED?!" I say with my arms waving everywhere.
"How did you know nothing happened if you were knocked out?" He challenged with his arms crossed.
"Well because," I started, "s-she would never do that with me, I'm too out of her league for anything like that to happen."
"I'm not going to argue with you on this, but I'm getting you out of here."
"And where do you think you're taking me?" I question.
"Your soon to be, new home at school."
"What do you mean soon to be? Because the basement is already my home away from home, we've already established that."
"Just follow me." He says sighing. "And quick."
LINE BREAK
Oh yeah, that's right, the hockey rink. I saw all my friends there.
"Why are we here?"
"Because Hans will never find you here…and remember when I said hockey practice started next week?" he asked with a nervous chuckle.
"Yes…." Can this situation get any worse?
"It starts next week for the rest of the team. As for us, it starts today."
"Are you f-"
"Listen up newbies!" The five of us stop what we're doing and turn to him.
"For those of you that don't know me, the name's Jack Frost." He's carrying what I believe is hockey gear for us 'newbies'. He begins throwing shoulder pads at us.
"From now on until season starts, practice will commence before and after school."
"Where's the rest of the team?" Eric asks.
"Like I know." He replies. "It's my job to make sure that you guys have knowledge of the game. That includes, all the rules, how to play, how NOT to play, and how to win."
"I'm sorry to intrude, but if we know the rules, wouldn't that cover knowing how to play, how not to play, and how to win?" I asked.
"Rule number one, never question me. Do as I say." He said as he skated towards me smoothly.
"I just felt the need to inform you that you were being quite redundant." I said while pushing up my glasses.
He sneers at me. "Put this on." He shoved all this heavy gear into my arms. "Now."
"Sure thing Jack!" I reply enthusiastically.
"It's Frost to you," he turns to the rest of the guys. "To all of you. I'll only give you permission to call me by my first name if you earn my respect."
I went into the changing room and threw on all my padding. "Wow this is heavy."
Frost left me some skates outside the room and told me to tie them tight. I waddled my way back to the rink.
I saw the rest of the guys dressed to. "Lookin' good guys!" I exclaim. "We look like true athletes!" I say with a sudden burst of excitement.
"Quit pissin' around and get in the goal Winters!" he throws a hockey stick at me.
I caught it. Wow, I'm so cool. Not gonna lie, that catch boosted my confidence a little. I skated to the goal and turned around to see Jack placing pucks on the ice in front of the rest of the guys.
"Go." Jack says simply.
"Excuse me, but don't I need a helmet to heed any safety precautions?" I asked. There's no way he's letting me take any blows to the face….right?
"Nope. You get a helmet when I feel that you earn it."
"Jack-I mean Frost!" I hear Kristoff say. "You can't do that, what if she takes a blow to the head?"
All of a sudden Jack starts cracking up. We wait for him to settle down from his fit of laughter, which I didn't find funny.
"You guys actually think you can get the puck off the ice?!"
"Well why not?" Aladdin questions. "You don't know what we're capable of."
"Then prove it….street rat." He places a puck in front of Aladdin and moves over to the side.
No No NO! I know what he's trying to do! Frost is trying to piss them off! He wants to test them!"
Aladdin steps up close to the puck, and there's a look in his eye. Holy shit! He looks like he's about to kill me! Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if I tried to negotiate with him.
"Now Aladdin, let's think about this logically."
He looks like a bull whose just seen red.
"H-hey buddy, remember me? It's Els-"
Too late, he slapped the puck with his stick and it disappeared. Huh, I could've sworn that he hit i-
"AHH!" I scream at the top of my lungs as I grab eye and fall to the ice.
"Fuck." Aladdin says before him and the rest of the group skate over to me.
"I'm so so so sorry Elsa!" He says before lifting my head unto his lap.
"That was incredible!" I heard Frost say as he rushed over.
"How can you be so happy about this?!" Eric asks. "She's got a black eye!"
"I'm happy because…..I just found the team's new striker." He said patting Aladdin on the back. "You've got some power behind all that rage kid." He continues. "And I believe I just found a way to channel all that anger."
"Are you concerned about Elsa at all?" I heard Eugene say. "Don't tell me you're actually this heartless Frost."
"You guys need to relax. A black eye is nothing in hockey. Players get beaten to the pulp all the fucking time! It's a part of the game!"
I groan.
"Let me tell you guys something, hockey is war! There's no other game on this campus that gets as physical as we do."
"What about football?" Eric asks.
"Football is a joke!" Frost sneers. "In hockey, if you want to fight, you fight. Someone shoves you, you fight. Someone talks smack, you fight! And not even the referees can stop you until one of the two players battling it out, hits the floor."
"That sounds harsh." Eugene says.
"This is a bloody game! But only the best of the best can play. It's all about strategy, wit, quickness, agility, and skill. You've got to have stamina."
He finally turns to me. "Your eye will be fine, just ice it when you get the chance and you'll be as good as new. I'll take you to the stands and get you an icepack. The rest of you guys will continue with drills. I'm going to assess all your strengths and weaknesses."
So I've been sitting here for the past fifteen minutes watching the guys fumble around with the puck, and I have to say, they're not half bad. Kristoff makes one mean goalie, I haven't seen a single puck fly past him since he's been in the net.
Eric's doing really well on defense, every time Eugene or Aladdin try to push their way past him, they come to find out that the puck is no longer in their grasp. He's got a pretty clever technique there. Frost's probably going to help him develop it further.
As for Eugene, the guy's got a mean shove! He used to tell me that he wrestled and fought horses before, but honestly, who would believe that? All I know is that he's got an act for roughhousing, so the opposing teams better watch out.
So, by the time, this mini practice was over, Frost assigned each of us our position.
Kristoff is the goalie, Eric will be on defense, Eugene plays midfield, while Aladdin and I are strikers. He said he might change it up as time goes on, but he likes where we're heading.
Turns out that I no longer need to take P.E. seventh period anymore if I'm taking up a sport. How cool is that?!
Frost hasn't even seen me play yet, but he thinks I'll be good playing a forward position. He said that my small figure will make it easier for me to swivel between all the big guys. I'm pretty excited for tomorrow, we'll be meeting the rest of the team.
I didn't notice how sore everyone was until we got changed out and walked to class. I still had ice on my eye, Eugene was clutching his shoulder for dear life, and the other three were limping. They had the worst time breaking into the skates. We all looked as if we just returned from battle. Frost told us that we weren't allowed to tell anyone that we're on the team unless he says so. Guess he wants to keep his new secret weapons on the down low. I laugh.
"What are you laughing at?" Eric groans.
"Look at us guys! Despite the fact that all of us are in pain, we look badass!"
"Good." Eugene says. "I didn't get these scars and bruises for nothing." He mumbled.
"You guys do know that it's about to get worse right? We haven't even done a scrimmage with the entire team yet. Yeah we did pretty good just the five of us, but hell has yet to come."
"I hate to say it but it's true." Aladdin says. "Better we get all this conditioning shit done before we actually start to play forreal."
We all nod in agreement.
"Alright, I have to go to my locker. See you guys tomorrow morning." I waved off.
I looked at my reflection on my phone. Not bad Elsa, you look like you eat nails for breakfast, I tell myself.
As I continue walking down the hall I see Snow.
"Good afternoon Snow!" I say with a grin and a big wave.
She looks up from her phone, I presume she was texting someone. "Oh my goodness!" She rushes over to me and holds my face in her hands. "I thought I told Jack to take it easy on you today."
"You could say he did. After I got this bad boy, I sat out all of practice." I say pointing to my eye.
However, my words didn't seem to sooth her as she caressed my face even more, running her thumb over the wounded area. I flinched.
"Oww."
"Oh I'm sorry." She replies quickly, removing her hands from me as well.
"It's okay!" I tell her as confidently as possible and take her hands in mine.
"Are we still on for Friday?" I ask swinging her hands back and forth.
She giggles, "Yes. I'll see you then. Right now I have to go to the counselor's office, my teacher wants me to print out some papers."
"Do you need an escort?" I ask with a bow, holding out my arm for her.
"Why thank you kind sir." She replies with a curtsy.
LINE BREAK
After a long day at school, I'm ready to go home. I made my way over to my beautiful bike and unchained her.
"Winters!" What the hell does he want? I didn't bother to turn around.
"Afternoon Hans." I reply dully.
I felt his hand on my shoulder as he spun me around roughly.
Well that wasn't very nice. "We've got some unfinished business to take care of."
"And what would that be?" I say with my arms crossed over my chest.
He shoved me. "Are you really trying to fight me right now? I should warn you, I took judo back in the day, so I dabble in a little karate if I may say."
"Does it look like I give a fuck? Looks like someone beat your ass already."
He must be referring to my new black eye.
"Do we really have to resolve our issues in violence? Can't we just be civilized and talk this through?"
"There's nothing to talk about, I warned you to stay away from Anna. And since you can't comprehend something as simple as that, looks like I'll have to beat it into you."
"Ever thought that your girlfriend was the one who couldn't stay away from me?"
He laughed darkly. "Please, Anna might be stupid, but she has standards."
"Don't call her that." I say behind my teeth.
"I can call her whatever I want, which is something you'll never be able to do because she'd rather die alone then be with someone like you."
"You don't know that." I respond quietly.
"How naïve can you be?! Let me put this in a way you'd understand Winters." He stepped even closer to me and whispered in my ear. "I've already fucked her."
"W-what?" I reply with a broken voice.
He steps back. "I. Fucked. Her. As in, we've had sex. And she, loved it." He says with a smirk.
"Fuck you." I tell him venomously.
"She did. And let me tell you, that girl can riiiide. She's such a little minx. I mean I've fucked a lot, and I mean, a lot of women, but Anna is relentless. It's like she never wanted me to stop. Begging me to pound her until she went unconscious."
"You're lying…" I didn't want to believe him.
"You want to see proof? Look at the scratches on my back."
"I don't believe you, that can be from another girl from what I know."
"Still in denial huh? Fine, suit yourself. I'm just trying to be honest. Why the hell would she want you, if she's got a real man like me?"
I couldn't look this guy in the eye without throwing up.
"Think about her. Do you think she'd be happy on your arm?" He asks me.
"You're already a huge joke as it is. If you like Anna so much, why would you put her through the torment of being with you. Now you're just being selfish. Wanting her all to yourself, not even thinking about how people will treat her if you two were to be together."
As much as I hated Hans at the moment. I knew he was right. I was being selfish all this time. I want her to be happy, and now I know that that would never happen with me.
"Are you going to say anything?" He asked.
"You're right." I say softly.
"What was that?" he replied with a smirk.
"I'm not repeating myself… I'll stop. I'll leave your relationship alone."
"That's all I ask." He says. "Thanks for your time." He's about to walk away.
"Hey Hans…"
"Mmm." He says as he faces me once more.
"You never cheated on her right?"
"Of course not Elsa. When I said that I slept with women, that was all before Anna, never during."
"Promise me, you'd stay faithful to her?" I ask him.
He looks me over for a second before responding. "Sure thing." And with that, he left.
LINE BREAK
You know how yesterday I said I was excited for hockey practice? I take all that back. Every word, every letter. I am in agony right now people! The boys and I just met the whole team, and if I thought we were kick ass yesterday, I was wrong. These hockey players look like they've done jail time! Let's go down the line.
First person I'll tell you guys about is Adam A.K.A. 'Beast'. His nickname implies it all, he's a forward like Aladdin and I but his body built is as big as Kristoff's or maybe even bigger! Frost says coach put him up front because we needed some power and leverage in order to score some points.
Next was Phillip, who plays midfield with Eugene. This guy is vicious, apparently he always gets put in the penalty box because he likes to fight so damn much. He might seem like a push over, but not even a fire-breathing dragon can take this guy down.
Lastly, we've got Naveen. He's goalie too, just like Kristoff. But this guy's an absolute tease. He's the biggest smack talker on the team.
Right now we're doing suicides across the ice, while Jack yells at us to move faster. He's the only person on this team that I haven't seen in action on the ice. According to the old members, he's the best person we've got, but I haven't seen anything yet, so I can't say I believe them.
"Alright, nice job today everyone! See you in the afternoon, the bell for first period rings in ten minutes."
The moment those words left his mouth, I fell to the ice, enjoying the nice cool feeling I was being surrounded with.
"Hey Elsa, you coming?" Kristoff asks before he steps off the ice.
"No you go ahead, I'm going to relax here for a bit."
"Okay, don't forget to lock up. Frost left already."
"Yeah yeah." I say as I swing my right arm over my eyes. A short nap doesn't seem like a bad idea right now.
"Excuse me?"
"Huh?" I could've sworn that I was the only person in here. Whoever this is better have a good reason for waking me from my power nap. I groaned as I removed my arm from my eyes and fluttered my eyes open. I looked on the ice and no one was there. Am I going crazy?
"Over here." I hear the voice say.
I quickly sat upright and turned to the bleachers and saw the mystery person. Wow she's gorgeous, I thought to myself. I rubbed my eyes just to make sure I wasn't having another fantasy again.
"Thank you." She replies with a giggle.
Shit did I say that out loud? I gulped, "Y-you're welcome."
"Why are you here all by yourself?"
"I could ask you the same thing." I said with some newfound confidence.
"I'm not alone," she replies, "you're here."
"I-uh, had hockey practice this morning and-" Oh shit I wasn't supposed to tell anyone about me being on the team, Frost is going to flip!
"Don't worry, Jack knows I come here after morning practice." She must of seen the look of panic on my face which was now replaced with a sigh of relief.
"I'm friends with the entire team, I like to bake them goods and hand them out after a hard practice. Would you care for one?" She offered kindly.
"I'd love one!" I say as I begin skating towards her. Food sounded amazing right now. "Ooo it smells delicious."
"Chocolate or blueberry?" she asks
"Chocolate!" I exclaim. She takes out a chocolate muffin from her basket of good and gives it to me. I was salivating just looking at the thing.
I looked at her to make sure it was okay that I devour the beautiful creation.
"Dig in!" she laughs, covering her mouth with her hand. She's cute.
Three bites! Three bites and I finished the muffin.
"Do you eat like that all the time?" She asks.
"I have a tendency to inhale my food when I'm hungry. I kinda forget I have teeth." I say embarrassed, scratching the back of my head.
"You're like a vacuum." She responds with another heavenly laugh of hers.
I looked down, what I'm I supposed to say to a comment like that, 'you bet!'?
She furrows her brow in confusion. Dammit I really need to stop talking to myself outloud, it's making me look like a fool.
"I'm glad you enjoyed it." Her voice is as smooth as butter, I could listen to it all day.
"What's your name?" I can't believe I ate this girl's amazing food and I don't even know her name.
"Belle." She replies.
"Belle." I say to myself. "That's a great name! Are you French?"
"Yes, I grew up there and moved to the states in the sixth grade."
"So you must be fluent with the language I presume."
"Oui."
Wow that's sexy.
"You're quite the charmer aren't you?" she asks with another giggle.
For the love of Superman Elsa, Stop. Thinking. Out. Loud!
"Not really." I respond to her.
"I think you are Elsa."
"Well, you'd be the f-wait, how'd you know my name?"
"You're pretty popular around here."
Oh no! This girl already knows my reputation. There go all my chances of getting to know her.
I frowned. I screwed this up before anything possible could've began.
"What's the matter?" she asks with a voice filled with concern. Her hand went to my knee.
"I'm- I'm not really the person you want to hang out with around here."
"Screw what everyone thinks. If I want to spend time with you, I'll do as I please. I've never been one to judge someone because of what others say."
This girl was making my heart melt.
"How come I've never seen you around before?"
"I like to eat lunch in the library. I love reading." She says shyly before looking away.
"Me too!" I respond happily. "Probably not the same kind you do though. I like comic books and superheros and super powers and super heroes with super powers so essentially superheroes." Slow down nerd, I know she said she'd stay, but you still don't want to scare her off.
"So I believe your fascination with the super natural is true then?"
"Not so much with the super natural, but super heroes definitely. When I was I kid I used to tie a red towel around my neck and roam around the galaxy!" I say animatedly.
"Did you believe that you had powers?"
"Y-yes. I jumped off the balcony on the second floor of my house. It was the worst way to find out I was mortal."
"Goodness! That's horrible!" she replies.
"I know. I literally made my mom shit herself." I say laughing at the memory. I turned to see that Belle was too, pretty hard actually.
This girl couldn't possibly be more perfect. She laughed! I mean I really made her laugh! And it wasn't forced or anything! It was natural. Even though I've only known her for a few minutes, I felt her presence to be very comforting and soothing.
But wait, there's one thing I have to ask her before anything else.
"Superman or Batman?" I blurt out.
"Superman of course!" she answers in a heart beat.
"Oh my lord, will you marry me?" I asked, holding my hand out to her, I was hypnotized by this girl, it wasn't even funny. Almost made me forget about Amy, was that her name? I don't know, something like that.
"I would be honored Kalel." She answers as she places her delicate hand into mine.
She even knows Superman's Krypton name! Can she have my children?
"Oh my! I believe you'd need to take me out on a date first, don't you think?" she asks flirtatiously.
My throat was constricting. What do I say? What do I say?
"S-sure thing Lois." Not bad Elsa, pretty smooth if I may say.
Belle's face was flushed. A job well done by me. She's so flustered!
I heard the warning belle..haha I mean bell, ring. Shoot! I didn't want to go to class. I wanted to talk to her all day.
"How would you feel like having lunch with me today? You can meet all my friends!"
"I'd like that." She replies while biting her lip.
"Alright, I'll pick you up at the library after fourth." I tell her.
"See you then." She says and walks towards the door.
I couldn't help my eyes falling down cast, from her gorgeous brunette locks, to the small of her back, to thhaaaatt assss!
Now that's a woman. In those seconds I gained a lot of respect for French women. I licked my lips.
I blinked my eyes and all of a sudden, I was being faced with her hips. Busted. I slowly looked back in her eyes and gave her a nervous chuckle and a small wave.
She winked and blew me a kiss before leaving me alone in the room. I sighed dreamily.
LINE BREAK
Ten minutes into first period and I see Elsa walk into class. Everyone went quiet. Why was she late? She's never late! She didn't seem to care that everyone was staring at her either. She had this look on her face, as if she was in a daydream.
"Why were you late today?" Weselton asks
I saw her shake her head, as if to pull herself back into reality.
"There was traffic on my way here and the parking lot was full." She responds.
"Very well, I'll let you off with a warning being that this is your first time being tardy. It will not happen again right?"
"No sir." She replies.
Wait a second, Elsa doesn't drive! She rides a bike to school! And I saw her talking to Aladdin half an hour before school started. What's going on with her?
"Everyone take out a piece of paper and be prepared to take notes on the following video I'm about to show you." Weselton says.
Twenty minutes into the movie Elsa walks out of class. I wait another three minutes before I ask to use the restroom. I see her getting drinking at the water fountain.
"Elsa!" I call out to her.
"Yes?" she asks, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.
"I know for a fact that you don't drive to school and I saw you talking to your friend earlier."
"Yup." She says before taking another sip of water.
Why is she acting like this? I grabbed her arm and spun her around.
"Wh-" I paused. Did Hans hit her?! "Elsa.." I say as I gently touch the outer rim of her black eye. She drew back from my touch.
"Who did this to you?"
"That's not important." She tells me. "It was a slip up."
"No it wasn't! Someone hit you! Who did it?!" I was getting angry. Why won't she just tell me?
"Relax Anna, I'm fine. Don't stress yourself out over this. No one hit me alright." She says calmly.
"Don't lie to me!" This was all my fault, I'm the reason that she got hurt. I don't know why, but I felt like I was about to cry. Elsa always gets in trouble for my sake. And to see her face bruised like that, just breaks my heart. I think she knew I was on a verge of tears because she engulfed me in a hug and I just let it all out. She was rubbing my back while I was soaking her royal blue button up shirt with my tears.
I felt so guilty for everything I've caused her.
"Hey come on. Don't cry please." She said softly. "There's something I want to show you." Within a matter of minutes, we were in some room I've never seen before. I was sitting on a couch and she was right there in front of me, with a glass of water.
"You need to hydrate yourself." She tells me.
"Where are we?" I ask her.
"The superhero club meeting room." She says with a proud smile.
"Why'd you take me here?"
"You were getting hysterical in the hallway. I thought you might want some privacy." She tells me.
"What happened to your eye?" I ask her again.
She sighs, "If I tell you, you can't tell anyone."
"I won't." I gave her my word.
"I joined the hockey team with my friends and Aladdin slapped the puck in my eye during practice." She says quickly.
"YOU'RE ON THE HOCKEY TEAM?! ARE YOU CRAZY?!" They'd murder her out there!
"Anna please don't freak out."
"Why the hell did you join the hockey team Elsa?!" I say loudly, but not as loud as before.
"Kristoff made me do it." She responds.
"I'm going to slap some sense into your friend! He can't force you to do it!"
"Are you worried about me?" she asks. Straight to the point I see.
"No, I-I just hate hockey." I say lamely.
"Can you be honest for once?" she tries.
"Yes, I'm concerned for your well being. I've seen those guys play Elsa, they might hurt you." I say looking anywhere but her.
"I'll be fine! It's kinda fun." The look on my face doesn't convince me otherwise and she knows that.
She takes my hands. "It's a game." She tells me. "They're not allowed to kill me." She says with a smile playing on her lips. "If they do, then I'm sure you'd be there to beat them up."
"Don't say that!" I smack her arm.
"What? You've got a mean right hook!" she exclaims.
We continue talking for another ten minutes before we hear a knock on the door. I immediately hide behind Elsa's back as she turns around. Oh my Gosh it's security, they're here!
Elsa get's up from her seat.
"Are you crazy?" I whisper yell. "Get back here!"
She just smiles at me.
The person at the door knocks again.
Elsa answers it.
"Fina-Fucking-Ly!" I hear her friend, I think Flynn is his name, yell.
"Calm down Eugene."
Eugene? Is that he's real name? I couldn't help but laugh.
"Oh…now I see why it took you a long time." It got quiet, and I saw him staring at me.
"You gonna let us in?" Alright, I know that guy's name is Eric. He's the one Ariel's hung up on.
"Oh yes, of course!" Elsa says, and moves to the side.
Do any of her friends go to class? I see Kristoff and Aladdin trailing behind the first two.
"What's she doing here?" I hear Kristoff ask Elsa.
"We were j-"
Suddenly, Elsa's bombarded with a tight hug and almost knocked to the ground.
I growl. Snow fucking White.
