"I'm tuggin' at my hair, I'm pullin' at my clothes.
I'm trying to keep my cool, I know it shows."
Things I'll Never Say -Avril Lavigne
I honked the horn of my car again. I had sworn to myself that I wouldn't be late again, and I had every intend of keeping that promise. The only class that this applied to, of course, was stupid Gold's class. Reliving yesterday humiliation was not on my agenda today. No thank you.
"I'm coming, I'm coming.", Alice said smiling as she got in the car. That girl, she finds joy in annoying me.
"Thank you.", I said sarcastically as I immediately pulled out of the driveway and headed to school fast, just barely below the speed limit.
"I don't see why you're in such a rush today.", Alice huffed and she put her seat-belt. "Since when do you care so much anyway?"
"Because of somebody, I was late to first period and the stupid teacher made a fucking example out of me." I snapped. I knew I sounded like a bitch and all, but the fact that I had hardly gotten any sleep the night before was getting to me. "Hand me some coffee will you?", She smirked and handed me her drink. I took a long sip before giving it back to her. Good thing it was just warm, or else it would have burn my tongue.
"I would have liked to see that.", She said with joy in her eyes that caused me to roll my own. We stayed in awkward silence for a couple minutes before she turned to me in curiosity. "So um who is your tutor?"
I hadn't told her since she wouldn't tell me why she stayed after school. It worried me a little, but I trusted her judgment seventy-five percent of the time. The other twenty-five went down because of her bad perception of time yesterday. I just seriously hoped though that she wasn't seeing anybody, or else I would have to lay down the law. The last thing she needed was a boy in her life. God, just thinking about that made me feel old. "There's only one way to find out and you know it."
"Still with that?", She was half-amused and half-annoyed at that.
"I find it strange that you're not telling me considering were sisters and we always tell each other everything.", I informed her and she nodded. "It's not like I'm going to judge you anyway."
"Yeah, I know what you mean, it bothers me a little too.", She looked out the window and then sighed before turning back to me. "I'll tell later, alright?", She said that, but I wasn't convinced and she knew it. She sighed in irritation and held out her pinky. I smirked in victory and locked my own with hers. "I promise.", She said.
"Good.", I exhaled a deep breath.
"So...", She playfully coaxed a little. "Who's the stupid tutor who ditched you last Monday?"
I chuckled. "Okay, um you know who Elsa is, right?"
"You mean that weird blonde chick that kicked Abby's butt?", She grinned as she took a sip on her coffee. I didn't like her choice of words there, but I was about to argue with her about it.
"That's the one.", I confirmed it.
"So is she living up to her Ice Queen name?", She asked curiously.
"Not really, quite the opposite actually.", I said as I thought back to how patient and considerate she was the entire time. I had a feeling that maybe her seeing me crying a bit might have had something to do with it, but my gut was telling me that it didn't. "She can rude and all, but she's really nice."
"So what you're saying is...", Alice took a sip on her coffee. "God this is good.", She murmured before turning back to me. "So what you're saying, is that she's a bitch by choice, not because she's not capable of being nice?"
"Pretty much.", I agreed. I thought the same thing when she was teaching me, until I came to a conclusion. "But I think that she just does that to drive others away."
"Why the hell would she do that?", My little sister asked as she set her coffee on the cup holder. "Most people actually want friends, especially if you're in high school."
"In case you haven't noticed she always separates herself from others anyway.", I said and then shrugged. "She likes to be alone, I've learned that much."
"Introverts these days.", Alice playfully scoffed and smiled. "Well I'm glad she isn't, that would've sucked like that asshole tutor from San Francisco."
"Tell me about it.", I agreed.
During lunch, I was by myself because all of my friends were out of action. Steve didn't come to school at all because he had to get his eyes checked out. He might be getting new glasses, but I wouldn't know for sure. Kristoff had left a couple minutes ago for a football game that was out of town. I could tell he didn't want to leave, but I insisted that he go. I was sure his team wouldn't appreciate him ditching them to go hang out with a girl he just met the first day of school.
And Marshall, well she was in detention for flipping a teacher off. She justified herself by saying that he was asking for it. Not saying that I approved of it, but it sure made me laugh. She even snuck out of detention to tell me this instead of sending me a text or a call like a normal person would. Not sure how she pulled that off, but okay. I wasn't about to question Marshall's ninja skills.
I had thought about going to hang out with Alice, but that would be too weird. I knew she wouldn't mind having me over, but I couldn't help but feel a little pathetic about the whole idea of it. I knew a couple other people here and there, but I wasn't on the 'let's have lunch together' basis with them anyway. So now I was on my way to the library. My reasons were that I needed to find something new to read anyway and maybe a little alone time was an order.
"Hey Anna.", A familiar male voice said behind me. I stopped and slowly turned. My throat went dry and I fought the urge to drop my jaw. Hans somehow managed to still look as handsome as ever in his plain white T-shirt and navy jeans.
I gulped nervously before responding. "Hi Hans."
"You're a hard girl to find, you know that?", Hans' confidence melted into his words as he brushed his auburn hair with his fingers.
"I- I know.", I cleared my throat after this. Keep it together Anna, I mentally told myself.
"How about we make up for lost time over dinner.", He suggested while shooting me a brilliant smile that made my stomach turn. I stared at him dumbfounded. Did I hear right?
"Are you asking me out?", Those stupid words slipped right past my defense. I felt my face get hot in embarrassment. I just got myself an A for awkwardness. Way to go Anna.
He chuckled sweetly and it calmed me down. "Guilty as charged.", He waved his hands in surrender. I was glad that he was playing it off, it made me more confident. "I really like you and I want to get to know you better."
I pushed a stead of hair that was in front of my face to the back of my ear. "Okay."
"Great, how about Friday at say 8?", Hans meekly suggested, but I couldn't form words here. I couldn't find my voice and even hear anything from my surroundings due to the pounding of my heart in my chest. Oh god what is happening to me. I was acting like a high school lovestruck teenager. Oh wait, that pretty much describes me at the moment. He took my silence the wrong the way because his bight green eyes sadden a bit and I didn't like it. "If you would rather-"
"No, no, no, no, no.", I caught myself. "I mean yes- I- I-", I stopped talking and took a deep breath. "What I meant to say was that I would love to."
His gorgeous face lit up again and I almost sighed in relief. "Sounds great then. May I have the pleasure of having your phone number."
"You may.", I smiled brightly and the butterflies in my stomach wouldn't stop moving around in there. Yeah, this guy was gonna be the end of me. I happily took out a pen from my backpack and I ripped out a piece of paper from the binder I was carrying in my arms. Once it was written, I gave it to him and he gave me his.
"I'll call you alright?", Hans said with a smiling face.
"Sounds great.", I said while beaming at him as he suddenly leaned in close and his lips made contact with my cheek. I blushed furiously at this and so did he, except he was proud at his actions.
"I'll see you around gorgeous.", He whispered into my ear and it left me paralyzed. Holy shit! Before I could form a reaction to this, he left.
As he was confidently walking down the hallway, I touched my warm cheek. I could still feel that kiss there, it wouldn't leave me. My knees felt weak and I feared I would fall on my stupid face if I didn't do something about it, so I leaned against one of the lockers for support.
Honestly, I felt like I was on top of the world. Like I was I invincible and nothing at all could stop me. I honestly could not believe that I just got a date with the greatest guy in school! I wanted to scream it at the top of my lungs, but I knew I shouldn't. I couldn't believe how I, an average girl, had gotten the attention of Hans. He could have anyone, and he chose me! It made me light headed just thinking about it.
I sighed in happiness and continued on my way to the library. When I arrived there, I turned my books in and went over to the shelves to find something. But I just couldn't. I was too excited for my date with Hans that was in two days and eight hours away, not that anyone was counting. After accepting that I wasn't going to find anything, I headed over to the tables. A couple students were there doing homework, others reading, or just plain hanging out. All the tables were full, except for one. But it had only one person on it.
Elsa. I thought to myself. She was sitting by herself on the last table in the corner away from everyone. Her platinum blonde hair with black ends was down, it landed perfectly on her shoulders. A dark gray beanie was covering the top of her head, while her bangs were leaning toward the left. My eyes went down to her chest to see if I would find it and find it I did. The white number stood out proudly against her thin royal blue sweater. I frown at it a bit at that damn number. I used to see it as just her favorite number or something along the lines of that, but now, I was beginning to see it more as a label and I didn't like that.
I eyed her with curiosity before walking to her. I think it was safe to assume we were now on talking terms. She didn't ignore me too much yesterday during our tutoring session, only on the stupid questions I asked, which was understandable. Plus, I was still kind of high on the thought of my date with Hans, so I was feeling pretty confident about everything. Going over to her didn't sound like a bad idea at all, it sounded like a great idea actually.
"Mind if I join you?", I asked when I had gotten to her quicker than I expected. I was standing in front of the empty chair in front of her.
"Yes.", She simply said, too interested in her book to look up at me.
"Sweet, thanks!", I said as I happily took the seat and set my backpack on the table. As soon as I did, Elsa looked up at me in disbelief, her eyes were telling me 'Really?'. This confused me a great deal. "What?"
"You asked if I minded and I answered yes.", She said as she turned back to her book.
"Yeah, so?", I asked, still confused by this. Yes means yes, don't it? I thought about her not so helpful explanation until I understood what she meant. As soon as the realization slapped me across the face, blood rushed furiously to my cheeks. I don't think I've ever blushed his much in my life before. This was totally embarrassing. I gulped nervously. I tired to get up and leave in my humiliation, but my legs weren't feeling up to the task. This made me panic slightly.
From my peripheral vision, I saw Elsa letting out a sigh. "I suppose I can't kick you out."
Her words hung in the air for a bit before my brain finally processed what she was saying. It was kind of an invitation. An indirect one, that is.
"You mean it?", I asked in disbelief. I mean from any other person, it would make sense, but this was Elsa. With rich blue eyes still fixed to her novel, she nodded curtly. When she did, I nodded and relaxed into my seat.
To say that Elsa was tense was the understatement of the century. If I could see her aura, and if it was black, I don't think I would have been able to see her at all. She would be covered in it. Her shoulders were set square and she was sitting as if she had a board in her back keeping her straight in place. She holding her book in her gloved hands as if she was hanging on for dear life. And her face was probably the worse part. Her jaw was set hard and her eyes weren't moving as you would expect from reading, but rather they were just staring blankly at the book as if trying get past the one word that was giving her trouble.
A pang of guilt rushed over me for doing this to her. Here she was at peace, and I had to come and ruin it for her. My eyes moved to the books that were piled up on the table beside her. I frowned at it a bit and it failed to go unnoticed by the blonde herself. She gave me a questioning look, but I didn't feel like answering. She'll probably hate me if I did.
"What is it?", She asked after a minute of this, her curiosity getting the best of her. I found it a bit assuming her asking me a question.
"Nothing.", I said it way too quickly and it made her narrow her rich blue eyes at me, clearly telling me that she wasn't buying it and wanted to know. She marked the page in her book and closed it before setting it on the table. She propped her elbows on the table and rested her head on her opened palms, giving me her undivided attention. Coming from her, it was intimating. "It's nothing, really.", I said in my nervousness.
"It's clearly something.", She countered. Her eyes moved to her books and then back to me. Then they lit up in a little understanding. "You don't like my selection.", It wasn't a question. It was a statement.
"It's not that I don't like it. It's just-", I stopped and took a deep breaths. "It's just, well you know.", I gestured to the novels on beside her.
This seemed to confuse her more than she already was. "I don't understand."
"What I meant was that, um...", I trailed off as I tried to find the right words for this. I didn't want to unintentionally insult her. "It's just that, don't you read anything from this century?"
"Oh.", Elsa seemed to finally get the message. Her eyes widen at bit as she had seen a ghost, but then she collected herself. "I see."
"Not that there's anything wrong with it of course.", I said quickly as she face turned into a frown. "We all have different preferences and taste and I totally respect yours. I mean you're the one who's reading them, so it's none of my business.", By now she was very unhappy, I could tell. God I'm such a fuck up sometimes.
"You're right.", She said after a minute of tense silence and glared at me with cold eyes. This is gonna hurt. "It's none of your business.", And ouch.
"Elsa, I-", I stopped when she swiftly got up. She gathered her stuff in her arms and walked out of the library in silence. A couple students who watched what had happened stared at me, but didn't say anything. Which was good, because if they did, I would have flipped them off.
Maybe it was just me, every time Elsa and I somehow managed to get along, I always ruin it. It's never intentional though. But in my defense, it's not my fault that Elsa has no tolerance for any of my bullshit. If she could just chill out a bit, I'm sure we would hit it off nicely. I sighed in frustration. She was so frustrating, that girl. I sat there in silence until it was time to head to my next class.
I seriously considered ditching as I got closer to it. I wanted to so badly, it would so easy and the temptation was so strong. But I knew I shouldn't. My mom would throw a fit if I did and I really couldn't miss that class, I needed all the help I could get. Plus, it wasn't like I had anywhere to go to anyway. I suppose I could go hide in one of the bathroom stalls, but really? A bathroom stall? No thanks. I'll have to ask Kristoff and Marshall when I saw them again. Kristoff has ditched before, so he probably knew a thing or two. And Marshall, she seemed like the type to just know. I was about to text her, but decided against when I saw that I was standing in front of the door to my class. Might as will get this over with.
Elsa was already sitting there when I went in. I wanted for apologized, but at the same time I didn't want to. A part of me was yelling that she didn't deserve it. Honestly, who gets mad over a little thing like that? I huffed and took my place next to her. At least class will get my mind out of her.
"Everyone settle down.", A female voice said. Huh? I looked up to see that we had a substitute teacher in place of Mr. Oaken. "Your teacher left no assignment for today, so just think of this class as study hall for today."
"Fuck yeah!", Duke's annoying voice cheered in victory, as did the rest of the class.
I was thinking more around the lines of 'Fuck no!'. Now I had no distraction from the blonde. I huffed annoyance. The one day he doesn't show up. I tried my best to not pay attention to her, but it was impossible. It was like when you're wearing a white shirt and it gets stained. You try to ignore it, but it just stands out at you.
But at least I was able to not look in her direction for almost the whole class by distracting myself with the games in my phone. But it was very hard though. Especially when I felt her stare at me every now and then.
I took a quick glance at Elsa in the last ten minutes, but that was my mistake. She did the same and when our eyes met, I couldn't look away. This confrontation was happening and there was nothing I could do to stop it. I was about to glare at her, but my heart sank when I saw how sad her blues eyes were. She was the first to break eye contact by turning her attention to her phone, which was sitting on top of her desk. It was then that I decided to swallow my pride. Staying mad at Elsa wasn't gonna make me feel better. And watching her be sad was definitely not making me any happier, I wasn't that type of person. "I'm sorry."
Elsa's head suddenly snapped up and gave me a confused look. "For what?"
"I upsetted you.", I told her. I was confused that she was asking, but at this point, I'm just gonna go with it. "I know I can be such a bitch sometimes but-", I stopped talking when her face told me to.
She pursed her lips before speaking again. "I'm not mad at you."
This caught me off guard. "You weren't mad that I questioned your choice of reading?"
She shook her head.
"Really?", I asked despite myself. She nodded slowly in response. "Then why did you walk out on me then? If you don't mind me asking."
She sat silence as she processed my words. I had a feeling that she wouldn't answer, she barely spoke to Ms. Connors and even then, the nurse had to gave her a reason to cooperate. And right now, I had nothing to offer that would make her talk.. "You reminded me of people I used to know and I couldn't take it.", I could hear the hurt in her voice as she said that. Clearly something happened there, too bad I couldn't question her without getting disappointing results.
Instead, I settled for wanting to lighten her mood a bit and I think I knew how to do it. "Sorry to inform Missy, but I am one of kind. Nobody is as awesome as me.", I joked and it seemed to do the job. She didn't laugh, nor smile for that matter, but it did get rid of that sad face and that was all I wanted.
"Sure you are.", She said simply.
I couldn't but giggle a little at this. "I am.", Then I took a look at her. I could see that she wanted to smile, but she was holding herself back. I think that maybe the Ice Queen just thawed about three degrees. "I actually think that you're the most original person I know."
"I'm just a carbon copy of someone else.", She stated out of nowhere. A pained expression suddenly settled on her face with widen eyes, as if she had just confessed a crime. I didn't know what was going on with her and I didn't see what the big deal was, so I chose to ignore it.
"I guess you and Jack are technically copies of each other with the whole identical twin thing you guys had going on, but you two couldn't be more different.", I told her. "I mean look at your hair.", I gestured to her hair. She let out a sigh of relief and nodded.
"You're right.", The platinum blonde told me slowly. She opened her mouth to say more, but was interrupted by the bell ringing loud and proud. When it died down, she got up and headed to the door without giving me a second glance.
Not wanting to let her out of my sight, I quickly followed her out of the classroom. It was hard to keep up with her with the mob of students in the way, all heading in different directions. But at least I didn't lose her. Her platinum blonde hair made her stand out from the sea of normal hair color students.
"Elsa!", I called her out. To my disappointment, she didn't stop. I was about ready to give up when I become aware of how close I was getting to her. That's when I realized that though she didn't stop, she did at least slow down for me to catch up. I grinning widely and caught with her. "Thank for slowing down."
She didn't response, but I didn't care at that point. Elsa had allowed me to walk with her to P.E. and that was more than enough for me. We walked together down the flight of stairs in silence. But it was a comfortable silence. It was a good difference from the tense and awkward silence we always have.
When we got to the locker room, Elsa fiddled with her lock with trembling hands, but managed to quickly open her locker quickly anyway and then rushed out to the restrooms to change. I really didn't see why she had to do that. A girl with her body type had nothing to worry about. I was about to tell her that before she left, but it sounded wrong in my head. And if it sounded wrong in my head, then it definitely sounded wrong out loud.
I turned to my locker and then put in the combination. I pulled the door open, but it wouldn't go. I furrowed my eyebrows and pulled harder, but it still wouldn't open. What the hell. I tightly grabbed the handle with both my hands, even put my foot against the locker of support and for extra pulling force. I felt blood to my face with effort as I furiously pulled at it with all my might. It wouldn't open for me. I exhaled the breath I was holding and looked behind me to see if anyone would help, only to find that I was the only one here. God, I didn't even notice when everyone left. I was already behind as it was, but now I officially late for class, which meant laps around the track. Great, just great.
"Come on Anna.", I told myself as I rubbed my hands together and pulled my stupid door again with newfound determination. My grip on it slipped and I ended falling on the cold hard floor. "Stupid door.", I mumbled as I got up and rubbed my stupid aching behind. I gave my door a questioning look, I didn't even know how this was happening. It was as if someone had filled it super glue or something. But even if it was super glue, I highly doubted it would have put in this much trouble.
I was about to give it another try when I heard footsteps heading toward me. I turned to see the blonde coming toward me. She was already in her P.E. clothes and all. I thought she had left, but it looked like she just got back from the restrooms.
"Can you please help me get my locker open?", I asked nicely. If Elsa couldn't open it, then there was no way in hell anyone else could. She had very great strength, I had seen it in her fight with Abby not even a week ago. I mean, she easily stopped Abby's fist from making contact with her face and even broke her wrist. I was weak compared to her, so she had a greater chance of getting it open.
She nodded and proceeded to help me. I watch in nervous anticipation as she slowly placed her gloved hands on the handle and pulled hard. Her pale cheeks flushed with effort, but it was wasted since it wouldn't budge for her either. She sighed with she failed and stepped back to study the issue here.
"I honestly don't know what's wrong with it.", I informed. "It's like there's something holding it from the inside."
"Together.", She ordered and I nodded. We both placed both of our hands on the handle. I seriously hoped that we didn't break the handle off. There was only so much abuse it could take before we pulled it off.
"On three.", I instructed and she grunted in agreement. "One, two, three!", We both pulled with all our might. I exhaled deeply at the struggle. "Come on!", I said through my gritted teeth and pulled harder.
Snap! At the sound of that, both Elsa and I went down. I hurt my butt again. I saw that we didn't break the handle, but rather the door had slammed opened hard all the way out. I peered at it from where I was on the floor. I couldn't see anything inside at all. It was dark and there was smoke slowly steaming out it. Wait what? No way this was smoke, I would have smelled it. I slowly pushed myself up and got a closer look. I gasped when a weak gust of cold air hit my face.
I think my eyes nearly popped out of my head at the sight. The inside was covered in ice. The ice was stuck onto the walls on the inside of my locker, it must have sealed it shut. There was a thick layer of frost covering all my belongings. It was like the inside of a meat locker. Whoever did this is a very dedicated prankster for sure. How they were ever to pull this off was beyond my understanding. Some of the ice cracked as it was exposed to warm air.
My hand moved to grab my P.E. shirt, but a gloved hand wrapped itself around my wrist to prevent me from doing so. I gave Elsa a questioning look, but did as she instructed without words. I moved my hand back to my side. Elsa then reached for the inside of my locker and pulled out my frozen shirt. It was as stiff as a board, frozen in the same glob I left it in yesterday.
"Give it here.", I said as I eyed my shirt. I saw that the blonde hesitated, but reluctantly gave it to me. I held it for a split second before quickly letting go of it. It was fucking freezing! I looked frantically at Elsa, it was amazing how she was able to calmly hold it. Maybe it was her gloves, but even then though. As soon as it hit the floor, it shattered. I'm not kidding when I say that my shirt shattered like a fragile piece of glass. I didn't even know that was possible. All the pieces went in different directions across the floor. "There goes my shirt.", I mumbled at this.
"I'm sorry.", I looked up to see her guilty face and I didn't like it. Her face looked prettier when she wasn't expressing any negative emotions. Besides, it wasn't her fault that some bitch froze my stuff and pretty much destroyed everything in it. It was a good thing that the only thing I had of value in there was my extra phone charger, but it didn't matter too much at the moment. Good thing that was it, or else that would have sucked.
"It's just a shirt.", I told her as I kicked one of the frozen pieces out of the way. "I wonder who I pissed off this time.", I thought out loud.
"Nobody.", Elsa murmured bitterly to herself as her fist balled up in anger. I put a hand on her shoulder to relax her, but she suddenly stiff at my touch. Not wanting to make her uncomfortable, I withdrew my hand.
"It's really no big deal.", I tried to ease her negative emotions. "Besides, it's not like you caused the stupid ice anyway."
She chuckled darkly while shaking her head. "You're right."
What has gotten into her? I wanted to question her, but I felt obligated to not ruin anything with her, so I held my tongue. "I'll just go get some help.", I told her as I headed to the exit. When I made it to the gym, Mr. Smith had everyone running laps around the basketball courts. Maybe having my stuff frozen wasn't a total waste.
"Keep it up maggots!", He yelled to the others as he headed to me. "What is it Anderson?"
"Someone froze my locker and everything in it.", I informed him.
"Come again.", He said as he took off this sunglasses and looked me in the eye.
"My locker is covered in ice.", I told him more slowly.
"Ice?", He asked for clarification and I nodded. "How in the devil did they do that?", He asked as he scratched the back of his head.
I shrugged. "I don't know."
"Do you any idea of who did it?", He asked as he wrote something in his clipboard. I thought about it for a moment. It had to be someone I knew, but I couldn't come up with anyone who would be capable. Unless they were good actors.
"I don't who could have done it.", I said as I shook my head.
"You're just naturally prone to trouble ain't ya?", Mr. Smith chuckled as he took out this walkie-talkie.
This annoyed me. "It's not like I ask for it."
The gym teacher just shrugged boringly. "If you say so. Just go wait over there then, someone's on their way."
I nodded and headed back. I chuckled when he yelled at the others for slowing down. Definitely not a waste. When I entered the locker room, it was freaking freezing in there. Seriously, someone needs to fix that damn air conditioner. I rubbed my arms with my hands to prevent goosebumps.
"Damn cold.", I muttered when it got colder. When I got to my locker, Elsa was no where to be found. I sighed and sat down on the small bench to wait. Of course she left.
In the corner of my eye, I saw that there was a paper that I knew wasn't there when I left. I turned and saw that it was an index card with the blank side up. I picked it and read Elsa's nice handwriting, though I had a good idea of what it would say.
Tutoring's canceled, don't wait.
I sighed, and my eyes moved to my frozen locker. At least I can say that it wasn't me who drove her away this time around. But it did, however, spike my curiosity. Why would a stupid ice prank bother her so much?
A/N: Hope you all have an awesome spring break! :D