"Sky falls, you feel like it's a beautiful day.

Don't let it get away."

Beautiful Day -U2

"Stupid headache.", I murmured to myself as I walked through the sea of students going in different directions. I rubbed my temple with my hand to sooth the throbbing pain. God I should've stayed home. I wanted to stay home, and I would have too. My mom wouldn't mind it too much, just so long as I stayed on top of my studies. And she could also take Alice to school, so I wouldn't have to worry about whether or not she had a ride or not. But it was already Friday, and I've made it this far, so I thought I might as will finish the week.

I found my little group of friends sitting down at our usual table. Kristoff was excitedly telling a story. He was wearing his green football jersey and jean shorts. If I knew him, he was probably talking about the game that he was going to have later in the day. Steve was sitting directly in front of him, and man I swore that a haircut was long overdue for his very shaggy brown hair. It was beginning to reach his neck, and the only reason he was still able to see was because of his glasses. They held his hair up there, so it didn't bush in front of his eyes. And Marshall, well, she was her usual self with her black eyeliner around her stormy gray eyes. She was wearing her worn out black Linkin Park shirt. I've seen her in it so many times, that it was strange to see her without it at times. She had newer ones, but this was her favorite. According Steve, she got it at an actual concert, so it had a special place in her heart with its fond memories of the night

I envied them a bit for the smiles on their faces. But it was nice to see that at least they were having a nice day as oppose to my shitty one so far. It was just one of those days. Stupid Gold picked on me again today. We had a reading to do, and I only needed about five more pages to finish the chapter when I stopped. I figured it wouldn't make a difference, so I planned on finishing it over the weekend. But then he decided to quiz me, of all the students in class, on some important event that apparently happened in the pages I didn't read. And of course he quizzed me out loud in front of everyone else, and I looked like a total idiot again. I sighed. That guy was out to get me, I swear.

And to top it off, I fell on the stairs going up. Thankfully I didn't get hurt, but it did opened the cuts on my knees, which was fucking painful, and though it only bled a bit, it soaked threw my jeans anyway. So now, I had small dark brown spots on my knees. Oh and Duke Weselton was behind me when it happened and when I turned around, the little perv was practically ogling at my ass. Being checked out by the annoying little Duke was not my to do list, so no thank you.

"Hey Banana!", Marshall greeted as I sat in front of her, with Steve next to me.

"Banana? Totally haven't heard that one before.", I mumbled as I laid my sensitive head on my cool table. Yeah, that felt nice. I felt my pulse beating hard in my forehead against the cool gray table.

"You seem a little down.", Steve observed with concern as he took a bite of his apple. "What wrong?"

"My head is killing me today.", I informed them. This headache was not letting up anytime soon without any help. "I don't suppose you guys have anything for it?"

Kristoff and Steve shook their heads simultaneously, but Marshall was another story. "I got some Advil here.", She offered as she zipped her backpack open and began to search for it.

"Why do you have painkillers with you?", The burly blond asked as he asked the back of his head while watching Marshall next to him.

"Because young Kristopher.", Marshall started as she took out a small packet which I gratefully took. I opened it and found two blue capsule. "It controls my demon side when my 'friend' pays a visit."

"Friend? Marshall, no one else can tolerate you like we can.", Kristoff knitted his dark blond brows in confusion. Steve chuckled his friend's ignorance, but didn't say anything, instead choosing to see how far it would go. I found it assuming as well, so I held my tongue. "Unless you're living a double life or something."

"Are you fucking kidding me?", The girl in front of me asked as she stared him down with her gray eyes. He was a little shaken back by Marshall's reaction, but innocently nodded. Marshall crossed her arms and shook her head disapprovingly. "Hopeless.", She murmured. "Absolutely hopeless."

Kristoff crossed her arms over his chest. "I wouldn't be so hopeless,", He put emphasis on that word with air quotations. "If you would stop speaking in code."

Marshall glared at him. "If you didn't have such a thick skull, you would have gotten it already."

"Marshall, for the last time, my skull is not thick.", He said as he knocked on the side of his blond head to prove his point.

Marshall scoffed a chuckle, eyes with glee. "Yeah right."

Kristoff groaned and turned to Steve for help. "Oh wise Captain, what the hell is she talking about. Who is this 'friend' she speaks of?"

Steve put his hands up in surrender. "Hey man, I'm staying out of his one.", He shook his head and chuckled. "It's too funny to just stop it."

The football player then turned to me with hope in his brown eyes. "Anna what is she talking about?"

I laughed a bit. "Do you really want to know?", He nodded enthusiastically at the thought of finally knowing what Marshall meant. I wasn't sure whether or not to end the joke on my ignorant friend just, but I decided that he has had enough. I smiled wickedly and gestured him to lean across the table. With my mouth near his ear, I was somehow able to whisper it without bursting into laughter.

"Oh.", He said without looking at anyone. Slowly, pink appeared on his cheeks. Not able to hold it back anymore, everyone, safe for Kristoff, began to shamelessly laughing at him. Oh man, this moment just made my day.

"Yeah.", I chuckled. It was then that I realized that my headache had greatly subsided from where it originally was. Huh? Laughter really is the best medicine. I smiled happily at this revelation. I decided to play it safe anyway. I popped the blue pill into my mouth and washed it with my water bottle. "Thanks.", I said to Marshall when I realized that I had forgotten to.

She waved it off with a flick of her wrist. "Don't mention it."

"So are you playing out of town again?", Steve asked his friend.

"Yeah, we leave right after school.", He answered as his eyes lit up, his embarrassment forgotten. "I'm so pumped up for it. We're totally winning that shit!"

"Good to hear.", Marshall murmured as he checked her phone. "Can't have you fucking up like on Wednesday's game."

"I heard that.", Kristoff rolled his chocolate eyes.

"You were supposed to.", Marshall said a smug expression, she didn't bother to look up at him and continued to stroll down her phone.

Kristoff bumped his shoulder with her. "Anyway, Jason's gonna be visiting some family when we get back later and for the first part of tomorrow.", Kristoff paused. "And his parents are gonna be out of town later that night, so guess what that means?", He smirked.

"Party time?", Marshall and Steve said simultaneously and stared at each other. "Jinx!", They laughed when this happened.

"I'm not buying you a soda.", Marshall said when they recovered.

"Ha ha, me neither.", Steve chuckled.

She faked a pout. "And here I thought your mother raised a gentleman."

"I'm a modern man.", Steve pushed his glasses up. "And I happen to believe in equal rights and treatment."

"Damn that feminist movement!", She pretended to be mad by punching the table. "And here I wanted to be treated like a lady for once."

"Lady?", Kristoff snorted. "Yeah right."

"Oh, fuck you.", Marshall mumbled with a chuckled. "So we're partying tomorrow then?"

"Hell yeah we are.", The football player said. "Let's go tomorrow night around nine."

"Sounds good.", Steve said and turned to me. "You in Anna?"

"Sure, I'm up for it.", I shrugged. "Let's do it."

"Hey you guys!", I heard Jack's voice cheerfully behind me.

"Hey!", I said turning around. Jack smiled brightly with his white teeth. His light brown hair was messed up cutely as always. His white T-shirt had the words 'Hello' on it in blue letters.

"Hey Anna, I forgot to give you back your test review, so uh here.", He awkwardly handed me my review worksheets. So that's where they went. Jack was normally confident, but I think the glares Kristoff and Steve were sending him was getting to him. I mouthed 'stop' to them, but they deliberately ignored me. Marshall seemed a little uncomfortable at the whole thing and I couldn't blame her. She was in middle ground right now.

"Okay cool thanks.", I said said hoping that he would leave before one of the guys could tell him off.

"Yeah, um I'll be going now.", He held his brown handbag with his pale hands and quickly rushed away. He reminded me of his sister in the way his shoulders were tense up the same way as her while he left.

I sighed and glared at my friends. "Jack's a very nice guy, you know?"

Kristoff snorted. "So how can a nice guy be a shitty brother."

"Kristopher fuck off already.", Marshall mumbled as her whipped her head in his direction with a glare

I sighed. "Elsa practically made him not interfere. He wanted to help, he really did, but he didn't want to get on his sister's bad side."

"Really?", Steve asked and I nodded. I could see the regret in his brown eyes, so that meant that he would be able to come around soon. I turned to Kristoff and saw that his case was a completely different story.

He crossed his arms and looked away. "I'm not buying it."

"Well don't buy it then.", I smirked and crossed my arms. "Just cut him some slack alright?", It was funny how just a week ago, I had defended Elsa and now I was defending her brother. I wondered if they had a third sibling, but Jack had mentioned being an only child growing up, so that ruled that out.

"Fine.", He said with his arms raised in surrender.

"Good.", I smiled in victory and then gave them a wicked look. "Who knows, even he'll take Steve's place as your best friend."

"Hey!", Steve protested and Marshall burst in laughter.

"Yeah right.", Kristoff snorted. "Like I said before Anna, the Captain and I go way back."

"You know it bro.", Steve said in agreement and they fist pumped each other.

"Why don't you two get married already.", Marshall sarcastically suggested with a smirk on her face, earning glares from the guys.

I shook my head as I chuckled at this. It was funny how they all put up with each other's remarks. When I looked back up, my eyes wandered over to the table in the corner and thus, to the blonde sitting there on her own. I furrowed my eyebrows in curiosity. Her eyes were on her book, but I couldn't shake off the strong feeling in the pit of my stomach that her attention was on me.

"Alright maggots! Listen up!", The gym teacher said when he finished taking roll. "We're just playing basketball in the gym today!"

I smiled inwardly, careful not to look too happy about this. If the coach knew we liked this arrangement too much, then he would sure as hell make us do something else. He was that type of teacher. I liked basketball, well that's kind of a lie. I just liked shooting it into the basketball. I wasn't too fond of actual games too much because for me, it was a real struggle to get the ball back once it was stolen from you.

Mr. Smith split the class in half to create two teams. Luckily, Steve and I ended up in the same team. We had mostly guys on our team, so that was good because it meant I wouldn't go up against any of them. This one time last year, I literally got tackled to the floor by this freakishly tall guy. But I didn't blame him though. It was an accident and he helped me up and went easy on me afterward. I was just happy he wasn't an asshole about it.

I took a glance at the other side of the court to see the opposing team. There were more girls there, but one look at them told me they were athletes. They were the type that just had the vibe you know? I then noticed the unmistakable platinum blonde hair way back and very much away from all the others. She was standing there with both hands in her pockets.

Something was different about her and I didn't know what it was. Maybe it was the way she was impatiently tabbing her left foot on the gym floor or the fact that she looked terrible again. She looked paler than usual and her eyes were red. Like she had just finished crying, but it was like that all day, so that wasn't it. Maybe she had a cold going on, but I didn't think so. The weather hadn't changed yet, she hadn't shown any of the real signs of a cold. Maybe it was from lack of sleep. I once pulled an all nighter and my eyes were bloodshot until I got the sleep I needed.

I wouldn't be surprised if that really was the reason. She hadn't shown up at school yesterday. At first I thought that she was doing it to avoid me, but then Jack filled me in that she's always out of town on the 19th of every month. I had asked him where she goes, but he said he didn't know since she always keeps to herself. He said that their mother was opposed to it at first, but she gave in when she realized that never stopped the blonde. From what Jack told me, she leaves in the middle of the night the day before and comes back at the break of dawn the day after the 19th. Maybe I'll find out where she goes in the future and maybe the importance of her number.

I liked to think that she wasn't avoiding me today, but I wasn't about to lie to myself. Earlier today, during break, I was walking down the hallway with Kristoff when I saw she was walking in the opposite direction toward me. She had stopped abruptly, and suddenly headed the other way. Because she had her shades on again, so I couldn't tell if her eyes met me before she turned. But I knew that was exactly the case. I really hoped that she would stop avoiding me soon, especially after the fact that we've just achieved talking terms.

And then during Chemistry, she had her blue earphones through the entire lecture. How Mr. Oaken didn't see them was beyond me. She wouldn't even look my way the entire time we were there, and it bothered me. A lot. And when we were dismissed from class, but practically ran out.

It left me wondering what I did to fuck it up this time around. But I honestly couldn't come up with a legit reason. I thought it was because of the ice we found in my locker. It made sense, I mean that's kind of what when it started, but I couldn't connect it to her sudden change of behavior. Unless she was involved in it, but she was with me the entire time, so that ruled it out. Maybe she knew who did it, but I doubted she did. She was still a loner after all.

The sound of Mr. Smith's whistle brought me back to reality. Two students were now in the center about to start the game. A tall girl with short black hair from the opposing team and a tall guy from our team. When the teacher pushed the ball in the air above them, it was the guy from our team who was able to slap it toward his friends on my team thanks to his height.

As soon as that happened, everyone started running toward it. Knowing how it would a little wild, I backed up from them with Steve who was thinking the same thing.

"Basketball games aren't really my thing.", He informed me.

"If that's the case, then how come you were playing with me last week?", I questioned him.

"I just like shooting.", He shrugged. "It gets too rough for me at times and my glasses can't take it."

"But your height makes you perfect for the sport though.", I noted as i suddenly felt small next to him. My head almost reached his shoulders.

He smirked a little at my comment. "I don't fall into that stereotype."

"Rogers! Anderson!", The coach yelled out to us. "Stop standing around and get with the program!"

"Yes sir!", Steve said laughing and I giggled like an idiot when he saluted in respect.

"Don't mock me Rogers.", He warned as he went to yell at other students who were just standing there as well.

I laughed. "Check out the Captain here, being a rebel."

"Calm down Miss Anderson.", He mockingly scolded.

"You know? None of the teachers here call me by my first name.", I said with sudden seriousness as I watched the teacher going around the court. Then I remembered Ms. Connors' friendly face. "Except for the nurse. She actually called me 'Anna'."

"They just do that to make us feel like adults.", He informed me. "Something about tricking us into being more responsible and to keep everything formal and whatnot."

"That makes sense.", I said as I thought about it.

"Yes it does.", He said. "We should probably go before Smith realizes we're still standing here."

"Right.", I agreed. It was only Friday, but I didn't want to make the teacher mad. As I've said before, he could turn P.E. into a living hell. It's wise to stay on the teacher's good side.

The rest of the game was frustrating. Mostly because I got knocked down twice by the same girl and it was on purpose. She practically shoved me by digging her elbow into my chest and it was fucking painful. Someones needs to tell her this is just P.E. and not some championship team. Showing off your skills here is pretty pointless.

We had a couple minutes left when I decided to just stay always from the game. That was when I saw the ball rolling away from everyone and toward the empty side of the gym. I smiled. Sweet, now I have a chance. I thought to myself. I ran after the wall as it bounced away. I was about to get it when gloved hands got it first.

I felt nervous all of a sudden as I stared at Elsa directly in front of me holding the ball. I sighed and made a grabbed for it, but she quickly moved it to the side. I made another move for it, but she did the same thing again.

"Come on.", I murmured. I stepped forward and she stepped back.

"Macbeth, no traveling!", Mr. Smith scolded the blonde.

Elsa nodded and began to dribble the ball on the floor in beneath us. Every time the ball hit the floor, it sounded like the clock ticking away somewhere and it was loud as well. But I think that was because I was focus on her that it sounded louder. I reached for it, but she easily side-stepped out of reach to the left. Okay either she's good, or I'm fucking terrible. Probably both

She crouched and was now just below eye level with me. I tried to steal the ball, but it was almost impossible. When I thought I could get it, she would dribble it back between her legs to her ready hand behind her in one swift motion and then back again. Having enough of this, I leap forward. But she was quicker and I ended on the cold floor. And Elsa taunted me by staying only a couple feet from me, instead of running to make a shot like a normal person would. Oh, that little bitch, I thought to myself as I pushed myself up.

I ran toward Elsa, but she kept skillfully avoiding me. As this continued on, I saw that she was staring right at me with her rich blue eyes. Her face was blank and all, but I could easily imagine a smug smile on her face. This was fucking frustrating as hell. I really hated the fact that she was just toying with me. But I have admit that she was good though. Really good actually. She should go pro. She would be like the white girl version of Michael Jordan. If that's a thing, that is.

"Macbeth!", The coach called out. I had forgotten that we weren't alone here. "Make a shot or everyone's running all day Monday."

Elsa's concentration never broke from me, but she nodded in acknowledgment. Oh this was on. We were on the other side of the court from where she was supposed to shoot and I wasn't about to let her get past me. I mean, she could probably do it and all, but I intended on making it hard for her. Sure, I didn't want to run all day on Monday, but I was too proud to let her do that. I had a feeling that Mr. Smith knew this.

"Get out of my way, Anna.", She softly said, not at all out of breath like me. She tried to move, but I got in her way again.

"No way that's happening.", I panted as I blocked her from getting past me. I smiled at her annoyed face. "That's right."

She shrugged boringly. "Fine."

Instead of making a run around me, like I predicted, she ran back in the other direction. I stood there dumbstruck as she placed the ball on one hand. She studied her basket on the other side of of the court where she was supposed to shoot. I think I saw her smirk a bit, but it might have been my imagination because I didn't have time to process it.

I finally saw that she was planning on shooting it from there with one hand. I smirked. "That's impossible."

"I beg to differ.", She murmured quietly without looking. I decided to just stand there and let her do her thing. There really was no way she could make that shot from far away.

With a look of determination, she pulled her arm left arm behind her with ball in hand. It reminded me of a catapult. I was beginning to think she actually had a chance. She was crazy strong, so maybe it was possible for the ball to make it across the court. And she was really smart as well, smart enough to calculate how much force she should put into it. That's all there was to it. She took a deep breath and swung her arm forward.

I watched as the ball flew high in the air. It went spinning around as it headed to the other side of the court. I saw more as a football being thrown than a basketball. My eyes widen when I saw it made it to its target. The ball went in perfectly through the ring and down the net. No fucking way!

It was then that I became aware of everyone who was in here with us. Every watched with wide eyes as the ball rolled silently through the gym floor. Mr. Smith shook the shock out of his head and slowly made his way over to the rolling ball and stopped it with one foot. He bent down and picked it up as he eyed the ball with an expression I couldn't read. He then turned to everyone. "Dismissed."

Slowly everyone cleared out. Everyone murmuring among themselves and giving Elsa side looks. The blonde seemed unfazed by this, as if used it, and knowing her, probably was. Steve met my eyes and gave a thumbs up before leaving with the rest. Soon it was just me, her, and the teacher. I stayed, mostly because I wasn't able to move. It was like there was a spell holding me here.

"Macbeth?", He called her as he walked toward her. "Have you reconsidered my offer?"

"I'm not interested.", She said as she stared at the ground. She wasn't showing it, but I knew the reason she wasn't able to look at him in the eye. It was guilt. And that killed me a little. It really bothered me to see her upset at things.

"Should you ever change your mind, there's always a spot for you.", He said very sincerely, I didn't even know that the loud gym teacher was capable of it. "Keep the ball."

She nodded slowly and took the ball in her gloved hands.

"You have the skills Macbeth, think about it.", Mr. Smith said. He didn't expect Elsa to say anything more, so he left without another word.

She started making her way slowly out of the gym and I followed. I couldn't help, but notice the way she clutch the ball in her hands.

"I knew you were good, but I didn't know you were that great.", I told her as we passed the exit door.

She shrugged. "I'm okay."

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever you say."

She said nothing on the rest of the way to our lockers. I noticed Elsa looking at me locker before turning her attention back to her own.

I was supposed to get a new locker because of the whole ice thing, but I didn't want to leave this one. I liked where it was located, plus, it the ice didn't leave any damage to it. It just left a giant puddle of water afterwards. So they didn't force me to leave. They had to call my mom over again though and Alice made fun of me about how much trouble I was causing. Thankfully, my mom wasn't worried. I hated when she worried about me. The school had replaced my forest green P.E. shirt and black shorts, but I had to replace my tennis shoes and charger. Again, I was glad I didn't have anything too expensive in there.

I put in the combination and opened my now completely dry locker to see my clothes rolled into the ball I left it in.

"Can I ask you something?", I asked Elsa as I took out my normal clothes. She turned to me and nodded.

"Why don't you want to play basketball?", I asked as I took off my T-shirt, leaving me in my tanktop. I began to slip on my white blouse.

"It's not fair to the others.", She answered after a while.

I thought about her answer and the way she played during class. "Well, I think it's unfair that you're keeping your talents hidden from everyone.", I told her.

"I'm just here to get my high school diploma, not play basketball.", She said indifferently. I noticed that she didn't take long to answer this time around. She had probably told the same thing to Mr. Smith.

A new question came to me. "If you're just here to graduate, then why do you tutor?", It didn't really make sense.

"I'm behind on some credits.", She said monotonically as she took out her normal clothes out of her locker. Her jeans and shirt were neatly folded together. She placed her basketball insider of her locker and closed it. "I'll see you Monday.", With that, she turned and headed out to the end of the roll of lockers.

I was dumbstruck for about a minute or two before I figured out what she indirectly implied. She was only helping me out because she had to, not because she wanted to out of the kindness of her heart. It was really fucked up if you think about it, but I wasn't about to let that get to me. It was pretty common anyway. And I was sure there were other ways for Elsa to catch up on credits, and she had chosen this one. It was interesting how she was a bit behind, but I guess that's kind of what happens when you move schools.

I quickly changed out of my P.E. shorts and into my jeans. I didn't head out until I was sure my locker was completely locked. By now, I knew that Elsa could somehow open it. And whoever froze my locker. Knowing someone else could break in made me me a bit uneasy about the security of this school, but I shrugged it off. I was good just so long as I didn't keep anything embarrassing in there.

Suddenly Elsa's locker opened and the ball rolled out. I was startled by it, but I quickly recovered from it. It looked to me like Elsa didn't close it right. I went over and picked up the ball. It's temperature was strange. It was as if someone had it in the refrigerator or something. But how could it be cold? It was only in Elsa's hands. Unless her locker was frozen like mine was. Without thinking or caring about that fact that Elsa would be back soon, I opened Elsa's locker to find it empty. It was normal. I shook my head and placed the ball back where it was. The locker room better not be haunted. It gave me the creeps, but I ignored it and left the scene. What a strange school I go to.

When I got out, I pulled out my phone from my backpack. I saw that I had a text from Alice. She was complaining about me taking forever. I sighed. Sisters these days. There was another text there as well. It was from an unknown number, but then I remembered that it was Hans. I should add his name to the contacts soon. I opened the message.

Ready for our date later?

I smiled and replied.

You know it :)

I looked out at the clear sky, and smiled. Just the thought of Hans made me forget about the blonde, the fact that the locker room might be haunted, and all of my worries. Instead I saw only the great things in my life. I had a loving family who I wouldn't trade for the world. I had awesome friends who made my rather shitty day, I couldn't ask for better ones I tried. And now I had a date with a cute guy. What could possibly go wrong with that?

A/N: 101 follows and 59 favs?! Holy shit! I seriously didn't think it would get this many. Thank you so much! :)