Elsa
As soon as I walk through the school doors on Monday morning, I know something isn't right.
"Congratulations, Elsa!" A girl, who I don't know, calls to me as she passes by.
I suppose, if it had only been one person to say this to me, I could brush it off as being a simple mistake. Maybe the girl had mistaken me for someone else. Maybe she thought I was a different really pale girl with colorless hair. Maybe there is another 'Elsa' in the school I'm not aware of. Maybe the poor girl is just going crazy and has no idea who anybody in the entire school is. Maybe she doesn't even know who her family is. Maybe she thinks I'm her long, lost cousin and she was just congratulating me on finding her again.
Unfortunately, she isn't the only person to say this to me.
Each student that passes by either verbally give their congratulations or nod their head at me in acknowledgement.
I have no need to push my way through the crowd of students today because they are clearing the way for me.
Maybe they're all going crazy.
Maybe they all think I'm their long, lost cousin.
"Congrats, Elsa!"
What's going on here? Why are these people looking at me? Why are they treating me like I'm their queen?
Why aren't they letting me blend into the lockers like the invisible girl I'm good at being.
A familiar feeling floods through me like a coursing river.
I was walking down the hallway. It was a school hallway, but not any of the hallways in Arendelle High.
As I walked, each step reverberated off the walls and mingled with the whispers.
They had their hands to their mouths, shielding the movement of their lips from me.
But I knew they were whispering and I knew they were whispering about me.
"Did you hear about what she did to her sister?"
"Who hasn't?"
"She really is the Snow Queen."
Nobody laughed. No one ever laughs when they are afraid.
"I always told you to watch out for Elsa Snowe. She'll freeze anything she touches."
Someone made a feeble attempt at standing up for me. "Shhh... you guys might hurt her feelings."
"Oh please, Elsa doesn't have feelings. Her heart is far too cold to feel anything."
I wrapped my arms around myself and kept walking, averting my eyes from any of their frightened faces.
They were afraid of me just as I was.
"Elsie!" Rachel Corona meets me at my locker.
I look around for Jack, but he isn't anywhere near.
I feel suspicious of Rachel's bubblegum-sweet act she's putting on right now.
The sweeter she's being, the more evil she's hiding.
"Hi Rachel." I don't make eye contact. I keep my head down as I fiddle with my lock.
"I just wanted to congratulate you." The tone of her voice is so cold, I can't stop my body from shuttering. The lock fell from my hand, causing it to swing back against the locker with a metallic clang.
"Congratulate me on what?" I turn around, ever so slowly, to face her. I am afraid to look her in the eyes, but I force myself to do it anyway.
Rachel's gorgeous, green eyes are glimmering wickedly.
"On being nominated." She answers simply.
"On... what?"
"Being. Nominated." She pronounces each syllable clearly, as if talking to a mere child. She has one perfectly shaped eyebrow arched.
I don't know what kind of game she's playing with me, but I know that I don't like it.
A knot is forming in the pit of my stomach.
"That's not possible." I blurt out. "I would have to of gotten ten nominations. I couldn't have gotten even one nomination. Who would even nominate me?"
Rachel laughs. I don't like that laugh. "I did, silly."
I have been rendered speechless.
She steps closer to me; I can feel her breath on my neck. She whispers in my ear, "After all, I think the Snow Queen deserves to at least have a chance to be Prom Queen, don't you?"
She snickers as she backs away from me.
One eyebrow is still arched, however, it has lost all innocent pretense. There is no mistaking the evil lurking behind the face of Rachel Corona.
She stares me down with a look that tightens the knot in my stomach before she leaves me standing there by my locker, all alone.
Instantly, my mind shoots back to last week when I was talking to Jack.
"For years, they mocked me by calling me... by calling me the... Snow Queen." I remember myself saying. "It doesn't sound as bad now as it did when I was younger. I feel stupid for even bringing it up."
"Don't." Jack took my hand and squeezed it. I remember how the cold shot straight through my pale skin.
"I'm ready to go." I yanked my hand away and stood.
Jack got to his feet after me. He proceeded to wander down the hall, heading for the school exit so he could take me home.
Before I followed after him, I heard something behind me. When I turned to look, all that I was met with was an empty hallway.
I could have sworn I has heard something. Or someone.
It was Rachel Corona I had heard.
It was Rachel Corona who had heard me speaking to Jack about a secret darker than she could ever possibly imagine.
It is Rachel Corona who is playing with fire.
The only problem is that fire isn't what she's playing with; quite the contrary.
Her words echo in my head as I make my way to my class. It torments my mind like the whispers of gossiping teenagers.
After all, I think the Snow Queen deserves to at least have a chance to be Prom Queen, don't you?