Hello readers! Apologies for this update taking so long, for I am back to school and back to projects and practice and all that other fun stuff that nobody likes to do. This, chapter 26, is the official shit hitting the fan chapter of this story. Well…more shit hitting a bigger fan I should say.
To answer a question that a lot of people had from last chapter, I accidentally switched characters from another story I'm working on, which resulted in Josh being referred to as Luke a few times. I fixed it and it should be all Josh now!
Now, to respond to reviews for chapter 25!
Raggedyman01: No, she isn't a cannibal, but the exotic meats will get their own chapter, have no fear!
Cyrianu: I PMed you, but the mistake has been rectified!
Guest 1: Thanks for your wishes!
Leelan: I'm sorry to hear that! I can't stand public transportation :/ I'm glad you find this story relatable! Thanks for your good luck wishes!
Kyoko-nyaa: Yeah, Anna and Olaf will need to be on better terms in the near future, and Elsa will be meeting Mr. Summers shortly!
Eric1968: Thanks for reading and reviewing! Welcome to The Summer Run!
Frozenqueen: Thanks for reading and reviewing!
Onto the chappy!
"So," Idun panted as they ran next to each other. "When do I get to meet your girlfriend?"
Anna rolled her eyes for the fifth time during that run alone. "Never." The team was doing an endurance day, and that meant that they were running laps. A lot of them. They had been running for so long that Idun had decided that it would be a great time to interrogate Anna about her relationship with the mystery chick. That was the third time she had asked the same question, and she was peppering other ones while they ran as well. She didn't seem to want to give up on this.
"Why won't you let us meet her, stripes? I mean, I let you meet Addy." The girl protested.
"I noticed that you never call him that when he's around. Does he even know that you call him Addy? I'm sure his Norwegian pride wouldn't allow it." She commented, shaking her head. Idun's boyfriend Adgar was a guy who was very nice, but very proud too. Running was never hard for the two of them, so these days usually just turned into gossip time.
"Of course he knows I call him that!" Idun replied a little too quickly. Anna smirked to herself, knowing that she had her friend on the ropes and she could bust Idun's chops about it. She didn't, because she didn't much feel like it right now, but it was nice to know that she had figured it out. In a roundabout way, it was a greater victory in and of itself.
The two of them lapsed into silence and continued their run. The team was in a bit of a slump right now, having lost two of five in the last month since Fall Break. Those two losses had come as the second game and the fifth game of that five game stretch, and they were about to be heading into the conference tournament. Arendelle University was seeded second overall behind Corona, which was stupid because they had beaten Corona. Of course, AU was four and two in conference play while Corona was five and one.
It still stunk. Regardless, they would be playing their hated rivals Southern Isles in the first round, which was great and not great at the same time. Southern Isles was a dirty team, and they usually tried to cheat in some way or another. Sometimes, they would purposefully try to injure players on opposing teams, or try to sneak extra players onto the field at times. It seemed like every single year they had someone get caught doping in some form.
Why the NCAA had not pushed them basically out of collegiate competition was a mystery. Maybe they were paying people off, maybe not. It didn't matter, because even though that school tried to cheat so much, they were habitually terrible. Due to their shitty reputation, they hardly got any solid players to come. So, cheaters or not, Southern Isles were never really good. This year, they had wrangled the seven seed where they would play AU in the first round.
"Did you hear about Elsa?" Idun asked offhandedly, as if it was nothing. Anna fought to not let herself answer too quickly, but she was curious suddenly. She was not sure what she was supposed to have heard at this point.
"No clue what you're talking about," She panted in reply, her eyes set on the grass in front of her. Many times people told her that, just like driving, running was easier if you kept your eyes set in front of you. She had always ran with her eyes on the ground.
Idun let out a short laugh. "Rumor going around that she's sleeping with one of the softball girls." Anna's eyes hardened imperceptibly, her teeth clenching. She had not heard about this little story. Not surprising, considering she doesn't listen to rumors and shit and spends most of her time ignoring them. However, rumors often started because of some form of evidence. Meaning that Elsa had to have done something to bring about such a thought.
Normal rumors could start from nothing, but with something as serious as a rumor like that, which could potentially get Elsa fired, came from somewhere. "Really? I doubt it…" She muttered, trying not to let her irritation leak out. This day just suddenly got worse.
Idun only let out a measured hum. "I'm not so sure. Even I've seen them together at Elsa's desk. I was in there for two hours the other day, and this girl, Kida I think is her name, sat at that desk for the whole time. She and Elsa chatted and laughed and she even used Elsa's computer for a while." Anna knew this girl Kida. She was a sophomore, and similarly to her, a proud lesbian. She also knew something else: Kida was damn sexy.
She didn't know much else about the girl, especially personality or anything like that. Generally, being two hot girls who chased other girls, she and Kida were rivals in a sense. There had never been a spoken competition between them, or even a fight over a girl. No, they were more rivals in the sense that among the athlete population, the two of them were the most well-known gay females. Knowing that didn't diminish the sudden terrible thrumming of jealousy in her chest.
"Rumors are stupid. If you haven't seen them kiss or hold hands or anything, then there is no way to know…" She ground out, carefully schooling her voice so that it only sounded like she was tired from the run, and not ready to murder someone.
"Only a matter of time, don't you think? It's hard to hide something like that without slipping up somewhere…" Idun continued to talk on and on about the intricacies of hiding a forbidden relationship while Anna ignored her. She had no clue about the "intricacies" of a forbidden relationship. Anna was living it right now, and at this very moment, it sucked.
She stormed through the Freeze, her mind set on a single place. People walking through the halls parted in front of her, seemingly well aware of her mood judging by her glaring eyes and furious gait. Practice had not gotten any better as the rest of the team spent their fucking water breaks talking about Kida and Elsa. She had no clue if rumors were always this viral, or if it was just because she was actually paying attention this time, but it infuriated her.
She hit the office section of the Freeze, and soon enough she stood in the study hall room, glaring at the fact that there wasn't a single soul in there, apart from Elsa. The mentor had looked up with a smile on her face, as was usual for their game of remaining athlete and mentor in public. That smile faded fast though as she saw the angry cloud marring Anna's features.
The junior dropped into the mentee chair with a pronounced thud, her fiery eyes never leaving Elsa's. The mentor got up and went to the door, checking the time on the wall clock before shutting it quietly. She returned to her seat, crossing her legs and then her hands in her lap. "Is this about Kida?" She asked. Anna cocked an eyebrow at her, only minutely surprised that Elsa was aware of the rumors.
"I can see that the answer to that is yes…I have heard the rumor. It isn't true, even in the slightest." Elsa explained professionally. Anna's anger diminished, but only barely. There was still the matter of Idun's little observation to think of.
"Idun told me about a two hour stretch when that girl sat here and chatted with you, and used your computer. For two hours." She didn't ask for the truth, mainly because she knew that it was implied that she was asking for an explanation. Jealousy wasn't something Anna was prone to, and she couldn't really believe that she was this mad over a simple rumor.
"That did happen. Kida attempted to re-do her schedule without consulting me first and ended up jumbling the whole thing. She was here with me to reconfigure it and it took a long time because we had to wait for overrides from campus." That all made sense. Anna let out a strained breath, looking away at the wall as she tried to deal with the latent anger still running through her.
It irritated her that she had gotten so possessively furious over some people assuming some stupid shit about Elsa and some other girl. She wasn't clingy or anything like that, and she didn't chase people around making sure that they were doing what they said they were. She didn't stalk her girlfriends to be sure that they weren't even talking to people on the sly. For whatever reason, hearing Idun speak about it and knowing that Kida was also a lesbian just…bugged her. Bugged her enough to make her mad.
"I had a feeling you would come and talk to me about that," Elsa said calmly, spinning her chair and looking through emails on her computer. "I heard the rumor as well. Kai came and spoke to me about it."
Anna started, both surprised and a little not surprised that the AD would have heard the rumor. "And? What did he say?"
Elsa shook her head. "Nothing, really. I explained to him what it was that Kida and I were doing and that there is nothing happening between us…" Even though she was turned around, Anna could tell that Elsa was frowning just by the tone of her voice.
"What's wrong?" She asked quietly, mindful of their location. The door was closed, yeah, but better safe than sorry in their case. Elsa shrugged weakly.
"He said that he's glad I understand and respect the parameters of professionalism between mentor and athlete…" She trailed off again, this time covering her eyes with a hand. Anna wanted badly to hug her girlfriend at that moment, knowing that she was the cause of this shitty feeling. Elsa had a conscience, and a strong one, and it was clear that she felt guilty now that Kai spoke so highly of her. Even though she was indeed breaking those parameters of mentor and athlete.
"I'm sorry, Elsa…I wis-"
"No, Anna," Elsa shook her head firmly and gave the soccer player a bright smile. "I don't wish that anything was different. I feel guilty, but I would not trade you for anything." Elsa looked around quickly before leaning in and pressing her lips to Anna's in a deep kiss. There were no tongues involved, but the kiss radiated love and trust. Anna melted into it, loving the feel and taste of Elsa's sweet lips and lipstick. Their lip lock ended with a light smack.
"Do me a favor and open the door," Elsa whispered as he lips left Anna's. The junior got up and did just that before coming back to the mentee chair and sitting.
"How was practice?" Elsa asked, and her voice had regained that professional mentor tone that she used when talking to students. Nobody would guess at anything more between them if they walked in at right this moment. They had done exactly this so many times now that nobody would ever begin to think that way regardless.
"Running all day. We play Southern Isles in the conference tournament first round next week." She said loudly, projecting enough to make things sound not so private. As if on cue, Anna heard a stomping sound that usually preceded the throwers coming in, and lo and behold, Kristoff and Sven came into the study hall room. The two women spun to smile up at them.
Kristoff and Sven had become Anna's closest friends who were guys on campus. Apart from Idun, she spent most of her time now with them. When she wasn't with Elsa, of course. They ate together a lot, and she and Sven had even taken time to get Kristoff a birthday present together for his birthday about three weeks ago.
"Hey Kristoff, hey Sven," Anna said, offering a short wave. The two throwers waved as well.
"Hey Elsa! What's up Ann-" Kristoff stopped speaking suddenly as his eyes alighted on Anna. His mouth hung open as he stared at her, his finger still point. Anna quirked an eyebrow at him, her eyes narrowed curiously. The larger blonde flicked his eyes between Elsa and Anna several times before he turned and whispered something to Sven. The quiet, dark haired boy looked around his teammate at the two women before his eyes widened.
He stepped around Kristoff and grabbed Anna's arm. "Come with me. Now." He commanded, dragging Anna up from her seat. He was far stronger than her, so she just went along with it, knowing that she would be beating the daylights out of this kid in about a minute. She heard Elsa ask Kristoff if he was alright before she was out of earshot.
Sven dragged her through the Freeze to the auxiliary weight room, a long hall type room where they did core stuff sometimes. He pushed her towards the rear wall, which was covered with a large mirror. She rounded on him, her eyes burning.
"Sven, what the fuck was that all about?" She yelled at him. The thrower ran a hand over his face.
"I can't tell if you're stupid or just ignorant. I have to doubt both, because I don't know how long this has gone on for," He groaned. Anna started to storm past him when he grabbed her arm again and pulled her back. "Look in the mirror!" He snapped.
She begrudgingly looked at herself, letting her arms flop at her sides. "Alright, I did. What's wrong, so I'm dirty? So are you." She grunted. Sven rolled his eyes.
"Is that all you see that's wrong?" The boy said coolly. Anna turned to face him again.
"Sven, what the fuck are you talking about?" She snapped in irritation. The boy sighed before walking up to her and pushing her closer to the mirror.
"Still see nothing wrong?"
"No! I don't see anything wro-"
"Do you usually wear Elsa's lipstick to practice?"
I hope that I will get more time to write for you all, but I cannot say when the next update will come. Enjoy this and look forward to my return!