"Chess club? You're joking, right?"
Elsa pauses from stuffing papers into her bag to look at the senior in front of her. He is smiling, not the mocking one, but the sincere one.
Tadashi raises an eyebrow and says, "It's good to step out from what you're used to, right?"
Elsa resumes her task at hand. "But chess... that's too.." she says, unable to finish.
She doesn't have to as Tadashi clips in, "What? Boring? Nerdy? Sure, in some ways, it kinda is". He hisses at his own words.
Before she could reply, he continues, "Anyway, you should give it a shot. I'm glad I did. Besides, I know how good you were at chess".
"El~ Elsa~ Elsa!"
Anna's booming voice wake Elsa up from her reverie. "Sorry, I was.. thinking," she says, earning her a suspicious glare from the redheaded girl. Before Anna can press her for details, Elsa turn the tables on her sister.
"So.. I heard a rumor at practice yesterday. What's up with you and that football guy?" teases Elsa. She wiggles her eyebrows to add more effect. This manages to make the always talkative Anna tongue-tied. On top of that, she is blushing! Like, her whole face turns into a shade of her hair. How Elsa wishes Rapunzel is here to witness this.
"Come on, Anna. Tell me about it," says Elsa, having fun making her sister blush.
"We're just friends. You shouldn't listen to rumors," says Anna. Too quickly.
Elsa chuckles. "Whatever you say, little sis," she says.
Elsa scans the cafeteria for familliar faces and almost immediately, detects Rapunzel and Astrid at their usual table, along with some of the other cheerleaders. Seeing as how Astrid is one of Elsa's closest friend, one might think she is a fellow cheerleader. But, she is not. Instead, she is one of the schools's star athlete. Elsa and Astrid met back during the first day of high school and since then, the two of them plus Rapunzel have been a team.
Furthermore, Astrid could not be bothered about the cheerleader and jock rivalry thing and that is why she still sits with the cheerleaders during lunch. It has got nothing to do with her, nor her teams, after all. That is one of the things Elsa learned from her friend. How she can be unbothered about something and continue on with life peacefully. This gives Elsa an idea. Maybe Astrid can help her with reuniting the teams. She makes a mental note to talk to her friend about it some time.
As they join everyone at the table, Anna immediately returns into her usual perky self. A girl should not make herself suspicious, amirite. "Hey girls. Tell me the hottest tea!"
"Have you heard that Tiana just opens her own bakery? Like, girl is only 16 but got her own shop!" says a girl from the cheerleader team.
"Oh my gosh, we really have to stop by," says Rapunzel, getting 'yeah's from the other girls.
"Oh, and you know Jack from the soccer team, heard he broke up," says another girl.
"What? Who is the girl again? They have been together for a year, right?" asks Elsa. Man, she thought they would last forever.
"Two, if you count this year. Her name is Toothi-something and I think she was his best friend before she confessed at the end of freshman year," says Astrid. The girls' attentions all turn to her. It is quite a rare thing for Astrid to openly show interest in a gossip.
"What? Hiccup talks a lot," she says, turning her attention back to her lunch.
Speak of the devil, Elsa spots Hiccup and his team walk into the cafeteria. She nudges Astrid with her elbow. "Speaking of.. why don't you ask him to join us?"
Astrid looks at her weird, to which Elsa just shrugs. Why not, right? Better start now if she wants them to be friends again. The blonde grins before calling out to the brunette boy, loud enough for the whole cafeteria to listen, "Hey Hiccup! Come and join us!"
"So ladies, why the sudden invite?" says Hiccup as he takes a seat at the table. "And I hope you don't mind me bringing along the team".
Turns out, the boys are as hardcore gossipers as the girls. And because of that, they get along easily. By the time Jack arrives (a few minutes later), you will think they have been hanging out since forever.
Elsa watches as Jack Frost greets his friends and the girls. Honestly, Elsa have always liked looking at him, though she will never let anyone know that. Last thing she wants is a rumor that she likes the soccer team co-captain. He is good-looking, though and that she cannot deny. Okay, maybe she used to have a little crush on him back then, before he got with Tooth and they became the cutest couple at school. But they are not together now...
Snap out of it! Elsa reprimands herself. She should not be thinking weird thoughts, not right now when they are many other important things that need her attention.
Jack then takes a seat before he too then asks the same thing Hiccup did and like before, Elsa's only answer is, "why not?", and a smile. Little does she know that her smile kills him.
Every Thursdays are Club Days and each club have to have a meeting after school session for at least two times a week. Thursday is a must for all, and every club must choose one other day from the week to hold another meeting. For the chess club, the meetings are set on Mondays and Thusrdays. Since Elsa had cheer tryouts last Monday, she only dropped by to tell Tadashi that she will be joining before going to the gym and thus, today will be her first time officially joining the club.
Elsa is very nervous, and that is why she is currently pacing in front of the club room instead of getting in. To her embarassment, Tadashi found her looking all restless outside. He laughs at her useless worries before ushering her inside. "Hey guys, look who I found outside!" he says as they are both inside, announcing their arrival to the other club members.
All eyes turn to her, some excited to see a new face but mostly are openly judging. One girl with red frizzy hair speaks up, "I asked this once, and I'm asking this again. Why is she here?"
Before Elsa can say anything to back herself up, a lanky girl with long strawberry blonde hair comes up to her and give her a one-armed hug. Elsa recognizes as one of the seniors that always surround Tadashi. "To play chess, of course!" she says cheerily.
Without giving Elsa any time to react, she adds, "Now, come one Elsa. I'll introduce you to everyone".
Elsa makes a mental note to at least recognize half of the people in the club. So, there is Merida, the outspoken girl who joins the club because the archery club was full. Belle, with her novels that she brings along everywhere she goes. Violet, a freshman who joins the club to accompany her friend, Mavis. Mavis, a happy-go-lucky goth wannabee. Judy Hopps, who she recognizes as one of her drama club member in freshman year. Wasabi, another one of the super smart senior who has a somewhat mild OCD. Ace Cluck, with his green-rimmed glasses. Then there is Tadashi of course and the overly cheery girl, Honey Lemon. That makes half of the club. She can get to know the other half another day. Who would have thought a chess club can have so many people.
After the introductions, which Elsa kind of got distracted after a while, she is sent into a game against Mavis, much to the latter's annoyance. Elsa refuses, saying she does not play but Honey insistes and so, Elsa relents. Mavis does not even bother to hide her distaste, grumbling incoherences throughout the game. Elsa decides to ignore her and shifts her attention to her phone when it is not her turn to move. Unbeknownst to the blonde, that only irks Mavis more. "If you rather be somewhere else, why be here at all?!" she says suddenly, slamming her palms on the table before getting up and head out.
Elsa is left feeling confused as ever. Thankfully, Judy hops in to the rescue by inviting Elsa for a round of chess. Seeing no harm in accepting, she sit herself on the empty chair opposite the small girl. Judy is a talkative person and thanks to Anna, Elsa have lots of experience dealing with them. They talk about the play they put on during Elsa's first year. Judy was the lead and Elsa was one of the supporting characters. She also happened to be Judy's understudy. Judy expresses her sorry that the drama club is no more. She is actually looking forward to this year's play. Her stage days are over but her love for their school play never fades.
After Judy (Elsa wins the game, by the way), Elsa is thrown into another game and this time, against Tadashi. It is a casual game but Elsa's competitive nature will not let her get trampled by the senior. Tadashi notices the air around Elsa and honestly, he is glad to see it. To ease the mood, he starts a conversation with her. He asks her of her opinion on the club (which she claims it is too early to say). The conversation turns from focusing on the club to a more general one, talking about the issues and rumors around the school.
It has been two weeks since Elsa joined Chess Club. The other members starts to warm up to her after they see her competence in a game of chess. Mavis had apologized for her outburst at the next meeting. She just had an extremely awful day and she could not handle it. Elsa told her to not mind it because she herself had had a few outbursts before. Just ask the girls on the cheer squad. Speaking of cheer, Elsa also learned that Violet is very flexible and she encouraged her to go to the second tryouts.
Elsa starts to think that not everyone in the club are nerds (there are more nerdier clubs) and maybe, she can survive chess club after all.
Writer's note:
First off, thanks for reading and reviewing. Really appreciate the comments. I have not written fiction for so long that my wordings may get a bit confusing. Sozz
Anyway, just a heads up. This fic isn't centered on the club so there might be scenes when the club is not mentioned at all. Oh, and there's gonna be more Jelsa once Jack joins the club too eheh.