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Chapter One
Anna was eleven years old when the Arendelles came to live next door.
In a town this size, the arrival of new people was of great importance. Everyone heard about the new arrivals months before they arrived. The house next door underwent extensive renovation, with workers swarming all over the place every day. At times it would be terribly noisy, with all the drilling and banging going on, but Anna's family took it all in stride. Anna's father met Adgar Arendelle himself when the man came over to look at the house, and declared the man as a down-to-Earth, amicable person. Kai Anderson was surprised; he had thought the founder of the prestigious Arendelle Corp would be a hard man. Why was the top man of such a huge company be coming to live in a small town like theirs anyway?
Anna's main concern was – would there be kids? On her other side were the Bjordmans; Kristoff was her age and her best friend. She had friends all over the neighborhood - Flynn, the younger Westergaard brothers, Merida and Ralph; but it was always good to meet new ones. She would have so much to show a new friend! The best fishing spots along the lake. The swallow cove in which the gang had gone skinny dipping just that summer. There was the tree house her father had built for them in her backyard. Oh there was so much to share!
It was winter when the moving vans turned up the Arendelles' new driveway. Anna, who was engaged in a furious snowball fight with Kristoff and Merida, was immediately distracted and paid dearly for her moment of inattention when Merida grabbed her by her jacket and shoved a fistful of snow down the back of her shirt.
Anna screeched like a banshee and picked up the shovel she was supposed to be using to clear the driveway, heaved up a shovelful of snow and flipped it in Merida's direction. The other girl ducked, and the snow splattered all over the front of the dainty little girl who had just climbed out of the Arendelles' family car.
Such was the first impression Anna had of Elsa Arendelle. Really pretty with white blond hair, large terrified eyes, so pale that she could have rivaled the color of the snow slushing down her front.
"C'mon Blondie! Anna 'ere just invited you to a snowball fight!" Merida called out, grinning. Anna elbowed her to get her to shut up.
"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to throw that snow. Well I did mean it, but I meant it for Merida here! Not you!" the emergence of an elegantly clad lady from the same car shut her up. The lady could only be the girl's mother, they looked so much alike. The man who got out from the other side must be the father. The grownups were frowning, and Anna wanted the ground to swallow her for making such an awful impression on her new neighbors. Great! Now they might not let her play with Blondie at all!
"You must be the Arendelles!" Merida, forever the Fearless, grinned toothily at them. "I'm Merida Dunbroch, from two houses down. This 'ere is Kristoff, Anna's other neighbor. Please to meet you!"
The Arendelles didn't seem pleased to meet them, the grownups were still frowning, but it was the girl's reaction that really confused Anna. The blond girl backed a step, and another until her back was against the car. The man reached out to her. "Elsa…"
With a gasp the girl called Elsa turned and fled into the house. On cue, it started snowing again. In the sudden cold, all Anna could think of was – so much for making a new friend.
Gerda, being Gerda, went over to welcome the new neighbors with a big batch of cookies. Anna, who normally would have jumped at the chance of visiting new people, stayed nervously in the house to wait for her mother's return. A shovelful of snow should have meant simply an invitation to a snowball fight and a fierce desire to win that fight, not causing that terror on the girl's face, not scaring her into running.
What had Anna done?
She face-planted onto her bed and gave a loud groan as the book she had brought to bed with her for some light reading the night before dug into her. Without looking up, she groped for the book, aimed it in the direction of her study desk, and let it fly. The hardcover thudded loudly against the balcony door instead of landing on her desk.
Her room was the only room with a small balcony. And as she got up reluctantly to fetch the book, she saw her. The house next door had a balcony too, facing hers, and standing at the rails, wearing nothing but a t-shirt and jeans, was the Elsa girl. And she was crying; hands gripping her elbows, head bowed, tears trekking silent trails down her cheeks as her bunched shoulders shook.
Anna's soft heart simply melted. She pulled open her balcony door and stepped outside. It was quiet out, the snow falling gently, silently, landing in their hair, on their clothes.
"I'm really sorry for what happened just now." Anna said quietly as Elsa looked at her, the fear bright in her eyes. "I hope I didn't hurt you. I really want to be your friend."
Elsa backed slowly away in the sudden wind that picked up. "I… I'm sorry. I can't be your friend."
The words would have hurt badly, had Elsa not looked so broken and sad about it. Something was not right. Did Elsa's parents forbid them to be friends?
"I'm Anna. I know your name is Elsa. And it's okay if you can't be my friend, I'll be yours." She said with determination, before Elsa closed her bedroom door behind her.
Kristoff thought it was a futile idea, Merida thought it was Anna's saving-people-thing acting up again, but Anna was determined to be Elsa's friend. Elsa didn't go to school, apparently –Gerda said the Arendelles were homeschooling her – but that did not deter Anna. It took her only her entire Math class to come up with a plan. If Elsa's parents did not want her to befriend Anna, then Anna must win them over. First, she would apologize for her behavior the day before, show them that she was – most of the time – the polite, demure little girl her parents had taught her to be.
After school saw Anna on the Arendelles' doorstep, ringing the bell smartly. Her apology was polite and very sophisticated, and Mrs. Arendelle, who answered the bell, was very nice about it all. But when Anna asked to play with Elsa, she was told the other girl was busy with her work, and could not come to the door.
Well, that was that.
Step two, show her goodwill. To Gerda's surprise, her daughter suddenly started showing a great interest in baking – cakes, cookies, pies – the failures were many, and twice the fire alarm went off; the success -an apple pie, the cake and cookies all failed - was taken over to the Arendelles by a very determined Anna. Mr. and Mrs. Arendelle were appropriately touched and thankful – but Elsa was busy with her music and couldn't come out to play.
Anna figured she wouldn't be too busy to read letters, and thus began the letter-writing. Her first letter went something like this:
Dear Elsa,
I'm Anna, your neighbor, the girl who accidentally threw snow all over you. I still want to be friends.
Do you want to build a snowman?
Yours sincerely,
Anna from next door
She had her mother proofread it before dropping it into the Arendelles' mailbox in an envelope that spelled out PROPERTY OF ELSA ARENDELLE.
There was no reply in the form of Elsa Arendelle magically emerging in her front yard the next day when Anna got home from school. Elsa did not emerge even after Anna had built a line of ten snowmen in the Andersons' yard, hoping that her neighbor would see her from a window and be tempted to join her.
Her second letter went like this.
Dear Elsa,
I don't know if you got my last letter. Anyway, if you don't want to build a snowman, that's okay! How about we meet up at the balconies? We can talk that way, it'll be really cool!
Anna from next door
She waited for Elsa for the next few days, but the Arendelle balcony doors remained stubbornly closed. Anna thought it was probably due to the weather. The winds were brutal those few days and there was even hail one particular evening when Anna decided to make up a song to sing at Elsa over the balcony.
Do you want to build a snowman? C'mon let's go and play! I never see you anymore, come out the door, it's like you've gone away!
That was as far as Anna got to before the hailstorm started and she had to go back inside.
Dear Elsa,
Hope you're well and enjoying yourself here in River's End. You should totally go check out the toy store up on High Street. Old Man Forrest hand carves most of the wooden toys there while his wife paints them. I don't know if you see handmade toys often in the city, but it's worth a look!
Anna from next door
As the letters continued with no response from Elsa, even Anna's enthusiasm was dwindling. The only proof that Elsa was not a mere figment of Anna's imagination was the sound of someone practicing the piano that could be heard regularly at 4 p.m. every single day. Merida made up her own theories of how Elsa Arendelle was a rich stuck up who looked down her nose at everyone. Kristoff's theory was that Elsa just did not like people and wanted to be alone. Anna knew they were both wrong – Merida didn't see how sad Elsa had been that day on the balcony, and Kristoff was just plain wrong because no one wants to be alone – but even she felt like giving up.
Christmas was around the corner now, and the town was bustling with activities. Forrest Toy Store put up a tantalizing discount sign in its window, as did almost every other store. Gifts were bought and discussed over meals - Ben Westergaard came in for a limited edition Rolex yesterday, should be for that oldest boy in Harvard! – decorations lit up the houses, the shops, overflowing into the streets in typical River's End fashion. It was Anna's favorite season, and she had already bought gifts for her friends with her own money.
Everyone's, except for Elsa's. The Arendelles were coming for Christmas dinner. Anna never had company coming over for Christmas dinner before. She was simultaneously elated and apprehensive. For Elsa was coming, her attendance being promised by her own parents; and Anna could not wait. But she had no idea what to get –and indeed, if she should go to all the trouble to get – for Elsa. She had no idea what Elsa liked or disliked. Well, if her neighbor had bothered to talk to her, even if it was just once, she might have an idea. Anna thought unhappily. But she remembered how sad Elsa had looked, and with renewed determination walked into the toy store with the money she had saved up over the years running errands around the neighborhood and from her pocket money.
The treble clef charm necklace caught her eye. It was the single most expensive thing eleven-year-old Anna had ever seen. She walked around the shop three times but nothing else caught her eye. In the end, she left Forrest's leaving all her hard-earned cash inside and the necklace in her bag.
Elsa Arendelle was just as pretty, just as shy when she stepped over the threshold of the Andersons' house. Adgar and Idun Arendelle exchanged greetings with Anna's parents and Anna, Elsa stood a little to the side, smiling bashfully, gloved fingers firmly laced together behind her back. She took off her coat, but opted to keep her gloves on, they were nice gloves too, thin ones that offered not much protection from the cold outside, but dazzling white and sophisticated-looking.
Dinner was a too quiet and polite for Anna's taste, but it was okay. Elsa's parents were soft-spoken and – when they let down their guard some and started to flow with the conversation – well-read and had a great sense of humor. Their gazes when settling on their daughter were warm, smiles at her were encouraging and loving, so they were not the monster parents Anna had kind of thought they were.
Elsa was… a little odd. She wore the gloves at the dining table, and seemed very far removed from everyone as she focused very very hard on her food, taking great care and time to slowly cut up her meat and chewing. She was the picture of sophisticated grace, and Anna felt like a peasant in her presence. It did not help that Elsa seemed determined to ignore her.
When dinner was over they retired to the couch in the living room. The grownups made small talk with each other, while Elsa sat primly at the side, hands clasped between her knees. Anna sat near the fireplace, and had just about enough of being ignored. She sat, and stared hard at Elsa's bent head, willing the other girl to look up at her.
At last, Elsa looked up. Her eyes were a pretty blue, and wide with fear. Anna smiled instinctively, wanting to soothe. Shyly, she lifted up the wrapped gift containing the necklace to Elsa. "Here. I got you something for Christmas."
For a moment Elsa just sat and stared at her, and Anna wondered if she had done anything wrong. The grownups ceased their conversation, focusing on them instead. "Elsa. Go on." Mrs. Arendelle said gently, giving her daughter an encouraging smile.
Elsa leapt up from the couch, taking everybody by surprise. Anna's heart sank, thinking Elsa was about to run out of the door, but the other girl stood and wrung her hands together nervously, and spoke for the very first time that night. "I… may I go back home to… get something? I have…" and here she looked at Anna and smiled tentatively, and it was the prettiest smile Anna had ever seen on anyone. "I have something for you too."
Mr. and Mrs. Arendelle seemed delighted. "Of course, honey."
Elsa came back with a wrapped gift, and they girls shyly exchanged them. Anna's was a stuffed snowman, and she named it Olaf, who would sleep with her every night for years to come. Elsa was delighted and touched by the treble clef necklace, and wore it every day.
And the two girls became the best of friends.