A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the lateness of this update. Between hitting a temporary writers block, falling sick for a few days and school work getting in the way, it's been tough to get to the computer to write. I hope this chapter makes up for the tardiness.

Special shout out to 2-am-smut and EthanTheRenegade for sticking with me and bouncing ideas around when I couldn't get my thoughts straight. You should totally check out their stuff, it's awesome and endorsed by me lol.

Also! If anyone wants to draw a little sketch or drawing for the story image, I'd be thrilled to use it. Let me know through private message here or Tumblr (my Tumblr is on my profile) if you're interested.

Thanks for the eternal love this story is getting, it means so much you have no idea. And now, here's chapter 8. :)

Sitting in studio a few days later, Elsa tried to focus on the quick approaching deadline for the first part of her senior project. The preliminary design was due next week and Elsa was so far behind she wondered how she would be able to get it finished in time. Especially since every other thought that passed through her mind involved an particular redhead. Hearing the buzzing of her alarm, alerting Elsa it was time to take a break from her already distracted work, Elsa grabbed the device and turning off the do not disturb mode waited a few seconds to see if anyone had tried to contact her. 'Not likely, who would want to…' Elsa stopped her self loathing thought when one, two, THREE messages flashed across the top of her screen in quick succession.

Blinking back her surprise, Elsa opened the messaging app and her surprise only increased when she found two messages from numbers she didn't recognize.

Opening one of the unknown numbers first, Elsa couldn't believe what she was seeing. 'elsa, kristoff. heard you were coming to the game on sat. maybe we got off on the wrong foot freshman year, leave the past in the past?'-k'

'Okay that's weird.' Elsa thought. 'Why would Kristoff suddenly want to be friends?' While he had never joined the other ADT jerks when they teased her, he never tried to stop it positive she was being punked and closed the first message, and opening the second unknown message, Elsa began to wonder what was really going on. The second unknown text made Elsa's brow furrow further in confusion and distrust. "Hi Elsa, Rapunzel, Anna's cousin. Can't wait to meet you at the game on Saturday! Anna's been talking about you non-stop so it'll be nice to put a face to the name. See ya then!"

Suddenly it made sense. Anna. Scrolling through the messages, Elsa opening the remaining text and melted at the redhead's message. "Hey, so my friends are excited to meet you and asked for your number. That okay?" Elsa half smiled to herself. 'She's been talking you up to her friends!' Wondering how best to respond, Elsa decided on her traditional sarcasm, knowing it was usually her best defense.

'Anna, what were you thinking? I'm the Snow Queen. I have a reputation to uphold. How would it look if it got around campus the SQ's chilly exterior was being chipped away.' Hitting send, Elsa chuckled at her message, obviously dripping with sarcasm. Almost unnaturally quick, Elsa's phone buzzed, and glancing down, her heart sank.

'OMG it wasn't okay was it?! OMG I'm so sorry hun! I'll tell them not to text you anymore! You'll still come to the game right?!"

Elsa felt awful. As quickly as possible, the blonde typed back her response, "Anna stop! I'm not mad, total sarcasm. Of course I'm coming to the game, I've been excited for it since you asked me.' It was true, Elsa had been so distracted by the prospect of having social interactions she had neglected so much of her school work to the point that she was now impossibly behind. Feeling her phone buzz on the table, Elsa grabbed the mobile with near superhuman speed and scanning the message, she smiled.

'Lol sorry, I'm really bad with sarcasm, especially over text. Yay you're coming! We'll have fun, I promise.'

'Yeah, I'm sure we will.' Elsa responded, though she wasn't sure she believed her own response.

"OH COME ON REF! HE DIDN'T EVEN HAVE THE PUCK!" Red yelled when the referee threw down his flag on the ice. Sitting down on the bleacher, the ginger adjusted the beanie she had "borrowed" from Kristoff before he had gone into the locker room to get ready. Anna smiled at her friend, glad she had come along. She and Red hadn't had much alone time since the party and it was nice to catch up on their girl time. Red and Kristoff had been spending a lot of time together over the last few days and Anna could tell they weren't far from being official. Rapunzel had brought her new beau along too, and from what Anna had seen of him he seemed charming and totally into her cousin, but there was something off about him Anna couldn't quite pinpoint. She would have to talk to her cousin when they were back in their room that night. Sven was cheering in his own unique way, silently but still enthusiastic and happy. And Olaf, well he was running around like a chicken without its head. Spirit committee had been the best thing to happen to the boy. He had practically organized the entire event, from the bake sale, (Anna had baked her chocolate cake just for the occasion), pep band and even decorated the rink in AU's colors.

Looking towards the door for the millionth time since arriving, Anna was beginning to wonder if she had been stood up. "Lass would you relax? She promised she'd be here didn't she?" Anna looked at the friendly face next to her nodded her head. "Then would you just relax and enjoy the game? We're creaming them and it's only the first quarter." Anna had to admit it, their team really was killing the other team, and Kristoff was having one of the best games of his career. 'You big showoff.' Anna thought to herself watching her friend glide around the ice like a pro.

A buzz from her pocket brought Anna back to reality and diving into her pocket she pulled the device out of her pocket. Smiling like an idiot when she saw who the message was from, Anna opened her phone and read the message eagerly, 'I'm outside the gym. No idea where I'm going lol' Anna smiled and quickly typed back, 'Haha I'm coming.' Jumping up from her seat and half running towards the entrance of the gym, Anna heard friendly teasing from behind her, "Well that girl's got her wrapped around her finger." Anna wasn't sure whom the taunt was intended for, nor did she care.

Crashing through the doors, Anna looked around and her heart stopped. Elsa learned against a marble column looking at her phone. Dressed in dark skinny jeans and a light weight sweater that hugged her curves in all the right ways, Anna was sure the blonde was the most beautiful person she'd ever seen. As if feeling the redheads gaze, Elsa turned around and smiled at the girl. Looking at the younger girls choice of clothing, Elsa had to laugh. "What's up shortie? We expecting a blizzard?"

Anna, breaking free from her trance, tried desperately to think of a response that wouldn't make her sound like a complete idiot. "No, but I'd rather not freeze my butt off like someone might." Obviously Elsa hadn't gotten the memo that this was an ice hockey game and the rink would be freezing. Elsa laughed and approaching Anna replied coyly, "The cold never bothered me, I keep my air conditioner on year round. I live for the cold." The taller girl smiled slyly, "Plus, it makes this so much more entertaining." Reaching out with almost lightening speed, Elsa put a cool hand on Anna's cheek and chucked as the redhead jumped at the sudden drop in temperature to her face. Grabbing the frigid hand, Anna gasped at the chilly temperature she encountered. "Hot damn girl, you weren't kidding." Before she could stop herself, Anna started rubbing the frigid hand between her own warm ones. When Anna was satisfied the hand was a more normal temperature, she looked up at the hands owner who had turned a deep shade of pink. Anna smiled and grabbed the hand tighter, dragging the girl inside. "Come on, you're buying me a hot chocolate to make up for lowering the temperature of my face by 10 degrees."

'Okay, keep it together,' Elsa chanted to herself as Anna led her towards the large group of people on the other end of the bleachers. 'These are Anna's friends. If they're good enough for her then you can give them a chance.' Approaching the group, Elsa felt the temperature in her hands drop even further, a clear sign she was nervous. Anna must have noticed because she gave the hand in hers a reassuring squeeze as the pair approached the group. Anna pulled Elsa close against her body, almost sensing the blonde's urges to run. "Everyone, this is Elsa. Elsa this is Rapunzel, Flynn, Red, Sven and…" Anna stopped when a flash of white and brown rushed past her and enveloped the surprised blonde in a big hug. "…and that's Olaf." The boy looked up at the shocked woman and happily chirped, "I like warm hugs. Wow you're really pretty, just like Anna said. Oh look, the pep band is getting ready to play!" And with that, the boy bounced away leaving Elsa dazed and shocked. The group smiled and awkwardly expressed their own greetings. Elsa squeaked out a greeting as she felt a tug on her arm. Anna sat down and patted the seat next to her indicating Elsa to sit next to her. Sitting on the bench, Elsa felt Anna hug her arm close as she snuggled up to the blonde. Elsa felt her face flush and refusing to take her eyes off the game, squirmed uncomfortably in her seat.

"So Elsa," the blonde jumped at the sound of her name and turned to see where the voice had come from. The girl Anna had introduced as Rapunzel smiled sweetly and continued her question. "Anna's told us so much about you! You're an MST fan?" Elsa nodded shyly and that seemed to be enough to send Rapunzel into a rant on how good the band was. Elsa wasn't sure what to do, should try to interact with the blabbering blonde or just let her talk? A friendly accented voice whispered in her ear, "Just let the lass go, she'll stop eventually." Elsa turned her head to see blue/green eyes staring into her own ice blue. Jumping over the bleacher bench and sitting on the opposite side of Elsa, Red extended her hand towards the clearly nervous girl. "We weren't properly introduced the other night. I'm Red." Elsa smiled nervously and took the redheads hand. "So you're the vice president of LIG, eh? How did that happen?"

Elsa sighed. "Firstly, it wasn't my idea. Belle wanted to be president since she was a freshman and as awesome as she is, she didn't like many of the other girls enough to run the sorority with. We were roommates freshman year and were really close, almost inseparable. When nominations were due she put my name in and somehow I won." Elsa laughed. "I still have no idea how that happened, I'm not exactly what you'd call a people person." Red chuckled, "I don't know why not. I mean, you're nice, obviously smart if survived architecture for four years and," Red indicated to Anna who was clinging onto Elsa's arm happily watching the game. "if this one likes you, you must be have a great personality." Elsa blushed. She wasn't used to being complimented, or accepted by people so quickly. A squeeze on her arm let Elsa know Anna agreed with what Red had said. Smiling up at the older girl, Anna pressed a light kiss on Elsa's cheek and smiled when the blonde blushed for what seemed like the hundredth time since arriving.

The next hour was spent getting to know Elsa through a series of embarrassing and personal questions, cheering when something exciting happened during the game and heckling the opposite side when they started talking smack about AU's mascot. "Ya know, I don't know whose brilliant idea it was to make a university mascot a Snowflake," Anna said after one particularly nasty comment. "I mean, it's not very intimidating. I mean, who'd be scared of a Snowflake when your mascot is a dragon or griffon or something." The group had to agree, their mascot may have been weak, but what they lacked in fierceness, their team was certainly making up for in skill on the ice.

When the game ended an hour or so later, the AU Snowflakes victorious over the Weselton Weasels, the group made their way towards the locker room to wait for Kristoff to come out. Elsa couldn't remember the last time she had so much fun, or the last time she had felt so included. Anna had kept her promise, her friends were amazing and they had accepted her with open arms into their little family. When Kristoff emerged from the locker room, he greeted each member of the group in their own special way. When he got to Elsa, he timidly extended his hand and said, "So what do you say Elsa? I know we didn't start off on good terms, how about we end on them?" Elsa looked into the mans light brown eyes intensely. Seeing no signs of deception, Elsa smiled and took the burly man's hand and was surprised when she found herself enveloped in the biggest and most comforting bear hug she had ever experienced. Breaking free, Anna began moving towards her friend, but stopped short and plugging her nose exclaimed, "Oh dude, you stink! No way am I hugging you!" The group laughed as Kristoff began chasing Anna around the rink. Kristoff was fast but Anna was faster as she dodged one attempted grab and ran behind Elsa, using her as a human shield. This didn't seem to stop Kristoff because he grabbed them both in his big bear arms and swung them around as if they were weightless.

Setting the girls down, Kristoff reached for Red's hand and the group headed towards the exit when they heard a voice that made Kristoff and Sven turn on their heels. "Well, well, well, look who's out of her Ice Palace." Anna looked at Elsa with worried eyes. The older girl had obviously thrown up her mental shields because her eyes had glazed over and the grip she had on Anna's hand was all but bone crushing. Turning around, the group saw two guys from ADT looking at the group, but mostly at Elsa. One had pale skin with shaggy dark hair, the other was pale with shoulder length yellow hair. Almost instinctively, Anna stepped in front of Elsa and the others followed, surrounding the girls protectively. Elsa couldn't believe it, 'They just met you a few hours ago and now they're standing up for you. This must be what it's like to have friends'

Kristoff stepped forward, Sven following his friend, a look of pure rage on his face. "Eric, J.S. chill. This is going to stop. Now. She never did anything to you, and it's cruel." The intensity in Kristoff's statement and Sven's enraged expression visibly shocked the boys who stammered their apologies to their superiors, who cut them off mid sentence. "Not us." The boys looked at each other, then looked at Elsa. "Sorry Sno…I mean Elsa." Kristoff must have sent a warning glance because the boys changed their apology mid-sentence. Looking at Elsa tentatively, Kristoff took the stunned look on the woman's face as a sign she accepted, or at least understood the boys apology because he looked fiercely at the scared young men who took off in the opposite direction from where the small group stood. Turning to look at Elsa, the girl stood frozen where she stood.

'What the hell just happened?'

Backing away from the group, Elsa looked from one face to another, each one staring at her with nothing but her well being in mind. Elsa's eyes rested on Anna's. The teal eyes Elsa loved so much were filled with concern and love, almost overflowing with tears. Anna took a step towards Elsa, reaching out her hand reassuringly. "Elsa, it's okay. They're gone now." Elsa wanted to believe the redhead's words, and a part of her did. No one had stood up for her in years, and here she was being defended for the second time in a week. But years of teasing flooded the girl's tormented mind and her instincts kicked in.

"Thanks for a great afternoon."

It was all Elsa could say. Her baser instincts kicked in and Elsa found herself sprinting towards the doors of the gym. Bursting through the doors, Elsa faintly heard Anna calling her name, and heard the doors slam against the girl as she forced them open, staring after the running girl. She didn't know where she was going, but her feet instinctively took her to the one place she always felt safe. Expertly skipping the uneven steps two at a time Elsa ran into the large building towards her studio. Reaching the door after what seemed like an eternity, Elsa slammed the door closed, locked it and slid down the smooth wooden door. Feeling her phone buzz in her pocket, Elsa knew exactly who it was. Taking the device out of her pocket, Elsa tossed it across the room, letting her voicemail take the call. Pulling her knees up to her chest and crossing her arms around the curled limbs, Elsa put her head down on her knees and began to sob.

"I'm sorry Anna."