Mornings were usually a rush of kids crowding the bathrooms to get ready, swallowing down trays of food in the speed of light, and storming up and down the corridors before the ringing of the first bell. Weekends, on the other hand, were generally more tranquil. Most kids liked to sleep in, and the whole campus was a lot quieter on the days off.
Taking advantage of the empty cafeteria, Elsa indulged in her morning tea, appreciating the calmness of the after-party morning as the delicate scent of hibiscus and honey filled her nostrils. She had barely taken a few sips of her beverage when Astrid stormed inside in her gym clothes, duffle bag slung over one shoulder, damp hair in a ponytail, and a 'don't talk to me' aura full on. Elsa waved at her friend and waited for Astrid to reach her table.
"Hey, El." Astrid dropped her plate on the table and took the seat across from Elsa's.
The platinum blonde smiled. "Morning. You're up early."
"Felt like punching something," Astrid grumbled as she destroyed a piece of bacon with her teeth.
Elsa hummed but shared no other comment. She had hoped she'd be able to talk to Astrid the night before, but by the time Elsa had returned to their room, Astrid had already fallen asleep—or at least, she pretended to have done so. Even in the morning, Astrid had been the first one to wake up, startling Elsa awake with the shutting door, and leaving the latter with no other choice but to patiently wait for their next encounter.
If previous night's happenings weren't enough to concern her already, there the girl was, openly admitting her desire to continue to cause others harm. Though Elsa had to admit, the fact that Astrid had settled for inanimated objects this time was a good thing.
"You missed the big Halloween prank last night," Elsa commented casually.
"The booze thing?" Astrid asked.
Elsa shook her head. "No, that was a different matter. Let's just say that Frost and his wolf pack had a secret agenda not even I was aware of…"
Astrid snorted. "What, they TP-ed North's office?"
"They summoned nefarious spirits to the party hall."
Elsa's words made Astrid choke on her food, and the latter had to chug down her entire glass of juice to stop the uncontrollable coughs that the statement had erupted.
"They what?"
"They rigged the light and sound systems and used their makeshift hologram projector to make it look like ghosts were joining the party." Elsa sighed. "That's what happens when those idiots have access to expensive toys, I suppose."
"Tell me they were caught," Astrid grumbled, her fork ferociously slicing through her pancakes and screeching deafeningly against her plate.
Elsa flinched at the noise, then took another sip of tea. "They're supposed to be cleaning the hall right now."
"Serves them right."
Elsa took a moment to watch her friend as a million questions flooded her mind: Are you alright? Did something happen last night? Why didn't you come back from your rounds? What have those poor pancakes ever done to you to deserve such a terrible ending? Why did you punch Jack?
"Why did you punch Jack?"
…And she went with the last one.
Elsa watched as Astrid recoiled like a child caught with her hands in the cookie jar right before dinner.
"That was kind of an accident, actually," Astrid mumbled, slumping down on her seat.
Elsa narrowed her eyes. "You tripped over and your fist just accidentally landed on his eye? I may not know much about fighting, but I'm pretty sure that's not a thing that happens, ever."
Astrid snorted. "Okay, so the punching itself wasn't an accident. But I didn't mean to. It was just… bad timing, I guess."
"He said he pushed your buttons."
Astrid narrowed her eyes and stared at her fork almost as if she was trying to bend it with her mind. "In a way, I guess. But he was also trying to… be supportive? I don't know, Frost convinced me to go to that stupid ghost house, and Hiccup— and this girl —I was in a bad mood already, and I just… snapped. Can we not talk about it right now?"
"Sure." Elsa nodded, taking in her friend's confession. The fragmented information Astrid had shared only increased the unanswered questions in the back of Elsa's mind, but one simple look at Astrid sufficed to tell her that it wasn't the time for a confrontation. Checking the time on her phone, she quickly devised a new plan. "You know what? Come with me today."
Astrid stared at her with confusion. "What? Where?"
Elsa picked up her tray and stood up. "You'll see. Go change and meet me at the B entrance in twenty."
Dressed in a clean T-shirt and jeans, Astrid followed Elsa as they made their way to the service gate, and she couldn't help but wonder what kind of ominous plans Elsa had reserved for them.
"Are you clueing me in on whatever we're doing or what?"
Elsa hummed. "Let's just say that we're going out on a bit of field adventure today."
"That explained shit, Elsa."
Elsa chuckled, shaking her head. "Oh, ye of little faith. I don't know about you, but I could use some healthy change of pace. And we have the perfect opportunity for that at our hands."
They stopped by the security booth, and Elsa leaned on the window, smiling at the security guard inside.
"Hi, Sandy," Elsa said, and the man waved back at her with his hat. Elsa pointed at the other girl and continued, "Astrid will be coming with me if that's okay."
Sandy nodded and handed the girls a clipboard. Elsa wrote down both of their names and passed it back to him.
"Thanks. See you later, Sandy."
She waved the man goodbye as he opened the gate, and Astrid followed dumbstruck. She didn't know which one was greater: her curiosity at the unexpected acquaintanceship between Elsa and the school's doorman, or her annoyance at still being kept out of the loop.
Elsa led them to a white van parked just outside, and they were halfway there when Astrid finally snapped. She threw her arms in the air and snarled, "Okay, what the hell is going on? Who—who was that guy?" She gestured back at the security booth. "How did you know him? And where the fuck are we going?"
Elsa stopped so she could face the other girl. She smiled patiently as she started explaining, "That was Sandy, part of the school's security staff. I got to know him because he's usually the one who lets me out—"
"Why are you sneaking out of school again?"
Elsa frowned. "I'm not sneaking out. The Academy has a voluntary program that works out of campus once every month, and I participate in that program. We usually go to the local hospital and help in the pediatric wing."
"That… sounds kinda awesome, actually."
Elsa looked at the other girl and gave her a warm smile. "I'm glad you think that way."
They reached the van, and Elsa slid the door open, revealing a group of students inside.
"Good morning, everyone," Elsa greeted. "This is Astrid, she's in the Student Council with me, and I recruited her to help us today. Astrid, you've probably seen them before, these are Kari, Fishlegs, and the one in the front is—"
"The name is Fred. School mascot by day, and by night… also school mascot. Enchanté." He leaned over the front seat and held out a hand for her.
"... Likewise," Astrid said, shaking his hand.
The girls hopped inside the van, and Astrid asked, "So what exactly do you do?"
"We help the hospital nurses organizing some activities with the children," Elsa explained.
"What kind of activities?"
"Oh, we do all sorts of things!" an overly-excited girl, Kari, Astrid remembered, jumped into their conversation. "We had scavenger hunts, reading sessions, singing sessions, art and DIY workshops, we even had a magic show one time."
Astrid nodded. "Cool." She looked around as if expecting something to happen. "What are we waiting for?"
"We're waiting for the H-man," Fred informed, then he snapped his fingers and pointed at the opening passenger seat. "There he is."
Astrid discreetly nudged Elsa's arm, and with an arched eyebrow, she whispered, "H-man?"
Her friend simply smiled in response, and Astrid almost jumped in surprise as she recognized the person climbing inside the van. Apparently, the day was not out of surprises just yet.
"Hiro is the H-man?" Astrid hissed.
"Hey, sorry I'm late," Hiro said. "Cleaning took longer than expected. Fucking North was brutal making us clean that entire place by ourselves—" He looked at the back of the car, and he immediately stopped as he spotted Astrid. "Uh, what are you doing here?"
Astrid crossed her arms and glared at the boy. "What am I doing here? What are you doing here?" She looked at Elsa. "What is he doing here?"
"He's actually the team's leader," Elsa informed. "We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him."
From the corner of her eyes, Astrid watched as Hiro pulled his hoodie over his head and slowly sank on his seat.
"It's actually because of my brother," Hiro muttered as he played with the radio's frequency. "He's working with the hospital for some project in his university, and he volunteered me to assist him."
"You remember Tadashi, right?" Elsa asked.
Astrid nodded.
"Well, he's got into the robotics engineering program at the San Fronsokyo Institute of Technology."
"Yeah, and he's building a robot," Fred added.
"Baymax isn't just a robot," Fishlegs protested indignantly. "It's the future of the medical industry!"
Hiro groaned, shaking his head. "Yeah, yeah, Tadashi is brilliant. Born leader, nice guy to the core, honor alumni, philanthropic bastard…"
As Hiro continued to grumble, Astrid turned to Elsa to ask, "And how did this dream team come to be again?"
"Tadashi needed data for his project, and the hospital needed volunteers, so he came up with this idea to get students from the Academy involved. Hiro's been the bridge between us and his brother since."
Astrid snorted, leaning back on her seat and finally allowing her shoulders to relax some. "Wait, you're telling me Hiro 'Only Cares About Himself' Hamada is actually a volunteering kind of guy?"
"I heard that!" Hiro shouted from over his shoulder. "And if you don't want me snooping through your digital life, you're gonna keep your mouth shut, Hofferson. One word and you're dead!"
"Don't worry, asshole, your dirty little secret is safe with me."
"One word, Hofferson. One fucking word..."
As they reached the hospital's parking lot, the volunteering team took a moment to run through the day's schedule one last time, and Astrid sat to the side, watching the meeting in awe. They proceeded so habitually with their tasks that they almost made the job look easy. Elsa asked for Astrid's help to carry some supplies inside and the latter promptly rose to action. The girls carried a cardboard box each, and Elsa explained that the assortment of clothes, books, and toys were donations they had gathered for the children in there.
"Where did you guys get all this stuff?" Astrid asked, peeking inside her box.
"Some sort of benefactors," Elsa replied. "North has a list of prominent contacts he calls whenever he thinks we need help."
"How convenient."
Elsa chuckled. "Sure is. We also collect donations from door to door every start of the new term."
Astrid hummed with interest. "So how come you never told anyone about this gig?"
"We're still beta testing the whole thing," the platinum blonde explained. "And it's not like we can go advertising that we're receiving special treatment. I mean, can you imagine what people would do if they found out that there were ways to sneak out of school without getting in trouble?"
"You can say Frost's name, Elsa."
"Yeah, I bet he would have some colorful insights on the matter."
As they reached their destination, Elsa kept the door open for her friend, and they had barely gotten inside when a midget came rushing in their direction.
"Elsa, check this out!" The little girl had a huge assortment of pins on her hair and the cast on her right arm had been thoroughly embellished with neon markers and stickers. "I got a new cast!"
"Oh, why doesn't that surprise me?" Elsa chastised the little girl with an exaggerated frown on her face. She put her cardboard box on the floor and crossed her arms. "What kind of trouble did you get yourself into now, young lady?"
The little girl shrugged. "Had a little accident at the last hockey game. But we won, so it was totally worth it!" she said, throwing her good fist in the air and grinning a childish grin that showed all of her theeth.
Though Elsa tried to maintain her stern façade for another moment, she ended up laughing along with the younger girl. "Well, I'm glad you have your priorities sorted out."
"And look! Everybody signed my cast, even Dr. Felix."
Elsa hummed impressed, then turned to look at Astrid. "Hey, Vanellope? I want you to meet a friend of mine." She beckoned Astrid and put an encouraging hand on the latter's back. "This is Astrid, she goes to the same school as the rest of us."
Then, Elsa narrowed her eyes at the child. "And this little trouble here is Vanellope. She's the ace of her school's field hockey team. When she's not benched for injured limbs, that is."
"Hockey, huh?" Astrid looked at Vanellope with raised eyebrows. "I played hockey for a while when I was around your age. I was kicked out of the team because I bit another girl, though..."
"Good to know that you've had your competitive streak for so long," Elsa mumbled, shaking her head.
Astrid ignored her friend's comment and added, "Worst part? The girl was on my team."
Vanellope snorted. "Yeah, sometimes I wanna bite the girls on my team too."
Smirking, Astrid warned her, "Don't. It leaves a bad taste in your mouth."
Elsa frowned. "Please tell me that's a figure of speech..."
"Sure. Let's go with that."
"I'm starting to regret bringing you here, Astrid."
With a nonchalant shrug, Astrid turned to Vanellope. "So what's your favorite tackle technique?"
Vanellope bounced back and forth on the balls of her feet. "I like jabbing."
"Yeah? I was a lunger myself."
"Okay, I'm gonna leave you two to… whatever you're talking about..."
Elsa was barely heard as the other two girls started discussing hockey strategies.
Astrid wasn't really a kids person, but something about that snarky little girl pulled her in, and they clicked. And, color her shocked, Astrid was legitimately having fun taking to the little girl. She was in the middle signing her name on Vanellope's cast when classic rock started playing somewhere outside the pediatric wing.
"Alright, people!"
The doors burst open and someone wearing a stupid-looking giant blue monster costume jumped inside, flapping their arms widely like a doofus, but also erupting delighted giggles and cheers from all the kids.
"Who's ready for some Freddie?"