A/N: Hello guys, once again, thanks for all the follows and views.
Also, those of you who haven't used Skype before (sorry to offend anyone), the * represents the start of a new message from the same person.
And without further ado…
There was a knock at her door. "Hey, Elsa? I'm going to the aquarium today with Merida and Rapunzel… you sure you don't wanna come?"
Elsa rolled over in her bed, her back to the door, trying to pretend she hadn't heard anything. Trying being the operative word.
"Is your headache better? I'll have Gerda get you some Tylenol if you want…" The once cheerful offers were getting more and more desperate.
Squeezing her eyes shut and holding her breath in an attempt to stifle any sound that threatened to break out of her throat, she clasped a hand over her mouth.
Their mother's call from downstairs saved her. "Anna, we need to leave now if I'm going to make it for my meeting. Let's go."
There was another knock. Just one. "'Bye, sis."
When Elsa was sure the footsteps were gone, she finally let the tears break out. How she wished Anna would just give up on her. She wasn't sure if it would have made things less painful, but at least it would've been easier.
But she knew that was as impossible for her sister as it was for her.
Why do I keep screwing things up for you?
What do I do?
The rest of the long weekend passed uneventfully. Anna returned to her original routine of sitting outside her sister's door and telling her about the aquarium that she and her friends had visited. Elsa never stopped making her secret, habitual visits to her sister's room at night.
Tuesday came like an unwelcome guest. After a whole weekend of shutting herself in her room, Elsa didn't feel like going back to a different sea of torment. Especially to find out how she did on that exam.
"So, I hear we get our marks back today. You really think you could pass with no textbook, bitch?" Of course it was Hans.
Ignoring him as usual, she walked into the Social Studies class.
Looking at her desk, she was slightly surprised to find her textbooks sitting there.
"The janitor found them in the trash bin behind the school," Mr. Weselton said. "Even I'm not dumb enough to think that you'd throw your books away on purpose, Elsa." He said to the class, "Before I hand back your papers, I want to make an announcement. I cannot believe the average on this exam. Despite making it open-book, it was one of the lowest of this semester. What is wrong with you people? And despite not having her textbook, Elsa scored the highest in the class."
Cries of outrage burst from the students in the room.
"Are you kidding me?"
"She must have cheated!"
"What a filthy whore! She probably did what she always does. To get the high marks."
"Silence! You could all learn a thing or two from Elsa. Now shut up! I'm going to pass back the exams."
When Elsa received hers, she covered the score with one hand and took a deep breath. Apprehensively removing her hand, she revealed the score. 98%.
Clenching her fist so tight her nails dug painfully into her palm, she glared at the score. 98%. What was she going to do with 98%? The deal with her mother was that she got perfect in everything. So close. But it meant nothing if it was not 100.
She reminded herself that if she could scrape a 99.5 it would be rounded up to 100 on her final transcript.
She just couldn't screw up again.
"We'll be moving on from the Renaissance to the discovery of the new world today…"
Anna shifted uncomfortably in her seat. English was never her best course, that along with math and science. Heck, she just sucked at everything. Except art. And today they would be writing an in-class essay on a random topic the teacher was passing out on little slips of paper.
"Now class, don't open your paper until I'm done passing them out. Does everyone have one? You may begin," Ms. Corona announced.
Anna slowly unfolded hers. Write an essay about a hero in your life and how they have impacted your choices and personal growth.
Her eyes widened. Who could she write about? Her mother? She was never home. Her father? She barely knew her father. He had passed away when she was younger, and even when he was alive he travelled often for business, spending most of whatever time he had at home with Elsa.
Intrinsically, she already knew whom she was going to write about. Of course it would have to be Elsa. Who else had such a profound impact on her life?
She wrote about her hero, who was always there when she really needed her. Her hero, who was always so perfect in everything that she commanded the respect of everyone who ever came into contact with her. Her pen flicked rapidly across the lines to fill the space with praise of her sister, who was a sister and a best friend, who used to make the bad dreams go away just by holding her hand. Her beautiful and mysterious sister, who had saved her life when she had fallen through thin ice.
Satisfied that she had described Elsa's grace and majesty to the best of her ability, Anna ended with, My sister has never let me down, and I have the utmost faith that she never will, because I know that deep down, she loves me as much as I love her. She is my hero.
Elsa was sitting at her desk furiously copying notes from the textbooks that were returned to her today, determined not to let Hans ruin her grades again when her Skype made a beeping noise. Curious, she opened the chat.
Snowflake: hi! ;D
Frozen Storm: Hey, what's up?
Snowflake: nothing, bored doing math heh
Frozen Storm: Oh. Who's your teacher?
Snowflake: jacobson
Elsa's nose scrunched at the name.
Frozen Storm: I hate him! He sucks at explaining concepts.
Snowflake: yeah ikr . actually i was wondering if u could help me
Frozen Storm: I can try. What are you learning?
Snowflake: pythag / i dont get a thing
Frozen Storm: Okay, what are you having trouble with?
Snowflake: well k i have a triangle with three sides
*i mean they always have three sides
*but it wants me to find the 'hypotenuse'?
*idk wat that is
Elsa chuckled softly.
Frozen Storm: The hypotenuse is the longest side. What are you given?
Snowflake: ummm theres a right angle and two angles that are sposed to be the same
*one side is 5cm
*i dont get it
*dont i need two side lengths to find the longest one
Frozen Storm: Okay, the first thing you need to do is recognize that if you have one right angle, and the other two angles are the same, then they have to be 45 degrees.
Snowflake: wat y
Frozen Storm: Because the sum of all the angles in a triangle is 180 and if you know one angle is 90 then the other two have to be 90/2, if they're the same.
Snowflake: oooooh ok
*but how does that help me
Frozen Storm: If you know the two angles are the same and one angle is 90 then the two shorter sides have to be the same length. You said one side is 5cm; that means the other side is also 5cm. Then you just use the Pythagorean equation to solve for the longest side.
Snowflake: wow, i actually get it now
*thats so sad tho
Frozen Storm: What is?
Snowflake: the two sides. theyre the same but the distance between them is so far
*jk im just spouting nonsense, anyways thx
Frozen Storm: You're welcome. Does your sister go to AH too? Why don't you ask her for help?
Snowflake: o yeah she does
*but she doesnt like talking to me
*and i dont want to look stupid in front of her any more than i have to
Elsa groaned inwardly. Why had she even asked that?She wanted Anna to come to her when she had questions, but at the same time she was relieved she'd found a medium through which she could be nice to her sister and not disappoint her at the same time.
Frozen Storm: You're not stupid! Mr. Jacobson is just a stupid old grouch who only likes to hear the sound of his own voice. I didn't get a word he said during class, either.
Elsa heard faint giggling down the hall and she could almost imagine her buoyant sister throwing her head back in laughter like she used to when they played together.
Used to play together. Ouch. There was suddenly a knife in her gut, twisting her stomach into knots.
Snowflake: omg thats the best description ive ever heard of him! hahaha
Frozen Storm: :)
Snowflake: did u kno that when we're doing assignments he plays farmville on his ipad
Elsa struggled to stifle a laugh.
Frozen Storm: Haha! Really? Wow.
Snowflake: yeah and someone asked if he could frd him and he was like no haha but u shouldve seen his face!
A snicker escaped her lips.
Snowflake: so u had him as a teacher huh
Frozen Storm: Yes
Snowflake: are u in my class?
Elsa thought about the best answer to this question.
Frozen Storm: No, I had him two years ago.
At least it was the truth?
Snowflake: oh so ur two years older than me
*are u 16?
Uh-oh. Truth or not?
Frozen Storm: I'm turning 16 soon.
Snowflake: ooh when?
Elsa froze. If she told Anna her real birthday, there was no doubt her little sister would put two and two together and figure out who she was.
Frozen Storm: My birthday's in December.
Snowflake: wow, thats like my sis' birthday, hers is on dec 22
As if she didn't know that.
Frozen Storm: Oh, wow, what a coincidence!
Snowflake: so ur in the same grade as my sis then! do u kno her? elsa
Elsa felt a twinge of guilt at the irony.
Frozen Storm: I've seen her in some of my classes, yes. She doesn't talk to anyone.
Snowflake: well that sounds like her
*could u do me a favor?
*i kno its weird cuz i dont even kno who u are but
*do u think u can watch over my sis for me?
*like i kno shes a lil hard to approach but shes actually rly nice
Wow, if that knife didn't twist deep enough, it was now. Groaning at the knots in her stomach, Elsa stared at the screen. Why was Anna so painfully selfless? Why can't she forget about me and just think about herself for once? Every nice thing Anna tried to do for her just ended up making Elsa feel even guiltier for being indifferent and nonchalant.
Clenching her jaw, she closed her laptop. And the knife twisted further.
Anna was puzzled when her mysterious friend suddenly disconnected. She shrugged and didn't think much of it. Her mind was more focused on how everyone seemed to view her sister.
It made no sense to Anna how anyone could possibly not be charmed to the nines by Elsa. She was so perfect. There were times when Anna couldn't believe how she and Elsa could possibly be related. Mom must have dropped me a couple times when I was a baby, she laughed to herself.
Her thoughts drifted back to that day at lunch…
She'd drawn a picture of Mr. Jacobson as a weasel and her friends were passing it around and adding different features to his face. Hitler 'staches, monocles, fish eyes, antennae. She'd been thinking how perfect it would be if she could laugh with Elsa over things like this too.
And the moment she looked up she caught a glimpse of her sister's platinum blonde hair and thought her prayers had been answered. So without a second thought, she called out, "Elsa?!"
She raced out of the room as fast as she could in an effort to catch her sister. It was so rare for Elsa to come find her, and she would be lying if she said she wasn't excited for this chance. She caught up with Elsa in the hall, and without thinking, grabbed hold of her arm. "Elsa, wait!"
Just as she was about to ask her older sister if she wanted to join them for lunch, the look Elsa gave her cut off her thoughts. Piercing ice blue eyes, and within them swirled complicated colors of desperation, alarm, and… fear? Longing and regret were there too, for a split second, and Anna almost thought she was imagining it. But fear is not something Anna was used to seeing marring her sister's graceful features. Her mask of indifference, so alike their mother's, was gone for that moment. And Anna could almost see the depths of her sister's soul.
Before she could make her mind and mouth connect, she heard a piercing jeer, "What's this? It's so rare to see you out and about, slut. Looking for someone to fuck?"
What the hell? How dare someone speak to them like that. To Elsa, no less. Determined to defend her sister, Anna whirled to face the threat.
For the third time today, she was interrupted. Elsa abruptly tore her arm out of Anna's grasp. Anna turned back to her sister, about to mutter an apology. She knew her sister didn't like people touching her, but this was such a rare chance to speak with her.
When she looked at her sister's face, the mask of indifference was back and she almost shuddered. She was completely unprepared for Elsa's next words. "Who are you? Don't touch me with your dirty hands."
Without looking back, Elsa left. And Anna just stood there looking at her sister's lonely silhouette.
She'd spent the rest of the day crying in one of the stalls of the girls' washroom.
Cringing at the memory, she tried to remember exactly what she had seen in her older sister's face that day.
Alarm, for sure. Out of surprise, no doubt.
Desperation. Puzzled, Anna racked her brain for potential reasons. Could it be that Elsa was upset to see her? Or upset to be seen with her? Suddenly, she remembered. She had seen the same kind of anguish in her sister's eyes when she was in the ice-cold water after falling through the ice. Her sister was screaming for help in acute desperation and begging Anna to stay awake. But surely the situation weren't comparable? Why, then, did she see such desolation in her sister's eyes? Shaking her head in confusion, she moved on.
Longing and regret. A set of emotions that Anna had never seen in Elsa's eyes ever before. Confused even more, she moved on to the last one that she had singled out in her flashback.
Fear.
Anna couldn't even begin to make sense of this one. She'd seen this too, when she had fallen through the ice, and when she woke up the next day staring into her sister's fearful eyes. She'd mistaken it for worry then. But now, comparing the two, she wasn't so sure.
The question though, still had no answer.
Why?