Chapter 11: A Drunken Night
The bell went which signalled the end of class. Anna got up from behind her desk, swung her bag over her shoulder and left her English classroom carrying a number of books that she had to read for class. Thankfully, English was her last period of the day. She had already suffered through Chemistry, Maths, Business Studies and Art today. The amount of homework she had to do was getting to an all-time high not to mention all the work she had to catch up on. Anna sighed. Maybe she should pull a few all-nighters in order to catch up on anything or maybe beg someone else to help her.
"Hey!" a voice called from behind her. "Anna!"
Anna turned and saw that it was Audrey running towards her. She had just come from her French lesson. Anna smiled when Audrey approached her and Audrey smiled back.
"Yo!" Anna said to her as she gave her a hi-five. "What's up?"
"The sky," laughed Audrey. They set off down the corridor together. "I heard that your boyfriend is back in Arendelle."
"I know," Anna gushed. She had been so excited when Hans had called her the other day to let her know that he would be in town. Anna had already gone through her entire wardrobe trying to find an outfit worth showing off in her dinner date with Hans.
"You going to see him?" asked Audrey.
"You bet I am," nodded Anna. "I'm going down Friday night and seeing him on the Saturday night. So glad that it's a long weekend."
"Sounds like fun," Audrey said.
"Oh it will be. Hans has all kinds of things planned."
"What kinds of things?"
"I guess I'll find out this weekend."
Anna and Audrey headed down to their normal spot – a hiding spot underneath the stairs that led to their common rooms – where Zoë and Céline were waiting for them. The day had finished and everyone was excited for the long weekend. When Anna and Audrey approached they headed up to the dorms together after exchanging some greetings. Everyone was going home. Céline and Audrey were getting picked up by their parents in an hour while Zoë was getting on the same plane that Anna was getting on in a couple of hours. The school had shuttles to the airport and Anna was booked on the one that was leaving in half an hour and she still hadn't packed – unlike the others.
Her friends followed her up to her dorm room which was a mess. She had attempted to pack the night before but then a Netflix marathon had gotten in the way – Anna had discovered Jessica Jones. Zoë took one look at the room and shook her head. Anna could see her rolling her eyes which she didn't bother to conceal. Together they got to work on Anna's room and twenty minutes later, she was packed and ready to go.
"We gotta go," Zoë said. "Otherwise we will miss the bus. It will only wait for so long."
"Agreed," Anna said.
They quickly did some detours around the other girls' rooms before they started to run down to the bus. Their feet raced across the floor as they tried to get to the shuttle before it left. Anna kept looking at her watch. They only had three minutes to get the shuttle on time and they were at least ten minutes away. Anna was doubtful that they would make it on time. This was going to be good practice for Cross Country next year.
Their feet thundered across the courtyard as they ran for the main entry where they were supposed to meet the shuttle. How they were running at full speed with a few heavy bags attached to them, Anna would never know. Perhaps it was the Adrenaline kicking in that was doing the trick. Anna could see the entrance coming closer and close. She looked at her watch again. There was four minutes left till the shuttle left. Could they make it? They all increase their speed – if they could.
They burst through one of the entrances into the main reception area and through the automatic main doors where a crowd of people were waiting outside.
"Cutting it close Winters," a teacher said – a teacher in the music department who Anna had a couple of years ago called Mrs Fellman – who was standing by the bus.
"We know," Anna said through her heavy panting.
They loaded their gear onto the bus and lined up to get onto the bus. Mrs Fellman called for quiet and started a checklist to make sure everyone who was getting onto the bus was the right people. Eventually Mrs Fellman allowed them onto the shuttle bus. Mrs Fellman gave them a smile when they got onto the bus as if to say close call again. Unfortunately due to them being late, they ended up having to separate. Anna and Zoë took two seats that were directly behind where Mrs Fellman and another teacher – Miss Bruder who teaches History – who were making sure that the students behaved themselves. Meanwhile Céline and Audrey headed to two seats way at the back of the bus. Anna and Zoë sat down with Anna taking the window seat.
The shuttle pulled away from the school. Anna slumped up against the window and stared out at her disappearing school. She took out her headphones, plugged them into her iPhone and let the Spice Girls take her off to dreamland when she closed her eyes. She didn't know how long she was out but when she opened her eyes, she found Zoë playing on her 3DS. Zoë saw that she was awake and gave her a smile.
"You dozed off," she said.
"Nah, really?" Anna said sarcastically. They both laughed before Anna continued. "How long was I out?"
"About forty minutes," Zoë said. "Aw come on!" she said to her 3DS. "Your fucking Volbeat knows thunderbolt? Oh fucking hell, there goes my Talonflame."
"Who you're playing?" Anna leaned over to see Zoë attempting to choose what member of her team was next.
"Audrey," Zoë jerked her head behind her. Anna stood up – well attempted – and saw Audrey and Céline huddled together at the back of the bus. Céline had her arms wrapped around one of Audrey's and her head was on Céline's shoulder. Céline was whispering something into Audrey's ear. They laughed about something. Maybe together they had come up with a plan to defeat Zoë.
"They look pretty confident," Anna said.
"Yeah," Zoë turned around in time to see Céline give Audrey a small kiss on the cheek. Usually they wouldn't be so public but everyone was so busy with their own things that they weren't giving them a single second of notice.
"Kick their arses," Anna said before she turned her music back up. There was still half an hour to get to the airport. The traffic was insane at this time of day which was the reason for their journey taking so long.
Eventually the airport came slowly into view. Anna was relieved to see it. Despite everything, she did want to go home. At first, Anna wanted to get away from the place where her father died and everything went to pieces but now, Anna felt like she could go back. It was her home after all. Elsa may have taken her father from her but she wasn't going to get her home too.
When the shuttle came to a stop outside the airport, Anna and the others got off the bus and headed into the airport. Anna followed the mass of students up to the check-in counter. Anna was stuck behind two giggling girls who were gushing over some concert that they were going home to see. Anna looked behind her and saw that Céline and Audrey were deep in conversation. Zoë gave Anna a smile and a sigh. When it was finally, Anna's turn to check into her flight, she couldn't wait to get onto that plane and head home. Thankfully Zoë was on the same flight so at least she would have someone to talk to.
Céline and Audrey's domestic flight was leaving in twenty minutes and so they said goodbye as soon as they were all checked in. They said goodbye as if they wouldn't see each other in weeks rather than just a couple of days. Zoë then suggested that they go get some McDonalds. Anna ordered a Big Mac combo while Zoë went for a double cheeseburger combo. They sat in silence as they ate. Anna looked at her watch as she polished off some of her fries.
"We should get going," she said.
"Yeah," Zoë agreed. "They will be calling us soon."
They got up from their seats – Anna shoving the last of her fries into her mouth – and started to head through security. Once through, they came to a row of shops. Zoë, of course, went straight to a row of magazines in a book store. Zoë loved to read up on the latest gossip about her favourite celebrities. Each week it was a new obsession with a celebrity. Previous celebrities include Kate Middleton, Matt Le Blanc, Chris Evans and Lorde. Last week it was Taylor Swift (she came up a lot) and now it was Lorde again.
"Come on Zoë," Anna said but she wasn't angry or in a rush. She was smiling and laughing instead.
"In a minute," Zoë replied not looking up from the magazine. "There are rumours that Lorde might be doing a free concert while I'm in New Zealand. I need to double check dates." Anna let out a small laugh as Zoë started to flick through some pages. Zoë gasped when she saw something on one of the pages.
"What is so exciting?" Anna asked as she folded her arms.
"Hans in is in this," Zoë was reading through the article. She gasped at something she read. Anna didn't like the look on her face.
"What?" Anna was now curious. Zoë mentioned her boyfriend and Anna was getting more and more interested with every passing second. A voice over the intercom announced that their flight was starting to board but neither one of them cared. "What?" Anna said again when Zoë didn't reply.
"Nothing," Zoë quickly tried to put the magazine back on the shelf but Anna fought for it. Anna managed to grab the magazine from Zoë's hand – nearly ripping it – and looked through it for the article about Hans that Zoë had tried to hide from her. It had to be something bad right? Otherwise why would Zoë try to hide it from her? If it was something good like Hans making some big appearance at a party or Hans' family hosting a charity event, Zoë would have passed the article to her, right?
Anna flicked through page after page about some celebrity doing some random thing. Eventually about half way through the magazine, she found what Zoë had gasped at. Anna had to pull the article closer to her face to make sure what she was reading was actually what she was reading.
"Hans' Night On The Town?" Anna said as she read the news article title. The title had a flashy picture of Hans emerging from some nightclub – in the Southern Isles according to the article – with some blonde girl whose face wasn't shown in the picture as she was looking down at the ground. Anna continued to read the article. According to the article, Hans spent the night out at a club and took a girl home with him for the night.
Anna didn't believe the article. There was no way it could be true. The article was probably either photo shopped or exaggerated. Maybe Hans was giving the girl a lift home or she was a friend who was offered a ride to a party that Hans was putting on. Yes, that had to be it. There was no way that Hans was having some one night stand. He was with her. But there was some nagging doubt inside of her. Anna pushed that away.
"Anna," Zoë's voice suddenly interrupted her thoughts. "You okay?"
"It's just tabloid trash," Anna said but when she uttered those words, something inside of her didn't believe them. She pushed that feeling deep down within her. She could not doubt Hans now. She was falling for him and she was falling hard. Surely it was just a magazine article and nothing more.
"You sure?" Zoë looked like she didn't believe Anna's words either.
"Yes," Anna said just as an announcement came over the intercom that boarding for their flight was about to close. "Come on," Anna added as Zoë gave her a look. "We gotta get on our flight before we miss it. Home beacons."
Zoë gave her another look but didn't say another world. Instead they walked towards their gate just as the last person in the line to board the flight walked towards the plane. Anna and Zoë rushed up to the flight attendant checking people into the flight. Anna handed over her passport and ticket before walking down the gangway and onto the flight with her friend Zoë right behind her.
The flight from Switzerland to Arendelle wasn't a long one. Anna was soon walking down the gangway into the Arendelle Airport. Waiting for then were Zoë's mother and Anna's Uncle Klaus. Uncle Klaus looked pleased to see Anna. He picked up her bags for her and walked out with her. Anna gave Zoë a goodbye hug with the promise of seeing her another time before getting into her uncle's car. The journey home was a silent one. Anna didn't really know what she should say to her uncle.
"So how was school?" her uncle asked.
"Fine, I guess," Anna shrugged. School was just school. Nothing happened. The most excitement she had was the trial. School had just been so deliciously normal.
"Okay," Uncle Klaus said giving her a sideways glance. He paused as he was trying to think of something else to say that didn't involve school.
"So how's everyone?" Anna asked.
"Everyone is fine," god, this could not be more awkward. They might as well be talking about the weather – even that would be a better subject than what they were discussing. That was how awkward this was. But the truth was, they were trying to avoid one subject; Elsa. Anna wanted to know if her family had heard from her but she felt like it was a touchy subject and not one that she wanted to breach. However, Anna was curious. The question was; how to approach it? Anna decided not to ask her uncle. She didn't want to get into this with him anyway. She didn't particularly like talking about Elsa.
Uncle Klaus drove them both to his house. He helped Anna unpack her stuff and then he brought it up to her room for her. Anna sat down on the guest bed. Her bag was left on the bed next to her. She didn't know if she was going to even bother to unpack.
'Hey cousin!" Anna's cousin Astrid popped her head into her room.
"Hey!" Anna watched as Astrid took a seat right next to her. She brushed her long raven coloured hair out of her eyes. Astrid and Anna just looked at each other for a few moments before Anna opened her mouth to speak but Astrid lay her palm on top of Anna's hand.
"I know you want to know about Elsa," Astrid said.
It was true, Anna did. Being away from home, Anna didn't know if Elsa had talked to any member of her family. Somehow, it was a lot easier talking to her cousin than any other member of her family.
"You read my mind," Anna smiled. "Any news?"
"None," Astrid looked upset. "I know you hate her but we're all upset about this whole mess."
"This is a mess," Anna agreed. "I would have been sure that Uncle Klaus would have found her by now."
"Dad says that since Elsa clearly doesn't want to be found, we should wait until she comes back on her own free will rather than kicking down her door."
"Hmm, my uncle is wise."
"Yeah, dad is. So come on, dinner is ready."
"One more thing," Anna brought out the article that Zoë had showed her. Anna had picked one up at the Arendelle airport when Zoë wasn't looking. Astrid took the article and sighed. She gave Anna a kind smile.
"I saw this and wondered if you did," Astrid said to her cousin. "It's probably some stupid girl who Hans met at the nightclub. It was probably either a one night stand or an exaggerated story."
"Well I hope it's the latter than the former."
"Me too," Astrid patted her hand against Anna's.
Saturday night came and Anna didn't know how she felt about it. On one hand, she was excited to see Hans again as she hadn't seen in a while but then there were looming feelings about the article she had seen. She didn't know what to think. She threaded some hoops through her ears and stared at herself in the reflection in the mirror. What was she going to do?
She headed down the stairs and found Hans already waiting by the door. He was dressed – as always – in an impeccable suite (coloured black) with a blue tie. He was talking to her uncle and aunt. Hans seemed to be nodding along to the conversation. Anna came down the stairs and her footsteps alerted the group to her presence. They all looked up and smiled at her as she came down the stairs.
"Hello," Hans said in his usual charming voice.
"Hello," Anna breathed back.
Hans offered his arm and Anna took it. She had forgotten how alluring he could be. Looking at him made her think that the article was just misinterpreted.
"Have fun," Uncle Klaus said before grabbing Hans' shoulder and pulled him back. "But not too much fun."
"Yes sir," Hans gave him the classic Westergaard smile.
Hans led Anna to a fancy looking car and they clambered into the back. Hans gave the signal for the driver to drive on. He offered her a drink but Anna declined. They soon arrived at a fancy restaurant that Hans' had picked out. Hans lead them both inside and up to the head waiter who lead them to their table with a smile plastered all over her face. They sat down at what Anna guessed to be probably the best table in the house. The head waiter pulled over another waitress who grinned at them too.
"Hi," she said, "my name is Carita and I will be your waitress tonight." She handed them both a menu and a drink's one. "Tonight's special is the cod which is lightly fried and served in a chief's special sauce. It comes along with salad and chips. Is there something I can get you both to drink?"
"A glass of your best white wine," Hans said.
"Just water for me," Anna said.
"Coming right up," Carita said.
Before she left, she poured them both a glass of water from the bottle of water that she had brought over with hurried off to get their drinks which left them both to ponder the menu. Anna looked it up and down to see what looked the best for them to choose. There was the lobster. Nothing said fancy like a lobster in her opinion. There was also the duck which looked equally good. Everything seemed to catch her eye. Choosing may be quite a difficult thing to do.
"Anna?" Hans' voice brought her attention up to him.
"Yes?" she replied over her menu.
"You okay? Are you feeling alright?"
"Yeah," Anna nodded. "Everything is great."
"I only ask because you haven't said much this entire evening," Hans lowered his menu and placed it next to his glass of water. "I feel as if something is wrong." He seemed to struggle with what he was about to say next but he ploughed on ahead. "Is it your sister? Is it Elsa? Did you hear from her?"
"No," Anna said. "I haven't seen her or heard anything from her since the day she left."
"Oh," Hans said. "Is that it? The fact that you haven't heard anything from her?"
"No," Anna suddenly felt a little rage burning inside her stomach. "She ran off. She doesn't care about us and so I don't care about her." Somehow the rage turned sadness. The fact that her sister hadn't called, texted, sent a letter, telegrammed or even sent a pigeon with a message somehow made her sad.
"Then what is it?" Hans entwined his hands together and stared over them at Anna. His eyes were filled with concern.
"It's just that…" Anna's voice trailed off. She didn't know how she should proceed with this or even if she should at all. She had been debating whether or not to just make up some random reason why she wasn't fully focused and in a bit of a rut. Well, Anna didn't like lying to people she cared about. So maybe she should tell him the truth. After all, asking him the truth will either ease her concerns or just confirm them. "I saw this article while I was at the airport yesterday."
"Ah," Hans seemed to understand where Anna was coming from, "that."
"So you've seen that article."
"I have," Hans sighed. "Look, I was out partying with some friends. I left with one of them who was staying over at my house as she had just flown in from London and I offered her my place so that she didn't have to stay at hotel. Besides, my residence is better than any hotel that The Southern Isles have to offer anyway."
"So it wasn't a girlfriend or anything?"
"How could it be my girlfriend if she is in Arendelle and not in The Southern Isles," Hans smiled warmly at her.
"Not a one night stand? You're just friends and not cheating on me?"
"Even if she was totally into me, I wouldn't even go there. I adore you, not her."
Anna smiled. She was hoping that it would be something like that. Of course the article was making things up. That is just what these newspapers do; they make stuff up just to sell more magazines.
"I'm sorry for doubting you," Anna said. "It's just that I really like you and it makes me scared that someone else could come along and sweep you off your feet."
"I understand," Hans smiled once more. "For the record, you've already done that." Anna couldn't help blushing at his words. He really knew how make a girl feel special. "Now I think we should decide on what to order."
Their waitress came back with Hans' drink and took their order. Anna had a feeling that this date was going to be another fantastic date.
Elsa was in the kitchen in her dorm drinking some coffee as she read over her law cases for the next week. She had no sleep the night before. The image of her father standing over her with a hot poker was burned into her brain whenever she closed her eyes and thus stopping her from falling asleep. Elsa drained the last of her coffee.
"Woah," came a voice from behind her. "How many of those had you had?"
"About four," Elsa said.
Elsa watched as Astrid put the kettle on and started making herself a cup of tea. Astrid sat across from her and just stared at her. Elsa felt highly uncomfortable at this. She decided to make herself another cup of coffee.
"You sure you should be drinking that much coffee?" Astrid asked.
"I've had more before," Elsa said as she yawned. This was true. Elsa's had a lot of sleepless nights which required a lot of coffee before.
Astrid didn't speak; it looked like she was having some internal struggle which Elsa decided to ignore it. She had too much work to do and she had the stupid party at Jack's later. She couldn't believe she told him to go. Now he was going to be there with his stupid pretty girl and they will be making out all night long. Trust her karma; the one guy she actually likes, has a girlfriend. She would think the universe owes her a favour or two but no, she gets screwed all over again. Elsa tried to concentrate on her work but she could feel Astrid's eyes piercing through her. It was a feeling she knew too well.
She couldn't believe she had told Jack she was going. Well, she had to now. Besides, it wouldn't look good if she didn't show. Plus, Elsa was going for a new her. She had never been to a proper party before (not counting birthday parties and she just sat in the corner drinking some water). So she should do new stuff now that she was free of her father. But seeing Jack with his girlfriend wouldn't be easy. She may just have deal with it. The girlfriend was clearly here to stay.
"What?" Elsa said not looking up from her notes.
"You have a lot of sleepless nights?" Astrid asked, trying to sound as if it was of no real importance but failed.
"No," Elsa lied. She didn't look at Astrid. She could actually feel Astrid's disbelief.
"Your five cups of coffee say otherwise," Astrid paused, hesitating slightly but plunged on anyway. "Are you going to talk about what happened last night?"
"What's there to discuss? Nothing happened."
"You shouting in your sleep doesn't sound like nothing Elsa. It sounds like you were having a bad nightmare and by the sounds of your screams, it was a memory wasn't it?"
"Astrid, I am going to say this because you're my friend," Elsa paused. "Just stay out of this. I had a bad dream, okay? Nothing more than that."
"It sounded more like that."
"Just drop it."
"Drop what?" the voice of Honey walking into the dorm room with Tadashi and Gogo.
"Nothing," Elsa said giving Astrid a long hard stare when the others weren't looking. Astrid mouthed some words at her which Elsa took as her arguing the point but after Elsa sent her a glare, Astrid went back to her tea.
"So," Tadashi sat down next to Astrid, "are we all excited for Frost's party tonight?
"Yes," everyone said highly enthusiastically.
"No," Elsa muttered.
"You still whining about Jack?" Gogo said.
"Oh shut it," Astrid picked up a cushion from one of the chairs and threw it at Gogo. It hit her squarely in the face. "Everyone's allowed to whine about a broken heart. You did when that motorcycle guy broke up with you when he went to Harvard."
"FYI," Gogo said each letter with heavy emphasise, "we didn't break up. We're having a long distance relationship."
"You broke up," Honey said. "Granted, you got back together three months later when he randomly showed up begging for you to take him back."
"That was an awesome day," Gogo smiled.
Elsa just smiled as she returned to her notes. The conversation was finally heading away from her. Now all she had to do was worry about Jack's party.
Jack walked over to the bar to get a drink. His party was in full swing and his dorm room was full of people. It was packed to the brim. Everyone wanted to be at this party. People were just turning up by this point. Jack was happy for this to continue. At this rate, his party would be the party of the year and be the one to beat. Jack saw Elsa and her dorm mates enter the party. His girlfriend tried to engage him in conversation but he pretended he couldn't hear her over the noise of the music. She seemed to buy his lie as she smiled at him.
"Hey," Jack said to Elsa.
"Hey," she said in a small voice. If Jack hadn't been right next to her and his head close to her lips, he would have missed it.
Jack wanted to stay with her but he was pulled away by Jules wanting for him to introduce him to some of her new friends. After a while of talking to some of Jules' friend, he noticed that Elsa was standing in a corner, not talking to anyone. She looked like she could use a friend. She was looked highly uncomfortable. Maybe she didn't like parties. Well Jack was an expert on fun. He was going to help her have a good time. He walked over to her. She smiled when he approached.
"Hi," Jack said. "You look like you need a friend."
"Thanks," she said. "Parties aren't really my thing. I don't really know how to act at them."
"Well," Jack smiled at her, "I know how you can have a good time. Come on, have a drink, talk to some people. Who knows? You might have good time after all."
Jack led her over to the bar where Bunnymund was working. He had Tooth on his arm and they had clearly had a few drinks already. He handed them both red cups filled with alcohol. Jack clinked his cup against Elsa's. She was eyeing the drink with a concerned expression.
"Down the hatch," Elsa said. She gave the drink one last look before she took a long gulp. Jack grinned and took an equally long gulp.
Bunnymund handed them another drink as they both finished the drink right there. Jack looked out at his party. In a corner, he saw Tadashi and Honey making out.
"Guess they finally ended all their sexual tension," Jack said.
"What?" Elsa was staring at the room but not really seeing it. Jack pointed at the couple and Elsa had a massive grin over her face. "Yeah, about time."
She took another long sip of her drink. She seemed to be loosening up. Jack was glad of that. She looked like she was coming out of her shell now. That was just the first step of her having a good time at this party. Jack stared down at his drink before he took a sip of it. He suddenly felt Tooth pulling on his shoulder.
"Come on Jack," Tooth said. "We need players for beer pong."
Jack was hurried away before he even got a chance to get Elsa to come along with him. When Jack looked back at her, he saw Astrid and Hiccup had gone to talk to her so at least she wasn't left alone. Jack was pushed to the front of the crowd and Bunnymund was pushed to the front at the other side. People were starting to take bets on who was going to win. Jack sneakily saw Elsa place a note in Astrid's hand. He hoped that she was betting for him. Well, if so, he was going to have to win.
Elsa was watching the game that Jack and Bunnymund were apart of from a distance. Elsa sipped another sip of her drink. Jack was right; a few drinks and she was starting to relax. All the tension she had before was evaporating. Elsa wasn't much of a drinker though. She never really hadn't drunken much before except a few drinks here and there over the last couple of years. But the drinks were so nice and so Elsa kept drinking them. She could already feel them working.
Honey and Tadashi moved in her direction. Elsa grinned at them and they grinned back. They had been drinking – it was easy to tell. Hopefully they would remember their hook up in the morning. It would be quite awkward otherwise. Elsa greeted the pair with a friendly smile and a hello.
"Hey Elsa," they both said. "Who are you rooting for? Jack or Bunnymund?"
"Jack," intersected Astrid. "She has twenty on Jack."
"Do you have twenty on Bunnymund then?" Tadashi asked them.
"Yeah I do," Astrid said. "Bunnymund is a champion at this game. He won four games last year. I don't think that record is going to be broken anytime soon."
"Hey guys," Jack's girlfriend Jules joined them. She greeted Astrid, Tadashi and Honey as if they were old friends – although, as Elsa reminded herself, they probably were. They probably all went to school together and grew up here in Burgess together.
"Hey," the rest of them said.
Jules got herself a drink from Tooth and watched the game with them. Jack caught her eye and she gave him a flirty wink which he returned. Elsa felt jealousy roar within her but she had to remember that Jack was dating Jules and not her. She had to push this feeling down otherwise her friendship with Jack will be destroyed and she couldn't do that.
"So Elsa right?" Jules said to Elsa and she nodded. "Jack's said a bit about you."
"Oh," Elsa didn't know what to say at that. "Nothing too bad I hope."
"Nah," Jules laughed. "All good things. So did I hear right? You're betting on Jack?"
"Yeah I am," Elsa nodded. "So you guys all go way back right?"
"We grew up on the same block," Jules said. "Tadashi and his family were actually next door neighbours to my family until their parents died."
"Oh," Elsa looked over at Tadashi. "I didn't know that."
"It was a long time ago," Jules drank a little bit of her drink and Elsa did the same. "It was a car crash that took them. Since then, they lived with their Aunt Cass over in San Fransokyo which was a fair distance from where we live and went to school but at least we still saw them every day which I am grateful for."
"That's nice," Elsa looked back over at Tadashi. So they both knew the pain of losing their parents. Well, losing her mother had caused her pain, losing her father was a blessing. He could rot in hell for all she cared. Tadashi and Honey had wandered off into the crowd and so they didn't hear the next part of their conversation.
"It's nice that he and Honey finally hooked up though," Jules continued.
"If they can remember it in the morning," Elsa said.
"True," Jules laughed. "They've both had the biggest crushes on each other which obviously turned into mutual love for each other."
"I know," Elsa said. "I may have only known them for a couple of weeks but they're not being exactly subtle with it."
"Ah so you have noticed," Jules laughed again. "I wasn't sure if you had."
Elsa hated to admit it but Jules seemed like an awesome person. She obviously cared for her friends and her boyfriend. The fact that she was a nice person just made Elsa angrier. She seemed perfect. Why couldn't there be something wrong with her? Well, Elsa may just have to face the facts that Jack had a decent girlfriend and looked at her as only a friend and nothing more.
"I had," Elsa said. "It's quite hard not to."
A roar from the crowd interrupted them. They looked up to see what was going on. Jack had scored a point. Elsa gave Astrid – who had been focusing on the game rather than Elsa and Jules' conversation – a sly look but she didn't seem too concerned. Elsa could see why. In the next ten minutes, Bunnymund not only evened the score but pulled ahead by two more points. Come on Jack, Elsa thought as Jack lined up his next shot. It missed and Elsa groaned alongside all the people who were rooting with Jack.
"I only take cash," Astrid said.
"It's not over yet," Elsa muttered.
She finished off her drink and went to get another. This match was going to take some time. Elsa cheered whenever Jack scored a point and groaned whenever he missed his shot or whenever Bunnymund scored a point. The match was first to seven points. Bunnymund always seemed to be in the lead, always one point over Jack. Elsa was nervous but she kept the faith that Jack would win. Soon it came down to the last point. Everyone was on edge for the final point. Bunnumund took a shot with his ping pong ball, it bounced over the net, hit the cup but didn't go in. Jack took his shot and everyone watched as the ping pong ball bounced over the fence and into Bunnymund's last cup. There was a roar from Jack's side of the table. They all jumped over him in their delight. There was soon a scramble from people as they went to collect their debts.
Elsa turned to Astrid with a rather large grin on her face. Astrid sighed and pulled out a wad of cash and slapped it into Elsa's outstretched hand.
"Can't believe I lost," Astrid muttered.
"Well believe it," Elsa grinned again. She tucked the note into her pocket.
Jack's party continued well into the night. Bunnymund had been right; the time for a good party was now. People would be talking about this party for the rest of the year. He hoped it would be the aim that all future parties would aspire to. Jack's host duties kept him away from the bar so he didn't get a chance to do a lot of drinking apart from the start of the party. So over the course of the night, sobriety had sunk in.
It was about half past four in the morning when people started to drift out. Jack had been talking to Bunnymund – who didn't make a lot of sense because unlike Jack, he hadn't allowed himself to go the entire night without a drink in his hand – when Astrid came up to him. She was a little tipsy but at least she could string a sentence together that made sense unlike Bunnymund.
"Hey Jacky boy," Astrid gave him a whack on his back.
"Jacky boy?" Jack repeated sounding a little disgusted.
"You know where Elsa is?" Astrid ignored Jack and she looked around the room. "She's new so I thought I would keep an eye out for her and make sure she gets back to her dorm room okay and not get taken advantage of."
"No I haven't but I'm sure we'll find her. Not many hiding places in this room."
"Astrid," Hiccup came over, "you coming?"
"You go," Jack said. "I'll make sure Elsa gets back to her dorm."
"Thanks Jack," Astrid grinned.
Jack saw her grab her things and leave with Hiccup. Jack started to scan the room. There were still a number of people still in his dorm room. He couldn't see her in the main room of the dorm room. He asked a few people where Elsa might be. It wasn't until he asked Tooth did he discover that she was lying on Tooth's bed. He pushed open the door and found Elsa on the bed.
"Jack!" she had been lying on the bed, she seemed interested in Tooth's map of the consultations that she kept above her bed. Jack knew that she had been drinking a lot. She was grinning a lot as well and in a stupid drunken way that made him laugh.
"Hey Elsa," he said. "Astrid said that we should get you to bed."
"But the party is only beginning," Elsa moaned.
"But it's also your bedtime."
Jack didn't know how else to get her to come with him. She couldn't stay here all night in Tooth's bed despite the fact that Tooth didn't sleep in her own bed.
"Awwww," Elsa moaned but she got to her feet. She stumbled and nearly fell over. Jack managed to grab her just in time. She tried to walk but she kept stumbling. Jack picked her up and hoisted her off the ground. He pushed through the crowd of people in his dorm room and back into hers. He had to do a lot of manoeuvring with the door handles but he managed it. He eventually found her room and rested her against her pillow. The alcohol was starting to make her feel sleepy.
"You have pretty eyes," she said which made Jack grin.
"Rest up Elsa," he said. "You're gonna have a killer headache in the morning though."
"Come here," she gestured to him to come closer.
"What is it?" he bent down.
"I wanna tell you a secret."
"What?" Jack leaned in even closer.
"You're pretty," she said into his ear.
Jack grinned at this. "You're pretty too."
"You can stay the night if you want."
Jack laughed. "I have my own bed to sleep in and you do too. So like I said, rest up and have a good sleep."
Elsa wasn't probably flirting with him, it was the alcohol talking but he would like to think that she was. Jack was about to leave but she grabbed him.
"I don't want to sleep," she said. "Otherwise he will come for me."
Jack stared at her. He had seen some pretty weird drunken talk before but this felt different. They say that drunken words are sober thoughts and maybe the alcohol was allowing Elsa to say what was really on her mind. But who is 'he' in her scenario? Is she making up someone like an old nightmare character or was the nightmare character real?
"Who Elsa?" Jack asked but Elsa was already asleep. She was snoring softly and Jack watched her for a few seconds before he pulled a blanket over her and gave her a small kiss on the forehead. "Goodnight," he said to her. Jack got her some Aspirin and water as he knew that she would have a horrible headache in the morning. Jack left the room just as Gogo entered the room.
"Thanks for the great party Jack," Gogo said.
"You're welcome," Jack said. "Elsa is asleep so I would tread quietly if I was you."
"Okay," Gogo let out a small laugh. She walked by him and into her own bedroom.
Jack opened the door and headed out into the hallway beyond. He was about to place his hand on the door handle when he heard what sounded like voices. He looked sideways and saw Pitch Black – a guy that he couldn't stand and that he had to suffer seven years at school with – was talking to some guy that Jack didn't recognise. He was medium build with scruffy brown hair. He wore a tan hoodie and long dark ripped jeans. Pitch looked distressed about something. Jack didn't know if he had ever seen Pitch in distress before. That almost scared him a little. Pitch was usually so smooth and smarmy. The fact that he was distress about something made Jack think that something was going on. That was the only explanation that he could think of. Pitch was always looking for ways to break rules. Was this about a rule being broken or was it much, much more? Jack noticed that he was holding an envelope which contained something that Jack was now interested in.
"You said tonight," he heard Pitch whisper to the guy. "I need it tonight."
"Well things have been a little tough to get," the other guy said. "For my efforts to go the extra mile, I want double."
"Double?" Pitch grabbed the guy by the cuff and slammed him against the wall. "You get what we agreed on and deliver it by Monday. I need it by then."
The guy pulled Pitch off him. "You either agree to my terms or I'll go have a nice chat with Dean Harkon. Do you want that?"
Pitch seemed to be struggling with something. "Fine," he said eventually. "But Monday or I'll go have a chat with Dean Harkon myself." Pitch suddenly realised that he was being watched. He turned around and saw Jack watching them. Jack was very interested in the conversation that was being taken place in front of him. It wasn't unusual that Pitch would be up to something that involved rules being broken.
"What are you looking at Frosty?" Pitch sneered at him. "Spying on me? What else is new?"
"Up to something again?" Jack sneered back.
"Stay out of it," Pitch shoved his hands into his pockets and walked off leaving Jack to wonder what is going on.
A/N: So here is the next update of this, some drama involving Pitch and Hans. I hope that people didn't get confused with Astrid Winters and Astrid Hofferman in this chapter. Anyway, I hope that everyone enjoyed this update. Please review =)
Reviews:
Guest (MixyBell): Updating when I can. Yeah I did know that review was you. 1) no probs 2) hahaha, now I am thinking that too.
150Songs: Thanks so much for the kind words!
SweetLikeSyrup58: Well you may just have to wait and see if Jack dumps Jules but this is a Jelsa fic so that should give you a good indicator of the answer. Oh there will hopefully be interesting things in this story. Also, thanks so much!
ZERO-xxx: Yeah poor Elsa. Thanks so much. I have noticed that too. My writing does improve. I didn't know you read my other stories. Thanks!
sia-gomo01: Yay! The All Blacks are awesome after all so it's only natural that you would support them. I'm gonna try and include the growth thing, hopefully I can pull it off. A small hint into what Pitch is up to in this chapter.
Guest: Anna may or may not play a big role, may just have to wait and see. Pitch may or may not find out Elsa's little secrets or maybe he has some others on other people. On the doctor, no the doctor wouldn't do that as he could be lose his license, lose everything and go to jail for what he did. So no, he won't be the one going to Anna and explain things. Yeah, I hate Anna hating Elsa too but everything will be resolved in the end, for better or worse.
Gracialoveme: Thanks! Pitch will be causing some drama which I hope you will enjoy. Yeah, I think you mentioned that at some point. Also, I have devised a way to keep Hans in the story for a few more chapters, thought you might like to know that.
AnthroDragon: You mean in the dorm?
Guest: Updating as requested!
sanaa11: Poor Elsa indeed. Yeah, Anna is depressed too.
QueenMaylina8Candy: Thanks! I do my best with making nice long chapters. Thanks so much for loving this story!
Blind Red Dragon: Thanks! Yeah, now that you mentioned it, it reminded me too. What you said, made a lot of sense when I relooked over the chapter. Everything that you said, made a lot of sense. PS: love the jokes. I had a good laugh at it.
ElsaTheSnowQueen2: Thanks! Yeah I do too. Hopefully those nightmares end soon and someone can help.