lSo, I'll be updating twice a week. School has started, it's great though. I study Animation Design and it's amazing :) Have fun with this chap, hopefully it's written in the same style as all the others. I don't know, I try my best...
"Well son, we'll see you tonight. Don't set the house on fire and watch your little brother. I don't want the fridge to be empty when we come back."
Jack sighs. His dad is so good in whining about the little things. "Yes dad, have fun."
"I don't think fun will be what we'll have. Alright, we have to get going. See ya !"
Mr. and Mrs. Frost are driving to the school. It's late in the afternoon and Mr. Frost is kinda grumpy. It didn't go well at the farm, a calf died and now he had a cow that didn't want to produce any milk because of mourning over a dead baby. Then, they have to deal with Jack's teacher who probably will be some old grumpy granny, whining about how bad his son had become and how everybody else is better. Jack's dad sighs.
Mrs. Frost notices her husband's nervousness, she tries to sooth him by rubbing his arm. "Don't worry honey, I bet she's lovely. She's the one who offered extra lessons, she's willing to put time and effort in our child. Don't you think that's very kind of her ?"
"I guess it is." Mr. Frost admits.
They arrive at the school, the lights are still on. The couple step out of the car and walk towards the entrance of the school. Mr. Frost sees someone inside, waiting for them. Probably that Ms. Winters, she'll ask why we're late and then we have to say that the kids were holding us up... As they come closer, Mr. Frost can recognize the womanly features. She's wearing a white blouse with a light blue vest on top of dark blue jeans. It looks like she has reading glasses on, her hair is in a pony tail and she looks really young and attractive. Mr. Frost's eyes grow bigger. Wait, what !?
Elsa is in her classroom. She just dismissed the class and now she has a few minutes to prepare for Jack's parents to come. She clears her desk, leaving Jack's tests and walks towards the entrance. It's late in the afternoon and she's quite tired, it's been a tough day, lots of students had trouble with the calculations and she had to explain it a dozen times. Even though she loves explaining things, this was really tiring. After have gone to the bathroom, she walks towards the main entrance of the school building. Only a few genitors are still working, everyone has gone home already.
A black BMW pulls up the drive way. That must be them. She thinks while she nervously fiddles with the hem of her vest. She decides that first impressions are the most important so she has to come over as a serious teacher, not some nervous schoolgirl. She wraps her arms in front of her chest and waits for Jack's parents to come in.
"Good afternoon Mr. & Mrs. Frost. Thank you for taking time to discuss some matters on your son's behalf with me." Elsa says formally while she shakes both parent's hands.
Mr. Frost seems to be frozen in time. (How ironic) Mrs. Frost, however, smiles warmly at Elsa. "So, you are Ms. Winters."
Elsa nods politely and leads the couple to the classroom. "Have a seat." She offers while pointing at the two chairs in front of the desk. The couple sits down, Mr. Frost looks a bit uncomfortable but Elsa decides to ignore it. She opens a few documents and spreads the papers out on the table for Jack's parents to read. They both bend over it and study very carefully. After a few 'Hmmm, hum hum, aaah, ok, I see, hmmm' Elsa speaks up.
"Look, your son is a sweetheart, his personality is great so this is nothing personal for that matter. However, he seems to have severe problems with the formula's and calculations. I don't know if he's weak at this particular subject but he clearly needs help. He can't go on like this, he won't make it to the next year if he continues."
Mrs. Frost nods. She understands. Mr. Frost however seems to be fixated at something behind Elsa because he's staring like he's in a staring contest. Elsa is confused and looks behind her if there's anything on the wall. Nothing. Strange.
Mrs. Frost already knows what's going on. He just has to stare, how rude it must come over. But I can understand why, she's gorgeous. Wait, that would make me a lesbian. Whatever, women can have girl crushes too. Hihi, the innocent girl, thinks something's behind her. It's good she doesn't know the real reason. Better help my husband out.
"Honey ? What do you think ?' She tries to help her husband out of the awkward situation.
He snaps out of thoughts and clears his throat. "Ehm, yeah. I think so too." He says vaguely, he hasn't heard at all what was said before.
Elsa smiles friendly. "I was wondering why you wanted to talk with me. I thought extra lessons would be fine with you but it isn't ?"
"Ehm no. You see, in my family it is a standard to do your best at school in any way possible. That means high grades, hard work and no messing around. For a long time, both of my sons did that. But now Jack comes home with the news of extra lessons. I was taken aback you know, he's strong in every subject at school so why failing in this ? And I was a bit angry with the fact why hadn't he searched for help earlier. He came home with six bad grades, I can't approve that. One is ok, but six !" Mr. Frost explains.
"Oh ok, that's new for me. I thought Jack had told you but he didn't, ok. Ehm, well I can only help him by offering some extra lessons. It doesn't have to be from me, another student, for example, can do it too. I was thinking, maybe Eugene ? He's pretty good."
"No, no, no. Not Eugene. He and Jack are best friends and if Eugene tutors him then they only will mess around and maybe play truant. I want someone who's serious enough, someone like you perhaps ?"
"I get it, ok so at this moment, Jack and four other students are having trouble. I say we make a small group and I'll tutor them for an amount of time. But I want to see results, they are going to work hard for their grades so they'll make it to the next year. I think that should be a lesson or ten."
Mrs. Frost nods slowly. "I think that's wonderful. I think it's very nice of you to sacrifice your free time for them. I want to thank you for that."
Elsa smiles shyly, she's not used to compliments from her student's parents. They always complain to her that it's her fault and that she's a teacher who makes the case worse than they are. "Thank you, but no need. It's my job to get the best out of the kids and if that means working late, then I'll do it." She exchanges a look with Jack's mom. What a sweet mother is she, Jack's lucky. "So, are we done here ? Do you have any questions ?"
"No, thank you. You were pretty clear. We'll let Jack know." Mrs. Frost informs.
"Ok, good. I'll approach Jack and the other's and then we'll set up dates. Thank you so much for your time. Have a safe trip home."
Ms. Winters walks them out. Jack's dad is quite impressed, for such a young lady, she's very clever and very mature. She opens the door for them to pass, as Mr. Frost walks past her, he notices that she's very tall. She's almost as tall as he is, which a lot of women aren't. They differ at about four inches.
As they drive back to the house, Mrs. Frost softly rubs her husband's hand. "You did great, honey." She says encouraging.
Mr. Frost kisses her hand. "Thanks, she's quite impressive. She has great knowledge and she's really likable."
"Yeah, she seems very young too. I think I might now why our Jack isn't paying much attention..." He laughs as he pulls the car on the drive way.
"And ? What did she say ? What did you say ? What did you think of her ?" Jack bombards his parents with anxious questions.
"Well." His dad begins. "To start with, she's quite charming. Even though she's your teacher, I must say, she's really pretty."
Jack's mom gives him a glare. "But you are prettier of course, love !" Mr. Frost corrects himself.
"Thank you." She says and walks to the kitchen. She pretends like she heard nothing, but she knows better and rolls her eyes. Men, they're all the same !
It's late in the evening and Elsa is walking home. It's already dark and a few street lanterns are lightning up the streets. The trees are bold, winter is late this year. Elsa used to love the winter. She used to play in the snow with Anna all day, making angels and snowmen named Olaf for some reason. And just as she was enjoying winter at it's peak, they took it away from her. They had stolen her favorite time of the year, they had stolen what she cherished the most. That time had been really hard for her and her family, since that time, winter has been a sign of dark, insecure, cold times. That time when they took away her childhood forever.
Elsa stares outside the window. It's a grey day and snow falls out of the sky for ages. It never seems to stop and it's freezing cold outside, not that it bothers her. She adores the cold. From her seat, Elsa studies the snowflakes. They are beautiful, each shaped slightly different from one another. She's so memorized by the snowflakes that she doesn't notice a few students from her class are whispering behind her back.
"She is so weird." A girl with brown hair says to a boy with black hair.
He grins. "Well, she's only eleven years old. She just a child."
The girl raises her eyebrow. "Well, she's in college. It's time to grow up !"
"Yeah, that winter bitch is getting on my nerves." A boy with red hair states. The others laugh. "Heee Snow Queen ! Fantasizing about playing in the snow ?!" He says mockingly.
Elsa turns around, seeing that three students are looking at her. Here we go again, she thinks. "I was just looking outside, I thought the snow looked beautiful."
"Haha, yeah, you always look outside. But what do you say if we really go outside ? You know building snowmen and such..." The red-haired says. The others grin, this could be fun.
"Are we allowed ?" Elsa asks, sure she wants to go outside but the lessons will start soon and it's playing truant if they go outside to play.
The tree kids nod to convince her. "Come on, or are you scaarrreed ?" The girl mocks.
Elsa shakes her head and follows them outside. As soon as they're outside, the boy with black hair starts to speak. "Ok, we're going to play hide and seed in the snow. I am going to count and the rest is going to hide. If I haven't found you, you have to stay where you are. And don't move. You must stay in your hiding place until I found you, don't come out earlier or you'll lose, ok ?!"
He begins to count and the rest runs away. Elsa doesn't know where to hide, the school yard isn't that big and there are no trees to hide behind. Suddenly, the girl grabs Elsa's arm and whispers at her. "Shall I help you hide ? I know the best spot, he won't find you there."
"Ehm, ok." Elsa answers. The girl and the boy drag her with them to a little bunker made out of snow. It's very small but small enough for Elsa to fit in. They push her in and throw snow on top of her. "Heee, don't do that !"
"Shhhh, you have to be hidden, he can't find you if you're covered with snow. Keep still, we're helping you out." The boy snaps. Elsa keeps her mouth shut, the snow is leaning heavy on her but she decides not to complain about it to not make them angry.
"Ok, Elsa. You're done now, we're going to hide too. See ya later !" And they're gone.
"Thanks..."
The time goes by, still no one has found her. Elsa tries to move her arm, it's stuck in the snow. This hiding spot is very good, they still haven't found her. How long has she been here ? She doesn't remember. It's a long time, that's for sure. Maybe it's time to come out ? But then she'll lose the game. She decides to wait here. The spot is quite comfortable and it's quiet. Elsa lays her head against the cold snow and starts to fantasize about what she and Anna might have done if Anna were here. They probably had a snowball fight and after that, Anna would whine about making a snowman. Then they would make one and Anna would have hugged him as if he were a real human. Elsa sighs deeply, that would have been the case if their mommy would be still alive. She can't believe that it's been already one year. One year without her. She decides to close her eyes, they should come and find her anytime soon now wouldn't they ?
It's cold, really cold. Elsa frowns, that's funny, she never seemed to be bothered by the cold and here she is, having it really cold ! It's dark, the snow is dark. Why is it so dark ? Where are her friends ? Have they forgotten her ? They must know she's here, they buried her themselves ! Elsa tries to remember how long she's been here but thinking is really hard. Maybe I should close my eyes for a while, maybe then the dizziness will go away, she thinks innocently as she rests her head on the cold hard snow. Oxygen is limited, she must use it slowly.
Numb, everything is numb. She can't move her arms, her eyes, her lips. The cold is over, it passed a long time ago. They aren't coming anymore, they haven't found me. They stopped looking and just left. Elsa could cry if it weren't for her eyes to be half frozen. I have to get out of here ! She tries to move, it goes really slowly and it hurts. After a while, she manages to get some snow off of her. The air flows in and Elsa inhales deeply. Her eyelids are so heavy, she's so tired but she has to get out. She has to go home, to daddy and Anna. Finally, after some time, she manages to get all of the snow off of her. She crawls on her knees and hands out of the bunker. The school yard is empty and dark. It's evening, she figures. Daddy might be angry with the fact that she hasn't come home yet. Elsa's scared, it's dark and she can't see a thing. She slowly crawls further, standing up is really difficult but she has to if she still wants to make it in time home. With a lot of effort, she finally manages to get up her feet. Her legs wobble and walking is really difficult. After a few steps, she feels too dizzy to stand up straight and comes crashing into the ground. As she lays on the snow, she hopes that daddy will find her. It's no use, they will come for her. Just wait a few minutes... Slowly she drifts into a vast sleep.
Dad found her in the early morning, she was almost frozen. He had called the ambulance, they came quickly and got her into the hospital. She laid in a very warm room to get her temperature to normal, her body temperature at that time was below 15 degrees. When Elsa came back after three days, she swore she would never talk to anyone again. And she managed to pass all of her years without saying a word to anyone besides her family.
Elsa smiles, luckily, those hard times are behind her. Now she's quite content with her life and everything goes well. The past couple of months she spent at this new school have gone too fast. It has been great though, the students are very nice as for her colleagues. But even though everything went great, she still has the feeling that something's wrong. Still the fact that a few students in her classes aren't paying attention isn't bugging her too much. Today she spoke with Jack's parents. They seem very nice, very caring about their son's wellbeing. And it seemed like they genuinely wanted Jack to take the extra lessons for his own good. Tomorrow's she's going to see Jack again, he's a good kid but he seems to be a little...overwhelmed by her. Every time she speaks to him, he seems a little shy to speak back but covers it by quick talks. Every time she looks him straight in the eyes, she seems to recognize a little bit of fear, maybe hope and anxiety but never admiration. Doesn't he appreciate her lessons, the big amount of effort she puts into the preparations ? Doesn't he appreciate her ? And just as she thought he started to open more to her, he caught her and John together. He seemed very upset about it and reacted very distant towards her when she asked him how he was. Elsa never likes it when people are mad at her. She always tries so hard to make it the best for everyone that she sometimes forget that she can't please every body. And when that happens, she feels helpless, insecure about herself. Where did she go wrong ? Is it too late to make it up ? As she reaches the front door, John already is standing in the door opening to welcome her. He grabs her and pulls her in a kiss. Elsa smiles, tomorrow she's going to handle with Jack. Today she's going to relax, John doesn't have to know about her problems. She's perfectly capable of fixing them herself.
"Hey darling, welcome home. Come on in, I have some left overs for you." John says as Elsa walks past him. He closes the door, shutting the cold out. "So, are you hungry ?"