It seems sudden that it's snowing in this chapter, but I'm getting in the Christmas spirit even if it's past Christmas. But back on the seemingly weird weather, it actually happened like a week ago-. On Monday, it was freezing-20-degree weather. Friday it was like close to 70 degrees and it was too hot for a sweater. Which I wore, along with two undershirts and a long-sleeved shirt and tights under my already-tight-enough pants. But that aside, don't think I'm totally ignoring weather possibilities. Gotta love that dessert winter. Two months since my last update? *facepalm* I am the worst author in the world. Plus, I saw Frozen and now I plan to put Anna and Elsa in even more! Who else saw the movie and fell in love? I know I did. :)
Quivering fingers pulled the gloves on over her hands. Elsa patiently looked towards the window. It was snowing again. She forced a smile. She used to love snow days. Classes canceled, and she and Anna would run around with bare hands, teasing one another that they could last longer without gloves.
This time, however, the snow only looked around a few inches. Classes wouldn't be canceled. And Anna and her never played anymore. Usually on snow days, when they were younger, Anna would wake Elsa in the middle of the night, begging to build a snowman.
A knock shook Elsa out of her thoughts. A quiet knock. Hesitant. And then, "Elsa?" Anna asked. "It's- it's snowing. Do you- do you want to build a snowman?" Elsa inhaled sharply. The words brought back pleasant memories, ones she didn't dwell on for long.
On instinct, she reached for the doorknob, but caught sight of her gloved hand. So she retreated.
"Go away, Anna," Elsa said softly, pleadingly. Anna didn't attempt to press any further.
"Okay, bye," she said slowly.
Anna retreated from Elsa's door, ignoring the tears that were pooling in her eyes. Who cared if her sister didn't even want to play around with her like they used to? Who cared that her sister was a complete basket case? Who even cared that they only had each other for company since their parents were always traveling? Anna tried to convince herself that she didn't care.
"I don't care," she told herself fiercely, and bit her lip, walking to the front door. "I don't care," Anna said louder. She opened the door, bitter cold air swirling in with snowflakes. Saying so felt good. Pulling on mittens, Anna picked up some snow.
Scrunching it in her hand, she formed it into a ball and hurled it at the car. It landed and exploded. A childish laugh sprouted from her lips.
"I don't care!" she cried happily, and scooped snow into both of her hands now. Forming it into a large ball, she began building her own snowman. Without Elsa. Who needed her? Who needed the much more sophisticated, and beautiful Elsa? Certainly not Anna. At least she told herself that.
Finished with her hasty snowman, she slunk back to examine it. Her cold face burst into a smile.
"Olaf," she said. Whenever she and Elsa built a snowman, they always called him Olaf. "He likes warm hugs," she said to herself. So she knelt in the snow and gave the cold, inanimate snowman a hug. When was the last time she had ever been hugged? Her parents didn't have time for that anymore. If they weren't with Elsa, they were traveling somewhere.
Anna didn't even realize she was crying until the tears dripped onto Olaf's snow body. Anna released her creation and rubbed at her eyes blindly, sniffing. Thinking of her and Elsa and how they used to play together wasn't doing her any favors. It was just making her hug a pile of snow and a lot of good that was doing her. Anna shakily stood up, and noticed the front of her coat was wet, but didn't care. She didn't care. She didn't care. And Anna kept thinking this in her head as she went back inside.
"You went out," Elsa said as Anna shut the front door behind herself.
"The snow's pretty," Anna said, as Elsa walked down the stairs to grab the car keys and her own coat.
"Snow is always pretty," Elsa said, slipping into her coat. "Let's go already. Traffic will be horrible with the weather." Anna had no choice but to trail her sister sadly.
Stepping out into the biting wind, Elsa was unfazed. What really hit her hard was the snowman built in the front yard.
"Olaf," Elsa whispered to herself.
"Hmm?" Anna asked. Elsa tore her eyes away and unlocked the car.
"Nothing," she said, and climbed in front of the steering wheel. "Get in." Anna did just that, buckling herself up in the passenger seat. Elsa pulled out of the driveway, eyes fixed on the road.
Anna took off her mittens and turned on the heater, and busied herself by flipping through radio channels. Fixing it on a station playing Christmas songs, she leaned back in the seat, humming "Jingle Bell Rock".
"Anna, please," Elsa huffed as Anna began to dance in her seat. "You're embarrassing."
"What's the big deal? Only you can see me," Anna snapped, slinking into her seat.
"Me and every Tom, Dick and Harry that stopped at the red light," Elsa said, still never taking her eyes off of the road.
"I'm the embarrassing one, of course," Anna muttered to herself. Well, the social recluse queen aka Elsa shouldn't even be taking, she thought.
"Anna," Elsa said firmly, "I know you're under a lot of stress, but that doesn't exclude you from the meetings." Anna groaned. It was just like her sister to bring up the topic of being student body president everywhere they went.
"I only missed last session!" Anna exclaimed. "That's hardly fair, Elsa!"
"An important session," Elsa said. "Please, Anna. If you're serious about your position, at least you'd try to care."
"I do care!" Anna's voice was rising. "You just never seem to care!" Elsa's gloved fingers tightened around the steering wheel.
"I'm not going to argue with you," she said as calmly as she could muster. "Just join us today after school."
Anna pressed her cheek against the cold window of the car, silently brooding. Elsa just didn't understand her. How could she, when she was this perfect girl that Anna could never live up to?
"Your birthday party was pretty fun, wasn't it?" Jack walked next to Once-ler on the way to school. The two boys usually walked together to CGI High, and today was no exception. The snow had started falling earlier that week, and Jack loved it, while Once-ler wasn't a fan.
"You guys broke into my house," Once-ler deadpanned, his breath fanning out into white steam. His nose was so red and he couldn't feel his fingers, making him envious of Jack's ability to not care.
"Only 'cause Merida's parents found us in the pool and kicked us out of her house," Jack defended his actions. "Crazy how the weather turns, huh? Sun one day, snow the next."
"Merida tried to hit the piñata and hit Hiccup in the butt with the stick instead," Once-ler pointed out, clasping his hands to his mouth to warm them.
"Uh- she apologized, didn't she?" Jack tried, stomping into a frozen sewer and enjoying the cracking ice. "Besides, they're best friends. They'll get over it."
"You guys scared me when I came in and I ended up stepping on Mavis's foot," Once-ler rolled his eyes. "That was mortifying."
"She didn't even care!" Jack insisted, as if they had been discussing this for a while.
"And don't forget when Eep had the great idea of playing Truth or Dare, and tried to force me to kiss Nod," Once-ler said.
"Well-" Jack thought about it. "Yeah, that was pretty messed up." "And you expect me to be happy about it or something?" Once-ler frowned.
"We did go through all the trouble to put it together for you," Jack said. Once-ler slunk his head down, hoping it would somehow disappear into the coat collar and warm up.
"Yeah, thanks," he said coldly. Jack bent over and scooped up some snow in his bare hands. "Aren't you cold?" Once-ler asked, surprised.
"Nah," Jack shaped it into a snowball, and tossed it towards a nearby mailbox. It crashed and burst into powdery, cold iciness.
"You're not human," Once-ler sighed. "It's official." Jack gave a cocky smirk and repeated the same procedure, this time tossing the snowball at someone's window. It exploded just like the other one had, as if they were winter's fireworks. Jack pocketed his hands after that, the high school looming into view.
"School," Jack lamented.
"Tell me about it," Once-ler said. "Hey, if I became part of a band, would you consider a manager position?"
"Just when I thought my morning couldn't get any weirder," Jack groaned.
"It's an honest question!" Once-ler insisted. Jack looked ahead and saw his classmates running into the warmth of the building.
"Since when do you have an interest in bands?" he asked.
"Er-" Once-ler said. "Nothing in particular."
"Is it Mavis again?"
"Shut up, Jack Frost."
"It's Mavis! She's starting a band, isn't she?" Jack crowed.
"Look, if I knew you were going to be this unhelpful, I would've asked Nod," Once-ler said.
"What's the band's name?" Jack asked.
"Uh- I dunno. I think it's Floating Lanterns or some girly name," Once-ler said.
"Ha! Who chose that name?" Jack hooted.
"Don't laugh. Rapunzel, I think," Once-ler said. "You know her, right? Flynn's girlfriend?"
Knew her. Of course he knew her. Everybody knew Rapunzel. Heck, everybody loved Rapunzel.
"Yeah," Jack said nonchalantly. "So- um- if you need me to be a manager-"
"You'd do it?" Once-ler said excitedly.
"Er- yeah- if you want me to," Jack shrugged like it was no big deal.
"Jack, that would be great," Once-ler exhaled, satisfied.
"Yeah- great," Jack mumbled.
"Flynn, right?" Roxanne said cheerfully, finding the boy sitting in the shade of a tree with his books splayed around him.
"Yeah," Flynn looked up at her curiously, finding the freakish newspaper writing girl there.
"My name's Roxanne," she said, holding out her hand. Flynn looked at it and then looked back up to her face.
"I know- we're partners in science," he said.
"I knew that, but you're always absent, so I actually assumed I'd just have to do the project without you," Roxanne said, perplexed, letting her hand fall.
"Naw, I just ditch sometimes," Flynn said, then thought about it. "Or all the time, actually."
"Well-" Roxanne chose to ignore that fact. "You know, I'm with the newspaper, and I was wondering if our gossip column could put something in there about your relationship with Rapunzel. You two are the power couple of the year!"
"That sounds exploitive," Flynn said. "We've got more of a quiet relationship. Thanks but no thanks, Roxy." Roxanne frowned at this new nickname he'd given her, and brushed the snub aside.
"I know about your relationship," Roxanne said, leaning closer to Flynn so that her head was level to his. Then she dipped further, letting her lips get close to his ear. "And I know you cheat on her," she whispered. She could've sworn that Flynn gulped at that.
"It's not like that," Flynn said slowly as Roxanne leaned back. "Rapunzel's like a little sister to me. She's grown on me, but not in a romantic way. But I can't hurt her feelings anymore."
"I won't tell her, obviously," Roxanne said, shifting away from Flynn and crossing her arms. "But, while you keep up your facade and go out with her, it would give the paper major publicity if you wrote out an article talking about your relationship. Then, you prove to her friends that are plotting to overthrow you that you still care about Rapunzel, and to Rapunzel that you're still a romantic. It's a win-win."
"And if I don't want the article?" Flynn raised his eyebrow.
"Rapunzel accidentally finds out, and I may or may not have anything to do with it," Roxanne shrugged.
"You're a messed up reporter, Roxy," Flynn sighed. "Here's the deal. I write an article that tells Rapunzel how I feel about her- what I really feel about her. And then we'll split afterwards. You just will not, under any circumstances, tell her about the cheating."
"Deal," Roxanne offered Flynn her hand again. This time, he shook it.
"Now about that project-" Flynn said. "You'll do the whole thing?"
"Not anymore," Roxanne stood up, smirking. "I'll see you this period." As she walked away, Flynn let out a string of expletive curses after her.
Calhoun was walking with Lucille when it happened.
"I thought that he would stay away, but being the insufferable boy he is, he decides to stay!" Lucille was telling Calhoun all about how her boyfriend Raoul never seemed to take a hint about whenever she wanted to be alone. "And then he gets the idea that I want to kiss him, too, after I had just broken up with him, and of course he moves in on me!"
"Why don't you file a restraining order?" Calhoun offered. Lucille shot her friend a horrified look as if she'd just suggested for her to dance around school naked.
"I can't do that!" she said. "I like him!"
"Then why did you break up with him?" Calhoun rolled her eyes.
"Only because that way he'll miss me even more," Lucille stated, like that was obvious.
"You confuse me sometimes," Calhoun said in exasperation.
That's when it began.
Felix was walking nearby. Him and his friend Ralph, a large fellow who couldn't seem to take two steps without breaking something. Lucille payed them no mind, she just walked towards them because they were also going to the same classroom they were.
Calhoun walked after her friend, listening to Lucille talking even more about Raoul while she refraining from saying that she did not care. It was then when Ralph somehow managed to knock over the flagpole- and it fell on Felix.
"Ohmygod!" Lucille screamed, pressing her fingers to her mouth. Calhoun's eyes widened, and she ran towards the accident. Ralph was trying to lift the pole, and how he managed to knock it over but couldn't lift it up, Calhoun would never know.
Calhoun gripped one side of the pole, Ralph took the other, and they lifted it off of Felix, who was crushed under the weight of it.
"Felix, are you alright?" Calhoun was generally concerned, taking Felix's shoulders and lifting him to a sitting position.
Felix coughed weakly, and rubbed his ribs. "It'll heal," he said, giving her a smile. "Thank you, Calhoun."
"Ralph, get him to the nurse!" Calhoun snapped. Ralph crouched next to his small friend, and lifted him in his two hands.
"I have him, don't worry-" Ralph whirled around, and promptly knocked Felix's head into a passing student. Lucille made a noise of horror, stifling it with her hands.
"Just take him to the nurse, without further injuries," Calhoun groaned, smacking her forehead with her hand. Ralph grimaced, and carried Felix down the hall.
"That was really nice of you," Lucille told Calhoun once the two of them began to walk into their classroom.
"Whatever," Calhoun brushed a strand of blond hair behind her ear.
"Really, really nice," Lucille repeated. "Like, way too nice."
"I would've done the same for anyone crushed by a flagpole," Calhoun said flatly.
"Hmm, okay," Lucille smiled.
"Don't give me that look."
"What look?" Lucille asked, a smile still on her face.
"That look!" Calhoun insisted. "That look, like you don't believe me."
"I do believe you," Lucille said, shrugging.
"Lucille, go back to complaining about your boyfriend again, will you?" Calhoun gave her friend a small shove as they sat down next to each other.
"Excuse me?!"