I do not have the energy to write a proper chapter introduction. I had two tests this week, I am mentally exhausted. Here's chapter three, I own nothing, and please enjoy.

Anna

I didn't know how to talk to Elsa. I never knew what to say when it was just us two like this. Eilonwy was in the car too, of course, but she usually plugged into her headphones, listening to some modern music artist that I've never been able to tolerate, and fell asleep within the first half hour of the journey. Which leaves me and Elsa sitting in the front of the car looking anywhere but at one another, saying nothing as the music I'd put in played between us.

Elsa had a very different policy than anyone I'd ever met when it came to her car and the music selection. My friend Kida had a car at school and her rule was "Driver picks the music. Shotgun shuts his cakehole," which is a line from one of her favorite television shows. She usually played modern rock music, which I enjoy, so that was all right by me. But Elsa's policy was always "passenger picks the music."

Which would probably more accurately be described as "Anna picks the music," because as far as I knew, Elsa only ever drove with people in the car on days like today, with me in the passenger seat and my roommate completely tuned out in the back. The CD I had put in was one I'd burned my senior year of high school, filled with eighties music and the odd song by The Proclaimers. "I'm Gonna Be" came on and I resisted the urge to sing along, even though it's one of my favorite songs.

Listening to the lyrics – "When I wake up/ well I know I'm gonna be/ I'm gonna be the man who wakes up next to you" – brought me to thoughts of Hans. This morning seemed so far away already. Waking up next to him, in his arms. I knew I'd be back at the school in five days, but I already missed him terribly.

Once my thoughts went to Hans, there was no pulling away from them without any immediate external pulls to my attention. I remembered how I met him. Day one of freshman orientation. All of us new students had been crammed into a room together, and though it was quite a large room having all 350 of us (we're a small college) in such a small space was a little intimidating.

We'd played the usual getting to know one another games in small groups, campus administrations' way of trying to get us to form a few bonds with the people we'd be spending the next four years of our lives with. At one point we'd taken a break from those, all of us sitting on the floor and listening to a senior rep talk about a few of the opportunities there would be later in the day on campus. Once he'd finished, he asked if there was anyone in the room from a different planet. Of course, it was all joking.

But I had a really good one. As a huge fan of Doctor Who, I had more than enough ammunition to answer that question. So I raised my hand high in the air along with a small handful of others in the room, and the rep picked me.

I stood up and said my name, and announced very proudly that I was from the planet Gallifrey (the home planet of the show's titular character, The Doctor). And some ten feet away from me, one of the guys who had raised his hand in an endeavor to answer the question himself yelled out, "You stole mine!"

And that's how I got my first glimpse of Hans. I thought he was cute, but I didn't think much further than that. I had never gotten much attention from guys and as a result finally stopped endeavoring to meet them with hopes of maybe snagging a date. At the time that was all I wanted. A date. I'd never been on one before.

I still hadn't, I realized. Made out with a guy all night? Yup. Gone on a date? Nope. Not yet. But after last night, I was hopeful Hans would ask me out soon. After breaking the news to Alice, that was. He had chosen me last night, after all.

After the planet announcement I didn't really give him much thought until the Friday of my first week of classes, when the school hosted a swing dance on the lawn of one of the dorms. I went with a couple of the tentative friends I'd made who lived on the same floor as me in the freshman dormitory and we stood on the sidelines for quite a while, watching as partners performed intricate twists and turns and spun around one another. It looked like fun and I wanted a part in it, but I was far too shy to ask any boy to dance.

And then, by some miracle, a boy asked me to dance and I said yes, and I got to be a part of the group. I had a dance, and then another with a different guy. And then the boy who had told me I'd stolen his planet asked if I wanted to dance. I was having so much fun. I wanted to keep it going. So I'd said yes and we'd figured out a couple of the turns together and performed them rather clumsily, but we got through it.

I had more fun with him than I had with the other two guys combined. He liked a lot of the geeky things I liked. He liked to talk about them. He was funny and fearless, and for the first time in a long time, I let myself develop a crush. He was the type of guy I could see myself with, very easily.

I saw him around campus a couple times over the next week, but only from afar. I certainly didn't approach him. He was always with people. Different people, every day. Fearless, like I said. He had no problem walking into a group of people he'd never met and making himself right at home.

It wasn't until the next weekend that I got to speak to him again. Eilonwy and I had invited a couple of our new friends from down the hall – Giselle and Jane – down to the room and we were watching The Phantom of the Opera, a favorite of mine. Our door was open, because we were encouraged to keep them that way so we could meet people.

From down the hall we heard footsteps, approaching very fast. Someone was running. That wasn't unusual. People loved to run down the halls. I think they liked the commotion. But those footsteps stopped at our room and Hans stood in the doorframe. "I heard Phantom," he announced, looking at the television and grinning.

"You can come in," I invited him, in no mood to send away a prospective – for lack of a better term – love interest. "Join us!"

He certainly had no objections. He strolled right inside the room and took a seat on the floor next to me. He was excited he hadn't missed much of the film (we hadn't yet even gotten to "Think of Me") and warned us all he would be singing.

"Fine by me," I grinned. He sang, too? Oh, boy. This was a guy seriously after my heart. "Because I'll be singing too."

I hoped to impress him. Draw his attention. So when "Think of Me" started playing, I concentrated very hard on hitting the notes just right as I sang along. Especially the high note. I hit it perfectly and when the song ended I glanced at Hans and found him staring at me with awe in his eyes.

"What?" I asked.

"Why the hell didn't you try out for the school musical?" he said incredulously.

I blushed. I guess my plan worked. He'd noticed.

The college was putting on "Clue: The Musical" for its fall production. I'd wanted to audition, much more for showcasing my talent rather than because I liked the play (or even knew what it was about) but I'd decided against it. I had no idea what my course load was going to be like this semester. I guess Hans had auditioned.

"I didn't know if I'd have the time to," I shrugged.

"You should have tried out. You're amazing"

I could feel myself turning red. "I'm not that good."

"Yes you are," he insisted, poking me in the shoulder. "Don't say you aren't something you are. It doesn't do you justice. You are a good singer. Flaunt it."

That was my first confidence boost, courtesy of Hans. I didn't see it at the time, but I was starting to fall for his charm. Hard.

I was pulled from my thoughts and back into reality of the car ride by a voice humming along to the music coming from the car stereo. "I'm Gonna Be" had ended and Dexy's Midnight Runners' "Come on, Eileen" had come on instead. I love that song. I might even go so far as to say it's my favorite song.

Elsa was humming along, following the tune perfectly. She was an incredible singer, but I rarely ever heard her exercise the talent. Occasionally, if I was in the right part of the house, I could hear her faintly singing in the shower, her voice carrying through the vent systems. I would stop whatever I was doing and just listen. She sang in other languages, beautiful, haunting songs. I wished I could ask her what they were about, but somehow that seemed wrong.

I didn't make a sound, although a part of me was dying to sing along to the chorus. I just sat there, watching Elsa. She was singing softly to the lyrics now, almost under them. "When you wear that dress/ oh, my thoughts I confess—"

She suddenly flinched and glanced at me. She looked like a child who'd been caught in the middle of committing an act she knew she wasn't allowed to do.

She turned her attention back to the road. "This is a good CD," she said, and suddenly the awkward air vanished. "You've got good taste."

"Oh… thanks," I said. I wasn't used to receiving compliments from her. "I've got a couple others…" I clumsily pulled a few jeweled CD cases out of backpack, which was at my feet. "Um… some Muse and Panic! At the Disco… Evanescence… this one's got some Phantom of the Opera on it. Actually, I think this one is all Phantom. The next one too."

"You wouldn't happen to have Love Never Dies, would you?" she asked, and I would have fallen off my chair if I wasn't firmly strapped in by a seatbelt. Love Never Dies is the little-known sequel to Phantom of the Opera. It's got beautiful music and I absolutely adore it. I had no idea Elsa knew it even existed.

"Actually, I do," I said after a moment's pause, locating the proper CD's. One for the first act, one for the second.

"You should put those in next."

"Yeah. Sure."

The awkwardness returned in one fell swoop, and I hated it. I hated that I could never talk to my own sister.

The music slowed down. I brightened up. My favorite part of the song. "Here it comes, here it comes!" I exclaimed involuntarily, and I was amazed that Elsa grinned.

And she started singing along to the song with me. Both of us just belting out the lyrics as loud as we possibly could, trying desperately not to laugh at one another. "Come on Eileen, too loo rye ay/ Come on Eileen, too loo rye ay…"

The tempo started to pick up and we went right along with it, getting louder with every fastened beat. I was dancing as much as is possible when one's seatbelt is fastened having a grand old time, and when the song finally faded out Elsa and I were laughing in a way I haven't laughed with her for years.

I hit the eject CD button and swapped out the current one for the first disc of Love Never Dies. Elsa's laughter faded, but the grin remained on her face. "You have a wonderful voice, Anna."

"What, me?" I asked. My own smile seemed permanently plastered on my face. "Thanks. But you're much better."

"Thank you," Elsa said, diverting her attention back to the road as the first track came on. "Which version is this?"

"Melbourne."

"Oh, good. My favorite."

I had more in common with Elsa than I'd thought. With Eilonwy remaining blissfully ignorant of the bonding me and my elder sister were doing in the front seat as we continued the drive, Elsa and I sang along with the entire soundtrack and after it had ended, half of one of my Muse CDs before we reached Arandelle.

It was a good drive. Possibly the most enjoyable four hours I've spent with my sister in thirteen years. And by the time my family's enormous house loomed in view, I had forgotten my irritation with Hans and life was back to being good again. My sister and I were getting along, I'd had my first kiss the previous evening, and I felt like I was on top of the world.

Alright, that's chapter three. Did you guys enjoy it? I sure did. Perhaps you enjoyed it enough to offer up a couple reviews?

Anyway, thanks for reading. Cantica, out!