Hi everyone! With classes over for the time being, that means that I am officially back working on this story! So Merry Christmas, this is your early present! Also, I would love some feedback about what you want to see in this story, and I will definitely take it into consideration! EEEEEEEE I forgot how much fun this was!

"Elsa! Get up! You're gonna be late!"

"Ughmph…" It can't be morning already. I crack an eyelid, and sure enough, there's sunlight peeking through the shades in my window.

"What was that?"

"Go away." I roll over and pull the covers over my head.

"That's what I thought," Anna says threateningly, and I hear her soft footsteps running down the hall. Maybe she'll leave me alone, but I doubt it. I close my eyes and am about to drift off again when a shock wave of cold water descends on my head. I shriek and scramble out of the bed, grabbing a pillow to attack my harasser. I look up.

"Dad!"

My father just smirks at me, holding a yellow bucket in his hand as he makes a half-hearted shrug. "Sorry, Els, but sometimes, desperate times call for desperate measures."

"What about this situation was desperate?"

"Anna wanted you up."

"Anna." I try to make my voice sound cold and angry, but it's nearly impossible to be mad at my dad for anything. I can't do it.

"Elsa?" I spin around and see her, using the doorframe as a kind of shield against my wrath. "I was just looking out for you. You don't wanna look terrible on your first day back at Burgess High, do you?"

I drop the pillow. "As noble as your intentions were, this will not be forgotten." I point my finger at her, but she just giggles and skips back down to her room. I look at my dad and we both start laughing. He gives me a kiss on the head as he walks out, calling behind him, "Mom's making breakfast, and I'm trying to help. Be down in half an hour."

"Okay!"

I gather my clothes and race to the bathroom, just barely beating Anna, and I close the door in her face. "Ha! I'm first today. Deal with it!" I call through the crack by the floor. I can imagine her sticking her tongue out at me on the other side, and I have no pity for her.

Exactly twenty-three minutes later, I'm ready. My hair has grown out enough that I can put it back respectably without having a bunch of little fly-away hairs bothering me all day long, which is an exciting prospect for me. Looking in the mirror, I realize that I'm used to my brown hair now, I may even like it more than my original blonde. Maybe. Beside me, Anna's still fidgeting with her bangs, parting them one way, then another, and her anxious movements are making me nervous. "Anna, stop it. Your hair looks great."

She stops just long enough to give me what I could only classify as a mixture of smile and grimace. "Thanks, but this mess needs to me controlled. Controlled!"

"Just pin them back, then."

"No, that won't work. They're too short for that. They're too sneaky to be contained that easily."

I laugh. "Well, good luck with that, then. See you downstairs."

She nods, but doesn't respond, and the smell of scrambled eggs is calling me, so I leave her to fiddle with her bangs and run downstairs, where my dad is trying to flip pancakes and my mom is rating his attempts on a scale of "boo" to "meh."

"I thought you guys raised us not to play with our food," I say sarcastically.

Mom looks over and tries to stop her laughter. "He started it!" she says defensively.

"Started what? You bet me the price of a movie at the theater that I couldn't do it!"

"And I was right, wasn't I?"

"What's going on down here?" Anna has just arrived in the kitchen to see dad's last flipping attempt, which was not very good. We all just smile sheepishly at her, and dad places the pan back on the stovetop. I grab some plates, while mom and Anna get the food, and we all take seats around the table. Our family breakfasts have been a tradition in our family for a long time, and we try to have them every morning, although sometimes we just don't have time.

"Uhhhh, Anna?" I glance at the clock. "We should probably leave soon."

She gives me a long look. "You're pretty eager, aren't you?"

I roll my eyes, but I can't ignore the butterflies in my stomach. "I just want to get it over with."

Mom reaches over to take my hand, and she gives me a quick squeeze. "You'll be fine. Just be yourself. You're going back to see your friends!"

I nod as I get up from the table. "I guess. But they won't know it's me. So it won't be the same."

Anna bounces up next to me. "You don't know that. Just give them a chance! Now let's go."

We grab our backpacks and head to the car. I snatch the keys from Anna as she tries to unlock the driver's side doors. "Ah ah ah, little sis, I am driving today."

"But I need the practice!"

"I refuse to almost die this morning."

She almost retorts, but closes her mouth suddenly. "Fair enough."

The drive to Burgess High is a pretty short one from our house. Five turns, not including the one from the driveway onto the street, and we arrive. I only had to ask for directions once, too. I'm amazed that I still remember how to get places after being gone for so long.

The second we walk through the main doors of the high school, a flood of people surround us, all calling out hellos to Anna and throwing questioning looks at me. I try to smile and make eye contact, but I'm not really enjoying the attention, even as Anna is basking in the spotlight next to me. As I watch her interact with her classmates, I can't help but notice a guy, standing a few feet away, smiling like an idiot at Anna. He's tall, very tall, with shaggy blond hair, and he has the build of a wrestler, maybe, or just a very athletic person. He's good looking, too, but right now his face has an eager, wistful smile on it as he stares at my sister. I know that look. I'm immediately distracted, though, by the appearance of Merida, who clears a way through the crowd like Moses parting the Red Sea. She's not wearing her arm brace anymore.

"Clara! Good to see ya again! Why don't you come over here with me and meet some of my friends?"

I sigh with relief. "Hi Merida! You look like you're doing a lot better! I'll do anything to get out of this crowd." I follow behind her as she weaves her way through the group of students, and stop abruptly when I see the group before me. Hiccup, with his hands in his pockets, is staring up at the ceiling and whistling. A much taller Flynn than I remember is playfully dangling what looks like a necklace or a bracelet in front of a petite girl with shockingly long hair. Rapunzel. My gosh, it's been a long time since I've seen her in person. She looks exactly the same, though. Merida tugs me by the arm over to them.

"Clara. Nice to see you again," Hiccup says, giving me a smile and leaning back against the wall, trying to look cool. I notice that he keeps glancing over at a blonde, athletic looking girl standing with a group of jocks a few feet away from us.

I smile back at him. "Hi Hiccup, how are you doing?"

"Pretty good," he responds, but he's distracted, so I turn to the other two members of the group who are watching me with curious eyes.

"You two must be Flynn and Rapunzel. Anna's told me a lot about you."

Rapunzel squeals and throws herself into my arms, wrapping me in a tight hug. "You must be Clara! It's so nice to finally meet you in person! I've heard a lot about you, too. Haven't we, Flynn?"

He nods, and there's a sly look in his eye that makes me a little suspicious. "Oh yeah, but mostly through the rumor chain. You know, Jack tells Sophie, Sophie tells Anna, Anna tells Rapunzel, Rapunzel tells me, I tell Hiccup…" he finally shuts up when Rapunzel elbows him in the side, and just stands there trying to look innocent.

"Jack has told you about me?" I ask.

"Oh yeah. All the time. He won't shut up about you," Rapunzel chimes in, her eyes wide as she tries to gauge my reaction.

I blush, and Flynn starts laughing. We all just stand there for a moment, looking at each other and trying to find a new thread of conversation, when Flynn tries again. "So," he starts, "I hear you're helping us out."

This is news to me. "I am?"

He nods his head up and down slowly. "That's what Jack told me."

"And what exactly am I helping you with?"

"Well, finding Elsa of course."

Oh. That. "Yeah," I say in my most casual voice. "I guess I am helping you guys out with that. You're gonna have to pay for my services, though. My help does not come cheap."

Flynn and Rapunzel both check their pockets at the same time. "I can offer you….a pen cap, a faded flower that I picked yesterday, and…a dime," Rapunzel laughs.

"I'll give you everything in Hiccup's wallet," Flynn says, holding up a leather wallet.

"Hey!" Hiccup yells, snatching it back.

I laugh. Hard. Flynn and his sticky fingers. It's nice to see that some things never change. "I'll accept the flower and pen cap as your first payment. And in exchange for your merchandise, I offer you…" I rummage through my backpack to find the packet of letters that have been sitting in it for weeks. "…These!" I announce triumphantly.

"What are they?" Rapunzel asks curiously as Flynn snatches them from my hands.

"They're letters. You see, before cell phones and text messaging…" I start to explain in my most condescending voice.

"Ah ha ha, very funny," Flynn says sarcastically as he flips through the envelopes. "Hey, that's my name!"

I nod. "Yeah, I found them when me and Anna were moving me into Elsa's old room. They were under the floorboards in the closet. There's one for each of you guys."

Rapunzel takes the letters from Flynn and begins handing them out as she announces the names. "Merida. Hiccup. Flynn. Me. Sophie and Jack…"

"Where is Jack, by the way?" Merida asks.

"Who knows?" Rapunzel shrugs. "We'll have to track him down at some point and give him his letter. Let's give him Sophie's too, and he can get it to her." It surprises me that he's not here, although it probably shouldn't. He's changed, remember?

I look around for the familiar head of white hair, but I don't see him. And anyway, his hair is brown, you moron. Oh yeah.

Before we can continue our conversation, the first bell rings, forcing us to go our separate ways. Anna explained my schedule to me last night and even drew me a diagram of the school's layout, so I wouldn't get lost as I walked around to the various classrooms where I'll be spending the next year. So I know to take a right at the main hallway and enter the eighth classroom. I can check my locker later. I don't have much to put in it, so I'm not too concerned.

As soon as I enter the classroom, my eyes are drawn to a group of five students sitting in the back corner. They're dressed in what I can only describe as slouchy clothing, with shirts and pants that are just a little too loose, and overall appearances that shout: "I don't really care what I look like…or what you think about it." I try to actively avoid people like this, they make me uncomfortable, I don't know how to interact with them, and they remind me of Pitch, so I lower my eyes and take a seat in the middle of a row, leaving three seats between me and the closest sloucher. The rest of the classroom begins to fill up slowly, and I keep my gaze straight ahead, until someone taps me on the shoulder.

"Hmmm?" I ask, only turning around slightly.

"Hey, Clara," the stranger says.

I look back completely now, and am confronted by a pair of bright blue eyes. "Jack?"

He gives me a sheepish grin. "Surprise. We're in the same homeroom."

I glance around him and realize that he was one of the members of the slouching group that I saw when I first came into the room. He follows my gaze, then looks back at me with a raised eyebrow. "What?"

I shake my head quickly. "I don't know. I guess I'm just…surprised. I thought you were friends with Flynn and those people."

He scoffs. "Who told you that?"

I start to answer, but he waves his hand away. "Don't believe everything you hear, Clara."