Hello! In this chapter I'm finally including some characters from Frozen. When I outlined my chapters, I hadn't seen Frozen yet, but I found a way to incorporate Elsa and Kristoff into this chapter. Anna will appear in the next chapter.

Enjoy and please review and follow!

Chapter 8: Meg POV

Just in case you've lived under a rock your entire life (or worse, you've been homeschooled), I'll explain what high school cafeterias are like if you're currently a friendless loser:

Pure. Unadulterated. Hell.

Groups of cliquey girls glare at each other and trade outrageous, falsified information like the sex addicts trade STDs. Nerds sit around discussing National Geographic and Jeopardy. Burnouts pass around unmarked prescription bottles and plastic baggies. Loser freshmen wish they were older and cooler, stressed out seniors wish they were still freshmen. The lunch ladies overcharge for their products which can barely be classified as "food."

And I didn't know where to sit.

Back before Hercules, I used to sit at a table near one of the windows with Mulan Lu and Alice Pleasance. We'd talk about cartoons, music, English class, whatever came to mind. Our table seated eight people, but nobody ever dared sit in the five extra seats. Alice would crack jokes, I'd whisper insults about other people, and Mulan would beg us to be nice or do our homework. Life was good. No, life was great.

Back before I dumped Hercules, I sat with either Herk and his friends or the other girls on my cheerleading squad. I'd either talk sports and Family Guy or fashion and gossip. There wasn't much in between. Hercules would sometimes call me The Chameleon, because I was able to shift so quickly and blend in so well.

Now that I'm alone, there's not much I can do as far as blending goes. It's like I'm a spot of blue paint on a red canvas. No matter how hard I try to become invisible, I just can't mix.

So I'd been sitting at what Jasmine used to call "The Loner Table." There was a stocky blonde guy who was always on his phone, a red-haired member of the swim team, and an ugly guy who split his time between the wrestling team and the art club. We sat with a seat between each of us and the silence was deafening.

One day I'd finally had enough.

I cleared my throat as loudly as I could. The jock table where Hercules and his friends sat was about twenty feet away and if they hadn't heard me I'd be surprised. I tried to smile, but it felt like I was baring all my teeth like a Doberman. Instead I spoke up. "So. What are your names?"

Boy, did that take them for a loop. The blonde guy choked on his sandwich, the red-haired girl widened her already huge eyes, and the ugly guy went white as a sheet. I used all of my former popularity power to remain calm and in charge of the situation.

"I'm Megara Kormos. My friends call me Meg," I told them in an overly loud voice. Then I remembered. "At least, they would if I had any friends."

That got a chuckle from the three people staring at me. I couldn't keep the self-satisfied smile off of my face. So I kept going. "Have any of you had Mr. Haden for English?"

The ugly guy nodded. "Yeah, I had him last year. I'm Quasimodo, by the way," he informed us.

That name made a light go off in my head. "Oh wait, aren't you the guy who "

Quasimodo cut me off expertly. "Yeah, yeah, that was me." He looked embarrassed. I tried not to pry anymore.

My freshman year, Gaston Avenant had dated Esmerelda Yorke, a girl in my grade. Quasimodo had written her several love letters as a secret admirer, finally signing the last one. Ferdinand, who had probably had a big glass of douchebag that morning, convinced Gaston to take the signed letter from Esmerelda and read it over the intercom. Gaston had gotten detention, but that's nothing compared to what happened to Quasimodo. A bunch of pricks in my grade decided to harass him for months to try to suck up to Gaston. That had only stopped last year, when five of them jumped Quasimodo and only one had managed to stay out of the hospital.

"Did Mr. Haden make you guys do these stupid re-enactment of a Greek myth last year? It's seriously stressing me out," I confessed. I'd gotten the myth of Cupid and Psyche, and I was afraid that Hercules, who was in my class, would end up in my group. Mr. Haden struck me as the sadistic type.

Quasimodo rolled his eyes. "Definitely. He's obsessed with Greek mythology for some reason. You'd think a guy with blue hair would be cool, but he's a total hard ass."

The red-haired girl chipped in. "A teacher at this school has blue hair?" she asked. Her voice was full of disbelief.

I nodded. "Blue as the day is long. I couldn't really believe it either."

She shrugged. "I'm Ariel, by the way."

I tilted my head. "Your hair is gorgeous. Is it natural?"

Ariel laughed. "Yeah, I get that all the time. I'm one of the Currents, if that helps clear it up." She waved her hand around the top of her hair. "You know, none of us have the same color of hair. Dad says we're like a rainbow."

"Adella's in my class," I informed her. She had also used to cheer with me, but I figured that'd dredge up too many bad memories. I turned to the blonde guy sitting a seat away from me. "And who are you?"

He looked up from his phone. "I'm Kristoff. My friends would call me Kristoff," he teased.

I raised one of my super thin eyebrows. "Would?"

Kristoff gave a sheepish smile. "My only friend is my dog Sven, and I think he only likes me because I feed him."

"That's why I put up with my dad," Quasimodo deadpanned. Ariel laughed, a tinkly little giggle that sounded like something you'd hear from a pageant contestant.

The bell rang to signal the change of periods. I grabbed my empty tray and before I went to dump it and go to class, I bade my new lunch buddies farewell. "Maybe tomorrow we can talk about Ms. Queen's Home Economics class."

A chorus of groans ensued. Pretty much everybody hated that class. I scooped up my bag and turned to walk out of the cafeteria.

My locker was blessedly freshmen-free. Since my fight two weeks ago, most people seemed to avoid me. Jane Porter had turned into the new it-girl of the freshman class, and I was Castle Heights's token girl with anger issues. Perfect.

I swapped out my English binder for my chemistry book as I realized something. Sitting smack dab in the middle of the class was Kristoff, completely by himself. Maybe I could sit with him? The guy I sat with now smelled like uncooked potatoes and was a mouth breather. I might not have much status anymore, but certainly I was above that guy. Right?

God, I'm not even sure anymore.

Suddenly, where I was standing was covered in a tall, dark shadow. I prepared myself to rise up and tell somebody off when I realized the blue eyes standing over me were deathly familiar.

"Hercules?"

He smiled at me. "Meggie. I've missed you."

My mouth felt like it was full of cotton. My entire sophomore year, Hercules had left me a daily note telling me how perfect I was, how beautiful I looked, how much he loved me. On Valentine's Day there'd been a teddy bear and a box of chocolates. My favorite part of that gift was the look on then-single Jasmine's face. Our first kiss had been at his locker on our three week anniversary in eighth grade.

Now I couldn't even go to my damn locker without thinking of him.

"Hercules… I'm sorry. We're done." It felt like I was breaking my own heart. A big part of my brain was screaming at me to let it go, I'd made my point. He wanted me. I wanted him. I wanted him so badly!

I couldn't do it though.

"Can I at least have some answers?" he begged. His eyes were starting to get watery. The late bell rang. My heart pounded. I had to be mean if I was going to get away and give him some closure.

I forced myself to narrow my eyes, cock an eyebrow, and stick out my hip. "I don't owe you anything. Now can I please go to class before you bust out the waterworks again?" I snapped. I hated myself.

His stunned silence gave me time to slip around the corner, practically jogging away. I rounded another corner and walked halfway down another hall before I leaned against a locker and slid down until I was sitting, clutching my chemistry book. My head felt heavy and my eyes were prickly with tears. Why had I told myself I could do this? My tough girl act couldn't bail me out forever. I could feel control slipping through my fingers.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw two girls walk past me. One was familiar. She was Alice Pleasance, my ex-best friend and current stoner. Alice had lost weight, her clothes were baggy, and she had huge dark circles under her eyes. Walking beside her was a girl even paler than Alice. She had platinum blonde hair that hung down her back and freckles that contrasted with her harshly icy blue eyes and black piercings below her bottom lip on either side. Seeing her sent shivers down my back.

They stopped at a locker on the far side of the hall. Alice opened her locker and pulled out a wad of cash. "Is it still seventy-five for the bottle?" she asked. Her voice seemed so small. Had she always been this fragile?

The other girl nodded and pulled out an orange bottle from her pocket. "It'll send you all the way to Wonderland and back," she promised, shaking the bottle to emphasize her point. She flashed an icy smile.

Oh. That's who she was. The scary girl with snakebite piercings must've been Elsa Andersen, Castle Heights's resident drug dealer. She definitely wasn't the kind of person Alice should be hanging out with.

Alice counted out seventy-five dollars and handed them to the cold blond. She happily took the pills from Elsa's hand and rushed to the bathroom. Elsa strolled away, pocketing the money.

I fought the urge to chase after Alice. She was probably already downing the pills and hurting herself. I could stop her. I could be her friend again.

I stopped myself before I acted on my instinct. I'd lost the right to intervene in Alice's life years ago.

Just like with Hercules, I'd made my choice.