A/N: Chapter 8! I apologize profusely again for the delay in updating. Not that it's much of an excuse, but I started a new position at work and I've been sick. As usual, thank you so much to my Beta – QueenXxIceXxCat, another shout out to Fruipit for advice and motivating me to hammer out this chapter. Last but not least, thank you to all of my faithful readers, and any new ones I acquire along the way. We've hit over 100 followers which is incredible. You folks are crazy :P Reviews, follows, favorites, PMs, etc. are all welcome and appreciated!

Usual Disclaimer: I don't Own Disney/Pixar, Angel Beats, – just the plot.

Rudimentary Photography

An Elsanna Fanfiction

Chapter 8: How Do You Know?

Elsa let out a sigh of boredom as she passed through the second set of doors in the entrance to the dorms. She had quickly learned when she was a freshman that most professors did nothing but hand out their syllabus and then go over it for the first day of classes – an entirely useless day in her opinion. One more door between Elsa and freedom for a couple of hours before her next two classes. Time Elsa desperately needed to utilize.

As Elsa approached the intersection of the hallway, she heard a door open to her right and the rapid pounding of someone running. Pre-empting collision, Elsa stepped to the side as a flash of red passed in front of her, rounding the corner at high speed before attempting to stop on a dime. Elsa saw it coming before it happened, but was powerless to stop it as she watched Anna's feet halt on the entrance rug as the rug kept moving causing Anna's legs to keep going while her torso had stopped. Anna let loose an undignified squeak as her legs rocketed into the air, her torso plummeting to the ground, her bag flying out of her hand to go crashing against the door.

For a split second, Elsa considered running to her room in hopes Anna had not seen her, but quickly forced the thought away and approached Anna as the redhead landed on her butt, legs helter-skelter in the air. It was then that Elsa realized Anna was wearing a dress, and that that dress was currently showing significant amounts of the redhead that were not intended for public display. As quickly as Elsa tried to look away, she couldn't help but drink in the fact that Anna was wearing a, in her opinion, lovely pair turquoise lacey panties that matched not only her turquoise summer dress, but her sparkling eyes as well.

An instant deep blush rushed to Elsa's face as her overactive brain flashed back to her… eventful afternoon the day prior. A wave of heat rushed to her core, reigniting the embers of the fire that never fully dissipated, and the blonde quickly offered her hand to the redhead to help her up.

"Are you alright, Anna?" The blonde asked, still attempting to hide the rampant blush that was consuming her face.

"I've had worse. Thanks!" Anna flashed an embarrassed smile to Elsa as she was hoisted form the ground before smoothing out her outfit and fetching her bag, "Oh, Elsa! Did you… um, that is, did you want to-"

"Are you late for class or something?" Elsa cut in quickly, afraid and excited to know what question Anna had intended to ask.

"I- yeah, I'll catch you later okay? Bye!" Elsa gave half a wave as red locks quickly faded into the mass of students moving around outside as Anna was off running again.

Elsa rolled her eyes, as much at herself as at Anna and walked to remaining distance to her room, shutting herself in before dropping her bag to the floor. Closing her eyes and shaking her head in a futile attempt to rid her memories of her recent accidental voyeurism, Elsa kicked off her shoes and flopping down on her bed face first emitting a frustrated groan.

If I didn't know any better, I swear she was doing this crap on purpose, Elsa sighed into her comforter.

Elsa lay there for several minutes and had almost drifted off to sleep when she heard the familiar song playing from her bag.

"Zenryoku de mou taoresou da

Yubi mo surikirete itai

Demo ne yaru yo konya mo biggu na sutoorii

Find a way koko kara

Found out mitsukeru

Rock o kanadero

Luck o utau yo"

Reluctantly, Elsa dragged herself up off the bed and retrieved her phone, answering just as it was about to go to voicemail, groaning internally when she saw the caller ID was her parent's house phone.

"This is Elsa Banríon's phone-" Elsa began before being cut off.

"Elsa! Why would you dosuch a thing?! Hans and you were so good together! Why would you throw that all away by cheating?! I raised my daughter better than that. I am calling your father and you're coming home. Tonight!" Elsa heard her mother practically scream through her phone.

"Mother I can expla- wait, what? Mother, I didn't cheat on Hans, he cheated on me! Who told you that?" Elsa's brow creased in confusion.

"You're never going ba- he what!? Why would he do that? Elsa Marie Banríon, what's going on?" If the situation wasn't so ridiculous, Elsa would have been laughing at her mother's episode, but as it was, it just made her angry.

"Mom!" Elsa shouted back, effectively silencing her mom who was used to being referred to as 'mother', "For your information, I didn't cheat on Hans. He tried to get me to sleep with him and when I refused, he went and hooked up with a freshman. Oh, and the best part is, apparently there was a screw up and now she might be pregnant! Or is that what you and father wanted from me? Were you hoping that Hans would knock me up and then he'd be stuck with me? Was that the plan?" Elsa spat vehemently, all the frustration from the past few days pouring out at her not-entirely deserving mother.

"Elsa dear, no… of course not, that's not-" Elsa's mother began.

"Well then maybe next time you can call me and ask how I'm doing, and that you heard a rumor before assuming I'm some slut that's sleeping around and cheating on my boyfrie- ex-boyfriend. Until then, goodbye, mother," Elsa finished her rant jamming her thumb down on the 'End Call' button before throwing her phone across the room to land on her bed.

"Zenryoku de mou taoresou da

Yubi mo surikirete itai"

Elsa stormed over to her bed to smack the 'Ignore Call' button on her phone before laying down again, tears forming at the edges of her eyes that she refused to let fall, her mind clouded in anger that her mother could just assume the worst about her own daughter. As far as Elsa was concerned, she had never given her parents reason to doubt that she was a good girl and meeting their expectations.

Except, you know, crushing on a girl.

"Shut up", Elsa growled and grabbed fistfuls of her hair as she vented some of her frustration.

"Zenryoku de mou taoresou da"

"For the love of-" Elsa grabbed her phone, ripping off the back cover before removing the battery and tossing the components onto the floor beside her.

Again, Elsa found herself lying on her bed – her attempts to stop thinking about her parents leading her to think about Anna, which Elsa much preferred over the former. She was jolted out of her reverie when she heard a knock at her door. Thinking it might be one of her residents, she hurried to the door, glad for the distraction until the door was open to reveal a sheepish-looking Hans, hands entwined in front of his abdomen, fingers twitching nervously.

"Elsa, I-" he began.

"No," Elsa stated flatly before starting to close the door, almost succeeding until she saw Hans' hand slide into the shrinking opening.

"Elsa please, wait," she heard him beg, his voice muffled slightly by the mostly-closed door.

Wrenching the door back open, Elsa glared at the boy in front of her, "And why should I?! What reason do I have for allowing you to say another word to me, ever?"

"Please, just give me one chance. If you don't like what I have to say, then I'll never approach you again. Just… give me two minutes," the begging in Hans' voice was almost too much for Elsa… almost. Just as Hans began to inch his way toward the open doorway, Elsa slammed the door shut on his hand, which had still been resting in the doorway. As he recoiled backward, yelling in pain, Elsa slammed the door shut, turning her back to the barrier and sliding down to sit, her face between her knees as tears began to slide down her pale cheeks. She could hear Hans on the other side of the door cursing her and realized that she had finalized the burning of that bridge.

I'm all alone now…

"I'm sorry," Elsa choked out in a whisper as she realized she had damaged his valve-hand, and that he would most likely not be able to play for a few days at least.

Eventually the sounds of Hans' cursing vanished and the only sounds Elsa heard were students leaving for and returning from classes, and her own occasional sniffle as she attempted to get her emotions under control. She was finally able to admit that she was entirely and utterly lost. For the first time in, well, forever, she had no idea where her life was headed, and that thought terrified her more than anything in the world.

A few hours later, Elsa managed to compose herself enough to pass as decent before attending her next class which, as she suspected, went by as boring as the others. Breathing a small sigh of relief, she entered her last class of the day and sat down by herself, happy that this class, of all of them, should prove to be extremely simple – just a required core class of freshman level Chemistry. Elsa looked around briefly and noticed some of her residents waving to her – two boys – a blonde and brunette were sitting together at a lab table to her right.

Those two are roommates… Sven and Kristoff if I remember correctly – I'm glad they're getting along. And the blonde girl in front of them… Aurora right? Huh, she's alone too, wonder if I should-

"Hey Elsa, mind if I sit?" Elsa glanced to her left to see a boy she vaguely remembered from marching band – a french horn player if she remembered correctly, gesturing to the empty seat next to her.

"Sure," Elsa agreed, happy to have a neighbor who she at least knew a little. Just as she was returning her attention to the front of the room, she saw a familiar redhead looking quite dejected in mid-stride. Elsa realized Anna had been on her way toward her when the seat had been filled. Before Elsa could figure out just what the duality of feeling both relieved and depressed meant, a voice piped up to her right.

"Anna, hey! Come sit," the light voice of Aurora called to the redhead whose look of sadness was replaced with one of relief and the girl quickly moved to join the blonde at her table, but not before throwing Elsa one last longing glance that the blonde caught out of the corner of her eye. Elsa shook her head to clear her mind and settled back, resigned to the fact that her easy chemistry class just got a lot more complicated – especially when Anna moved to sit down and smoothed her dress down, affording Elsa an agonizing view of the redhead's hands running along the curve of her butt; causing the blonde's breath to hitch in her throat, barely managing to cover it with a small cough. Elsa blushed furiously as Anna whipped around, concern covering her face, but was fortunately saved having to explain anything as the professor entered the room and greeted the class.

With everyone's attention focused on the professor, Elsa's mind wandered. Her thoughts drifted to her phone conversation with her mother earlier in the day.

Would you approve, mother? What about father? Would it be so bad if I were to follow my heart for a change instead of hoping for a change of heart? You say you want me to be happy… what if she makes me happy? What then? Would you still love me then?

Elsa found her gaze locked on the redhead sitting diagonally in front of her. She admired the way the girl sat up straight in her chair, her simple dress showing just enough curvature to be modest, and yet make Elsa want more. The redhead's hair was up in a simple ponytail, and Elsa had to wonder if it was for the style or because Anna hadn't had the time to do anything else with it.

Elsa was forced back to reality when she felt her left shoulder being nudged repeatedly. "Uh, Elsa? Here's the syllabus, take one and pass it back?" Elsa accepted the stack of papers from the boy whose name she still couldn't remember, taking one and passing the remaining stack to the girl behind her. "You okay? You look a little flushed…" Elsa silently cursed the boy for his observational savvy as she shrugged off his comment and turned back to the professor in an effort to feign interest, her attention slowly being redirected to the enticing redhead to her right.

Flashing back, Elsa remembered the look of sadness on Anna's face when the blonde had turned down her invitation for food, and then more recently, when Elsa had let her neighbor into that spot instead of Anna.

To be fair, I had no idea Anna was in this class. Although, still being fair, I don't know if I would have been okay with her as my partner. Elsa sucked in another breath as she realized the implication "partner" could imply, her face getting ever redder as she buried her face in her hands, leaning forward, elbows on the table. Nope, definitely would not have been okay.

Suddenly, Elsa realized she was staring directly into Anna's eyes – eyes that were initially sad, but then turned surprised when the redhead realized that Elsa had been looking at her. Offering a smile, Anna gave a small wave before turning back around. It was then that Elsa became aware that everyone around her was introducing themselves to their neighbor.

"Elsa?" Her neighbor inquired again.

"I'm sorry, what did I miss?" Elsa said, embarrassed that she was being so inept.

"The professor just said we're going to be partners for most of the semester," the word 'partners' sent a shiver up Elsa's back, and she rolled her eyes at herself before realizing her neighbor probably would assume it was at him, "oh, I'm sorry… is- is that okay? We could always see if maybe-"

"I'm so sorry, I wasn't rolling my eyes at you… just, never mind. Let's start over, hi. My name's Elsa… although you already knew that," Elsa slapped her forehead praying for the bell to ring and free her from the predicament she found herself in.

"Yeah, that's okay. My name's Monty. You probably don't-"

"I remember you, Monty," Elsa cut him off, pleased when a happy grin spread across his face at being recognized.

"Really? Wow, I didn't think you'd have noticed me," the boy was positively beaming. "So anyway, we're partners. Cool, right?"

"Yeah. Cool…" Elsa agreed half-heartedly, throwing the boy what she hoped was a semi-convincing smile.

Fortunately for Elsa, the professor finished going over the syllabus shortly and dismissed the class. Elsa flew from her seat and walked swiftly out of the room, staring intently forward so as not to risk a glance at Anna as she passed by the lab bench. However, not looking at the redhead did nothing to stop her ears from hearing the voice of Aurora telling Anna how beautiful she looked. Nor did it stop her from hearing Anna's bashful response of thanks; so it was with conflicted feelings that Elsa pushed open the classroom door and hurriedly strode away from the classroom, images of Anna dancing their way through her head.

"Partners, huh? Cool. So I'll see you later? I am exhausted – I'm going to go take a quick nap before dinner," Aurora said as they gathered their belongings before heading out of class.

"Yeah, okay. This should be fun," Anna replied, though something was nagging at her. Partners for most of the semester, and I was too late to sit with Elsa. Darn it, Anna, can't you ever be early for once? The redhead sighed as she made the long trek back to the dorms for a quiet night.

Elsa had made it half way to the dorms when the seams of her bag ripped and some of her papers spilled onto the ground around her. Crouching down, Elsa quickly gathered her fallen papers, tears threatening to roll down her cheeks – the stress of the last few days peeking again with yet another problem arising for the young blonde. Elsa, rather than rising, turned her back to the tree near her, collapsing to the ground and leaning back against the tree, watching the multitude of students as they walked by – a few sparing her a glance as they continued on their way.

Relaxing and drawing strength from the tree, Elsa took the time to look around and observe. She saw several groups of students, some couples, and the occasional individual like herself. If she were being honest with herself, her eyes were drawn toward the figures of the girls quite a bit more often than the boys as they passed by. Forcing herself to look at a nearby boy that she recognized from marching band, she took in his features. He was athletic, muscular, but not too much so, broad shoulders, and a chiseled jaw. Elsa could appreciate that he was handsome.

See? I like boys! The blonde told herself inwardly, just as a skirt swished by and her eyes were drawn to two girls as they walked by. Elsa admired the girl in a skirt's calves – the muscle tone and smooth skin as she walked. She also admired the way her hips sashayed as she walked, the skirt just form-fitting enough for Elsa to drink in the curvature presented before her. Raising her gaze, she heard the girl laugh, flashing a bright smile, her eyes equally bright at whatever the two were discussing. Elsa's mind immediately wondered how soft the girl's lips might be – especially in comparison to the lips of Anna.

"Anna!" The name came out half a curse and half wanting as she realized she had said it aloud, drawing the gaze of a few nearby students before they continued on their way.

Okay okay okay, so I like girls too. That doesn't mean I have to act on it, right? Right. Besides, maybe Anna just reminds me of a boy I know and I'm not really into girls at all. She can be boyish sometimes, right? Right.

Elsa nodded to herself as the hem of a familiar-looking dress wandered by as, to Elsa's dismay, Anna trudged by, oblivious to her sitting by the tree, clad in the same flowing dress from before, a pair of flats, with the smooth skin of her calves attracting Elsa's eyes like bugs to a lamp. Very boyish… right? Elsa sighed miserably as her hand unconsciously clenched, muscle memory remembering move in day and her 'run in' with Anna for the umpteenth time.

Elsa stood up, dusting herself off as she clutched her bag to her chest as she walked slowly back to her room, being careful not to catch up to the bouncy redhead several paces in front of her.

Safely back inside her room, Elsa dumped her bag in the corner, mentally reminding herself to empty it the next morning and carry her things to class, before slumping into her desk chair and firing up her laptop. As the screen lit up and her desktop flared to life, Elsa quickly minimized her Facebook profile page and brought up a new Chrome window before navigating to Google.

"Okay," Elsa breathed out as her fingers lay delicate and unmoving over the keyboard.

Several minutes later, Elsa's hands were still hovering gently above her keyboard, the search field still empty.

"Come on, Elsa, you can do this," the blonde said, trying to motivate herself. Taking one more deep breath, Elsa typed out: "How do you know if you're a lesbian?" into the search field, but hesitated over hitting the 'Enter' key. However, Google had other intentions as the site operated normally, showing several potential search results despite Elsa's hand still hovering over the 'Enter' key. Elsa took one last breath before hitting the 'Enter' key and then quickly clicking the top search result. Cocking an eyebrow at the screen when a test comes up asking questions, she clicks the back button before taking the time to read the results.

How Can You Tell if You're Lesbian or Bisexual? Hm, that sounds promising. Elsa thought as she clicked the link a few results down. After skimming the article, she was no closer to answering her question than she was when she walked into her room. Gee, if I see myself with women only, I'm gay but if I see myself with both I'm Bi? Hello, Captain Obvious. How've you been lately? Elsa growled as she hit the back button again and continued her search.

Elsa jolted awake, the slightly red imprint of her keyboard still plastered on her right cheek where her face had lay against it. Glancing at her alarm clock, she saw it was just after three in the morning. Well, so much for getting a good night's sleep, Elsa thought as she dragged herself out of her desk chair, resigned to a very long day ahead of her. Reassembling her phone, she groaned as she had six voicemails and thirty two unread text messages. Ignoring them for now, she stuck the phone in her pocket before gathering her coffee supplies and trudging down the hall to the East Lounge common area.

Anna sat at the table, the only person in the lounge, sipping on a large warm mug of hot cocoa. Overall, the redhead couldn't be too upset with the past couple days; she had made a bunch of friends who didn't judge her, she was out – at least on campus, and she had a pretty good start on some great photographs. Thinking about the photographs brought her to thinking about the focus of them – namely Elsa. Anna sighed into her cocoa.

Well, you put yourself out there, Anna – besides, she hasn't actually told you to buzz off or anything yet, so maybe she just needs time to think?

With that thought, Anna heard the door to the lounge open and close. Glancing up, she coughed as she choked on her cocoa. Setting the mug down, Anna tried to offer the blonde a smile as she gave her a small wave, but the blonde wasn't looking at her and seemed not to notice her spluttering sounds as she trudged over to the coffee maker and started preparing a mug.

"H- Hi, Elsa," Anna said, offering another small wave. The blonde startled and glance around quickly until her eyes settled on the redhead, still in her seat.

"Oh… hello, Anna…" Elsa stammered, contemplating abandoning her coffee run and retreating to her bedroom. However, the mug had already begun filling with the precious liquid so she was more or less stuck.

An awkward silence settled over the room where all that could be heard was the slow stream of coffee being emptied into Elsa's mug and the occasional sipping sound as Anna continued to slowly consume her beverage. Both girls jumped slightly as the coffee maker announced its task completion by making an unceremonious gurgling sound. Elsa quickly retrieved her mug and started to move toward the door when she heard the screeching sound of a chair and couldn't help but glance in the direction to see a somber Anna pulling the chair next to her out, gesturing to it and looking at the blonde.

"Elsa… come sit?" Anna didn't look very hopeful. In fact, Anna looked downright sad, as if she fully expected Elsa to keep walking.

For that reason, Elsa altered her course, approaching the redhead and seating herself next to her, apprehension plastered across her face. "Okay…"

"So…" Anna started, not sure what she wanted to say first, now that the opportunity was afforded to her, "how… how were your classes?" Anna began, testing the waters.

"Boring, yours? How are you adjusting to college?" Elsa replied, relaxing ever so slightly as the conversation turned toward neutral topics. Maybe she's just being friendly? Friends I can do.

"I'm not really sure – all we did in my classes was go over the syllabi and introduce ourselves. Is that normal?" Anna couldn't help but smile as Elsa let out a slight giggle, covering her mouth with her left hand to attempt to stifle it. "I am taking a lot of photos though. Trying to build up a portfolio before things get really crazy, you know?"

"Yeah, the semester can pick up pretty quick if you don't pay attention. Half of all freshman drop out by the end of the year. I'd hate to see you leave," Elsa said, pausing when she realized the double meaning of her words. The notion wasn't lost on Anna either as a light blush spread to her cheeks. As for the first day of classes thing, that's pretty much par for the course here," Elsa drew her hand away from her mouth, revealing her smile and Anna let out a small sigh. She loved Elsa's smile. It carried such a confidence with it that it made Anna feel empowered – like no matter what, everything would be okay. "But that's okay, my job and drumline have taken up a considerable amount of my time, so I'm still active."

Anna sighed and took a deep breath, raised her gaze to Elsa's, and asked, "Elsa… is that why- is that why you've been avoiding me?"

Elsa's eyes went wide and she went rigid, Anna's inquiry hanging in the air, haunting her, "I- it's not… I just…" she stuttered uncontrollably, wringing her hands underneath the table. Drawing in a deep breath, she mustered all of her courage and looked Anna in the eyes before continuing, "Anna. I'm… I'm sorry, but I'm… I'm not… not gay." Elsa felt a pang of guilt upon finishing her sentence, but it was nothing compared to the wave of utter remorse that flowed through her veins as Anna's face briefly collapsed into a mixture of pain and resignation before she managed to recover some of her composure.

"Oh," is all that the redhead managed to eke out before raising the large mug of cocoa to her face, taking large gulps as she pointedly continued to avert her gaze from Elsa's probing eyes. Anna hastened her consumption of the chocolaty liquid that normally brought her an almost unhealthy amount of happiness as a thick silence settled between the two. Elsa studied Anna's features as she watched the redhead try and hide the pain she was feeling, but even she couldn't hide everything as a few select tears managed to break free from her eyelids and run slowly down her cheeks. Each tear that collected at Anna's jaw line before dropping to the table with inaudible splashes caused a pang of sadness to ring through Elsa's chest.

As Anna was taking a last large gulp of cocoa, Elsa took her right hand, cupping Anna's chin and raising her face so that their eyes finally connected. "Anna… I'm- I'm sorry…" the blonde couldn't help but feel hurt when Anna pulled away, rising from her seat as she coughed, the liquid catching halfway down her throat sending the redhead into a coughing fit and causing her to drop her mug. For a moment, Anna's gaze flitted between her dropped mug and Elsa before she turned and fled from the room.

"Anna, wait-" Elsa raised a hand, reaching for the redhead as she fled, almost running out of the room, hands to her face as tears streamed unabashedly down her cheeks. The last thing Elsa heard before the door slammed shut was the distinct sound of Anna sobbing. It would prove to haunt her dreams for the next several nights.

Releasing the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, Elsa rose to return to her room when she realized Anna had left her mug in her haste to leave. Not wanting to just leave it there, Elsa retrieved it before heading back to her room, a distinct pain in her chest. Collapsing down into her desk chair, she placed Anna's mug next to her monitor, the tiny snowmen on the mug smiling at her from their ceramic prison. Elsa noticed one snowman in particular had a crooked grin on its face that reminded the blonde of Anna's smile. Thinking about the redhead only caused her pain when the last image she had of the girl was one of complete and utter despair. Folding her arms on her desk, Elsa lay her head down and shed tears for herself, but mostly for the redhead who had bared her soul to the blonde, and in turn, had it smothered.