Frozen belongs to Disney
Trigger warning: Sex video release
Chapter 7
Anna scanned the notice board near the entrance to the rink and zeroed in on the lineup for the next game. Nothing had been going her way lately, and there was a very real possibility she would be demoted, or even benched, for their upcoming match against the Blackfoxes, a small school from Buffalo. She breathed a sigh of relief as she spotted her name next to Elsa and Rapunzel's.
"Okay, still on the top line," she thought.
She ran her fingers down the length of her still unblemished hockey stick and started the hike back to her room. The new shaft had set her back somewhat in terms of cash, and she would have to stretch her paycheck a bit at the cafeteria, but it was lighter than her old one, and she liked the way it felt on the ice during practice. She dropped her bag off in her room, headed down for rehearsals, then braved a chilly walk across the quad to the cafeteria for dinner. This late in the year, the sun set early, and it was already fully night outside. Inside the dining hall though, the overhead lights lit up the interior as bright as day. Her phone pinged as she scooped what passed for potatoes into her face, and she glanced down.
'Drinks?'
It was from Punzie. Anna stared at the message for a good ten seconds. She wanted to hang out with her friend tonight, Friday night, but at the same time, she had to be at her best for Saturday's game. She typed a response out as quickly as she could on the number pad.
"Game tom. You should sleep too."
Her finger hovered over the button for a second, then she pressed send. Anna glanced at her phone a few more times, but Rapunzel didn't reply. That bothered her somewhat, but she put it behind her.
"Focus on the game," she thought.
The following day, she dragged herself to the rink before dawn so Coach Westergard could put them through a light morning skate. The game wasn't until noon, so she had time to get in a brief study session and a light brunch before returning to the rink. Unlike earlier in the season, the arena was already partially filled. When Anna took to the ice along with the rest of the team, she couldn't help but stare up at the seats, filled all the way up to the mezzanine level. The stadium announcer reached her name, and chills went up her spine at the resulting wave of applause. Somehow her eyes found Kristoff cupping his hands over his mouth and cheering his lungs out from the center of the upper level.
"…and your starting center, Elsa Anderson!" the announcer said, and the resulting roar deafened Anna's ears.
Elsa lifted her stick in acknowledgement, like it was nothing out of the ordinary for her. Rapunzel tapped her stick against Anna's shinpad as she skated by.
"Pretty cool, huh," she said.
"What's going on?" Anna asked.
"We've had a good run lately, and the Arendelle Post ran an article on us," Rapunzel replied, "really though, they're here to see Elsa."
Anna glanced at their enigmatic star center, and Elsa looked over her shoulder back at her, then inclined her head to join her on the blue line. They waited through the national anthems, then Anna took up her usual spot on the edge of the faceoff circle as Elsa lined up to take the draw. Playing in front of a crowd, a friendly crowd, was electric, and although they faded into the background, Anna found her legs pumping harder as she tore around the ice, snapped off a shot, dug for the puck in the corner, then went off for a change. The Blackfoxes, pressed by Arendelle's relentless forecheck, were only able to dump the puck out to center before Arendelle were on the attack again. This time, Merida's line pressed them back into the zone and cycled the puck deep. Anna leapt over the boards as Westergard double shifted their line early, and she raced after the puck Merida had dumped into the Buffalo end. She reached it just as the Blackfox defender did, and Anna laid a thundering check into her as she released the puck, causing it to skitter into the opposite corner. The crowd roared at the physical play, and Anna righted her helmet as she regained her balance and gave chase to join Rapunzel in an attempt to dig the puck out of a scrum in the corner. She pushed with all her might against the Buffalo D, used her skate to try and kick it closer to Punzie. Rapunzel managed to slide it a bit higher up the boards, and Anna went the opposite direction to try and gain some space. Rapunzel somehow kicked the puck up to her stick for a split second, long enough to turn and bank it off the boards towards Anna below the goal line. The rapid clack-clack-clack of composite graphite against ice reached her ears over the roar of the crowd, and Anna glanced over her shoulder to see Elsa open in the high slot, calling for the puck. Anna turned to her backhand and sent a pass her way. The center effortlessly spun from a check as she cradled the pass, then raised her stick high for a slap shot as she glided backwards. The Norwegian held her stick nearly straight up for a full second, an eternity in hockey, as a defender went down in front of her to try and block the shot. The puck slid along with Elsa, and she unleashed a blast over the prone defender. From Anna's vantage near the corner, the puck hit twine just as the clink of frozen rubber against metal pipe reached her ears, and the red goal light blazed. Elsa raised her stick into the air as the crowd went into a frenzy, then pointed at Anna. She rushed over to nearly bowl Elsa over, and laughed as she took in the blonde's ecstatic grin.
"You should shoot more!" Anna said.
Elsa laughed.
"That's what I keep telling you!" she said.
Rapunzel joined them, and they returned to the bench for the obligatory fist bump with the rest of the team. Merida added a second goal on her next shift, and they were off to the races. Arendelle ended up blowing out Buffalo 7-1, and Anna finished with two goals and an assist.
The celebratory mood in the locker room bordered on exuberant, and even though Anna suspected Chloe would have tried to make her life difficult if she could, Hans' new girlfriend left her alone.
"Alright ladies, settle down," Merida said as she stood up. Her matted red hair clung to her bare shoulders and sports bra. "Aye, we're almost halfway through the season. Aye, we're currently in a playoff spot, but a lot can go wrong between now and then, so don't be thinkin' we've made it. There's a long way to go."
"Does that mean you're not drinkin' tonight?" someone shouted.
"Nae, I didn't say that," Merida said with a grin.
Anna glanced next to her, where Elsa had already shoved most of her equipment into her bag.
"There'll be a party this afternoon at Alpha Delta Alpha for sure," Anna said, "do you want to come?"
Elsa opened her mouth and paused. Anna felt a stone settle into her stomach. The playful and expressive Elsa from the game had already been replaced, she could tell.
"I'll think about it," Elsa replied.
"Well, better than I was expecting," Anna thought.
She finished showering and changing, then followed the blonde to her car. The lights flashed with a chirp and the trunk popped open as they approached.
"I…don't think I can go," Elsa said as she dumped her bag into the trunk and set her sticks on top.
Anna's heart dropped.
"Why not?" she asked.
Elsa turned her deep blue eyes to her, and Anna swallowed as her heart skipped a beat.
"I… I have things I need to take care of, and I don't really have time to go to a college party," she said, "I'm really sorry. I wish… I wish I could."
"That's so weird," Anna thought, "why does she do that?"
"Okay umm… everyone gets busy, right? No worries. Maybe next time," she said.
"Maybe," Elsa said as she moved to the driver's side of the car, "I'll see you at practice."
"Yeah. See you," Anna said. She waved as Elsa pulled out of the parking spot. Anna chewed on her lower lip, but then she remembered she had a party to get to. She hiked up to her room as the autumn wind bit at her ears, then scattered her equipment around so it could dry. She changed into her favorite party shirt, the green one with the scooped-out neck, and put on some eyeliner and blush to pretty herself up a bit. She wasn't interested at all in looking for a date, or seeing Hans, for that matter, but the rest of the frat had been friendly with her before, and she was looking forward to blowing off some steam after the great win. She dialed up Rapunzel.
"Hey, I'm almost ready," Punzie said, "meet you downstairs?"
"You bet," Anna replied.
Anna arrived at the common area first, and a minute later, Rapunzel rounded the corner sporting a new, hot pink midriff-baring top and a delicate silver chain about her waist that let a charm dangle about her navel. A tinge of envy crept up to Anna's chest.
"Lookin' good," Rapunzel said, "ready?"
Anna put a happy smile on.
"Lookin' good yourself," she replied, "you bet."
They walked over to Alpha Delta Alpha together, strides in sync as they approached fraternity row. Eric sat on the front stoop, and something about the way he glanced at her made Anna uneasy.
"Hey Rapunzel, you can head on in," Eric said, "but uh… sorry Anna, you can't."
"What?" Anna said, and Punzie echoed her.
"Yeah… you're not on the list," he replied.
"Says who?" Rapunzel asked.
"Says Hans, seems you did somethingto piss him off," Eric replied.
Anna nearly saw red, and she opened her mouth to explode at Eric, but Rapunzel cut her off.
"Yeah, we'll see about that," her friend said, "wait here, I'll be right back."
She stomped up the steps and slammed the door open, and Eric had to pull it shut behind her. Anna crossed her arms.
"Did he say anything else?" she asked.
Eric shook his head.
"Only that he didn't want you in the house for the rest of the year," he said.
"The hell? He was the one who…That's not fair at all!" Anna thought. She tried to call Hans, but it went straight to voicemail, twice. She shoved her hands into her pockets and leaned against the porch railing, feeling more uneasy by the minute as a few others walked past her and Eric let them into the frat house. Finally, Rapunzel returned, with Flynn in tow. From the pouty expression on her friend's face, Anna immediately knew her efforts had been in vain.
"Sorry Anna, Hans is the frat president, what he says goes," Rapunzel's boyfriend said.
"Is Kristoff in there?" Anna asked.
Flynn shook his head.
"He's working this afternoon," he replied.
"Fine, whatever," Anna said, "c'mon Punzie, let's go somewhere else."
Anna stepped off the porch, then realized she was alone. She turned around; Rapunzel stared at the warped floorboards of the frat house's front porch.
"I'm… I'm staying," Rapunzel said quietly.
She heard the words, but they somehow didn't process.
"What?" Anna said.
"Flynn's my boyfriend, and he's on security today…" Rapunzel said.
"What the hell, Rapunzel," Anna said.
"I'm really sorry," Rapunzel said, "I'll make it up to you and… I'll try to talk to Hans and find out what's going on, promise."
Anna was torn. On the one hand, she wanted to vent to Punzie, but on the other, she and Flynn had only been going out a few months, and maybe she wasn't comfortable leaving him alone at a frat party.
"Yeah okay, maybe next time," she said.
"Sorry," Rapunzel said, and she really did sound apologetic. Flynn echoed her.
Anna waved in response, but she glanced over her shoulder as they went back inside, and spotted Chloe in the living room before the door closed.
"Fucking Chloe, I bet she has something to do with this," Anna thought.
She thought about calling Elsa, but she had said she was busy, and Kristoff was working. Anna stomped back to her room, tore off her favorite shirt, and put on a sweatshirt instead. She tried to read lines or study, but all she could think about was the party she was missing. Flashes of card games, hot dogs, beer pong, and laughing with the teams flitted across her mind's eye. Finally, her phone buzzed and she flipped it open to see a note from Kristoff.
'Hey, just got off work, what happened?'
She called him.
"Hey," she said as he picked up, "Hans is being a dick and won't let me in the house, and he's not picking up my calls, so I'm stewing in my room."
"The hell?" Kristoff said, "let me talk to him, I'll call you back."
Anna plugged her phone in to charge it so she wouldn't miss Kristoff's call, but he didn't even text. Finally, when her stomach would let her put off dinner no longer, Anna walked alone to the dining hall to grab a bite to eat. For some reason, it seemed like she was the subject of extra scrutiny. Several times, she felt eyes on her, but when she looked over, whoever it was quickly looked away. The odd behavior was still on her mind when she returned to her room, only to find, in dark black block letters across the center of her door, the word SLUT had been written with what looked like permanent marker. Ice crawled up her spine and she looked left and right down the deserted hall, but of course there was no sign of whoever had defaced her door.
"What the fuck," she muttered.
She pulled an old washcloth from her laundry and walked to the bathroom to get some water. Fifteen minutes of scrubbing later, and she had only managed to lighten the letters slightly.
"Fucking hell," she said as she flexed her sore arm.
A temporary solution came to her out of necessity, and she walked down to the bookstore before closing to buy a whiteboard and some sticky tac, then affixed it over the slur.
"Christ, I hope they don't charge me," she thought. There was no way she'd be able to afford a hundred- and fifty-dollar door cleaning fee or whatever exorbitant penalty the university would levy.
Her phone buzzed, and she flipped it open to see a message from Kristoff.
'He's locked in his room, maybe passed out, I'll have to talk to him tomorrow. Don't worry, we'll work it out.'
"Fucking hell," Anna said again. She entered her room, locked the door, stripped down, shoved her arms and legs into her pajamas, then doused the lights and hoped tomorrow would be better.
Anna had a double shift at the deli on Sunday, and there was no word from Kristoff until early Monday morning, when she woke up to knocking on her door. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to convince herself she was only dreaming, but the knocking was insistent, followed by her phone ringing.
"What the fuck," she muttered as she rolled out of bed and disentangled herself from her sheets.
She threw the door open to see Kristoff, his hand raised to knock again and a concerned expression on his face.
"Hey," he said, "Are you… okay?"
Anna tried to blink the sleep out of her eyes.
"Yeeahh, aside from the fact that you're waking me up at the butt-crack of dawn, I couldn't get into the party on Saturday, and someone wrote on my door," she replied as she stifled a yawn with her elbow, "what are you doing here?"
"You didn't answer your phone, and I wanted… err, I finally caught up with Hans last night," he replied.
She motioned him into the room and stepped back to let him in. He gingerly closed the door behind him.
"What's going on?" she asked.
"You don't know, do you…" he said.
Apprehension stole over her and the last vestiges of sleep faded away.
"Know what?" she asked.
Kristoff took a deep breath.
"Looks like there's… some of the guys were talking; there's videos of you floating around," Kristoff said.
"Videos?" Anna said.
"Like… sex videos, of you and Hans," Kristoff said.
Anna's mouth dropped open and her gaze snapped to the hard drive still sitting on her desk, exactly where she'd put it. The pieces fell together: the stares at the dining hall, someone writing on her door.
"Oh fuck," she said. Kristoff squinted at her.
"No no no, this can't be happening," she thought.
Her hands went to the top of her head.
"They're real? You didn't upload them, did you?" Kristoff asked.
She blinked a few times and looked at him.
"No! I mean, yes, they're real, but why the fuck would you ask me if I uploaded them?" she asked.
Kristoff's shoulders and hands went up as a defensive gesture.
"Whoa. That's just what Hans was saying… that you had the only copy," he said, "but why the hell would you make a sex video in the first place?"
"I don't know, it seemed like it would be fun," Anna replied, but the words came out of her mouth without her really thinking about it. Kristoff asked another question, but she didn't hear it, too stunned to speak as her heart thundered in her chest.
"I have a link… haven't looked at it, of course. I can send it to you…" Kristoff said.
Anna nodded wordlessly.
It took a minute because she couldn't open links from her piece-of-crap flip phone, and Kristoff had to forward it to her email so she could open it with her laptop. She prayed it was some kind of mistake, that they weren't actually her videos circulating around. The subject line 'Hey, check out my hot vid!' already had her hands shaking. The link 'Anna Christiansen sex videos' took her to an online folder with several files of various sizes.
She double-clicked the first one and tried to swallow over the sound of her heart racing while it took a few seconds for the downloaded to start. From the first frame, her worst fears were confirmed; they were her videos with Hans, all of them, it looked like. She quickly closed the vid as bile rose up in her throat and she nearly heaved as she braced herself on her desk. Kristoff continued to speak, but a high-pitched ringing had taken over Anna's hearing, and his voice faded into the background. A single thought fought to the front of her mind.
"Hans, that fucking asshole," she thought.
She was halfway to the frat before she realized she wasn't wearing any shoes, and her socks did very little to protect her feet from the near-frozen ground. Still, she was too far to turn back now, and she pressed on to Alpha Delta Alpha house. She stormed up the rickety steps and barged through the front door.
Flynn said something from the kitchen, but she ignored him as she flew by and stomped up the staircase to the second story, to Hans' room.
She slammed her fist into his door, repeatedly, until he opened it. His eyes widened in shock as he took in her appearance.
"The hell are you doing here?" Hans asked. He didn't move to let her into the room.
"What the hell am I doing here? You uploaded those videos!" Anna hissed.
His expression hardened.
"The fuck I did. You have the only copy," Hans said.
"Are you on crack? Why the fuck would I upload my own sex videos? With you of all people?" Anna asked.
Hans blinked, but he crossed his arms.
"Maybe you like the attention, who fucking knows," he replied.
"Atten- are you insane?" Anna said.
He leaned forward, until his nose almost touched hers. The nearness of his face, which once sent her heart fluttering, now only filled her with revulsion, but she refused to retreat.
"I didn't fucking upload them. I don't even have a copy. And in case you've forgotten, it's my dick splashed all over the internet," he said.
He stood up straight again and refolded his arms. His words did seem sincere, and Anna wavered.
"But it isn't your name on the video," she said as tears sprung to her eyes and she held sobs back.
He looked down at her coldly, calculatingly.
"Know what I finally realized after dating you for months?" he asked, "I can't tell when you're lying. Goodbye Anna."
He closed the door in her face and the lock tumblers clicked. She stared at the wood for a moment, then turned to see Kristoff standing at the top of the steps. She walked towards him.
"Wait," he said, but she pushed past him and out the front door. He didn't follow her, and she didn't care. When her wet socks started flopping about her toes, she pulled them off and walked barefoot up the hill towards her dorm. It was only then she realized she was still wearing her nightgown, and her hair was a mess. Kristoff's beat up old Civic pulled up next to her, and he rolled his window down.
"At least let me give you a ride back to your dorm," he said.
She paused, then walked in front of his car and sat shotgun. He flipped a few dials and warm air blasted her feet and began to thaw them out as he drove her home. She tried to smooth down her hair, mostly in vain. Her lower lip trembled, and she pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes and shuddered as the tears flowed.
"It'll be okay," Kristoff said.
"How the fuck is it going to be okay?" Anna said without looking up.
"I don't know, but it will," he said.
"That doesn't fucking help at all," she said. They drove in silence for a moment.
"So, what did he say?" Kristoff asked.
"He didn't upload them," Anna said, "which is bullshit, because-"
"I know, he had them in the first place, but he was also furious. I don't think I've ever seen him so pissed," Kristoff said. "He nearly got into a fight with Gaston. Flynn and Eric both had to hold him back."
Anna shook her head.
"But I didn't do it, and if he didn't, which… I'm not convinced at all… but if he didn't do it, then who did?" Anna asked.
Kristoff was silent for a moment.
"As much as I hate to think about it, maybe it was one of the other brothers. We can go to the police, file a report," Kristoff said, "maybe they can track it down."
Anna swallowed, then shook her head.
"I'm… I'm not sure, because then there'll be a record… maybe it'll hit the newspapers… anytime someone searches my name it'll come up," Anna said, "…how am I going to get a job as a teacher…? Oh my God, what if my parents see?"
"Alright, slow down there," Kristoff said, "what are the odds the email makes it out and all the way to your parents and they actually click on it?"
Kristoff parked in the lot behind Anna's dorm and she sat in the front seat for a few seconds, her breaths short and fast. She closed her eyes.
"Just put one foot in front of the other," she said, "just one step. You can take a step."
She opened the door and climbed out of the car. The cold pavement was a shock to her soles after the heater of Kristoff's car, and she quickly pushed her way into the dormitory. Kristoff followed her as she climbed the steps to the second story, then waited in the hall as she stopped by the girl's shower to rinse her feet off. She left a trail of footprints back to her room, and Kristoff shut the door behind him.
She paused.
"Turn around," she said, and Kristoff dutifully did so.
"Maybe it won't be so bad. Maybe everyone will think it's a virus or something and nobody will see it," she said as she threw off her nightgown and pulled on a sweatshirt and jeans.
"Yeah, maybe," Kristoff said, still facing the door, though he sounded unconvinced, "I still think you should go to the police, or at least the site, get them to take the videos down."
Anna blinked.
"Good idea," she said.
It was easier said than done though. There weren't any phone numbers or email addresses on the server folder where the videos were hosted, and messing with the address only yielded 'not authorized' pages. An hour later, and with her first class coming up, Anna was on the verge of either tears, or tearing her hair out.
"Ugh, what the hell?" she said, and she slammed a fist on the desk hard enough to rattle her laptop.
"I've got to get to class. Let me talk to the guys, see if any of them know anything about computers," Kristoff said, "hang in there, champ, it'll be okay."
Anna merely nodded; there didn't seem to be much they could do at the moment. She also had work later in the day, plus rehearsal, and a pair of exams later that week loomed large. Then there was practice and another home game on Thursday. She took a shuddering breath as her swirling obligations threatened to overwhelm her.
"One step at a time," she thought.
"Can I take your order?" Anna asked.
"I'll have a ham and salami, lettuce and tomato, with a side of nips," the blonde guy said.
Anna blinked.
"Sorry?" she said.
"Side order of chips," the blonde said.
Anna nodded, but the blonde's two friends started snickering, and she bit her lip as she put the grinder together and sliced it in two.
"Here you go," she whispered as she put the plate on the top of the counter above the sneeze guard.
"Thanks," he said with a smirk as he took the plate. His eyes dropped down to her chest, and despite wearing an apron over her sweatshirt, it felt like some kind of bad dream where she'd forgotten to put clothes on before coming to work.
Her eyes stung, but she refused to cry at work. She somehow made it through the rest of her shift, then all but ran to the bathroom and locked herself into a stall where she could freely choke on her tears. The door opened and closed, someone else coming into the bathroom, and she held her breath as the familiar tinkling echoed.
"I could stay in here the rest of the day," Anna thought.
She folded her arms across her stomach and leaned forward.
"But you can't. You have to get up, have to go to rehearsal. You can't miss another one," she thought.
Through great force of will, she stood and unlocked the stall door, threw some water on her face to wash away the evidence, stuffed her apron in her bag, and headed to the Fine Arts building. All during rehearsal, she felt the extra eyes, imagined that any hushed whisper was about her.
"It's in your head, focus on your lines!" she thought.
She managed to make it through rehearsal, but as they wrapped, someone made a high-pitched panting sound from the hallway, followed by a few guffaws in response. It took a second, but she recognized it as a mockery of the sound she'd made when she faked an orgasm on one of the videos. They had seen them. They'd probably all seen them. She hunched her shoulders and stared at the floor as she rushed to the hallway, then had to force herself not to break into a run.
"Anna!" Olaf called.
She paused with her hand on the door to the quad. The nerdy boy caught up with her, out of breath.
"Hey, uh… are you okay?" he asked. He fidgeted and looked at the floor, the walls, anywhere but at her.
"Has he seen them too?" Anna thought, "…at least he's concerned. Put on a brave front."
"I'm great, how are you?" she replied, a bit too forcefully as she brought her best stage smile to her face.
He shook his head slightly as Marshall lumbered over and joined them.
"Look, I'm the last person who should be judging anyone, but why… why did you upload those videos?" he asked.
She blinked.
"I didn't!" she replied.
Olaf's mouth dropped open.
"Oh. Ohhhhhh. Oh man, that's bad," he said.
"You think?" Anna said.
"Listen, don't pay any attention to those guys earlier," Olaf said. Marshall dropped one meaty fist into his palm and gave her a questioning look. She stifled a giggle at that, the first one she'd had in a while.
"Thanks, but it's okay. I just have to wait until this blows over, "Anna said.
"If it blows over," she thought, "what if it goes on like this forever? No, that's ridiculous; it can't."
She paused for a second. Had Olaf seen them?
"Hey. Those videos, did you...?" she asked.
She'd never seen someone blush from the bottom up before, but Olaf's face resembled a thermometer as his cheeks turned cherry red while he tried to stammer out a response.
"Uhhh… just the first one, and only for a few seconds, and then I closed it," he said.
"Ha," she thought, but the thought of her Drama Club friend drooling over her, probably jerking off to her having sex with Hans fucking Westergard, suddenly caused her lunch to nearly erupt back out of her mouth.
"I've gotta go," she said.
"Wait-" Olaf said, but she took off, sneakers pounding the asphalt all the way across the quad. Tears blurred her vision as she ran for her dorm room, only to find someone had written SLUT on her whiteboard. She used the sleeve of her sweatshirt to wipe the letters, but that had no effect; they had used permanent ink. In a fit of anger and frustration, she tore the whiteboard off her door and slammed it over her knee. Instead of breaking, it merely bent in half somewhat.
"Ugh!" she said, threw it to the ground, stormed into her room, slammed the door behind her, and, with a creak of old springs, sat down on the extra bed.
"You need to talk to someone," she thought. Her first instinct was to call Punzie, but the way her supposed best friend had left her to hang out with Flynn still bothered her. Her second thought was to call Kristoff, but he'd liked her in high school.
"He didn't watch them before, but what if he has since, and it's the same with him as Olaf?" she thought. She shuddered, then looked down at her phone and pulled up Elsa's contact number.
The bluejay was nowhere to be found, so Elsa looked out across the campus. She liked it up here, where she could be surrounded by people, but still alone with her thoughts. Students and professors crisscrossed the quad. Most of them stayed on the paved paths, but a few walked across the grass.
"They won't be able to do that once the snow starts," she thought.
A vibration drew her attention, and her heart leapt when she saw Anna's name on her phone: 'Are you on campus?'
"Keep your distance, Elsa," she thought.
At the same time, the thought of Anna's smiling face and red hair done up in the pigtails she favored warmed her from the tips of her ears all the way down to her toes.
She quickly tapped out a response, 'On the roof', then stood up and walked over to face the door to the stairwell.
"Don't be an idiot," Elsa thought, and she quickly turned around so it didn't look like she was waiting for Anna to reach the top of the steps. The door creaked and Elsa turned around again as Anna emerged into the autumn sunlight. The blonde's smile froze, a way of keeping the shock from her face when she caught sight of Anna's desperate expression.
"What happened?" Elsa asked.
Anna sniffed and hugged herself about her midsection.
"My life… just got completely fucked," she replied.
The redhead closed the door behind her, walked to one of the vents on the roof, and slid down to sit with her back against it. Elsa followed as Anna drew her knees up and wrapped her arms around to hug them close. The blonde hesitated for a second, then tentatively sat down next to her. A light breeze stirred her hair and rustled what few leaves remained on branches as she waited for Anna to speak. Whatever it was must have been serious; her teal eyes remained as captivating as ever as they looked out over the campus, but her expression was one of complete devastation.
"My pictures are all over the internet," Anna said.
Elsa tilted her head ever so slightly to one side.
"What pictures?" she asked.
"Videos of me, and Hans. Naked videos," Anna said as she dropped her head into her knees, "sex videos."
Elsa's mouth dropped open.
"Oh no," she thought as the implications shot through her mind. She knew it was possible to get videos removed from the internet, but she also knew it cost money, a lot of it, money that Anna and her family probably did not have to spare. She decided not to mention it.
"What the… how?" Elsa asked.
Anna shrugged without looking up.
"It wasn't me. Maybe it was Hans, but… I don't know. It could have been one of the frat guys," she said, "I don't think it really matters at this point; I'm pretty sure the whole campus has seen them by now. I keep thinking this is some horrible nightmare and I need to wake up, but it's not."
She looked up to stare at the forested hills again and took a shuddering breath; Elsa's heart wept for her. She couldn't imagine the indignity, the embarrassment. A very small part of her considered seeking the videos out herself, but she shoved the thought away.
"You can't do that! What would that say about you?" she thought.
"What are you going to do?" the blonde asked.
"No idea, but… I'm sure it'll be fine," Anna said. The redhead tried to put on a brave smile, but Elsa saw right through it; she was barely holding it together.
"I mean, at least… at least…" Anna said, then finally sighed, "I'm really trying to find a silver lining here, but…"
She buried her eyes in the heels of her palms.
"I lost my virginity to him and… fuck, why did I say that," she said, "…and now this… God. I feel like a tissue someone blew their nose in and threw away, then stepped on."
Her breath shuddered as she fought sobs.
"Who would even think about dating me now?" she whispered as tears leaked and ran down her cheeks.
Elsa reached out to her, but her fingers stopped a few centimeters short of Anna's shoulder. She closed her hand and pulled it back, took a deep breath, and the words tumbled out of her mouth.
"Stop right there. An asshole, or two, took advantage of you, but nobody should ever make you feel this way," Elsa said, "you're good, and loyal, and… talented, and beautiful, and Hans is a jerk. Anyone would be lucky to date you-"
She clamped her mouth shut and bit her lip before she said any more; she'd probably already said too much. Anna sniffled and looked over at her.
"Boy, you don't talk much, but when you do…" she said as she wiped her eyes, "I think that's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me."
Elsa let a small smile out.
"Well, it's the truth," she said.
Anna chuckled at that, and Elsa thought she detected a faint hint of color come to her cheeks. She took another deep breath, looked out over campus for another minute, then pulled herself to her feet. Elsa quickly followed suit.
"Whew. I feel a lot better now," Anna said, "umm.. sorry for dumping all over you."
"It's okay, I'm… I'm here if you need me," Elsa said.
Anna smiled.
"Thanks," she said, "I just have to get through this, I think… There must be something better on the other side."
"Are you sure you're okay?" Elsa asked.
"Mm-hmm," Anna replied. She waved as she returned to the dorm, and Elsa stared at the closing door until it hissed shut.
Elsa resolved to keep a closer eye on Anna.
"Or are you using this as an excuse to stalk her?" she thought, but she buried the notion away. She did want more Anna in her life, and if she kept her distance, it should be fine.
As the week progressed though, it quickly became clear that Anna was definitely not all right. Whenever Elsa spotted her in the cafeteria or by chance on campus, her shoulders were hunched, and unlike before when she had a spring in her step and a smile on her lips, the redhead now kept her head down and stared at the ground. By Wednesday, Anna had taken to wearing a hoodie with the hood pulled low over her brow, hiding her distinctive hair. Later, in practice, Elsa heard the whispers from some of the other girls on the bench, that Anna had uploaded the videos herself, for attention.
"That's how Kim Kardashian got famous."
"Paris Hilton, too."
She knew it was bullshit but instead of saying so, she glanced to her left where the redhead sat; she thought Anna had heard them as well and ignored them, or perhaps she wasn't paying attention. Even though Anna had said she was okay, she went through practices in a haze, staring blankly whenever she wasn't skating. Gone were the smiles, the banter, the extra effort and the drive to improve, and dark bags appeared under her eyes.
"She's not sleeping well," Elsa thought.
Anna didn't reach out to her again though, and Elsa, despite her thoughts being so focused on the redhead she could barely pay attention in class, didn't press her.
Everything culminated in their game on Thursday, when Anna missed several gorgeous opportunities Elsa set up for her. Then, either because she was exhausted or because she wasn't mentally focused, she lost a step and took a hooking penalty with just under two minutes remaining in the third period. They only led 4-3 at the time, and now they would be down a skater.
"On the plus side, we can ice the puck all the way down the rink without stopping play," Elsa thought.
The redhead slammed her helmet onto the mat in the penalty box as Elsa skated by, and Elsa tapped her stick on the glass. Anna looked up, and her shoulders slumped as she mouthed an apology.
"She's worried she's going to cost us the game," Elsa thought.
She gave her crush a smirk, then skated over to take the defensive zone faceoff. Her focus zeroed in on the little bit of black rubber in the ref's hand, and as he threw it down onto the red faceoff dot, Elsa exploded into action to snap it back to her defense. She took off diagonally to get clear for an outlet pass as the D circled behind the net, and the puck hit her stick halfway through the neutral zone.
"Kill the clock," she thought.
While a goal would seal the win for them, a missed shot would probably give their opponents more chances to score, and it would let them pull their goaltender for a two-skater advantage. Elsa tore up the boards, right past Anna, and kept her legs pumping as she crossed the blue line into the offensive zone. Rather than try to shoot through the defender, she faked a shot and cut around behind the net. Legs still churning, she circled around the offensive zone and spun away from a check, then stopped short to avoid another. Surrounded by three players, she banked the puck off the boards back to her D, then skated to clear the zone and accept the pass right back. Thighs burning, she stickhandled her way back into the offensive zone as seconds continued to tick off the clock.
"Just a little more," she thought, and she dug deep to the well of stamina she knew lay beneath the surface. Her thighs went numb as she pushed herself over the edge, felt the entire game with the essence of her being, and reacted on instinct alone. Elsa kept possession of the puck as the roar of the crowd grew in acknowledgement of her effort; the other team tried to knock her off of it, to poke it away as she juked and weaved, but she was too quick, too agile. Finally, with spots appearing before her vision and darkness around the edges, she skated it to her side of the neutral zone and dumped it all the way down the ice with only a few seconds to go. Elsa glided to the bench and sat hunched over, heart racing, breaths coming fast and heavy, and she tried to will them to slow down. The final buzzer sounded, and several gloves patted her on the helmet as they went by, but Elsa ignored them.
"Hey, thanks for bailing me out," Anna said. Elsa looked up at her friend, but the odd detachment which always came with pushing herself too hard had not released her yet.
"Sure," she replied without a hint of emotion.
Anna opened her mouth to say something, then decided to simply nod and head towards the locker room. Elsa dragged herself to her feet and followed shortly afterwards. Sometime during her post-game shower, the Ice Queen retreated, and after several extra minutes under the cool stream of water, Elsa felt more like herself. She vigorously toweled her hair dry as she exited into the locker room, only to see Anna sitting alone on the locker room bench, pads removed and scattered haphazardly, but not yet showered, eyes glazed over as she stared into the distance. Elsa's heart went out to the redhead. She knew what it was to be an outcast; it was so familiar and so painful, watching from the outside. The thought of happy, vivacious, earnest Anna cut down to her level nearly brought her to tears. Every reminder, every jeer, would chip away at her, bit by bit. If she stayed ensconced in the enclosed bubble of Arendelle University's campus, there was a good chance the constant blows to her esteem would tear her down completely, until there was nothing left.
"And then…" she thought, "Stop. You can do something about it. You can help. All you have to do is reach out."
She looked down at her still-damp hands, slender fingers and smooth palms, hands that had betrayed her before; they trembled, but not from the chilly air leaking in from the rink.
"Never from the cold," she thought as she clasped her hands together, "this is a mistake… but you can't stand here and do nothing."
"Anna," she said, and the redhead looked up, "what time does your last class end on Friday?"
"Uhm… three-thirty. Why?" she asked.
"Let's go on a road trip," Elsa replied.
Anna stuttered a little bit and Elsa continued speaking.
"I've never been to New York, not really," she said, "let's go for the weekend."
"But.. practice, and…" Anna said.
"We'll call in sick. It'll be fine, trust me," Elsa said, "come on, you need to get away. Have you ever been?"
Anna shook her head.
"Then we'll be a couple of tourists for the weekend, just us two, and you can forget about everything that's going on for a while. I'll drive. Deal?" Elsa said.
"O-okay," Anna said.
Elsa smiled, a broad, genuine grin.
"We'll leave straight after your last class," she said as she picked up her bag. By the time she reached the door, Anna had stood up and gathered her towel and soap for a shower.
Elsa reached her car, sat down in the driver's seat, and let her forehead thunk against the steering wheel.
"An entire weekend alone in New York City with Anna?" she thought, "now you've really gone and done it."