Frozen belongs to Disney
Chapter 11
The whistle blew, and Anna took off, picked up a puck, and weaved her way through the cones and hopped over sticks set up as an obstacle course. They had a huge game coming up against currently undefeated Boston University, and Coach Westergard had been especially intense in the past few practices. They'd even gone over video of Boston's previous games, which they almost never did. In her first practice after the holiday, Anna had felt like she'd lost a step, probably due to all the turkey she'd eaten, but today she felt great. She flew through the obstacles, ice groaning as her edges cut in, and snapped off a perfect shot that Alice managed to blocker away. The whistle blew, a long blast signaling the end of practice. After cleaning up the obstacles, pucks, and stowing the goals, the team skated over to where Coach Westergard stood. He scribbled down a few final notes on his clipboard, then looked up at them.
"Alright, good practice. I want everyone to make sure you get a solid night's rest tonight; no drinking," Coach Westergard said, "tomorrow will be just a light skate before the game. Christiansen, need a word before you shower."
Anna stayed on the ice while the rest of the team headed off and the Zamboni started up with a rumble. Chloe bumped against her as she passed.
"What the hell is your problem?" Anna said, but Hans' current girlfriend only glanced over her shoulder and kept skating.
"Anna," Coach Westergard said, and Anna skated over to the end of the bench. "Your academic advisor contacted me. You're in danger of falling into probation. I don't need to remind you what that means."
"I know," Anna said, "I've been studying."
"Maybe cut back on your work hours," he said.
"Can't. I need the money," Anna said. He looked like he was going to say more but instead just nodded towards the locker room. Anna skated off and showered. As she got dressed, Elsa stopped by her locker.
"Everything okay?" she asked.
Anna nodded once.
"I'll tell you outside," she said. They exited the building together and the frosty December air bit into Anna's cheeks and ears. Once they hit the parking lot, she sighed heavily, her breath forming a plume of steam under the street light.
"I have to ace my history final, or they're going to put me on academic probation, and I'll get suspended from the team," she said.
Elsa's steps slowed, and Anna paused to turn around.
"Which part of history?" Elsa asked.
"Western Civ I," Anna replied.
Elsa bit her lip in thought.
"Do you need help? Studying?" she asked.
"Oh… umm, I mean, it's my problem right?" Anna replied, "I wouldn't want to-"
"But it's partly my fault," Elsa said, "you were supposed to be studying history that weekend we went to New York."
Anna stood up straighter. Technically, that was true, but…
"Well yeah, but that wasn't your fault," Anna said, "I could have studied more-"
"Okay… but right now, you have to do well on your final, right? I mean, what if I could have helped, but I don't, and then you're off the team next semester?" Elsa said as worry creased her forehead, "I'd feel terrible."
Anna smiled a little bit. It was a nice thought, but-
"But… are you even taking history?" Anna replied.
"I had tutors growing up. I know Western Civ… and all kinds of study techniques," Elsa replied as she walked towards her car, "come on, there's still a week and a half before finals start."
Anna followed in her wake and shoved her bag and sticks into the back seat. They drove up to Anna's dorm, and on the ride, Elsa's willingness to help, asking nothing in return, stuck with her.
"She's being super nice… and now she's coming up to your room. Elsa. Who likes girls," Anna thought, "is this her way of making a move? Don't be stupid Anna. You were the one who came on to her before, after she said she wasn't interested in you. You're lucky she still talks to you. So… don't be weird about this."
She nodded to herself.
"Besides, she's so pretty… I bet she has tons of experience dating girls. If she was interested, she'd let you know," she thought.
Elsa spent the rest of the afternoon going through what Anna had done and what subjects would be covered on the final. With Anna sitting at her desk, the tip of her tongue protruding through the corner of her lips as she read, it was all Elsa could to do focus on the syllabus and the notes she was taking on the various civilizations that had risen and fallen in Europe over the past several millennia. Halfway through, they took a break to brave the bitter cold walk to the dining hall for dinner, and then Elsa steered them to the bookstore to pick up some index cards.
"What are those for?" Anna asked.
"We're going to make flash cards. Actually, you are," Elsa replied, "they help in two ways, first, by writing down the questions and looking up the answers, you're studying, and then afterwards, I can quiz you, or you can quiz yourself."
"Whoa, I never even though of that," Anna said.
Elsa smiled, and the fact she was going to help Anna pass her test, and she knew she could help, meant that they now had an excuse to spend even more time together.
"What if she gets the wrong idea, what if she thinks you're interested?" Elsa thought.
She paid for the multicolored index cards and a pack of ball point pens.
"But you are interested," Elsa thought as she received her change. "She knows you like women. The fact she's letting you in her room means she's comfortable with you… don't screw it up."
Elsa nodded to herself as they climbed the steps back to Anna's dorm.
"Are you going home for the holidays?" Anna asked.
Elsa nodded.
"My father has something planned, so I have to," she replied.
"Oh, that's cool. We're not going anywhere this year, probably going to be a quiet Christmas at home," Anna said.
She fiddled with her keys until the tumblers of her door clicked open.
"Do you have Skype? Maybe we can video call… I mean if you're not too busy," Anna said.
Elsa's heart leapt at the prospect, but on the outside, she showed nothing.
"I'd have to get an account, but sure. I don't know exactly what my father has lined up, but if nothing else, my late evening will be your afternoon, and we can talk then," Elsa replied.
"I'll text you my username," Anna said, and her smile was like a ray of sunshine on Elsa's face.
"Biggest game of the year," Anna thought. The stands were filled to the brim, every seat occupied as Boston University's Terriers visited their small New Hampshire school. Anna's heart thumped with anticipation as they stood for the national anthems, then she took her place on Elsa's left as they lined up for the opening faceoff. Boston's players looked bigger and stronger, and they probably had more depth too.
"We've been playing well though, and you never know," Anna thought.
Elsa won the faceoff back, and they sent the puck deep into enemy territory, where the visiting goalie stopped it behind the net. Anna charged in to put pressure on their defense, but they moved it quickly with a crisp pass to center ice, then pushed forward to start a cycle deep in Arendelle's zone. By the time Anna finally got her stick on the puck for the first time, they'd been on the ice for over a minute. Sucking wind, her legs burning, she was forced to dump the puck in and go for a change.
"Damn," she thought as she panted on the bench. It was the story for the entire first period, Boston kept control of the puck, and while they mostly kept the Terriers to the outside, away from the most dangerous areas in front of the goalie, Arendelle's skaters could only score if they had the puck, and Boston was playing the possession game. Despite having to make a few saves, Alice let nothing in, but after twenty minutes of play, Arendelle had only registered two shots on goal, both of them dump ins from center ice.
In between periods, Anna sat in the locker room and tried to rest her legs as much as possible while Coach Westergard drew on a large whiteboard. She glanced over at their defensive corps, who looked completely gassed; Boston were wearing them down.
"They're challenging us at the blue line, and we're dumping it in almost every time," Westergard said, "Their D is too quick and their goalie is an excellent puck handler. I know they're a big team, but we're going to have to take some risks and make a move or pass it as we cross into their zone. It's a long trip to their bench this period, so once we get in, we're going to pin them in their own zone, make them skate, and tire them out. If you get open, take the shot, but more importantly, I want us to cycle it deep as much as possible; keep that puck on your sticks in their zone," he said.
Anna followed Elsa out to start the second period, and the center took a deep breath as she leaned forward at the center red line against the taller Boston girl. The blonde had a look of determination on her face that Anna had only seen once or twice before, and her heart thumped with anticipation. With a quick snap of her stick, Elsa won the puck back to their defense, and Anna peeled off to get open to receive a pass. She took it on her backhand, but as she approached the blue line, two Boston players in front of her started lining her up for a body check. She shoveled the puck widthwise, down the blue line where Rapunzel picked it up and skated it in deep. Boston's defense were in perfect position to deny her any lane towards the net, so Punzie went all the way around behind the goal while Anna came down the middle. Once again, Boston were in perfect position between Rapunzel and Anna to prevent the pass, and between Anna and the goal to block the shot or tie her up even if a pass got through, so Rapunzel walked the puck up the boards and protected it with her body while Anna moved behind the net. Punzie dumped the puck down the boards where Anna picked it up and followed her teammate, then passed it down to Elsa. The three of them continued the cycle, walking the puck up the boards and passing it down, waiting for Boston's defense and center to tire, or to have a mental lapse and slip out of position. Anna's chest heaved and her legs burned, but she knew the defense must be feeling it worse. Finally, Elsa managed to get a pass off from below the goal line, and Anna snapped a quick wrist shot that the goalie blockered away from Elsa, to the opposite corner. Anna raced back to the bench to change as Boston skated the puck up and dumped it in to go off for their own line change.
"That was good," Anna said, and Elsa nodded once, though her attention stayed focused on the ice. Even though the shot hadn't gone in, it had been their first high quality scoring chance of the game, and they'd controlled the puck for an entire shift. Merida's line went next, and they cycled the puck for half their shift, then came off for a change. Anna felt like she was almost ready to go again, but Westergard sent Chloe's line next, and they managed to cycle the puck as well. Then they signaled for a change, and Anna leapt over the boards along with four other girls as Arendelle changed all their skaters and Boston dumped the puck in to go for their own change. Alice stopped the puck behind the net, tapped it towards Arendelle's D, who followed with a quick outlet pass up to Anna as she skated diagonally across center ice. Anna turned upwards towards Boston's zone, only to be confronted by two players yet again.
"What the hell, they're always in perfect position," Anna thought.
Reflexively, she wanted to dump the puck into the zone and go after it, but instead, she turned away, back to center ice. Rapunzel called for the puck on the far side of the rink, but Anna spotted the Boston skater drifting up the middle, looking to intercept the pass, and she sent it back to Elsa near their own zone instead. The blonde center went to work, keeping possession of the puck, zigzagging around the neutral zone and turning away twice when Boston's skaters challenged her. Anna tried to get open for a pass, but Elsa held on to the puck as the home crowd started to roar as their star skated tirelessly, seemingly effortlessly controlling play. Finally, she drove through center ice, and as she came across the blue line, she ducked a check from one of Boston's D. Anna raced to catch up, and instead of trying to stickhandle through Boston's players, Elsa curled to the left, to the corner of the zone near Boston's bench, and drew two of their players with her. She centered the puck down the blue line to Anna, who trailed the play. Streaking up the center of the ice, Anna caught the puck mid-stride as the opposing center harried her from behind. Boston's defense, thrown off by Elsa's slow-down of the play, were way out of position, and Anna used her speed to skate right through the outstretched stick of one of them. From the slot, the small section of ice between the two faceoff dots, most dangerous spot on the ice, she fought against the hooking stick of her opponent, shifted her weight, and used the flex of her stick to fire an absolute laser of a snap-shot directly at the top corner of the goal. Boston's goalie shrugged her shoulder, but not high enough, and the puck hit twine and knocked her water bottle off the top of the net.
"Yes!" Anna shouted as the crowd roared and exhilaration exploded through her. She raised her arms as Elsa and Rapunzel joined her in celebration. It was hard fought, but they'd scored first; now Boston would have to play catch up. Oddly enough, Elsa didn't even crack a smile.
"We scored!" Anna said.
"Yeah. Game's not over," Elsa replied. Anna's smile faded, and she nodded. They returned to the bench to let fresh players onto the ice.
Although the Ice Wolves tried to continue the same tactics, Boston adjusted their play and started anticipating passes from their cycle, allowing them to break out of their zone more often. At the other end of the ice, Alice made some acrobatic saves to keep the game 1-0 through two periods. As the clock ticked seconds away in the third and Boston's play became more attacking, more desperate, Anna started to wonder if they might actually hand Boston their first loss of the season… then everything went to shit. With just under five minutes to go, one of Arendelle's defenseman caught an edge and went down, causing a two-on-one to develop, which Boston executed perfectly and put a puck past Alice. They'd barely caught their breath when Boston won the ensuing faceoff and fired the puck in around the boards, and Alice was unable to stop it as it wrapped around behind the goal. The Boston forward zipped in past their defense and picked up the puck, passed it across for a one-timer, and suddenly they were down 2-1.
"Fuck," Anna said as she watched from the bench. She wanted to throw her stick in frustration.
"We were ninety seconds away from overtime," she thought.
"Put it behind you," Westergard said as he tapped her on the helmet, "you're in."
Anna hopped over the boards to take the faceoff. Elsa had the same intense, determined look on her face, her cheeks flushed bright red as she slipped her hand lower on the stick for more leverage. The opposing Boston player, instead of playing the puck, chose instead to tie Elsa's stick up, and shoved the smaller center off balance. Anna darted in to fish the puck out from between their skates, then sent it back to their defense to gain control.
"Okay, a minute and a half to go, come on Anna," she thought. She took the outlet pass back and streaked up the wing, ducked under what would have been an absolutely thundering check, and passed the puck off the boards back to herself. She passed the puck off the boards again as she went around another player. The corner loomed, and with the defense closing in to squeeze her off the puck, Anna turned away. She spun and flung the puck blindly behind the net, where Elsa, seemingly having read her mind, waited, all alone, in her favorite spot on the ice. Anna kept her legs moving to bolt out from the corner and around the faceoff dot as Elsa spun away from a check and banked the puck off the back of the net to herself, then sent a pass over the goalie's paddle to Anna, who one-timed it home, just under the goalie's catching glove. The goal light lit up red, and Anna cheered again for her second goal of the game.
"Woo hoo!" she yelled, "great pass!"
Once again, Elsa didn't crack a smile, merely joined the celebration with a far off look in her eye. Anna made a mental note to ask her about it after the game. Boston seemed content to wait for overtime, and the final buzzer sounded with the score tied, 2-2.
"Alright, we've made it this far, now it's just another few minutes. One shift at a time, take a shot if you have it, and try to keep them out of our zone," Westergard said.
Anna stayed on the ice during the short timeout between the end of regulation and the start of sudden death overtime.
"This is it," she thought as she bent over for the faceoff, "next goal wins."
Elsa won the puck back and the defense passed it up to Punzie, who cut from the right side and crisscrossed with Elsa as they came across the blue line. She left the puck for the center, who picked it up and wound up for a slap shot. The defenseman went down to one knee to take away the low shot, but Elsa, instead of releasing, brought her stick down and kept skating to slip around behind the net. The defense gave chase and Elsa, ever agile, held the puck to the last possible instant, then reversed direction and squirted back out the near side. Anna drifted to the open side, in perfect position smash a slam dunk into the goal mouth, should a pass make it there. The crowd roared as Elsa drifted up above the goal line, glanced at Anna, then fired a low shot that was sticked aside by Boston's goalie. Boston's D picked it up and launched a high, saucer pass down the center of the ice. Anna could only watch helplessly as the Boston forward split their defense and raced in on Alice alone; she deked to the side and tucked the puck between the goalie's legs. Anna's heart fell and her shoulders slumped as the goal light flicked on. The air went out of the crowd as Arendelle lost in sudden death overtime, and Alice sat on the ice as Boston mobbed the game winner. Anna skated over to her goalie and bent over to tap her on the shoulder.
"You played great, don't worry about it," Anna said. Merida joined them and added a few more words of encouragement.
"Thanks guys," Alice said. She recovered her water bottle, sprayed a long squeeze over her face and into her mouth, then she and Merida skated off towards the bench, while Anna spotted Elsa waiting at the blue line.
"What gives? I was right there and had a wide-open net," Anna said.
"You were covered," Elsa replied.
"No I wasn't, I-"
"Their biggest player was making a run at you. You never would have gotten the shot off," Elsa said. Anna blinked. She hadn't noticed a defenseman coming at her.
"Well… I guess we'll never know," she said with a bit more bite than she intended. Elsa, still with that unfocused, faraway look in her eyes, didn't respond, and simply turned to skate off towards the locker room.
Anna grabbed her bottle from the bench and pushed into the locker room to find Westergard already there and everyone still wearing most of their equipment. Despite losing, the atmosphere in the locker room was almost celebratory; Merida had brought a case of Gatorade, and she tossed the plastic bottles around to different players around the room. Anna caught hers with her free hand, then sat down in front of her locker to strip off her elbow pads. Westergard cleared his throat.
"Look, I know we almost had this one and let it slip away, but I want you to think of it this way. We led for more than half the game. We were five minutes away from a shutout against the team with the best record in the league. We earned a point in the standings against them when no one else has. Think about what you can do better, of course, but I want every one of you to be proud of your performance tonight. This one could have gone either way, and we very nearly won. If we can beat Boston University, we can beat anyone," he said.
"That's right!"
"Yeah!"
He left the room to let them shower and change, and as Anna thought about it, she realized Westergard was correct; just by making it to overtime, they had earned a point in the standings, which at the start of the season, no one would have expected. They had taken the very best that Boston University, the number one seed in the league, could dish out, came away with a point, and almost had a victory.
"If we can beat Boston, we can beat anyone," Anna thought.
It wasn't until Elsa was halfway through her shower that the strange detachment which always accompanied an effort to push herself beyond her limits withdrew. Had she given up a prime scoring opportunity to take the shot in overtime? Perhaps. But Boston's largest defenseman was coming to smear Anna if the puck went anywhere near her, and Anna hadn't seen her. Even if she got the shot off and they won, would a victory in a regular season game be worth the potential injury?
"She might not have been injured," Elsa thought, "but then again, with the game on the line, Boston would have hit her as hard as they could. And now because you didn't send a hospital pass her way, she's angry with you?"
She slammed her shampoo down on the little hollow in the wall.
"Sure, I would have preferred it if the rebound bounced over to her, but it didn't pan out that way. It's hockey, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Still, it would have been nice to get her a hat trick to win the biggest game of the year," Elsa thought. She had never known Anna to be selfish on the ice, or off it, for that matter, but sometimes, when emotions ran hot, people said things they didn't mean. She did her best to put it behind her, but with the detachment fading, anger rose to replace it.
"Is that what she was aiming for, a hat trick? What, two goals weren't enough? It's fucking Boston University; they could give Team USA a run for their money," Elsa thought.
She scrubbed extra hard in the shower and then packed her equipment a bit more forcefully than was strictly necessary. Anna had already gone, so Elsa shouldered her way out of the building and into the freezing nighttime air, only to nearly run into Hans Westergard as he leaned against the fender of his pickup truck. He fixed his gaze on her as he nibbled on a toothpick.
"Anderson? What's got your panties in a twist?" he asked.
"None of your business. What are you even doing here?" she asked.
The toothpick shifted to the other side of his mouth.
"Waiting for Chloe," he replied, "…tough loss, eh? Is Anna still in there?"
"No," Elsa replied, "and you stay away from her."
He fixed her with his gaze, and she stared right back.
"Yeah, I heard you two got close," he said. "Watch your back."
"Did he just threaten me?" she thought. She knew she should keep her emotions in check, but the recent loss combined with Anna's remarks after the game already had her blood boiling, and she batted temperance away.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" she asked as she set her bag on the ground and her hands went to her hips.
Hans took the toothpick from his mouth and rested his elbows against the fender as he crossed his ankles.
"It means you think you're so high and mighty, but you're blind to what's right in front of you," Hans said.
Her eyebrows came together in confusion, and he scoffed, rolled his eyes, then appeared to come to a decision.
"Why do you think Anna got so close to you, your amazing personality?" he asked, "I'll let you in on a little secret: My dad is the one who convinced her to make friends with you, to get you to join the team. Why? Because, pathetic loser that he is, he thinks that by having a deep playoff run, they'll let him coach the real hockey team once old man Hitchcock retires."
Elsa blinked. Of course he was lying, but… he was Coach Westergard's son, and the coach had tried to convince her to play before she even knew Anna's name…
"That's… that's impossible," she said, "I went to him-"
"Because she wanted you to, didn't she? In return, he promised her power play time and top line minutes," he said, "I wouldn't be surprised if the whole sex video and breaking up with me act was a setup to try and get you to feel bad for her and keep you on the team. Believe me when I say she's a cold-blooded, manipulative bitch. After all, it takes one to know one."
He winked, and Elsa laughed.
"You're insane. Nobody would voluntarily put themselves through that," she said.
"No? Even if it means getting a college degree?" he asked.
Elsa's mouth dropped open slightly; what in the world did one have anything at all to do with the other?
"Not everyone's a trust fund baby," Hans continued, "some of us actually have to take out loans or work our way through school. Anna's on a sports scholarship, with accelerators. Yeah. Her tuition coverage goes up the more goals she scores, and if your team makes the playoffs."
"That's…" Elsa said.
"Don't believe me? Ask her yourself. Remember though, she's an actress. Following a script and making people believe she's telling the truth is what she does, for fun. Some might call it practice. Catch her off guard, you'll see," Hans said. He lazily pointed a finger in her direction. "Only me and her had those videos, and I didn't put them up."
The door to the rink squeaked as it swung open, and Chloe, hair still damp and her oversized hockey bag slung over one shoulder, exited. She paused and glanced back and forth between the two of them, then slung her bag into the bed of the truck and wordlessly climbed into the passenger seat.
"Anyway, I'm trying to do you a favor, take it or leave it," he said. He removed the toothpick from his mouth and flicked it across the parking lot, then glanced back to her. "Offer still stands, by the way."
The bastard had the audacity to wink at her again with his sleezy, smirking grin. Elsa glanced to Chloe, who avoided her gaze and stared at the dashboard. Elsa took a step towards Hans, and he raised an eyebrow.
"Let me make this clear: I wouldn't date you if you were the last human being on earth, you lying, cheating, bastard," she said.
He held up his hands in a mockery of surrender.
"Alright, alright, no need to get personal," he said, still with that shit-eating grin, "see you around, Anderson."
He opened the door to climb into the driver's seat, and Elsa picked her bag up and flicked her braid, now partially frozen in the December air, over her shoulder. It wasn't possible. There was simply no way. She dropped her bag into the trunk of the car. Her thoughts turned to the previous week, the study sessions in Anna's room, quizzing her on random facts about the Myceneans, Greeks, and Romans.
"I'll talk to Anna…" she thought, then snapped her fingers as she recalled Anna was angry with her. "Well, maybe after her final exam, don't want to distract her."
She did her best to convince herself that her delay wasn't because she dreaded the answer.
Anna walked with a spring in her step and squinted her eyes into the clear blue skies as she exited the Humanities building into the crisp air. Her ears started to hurt from the cold, but she didn't care, and she spun a circle with her arms out. She'd known nearly every single question, and had no doubt she'd scored near perfect, if not perfect, on the exam; the quad seemed to welcome her with open arms, and she almost broke into a run, but checked herself.
"Thanks to Elsa," she thought. Normally they would have a study session later in the week, but with her history exam done, she no longer had that excuse.
"Maybe I can convince her to read lines with me," she thought, "that's kind of the same thing, right?"
"Want to practice lines with me Sunday, instead of history? I need someone to read the other parts," Anna texted, then hit send.
"Okay," came the reply.
Then she called her mother.
"Hi Mom, can you pick me up from school for the weekend? I need a favor and I figured we could spend some time together on Saturday before winter break," she said.
The following day, she went shopping with her mom to buy ingredients, then spent the afternoon mixing and baking as the warm aroma of chocolate and peppermint filled the kitchen.
"This was a really good idea, and I'm glad you decided to come home to bake them," her mom said.
"I know. I have to be super careful about not spending too much, so this is great," Anna said.
"Plus, it's the perfect gift for someone who can buy whatever she wants… she can't buy homemade mint chocolate chip fudge cookies," Anna thought.
She smiled at the thought of Elsa's face as she bit into her first one, how she would close her eyes, maybe even sit down, and a warm feeling spread through her chest.
"Who did you say these were for?" her mom asked.
"Just some friends," Anna replied.
"Your friends huh, including Kristoff?" her mom asked suggestively.
Ugh.
"Mom! Oh my God, I'm an equal opportunity cookie giver," Anna said, "besides, we broke up."
Heat rose to her cheeks as if she were caught red handed, and she turned to the sink to rinse out a mixing bowl.
"Broke up, already? That was fast," her mom said.
"Yeah, when you know it's wrong, no sense in dragging it out," she said.
She fell quiet as she pondered the precarious straits her friendship with Kristoff had fallen under. They finished the second batch and set them on cooling racks to settle. Anna's mom picked one up and broke it in half.
"Quality control," she said, and Anna smirked as she bit into the rich, still-warm chocolatey holiday goodness.
"I think we've outdone ourselves," Anna said. Elsa was going to love them.
"I've got to save a few for your father or he'll throw a fit," her mom said. Anna packed the rest into a tin and taped it shut.
Elsa walked around to the front door of the dorm and waited. It wasn't more than a few minutes before someone exited, and she entered before the door closed behind them. For days, she had waffled about whether to text Anna to ask her about what Hans had said, and then a text came out of the blue asking if she wanted to meet up to review lines for Drama Club instead of their usual history study session. Elsa had agreed, and now her heart thumped as she climbed the steps and approached Anna's door. A new whiteboard once again covered the vandalism, and Elsa raised her hand to knock and rapped on the door a few times.
"Hey, come in," Anna said as she opened up. Elsa glanced around the room. The bag filled to the brim with hockey equipment, no longer needed until spring semester, lay on the spare bed, and the window curtains had been drawn aside to let the wintry sun slant into the room.
"I have a surprise for you, but first, lines," Anna said as she handed her several sheets of paper stapled together, "you don't have to do anything special, just read the lines that aren't mine."
Elsa glanced through; yellow highlighter marked where she would need to read. Anna started going through her lines, and Elsa realized acting was more than just reciting words. Her entire body demeanor changed, the angle of her head, her shoulders, hips, feet, and hands, moved in concert with her expression to emote, to convey to her the feelings the character was supposed to be experiencing. She tried to keep up, but felt barely adequate.
"She's really good," Elsa thought. Despite trying to merely observe, she found herself mirroring Anna's projected emotions; her heart went out to her when she conjured tears even though they didn't fall, she wanted to laugh when Anna jumped and cheered, and be angry alongside her when her character suffered injustice and betrayal.
"Wait wait, what's the line…?" Anna asked, and she looked down at the paper in Elsa's hand.
"'Except when they're irrational, or imaginary'," she said, "duh. Okay, let's take a break."
She set the script down, then knelt by her bed and rummaged around underneath it a little bit.
"Just ask her. Hans is full of shit. Anna will tell you the truth and you'll find he was trying to wind you up for whatever twisted reason," Elsa thought.
Anna emerged with what looked like a cookie tin in her hands.
"Hey, can I ask you a question?" Elsa asked.
"Yeah, sure," Anna said as she set the tin on the bed behind her.
"Did… this is probably crazy, but did Coach Westergard ask you to try and convince me to join the team?" she asked.
"Uhh," Anna said, and her eyebrows came together.
"In exchange for more ice time and a spot on the power play?" Elsa asked.
Anna squinted at her.
"Yeah, but-"
"No way," Elsa thought.
"And your scholarship pays a bonus if you score more goals or if we make the playoffs, right?" Elsa asked.
"Yeah but… wait, what?" Anna said.
Elsa recalled how upset Anna was when she didn't pass the puck at the end of the loss to Boston.
"Because each goal she scores is a payday for her," she thought.
"Holy shit, Westergard was telling the truth?" Elsa said mostly to herself. Anna looked confused.
"Did Coach say… wait… were you talking to Hans?" Anna asked. Anger flared in Elsa's chest; was Anna upset that she'd found out?
"What, I'm not allowed to?" she asked.
"No, I mean… why?" Anna replied.
"It doesn't matter. I can't believe you… all this time you only tried to get close to me so I'd join the team?" Elsa asked.
"No! I mean, yeah he asked me to, but-"
But? Her ire boiling over, Elsa barely heard her.
"Did you upload those videos too?" Elsa asked.
Anna's mouth dropped open.
"Are you insane? No!" she replied, "where is all this coming from? What the hell did he say to you?"
The redhead put her hand over her mouth and tears sprung to her eyes.
"I've seen her cry on demand though. Is she really upset, or just worried her scheme is unraveling and her season might now be in jeopardy? If she can do this for a play, what's to say she hasn't been 'acting' all this time?" Elsa thought.
Her eyes stung as her vision became blurry, and she dragged the back of her hand across her face. She dug deep, summoned the Ice Queen from her slumber. She needed her now, to keep her composure and not break down in tears of her own. Even though she was so angry she could barely see, the sequence of events started to fall into place.
"And you were the one who broke up with him, after that… that's when we really became friends," Elsa said, "you said yourself you're acting most of the time, so was that real, you 'pouring your heart out to me', or just acting?"
"Of course it was real, Elsa, how could you even say that?" Anna asked.
"And when you kissed me, was that real too, or was that acting so you could… string me along?" Elsa asked.
"I-" Anna said, and a look of panic came over her face as her mouth worked soundlessly.
"Got her," Elsa thought.
"Because you slept with Kristoff the exact same night," Elsa said.
"No I didn't," Anna said.
Elsa laughed.
"Yeah, okay," she said.
"Is that what this is about?" Anna asked.
"No. Yes. I mean… you look and sound upset, but I've seen you fake tears before, Anna," Elsa said.
"I'm sorry I did that, at Alice's party. I know I shouldn't have, and I didn't mean to-"
"'You didn't mean to', sure," Elsa said, "but ever since then I've-"
"I've been thinking about you non-stop," she thought as the words choked in her throat.
Anna clasped her hands in front of her chest.
"Okay, I know it looks bad, but I swear that's not how it was. I never meant to hurt you," she said as tears now streamed down her cheeks, "please, I don't even know what's going on. I thought we were friends."
"So did I, but friends don't lie and… take advantage of each other like this," Elsa said. The temperature in the room was already dropping. Ice Queen or no, she wouldn't be able to hold it in much longer; she had to get out, or it could end in tragedy. "I have to go."
She turned and pulled the door open. Anna followed her into the hallway and she grabbed Elsa's wrist.
"Wait," the redhead said, but Elsa pulled her hand away and spun to face Anna with one index finger held up.
"Don't," she said, "don't follow me." She quick-walked to the stairwell and paused at the top of the steps.
"Merry fucking Christmas," she said, then fled down the steps and out the back door, to her car, where she bolted inside and slammed the door shut. Frost coated the entire interior, from the seats to the dashboard, to the windshield and all the windows. She balled her hands into fists in an effort to keep in as much ice and cold as she could to avoid shattering the windows, and prayed nobody looked too hard at her vehicle.
"I can't believe it, Westergard was telling the truth," she thought, and now she let the tears stream down her face until they dropped and froze mid-air to tinkle and slide on the floor mat, "she doesn't care about you. She only got close to you for what you can do for her on the ice, and to help her study. She's been playing you since day one."
It didn't feel right, that Anna would do something like that, but she supposed that was the whole point.
"You approached her first, remember? Her bag had broken in the rain," Elsa thought. Still, she had definitely lied, or at least omitted why she'd started talking to her in the first place. The Anna she knew would have never done that, and yet, from her own lips, she had admitted that Coach Westergard had put her up to the whole thing, all in exchange for better ice time.
"It's the same as it's always been. Nobody cares about you, only what you can do for them," Elsa thought.
Chest aching, breath steaming in the cold, she unlocked her phone and dialed the airline to change the date for her flight back to Norway.