The Fresca Files

by Dreamstrifer

Author's Note: -peeks around the corner- Remember me, Darlings? I wrote the Fresca Files a few years ago, and last year pulled them off for two reasons. I didn't like them, and I didn't have time to write fanfiction anymore.

Well guess what, darlings? I decided to rewrite them. I do miss them, in a strange, twisted, sick sense. And I'm not really into fanfiction anymore (I only read the VERY RARE story written by my fellow Gwethil). So. I'm sure you'll all be excited to read these. Yes, they ARE rewrites, so there will be changes in plot, characters, etc., but the core cast and core storyline will be the same. I hope you enjoy it!

And no, I still don't have time to write fanfiction anymore. See what I do for my darlings? And Yes, Aubrey is totally a Mary Sue still, though she's not as much like me anymore. More because I've changed in the past six years as opposed to the character changing. Dear Lord, has it really been six years since I first started writing the first of this series?!

This rewrite is whole-heartedly dedicated to my husfe Ellabel, Tierney Beckett, Stevie, and Tora for being my biggest fans and my closest friends. I wouldn't have met any of you if it weren't for the original series. LYLAS!

Chapter One: And so it begins

Alarm clocks are very important things. I learned this in my years at Dawnsend Academy, an all girls' boarding school on the east coast. Massachusetts, to be exact, just outside Boston. Close enough, anyway, for a few brave girls to grab a bus to sneak off campus. And the importance of alarm clocks came in the next morning after a bender at one of the more serious parties on the college apartment property.

Not that I, or my friends had ever done such a thing.

In any case, I learned much about alarm clocks. They alerted you to the fact that you were about to be late to your first class. And unlike college (or so I'm told), attendance is mandatory in most classes at Dawnsend. There's no telling how many close calls my friend Ellette and I had our senior year at Dawnsend. We also found the value in the alarm clock in allowing us to nap during lunch, instead of eating, to recharge for our Gym class. Or something requiring actual effort.

However, the most important lesson I learned about alarm clocks wasn't from a hangover, or a party, or sneaking out to play Ghost in the Graveyard with the boys from Stonewell. This lesson is quite a story, one that involved the most beautiful man I'd ever seen, my four best friends in all the world, and Fresca.

Yes. Fresca. The grapefruit soda that most people I know hated. Including my roommate.

But I'm getting a tiny bit ahead of myself. The day my story began started like any other day.

Alarm clock goes off. Wake up. Hit alarm clock. Fall back asleep. Alarm clock goes off again. Pull alarm clock (cordless!) off of night table and throw it across room, coincidentally hitting my also sleeping roommate. Room mate wakes up. Complains. Both wake up and get dressed for class.

The same routine had been going on since Ellette and I were sophomores, with the alarm clock my mother had sent when the Witch, our wonderful dorm manager, informed my parents of my chronic tardiness. The routine helped quite a bit, and it worked very well. However, it would soon become known that to not follow the routine would be... disastrous.

And I'm getting ahead of myself again.

This morning, Ellette and I dragged ourselves out of bed, and began dressing. Dawnsend had a rather boring uniform. Pleated, knee length black skirt, white dress shirt with blue tie, and black blazer. Or sweater, depending on our desire of the morning. I pulled on my black knee highs and mary janes. Shoes and socks weren't actually restricted by the dress code, within reason. But I decided on comfort rather than fashion. Ellette skipped the knee socks and went straight for skater shoes. She attacked her riotous dark curls with a brush, and ran into the bathroom before I could get in.

I wrinkled my nose, and grabbed my own brush off my nightstand and ran it through my waist length brown locks. "We're going to be late to breakfast!" I called through the bathroom door.

"Suck it!" Ellette replied. We had such a warm, caring relationship. Ellette had been my best friend since childhood, and we'd long since surpassed the need to even be nice to one another. Either that or we were just bitches underneath it all.

I shook my head, and grabbed my book back. I made sure I had the appropriate schoolbooks, and my old tattered copy of the Two Towers. What can I say? It was ingrained genetically. My parents were longtime fans of the Lord of the Rings, as were Ellette's. Family legend went they all met at some Dungeons and Dragons game, and the rest was history. So not only were our parents geeks, but the impressed that geekdom on their children. My older brother wasn't quite as interested, but he did have a certain fondness. He was in college on a basketball scholarship. My parents have no idea what went wrong with him.

Ellette burst out the bathroom, her hair pulled back in a somewhat tame braid, and grabbed her own bag. "Ready?" she asked, and I nodded. We headed out the door, but not before locking it, and ran for the dining hall. Dawnsend wasn't huge, but it was big enough to miss out on a table if you were late for a meal. Luckily, our friends Meredith, better known as Merry, Julie, and Heather had saved us seats.

We ran through the line, elbowing a couple of dawdling freshman out of the way as we grabbed our drinks, and sat down with obvious relief. Our friends greeted us, teasing about our chronic habit of sleeping in. Heather, willowy, brunette, and beautiful, was texting. Probably her boyfriend Kurt, I figured.

"How's loverboy?" Merry asked, her own blonde hair covered with a black bandana. Merry was tall, 5'8", and probably the craziest girl I'd ever met. She and I got along famously our fresman year, though she drove Heather absolutely insane most of the time.

"Saying we should all come out tonight and party in the woods between campuses," Heather said. "Since it's Friday night and all."

"Pass," Julie, Heather's roommate piped up. "We almost got caught last time." Her dark hair was cut short, in a swing bob. She was almost as beautiful as Heather, and though she only had the uniform to work with, managed to look like a magazine fashion spread. She was reading Vogue, of course, and barely paying attention to the conversation. I wondered sometimes if Heather and Julie would have been our friends if it weren't for the fact that Ellette and Merry browbeat them into going on Boston shopping runs with us back in Freshman year. We didn't have a lot in common, as far as tastes went. Julie had a passable interest in fantasy, but nothing like Merry's, Ellette's, and mine. Heather? Heather had about as much interest in fantasy or science fiction as a bar of soap.

But somehow we'd all gelled, and Merry had taken to calling us the Fellowship of the Fanatics. Which wasn't exactly the best term, since the only one I'd call a fanatic was Merry herself. Sure, I had a bit of a crush on Legolas, and Ellette was far too enamored with Aragorn, but nothing to the levels of a fanatic. As for Merry, I wasn't quite sure WHO her lust object of choice was. I was pretty sure I didn't exactly want to know.

But, one thing Heather and Julie had to admit was that hot guys seemed to abound in fantasy movies. And books. But movies definitely. They watched Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean, and even Twilight for the eye candy (much to Ellette's and my chagrin, Julie was a bit obsessed with Twilight. Merry often took the opportunity to pretend to sparkle whenever we went for walks. It involved making chiming noises and wearing lots of rhinestones).

"We won't get caught," Heather affirmed. "And I won't get to see Kurt for months after we graduate."

Ellette and I exchanged glances. I shrugged, and dug into my Cocoa Puffs. I wasn't too big on the whole party scene, hard liquor making me sicker than a dog, and crappy music at top volume making my ears hurt. Ellette was a bit more into it, but only because she got a lot of attention from guys because she actually wore club wear, unlike me.

"I think I'll pass too," Merry said. "There's a new monster flick on Sci Fi channel I don't want to miss."

"What now, giant man eating bamboo?" Heather asked, teasingly.

Merry shook her head, though her face was all seriousness. "No. Giant man eating centipedes."

"And now I'm going to have nightmares, thank you Merry." Julie glared at the taller girl. Merry just grinned.

Ellette and I wolfed down our breakfasts, and tossed our trays. Classes would be starting any minute, and we didn't want to be late. Our entire schedules were identical, due to the fact that either someone in the registrar was trying to make us completely sick of each other by the end of our high school or career, or the fact that we were pretty much the same person in different bodies.

Graduation was around the corner, so close I could nearly taste it. I wasn't the best student around, but I had an eye to go to NYU, so I forced myself to do homework and to study. Ellette differed than me in that way. She loved school, and was therefore my biggest motivator to get things done. It was midterms time, and the entire senior class was pretty much in sync with how freaked out we were. It was our last day of tests before we had a nice long, three day weekend, which we always got after midterms. Spring break had been two weeks before, placed at an odd time due to the headmistress's vacation schedule. And apparently the entire school had to synchronize to her schedule.

Midterms were sucky, and this is coming from a girl who'd rather take a test than write an essay with three weeks of advance notice. But I struggled through them. English was almost pitifully easy. It was my forte, I had to admit. I'd wanted to be a writer since I was old enough to read, and I was constantly taking notes in organic chemistry instead of balancing formulas and charting benzene or whatever. That was why it was nice having Heather as a friend. Built in chem tutor.

As soon as I finished my English test, I turned it in and cracked open the Two Towers. I'd lost count of how many times I'd read the trilogy, but it had actually been a couple years since I read the books. I was long overdue for spending times with some of my good fictional friends. I had just gotten to Helm's Deep (where Haldir most surely did not die) when the bell rang.

Gym was our last class of the day. Ellette and I looked at each other as I slid the book in my bag. Usually we both feigned either cramps, illness, or just skipped if we could. We didn't really have tests, but we had to run the mile today. And Ellette and I were not into the whole physical exertion thing. Unless it was something like swimming at the beach with hot guys or running around a Renaissance Faire (yes, we're boy crazy dorks). "Let's sneak in soda and have our own party," Ellette said with a grin. I nodded, and we raced out of the classroom. Soda and candy technically weren't allowed in our dorm rooms. Health thing, I suppose. Granola bars, tea, and water were more than welcome. But I didn't know a single pair of roommates, except for the newest freshmen and the health freaks, who didn't break the rules.

It was a common tradition with us, when we weren't in the woods or sneaking out to Boston. Ellette would go into the town of Dawnsend for snacks and video rentals with the supposed intent of buying allergy medicine and to send a letter to her parents in Hong Kong (it had taken a long time to cultivate the misinformation that the Mathesons didn't have reliable internet access. In Hong Kong of all places). I would go to the student union and buy up soda, with the cover story of a study group on the quad. I'd smuggle them in my book bag and we'd have a party.

We usually skipped dinner, preferring to indulge on pizza rolls cooked in the 3rd floor microwave, ramen cooked over our illegal hotplate we hid in Ellette's sock drawer during the Witch's inspections, and lots, and lots of junk food. We ate so healthy in the dining hall we had to blow it every now and then for our sanity.

Usually we invited the rest of the Fellowship over, so I sent them all texts while I set up the DVD player, waiting for Ellette to get back. I opened one of my sodas, Fresca to be exact. I was the only one I knew besides my mother who would drink it, so I had no fear of Ellette or Merry stealing my soda. Julie and Heather preferred water, though they'd take a diet soda if the desire struck them. I didn't have the self-control. I needed my sugary, grapefruity goodness.

I set the Fresca on my night table, and stood up to open the door when I heard a knock. Ellette, weighed down with groceries she managed to slip past the Witch, couldn't get the knob herself.

"Back," she said, and held up a DVD case triumphantly. "And we are totally watching 12 Monkeys."

I grinned. I couldn't wait to see Heather's face when she eagerly started watching her favorite actor Brad Pitt and realizing we sprung a bizarre science fiction movie on her. We were evil. Definitely.

"Pop it in. The girls are on their way over," I explained. I hopped up on my bed, and started playing with my koosh ball, tossing it back and forth between my hands. Ellette put the DVD in, and the creepy menu screen music started playing. Ellette went to work putting cold groceries in our mini fridge. We wouldn't cook anything until the other girls got there, to divvy up portions to everyone's satisfaction. We never could tell if Julie would be on one of her strange health kicks.

I tossed the koosh to Ellette when she turned around, and she caught it flawlessly. Guess skipping Gym had no averse effects on the girl. "Three Day Weekend, Hallelujah!" she announced, and tossed it back at me. However, this time, it hit the lamp on my night table, which knocked over into the open can of Fresca. It went tumbling over the edge of my desk, drenching the wall socket with carbonated deliciousness.

All the lights in the dorm flickered a few times before turning off and the TV went dead. We heard screams split through the dorms. So maybe Ellette shouldn't have skipped Gym...

"Dammit!" I cried, and grabbed a lighter from the drawer. Candles weren't allowed either, but we hid those in along with the hot plate and candy. I pulled one out from under my bed and lit it, trying to find Ellette in the darkness.

I saw her figure in the candle light, moving towards me, and suddenly stumbling over something on the floor. She cursed viciously, pain lancing her voice.

Another voice raised, saying something in a language I didn't understand.

A very male voice.

A very male voice with a British accent.

"What the hell is a guy doing in our dorm?!" I screeched.

"Would you kindly get off of me?" the male voice asked, presumably to Ellette. In the flickering candle light, she looked down at the person she was lying on top of, let out a little shriek of her own, and rolled off, crab walking backwards away from him until she ran into her bed. "Thank you."

"What the hell is this? How'd you get in here so fast?" she asked, more worried than I. I stood up, and moved the candle to get a better look at our stranger. He had long arms and legs, with long hair as blonde as Merry's, pulled back. He had two knives and a quiver of arrows strapped to his back, and a bow lay at his side. He was clad in a tunic and leggings, and a cape tangled around his legs. He was beautiful, especially in the flattering candle light, and looked to be about five or six years older than myself. I couldn't tell his eyes in the darkness, but they were focused on me.

"Where am I?" he asked, genuine confusion flooding his voice.

"Well, man, that's a good question," I said, leaning away. I wasn't about to trust some fruitcake with a bow and arrows who randomly showed up in my dorm room.

"I am not a Man," he retorted. He stood up, towering over me by at least a foot. Not that it was a hard thing to do. I was five feet and some change at a stretch. "I am the Prince of Mirkwood!"

Ellette and I exchanged a disbelieving glance.

"Ellette," I ventured, and turned back to look at the guy standing indignantly in front of us. "I blame it on the Fresca."

Author's Note the Second: What do y'all think? Yes, I am aware it's cliche and Mary sue-ish, but tha's part of it's charm! Or something like that... anyway, I'm having way too much fun writing this. I don't know how frequent updates will be, as I'm busy with making costumes (ACEN is right around the corner, GUH!) and with college and all that jazz. But hopefully it won't be all that bad. :D I can't help but love my stories, even if the originals make me cringe... But anyway, review and tell me what you think!