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Another Time, Another Life

|-|-|-|-|-|Chapter One|-|-|-|-|-|

Another time... another life...

Elsa stood in front of the main entrance to Arendelle High. This was the sixth or seventh time she had transferred schools because of her mother's constant need to travel in order to support the two of them. They had fallen onto both emotional and financial hard times after Elsa's father had perished in a teenage drunk driving incident.

She already knew the entire layout of the towering institution that beheld her. She had spent half an hour beforehand extensively studying the floor plan and thus had no need to ask a student or teacher for help.

Which she was grateful for.

Elsa deliberately avoided contact with her peers and mentors. She didn't exactly dislike companionship, but she found it difficult to trust her peers anymore after she learned that one of her classmates was the one responsible for her father's passing. In order to make matters worse, said student's family was influential enough to cover for him. The story was hushed up and he suffered no punishment while Elsa's family received no reimbursement.

Elsa had virtually no friends at the time. She had few social skills and relied solely on her family for support. After her father's death her mother had fell into a depression. She turned to working long shifts to escape, which left Elsa all alone in the world.

She had no idea what to do.

Elsa ended up pushing away everyone who tried to connect with her. She told herself that she didn't want to hurt them when she had to move away, but she deep down she truly was terrified that they'd reject her as soon as they found out how broken she really was inside.

Taking a deep breath to steel herself, Elsa recalled the location of her first class and pushed through the giant metal doors.

She weaved through the crowds of students talking amongst themselves, from afar she observed that many of them were sorted into the stereotypical clichés. Jocks were kicking around soccer balls and shooting hoops, bookworms were already in the library studying and working on projects, and egosticals were in the foyer gossiping amongst themselves. A few blew wolf whistles as she walked by, but she she paid them no attention.

She reached her Calculus class without a hitch. Being the first there, the entire class was empty which meant she had first dibs on whichever seat she wanted. She debated between sitting in the front to see the board better and sitting in the back to minimize her presence. She eventually chose the corner seat farthest from the door and began to read a novel she had brought beforehand.

She completely engrossed in one of the stories of Narnia. Sure, it wasn't exactly a challenge to read. She had completed the entire series when she was in the 6th grade but she loved to reread it for enjoyment. She was excited at the idea of a select few individuals somehow receiving supernatural or magical powers and loved to see how they reacted to it. Even when she was small she had this little addiction as she had finished the entire Magic Tree House series when she was in grade 2 and was already well into the Merlin Missions when she was in grade 3.

She was reading the part where the Pevensie Children (sans Edward because he didn't get any for being a traitor) were retrieving their gifts from the ruins of their castle when she noticed that students had began to trickle into the classroom. She didn't take her eyes off the book until a loud cheer resonated through the room. She looked up to see what the commotion was about when a stunning auburn sauntered into the room.

Elsa froze in her seat. A mortal goddess had just graced the class with her presence and clearly everyone else thought so. As soon as this person entered the room she was assaulted with hellos, high fives, and even hugs. When it all died down Elsa could finally get a good look at who came in.

Her eyes widened to dinner plate size and her jaw fell to the floor.

The redhead wasn't wearing much, just a form fitting lime green T-Shirt that shows off those delicious hips and some oh my god those jeans are practically a second skin jesus christ look at all those freckles they're so cute and wait how is her hair so naturally radiant that's a beautiful shade of red I wonder if it's natural but wait is that a white streak WOW that is SO ADORABLE and

Elsa caught herself staring and forced herself away. She couldn't be friends with this girl. Even if she wanted to, she'd never want to be with Elsa. Who'd want to be friends with an emotional wreck hiding behind a façade of independence?

Class ended up crawling along when it eventually started, and Elsa found it harder and harder to divert her eyes from the beauty that sat across the class from her. Eventually she gave in and spent the rest of the period gawking at the redhead. She already knew most of the material, and before she knew it the bell rang.

The rest of the day flew by, and although Elsa found herself drifting back more and more to the strawberry blonde she paid attention during all the lectures. She was disappointed to find that she didn't share any more classes with the redhead but that only served to make her treasure her time in Calculus even more.

School let out and it was now time for Elsa's favourite part of the day. She packed her bags and set off to the community pool. If her mother's escape was work then Elsa's must have been for swimming. She loved the cool feel of the water as she cut through it with her powerful arms. She always had the distinct feeling that she was defying gravity because of how fast she flew through the water. The feeling of unshackled freedom was exhilarating and Elsa loved nothing more.

She pushed open the doors and was immediately greeted by the receptionist.

"Hi! Welcome to Oaken's Pool and Sauna! I'm Olaf! You must be new here!"

Elsa froze at the doorway. She wasn't used to having someone shout across the room to her and for a moment was dumbstruck as to what she was supposed to do.

OhgodwhatdoIdo. Am I supposed to introduce myself? Do I walk up to him? Do I say something about the weather? Do people even do that anymore? Maybe I should at least say hi..

But, instead of doing any of that, Elsa ended up letting out a small squeak. Her eyes fell to the floor, her arms wrapped around herself, and she was sure that she just scared off the only person who could possibly befriend. Before she knew it though she had two scrawny arms wrapped around her.

"Hey it's alright. Sorry if I scared you." Judging by how pens and papers were scattered on the floor he must have vaulted over the counter. He broke away from the one sided hug and took a step back. "Here, lets try again okay? Hi! I'm Olaf, and I like warm hugs."

Elsa lifted her gaze and looked into the cheerful brown eyes before her. "Hi.. I'm Elsa. I'm new here."

Olaf led her over to the reception desk and took out a wristband. "Welcome to Arendelle then! As my treat to you have a free pass for today." He held out the wristband for Elsa to take, but as soon as she did Olaf crushed her in one of the warmest hugs Elsa had ever had in her life. "Don't worry about the mess, have a great swim!"

Elsa stood on the bulkhead, poised over the water with her back arched. She was wearing a skin-tight white and blue one-piece swimsuit that although she hated to admit it, flaunted her curves quite well. Her hair was in a tight bun, wrapped in a sky blue swim cap while her eyes were concealed by a pair of dark blue-tinted mirror goggles that let her see out, but didn't let others see her.

She put her arms over her head and leaned forwards, diving deep and slicing into the water. She began to furiously kick her feet, and as soon as she surfaced she took a large gulp of air and began to swim perfect frontstroke.

One. Two. Three. Breathe. One. Two. Three. Breathe.

Almost instantly she reached the other bulkhead. Without missing a beat she dived, and while underwater she turned over to her back and launched herself off the bulkhead while blowing bubbles to keep the water from rushing into her nose. She flipped back onto the her front and

One. Two. Three. Breathe. One. Two. Three. Breathe.

She repeated this mantra for an unspeakable amount of times until she was totally and utterly exhausted. Elsa's muscles screamed for rest and her lungs felt like collapsing. Her entire body cursed her for pushing herself so far and it took several attempts to climb onto the bulkhead and out of the lanes because her arms felt like limp spaghetti, but when she finally made it to the hot tub she collapsed into it and she let out a loud sigh of content.

The relief and comfort of a hot tub is always magnified by a gazillion after a gruelling workout.

She removed her hair cap and shook her hair free, letting it fall onto and behind her shoulders. She then took off her goggles and ran her hand along the lines imprinted onto her forehead from the goggles being tightly latched onto her head. She sank deeper into the hot tub and she swore she could feel her heart rate increasing by the way her chest was thumping.

Hold on.

Her heart rate began to skyrocket.

What is that redhead doing here!?