Elsa gave Anna a ride to school again on Friday. As the blonde pulled into the parking lot, Anna looked out the passenger window to see a pair of white doves circling above the school. Transfixed by their perfectly circular flight path, Anna didn't even notice when Elsa's car had stopped.

"Anna?" Elsa asked, trying to get her sister's attention.

The redhead failed to acknowledge her sibling, so Elsa tapped her on the shoulder.

"Huh?" Anna said, startled.

"We're here…" Elsa replied, raising an eyebrow to Anna's obliviousness.

"Oh," Anna said. "Right." She unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car, pulling her backpack out from the foot area of the front passenger seat. "Thanks for the ride," she added before heading off in a hurry. As she walked off, Elsa spotted her looking skyward once more. The blonde laughed quietly at her sister's antics.

As she exited the car, Elsa looked skyward herself, finding the two porcelain white doves almost directly above her.

Are those the same ones from Tuesday?

Elsa stood and stared at the doves for a while, thinking. Just as before, the girl found herself hypnotized by their motion, unable to look away.

The eight o'clock bell is what finally caught Elsa's attention.

Wonderful. Two classes in a row I'm gonna be late to Calculus.

Once again she found herself sprinting to class, as if the margin of her lateness made a difference.

She burst through the door, and all eyes turned to her, but only for a second. Elsa scanned the room with her eyes. Clearly something was off.

Whatever, it doesn't matter.

"Miss Elsa," Dr. Agdarson said as the girl began walking to her seat. "Come here please."

Today's gonna go positively dandy, I can tell already.

The blonde turned around and shyly made her way to her teacher's desk. "Yes?" she asked.

"You're late again, Elsa," he said bluntly. His tone then almost instantly softened. "I, uh… Just… Try to be on time next class," he said. He motioned her to go to her seat.

Elsa simply stood there, confused.

Alright, what the fuck is up here? On Wednesday I got a referral for being tardy and now he's just gonna let it slide?

"Look, Elsa," Dr. Agdarson began. "I'd like to raise you high- you're clearly a smart girl- but… you have to give me something to work with here. I know it's the first week, but you're getting off to a poor start. Just try to be more punctual."

Elsa was still confused, but she wasn't about to press the issue, or her luck, so she walked off to her desk, happy that her tardiness wouldn't prove to be a punishable offense yet still unsatisfied with Dr. Agdarson's reasoning.

It hadn't been five seconds since she had sat down when the boy behind Elsa tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around to face him.

"Hey, Elsa," he said. "You alright? I heard about what happened yesterday with that doctor guy or whatever."

So that's what this is about.

"Yea, I… I'm fine," Elsa said, although she clearly wasn't. It appeared that her wailing the day before had attracted the attention of her peers. This made Elsa uneasy.

"Yeah, hey, you sure?" someone else asked. Elsa couldn't tell if the two were genuinely concerned or if they were just looking for something to gossip about. Honestly, she didn't know which was worse.

"I said I'm alright," Elsa said.

Both students gave Elsa a strange look, as if they were calling her bluff. They both settled back into their seats though so Elsa dropped the matter.

Regardless, her uneasiness turned into self-loathing.

Why couldn't I have just shut up at least for a little bit so all these people wouldn't have found out about my waterworks show in the office? I'm such a fucking idiot sometimes…

"Alright, class," Dr. Agdarson's voice boomed, pulling Elsa back to reality. "Roll call."

Elsa then drifted back into her thoughts.

What the hell am I supposed to do now that everybody knows about what happened yesterday? Do they know why I was crying? If they do, I-

"Elsa?" Dr. Agdarson called.

"Here," Elsa replied.

...If they do, I guess I don't have much to worry about, but if they don't, what should I tell them? Should I say that-

"John W?"

Oh, shit, that's that guy I'm supposed to talk to!

"Here," came a voice from somewhere behind Elsa.

Dammit, who was that?

She didn't catch sight of the boy, but she at least knew he sat behind her in class. That eliminated almost twenty people.

Shit, I gotta make sure I find him.

Elsa scanned the back of the room, hoping to narrow down her search even further.

"Elsa?" Dr. Agdarson said.

"Yes?" the blonde replied.

"Eyes forward," the man said, in a somewhat gentler tone than Elsa was accustomed to. "We're starting lesson three."

"Alright," Elsa said. With that, she turned back around to face the front of the classroom.

"John!"

The sea of students amid the crowded hallway all but drowned out Elsa's call.

"John!" she yelled, even louder this time.

A boy looked back, searching for who had called him.

Oh thank God.

"John!" Elsa yelled One Last Time. She pushed her way past a few students to get to the boy she had been calling.

"John," she said at last. "Hi. I'm Elsa."

"Hey," John said. "What's up?"

"I, uh… I'd rather not tell you here," Elsa said. "How bout we go out to the field or something?"

"Uh, sure," John said, suspicious but uncaring.

"Alright, cool."

Elsa led the way- down the hall, down the stairs, to the right, straight ahead, and down the ramp to the field.

The field was about twenty feet below the eating area and was separated from it by a fence and an array of solar panels.

"Let's go somewhere we won't be seen, alright?" Elsa said, still walking.

John grabbed her by the wrist. "This is fine," he insisted. "Now, what's up?"

Elsa paused. She hadn't thought out how to broach the subject of her need for a meth cooking partner.

"I… I uh…" she began. "I need a partner for…"

She didn't finish her sentence.

"What?" John asked. "For a project or something? Why the hell did you drag me way out here for, then?"

At this point Elsa realized that it was too risky to be upfront with John, at least for now. After all, one false move could spell disaster.

"Yeah, a project. A chemistry project, actually," Elsa said. "Think you can help?"

"Yea, I guess," John said. He sounded apprehensive.

The two stood silently for a moment. The distant chatter of their peers provided ambience.

"Alright, well… Do you have seventh period?" Elsa asked.

"No," the boy replied.

"Okay, cool," Elsa said. "Wanna meet out in front of the school and we can talk then?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever," John said.

"Okay," Elsa said. She then backed away from the boy a few steps before turning and walking away.

What an awkward conversation.

Meanwhile, John was confused. He didn't know Elsa very well, but he could tell something strange was going on.

Once Elsa had made it about halfway up the ramp to the eating area, he too began walking back. He wanted to be certain he wouldn't run into Elsa on his way back to the populated area of the school- that would only make an awkward situation worse- so, he took his time walking back up the ramp. He then went back the way he came down, but instead of going up the stairs he continued into the amphitheatre of the school, where he met up with his friends.

"Hey, John," one of them said. "Where you been?"

"Oh, uh…" John began. "Nowhere in particular. Just talked with this chick about doing a project together."

"Oh, yeah?" someone else butted in. "A project huh?" the boy said, making air quotes as he said "project." Everyone laughed at his innuendo.

"Who is it?" the original boy asked.

"Some chick named Elsa," John said.

Everyone fell silent.

"What?" John asked, confused.

"Dude, she's bad news I heard," someone said. "She was all crying and stuff yesterday in the office. Something about dead parents."

"Yeah, well, I'm not dating her," John assured them, "so it doesn't really matter to me. Just a project."

"Oh, yeah, sure," one of his friends teased. "Just a project my ass."

Alright, I'm just gonna tell him straight up.

Elsa looked back at her watch. She had only been waiting for a few minutes but it felt like an eternity.

No, fuck that, that's too risky. I'll hint at it first.

Elsa stared across the parking lot of the school and across the street at the empty lot on the corner where her parents used to pick her up.

Where the hell is he? It's 1:35 already and sixth period got out at 1:25!

Elsa was shivering from her nervousness. There were only two outcomes here: one good, one catastrophic.

Just then the front door to the school swung open. Elsa spun around to see John walking out. "Hey, Elsa," he said.

Alright, screw it, I'm telling him straight up.

"Hey, John," she replied.

"So," John said. "What's up with this project?"

"Uh…" Elsa began. "Here, uh, come over here to my car. I've got some paperwork and stuff over there."

Elsa led him to her car. She gestured him to sit down in the passenger seat as she herself sat down in the driver's seat.

"Hey, what happened to your window?" John asked, pointing to the broken rear passenger window.

"Oh, nothing," Elsa said. She threw her backpack in the backseat of the car. "So, this project... It's for AP chem, and it's pretty easy but I'm supposed to do it with someone else."

'Alright," John said. "So, do you have a rubric or something?"

"No, not yet, but I-"

"I thought you just said you had some paperwork?" John said, confused.

"Well, no, but…" Elsa said.

"What the hell is going on here?" John said. "I mean, if you need a partner I'll do it with you, but I don't know why the hell it has to be me, and I don't know why you're being so secretive but-"

"Listen," Elsa began, cutting the boy off. "My friend said you can teach me how to cook meth," the blonde admitted.

"What?" the boy laughed.

"No, I'm serious," Elsa began, "I need money so I'm looking for someone to show me how to cook meth and Olaf said-"

Elsa cut herself off.

This isn't the guy.

John just stared at the girl.

"Alright… I, uh… I'm not the guy you're looking for," he finally said, reaching for the door handle.

"Hey, wait, no," Elsa said, grabbing him by the arm. At the same time she pressed the button to lock the car's doors.

John pulled his arm away. "What the fuck?" he said, now angry. He reached over to Elsa's side of the car and pushed the unlock button. He then opened the door and got out. "Crazy bitch," he muttered. "My friends were right about you." He slammed the door.

He's gonna go snitch. Oh no.

"No, hey, wait!" Elsa said, jumping out of the car. She ran to the back of the car to try and stop him, but he started running as well.

"You're fucking crazy!" he yelled, running from her. Elsa started chasing him.

Once he got about halfway to the front door of the school, Elsa started to sprint. She caught up to him, jumped on him, and knocked him flat against the pavement.

"What the FUCK?!" He yelled. He kicked and squirmed while Elsa put him in a headlock. She then stood, and walked back to her car, dragging John by his neck. She covered his mouth with her hand so he would stop screaming. Her breath was now incredibly heavy, her actions fueled by adrenaline instead of reason.

Once she got to her car, she opened the rear door, literally threw John inside, hurried into the driver's seat, started the car, and backed out of the parking space before John could open the door to get out. She slammed the car into drive, and took off, almost jumping her car over the peak in the skirt of the driveway as she made her way into the street. Acting purely out of fear, Elsa slammed her foot against the gas pedal and drove off towards the only place she knew was safe: Olaf's house.

After about two blocks, the girl's senses returned to her, and she realized what had just happened. It all felt like it was a dream to her, like this couldn't possibly be real.

She spun her head around and looked into the back seat to find John there, mangled and bloody.

It was real.

Oh God, what have I done?

A/N As I said, things don't stay happy for long. Anyway, school is really starting to take its toll on me, so don't freak out if I go longer than usual without updating. Adding to that, there's probably gonna be some grammar errors here and there because I don't have as much time to proofread now as I did before. Aside from that, everything's going strong.

Happy reading,

for-the-first-time-in-never