Anna's riding had not been that bad!

Delaney had been chaos—not Anna! She had managed to keep that horse under control! She had managed to get that headstrong mare over the jumps without the martingale that she was supposed to have! If anything, Anna had been completely collected and composed.

Well, ignoring the fact that you spent half of the time watching Elsa…

And realization hit her square in the face.

Of course Elsa was out to get her now.

Anna had spent nearly her entire tryout staring at the blonde rider, taking an interest in her riding when she quite obviously preferred to go unnoticed.

It all made sense, with the rumors that Rapunzel had told her. Clearly it was an unspoken rule that Elsa's riding was not to be criticized, scrutinized, or even observed.

"So now that all of this business is settled," Merida stood at the podium once more, "Please, in an organized fashion, come look at the team list in the front of the room."

And of course, since Merida had said 'organized', the entire room erupted into chaos—See, Elsa, this is the real definition of chaos—pushing and shoving to get to the front.

Instead of jumping in with the mass of students, Anna and Kristoff waited patiently as their fellow classmates gave elated shouts of "Yes!" or disappointed sighs. Anna was now too nervous—and quite truthfully, too uptight and bothered by what Elsa had said—to talk to Kristoff. And she didn't know what to do, because watching the storm of students crowding around the stapled piece of paper meant looking in a direction that was dangerously close to Elsa—and the blonde was one person she did not want to have to see.

For a long time.

So instead she turned her head to the left, to look out the window.

But instead she noticed Hans, who, upon seeing her, raised his hand and waved from where he was sitting half way across the room.

Anna smiled and waved back at him. And then he got up and walked over to where she was sitting.

Some things are going right, she thought, and sighed happily.

"I was going to text you tonight, but I forgot I'd see you here," Anna said.

"And you didn't bring my helmet…so I guess that means we're still on for Friday?" Hans smiled.

"Yeah," Anna confirmed, "I work until twelve, but how does one sound?"

"That sounds perfect," Hans said, "I'll see you then."

And then he turned to leave.

"Aren't you going to check the list?" Anna asked.

"Well, all twelve of my brothers were champion riders on the team, so I'm pretty much guaranteed that spot on the advanced team," Hans gave a small shrug, as if it were nothing, but then he winked before walking out the door.

And no sooner had he left than Kristoff said, "I don't like him."

"Hey, don't be mean," Anna narrowed her eyes.

"He's so full of himself."

"Well, I find confidence to be a very attractive quality," Anna crossed her arms, not quite certain why she was suddenly so defensive. But she went along with it anyway.

"People talk about him, Anna," Kristoff said, "And you don't even know the first thing about him."

"Why is it that everyone seems to know everything about everyone here except for me!" Anna exclaimed, thinking back to how Rapunzel had known all of those details about Elsa before Anna had even known the blonde's name.

But if Kristoff wanted to know what in the world she meant, he didn't ask. Instead, he jumped right back to the matter at hand, "We're talking about this when we get back to the dorms."

"Sheesh. So overprotective," Anna rolled her eyes.

But he was her best friend. And she owed it to him to at least listen to what he had to say.

By now the commotion had died down, and Anna decided that it was safe to look at the paper.

Careful to avoid any contact whatsoever with Elsa—eye contact included—Anna made her way over to the table at the front of the room. Holding her breath, she searched the array of names and placements, and then there, under the listing for the novice team was…

Anna Summers

And she didn't even bother reading the other names below hers. For a moment she forgot about everything—Elsa, Hans, Kristoff not approving of Hans, even the money issue—and jumped up and down, shoving the paper in Kristoff's face.

"I did it!" She exclaimed.

Kristoff smiled and said, "Of course you did."

Then he turned the paper to look for the intermediate team, and in the single spot available was Kristoff's name.

"Good job," Anna told him, equally as happy for her best friend as he was for her.

"See, riding a reindeer has prepared me for the insanity that is college level riding," he joked, also forgetting their little dispute for the time being.

Before Anna could do anything else, Merida walked up to her, and to Anna's surprise, the advanced team captain began to talk to her, "Anna, I just wanted to commend you on your ride at the tryouts. We chose you for the team because you handled Delaney so well. The way the shows are designed, you'll be riding different horses who you've never seen before, so you need to be prepared to deal with horses of all different personalities and temperaments. And you handled Delaney's unpredictability rather outstandingly."

"Th-thanks," Anna stammered, honored to be getting such praise from the renowned team captain.

And when Anna turned to go, for a brief and unintended moment, she caught Elsa's eye over Merida's shoulder.

And besides the fact that the gaze was now slightly less icy than it had been before, Anna could have sworn that she had seen the senior give her a small nod…of approval?

It was perplexing, considering Elsa had just told the entire team, whether they had understood or not, that Anna's ride at the tryouts had been chaotic.

But right now, Anna was too elated to care.

She had made the team, and that was all that mattered.

That night, Kristoff hadn't mentioned anything about the 'Hans issue' as he had said he would. Either he had actually forgotten in the midst of the excitement, or, more likely, he didn't want to ruin Anna's moment of happiness. Considering she had been a complete wreck of nerves and anxiety and embarrassment for the past forty eight hours, he had probably just given her time to revel in the moment of glory.

But by the time Friday morning rolled around and they were walking to the dining hall together for a quick breakfast before Anna biked over to Starbucks for work, he brought up the subject again, keeping his voice low so that no one would catch wind of their conversation.

"So about what I wanted to tell you last night," Kristoff said, "The students on my floor talk about Hans all the time. And they don't say very nice things, either."

"Like what," Anna challenged.

"He's…how do I put this kindly…a player."

Anna almost laughed aloud, "I never in a million years would have thought I'd hear you say that word."

"Anna it's not funny. You heard him. He has twelve older brothers. He needs to do something to 'impress'."

The impact of her best friend's words really set in at this point.

"I'll take care of myself," Anna told him, "I promise. But I need to give him a chance. Just because people talk, doesn't mean it's true."

"I just hope you know what you're getting yourself into," Kristoff sighed.

Anna said nothing else as she walked through the doors and into the dining hall. Through breakfast, they turned the conversation to classes, but neither could forget the air that was left by the previous conversation about Hans, and the walk back to their dorm building was silent.

"Well, I'll see you later," Kristoff said.

"See you," Anna said as she grabbed her bike from the rack in front of her dorm building.

Cutting through the parking lot and onto the sidewalk, she pedaled the distance to the Starbucks.

And she wished she had a car.

And then she remembered that it was either a car, or college.

Or more like, a car or riding.

But…it was only ten minutes of her life. She would live. And it was all worth it in the end; save the earth, go green. Think optimistic.

Because it was going to be a good day. As opposed to Monday nights, when she worked five hours straight, she only worked two and a half hours this morning.

And she had a date this afternoon. It was something to look forward to, although she found herself not quite as excited as she had been before with a small, uneasy feeling growing in her stomach as Kristoff's words still swirled in her mind.

A good day, Anna thought as she opened the door and checked herself in.

She talked briefly with the other girl on her shift—both of them took orders at the counter. Even though it was one of the smaller coffee shops of the franchise, it was definitely busy, so there were two of them taking orders at all times.

And this meant that there weren't insanely long lines, and that Anna had a chance to breathe every now and then.

Yes. It's definitely a good day.

That was, until she walked in.

Was this inevitable?

It so could have been avoided. It was like she was following Anna everywhere. She showed up in the most obscure of places that Anna could be; exactly during Anna's tryouts, right in the middle of Anna's freshman chemistry lab, and now, right at the beginning of Anna's work shift.

Please don't let me be the one to take her order. Please don't make me talk to her. Please, please, please, please—

If only she could have been so fortunate.

The blonde didn't even look up when she ordered, instead opening her wallet and taking out a credit card in advance, "I'll just have an iced—" but when she did look up, there was the briefest of hesitations before she said, "coffee."

"Okay. Right. Iced coffee. That'll be 1.95."

Elsa handed Anna the credit card, and Anna momentarily forgot how in the world to use it.

But she snapped out of it, moved on autopilot, and handed the card back to Elsa.

And Elsa said absolutely nothing else.

Why does this always have to happen to me? And then I can't even act right. Like she'll think anything that I do is ridiculous. She already does think that everything I do is ridiculous.

So much for her good day.

Anna sighed as she constructed the drink.

It just had to be her. All the time.

She put the lid on the drink, and was in the middle of handing it to Elsa when…

Crap!

"Um, you know what? I think I accidentally put chocolate in here too. Just give me a minute and I'll make you a new one," Anna said, completely and utterly annoyed at the fact that she just couldn't seem to do anything right when Elsa was around.

See, this is what happens when you get distracted. You think about these things too much and you're lucky that you have half a brain that actually notices your mistakes.

And she was so busy with her internal monologue that she didn't quite register the fact that the iced coffee was no longer in her hand; the blonde had already taken it.

"That's okay. I like chocolate," Elsa said, and after taking a straw from the counter, she turned to leave, Anna staring after her.

What just even happened!?

"So what are you going to wear?"

Anna was exhausted beyond belief. Who knew that her morning shift could take such a toll?

"I have absolutely no clue," Anna groaned.

"I'd say…something sort of casual. Because it's not really a date date. But not something too casual."

"You know what, Punz?" Anna smiled at her roommate, "Why don't you just pick something out for me. I need fifteen minutes to chill. I should have told him two. Not an hour after my shift was over."

"I'm on it!" Rapunzel exclaimed, all too eager to throw together an outfit.

Anna remained flopped on the bed, not even dragging herself to her feet until she was certain that she would agree to whatever insane combination of clothing her roommate was putting together.

"So what about this?" Rapunzel asked.

It was a purple top, slightly ruffled at the bottom (which had clearly come from Rapunzel's closet and not her own), and a pair of black leggings.

"And I was thinking that flats would like nice with it, too."

"I approve," Anna grinned, "And plus I'm too exhausted to argue."

But only forty minutes later, all of her exhaustion had been extinguished, replaced with nothing but excitement as Anna made her way to the café which was located on the first floor of one of the main campus buildings. She had only been there once before, passing by to get a chocolate bar on the way to one of her classes. The first week was barely over, and she'd already diminished the stash of chocolate she had in her room by at least half.

But now, here she was again, walking towards the café…and for a completely different reason. Because there in the left corner of the café, having already saved them a table, was Hans. And just his smile was enough to erase any remaining thoughts of anxiety.

"Here's your helmet," she said, offering it back to him, "You really saved me that day. I don't know what I would have done without it."

"It was no problem at all," he said, "If you know what you want, I can order for you."

Seriously, what did she have to worry about? He was such a gentleman.

"That'd be great. I'll have a sandwich."

"Any particular kind?"

"Uh…" Anna gave it some thought and then said, "Whatever looks good. As long as it's a sandwich, I'll eat it."

"Really?" Hans laughed, "Me too."

Anna smiled again as he got into line.

He was really nice. And she could be herself around him without feeling like an idiot—something that was not quite possible around certain unmentioned others.

When he returned, they talked about so many different things, from Hans' twelve brothers, to horses, to Anna's life at home. And when they were finished, he offered to walk her back to her dorm.

He opened the door for her, even though his dorm was still a few yards further down campus.

"Thanks," Anna said.

"Well, you know what they say…"

"What do they say?" Anna gave him a quizzical look.

"Love…is an open door," he smiled.

Anna laughed, "You totally just made that up."

"Maybe," he said jokingly, his radiant smile never leaving his face, "maybe not."

A/n: Oh, Hans. We don't like Hans… :p But sorry for ending the chapter with their outing. I didn't quite know where else to end it. Just remember that he's in the story for a reason—which will be evident later on.

And regarding a question from the reviews: for the scheduling for the team, I based it on my experience with my school's team. It's a huge commitment, so you're actually expected to free your schedule for team meetings and lessons and shows that have already been predetermined. And you're not really given a detailed list of the dates until after tryouts. It sounds crazy, though a lot of them are held at night or on the weekends and only a handful of students have night classes. That's why a lot of people decide to join as part of the club so that they can fit lessons into their schedules at whatever time they want without feeling pressured.

Thanks for reading :)