Chapter Three

It didn't bode well for Elsa that on the first day of Ninth Grade, she was already thinking: "What's the point?"

She was always quiet and reserved, but liked hanging around people. However, it never seemed like people liked hanging out with her. Anyone that looked like they wanted to be friends with her either got bored with her after a while, or only tried to be friends with her on a dare. She carried that baggage into high school, and her only goal was to survive and get out. Go to college where she could reinvent herself and work hard so that she could make a name for herself.

Get in, get out. That was the plan.

That was the plan, and then a certain redhead walked into her English class, sat right in front of her, and ruined it.

The redhead turned around so fast her pigtails smacked her in the face. Unfazed, she smiled and stretched out her hand, "Hi! I'm Anna Dawson, my favorite color is green, and when I grow up I want to be a baker."

Elsa looked at the hand like it would attack her at any moment, and looked at Anna like she was alien.

Who introduces themselves so easily to a perfect stranger?

"Well don't leave me hanging here, one-person handshakes are super awkward."

"Uh..." Elsa extended her hand and gave Anna the most mechanical handshake. Get in, get out right? That was the plan?

Elsa realized that while she was done shaking hands, Anna wasn't. Her arm hung limp while Anna kept smiling at her oblivious to the lack of movement on her end.

"...and you are?"

Right, she needed to introduce herself too.

"I'm...uh, I-I'm..." What was going on? She wasn't an idiot, she knew how to form words. But this abrupt introduction, this cute redhead's massive amount of confidence, or a combination of both left her tongue-tied.

Wait...cute?

That sorta came out of nowhere.

"Well it's nice to meet you 'Uh'." Anna giggled. "I hope you don't mind me sitting here. I don't know anyone at this school, and it's freshman year and I wanna make one of those long-lasting forever kind of friendships my parents keep talking to me about, and you looked nice and approachable! No offense."

"None taken?" A forever kind of friend? Wow, she had to be new if no one hadn't told Anna to avoid her. Part of her wanted to ask if she was for real, and wasn't doing this as a gag like all the middle-school girls, but all she came up with was: "M-my name's actually Elsa."

Anna's stunning green eyes widened, "Wow! That's so pretty!"

She was prettier.

"What was that?"

Elsa blinked, "Wh-what?"

"Did you just say I'm prettier?"

Crap, she said that out loud. Her inability to make friends had crippled her social skills, she never learned how to keep what was in her head from spilling out of her mouth.

She wanted to shrink into her chair and slink away from this class, and high school, forever. Five minutes into her first day and she'd already made a fool of herself in front of a pretty girl.

"I-I'm so sorry, I didn't mean it." There, now her voice was working. Now she could do some damage control.

"So...you don't think I'm pretty?"

Or not.

"What?! No! I do think- I mean I didn't mean to say that out loud it just slipped out and-"

Anna laughed, "Hey, I'm messing with you. Don't worry, if it makes you feel any better I think you're pretty too."

"Pretty what?" Elsa's brain was betraying her, she hadn't comprehended Anna's words yet.

Anna raised an eyebrow, "As in pretty...cute? Was I not clear? Should I have added the word cute?"

Now it caught up, and now she'd registered that this pretty girl had also called her pretty. And now she was blushing, great. "No! No no no, I like being called pretty- I mean thank you for calling me pretty, I mean...ugh!"

She buried her head into her arms, if shrinking away was impossible at least she could keep her face covered and avoid digging herself in a bigger hole.

What made things even worse was that there was no way people couldn't hear them.

She felt a hand on her arm and assumed it had to be their English teacher coming into the class and chastising her for "falling asleep" on the first day. She wished she was asleep, and that this was nightmare she could wake up from.

But it wasn't, and it was time to accept her fate.

Elsa lifted her head up, meeting the eyes of not her teacher but Anna. She had a different smile on her this time, it was less amused and more caring.

"It's very nice to meet you, Elsa...whatever your last name is." She said with the sweetest voice in the world. "I hope that you and I can be great friends."

There was that damn word again: friends.

She looked down and fidgeted with her hands, "I...don't think you wanna be friends with me, Anna. I'm sure there's a ton of other better people that you'd wanna be with- be friends with."

Anna shook her head, "If there were, I would have sat next to them instead."

A strange new feeling came over her, tingling her spine and making the world seem a hint brighter. What was this? Was this...hope? She looked up at Anna once again and saw something that she hadn't before.

After being burned by so many people for so long, she could already tell who wanted to hurt her feelings or make her the butt of a joke. There was always some sort of dishonesty in their eyes, no matter how much they tried it. She saw none of that in Anna's.

Anna stuck her hand out again, "Friends?"

Maybe things would be different this time.

Taking the biggest leap of faith in her young life, Elsa shook her hand with more confidence than before and smiled, "Friends."

"...and then you have a meeting at 3 with…Ms. Andersen? Is everything okay?"

Elsa blinked and chastised herself for getting lost in this vivid, intrusive memories. "Yes, I'm alright. Now what was it you were saying?"

Hannah raised an eyebrow but didn't question any further. She scrolled up on her tablet and repeated herself, "I was saying that at 3 o'clock you have a meeting with Ms. De Vil."

Elsa groaned at the sound of that witch's name, "What does she want now?"

"I'm not sure, when she called to set up the appointment all she said was that you 'might want to hear her out'. Whatever that means."

"Hannah it's your job to keep them from being vague. If you don't hold all the cards in a conversation, then you don't hold any of them." Elsa rubbed her temples and sighed, "I guess it doesn't matter much now since the appointment's been made. Do me a favor and cancel anything I have until then okay? I need to prepare myself mentally if I want to get through this."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure. Don't make me repeat myself." Elsa didn't mean to sound so snide, that damn redhead was ruining her. "Sorry, just...do what I tell you alright?"

Hannah huffed. "Well you don't have to be such an ass about it." Elsa pretended not to hear that.

When Hannah left, she stood up from her chair and walked to her bookcase. She glossed over all the books and mementos- her favorite ones being a snow globe and a picture of her and a local family in Hawaii- and focused on one item in particular.

The whole messy encounter with that damn redhead was going to make her careless, she could feel it. If she was so wrapped up in old memories, how could she be the unbreakable, efficient example she wanted to set for her workers? She needed a distraction, no she needed a reminder. A reminder of who she is and why she's here.

She scanned the books with her finger until she got to the old copy of one of her favorite books, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Pressed into one of her favorite chapters, where Tom tricks a group of boys into whitewashing a fence for him, was a piece of paper folded lengthwise. She unfolded it, brushed her fingers over the creases, and smiled. On it was an excerpt from an essay she wrote back in high school, where she wrote about how she wanted to be a CEO when she grew up. This would surely give her some clarity and show her where she came from, and what could be taken from her.

But then she remembered who helped her write this important, life-changing essay, and her smile faded.

"For me, being a CEO would mean more than just a huge paycheck and an army of suits trying to stay in my good graces. It's also the ultimate peak of a success story that everyone deserves to write for themselves."

Elsa put down her paper and looked over at her peer review partner for feedback, "What do you think? Good enough for my first draft?"

Anna looked at her like she had just sprouted wings, "First draft? I think that's good enough to get published in one of those big scholarly textbook things. How are you this good with words?!"

Elsa blushed, "Oh stop it, it can't be that good. I just wrote what I felt like, there's bound to be mistakes in here somewhere."

Anna reached over the lunch bench and flailed her hand towards Elsa, "Well then hand it over Ms. I-Can't-Take-A-Compliment, let's see if this thing is as bad as you say it is."

"I never said it was bad I just...fine here you go." Elsa pushed the essay towards her friend who took it with two eager hands. It was the middle of their lunch period, and after they finished eating, she took it out of her bag and asked Anna to look it over. It wasn't finished yet but she still wanted a second point of view to make sure she was on the right track.

With attentive eyes, Anna scanned the essay for any spelling errors, grammar errors, or anything that didn't make sense. She bit her lip which Elsa knew meant that she was really thinking about something, so that was a good sign. After a couple of minutes, Anna finally quipped, "You know this isn't due for another week… Elsa?"

Elsa blinked, she may have been doing some "scanning" of her own. "Oh, uh...I knew, I mean I know. I just wanted to get a head start that's all."

"You alright? You look like you're burning up."

And she may have had a goofy looking smile on her face while she was doing so. It was easy to write, not as easy to talk yet. "I'm alright it's just...hot in here. Anyway, I want to get this done as soon as possible because it's the biggest assignment I have right now, and all I want to worry about once I get this done are the lacrosse tryouts today."

Anna smiled proudly, "So you decided to actually go for it, huh? What made you change your mind?"

She did.

"What was that?"

"I, uh, I meant that…" Wait a second, that was exactly what Elsa wanted to say. "You made me change my mind, your pep talk yesterday really helped with my decision."

"Pep talk?", Anna asked confused. "All I said was that if I make it in, we might not be able to hang out as much anymore."

Exactly. If she couldn't see Anna as much anymore, her only friend and, to her, the cutest girl in school, she might literally die. Besides Elsa wasn't some twig either, if she made an effort in tryouts then there was no doubt she'd make it on the team. "Wait a second, yesterday you said 'when', not 'if'."

Anna shook her head, "That was before I found this out." She gestured towards Elsa's everything. "Elsa we have the same PE class; if...when you try out, I might have some actual competition. Heck, I might not even make the team."

Just hearing that worst-case scenario made Elsa reconsider, even though she knew the coach would be a fool not to let Anna on the team. The crafty redhead was no slouch either.

She could have chosen any other extracurricular activity close enough to baking, but she didn't want her entire life revolving around one thing. Elsa eventually agreed, but didn't decide until now that she wanted to try out as well. Plus, the ability to work on a team, and the cultivation of a competitive nature, would help her out immensely in the long run.

The two continued to talk about other topics until the lunch bell rang, signaling everyone to get back to class.

Anna returned Elsa's smirk from earlier before they parted ways, "See you out on the field, partner."

Elsa nodded, she couldn't wait.

Elsa tossed a faded, red rubber ball in the air and caught it in the palm of her hand, a motion she'd been repeating for the better half of an hour. On days when it felt like she was losing her grip on a deal, or had to handle a struggling business, she would lean back in her chair and toss the ball in the air. It reminded her that she was still in control.

Unfortunately, she wasn't in control of when her work phone would go off, and disrupt her catharsis. She put the ball back in her desk and groaned, "Hannah? What is it?"

"Sorry for the interruption Ms. Andersen, but you wanted me to call you when...when she arrived."

Elsa glanced at her cell phone, how in the world was it already 3 PM? She let out a curse word under her breath and responded, "Alright send her in." No sooner had she ended the call did the mahogany doors swing wide open, and from them emerged…

Ms. Cruella De Vil: the outspoken, effervescent CEO of the fashion line Für 101, whose net worth rivaled most countries. The umlaute meant nothing, serving only to make their company even more pretentious than it actually was.

Much like her fur-lined monstrosity couldn't hide the bony physique underneath, the makeup caked onto her face and black hair dye couldn't hide the fact that she was on the wrong end of fifty. She walked inside the office with a staunch sense of arrogance and with arms outstretched like she expected to be showered with praise.

"Guess who's back, Elsa darling! And might I say this look suits you marvelously." Cruella said with a pompous flair.

Whenever they met, Elsa ended up wanting to vomit or throw something five minutes in. With their companies being in such close proximity to each other, and because ArenCorp wanted to break into the fashion industry as well, they would send a representative to each other's companies to ensure there weren't any plans of a "hostile takeover".

Well, ArenCorp would send a representative, Cruella always opted to go to ArenCorp herself.

"Cruella, what a surprise to see you again." Elsa forced out a smile as she lifted up her hand for a more formal greeting. "And I'm glad you think my outfit is acceptable."

"Oh no no no, I'm not talking about your...questionable wardrobe choice.", Cruella replied with shades of a sneer forming on her rosy red lips. "I'm talking about the sight of you behind this desk! I had no doubt you would be the pretty face that ran this place someday, I just never expected it to be so soon."

Elsa put her hand back down and brushed off the passive insult. She thought she looked nice and professional in her white button-down shirt and blue skirt, and being professional mattered more to her than turning heads. Admittedly, she did want to expand her color selection from black, blue, and white, but that was a problem for another time. "Well then I'm glad you agree with my promotion. Now to what do I owe the...pleasure?"

Cruella slid her coat off, something she rarely did in the presence of others, and placed it behind her chair. "Why to congratulate you of course!", she said as she gracefully sat down. "Elsa Andersen, you join an elite number of people with enough power and influence to change the world, and I wanted to be the first person to welcome you into the club, if you will."

"The club?" Elsa stifled a laugh, "Do I get some sort of card or benefits for being in this 'club'?"

"It's strictly metaphorical, darling. Although I could get you on a VIP list for any club you wanted, if you only say the words." Strangely enough, that was true. Elsa despised Cruella as a person, but respected someone who had been on top of the game for as long as her. And Cruella, meanwhile, respected the intense drive of the young businesswoman.

But while Elsa respected Cruella, she still didn't trust or like her completely.

The raven-haired woman gave her an impish grin. "Nonetheless this is a big honor, one that I truly hope you can hold on to."

Elsa's eyes narrowed, "Now what do you mean by that?"

Cruella pulled out a long, silver cigarette holder and lit it with a solid gold lighter. She took a drag from the cigarette and soaked in the silence, as if she was amused at Elsa for not seeing what she was really here for. "Elsa darling, you may not like it but all eyes are on you at the moment. Did you really think being one of the youngest CEO's in history wouldn't get people talking?"

"Of course I knew people would talk, but I don't, and won't, let their words get to me." Elsa bit back.

"Well you should. I assume you've heard the phrase 'The pen is mightier than the sword.'? Your status means that your success will be broadcasted across all mainstream media, but that is also true…of your failures." Cruella took another drag before continuing, "Business is a dog-eat-dog world. Once you make a wrong move, and others get a whiff of it, they will tear into you tendons and all like the beasts they are."

The tension in the air was as thick as this she-devil's cigarette smoke. Elsa remained defensive as the smoke spread and had an uneasy feeling that there was more that needed to be said.

"Always be on your guard, darling. Anyone can take down your empire if you let them." Cruella took one last drag and spoke one word as the smoke poured out of her lips: "Anyone."

Elsa grit her teeth, finally losing that smile she had put on earlier. The biggest, baddest hound, and the worst threat to her company, had revealed herself.

"You signed off on a bakery over in West Arendelle, that's your first one is it not?"

Elsa didn't answer.

"I wonder why you chose that area of all places. It's already ripe with so many, er, 'fast food' establishments, it'd be so easy for the bakery to get lost in the shuffle."

Elsa still gave no answer; she was too busy trying to resist the urge to throw Cruella out the window.

"And if it failed, well that would reflect poorly on you, wouldn't it? I wonder, what would happen if- hypothetically speaking- if...I was to offer my voice on the failure of your first business venture as CEO? I'd assume that you'd have more than your food industry to think about."

That was it, Elsa had had enough of her disingenuous assertions.

She tore her eyes away from her and looked out her window, out at the city, her city. If anyone wanted to take it from her, they'd have to bring a whole damn army. She would not be intimidated, she would not be made a fool of, and she would never show weakness. Elsa took a deep breath and spoke with venom in her voice. "Cruella...thank you for your concern, but I think it's time you left."

She heard a noise, a slight grunt from Cruella as if she had won something this day- she hadn't. The woman walked back to the door and spoke, "I'm glad we had this talk, darling. If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask."

The door closed, leaving Elsa to stir in the silence. After counting to ten, she took a breath and sat back down.

Cruella's last words still rang in her head for two reasons. The first was that no matter how much Elsa despised the woman, she was right. She would always be a "celebrity" to the citizens of Arendelle, but all these eyes on her right now would magnify and distort her mistakes. This bakery would make or break her reputation. The second reason was that, because Cruella was right, it meant she could no longer run from her past. It meant that if she wanted the bakery to succeed, she'd have to have a major hand in doing so.

It meant that her worst nightmare was coming true: Anna was going to be a part of her life again.

A/N: Oh boy, a Frozen fanfiction with characters from other Disney movies?! I bet that's never happened before.